Miniature LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - Pencil Sharpener -Neat!

Miniature LONDON TOWER BRIDGE - Pencil Sharpener -Neat!


Auction ended - Thursday, September 4, 2008

Auction grade: B+

Starting bid: $2.50

Final selling price: $3.25


Up for sale in this eBay auction is brand new desktop pencil sharpener modeled after London's famous Tower Bridge. This is part of the "Landmark Series," and the seller claims this comes with the original box.

Overall, this is a fairly well organized auction on eBay. The title focuses on several good search engine words and phrases, and that should definitely help bring in curious customers. The picture clearly shows the item for sale, and the seller even gave us the item's basic dimensions. It would have helped a little bit if the seller could have provided a little extra information about the "Landmark Series," such as other items in the collection or if there's a website with more information.

I'd be very surprised if this pencil sharpener sold for that much higher than the current bid of $2.50. Let's face it, unless this is an antique, made out of solid gold, or encrusted in precious jewels, these types of items usually have low selling prices. Does that mean that you shouldn't try to sell one yourself? Certainly not.

There are at least three good reasons for selling small, cheap items:
1) Each small sale will help increase your feedback rating and scores, even if you make a very small profit.
2) This is a great way to gain personal experience and try out different selling techniques. The fees are very low for selling cheap items, so there's little risk in trying a different way of constructing your auction.
3) Small items can be grouped together with other miscellaneous or, ideally, other similar items. Selling items in lots is a much better way of moving cheap merchandise and has a higher chance of earning a larger profit. It can even work out cheaper doing one auction instead of multiple auctions and paying all of the fees associated with them.

Novelty Pepsi folding knife

HERE A NEW PEPSI NOVELTY KNIFE


ended - Thursday, April 17, 2008

Auction grade: C-

Starting bid: $0.99

Final selling price: $0 - no bids


Up for sale in this eBay auction is a small novelty folding knife with the Pepsi logo and slogan "The Choice of a New Generation".

The auction's title needs a lot of attention. Apart from being in all capital letters, this is also not nearly descriptive enough considering the age of this particular knife. A quick internet search for that slogan shows that it was first used by Pepsi back in 1984. Appropriate key words for the title would be "vintage", "classic", "1980s", and even "New Generation".

The seller has the right idea in the auction's description, just poor execution in its layout. I like how the seller described this knife and gave its dimensions, but the one giant sentence needs to be fixed. Adding in a few periods will make this auction a lot easier to read and understand.

"HANDEL" --- handle

The auction's picture isn't bad and you can clearly see the Pepsi logo and slogan on the knife. My only problem is that you can also see the seller's hand and all of the wrinkles to go with it. Next time place the knife on a table or towel and take the picture. Also, you may want to partially extend the blade so we can see it in the picture.

The final note to address in this auction is the extremely high shipping fee that the seller is charging. Those plastic novelty knives are very light weight and don't cost much to ship across the country. Seeing that the seller is based in Illinois and towards the center of the country, it should only cost a dollar or two to send it anywhere in the lower 48 states.

The main problem with this auction is that the seller is trying to force a profit for himself for a cheap item. Ripping off the buyers with extremely high shipping costs is not the way to do that. You'll only discourage them from clicking on the link to even view the item for sale.

When selling a cheap item like this on eBay, don't get discouraged if it doesn't sell for a high price. Most of those old novelty items still aren't worth much today unless you have something that is rare and in demand. Otherwise, expect to make almost nothing for a sale like this. This is still a good item to sell for two main reasons: 1) even a simple sale with no profit can increase your feedback score and possibly lead to more future sales, and 2) if you don't want to sell it individually, this could be offered along with another item or two as part of a package deal or freebie.