Tips for eBay Sellers

January 16, 2007

Hi, I am one of your potential mould buyers.  I am going to tell you how to get me interested in your auction by sharing with you some observations, both positive, and negative. 

I have observed thousands of eBay auctions for bullet moulds, and have sold and purchased moulds on eBay for many years.  Here is what I have to share:

Positive:

• Take photos of your mould.  Take a lot of photos.  Take close-ups.  Show me the part of the mold that is the heart of the mould, the mould cavity.  Telling me in five paragraphs what this mould has done for you isn’t as important as showing me what it is, today, when you are trying to sell it.  If I can see dust mites in the cavity of your mould, then I am probably going to bid on it.  That’s the kind of picture we need to accurately decide if we want to bid. This example photo is your auction picture taking goal -   Click!   Post a photo like that, and I guarantee you, you will get more bidders.

• Cavity condition is everything, period.

• Sell the handles with the mould. 

• Offering me the option of Parcel Post, or the cheapest shipping alternative. 

• Carefully packing your mould when it’s shipped to the winner. Bind the mould halves together, use a large rubber band, a plastic “zip” tie, or tape if you have too, but bind the halves together so they don’t bounce around inside the box and get damaged. Moulds are fragile, and if you don’t pack them carefully, they will get damaged in shipment.

• Contacting me for supplemental information regarding the mould.  Yes, I have it.  No, I don’t charge for it.  And it won’t affect whether or not I bid on your auction.  For years I have freely supplied supplemental information at no charge to sellers on eBay.  Sometimes I bid on those auctions, sometimes I don’t.  I share because I want my fellow casters to know what they are buying, and sometimes, I know the bidders, who are more likely to give me more information regarding the mould, than the seller.  Sometimes. (grin).

• Taking the time to answer my questions, and sharing those questions and answers with everyone.  You have the option, as the seller, to have eBay automatically post the question/answer message *automatically* to the auction.  Use it.

Negative:

• Taking one photo of the mould.  From a distance. If I have to email you asking for close-up photos or gamble that your description is accurate I will probably pass on your auction.  What you may think is a minor flaw in the bullet mould may mean to me an unusable piece of junk that may result in negative feedback at the end of the spat.  I never bid on auctions that have a single, bad photo.  Never.  And I assure you, I am not the only person who does that.

• Not posting information about the mould.  Hensley & Gibbs bullet moulds have information stamped all over them.  Post that information with the auction.

• Separating the handles from the mold to maximize your profit.  If you list a set of handles in the next auction for the same mould you are selling, be forewarned, I advise everyone that asks me for information on Hensley & Gibbs bullet moulds to not buy moulds unless they come with handles.  There is too much of a risk of handles not fitting correctly (note “correctly”) to separate handles from moulds.

• Charging an unfair amount for shipping.  I know moulds are heavy, but it doesn’t cost $30 to ship an 8 lb. - 10 cavity mould across the country.  Excessive shipping charges are the #2 reason I pass on bidding.  By now, all of us eBay’ers know that shipping can be a tempting profit center to avoid or minimize eBay’s fees. 

• Throwing the two mould halves into a priority mailer box and letting them bounce around all the way across country. The moulds will arrive damaged, and it will be your fault. Pack the moulds carefully as if they were fine china, they are precision tools, please treat them this way.

• Hot linking one of my photos to your auction site. Hot linking is using one of my photos from my website linked directly to your auction listing. This causes a tremendous increase in my bandwidth, and rather than use one of the many tools I have to prevent this, I simply respond to this rude behavior by temporarily replacing what you think is the photo you expect to see, with one I have randomly chosen from the vase internet universe. Creativity is the key to making this a very unpleasant experience for you. So, please don’t hotlink my photos.

The ideal auction listing will have:

• A Lot of photos.  Minimum of 10.  Half of the photos will be close-ups.  If you only have the option of posting one photo, then post the “ideal” photo as described above.  Cavity condition is everything, remember?
• The auction listing will state every single piece of information stamped on the mould blocks and handles.
• Shipping will be consistent with the mould weight.
• The listing will contain supplemental information from the Hensley & Gibbs Factory ledger.  I will supply this free of charge.  Just email me. tdugas@hotmail.com

Good Luck with your Auction!

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