Pricing for Craigslist/Ebay...

[saving maglet]

How do you price the items that you sell on Craigslist/Ebay? I just put something up on Craigslist and while I think it's a fair price--being that what I'm asking for is better than $0 that I would get if I put it on the curb for trash--I don't know that I'm not just giving it away. I think it's worth what I'm asking. I kind of calculated the amount by figuring how old it is plus the condition plus what *I* would pay for something like that on Craigslist.

How do you calculate soemthing's worth?


**This is one of the reasons I have never had a garage sale--I'm so bad at figuring what price would be fair. Plus, I wouldn't just want to give my great crap away for nothing! LOL**

[gt0163c]

I would start by searching for similar items on Ebay and Craigslist to see what the general price range is. You can also check out thrift stores and garage sales and factor that price into your calculation.

[purplefdu]

I normally assume anything between 1/4-1/2 is fair for something thats been used but in good condition. 1/2-3/4 for something in almost perfect or perfect condition. 3/4-full or more than full price for mint condition, new in box or other highly collectible items.

Pricing similar items on Ebay is a good bet. Also look for finished auctions or ones with active bids. Alot of buy it now auctions are on the high side for prices and may never get a bid or sell.

Once you've purchased something the value drops, and it drops further once its been used, especially if its noticeable even if its an anticipated effect such as creased spines on books or work knees on jeans.

I normally try to make sure I am making enough for it to be worth my time. If I have to spend hours listing, shipping, and taking payment for items I only make $1-2 for on Ebay I'm probably going to think about another method to get rid of them. Also look into listing large groups of items on Craigslist for a lump sum. Lots of people will purchase such lots and re-sell them at their own garage sales if the price is right.

[Megan]

I also try to price similarly to what others are pricing or price a little bit lower than others. It also depends on what I want to get out of the item. I use half.com a lot, and have listed a lot of old textbooks. If they have no use to me, I don't care what I paid for them, if I can get a few bucks for it, I'm happy. But the listing process is quite simple there. I've also listed movies on that site, but am more picky. I won't automatically try to be the lowest priced seller if that would mean I'm getting next to nothing for the movie because I can always re-watch a movie. The odds are not good I'm ever going to re-read a contract law text.

[tannerc]

When listing items on Craigslist, I look for similar items other people are selling and either price my item similarly (if it's in better condition than what is currently listed) or try to list it for 10-20% less.

Any money made by selling what I'm just going to throw away is extra income, so I don't mind setting bargain prices.