Any Tips on Selling Phones on Ebay?

[HobieSport]

Once I'm comfortable and competent with refurbishing phones I will be selling quite a few on Ebay, and having never sold on Ebay, am looking for any helpful tips and techniques.

One obvious thing is to supply really good and complete photos, including the phone's interior.  I'm fairly competent in photography and visual presentation so no problems there.

Then I notice that some phone descriptions on Ebay are  fairly brief, such as:

"clean and working, no chips or cracks"

or, say;

"Western Electric model 302 telephone from 1948, refurbished, dial cleaned and re-lubed, all electrical contacts cleaned, and all components tested. Body and handset are newly polished. No chips or cracks. Comes with jack adapter and is ready to plug and play"

Other descriptions are more long winded, going into the phones history, and sometimes using flowery language like "own a piece of history" and "Lucy phone" and all that kind of advertising meant to get the heart beating faster.

Personally I'm thinking of a straight forward description with no misleading or flowery BS, the kind of description and photos that I would like if I was the buyer.  But maybe some flowery language is okay and is a good idea, as long as it's honest and not misleading.

So, who here sells phones on Ebay and does anyone have any good tips and techniques to share?  I'd like to start selling sometime this Spring, so I'm just gathering ideas at this point.  Thanks in advance...

-Matt

[Steve]

Someone may run across your ad who doesn't know anything about phones. some are just looking for one phone for the cool 'retro' factor. giving a history that may seem flowery to us, could be what sells it to a soccer mom. that's who you would sell it to for the best price IMHO. unless of course it's a rare variation or something appealing to collectors.

[TIPandRING]

Oh great more competition

Yeah, I need to unload some of my collection.

I've sold things on eBay, but not phones...yet.


But, if you want to sell, you must have great pics.

The phones that bring the most $$ (other than if they are obviously rare or collectible) are the ones who have great background lighting. If you set up a light filter so you don't have harsh shadows and make the phone simply "glow", you'll get many bids. Backgrounds are the key too!  Put the phone next to a plant or a contrasting color to "stage it". Books, desks, plants, whatever to make the feel of the "olden" day come alive will work well. People just don't buy the phones, they want to buy memories of their childhood or simpler times. (especially in this day and age!).

[HobieSport]

Oh great more competition

Not much, really, I'm just selling some to  support my nasty phone habbit.

Thanks for the great tips about photography, TandR.  I was in fact thinking of some very staged, moody photos, involving Film Noir lighting effects, venetian blinds, a grey fedora, fun but informative camera angles, and maybe a Dashiel Hammet book or a portrait of Humphry Bogart with a similar phone.  Nothing like a little historical romance.

And that's good thinking Steve, about the more fanciful descriptions for the one time buyer soccer mom types, as I do think the phones would make great gifts, and most of my phones are the common standards and not of great interest to collectors.

Thanks, guys.

[Dennis Markham]

Matt, I used to sell phones on eBay.  I did pretty well.  This was before I had a blog site about phones.  I learned a lot and pushed the envelope at the time.  I just bought model 500's, fixed them up and resold them.  If I made a profit it fed my habit of buying more for myself.  I used to put my phones on as Buy It Now (mostly black 500's, metal dial, hard wired) .   I made long descriptions that some might call "flowery"and used the "Picture Pack" with photos that were clear and enlarged.  No questions were left unanswered and I got very few questions.  At peak times I would have four or five on at one time and often one would sell before I finished listing the next one.  So I did OK.  But I found (this was when the economy was good) that after April things dropped off like a rock as far as sales.  I would not list another phone until the run into Christmas.  So December through April was the best time to sell--at least for me.

I wasn't catering to the collector.  What would a collector want to pay $45-75 for a black 500 for?  I catered to the buyer that wanted a nice refurbished telephone that they could use in their home.  The person that only wanted one, or two, not someone that wanted to collect many of them.  I sold a phone to a guy that is now selling phones.  He does an excellent job, using the auction style.  His phones have brought prices that I dreamed of but never attained.  The phone I sold him was one of his first and he has hit the ground running.  Take a look at this phone that ends today.  I am not suggesting you copy his listings, just see how someone that is successful does it.

http://tinyurl.com/c57lvo

This pink 500 is already up over $200.  I have seen him sell a red 500, soft plastic phone on more than one occasion that went for over $500.  He has great luck but much of it is because of the presentation.

I have been selling phones off my web site for the past couple of years.  Not a lot just a few here and there.  But I don't get anything like the prices that are possible with the Auction Style eBay listings.  Obviously when one sets a price that is the price.  This type of price is the exception to the rule.  But people are willing to pay more for a good product that they know will be what is advertised.

I just finished detailing a very nice pink 500.....hmmmmm........

But eBay sales can be frustrating.  You buy the phone, you pay to have it shipped to you.  You spend X amount of time fixing it up, which may include spending more on a modular plug, polish and other necessities.  Then you list it and if you're lucky you sell it.  You pay PayPal for using their service (owned by eBay), you pay eBay fees and then you ship the product.  The seller pays that shipping price but you don't recoup the shipping fee you originally paid unless you make enough profit off the phone.  In today's market it's tough.  So you have to enjoy doing it to get that satisfaction.  If you're doing it to make money you'll often be lucky to make enough to break even or enough to buy another one and do it again.

Just food for thought.

There is a blog site devoted to eBay sales (probably many of them).  Although this site is now getting stale, it's worth taking a look at for the new eBay seller.  Start at the first entry and read through them.  A lot of good info there.

http://www.texastracy.com/wp/

[Sargeguy]

Wow!  I sold my extra pink 500 set for $85 and I thought I was doing well.  I have to get that pink Princess up ASAP for Valentine's Day!

[Perry]

Don't forget to mention that the phone you're selling is a "Deco" phone. (It doesn't matter what kind of phone it is; they're all Deco.)

[BDM]

Hmmmm, I recently picked up a very nice pink 500 from 58, and have a mint in the box early pink Princess. I might throw that Princess up

[bingster]

I don't have anything to add to the excellent advice offered so far, but I will say that if you call a 302 a "Lucy phone" we'll all laugh at you mercilessly.

[benhutcherson]

I don't have anything to add to the excellent advice offered so far, but I will say that if you call a 302 a "Lucy phone" we'll all laugh at you mercilessly.

Well, I saw Fred and Ethel using a D1/F1 on I Love Lucy today, and I saw the Beaver talking on a 302 in the upstairs hallway.

So, I guess that based on these, we can now rename the telephones.

Lest we not also forget the 302 that was All in the Family pretty much its entire run, too.

[BDM]

I don't have anything to add to the excellent advice offered so far, but I will say that if you call a 302 a "Lucy phone" we'll all laugh at you mercilessly.

Well, I saw Fred and Ethel using a D1/F1 on I Love Lucy today, and I saw the Beaver talking on a 302 in the upstairs hallway.

No, you saw the Beaver talking on an H1/F1 (or it's variants H2 H3 etc. etc.) 

[HobieSport]

Bingster, if I EVER call a 302 a Lucy phone, (without a winking emoticon) everyone is more than welcome to laugh at me without mercy.  Besides, I like to call them Roosevelt-Truman phones.
And WE500s are Eisenhower-Obama phones.  And AE34s and 40s are Humphrey Bogart phones.  And after Marks' wonderful recent contest, I now call the WE202s The Three Little Pigskins phone.

As for the term Art Deco, I still think it applies to some of the older classics like the 302  and the AE34,40 and 50.  I just wish I could find a better term than art deco, which has become so overused and generalized.  Of course the WE500 is not deco.  I'd call that Mid Century Modern.

It might be a fun experiment to sell two very similar phones simultaneously, one with a very dry but full description, and the other description using fancy language like "Lucy" and "Deco" and "Own a piece of history" and stuff like that, and see which phone sells better.  Just a thought.

[McHeath]

Here's a sample ad for you to use:

"1958 Noir Deco Eames Era Lucy Phone!  Just LIke Grandma had!  NOS, NIB, SOL!  Absolewtly Perfect!  Rings that classic Oldd Tyme Ring!  Brass Bells!  Dial works Perfectly!  Tested!  Black!  Like New!  Youll' be tthe Envy of your Freinds!"


Yes you can use my ad but you must remit a portion of the sales to me, say 15%?

[HobieSport]

Sounds good to me McHeath.   Can we also fit in a few woods like "sexy" and "priceless nostalgia" and "coveted" and "rare" and include an autograph by Lucille Ball? And can I call my Ebay store something like Ye Olde Phonne Shoppe?

Living in the touristy town of Mendocino gives us some great descriptions in local advertising, most of which make me want to puke.  Stuff like "Come and experience the rustic charm of a Victorian town frozen in time clinging to the headlands where the ever changing sea shapes the craggy rocks and sea-lions and whales frolic, while you sit in a hot-tub sipping from our collection of fine local wines..."  Yargh.

Sometimes I get cynical and want to write an evil parody:  "Welcome to Mendocino where the giant waves will sweep you offshore in a hot second and squoosh you like a mellon against the rocks and the crabs will eat your eyeballs for a tasty treat".  But I contain myself, usually.

[Dennis Markham]

And don't forget, on the pink phone to call it Shabby Chic.........and Rare