# Looking for suggestions



## rewalston (Feb 1, 2014)

I have some pins that I'm looking at selling on ebay. I'm separating them into 100g packages, except for two that are 40g and 80g (fully plated). The 100g bags are mixed pins from computer connectors and may have a little solder or wire on them. I've actually put a little more than 100g in them to make up for solder and wire but selling as 100g. Anyway that is all info for the sales. What I'm looking for is how would be the best to set up auctions on ebay. I know for shipping they have an automatic calculator based on my weights and measures, that the buyer would use with their address to calculate out the shipping charges. But, beyond that I'm not certain what else I should do, as I've only been a buyer in the past. I have seen on auctions the "buy it now" option, but for pins I'm not sure if I would be able to use that as I don't have a clue what I would place as a price. Any suggestions please.

Rusty


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## JHS (Feb 1, 2014)

Hi Rusty,
I have been selling on ebay for many years.
when i need advice,i go to ebay,type a discription of what i am selling.
then scroll to the runaway auction.the one that has the most and highest bids.I model my discription after that auction.
there is no sence in trying to figure out what someone has already figured out.
be honest in your discription.
ALL SALES FINAL.
PICTURES ARE IMPORTANT,USE ALL 12.
GET GOOD PICTURES OF THE GOLD,AS THAT DRIVES THE PRICE UP..
ship as fast as you can.buyers want it quick.
if you have a good feed back you should do ok.
hope this helps.
john
P.S.You could post some pictures here in for sale or trade and ask for offers.


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## rewalston (Feb 1, 2014)

Thanks John. I still have some more pins to pull (actually my wife is doing that) but I'm not sure if I'll have enough to sell, may toss them in with some other stuff I have set aside for a cell.

Rusty


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## Smack (Feb 1, 2014)

That shipping calc. is never right, I got burned using it once. I use flat rate boxes for small stuff, makes it easy. Not sure if you guys have flat rate boxes in Canada.


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## Golddigger Greg (Feb 1, 2014)

No, we don't.


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## rewalston (Feb 1, 2014)

Smack said:


> That shipping calc. is never right, I got burned using it once. I use flat rate boxes for small stuff, makes it easy. Not sure if you guys have flat rate boxes in Canada.


 For what I'm selling, I could probably use one of the bubble wrap envelopes.


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## macfixer01 (Feb 1, 2014)

FYI - For me personally I've avoided buying anything from Canada on Ebay the last several years unless the item was something I really wanted and wasn't available elsewhere. The shipping coming from Canada to the US was always slow, the tracking was worthless, and it also seemed really overpriced in most cases given that we're just across a river from each other. Maybe my bad experiences were just flukes, but it left a bad taste anyway. You don't want irate buyers trashing your feedback though, so do warn about potential delays on international orders and whatever else you feel is relevant such as where you'll ship to or not.

As a comparison... I was recently looking for one of the cheap old-style DIP IC puller tools. I refer to the kind that were just a plain U-shaped bent piece of flat steel with the tips bent inward toward each other, meant to grab like tweezers under the ends of a chip and pull it out of a socket. I was sure Radio Shack would still have them, but no they didn't. I then went to the few remaining electronics stores around Detroit that Rat Shack hasn't put out of business yet, and nobody had them! Apparently since DIP package IC's and sockets are much less common, the puller tools are also rare as hen's teeth now? And it really bugged me since I know I have a couple of them lost around the house somewhere, maybe still in a box from a previous move. Anyway I did see a bunch of them on Ebay though, so I bought one from California for around $3.25 just to get one quickly. It was also nicer than the old ones, with a dipped plastic grip on it. I also couldn't pass up what was an identical item (except for color) from China for only $1.16 apiece including the shipping! I ordered 5 just so this would never be a problem again for me, and guessed it would probably take 6 weeks to get them all the way from China? I was truly amazed when they showed up only a day or two after the one from California!


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## Palladium (Feb 1, 2014)

macfixer01 said:


> I ordered 5 just so this would never be a problem again for me, and guessed it would probably take 6 weeks to get them all the way from China? I was truly amazed when they showed up only a day or two after the one from California!



The implementations of that are frighting.


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## rewalston (Feb 1, 2014)

macfixer01 said:


> I was recently looking for one of the cheap old-style DIP IC puller tools. I refer to the kind that were just a plain U-shaped bent piece of flat steel with the tips bent inward toward each other, ....


I think I have one of those also have one that is "T" shaped with a trigger on it..I'll have to post a picture of it. I used to repair computers and it's in my tool case.


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## macfixer01 (Feb 2, 2014)

rewalston said:


> macfixer01 said:
> 
> 
> > I was recently looking for one of the cheap old-style DIP IC puller tools. I refer to the kind that were just a plain U-shaped bent piece of flat steel with the tips bent inward toward each other, ....
> ...




Hi rewalston,
Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack the original poster's thread. Just to explain, the pictured item is what I bought. I know there are much fancier types, but some of those only handle certain chip sizes and they can cost quite a bit more money too. As usual I'm not using it for exactly what it was designed for, since it's really meant for pulling socketed chips. All I wanted though was something to pull evenly on soldered-in chips while I was desoldering them from the other side of the board (as opposed to trying to teeter-totter it by prying one end at a time).


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## rewalston (Feb 2, 2014)

I kind of figured that was what you were wanting it for :lol: . For pulling chips from sockets we used to cheat and use a 1/8" flat blade screwdriver. I was thinking last night about the other tool I was talking about. I think what it is, is actually a chip insertion tool. 

Rusty


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## pgms4me (Feb 2, 2014)

Rusty: I sell lots of pins on ebay. I grade them the best I can. It is especially important to keep older pins(if you know the date) separate as well as military pins because they will bring the best price. i experimented with quite a few lots over the last few years before I came up with the best way to do it.
first of all, figure in the shipping price in to your listing and offer free shipping for usa destinations. Keep international sales as buyer pays based on calculated cost. For some reason smaller lots sell better than larger lots. For example: good quality server backplane pins will generally sell for 80.00 per pound,However 60 grams of those pins will bring 15-20.00 each lot . I use the fixed price listing, set buy it now for 20.00, set the accept all offers over 18.00, reject offers below 15.00. this works good for me. 60 grams is about 2 ounces. i ship them in an inner plastic bag inside a first class envelope, which adds less than another ounce,so the total of either 3 or 4 ounces cost only 2.00 to ship(usa). With the known shipping cost you can adjust the amount of grams you offer to keep the lowest cost for shipping. I have had much better success with this method and everyone is happy. the biggest learning curve is in finding out the best size lots that consistently sell. This works with fingers even better. I can get gross 120-150 per pound of fingers buy selling in small lots. I rarely use the auction style unless I am unsure of what something might bring. Hope this helps Donn


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## rewalston (Feb 2, 2014)

Thanks Donn, I printed out what you wrote. Right now I have the pins in 100 gram packages. I still have a few more pins to collect but no where close to a package full. I saw a lot of different size amounts on Ebay and just chose 100 gram because it was sort of in the middle of the amounts I saw. Thanks for the comments everyone.

Rusty


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