Is it worth it to sell your pins?

I know it's probably worth selling them on a place like this forum. But I just wanted to ask people who do sell on eBay, is it worth it to sell your pins? Because I know ebay charges you 9% on your Final Value and 9% on shipping, then paypal takes another 2.9% from the transfer. Is it really worth to sell your pins? I know obviously if it's an LE that's a really low number of 150 maybe it'd be worth it but what if you only sell a pin for $20 + $3 shipping and the price of the pin was $10.95.

What do you think?
Need people's opinions who are in the business.

The fees are ridiculous. Last month I sold about $100 worth of stuff and after all the fees were taken out what I ended up with was around $75.

I haven't sold any pins yet but I regularly sell some comics and magazines among other things. I only list on eBay what I'm desperate to get rid of. The stuff I don't care if I only get a few cents for it. Also to save a few dollars, I only list during free listing promotions. I get 50 free listings per month.

I always try to sell through forums or Live Journal first to avoid eBay's fees. But when I sell that way I sometimes have to chase down the people who forget to pay or want things held for days and then never reply and that's a headache. That happens rarely on eBay in my experience. Most people pay me within two days even though I allow seven days. You may want to pay the fees to avoid the annoyance of tracking someone down for payment.

I agree ebay fees are pretty insane. But I do use ebay all time because the marketplace is good. I think if you just go in knowing you will get about 75% of everything when it's done you will be ok. I use ebay will my really cheap pins and just let them chill in my store in case someone needs a throw in. I do end up listing higher $ pins on ebay when the market is good for them. They usually end up selling pretty quickly and with my other business I am always shipping stuff from ebay. One other thing I suggest is to look up the pin you are selling in the ended auctions so you can see what the pin really sells for you can see if it is worth selling. Well those are some of my opinions, I hope it helps a bit.
Thanks
Linda

I also agree that ebay & paypal fees have gotten ridiculous . My husband has been selling his vintage slot car collection . I'm not sure what is in our paypal account as I've been trying to let it build up for christmas . So far we are over $50.00 in ebay fees and sold maybe $300.00 worth of cars , i haven't added up how much paypal has taken . Probably around the same or close to it .

May I please ask when the market is good on pins ? I sold my AP building the dream pin for $19.95 + $3.00 shipping . I believe it cost me $15.95 , so I probably lost cents . My Jungle Book POMP witth a good scene didn't sell not did my Disney Auctions LE 500 Princess trio pin . I listed the JB at $30.00 and the Princess pin at $20.00 . Perhaps I'm listing at the wrong time .
Thank You,
Debi

I have started selling DSF pins on here and eBay. I keep one and sell one, usually I make almost enough to cover the one I keep so it's like getting one for free. I'd just as well trade but noone wants to trade a 3 year old LE500 or LE1000 even for a week old LE300...

As a buyer, seller and fellow hoarder of all things with pointy backs...online sites such as Ebay and Amazon are good and bad. Good -higher prices (if seller); much broader audience, and buyer/seller protections. Bad - fees, fees and fees. But do know your "outrageously priced" high-end pin sellers are also lurking here on the sale boards. Hint: Something about drawing and Old Hag.

People do not realized that Ebay cannot ban acceptance of cash, check or other methods of payment -they can ban you from saying it..but they cannot stop you from making the transaction that way. It is against the law to ban United States forms of currency.

As for me..my pin collection will never be sold under any condition. Too many memories, treasures and overall joy in it. I have said it before and will say it again here -I will be homeless under a bridge with my frames of pins!

Here is a handy online calculator that shows just how hefty of a chunk eBay takes. http://www.rolbe.com/ebay.htm Everyone assumes sellers are making out like bandits...and that's usually not the case...eBay sure is though!

If someone is selling a pin for $23 on eBay and they paid $16 to buy it (pin+tax...not even counting shipping) and they pay $1.75 for shipping to the customer (not even counting the envelope) they make [drum roll please] $1.25. ...I know, right?! Not too impressive. Throw in the shipping from Disney and the bubble envelope and it's usually not worth the time/trouble.

TiggerNut said:

As for me..my pin collection will never be sold under any condition. Too many memories, treasures and overall joy in it. I have said it before and will say it again here -I will be homeless under a bridge with my frames of pins!

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You cracked me up with that comment. I'll be right there under that bridge with you with my pins. I would have to be dead and buried before anyone could sell my pins.

I agree that the Ebay fees are ridiculous & what else gets me is how long Paypal holds onto your money & how long it takes to transfer to your account & they really should release the shipping fees at least so you arent out the money for shipping that they collected & are holding.