Advice Please: Ebay experiences vs Craigslist, etc...

[mcroft]

So, we've never sold anything on ebay, but we have stuff we want to get rid of. I know that a number of you are frequent ebay sellers, so I want to know how well it works...

The stuff is electronics gear: a DVD burner we don't use, an older iPod, a portable DVD/iPod doc and (eventually) my desktop computer (a G5 tower).

Questions wrt ebay:
1: how much do the nickel-and-dime add-ons (pictures, etc) actually help?
2: Is paypal as big a deal as they want to tell me it is?
3: Have you had bad experiences with buyers?
4: Is it better to price the item low to assure it sells or re-list it if it doesn't?
5: How well does it work for big-ticket vs. cheap stuff?
6: Do you ship to Canada?

Questions wrt craigslist:
1: Is it better than ebay?
2: why?

Comments

[kodi]

I've had about $800 in sales on 16 auctions on ebay, in one big batch mostly. I had one buyer who was a complete waste - he changed his address to Canada after winning the auction, didn't contact me at all after the auction, and when I asked him what was going on, he said he was waiting for me to update the shipping cost to include Canada. That seems to be about what I've heard - 1 buyer in 20 is going to be totally irrational.

I listed all my auctions for $0.99 with shipping at cost + $1 for my effort. My principle was that I'd rather get $2 and not have to store this crap anymore. I was happy with the sale price for all but one item.