The ABCs of eBay

 

Local classes, businesses help buy and sell your stuff on the Internet

 

By Julie Evans

C & G Staff Writer

     From diet pills and wedding dresses to stove tops and lake front property, shoppers can find virtually anything their hearts desire on the famed Web site eBay.

    The world’s largest online marketplace can be a little daunting for someone who’s never logged onto www.ebay.com. But as the site’s popularity has grown, from its beginnings in 1995  to the tens of millions of users registered today, so has the number of self-help classes and businesses designed to increase commerce in eBay cyberspace.

     At the Sterling Heights Library, program specialist Mary Lou Metzger recently taught a program on buying and selling things on the Internet.

     “We have a serious of classes designed to help make people more comfortable with using the Internet, which is kind of a sneaky thing from our standpoint because our catalogs and databases are all online now, so we want people to be comfortable with using the Internet,” said Metzger. “This particular class talks about how to list an item online and how to buy. We also talk about online security because auctions can be one of the biggest frauds on the Internet.”

     To learn more about the Sterling Heights Library programs, visit www.shpl.net.

     West Bloomfield Community Education is offering an introduction to eBay class that addresses things like how to place bids, post items for sale, accept payment, and more. Dina Gustafson, of Novi, will teach the class.

     “The big thing to emphasize about this class is it’s very hands-on,” said Gustafson. “I think that’s very important because when you’ve got your hands on it, from a memory standpoint, it really sticks. For a lot of people, eBay can be overwhelming. This class can take away some of that fear.”

     The next session of Gustafson’s class, which is held one night a week for two weeks, starts Aug. 4. It will be held at West Bloomfield High School on Orchard Lake Road, north of Walnut Lake, and costs $42 per person. For more information, call (248) 865-6633.

     One of the first things a new eBay user will discover is it’s much easier to buy an item from eBay than to sell one.

     Birmingham resident Donna Klein, also known as “the eBay Lady,” has been teaching a variety of eBay classes in southeast Michigan since 1998.

     “I do demonstrate a few things step by step in the class, but what I really emphasize is more of how to create an identity for yourself online and become a successful and dependable sales person,” said Klein. “I have found from these classes there’s a wide variety of reasons why people are there. One person may collect antiques and wants to expand, and another person wants to help their 80-year-old mother dispose of some of her stuff.”

     Klein said the process of selling items online can be involved, but anyone can learn how to do it.

     “I taught myself, and my mother taught herself when she was in her 70s,” said Klein. “You don’t have to be a genius to do it at all. There are people at all levels of expertise and sophistication.”

     But for people who don’t want to get as involved in the selling aspect, there are several companies in the metro area that will take items and market them online for a fee.

     Baylisters, located on Orchard Lake Road, north of 13 Mile in Farmington Hills, just opened its doors in June. Husband and wife owners Denise and Marc Landau said business has been booming.

     “We are receiving the widest variety of items imaginable,” said Denise Landau. “People leave their item with us, we write a professional listing, take digital photos, place items online for a seven-day auction, answer e-mail communications from potential bidders, and at the end of seven days, once an auction sells, we receive payment and pack and ship it to the buyer.”

     To auction an item through Baylisters, it must have an eBay value of at least $50, which means similar items online have previously sold for at least $50, and it has to weigh less than 100 pounds.

     Baylisters’ commission fee is 35 percent for the first $200, 30 percent of the next $300, 25 percent of the next $500, 20 percent of the next $2,000, and 15 percent of any remaining amount over $3,000.

     For a schedule of Donna Klein’s classes, visit www.ebaylady.com. For more information about Baylisters, visit www.baylisters.com or call (248) 865-0002.

     You can reach Julie Evans at jevans@candgnews.com