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Selling tech stuff Have you got a horde of old junk, er, good stuff, that is now taking up too much space in your home? Here’s the good oil on how to get rid of it at the best price, by selling it on eBay. L ike most SILICON CHIP readers I started early with technology, becoming fascinated with photography and audio in my early teens. Also like most readers, I became a collector by default, reluctant to discard even the most insignificant accessory, reel, roll, player or plug. My first tape recorder was a weighty mono Pyrox ¼-inch machine that ran at 7.5 ips (inches per second) with a microphone and line input that I used to good effect to record some historic 1950s broadcasts. My first camera was a German-made folder, with a pin-holed bellows that delivered OK shots indoors but produced such a degree of flare when used outdoors that these days you would need a Photoshop filter to reproduce it. I lost my first collectible camera, a hefty Graflex, when it was stolen from a Paris youth hostel around the corner from the Folies Bergere. Without realising what was happening, I then embarked on a 20-year adventure regaining the cameras of my youth. So, one Saturday in 1977, without much forethought, I placed a 2-line ad in the Sydney Morning Herald’s classified advertising pages.The advert read ‘Old cameras wanted by collector.’ The phone started ringing at 6.00am and didn’t stop for two years. I ended up with over 300 items: Bakelite box cameras, Kodak and Zeiss folders, stereo and panoramic cameras and viewers, boxes of Polaroid snappers, Russian knockoffs of German classics, TLRs, SLRs, plastic Dianas, a couple of Mickey Mouse cameras, Thornton-Pickard wood/brass and mahogany cameras, early lenses, cameras in the shape of a cake of soap, camera16  Silicon Chip This vintage Altec microphone might look like junk . . . but at the time of writing there is one on eBay with a starting price of US$900. I have one in my collection but it is one I will NOT be putting up for auction! shaped cap guns, camera ashtrays, a Luftwaffe Robot motorised camera etc. And only two Leicas. I avoided them! My aim was to assemble a collection. I had no intention of selling the cameras. And who’d buy them anyway? Gradually becoming an obsession, I then also haunted charity shops, auction sales, suburban markets etc. Well into the 1980s Sydney and Melbourne had quite a number of old camera shops that took vintage trade-ins and then displayed them in their windows; these I also pestered. For two years I begged and pursued the owner of a giant clockwork Cirkut camera (the ones that take photos 10 inch by six foot) until he eventually gave in. I later acquired two more in varying sizes. Along the way I also picked up the odd tape recorder, turntables, hifi amplifiers, plus some broadcast microphones, piles of LP records, early 16-inch transcriptions of radio programmes. Just to fill in the holes! Admittedly, I did have an obsession but not as bad as one collector friend who actually bought an entire house in order to acquire the collection stored within it! Then, in another frenzied acquisition, he hired a crane so that he could move a 6-foot process camera out of the fourth story window of a city building. At one auction, I bid $50 on a mahogany box, decorated with brass fittings. Taking it home and digging into some early photo books (also acquired thanks to the SMH advert), I discovered it was a rare 1850s wet plate panoramic camera (without lens). A UK collector heard about it and offered me $20,000. A rare sale. Sometimes the cameras found me. A Central Coast (NSW) junk shop owner called me to say he had acquired a gold Leica. Would I like to see it? Of course! It was bought for a tidy sum and later sold to an interstate collector within a fortnight for an even tidier sum! There were times when I bought dear and when eBay came a-knocking, sold cheap! One example: a novel Foth-Flex twin lens/focal plane shutter reflex camera that I bought from a siliconchip.com.au on By BARRIE SMITH Strand Arcade (Sydney) camera shop for the extortionate price of $189 in February 1978 and sold 30 years later on eBay for $62. The sickness ended in the early 1980s, thanks to an overseas posting and a change in my marital status. The collection then moved to a storage facility, then to another home, ending up in our daughter’s wall length wardrobe. And it sat there, until 2008. What the hell to do with it? There really was no market, as far as I could see. Try eBay? Maybe, although I was wary of exposing myself on the world wide stage. So my engagement with eBay started. My experiences may be of value to you if you’re going to mix it with eBay yourself. Capital gains tax? Do you have to pay capital gains tax on items you sell on eBay? For a start, all of the items were bought pre-1985 so, according to my accountant, any financial gains would not be subject to Capital Gains Tax. Take care over this. In my case I had already logged every purchase and kept the written records, all the way from 1977 to the end of my obsessive activities. Incidentally, the legislation covering Capital Gains Tax specifically excludes a capital gain or loss arising from the disposal of a “collectable” that was acquired for $500 or less, regardless of when it was acquired. Note that wording: “was acquired for $500 or less” – not what someone paid you for it. So even if you’re lucky enough to buy a collectable for a dollar and sell it for a million, you should have no CGT problem. Also note the $500 applies to the value of the asset, not the taxpayer’s interest in that asset. Back to eBay Launched in 1995, eBay itself started as a place to trade collectables Early tape formats like these U-Matic and Betamax are in demand . . . siliconchip.com.au . . . as are old rolls of film by collectors wishing to “dress up” old cameras. May 2011  17 Early 20th century wood, brass and mahogany camera made by an unknown manufacturer for the London Stereoscopic Co; it has a replaceable stereo lens panel for 3D photography. and sundry items. Today it’s a global marketplace where businesses and individuals can buy and sell practically anything. You can even sell your house on eBay. Would I? Not on your life! To engage with eBay you first need to register at the eBay homepage (www. ebay.com.au/). Once you’ve completed the registration form you will receive a confirmation email from eBay to the email address you submitted during the registration process. Then you follow the instructions to complete Cameras of this type, made by Sanderson and ThorntonPickard sell for high prices — between $500- $1000 – on eBay. your registration. During the registration process, eBay will ask for your contact information (name, address and phone number) and email address. They declare that the service will not share your personal information without your consent. To operate on eBay you need to choose a user ID and password. Again, a confirmation email will be sent to you. It is possible to have two eBay accounts, related to different email Neither a camera nor particularly old, nevertheless these 1960s 3D viewers (in original packaging and complete with 3D discs) are highly sought after. 18  Silicon Chip addresses and with two separate passwords. I have never seen the need for two accounts. The eBay categories are numerous, ranging from antiques to video games. When you come to listing your item for sale, you can set up two listings; a dual listing I have found to be enormously useful but the trick is to select the ‘right’ pair of listings that will spread your item’s fame far and wide. An example: If you’re selling vintage photos, I suggest you list the item under Vintage Cameras and Photographs. You can set up the listing so that payment for the goods can be made to your credit card, direct bank deposit and PayPal. Of course, if you are happy to deal directly with the buyer, you can specify cash payment as one of the options. Some of the larger items may be so heavy you can’t post them anyway, so a personal pickup is obviously the way to go. I felt it wise to open an account for the financial returns and also for any payment that should be made to eBay, postage costs and dealings with PayPal (www.paypal.com.au/au). PayPal is an enormously useful facility, not only for selling old cameras, audio equipment and suchlike, as in my case; I have also found it useful for buying on eBay. When payment is made to you via siliconchip.com.au Usually in demand are early box cameras, like this 1934 art deco Kodak. Sold for a disappointing $10. Bakelite box cameras bring higher prices. PayPal the deposit is shown nearinstantly; at this point you can safely send the item to the buyer. I have also found payment by bank deposit to be reliable … the only hangup is that you can only check that the money is actually in the bank on the next trading day. When the funds are in your PayPal account you can transfer them to your bank account. This will take up to three days. This 1950s Japanese-made novelty is not a camera but a cigarette lighter. Sold for $34. riage made in heaven; even budget digicams can capture subjects large and small, with macro items and minuscule detail dead easy to photograph. With even the cheapest digicam you can capture a digital image that can show off your item to its ultimate advantage. Here’s how I do it. One of the trickiest subjects for me was the photographica: old mahogany/ Let’s start selling Before you start your listing, you need to assemble some images of the item along with descriptive text. For your own education, I suggest you scan a few current listings and get a feeling for what the other fellows and fems are doing online. In 90% of the cases you’ll find the entries are appalling, with poor images of the items for sale, along with minimal, misspelt accompanying text, laden with bad grammar. Bad pictures lose you $$$ Let’s start with the pictures. Too many sellers photograph their wares sitting on a tea towel or a busily patterned carpet. Not the way! Treat your eBay images like a shop window; top images will attract top auction bidding. Digital cameras and eBay are a marsiliconchip.com.au Nor does it have to be a film camera: this Kodak DC-20 digital camera from late last century (OK, the 1990s!) sold on eBay recently for a disappointing $4.00 – about what it cost to list it! May 2011  19 Many of the photos you see on eBay are downright atrocious! Notice the difference here: same photo, but on the right you see only the item being offered. Use photo software to remove backgrounds, enhance and sharpen the image etc so the buyer can SEE what they are bidding on. brass/leather cameras; black and nickel folders; brown Bakelite box snappers. And early photos: prints; stereo cards; glass negatives of all sizes. My technique in shooting an old camera was to set it up on a sheet of stationer’s white card or, if the item was light in colour, against a grey card. Lighting? I shot everything in the shade in an area that had a sunlit area to one side. Occasionally I would place a small white reflector beside the item to fill in any heavily shadowed area. Never shoot anything in direct sunlight; after downloading the digital image you will be forever trying to correct the excessive contrast and unwanted shadows. And if it has a case, show it! With many items, an original case can double or triple the value. If you want to show detail, take a couple of supplementary photos – they don’t cost much to add on eBay but will certainly add appeal, interest and in the end, $$$ in your pocket. An alternative lighting setup is outside, under overcast (or at least cloudy) skies. You get a very nice even brightness on the subject. But make sure there is no “outside” background. After downloading your pictures shot in the shade you’ll get a shock at how drab and dreary they look, straight out of the camera. Software to the rescue! I’m very fussy with pictures intended to display an auction item to its best advantage: it should be evenly lit to show off all detail and the sides, bottom and top should be square, with horizontal and vertical sides parallel. And sharp! If you have any flavour of Photoshop you’re in luck. (You can buy older versions of Photoshop [on eBay!] for peanuts). If you are a lesser being you may still be OK. There’s lots of Photoshop-wannabes around – some even for free – and many of them are quite good. The main requirements for your purposes are that you be able to alter the image brightness and contrast as well as a method of altering the shape of the subject, to square it off and correct perspective. If it allows you to remove unwanted backgrounds (the technical term is “deep etching”) so much the better. With my trusty digicam I set it up at a reasonable distance from the subject, LP records don’t usually sell for much (if at all!) unless they have special features – an original autograph, a limited edition and so on. Old 78s often fare better but even better performers (pardon the pun) are 16-inch 1950s radio program transcription discs, such as those shown here. The rarer, the better! Old cylinder records aren’t real bad, either. 20  Silicon Chip siliconchip.com.au Here’s a typical eBay Australia seller’s page. It’s very hard to make a mistake because it prompts you to put in all the important details and gives you various options. Most options cost extra but we aren’t talking sheep stations! siliconchip.com.au May 2011  21 I said earlier that LPs don’t sell particularly well – but there are exceptions. Classic LPs can sell well, especially if they are original pressings. The rarer an item is, the more likely it will get a sale AND at a good price. If you have some specific artist collections, don’t be afraid to email fan clubs or collector’s societies (use your old friend Google!) to let them know something special is being offered on eBay (even better if you tell them the eBay item number). adding a touch of tele zoom in to help the shot’s rectilinearity. When preparing images for eBay display, the system will accept them in JPEG, BMP, GIF, PNG or TIFF formats. I use JPEG … it does all I need. The size required by the system is that it be no more than 1000 pixels along the longer side and weigh in at no larger than 7MB. Some advice: if you want to self host your listing, make each image no larger than 100KB and it will load quickly in the intending buyers’ browsers. In my case, I used eBay’s hosting, limited my images’ size and introduced a touch of JPEG compression to keep the file size down. Descriptive text: this is the clincher between an adequate and useless listing. If your sales item is a piece of technology, research it thoroughly, date its period and add data that will describe the item precisely. You’ll find Google an enormously helpful resource in accessing descriptive data about even the most arcane piece of gear. I also advise you to be accurate and honest in your description; you will face less trouble. Listing The eBay charge for each listing begins with a fee based on your starting or reserve price. Then there are add-ons. If the item is eventually unsold you pay nothing; a Final Value Fee is paid, based on the final selling price. For example, an item that sells for under $75 will incur a fee of 5.25% of the 22  Silicon Chip final selling price. You get a free image with each listing. You’re allowed a total of 11 additional images for each listing and you pay 25c for each; there are options to display ‘Supersize’ images and you can opt for a Picture Pack of up to six or 7-12 pictures for $1.50 or $2.00. You’ll get a notice towards the end of the month informing you that the appropriate fee for your eBay activities will be deducted from your linked bank account on or about the seventh of the next month. Make sure the funds are in the bank account otherwise it gets messy! Enter your details First choose your category, then sub category and whether you want the listing to appear in one or two categories. You will be confronted by a series of panels, into which you add text describing the item in detail: condition, era, brand, descriptive text (on a test run I managed to insert 1000 words and there was still room for more). Next, add your pictures. Decide which one should be your gallery picture that appears on the main listing. You can also select one of the preset listings with fancy graphics and layout. Personally I find these of no use, merely adding clutter. Set your starting price and take my advice: start low! Select what day and time you want to begin the listing as well as the auction period. You can also indicate a ‘Buy It Now’ price. I suggest you be around during the period of the auction so that you can answer any questions intending buyers may throw at you via email. I also made sure I was online in the final few minutes of the listing just to enjoy the fun and watch the competitive bidders fight for your goods! You need then to indicate which payment methods you prefer: PayPal, bank deposit, cheque, COD etc. The postage setup is interesting and shows how sophisticated the eBay engine is. You’re required to indicate the size and final weight of the packed item and which method of postage will be used: there is a whole host of options but, in my case, I usually indicated Registered Post for domestic transport. For overseas sales I opted for Express Post International … with a rider. If your package weighs under 2kg, there is an alternative registered I “did me dough” on this TEAC 2300SX tape recorder. Despite being carefully packed and couriered (not posted) to the buyer, it arrived damaged – and I agreed to a $25 refund out of the $83 purchase price. siliconchip.com.au post method that is far cheaper than Express Post International: Air Mail Registered International. This is not recognised by eBay but will be welcomed by your customers. And this is the rider I added to all my listings: “My recommended shipping method for packages less than 2kg to overseas buyers is via Air Mail Registered International. For more info go to www1.auspost.com.au/pac/ int_parcel.asp — or ask me for quote.” When the prospective buyer visits your listing he or she can gain an estimate of the postage cost directly from the listing; eBay calculates postage based on the seller and buyer locations. Clever huh! Finally, you can indicate whether you will provide a return service in the case of an unhappy buyer; I never did and in two years of eBay trading encountered only two disputative buyers. At the close of all of this you will be notified of the final cost so far … and of course there will be a Final Value fee applied, based on the sale price. Problem buyers? The beauty of registered post — domestically and internationally — is that the buyer’s pickup is tracked. I had one turkey in the US who tried to tell me he had not received the package and wanted a refund: using the parcel’s tracking code (printed on my postage receipt) I was able to enter the US postal system’s online presence, discover what day and which post office the item was collected. Problem solved! Silence from buyer! There were one or two other sticky moments, but the positive thing is that you can engage eBay to solve the arguments. I lost only one tussle that necessitated my accepting an actual return, making a refund and silencing a vocal, abusive customer. On this occasion I found that the side that made the loudest noise won the game; eBay gave in easily. I have noticed there are some eBay traders who will not deal with buyers from certain countries due to either dodgy buyer behaviour or untrustworthy postal services. In my experience it’s not the countries who are dodgy but the occasional buyer! You’ll find there are many cranky Internet postings complaining about eBay and PayPal … some genuine siliconchip.com.au Want a new house? There’s a variety of real estate being offered on eBay. But I’m not absolutely sure I’d want to part with $342,000 sight unseen, regardless of how fantastic the vendor makes it sound. Remember, despite eBay’s buyer protection schemes, the rule is “caveat emptor”! and some spooky. Like this one: one customer bought a spice rack and a poltergeist in a package deal on eBay, then “paranormal and unexplainable things began to occur, like the sound of an elderly woman humming.” You have been warned! Con men get found out! It’s important to keep a clean face and impeccable trading presence … you’re given a rating, based on aftersale comments by your customers. My own rating stands at near-five stars for accuracy of item’s description, customer communication, time of outwards postage and reasonable postage costs. I also found it important to pack each item very carefully and soundly, using piles of bubble wrap, cardboard boxes from the local supermarket, with brown paper exterior wrapping and clear addressing details. There was only one occasion when an item fell afoul of poor handling. I sold a TEAC 2300SX ¼ inch tape recorder that weighed nearly 20 kilos to an interstate buyer. It consisted of recorder plus 29 reels of music and radio programmes, some commercially and some home-recorded, plus three takeup spools. The TEAC was a nice piece of kit, recording onto twin stereo tracks at 3.75 and 7.5 inches per second plus two line and two mic inputs and two line outputs and a headphone output. I was reluctant to post it, so the buyer arranged for a carrier to collect and deliver it to his address. At the time the package was collected I was unimpressed by the way the carrier handled the item. Then, four days later, the buyer emailed a polite complaint that the recorder had arrived with damaged wooden side panels. Would I refund part of the purchase cost? Sale price: $83. I made a refund of $25, just to keep the peace and maintain my — so far — impeccable training record. Washup So, at the end of 18 months of selling in 77 batches, 99% of my collection has gone. With enjoyably high rewards. Photographica of some vintage and with an inherent value bias — think Leica, Zeiss, Thornton-Pickard, Sanderson, stereo cameras and anything to do with Mickey Mouse — is highly saleable. Surprisingly, early Polaroid cameras are in demand. Remember those unwieldy clunkers? In audio-video equipment, quarterinch tape recorders, early valve amps, early microphones, early video and audio tapes, retro radios — think Betamax, U-Matic, 8-track — are attractive to the eBay hordes. Don’t bother with LP records, unless you have a genuine early Beatles album or similar, preferably an overseas pressing. Looking back over the two years of my selling frenzy, I find that, while eBay and PayPal are far from perfect, they can be employed to dispose of your surplus goods. But tread carefully! SC May 2011  23