How do you sell a reef tank?

[ocjerry]

Can anybody guide me on what the best way is to sell a reef tank. I have a 80 g. that has become to hard to keep up with biz travel and work obligations and I need to downsize to just a small fish only tank? Thank you for ideas. I live in Orange County, CA

 

[gregx]

Put it on E-Bay.

 

[Anonymous]

I sold my 155 on eBay and got more than I was hoping to get.
Its was a tank and stand only. I wouldn't sell livestock on eBay just because I'd want to be picky about where it went, but for drygoods eBay has always served me well.

 

[ocjerry]

How do you ship such heavy things as a big glass tank and big wood stand?

 

[Anonymous]

I listed it as "local pickup only".
It had a ton a response though, there is a bigger market for them than I thought. I don't think I would want to deal with the hassle of shipping something so big.

 

[K9coral]

Ebay or aquabid.com are both good places to list those items. Even with the "local pickup only" option you will probably get lots of responses. Just make sure to take GOOD pictures and give a very detailed description.

 

[ocjerry]

Do you think that would work with the live stock also, and did you put a reserve on the system? Did you split it into pieces selling the lights to one person, then the tank to another, the sump to a third, skimmer to a fourth and stand to anotheer?

 

[Anonymous]

I kept all of my equipment and livestock since I was just changing tanks. But I sold the tank/stand/canopy together. I didn't have a reserve price, but about 3 days into the auction I got an e-mail that said "If I give you $XXX.XX tomorrow in cash for it would you end the auction early?" and that is what I did.

A lot of people sell livestock on eBay, but I never have. You may want to try making a post in the "For Sale" forum here, and also check for a local reefclub on reefcentral.com to find local reefers who might be interested in your stuff.

 

[K9coral]

If you sell it in pieces you might make more money. Make sure you sell the livestock first!

 

[ocjerry]

Doesn't ebay prohibit you from ending the auction early because they would lose out on their fee? This is all great information by the way. Thank you.

 

[Anonymous]

No, ebay still gets a listing fee when you make an auction, they just don't get the closing fee. They provide it as an option, you can click something like "end auction, reason: product no longer available". I'd guess that they are ok with it since they let you do that.

I did mention in my auction that "product is listed locally, and seller reserves the right to end this auction early". So I didn't catch anyone by surprise (and that disclaimer is probably what prompted the guy to make me an offer outside of eBay).

 

[K9coral]

Ebay does prohibit it and if you get caught you may be kicked off of Ebay.
But Pitpat is right, they have options to end the auction for several different reasons and....they wont catch you :lol:

Here is a little something from Ebay... http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/rfe ... -sale.html

Offers to Buy or Sell Outside of eBay


eBay prohibits email offers to buy or sell listed items outside of the eBay Web site. Offers of this nature circumvent eBay's fee structure and are a potential fraud risk for both buyers and sellers.

Some examples of outside of eBay offers include:

Using information obtained through eBay to offer to buy or sell a listed item outside of eBay.
Canceling a listing to sell to a buyer who became aware of the item through eBay.
Ending a listing early to sell the item at a higher price to the winning bidder.
Offering to sell an item to a bidder in a Reserve Not Met listing.
Offering to sell duplicate or additional merchandise to underbidders.
It is acceptable for sellers to end a listing early in order to sell an item at the current bid price to the high bidder. Bidders are permitted to contact sellers with requests to end a listing early; however, sellers are under no obligation to do so.

Although outside of eBay offers are not permitted, sellers may be able to sell items to underbidders by sending a Second Chance Offer.

 

[Anonymous]

I bet you LFS might sell it on consignment for you. He may even buy it out right. I've gotten rid of alot of stuff this way.

Louey

 

[Anonymous]

Craigslist, or local clubs, sell locally, don't bother shipping unless its small items.

 

[Anonymous]

Ebay does prohibit it and if you get caught you may be kicked off of Ebay.
But Pitpat is right, they have options to end the auction for several different reasons and....they wont catch you :lol:

I actually didn't have any idea that they had a policy against it. I just saw an "end auction now" button and assumed that it did what it said. Good to know.

 

[K9coral]

I have sold a lot of livestock on Ebay (in the past) and I found out that they have lots of rules!!! They are there to help Ebay make more money but at the same time some of them do help protect buyer and seller.

 

[gatorracer]

It is not as hard to ship as most of you think. My wife sells a lot of stuff on e-bay and we live in South Dakota. Not a lot of local pickups obviously. I am sure you have a UPS store within driving distance. You type in the shipping area - Local pickup preffered- will ship UPS at your cost. All you have to do is drop off the stuff at UPS and they will box and ship it for you. Sure there will be extra costs for shipping but I wouldn't rule out a potential sale because you didn't even try.

But from looking on e-bay alot I do see alot of local pickups and they usually sell, so I might be barking up the wrong tree.

 

[Ben1]

Not to mention that other board here but the RC selling forums are very quick you could probably sell it in a few days there and get what you ask.

 

[ocjerry]

What is the other board where people can list items.

 

[K9coral]

www.aquabid.com


There are no listing fees and only voluntarily paid fees for auctions with a price of over $30.