Whether you are trying to make money or just trying to clear out space in your living room, eBay is a simple and effective way to sell old video games and video game accessories. While selling games on eBay may be easy, it isn’t without its pitfalls. The following tips will help you avoid common mistakes and maximize your earnings.
Title – If you do a search by category on eBay you will find nearly a million entries in the video games category. Due to the huge number of video games and accessories that exist, this isn’t quite as daunting as it seems, but even obscure ones like Time Lord for the NES have almost a hundred entries. Because of the competition, it is critical that you choose your title well. Make sure your title includes the exact name of the game you are selling and system it is for, either in parentheses or after a dash. If selling a lot of games, make sure you include the number of games in the title and the system. If selling accessories or a console, give the precise name and again include the system if applicable. Finally, if you have room in the title, include the word “tested” if you have tested the item and know it still works.
Testing – One of the interesting things about eBay is that the game or accessory you are selling doesn’t necessarily have to work for it to sell. Many eBay buyers are interested in games, consoles, and accessories for either parts or bragging rights. A broken game might sell almost as well as a working one. If you can, you should test everything before selling them. For games, this means starting it, playing it a little, and confirming that save features still work. For consoles, this means plugging them in and making sure they turn on and run games. If a game, console, or accessory works be sure to emphasize that in your description of the product. If it doesn’t, be very clear that the auction is only valuable for parts. And if you don’t know either way, simply be honest about it.
Picture – Many old video games from all but the newest systems are available as a cheap download on newer systems. Despite this, many eBay buyers still want older ones. This might be because they only own older systems, but it is often because they want the original box and instruction manual. The best place to prove you have these items is in the picture. Don’t use stock photos. Take your own pictures and separate all the components so that every manual, disc, wire, and box is visible. Many eBay buyers are looking for specific versions and it is a lot easier to let them visually determine whether you are selling the right version than to try to figure it out yourself.
Shipping – Shipping video games can be tricky. Accessories, consoles, and older games are pretty durable, but newer ones break easily. For accessories and consoles in particular, you should try to fit them into USPS flat rate boxes. It is basically the best deal you can get in shipping for those types of items. If you have the original box you can try wrapping it tightly in brown paper bags and ship it like that, but expect the cost to be very high. Conveniently, lots of about 10-15 games tend to fit almost perfectly in a USPS flat rate medium box and buyers are more than happy to pay roughly $10 for shipping. But for single games, you will have problems. Padded envelopes are the cheapest option, but don’t protect them well. Boxes tend to be the wrong size. The best option is probably to get a much bigger padded envelope than you need and to fill it with additional padding. Finally, eBay limits the shipping cost of video games to $4 unless you use calculated shipping costs and charge the buyer the exact cost to you.
