How should I sell a golf club?

Hi All,

At a company golf outing I won a brand new Wilson Fybrid 3h golf club as a door prize. I looked at eBay Vero and Wilson sporting goods do not appear on the list.

To sell this club on eBay can I use stock photos or should I use my own?

Can I cut and copy the description or should I write my own?

Thanks Guys?

Dale.

Hi Dale,

Since you have the golf club in your possession, I think taking you own photos would be great compared to just using stock photos. Or you could use a combination of both.

Wilson FYbrid 3h golf clubs are a bit of a 'hot item' in fact we had a member or 2 look ask for help in searching for wholesale suppliers for this particular product. Just be sure that you have proof of the product's authenticity - you can never be too sure these days on eBay :)

With regards to your description, you can use descriptions of the product (those you see online) but rather than cutting and copying them directly to your listing, why not re-write it to give it more of a personal touch.

If you haven't read Erika's blog post on eBay listings, I think you should when you have the time. They might be of help to you. Here are the links:

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Hope this helps, all the best! :)

Yes Dale,

As Richelle has said, far better going with your own pics, gives the buyer far more confidence that you have the item in your possession, and it's not being drop shipped by a third party.

Also with the description, a link to the manufacturers site with the product specs is always a good idea, or even to some really good reviews. Save a lot of writing : )

I would also be pointing out why you are selling, I doubt it will detract from the price, but will actually show you have a genuine reason for sale, which some timid buyers like to see.

: )

@Dale,

As a former eBay employee, let me give you a word of warning -- Just because a manufacturer is not registered as an eBay VeRO member doesn't mean you can list their products for sale on eBay without restrictions (or difficulty).

There are many, many manufacturers who are not formally registered as VeRO members, but who still routinely submit VeRO claims to have eBay listings removed (you're not required to be a registered VeRO member to submit IP infringement claims on eBay).

And eBay doesn't just rely on VeRO claims to issue infringement violations. There are experts on every product sold on eBay who routinely monitor the site and remove listings that even APPEAR to be infringing (such as someone who's listing a Wilson golf club he won as a door prize but for some reason is using a stock photo - hint, hint). Whenever you have an item in your possession, you should always, always use your own photos.

In regards to stock photos, then, I strongly suggest that you don't use them in this case. Usually the only time you're completely safe in using stock photos is when you obtain them directly from eBay's stock photo catalog, your supplier's website (when you're dropshipping) or from a stock photo service (www.istockphoto.com is a personal favorite).

At eBay I witnessed dozens of cases in which a seller used stock photos he obtained from his distributor, but the manufacturer, not being aware of this arrangement and not really even caring, for that matter, still reported the seller for Image Theft and had the listings removed from eBay.

The same thing applies to your item/product description, I'm afraid. Do not under any circumstances copy and paste your description from another eBay listing or even from another website. You need to write your description yourself -- period.

The only time you can be fairly safe in copying and pasting a product description verbatim is when (just like images) you're dropshipping and you're using the product description from the dropshipper's website. Stay away from the manufacturer's website; otherwise, you're basically asking for a VeRO Text Theft violation. Again, there are eBay employees who will remove your listing for text theft even if your description just SEEMS to be a standard manufacturer's product description.

Lastly, as far as including a link to the manufacturer's website with the product specs, I would stay away from doing that (sorry, fudjj!). eBay's Links Policy is extremely strict and even if your link is going to a page that only describes your product further, if there is ANYTHING on that page (links, buttons, images, etc.) that indicates you can click on it and purchase that or any other product from the following page, it's in violation of eBay's Links Policy. The only pages to which you can be safe in linking are dead pages that don't go anywhere and also only describe the product you're selling.

As far as linking to product reviews, again, just to be safe, I would only link to eBay Reviews of that product.

I hope that helps!

"Lastly, as far as including a link to the manufacturer's website with the product specs, I would stay away from doing that (sorry, fudjj!). eBay's Links Policy is extremely strict and even if your link is going to a page that only describes your product further, if there is ANYTHING on that page (links, buttons, images, etc.) that indicates you can click on it and purchase that or any other product from the following page, it's in violation of eBay's Links Policy. The only pages to which you can be safe in linking are dead pages that don't go anywhere and also only describe the product you're selling."

Thanks for drawing my attention to above Erica, I should have clarified my advice a little better. When suggesting a link to a manufacturers website, I didn't have a store front in mind. I was thinking more of a generic site where it contains product information only, as the manufacturer only distributes via wholesale type avenues.

Now I even consider that, perhaps there could even be an issue if the site had distributor information on the site as well. As you highlight, it doesn't take much to have a listing pulled these days, so it's always better to play it safe and save any potential hassle.

Erica, fudjj, and Richelle,

Thank you for the information on how to proceed with this sale.

I went away from eBay on this one and I went and opened an account on Addoway based on the review I read here.

If you could give a quick review here is the info.( I know. I need a pic.) This account has not been open long so it is still under construction i.e. set up with Facebook and Twitter and such but it is at least active.

Ad#: 114974
Category: For Sale Categories / Sporting Goods / Golf

I picked the name Fill A Dream.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks guys.

Dale

Hi Dale, has it sold already lol, couldn't find it there at all. If you do still have it, just post a link, could just be that I'm going blind :(

Hi Dale, has it sold already lol, couldn't find it there at all. If you do still have it, just post a link, could just be that I'm going blind :(

Hi Marc.

No the club has not sold yet. It is still posted there. I had to hunt it down through the Catagorys.

I wrote to Fred (co founder of Addoway) and I told him about the problems of not finding the club and I am waiting for a reply from him about fixing the bugs. The only way I found it was Catagory, Sporting Goods, Golf.

To my knowledge it is the only Wilson Fybrid Hybrid 3h Club on the site.

Thanks Marc.

Dale.

Hi Marc.
Fred from Addoway sent me an email and the search tool is now up and active. I searched for the club from a remote computer. Wilson Fybrid Hybrid 3h. It showed up.

Thanks.

Dale.

K, had no problems finding it at all that time, but something was very wrong last night as I did actually search through the cats to get to golf, and I can assure you that it either wan't there at all, or I was blind at the time lol

Now I do a cat search and there she is, page one right at the top. I would keep my eye on that if I were you mate, they have some development issues going on there for sure.

Dale,

I think it's great that you posted your golf club on Addoway. I think Addoway has great potential (I was the one who wrote the recent review of Addoway posted on Salehoo), but I wouldn't recommend putting all your eggs in one basket, so to speak.

I strongly suggest that you also list the golf club on eBay, and perhaps a few other similar ecommerce sites, such as Bonanzle, Amazon, Atomic Mall, etc.

Although I'm impressed with Addoway so far, I haven't sold one thing on there yet, while my items sell every day on eBay.