Topic: Want to sell your StarCarft beta key?

[Pugnate]

Not sure how long the gold rush will last, but this is insane:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A2735&_nkw=starcraft+beta&_sticky=1&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_sop=16&_sc=1

[iPPi]

Shit I should sell my second one.

[PyroMenace]

If I had one, I'd sell it in a heartbeat.

[Pugnate]

Sell it iPPi. Just put it on auction for 3 days and see where it goes.

edit:

Just looking at that makes me realize what a mega event the release of this game will be.

[ren]

Holy crap. If I had one, I would sell it without hesitation. If you have a second one, just sell it. Free money.

[iPPi]

Alright all set up for sale. Hopefully it goes well.  It's my first time selling (and buying) on ebay so I had to set up and account and paypal account and all that stuff. 

[PyroMenace]

Give the link, I want to see how high I goes.

[iPPi]

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320491508607

[Pugnate]

As someone who has two 5 year old stores on eBay (one is ebay.com the other on ebay.co.uk), I have some advise.

1 -- The first advise is a bit of a gamble, but I would end the auction and start again setting the starting bid to zero. You have a limited product in huge demand, so there is no reason it shouldn't go to $50 in a couple of days with about 5 bids. And once your item has a lot of bids, two things happen:

A) People go insane when they see something with a lot of bids. It is like free marketing.

B) eBay puts items with no reserve and a starting amount of 0.99 and a lot of bids on top on the best match results.

Like I said it is a bit of a gamble, but you know what, you can end the auction in 2 days and cancel all the bids if it is still stuck at 10 dollars or something. But that won't happen.

2 -- I see you listed on eBay.ca rather than eBay.com. I am not sure if you did that yourself or they did that for you automatically. Listing on a regional website may get you more exposure in a certain country, but listing on eBay.com will get you more exposure worldwide. When it comes to an auction you want to list worldwide to get maximum bids to get the buzz rolling.

[Pugnate]

If you choose to start again, here is a bit more advise..

List an auction at a time when your target audience is likely to be around their computers and it isn't 4 in the morning:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/

What I mean is you concentrate on the time zones in the US.

BTW, I think you did a good job otherwise. Your auction title basically replicated those meeting the most success (which is important for keyword searches), and the description is simple and to the point.

I must warn you that if you get an asshole buyer and even if he receives your item, he can get a full paypal refund upon a claim if you can't prove the item was delivered.

Listing an item with free shipping allows it to be placed higher in best match results, but if your item goes to +$100, I'd eat the extra shipping cost and ship with registered post. It is worth the investment.

I like that you said you could provide the code via e-mail upon request. Good.

edit:

The only reason I made a mention of time, is that you want the auction to be ending at an hour where your target market is at their computers. I regularly have auctions treble in price in the space of the final hour.

[scottws]

People are stupid.

[iPPi]

I've received a couple questions regarding my item already, but no bids.  So there definitely appears to be interest.

Thanks for the advice Pug.  I'll repost the auction once this one runs out if it doesn't sell for a reasonable price.

[iPPi]

The bids have started and the price has gone up dramatically. 

[Pugnate]

haha holy shit... well you can easily afford that shipping with tracking considering the package dimensions/weight.

Who the hell are these people who want to play four to five times the price of a new game for a beta? Competitive players who want an upper hand?

edit:

Should mention they started a new rule on eBay six months ago. Sellers who have ratings of less than 100 will have any payments they receive blocked four 21 days unless postive feedback is received first. If it isn't, payment is automatically unlocked in 21 days.

Not sure if the rule is still active but thought I'd mention it.

[iPPi]

Well like 6 or 7 bids were from the same person over a short period of time.  That bidder also has no feedback as well.  I've looked through the receiving payments policy on Paypal and there was no mention of payments being blocked based on ratings and feedback.

[Pugnate]

http://www.google.com.pk/search?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&hl=en&source=hp&q=paypal+21+day+hold&meta=&btnG=Google+Search

[Pugnate]

Policy for payment holds for eBay items
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What is a payment hold for eBay items?
It is a hold that PayPal places on a payment you receive for an item you sold on eBay. The amounts held will be shown as "Pending" in your PayPal account. You still have access to all other funds in your PayPal account.

Why are my payments being held?
Payment holds for eBay items are an effort to increase marketplace safety. We hold payments when we suspect a transaction may be risky. Here are the most common instances in which an eBay item payment may be held:


You have been an eBay member for less than 6 months, and you sell an item for more than $100
You have an eBay feedback score of less than 100, and you sell an item for more than $100
You have a buyer dissatisfaction percentage* greater than 5%
You have an average DSR of less than 4.5
You have received fewer than 20 Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 12 months
You are listing your item in a high-risk category such as gift certificates, video games, cell phones, computers, or consumer electronics.

When will PayPal release the hold?
Your funds will be released when one of the following occurs:


The buyer leaves you positive feedback
3 days pass after proof the item was delivered**
21 days pass without a dispute, claim, chargeback, or reversal filed on the transaction

We may hold the funds longer if your buyer files a dispute, claim, chargeback, reversal or has otherwise taken action to dispute the transaction.

Learn more about the PayPal policy for payment holds for eBay items.

* Buyer dissatisfaction percentage is measured by adding negative events as a percentage of your transactions. Negative events include negative & neutral Feedback, Detailed Seller Ratings scores of 2 or less, and Item Not Received or Significantly Not As Described disputes.

** This applies to US domestic transactions that are shipped by USPS, FedEx, or UPS and either (i) use PayPal shipping labels to ship items or (ii) upload tracking information to PayPal via the transaction details page. If a payment is being held, it will be shown as "Pending" in your PayPal account until it is released.

edit:

more here...

http://thebrewsnews.com/2008/11/15/the-keys-to-surviving-the-paypal-21-day-hold-policy/

[iPPi]

Thanks for that information.  There were reasons why I didn't participate in the ebay selling and buying because I thought there were a lot of hoops to go through.  Clearly, it is indeed true.  Hopefully everything goes through without a hitch. 

[Pugnate]

Actually it is pretty seamless. Even though I had two stores with great reps., for the some reason, I, like every other seller -- old or new -- had to go through that. It is why I recommend you pay for the shipping tracking info. The moment you ship, you can add the info to the paypal transaction page. You should have access to your money very quickly.

[angrykeebler]

Are people paying for the key or the polar bear mount

[iPPi]

Are people paying for the key or the polar bear mount

I'm not sure actually.  Based on questions I've been getting it appears that the interest is primarily on the Starcraft 2 beta key.  I know when Blizzcon 2008 first ended these cards were going for about $100-200.  We'll see what happens.

[gpw11]

I'm surprised people are willing to risk paying ~$200 to a complete stranger with no feedback.

[Quemaqua]

Not so surprising with this kind of thing.  It's a one-off kind of item that someone might logically make an account just to sell.

[Pugnate]

Yea like Que says, it isn't surprising because it is logical.

People will buy something risky, if the seller has a good story. For example when I was looking for an Alienware laptop, I saw a seller who was selling something that looked almost new and his story was that he had bought the laptop to play games but because of a lack of time he was selling his barely used laptop.

That was fine, except he had 800+ feedback. So I checked and noticed he was selling three other alienware laptops with he same story.

How stupid can you be?

[iPPi]

The bid was over $300 but the dude said he won another code and wanted me to cancel his bid.  It's back down to $150.  With less than 24 hours I'm hoping it will hit the 300s again before the time runs out.

I too am somewhat surprised that people are willing to bid on something this risky considering my lack of feedback.  Though I am legitimate, it is hard to prove it over the internet, especially with scams so rampant regarding Blizzard games.

[Pugnate]

This trust has happened because of eBay's new policies. Most new sellers can't touch payments for 21 days, sellers can't leave you negatives, there are buyer protection policies in place... etc.

[gpw11]

The bid was over $300 but the dude said he won another code and wanted me to cancel his bid.  It's back down to $150.  With less than 24 hours I'm hoping it will hit the 300s again before the time runs out.

I too am somewhat surprised that people are willing to bid on something this risky considering my lack of feedback.  Though I am legitimate, it is hard to prove it over the internet, especially with scams so rampant regarding Blizzard games.

I imagine the bids on these kinds of things really go up over the last hour or so.

[scottws]

The bid was over $300 but the dude said he won another code and wanted me to cancel his bid.  It's back down to $150.  With less than 24 hours I'm hoping it will hit the 300s again before the time runs out.

I too am somewhat surprised that people are willing to bid on something this risky considering my lack of feedback.  Though I am legitimate, it is hard to prove it over the internet, especially with scams so rampant regarding Blizzard games.

I am less surprised that people are bidding on this item due to your rating than I am that people are bidding this much on something so stupid.

[iPPi]

2.5 hours remaining and it's at $301. 

[iPPi]

Sold for $301 USD.

[Pugnate]

Congrats!

Good luck with a smooth transaction!

[Schlotzky5]

Congrats.

When did they give them out?

[iPPi]

The Starcraft 2 beta started last week.  The card I am selling, which has an invite to the beta as well as an in-game item for World of Warcraft was given out at Blizzcon 2008 (August or October 2008, don't remember when I went).

[Quemaqua]

Wow, pretty nice, man.