Offering Books, CDs, and DVDs on Half.com


As if there weren't enough selling options already, eBay also owns a site called Half.com (half.ebay.com). Half.com lets anyone sell certain types of merchandise in a fixed-price format. List your items for sale, wait for someone to buy them, and then collect the money. In this respect Half.com works a lot like the Amazon Marketplacewhich belies Half.com's original intent to become an Amazon competitor.

As you can see in Figure 26.5, Half.com specializes in specific types of merchandise: books, CDs, DVDs, videotapes, video games, and game systems. Listing these items is easy; all you have to do is enter the item's UPC or ISBN codes and then describe the item's condition. eBay groups all like items together, with available sellers listed for the buyer to choose from.

Figure 26.5. A fixed-price marketplace for books, CDs, DVDs, and other media


Listing on Half.com

Unlike eBay Express, you have to explicitly list your items on Half.com; they're not automatically plucked from the eBay fixed-price listing database. To sell on Half.com, click the Sell Your Stuff link at the top of the page. When the Sell Your Items on Half.com page appears, as shown in Figure 26.6, you can click a category link for your item or enter the item's UPC, ISBN, or model number in the Quick Sell box and click the Continue button. When you've entered the appropriate identifying information, Half.com then inserts pre-filled item information from a massive product database. (It's the same database that feeds eBay's prefilled information in the same categories.)

Figure 26.6. Preparing an item for sale on Half.com.


Half.com doesn't charge any listing fees, but you do have to pay the site a commission when an item sells. Table 26.1 lists the current Half.com commission rates.

Table 26.1. Half.com Commission Rates

Selling Price

Commission

<$50.00

15%

$50.01-$100.00

12.5%

$100.01-$250.00

10%

$250.01-$500.00

7.5%

>$500.00

5%


Instead of a buyer paying you directly, Half.com collects the payment as part of the checkout process. The site sends you your payment every two weeks, typically via direct deposit to your bank account.

Shopping at Half.com

When a customer searches for a specific item on Half.com, the site returns a list of all the sellers who have that item for sale, like the one in Figure 26.7. The list is sorted into new and used items, with the used items further sorted by conditionlike new, very good, good, acceptable, and so on. To make a purchase, the customer simply clicks the Buy button.

Figure 26.7. Searching for items for sale on Half.com.


As with eBay Express, Half.com buyers can purchase items from multiple sellers and have all their purchases consolidated into a single shopping cart and checkout, as shown in Figure 26.8. The buyer makes a single payment to complete the checkout; individual sellers are then notified of their respective sales.

Figure 26.8. Items from multiple sellers end up in the same Half.com shopping cart.


Is Half.com for You?

If you sell the types of media-related items that Half.com specializes in, you should give the site a spin. Many sellers like to use Half.com for those products that have market demand but won't necessarily sell in the normal seven-day auction period. Just remember, you have to list your inventory separately for Half.comunlike with the eBay, eBay Stores, or eBay Express sites.




Making a Living from Your eBay Business
Making a Living from Your eBay Business (2nd Edition)
ISBN: 0789736462
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 208

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