Firstly, let me say welcome to world of free markets. Ebay and the other online auction sites are the best way to do this. I've been an active Ebayer for several years now and it's a great hobby and way to make some extra cash on the side and get rid of stuff that you may have sitting around the house that you're not using.
Next you want to ask the question if Ebay is the best way to sell you item. You have a couple of choices here, you can list it on Craig's list or Ebay or any of a variety of other on line auctions. The big difference between Craig's list and any of the on line auctions is that on Craig's list you will really only reach the people in your general geographic area. So if you are in the Tampa area a Craig's your listing will reach maybe 2 million people more or less. If you run a listing on Ebay you will reach everyone who has a computer and access to the web, so roughly around 300 million people just in the U.S. plus a lot of other people all over the world. Well now that's a much greater market size.
The next question you might want to ask is if the item will sell better on Ebay or on Craig's list. For instance if you are selling a five foot tall chest of drawers that weighs 150 pounds, then the shipping costs will probably cost more than the item so then again your back to your general geographic area. However, you might think about listing a five foot tall chest of drawers and listing it just for local pickup. Then for the small cost of about a dollar you will still probably get a wider audience than if you just listed on Craig's list alone.
My general rule of thumb is that if the shipping cost is more than $50.00 it will probably be better to sell it on Craig's List, if the shipping costs will be less than $50.00 then Ebay will be better.
Also, you can get shipping quotes from UPS's on line site to get an idea of what shipping costs will be.
That's it for lesson one.
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