Echoing Felicity's comment really.
Congratulations on your results, and thank you for taking the trouble to keep updating us.
I may well try eBay for a gap I've got. My only concern is not being able to "vet" the guest in any way.
Ebay holiday lets - my experiences
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An ongoing update re selling on ebay that i thought worth sharing with others who may be interested.
Firstly - the two houses I rent are abnormal so bear this in mind (one can only be reached by boat, and the other cannot be reached by car and requires guests to walk down a steep hill - carrying luggage and food etc) so not your typical rentals.but the lessons may apply to others if treated as general learnings.
1 - trying to rent months (e.g Jan - March) when few want to go to remote parts of Scotland even if cheap is pretty pointless - even if price is low. So only really an option if trying to back fill weeks at a few weeks/months notice.
2 - For odd weeks where there are no rentals in summer or slightly off peak it is a reasonable option - I start the bidding at £400 for a £650 rental - and this has been successful.
3 - The level of repeat purchase the following year at full price has been OK.
4 - No tremendous difference to customers who have paid the full £ via other outlets, and ebayers no negative issues to date re purchasers.
5 - Try to persuade people to pay via normal routes and not pay pal as commission is high via pay pal.
so in summary - if it it a first year or early days of renting your house, and you have a few weeks spare and they are fast approaching and take the "opportunity cost" approach of better some £s from a rented house than empty weeks it is a route worth exploring. If no bids it has cost nothing apart from your time.
Totally understand that you will never know if you might get a booking at late notice at full price - and that is the dilemma - but in my opinion a bird in the hand is worth twice as much as a bird in the bush.
My rental houses are not mainstream and that may distort things but as a first year rental with a new house and ebay I have achieved a total rental of 37 weeks - although the four ebay weeks are at a discount - I personally think it is an approach worth a try.
Peter
Firstly - the two houses I rent are abnormal so bear this in mind (one can only be reached by boat, and the other cannot be reached by car and requires guests to walk down a steep hill - carrying luggage and food etc) so not your typical rentals.but the lessons may apply to others if treated as general learnings.
1 - trying to rent months (e.g Jan - March) when few want to go to remote parts of Scotland even if cheap is pretty pointless - even if price is low. So only really an option if trying to back fill weeks at a few weeks/months notice.
2 - For odd weeks where there are no rentals in summer or slightly off peak it is a reasonable option - I start the bidding at £400 for a £650 rental - and this has been successful.
3 - The level of repeat purchase the following year at full price has been OK.
4 - No tremendous difference to customers who have paid the full £ via other outlets, and ebayers no negative issues to date re purchasers.
5 - Try to persuade people to pay via normal routes and not pay pal as commission is high via pay pal.
so in summary - if it it a first year or early days of renting your house, and you have a few weeks spare and they are fast approaching and take the "opportunity cost" approach of better some £s from a rented house than empty weeks it is a route worth exploring. If no bids it has cost nothing apart from your time.
Totally understand that you will never know if you might get a booking at late notice at full price - and that is the dilemma - but in my opinion a bird in the hand is worth twice as much as a bird in the bush.
My rental houses are not mainstream and that may distort things but as a first year rental with a new house and ebay I have achieved a total rental of 37 weeks - although the four ebay weeks are at a discount - I personally think it is an approach worth a try.
Peter