THIS PART IS INTENDED TO HELP YOU SELL WHAT YOU HAVE AND PRICE IT ACCORDINGLY. THE AIM IS TO GIVE A TRUTHFUL, ACCURATE AND INFORMATIVE DESCRIPTION THAT TELLS BUYERS ALL THE ESSENTIAL FACTS.

If you look at the PARTS ONE AND TWO, you will see the 'blurb' that buyers are warned about and what you may be asked. Using this PART, you will be able to prepare a worthwhile listing  to cut down the number of questions that people may ask (your time saved) and preserve your feedback by avoiding red and grey marks.

This PART is divided into sections depending on the quality of telescope you are selling, just to get you started on your listing, and that is all. There will be things not included here that only you will know and you may wish to include them.

1. TOP QUALITY

These include all the 'big manufacturers' like Skywatcher, Meade, Celestron, Vixen, Tele-Vue, Astro-Physics and similar. The manufacturer's name should say it all and the only thing you need to highlight is its aperture, brief technical specification (or a link to a review or other informative website), age and condition plus which accessories you are selling with it and its mounting. Please bear in mind that the type of buyer is likely to be quite knowledgable and is probably upgrading from, say, his or her 8 inch to your 12 inch.

 2. THE LISTING PRICE

The only thing that may give you concern is how much to list it for.

Have a look at Sky & Telescope or Astronomy  in the Classified advertisements to get some idea of the prices for what is being sold. Back this up with a phone call to a dealer in used scopes saying you have one to sell and how much he would give you for it. Then add around 40% by multiplying his price by 140 and dividing by 100. The easiest way to get some sort of price is to dial up your scope on ebay, click completed listings and see what those sold for. Thing is, if there was no reserve, because a 14 inch Meade sold for, say, 99 cents, does not tell you anything because the level of bidding depends on the number of people actually bidding.

If your scope is not a 'top quality' one, the listing price could be a problem.

One way around that is to get some idea by performing a star rating on your own scope and then go to the PART on pricing and settle on a price for it.

That sort of indication is better than nothing. Alternatively, start it off at 0.99 cents or pence and then let it find its own level.

If you start the bidding at 0.99 in any currency, you may wish to put a reserve in the listing. Rather than keep people guessing, why not disclose the reserve price in the body of the description? That shows if the reserve is 450.00, there is no point in bidders going from 0.99 to 1.20 then 1.40 and so on.

3. AVERAGE QUALITY SCOPES

State the makers name or say it is un-named. Then list its specifications:

a.    Refractor (lens up front) or reflector (mirror at the tube bottom),

b.    Clear diameter of the lens or mirror,

c.    Focal length (from the handbook or a website),

d.    Stop number (see PART ONE) denoted by f/ ,

e.    Strehl Ratio if you have the information,

f .    Whether the mirror in the relecting scope is spherical or parabolic as well as its thickness ratio,

g.    The mirror accuracy or if it is diffraction limited (parabolic mirrors only),

h.    What diameter eyepiece the focuser takes,

i.     Whether a cross-hair finder is fitted and its aperture and power (mgnification). If not a finder, whether a red-spot locator is fitted,

j.     State the reason for scrathes or marks on the tube (usually caused by rotating the tube in its holder),

k.    State if the tube is dented or split and how that happened,

l.     If eyepieces are included, what types are these and their focal lengths in millimetres, usually stamped on the eyepiece barrel,

m.   If the mounting is an alt-az or an equatorial. If an equatorial, which counterweights are included,

n.    Does the mounting fit to a pier (usual for some Helios reflectors) or is a tripod part of what you are selling. If a tripod, state the diameter of the bottom leg, how many sections and its total height. If the legs are braced together around one-third of the way up from the ground, say so. Usually, the bracing is an accessory tray,

o.    Give a truthful description of its overall condition.

4. LESSER SCOPES

You should not worry that the scope you are selling is a toy or something that does not cost a lot new. As long as you describe it well using as many factors set out in the third section above, all should be well.

5. EVERYONE WILL BE INCLINED TO IGNORE THESE KINDS OF LISTINGS

I'm selling this telescope for a friend who don’t have no pc and there isn't a photo because he ain't got no digital camera but if you email me I'll see what can be done because I can go to my mum's place and see if my younger brother will lend me his but he now is on holiday so you’ll have to wait until he comes back from sunning himself in majorca.

Comment: Sorry about you photographic difficulties but what sort of telescope is it? A couple of full stops wouldn’t hurt and avoid double negatives. 0 out of 10 - must try harder.

Just as bad:

"Nice telescope. Works well. E-mail me for photo"

Comment: Ebay does not charge according to the number of words.

6. BE PREPARED TO ANSWER A LOT OF QUESTION ON THESE LISTINGS

Here we have a telescope hardly used still with its box. It is a lens type and you can see a lot of stars and lovely displays of the moon. It fixes to the tripod and the holder doubles as a pan and tilt photographic device for your camera.

Comment: What is the size of the lens? What is the focal length? Is the eyepiece removable or fixed? How old is the scope and does it have a maker's name? (who is the ‘we’?)

Nice reflecting telescope with a mirror 114 mm across in a gunmetal tube made by the Shmutaco Corporation for military use. It has a thick legged wooden tripod and the telescope itself sits on a heavy thing that moves it. Sorry because I don't know how to describe it but you can see it in the photo. It has a turret eyepiece holder that takes three eyepieces. Rotating the turret changes the eyepiece you look through. There is no reserve and I have started the bidding at £10. Posting will be expensive because of the weight and personal collection is preferred.

Comment: A bit better than the other two. Which size eyepieces does it take and how many are included? If not known measure the diameter of the eyepiece with a rule. Because of its age (wooden tripod and military use), will the mirror require re-silvering? The seller can easily look down the tube and see if the mirror is bright or dull. Is the mirror parabolic or spherical and of what focal length? The seller will not be able to distinguish a spherical from a parabolic mirror just by looking but for the focal length, if focal length is not know, measure the length of the tube and subtract  four inches (about 100 mm). Probably a collector's item, especially if from the 1914-1918 War. I know what the bidding is and that there is no reserve because that we can all get from the listing.

7. LISTINGS THAT BUYERS LIKE

Offered for sale is an undamaged, well cared for, Optisimplex Inc manufactured refracting telescope on an equatorial head (about equivalent to a Skywatcher EQ3) on a sturdy two-section tripod braced with an accessory tray that accepts six eyepieces. The tripod is thick-walled aluminium and the diameter of each top leg is 2 inches (at its top) and 1 7/8 inches (at its bottom) giving wall thickness as 1/8 inch.

Although the mounting does not have a polar shaft telescope fitted, attached by a bracket and two bolts is a polar finder telescope with the proper eyepiece (concentric circles engraved) made for me by Andromeda Optical Company of Northamptonshire. The mounting itself is electrically driven (12 volts DC) and will track without any hand paddle (there is none) for about 17 minutes without being corrected.

Specifications are from the booklet being: Lens diameter 105 mm, focal length 755 mm, Lens is a bloomed air spaced doublet fully corrected.  Included in the sale are 3 Orthoscopic eyepieces of focal length 32 mm, 20mm and 12 mm. Also included is a x2 Barlow lens manufactured by Acronym Ltd of Penzance.

Included with the photographs of the equipment are photographs taken with the telescope of some craters of the Moon, the Crab Nebula and a star field in Orion.

Please note that not included in this listing is any star diagonal but if the buyer wishes to purchase my Memomax diagonal separately, that will be at an extra £55 without increasing postage costs.

My reserve price is £120.00.

I purchased this telescope new and have used it regularly for 3 years but am now upgrading.

I accept no responsibility for this equipment once it comes into the hands of Royal Mail.

Comment: What more can one want apart from if there is a finder or 'red spot' and what about fine controls on the mounting? This guy has loved using it. It was made to be used and not continually fixed with a tool kit. It is probably quite heavy so be careful of postage costs.

What sort of seller is this? Is he a guy that is impressed by 650 magnifications with a fairly small scope or can he be trusted to give a proper account of his item?

Firstly, he has done some astrophotography, so he knows how to handle a telescope and knows its limitations. Secondly, his 'strongest' eyepiece (12mm) gives a magnification of 63 and with the Barlow, 125. The main lens is 4.1 inches and the maximum practical magnification it will take is 4.1 x 30 = 123. Taking a view, this seller knows what he is doing and if he has a 100% Ebay rating, should be given the benefit of any doubt as to trust.

That is from a buyer's viewpoint but that point of view is the mirror image of the seller's viewpoint.

 FINALLY

Put yourself in the position of a buyer. What would you want to know about the whole package before bidding even 99 pence?

Buying and selling are opposite sides of the same coin. If you have never sold a telescope or used one seriously, do yourself a favour and go through my buying guides to get yourself clued up. That way, you should be able to write a convincing listing and be able to answer the odd question if your listing is well written.

Remember that buyers have only your words to go on and if they do not visit you to inspect before end of auction, they are never going to hold the thing in their hands as they would do in a shop. That means if a buyer has narrowed his or her choice to two or three scopes in the price range, the well-written listing is most likely to make the sale.

IF YOU HAVE READ ALL TWELVE GUIDES AND GOT THIS FAR, ARE YOU AS WORN OUT AS I WAS WHEN I WROTE THEM? NEVERTHELESS, CONGRATULATIONS WHICH DOESN'T MEAN MUCH IF YOU NOW GO TO THE LISTINGS AND ANNOUNCE "THAT LOOKS GREAT, I'M GONNA BUY IT"