eBay Seller’s Tips and Secrets

Tip #1: Accept many different forms of payment!

Accepting many different forms of payment is highly recommended, because a wider range of buyers will be able to pay for your auction, thus giving you more potential bidders. When you sign up with eBay, be sure to sign up for Billpoint as well. Billpoint (sometimes referred to as “eBay Payments”) allows buyers to pay instantly with their credit cards as soon as they win an auction. Signing up for Billpoint is a must, because many buyers do not want to deal with the hassle of sending checks. Billpoint takes a small fee, but it’s worth it to be able to accept credit cards. Another instant, online payment option is PayPal, which works like an online bank account. PayPal has millions of users, and is also highly recommended. Sign up for PayPal here (a new window will open). For payments done by check, make sure to wait for the check to clear before shipping the item. It happens often: the buyer pays by check, the seller sends the item, and then the check bounces. Your customers will be annoyed, but you MUST wait for their checks to clear before you send them their item. Encouraging your customers to pay by money order can prevent this hassle. Also, I recommend against accepting cash. A cash transaction leaves no electronic record of its occurrence, and this can cause problems with SafeHarbor (eBay’s section for dealing with scammers) if a dispute between you and the buyer arises.

 

Tip #2: Choose your auction’s title carefully!

Don’t use excessive unnecessary adjectives in your auction’s title. If a person wants to buy a small blue vase, they are going to do a search for “small blue vase”. Use adjectives like wow, cool, great, and awesome sparingly, because people don’t do searches that include these words, and they will not do a lot to draw attention to your auction. Describe your item as best you can in your title, but don’t waste space with unnecessary words. You can draw attention to your auction by typing the title in ALL CAPS (but don’t type your description in all caps, because it annoys people). If you are willing to pay extra, you can also choose to have your auction highlighted or printed in bold letters.

 

Tip #3: Use item descriptions effectively!

Always be honest in your item descriptions. If the item has any minor damage, tell people about it. Your auction may finish a few dollars less, but it’s not worth getting a negative feedback. Describe your item in as much detail as possible. Always include a picture, several if necessary. Try to take the picture of YOUR ACTUAL ITEM, don’t just grab a picture off a company web site. Bidders feel more comfortable if they can actually see the real item they are actually going to receive. A digital camera or a traditional film camera plus scanner can be used for this. Learn HTML, which is the language used for web pages as well as eBay item descriptions. Click here to look for a guide on HTML. Using HTML effectively will make your descriptions look much more professional and pleasing to the eye. Also, be sure to complete your description with how much shipping will cost, as well as your return policy. Decide if you want to accept returns before you post any auctions. Accepting returns can cause you to waste a lot of time and lose some money on shipping charges, but not accepting returns can cause you to get some negative feedback. I personally accept returns, because negative feedback must be avoided, but other top sellers disagree, and choose not to accept returns. It’s really up to you.

 

Tip #4: Choose the time of day you place your auctions carefully

Most bids on any single item will take place during the last few hours of the auctions. This is because, as auctions move closer to finishing, they automatically move closer to the top of the list when people do a search. No matter how many days you choose to run your auction, it will always end at the exact same time of day that you placed it. Choose the time of day you place your auctions carefully. If your auction is going to end on a Tuesday, DO NOT place it at 10:30 AM, because everyone will be at work, and no one will be bidding! Likewise, it is not a good idea to have auctions end on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evenings, because many potential bidders will be out eating dinner at a restaurant, partying, seeing a movie, etc. Good times to end auctions are weekday evenings (After 10 o’clock or so, when dinner is done, the kids are in bed, and people have time to use the computer). Other good ending times are weekend afternoons, but not too close to dinnertime. Of course, time zones differ across the country, so when it’s 10 PM in New York, it’s only 7 PM in California. Keep this in mind and post your auctions accordingly.

Tip #5: Use the “Buy It Now!” feature with ALL your auctions!

Often times, shoppers on eBay dislike having to compete for an item. With “Buy It Now”, there is no competition between buyers: the first one to see your item and be willing to pay the “Buy It Now” cost, wins the item. Most auctions receive the highest volume of bidding in the last few hours. Because of this, many potential buyers who stumble upon your auction when it still has many hours or days left to run will not even bother to bid, because they may not be available at the time the auction will end, when they need to be ready to place a higher bid if they are outbid. Set your auction’s “Buy It Now” price to whatever you truly believe the item is worth, plus a little extra. There is a small fee of 5 cents for adding a “Buy It Now” price to your auction, but it’s definitely worth it, the extra profit you will make from using it will be far greater than the tiny fee. (Note: You need a feedback rating of at least 10 to post auctions which use the “Buy It Now” feature).

Tip #6: Do NOT use a “Reserve Price”!

Many people, myself included, will not usually bid on “Reserve Price” auctions. Some information on Reserve Prices, from the eBay help guide:

The reserve price is the lowest price a seller is willing to sell an item for. This amount is generally higher than the minimum bid. In order to win the auction, a bidder must meet or exceed the reserve price and have the highest bid. If a bidder’s maximum bid meets or exceeds the reserve, the bid will be automatically raised to meet the reserve. If no bidders meet the reserve price, neither the seller nor the high bidder are under any further obligation to complete the transaction.

The reserve price is used to draw attention to your auction by having the minimum bid very small compared to the value of the item, but having the reserve price in place as “insurance”. The reason people hate Reserve Price Auctions is that no buyer knows how much he/she will need to bid to even have a chance of winning the item. The bidder has to beat TWO opponents: the reserve price, and the other bidders. Many people just wont bother and click the “Back” button.

Tip #7: Don’t set your minimum bid too low!

This happens a lot: a seller will set the minimum bid price of their auction at $0.01, thinking that, by the time the auction is finished, enough bidding will have happened to bring the price of the item up to it’s real value. This is a common misconception. You don’t know how many times I’ve seen an item end at six cents or so, when it was worth 10 dollars or more. This often happens when the seller makes some other kind of mistake as well, such as ending the auction at a bad time, not choosing a correct title, or another mistake which would cause the item to be noticed less than what it should be.

Tip #8: Avoid negative feedback AT ALL COSTS!

Well, you put up an auction, sold an item, but now you realize that you lost the item that you want to sell, the item is broken, or something else happened that the buyer will NOT be happy about. What do you do? The answer is, whatever the buyer wants. Refund all money, including any applicable shipping charges. To compensate the buyer “for your wasted time”, I add an extra 10% to the refund. Honor any other special requests from the buyer, and ask if you could be given no feedback. Make sure to give the buyer positive feedback as well, because YOU screwed up, its not the buyer’s fault. The whole idea is, if you mess up, do whatever is necessary to avoid getting negative feedback. There will always be jerks who leave you bad feedback for no reason, and there’s nothing you can do to prevent that. NEGATIVE FEEDBACK KILLS. You could have 100 positive feedbacks and just 2 negative feedbacks, and buyers would still think twice before bidding on your auctions, because people tend to notice the bad things in your feedback profile, not the good things. Another way to avoid negative feedback is to never leave any yourself. If you’re a buyer, and a seller tricks you or otherwise rips you off, don’t leave any feedback at all. If you leave negative feedback, then he will definitely give you some back. If you leave positive feedback, his feedback profile is intact and there is no risk in him leaving some bad feedback for you. The same thing goes with neutral feedbacks. If you get scammed, just don’t leave any feedback. Report the cheater to Safeharbor, try to get your money back thru eBay or credit card refunds, but leave the feedback alone. If you don’t give him any, he will think twice about leaving you some, because then you will give him some back. It’s ugly, but thats how it works.

Tip #9: Know the deal with shipping!

Always tell your customers the shipping charges in your item description. Because customers lives in different areas of the country, you should be prepared to charge them the maximum amount for shipping that could possibly be needed to send the item anywhere in the lower 48 states. For example, if you live in Boston, and the cost for shipping your item from Boston to Los Angeles is $8, then set the shipping charges at $8. Your customers will probably end up overpaying a little bit on shipping, but you really need to give the shipping charges up front. This is because many dishonest sellers make money on shipping, they sell items for very low prices but then charge the customer $40+ for shipping, sometimes not even revealing this in their item descriptions, sometimes hiding it in tiny print near the bottom. These sellers often end up with a lot of negative feedback. Keep your shipping charges reasonable, and state them up front at a fixed price. Also, be sure to package your item carefully, many sellers have received negative feedback because their item was damaged during shipping. Bubble wrap can be bought in bulk for low prices on eBay, it’s a good idea to buy a roll or two.

Tip #10: Be polite and prompt!

This is possibly the most important tip. Be polite with your customers, always thank them after they pay, and ship them their item as soon as possible. After the transaction completes successfully, be sure to leave positive feedback. This shows professionalism and courtesy. Don’t expect to have many repeat customers if you’re rude, slow, and unprofessional!

eBay Selling Tips

Payment options are very important. Offer as many as possible to attract a wide range of bidders. Use paypal or billpoint to accept credit cards and you’ll be opening your product up to many more customers. Why not take personal checks but agree to send only to the address on the check?

Shipping Terms should be clearly stated to avoid problems later. Also, don’t try to make a tremendous amount of money on this or you may end up with negative feedback once the buyer finds out. Be fair!

Return Policies should be clearly stated as well to avoid future complications. Wouldn’t you rather be working on your next sale, over spending time dealing with one from the past??

eBay Selling Tip #2

Accurate Descriptions are a must. You want every buyer to get exactly what they expect when they made that bid. Your feedback is your lively hood, your customer’s comments can make or break you. Offer the chance to get a wonderful deal on slightly damaged goods, if that is what you have to sell. You may get less money, but you’ll also get the positive feedback from a buyer that got what they bid on.

A Picture’s Worth a thousand bids. If your item is high ticket you have to have top quality photos. Also, make sure that you specify if you are using photos that are not pictures of the actual item for sale.

Sell ‘em Words. Think about what sold the original owner on the item when writing your description. Or, try reading the manufacturer’s pitch to get ideas on how to sell your item with words.

eBay Selling Tip #3

Like James Bond… be a double agent well sort of, start selling with a few different ID’s, maybe 2-3. This is excellent practice to avoid being crushed by a few negative feedbacks. If you are selling an item that is prone to negative feedback(if you must) stay away from your “spotless” ID. Save that for big ticket items whose bidders demand trust! Be creative.

Don’t Throw Stones if you live in a glass house. Unfortunately, leaving bad feedback, even when warranted is a surefire way of getting some from that person. If a deal goes sour, wait to see what type of feedback they leave for you. Think before you act, what’s more important?

eBay Selling Tip #4

Don’t be in a Daze when it comes to days… The days you begin your auctions on that is. A great time to post a 10 day ad is Thursday. Not only will your auction end on a Sunday (big bidding day) you will also have two weekends worth of bidding (the most bidders online). For 7 day ads, I recommend you try posting on Sundays as well in the evening time around 7-8pm west coast(Pac.) time or 10-11pm east coast time. If you choose to do 3 day auctions Thursday is your day because it includes those bid filled power sundays! This group of auction tips is not to be overlooked!

One a day keeps competition away. Don’t post your auction so that it ends near another similar item. This makes your item less rare and offers bidders an option…No good!

eBay Selling Tip #5

Smaller is Better! sometimes… Listen, if you start your item at a high price you lose all those valuable bids from the cheapskates. Wait, WHAT?! Yes, you heard me right, they’re valuable bids because they make the # of bids go higher which causes other potential bidders to think you’ve got the hot item. They also believe that if XX amount of other people thought it was a great deal, then it must be! Also, how better to save money on the sale then lower your insertion fee? As long as you’re attentive and keep track of when your auctions end you can cancel the item if you don’t hit a satisfactory price. Just add a short disclaimer to your auction stating that you reserve the right to retract the item at any time…

eBay Selling Tips

Tips for Selling on eBay

1. Build a good reputation. Be a responsible eBay buyer and you’ll earn a good reputation. Shoppers pay more for items from sellers they trust. eBay charges less for listings from highly-rated sellers. And if you have a good reputation, you’ll place higher in eBay’s listing results.
2. Get a PayPal account. eBay sellers need to offer the option of payment by credit card or PayPal; choosing PayPal means you’ll have access to its seller security options.
3. Research current prices. Check past auctions on eBay and prices on Amazon.com and you’ll know about what your item can sell for.
4. Find the right category. Put your item in the wrong category and fewer interested shoppers will see it. But check if there’s an appropriate, less-crowded category where your item will stand out more.
   • You can place an item in a two categories at once, but you have to pay for each listing.
5. Sell what’s in demand. If you’re selling something seasonal, wait for the right time to put it on eBay. Fewer people think about purchasing patio furniture in December.
6. Check for typos. Fewer people see misspelled listings, which results in lower prices.
7. Set a low opening price. Auctions with low starting prices attract more bids, and having more bids attracts other bidders.
   • As long as your shippings fees are not exorbitant, people usually prefer auctions with lower prices and higher shipping fees.
   • Don’t have too high a shipping fee, however! If buyers complain about excessive fees, your listing could be taken down.
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8. Be honest about shipping. Whatever shipping price you set, don’t try to hide it: such “shrouding” turns off potential buyers.
9. No reserve prices. Bidders tend to avoid reserve price auctions. If you can take the risk of a low selling price, do it.
   • The exception to this is for auctions with prices over $25, which are not hurt by reserve prices.
10. Offer buyers options. Having multiple shipping methods and insurance can attract more buyers.
11. Write an accurate description. If there are flaws, be honest about them. Stretch the truth and it can come back to haunt you.
12. Take good photos. Have multiple photos, showing a clean product from different angles.
13. Avoid photo hosting fees. Use a free service like Photobucket or TinyPic to host your photos and you don’t need to pay eBay to host them.
14. Include a gallery photo. This way eBay shoppers browsing through categories will still see a picture.
    • Please note that eBay charges a small additional fee for gallery photos.
15. Hold a longer auction. If you can wait, longer auctions usually result in higher prices.
    • Please note that eBay charges an extra fee for 10-day auctions.
16. Time your auction ending. Think about what you’re selling, and who you’re selling it to, when starting and ending your auction. You don’t want to miss sales because your auction ends at a busy time, but you want your potential bidders to be awake and online.
17. Use eBay tools. Free tools like Turbo lister help you create more professional listings.
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    • These tools are especially helpful if you’re going to list multiple items.
18. Quickly answer questions. Make sure to respond quickly while the auction’s in progress, or buyers may lose interest.
19. Ship as promised. When you make a sale, ship your item quickly and carefully. You’ll keep the buyer happy (and be more likely to get positive feedback!).
20. Handle disputes professionally. If a buyer has a problem, try to resolve it amicably.
21. Keep careful records. Use eBay’s internal email for your interactions, so you have a complete record of your eBay activity.

9 No Fuss eBay Selling Tips

Keep these eBay selling tips close at hand when you go online to sell!

eBay selling made easy!

Going the auction route for stuff you no longer need at home is something anyone can do. We’ve been using eBay lately to sell some new items we don’t need and we found it to be a convenient way to let go of the smaller items we had lying around and gathering dust that could be better appreciated elsewhere, such as board games, toys, bric-a-bracs and collectibles. To me, anything that isn’t used after 2-3 years is considered clutter just taking valuable space in our limited surroundings, so with minimal fanfare, off they go to eBay or our trusty consignment shop. These are just some of many ways to cash in on clutter.

Unless you’re a big eBay junkie, you might have the same opinion as I do, which is that the interface isn’t that intuitive or user-friendly. But a few tries on the auction block, I was able to compile a few pointers on putting up my items for bidding on eBay. I concentrated on making the experience as easy and convenient for myself as possible with hopefully generating the best prices possible for my items.

1. List your item at a reserve of $1.
   This way I attract the best possible market price to my item without fussing about how much it should really be valued. After all, your perception of value for your item may be very different from what the market thinks so it would be just a waste of time to guess what that price is. The market should take care of the pricing for you: note that buyers compete to bid on items that are under valued, pushing the price up to the market value.
2. Apply a shipping fee that is twice the real shipping cost.
   The shipping fee is to cover the actual money and effort you put in when packaging your item. Setting your shipping and handling fee to twice the real cost, seems like a reasonable amount. A university study showed that buyers were irrationally insensitive to shipping and handling charges (ie, if S&H went up by a dollar they would not reduce their bids by a full dollar). So take advantage of this without going overboard.
3. Have the auction expire in the early morning hours.
   As in buying, timing can be important in sales as well. The assumption is that you are targeting most of your buyers from the same time zone as you are, and if so, set the auction to end during the hours when nobody’s around. People who are highly interested in your item will put in their best bids much earlier before they go to bed and this will encourage your item to most likely be priced at its true value. If you set your auction to end during the day instead, most buyers will hang around to wait till the last minute to offer their bids and this causes auction sniping. Through sniping, your item will end up being priced lower than it actually should.
4. Shorten the length of your auction.
   I think 3 days is a good length. Sure, you may possibly increase your buying audience by allowing viewability of your item for longer. But I’ve observed that the serious bids won’t be placed until very close to the end. Theoretically, you may be able to snag a casual buyer during a longer auction but I did not see much difference in price when I set the auction for a shorter time.
5. Don’t feel obligated to do special shipments.
   For the easiest turnaround, I set my terms clearly during the auctions and never swayed from those terms. I got contacted for various offers that involved special considerations such as discounts and insurance but I quickly declined all such requests. I did not think it was worth the trouble to bother with offers that departed from my usual terms.
6. If your item does not sell, re-list it again. But only one more time.
   I figured that if an item does not sell beyond 2 attempts at auction, it’s time to find some other way to deal with it. Perhaps it is destined for the donation heap, the consignment shop (if they will accept it) or just the plain old recycling/trash bin.
7. If you are selling items with bar codes, don’t worry about listing your item, eBay makes it easy for you.
   Selling on eBay is really easy with their feature that handles listing an item with a bar code. You simply log into eBay and follow the steps that lead you to enter bar code information. Once done, eBay prefills everything about the item based on the code and also displays the appropriate photo for it. All you have to do now is set the price and terms.
8. For non-commodity items, use a good photo.
   If you’re planning to sell an item that does not have a bar code, then you would need to provide your own information. Make sure your photo of the item plus anything else you list with it is as attractive as you can make it.
9. Check out other auctions for ideas.
   Why bother with reinventing the wheel? I’ve checked out other auctions to see how they lay things out to get ideas for creating my own auction. But be very careful that you do not use others’ materials when creating your auction, or you may get banned or penalized by eBay.

If you are interested in more details on this, you can check this out. This analysis of buyer behavior is also worth reading. By doing as above, I felt that I was able to make the process as painless as possible for myself.

Good luck with your own sales!