SHIPPING FREE -- According to the stated eBay policy for Free Shipping: "If you list your item as Free Shipping, in that case, the shipping price is to be paid by the seller. And the cost on the listing page is only the price of an item."--Amy D., eBay Customer Support.  Personally, I discourage Free shipping because your item price will probably include a modest amount of your shipping & handling fees, and then eBay will receive a % of that S&H.  PayPal gets a % of item plus shipping anyway for transferring money.   However, you will need to calculate whether the savings from discounted FVF (the incentive offered by eBay as a promotional offer for a limited time) offsets your actual shipping cost.

SHIPPING 3 OPTIONS -- When you write up your auction, always list three shipping options to calculate & let buyer decide what method/cost they will pay.  When buyer sees three options, like media, first class, and flat rate, they usually pick the least cost and think they're getting a bargain on shipping.  And because you offered say first class, and the buyer chose media, it would be the buyer's responsibility for length of time to receive.   When you view your auction or run a search, you will see the shipping cost displayed is for your first shipping option.  If you select the least cost shipping FIRST when you write the auction, then the lower cost will be displayed to buyers.  When printing your shipping label, you may choose to display the cost or not, depending on what you want your buyer to see.  Consider using RECYCLES packing boxes & materials to save on your S&H costs.

PACKAGE TYPE -- Select the shipping package type that will accurately calculate the shipping cost.  Even if you choose to offer FREE shipping, use the Shipping Calculator to determine the shipping cost, enter the correct seller & buyer zipcodes.  According to USPS, a Package/Thick Envelope is one with a total measurement less than 84 inches.  More than 84 inches, you will need to select Large Package, which is much more expensive even if it is light in weight.  For USPS, you can get to it from Create Your Shipping Label - Learn More About Package Sizes, I've shown only two of six USPS choices that appear on the USPS pop-up screen:

• Package/Thick Envelope - A package is a parcel less than 84" when you add the length + girth. Length is the longest side of a package. Girth is the distance if you wrapped a string around the 2 smaller sides of a package.
• Large Package - A Large Package is a parcel where the length + girth is over 84" and less than or equal to 108". Length is the longest side of a package. Girth is the distance if you wrapped a string around the 2 smaller sides of a package.

FEEDBACK -- Remember to frequently check on your personal email, some folks send message to a personal email account and these will not show up in your eBay Messages. Each seller trys to earn 5 STARS for each of the 4 DSRs. There are eBay tutorials for sellers and buyers alike to become more familiar with these DSRs.   Only one FB per buyer/seller per week, so for multiple purchases within one week, remember that only one FB will be counted.

• When you know the item has been delivered, presume you're tracking it on-line, send a friendly message like "Hi, Tracking shows item was delivered, maybe you're still unpacking.  Thinking you are pleased."  Wait a few days, and you know you've done all you can.  Look at the feedback your bidders/buyers leave for others, if it's old, they probably don't leave FB.  But maybe they will get around to it.  I know you're trying to accumulate more FB and it is important, but if you're too pushy in your message or bug repeatedly, buyers can get annoyed and you don't want that.  I would recommend leaving FB for your buyers when you ship, or at the latest when you know it's been delivered & you sent your reminder message.  That way, if they're waiting for you, it will prompt them to leave FB.  Don't withhold FB, it can become a war of waiting, not nice.
• It is unfortunate when a buyer too quickly leaves a negative FB without first trying to resolve the issue. I wonder how many folks who posted negative FB in the past, shortly afterwards regretted doing so? It's a hard lesson for everyone involved & a lot of anguish goes on when that little red dot shows up. The more seasoned ebayer will communicate with a few messages to fully resolve issues and finally will be able to leave positive FB.  There are many ways a seller and buyer can mutually resolve their respective disappointment, and buyers should be discouraged from leaving negative FB or withholding a full five stars DSR until all options have been explored. 
  
• Under certain circumstances, FB can be revised.  For disputes and more difficult issues, the Resolution Center is available to act as intermediary.
• When you have bidders, check the FB they leave for others.  If they are leaving a lot of negative or neutral FB for a variety of reasons, you might want to consider whether or not to cancel their bid, if it is in your best interest as the seller.  And if you know of a troublesome bidder/buyer from your own experience or the warnings from other sellers, you can protect yourself by adding that userid to your own blocked bidder list .
• BUYERS!  When the buyer accesses the DSR feedback, there's a bubble indicating their rating will be anonymous.  But sellers know it isn't anonymous.  I know what my DSR rating is after each buyer leaves FB, it's calculated on the Seller Dashboard.  Each time the next buyer leaves feedback,  I know how that buyer's FB effects my DSRs, whether up or down, and so on.  Please give fair FB to your seller, otherwise send a message asking for your dissatisfaction to be resolved.  Remember, when you bid, sellers will look at FB you leave and make a determination whether they want to cancel your bid and add you to the blocked bidders list.  Most of us try to have pleasant experiences buying and selling.
• NEWBIE BUYERS!  Please contact your seller immediately if you are dissatisfied with any purchase.  If you leave negative FB while you are sorely disappointed, you might find yourself regretting it soon afterwards, and other sellers may add you to their own Block Bidders list.  Give your seller a fair chance to resolve your complaint in a mutually agreeable manner.
  

SCHEDULE START TIME -- Just thought I'd mention. I always schedule my auctions for a day later so I can play around with all the options, cost to schedule is 10 cents but is worth the ten pennies to fix errors & make improvements before buyers see your listing.  If you reschedule the date, it will cost another 10 cents, so just give yourself a day or two & save the 10cents, ha.  How to schedule: Okay, when you are creating an auction, or click on an existing auction to Sell Similar, then scroll down to where you put your price, notice Duration days, then below it says start immediately or schedule, choose SCHEDULE and choose date/time, then submit listing.  Your listing will be available to you on your Selling-Scheduled page, for you to see, revise, and wait until the start date for it to go live.  You'll see it there.  You'll do good.

REVISE OR END LISTING -- Within 12 hours of auction closing you cannot revise it.    Also, you cannot make changes if someone has bid, that wouldn't be fair.  You can append more description & photos.  Get more info at eBay Help : Changing Your Listing . 

• When you have a listing that appears just the way you like it, use it for your next listing by selecting "Sell Similar", then substitute the correct photo & description, quantity, lots, weight, size, all your standard text remains the same saving you time from typing, copying or pasting.  Then submit it as usual. 
  
• If you need to end your listing early for some reason, you will need to access the End My Listing Early Form.

BuyItNow BIN vs. AUCTION -- Auction format gives seller a chance to net the highest price from buyers who happen to be looking for that item when it is listed (seasonal), the bidding could stall out at the starting price or it can go crazy if you are lucky enough to have a bidding war between buyers (low supply & much demand).  There are certain requirements to list with fixed price (BIN).  I list my auctions at BuyItNow, rather than as an auction or with reserve. Straight BuyItNow also allows me to let the listing run for 30 days, Good Till Cancelled.  There is an option you can include a starting price along with BuyItNow price, BUT as soon as someone bids at the starting price, the BuyItNow option disappears and your listing turns into a regular auction, so you have to be content if the bidding doesn't go up from your starting price; I use this option when as if the starting price is my reserve but someone could BuyItNow at the higher price. There's another option with BuyItNow called Best Offer & you can choose to accept or decline any offer.  These are very flexible options, maybe too many options, but it gives the seller many choices on how to list.  If you are offering a straight BIN, always choose Immediate Payment Required, BECAUSE if a buyer decides to NOT pay, your listing will still be active.

• SNIPING!  So you think you're good at it?  It is an art, refer to Sniper Stations and Sniping Revival.
  

MULTIPLES -- For several of the same item, I list BuyItNow auctions as a multiple and eBay keeps track of how many were purchased, how many remain, can still print individual shipping label and track.  There's another auction-style listing method for multiples called Dutch auction (being phased out), this is where a bunch of bidders put dibs on a certain quantity.  Then when the auction closes the quantities get distributed to the highest bidder down the list until quantities are exhausted.  The seller gets the highest price possible for all the quantities.  For further details, refer to eBay's Help to Sell Multiples. .

PHOTOS & OTHER OPTIONS-- Be frugal with photos, gallery, fancy pages and eBay Store options!  Listing Fees add up quickly.  If you pay for Listing Upgrades, you must realize that every % of expense you incur will reduce the amount you recover from selling your items.  Upgrades, widgets & fancy-shmancy gizmos are just unnecessary distractions from the primary purpose of listing and selling. Buyers will find you whether or not you buy upgrades or if there's any fancy link/whatcha'macallit.  Keep your overhead costs low & learn how to be cost-efficient; the more you know the more profit you will make.

PROMOTIONS - - There are various ways to reach out and increase traffic, depending on whether you are a casual seller, cottage-industry, or other type of business.

• Before listing your item, search completed listings for similar items that successfully sold.  When you see a lot of different bidders, then you'll know the time is right to list your item.
• Set up a MyWorld page, you can edit modules & have it look the way you want.
  
• Also you might want an AboutMe page or a MyBlog page.  A beginner might want to simply use the default and not bother with the HTML gibberish. Use blogs to access more folks & increase visits to your listings & profile pages.  When you post a Blog, there's a trick to have a blog show up on the left-side of Neighborhood pages.  To determine out what "keywords" to use, ah-ha the secret hand-shake, go to the NH where you want your blog to post, Blogs are located at bottom left side of page, click on "See all blog posts" & on the next page top of the list, you'll see "keywords" criteria - just be sure one of those words is in your blog & when you post your blog, it will appear on that NH page Blog. Look at several NH blogs for more "keywords" & you'll be posting same blog on several NH's.  
• You might want to explore Community / Discussion Boards , there's a wide variety from which to choose, and you will need to decide which would work to your benefit.  
  
• Locate a few members selling similar things and ask for their help too, whether or not to start a store, photo hosting, etc.  For the casual seller, some of those advanced features are costly or unnecessary.  
  

MULTI-LEVEL SELLING SCHEMES -- you're probably going to get hit with a bunch-o-offers pyramid multi-level selling schemes & member groups & upgrades for hosting services.  Please think long and hard before doing so.  Discussion Boards are debating advantage for selling schemes goes to the first few who sign up, not the masses who sign up later.  And hosting services have a way to intice more upgrades, again every % of expense you incur will reduce the amount you recover from selling your items.

FURTHER INFORMATION -- Check into the Community Help Boards, they are an excellent source of information and fellowship with other members.  Search and read more Guides that are available on a wide variety of topics,  and continue educating yourself about the ways & means of eBay selling/buying & advancing your particular endeavors.  And, of course, use eBay's Help Topics for many issues, for example, when a buyer doesn't pay or if you need to cancel a transaction.  If you are totally new to selling or buying on eBay, you might want to access the Learning Center for tutorials on selling and for buying.

Hello!  Thank you for voting YES if you found this guide helpful.  Twang and her precious Kitty Panda & Angel Bear