In this guide, I'm going to explain how to be a successful seller on e-bay. As a powerseller, I have learned a few things that may help others sell their items better, improve thier Detailed Seller Ratings, improve thier overall feedback scores, and keep repeat buyers coming back for more items!!

1) Know your product

The first thing any good seller needs to know is how valuable thier items are, and what they can get for them. This is done best by searching thier exact items they wish to sell up on e-bey and seeing what they are selling for and how much other sellers are asking for them. Although e-bay does give some idea how much an item will sell for when listing it, it is not always accurate.

2) Create seperate accounts for Buying and Selling

If you plan on selling alot of items and the idea is to buy them from other sellers on e-bay, then I suggest creating an account solely for making purchases, and another account solely for selling. The reason is because alot of sellers feel "ripped off" if you are trying to win thier items for resale purposes. Not all feel this way, but there are some that get angry or upset if they think you are trying to make a quick buck off of them. This is not neccessary if you are just a casual seller. Remember, its not against E-Bay policy to have several accounts active at once so long as they are not used in dishonorable ways!!!

3) List your auctions using AUCTIVA

This is an excellent site that allows you to create e-bay auctions using thier tools. This site now charges 10.00$ a month to use, but its worth it if you intend to sell alot of items. Some of the benefits include:

•  Creating auctions and saving them to post at any time you want.
•  Creating multiple auctions so you can post them all at once (I've posted hundreds of auctions at once doing this)
•  Upload as many pictures to your auctions as you wish without paying extra $$ for them (I've had as many as 24 pictures in a single auction without paying anything extra for them).
•  Awsome Templates to make your auction look professional.

4) BE HONEST and as detailed as possible

When describing your item, be 100% honest. If there are A LOT of light scratches on the DVD your selling, say so. And be as descriptive as possible. If there is stickers all over the disc and the case artwork is missing, say so and show pictures of them if possible. Its ALWAYS best that a buyer knows exactly what they are getting. Otherwise, the buyer feels ripped off if they think they are buying a Pristine Mint & Complete Movie and getting something different then described. This leads to having a negative feedback left and a possible chargeback filed against you.

5) Use real pictures and not stock photos

Buy a digital camera and take pictures. You always get at least one free picture, and if you use Auctiva you can use as many as you want. I dislike stock photos, and I'm sure there are others as well that just hate them. There's nothing more disappointing then buying a playstation game that shows a black label version stock photo and then receiving a greatest hits version and that fact isnt listed in the item discription.

6) Leave Feedback First

As a powerseller, the first rule when an auction sells and the buyer pays for the item is to leave immediate feedback for them. Alot of sellers think its the buyers place to leave feedback first, but I disagree. I will outline a few reasons why I believe the seller should leave feedback first:

•  Buyers are more prone to leave feedback once they receive thier items if feedback has already been left for them.
•  Some buyers actually leave a lower DSR rating for communication if they have not received feedback first. This alone should be a good enuff reason to leave feedback first.
•  Buyers pick the seller, not the other way around. Show some courtesy, they could have went elsewhere :).
•  As a buyer, your only duty for a completed transaction is to pay. Why make them wait for something they already earned?
•  Sellers can only leave positive feedback now, so why wait? And as a seller, I've never read a buyers feedback anyways.

7) Communicate your shipping method and expected arrival date.

Once an item has been packaged and shipped, go into the actual auction, click the "Contact Buyer" link, and let them know how you shipped thier items and when to expect it (Usps Media Mail, 5-9 business days, exc). This ensures that the message goes directly to the buyers e-bay message system and not thier e-mail (where it can be lost or deleted with the other 200 messages they bulk delete every day). Also leave a nice message thanking them for thier business. Nothing makes a person more appreciative of your efforts like courtesy and respect.

8) Use accurate shipping charges, including combined s&h

If you know an item is going to cost 2.20$ to ship USPS First Class Mail, dont list the S&H fees as 4.00$ and advertise it as being sent via USPS Media Mail. And give honest combined S&H discounts. If you have 4.00$ s&h per item listed, and you ship everything together via media mail with combined s&h, then you know for a fact that each item is only going to cost an extra .20$ cents to add to the package. Forcing someone to pay a total combined s&h fee of 32.00$ for a 4.00$ package is just ASKING for a lowered DSR in S&H costs.

If you find that you've overcharged on s&h fees by a large amount, simply contact the buyer and send them a partial refund and explain why it was given. A buyer will appreciate your efforts and remember this when leaving feedback, as well as if they overpaid on s&h. And dont think that not adding the price to a package will allow you to overcharge on shipping. All they need to do is ask thier postmaster to tell them how much it will cost to ship it back to you!!!

9) Ship using the best possible and safest method

Always ship your packages in the fastest method possible for the s&h fees collected. If a package weights 13 ounces or less and advertised as Media Mail, send it First Class Mail (its usually cheaper then Media Mail anyways and arrives WAY faster).

Take advantage of Flat-Rate USPS Priority Boxes!!! If something is going to cost 7.00$ to ship media mail, just ship it in a 10.00$ flat-rate Priority Box if it will go into it.

If theres room, pad the package with newspaper (most people throw them away anyways), packaging peanuts, cotton, or anything else you can use cheaply.

If sending DVDs, Music Cds, or Video Games, then place tissue on the discs so they can't pop free during shipping and become scratched up during shipping. I use napkins ... they only cost about 1.00$ and can pad 100 games!!. Your buyers will thank you for it, especially if they have already experienced this from a previous purchase. Also, use corrigated boxes to ship them in. They are way cheaper then bubble mailer envilopes and more sturdier. If you need to use Bubble Mailers, then wrap the case in cardboard before putting it into the envilope to prevent damage to it.

In the end, if you package it EXACTLY the way you would want it to be shipped to you, then you usually can't go wrong.

10) Purchase Tracking & Delivery Confirmation!!!

One of the biggest mistakes sellers make is assuming Tracking & Delivery Confirmation is for the buyers advantage only, so they refuse to purchase it if the buyer opts out. WRONG!!! If a buyer files chargeback via Paypal, you are REQUIRED by paypal to provide a tracking number. If you cannot, you LOOSE auctomatically and the buyer is fully reimbursed. If you print out your own shipping labels, it only costs .18$ cents. So buy it for YOUR protection. And provide this tracking information to the buyer so they know were thier packages are. A Win - Win situation for everyone.

Another error on most seller parts is shipping insurance. E-Bay gives the impression that it's the buyers responsibility to purchase it. It is NOT!!! If someone receives a damaged package and file a chargeback on Paypal, you are REQUIRED to provide shipping insurance to be protected. If you fail to provide this information to paypal, the BUYER will win this dispute and get a full refund while you get the damaged items back in exchange!!!

ALWAYS buy shipping insurance. If you dont like it, add it directly into the s&h charges.

12) International Sales

If you plan on selling internationally, remember that the only way YOU are protected (Via Paypal Payments) is if you ship the packages USPS EXPRESS MAIL. This is the only form of shipping that grants Tracking and Delivery Confirmation. If you decide to ship a package in any other way, YOU are 100% unprotected against a chargeback for an item case filed as unreceived. When listing s&h for an international sale, make SURE the buyer understands they can expect to pay anywhere from 25.00$ - 40.00$ s&h for a 3 lbs. package. 

In closing, a few final words of advise: The Buyer is Always Currect in the eyes of E-Bay AND paypal. Sadly, the seller is usually wrong in all accounts, unless you can provide tracking and insurance information. If you live & breath this motto while selling, and do what you can within reason to make your buyers happy, they will do the same for you.