The Idiot’s Guide to Selling on Ebay: Volume 2

Let’s talk about successful selling!  Tips, Advice, and Tricks-of-the-Trade.  Your goal is to make as much money as possible on Ebay and we’re going to discuss a few things that should help get you started off on the right foot.

So… you have your inventory, you’re organized and ready, you have all of your packing supplies, PayPal is set up and verified, you have decided whether or not to subscribe to a store… what next?  Now let’s talk about successful listings, auctions vs. inventory, buyers, and customer service.

Successful Listings ~ Creating a successful Ebay listing can take some time, but will dramatically increase your sales if done well!  The single most important factor is the Title.  This is what will draw people to your listing when they search for items.  Include as much relevant information as possible: brand, color, size, dimensions, and condition.  Save the cute description for your listing ~ buyers do not search for terms such as: amazing, incredible, great deal, precious, lovely, etc.

Good Title:  NIB Black Apple iPod MP3 Player Video 60G
Bad Title:  Incredible deal on this cool, new iPod!!

PICTURES!  The more the better: clear, sharp, cropped, well lit pictures showing your item in full as well as some of the finer details.  Include different perspectives (front back, sides, bottom, signatures, specific tags, stamps, etc)  You can use Ebay’s listing tool to add pictures at 15 cents each or you can create your listing’s html code with a web design program like Microsoft FrontPage or DreamWeaver.  By doing this, you can have as many pictures as you’d like with no additional charge.

Your Gallery Picture.  Make it stand out from all the rest – the better your main gallery picture looks, the more traffic you’ll have to your listing.  Using stock photos is perfectly fine as long as it accurately displays the item you’re selling ~ it’s a good idea to include pictures of the actual item inside of your listing as well.

Clear & Honest Item Descriptions.  Describe all relevant information regarding your product; this is the time to get creative with your description!  Note the item’s retail value, specific measurements, condition, general availability (is this a rare, hard to find item?  Say so!), are similar colors or styles also available?  Or additional sizes?  Let your buyers know what else you have or if the item they are viewing would go well with something else you’re selling.

What of you don’t know what to say?  Check out other items similar to yours that have recently sold, make note of how those listings described the item.  Don’t plagiarize someone else’s description, but do take note of some of the key elements and perhaps that will help get your creative juices flowing.

State your seller policies clearly and in every listing!  (More on this in Volume 3)

Online Auctions Vs. Store Inventory ~ Online auctions will cost more to list up front, but you’ll have the advantage of much more visibility and a slightly lower final sales fee.  Auctions also serve to drive buyers into your store where they can view your other listings and store inventory items.  Store Inventory listings do not usually show up in search results unless there are less than 30 other items just like it currently on Ebay.  Buyers will only come across these items once they are browsing your store (or once they have clicked on “view sellers other items”).  Another way to drive business to your inventory is to feature those items as cross-promotions on your active listings.  They will then appear advertised at the bottom of your other listings.

The higher you start your auction, the higher your listing fee will be.  If you’re concerned that your item will sell for too little, start the auction at the least you will take for it but keep in mind that the lower the starting price, the more likely you’ll be to get the bidding started. 

Another important factor in auctions is the end time.  Often, buyers will browse a category and look at the items ending soonest, so when is the best time to plan for your auction to end?  The best thing to do is search for sold items similar to yours and note when most of them sold and at what times highest selling prices were achieved.  Keep in mind that people worldwide are viewing Ebay.  In my experience, the most successful auctions I have had have ended between 6 pm and 9 pm Pacific Standard time.  I’m in the Eastern Time zone, and so I start my auctions for an end time of between 9 pm and midnight.  Auctions ending on Fridays and Sundays have produced the least success for me, while Saturdays and week nights have produced the best results.

Length of the auction also depends on what you’re selling.  3-5 day auctions are middle of the road and offer several days of exposure giving buyers time to find and watch (or bid on) your item.  If you have a hit item that sells well, 24 hour auctions might be successful.  7 and 10 day auctions are also available for items you’d like to give maximum exposure to; the 10 day auctions require an additional fee.

Store Inventory listings will look exactly like your auctions, but as mentioned above, they won’t be searchable on Ebay and only those who enter your store will see them.. They cost significantly less though and will stay active in your store for 30 days.  You have the option to have them auto-renew themselves after the 30 days is up if they have not sold.  Store Inventory is an excellent idea for items you have auctioned several times but did not sell, off season items, and items you have multiples of.  If you have a dozen black sweaters in sizes small through large, you might want to send one of each size into an auction listing and leave the other 9 inside your store inventory. 

Inventory listings can also save money when you have more than one of the same item to sell.  Inside of the listing you’ll select how many you have and each time an item sells, the number is reduced and your listing will stay active until the inventory is depleted.

TIP ~ when you create Store Inventory Listings, it might be a good idea to require immediate payment.  Unfortunately, I have had people commit to buy and never pay.  The item then has to be disputed and the process of being refunded the final sales fee could take weeks.  You can avoid this by requiring immediate payment.

Buyers & Customer Service ~ The customer is always right, we have all heard that before.  While customer satisfaction is extremely important, do not short yourself for the benefit of those who try to take advantage. 

You have the option to remove bids from your items if you find a questionable buyer is bidding on them.  If you notice that someone with a half a dozen negative feedbacks is bidding on something of yours, it is your right to remove and/or block them from your auctions.

Buyers who don’t pay.  State clearly your payment policies on every listing.  If a buyer contacts you to make arrangements, be as accommodating as you can.  However, if no contact is made and no payment is received, email a reminder to the buyer and after 7 days, send that item to the dispute console for non-payment.  Ebay will make an effort to remind the buyer on your behalf and if the buyer doesn’t reply within 7 days, you can close the dispute and request a refund for your final sales fee and can then relist the item.

Stick to your promises; if you say you’ll mail paid items out within 1 business day – do it.  Protect yourself and the buyer by using delivery confirmation as often as possible.  As honest as we’d like to believe people are – there are many buyers who will gladly tell you that they never received your item and will expect you to take responsibility for it.  By purchasing and printing postage online, you have the benefit of FREE delivery confirmation with all packages sent Priority Mail and a reduced rate for First Class shipments.  Believe me, the extra cost is worth it.

When accepting returns, make clear to your buyers that they also must use delivery confirmation ~ occasionally a person will claim to have sent back your item when they never did and will again expect you to take responsibility for it.

Make your policies clear and stand by them.  They might sound harsh but they will exist for both your’s and the buyer’s protection and truthfully, the policies won’t have any effect on good buyers who keep their obligations.

Next, let’s move on to The Idiot’s Guide to Selling on Ebay: Volume 3 where we’ll discuss feedback, policy suggestions, and working with our inventory.