The Idiot’s Guide to Selling on Ebay: Volume 3

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… we’ve talked about your listings, auctions vs. store inventory, and customer service. What now?  Let’s move on to feedback, policies, and keeping your inventory organized and accurate!

Feedback!  We all know how important feedback is and how sometimes its hard to come by.  Your feedback score is viewed every person who will potentially buy from you – so having a good seller reputation is a necessity.  One mistake that I made at first was leaving feedback for every buyer the moment they paid.  During my first month, because of that, I only received positive feedback from about 50% of my buyers.  They already had feedback and experienced no urgency to return the favor.

I also received a negative feedback after I had left a positive; I double listed an item and once I realized I had done so, I offered a 105% refund as well as several other solutions (different size, style, discount on a different item, etc).  She accused me of being a crook and left a nasty feedback that I don’t believe I deserved.  Maybe she wouldn’t have done that if she knew I still had the option of doing the same… but she already received positive feedback – her only one, from me. 

I spoke about this with some experienced sellers and they all agreed that it was best for many reason to leave feedback AFTER the entire transaction has been completed; after the buyer has received their item in satisfactory condition and has left your feedback.  I now understand why this is a good selling practice.

Feedback Reminders ~ Something I have found to be of benefit is including a small mailer in with all of my packages including my store logo, a sincere thank you, a 10% off discount for next purchase, AND a friendly reminder to please leave feedback.  Not only does it serve as a reminder, it also thanks my buyer and encourages them to continue to make future purchases from me.

You also have the option of emailing buyers who have not left feedback.  This has been of help to me as well but I use caution with this option because I can’t imagine anyone who wants to be email spammed.  One email is enough 7-10 days after you have sent their package.

Creative/Personalized Feedback ~ Don’t forget that you also have the option to create and save personalized feedback to use; it never hurts to stand out from the rest!

Your Policies ~ Your policies include information on returns/exchanges, combined shipping & methods of shipping, acceptable bidders/bidding practices, payment requirements & options, feedback, and anything else you feel your buyers should know before they buy.  Make yourself clear, concise, and consistent.  Place your policies in every single listing you create.  This protects both you and the buyer and is only fair for a buyer to know ahead of time.  Promote multiple purchases by offering combined shipping and make it clear whether or not the buyer must pay for all items at once to qualify or if you find it acceptable for them to pay separately.

How much time do you feel is a fair amount to give a buyer to pay after auction closing?  Make certain that you make this clear; Ebay will only allow you to open an unpaid item dispute 7 days after the auction close – so even if you ask for payment within 3 or 5 days, there will be nothing you can do about a non-pay until after 7 days.

If you intend to hold off on leaving feedback until the transaction is complete, state this in your policies section.

Make very clear what your return/exchange policy is.  One suggestion is to require returns to be sent to you with Delivery Confirmation.  This ensures that the buyer has actually sent the item and it also assures them that you have received the item safely.  Also, be sure to make it clear whether or not initial shipping charges will be included in returns or if the refund will only be in the amount of the actual item sale price.

Let buyers know that you maintain the right to remove suspect bids or bids from individuals with multiple negative ratings or non-pay strikes.

When listing your policies, keep a respectful tone to your communication, but do make yourself clear.

Your inventory ~ how are you going to keep up with what you have on hand, what is currently in auction, what items are inside store inventory, what you have sold, what is being returned, etc, etc? 

There are probably other guides available that will better explain certain inventory recording methods by utilizing Quickbooks or ProStore resources, etc.  What works for me is a simple Excel Spreadsheet, but it does take some time.  I enter all of the information I need into separate columns:  List Code, Item Description, Size, Color, My Cost, Sale Price, My Profit, Auction Listing Dates, etc, etc

My list codes are: A = item is in auction, I = item is in store inventory, D = defective item OR item is in dispute, S = item has sold, blank if I have not got the item currently listed.

This method enables me to capture a quick overview of how many times an item was auctioned before it sold, how many items are currently in auction or in the inventory, how much my actual profit margin is, etc.  It gives me a better idea of what sells best, what is of most benefit for me to stock or repurchase, which items will yeild the highest return, etc.  Each month, I move unsold items into a new sheet.

EBay stores do offer some of these features, but with Excel, I have been able to customize a quick overview of what I find most beneficial personally.

TIP ~ Keep a running address book of your vendors and their contact information, email addresses, websites, order numbers, order totals, etc, etc.  This makes reordering easier and keeping up with the total you have invested easier.

Your Physical Inventory ~ We touched on this topic in Volume 1, but let’s expand a little.  It would ideal if we all had homes equipped with a full warehouse room, but most of them don’t.  If you do have the good fortune of having an entire room to devote to Ebay, that’s great!  If not, you can still find creative and inexpensive ways to keep organized. 

Here are a few ideas:

1. Large, stackable plastic bins
2. Gallon sized ziplock bags
3. Refurbishing an old bookshelf or building your own shelving unit
4. Refurbishing a garage sale purchased chest of drawers
5. Refurbishing and old table or building one of your own so that you can slide bins underneath and use the surface as a mailing center
6. Index cards or labels for identifying contents of boxes or labeling drawers/shelves
7. Cardboard storage boxes
8. Saving and sanitizing large coffee cans or jars

All of the above listed items can be purchased at discount stores like Wal-Mart or Target or may even be found at a local Dollar Store or thrift store.

I sell clothing and find it helpful to store my items in ziplock bags and then inside of large storage bins.  The bins are labeled (jeans, tops/sweaters, dresses, etc) and inside of each bag I slide an index card in with the item and size.  This keeps everything organized and safe from any potential damage. 

Every now and then it doesn’t hurt to compare my Excel Spreadsheet to my actual inventory on hand and weed out any errors I may have made.

Maintaining organization saves a world of time in the end and really helps streamline your selling process.  In the end, it actually helps you make more money because you’ll have more time to devote to customer service and creating great listings rather than fumbling around searching through different piles and rooms for a newly sold item.

We’ve covered a lot of ground, but everything up until now has been pretty basic.  In the Idiot’s Guide to Selling on Ebay: Volume 4, we’re going to get into the details of great listings with your own html and photographs!