New eBay sellers are often at a loss for the BEST approach to selling.  They have lots of questions and eBay provides some nice tools to help new sellers get comfortable with their store setup and selling in general.  Still, it is nice to be able to talk with other successful sellers about tips for success, etc.  One place to look is the Guides section, where you are right now.  Still, this is not an interactive venue, so may leave you with more questions than answers.

Chat rooms and Message boards are other venues where help can be sought.  But my favorite is a relatively new offering by eBay.  The Chatter Blogs!  Lots of sellers and buyers alike create their Blog, post entries, posing questions, telling stories, just about anything.  What you find in the Blogs is a Community of, typically, very helpful people.  It is here that a lot of newbie sellers come to ask questions and promote their stores.  It is of this venue that this guide is written.

BE NOT AFRAID

I have seen numerous occasions in the Blogs where a newbie seller comes in asking advice. Those of us who have been around the block a time or two are typically ready, willing and able to jump in and help out.  Please pay attention when you ask a question as a newbie.

Chatter Blog - eBay Style

Each and every one of us has traveled a different road to get where we are today.  Each encountered potholes along the way, and learned from this to avoid those potholes in the future. Many of us write guides to help others avoid the mistakes we have made.

My caution is this. You can become easily intimidated by the swell of often conflicting responses to your question or stated opinion. I will quote one of my all-time favorite political satirists (Tom Lehrer) who quipped in his song, The Boy Scout Marching Song,

“When you’re looking for adventure of a new and different kind
And you happen to meet a Girl Scout who is similarly inclined
Don’t be nervous, don’t be anxious, don’t be scared…
BE PREPARED!”

SO WHAT'S YOUR POINT?

My point is this. The acquisition of knowledge always comes at a price. You will learn from your own mistakes. Make the best judgment call you can for your own situation.  Take into account everything you read when posing questions and receiving responses and tuck them into your vault of lessons RECEIVED.  As you travel your road, you will encounter some of the same potholes we tried to warn you against, but the difference is that now the lesson has been LEARNED.

Any of you who have raised kids will understand when I say that none of us can prevent his child from making mistakes.  We all did and they will too.  What we can provide is knowledge of how we have been able to learn from our mistakes.  This is the message I hope newbie sellers can take away from this ramble.

• Be yourself
• Treat others as you would like to be treated
• Ask advice from those who have gone before you
• Recognize that we all speak from our own experiences and cannot know yours.

Selling on eBay is fun and rewarding.  I hope this guide has been helpful to you.