I'm writing this guide because of my own frustrations while searching for items on Ebay.

A good description and shipping information is crucial to your sales. This is my opinion and my experience only but in talking to many other people who buy on Ebay I've come to the conclusion that I am by far not the only one who feels this way. So here goes.

1. When listing an item for sale on Ebay, include shipping information whether it be a flat rate or by use of the shipping calculator. I'm not going to waste my time emailing you and asking you and twiddling my thumbs waiting for your answer. If there is no shipping charge stated within the listing, I leave and you've just lost a possible sale.

2. Do NOT ever put music or other audio messages on your auction page. If I get noise while visiting your page, I'm gone, and again, you've just lost a possible sale. I've talked to many people about this and trust me when I say that the majority feel the same way about this. Not only is it annoying to many people, but it slows the loading of your auction page. See #6

3. Spell check, spell check, spell check!!! I can't stress this enough. Did I mention SPELL CHECK?

4. I'm very familiar with shipping rates as are many other people. If you're charging $12.00 or even $8.00 for something I know is under a pound......see ya! You're not fooling me, and since I'm not the brightest bulb in the box, I can assure you that you're not fooling many others either. I do allow for a few dollars for handling and materials but that's it. Fee avoidance does not float my boat and could definately sink yours! 

5. SIZE DOES MATTER #1- I can't tell you how may times I've searched ebay and come across auctions where absolutely no size is listed at all. For instance, say you've got a flower pot, planter or vase for sale. I can't tell by the pictures how big it is. I need you to tell me. I'm not going to waste time emailing you and asking you and then twiddle my thumbs waiting for you to answer. I'm going to leave your auction and again, you've just lost a possible sale.

6. SIZE DOES MATTER #2- Some sellers have java and other picture show dealymajigs on their auction pages that take forever to load and I'm on a fast wireless connection so I can only imagine how it would be if I were on dial-up. This applies to animated gifs, videos, music etc. If I have to wait more than a few seconds for your page to load, guess what? You've just lost a possible sale.

7. Don't threaten  me with negative feedback on your auction page. That's like having a customer walk into your brick & mortar store and telling them as soon as they come in that if they steal from you you'll have them arrested. Do you want to put your customers on the defensive with threats that most likely won't even pertain to them?

8. Offer Paypal payments. There are thousands of people who shop online because they are disabled. Disabled people can't get around very well or they wouldn't be disabled. I'm one of the unfortunate people who is not only disabled, but I also live in the hills. I'm not going to jump up and go 45 minutes into town just to get you a money order or cashiers check. I don't buy from people who don't offer Paypal payments. I'd rather pay someone else a few dollars more for an item. So if you don't offer Paypal payments, you've just lost a possible sale.

9. It is illegal to charge your customers extra for payment through Paypal. The minimal cost of using Paypal as a payment service is well worth the extra customers.

10. If you offer shipping insurance on the items you sell, you MUST set that option in your Paypal account  and/or on the invoice. If you don't do that, your buyer doesn't have the option of adding it.

11. Don't make your auction template so wide that people have to scroll horizontally to read it. Although I probably wouldn't pass your auction up because of it, I find it extremely annoying.

12. Scrap the no right click! If you have something on your page that you don't want anyone to be able to steal, then don't put it on the internet.  If I wanted to steal your pictures I could easily do so whether you have the no right click on your page or not. However, I like to right click auctions I want to watch and save them to my desktop because I always forget to look at my watch list in My Ebay. If I can't easily save the page to my desktop I most likely won't find my way back to your auction. The no right click does not protect your images in the least but could very well annoy some potential customers.

13. Describe your item thoroughly. Not all monitors were created equal. What might look bright red on yours might look pale pink on mine. If color is important to your item, describe the color accurately. State all sizes. State all imperfections. Be honest.

14. Correct packaging is everything. Learn it, live it.

15. DoN'T tYPe yUoR TitLeS LiKe THiS aNd **LoOk** It's hard to read and shows what some might consider immaturity. I don't want to buy anything from a kid playing on the internet. I see a title like that and I scroll right on past it, I don't care what you have or how much I might want it.