I have a question for anyone out there who has sold stuff on Ebay. What advice can you give to a person who would like to start selling? I’ve been on ebay for a couple of years buying, have a feedback rating of just over 100 with 1 negative.
Thanks.
-Myron
Pictures are a plus. I usually skip over stuff listed with no picture.
Describe any flaws, marks, rubs (depending on what you’re selling) up front. Some people are super picky.
3 State your shipping charges upfront in the ad. If fixed shipping charges aren’t listed in the ad sometimes I will email and ask, but since I like to snipe there usually isn’t time…so I will skip to another auction rather than email and ask. I got burned when shipping charges weren’t listed. Auction ends, seller says “$10 for shipping”, I send payment + shipping, get the item, shipping was only $4.40. I question the $10 fee, I get “I had to buy the box, the peanuts, gas to get to the PO”…and so on. So now I don’t bid unless I know the total shipping fees before I bid. And they better be reasonable. $12 to ship a DVD isnot resonable.
In my ads, I also say if I will take bids from Canada and international bidders, and ask them to please email me first so they know shipping will be higher. I also say I reserve the right to cancel bids from bidders with excessive negative OR hidden feedback.
I try to keep my terms reasonable–I have seen some sellers with a list of terms that would make me NOT bid on their auctions …I try and stay open and pleasant in my ads.
I don’t like using a reserve. I start out with the minimum price I will accept and sometimes it is pretty low. It seems to generate more bidder excitement this way.
Do a search to see if there are identical items listed. This will give you a good idea to the prices they are going for, and you will also see if they are saturating the market. If you are selling unique items, disregard, but if you are selling common items you probably don’t want to list if there are already 200 identical ones listed.
Well, Boscibo hit it right on the head. Can’t over-emphasize pictures enough, especially if it’s a high-priced item.
Find out what your item is selling for first. then use BUY IT NOW & undersell with quick shipping-which you should include, paying for it yourself. This works great for me. I sell everything within a day.
also if you use paypal a lot you have to get their business plan. What’s alot? Well more than $100 a month, it seems, as they wrote me after I sold that much or thereabouts in one month.
I would have to say (as an occasional seller myself) I think it’s also good to go into it with the attitude that you’ll put your own integrity and peace of mind over profit. I’d rather be seen as honest and forgiving and not make money on an item than be a complete jerk (and an aggravated one who gets wound up every time I sit down at the computer) because I am “technically right” or unwilling to give up a dime.
Alas, I’ve met some sellers who would sooner cut your throat than lose a penny of profit. I hate dealing with them, I’d never buy from them again, and I’d never, never want to be one.
Granted, most of the time you’ll have no problems. But if you do hit a glitch, be the good guy.
Also, paying for part of the shipping yourself is a wonderful hook, as someone else noticed.
Don’t set the initial bid too high. If there are two identical items at auction at the same time with starting bids of $2.00 and $20.00 respectively, the $2.00 item will get the most action and the $20.00 item will sit at $20.00 for pretty much the entire duration. I’ve seen people with very optimistic hopes for their precious items who’ve set starting bids in the hundreds of dollars. Unless you’re selling original Picasso and Matisse works, that’s not gonna fly.
I key in auctions for my father, and he usually bypasses all the shipping intricacies involved in distances and UPS and 3rd-class parcel post, etc., by just flat stating that he ships USPS Priority Mail, $4.00, payable by the seller. But he also doesn’t ship outside the US, so that’s feasible for him.
I have to emphasize the already mentioned concept of “Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!” and “Brutal Honesty”. Selling almost anything without a visual is auction suicide. And don’t underestimate the importance of cataloging every single scratch, chip, smudge, fade, dent or missing part, unless you like refunding money and eating return shipping charges. And if you aren’t absolutely certain what it is you’re selling, don’t sound like you’re absolutely certain what it is you’re selling. Nothing crashes your feedback rating faster than postings of “liar,” “fraud,” or “cheat.” If you think you have a Parker Big Black Fountain Pen from 1923, make your auction read, “I think this is a 1923 Parker Big Black Fountain Pen.” Certainty is for people who are either experts at identification or for people who know people who are experts at identification.
Good luck!
jayjay
I have made a study of which eBay ads sell stuff for higher prices, and which don’t.
I’ll echo the “pictures” mantra. And also, be SPECIFIC in details of the item you are selling. Be overly specific, even, and enthusiastic. You don’t want your ad to sound like an infomercial, but you do want to sound enthusiastic, and give details.
For instance, I’ve sold several laptops on eBay, and also I just sold my old iMac. I saw that other iMac models on eBay were not selling for as high as I wanted for my iMac. But I saw that some of these other iMac ads were really skimpy on details. Like, “iMac, 266 MHz, 128 RAM” and that’s it. That won’t do.
I gave every itty bit of detail about my iMac - (without getting too technical.) I made a HTML table where I listed all the techie info. I then listed all the software on the iMac. I told how it had been a good iMac for me. I showed screenshots of the iMac, with windows showing how much RAM it had, and other such technical info. I think such pictures inspire more confidence, so people know that I am being up-front about what is on the computer.
I also stressed that it was being sold AS-IS. (Very important.) When it’s a used item, and even though it’s worked great for you - it may go belly up at any time. People need to know their risks. (You don’t have to over-emphasize this, though, but be sure to mention it, at least once!)
When I sell old books or computer software, I give links to reviews of the product. Also, on software, I list system requirements. All the kind of stuff people want to know about a product before buying. They shouldn’t have to do their own research in order to know if they want the thing or not. I make my ads with an HTML editor, which gives a tidy appearance to the ad. I don’t overdo a lot of fancy formatting or graphics, but I don’t have the ad run on into one huge block of text, either. If you don’t know basic HTML, it’s REALLY easy to learn. (About 5 tags, no biggie.) Learn enough so the ad can have larger and smaller text, bulleted lists, paragraph breaks, italics, bold text, etc. That’s all you need, but it can make a HUGE difference.
I also second the “Buy it Now” option. I love buying things with “Buy it Now”. And I sold my iMac on “Buy it Now”! 8 hours after I put my ad up, someone snatched up the iMac! At a price that was higher than simular iMac models were going for at the time! Woo hoo!
Another enthusiastic vote for PayPal. It is my opinion that people will bid higher when they know they can pay with PayPal. Sometimes (especially on bigger ticket items) they can’t scrape the cash together for a check or money order, but they CAN put it on their credit card. Definitely use PayPal, or another one of those popular services.
You’ve mentioned that you’ve been a buyer on eBay for awhile - my advice is that you don’t do anything that bugged you as a buyer (too-high shipping, uncommunicative/rude sellers, bad packaging, shitty pictures, etc)
Definitely use paragraphs breaks in your listing. You can spice up the page a little if you want, but for God’s sake, no music! :eek:
Make your TOS firm, but not too negative. I always hit the back button when I see ones like <b>“YOU MUST PAY WITHIN 10 DAYS OR I WILL LEAVE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK!!!”</b> It gives the impression that the seller is unreasonable and more concerned with their money than their buyers.
Midi files on any webpages (and especially ebay) = the devil.
Everyone here has given excellent advice.
Another thought about PayPal: even when selling a smaller ticket item, PayPal is the way to go. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bid on something with PayPal, because I knew I could just pay for it online, not have to drag myself out to the Post Office to get a money order made up, etc. It’s all instantanious, and very gratifying. People really like the convenience.
There is a small fee for using PayPal (they took out $2.70 out of some $83 software I just sold). So, on larger ticket items, you might add a little “cushion” to your asking price, if you anticipate a stong likelihood that people will pay with PayPal. Or, prepare yourself for the nibble that PayPal will take out of your sale. But remember that people probably bid a little higher when they know they can use PayPal, so it all evens out.
Offer atleast one online payment service.
Put the shipping amount in the ad.
Keep the opening bid as low as you can.
Don’t use a reserve.
“Keep the opening bid as low as you can.
Don’t use a reserve.”
You might not make a profit that way if you have few bidders.
Some people use AuctionWatch.com software that throws in a bid at the last moment. sigh.
What I mean is, keep the opening bid as low as your willing to go.
Ebay is so huge that there’s a good chance someone else is selling the exact thing you are. Bidders look at the title first, then the bid price.
I’ve been selling on Ebay for 4 years, getting ready to quit tho, too many changes.
What I mean is, keep the opening bid as low as your willing to go.
Ebay is so huge that there’s a good chance someone else is selling the exact thing you are. Bidders look at the title first, then the bid price.
I’ve been selling on Ebay for 4 years, getting ready to quit tho, too many changes.
Anybody who wants some great advice on online auction can go to http://www.otwa.com (Online Traders Web Aliance) I learned alot there.