Ebay tips please (im new to it)

Question

Can u give me a list of really good ebay selling tips. I am new to this and wanna no sum tips. ex: how much do i start bidding price?, wat are the best days to sell? Can u please give me a list of like 10 of ur top tips for selling on ebay to help me make as much $ as possible plz?

Answer 1

    One trick that will always work is doing  research on eBay to find other similar types of products. Before you list your items up for sale, check out what the other bidders are offering for the same kind of product that you want to sell. This can help you to determine on how

much you really would like to start your auction. It would also give you an outline of why the products that are selling fast are different as compared to the others. Remember also to pick a product that sells. Know what people would buy.

    

    Buyers always look for convenience, fast and cheap ways to buy products and deliver these to them. The good news is that in eBay, this is totally under the sellers’ control. So while selling, make sure you always include the correct shipping costs and explain how long it will take. Never leave the buyer guessing the approximate time the package will take to arrive. It’s just not about listing your product, but you are marketing it too. So the same way you spend time designing an advertisement, the same way you should work on your product. Take your time and choose the apt words that go with the product listing. It’s just not about the picturization only.

    

    Another trick is to always give the buyers a vast choice of payment options. You may get a buyer, who really wants to settle for your listed items, but cannot because he/she does not have a credit card. Always give the prospective bidders choices, so that if one payment option is not suitable, they may settle for the other or one that is much more convenient for them.

    A good reputation matters more than anything else on eBay. Unless you are just on the site to sell one item and leave, the first thing that you should focus on is getting good feedback on your sales. A good percentage of eBay buyers prefer looking at the track record of the person for which they are bidding, and so the better comments you have from your buyers the better chances you have of getting many new buyers.

    Lastly, acting like a professional will give you an edge over other sellers. Professionalism creates confidence and when somebody looks at your eBay profile and sees that your auctioning terms and conditions are business like, he/she may be most likely drawn to your products. However, don’t be complicated, but be simple and yet be professional.

I hope I helped!

Answer 2

Top 10...

10) Use 7 day auctions

9)  Best day to end an item is Sunday

8)  Best time to end an item is early to late evening

7)  Use Buy it Now as soon as you get it.

6)  The lower you set your initial bid the better (.99)

5)  Acclimate yourself with the seller fees (they will come back to bite you)

4)  Instead of paying to put up multiple pictures...tell people you will send them pictures upon request if they send you their email address

3) Post your Policies Clearly (Returns, International shipping, Payment methods)

2) Only Accept Paypal and Money Orders

1) Print your postage and ship from home.  SAVES TONS OF TIME AND HASSLE!!!

I sell on eBay regularly so if you have any questions feel free to contact me.  Good Luck

Answer 3

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing.

Be professional - use good English with no spelling errors

ALWAYS include at least one picture, more pictures for higher priced items

GOOD Communication is a must - Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is good customer service. After all, you are the 'President & CEO' of your 'company' running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you.

You may want to use an email along these lines after you mail the buyer’s item:

Hi Buyer’s FIRST NAME HERE,

Just to keep you updated……………………….

Thanks for your payment! I mailed your widget this morning via USPS Priority Mail from Schickshinny, PA. You should receive it Saturday or Monday. I have also posted positive feedback for you. Please do the same for me if everything is satisfactory when your widget arrives. If, however, you are displeased with your purchase and you feel the item is not as I described it, please email me. I will rectify the situation to your satisfaction.

Again, thanks for bidding and congratulations on winning!

It has been a pleasure!

Regards,

Your name here

******

Other little tips:

Do not limit your payment options – Offer all of them. Sellers who offer only PayPal or only money orders or money orders and checks are further limiting their potential market and reducing their potential to maximize profits. Some people will not bid on items that do not have PayPal as an option. Then you have a smaller percentage who refuse to use PayPal and prefer to pay by check only or money order only.

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is simple. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential market and profits. To maximize profits, sell worldwide.

However, if you wish to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with a higher bid. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits.  But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept for these overseas bidders.  

When you list an item, you choose whether it is to be a flat rate charge or a charge based on the weights of the boxed items. If you want to do your listings OFFLINE, download TURBOLISTER free from ebay. Once you have finished with your listings, you can upload them anytime or schedule a date and time when you want your auctions to start.

If you plan to sell on a regular basis, you can purchase an inexpensive postal scale on ebay for $15 to $20. I bought one several years ago and it still works just fine and is always in sync with the scales at the post office.

The links to the postal rates effective May, 2008:

http://www.usps.com/prices/welcome.htm

Regarding shipping methods

I suggest:

Any smaller, lightweight items that can fit in an envelope and be well protected can go first class mail.

Larger and / or heavier items are usually sent via USPS Priority mail. The greatest majority of items listed on ebay are mailed Priority Mail.  The REASON?  The BOXES ARE FREE from the USPS and they are delivered FREE to your doorstep!!!  You can either pick them up at your local PO but for a greater selection of boxes and to save gas, you can make your selections at the USPS website. Once your FREE order has been placed, the USPS will deliver your boxes FREE to your doorstep. Howya gonna beat that?

http://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s...

Beware of Media Mail- Thousands of ebay members are in violation of this postal regulation. Books, magazines, etc can be sent media mail PROVIDED they contain NO advertising. If the books/mags, etc. contain advertising, regardless of the items’ age, they CANNOT be sent media mail. The post office does randomly open media mail packages to catch violators. In addition, Media mail is ever so slow as it can take 7 to 10 days for delivery and in some instances up to 21 days. You will find buyers hounding you for their items when they don’t receive them in 5 days. Sometime it’s just best to use Priority Mail.  

Most mail in the US is moved by commercial air carriers. The USPS is the largest customer of the commercial carriers. When weight or space limitations have been reached on a plane, the low priority mail sits in holding areas until there is room for it on another flight, which, sometimes, can be a week or more.

I suggest you ‘go with the flow’ and use Priority Mail. It also is quick, 2 to 3 day delivery in most case.

Ebay sellers are increasingly complaining about the high cost of ebay and PayPal fees.  I say, try establishing your own business and reach the tens of millions people that ebay reaches and find out how much your expenses are. To these complainers, I say ‘Kwitchurbellyakin.’  There is always a cost of doing business. Many sellers have left ebay for other auction sites to save on fees. I don’t think this is prudent. They may be saving a few bucks on fees but an item that sells on another auction site with far, fewer members for $10 would likely sell for substantially more at ebay with its much greater membership. This is a classic example of “stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny.”  

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:  Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.  These smaller auction sites ‘dangle their worms’ with low and no fees but they certainly won’t tell new sellers their items will sell for less than at their sites than they will sell for at ebay. Don’t be penny wise and pound-foolish. There isn’t another auction site on the web that can hold a candle to ebay and the millions and millions of members it has. Many have tried and many have failed and yet, many are still trying. Ebay has a virtual lock on this business. This is where you want to sell as ebay has the largest potential market.

The only other thing, avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of four or five.

More expensive, similar items are best sold separately to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average basis.  I know this works as, when I had more time, I was one of these ‘vultures.’  This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole.

There is no best day of the week or time to list an item. Most smart ebay buyers use ebay’s search feature to find items they are looking for and these searches are delivered to them daily via email. So, in my opinion, it hardly matters when you start or end your auctions. Also, many people reserve weekends for their families and leave the ‘web world’ behind.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher.  Start off slowly listing only one or two items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. Good luck & happy selling!