How to Sell Successfully on eBay- Top 10 Secrets

1) Low starting Price

Before you list your auction, ask yourself what’s the lowest amount you’d be

prepared to accept for your item. A low starting price will attract more bids and

at a quicker pace - usually within the first day of the listings. Research shows

that a .99c starting price will get you bidders within a few hours. Many vehicles

and high value items are sold with a low starting price especially by

established Power Sellers - because unless it’s an extremely poor week the

item will normally end up with hundreds of bids and at a cost that’s acceptable

to the seller.

Additionally users are more likely to view auctions which already have a

successful bid as it generates interest in your item. It’s like if you see a market

stall with hundreds of people standing around it - your curiosity would tell you

to stop and see what’s generating interest. Use curiosity to your advantage.

2) No Reserve

Many sellers still place reserve prices on their item. A reserve price is one

which unless it is met by your sellers you are not obliged to sell the item. An

example would be if you have an reserve of $10, and your item sells for $9.00

you do not have to complete the sale & release the item. Reserve items,

although very occasionally may be necessary in the case of extremely high

value items or businesses for sale are off putting to bidders. Why would you

bid on an item with a reserve price on, unless you already knew were aware of

what the reserve was. Personally I’d look for alternative items without a

reserve price.

eBay has already removed the Reserve Price option from some of it’s site in a

move that is largely welcome by the majority of users. It could be a sign that

this policy change will be extended to all of it’s sites.

3) Images

An Image is worth a thousand words. Take photos of your item to clearly show

the condition of it, and any damage or unusual aspects of it. eBay allows you

to include one photo free of charge and if you use your own image hosting

service you can easily include as many photos as necessary to show your

item in a detailed manner.

Many Power Sellers use up to 20 photos for one single item. Ask yourself how
many are necessary for your item, and also consider using the gallery option

so the image will appear within the search listings.

4) Cross-Promotion

You’ve worked hard to get users to view your listing, so while their viewing it

also include a link to any other items you’ve available. This is allowed in

addition to the already provided link to “View other sellers’ items”. You can use

commercial services (such as Anadale) to include images and descriptions of

your other items.

5) About Me Page

Sell yourself on your About Me Page. This is your chance to establish some

credibility for yourself. The biggest reason people will not buy from you online

is because you have failed to establish any credibility for yourself. So include

details about you and your business. Where are you situated?, how long have

you been registered on eBay?, What do you specialize in? If your a high

volume seller you may also want to include a photo of yourself. Have a look at

other About Me pages to see what works and what doesn’t.

6) Return Policy

Nothing gives buyers greater confidence than knowing that they can return the

product if it’s not for them. So consider drafting yourself a returns policy.

Will you accept returns? What if the item arrives faulty? How long is the policy

valid for?

It may seem like a big risk to offer such a policy knowing that you’ll have to

incur a cost relisting and reshipping items but only a very small amount of

users will return the items.

7) Feedback 

Leave feedback for the winning bidder as soon as the item is paid for. Some

sellers like to protect themselves by only returning feedback when it is left for

you. I consider this unprofessional and your bidders will most likely think the

same too. Don’t be scared of getting a negative or neutral comment on your

feedback record. The majority of users will consider all of you feedback before

bidding, not just looking at one or two comments.

Additionally if you deserve any feedback left for you such as if you were late

shipping, accept it was you fault. Don’t be too worried about admitting it with

an apology in response to your feedback. You may also want to compensate

your winning bidder with reduced postage or a bonus item to show it was a

genuine error on your part.

If you know the there is going to be a delay in completing any transaction,
email the bidder and inform them. Apologize with a comment such as “This is

a rare incident that’s completely out of my control. I hope by looking at my

feedback record you will see this is an completely isolated incident”. Always

try to keep on good terms with all your buyers.

8) Instant attention

Give immediate attention to your bidders and prospective bidders. Don’t leave

a delay of days before responding to any emails or phone calls. And following

a successful transaction you may want to email your bidder to tell them when

the item has been shipped and when it will be expected to arrive.

I know many sellers, some of them Power Sellers who takes days to respond

to a simple email. If you don’t have time to respond immediately consider

delegating the responsibility to someone else who can respond on your behalf.

Never give any bidder reason to doubt whether you’re a genuine seller or not.

9) eBay Store

Opening an eBay Store is a necessary step for anyone medium sized seller.

Not only do you benefit from cheaper and longer listings within your shop, but

you can also cross-promote your products easily, send out newsletters and

establish a trusted brand for your listings easier. Also you’ll gain more

coverage (and hopefully bids) for your listings by appearing in the eBay store

directory.

10) Shipping

Don’t be tempted to over price your shipping costs and try to make a small

profit on this. Firstly you can be found out to easily, and it’s one of the most

unforgiving things for a seller to do. More importantly over pricing your

shipping costs is against eBay policy.

If you’re offering digital goods such as an eBook or special report, you may

consider a small handling fee to cover your time and administration costs. If

you do make sure it’s fair and clearly highlighted within the item listing. The

last thing a bidder wants to do is find out there are unexpected costs

associated with a purchase they’ve made.

Written by admin on February 15th, 2007 with no comments.
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