Selling on EbayMar 26 '03 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line As more people use the auction site, it becomes more important than ever to get your item in the right place, for the right price! This review was one of my very first that I published. It sucked. So, I've reworked it because Ebay has changed its selling format since it has been written. I hope you'll find the new piece more helpful! Ebay is the most popular auction site on the web, and there is a reason for that: they have perfected the process. When I first began using the service, it was a little daunting putting items up for sale, but now they have the process so streamlined, even my 6 year-old can manage it. Here is the most basic overview of how selling works for beginners. You'll learn more great tricks that work for you as you go, and you will be hooked after your first listing! Get a Picture! Very important to your success! If you have a digital camera, super! If not, you can take a regular picture of your item, check "floppy disk" when you go to have them developed so that you'll get your pics back on disk. You used to have to host your own pictures, which could be a hassle, but now Ebay does this for you! You simply have to have the pictures on a disc or saved to your hard drive, and Ebay will host them for you (one of them, should I say) for free. There is a small fee to add more pictures, but I find when shopping, more is always better. Sounds like a lot of trouble but go on and do it. A picture is crucial to your selling success. I won't even look at a listing without picture. Other options available to you are slideshows. You can purchase one of these for only .75 cents, and it will show multiple views of your item. You can also supersize your pictures for .75 cents, to show greater detail. You can also choose to purchase the Picture Pack which is a $1.75 value for only $1.00! Get Gallery, Supersize, and add up to 6 pictures. This one is a bargain, and I see a lot of sellers using this option. Listing your item First you'll need to decide what type of auction you plan to use. You can do your typical auction, starting your item off at a set price and watch it rise from there. You can sell your item at a fixed price, which allows you a venue with which to sell with no haggling. You can also advertise your real estate. Next decide where to put your item. If you are unsure which category it might go under, run a search of a similar product and see where everyone else has theirs. Ebay has even included a search button to help you find the right category in their easy 5 step listing process now. You may even add your item to a second category for a nominal fee. This increases your exposure! To list your item with one picture will cost you a mere .30 cents, and to add your listing to a second category will cost you only .30 cents more. If you are selling something that might be racy or private for any reason, you can make your auction a private one. This protects your buyers from having their ID's shown. One situation where I came across this feature was when someone was selling adult sized baby doll panties. Don't ask. You can also choose a theme for your item for only .10 cents. This will eliminate the need for a background, as they will match one with your item by the theme you choose. Examples would include Baby, Clothing and Accessories, Father's Day, Mother's Day, etc. If you really want to sell a big ticket item, you can feature it in the category for only $19.95 or feature it on the main page for $99.95. I have never used this "feature" either as a buyer or a seller. Title Next you must give your item a title. Give good detail (sizes, color, etc.) and keep it simple. Don't use words in the title like "stunning, beautiful, etc." as it detracts from your product. Save that for the description, which you will need to write in full detail. You can choose to make your title appear in bold for a fee of $1.00. I will admit that the bold does catch your eye quicker than the others! Still think you need to stand out in the sea of other buyers? Purchase a highlight for your item, which puts a colored line through your title. This is eye-catching, but for $5.00 I believe I'd take my chance. Description Tell as much as you can about the product you are selling. If your product has any flaws whatsoever, here is where you come clean! Try to be as honest as possible, you will have more satisfied buyers, thus better feedback! Also, it is simple to add a background to this page. Simply use the same background tag that you use in your profile for Epinions to the very top of the description. You can dress up the page even more just by knowing a little bit of simple HTML. Ebay now has an HTML text editor that is free to use! If you don't know any, and don't care to learn, typing in your information is just fine. Would you like to know how many people are interested in your item? Put an Andale page counter at the bottom of your page for free! Duration You have the option of choosing 3, 5, 7 and 10 days for your auction to run. If you choose to have it run 10 days, you will be charged an additional .10 cents. The default setting is for 7 days, which I use every time. It is the perfect time limit, because when I see auctions that end in 10 days, I become a little discouraged. However, this will increase your exposure time and not every buyer is as impatient as I! You can even schedule your start date, which means you can also control when the auction ends. I used to try to have mine end over a weekend, when more people are online, but now I don't bother. As this trick will cost you another .10 cents, I skip it. Pricing Set your price as low as you can stand to sell your product. People love to feel like they are getting a bargain, and if you start low, you will get many more bids and that will help to increase interest in your product. When I see items with 8 or more bids I'm thinking "hey, what is all the hubub here?" and I give it a look! Some people will set a reserve price on their auction. I despise that. And I don't understand it, either, it just seems tricky. This way, you may set the auction for a low low price, set the reserve price at the lowest price you'll sell the item. Seems to me you should just start the item off at the lowest price you can sell it for and make everyone happy, while saving yourself a step. While this used to be a free option, it now comes with a variable fee. Another thing to make sure you do is get an accurate price on shipping. I've been burned more times trying to make a guess, and ended up quoting too low, so the item cost me more to send than I sold it for. What a waste of time! Putting your item in the Gallery This is a cheap way to gain more exposure for your product. It only costs 25 cents on Ebay and you get a thumbnail picture beside your auction title. Excellent way to gain attention to your product! I have actually bid on things from the Gallery that I never would have noticed if not for that small thumbnail. They say it increases your sales by up to 200%. All for 25 cents! If your item is a gift item, consider marking it as such for .25 cents. I have used this little gem before when buying gifts on Ebay for relatives and such. You can even mark if you will gift wrap the item for the person, offer to ship to the recipient or bump up for Express shipping, for the forgetful souls. After all the Bids are in Make sure you email the winner and keep up good communication through the whole transaction. I let my buyers know when I receive the payments, what day I will ship their items (because I do hold checks to allow for clearance) and I send them a short email when I ship. Usually all of this communication is very appreciated. Lastly, be sure to leave feedback, as it is the lifeblood of the members. And it is courteous. Follow these basic and simple steps to selling and you will be fine. If you do, you'll soon be checking the progress of your auctions the same way you see if any of your epinions have been rated recently. It's addicting!!  |
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