Ebay

[-Adam-]

Ok, so I am familiar with buying things on Ebay, but not selling.

Since I have much stuff in my house, and a need for cash, I was thinking this may the way forward.

Can anyone please enlighten me on the ways and means of being a good Ebay seller...

[Andrew G]

As they occur to me...

- Have a good picture (at least one) of what you're selling, make it an actual photo not a "it's one like this that I nabbed on t'internet".
- Make the title clear and concise but include important info that'll grab from a scan down the list.
- Good snappy description. Bullet points etc make it easy rather than wading through a big block of text.
- Include everything relevant and/or that will help the sale.
- If there are faults/marks be honest. Don't try and cheat or con people and the buyer can demand a refund and get a black mark put against you if you don't play it straight.
- Put a note to see other items for sale and say why you're selling. Selling a big block of stuff can look like you're a dealer so if you have a valid reason say so.
- Depending on how much feedback you have then the above note will also help explain why you've suddenly appeared with 5 feedback and a ton of stuff to flog. You don't have much of a history so it can help make you look honest.
- Know how much it's going to cost to post and include that info in the details, you'll get more positive responses that way, otherwise you look silly when people ask and you say don't know. Be flexible to a multiple buyer so you can package things together and save postage costs.
- I never bother with a reserve it's a waste of time. If you won't let something go for less than a certain price then start the auction at that price. People just ask what your reserve is anyway.
- Accept paypal. If you don't have it then register a credit card and set it up. If you don't like it then you can always cancel the account after the sales but it will help attract buyers.
- When you list the items post date the start of the auctions. You can set a start date and time so if you have all your auctions start and finish at the same time it makes your life easier. You just sweep up all the emails of whose won and contact everyone, post out etc in one hit rather than have it drip feed along over a few days.

There are loads of sharks and dealers who use ebay now which I always make a point of steering clear of. You can spot the genuine people. When it started it was like the cards in the newsagent type selling but nationally, and all was well. If you keep your dealings in this same manner you attract reliable buyers, and have a better chance of avoiding getting caught up with the sharks.

That's all I can think of for now .

[Jon H]

Time your auction so it ends at a sensible time when a lot of people are going to be online; i.e. weekday evenings and weekend afternoons. That way you'll get people watching the auction as it gets close to the ending time in the hope of putting in a last minute bid. People tend to get carried away and end up bidding high when they've been outbid, which helps get your selling price up.

Oh, and try and think of all the dumb questions people will ask and answer them in advance in your item description. Helps stop some of the numpty emails.

[George]

get your mates to bid it up

[Mike I]

The Ebay site has some useful tips, just in case Andrew missed anything. Most are common-sense, but it includes things like how to calculate postage.

[url]http://pages.ebay.co.uk/sell/basics/start.html[/url]