Below are some tips for Auction Sellers
- Pricing
- If you are unsure what price to start your auction at, do a
 Item Search for similar items.
If the search is inconclusive you could use a
Reserve Price Auction setting a low starting price and a high reserve price,
you might not sell the item on the first attempt
but you will get an idea of the likely selling price.
- Use Pictures
- Use a Digital Camera or Scanner to produce pictures of the items you are
selling, your buyer can then see what it is they are bidding for and does not have to rely on
your description alone.
- HTML
-
With only a few basic HTML statements your auction description can be easier to read then the default
unformatted text. With a little more work you can produce an eye catching professional looking listing.
- Listing Fees
-
Before setting your starting price check the
Listing Fees as you may be able to reduce your starting price a little and halve the basic fee charged.
If you have more then one image it is be worth looking into hosting your images yourself or using
a free
Image Hosting Service
- UnResponsive Buyers
-
Some buyers seem reluctant to reply to e-mails and will instead just post the payment to you, this can
leave you worrying if you
have a non paying bidder until their payment hits your doormat. One way to stop this happening is to
not provide your buyer with your full address until they
have contacted you. So in your initial e-mail you should ask them to confirm the shipping method,
their full address and method of payment. Then you mail them back with the total due, your address
and if necessary any info they may need if paying by e-mail (NoChex, PayPal etc)
- Buyers Addresses
-
To avoid you making any typos etc with your buyers addresses, if they have included it in their
e-mails you can copy and paste it directly to either a label making program (MS-Word does labels) or print
the e-mail, cut out the address and stick it directly to the package. If the only address you have for
the buyer is hand written and you have any doubt about exactly what the address is then check it prior to
shipping.
- Image Hosts
-
When using multiple images in a listing host them yourself rather then on eBay
(where each image after the first costs you extra insertion fees).
There are plenty of alternatives including your own Internet Service Provider
or a number of Free Auction Image Hosting Services.
- Multiple Listings
-
List multiple similar items at the same time, you can then mention in the descriptions that you are selling
other similar items. Increasing your exposure. Buyers will often bid on multiple auctions by the
same seller to save shipping costs.
- Prepare Auction Descriptions Offline
-
Prepare you item description as a file on your PC prior to adding the item. You can save it as a HTML file
and pre-check it in your browser. You can either prepare a blank template or copy & rename your previous
listing when you want to create the next one.
- Be Prepared
-
When shippings expensive / fragile goods take pictures of the wrapped and unwrapped item(s) prior to
shipping, to be used if it becomes necessary to make a claim against the courier for loss or damage.
- E-mail Templates
-
If you have a number of standard e-mails which you send to your buyers, rather then rewriting them
each time or copy & pasting them from another document they can be saved as signatures in your
e-mail program and called up when needed.
- Feedback
- Do not be in a hurry to give your buyer feedback, wait until you know they
have received the goods, you could ask them to "confirm receipt of the goods by e-mailing you and or
completing your feedback". I would not hassle them for feedback if you think they should have received
the goods, they may decide to give you a negative feedback. It is worth seeing how much feedback they
do give by comparing the feedback they have received with that given (there is a link on their id card
marked "feedback about others"). If they do not give you feedback it could be worth leaving it until
near the end of the 90 day feedback period (90 days from the end of the auction) and leaving an appropriate
feedback (how about a neutral stating that they left you no feedback).
- Shipping Problems
- However 'Nice/Sincere/Honest' your buyer seems if they paid for the
postage and then claim the item has not arrived or is damaged your correct course of action is to ask
them for evidence of the damage / loss and to take the matter up with the postal service / courier that
was used and to only repay the buyer whatever you get back from them.
- Secret Markings
- If you are concerned that your buyers are falsely claiming your items
are damaged / broken and are in fact substituting your item for a similar damaged one then you
could place a secret mark on your items before shipping.
Depending on the item this could be
in books a light pencil mark on a certain page,
a marking with an invisible (UV) pen
or a photographic record of the wear on an old item.
When the item is returned you can then look for your mark to confirm the item has not been swapped
and only refund the buyer if you find your marking.
- Buy It Now
- If you are using Buy It Now format listings you should be wary of winners who
do not contact you promptly after buying your item. If they really wanted the item why are they not
contacting you. Unlike auction format listings where the winner may have placed their bid days before
the end of the auction, may have forgotten about it, might not have expected to win etc etc with Buy
It Now the buyer / winner actually ends the listing when they click the button and press confirm. If
the buyer / winner does not contact you or send payment then you would be adviced to follow the
Non Paying Bidders process more closely then with a normal auction.
 Discussion Boards -
If you are having problems you can often get a quicker answer from the Discussion Boards then you will
get from eBay Customer Support, if you want a definitive answer to a problem you could always send your
question to eBay and then visit the Discussion Boards. The best board for Buying & Selling help is the
Community Question and Answer Board.
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