also how to minimize their charges ?
thanks in advance
billyboy
Host your own photos and lots of good quality ones and use the html to embed them so no charges.
99p start no reserve
End auctions when people will be online- I aim at 8-9pm Sunday/Monday nights. I often use 10 day listings scheduled to start on Thursday/Friday night so you take in two weekends.
Work on 20% deduction for ebay/paypal - won't be that much, but won't be much less.
Don't - ebay will pump you with charges, better to use the classifieds.
kenneththecurtain +1
Ebay is poo for sellers
A description with as much relevent info as possible and reference to your excellent feedback and prompt payment and postage history (depending on buyer or seller), it you have it. If buyers feel comfortable dealing with you, then you will get much more interest. photos clear and true colours (use a flash maybe), don't use a library photo. You should be prepared to post the item if possible, collection only will massively limit your market (you charge for postage anyway). My Starting and ending advice is the same as rock3gozy above, I have nothing to add to his advice. Most of it is common sense, but you'd be suprised how many ads are utter sh1te.
I would also say start at 99p, if you have good history, good photo, good description, it will very likely sell at a reasonable/good price. I think you can pull the ad at the last minute, but often that's when the real bids come in, so it can be a test of nerve if you do it that way.
If you don't have any history, that might be a problem if you're selling, maybe buy a few items first to get a bit of positive feedback history, if that's possible.
If they ask you to ship outside the UK tell them to **** off (uh, politely). They'll still bid and win on your auction, then leave you negative feedback when you tell them that you won't post insured to Romania for £5.
Expect several scam emails from Nigeria / Somalia / [Insert backwards despotic African country here] on any item of value that you list.
Agree with comments above, clear photos and full, honest description of goods and sensible P&P charges.
Offering worldwide can be great if you have desirable items but care with P&P
(Check out completed listings for similar items if you need to check potential £ value).
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Good luck.
what are you selling? ebay is great for buyers not so good for average seller jo!
take 20% off for all fees
The amount people pay for 2nd hand bike bits astounds me. I sold some used lx cranks a while back and they paid £5 more than what you can buy them new from crc for. Still I'm not complaining.
Advice as above though really . Especially on the end time. Oh and check your postage costs before listing as I've had some parcels cost a tad more than expected!
Host your own photos and lots of good quality ones and use the html to embed them so no charges.99p start no reserve
End auctions when people will be online- I aim at 8-9pm Sunday/Monday nights. I often use 10 day listings scheduled to start on Thursday/Friday night so you take in two weekends.
This.
And think about what people are likely to search for to find your item. That doesn't mean spamming lots of irrelevant terms, but (for instance) when I was selling off lots of old car magazines rather than just "Evo issue 73" I used as much of the title as possible on cars featured in that issue, and used the description to give a full summary of the contents (cars tested, grouptests, etc). They sold well because people wouldn't know what particular issue had something of interest but they did know what cars they were interested in.
Good photos help enormously. Use old white bedsheet in a room that gets plenty of light, and learn how to use the macro function on your camera!
use ebay as a pomotional tool and try not to let the auctions run their course.
depending on the item and its value, you will find a lot of folk want to trade off ebay and do a private sale. Go down that route if you can and you will save £loads.
haggle hard!
dont bother with reserves.
always send recorded.
Oh yes, the main title description (as simon_g), that's very important. Think of as many search words as possible that might be relevent. That's not a particularly big field, so every word you use has to count!.
Don't sell things that yoofs buy - mobiles, mp3 players etc.
a lot of them are there purely to rip you off
Only sell stuff that's worth a few quid. Anything that's worth less than a tenner is easily more hassle than it's worth territory. You have to dig the gear out, clean it, tidy up a desk to take photos on, take photos, tidy them up a little (level them up, resize them). And then you have to deal with stupid questions and take the kit down to the post office.
Also, You should maybe state a good reason why you're selling, even if it's not quite the genuine reason.
I last sold a very good pr of mountaineering salopettes, I stated that I'd out grown them around the waistline (which was partially true), but actually they were a little bit too flamboyant for me in the colour department. I thought, stating the real reason for my sale might put people off bidding.
It's a bit like the description on the back label of a bottle of wine, don't tell outright lies and only make things sound good for the buyer.
If you sell items of high value be very careful with paypal as if the buyer simply claims the items is not recieved or is not as advertised he can claim a refund and paypal always side with the buyer,Thjey do not even seem to investigate the issue. I have just been stiffed by paypal like this and there seems nothing I can do about it. In future if I sell things of <£100 I will only accept a cheque or bank transfere so be warned. If possible use the forums as after the fees are taken its not as good as you first think.
PS: I hate ebay now for buyers yes for private sellers no
[i]Ebay is poo for sellers[/i]
It actually depends on what your'e selling. I've sold stuff for more than I've bought it for many times!
If they ask you to ship outside the UK tell them to **** off (uh, politely)
I've knocked back a few buyers on this basis (baby clothers they were really keen on) but I sold a broken ipod to to guy in the Netherlands at what I thought was silly money (£25 for a broken ipod ?!) = and had no problems. I think the weak pound means that overseas buyers might pay more than the uk average.
Don't expect to get your money straight from pay pal...they can put a hold on it if they feel like it 'for security' ...They held on to a lump of my money for 3 weeks (or more)...just in case the buyer felt like lodging a complaint (which they didn't as they were very happy)...even when the buyer leaves positive feedback they didn't release the money (even though they say they will) until the 3 week period expired. Grrrr...only happened once though.
One important thing to start with - don't sell any high value items until your feedback score is higher - people won't trust a new seller flogging a £2k bike...
As above +
Always use a signed for postal service, I got fleeced for a digital camera as the guy claimed it hadn't arrived, also got caught by a regular scammer who opened a paypal dispute on every item he bought stating the condition wasn't as described & asked for a partial refund, (always after he'd received feedback) he got banned eventually.
I always offer a full refund (except postage) if people aren't happy with what they've bought, I've never been taken up on the offer & I restrict it to 7 days.
Once ebay stopped letting sellers leave negative feedback they ruined it. Always posted recorded and block bidders from outside the uk. If you don't block them even if you clearly put in the auction that it's uk only they will still bid and often expect it to be posted for your uk rates. As previously mentioned ebay/paypal always side with the buyer and give them their money back regardless of fault.
It's does say somewhere in ebay info that a seller should see selling on ebay like running your own business and take the attitude that some you win and some you lose. Find that really annoying as that never was/is the spirit of the site but if you go in with that attitude it's a good way of making money out of stuff you would normally bin.
Be brutally honest in your item description, even if you think you'll be costing yourself money. Nothing pisses me off more as a buyer than an incorrect description, or an "as new" item that quite clearly is not. Don't expect the buyer to study the photos in massive detail, if an item has a problem describe it in the auction.
Second the comments re using recorded post
1st class signed for is only and extra 75pence
also reserves are useful esp if you want x amount min , buy it now very fast sellers, sold 2 items within 1 day that way
and paypal will release funds, esp when you get your buyers to be prompt on the feedback, keep in touch with them, ie SMS parcel id's etc and be accurate and fair with descriptions
remember to stick on the old, no returns, UK only etc
fees are a bit high but easy was to sell some old kit off
hth
Have things ready to send out, is annoying when sellers take a week to get something in the post even though you've paid for a better postal service.
Not selling outside the UK is a bit harsh. Would at least sell to Europe/ Canada/ NZ/ Aus/ Singapore etc where the postal system is good and it's not cowboy territory. But if you do do that, make sure postage is agreed in advance and that you obtain "certificate of postage" (or whatever it's called - when you get a slip from the post office to prove you actually posted it.