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eBay Tips

eBayInc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) manages an online auction and shoppingwebsite, where people buy and sell goods and services worldwide.eBay is a great way to test a new product. For a growing number of entrepreneurs,though, eBay is their sole storefront. The beauty of eBay is that it letsyou get into e-commerce without having to go through the trouble and expenseof setting up an e-commerce site of your own.

There are more tips here for sellers than for buyers. But, even if youonly buy on eBay and have no interest in becoming a seller, it is suggestedthat you read all of the tips as there is plenty of information that willmake you a better buyer.

Last Updated - 30th July 2006

Tips for Buyers

Almost everyone starts his or her eBay experience as a buyer. Learninghow to buy effectively will improve your eBay experience and prepare youfor becoming a seller. It is recommend that you make at least ten successfultransactions on eBay before trying to sell.

• Build A Positive Feedback Rating - Give and get good feedback.This is less critical for buyers than for sellers, but having a goodfeedback rating makes other eBayers comfortable doing business withyou.
• How to build feedback quickly? - Here is a quick way to buildgood feedback:
  • Make some purchases for a few lower cost items you use everydayor that you would normally buy at a store. There are plenty of itemsin the Health & Beauty category that you buy every day suchas shampoo and razor blades –often at prices less than youwould pay at Wal-Mart.
  • Pay promptly using PayPal and immediately post feedback for theseller as soon as you get the item. If the seller does not postfeedback, send them a short email telling them that you posted feedbackfor them and you would appreciate them reciprocating.
• Be generous with your feedback - Post feedback quickly andleave specific comments. Leaving a comment that says: “great seller,”is nice –but it is more helpful to say, “Item arrived quicklyin perfect condition, just as described.” Or: “Quick Professionaltransaction –good email and just what I ordered.” This typeof feedback is very helpful to future buyers and it tends to get youbetter feedback comments in return.
• Use PayPal - Sellers want to be paid quickly and everyone isconcerned about fraud. There is no faster or safer way to complete aneBay transaction than PayPal (now owned by eBay). PayPal is now usedby over 100 Million users around the world and now processes more debitand credit card payments than Citibank. Over 80% of registered eBayusers accept PayPal and eBay has fully integrated PayPal into theirsystems. Take the time to become a verified seller and always give yourverified shipping address. This gets you the fraud protection. Go towww.paypal.com .
• Avoid Fraud on Large Purchases - Given the millions of transactionsthat occur each month, fraud is actually rare on ebay but it does exist.The most common type of fraud on eBay is a seller that offers an expensiveitem for sale at an unbelievably good price. When you win the item theseller asks to be paid in cash, cashiers check or money order. You sendthe money and then the seller disappears.
  • Demanding a cashiers check or a money order only is a red flag.Never bid on a large purchase if the seller will not take Paypalor a credit card. Always check the seller's feedback and how longthey have been registered on eBay.
  • Most fraudesters set up an eBay account, run a few quick expensiveauctions, get the money and either disappear or are kicked off ofeBay as soon as they are discovered. Be especially careful if theseller is located outside the U.S.
• Pay sellers quickly - Paying quickly will help you build feedbackfaster and you will get your item sooner.
• Be honest – admit your mistakes - If you forgot aboutthe auction and are late getting a payment off, or you forgot to shipsomething you sold – be up front and honest. Apologize and admityour mistake. People can be very forgiving if they believe you. Theycan be unforgiving if they think they are being taken for a ride.
• Create an About Me page on eBay - EBay allows you to createa page to describe you and your family or even include your pets. Youcan put a photo on the page, talk about your hobbies, your family –basically anything you like. The About Me page is where a person canget a sense of who you are and if they would like to do business withyou. If you have a web site, this is the one place on eBay where itis allowed to direct buyers to your web site.
• Master the power of searching - According to eBay, about 65%of bidders find their item by searching. Including the exact name ofthe product you are selling is key to bidders finding your auction.Some sellers place a tilde (~) or a star * next to their auction titleto help get attention. Place a space between a tilde (or *) and a word,or the word will not come up in a search.
  • For example: *Nikon* would not result in any items found, becauseeBay’s search engine sees the * as part of the word. Accordingto Power Seller News, some of the most searched words on eBay are:DVD, Art, BMW, Gucci, Longaberger, Louis Vuitton, Laptop, Playstation2 and Paintball.
  • Use eBay’s powerful search engine to find items and to seewhat items are selling and how much they are selling for.
• Be sure to thank people - Send an email to your seller whenthe item arrives. Thank them and let them know you posted feedback andare happy with the transaction.
• Search for misspelled items to find bargains - Finding misspelleditems is a great sport on eBay. Remember that 65% of eBay buyers finditems by searching. If someone spells an item name incorrectly it willnot come up in a search. These items usually get very few bids and thisis a great place to shop.
  • Here are a few misspelled words to try: jewlery, strawbery, KenGriffy, Porsch, beaney, If you want to buy something specific oneBay, think of how the word could be commonly misspelled and typeit into the search box. You will often be surprised how many itemscome up.
• Use the .02 or .03 rule - Most people bid in even numbers.If the bid increment is 50 cents, make your bid .52 or .53. This wayyou will just outbid someone by a few cents instead of a large increment.This is very important when sniping.
• Learn to snipe - EBay’s proxy bidding system allows youto set your highest bid and then forget about it. EBay will keep biddingthe minimum increment up to your maximum. This is fine if you know exactlyhow much you want to pay for something. If you are not sure how muchyou want to bid or if you know an item will be hot, then learn how tosnipe at the last minute. Here is how to snipe:
  • Open one window with the auction description. Open a second windowand place the highest amount you will pay for the item and hit “ReviewBid.” Now enter your username and password –but don’thit “Place Bid” yet. Wait until 15 or 20 seconds beforethe auction ends. (Refresh your first window to see the time left).At the right moment, hit “Place Bid.” With luck your bidwill arrive at the perfect time to beat out your competition.
  • Be sure to synchronize your time with the official eBay time oryou could just miss the end of an auction.
• Use Ending Today - When searching eBay listings and categories,it can become very tiresome because there is so much out there. If you’rejust browsing for stuff to buy, then select a category, and select EndingToday. Items ending in the next 24 hours will be highlighted in red.Here's a tip to find great bargains. Look for items ending after midnight.There aren't as many people up after midnight and those auctions tendto get fewer bids.
• Search Completed items - To find out what a product is worth,it doesn’t do any good to find prices for on-going auctions asthis could change minute by minute. Searching Completed Items (fromthe eBay search box) is the best way to determine an item’s worthor value.
• Check the seller’s feedback rating --and the comments - Becauseyou are spending your hard-earned money, it pays to check the feedbackleft by others about the person from whom you’re thinking of buying.When in an item’s auction page, select “view seller’sfeedback.” This will list all comments made by others that havedealt with this person in the past. It can be very revealing. If yousee a bunch of negative comments, stay away from this seller. If yousee positive, then proceed. Don’t let one or two negatives dissuadeyou if most of the feedback is positive. Everyone makes mistakes, andthings do get lost in the mail. Also there are some people out therewho are very difficult to please. Be careful buying expensive itemsfrom sellers who are newly registered or have a low feedback score.
• Be careful about leaving negative feedback - You should alwaystry and work things out with the seller. If a seller is a total fraud,then go ahead and leave negative feedback. EBay is a community and mostpeople are basically good, although all of us screw up once in a while.Unfortunately there are a few “Crazies” out there. If youleave negative feedback on them, they seek revenge, start flaming emailwars, send emails to your bidders and so on. Sometimes leaving negativefeedback on these people can cause more trouble than it is worth.
• Check your email at least twice daily - As a buyer, you wantto ensure you win the most bids you can– within your price range,of course. Since eBay will email you whenever you’re outbid onan item for which you have an outstanding bid, you want to be sure youknow as soon as possible, so you can re-bid if you want to. If you don’tcheck your email, and you receive an outbid notice, by the time youdo check email, the auction may be over for that item. Checking youremail regularly will keep you informed of the status of your bids. Alsoyou want to respond quickly to any emails from buyers or sellers relatingto your bids or your auctions.
• How to narrow your search? - Since using a single word foryour search can return many, many ads, you may want to narrow the searcheven more to get down to a more specific need. For example, supposeyou are looking specifically for Timex watches as opposed to just anywatches. Then use the AND keyword function in your search. In the searchfield, you'd enter Timex watch. This would return a list of all adswith both the words Timex and watch in them and exclude all ads thatdo not contain both words.
• How to narrow your search even more? - Let's say you are lookingfor ads that include certain phrases, or words that go together in aspecific order. For instance, if you are searching for teddy bears,you can use quotation marks. The command you would use is "teddybear". This will return a listing of all ads with the words teddybear in them. The word bear must immediately follow the word teddy forthe listing to show.
• Finding auctions with multiple words - If you are searchingfor items that have one of multiple words, you can use the OR keywordin your search. For example, if you wanted to find all auctions thathave in their title listing the words cat or dog, then you would enter(cat, dog) in the search field. This would return all ads that haveeither the word cat or the word dog in their listing.
• Locating auctions with one word, but not another - If you arelooking for watches, but are not interested in Timex watches then youwould use the AND NOT keywords. In the search field, you would enter:watch -timex. This would return all auctions whose listings includedthe word watch, but excluded the word Timex. (Note there is no spacebetween the minus sign and the word timex).
• Don’t Fall for Spoof email supposedly from eBay or PayPal- Many emails you receive in your email account from PayPal or eBayare really fakes. If eBay sends you an email to your email address –andthey sometimes do, don’t open it. Whenever eBay sends you an emailthey also send it to you’re My Messages box in you’re My eBayPage. Just go to you’re My eBay Page where you will also see theemail if it really came from eBay. You can open it there safely. Ifyou receive an email from PayPal, don’t click on any of the links.Instead just log into your PayPal account and you will see any noticeson your main account page. All genuine emails from eBay and/or PayPalwill be always be addressed to you by name. If the email says Dear Member--it is a fake!
• Be careful using a SPAM filter - Unfortunately once you startbuying and selling on eBay, your email gets out there and your volumeof spam increases. Eudora has a great free email program called EudoraLite, free at www.eudora.com, which allows you to direct all your eBayrelated email into a special mailbox where you can filter it. Thereare also new services available on the Internet to filter out spam –butthey are not 100% reliable. They sometimes filter out legitimate messagesand still let a lot of spam through. That can be a problem --you mightnot ge legitimate emails from sellers, bidders or buyers. So get inthe habit of checking your spam filter regulary.
• Know what you are buying - Unless the item you are biddingon is clear and unambiguous, be a little careful. If an item descriptionis not complete, or if you are buying a collectible or something used,take the time to email the seller and ask questions or for clarification.If the seller doesn’t answer quickly and completely, that is awarning flag and you should be careful.
• Be especially care when bidding on high-priced items.

Tips For Sellers

Whether you just want to have some fun, use eBay to clear out your attic,make a few extra bucks, or even start an eBay business, you will haveto master the “basics” to sell successfully on eBay. The followingtips are a good start –but you will need to keep learning to masterthe secrets of eBay success.

• Learn to sell on eBay - Even if you don’t need the extramoney and have no interest in building an eBay business, try sellingthings from time-to-time. Why? It’s fun! You will get far morefor stuff on eBay than you would from a yard sale. Also, selling willmake you a better buyer. You will understand things from the seller’spoint of view and learn other ways to spot bargains.
• Buy on Overstock.com and other auctions to sell on eBay - eBayis king of the mountain. Overstock.com, and others are good auctionsites, but they are not even a close second to eBay. Because Overstock.comauctions do not get as much action, you can often buy good items onYahoo and resell them on eBay for a profit. The same is true of Amazon,ePier, BidFields and other smaller auction sites.
• The best types of products to sell on eBay - Everyone wantsto sell the latest consumer product –but the truth is there isa lot of competition from established sellers and even big online companiesthat have discovered eBay. The best item to sell on eBay is somethingused or a very specialized (niche) product that few others are selling.You can buy virtually anything used: clothing, books, computers, DVD’s,Stereo equipment, and so on. If you are going to sell new goods, makesure you can buy them cheaply enough to sell and make a profit. Onesource is the closeout and liquidation companies that sell overstocksand seasonal items returned by department stores. Another great itemis consumables. The idea here is to get repeat business via your website from customers who buy from you on eBay. One of the best sellingproducts from The Auction Seller’s Resource is the WholesaleBuying System (WBS). This tells you how, what and where to buy productsto sell on eBay. The WBS comes with password protected access to a member’s-onlyweb site where you can access thousands of wholesale companies directly.The web site is updated monthly to add new sources.
• Search Listings on eBay to see what is selling - Go to: http://listings.eBay.comto see what is being listed and sold on eBay. The number in parenthesesafter the category title is the number of auctions for a given item.In general, the higher the number the more action and sales.
• Master niche marketing and specialize for success - This ishome plate for your success strategy. Find your own niche. Define yourmarket. Then you can know the type of person you’re going to beselling to and the types of product you want to sell. You will alsohave less competition. Forget trying to sell computers, digital cameras,iPods and plasma TVs. There is no way you can compete with the big guysunless you have tons of money. And those drop ship web sites and programsthat claim to have those products are mostly scams. Find a small niche--or several small niches that you can dominate. Along with being ina superior position to take advantage of repeat business, the benefitsfrom becoming specialized are endless. If you know more about your productarea, you will be able to buy at better prices and people who senseyou specialize in something will be more comfortable buying from you.
• Become an expert in your field - Become an authority on whatyou do in your online auction business. If you sell printer ink cartridges,you want to be thought of before anyone else. When you become an authorityin your field, a whole new universe of business and opportunity is openedup to you. Read books and training manuals, visit the chat and messageboards, attend an eBay University when it comes to your town, go toeBay Live, and keep learning all the time.
• Increase sales by putting audio in your auctions.
• Get a sales tax number - Contact the sales tax authority inyour county or state offices to get a sales tax number. This will allowyou to buy from many wholesale companies that would not deal with youotherwise. If you are not sure who to contact in your state, just callyour local chamber of commerce and they will advise you or give youthe phone number or web site address to register.
• Automate your auctions - Automate your auctions with an auctionmanagement service. These services also track your inventory and sales,send automated emails to customers, provide a PayPal or credit cardgateway and automatically post feedback once payment is received. Peopleare often hesitant to pay a monthly fee to an auction management company,over time they really save you money and they are far better than eBay'stools such as Turbo Lister and Selling Manager. You should also investin software to print labels. www.edicia.comis a good resource. You can get a great deal on label printers andscales that integrate right into your computer.
• Build credibility - Be trustworthy. Remove every doubt aboutyour credibility. You can do this through presenting yourself positivelythrough your feedback, being passionately devoted to your business andby being an expert. See the section above on creating an About Me page.A photo of yourself will humanize the online experience can bring amazingresults. One with your dog or cat in the picture is even better.
• Your auction headline and item description is where it all begins- Your headline is your advertising and your item description isyour salesperson. On the web, how you're potential buyer perceives youand your product is everything. Be sure to use power words in your auctiontitle (headline). Rare, Unique, Powerful, New, Unusual, Stunning, TopNotch, First Class, etc. Just be sure not to exaggerate. Don’tcall something ‘rare” if it is not. Copy writing is the artof showing you and what you sell to your buyer in the best possiblelight. It’s the most important thing you have going for you. Acarefully crafted sales letter (item description) can increase you resultsexponentially without having to spend an extra penny.
• Use keywords in your auction headline (title) and description -Remember that 65% of eBay bidders find what they are looking forby using the search function. Be sure to use carefully chosen and accuratekey words in your title and description. eBay gives you 55 charactersin your headline. Be sure to use all of them. This will help you gethits.
• Stand behind your product and service - Offer an unconditionalmoney-back guarantee on every thing you sell. Now if you are sellingcars or houses, or “as-is” used goods that may not be a goodidea – but the simple offer of a satisfaction guarantee will dramaticallyincrease your sales. Even unhappy people rarely go to the trouble ofsending something back. The cost of providing the few refunds will befar out weighted by the increased volume of your sales. At the veryleast offer a guarantee that your items are exactly as described andyou will give a full refund if they are not.
• Set up an eBay Store - eBay Store listing fees are very low(much lower than auctions). This is a great place to park merchandisebetween auctions, to clear out slow moving merchandise, and a placeyou can promote in your emails, and with various web site promotiontechniques. Place a clickable link in your auction item descriptionsthat invite people to view your store. Also, eBay indexes your storelistings to search engines such as Froogle. If someone comes to yourstore from off of eBay (such as from a Google search) and buys somethingfrom you, then eBay credits you 75% of the final value fee.
• Accept personal checks up to $20 for immediate shipment from anyonewith good feedback - Remember it costs about $20 these days in bankfees if you bounce a check. Most people will not write a bad check forthis reason.
• Set up a PayPal Shop - PayPal offers a service to all of theirusers called PayPal Shops. A PayPal shop is nothing more than a linkto your eBay store or your web site. PayPal offers users a search enginewhere they can search PayPal shops for goods offered by merchants whoaccept PayPal. Occasionally PayPal may feature your shop on their checkoutpage. If this happens your shop will get thousands of hits a day aslong as it is featured.
• Use an email signature - One great free way to promote yourauction business is by using a signature. Signatures are six to eightline inserts at the end of your email messages. All email programs supportthem. Your signature should include a description of what you sell anda hyper-link to your eBay store or your about me page.
• Automate your shipping and save time at the post office - Ifyou don’t have much time to spend at the post office, and I'm sureyou don't, prepare in advance. You can have all of your mailing suppliessent to you by the USPS and UPS. Visit http://www.usps.govand http://ups.comfor more details. eBay and PayPal now have an automated shipping systemintegrated with UPS and USPS right on their site. If you ship via USPSPriority Mail (a favorite option for eBay sellers) you can use deliveryconfirmation to track your packages. It is free if you do it on lineat http://www.usps.comor it costs 45 cents to do it at the post office window.
• Building a High Feedback Rating Quickly - Here is a quick wayto build good feedback: Sell something at a very low price, such asan inexpensive baseball card for under a dollar. Put up a Dutch auctionfor 50 of the item you are selling. Don’t worry about making money;just try to break even. Mail the cards out quickly, post great feedbackfor each buyer and send each buyer an email politely asking each ofthem to return the favor. Be sure to include the hyperlink to the feedbackpost in your email.
• Where to get free shipping supplies? - If you send your itemsvia USPS priority mail the post office will give you free envelopes,tape, and boxes. Think this through. If you pay the priority mail fee,and get free boxes, that is often close to what UPS charges when youadd in the cost of a box. See below, however, for ways to get free boxes–and packing materials. Another source for free supplies is yourlocal gift shop or kitchen shop. These merchants receive merchandisein good boxes everyday with plenty of bubble-pak and Styrofoam peanutsthat they simply throw away or pay to have recycled. Get friendly withyour local gift shop and you can have access to tons of free shippingsuppliers.
• Sign Up for BuySafe and SquareTrade - If you sell expensivegoods, BuySafe is a company that provides fraud insurance to your buyers.It cost a little to sign up, but BuySafe has plenty of evidence thatshows that using BuySafe in your auctions will increase your bids andfinal values much more than the cost of their service. Sign up at www.buysafe.com.SquareTrade is sort of the Better Business Bureau of eBay. Signup at www.squaretrade.com.They also provide a dispute resolution service for their members andcan get bad feedback removed.
• Get your news from AuctionBytes.com - www.AuctionBytes.comis a great site with lots of free resources for auction sellers. Theyhave an online auction calendar that lists best times to start and endan auction, a free online tutorial on how to take good photos, a dailyand a weekly free newsletter and plenty of additional free resources.Best of all they have a daily news feed of news about eBay and onlineauctions.
• Use Google AdWords to drive hits to your auctions, eBay Store oryour web site - Google AdWords can get expensive, but if you lookfor the obscure keywords no one else is bidding on your can really drivehits from out of eBay to your auctions or eBay Store. If you send someonefrom outside of eBay directly to your store and they buy, eBay creditsyou 75% of the store fee. If you join eBay’s affiliate programand this person was a first-time buyer, then eBay will pay you a commissionon top of that. There is a service called Wordtracker that is free totry out and very inexpensive to subscribe to. It will help you findthose obscure key words that you can buy very cheaply.
• Learn simple HTML commands to spice up your auctions - Don’tbe afraid of HTML. Anyone can do it. For example, you should start allof your eBay auction item description with the command: <font size=+1>This will make your type larger and easier to read. It helps to breakyour item description into smaller shorter paragraphs to increase readability.Just use this command to create a new paragraph <P>. You can makeyour text bold by typing <B> at the beginning of the bold textand </B> where you want it to end.
• Create attractive backgrounds for your auctions - Go to: http://www.grsites.com/texturesto get free background textures for your auction item descriptions.Over 6000 backgrounds are available at no cost.
• If you are going to be in this business – you need to knowthe vocabulary - Net Lingo at http://www.netlingo.comis a free site that teaches you all the terms and lingo of the worldwide web and various online services.
• Get a professional auction education - Watch for announcementsof eBay University coming to a city near you. (Usually listed on theeBay community page.)
  * Use the various eBay online tutorials
  * Print out the eBay help files and place them in a 3-ring notebookfor easy reference.
  * Buy some of the great eBay training books from The Auction Seller’sResource Bookshop
• Incorporate to Protect yourself from liability - Not many peopleget sued selling stuff on eBay, but it can happen. If you incorporate,the corporation can shield you from most lawsuits. In fact once a lawyerlearn that you are incorporated and you don't keep assets in the corporation,a lot of times they will not bother suing because they know your assetsare protected. There are also lots of tax benefits to incorporatingeven if your eBay income is fairly small.
• Learn how to buy at government auctions - Government auctionscan be a great place to find bargains – but proceed with caution.Make sure you thoroughly inspect anything before you buy it.
• Package your eBay shipments professionally - No one likes toreceive his or her “treasure” in a battered shoe box or anold cereal box. Take the time to pack your sales carefully. Invest inbubble pak, peanuts, tissue paper and so on.
• Sell Designer Clothes and Accessories - Clothing and accessoriesfrom top designers such as Gucci, Hermes, Christian Dior, Armani andso on are one of the hottest sellers on eBay and you can make excellentprofit margins.
• Set your starting bid low to attract hits - Do you have a gooditem that you KNOW will sell well? Start it off at a very low price.This will get you healthy early bidding. You want a large group aroundthe item; some will be competitive bidders – people who will payextra just for the thrill of winning. You'll usually get more for youritem than someone who priced their item higher, because your auctionhas more bidders watching.
• Write complete auction item descriptions - Make your item descriptionas complete as possible. Include all relevant details: condition, size,weight, age, collectability, any short-comings or defects, etc. Whatyou think is not important – may be very important to someone else.Describe your item’s condition, talk about its benefits and usesand keep writing until you run out of something to say.
• Have a written sales, payment and delivery policy to protect yourselfand avoid misunderstandings - Spell out everything you do. How muchdo you charge for shipping? How will you ship the item? What is yourpolicy on insurance? Do you use escrow for expensive items? When doyou post feedback? Do you hold checks until they clear? The more informationyou give a buyer the better the buying and selling experience will befor both parties –but don’t forget to make it sound friendly.You don’t want your auctions to sound like a bunch of rules writtenby a junior high school principal.
• Don’t get greedy and overcharge for shipping - This isone of the more common causes of negative feedback. You should onlycharge what it normally costs you to pack and ship. Buyers are sensitivein this area. They know when you are making a profit on shipping. Youcan charge a small premium to cover your cost of handling and shippingmaterials, but it should be reasonable. Always offer to combine shippingcosts if a person buys more than one item. Explain your shipping policyin the item description. There is a game some sellers play whereby theylist a $5 item for 99-cents but the shipping is $7.99 when it only costa dollar to ship. eBay will cancel your auction if they catch you doingthis as it constitutes fee avoidance.
• Always include the auction number in your emails - Always includethe auction number with the end of auction notice and any request forpayment. Place the number in the subject line so you can easily trackemails. People often bid on several items and can get confused.
• Start and end your auctions at the best times - Do you alwaysstart and end your auctions at the best times? Start and end your auctionsat peak traffic periods when traffic is the heaviest. Make sure youto end on Sunday or Monday evenings between 5 and 10 PM (Pacific Time).Saturday and Sunday mornings are also good times. Believe it or not,Mondays during the lunch hour are very good also. Remember there cansometimes be a posting delay of up to two hours on eBay during the busytimes. Also --dont forget that eBay uses Pacific Time. This is one ofthe best reasons to use an auction management service such as Vendio.com.You can create your auction and schedule it to launch at a specifictime or day.
• What to do when you make a mistake in an auction? - If an auctionhas not received any bids you can revise it. Click on the link “reviseauction” right below your username. If the auction has receivedbids, you can first cancel the bids and then cancel the auction. Ifyou go to My Account on you’re My eBay Page there is a link whereyou can email eBay and ask them to credit the listing fee. Just explainthat you cancelled the auction, fixed the mistake and relisted it. Givethem the old and the new item number and they will usually –butnot always credit you the fee.
• Why does eBay end auctions? - eBay will only end your auctionif you violate the listing guidelines. First of all print out the guidelinesand read them carefully. They are written to give eBay wide latitude.EBay rarely discovers a listing violation. They rely mostly on the communityto report violations. (Yes, there are a lot of busybodies with too muchtime on their hands). The most common violations are listing in thewrong category, key word spamming, putting a link to an outside website in your auction description and featuring items that are not qualifiedfor featuring, i.e. information products. One way to get your auctionsexamined is to make a complaint about someone else’s auction. Wheneveryou make a complaint, eBay also examines all the ongoing auctions ofthe complainer. So unless your auctions are squeaky clean, think againabout reporting someone else.
• What to do when eBay ends an auction? - If you are guilty assin – just forget it and get on with your life. It’s not theend of the world. If you feel you are wronged, then answer the “auctionended” email with a polite request for an explanation and/or tellyour side of the story. Please understand the eBay enforcement employeesreceive hundreds of angry emails a day. It is very easy for them toget “pissy” (excuse my language). A polite and sincere inquirywill often uncover valuable information. Your violation may have beena minor technicality, which can be easily corrected. They will rarelytell you this if you send them an angry or rude email.
• Set up a web site and use eBay to drive business to it - EveryeBay seller should have a web site. Remember sales you make from yourweb site do not incur eBay fees. EBay has cracked down on sellers usingauctions to drive hits to their web sites, but there are still someloopholes and techniques you can use without running a foul of eBay.
• How to keep your customers happy and generate lots of positivefeedback - Customers want three things: instant gratification, clear,fast communications and to get what they were promised.
  • Use PayPal to get payment quickly and then ship quickly.
  • Answer emails immediately
  • Reveal any flaws or shortcomings your item has
  • Never over-promise or over describe an item
  • Package your items carefully and professionally
  • If you can, toss in something for free
• Over-communicate with your buyers - When an auction ends, sendyour buyers an immediate email congratulating them and providing clearpayment instructions. Send them another email when you ship the item(this really impresses buyers). Send them a follow-up email to see ifeverything went okay. This email should include the link where theycan post feedback.
• Be careful using the Reserve Price Auction (RPA) - No one likesa reserve. Most people understand the necessity for it, but there area large percentage of users who will simply not bid on RPA. If you knowsomething will sell, then price it slightly lower than the minimum youwill take. If you are selling a very expensive item, certainly placea reserve on it, but let the potential bidders know what the reserveis. It doesn’t have to be a secret. The point of a reserve is toprotect you against something selling too cheaply. Being open aboutyour reserve can actually help you get bids.
• Increase bids by making your auctions readable - Use a shortopening paragraph that promises something – and then deliver onthe promise. Describe the product – but also write about its benefitsand/or how it is used. If you have personally used the product, describeyour experience. Short sentences are more readable than long ones. Ifyou write a long sentence, follow it with a short one. Keep your paragraphsto less than 3 or 4 lines. Boldface important words or phrases. Includeattention-getters: questions, news items, a guarantee or a promise.Ask for the bid at the end of the description. Use active verbs andenthusiastic language.
• Use Bold, and Highlight to increase visibility - These featurescost a little so they are not appropriate for low cost items unlessyou are using a Dutch auction – but it has been proved that theyincrease both hits and bids.
• Use a hit counter to track your auction - The most importantthing to know about an item that did not sell is: Did it not get hits,or did it get hits and did not get bids? If you are getting hits andnot bids, then you know there is demand and interest in the item, butthere is something wrong with your price or your description. If youare not getting hits, then there is either no demand or interest inthe item or your headline stinks. Use services such as Honesty.com andSquare Trade to help you build trust and credibility.
• Always use a regional listing - There are some people who only/preferto buy from their local regions. When you pick a region, it doesn’tlimit your auction to a region, it just tells sellers from that areathat you are nearby. There is no charge to use a regional listing.
• Build a mailing list of your customers - Build a base of customerswho buy your type or category of product. Once someone bids on yourauction, or sends you an email with a question, then you – noteBay, own that email address and you can communicate with that personin the future. Whenever you are launching an auction, send your existingcustomers an email letting them know. (Not every little auction –but for special hard to find items). Because someone actually purchasedsomething from you, you now own that customer so it is not against eBay’sregulations to market to them directly through email or from your website.
• Create an Opt-in newsletter - If you are operating in somearea of specialty such as art, antiques, collectibles, sports, etc.,then create an online newsletter for your customers. Instead of sendingthe newsletter out, just send out the table of contents with a linkto a page on your web site where the newsletter is posted. This drivestraffic to your web site, which is the whole point. Your newslettershould also include a link to your active auctions.
• Re-listing Strategies - Did your auction fail? No bids, nohits? You can still re-list for free. Before you hit the re-list buttonlets look at what happened.
  • Was the item over-priced? Was it in the correct category? Do youneed a better headline or description? Is there any demand for theproduct you are selling?
  • You can relist one time for free if an item doesn't sell. If youkeep relisting and the item doesn't sell, you are burning up eBayfees. If others are selling your same item, and you are not –goback and reexamine what you are doing.
• Experiment for success - Don’t be afraid to try somethingnew. Just be careful, you don’t throw a lot of money into somethingthat isn’t yet proven. Try new products, new categories, new sources,new headlines, and so on. eBay is no where near being a mature marketplace.It is still growing and evolving. The rules change weekly. Don’tbe afraid to be a pioneer –just use a little caution when it comesto spending large amounts of money.
• Choosing a category - Ok, you have put a lot of thought intoyour product and completed the introspective phase of getting started.You are excited about your merchandise and ready to start selling it.The next step is to find your niche market; as applies to online auctions,this refers to the category you will list your item(s) in. ConsideringeBay has over 7,500 categories to choose from, this should be a relativelyeasy process. But there is one important strategic trick you shouldknow. Before listing your item in any category, follow these simplesteps:
  • First, browse through the eBay categories and write down the onesyou feel are relevant to your product. You should be able to findat least 3-5 possible choices.
  • Next, write down the number of auctions currently online in eachof those categories (it will appear next to the category name).An average category has about 4,000, so if there are more than thatyou may conclude that the category is active, If there are lessthan 2000 you may consider it inactive. Some categories have over50,000 auctions going at any one time. Using this ranking system,rate the categories that you have chosen for your product. It isrecommend you list in the most active categories only because theyget the most traffic. If you put your product in an inactive sectionof eBay, you may get little or no bids, even if you feature it .Avoidcategories with less than 1,000 auctions online unless your productis highly specialized to that category!
• List in two categories - eBay has a new feature that allowsyou to list in two categories. There is a small extra fee – butany feature, highlight or bold fees are doubled. Here is an example:If you were selling a collectible, most collectible buyers also buybooks and price guides to their collectibles. So list your collectiblein the appropriate category and also list it in the Books>Non-fiction>collectiblesand Price guides category.
• Use good photos and images in your auctions - Digital camerasand scanners have become very cheap. If you are going to take a lotof photos, probably the best, all around auction camera is the Nikon2100 or 3100. As Nikon has come out with newer models, these two modelscan be bought very inexpensively and they contain all the features anauction seller needs. Keep your photos small – in a digital sense.Large image files take forever to load and your buyer will click offto another auction instead of getting a cup of coffee while your 300K file downloads.
• Take the time to take good photos - Here are some simple tipsto take good digital photos:
  • Clean up the area around the subject or use a backdrop
  • Always use a tripod to make your photos sharp
  • Avoid clutter in the photo
  • Shoot outdoors on a cloudy day or in open shade. Don’t shootin direct sunlight, as the contrast is too high
  • Indirect window light is also excellent.
  • Get reasonably close to the object
  • Show a close-up of any repairs or defects
  • If relevant, show the product being used.
  • If size is an issue, show some thing such as a coin or a rulerto to indicate dimensions.
• Learn the right way to drop ship - Lets face it --most of thesedrop shipping companies are scams --or if not scams they just don'twork. You spend a fortune in eBay listing fees on stuff that eitherwon't sell at the price you need to get or is being sold by others forless. The only way to drop ship profitably is to work with a directsource such as a manufacturer or master distributor. These drop shipcompanies are just middlemen who buy from distributors, mark up theproduct and sell it to you. The markup they are getting is the markupyou need to make a profit.
• Keep track of your fees - You need to be careful with yourfees – it’s easy to overspend and kill your profits. Be verycareful about using the special featured fees. Make sure your marginis adequate to still make a profit. ProfitCalc, is an eBay fee calculatorthat has really saved me a lot of money.
• Use Dutch auctions to increase your profits - If you are aLow Volume Seller, or if you sell products with a low dollar margin,you may need to run multiple Dutch auctions to make a good living oneBay. A Dutch Auction is used when you have several identical itemsfor sale. You set the minimum price you are willing to sell for, andspecify the quantity for sale. Many bidders will bid on more than oneitem. The person who bids the lowest for the last available quantitysets the price for all winning bidders.
• Learn to sell information products on eBay - People will paygood money for information they can use. If you can write reasonablywell, and you have a topic you have some expertise in, you can probablywrite a reference guide or “how-to” manual and sell it oneBay and even on the web. You can create an e-book (or a printed book)on almost any topic: Pets, Finance, Bible Studies, Poetry, children’sstories, software, computer tips, making money with XYZ and so on. Youcan also compile information on antiques, collectibles, computer images,recipes, genealogy, etc. Search the non-fiction books category and theinformation products category on eBay to see what is selling then tryto identify a unique niche for a new product or category. If you aregoing to create an e-Book, the best program on the market is eBook Pro.eBook Pro is not only a superior (and user friendly) software for packaginginformation, it also gives you far more security and control than otherprograms or packaging options. There's no longer any reason for youto be taking dangerous risks with your business. Now your computer candeliver your products instantly and automatically (with zero cost) overthe Internet. eBook Pro can even:
  • Capture your customers' credit card numbers or direct them toPayPal
  • Wire their money directly into your bank account
  • Enter their customer contact information into your own privatedatabase.
• With eBook Pro, your eBooks are easy to produce, they're cost-effective,and they have the potential to generate tons of profit with relativelylittle effort on you part!
• Where to get help with your auction questions - Forums andmessage posts are one of the quickest and easiest ways to get help answeringalmost any question that might come up about selling on eBay and otherauction sites. The best – and most used forums on eBay are of courseat eBay’s Community section. You can find the discussion boardsbroken down by subject at: http://pages.eBay.com/community/boards/index.htmland there are several category-specific chat rooms at: http://pages.eBay.com/community/chat/index.html
• Bookmark these eBay links to save time - Set up a favoritesfolder marked eBay and place these links in it for easy and quick reference.
  • Advanced Search page- http://pages.eBay.com/search/items/search_adv.html
  • Search eBay stores -http://pages.eBay.com/search/items/search_stores.html
  • Announcements and news -http://pages.eBay.com/search/items/search_stores.html
  • Discussion Boards -http://pages.eBay.com/community/boards/index.html
  • Leave Feedback -http://cgi2.eBay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?LeaveFeedbackShow
  • Rules and policies -http://pages.eBay.com/services/tsindex.html
  • About Me Page setup -http://members.eBay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?AboutMeLogin
• What to do when someone doesn’t pay? - EBay has a verydefined procedure for bidders that don’t pay. Here are the steps:
  • First send an email requesting payment and warning the buyer youwill file a non-payment complaint to eBay if they don’t paywithin a specified time. If they still don’t pay, go to yourMy eBay Page and find the link to the dispute resolution center.
  • Follow the instructions there to make a cliam and file a finalvalue fee credit (to refund your fees)
  • EBay will contact the buyer and give them a warning (this oftengets the buyer to pay) Any bidder that receives a third warningwill be indefinitely suspended from eBay.
  • There is also another option. In your terms of sale at the endof each auction description, place the statement: “If you failto pay within 10 business days, then this auction is cancelled bymutual agreement.” On the eBay Non-payment Bidder page, thereis a button you can check that said this auction was cancelled bymutual agreement. If you check this button, then your fee will beimmediately refunded without going through all the steps and waitingthe full period. (eBay does email the NPB and ask if they agree--but they almost always do so they don't get an unpaid item strikeagainst them).
• Make money selling things for others - There are several PowerSellers that specialize in consignment sales. Simply put you find peoplewho have something to sell – but do not have the time or knowledgeto sell on eBay. You sell it for them and take a commission. Typicallyyou can earn 10-15% on expensive items and up to 35% on lower cost items.EBay has a program called Trading Assistant where you register to helpother eBayers sell their goods. You can register HERE. My best sellingbook, How To Start & Run an eBay Consignment Business contains allof the contracts, forms and ads you need to become a successful tradingassistant.
• Turn your inventory over often - How many times you can turnyour inventory over is the key to making high profits. Too many sellersget stuck with something that won’t sell at a profit and they keepre-listing and re-listing until some day it eventually sells. In themeantime, they could have sold the dog at cost, and put the money intosomething that will turn over rapidly. Rapid turnover and re-investingyour money back into more products is one of the long-term keys to successon eBay.
• How to get something for free on eBay - Check out the wholesalelots section on eBay. Often the same people who are selling individualitems at auction are selling the same things in wholesale lots for alot less money each, but you may have to buy 10 items to get the wholesaleprice.
• How to buy large wholesale lots with very little money - Oftenyou will see goods going for incredible low wholesale prices, but youhave to buy a very large quantity to get the great price. Here is whereyou need friends. Get a group of people together to share the cost ofa wholesale lot. Once you get the items, put them up in smaller wholesalelots in Dutch auction. Here is an example: Last year the mini RC carswere hot sellers. Today they are all over eBay at $9.95 each. Most wholesalesites will sell you the cars for $4.25 in case lots of 24. But you cango to the importer and buy them for $2.50 each if you buy 10 cases.If you go in with a few friends, you could each buy two or three casesand sell the cars retail at a good markup or at a low wholesale priceand turn them over very quickly. Buying at wholesale and finding wholesalersis very difficult.
• Know – and understand, your costs - It is very easy tosell a lot of goods at auction and not have any money left at the endof the month. If you are going to be successful, it is critical thatyou track and have good visibility into your cost structure. Here aresome of the costs you should be tracking:
  • Product cost (including inbound shipping).
  • Listing and reserve fees
  • Feature fees
  • Final Value fee (if the item sells).
  • Auction Management Service (if you use one).
  • Credit card or PayPal service fees
  • Internet service or DSL fees
  • Shipping costs and materials
• More on what to sell and finding a niche market on eBay - Inthe early days, you could sell just about anything on eBay and makemoney. Today, major corporations such as J. C. Penny, Bloomingdales,and Disney have moved onto eBay in a big way. It is still possible forsmall sellers to make big profits. The secret is to specialize, seekout the offbeat and to find used items that are in demand.
  • The point is you don’t have to sell the latest digital camera,Gucci shoes, or expensive diamond jewelry to make money on eBay.Most of the seller’s items listed above buy their goods fromgarage sales, thrift stores, flea markets, and closeout dealers.
• More on writing power auction titles (headlines) - The auctiontitle is your headline. Newspapers and magazines use headlines to attractreaders to the story. Advertisers use headlines to pull readers intothe sales copy. Remember your headline and your auction descriptionis your front-line salesperson. Sixty-five percent of eBay bidders findan item by searching. Make sure the item you are selling is describedin the headline using a term someone would search for. Be sure to spellthe name correctly.
  • Use “Power Words” in your head line
  • Use all capital letters in your headline to make it stand out
  • Use the Bold Face and Highlight option if your price-point canafford the extra fee
  • Use tildes "~ " to set off your headline. (Caution:Make sure there is space between your tilde ~ and any searchableword or eBay’s search engine may not recognize it)
  • Avoid goofy characters such as “L@@K,” “MUST C”and SAVE $$$$$$
  • If you are not using a reserve price, say so with “No Reserve”or “NR”
  • Most of all, be sure your headline is credible and accuratelydescribes what you are offering.
• Turning Words Into Dollars: Writing Winning Auction Descriptions- You have all seen the difficult-to-read auction descriptions:Small type, run-on sentences and paragraphs, missing information andso on. If you really want the item, you are forced to email the sellerto get more information – or you just give up and go on to thenext item.
  • Use the HTML command <font-size=+1> at the beginning ofyour description or If you use eBay’s HTML editor, set it toMedium font size. This will increase the standard eBay type sizeto make your words readable on any computer screen
  • Clearly state what you are selling in the first paragraph. Makeyour paragraphs short – no more than two or three sentences.There is plenty of research that shows web page readers like toscan text. If you paragraphs are too long, it makes it harder toscan. Place an extra return between paragraphs to create some whitespace around them.
  • Use bullets to describe features and benefits.
  • Write short sentences and/or follow a long sentence with a shortsentence.
  • Write complete sentences (i.e. subject and a verb). Avoid complexpunctuation and long prepositional phrases.
  • Don’t worry about your auction description being too long.It is more important to include all the information a buyer needsthan to have a short description. If your description is easy-to-read,potential bidders will keep reading until they have all the informationthey need.
  • Describe all relevant details such as age, condition, hallmarks,flaws, packaging, size, manufacturer, and so on.
  • Use “power words” to create word pictures and emotionalresponses. A few examples are: New, Rare, Genuine, Beautiful, Original,Charming, First Class, Lovely, Save Money, Bargain, Guaranteed,and Expensive-Looking. Stress any product benefits such as health,beauty, time-saving, ease-of-use, money-saving, etc. (Caution: Whenusing power words, don’t exaggerate. For example do not describesomething as rare if it is not.)
  • Personalize the description. Tell the reader how or where youfound the item or how you use it.
  • Spell out your shipping and payment terms clearly and completely.
• Last, but not least –have fun!!! - EBay demonstratesjust how powerful the internet can be in bringing people together, findingcommon interests and yes – you can make a little money.
• Dive into the whole eBay experience. Buy, sell, chat, post on themessage boards, go to live events, and buy an eBay T-shirt or hat. Mostof all, when the bidding gets hot and furious, remember its just a pieceof merchandise your are bidding on – it’s not the end of theworld if someone beats you out.

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