How to run Your eBay Business Professionally
In: Video
30 Apr 2009Another Video from the eBay Tutorials Video Series: “How to run Your eBay Business Professionally”
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10 Tips for Closing More Auctions on eBay – Part 2
In: Tips
29 Apr 2009Here it is – part 2 of the tips for closing more auctions on eBay:
Tip #1: Make the Buyer Pay
Stipulate in your listing that the buyer pays all shipping and handling costs (and you might even want to detail these costs ahead of time in your listing). Also, make sure that the buyer pays for any “extras” that might be added after the sale. If the buyer wants insurance, the buyer pays for it. If the buyer wants to use an escrow service, the buyer pays for it. If the buyer wants expedited shipping, the buyer pays for it. See the trend?
Tip #2: Go Long…
When it comes time to choose the length for your auction, go for the 7- or 10-day option. The longer your item is up for auction, the more potential bidders who will see itand the more potential bidders, the better your chances of selling the item for a higher price. Don’t cheat yourself out of potential sales by choosing a shorter auction.
Tip #3: …Or Create a Short-Term Frenzy
On the other hand, if you have something really hot, create a bidding frenzy by choosing a very short auction length. If you do this, play it up in your item’s title: 3 Days Only! works pretty well.
Tip #4: There’s No Reason to Reserve
I don’t know of a single bidder who likes reserve price auctions. Why use something that scares some bidders away? (Remember, many beginning users don’t understand reserve price auctions, and thus don’t bid in them.) Set a realistic minimum, and get on with it.
Tip #5: Single Items Are Best…
If you’re looking for the highest total dollar, don’t group items together. Multiple-item lots seldom bring as much money as multiple items sold individually.
Tip #6: …Although You Can Unload Some Dogs in a Pack
On the other hand, if you have a lot of things to sell, selling in lots can reduce your personal overhead, as well as help you unload some less attractive items that you probably couldn’t sell individually. (Plus, you get hit for only a single insertion fee!)
Tip #7: Don’t Compete Against Yourself
If five people are looking to buy footstools today, don’t give them five choices all from one person (you). If you have five footstools to sell, don’t sell them all at once. Sell one this week, one next week, and one the week after that. Spread it out to create an illusion of scarcity, and you’ll generate more total revenue.
Tip #8: Start and End in Prime Time
When you start your auction is importantbecause that affects when your auction ends. If you start a seven-day auction at 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday, it will end exactly seven days later, at 6:00 p.m. the following Saturday.
Why is it important when your auction ends? Because some of the most intense bidding takes place in the final few minutes of your auction, from snipers trying to steal the high bid at the last possible moment. To take advantage of last-minute bidders, your auction needs to end when the most possible bidders are online.
If you end your auction at 3:00 in the morning, everyone will be asleep and you’ll lose out on any last-minute bids. Instead, try to end your auction during early evening hours, when the most users are online.
Remember, though, that you’re dealing with a three-hour time-zone gap between the East and the West coasts. So, if you time your auction to end at 7:00 p.m. EST, you’re ending at 4:00 p.m. PSTwhen most potential bidders are still at work. Conversely, if you choose to end at 9:00 p.m. PST, you just hit midnight in New Yorkand many potential bidders are already fast asleep.
The best times to endand thus to startyour auction are between 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. EST, or between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. PST. (Figure the in-between time zones yourself!) That way you’ll catch the most potential bidders online for the final minutes of your auctionand possibly generate a bidding frenzy that will garner a higher price for your merchandise!
Note, however, that the best time to end an auction can be influenced by the type of item you’re selling. For example, if you’re selling an item that appeals to grade-school or high-school kids, try ending your auction in the late afternoon, after the kids get home from school and before they head off for dinner. Items with appeal to housewives do well with a late morning or early afternoon end time. And business items sell best when they end during normal business hours.
Tip #9: End on a Sunday
When you end your auction on a Sunday, you get one full Saturday and two Sundays (the starting Sunday and the ending one) for a seven-day item listing. Sunday is a great day to end auctions because almost everybody is homeno one is out partying, or stuck at work or in school. End your auction on a Sunday evening, and you’re likely to get more bidsand higher prices.
There are exceptions, however.
As with the time you end your auction, your ending day might also be influenced by the type of item you’re selling. If you’re selling an item of interest to college students, for example, you might be better ending on a night during the week, because a lot of students travel home for the weekend; you’ll catch them in the dorms on a Wednesday or Thursday night. Items targeted at churchgoers might also be better ending during the week so that you don’t catch bidders when they’re at Sunday evening church services.
Tip #10: Don’t End on a Friday or Saturday Night
If Sunday is normally the best night of the week to end your auction, what’s the worst night?
Friday and Saturday are probably the worst nights to end most auctions, because a lot of eBay users are out partying on these non-school nights. End an auction for any item (especially youth-oriented items) on a Friday or Saturday night, and you eliminate a large number of potential buyers.
You should also try not to end your auction right in the middle of a hit television series or any blockbuster sporting events or award showssome potential bidders might find it difficult to tear themselves away from the old boob tube.
Publicizing Your eBay Auctions with About Me
In: Information
25 Apr 2009The great thing about the About Me page is that it’s a page with an unchanging URL that always lists your current auctions. When you want to direct other users to your eBay auctions, it’s easier to direct them to your About Me page than it is to enter the individual URLs for all your item listing pages.
You can edit your About Me page at any time. The address for your About Me page is shown in the address box of your web browser. The address is typically in the form of members.ebay.com/aboutme/userid/; just replace userid with your own user ID and you should have the URL. (As mentioned previously, my eBay ID is exampleuser123, so my About Me address is members.ebay.com/aboutme/exampleuser123/.)
The About Me page is also a good way for other eBay users to get to know youespecially those who are bidding in your auctions, or hosting auctions in which you’re bidding. Be sure to include text that positions you as a reputable eBay citizenand not some goofball flake who’s likely to cause trouble.
You can then insert this URL into your personal web page, your email signature, or any other item you can think of. It’s a great way to publicize your ongoing eBay activity!
Key points to remember:
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The About Me page is your personal page on the eBay siteyou can create it in less than five minutes, no HTML coding necessary.
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Your About Me page can include descriptive text, a photo, links to your favorite sites, a list of your current auctions, and a list of your most recent feedback comments.
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You can use your About Me page to publicize your eBay activities outside of the eBay site.
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eBay About Me Page
In: Information
24 Apr 2009eBay’s About Me page is a personal web page just for you. It’s a great way to personalize the eBay experience, tell a little about yourself, and inspire bidder trust. It’s also easy to dono HTML coding necessary.
You can view any user’s About Me page by clicking the Me icon next to his or her user name on any item listing page. (If no icon is displayed, that user doesn’t have an About Me page.) You can also search for other users’ About Me pages by clicking the Advanced Search link at the top of eBay’s home page and using the Find a Member search option.
How to create about me page:
As I said, you don’t have to be a web programmer to create your own About Me page. All you have to do is click a few options and fill in some blanks, and you’re ready to go.
- On any eBay page, click the Services link (above the Navigation Bar), and then click About Me.
- When the main About Me page appears, click the Create Your Page button.
- When the Choose Your Editing Options page appears, check the Use Our Easy Step-by-Step Process option, and then click the Continue button.
- If you’re an HTML wizard and want to code your own About Me page, select the Enter Your Own HTML Code option instead.
- When the Enter Page Content page appears, start by entering a title for your About Me page.
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On the same page, you can now enter two paragraphs of information, using the supplied formatting controls or (by clicking the Enter Your Own HTML link) with HTML codes.
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Still on the same page, enter a link to any picture you want to include on your page, as well as an optional title for the picture.
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In the Show Your eBay Activity section, choose how many feedback comments and current auction listings you want to display.
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If you want to include any links to external web pages, enter them in the Add Links section.
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When you’re done entering all this information on the Enter Page Content page, click the Continue button.
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When the Preview and Submit page appears, choose a layout for your page, and then click the Submit button.
You’ll now see a confirmation page, which includes a link to your new About Me page. Click this link to view your new page.
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You’ll now see a confirmation page, which includes a link to your new About Me page. Click this link to view your new page.
Managing and Personalizing My eBay
In: Information
23 Apr 2009Each of the My eBay views can be personalized according to your personal tastes. Let’s take a quick look at these common view management features.
My eBay is such a useful tool that I make it my primary gateway to the entire eBay site. I never use eBay’s home pageI use My eBay instead. It’s the very first bookmark in my web browser!
Sorting and Filtering
The information in any My eBay list (what eBay calls an information table) can be sorted by any individual column. Just click the column header to sort by that column.
You can also filter the listings presented in most tables to cut down on information overload. At the top of each information table is a series of Show links; click a link to filter the information accordingly. For example, in the Items I’ve Won table (in the All Buying view), you can choose to show All items, or just those items Awaiting Payment or Awaiting Feedback.
Hiding or Displaying Columns
If you don’t need to see all possible information for specific listings, My eBay lets you customize which columns are displayed for each individual information table. Just click the Customize link above the information table, and then select which columns you want to see.
Changing How Many Listings to Display
For most My eBay information tables, you can select how many days’ worth of listings you want to display; you can display up to 60 days’ worth of items if you want. Just pull down the Period list at the top of a given information table and make a new selection.
Leaving Notes to Yourself
Every now and then you might have an auction that requires additional action on your part, or somehow needs further annotation. Fortunately, My eBay lets you add electronic “sticky notes” to any auction listing. Just check the option box next to a particular listing and then click the Add Note button; add your comments into the resulting text box.
The information presented in My eBay looks great on screen but can be a little much if you need a hard copy. Fortunately, My eBay lets you print a simplified, printer-friendly version of any information table. All you have to do is click the Print link next to any section of any view page. For example, to print a list of auctions you’ve won, go to the All Buying view and click the Print link at the top of the Items I’ve Won section.
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Accessing and Using My eBay
In: Information
22 Apr 2009You access My eBay from any eBay page by clicking the My eBay link on the Navigation Bar. This opens My eBay in the My Summary view, which (as we’ll discuss in a moment) presents a general overview of all your current auction activity. My eBay actually offers several different pages, which you access by clicking the appropriate links contained in the navigation panel along the left side of the page. We’ll look at each of these pages individually.
My Summary View
The My Summary view, is the default view when you access My eBay. It consists of several distinct sections:
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My Messages, which contains important messages from eBay or from other sellers and buyers.
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Buying Reminders, which prompts you about actions you need to take regarding those items you’ve recently purchased.
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Selling Reminders, which prompts you about actions you need to take regarding those items you’ve recently sold.
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General eBay Announcements, which includes links to the most recent eBay system news.
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Items I’m Watching, which lists those auction items you’ve placed on your watch list.
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Buying Totals, which summarizes those items you’re bidding on and those you’ve won.
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Items I’m Bidding On, which lists all items you’re currently bidding on.
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Item’s I’ve Made Best Offers On, which lists those items you’ve made a best offer on, for those auctions that utilize this feature.
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Items I’ve Won, which lists recent auctions in which you were the high bidder.
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Items I Didn’t Win, which lists recent auction in which you were outbid.
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Selling Totals, which summarizes those items you currently have for sale or have recently sold.
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Items I’m Selling, which lists all items you currently have for sale.
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Items I’ve Sold, which lists all items you’ve recently sold.
One other nice thing about the My Summary view is that you can customize it to display as muchor as littleinformation as you wish. Just click the Customize Summary link near the top of the page to remove sections you don’t use often.
I use My Summary as my “home page” for all my eBay activities. It presents a great visual overview of all your important eBay activity, and lets you link directly to individual activities.
If you’re using eBay’s Selling Manager feature, the My eBay All Selling View page is replaced by a Selling Manager page. To return to the normal All Selling view, click the View My eBay Selling link.
One of the things I like about the Items I’m Selling section is the column for # of Watchers. This lists how many potential bidders have placed your item on their watch lists; it’s a good indication of total demand, and a predictor of last-minute sniping.
Like the Items I’ve Won list on the All Buying page, the Items I’ve Sold list is especially useful. The Action column lists the next action you need to take for every one of your closed auctions; click the link to perform the appropriate action.
Also useful is the Items I’m Selling list, which lets you see, in a single glance, the status of everything you’re currently selling on eBay. All items that currently have a bid higher than your minimum or reserve price are listed in green; all items that haven’t yet reached the minimum bid level are listed in red. And, at the bottom of the page, you’ll find a set of links to various selling-related services on the eBay site.
You can add items to your favorites by clicking the Add links to the right of each listAdd New Search, Add New Seller or Store, and Add New Category. From there, follow the onscreen instructions to add the items you want to appear on the All Favorites page in the future.
The My Account Summary list, at the top of the page, displays your last eBay invoice total, any payments and credits made since your last invoice, and any fees accessed since your last invoice. There’s also a section that lets you pay your eBay fees via PayPal.
The My Account page is particularly useful because it contains direct links to some of eBay’s normally well-hidden customer service features, including fees and credits, payment terms, credit card setup, credit requests, and refunds. It’s easier to click these services here than to hunt them down on eBay’s Site Map page.
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Joining eBay Community
In: eBay Community
21 Apr 2009Here’s a tip of value to both sellers and buyers. When you have questions or problems with your eBay auctions, You can get tons of help from other eBay users, via eBay’s community discussion boards. Just click the Community link on the eBay Navigation Bar (or go directly to hub.ebay.com/community), and you’ll see eBay’s Community hub. Click the Discussion Boards link to see all the different boards available.
eBay offers discussion boards for individual product categories, as well as more general boards for buying, selling, and creating auction listings. The users who frequent these boards are extraordinarily helpful, and can answer just about any question you pose.
As helpful as the board members are, they probably can’t answer all the questions you might have. In particular, don’t expect these users to reveal their personal buying/selling secrets, merchandise suppliers, or other proprietary information. So be realistic about the help you can getand make sure you thank those who answer your questions!
And remember those eBay Tips
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Research your listing beforehand.
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Take the time and effort to create an attractive and descriptive auction listing.
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For best results, time your auction to end on a Sunday evening in prime time.
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Never end an auction on a Friday or Saturday night, or on a holiday.
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When the auction’s over, communicate with the buyerthe more often, the better.
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Treat your auction sales as a business, and your buyers as customers; and remember, the customer is always right!
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Get help and support from other eBay users, in eBay’s discussion boards.
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- Tags: ebay boards, eBay Community
Finding out what eBay Consumers Want
In: Video
20 Apr 2009Another Video from the eBay Tutorials Video Series: Find out what eBay consumers want.
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10 Tips for Closing More Auctions on eBay – Part 1
In: Tips
19 Apr 2009All eBay sellers want to sell more stuff and for higher prices. Fortunately, the tricks of the trade aren’t limited to the guys who list 100 auctions a week. Here are 40 tips that can help anyone be a more profitable seller at any online auction.
Tip #1: Research Your Price
Don’t sell without doing your homework first; make sure you know the true value of an item before you put it up for auction. Before you price your item, search for similar items in eBay’s closed auctions. What was the starting bid price? What was the final selling price? You should also research the price of similar items offline; sometimes you can get a feel for relative value if you compare your item to a newer version of the same. Be informed, and you won’t set the price too high or too low; you’ll set it just right.
Tip #2: Make Your Listing Stand Out
Do everything in your power to make your item listings stand out from all the other listings currently online. Work on both the title and the description, and consider using a listing- creation tool (or using HTML formatting) to create a more dynamic ad.
Tip #3: Use Turbo Lister to Create Your Listings
If you list a lot of items for auction, take advantage of eBay’s free bulk-listing tool. Turbo Lister is great for listing multiple items at one time, but also makes it easier to create great-looking listings for just an item or two. Besides, there’s no reason not to use itit’s free!
Tip #4: Get All the Buzzwords in the Title
Make sure you have the right words and phrases in the title of your item listing. If your audience looks for “compact discs,” say compact disc; if they look for “CDs,” say CD. If they look for both, use both. Use all possible words (up to your auction’s character limit) to hit all possible keywords your potential bidders might be searching foreven if some of the words are redundant.
Tip #5: A Picture Says a Thousand Words
Nothing increases your chances of selling an item like including a picture of it in your listing. Take a photo of your item, scan it in, upload it, and include it with your listingeven if it’s just a plain text listing. (And when you take your picture, make sure that it’s a good onethere’s no point in posting a picture if the item is too small and out of focus.)
Tip #6: Be Descriptive
Include as much descriptive text about your item as you can. The better you describe your item, the fewer mid-auction emails you’ll get asking about it and the greater the chance that your ultimate buyer won’t get any unpleasant surprises. In addition, you never know when that single “unimportant” detail is just the thing a specific bidder is looking forso don’t overlook any detail, no matter how small.
Tip #7: Reuse Text That Sells
After you find a winning formula, reuse it! This is especially so if you sell a lot of similar items. Cut and paste descriptive text from your successful listings into additional listings, or use eBay’s Relist Similar Item function so you’re not always starting from scratch. If nothing else, this gives you a head start when creating new item listings!
Tip #8: Include Shipping and Payment Details
Don’t forget to include all the details about shipping and handling (how much and who pays), payment methods, and the like. (That means estimating shipping and handling up front, if you can.) Don’t leave anything open to interpretation.
Tip #9: Be Honest
Be honest in your description of the item. If the item has a few flaws, mention them. If there’s damage or the item is otherwise imperfect, make note of it. Misleading a buyer will only cause you grief.
Tip #10: Promote Yourself with Your About Me Page
eBay’s About Me page is the perfect way to provide more background information about you as a seller, and to drive potential bidders to your other live auctions. Be sure to create an About Me pageand use it to help “sell” yourself and your other items.
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About eBayweb
eBayweb provides you with free eBay tips, tools, information and resources for beginning and professional eBay sellers and buyers.
- eBuster: The points system is much to loaded since sellers can no longer leave neg feedback and neg feedback [...]
- Stan: It all depends what items is sold, if it is heavy machinery than no but electronics, books or gadget [...]
- Bud: I don't think #s 8-10 are not as important as they used to be (still, worth doing) because eBay now [...]
- Gene Bowen: Drop-off stores are not the wonderful places most writers present them to be. Many users are unhappy [...]
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