How to Use eBay to its Fullest Potential When Selling

As an eBay Power Seller with over 12,000 sales, I have learned how to use eBay features to their fullest potential. Remember, as a seller, you are paying eBay to match you with potential buyers for your item. eBay is giving you access to millions of buyers worldwide that you could not otherwise reach. That is worth paying for. (You’d never get 100 million people to show up at a garage sale.) There are ways to stretch your eBay dollar.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• eBay Account
• Computer with internet connection
• Items to sell
• Digital camera

1. Open an eBay Store. You may find great items for sale, but they don’t always sell the first time around on auction. When you open a store, you can put items in store inventory on a 30-day listing for only 6 cents a month. These items show up on searches, and shoppers will look at them. Always put your unsold items into store inventory immediately. If buyers can’t see what you have, they can’t buy it! eBay Stores also provides you with sales and traffic reports as well as a wealth of other features.
2. Rely on the eBay help index for information. Everything you need to know about technical questions, eBay policies, and eBay services is there. Scan through the help index from time to time and educate yourself on all of eBay’s options and features. If you have to email eBay support with a question, don’t be shy. Ask what you want to learn about. They might take a day or two to answer, but they are very helpful and will usually send a link to where you can find the information you requested.
3. Use your About Me page for important information. Most people use their about me page to tell their life story or show family photos. Others don’t use it at all. Your About Me page is a great place to explain your policies, shipping procedures, selling philosophy, and more. It is the only place that eBay will allow a link to an outside website, in case you decide to sell products on your own website in the future.
4. Use your item title for relevant words only. Have you ever seen titles with phrases like “must see” or “L@@K” or “WOW!!” included? eBay allows 55 characters for your title. The title and your photos are all the advertising you get. USE THIS SPACE WISELY. Try to use all of the characters by including as much information about the product as possible. For example, if you are selling a pair of Stride Rite shoes, your title should read something like, “NEW NIB Stride Rite sandals size 10 pink.” Experienced eBayers know how to use the search feature and you want to use key words and acronyms that will help them find your auction. If they can’t find it, they can’t buy it.
5. Make your item descriptions, well, descriptive. Include measurements, color, size, and fabric content, manufacturer, washing instructions, weight, texture and anything else you can think of. Use lots sensory adjectives to describe the item. eBay shoppers can’t touch, feel, or hold the item, so you have to help them envision how wonderful it is. Anticipate what shoppers will ask and include that information on the listing. You’ll save time in the future because you won’t have to go back and take the item out of storage, examine it for the requested information, and reply to their email. If the item has a flaw, be honest and mention it, and show a photo of it. THE KEY IS TO BE HONEST.
   You’ll have a better reputation when you mention the flaw up front. You will also avoid the hassle of the return-refund process, and you won’t risk getting negative feedback.
6. Use an image hosting service. You can find them at www.auctiva.com, and www.sellersourcebook.com among other sites on the Internet. An image hosting service is a website that houses your photos and provides templates for your listings. The fee is nominal. You will be able to customize your listings and give your items a very professional, clean, appealing look. Image hosting is easy to use and it makes listing your items fun and interesting.
7. Use all automation that eBay offers. Set automation preferences so that emails are automatically sent to your buyers at different stages in the process. This will save you alot of time. You can revise your email templates whenever necessary.
8. Use Best Offer. When you move items into your store inventory, you have the option to accept offers from buyers. This is a terrific feature. Best Offer gives shoppers the power to bargain with you, and it gives you the opportunity to sell more items. Let’s say that you have a child’s coat in store inventory at a fixed price of $10. It has been sitting there for a while. A shopper comes along and offers $8 for it. Certainly, you would accept their offer and take the $8. You have made another sale, will receive another positive feedback, and have created a relationship with another customer. The customer is happy because you accepted her offer. You have empowered that customer and made a sale at the same time. Everyone is happy.
9. Join groups, forums, and support websites and interact with other sellers. The best way to learn about eBay selling, as with anything in life, is to talk to others who have experience. You will save valuable time and money by learning from the mistakes of others.