Hey you all, I do realize the previous post here is old. Behold, I read the date! Anyway, I thought I might add to this old discussion anyway. Lots of helpful advice herefor Ebayers just getting started. Put a few things up when you first start out. Don't go crazy and list a bunch of items. Don't pay the extra fees the suggest until you are knowledgeable enough to be sure it's worth it. For example, the gallery pics are only good to throw in once in awhile when you have a real good item and it helps get other people interested enough to look at your other items. Always design inserts and put "See sellers other items" in all listings. Also put in "Add me to your favorites". if you have a web site, design an insert for that as well. Not only will you get some extra visitors to your site but your search ratings go up with each link that's followed out of other sites. Don't sham anyone with the cheapest packaging for prescious items. You want all the good feed back possible. Hate to make this long and boring so I'll post some more on Ebaying next time I'm in here. :leaving: Sherry
Thanks, thats exactly the stuff Im talking about. By the way anyone looking for some good hand-made jewelry, by my girlfriend. I have a few in my gallery for sell, they make great Christmas gifts!
If you're planning to eventually have an ebay store, or even not but you're starting your own business and selling a few items on ebay, here are some things that have worked for me: a) Create business cards. In every package, no matter the size, stick in a business card with your contact info, including your eBay store address. Believe it or not, it keeps traffic coming to your stuff. b) Whore yourself out whenever you can, craftwise. Craft shows are fantastic places, no matter how small, to hand out business cards as well, and put your wares on display. Note either your ebay store name or your ebay name so people know who to look for on the site. Craft shows are also great because you can display a lot of your items to a different audience. c) Be honest with postage, the best you can. A lot of neutral or negative feedback is left to people who simply overcharge on postage (I once received a package where I spent $9 on postage, but the package only read a $2 stamp/postage cost!) Making money off of mailing isn't the route to go. Keep your cost low also by recycling boxes rather than spending money on new ones. d) plug yourself as often as you can. Free sites like myspace, here at hipforums, and other places are great places to display your wares and promote your ebay postings. Create a website if you can for yourself, or create a free blog to journal your stuff.
Thank you for your help, we are using all this info and are gettin under way. If any one is interested in our necklaces check this out... you can also view her other stuff from this page. And if you kno anyone who might be interested in our jewelry, please turn them onto use... Karma always returns to visit you
What can I say? Anyway, I wanted to let you know that the necklace is beautiful and I'll take a better look at your Ebay stuff when I'm done typing. I've been on Ebay a short time. When I first got in there, man, did I under price my postage. Check it out before you wind up putting money out of your own pocket. But, yea, it's not good to try to over do it though. It's good to list items when they will end on Sundays. There's a lot more people sitting around at the comp Sunday afternoons. What I do is list on Sundays for 7 days, Tuesdays for 5 days and Thursdays for 3 days. Saves the extra fee for post dating a listing. I also have better luck when I keep the prices under what my items are actually worth. I got bids up to 40. on an item someone else had listed for that price and didn't sell, cause I started mine at 25. and 3 people were in competition for it. I also found I have more bidders when I have items listed in a variety of areas. I guess even if they aren't looking for a certain thing, when they click on seller's other items, they find other things they like. :rainbow:
Ok, I'm glad I saw this thread. I've been needing to ask some basic questions about ebay, and I don't know anybody that has sold on ebay before to ask. I'm just interested in selling a few things now and then on ebay. The other day I registered with a username on ebay-then it told me that I needed to register as a seller-to do that I need to give them my debit card number as proof of ID (?). I'm a little confused as to what they're going to do with my debit card. Are they going to deduct sales fees from that? And, if I've already registered as a seller with my debit card, do I still have to register with PayPal to transfer the money when I buy and sell things, or can that be done with my debit card, since I would have already registered as a seller on ebay with that? I emailed ebay and asked them these questions, but I didn't get a clear answer-I just got one of these canned answers that wasn't directed toward my specific questions. I'd appreciate it if someone could answer these questions for me, since I'd like to get started selling some things as soon as possible.
They will only deduct selling fees from your debit card if you tell them too. Just read through all the post and you fill find about as much info as you need to get started
Can someone please address the specific questions I asked in my post? I would really appreciate it....
I am not exactly an expert on ebay as I am just getting started and so far only sold a few things. Ebay will send you an invoice via e-mail listing your insertion fees and their commission for any items that you have sold. At that time you can use your credit card, pay pal or whatever to pay them. You can also pay your fees anytime by going to my ebay then go to sellers account. There you will see how much you owe ebay to date. You can click on pay or just wait till the beginning of the next month when ebay sends you an invoice. Now you can elect auto payment to pay you fees but that is not a requirement. As far as I know e-bay does not automatically debit your credit card unless you give ebay permission to do so. They only ask for your credit card information when you sign up as a seller to prove your identity.
Wow, it's been awhile since I was in here but to say something about fees on Ebay...it really makes no sense to keep relisting items that don't sell and I regret to say I just learned that. Now, you might think I'm just a ditzo but the fact is, nobody can learn all the stuff about Ebay in a few weeks. I just started using some of the selling features. If you list an item and it doesn't sell the first time, leave it in your folder to relist later because they won't subtract the fee if it sells the second time but chances are it won't sell the second time either if you relist it right away. I was paying twice for some of my listings till I realized that if I wait and relist within ten days or so, more often than not, it does go. I haven't gotten to use my blog much yet but I posted a lot in other people's blogs cause that way others get to see your remarks and want to check your stuff out. It helps. Like someone else here, I had one bad experience with one of the Ebay vets. Oh well, wasn't too bad. After 4 foul emails i finally wrote her back and told her that I wouldn't answer her emails cause I don't like the negative energy. Never heard from her again. If you're a newbie, don't let the vets push you around. Just ignore them if that's what it takes. So far I haven't gotten any negative feedback but I do expect to eventually cause I am human and make mistakes. I won't let that get me down either. I've seen some power sellers with negatives. Hope my comments help somebody. Have a great day!
Dimensionality ~ relisting does help! You never know when someone wants to pick up your items And yes, there are people who are quite difficult to deal with on ebay ~ unfortunately ~ which, to a degree, is what's wonderful about a site that relies on feedback, so you get a sense of who you're dealing with...
me personally i do not like ebay. people on there have just taken my money and e-bay did nothing or i recieved a bad product. i prefer amazon.com
It's too bad that you had a bad experience, Lady Neko.... I've bought quite a few things from ebay, and have yet to have such a bad experience. What's good, though, about ebay is that the person's reputation is listed ~ anyone not having 100% good rep, you can always look into why that is, to see what the problem is, and then decide whether or not to shop from them. If I'm debating between someone with poorer rep but a good price on an item, vs someone with perfect or better rep but item is more expensive, I'd usually go with the second one, to better ensure that what I paid for is what I get...