Here’s a quick guide to selling on eBay for anybody wanting to make a little extra money next year.
I’ve been selling on eBay for six years now, and have a feedback score of over 1300, this is all positive feedback and I’ve worked hard to keep it that way. Good customer service and good communication works online, just the same as it does in the real world.
How to Register to start selling:
- Go to the eBay site and click on Register
- Register your credit card details
- Take a look around the site and get your bearings
Once you’ve registered you will then need to sign up for a Paypal account – you have to offer Paypal as a means of payment on your auctions, but it does protect you and give buyers more confidence. (Thank you Caroline for for the update on this)
Here are my simple tips for selling your stuff:
- Before doing anything research the completed listing for items similar to yours, this will give you a guide price
- Take a good photo of your product and use the gallery facility on the selling form
- Use up every letter available in your Title and put in keywords, like a Designers name – this is the first port of call for buyers, your shop window
- Do an honest and full description of your goods, this will give buyers confidence
- Charge the correct postage for your item, plus a little charge for packaging – pick up a postal charges leaflet from your local post office for the current rates
- If accepting cheques for payments, never post the item until you have received the cheque and it has cleared at the bank
- When an auction comes to an end and your item has sold, email the buyer thanking them for their purchase – responding promptly to all emails from buyers/potential buyers will get you good feedback further down the line
- List a few things at a time, not fifty all at once -its too difficult to manage
- Always and I stress always, post items as soon as possible, preferably within 24 hours of payment being received
- Sell items at the right time of year – flip flops in December, not here in the UK!
- Always remember to leave polite, honest feedback for your buyers
Does anyone have any other tips that might be useful?
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You have NO idea how cool this post is. Doing craigslist here in the states and moving on to ebay now that I will have more time. thanks. This is definitely appreciated.
J
http://adventuresinvoluntarysimplicity.blogspot.com/
Some good advice there, Laura, particularly the point about selling items at the right time of year – I’ve no end of friends who sell kids’ summer clothes in the autumn and wonder why they don’t get decent prices! Only things I would add are:
1. I think you have to have a Paypal account now, as it’s now an Ebay rule that Paypal has to be a payment method on all items.
2. Consider using a listing tool such as Auctiva, which gives you the ability to use up to ten photos without paying any extra, and start the listing at a time of your choosing without paying an extra fee.
Good luck with the eBaying Jack
Thanks Caroline, I’ve updated the post re the paypal, I forgot about that. Writing posts in the middle of the night is not always a good idea
thanks, really helpful advice. I have a shed load of things in the loft that need to go. For reasons of decluttering as much as making some money. I am currently stumped by my camera not talking to my computer ( or vice versa?) but am gearing up to get going in January.