Sooner or later, it's going to happen. You've been going along happily buying things on eBay, and then one day you look around your house and say to yourself, hey, I could sell this stuff on eBay and make some money! Other people do it, why not me?
Why not indeed. Selling on eBay is simple, as long as you do a bit of work before you get started. The very first thing I recommend is that you read the excellent tutorials available from eBay here: How To Sell
Once you've read through that and done the tutorials, you need to make sure you understand the fee structure that eBay has in place. See this link for specifics on how fees work here on eBay: Selling Fees
Once you're clear about how the fee structure works, try a listing to get a feel for how things are done. Start with something small, don't leap into selling with a big-ticket item, get your feet wet gradually, and once you get more experience under your belt, you can move into more expensive items.
A very important aspect of a successful listing is a good image of your item. There's no substitute for a clear, sharp, well-defined photograph in your item description. If the thing you are selling is something flat, then by all means, scan it if you can. If not, be sure to photograph it under proper lighting conditions, and close enough so that details can be seen and understood when folks are looking at your listing.
Before listing your item, do some market research. eBay allows you to Search for items that have been Completed. This allows you to see what does and doesn't sell, and the average price that a given item will sell for. It will also tell you what your competition is doing, and lets you see if your pricing is in line with the market.
Another very important thing to do when listing an item to sell is, keep your Item Description simple, clear, and easy to read. Don't get all cute with multiple sizes and colors of type, don't clutter the description up with lots and lots of extraneous info, just simple and straightforward will do the best job for you. Use all one font (typeface) for your listing. Keep it readable - yellow type on a black background is very hard to read (for example) and people who can't read your listing will pass it by and go on to someone else's. eBay has software you can use, like TurboLister, to list multiple items, or you can use third-party tools like Auctiva to create good-looking listings with templates all set up for you.
Be sure to be honest and truthful about your items. If the item you are selling is something used or vintage, be clear about any flaws or problems. No buyer wants to think they are getting something perfect that isn't, so be more than up front about any issues you think they might wish to be informed of. Better to be excruciatingly truthful and have the buyer find the item is better than they expected, than to have them disappointed because you left something out.
Make your shipping costs reasonable. Most buyers aren't interested in paying a huge markup on shipping costs, and if they see you've included an unreasonable amount for handling, they just won't bid. Put the costs clearly in the shipping fields, don't hide them in the item description in 2 point type, that's just not something a good seller does.
Consider signing up for a PayPal account, if you don't already have one. Many buyers prefer the security that a PayPal transaction affords them, and there are good things in place to protect sellers too. There are small fees involved, but they're more than worth it for the safety and security that accepting payments through PayPal gives you.
Once you've sold something, be sure to communicate with your buyers promptly. Send an invoice soon, and be sure to follow up with an email once the item is sent.
Package your item securely. No buyer wants to have something just tossed in a box, only to have it arrive broken or otherwise damaged. You can get cheap or free packing materials from any large grocery or department store, they often have extra packing materials that they'd love to have you take away so they don't have to pay to have them removed. Bubble wrap, styrofoam peanuts, sturdy cardboard boxes, all these can be yours for the asking if you do a little legwork. Remember, the shipping services don't care about your buyers item, it's up to you to ensure it gets to them safe and secure.
Invest in a scale, and weigh your items before shipping them. Then you can go to the USPS website and see how much it would cost to ship, saving you and your customer time and trouble. Or, list your item so that the weight will determine the shipping costs, according to their location (they enter in their zip code.)
Offer insurance, and consider using some sort of tracking to ensure the item gets to your customer safely. Delivery Confirmation is relatively inexpensive, and can save a lot of heartache in the event that something goes astray.
Once your item is shipped and you've notified your customer that it's on its way, consider leaving Feedback right then. Some sellers wait until the buyer leaves them feedback before returning it, some don't, it's a personal decision. But I figure if a customer has paid me for the item and I've shipped it, then the customer deserves positive feedback right then. It's up to you, of course.
There you have it, these are the basic things you need to know to get started selling on eBay. There's more to it than this, but this should get you started. Best of luck with your sales!
Why not indeed. Selling on eBay is simple, as long as you do a bit of work before you get started. The very first thing I recommend is that you read the excellent tutorials available from eBay here: How To Sell
Once you've read through that and done the tutorials, you need to make sure you understand the fee structure that eBay has in place. See this link for specifics on how fees work here on eBay: Selling Fees
Once you're clear about how the fee structure works, try a listing to get a feel for how things are done. Start with something small, don't leap into selling with a big-ticket item, get your feet wet gradually, and once you get more experience under your belt, you can move into more expensive items.
A very important aspect of a successful listing is a good image of your item. There's no substitute for a clear, sharp, well-defined photograph in your item description. If the thing you are selling is something flat, then by all means, scan it if you can. If not, be sure to photograph it under proper lighting conditions, and close enough so that details can be seen and understood when folks are looking at your listing.
Before listing your item, do some market research. eBay allows you to Search for items that have been Completed. This allows you to see what does and doesn't sell, and the average price that a given item will sell for. It will also tell you what your competition is doing, and lets you see if your pricing is in line with the market.
Another very important thing to do when listing an item to sell is, keep your Item Description simple, clear, and easy to read. Don't get all cute with multiple sizes and colors of type, don't clutter the description up with lots and lots of extraneous info, just simple and straightforward will do the best job for you. Use all one font (typeface) for your listing. Keep it readable - yellow type on a black background is very hard to read (for example) and people who can't read your listing will pass it by and go on to someone else's. eBay has software you can use, like TurboLister, to list multiple items, or you can use third-party tools like Auctiva to create good-looking listings with templates all set up for you.
Be sure to be honest and truthful about your items. If the item you are selling is something used or vintage, be clear about any flaws or problems. No buyer wants to think they are getting something perfect that isn't, so be more than up front about any issues you think they might wish to be informed of. Better to be excruciatingly truthful and have the buyer find the item is better than they expected, than to have them disappointed because you left something out.
Make your shipping costs reasonable. Most buyers aren't interested in paying a huge markup on shipping costs, and if they see you've included an unreasonable amount for handling, they just won't bid. Put the costs clearly in the shipping fields, don't hide them in the item description in 2 point type, that's just not something a good seller does.
Consider signing up for a PayPal account, if you don't already have one. Many buyers prefer the security that a PayPal transaction affords them, and there are good things in place to protect sellers too. There are small fees involved, but they're more than worth it for the safety and security that accepting payments through PayPal gives you.
Once you've sold something, be sure to communicate with your buyers promptly. Send an invoice soon, and be sure to follow up with an email once the item is sent.
Package your item securely. No buyer wants to have something just tossed in a box, only to have it arrive broken or otherwise damaged. You can get cheap or free packing materials from any large grocery or department store, they often have extra packing materials that they'd love to have you take away so they don't have to pay to have them removed. Bubble wrap, styrofoam peanuts, sturdy cardboard boxes, all these can be yours for the asking if you do a little legwork. Remember, the shipping services don't care about your buyers item, it's up to you to ensure it gets to them safe and secure.
Invest in a scale, and weigh your items before shipping them. Then you can go to the USPS website and see how much it would cost to ship, saving you and your customer time and trouble. Or, list your item so that the weight will determine the shipping costs, according to their location (they enter in their zip code.)
Offer insurance, and consider using some sort of tracking to ensure the item gets to your customer safely. Delivery Confirmation is relatively inexpensive, and can save a lot of heartache in the event that something goes astray.
Once your item is shipped and you've notified your customer that it's on its way, consider leaving Feedback right then. Some sellers wait until the buyer leaves them feedback before returning it, some don't, it's a personal decision. But I figure if a customer has paid me for the item and I've shipped it, then the customer deserves positive feedback right then. It's up to you, of course.
There you have it, these are the basic things you need to know to get started selling on eBay. There's more to it than this, but this should get you started. Best of luck with your sales!
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