Auction Power Guide

I have some items id like to sell. Im hoping somebody can give me some top notch tips to help me get started!

You can go to ebay for a tutorial for the basics on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-basics.html

But to get to the nitty-gritty………………..:

There are no secrets………..just common sense + hard work!

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors – AVOID ALL CAPS TEXT

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. Prospective buyers making these inquiries could ultimately be the winning bidders and possible repeat customers.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $300 and turn it around for $150 to $900, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

If you wish to do your listings offline, download the Turbo Lister program free from eBay. You can then upload them ‘en masse’ anytime.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

I will be a college student this fall in Michigan. I come from a low-income family, and its going to be tough enough trying to pay my loans back. I look to get a part-time job, and I would like to learn how to become a successful eBay seller to make a little extra money. I would like to know how to get started, how to know what to sell, and any other extra useful information.

As most everyone collects something or other, one’s man trash is another man’s treasure. It really doesn’t matter what you sell as long as it isn’t junk. CAUTION: With the most popular items sold, you will have much more competition among sellers who sell volume at reduced prices by buying volume at a wholesale discount. It’s difficult to be competitive with volume sellers of a particular item.

But to get you started…………….

You can go to ebay for a tutorial on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-basics.html

But to get to the nitty-gritty:

There are no secrets………..just common sense + hard work!

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors – AVOID ALL CAPS TEXT

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. Prospective buyers making these inquiries could ultimately be the winning bidders and possible repeat customers.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

Ebay sellers are increasingly complaining about the high cost of ebay and PayPal fees. I say, try establishing your own business and reach the close to 200 million people that ebay reaches and find out how much your expenses are. To these complainers, I say ‘Kwitchurbellyakin.’ There is always a cost of doing business. Many sellers have left ebay for other auction sites to save on fees. I don’t think this is prudent. They may be saving a few bucks on fees but an item that sells on another auction site with far, fewer members for $10 would likely sell for substantially more at ebay with its much greater membership. This is a classic example of “stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny” and being “penny wise and pound foolish.”

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

These smaller auction sites ‘dangle their worms’ with low and no fees but they certainly won’t tell new sellers their items will sell for less than at their sites than they will sell for at ebay. There isn’t another auction site on the web that can hold a candle to ebay and the tens of millions of members it has. Many have tried and many have failed and yet, many are still trying. Ebay has a virtual lock on this business. This is where you want to sell as ebay has the largest potential market.

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

I’m looking into start getting into buying stuff and then selling it on ebay and making a profit. Any good books out there i can read?

Books? I don’t need no stinkin’ books. What you need is common sense coupled with hard work.

It doesn’t matter what you sell. As it is often said, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Most everyone collects or wants something or other.

Actually, you have to look no further than ebay itself. You will not be looking for single item listings but rather your target will be listings that have similar, grouped items. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

Short of items to sell and where to find items to sell? Garage and yard sales, church bazaars, flea markets are obvious. These can be the cheapest sources of merchandise. ‘Junktique’ shops are not that good because these folks know their merchandise. This being the case, it is usually OVERPRICED, not under priced.

If you want to let your fingers do the walking, you too can be crafty ‘vulture’ like a select group of other ebay sellers. Become a member of several smaller auction sites and search for bargains there. But as before, ‘stick with what you know.’

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

Turn them around on ebay:

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

There are also volume sellers who concentrate on only a handful of popular items by buying in volume / wholesale at a discount and selling at a discount. The average schmo at eBay can’t compete with volume sellers of a particular item.

GOODWILL sometimes also has good bargains, but not always. Mondays / Tuesdays are the best days to visit Goodwill as most people will drop off their donations on Saturdays and Sundays and it has to be cleaned, sorted and marked before it can be placed on display.

GOOD LUCK!

P.S. Experience is the best teacher.

I’m about to sell on ebay and am looking for any advice. I am planning on selling about $2,000 worth of items to start.

You can go to ebay for a tutorial on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-basics.html

But to get to the nitty-gritty:

There are no secrets………..just common sense + hard work!

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors – AVOID ALL CAPS TEXT

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. Prospective buyers making these inquiries could ultimately be the winning bidders and possible repeat customers.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

If you can buy a large lot of similar merchandise for $100 to $200 and turn it around for $300 to $600, it works out very nicely, indeed! Most buyers of these large lots will be vultures as well so you could be ‘butting bids.’ Keep in mind that the higher the closing price at ebay, the less your profit on the turnaround. It’s not an exact science and it does take a little experience to really know what you’re doing but you can’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is. When I see an auction of grouped items it tells me loud and clear that the seller is far more interested in getting rid of their stuff the quickest, easiest way possible and ‘be done with it’ rather than in making a decent profit or profit at all.

If you wish to do your listings offline, download the Turbo Lister program free from eBay. You can then upload them ‘en masse’ anytime.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

I am considering ordering a Louis Vuitton bag off Ebay.
I have no experience with Ebay so could you please help me out?
What are some ways to know if it’s real or fake based simply off of the one picture that you can look at and the not very detailed description?

I’m a professional ebay shopper haha so I’ll give you some really good tips that have always worked for me…..If you’re ordering a Louis Vuitton item you’ll want to look at the sellers feedback. If they have 0 feedback I would walk away no matter how great the deal looks. A ton of scammers will post a LV item on ebay with a 0 feedback score meaning that is their 1st and probably last item they will post on ebay. Another hint of a fake or scam is there are no pics except for 1 pic that looks like a stock photo.

Sometimes too a seller with a high feedback score may of gotten a LV bag as a gift and it was fake but they have no idea because they arent a stylish person and really have no common sense that the bag;s fake. I suggest going into a Louis Vuitton store and getting an up close look at the actual authentic bag, this way you’ll have a good sense of what an authentic one looks like and spend time studying the ebay pics for the auction you’re interested in.

Finally, don’t be fooled by a country. Just because the bag is from Japan or China doesn’t mean it’s fake. There are a bunch of ebay stores on ebay that are overseas and have wonderful authentic bags for great prices. If you see a bag you like take a look at the other items they for sale and the prior feedback. After a while you’ll be able to spot a real LV bag very easily.

I’ve been researching ways to make money from home and decided on trying out selling stuff on ebay. So far its just been things around the house that werent needed and its been "ok" i guess but im an amerature to say the least.

I’m looking for tips on how to increase my sales. Ways to make my listing stand out and look more appealing. Stuff like that. I’ve read that free shipping gets peoples attention, but how can i still make a decent profit from doing things like that?

Also im wondering what are good/popular things to sell on ebay. Im willing to look around at thrift stores and was thinking of maybe shopping at goodwill and coming up with childrens clothes lots as i have a good eye for whats cute but these are just ideas.

Any tips or suggestions at all would be great as im pretty inexperienced.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Selling on eBay is exactly like selling in any other marketplace except that the usual barriers to entry such as cost, employment, etc., are virtually non-existent and instead of just a few thousand potential buyers, you have access worldwide to over 181 million potential buyers![1] For those who have already experienced selling through garage or yard sales or through swap meets, you’re already well and truly familiar with selling on eBay.

Most importantly, whether you’re a novice seller or someone who has been selling for a while, is to realize that there isn’t any single secret to sales success. There are some generalizations that apply but even they have their exceptions and the reality is that you need to try out the selling your own way until you find the way that produces the most success for you, your items and your approach. Rely on your common sense, good observation and research skills as well as being an excellent communicator and you’ll be able to make a success of selling on eBay. Don’t make it any harder than it is, which really, isn’t that hard at all!

Here is a little to help you start on your way to becoming an eBay seller, whether you’re a small home business, a big business, or just trying to sell some stuff you may have sitting around.

I have a lot of clothes that I would like to sell on Ebay but I have never sold anything on ebay, has anyone sell use clothes on ebay? what are some tips to sell stuff on ebay? what are some recommendations to sale my stuff on ebay?

If you can put someone in the clothes and take ‘neck down’ front / back 3/4 pictures that would be best as they would have more appeal. My clothes look better on me than they do on a hanger.

You can go to ebay for a tutorial for the basics on how to be a seller:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/selling-basics.html

But to get to the nitty-gritty………………..:

There are no secrets………..just common sense + hard work!

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors – AVOID ALL CAPS TEXT

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole.

If you wish to do your listings offline, download the Turbo Lister program free from eBay. You can then upload them ‘en masse’ anytime.

SHIPPING: Most sellers use Priority Mail. Get the Priority Mail rates from the USPS web site & a $15-$20 postal scale from eBay.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

Starting your own home business on eBay can be a fun and lucrative endeavor, especially if you find a popular niche, such as designer handbags or accessories. But many sellers are finding out that the items that thought were low-priced, high-quality designer goods are really very good imitations of the real thing. Besides the fact that the seller is now part of something much larger – and very illegal – selling counterfeit goods can get your eBay business shut down permanently if you get caught, even if you had no idea you were doing it in the first place.

The VeRO program was developed by eBay to help designer brands combat counterfeit items. Since eBay has a hard time policing the millions of listings on their website every day, VeRO lets the brand themselves do the policing. Since designer brands are usually the most knowledgeable about what is a legitimate product, and what is a counterfeit, you can find your auctions being suspended. This is an excellent way to prevent buyers from being duped in to paying high prices for fake designer goods – but where does that leave the seller?

Unfortunately, sellers don’t really have much recourse in this situation. Often time, they are left with an overabundance of counterfeit goods, and nothing to do with them. The companies that manufacturer these knock offs aren’t usually responsive to requests for refunds, since they’re often times nothing more than a few individuals using stolen fabric from the actual designer to create these goods themselves. Most of the time, they are overseas, and therefore cannot be prosecuted, or even tracked down for a refund.

Instead, sellers need to know how to tell a counterfeit from an original designer accessory. Becoming an expert on every designer overnight is impossible, but with some common sense and good resources, you can double-check every good you want to sell, before you purchase it yourself. To start, there are few companies that offer their handbags and accessories for whole sale. Neither Burberry nor Louis Vuitton offer their items to the public for resale; their products are only sold through licensed vendors. That means there is nowhere to find discounted Burberry of Louis Vuitton items, so right away, you should scratch these brands off your list. Anything you find from a wholesaler with these names on them, are 100% definitely counterfeit.

Other popular brands include Gucci, Prada, Dooney & Bourke, and Coach. While these are often sold at discounted rates from overstock, use your common sense. Dooney & Bourke bags are probably the most low-end of the bunch, so it wouldn’t be uncommon to find a wholesaler offering them for a low price. However, Gucci and Prada typically do not sell handbags or accessories that are under the $500 mark, so if you find a wholesaler who is offering these brands for pennies on the dollar, steer clear – this is almost always a counterfeit scam.

When in doubt about a particular item’s authenticity, simply ask the wholesaler for the serial numbers that are listed inside every handbag and accessory. Some of the designer brand websites offer a tool that allows you to enter the serial number right on their site to see what handbag was manufactured to match it. Other brands have a toll-free number you can call with the serial number to verify its authenticity. If the serial number is a forgery, or is linked to a product other than the one you intend to purchase, you know you are dealing with counterfeit items.

Do not fall prey to the counterfeit designer good scams. Often times, sellers will knowingly sell these fake goods because they know the items sell, which is a bad idea. It’s just not worth it to make a few extra bucks. So use your common sense, and know what you’re buying and selling.

Vickie Sayce
http://www.articlesbase.com/internet-articles/protect-yourself-from-selling-counterfeit-items-on-ebay-690207.html

Any training to boost sales and keep costs down etc

There are no secrets………..just common sense + hard work!

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors – AVOID ALL CAPS TEXT

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

COMMUNICATION:

GOOD Communication is a must – Always notify buyers when you mail their items. It is not only a courtesy you would want and expect as a buyer but it is also both good customer service and good business practice. After all, you are the ‘President & CEO’ of your ‘company’ running your business but using ebay as your selling medium. In short, conduct your business so that it reflects well on you as a person. Treat everyone as a human being, not a living being and this includes people who have inquiries about your items, not just your buyers. Prospective buyers making these inquiries could ultimately be the winning bidders and possible repeat customers.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole. However, do be cautious if you venture into this arena. You have to know your merchandise. Stay in those areas you are familiar with. You can’t jump in blindly to any and every auction that has grouped items.

Ebay sellers are increasingly complaining about the high cost of ebay and PayPal fees. I say, try establishing your own business and reach the close to 200 million people that ebay reaches and find out how much your expenses are. To these complainers, I say ‘Kwitchurbellyakin.’ There is always a cost of doing business. Many sellers have left ebay for other auction sites to save on fees. I don’t think this is prudent. They may be saving a few bucks on fees but an item that sells on another auction site with far, fewer members for $10 would likely sell for substantially more at ebay with its much greater membership. This is a classic example of “stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny” and being “penny wise and pound foolish.”

These smaller auction sites are great for buyers for the same reason they are bad for sellers:

Fewer potential bidders = Less competition = Lower closing prices.

These smaller auction sites ‘dangle their worms’ with low and no fees but they certainly won’t tell new sellers their items will sell for less than at their sites than they will sell for at ebay. There isn’t another auction site on the web that can hold a candle to ebay and the tens of millions of members it has. Many have tried and many have failed and yet, many are still trying. Ebay has a virtual lock on this business. This is where you want to sell as ebay has the largest potential market.

The ebay formula:

LARGEST auction site by far = MAXIMUM competition = HIGHER closing prices

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!

If you are a successful eBay seller this article may not be too helpful, but if you are just starting our or are struggling then you should find a lot of help here. Done right eBay is where a person can make fairly easy money, but done wrong you’ll just spin your wheels. There are a number of common sense things you need to know about eBay selling that will help your business become successful. Learn and apply these to start making money, then you can begin to delve deeper into the way to becoming a Power Seller.

Almost every eBay buyer has heard about eBay scams. You must assure the buyer he or she is dealing with a legitimate eBay seller who isn’t trying to rip them off. Listed below are a number of ways to make the buyer feel comfortable doing business with you.

The first thing you need to be a success is to have good feedback. If you’re just starting out you may have to buy and sell a number of items to boost your feedback before you can get real serious about being a successful eBay seller. Another good way to make a good impression is to have an “About Me” page. Here’s where you will introduce yourself with some information about you and your eBay business. The more professional your “About Me” page is, the more your potential customers will want to do business with you.

Now that the eBay buyer feels you’re someone they want to buy from, you have to make sure your product is the one they buy. Often there will be dozens of the same product competing with you, so even though they would like to buy yours the price of your product has to be competitive or they may not buy. Before you price your product be sure it allows you to make a fair profit while still being reasonable. If you follow these tips you may be able to price your product a little higher and still make sales.

One of the most important parts of your sales listing is to post excellent pictures. You normally get one free picture and can put on extra ones for an additional fee. You should put on as many extra pictures as it takes to fully show your product in its best possible light for increased sales. Make sure you have close up pictures of the more important features of your product. One way you can beat the fees is to look into a free photo share site like PhotoBucket where you can put pictures on eBay for free. Good pictures are a must for maximum sales.

Equally important is an accurate description on your sales items. Make sure there are no spelling errors as this is probably one of the main reasons a product doesn’t sell. Fully describe the features and condition of each item. Tell a story about your eBay sales items. Any time you’re selling more than one item in a lot be sure you list and describe each item. Your eBay buyer needs to know exactly what they will be getting, but if you give them something extra, gift wrap the item or something similar the chances are greater that they will remember and want to do more business with you.

The way eBay buyers can pay for your item may have an important impact on how well your eBay items sell. While the most important one you use will be PayPal you should also accept any others you feel comfortable with. Many buyers like PayPal because they don’t have to give out their credit card number. You can also take money orders, cashier checks or personal checks, but make sure personal checks clear before you send the merchandise.

Another thing that many people don’t think about is having a return policy. Without one you will probably lose some sales so make sure whatever you decide is clearly spelled out in your ad so there won’t be a problem down the road.

Your ad should also be clear about shipping costs. You should try and keep these costs as low as possible. I’ve passed on purchases when I felt the seller was charging too much for shipping.

Email is an area where many sellers fail to do well. When you get an email requesting more information on your eBay sales item answer it as soon as possible. Many times a buyer will get tired of waiting for your reply and buy from someone who did reply right away. I’m always surprised when a seller either doesn’t answer my email or takes several days when time is usually important.

The most important tip for eBay sellers is to step into a buyer’s shoes and ask yourself whether you would buy the product you have listed. Be honest with your answer and if it’s not an emphatic yes, then you need to follow these tips and suggestions to the letter.

Start using all the above eBay seller tips and suggestions to see your sales start increasing immediately. If you’re just starting as an eBay seller use them to get started the right and most profitable way.

Don Levy