Archive

Posts Tagged ‘Ebay Items’

When do I have to start paying ebay fees?

February 27th, 2013 1 comment

I sold 3 items on ebay so far and I was wondering when I would have to start paying some kind of fee because it says the first 50 items are free and i haven’t had to pay any fees yet. I’m kinda confused with the whole fees thing so of anybody could help that would be great. Thank you!

The promotion for listing the first 50 items for free applies to the insertion fee only. There will still be fees associated with your first sales (specifically called "final value fees", these fees are a percentage of your sales price and are billed after the item sells on your invoice). The specific terms and conditions for the promotion you referred to are found on this page (scroll down to where it says "free insertion fees": http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/insertion-fee.html#free .

Like most bills, eBay fees are billed on a monthly cycle, and are due at the end of this period each month. You can view your current account information by going to the "Seller Account" page. Go to my.ebay.com and then hover on the tab "Account" found just above the main "active selling" portion of the page. Then, scroll down to "seller account" and click there. That will lead you to your account status showing any fees, balance, and payments. You can also access any invoices on the right by selecting the proper month and clicking "go".

Can you give me some tips for selling on ebay?

February 1st, 2013 1 comment

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!

Where do power sellers on ebay get their items to sell?

January 30th, 2013 3 comments

Do they steal them??? I don’t get this whole ebay thing when the sellers have their own store where they sell things such as pottery barn returns, when there is nothing wrong with the items and they are not discontinued. Where are they getting them? Please explain this to me.
What’s a "drop shipper"?

There are many sources where sellers get their merchandise. If you buy in bulk, you can get a good deal from a wholesaler. Depending on the item, you may have to buy several hundred units at a time which you can sell indiviually for a profit.

You can also purchase products from liquidators. Again, you have to buy by the truckload. Not all the stuff you get is resellable, but there should be good stuff mixed with the bad. You can also find liquidators that will sell by the pallet.

Major chains have factory outlets and closeout centers. If you happen to live near one of these stores, you are really lucky.

Less frequently, you can find clearance items in the stores. However, these are hard to come by.

You can find some good deals at going out of business sales, and business liquidation auctions. You need to know what you are looking for or you can easily overpay of stuff.

Garage sales and flea markets are another good source of finding bargains. Again, you need to know what you looking for.

Thrift stores like the Salvation Army and Goodwill will occasionally have a diamond in the rough. If you can spot one of these, you can make a huge profit.

If you live near one of the large liquidation resellers like Big Lots or Tuesday Morning, you can often find things that you can resell on eBay.

Of course there are tons of knock offs available most of which come from China. Having a connection with an import exporter can get you some of this questionable merchandise.

But most people sell what things they previously bought and no longer want. Much of the items you see are from these types of sellers.

Finally, there are the countless dropshippers on eBay. These people try to sell goods from various dropship suppliers. When they make a sale, the item is shipped directly from the dropshipper to the buyer and the seller gets a cut of the proceeds. This is a cut throat market and in my opinion a huge waste of time.

We won’t even discuss the dealing of stolen goods on eBay. You know it is there, but you can’t stop it.

Good Luck,
Bill
Visit http://www.newlifeauctions.com for more eBay tips.

How much money can you make selling on ebay?

January 26th, 2013 3 comments

What potential is there for opening an ebay store?
If you have a store, is it your main source of income?
What are the most popular products sold on ebay?

Since eBay and Paypal both charge fees, I truly believe you have to find a niche product and specialize in that category. I chose wrestling shirts and decided to focus on having the biggest selection at competitive prices. There will ALWAYS be people that will try to sell it for less than you will, that is why you cannot focus on price alone.

I make my living by selling online but my 2 brothers use it as a second income. One sells Superhero costumes and the other sells foot insoles. Pick something you think would be fun or interesting.

Also, I don’t think you need to sell ONLY on eBay. Multichannel selling is the smartest thing to do now. Look at selling on other sites like Amazon.com and starting your own web site. eBay is a great place to start though. That is what I did.

I have included a bunch of links to get you started, including some of eBay hottest selling items and training materials.

Brian Barlow
www.extremewrestlingshirts.com

What and why should I sell on eBay to increase my feedback score rapidly and become a eBay Powerseller?

January 24th, 2013 3 comments

What and why should I sell on eBay to increase my feedback score rapidly and become a eBay Powerseller?
Hi. I am a new eBayer. But I wanna be a powerseller as well as increase my feedback score rapidly. I wanna know what I should sell the buyers will buy and leave feedback. I also wanna know how to be a powerseller? What are the requirenment? Thanks

It took me 7 months from the time I started using eBay to become a PowerSeller. The fastest way to become a PowerSeller IMO is to sell a large amount of inexpensive items.

There are many different levels of PowerSeller status. At the bottom of the PowerSeller food chain is bronze. To be a bronze PowerSeller, you need to sell at least 100 items a month or make at least $1,000 a month for 3 consecutive months. It’s really not hard to do but it does take a lot of work.

If you have zero feedback currently, the fastest way to increase your feedback is by buying a lot of cheap items from eBay. By cheap, I meant items that cost you no more than $1 for both the item and the shipping combined. I don’t recommend trying to sell until you have at least 10 positive feedback from buying. That will cost you a grand total of $10.

You have to understand that to be a PowerSeller means that you’ll be making eBay your business. It took me a lot of 8 hour days shipping small items to get me where I am today. It also took a significant investment in inventory.

There is not one magic product that can make everyone an eBay PowerSeller. It’s best if you specialize in selling a product that you know a lot about. This will save you tons of headaches when answering potential customers questions about your items. You’ll also need to find a wholesaler to buy the item from at a price low enough to be able to resale it for a profit. This is one of the hardest things involved with starting a successful eBay business.

Does anyone have any tips on how to successfully sell an item on ebay?

January 21st, 2013 11 comments

I have tried selling items before but they haven’t sold, does anyone have any good tips on selling an item!

Be truthful!! If an item you are selling has a mark on it, or is damaged,or faded etc you must put it in the description.Take a couple of good photos and include the the price when bought new.get the postage cost right too-a lot of sellers bump up their sales by adding too much on postage. I always get items properly weighed then add a bit for packing.Make sure you get your spellings right-so many sales are lost because of this cos the ‘search’ doesn’t pick them up.And make people think they are getting a bargain.I personally think that reserve prices put people off-I never bid on anything with one as you can usually find the same item without a reserve price.Be realistic, think about the minimum amount you would let the item sell for then use that as your starting bid.Auctions that start at 1p are great, but there’s always the chance that this could be your only bid and you end up paying out more in fees than what you sold it for.Always put at least one photo on-people won’t buy what they can’t see.Good Luck

Can you link a personal website to and from your ebay listings?

January 21st, 2013 3 comments

I sell on Ebay and I used to have a store but I closed it and am now just selling in acution format. I know a little about html (building a website) and I want my own little store with my own website. I still want to sell on Ebay to get traffic and whatnot. Is it against ebay policies to link your personal website from your listings. If not.. how do I do this?

Hi It depends on your Web site structure, though Auctionblox.com my be the right solution, alternatively Marketworks.com, though both charge around 2% of sales on or off your website

Both allow the ebay purchaser to access ‘check out’ on your site, though the advantage is they have the option to continue shopping (on your site) and combine postage with ebay items.

It comes down to how much you are prepared too pay for your traffic, as in some cases adwords may be a better option for driving traffic.

can i cancel my ebay account and still get the items i payed for?10 points?

January 13th, 2013 1 comment

I want to cancel my ebay account ASAP but there are things ive payed for and that have not been shipped. Will they still send it anyways? Will they lose my address? Help please.

I have sold 1000’s of items and one of my Buyers ‘was no longer a registered user’ I still sent the item (and hope they received it- I have no way of knowing)
If I want to be dishonest I could have just kept the money.
I would therefore suggest you keep your account live until all transactions are complete- they will know you are not a member anymore and you will probablty find it harder to fight if anything goes wrong

IF you are closing your account because you think that Buyers cannot get a refund from you if a sale has gone wrong,you will still have to refund if Paypal find in their favour (irrelevant if you have closed it down)

Any tips on making money on ebay?

January 9th, 2013 12 comments

I am looking make some extra cash selling on ebay? AN extra £200-300 a month is fine for me.

How can I do that? And what PRODUCTS ARE ON HIGH DEMAND on ebay?
To Daniel D:

selling concert tickets and such. I thought you couldn’t do that anymore? you have to put your names on tickets when pre-ordering, therefore you can’t sell it to someone with a different name.

re: Danilel C
subodh fuck off you cunt!

Let me start by answering your last questions first. Ebay is the place to sell ANYTHING. Ok, so anything means "within reason" as Ebay doesn’t allow guns, animals or human body parts, but services is not outside the norm of Ebay sales.

The thing to remain focused upon is not whether Ebay is the place, but whether the service you want to sell can benefit from a "global" market. Ebay has an audience that covers the globe. it is not uncommon to have bidders from as far away as Europe, Russia and Austrailia. So, to put this in perspective, if you are selling graphics for the web, you have a wider market in Ebay. If, however, you are selling house painting, personal errand assistant or even your knowledge in Law, you must look for a more local or geographicaly close audience. This does not mean you shouldn’t use eBay, it only means that your auction pages should reflect this understanding.

Lastly, What products sell well on ebay and is there a way to get this information on a daily basis? This is a question I get an awful lot, both here on AllExperts and through email. The problem is that there is no cut and dried answer. What sells well for one may be a total disaster for another. In addition, consider this: If there is one item that sells well, and could make someone rich, do you really expect to be handed this information on a silver platter? Of course not – but that doesn’t mean that you can’t find something with which to do well on Ebay.

You can search on ebay for the items you’re selling, and you can find items by the number of bids they receive. Items that receive over a certain number of bids are called "Hot Items" and are marked with a small flame icon. Sort any category by clicking on the top of the bid column, and you instantly know which items in that category are receiving the most bids.

Can you sell the same item and get the same bids? This remains a mystery on Ebay. You should know that it is common for two sellers to list identical items – both of which are hot tickets – only to have one receive many high bids and the other get nothing. What is the difference? As I say, it’s a mystery.

The one thing I can tell new sellers is that you have to sell what you know. If you know a bit about depression glass, then I’d say that’s your area to start. If, however, you don’t know the difference between Mayfair and Cabbage Rose, then you’re going to have trouble with those items. Everyone knows a bit about something. You need to assess your own abilities and your own knowledge areas to find those items with which you will do best.

Can eBay items like xbox 360 controller and battery with charger?

December 28th, 2012 2 comments

I bought a Xbox 360 arcade and want one more controller. Also need 2 rechargeable batteries with one USB charger.
Need some tips and advice on buying these stuff.

Make sure the seller has 100% positive feedback. Check out the comments that other buyers and sellers have left for them and what they’ve left for others too. Some people don’t leave feedback even after you’ve left it for them. It’s happened to me several times. Also, go with a controller that says it’s in the package still and actually shows a real picture of the item for sale instead of one of the stock photos. Try looking for the controllers that come with a Play and Charge kit with them. The white ones like that are harder to find on there, but you’ll see some of the black and red ones. Ask any questions you may have and check out which auctions others are bidding on. Go with one with either free shipping or a reasonable amount. Controllers cost around $6 to ship; a bit more if they’re sending it Priority. I always set mine with free shipping and send them Priority. Make sure you have a Paypal account so you’re covered if anything bad happens.