Friday, 5 July 2013

eBay Sellers: Tips to Help Your eBay Items Sell


Are you an eBay seller? If you have been looking for a relatively easy way to make money, there is a good chance that you are. Different individuals use eBay, but many use eBay to make a little bit of extra money or even to financially support themselves and their families. If you are an eBay seller, how is everything currently going? Are you making as much money as you had hoped to? If not, you will want to continue reading on; as some tips are outlined below on how you can help to make sure that your eBay items sell.

When it comes to buying items on eBay, there are many eBay buyers who are the lookout for eBay scams. Before purchasing an item, one of the first things that an eBay buyer does is check the feedback of the seller. Doing business with a highly rated and recommended eBay seller reduces or completely eliminates the chances of getting scammed on eBay. Feedback helps to give you a good reputation, but there is something else that can help you get a good reputation too, an “About Me,” page. This is a page where you are able to introduce yourself and give a little bit of background information about yourself or your eBay business. “About Me,” pages are optional, but there are a number of benefits to having one.

Once an eBay buyer has learned that a seller who has an item that they want for sale is a reputable one, they will then continue to examine the product being sold. This is where your biggest chance of making a sale comes in. First, you will want to make sure that your products are being sold at a fair price. Keep in mind, when making your auction listings that you want to make a profit, but you don’t want to scare off any potential buyers with high prices. Just making sure that your prices are reasonable is enough to increase your chances of making a sale.

Secondly, you will want to make sure that you accurately describe all of your items that are being sold. For instance, if you are selling a lot or a group of children’s toys, you may want to take the time to list the names of each toy being sold. Outline the condition that each toy is in as well. If you are selling toys that require batteries, you may want to state whether or not the batteries are included. Providing a detailed, accurate description of all of your items will definitely increase the chances of them selling.

In addition to a detailed description, it is also important that you have pictures of your items. eBay allows you to post one free picture, but more can be posted for additional fees. Don’t let these additional fees deter you from posting additional pictures, as they are likely to increase the chances of making a sale. In fact, you may want to look into free photo sharing websites, such as PhotoBucket, as they allow you to post additional eBay pictures for free. When taking pictures of your eBay items, you will want to make sure that you take a number of close-up pictures. Also, make sure that the pictures are easy to see and that the lighting is good. Having poor pictures or no pictures at all is one of the many reasons why many eBay items go unsold.

The methods of payment that you accept may also have an important impact on how well your eBay items sell. One of the most common forms of payments used, to pay for eBay purchases, is PayPal. The reason why PayPal is so popular is because it enables shoppers to buy items from you, without having to disclose their account numbers. If you aren’t already accepting PayPal, you will want to look into doing so. Although most eBay buyers use PayPal, you will also want to remember that not everyone does. For that reason, you may also want to accept other methods of payment, including money orders or personal checks. The only thing with personal checks is that you may want to wait until the check clears before shipping the buyer their merchandise, especially with large purchases.

By implementing the above mentioned eBay seller tips, you may start seeing an increase in your eBay sales, even right away. In all honesty, you need to think of it from a seller perspective. Look at your auction listings; would you buy what you were selling?

Thursday, 4 July 2013

eBay’s Turbo Lister Program: Should You Use It?


Are you an eBay seller? If you are, are you familiar with eBay’s Turbo Lister program? If you are not, you may want to take the time to familiarize yourself with it, as using eBay’s Turbo Lister program can make selling on eBay as easy as can be.

eBay’s Turbo Lister program is a program that is available for download, free of charge on eBay’s website. What is nice about eBay’s Turbo Lister program is that it is easy to install and use. In fact, like eBay’s traditional way of listing items for sale, you are given step-by-step instructions. Even if you have minimal computer knowledge, you should still be able to use eBay’s Turbo Lister program, without any problems.

Now that you know exactly how you can get eBay’s Turbo Lister program, you may be wondering exactly what it is or how it can help you. See, when you download eBay’s Turbo Lister program to your computer, you can access it at anytime, even if you are not connected to the internet. eBay markets its Turbo Lister program to those who are high or medium volume eBay sellers, but it is also great for those who have dialup internet. Listing a large number of eBay auctions can tie up your phone lines, but with eBay’s Turbo Lister program you don’t even have to be online!

The eBay Turbo Lister program sets up all eBay auction listings or “Buy It Now,” listings the same way as it is done online, through their website. For instance, when using eBay’s Turbo Lister, you need to assign your item to a category, make a headline for your auction, write a detailed description of the item that you are selling, upload pictures if you have any, mention how your item will be shipped, as well as outline what methods of payment you will accept. As stated above, this process is easy, as everything is explained to you step-by-step. With eBay’s Turbo Listing program, listing on eBay is still as easy as it was before, if not easier with the ability to do so while not connected to the internet.

Speaking of not being connected to the internet, you may be wondering how your eBay items can be listed on eBay’s website if you are not connected to the internet. This is where the internet connection comes in. eBay’s Turbo Lister program enables you develop as many eBay auctions as you want, even thousands of them, without being connected to the internet. When doing so, you have the ability to save your listings for a later date; a time when you can sign online. Once you are connected to the internet, a simple click of the mouse and your eBay listings will automatically be uploaded to the eBay site. In addition to giving you the ability to work offline, you also have the ability to time your auctions, like if you want them to start or end at a certain time.

As mentioned above, if you are interested in downloading eBay’s Turbo Lister program, you can do so through their online website. Since downloading and using eBay’s Turbo Lister program is free, you are urged to at least give it a try. Should you not like the way that the program works, you could always return to listing your eBay items the traditional way, though the eBay website.

eBay Sellers: The Importance of Communication


Are you an eBay seller? If you just recently became an eBay seller, you may still be learning the ins and outs of eBay, particularly how to make a profit. While there are an unlimited number of tips that could help increase your chances of making a profit on eBay, like detailed product descriptions and such, there is one way that is relatively simple; having an open line of communication with all of your eBay buyers. Although you may not necessarily think about it at the time, communication goes a long way when it comes to online business transactions, particularly on eBay.

When it comes to keeping an open line of communication with your customers or potential customers, there are three main situations that you should take advantage of. First, if you are selling a popular item, you may have a number of bids or even a number of questions. If your product description wasn’t very detailed, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you to have messages from other eBay members seeking more information.

While some of these questions may be good, valid ones, others may seem a little bit out in left field. In fact, some eBay member questions may leave you wondering if they even looked at your auction listing. Still, it is advised that you answer all user questions in a polite and timely matter. Doing so will increase the chances of your item or items being sold.

Once an eBay buyer has agreed to buy an item from you, whether it be through a traditional auction listing or a “Buy It Now,” sale, you will want to send your customer an invoice, showing the total amount of money that they owe you. After you have received payment, there is a good chance that you will box up the items sold and head to the post office. A great way to make a good impression is to send your customers an update email; an email that can let them know that their items were just shipped. Many eBay buyers like this because it gives them an estimated arrival time frame. Should you have purchased a package tracking number, you will want supply your customers with that information.

It is also advised that you follow through, within a few days or a week, to see if your customers received their items. You may also want to send a personal note asking them how they liked the items and such. One thing that you definitely want to include in a follow-up message is a thank you note. You will want to thank each of your eBay customers for doing business with you. You should also state that you hope to do business with them again. In today’s society, many consumers are not thanked for their business anymore, although many wish that they still were. Sending a thank you follow-up note will only take a few minutes of your time, but it is something that your customers will likely remember for sometime to come.

As it was stated above, having an open line of communication may increase your eBay profits. Why you may ask? Well, you need to think of it from a consumer standpoint. If you could shop at two different retail stores, which both had the same products available for the same prices, which store would you choose? If you are like most consumers, you would respond with the store with the best customer service. eBay is no different. With competition increasing each day, you need to be able to set yourself apart from other eBay sellers. The best way to do this is to go the extra mile for your customers.

Keeping an open line of communication before, during, and after each sale will help give you a good, positive reputation among many eBay buyers. It will also likely result in return customers; customers who can help to increase your eBay profits.