A really useful eBay seller guide!

Well I really hope it is anyway! When I first started using eBay for buying and selling I quickly learnt that there are tons of different ‘rules’ and I found it all a bit confusing to be honest. I know eBay has been around for ages but I had only really used it to buy things and when it comes to selling it’s a totally different ballgame.

One new thing about being a seller is that you can’t leave a ‘negative’ feedback score on a buyers account. This basically means they can just not pay for an item they have won from your auctions and aside from opening an unpaid transaction case and (hopefully!) winning and getting your final value fees back you have to start the auction all over again! Buyers can still leave you bad feedback btw, there are a growing number of people who ‘blackmail’ sellers by proposing to leave them negative feedback unless they get a hefty discounts or freebie! My top tip is to use the settings on your listing, only accept buyers with paypal accounts and make sure you state in your listing that you expect payment within a certain time period.

Historically (!)  the best time for your item to end is on a Sunday or Monday evening between 4pm and 7pm. This means your item will be exposed to a lot of bidders and you should potentially end up making more money! I would say this is quite accurate and I always try to stick to this, when I haven’t I have noticed a definite decrease in the end price.

Unless you have a lot of spare time on your hands you will want to download the Turbo Lister. It makes listing so much easier and quicker! It has also been redesigned to make it more user friendly and it lets you upload to eBay in bulk. I also really rate the eBay app for the iPad which is soooo easy to use, I promise you if you have been using the normal website up until now you will wonder how you ever managed without these apps.

I can’t tell you how many listings I have seen that have grainy, blurry, teeny tiny pictures. I always wonder why this is as it only takes a second to take a clear picture and has a big effect on what your items will sell for. That little picture is the first thing people see when making the choice to click for more info, make sure the first image you are displaying is the clearest, sharpest one that shows off the item!

Think about it, when did you last type into eBay’s search facility ‘sexy red dress RARE!’? I didn’t think so, stick to the easy rule of ‘what would I type in to search for this item if I was the buyer?’ Using the top I have shown you above, I wouldn’t type in ‘RARE! top asos dress 12’, I would type ‘ASOS Geometric Print Black White Tunic Top Size 12’. You would be surprised at just how many people don’t put the most simple information on the items title, in turn this means people don’t see the item when they search and we all know what that means!

You know the one, they list the item as second class, no proof of postage, wrap it in newspaper and then charge you £4.75 (incidentally this is the most you can charge for postage!) It will definitely end with you receiving crappy feedback, which in turn will limit the amount of items you can sell. I personally use second class recorded, ALWAYS get proof of postage and send items properly wrapped if fragile, and always in an appropriate envelope/box/jiffy bag. I buy the jiffy bags of eBay (of course!) and I like to keep it sort of fun by using pink ones, I also pick up padded envelopes and bubble wrap in the pound shop. I charge £3 for postage. It costs me £2.20 to send most items second class, and I factor in the cost of the packaging and travel expenses to send the item. I think that’s the fairest way to do it!

If a buyer is just intent on an argument (you know the type, they just LOVE a good barney!) then politely tell them to take their issue up with eBay. I had one recently who insisted a brand new jacket I had sent them was worn, I tried my best to be polite and helpful but after I refused to let her keep the jacket and have a full refund she started to send me abusive messages. I just informed eBay and got on with my life. Some people just thrive on drama, and seriously eBay is full of them!

If I am selling something that I know has been a bit of a ‘best seller’ in the past I always have a quick look on eBay to see what interest the item is getting already. There are some things that will always get you good amounts of money (River Island Coats/Jackets always fetch a good price as do Topshop Blazers!) but sometimes it’s the simplest thing that is getting lots of interest on eBay. I sold a H&M dress I picked up for £4 in the sale a few years ago, it was just a plain skater dress but it made me £16!!!

If your having a good old clear out then let your blog followers know, you have a ready made audience and you never know they may have been looking for that exact dress for months! Oh and whilst your at it, tweeting your listings is a good way to generate interest too!

I would definitely suggest you pay the fees as soon as you sell an item, it’s surprising how quickly they add up. I have happily ignored them, done a paypal-bank account transfer and then gone shopping only to end up with £20 coming out of my account out of the blue! Trust me its much less hassle to just pay them up front and then enjoy spending the net amount guilt free!