Selling on eBay is not rocket science, anyone who invests a little bit of time can do it. It will help to be a little savvy in your approach before you quit your day job to sell on eBay full-time. eBay charges you a small fee just to list your item and then a percentage of the final sale price of your item. You will want to look into the ebay fees by clicking here to determine whether or not it will be worth your time to even sell your item. Remember that profits are better than wages. You should be able to start selling on eBay with little or no capital at all. Maybe you have a few old items lying around the house or garage that you don't want anymore. One man's junk is another man's treasure, this holds true on eBay. If you don't have anything to start selling, this is where our next paragraph comes in to play. You can start your eBay business with less than $100 in capital.
First of all, you need to decide what it is that you are wanting to sell. You may want to start by searching some of the items already listed for sell on eBay to get an idea of the prices and margins of the items that will sell. You can use listings and prices that you find as a guide to what you are planning to sell. You can “watch” the items that other eBay members have listed by putting a watch on their items. You will be able to monitor the progress and see what the selling prices usually end up being. Look closely at how the item is described and make sure that when you describe your item, it is done in a way that is professional and clean. It needs to be written in a way that makes you want to buy the item/s. If you specialize in a certain area, you can really start to make a lot of money. Find what works and then stick with it. For example: If you know old paintings, sell old paintings. If you know golf clubs, sell golf clubs, etc. You get the picture- the great thing is that you can learn and grow while making money!
Description: When you are describing an item, do not make things up! It will help you and the people looking at your item if you represent your items clearly and correctly. Do not over-exaggerate or make false claims about what the item is or can do, as many of your potential buyers probably know more about the item than you do! It is better to plead ignorance than to pretend like you know a lot about an item. Less can sometimes be more when describing an item.
Title: The Title of your listing should attract buyers to look at your item. The Title is the most important thing when it comes to selling an item. If you can't get people to look at your item, then they sure aren't going to buy it. Think about it like this, if your title is just as lame as the next guys', chances are the buyer will buy from him. You want to have something that sticks out and attracts! Key words- think about what the person would type in to search for the item you have and then make sure it's in the title. Don't waste space, use all of the alloted spaces you are given. The title does not have to make grammatical sense. For example, “Tennis Shoes Sneakers Pumas Size Sz 6 Med M.”
Pictures: Pictures can make or break your item. Always make sure that your pictures do the item justice and are not misleading. The last thing that you want is for a buyer to be unhappy and leave you negative feedback because you are posting blurry and misleading pictures of items. Use clean and well lit areas to take pictures if possible and provide multiple pictures. People like to see different angles of the things they buy, you wouldn't buy a pair of jeans without looking at the back of them would you? Well I wouldn't, so just be smart about it. Try to make the pictures look as professional as possible.
Make sure that your item gets placed in the right category. Often people don't put items in the right category and they are never seen. If you are trying to sell a pair of shoes in the candles section, you probably won't have much luck.
Pricing: Here is where your research really comes in to play. If you start an item at lower prices, you will have more people who look at your item, that does not always mean that more will bid on it. When people see that others are bidding on the item, they have a “fear of loss.” This means that they don't want to miss out on the highly wanted item, so they too will watch and bid on the item. Do not put up items with outrageous prices, they will for the most part sit online and never sell. Every now and again you might get lucky! But think about it like this, would you rather sell ten items for $20 profit each throughout the week, or would you rather sell one item for $100 profit throughout a month? You will do better by selling multiple items. NEVER start a listing for less than what you're willing to accept, unless you have a reserve price set (minimum you'd let your item sell for, people may bid on your item, but if it doesn't reach your set reserve amount, it will not be sold). Always calculate all costs: all Paypal/eBay fees, shipping/DC/packaging materials, item cost, minimum profit you'll accept, self insurance if applicable. The combined total is good marker for where you will need your starting/selling price to begin.
Shipping: Okay, so potential bidders will look at what you are charging for shipping and make a split second decision on whether or not you are a fair eBayer. People really get put off by shipping charges that are too high and unfair. Free shipping attracts buyers and you will more than likely be able to get more money for your item , which in turn will cover the original shipping cost you thought would be fair. It pays to do good and to give good deals. Don't try and make excess money by charging more for shipping than necessary, that can really hurt your ratings. Very Important: always pay the tiny bit extra for DELIVERY CONFIRMATION when shipping items. Although we would love to believe everyone is honest, there have been a few times that people will report they never received the item that was shipped. Without the tracking confirmation, you will be out the shipping costs, the item, your money and time. Just trust me on this one, it's worth the extra .80 cents! :) For high priced items over $100, I usually get insurance and a signature of buyer on arrival, also a good way to cover your tail. Some buyers will want their item shipped quicker. By offering quicker shipping and other options, people will like that, especially if they need it ASAP!
Remember that your integrity is very important in your eBay business. You are dealing with real people and real money. Do all you can to make sure that you help others, you respond to their questions in a timely manner, and you provide something of value that they want. By helping enough others get what they want, you will automatically get what you want.
I hope that this will help you in starting your eBay business!
