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Selling : Getting started and keeping going!
Well you've seen the fuss.
You've heard the reports.
You've even signed up to EBay and purchased a few items.
And now you think "Hey! I want to get in on the action and start selling too!"
It's best to start small. Look around the house. A couple of unwanted, unopened Christmas gifts. Some DVDs that you've watched once, kept in mint condition but probably will never watch again. Or maybe you want to upgrade your computer so want to get a few dollars for your old one to get you going.
Starting Selling
- Take a photo of your item up for sale, or scan in a picture (if you intend to keep selling, why not check out EBay for a cheap digital camera?). The value of adding a picture to your auction is incalculable. Try searching for an item you are interested in, then decide which of the items you would consider - those with pictures or those without?
- Many people then simply log on the EBay, click the selling link, type in a basic description, click the Upload Picture link, cross their fingers and hope.
Of course, this method may work but if you spend 10 minutes on your auction you can increase your buyers' interest AND hopefully their bids! - The use of simple HTML to format your auction with colours, headings, tables, etc (be as adventurous as you wish) can help really make your auction. The easiest way to get started is to simply use Microsoft Word, which most people have installed on their PC.
- Start with a new document
- Type up your auction and then spend 10 minutes formatting it to really catch your buyers' eye.
- The use of tables especially can really help you design your auction page so that specific sections are appropriately located and spaced out around the page.
- Once you are happy with the result, instead of click File/Save as you would normally do, select File/Save As and select Web Page (or HTML) from the File Type box. Save your auction web page to your My Documents\EBay folder.
- Now the tricky bit - still within Word, click View/HTML Source. This will display the code behind the auction page you have just designed.
- Word places more info than you need for your EBay auction. Select with your mouse from the line <BODY> down to </BODY> and select Edit/Copy.
- Now return to EBay and instead of simply entering text for your auction select HTML from the list and paste in your copied HTML (click in the box and select Edit/Paste).
Keeping Going
- Ok so you have sold everything in your house that isn't nailed down and you've decided to try to sell some more. Pick something that you would like to buy, that you are interested in and that you think you can sell.
- By now you have probably created 5 or 10 basic HTML documents for your EBay auctions. Now you should consider creating a template that you can use over and over again that already has 50-75% of your required information already in it and your design already mapped out.
- Most sellers like to include a heading that briefly describes the item for sale at the top - this bit would obviously change with each new listing.
Then follow with some information about the seller - maybe a logo and a link to your other auctions.
Then include a detailed description of your item for sale.
And to conclude list out all your policies about return, damaged goods, postage times and insurance, etc. Spend some time thinking about all the likely questions and problems that may pop up and try to cover them here. Make sure this section does not detract from the main body of your auction. - So now that you have managed to successfully sell several copies of a single item, you should consider expanding your inventory to include different versions or more options for your buyer (e.g. shoes to go with your dresses, or necklaces to go with your rings, or more computer components)
- Now that you are selling multiple goods you wnat your buyers to go from one of your auctions to another, increasing your sales. So sign up for an EBay store! If you are on the ball, you can get your buyer into your store when they search EBay for one item and then not let them go until they have bought everything they wanted - all from you!
- You will quickly find that with multiple auctions, continually uploading your listings manually vis the Sell link under My EBay becomes a logistical nightmare. So download EBay's Turbo Lister - it's free! This programme creates a database for you to create your EBay auctions locally and then simply click them to upload them to EBay. It also allows you to change multiple auctions, check your EBay fees for the auctions and schedule auctions.
Tips
- Always post your goods Registered. Include the extra couple of dollars cost in your shipping charges and clearly spell out in the auction the benefits of this. No matter how friendly and compliant your buyers are, as soon as something goes missing they WILL blame you! And with regular post Australia Post will do little to help you.
- Make paying easy for your customers. Try to accept just about every payment method. You should also sign up for EBay's PayPal. This incurs some fees per sale so make sure your items can absorb this extra cost.
- Put aside some time each day when you will work on your EBay orders. make sure that there is a minimum delay in processing and shipping your orders. If there are any delays make sure you contact your buyers asap. you will find that a buyer who is kept informed about any delays is much more likely to remain a good customer than if you simply leave them hanging.
- ANSWER ALL QUERIES FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS! This is probably one of the most vital things you can do. Some queries will not be polite. Some queries will be down-right rude. But you will normally find that a fast and informative reply, perhaps offering the buyer some options will quickly soothe the savage beast.
- Make sure your replies are factual, to the point and do not get drawn into any slanging matches.
- Start each with reply with a friendly hello. Thank your customer for their query. Answer their question. And then thank them again. It would take a heart of stone to reply to this type of reply in the negative.
- As you type a certain reply, expect thet you will have to send this reply many times over the time to come so copy the text into a Word or text document and save it, so you can simply copy and paste answers to 90% of your queries. Saves heaps of time and helps remove any emotion from your replies.
Well that's about all I have time for now... My email has just chimed. Another sale hopefully.
All the best.
Cheers :-)
Guide created: 12/06/06 (updated 13/10/09)
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