eBay may be the world’s biggest online market place, but signing up and selling your goods is tough for first time users. So here’s the eBay basics to get you started.
Once you have your account set up, do some reconnaissance work before listing all of your household goods or bidding your life savings away. While eBay is reasonably user friendly, there are many other things you will need to know.
Look at what other people are doing
The biggest mistake first time sellers make, having signed up is to start selling right away without checking what other sellers are writing in their auctions, which categories they’re placing their items in or, more importantly, how much their starting bid is. You won’t get any bids if your item is in the wrong place at the wrong price.
Get positive feedback of at least 5
This is very important. Due to the popularity of eBay and the lack of trust from individuals trading online opposed to bonified retailers, few eBayers will bid on an item listed by a seller with a rating of 0.
This means you’ll have to buy something. Five somethings to be exact. But don’t worry, eBay purposely set up a “Weird Stuff” section for these items, which are often listed for 10p with free postage to help you increase your feedback scores so you can begin selling safely.
Always take a photograph of your item
No photograph, no bids. It’s as simple as that. You can write the best description in the world, but unless bidders can see it, they won’t want to buy it.
Get a Paypal account
Nowadays having a Paypal account is an integral part of eBay. Every eBayer pays using Paypal. In fact, Paypal has become so universally accepted that numerous online retailers with their own successful websites offer Paypal as an alternate means of payment, which many online shoppers use in preference to paying with their credit cards or debit cards.
Although Paypal incurs a small charge for the recipient of funds through a transaction, its ease of use far outweighs the risk of receiving cash or a cheque in the post.
Once you’ve received the funds for your sale, the money will sit in your Paypal account until you transfer it to your bank account (with a further small charge incurred) or until you spend it by shopping with an online retailer that accepts Paypal payments or win an auction by bidding on eBay. If you’re looking to make money from your sales, try your best to avoid the temptation of spending it all on eBay as soon as you receive the funds!
Don’t bite off more than you can chew
Once all your selling’s done and your Paypal account is full of money, don’t forget you have to physically post all those parcels. So make sure you don’t sell more than you can comfortably package and post out.
Happy eBaying!
