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Selling on Auction Sites
By Stephen Bucaro
It seems like just about everyone on earth has purchased
something at, or at least visited, eBay. There must be a hundred
books out there titled something like, "How to Get Rich Selling
Useless Trash on eBay". Well, if you believe that, I have a
bridge that I’d like to sell you.
The people that I know who sell on eBay spend many hours
tracking down items to sell. Then they have to spend time
entering auction information, reviewing the status of their
auctions, communicating with buyers, and packaging and shipping
the item. If they counted the number of hours used relative to
the revenue earned, I’m sure they are working for less than
minimum wage.
Many people are asking the question, "What sells best on eBay?"
The answer is antiques, collectibles, and memorabilia. If you
don’t have a continuous supply of this type of material, it is
difficult to make money on eBay. Lately, there has been a market
for "garage sale" type items such as used baby clothes and
children's toys. But who has a continuous supply of these?
Along with the time invested in locating items to sell, they
have to pay $1.00 to list the item (whether it sells or not). If
it sells, they pay an additional $1.25 and 2.5% of the selling
price. If the buyer pays through an electronic payment service
like Paypal or Billpoint, then they pay an additional $0.30 plus
3% of the selling price.
Who pays the shipping charges? The seller may think that the
buyer is paying shipping charges. But because the buyer
considers it when evaluating the purchase, in effect, the seller
pays the shipping.
Why do people keep working eBay if they are not making money?
The fact is that these people just love scouting out antiques,
collectibles, and memorabilia, or used baby clothes and
children's toys at garage sales and swap meets. They get excited
about posting it on eBay and watching the bids come in. Hey,
everybody needs a hobby.
To sell on eBay, you have to register by providing your name,
email address, and a credit card number (for paying auction
fees). Then, with your user ID and password, you can log in. To
list your item for auction, click the "Sell" link on the
"Welcome" screen. This takes you to a very long form.
The first thing you have to do is choose a category and
sub-category for your item. Choosing the correct category is
essential. When choosing a category consider your target buyer.
Next, enter a title for your item (45 characters max). Your
title should consist of carefully selected keywords. Buyers use
keywords to search eBay. At the end of your title, you might
want to enter the letters "NR". This stands for "No Reserve" and
means that you are actually willing to sell your item at the
price you enter as the minimum bid.
Next, enter a description of your item. Fraud is a concern on
all auction sites, so make bidders feel at ease by giving as
much information as possible. Then enter your City and State.
Next enter a "Minimum bid". This is the lowest amount you are
willing to accept for the item and the amount you require to
make the minimum acceptable profit. Then set the "Auction
duration", the number of days that you want your auction to run.
For best results, your auction should end on a Sunday.
If you don’t want to actually sell your item at the minimum bid
amount, then enter a "Reserve Price". This is a price higher
than the minimum bid, at which you are actually willing to sell
your item. Buyers can’t see your reserve price, they only know
there is a reserve on your item. Buyers don’t like reserve price
auctions, so you might want to leave this entry blank.
Next, you can select many optional features for your auction,
such as prime product placement, double category placement, a
small picture in eBay’s Picture Gallery, and so on. But these
options are costly.
Next, set checkboxes to select the types of payment you will
accept; checks, money order, etc. Then enter any shipping,
handling, insurance, and sales tax charges.
Next, enter your return policy. If you don’t want to have to
refund money to a buyer, enter "No Returns". Then set the radio
button for "I will not accept escrow." For an expensive item,
you might accept an escrow. Escrow is when a third party holds
the buyer’s money until he receives the item. Then, if the item
is acceptable, he gives the escrow company permission to release
the funds to you.
Next, unless you want to ship overseas, set the radio button for
"Will ship to United States only". Then select the checkbox for
the shipping payment method; "seller pays shipping", "buyer pays
actual shipping cost", or "buyer pays fixed amount".
This is a lot of information to provide on a form. If you sell
many similar items, you can set a checkbox for eBay to remember
your preferences so that you don’t have to fill out the entire
form each time.
Next, click the "Continue" button. You are then given an
opportunity to review your listing and correct any errors before
submitting. After reviewing your listing, click the "Submit"
button. Your item will be posted for auction.
Now that your item is listed, you can login to eBay at any time
and click on the "my eBay" link to get the status of your
auction. If your item is sold, you will be charged $1.25 plus
2.5% of the final sale price. If the final sale price is $25.00
or less, the fee is 5.0% of the final sale price.
That’s the basics of selling on eBay. If you feel you need to
pay good money for a book titled "How to Get Rich Selling
Useless Trash on eBay", then meet me on eBay, in the "Bridges"
section.
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Resource Box: Copyright(C)2002 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to
maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a
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