Ebay traders - what's the 1 thing you wish you had known?

Jevvers

Hi all

I have been buying and selling on eBay for years as an individual but I am now planning to set up a business account. I am lucky enough to have never been scammed so far on eBay (touch wood), the worst that has happened is a couple of NPBs. But I realise it will be a whole new ball game when I go "pro".

So what do you experienced peeps wish you had known when you started selling as a business? Not just scams, any advice very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

forgotmyname

Everyone wants everything for nothing, They want it delivered yesterday and will still leave you low stars.

Jevvers

Is this worse when you are evidently a business then? I can see how it might be - you become depersonalised in the eyes of the buyer.

Might I be best looking more like an individual seller? (While obviously still fulfilling all the rules, I don't mean trying to hide that I'm trading.) Or does that put off reasonable buyers who want to buy from a reputable trader?

Strapped

You can't please everybody all of the time. Don't take it personally. And price your items with enough margin to allow for returns and the odd INR/broken.

If you sell low priced items (less than £10ish inc P&P) then get a PayPal micro payments account.

Research your postage options well.

yoyoegg

Block anyone who asks a stupid question, cancel bid and block zero feedback buyers on anything of value.

theonlywayisup

yoyoegg wrote: »

Block anyone who asks a stupid question, cancel bid and block zero feedback buyers on anything of value.

How do you block zero feedback bidders?

Make sure you have a legal returns policy. Register as a business with Ebay and HMRC. Keep your accounts accurately.

Brooker_Dave

Jevvers wrote: »

So what do you experienced peeps wish you had known when you started selling as a business? Not just scams, any advice very gratefully received.

Thanks in advance

Have a plan b in place for when ebay ban you.

ballisticbrian

Sell 1000 identical products and mail them all within the same time frame and you'll get 100's of positive feedbacks, a letter from a nice woman about how you made her sons day and he won top prize, and one discustingly rude and offensive message and bad feedback from an idiot who says it wasn't what *he* thought it was.

Jevvers

Strapped wrote: »

You can't please everybody all of the time. Don't take it personally. And price your items with enough margin to allow for returns and the odd INR/broken.

If you sell low priced items (less than £10ish inc P&P) then get a PayPal micro payments account.

Thanks I didn't know about paypal micropayments.

And thanks to the others too. I want to go into this with my eyes open

bxboards

General advice would be to write short and to the point listings - don't put terms and conditions in the listings and do not write things like 'no scammers' in the listing. Be professional. Many sellers seem to have long lists who they will and will not sell to - almost as if they are doing battle with prospective buyers!

Have a legal and friendly return policy. As a business, you must accept Returns.

Block buyers who ask silly questions or buyers who ask something that is in the listing - if they didn't read the listing, they won't read your answer!

Block buyers who write in text speak, or use all lower caps. without punctuation. There is nothing more off putting that a stream of text with no punctuation, or txt spk.

Block buyers who ask about returns before buying - a buyer who is thinking about returning before they have bought should be avoided.

Use your own photos, and make sure you record any serial numbers if you have any.

Use all the available buyer blocks you can.
Do not allow collection if they wish to use Paypal.
Do not list faulty or broken items as 'used' - broken, faulty or untested items must be listed as 'for parts or not working'

If a buyer claims not to receive a parcel, ask him to raise a Case in Ebay, and explain to the buyer that Ebay and Royal Mail work closely together to identify patterns of loss. I find that 80% of the time, items miraculous show up behind the sofa, or someone else opened the door to the postman.

Only post to the buyers address that appears on the Paypal payment page.

Do not treat all buyers as scammers, 99% are honest, but certain areas are hot-spots for scammers.

Do not solely rely on Ebay, but don't waste your time with Ebid. Use Amazon too, and spread the load.

duncan-biscuits

I wish I hadn't eaten yellow snow.....