Tips for selling on Ebay

Angelolly

Can anyone help us? We are completely new to ebay and, having bought a few things quite successfully, we have decided to chance our arms and sell some stuff.
However...
We feel a little bit 'lost at sea'! I have read this thread with interest and now feel overwhelmed. I wondered if anybody kind could answer some questions for me?

1. We have a Canon Ixus to take pictures of the items with - what is all this about hosting them somewhere to save costs? Does that mean we upload them somewhere first and then download them to ebay? Advice please!

2. HTML - I know this is the code that web pages are written in (I once tried to help set up a web page for the school I work at but 5 hours with the Dreamweaver manual sent me daft!) Do we need to know HTML? Will it make a difference to our auction?

3. Any general tips for getting started? We are going to start tomorrow and put three things on to see how we do (and if we can cope!!)

We would really appreciate any advice

robnye

1. We have a Canon Ixus to take pictures of the items with - what is all this about hosting them somewhere to save costs? Does that mean we upload them somewhere first and then download them to ebay? Advice please!

No - just load them onto your computer, when you go through the listing process, you can then select the picture and ebay will upload it for you.

2. HTML - I know this is the code that web pages are written in (I once tried to help set up a web page for the school I work at but 5 hours with the Dreamweaver manual sent me daft!) Do we need to know HTML? Will it make a difference to our auction?

No - you dont need to know/understand how to use html.  as you go through the listing process, the section for listing details, you can set your ebay lsiting up as you want, different colours, text size, fonts etc
or there is an option to add in your own html code
You also have the option to preview the details before hitting the submit button.

3. Any general tips for getting started? We are going to start tomorrow and put three things on to see how we do (and if we can cope!!)

be honest!
dont start your price too high, as you might not get it, use the search page, selecting completed items for the same thing you want to sell, that will give you some idea, of how other people have set out their listings, including price etc

otherwise good luck and have fun.....  :)

Angelolly

Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to reply! We have been brave teddies and put two things up for sale...

the only trouble is we are now obsessively watching them to see if they get any bids!!!!! ;D

milsna

Can someone please advise me, I don't mind a pm!

I have been emailing people to let them know what I have for sale. How do you put the link into one word?

Does that make sense?

On here people type click "here" and when you click on the word "here" it takes you straight to the link......how do you do that?
???

divadee

milsna take a look Here on how to shorten a link.

If you have items for sale you can do a link on the referrers board. Unless someone has specificaly asked you to PM them.

HTH

divadee

Thanks so much for taking the time and trouble to reply! We have been brave teddies and put two things up for sale...

the only trouble is we are now obsessively watching them to see if they get any bids!!!!! ;D

angelolly have you had any joy with your items yet? please keep us informed. ;D

Angelolly

SUCCESS!! Hbby sold a motherboard/hard drive fan thingy (DON'T ask me!!!) and got about 150% more than he said he would have been happy with...

My (too long, too big) maternity jeans finish tomorrow and are so far ticking along nicely.

We may just be hooked on this little lark!

MTVGeneration

I have a P3 Dell Laptop I'd like to sell on Ebay but I'm not sure whether I should start the bidding off at £1 to help keep the fees lower but possibly run the risk of it being sold for well under what I'd want, or start the bidding off substantially higher which will incur a hefty listing price and will slightly discourage buyers. If possible, I'd like to get to a compromise between the two...any suggestions?

Also, what is the best time to sell items? I've read varying different opinions and feel no wiser than I did before!

And lastly! Any other tips to encourage more bids? Before when I sold small items I gave as much info as I could but in general kept everything simple with maybe just one photo, but as this item is more expensive and obviously I'm looking for the highest price, I'd like to do as much as possible to make sure I get at least the minimum I was looking for.

Thanks! :-/

soolin

Hello MTV,

Firstly do the research so you know what kind of price is realistic, don't look at current auctions, look at those that have actually sold recently. Those completed auctions will also show the start price so you might be able to get an idea whether those that started at £1 made more in the long run than those that started higher. Personally I am a coward and tend to start my items at the minimum I would take having checked that the price is on par with completed auctions.

It's also worth remembering that for larger items there isn't really much difference in the listing fees, for instance starting something at a basic 99p would cost 15p but to start at £100 would cost £2, most of the fees will be incurred on the final value price if it sells.

Make sure your feedback looks good, if you haven't got s high positive feedback your item will go for less, so maybe buy a few bits and pieces just to up the feedback a bit and to give yourself some history.

Make sure you have a few options for payment and stick with them, don't get bullied into taking any payment you are not entirely comfortable with. Paypal of course will be something that buyers will be looking for on such a high ticket item so make sure you factor those fees into your profit margin as well.

Get your post and packing worked out in advance so you can state that in the listing, many buyers won't bother bidding until the last moment and if you haven't shown your post and packing it might put them off. Be realistic though, don't underestimate the packing materials you might need to buy and the size of the item, but also don't overinflate the amount. make sure you factor in a trackable insured method of post like registered or something similiar.

One decent photo should be enough as you will pay extra for more unless you host your own. However, you can always suggest in the listing that people can e mail you via ask seller a qusetion if they want a shot from a particular angle.

Be honest in the listing, I know that sounds silly, but get someone to read it first to make sure that nothing you write can be twisted by a buyer in a dispute. Along the same lines list carefully exactly what it comes with again so that a less than honest buyer can't come back afterwards and claim that something was implied in the listing that wasn't actually included.

Times for selling..the busiest time is supposedly Sunday evening but sometimes the sheer weight of traffic on the site makes it run a bit slower then. Never end during the day when people are away from their computer, it's surprising how many people will up their bid if they see something slipping away from them. Probably the best thing to do is go back and check the finished listings again, see if there is a pattern with higher prices being achieved at certain times or days of the week, if so list yours to end then.

Um, that's all I can think of at the moment, ask again if you can think of any more questions as I'm sure one of us on here can help.

Soo

MTVGeneration

Thanks Soolin for the rather comprhensive answer and I'll give what you've said a lot of thought.

Like you I would rather start with the minimum that I'd like to get for the item.

I do have a couple more questions which I have thought since I put my post...

Are there any free templates available on the net that coud help me in my listing design and where should i look for these?

Is anyone aware of places to get good strong boxes...I would rather not use boxes from supermarkets wrapped in brown paper...and somewhere to get cheap bubble wrap (and yes I do save it when I receive items in the post!)?

Thanks!! ::)