Intermediate Tips for eBay Sellers

About Me Pages

About Me pages are a fantastic way of advertising your business and telling your customers a little bit more about yourself. It's a great way of establishing communication by putting a face and a personality behind the name. This is a free option that any eBayer can use, although most don't bother to create one unless they are serious about selling on eBay. You don't need to know anything about creating a webpage as eBay provides a very user-friendly creation process that includes templates. But, if you know how, or want a unique design, then a bit of HTML doesn't go astray.

Go About Me to sign up.

It's important to include your name and contact details, a good photo of yourself, your feedback and auctions (you can get HTML links from eBay that allow you to insert these), a link to your website if you have one, and as many photos as you can. eBay will only give you two free photos for your About Me page. If you want more, the cheapest way is to use an image host that allows remote linking from eBay.

Some useful links:

If you are an HTML beginner, or still in the learning stages, then I would strongly recommend printing off this helpful list.

This thread from eBay forums has a fantastic reference list for designing an HTML page:

References/Links:

Copy and Paste HTML

http://www.eobcards.com/tutorial3.htm

eBay Special Page Tags

http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/html-tags.html

Fonts That Everyone Can See

http://www.kdwebpagedesign.com/tutorials/fonts.asp

IrFanview - Free Photo Editor

http://www.irfanview.com/

Color Codes

http://www.isdntek.com/demo/internetcolors.htm

48 Hour Image Uploader

http://auctionsuite.com/48hr_uploader.php

Free Backgrounds, Buttons, Logos & Tools

About Me forum: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/forum.jspa?forumID=2006

HTML forum: http://forums.ebay.com/d b1/forum.jspa?forumID=99

You can find a great photo guide here: http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?messageID=201117057&forumID=2006&x#201117057

eBay Stores

When your sales start to pile up, you might consider opening your very own store on eBay. Why? Opening your own store allows people to browse all of your listings (giving you the opportunity to upsell J ) and is also a great way of branding. You also save time, increase your credibility and professionalism, and spend less on listing fees. It's incredibly easy to open a store; you just need to have a seller's account and a credit card on file. Select a name and design for your store and you're away! Just go into My eBay and select Subscriptions from the right hand panel.

A Basic store costs $15.95, a Featured store $49.95/month, and an Anchor store $499.95/month. When you open a store, people will be able to click through to it from your item listings in regular eBay search results, or access it through the eBay store directory in every category in which you have an item listed. Because eBay store owners pay less, your listings will appear below regular listings when someone searches in eBay.

And here's an extra tip: Your store will be more likely to be picked up by search engines if you name it something related to what you sell. For example "Jane's jewelry store: silver, white gold, earrings, necklaces and more'.

Customer Relations

Success on eBay requires you to give your customers such a fabulous experience that they keep coming on back for more! One of the easiest ways to do this is to collect your customer's email addresses and put them on your mailing list. You must provide an opt-in to do this as collecting email addresses without consent counts as spam.

You should know quite a lot about your product by now, so you'll be able to pack your newsletter with expert advice, links to interesting media articles on related topics, book reviews, and so on. One of the most important things is regularity of contact. You must write at least one email every two weeks (preferably once a week) to keep contacts interested. Another great tip is to reward your buyers by adding a little something extra to their purchase. This could simply be a handwritten thank you note on the back of a business card, or it could be as much as a gift box, calendar, key ring, or pen. Vouchers for free insured shipping are another great idea as it encourages a repeat visit.

Good customer communication will help to ensure that people continue to return to your store time and time again. Move onto the Advanced lesson to learn more tips and strategies for making money on eBay.

How to File an Unpaid Item Dispute

Filing an Unpaid Item Dispute is the mechanism eBay has in place for problem resolution. You can use it when the buyer doesn't pay, pays fraudulently, or backs out of a sale. You have 45 days after the transaction date to report an Unpaid Item. Normally you have to wait 7 days after a listing closes to file an Unpaid Item dispute, however some circumstances allow an immediate filing:

  • the buyer is no longer a registered user of eBay at time of filing
  • the buyer is from a country to which the seller has indicated they will not ship.
  • Both the buyer and seller wish to mutually withdraw from the auction.

To file an unpaid item dispute, go to My eBay and select File an Unpaid Item dispute from the drop down menu of the item awaiting payment.

How does an Unpaid Item Dispute work?

By filing an Unpaid Item Dispute you are opening official communication between the buyer and eBay, and the following procedure takes place:

1. eBay sends an official reminder to the buyer giving them three response options:

  • The opportunity to pay now - the buyer fronts up with the money and you close the dispute.
  • I've already paid - the buyer must provide evidence that they have already paid. If this is satisfactory, close the dispute.
  • Communicate with you via an eBay web page. You should do your best to work things out, but you aren't obliged to participate in an argument that goes nowhere.

2. Outcomes from this reminder email:

(a) Mutual Agreement

The best outcome is one of mutual agreement. If you reach an agreement, an email is sent to the buyer asking them to confirm that the auction will be nullified in one of two ways:

  • If they agree: you'll receive your final value fee, the buyer will not receive an unpaid item strike, and the auction will be mollified.
  • If they disagree: you won't receive a final value fee, nor will the buyer receive an unpaid item strike. eBay then closes the dispute and you can't file another claim for that item. In this unsatisfactory situation you can either pursue the buyer yourself or just accept the outcome as a loss.
  • If the buyer doesn't respond after 7 days, then you can receive the final claim value but unfortunately the buyer gets away with it.

(b) Closing the dispute

If the buyer doesn't respond, or responds unsatisfactorily, then you can choose to close the dispute on the condition that the buyer has responded at least once, or not at all within 8 days.

When you go to the Dispute Console page, you'll see all disputes that are still open. It can take up to 10 days of buyer silence before eBay allows you to close the dispute though. If you do choose to close the dispute, you must select a reason for doing so.

  • 'We've agreed not to complete the transaction' - The buyer doesn't receive an Unpaid Item Strike and you receive your Final Value Fee credit.
  • 'We've completed the transaction and we're both satisfied' - No credits or strikes, everything has been resolved.
  • 'I no longer wish to communicate with or wait for the seller' - You get a credit, the buyer gets a strike.

You only get 60 days to complete your auction. After that time, eBay closes it for you. If automatic closure takes place, then the seller does not receive a final value fee credit and the buyer does not receive an unpaid item strike.

**Top Tips for Avoiding an Unpaid Item Dispute**

  • Be wary of selling designer copies, e.g. handbags, watches, clothing.
  • Take clear photos.
  • Write an honest and detailed description.
  • Package your items carefully and label well.
  • Follow up with your customers. A short email thanking them for their purchase and giving contact details for any problems or feedback will take you a long way.
  • Always behave professionally.

Fraud Resolution Options

  1. Try phoning the buyer and resolving it over the phone. Telephone diplomacy can be highly effective in dissolving a tense situation.
  2. Contact Square Trade http://www.squaretrade.com/ an online dispute resolution service. They'll act as a go-between with you and the buyer - meaning you can avoid getting involved in a nasty argument.
  3. If it is a payment issue, contact the service that was used to send or receive payment.
  4. Contact local law enforcement in your area as well as the buyer's area if you suspect fraud with intent.
  5. File a complaint with the Internet Fraud Complaint Center http://www.ic3.gov/. Give as much information as you have to help them resolve the situation.
  6. Contact your shipping company. If you have shipping insurance, then a missing/damaged parcel should be covered. You should also retain proof of delivery where possible.
  7. File an Unpaid Item with eBay to request a Final Value Fee credit.

Purchase with Fraud Intent

One area that eBay does involve itself in is fraud allegations as a high incidence of fraud would be a death sentence to eBay. So, if you think that a buyer purchased your item with intent to fraud, then you can report the buyer on the eBay Receiving Payments page.

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-receiving-payments.html%20

These are the circumstances in which you can contact eBay and report the buyer:

  • If the buyer paid or attempted to pay with a stolen credit card.
  • If the buyer sent an online or credit card payment that was denied, withheld or not received after you shipped the item.
  • If the buyer sent a check or money order that could not be cashed.

See http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/isgw-fraud-defrauded-sellers.html for more information and helpful links.

Other Tips

  • Some sellers either forget or don't bother to file unpaid item disputes. But despite the hassle, it's to your benefit it you file a report for each and every unpaid item. Sellers who don't file Unpaid Item Disputes hurt the community because they allow disreputable buyers to pick and choose what they want to pay for.
  • If a customer claims they did not receive a parcel and your tracking report shows that they did, then one option you have is to file a 'loss and rifling' report with the USPS. The only problem with this is that if the package is genuinely lost, then Paypal may rule in the buyers favor.
  • Never ever use surface mail to an international country. The parcel will take longer to arrive than it will take for the buyer to file a claim with Paypal.