Tactics to use when selling on eBay as newbie

I'm completely new to this (but I have been reading forever). I am hoping I have lucked out and found a good item to post on eBay especially with the holidays coming up. The problem is that I have not sold anything on eBay so I have no prior feedback.

To gain the buyer's trust, is it advisable to put in my ad that I'm a new seller looking to start out... or just pray they didn't notice that? :P Another question, I plan on selling the item for a lower price than a Power Seller would typically charge because I'm relying on it being a deal too good to pass up. Is that a good strategy to use? I will still be making a profit even at the lower price.

I think your idea about pointing out that you are a new seller is a good one, however just make sure you market that fact well so you don't make customers not want to buy from you.

I had a friend who I suggested to buy 20 items under 2 dollars each with cheap shipping to build up feeedback. Worked a treat, no one cared about the feedback being all from buying, it was the feedback that counted.

Ended up costing him something like 70 dollars and his feedback was off and running, so there are ways to speed it up if you feel it is important. I just feel with PayPal as an option on all listings these days, that removes a lot of the maybes that would have concerned buyers before : )

Price pointing is very important of course, especially on a site such as ebay where you are looking for any sort of competitive edge. If you can sell whatever it is cheaper than the power seller, then that's only going to work in your favour.

Just make sure you are taking all the cost into consideration, the shipping and ebay fees.

Hi happelsrus,

Then you've got to prove your worth and there are several ways of doing that. You shouldn't worry too much since everybody starts with nothing, no feed backs at all.

You don't necessarily have to say that your a new seller, rather add an 'About Me' part to your listings, where you talk about you, your contact information (email/phone number), this is your chance to make your potential buyer feel that you're trustworthy. This is where you get to sell yourself. This will great help make buyers feel at ease and confident in buying your products.

Another thing you will have to watch is your grammar. Great grammar will take you a long way. Also make sure that you make your product/title descriptions as concise and as meaty as possible (but don't over do it!). Don't forget to put in really good photos of your products as well. Here's something that might help:

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Offering your products at a lower price may catch attention and may make the sales you need, so that could work for you. As your number of sales increase you can slowly work your price up if you want to, but if you're making a decent profit already then maybe there's no need for you to do so.

Also, try to familiarize your self with eBay's feedback policies and other rules just to be sure that you are not missing out on anything:

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Hope this helps. all the best!

Cheers :)

you could buy 10 low cost items with sellers that will give you feedback.

Hi happelsrus,

Welcome to SaleHoo!

Here are a few more tips for getting your feedback up fast and getting more sales:

* List as many items as you can. Also, consider having a sale (either reducing the item price or offering free shipping). Even if you lose a bit of money now, you'll reap the benefits in the long term when your feedback is higher and your listings more visible.

* Work on your product photos. Good pictures convert to more sales. And statistics show that the more pictures you have, the higher the selling price. If you are selling clothing, consider getting a mannequin. For other items, purchase a photo tent. This is an easy way to get a clean, professional background for your photos. Buyers will always choose a professional picture over an amateur one.

* Make sure your item description provides LOTS of detail. Buyers like to learn as much as possible about the item before they buy. The best sellers on eBay have lengthy product descriptions to ensure the buyer isn't left with questions that might prevent them from bidding.

* Also, try offering faster shipping. Ship the DAY payment is received, if possible. Buyers have high expectations and getting their item delivered in record time leaves a great impression.

Hope this helps you get started. Good luck with your business!

@fudjj - I imagine that Paypal does eliminate a lot of the doubt people had previously about making a transaction with a new seller. Thanks for the advice!

@richelle_salehoo - Thank you for the links. I found a feedback tutorial in there as well. I'm hoping to get a lovely little star next to my name soon. :)

@ ezbargins - Actually I do have feedback as a buyer, but not as a seller. Is it better to use an established buyer account to start up or should I create a new account to sell?

@ satya - you must have been posting while I was typing so i missed yours on my last post. Thank you for the suggestions. I know that shipping timeliness is a big factor when considering your success on eBay.

With regard to the shipping, I have noticed a few sellers offer a suggested shipping price next to their ad when you type in a zip code. Any chance that anyone knows how that is done?

@ satya - you must have been posting while I was typing so i missed yours on my last post. Thank you for the suggestions. I know that shipping timeliness is a big factor when considering your success on eBay.

With regard to the shipping, I have noticed a few sellers offer a suggested shipping price next to their ad when you type in a zip code. Any chance that anyone knows how that is done?

You can use eBay’s Shipping Calculator to work out the shipping options for your item. Find out more about that here:

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Not only does a listed shipping cost give your buyers more certainty, helping them to make up their minds about whether they wish to purchase, but it also saves you a heck of a lot of time answering emails during the auction.

You're always welcome and let us know if you need any further help at all. Cheers!

You have all been very helpful. Thanks so much for the advice!

@richelle_salehoo - Thank you for the links. I found a feedback tutorial in there as well. I'm hoping to get a lovely little star next to my name soon. :)

We all know you can do it! :)

By the way, I just remembered that some sellers also offer free shipping instead of lowered prices. This really helps bring in sales and the more sales you get the more chances of getting a feedback as well!

But do make sure that you ALWAYS ship out your items in a timely manner.

The best of luck! :)

i would use your buyer account to sell (any kind of feedback is better than none) people want to know you are here to stay and not a fly by night person. also if you sell and offer free shipping it will put you higher in the ranks. so more people will see your item. also the faster you say and do about sending out your item to the buyer is better also. just remeber to wait to get paid first before you send your item out. i hope i help and please if im wrong anyone please correct me.

I would always offer some upgraded service rather than try to undercut a power seller on price. For instance, flat rate shipping or free shipping or express post at no extra charge. Once you start trying to undercut on price, the powerseller will have to do the same and pretty soon a price cutting war ensues and profits are cut to the bone. An exstablished power seller will probably always win that war, assuming they are buying in volume and can affort to make a little on a LOT of product.

I've decided to listen to your suggestions and use free shipping. Now, I have yet another question. (I know I have a lot!) ;o)

My question has to do with adding images to my ad. I love Photoshop and want to add some cartoon pictures from the show to my eBay ad to spice it up a bit. Am I violating any kind of copyright infringement if I do that? I took images from the show, pulled out a character in a funny pose and put them on a different background.

Now I forgot to mention that if a item weighs a lot it would not be safe to ship free. I’m not sure what kind of item you plan on selling. But if a item has a lot of weight I would us calculate or weigh the item myself and give a price.

In my view it would not be prudent to use copyrighted images on your ebay listings. In fact, if you can just put up really good clear pictures of the items you are selling that will be sufficient to get the buyer's attention. Personally, I really hate the ebay listings that have a lot of animations or sparkly attention grabbers. Once people are already into your listing, you don't need to embellish your listing with extraneous graphics. You can post a link to a Youtube video of the item if it helps to show the features. Make your description concise and factual, have super clear pictures and that is enough. Don't bother decorating your listings just because you can.

you can have lots of promotion ideas to promote your selling items or stores. for example, your twitter, facebook, youtube, blog etc. once this kinds of methods dirves traffic to your items. ebay will put your listings in the relatively first a few pages. try to relist your items again and again, because, ebay will treat it as the same item, don't lose your credit of the traffic you already created. I hope this helps.

Robin
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The product is super light. They're GBA Videos. They should only cost a little over $1 to pack and ship.

Now that the novelty wore off, I was looking at my planned ad compared to the other ads. I think it screamed newbie. Not to mention if I have to do that with every ad, I'll never have enough time to look for for items to sell! Less is more with eBay.

The items I purchased just came in yesterday. My kids thought Christmas came early and were thrilled to be part of quality control inspecting a few to be sure they worked. =) I think I'm going to sell more on Craig's List because there I really stand to make the most profit with free ads and no shipping. They also have vendor's night at the school so I'm now looking for more stuff to buy for that, but I wanted to make sure I could sell these before I bought more. So far I sold about 10 of the videos I purchased to my sons' friends after they came in so I'm off to good start, I hope. I had no idea there were so many places to sell stuff. Thanks for all your help everyone!