Lately I've been pretty active on the eBay subreddit page and saw an interesting article written by a guy who echoes pretty much everything I feel is important to eBay selling. I'll post his tips below and also comment on them myself.
If you guys have any questions, need advice, need coaching or consulting on selling on eBay, starting an eBay business, etc drop a comment below and I'd be happy to respond or even do an article devoted to answering your question.
Things I've Learned After 15 Years on eBay
- Remember, ebay is skewed toward the buyer. As a seller you need to be extraordinarily careful.
Definately this is true. It's important as an eBay seller to know eBay policies back and forth. By knowing eBay policies you will understand how they will rule in cases. There's no sense fighting an issue you know you will lose and you'll wind up losing and leaving a bad taste in the buyers mouth and potentially negatively affect your eBay account. Be prepared to take a loss, block that bidder and move on. It's incredibly important to know eBay policies and how your seller account is ranked or rated.
- People who tell you that your shipping prices are "unreasonable"
and cite one or more examples of items they've sold as "proof" of this
will inevitably be problematic buyers. Don't reply to their messages, block them from bidding, and move on.
Unfortunately most eBay buyers will purchase before bringing up that issue which leaves you having to bargain with them or cancel a sale which hurts your account. I agree eBay has more problematic buyers than Amazon and people will haggle, try to get free shipping upgrades and more. It's just the cost of doing business. I agree though, if someone seems difficult from the start I prefer to block and not deal with them if possible.
- As a seller, even though you might be technically right
in a given dispute, it's usually not worth the effort to argue the
point. As a buyer you have the ability to affect the seller through
refunds (including return shipping) and negative feedback. As a seller
you have the ability to affect the buyer...in absolutely no way
whatsoever. Consider the potential outcome for any given dispute; is it
worth the return shipping cost to avoid the aggravation of an
irrationally pissed off buyer and negative feedback?
Agree and disagree. Typically I will cave to a buyer because oftentimes even if eBay and Paypal don't side with them they will do a credit card chargeback and there's almost no fighting that. That said if I know 100% I'm right I'll stick to my guns, oftentimes though I cave to buyers even if I know they are lying or I'm being scammed. I probably lose about $3,000 a year to scammers and caving to buyers demands but I'm a high volume seller, eBay brings me traffic and makes me money so it's the cost of doing business.
- Never sell anything outside of your home country.
I agree, I don't sell outside the USA, not worth the headaches. That said some items go for much more money or sell much better outside the USA. With eBay's Global Shipping Program I've heard many good things. Basically you ship to Kentucky and eBay handles shipping internationally and the customs and all that junk you don't want to deal with. Some sellers may want to consider this. I don't but I don't agree with a blanket statement saying don't sell outside home country.
- Never ship anything to any address other than their registered/verified eBay/PayPal address.
True, 99% of the time this is a scam. There are legit reasons why someone wants something shipped elsewhere whether it's a gift or they want it delivered to their work and not home. That said if you ship elsewhere and buyer says they didn't reacieve you automatically lose. If buyers say I'm being difficult I refer them to eBay/Paypal policy. Amazon makes it easy to ship to different addresses so many legit buyers don't understand why this is a big deal but it is.
- Never communicate outside of eBay's messaging system.
Some people like to drive customers off eBay where they don't pay high fees but it is against eBay TOS and not only could it cause problems with your eBay account if eBay finds out but you lose buyer/seller protection by doing so.
- Anyone who bids more than fair market value is either trying to
scam you or using a shill account to overbid your item so that people
will overlook it and bid on his (similar or identical) item. Cancel
their bid, block them from bidding, and move on.
Not really sure on this one. Not something I've ever run into. I see the logic behind this "strategy" however it hasn't been a problem for me personally and I have been on eBay for years and have never run into it. If someone bids $200 for an Xbox game it's probably a scam but it's tough determining what fair market value is, everyone values items differently, especially if the item is something unique and not something you can run out and buy at Walmart.
- Everything you sell should have multiple pictures. Not only does
this help your sale, but it also protects you against false claims. And
make sure your description matches the pictures; use the phrase "see
photo" after describing a specific issue with your item (scratch,
blemish, etc).
Agreed buyers want to see clear pictures. You didn't mention this but having maxed out pictures such as using all 12 slots eBay provides helps you in search. It also gives buyers more confidence in what they are buying as well as a better idea of what they are buying which equals less returns.
- Any bidder who created their account within the past few days is
likely a scammer or shill. The likelihood of this is directly
proportional to how desirable your item is. (Selling a used poncho?
Probably not a scammer or shill. Selling an unlocked iPhone? Yeah...)
New eBayers worry me but honestly everyone starts somewhere, everyone starts with 0 feedback at some point. Some people have never used eBay, see a Google Shopping ad for an item they want and create an eBay account to buy it. I do pretty much strictly buy it now listings so shill bidders isn't a problem, if someone wants to buy they pay immediately. I think your turning away good business by being scared of new eBayers. I am cautious but I sell to them.
- Handle anyone with <10 feedback with extreme skepticism. Don't immediately assume they're a scammer, but do assume that they have no idea what they're doing.
Again, not many people leave feedback so you could have 100 transactions under your belt and only have a feedback of 5 or 10. 0 Feedback makes me nervous but again, everyone starts somewhere.
- Insure everything you ship for the full value of the item.
Bad advice. Everyone should make up their own mind. Insurance is expensive. Honestly your better off occasionally paying out of pocket for a lost item as opposed to throwing away huge amounts of money on every item you sell. Should I really pay $2 to insure an item that costs $3? Plus post office is bad about paying those out. I never insure items, occasionally I take a loss but the amount I"d lose buying insurance on every package would far outweight a couple lost packages.
- If you're offering local pickup, arrange to meet at a police
station between you and your buyer's location. Show up early, go to the
desk and tell the officer why you're there. Accept cash only; no
in-advance PayPal payments (otherwise buyer can claim an "item not
received" since you can't provide a tracking number). Use your cell
phone camera to video record the transaction.
Do Police Stations want people meeting up doing sales in their lobbies? Honestly it seems kind of silly to me. I get safety and all that but seems over the top. Meet in a well lit public place a Starbucks or something should be more than fine. Police Station seems a bit overboard. Honestly I have people come to my house but I have two big dogs and many guns so not really concerned about safety. My girlfiend doesn't like me having people to the house so if she's around I'll give them the address of a school behind my house and meet them there. That way I don't leave until they say they are there and then I head over so I don't waste my time. There's a lot of flakes who never show up or leave you waiting forever.
- If you're doing a Buy It Now sale, enable "immediate payment required" — especially if you have a desirable item.
On the eBay subreddit 99% of problems and scams could be stopped by doing this simple thing. There's no reason not to do it.
- If you're selling something that you've modified, make it CRYSTAL
CLEAR in your listing exactly what the mods are and how it affects the
item. Want to sell a PS3 that's now running Linux? Great. Make sure
everyone knows exactly what the PS3 can and cannot do, and how it
differs from a stock PS3.
Doesn't matter if it's modified or not, accurately describe in great detail every item you sell. Anything that may surprise a buyer or create a problem be sure to point out. If a pair of shoes your selling runs small for a size 10, mention that in the listing.
- If you're selling clothes, take measurements of EVERY PART of
each item. The sleeves are <x> long, the collar is <x>
circumference, the legs are <x> long at the inseam, etc. Relying
on the manufacturer's sizing info, particularly in the case of women's
clothing, is a nightmare. You will get returns.
I personally stay away from clothing listings because it probably has the most returns out of any category. People buy stuff to wear one time and return. People buy and don't really care about size as they can just return if it doesn't fit. This is good advice though, the better you can describe something the less likely returns are.
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