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Save_Time_And_Money_Thanks_To_eBay
| Save Time And Money Thanks To eBay
eBay is one of the world's largest market places with over 35
million visitors per day. That first sentence is worth repeating
because I want you to realize that eBay gives you the ability to
reach a customer base of millions and millions of people which
is beneficial to you. Say Goodbye to garage sales and hello to
eBay.
You don't have to become a major power-seller or wholesaler to
take advantage of eBay and what this mega marketplace can do for
you. All you need is a computer with Internet access so you can
setup auctions for all that stuff laying around the house you've
been wanting to get rid of by selling it or giving it away, so
why not eBay it?
eBay auction VS garage sale
First lets talk about garage sales. Holding a garage sale
consists of getting all of your items ready to sell and placing
them on display in front of your house or on your driveway for
neighbors and lookers to purchase. You or someone you know and
trust needs to be physically present at all times to sell the
items as your front yard has now become a small storefront. In
other words you have to sit at home all day after getting
everything together and promoting your garage sale which is a
lot of work especially considering what you can accomplish with
less time and effort on eBay.
Time & Money
Just about everybody is looking to save time and money which is
exactly what eBay does for you. eBay is a much larger market and
can attract many more potential buyers than a garage sale can.
The very reason that there are more potential buyers creates
more of a demand for your product, toy or whatever you are
trying to sell. eBay commands more dollar for your product than
a garage sale for this very reason.
eBay also saves you time because once you have setup your
auction it does most of the work for you. You don't have to be
present to sell the item, you don't have to be home to get paid
electronically and you don't have to be there for somebody to
see your auction because your potential buyers can look at your
item for sale from the convenience of their own computer which
saves you precious time.
eBay also gives you the ability to accept different payment
methods such as PayPal, money order, check or cash it is up to
you what payment methods you wish to accept. Garage sales simply
do not offer this sort of flexibility with time and money.
Quick tips Shipping can be a hard one to get used to - so make
sure that you either A. get a postal scale (about $20 at Office
Depot) or B. have the post office weigh the packages before you
list. Take it from me because I have lost so much money on
shipping because I would just 'guesstimate' and that simply does
not work. I would recommend always making the buyer purchase
Insurance and tracking. I had an issue where a customer said she
never got her package and I didn't insure it. We decided to wait
a couple of weeks then figure it out, she actually wanted me to
refund everything to her, which I didn't feel was fair but was
willing to do it because I believe in customer satisfaction.
Fortunately the package finally showed up after three and half
weeks (and I sent it Priority Mail). You want to only send to
the buyers address if it is registered with eBay. A couple of
years ago a gentlemen contacted me to buy a $250 wireless
antenna, he said he was traveling and asked me to send it to his
satellite office. He paid me through PayPal, I always thought
that was safe and would automatically include coverage. Two
months went by and then all of the sudden Paypal took $250 out
of our account without warning or explanation, when we called
them they said that one of our eBay transactions was fraudulent!
It turns out the man used a stolen credit card, PayPal told us
we were out of luck since we did not send to his confirmed
address. Lesson learned. Always state the terms of your
auctions, it is good to come up with your terms to use at the
end of every auction that states your policies, if you combine
shipping, the payment methods you accept, etc. Also, think of a
refund policy. I give a full refund, or for instance my
sister-in-law gives purchase amount back but not shipping, those
sort of policies are up to you as a seller. I use Turbo Lister,
a free software program, that makes it so much easier to get
multiple auctions setup simultaneously. If you do it directly
from eBay it seems like it takes forever to enter each one.
Turbo Lister is a free download and is available in Seller Tools
at eBay. A way to save money; I always use the free template
from eBay. It's not really anything fancy. You can choose to get
those cute little borders and clipart on each auction but it
costs more money. It's proven that ultimately it doesn't matter
to people, they want what you are selling. Your first picture is
free after that they are .15 cents for additional ones. So I
always try, when possible, to use only one picture. Sometimes if
it is a big clothing lot or a large dollar item I will only use
more pictures. I also make sure to try and write a great
description so potential buyers know what they are getting and
are excited for their purchase. Something that works; I will
sometimes utilize the 'Buy It Now' features (they cost extra)
but I put the BIN price higher than I would normally expect to
get and when somebody really wants an item, they would rather
pay the higher price than risk missing the auction end without
winning the item. There are many times where this has benefited
both myself and the buy it now bidder. If you are doing a local
pickup or have special instructions for your auction make sure
you include those instructions ALL OVER your auctions. The
mistake I made one time was only putting local pickup only on
just the shipping description and the winning bidder did not
notice that. Now I plaster special instructions like that
everywhere. Remember that people love fast shipping so when you
do sell try to ship the item out as soon as possible after
auction ending. Your customers will love fast shipping. I also
include a note thanking them and sometimes I include a bonus
item. That's just some of the fun and benefits of selling on
eBay.
About the author:
Lori 'Cookie' Osenbaugh sells on eBay in addition to being a
licensed Realtor® and Pampered Chef Consultant. You can custom
search for Colorado homes at http://www.preferreddenverhomes.com
or search Lori's Pampered Chef online at
http://www.pamperedchef.biz/cookieo
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