Sunday, November 2, 2008

afraid to sell on ebay?

I was talking to a friend today about the success I've had recently selling on Ebay. Although i have no plans to sell forever on ebay, i have been enjoying it with a few exceptions. However, when i was telling her about it...she said she had wanted to try selling, but was afraid.

afraid? to sell on ebay?

I asked her why, and then I remembered I too was once afraid of selling on ebay. first of all, let's be honest -- the site is not that well organized and it takes awhile to figure it out. second of all, if you have never shipped through the mail before, you might be intimidated or afraid to go to the post office, embarressed that someone would out you were selling on ebay [yes, it does happen -- people are ashamed to admit they sell on ebay lol], and so on.

For situations like this, I have prepared five major points about overcoming your fear of selling on ebay.

1. Search then Copy: First, just start with ONE item you have in your house that you wish to sell. I would strongly advise you do something that is easily shippable like a book, magazine, or CD -- we can do harder stuff later. Next, search for your item under the advanced search > completed search listing. try to find one identical to yours -- then click watch the item. now that by watching you have essentially saved it so you can keep an eye on it, look at how they are advertising it. does the price seem fair to you? how have they described the item? what are they charging for shipping? how have they photographed the item. if you think they have done a good enough job, i suggest just copying everything they did -- take your own picture though, because they legally own the image. but kind of copy how they described the item, how much they're starting the price for, and so on.

2. Buy supplies ahead of time: you need to know what you plan on selling ahead of time so you can buy the proper shipping materials. I recommend you first start out selling books, magazines, and cds -- things that are easily shipped -- and the appropriate shipping materials are also easily found at staples, office depot, cvs, rite-aid, and so on. I highly recommend you buy more higher-end shipping supplies, at least initially. You want your buyers to know that you are a high quality seller, so splurge and get higher priced shipping envelopes -- those brown envelopes with bubble-wrap already in them. I have heard of people stuffing enveloeps full of newspaper as bubble-wrap, turning priority boxes inside out -- do NOT do that. The buyer is never happy [not to mention using priority boxes/envelopes for things other than PRIORITY items is illegal and wastes tax payer money]. you just want to represent yourself as a smart, intelligent, "together" seller.

What you need to buy:
1. packing tape
2. high-quality envelopes

ok, those are my tips for now. ... i will post the other 3 later :)

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