I have been doing some "website cleaning" and stumbled across the following which is a very simple bullet point guide that may come in useful to some.
The plus point of this post is that ANYONE is free to reproduce this guide to draw traffic to their sites, consider it my little Christmas present to you 
I DO NOT even want a link back for it although if it does work for you a mention of my site on yours or in a forum post etc would be appreciated but not expected.
As far as I can remember it hasn't been submitted to any article directory, it is however already on my site but that should not really be a major issue as a few additions and/or rewordings will sort those issues out. I can't even remember if I wrote the article or it was given to me, what I do know however is that I have the rights to distribute it if it was written for me.
So here it is, feel free to use as much or little as you wish:
The Simple Guide to Ebay Business Development
ADD A PHOTO!
OK it may seem obvious to some, but its a great idea to show people exactly what they are bidding on, even show multiple angles for larger or intricate pieces. Don't have a top notch camera? OK there are 3 simple and easy ways.
First is the standard digital camera, anything from 2MP (megapixels) up will give people a decent view of the item. Second is the Ghetto Digital Cam: get a cheap disposable camera, take all the shots you want and/or need, and get it developed on a Kodak photo CD, it costs about £5 but its a good investment for how much a picture will increase the value. Last up: If your items flat, Use a scanner! again obvious, but sometimes only once someone points it out.
A good photo tip: Rather than get some crazy light set up for Uber pro looking photo's, if you have got a white bath, use that! it gives great lighting, and provides the big white background you need!
DESCRIBE YOUR ITEM WELL!
Again obvious but so many people out there don't bother. If your selling a fender guitar with a huge amp, don't just say electric guitar and amp, give specifics, the year, colour, condition, country of origin (in some cases) size, and any extras you might be throwing in regardless of how small it is, hell even give some history on the piece, the more people know, the more they will want the item!
CREATE AN ABOUT ME PAGE!
You don't need any HTML skills, a degree in the inner workings of computers, or know the entire history of the common spoon. Its all laid out for you nice and simple, just fill in the form and include what you want. Its a great place to feature your TOS and tell people a bit about yourself. Its a small piece of customer care that a lot of people love to see, plus it saves putting the same old stuff in every auction, just put a link to your page!
THE RIGHT PRICE!
Believe it or not, knocking 1p off of your starting price will save you in listing fee's. Rather than sell an item for £10 set it at £9.99 and save about 10p on your listing.
LAYING IT OUT!
Another way to save money on your listing. Don't use a listing designer, just make your ad eye catching. A well Laid out advert will get you more interest than a pretty pattern around the outside. If you absolutely cant do without the border, use turbo lister, it adds them for free, that's another 7p saved!
BE HONEST!
OK again seems obvious, but its better to be honest and get slightly less for the item, than to lie and get a negative mark on your feedback. Even when your honest about the condition you'd be surprised how well it may do.
NOTHING IS EVER UNTESTED!
OK most of the experienced ebayers know that untested means knackered, some unlucky newbie buyer might not, but its true. But don't say that its knackered, because someone may be able to do something with it, list it as for spares or repair. Only ever say its untested if your at least 70% certain that it will work, a happy buyers going to come back
RAPID DELIVERY!
OK if you look at my TOS you'll see that I say to wait for 5 days minimum for a cheque to clear. This is actually a lie, I post most items that sell for less than £10 the same day I receive the cheque. The reason I say wait for clearance is so that the guys with bad feedback don't moan when I wait for the cheque to clear! it costs more than £10 for them to bounce the cheque so no fool is going to willingly bounce a £9 cheque when it costs £15 when it goes wrong. This gets you really good feedback from surprised buyers who have gotten the item quicker than they imagined they would. Again a happy buyer will come back!
DONT BE SCARED OF THE NEWBIES!
OK for some reason a lot of sellers have a newbie phobia (as I'm sure some of you noticed when you first joined) Don't worry about the newbie's, 9/10 they try harder to make things go smoothly because they want their first star, and don't want anything to go wrong with their first purchase! I have only ever had 2 none payers, both had 100 + feedback, newbie's push up your prices, pay quickly, and communicate well, take advantage of that!
DONT BE INTIMIDATED BY THE VETERANS!
OK say for instance you only accept cheque's and postal orders like me, if someone with 10,000 feedback demands to pay be paypal, tell them no, its their own fault they didn't read your TOS and by bidding they agreed to do business the way YOU set it out. Just because they have been here longer, doesn't mean their right.
DONT PAY OVER THE ODDS FOR POSTAGE!
Royal mail love to rip you of for postage, then they decide not to deliver it anyway. If your item is going to cost over £8 to deliver, go to staples, they have a next day business delivery service, with a flat rate of £8. So obviously if your sending a CD, DVD, or whatever else is light, like maybe feathers, you don't want to pay £8 per parcel, but for the big stuff it will save money AND when people are buying, quite often the cost of postage will tip the balance of which item they will bid on!
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF THE TV!
OK sounds crazy, but the last thing you want to be doing is selling an England shirt, that finishes half way through an England match, the last hour of your auction is the frenzy hour where bids get into silly season. Take note of what's on TV, and guess how popular it is. For instance my target audience is aged 16 - 30. these people like big brother, sports, some soaps, and go to school/college/work So I cater may sales time around that. Most of my stuff ends either on a weekend, or at about 7:30 ish. This way there is no sport, the 6-7 Channel 4 stuff has finished, and most people are home and often surfing out of boredom.
DONT USE A RESERVE!
OK a lot of people hate reserve prices, and will give up trying to guess how much you wan for it after a while. If you want at least £10 for something, use it as your starting price, sure it costs more to list, but its better to get the price you want, than paying for a listing that wont sell!
Linear Mode
November 2009
