Selling on Ebay: What's required and what's not?
Hello all,
Hope this post finds all of you in good spirit. As a seller I come across some very interesting posts on the forum where different sellers share their experience, positive or negative. I am a relatively recent entrant and have managed to sell a few items. So let me briefly share what I've experienced as a seller on eBay, and what should be kept in mind when selling on this forum?
Probably the first and foremost thing to understand is that its an extremely 'cluttered' platform; there are millions of sellers vying for attention, which makes this an exceptionally cut-throat, competitive forum where a seller will have to be at his/her best to have a shot at success. Every category of selling is very competitive. Winning the confidence of a buyer is an arduous task, especially those who've been defrauded in terms of faulty, false items (and there seem to be many sellers who do that). Within the dense labyrinth of offers, counteroffers and the right price discovery, you'll have to find your way, albeit with a lot of patience and dedication to your work.
Second, until a seller racks up a lot of sales and becomes comparatively well-known amongst the sea of sellers (mainly due to good ratings), there isn't much sense in putting up an expensive, top-of-the-line item! It might very well be that a particular item may be in very high demand (due to seasonal demand variations or some other quality), is rare and sought after, but the customer would never buy, or would hardly be interested, in an item form a seller who does not have many sales complemented by good reviews. Building a repertoire is a time-consuming business and a seller will have to be patient. Also, a seller will have to be very responsive to customer's demands. In one of my sales, despite providing additional info (pictures, chemical composition report, videos), a customer asked for a refund when he received the item, which I did on the very next day. This resonated well with the customer who later on bought another item.
Third, it is absolutely important that a product is presented well! That means clear, quality pictures and videos along with other relevant information. In my category of sales (Gemstones), for example, it is of absolute importance to have clear pictures of the product from every angle, in sunlight and in shade, clearly state its dimensions (length, breadth, depth), origin and to be knowledgeable about the other characteristics to answer a buyer's queries. Any additional information that might catch a buyer's attention is an added advantage. For example, adding a chemical composition report of a natural Gemstone can attract more buyers. Similarly, a few well-written lines describing the product could be helpful too.
Fourth, for most sellers on eBay, its a game of volume of sales! I am talking about sellers who are selling products that are out there aplenty, and there are hundreds of thousands who are selling the same products at almost the same price. Making a reasonable net profit (after paying due charges) would require a large number of sales. So a seller will have to be on the top of his game in terms of presentation of his/her product to differentiate it from other, similar offerings and to attract a buyer. As remarked above, its mostly a game of patience. The number of sellers who offer very unique, rare products are few, the ones who can sell a few items and still make a substantial net profit. Most are small-scale or part-time sellers who'll need economies of scale in sales volumes to realize a good return. This nature of eBay sales is also due to the fact that majority of buyers usually come from the middle or low income category, who are not going to pay a fortune for a product. Rather, they are mostly on the lookout for deals for lower, average prices.
Closely aligned to this is that a seller may want to not restrict himself/herself to one particular category of products! Some sellers have had success (some more, some less) offering different categories of products for sales. The idea is basically like buying of one item leading to another one. Although I myself haven't tried it as yet, but intend to do that in the near future.
Fifth, the price that would attract a customer and result in a sale is a matter of experience, circumstances and discovery. So, for example, a seller might get limited or no views on working days, but would notice that viewings tend to go up over the weekends. This, in turn, calls for listing newer (and more products) on the weekend to have an added probability of selling. Then there are price variations, or tinkering with prices, that could reveal customer preferences. At a certain price, a seller may not get any views but tinkering around (by relisting and dropping prices) may lead to more views, as I've experienced a number of times. Price tinkering could also com in the form of experimenting with putting up a product on Auction or for a specified period of time. So, one needs to keep experimenting with different options.
Last, but not the least, although eBay is a wonderful platform with a global presence and a global market, sellers selling fake and questionable items undermine other sellers and the platform substantially. They offer such ridiculously low prices that a genuine, honest seller cannot compete with, and unfortunately those prices tend to attract most customers. In the category that I sell, for example, I've seen items being offered for like $10 or $15 that cannot be lower than $50 or $60 even if being sold at large discounts. When a genuine seller puts up the item at a good, competitive price, he/she often gets a query like 'that seller is selling it for this much, so your prices are high'. Its difficult to convince the customer that quality does not come cheap. Its even more unfortunate that eBay does not seem to have a mechanism to automatically identify such questionable sellers. Its not, for example, difficult to gauge the prevailing average prices of a certain product. So eBay can query a seller who is selling that product considerably below that price to check the veracity. Unfortunately, that's not happening and genuine sellers have to be bear with that, trying to carve out a niche.
Anyways, hope you enjoyed the above.
Cheers,
pls-consignments
·2 years agoRequired:
- Basic understanding of eBay policies
- Willingness to share your money
- Patience
- Self Control
- Low Expectations
Not Required:
- Moral Integrity
- Basic Business Ethics
- Sufficient knowledge of COS, Net profit and the value of your time.
Welcome to eBay! 🙄
jewelbiz
·2 years agoHey babe,
I’m in the jewelry business in nyc for many many decades.
It is completely illogical to say about your loose stones “new without tagsâ€
What a phony baloney description…maybe even crooked…
Who are you trying to con?
finance79
OP2 years agoHey Jewelbiz,
Right, so let me clarify this. No, I don't sell 'phony' stuff. Don't you think that if I were selling phony stuff I would have been found out by now? Spent 6 years in the US while getting my Bachelors and Masters degrees, with a bit of business on the side, so I know a bit about customer relationship. 'New without tags', as I understand, is for a product that has not been used before but doesn't carry tag of a particular brand.
Or does it convey a different meaning?
Again, I can assure you that I don't sell phony stuff. How about I send you something over, free of cost, and you can test/analyze it to your satisfaction. Wouldn't that be a good idea to allay your suspicion?
Wishing you a good day
jewelbiz
·2 years agoThis is a parcel of Columbian emeralds.
One would never say about any creation of nature “new without tagsâ€
None of these emeralds are sold as “new without tagsâ€
Nobody ever offered me any gemstone for sale as “new without tagsâ€
That is simply ridiculous.
Is a blade of green grass in a meadow
“new without tags�
finance79
OP2 years agoThat's a beautiful consignment of Emeralds. And fine, I get your anger about the 'new without tags' moniker. So what's your suggestion then? You know, its still a learning experience for me. I hope I get a non-angry reply from you 😊
Cheers,
mam98031
·2 years agoWhat she is trying to explain to you is that it is WRONG to have new without tags. It is not appropriate for what you are selling.
finance79
OP2 years agoUnderstood. I have changed wherever the change was required. In terms of products that are new, I can't tag it as 'used' items.
fbusoni
·2 years agoA+ on this high school essay!
May I humbly suggest:
1. That you add a paragraph about rigidly adhering to eBay rules and regulations.
2. That you make your essay mandatory reading for all sellers in your part of the world... especially the paragraph about counterfeits.
finance79
OP2 years ago🙂 Aaahhhh, Ferruccio, I get your point. And honestly, I will accede that it is indeed the case that majority of the sellers from my part of the world neither adhere to eBay rules and regulations and that cases of counterfeits galore. I wanted to name our region when I mentioned sellers selling fake items, but couldn't since this forum's admin would have banned the post as racist. Anyways, the issues you mentioned are indeed a regular happenstance. And these are the kinds of sellers that undermine the genuine sellers too.
Thanks for sharing your concern.
P.S- You'd find genuine, honest and reliable sellers too 😉... although there may not be many
mam98031
·2 years agoAnd those sellers don't last long. Here on the threads we get international sellers coming here all the time complaining that Ebay has shut them down and they want their accounts back. What they don't appear to understand, its Ebay's site, Ebay's rules. It doesn't matter if you like the rules are not, they are what they are and have to be adhered to.
mam98031
·2 years agoHere are some important links to areas you should really take the time to learn about as a new seller.
https://academy.ebay.com/student/catalog?locale=en
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/selling/selling?id=4081
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/get-started/seller-fees.html
https://pages.ebay.com/seller-center/service-and-payments/funds-availability.html
https://www.ebay.com/help/selling/getting-paid/getting-paid-items-youve-sold/pending-payments?id=4155
https://www.ebay.com/help/listings/creating-managing-listings/creating-listing?id=4105
And make sure you know this policy extremely well.
https://www.ebay.com/help/policies/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy/ebay-money-back-guarantee-policy?id=4210
finance79
OP2 years agoThank you for sharing
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoDidn't read everything.
The "USPS media mail" from Pakistan? on your item(s) for sale. Is that an error?
finance79
OP2 years agoI don't send items through USPS so it must be an error. I send it through Pakistan Post, which is pretty reliable. haven't had an complaints till now of item failing to reach the customer.
Cheers.
dbfolks166mt
·2 years agoI don't send items through USPS so it must be an error. I send it through Pakistan Post, which is pretty reliable. haven't had an complaints till now of item failing to reach the customer.
finance79
OP2 years agoThanks. I'll look into it. But as you remarked, it probably isn't that big an issue since items do get delivered on time and to the right person
reallynicestamps
·2 years agoIf you are listing on dotCOM, you must use Flat Rate shipping from the location of your stock.
This means averaging your shipping costs over several countries.
But since the USA will be your primary destination, concentrate on getting that one right
BTW, Flat Rate also includes Free Shipping which just means you put all your shipping costs into the asking price for your item.
Many buyers prefer to know quickly how much they will be paying, and like the idea that they are getting something 'free'.
finance79
OP2 years agoThanks. Let me have a look at it.
janet9988
·2 years agoYou choose to use USPS media mail on your listings.
You need to get rid of that shipping option.
ckimodog
·2 years ago@finance79
Best of luck and Happy Selling!