Tips on how to be successful on eBay

[cyclebitz]

1. Always have the lowest price. If you have to sell for less than cost, just do it.
2. Ship ultra fast and Free. This is important. Always pay for shipping and packing materials. If you are in the red already on the sale (see item 1), don't worry about it.
3. Provide free returns as well. You want to make it as easy as possible for customers to return on your dime so buyers have no accountability to deal with and eBay ends up looking great. Don't fret over items 1 and 2 .. .it's not important to make a profit anyway. Remember, the whole idea is to make sure customers are happy with eBay.
4. Give full refunds. It's the norm they say so smile, take the losses and refund all the money .. even if you end up with a used or damaged product.
5. Obviously, keep your account in good standing. Ebay appreciates it.

[vintagecraze50]

I do a lot of what you suggested and I am never in the RED. I make good money on here with good profit margains using all of those suggestions. It all depends on how well you source your inventory so you can be better than the competition in price, shipping speed and the ability to make up some losses with returns, etc by slightly increasing prices across the board.

[ed8108]

After reading those valuable tips you provided to help avoid causing your customers to have a unhappy eBay buying experience.

In light of the expert knowledge you obviously have, I am curious, have you been or are you now an eBay employee ?

[cyclebitz]

There are so many different kinds of sellers with as many different product lines so it's obviously going to work well for some. In my field I am dealing with competitors who are willing to sell at zero profit just to move all or parts of their merchandise.  This drives prices down and margins in the red.
I actually stopped offering free shipping on most of my listings. There is no point in selling without making a decent margin unless the inventory needs to be absolutely gone.

[luckythewinner]

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@ed8108 wrote:

After reading those 5 valuable tips you provided to avoid causing your customers to have a unhappy eBay buying experience.

In light of the expert knowledge you obviously have, I am curious, have you been or are you now an eBay employee ?

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I think your sarcasm detector is malfunctioning.

[tdumonde2014]

Should you ever insult a buyer when responding to the Negative feedback that they left for you?

[simba6]

You have to build such loss into your business model. Add some to all your prices to cover it.  Happens in all forms of sales.  Like in retail stores, not all items that leave out the door ever see the checkout counter.

Just another cost of doing business.

[cyclebitz]

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@tdumonde2014 wrote:

Should you ever insult a buyer when responding to the Negative feedback that they left for you?

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yes but as long as you add  - bless your heart 

[jayjaspersgarage]

"There is no point in selling without making a decent margin unless the inventory needs to be absolutely gone."

I enjoyed the humor of your original post. 

You are correct in that there is no point in selling at  break even unless the inventory is costing you money to store.  That's why I don't understand people that spend thousands of dollars on storage units for possessions not worth a tenth of what they pay to keep it locked up.  That's another topic lest I digress. <<<------::: Boomer alert!  Guilty as charged.

Sometimes a loss leader can be used to attract more eyes to your store.  Is the saying loss leader or lost leader?  I always thought a lost leader was a fishing problem.  On occasion I might find an estate sale with dozens of something I am sure will sell, like the S.P. Railroad Time Charts I sold off a few years ago.  I still made a few dollars on each one but I paid almost nothing for the whole box on a Sunday afternoon.  My price was $3 less than all of the competitors so it looked like a loss leader.  

It's the end of the month and I am pretty much out of free listings so it is time to search another 20 boxes of estate sale finds for the photography day tomorrow.

[donsdetour]

"If you have to sell for less than cost, just do it."

well it would all depend on what you buy and sell: or drop ship in  such case.

Lost leaders can be useful. It can attract attention to your more profitable items for sale.

It is such with what I sell: simple look it up and see if it will sell first before listing it.

Saves selling at a loss on eBay.

Still there is loss dealing with Junk ..... Opps: I mean Fine Antiques and Collectables...

[fern*wood]

Don't forget this tip:  "We lose money on every sale, but make it up in volume".

[cyclebitz]

It is called loss leaders, not Lost leaders, and it does not work on internet marketplaces (i.e. ebay, amazon etc) for the simple reason that customers are shopping on the marketplace and are not contained in your store.

Unlike the supermarket, where virtually nobody will walk out the door just buying only the widget (the whole idea behind loss leaders), on ebay they can and will  just pick up your below cost widget, hit pay now .. done

Those who believe loss leaders work the same here on eBay as in big box stores, please call me ... I have excellent stuff for sale, even a bridge if you want one.

[cyclebitz]

You are hired.

I will pay you zero dollars but will double your pay every week.

[mr.tomany]

 Also just give Ebay a little money every month and list nothing - This will free up some time while saving lots more money