Tips for Selling on eBay
I have learned so many tips for selling on eBay over the years that I am excited to share them with you to help you sell more items, approach your eBay shop with Zen, and make more money. Some of the tips are obvious, some are ones I stumbled across just trying new things, and many I just learned through experience.
Good Tips for Selling on eBay
eBay Selling Tip 1: Remember it only takes one buyer when selling vintage items. I always price my item high knowing that I can lower them later. We aren't selling quantity so trying to get to a price where the most people would buy is not the goal. We are looking for high dollar sales for items of low availability, which by its very nature, includes many vintage items.
eBay Selling Tip 2: It is always better to sell in a niche that you enjoy and love than to just chase the best perceive best money. The long run game is for you to be the leader in at least one particular niche, if not several. If you are a collector in that niche, or love doing it, you are more likely to build a business that will last!
eBay Selling Tip 3: Take good pictures. There are so many photography tools and software available to make your pictures look nicer with very minimal technical knowledge needed. The basics really are a light tent and some clean-up software. For a more in depth look check out our page on TAKING PICTURES FOR EBAY LISTINGS.
eBay Selling Tip 4: Approach your eBay research with the idea of balancing speed an thoroughness. Here is the simple eBay Tip; Don't fall down the research rabbit hole. It is good to look up items and doing research is important but you don't want to spend hours researching one item when you have 60 sitting there waiting to be listed. Do a few quick minutes using smart techniques to maximize both time and profit. Check out our page: EBAY ITEM RESEARCH.
eBay Selling Tip 5: Be Quick To Refund. The truth is, there are some crappy people out there, but most people just have different information than you. I have dealt with a few bad apples, but most people are usually telling the truth, even if they end up being wrong. If someone complains and asks for a refund, just do it. Unless the case is rock solid, which for me has only ever been when the buyer claims the item didn't arrive and tracking shows it arrived. ALWAYS FIGH THOSE!!! You will win the shipping ones if you have tracking. But "item broken or not as received" you won't win the challenge most of the time and your time is better spent listing more items than fighting... my experience has shown, luckily, that it is mostly those people who pay the least amount of money that complain the most. I have $1-$2 that would get a complaint when my other more expensive items only get positive feedback. So just refund the few bucks and move on.
eBay Selling Tip 6: Do Keyword Research on the items you are selling, especially the more profitable ones or items in which you have many of the same or similar items. You want to know all the different terms and phrases and related phrases people use to search for your types of items. Google has a great keyword planner, go take a look: GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER.
eBay Selling Tip 7: Be flexible in pricing but never feel guilt from walking away. If an item you are selling has been sitting on eBay for a while, sometimes years in my case, you change the item to Best Offer and just take any reasonable offer. If it is a rare item, just wait, it may take a few years, but you will get top dollar. Always balance your need for cash with wanted to maximize your time spent listing by getting more money per item.
eBay Selling Tip 8: Do not hold resentment toward eBay or their policies. You can always make a complaint or send an email to eBay, but for the most part eBay is just going to to what it always does and you might not like it. My philosophy is to not complain, about any of it, use it to your advantage. Every time an update comes out to their policies I make a point to see how it can benefit my business and what changes I need to make to leverage the new policy. You pay fees to eBay because they are the shopping mall your store lives in, they bring the traffic to your store, they even provide all the utilities, etc. So you have to pay them a cut. Be grateful for what they provide and you will benefit greatly. (I am all for selling on your own site too, but eBay has it's advantages...which you pay for :) )
eBay Selling Tip 9: Upload at least 5 pictures per listing even if some are very similar. For some reason, I have read, and have experienced that eBay is more likely to show your listing higher if you have more pictures. I believe 5 is the number you are trying to reach at the minimum. Take pictures from multiple angles and then take the last picture with the item next to a ruler so people finding your item on eBay don't ask the size.
eBay Selling Tip 10: Buy Local. Sell Global. One of the main arbitrage opportunities presented with eBay is your ability to reach a worldwide market. This means you compete locally for items by going to garage sales or estate auctions, finding items, and then reselling them to the world. Your value is finding and presenting these items to collectors around the world, and often are paid handsomely for the effort.
For the Best 10 eBay Tricks & Insights See Below!