1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If
the product is brand new, check to see what price
retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or
reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the
retail value.

2. If the product’s description or picture isn’t detailed
enough for you, contact the merchant to get more
information before you bid. You don’t want to take a
chance to waste your hard earned money.

3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product
and stick with it. Don’t get caught up in a bidding war;
you may end up paying more than the product’s worth.
Don’t forget to add in the shipping price with your bid.

4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because
some merchants auction the same product in many
auctions. You usually can purchase the product for
a lower price in a unpopular auction because there
are less bidders.

5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You
also want to know how long it will take to ship. If
you need the product by a certain date, you’ll want
to estimate the time it will take to receive it.

6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts
before you bid on their product. If they only accept
checks or money orders, it may take even longer to
get the product because the payment has to clear. If
they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure
server.

7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money
back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You
don’t want to get stuck with a product that does not
work or you’re not satisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check
the merchants history with their auction. Check to see
if people have complained about the their products or
business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It’s important to place a bid early in the auction to
show other bidders you are interested in the product.
If someone does out bid you, don’t be afraid to out
bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum
bid price.

10. Another reason to know when the auction ends;
you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders
may not be keeping track of when the auction ends
or may not have the time to bid again.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

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Whether you realize it or not you may be giving your auction visitors a reason not to buy your product or service. And it could be just the smallest of issues that will cause them to think twice about purchasing from your auction. As explained in my book “eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak” you must remove these obstacles from your auction sales page so your visitors will become bidders. Below you’ll find some obstacles and how you can solved them on your auction page.

Is This Seller Trustworthy?

This is a question that all your serious auction visitors will ask themselves. As they do not know you they are going to want to check you out. But how will they do this? Well, the first thing they would look for is your feedback rating. Feedback is a way eBay allows buyers and sellers to rate their experiences with each other. If you have a stellar feedback rating your visitor will feel you are trustworthy. Your goal should be to increase your auction feedback and keep it positive.

Another way a visitor might check to see if you are trustworthy is to click over to your about “Me Page”. The about “Me Page” is a page you can create in your eBay account. It allows you to give your potential bidders some background information about you and your business. You can also include your feedback and other listed auctions on this page as well. This is where you have a chance to tell your potential bidder about yourself and your business, why he/she should buy from you. I would highly recommend you take advantage of this and create an about “Me Page” in your eBay account.

Also people may have questions regarding your auction. So you could get an email asking about your product or service. You should welcome this opportunity as a way to show your potential bidder you are a real person. Take this time to show your integrity, honesty, credibility, and expertise in your product or service. Include on your auction page an email link and tell your visitors that any inquires are welcome.

What About A Guarantee?

You always need some sort of guarantee for your product or service. Again it will help to show your visitor you are a trustworthy business person. Remember that your buyer assumes most of the risk here. He/she is buying from someone that they have never met, a product that they have only seen in a photo, and they must pay for that product in advance of receiving it. A guarantee that is appropriate for your product or service will help your visitor become a bidder.

How Do I Pay?

The more options you have for payment the more visitors will become bidders. There are many means of payment. The normal being PayPal. PayPal is an eBay company so having a PayPal payment button on your auction is an easy and free option to include on your auction sales page. But besides PayPal you may want to consider excepting other payment options as well..

What About Delivery?

Always fully disclose how your product or service is delivered and your delivery charge. Whether you are sending it via the postal service or a courier your bidder will want to know how he/she should expect to receive the purchase and what the cost will be. You can usually approximate deliver time and cost based on information you obtain from your local post office or courier.

If you answer the above questions on your auction page you will be building customer trust and he/she is more likely to become a bidder. And more bidders means more profits for you!

Happy Selling!
Joe Clare

Joe Clare is a successful eMarketer and Author. He has written numerous articles on how to make money on eBay. Check out his Articles, Hot Tips and Free Auction Mini Course and discover for yourself, how you can make a Serious Income with Online Auctions. http://www.ebooksnsoftware.com

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This month I have encountered two small problems which have affected my eBay business. If I had spent a little more time thinking about the design of my auction listings, these problems could have easily been avoided and I would have had more time to spend on other things instead of editing tiny mistakes in nearly 100 listings. There have been many similar occasions in the past where a little more forward planning would have avoided me redesigning all my eBay auction listings. Therefore, my advice to you in this issue is to think carefully about the design of your auction listings. More time spent on your listing now can mean MUCH less time spent redesigning them in the future.

Now the two actual problems I encountered this month were the down to my PayPal address and my eBay ID. The first problem was that for some reason the Pay Now button in eBay was not working for all customers. This led to me getting many emails from buyers saying the Pay Now button is not working, or worse many people sending payments to one of my email addresses that was not registered with PayPal. The end result was me having to explain and solve the problem via multiple emails to multiple customers. So how could I have avoided this problem? Well in my actual eBay listing and Payment Policy I made no reference to my PayPal email address but included all my other email addresses. I overlooked including my PayPal email address in the listings simply because I assumed that the Pay Now button would work at all times. Obviously not. I have now amended all listings to include my PayPal email address and thankfully since then I have had no PayPal payments sent to the wrong email address.

So now all seems fine and dandy with my eBay listings when 2 days ago I received an email stating that I needed to change my User ID because the previous one made reference to this website. Now on eBay you can get away with this type of User ID for a while but sooner or later eBay will catch you out and make you change it. I knew this so really I should have chose a more sensible User ID instead of trying to get a little extra traffic to my website. So how does this affect my listings? Well in every listing I include a link to my eBay feedback and eBay About Me page which now needs to be changed. So that means more fun for me as I will have edit all my eBay listings yet again.

So you may be wandering OK but what’s the point of this story. Well you (and hopefully me as well) can learn from my mistakes. These two examples illustrate how just a LITTLE forward planning would have saved a LOT of time for me and can do for you too. I will give you a few things to think about when designing your auction listings but you may think of more.

1) Ebay ID:- When choosing an eBay ID you need to think about using one that both reflects your line of business and also sticks to eBay policy. I know that it may be tempting to use **yourwebsitename** as a User ID but that is a violation of eBay policy and they will make you change it eventually. If you have to change your User ID then you have to change every Feedback and About Me link in all your listings. Choosing a User ID which is within eBay policy will save you a lot of time in the future.

2) About Me Page:- Do you have an About Me page? If not you should get one as it is one of the best promotion tools you have on eBay. If you do have one you really should link to it in your auctions as from the About Me page has much fewer restrictions than your other eBay pages (for example you can link to your own website). If you want to promote yourself on eBay the About Me page is the best way to do it and the best way to increase traffic to your About Me page is promote it fully.

3) Ebay Store:- If you have an eBay store then it is essential that you provide a link to it within your auction listings. Many customers who view your auctions will not know that you have an eBay store or if they do they may not know exactly what one is. If you want to maximise your sales potential you need to make as many customers aware of your eBay store as possible. Putting a simple sentence at the top of your auction listings such as “Can’t wait for this auction to end? Then Click Here to purchase it right now from my eBay store” will give your eBay store maximum exposure in your eBay auctions.

4) Email Addresses:- Make sure that all relevant email addresses are included in your auction listing. Your PayPal email address must be in here to avoid similar problems to the ones I experienced. All the email addresses you wish to be contacted on should also be included as well. For example I include my PayPal email , my delivery enquiries email, and my general enquiries email. Even if you only have one email address which is the same as the one associated with your “Contact the Seller” you should still include an email link in your auction description simply because it makes it easier for the customer.

5) Ebay Store Custom Pages:- If you have an eBay store you are allowed to design custom pages for whatever purpose you see fit. If these custom pages are in any way relevant to the auction then you should include a link to them too.

6) Images:- Have you put in all the images you want to use to promote your auction. If not make sure they are all included. What about your eBay store? If you have one then a store logo is a great way to promote your store, make you look more professional, and hopefully increase traffic and sales.

These are just a few of the many things you should consider before listing an item on eBay. I am sure you can think of many more. These rules are especially applicable to ebook sellers on eBay because you will be constantly re-using the same auction listing to sell an ebook because you have an infinite supply. Getting the listing as close to perfect now will save you a LOT of time in the future. Good luck!!!

Tom Parker (Owner and Creator of The Ebook Cavern)
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern

http://www.theebookcavern.co.uk/

http://www.theebookcavernreviews.co.uk/

Feel free to use any of my articles on this website but if you do please include my signature (name and website) from above.

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