Whether you’re looking to get rid of old clothes, interested in selling handmade items or yearning to make some money from unwanted items when preparing to move house, eBay can be an excellent solution.
However, sellers often make critical mistakes that undermine their ability to make money or even prevent them from selling items. Here’s everything you need to know about twelve of the most common of these mistakes.
1. Misjudging what your item is worth
There are two different ways in which misjudging the worth of items can lead to making less money on eBay.
Firstly, if you mistakenly assume that your item is worth a lot less than it really is, you’re missing out on a great opportunity to make plenty of cash.
Secondly, if sentiment or a low level of knowledge leads you to believe that your item is worth way more than it really is, the chances are that plenty of potential buyers will look elsewhere for a similar item that is going for a lower price.
As a result, it pays to do your research before setting a price. A quick search on eBay will tell you what other sellers are charging for the kind of thing that you’re hoping to sell.
2. Trying to buy feedback
Many eBay buyers are reluctant to purchase an item from someone who doesn’t have much feedback, as this leaves concerning ambiguities about the reliability of the seller (while positive feedback will tell buyers a lot about packing, shipping times, accuracy of descriptions and fairness of pricing).
Consequently, some sellers will try to get dozens of feedback points by buying extremely cheap e-books from other members on the site. However, while this looks good at a superficial, the diligent eBay buyer will take a closer look at a seller’s feedback, and then the game is over.
Worse still, this type of tactic can make you look like a scammer even if you’re just impatient to get your eBay career up and running.
3. Not using the right keywords in your title
Appropriate use of keywords is a key part of becoming a successful eBay seller. If you’re just starting out, it helps to give some thought to how you describe your item in its title.
Using keywords involves a balanced approach. You want to include plenty of relevant keywords, so (for example) offer the brand, size, color and cut of a dress in the title. At the same time, you want to avoid a nonsensical title that is just a string of keywords.
While this item may come up for plenty of users conducting a search, they might scroll past it as they quickly fail to decipher its meaning.
4. Charging inappropriate shipping fees
Now, it is important to charge a shipping fee that allows you to make a profit from your eBay sell, but you need to be realistic when you enter an amount.
To get an idea of how much you should charge for the postage of that book, cosmetics set or piece of art, skim the categories that you’ll be using and see what other sellers are asking for. If you’re charging higher postage prices than the majority, buyers will be unlikely to choose your item.
Further, the eBay staff tries to be vigilant about unfair postage rates, so there’s even a possibility that your item listing might be removed (and your account may be suspended after repeat offences or if there are other reasons to view you as suspicious.
5. Choosing multiple categories
While choosing multiple categories looks like a smart plan to the novice eBay seller, this is mainly because eBay actively encourages sellers to list their items in more than one category (on the grounds that doing so could increase your exposure by over 15%).
Some experts on online selling believe that eBay’s motivation for doing so is to earn extra money from charging twice the fee for advertising.
In truth, buyers will typically search for specific items and not really pay much attention to the specific categories that they can choose (within the broad categories that they are interested in when making their search).
6. Not looking into shipping fees for other countries
You stand to make more money from your eBay sales if you’re willing to post items to addresses in other countries.
However, if you’re planning to do this, you will definitely need to look into how much it will cost to ship your items to different countries. In some cases, the size of the price tag may surprise you, and you might end up failing to make a profit.
A trip to the post office with some of your standard items (such as an average-sized book or item of clothing) will give you information about the postage rates that you should charge if interested parties try to make purchases from abroad.
7. Selling items in the wrong season
Try not to let your enthusiasm about making a fast buck overtake your common sense. If you have items that are particularly useful in certain seasons, be patient and just wait for the right season.
For example, there’s little use in selling a thick trench coat in the middle of summer; you may well get a buyer, but the bids could end up going much higher if the sale is made during a time when thick coats are in high demand.
Similarly, don’t attempt to get rid of all of your unwanted Christmas decorations just after New Year, or sell Halloween gear in the spring.
8. Poor packaging
Your approach to packaging will play a huge role in whether that feedback that you get from buyers is positive, neutral or negative.
If you don’t take care to package your items in a way that keeps them safe during postage, it is possible that the purchase will reach the buyer in an unsatisfactory condition.
A buyer who receives a stained shirt, a broken piece of jewelry or a bent photograph is likely to give you negative feedback.
As a result, it is well worth taking the time to find the right materials to keep things protected in the post, and to look into courier shipping for particularly fragile or expensive items.
9. Using no photographs or poor quality photographs
As you may realize when you consider your own experiences as a buyer on eBay, people conducting searches will often fly right past a listing that doesn’t include a photograph.
Similarly, you’re reducing your chances of making money if your listings display a tiny photograph or one that doesn’t flatter the item.
Take care to photograph your items in a good light (especially if they are being sold on aesthetic merits), and feel free to adjust the contrast or color of the image if the item doesn’t look true to life in the photograph.
A well-taken image will also make you look more professional as a seller.
10. Not offering a clear returns policy
Lots of eBay sellers fail to write any information about their returns policy when creating listings for their items.
You should consider your views on acceptable methods of payment, how you will ship the item, and the conditions under which it is appropriate to ask for a return.
If you don’t do this, then you could cause a buyer to be inconvenienced, or possibly miss out on a sale because a wary seller (mistakenly) assumes that you won’t accept returns.
Be very clear and succinct, and display a willingness to respond to customer queries (both in your listing and in the way you choose to reply to buyers who do submit questions).
11. Not giving enough details about the product
Underdescribing items that you are selling can end up shooting you in the foot in a number of ways.
Firstly, you can put buyers off because they make false assumptions that your item isn’t what they’re looking for on the site. For example, you might not mention that a skirt would fit someone of multiple dress sizes because of an elastic waist, and instead just list the size on its label.
Secondly, you might encourage a buyer to purchase your item and then end up in a dispute because you didn’t mention minor wear and tear that the item had endured during your ownership.
12. Not looking at the rules of the site
Finally, you always need to keep in mind that eBay is a site with hundreds of different rules. Some of these rules are quite complex or nuanced, and some of them are not quite what you might expect. If you carefully read the rules, you will know what both buyers and sellers can expect.
As a result, you will not short-charge your customers, and you won’t be susceptible to exploitation from any customers that might try to take advantage of you. Arm yourself with the basic knowledge of how the site works, and feel free to quote official policy to potential buyers when necessary.