Ebay Sellers Guide (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: kensplace

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	09/07/01 (2191 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Worlwide audience, Fun, Much more!

Disadvantages: Addictive, Listing Fees, Idiots

EBay - One Man's Junk Is An Online Dealer's Treasure

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EBAY.CO.UK
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eBay is an online auction site, founded in Pierre Omidyar's San Jose living room way back in September 1995. Its grown a lot since then, it now has over 29.7 million registered users and is one of the most popular online shopping sites around.
Like most companies these days, it has a mission, and eBay’s mission is a very simple one

“OUR MISSION
eBay's mission is to help practically anyone trade practically anything on earth. “

eBay.co.uk is the British branch of eBay.com.
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WHAT IS EBAY
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Pay attention, I have already told you - it’s an online auction site, although to be fair, it’s a big online auction site. There is also an eBay foundation, which hands out grants to qualifying American companies, and they have a thriving community going to.
It has business relationships with the likes of GM, Disney and Sun, and tends to be sites that people either love or hate!

SIGNING UP

eBay.co.uk does not usually require a credit card, but apparently if you sign up with a
address from somewhere like hotmail (i.e. an easy to fake address) then you may be asked to confirm your identity using a credit card.

(Note eBay.com will ask for credit card verification, as do the yahoo auctions to)
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SELLING ON EBAY
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Alas it is no longer free to sell on Ebay, as it was long long ago in the dim and distant past. But at least it does not cost the earth either (yet!)


Selling on eBay can be regarded as an art form, or a science, depending on your point of view.

You have to provide your own stock, compose your own advert, set your own minimum price and work out and deal with postage and packing (often referred to as shipping).

So in effect, you have to handle your own Stock
control, inventory, marketing, copy-righting and logistics , not to mention customer care, technical support (when people ask questions about the item or the sale) and after sales when you have to follow up by leaving feedback for the buyer - (hey I should put all this on my CV) for a global internet based e-selling operation.

(That sounds so much more impressive than I just sell on eBay lol)


eBay charges for you to hold an auction - there are a few different charges, I will explain the basics here.

• Listing Fee

This is a small fee, that is fixed, but varies according to the price you start your auction at.

• Reserve Price Fee

Will only be applied if you set a reserve price for the item, a reserve price means you will not sell the item below the state price, you can for example start a auction at minimum bid of 5 pounds, but have a reserve of 30 pounds. This can be useful if you want to see how much an item would see for, but you would never sell if for less than 30 pounds.
The fee is fixed, and varies according to the start price of the item.

• Extras

You do NOT have to pay any of the extra charges if you do not wish to, basically
if you want your item shown on the lists in bold then you can pay extra for the
privilege, same applies for the other extras they offer.
The best extra in my opinion for most auctions is the picture preview, so you have a picture in the gallery, this only costs 15p and shows your listing up just as good as the bold option (if not better).

• Final Value Fee

If your item sells you have to pay a final fee, which varies according to the price your item sold for.

All the fees are shown to you before you proceed with the auction (obviously as you don't know the final selling price, you don't get to know the final value fee) so you can see how much itwill cost.

On the myEbay page you ca
n view your account and see a breakdown of all fees, you can pay your account by credit card, postal order or cheque.

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ARE THERE ANY ITEMS I CAN’T SELL ON EBAY?
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Yes, you should check ebays listing policies before you list an item for sale http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/community/png-items.h tml

as many items are not allowed, such as firearms, ammunition, animals, animal parts??,
drugs, humans and human parts??????, Tobacco. Fireworks and so on.

Some items whilst not prohibited are questionable such as Adult only items, Contracts, used medical equipment and the like.

Some items could potentially cause copyright infrigement problems, such as software,
music and videos. So you should refer to ebays policies to be on the safe side.

Ebay will cancel any auction and credit the listing fee, if it thinks the auction is in breach of the rules.

Remember to - that you should ensure that is legal to post your item, as the UK post office does not allow many items to be posted (for example Aerosols, Batteries, Lighters, Foreign Lottery tickets, Sharp items unless protected, Matches, Pesticides etc) - check with your local post office if in doubt, or you could be prosecuted!

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WHAT PRICES SHOULD I CHARGE?
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That is again up to you, its your item (or at least it better had be!). Remember though that if you overcharge you will be less likely to sell it, and may harm your reputation by doing so.

Another point to consider is do you want a reserve price on the item? A reserve price costs more, but will ensure that you do not sell the item at a loss.

Some people like to start their items at a low price, say 1 pound and then hope that it will generate lots of bids, others like to start at a price they are happy to sell at. It al
l depends upon how you want to do it, you may want to experiment a bit to see what works.

Don't be tempted to start low, and bid on your own items to push the price up, this is something that eBay will not tolerate at all.

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HOW SHOULD I PACKAGE MY ITEMS
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You should ensure that all items you sell are securely packaged, it’s not good selling an item to someone if it arrives in 100 peices (unless its a 100 peice jig-saw)!

• Books
For Small books, a padded envolope
For Large books: Corrugated fibreboard book pack with 2.5cm clearance at either end.

• Computer disks, audio&Video cassetes and Compact Disks
Wrap soft packing material at least 2cm thick around each item
Use a rigid purpose made container.
Recommend screened envelopes for computer disks


• Magazines and newspapers
Seal in polythene will address details clearly visible
You can fold or roll publications in a paper wrapper - but this is not ideal.

• Prints, Framed
Surround with at least 5cm of soft material (ie bubble wrap). Sandwich between stout board or polystyrene that is at least 2.5cm longer at each end.
Wrap in corrugated paper
Wrap in brown paper.

More information about packaging can be obtained from your local post-office, the best tip, is to always pack well, underpacking an item can lead to it being damaged.

The post-office should sell most packaging materials you require, but dont forget to shop around, as you can often pick up items on sale elsewhere.

Stock up on bubble wrap, padded envelopes, brown Kraft paper (strong brown paper),
cardboard boxes and packing tape (get decent stuff, dont use household insulation tape or any cheapo tape)

Another tip is to save the packaging that is sent to you, when you purchase items, as
you can re-use things li
ke amazon.co.uk boxes thereby saving yourself a little time and money.

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HOW MUCH SHOULD I CHARGE FOR POSTAGE AND PACKAGING
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Again that’s up to you, but you have control.

I would however recommend the following

Don’t overcharge on Postage and packaging (if you overcharge to much, eBay may think you are trying to avoid their Final Value listing Fees, and eBay does not like that...)

Don’t undercharge either - it’s your money you will be wasting!

Do a trial packaging run, and weigh the item on kitchen scales, then
Go to the royal mail website to check postage costs for that weight
(www.postoffice.co.uk)

Remember you may want to send it recorded delivery.
A little known fact is that when you send a first or second class item
you can ask for a free certificate of posting, you have to write the buyer’s name,
address and postcode on it, and the postal clerk will stamp the certificate to show
you have sent an item to that address.

Remember to state the postage and packaging terms clearly on your auctions
if will help to prevent misunderstandings and upset buyers later on!

You can keep up-to date with ebay help on this matter at

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sellerguide/after -tips.html

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OTHER USEFUL TIPS
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You will probably find that if you use ebay, you will be driven mad by its obsessive need to ask you to sign in every time you want to do anything, this can be stopped by following the following procedure.

Sign in, Go to MyeBay (link at top of screen)
Click on Preferences, then scroll down to find the box that states what
you can and can’t do logged in. At the top of thisbox there is a link to allow you
to modify those details, click it
and then select which items you want to be able to do
whilst logged in (without having to re-enter your password again!)
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PHOTOGRAPHING YOUR ITEM
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If you have a scanner you can scan the item in, but remember to ensure you use a graphics package to shrink it down to a reasonable size - no one wants to wait half an hour for the picture to load (this tip applies to all the rest of the suggestions to)

If you have a digital camera then photograph the item, several views are best, try to take photos that show the item well, and maybe even consider using a background (possibly even use a ruler or draw a scale on the background, to give the buyer a indication of the items size)

If you have a web-cam try photographing the item with that.

If you have no means of capturing an image, and you are unable to beg, borrow (don't steal!) a digital camera, then here are some more tips..

Photograph the item using your normal camera, then take it to somewhere like boots and ask them to develop it and to put it onto a CD for you, some shops (I am fairly sure boots do) will also scan the photos and put them onto a web-site for you.

If you don't want to spend the extra, then search on DooYoo see if it has a photo of the item, or search on the google. Once you find a photo then save it to your hard disk and copy it onto a web-site of your own (its best to do this, as linking to pictures on other people’s web-site without their permission can be regarded as bandwidth stealing, which slows sites down and costs them money.)

There are plenty of tutorials in the ebay help for uploading pictures to sites if you need more help.

Oh and another tip, DONT photograph items in your underwear and let your reflection get seen in a mirror on the photo - some one actually did this on eBay, and although it was hilarious, I bet the guy was pretty embarrassed!

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What to Do after You sell the Item
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When the auction closes, and you have successfully sold the item, you need to contact the buyer.

Ebay will email you confirmation of the auction close, and the email address of the winning bidder, but be warned it does not arrive straight after the auction closes, there will be a delay. You can find out the email address by clicking on the bidders name online, and entering your password when asked.

You should email the buyer to let them know the amount they need to pay you,
include at least the following information

• The Item Number (Top line of the auction)
• The Item Description (Many people bid on many items, so they need a reminder)
• The Final Bid Price
• The Postage and Packaging amount for the UK - but don't forget to state that if
they are not in the UK you will need to work out the new cost for postage and packaging.
• Where to send the payment to, and don't forget to remind them to tell you their address so you know where to ship to!

It is also useful to mention that you will leave positive feedback for them on eBay once the transaction has been completed, and would appreciate it if they would do the same for you once they have the goods.

Once you receive payment, then you may wish to wait until it has cleared before sending the goods (its best to say that is your policy in the email to the buyer though)

Don't forget to leave positive feedback for the buyer if all goes well, if there is a problem, then try to sort it out before simply leaving bad feedback - as you CANNOT remove feedback once it has been left, so be careful what you write.

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Sources of more information
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A useful newsgroup is

Alt.Marketing.Online.Ebay

this contains lots of info
rmation about buying and selling on ebay, and quite a few humourous posts showing the lighter side of the eBay world.

Ebay Help itself is a source of usefull information, dont forget to take a look at it!

www.RoyalMail.co.uk - the royal mail website, has lots of useful postage information, including a price calculator for worldwide shipping.

www.thepostoffice.co.uk - the post office website, again lots of useful postage information, including a postal price calculator.

Ok folks, thats all for now, I have probably forgotten to write as much as I was going to , but I can always come back and add to this!

Good look if you try eBay!

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