Going, going....gone to Ebay (ebay.co.uk)

Member Name: BizzyB

Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	12/07/01 (112 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Sell unwanted items from the comfort of home, Easy to use

Disadvantages: May come across 'rogue traders', Addictable

When I first considered the auction site Ebay I naturally came to Dooyoo to read the trusted opinions. Having read the experiences and tips of others off I set with my bag of unwanted merchandise to Ebay not to be seen again for many weeks! Now a fully fledged Ebayer I'm back at dooyoo to give you the lowdown.

Ebay is a large auction site, one of the best known on the web. The over-riding principle of Ebay is that people are generally honest. Honest people on the net? After all we hear in the news. For the more cautious of us it takes a deep breath before we take the plunge. I'm pleased to report that in my numerous 'Ebayings' I have found it's true - the majority of people out there are honest. This said there are a number of pains in the bum on Ebay but I have found Ebay is quick to reprimand and remove them. Caution is the name of the name and taking of names what do you register as?

On joining Ebay you choose an Ebay name. Even though you may be joining Ebay.co.uk remember you are registered on the whole Ebay worldwide network so many of the usual names have gone and that's what I found when I tried to register as BizzyB so ended up as BizzyBek. Registration requires your valid email, name, address and contact number but unlike days past you no longer need to register a credit card if you do not wish. Ebay currently run a monthly billing rota for their services. Fees include a small listing fee for items and a small percentage of your final selling price which I'll discuss later. Payments can be made in three ways:

- automatic billing should you decide to register your credit card details

- one-off credit card payments, you can pay off all or part of your account at any time using their secure server and your details will not be kept on file.

- Print off an invoice and send a cheque

These payments can be made on the billing date or in-between should you so choose. I
f you do not have a credit card on file they prefer you not to exceed an outstanding account of £15.


So you have your name and are ready to sell, what next?

Listing an item to sell on Ebay is surprisingly easy though it may look daunting at first. My first piece of advice would be look around the categories.
Where do you want your item listed?
Are similar items up and what prices are they fetching?

You must attract the buyer's eye with your description and the best way of doing this is to write a description which is well laid out with the relevant or important information highlighted. To this requires some basic html skills?now don't go hiding behind the settee it's not as scary as it sounds.
Ebay provide an excellent beginners guide to html on the site which is well worth a visit. It is very simple to write a product description with paragraphs and highlights, different colours and italics. My number one tip is write your main product description in Word or similar, complete with the html tags, then just cut and paste across. This is particularly useful if you are going to list a number of auctions an cuts down time spent connected to the internet. It also gives you more time to check spelling and ensure you have all the information required.


Just how much information do you give?

I suggest as much relevant information as possible and always, always be honest. If a buyer receives an item which is not as described you are in danger of receiving negative feedback. Honesty is the best policy. I find there is really little need to jazz an item up unnecessarily. WOW in huge type and YOU WANT THIS do not make me want to buy something all the more, personally I find 'overbaking' an item off putting.

Tell the buyer as much as you know about the item and highlight the positives. Is it unusual? Rare? Brand New? In it's original box? Rather than just say 'For sa
le - Matrix video' - tell the buyer who's in the film, write down some of the jacket blurb, what's the running time? I also strongly suggest you end your item description with details of where you will post to, cost of postage, will you be adding postage on top of the bid and who will pay these charges. What is your preferred payment choice.

Even with the most bland of items I have found it is invaluable to have a photograph of the item, even videos etc, as this shows the potential buyer that you do have the item and it is in the condition you describe. Take a digital photograph or if you don't have a digital camera it's amazing what you can scan.


So you're written the description ready and you've got a .jpg piccie, off to Ebay...

After logging in, click the 'sell' button. This will take you to a page where you choose your photo hosting option, there's two possibilities:
1 - use Ebays photo hosting service
2 - use your own hosting or don't use photos in your listings.

If you choose option 2 there is the opportunity to input the url of your photos. I have not used this option and can only describe my experience of using their own service.

I have found the Ebay photo service invaluable but the wording in their introduction is misleading. On first reading it would seem that your first photo is free then you must pay for others. I took this to mean in whole - that I would use a photo in my first auction for free, photos in all following auctions would have to be paid for. This is not the case. You get one free photo PER auction. If you choose to have more than one photo in a single auction it is then that you pay 10p per extra photo.
If you choose this method of photo hosting it takes you to a very simple to use page where you click a box and choose your photo from your files. You can carry out simple photo editing but I've found this unnecessary. The c
ontinue button will take you to the main form to list your auction details.

The selling form starts by selecting your listing category. Having previously selected your main category e.g. Jewelry, Computers, Collectibles etc it is a simple click on the subcategories to choose your final destination.

Choose a detailed title then cut and paste or write your main description. The rest of the form is self explanatory with help buttons along the way - your main inputs will be:

Starting price
Reserve price - if there is a minimum you will sell at you can state this but it will incur a small fee which will be refunded if the item sells.
Highlights - for small fees you can choose a range of highlights for your title listings. Unless you a re selling a large item I have found these unnecessary.
Counter - this is free and it is interesting to see how many visitors your auction is receiving.
How long will the auction last. Your choice is 3,5,7 or 10 days. This is really your decision though I would suggest 5+ gives many buyers the chance to visit. I would also suggest you aim to end your auction on a day you know you will be available to contact buyers quickly. I aim to end auctions on a weekend.
Will you accept Escrow? (I will discuss this function in more detail later)
Where will you post to - UK only, Europe or Worldwide.
What payment options will you accept.
Who pays postage and is there a fixed postage amount. In my experience it is best to provide a firm postage and package cost at the start of the auction to add on to the final price bid.

So your auctions up and running. Hopefully the bids will flow in and if not you have the chance to relist and your fees will be refunded if it sells second time round.

Ebay are excellent at sending out e-mails to the seller and buyer on the completion of a successful auction. It is now up to you to arrange the sale. E-mail the winning bidder, I alwa
ys thank them bidding, confirm the item and total price highlighting the bid price + the postage. Give them details of who to make payment to and where to send the payment. It may be worth offering the option to send the item registered/recorded and the extra cost.

Hopefully payment wings its way to you quickly, you can pay the money in and send the item out. Package items well especially if fragile. Ebay offers insurance of up to £120 if breakages etc do happen but let's not get into that situation in the first place!

Auction completed but what if you have an awkward buyer?

Payment may be made via their partner I-escrow program. This is especially useful if selling/buying more expensive items. Escrow works in the following way:

- Both buyer and seller register (for free) with I-escrow and on competition of the auction you set up a new transaction stating the price of the item and the price of postage stating who will pay this.

- The buyer sends the money to the I-escrow. The buyer can pay by cheque or credit card which is particularly useful as the general ebayer cannot accept credit card payments otherwise - using escrows therefore increases your payment options.

- When I-Escrow receive the monies the seller sends the item to the buyer using a shipper that has a service requiring a signature on delivery.

- The buyer has a set number of days to tell I-escrow the item has arrived and is acceptable - on this action the money is released to the seller

- In the event of a disagreement I-Escrow can hold on to the monies and release when the buyer and seller have agreed a course of action or an outside arbiter has decided the action to be taken.


If you are selling a number of items you may want to set up some form of log book - who bought what, when, money received, item sent etc to keep track. If payment is late or the do not confirm they are buying the item send a polite b
ut remindful e-mail. Should you still not get a response you can inform Ebay and have a warning sent; you are also entitled to ask Ebay for there phone number to ring and request payment. If a buyer turns out to be a total waste of space report them and negative feedback. You should not fear retaliation feedback as those people as you have the right to reply and those people who don't play the Ebay game do get reprimanded and booted.

On completion of sales you can leave feedback about the buyer and they can rate you. Ebay ratings are a great incentive. Would be buyers and sellers can click the number by the Ebay nickname which will show them recent feedback comments. Ebayers are given coloured stars to denote positive feedbacks of certain numbers. Obviously when you start out you have no feedback and there is the feeling of needing to get your foot on the ebay ladder. One way to increase you Ebay presence in the beginning is create an 'About Me' page. This I easy to do with basic html or use their wizard. Here you can describe yourself and interests and in the future use it as a showcase for your buying, selling and feedback ratings.

Buying from Ebay is as simple as selling and a lot of the above information is applicable. On the item page there is a box at the foot of the page to place your bid. You can place a maximum bid which is useful should others come and bid above the current bid - Ebay will automatically bid again for you by proxy up to your maximum bid level. You may also watch items and decide to bid at the dying moments of the sale.

The 'My Ebay' pages are an invaluable tool in organising your ebaying. These pages list your buying and selling - showing what is selling, which auctions you are currently winning, closing dates etc. There is also an accounts page which shows you a detailed list of your fees and payments made.

I have sold all sorts on Ebay - it is amazing what sells and as
the saying goes 'one man's junk is another man's treasure'. There are some genuine bargains to be had on Ebay though it is amazing how many times I have run auctions on new items for the final price to reach the same as the shops! Ebay is also a useful source for collectors of a wide range of goods and there are obvious communities of regular buyers and sellers in certain communities.

There are a number of message boards on Ebay to meet other Ebayers and these have developed quite a community feeling but outright plugging is not allowed!

I would highly recommend Ebay to anyone considering using an internet auction. I have found their service efficient and easy to use. Do be aware that there may be rogue traders out there - proceed with caution but I don't feel there is the need to be over pessimistic. I have completed in excess of 60 auctions as a seller and have yet to have one serious problem and I am confident if and when that day arrives Ebay has the system to help me deal and resolve with any such problem.

Happy auctioning folks :o)

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