Want to be a Successful eBay Seller? Be an eBay Buyer
You can spend hours of research online and at the bookstore learning the tricks of the trade on how to be a successful eBay seller, but probably the easiest way to find out what will draw a buyer to your eBay store listings is to become a buyer yourself.
If you wanted to open a brick-and-mortar store, one of the things you’ll want to do is check out your competition, right? It’s the same with selling on eBay. By becoming a buyer, you’ll have a close-up look at how successful (and not-so-successful!) eBay sellers run their business.
Some tips on being an eBay buyer:
- Pick the same category of items in which you’ll be selling. If you’re going to sell antiquarian books, buy something from that category. You don’t have to pick an eBay PowerSeller, but find someone with a fairly high feedback rating (around 96-98%, if not 100%) and a high number of transactions (100+).
- Study their eBay listings. Analyze how they compose their photographs, how many they upload, how they word their descriptions and titles, and what keywords they use. What kind of shipping do they offer? Do they offer a Buy It Now option? Do they use the reserve option? How long are their auctions? Do they offer or require insurance? What types of payment do they accept?
- Before you bid, ask a few questions from the buyer. See how quickly they respond (if at all). Do they answer your question(s) to your satisfaction? Do they sound friendly and open to questions, or are their emails brusque and dismissive?
- After you bid, continue to monitor the listing to see if the seller updates it based on questions they receive.
- Once you’ve won an auction, see how quickly the eBay seller sends you a notification of your winning bid (if at all). Do they tell you when they’ll ship the item? Do they thank you for your bid? Do they give you a tracking number for your shipment?
- Once you’ve received the item, examine it closely. How quickly did it arrive? How was it packed? Did it arrive in good condition? Does it match the eBay seller’s description of it in his listing? Did the seller include a thank-you note?
Choose different eBay sellers as you do your research, and soon you’ll have a solid grasp of some of their success secrets. Most of these aren’t that difficult, but you might be surprised at just how lazy and unresponsive many eBay sellers are. Don’t be one of them. Be one of the responsible, friendly, responsive, and professional ones, and soon you too can join the ranks of successful eBay sellers.
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