If you are looking for a guide to becoming an EBay seller and a guide to becoming a successful EBay seller then this article has the steps you need to take to accomplish that. I will go over exactly what you need to do and a couple of ways on how to go about doing it. Good luck to all the EBay selling newbie’s!
– Become an EBay seller: Of course if you want to become a successful EBay seller this is the first thing that you have to do. It’s easy, fast, and FREE so do it now! Check out all of the EBay pages or at least the important ones to get yourself acquainted with the site.
– Do research and create listings: The next step after becoming an EBay seller is to do some research of your competition and start creating some listings for the products you want to sell. Once you do this you will be well on your way, and soon you will gain experience and start to get better; however everyone must start from the bottom so don’t’ be discouraged if you don’t’ get everything and you have to change how you do things later on.
– Set pricing: This is very important. When setting your pricing you want to make sure that you’re getting what you paid back at least. You also want to think about taxes, shipping costs, and packaging costs. Make sure to set your pricing accordingly to all of those extra costs, your labor and never forget about the competition. If you can offer your products at a penny less than your competition then it’s something you should consider. Later on once you have your buyers hooked on you is when you will set your prices higher if you’d like.
– Open and use a PayPal account: PayPal will soon become your way to receiving and sending money as you start to do stuff on EBay. You should open one and then get well acquainted with everything PayPal provides. Once you start using it to process payments, send payments or anything else you will also want to use it for tax purposes. Since selling on EBay gets you money, you will need to report that at the end of the year and PayPal will certainly help you get the reports you need.
– Monitor your listings: Never stop checking out your listings. Compare them to others that you see and keep a look out for ways that you can make them better. Monitoring them each day a couple of times isn’t something that you should avoid doing; on the contrary you want to see right away when you get an offer/s to make sure that you reply to the bidders/buyers queries quickly. Monitoring your listings also helps to give you information as to when the best times/days/months are for you to place listings.
– Complete transactions: After you first sale you will have learned the basis of what you need to do to complete transactions. To help you out you should develop a routine of all the actions you need to take when you have to complete a transaction. This will help you out in the future for sure and you will always have a list of to-do’s to fall back on so you never forget anything.
– Start and/or grow an EBay-based business: As you start to become good at selling items on EBay, you want to start thinking about growing your EBay business. Perhaps you should think about opening a EBay store or a ProStore on EBay. They are both great ways to get to more customers, have a better online presence, and to have your own personal store for which you could start creating a brand that would make you more credible and more likely to have repeat customers. Don’t be afraid to take this chance!
– Choose the right listing format: Once you have decided to grow your EBay business and start getting more buyers you want to choose the right listing format. Doing this will not take long. All you have to do is form a template for your listings. Make a list of all the things you want to say in your listings and then use that template from here on out. This will definitely help you out and it will profit you. Make sure to choose the right listing format.
– Create compelling listings: Having 2-3 pictures is always best and providing at least 250 words works great; this is a compelling listing. When buyers look at listings they should be able to set yours apart from the rest. Be sure to provide as much information as possible and have it be accurate. This will ensure that you buyer knows exactly what he’s getting and you will have not returns or complaints.
– Use EBay listing tools: EBay provides many tools for their sellers. Make sure to check them out and give them a try. They will surely all help you out and maybe even raise your sales if used correctly and daily.
– Market your business on EBay: Selling on EBay usually means that you don’t have to advertise what you’re selling because of the number of visitors that the site generates; however doing a little marketing of your EBay business offline or even at other sites online will not hurt. If you feel that you’re not getting enough sales then this is also something you should consider. Tip: Have business cards made and provide good contact information as well as your home page then distribute it around and make sure to send one with every package you sell.
– Manage your listings: With EBay managing your listings will be easy, but it’s not automatic. Managing them can take a little time from your day, but doing this will help you out in the long run. Visit the EBay tools page and check out their helpful software to manage all your listings.
– Pack and ship inventory: When you’re an EBay seller your buyers expect good quality items. Good quality items are only the start though; the way the buyer receives them says a lot about it too. That’s why you should come up with a nice way to pack and ship your inventory. Doing this can provide repeat customers and it doesn’t have to be too expensive. Think about buying nice white boxes, glossy plastic wrapping, and some colorful paper to help with the presentation.
