How to Prevent Disappointing eBay Auctions
The information about eBay auctions presented here will do one
of two things: either it will reinforce what you know about eBay
or it will teach you something new. Both are good outcomes.
Many first time eBay sellers have one thing in common - their
eBay auctions flop. Many of them flop time and time again, with
the seller never understanding what is going wrong. The seller
ends up doing hours of research looking for the perfect item to
sell, gets the auction set up, and waits for the bidding to
begin. Hours go by and no bids are placed. Days go by, and there
are still no bids - or there are very low bids. Finally the
auction ends, and it turns out to be a total failure.
Considering the huge number of sellers who run eBay auctions,
there are specific things you must do, and specific things you
must not do if you are to be successful.
There are many reasons why eBay auctions fail to produce. The
most common reason is that the item is not in high demand. This
problem can be avoided by doing the necessary research to
determine which items sell well, and which items should be
avoided. This research takes a great deal of time - but in the
end, you will find that it is time well spent.
Another reason for eBay auction failure is pricing. No matter
what your reserve price is, your opening bid price should never
be more than $50. A low starting price is how you will attract
potential bidders to your auction. If you set that opening bid
too high, most people won't even click the link to read the
description for your item. Another pricing problem is lack of
research. Before you set your reserve price, you must determine
what your item is really worth, and the price of similar items
that have sold in past eBay auctions.
Poorly written descriptions are another cause of failed eBay
auctions. Poor grammar and misspelled words drive people away.
Failing to post a picture of the item will also keep people from
visiting your auction page. Pictures show the buyer exactly what
he or she will be getting and give them an idea of the true
condition of the item. Make sure that your item description is
well written. A well written description with enough detail
about your item is essentially your sales copy.
Exorbitantly high shipping prices scare people away from eBay
auctions too. Find the lowest shipping prices that you can find
and consider paying for the shipping yourself if it won't cut
into your profits too much. Do not charge handling fees.
Offer great customer service for all of your eBay auctions, and
ask your buyers to give you feedback. If the items that you sell
are everything that you said they would be, and you offer great
customer service, you can expect wonderful feedback - and this
feedback will help a great deal in your future auctions.
Those who only know one or two facts about eBay auctions can be
confused by misleading information. The best way to help those
who are misled is to gently correct them with the truths you're
learning here.
About the author:
Greg Lietz is an internet businessman and frequent eBay user. To
make a recurring passive income with eBay auction items, Adsense
and Clickbank combined visit The Ideal Auction
Site.