Posts Tagged ‘selling on eBay’

Dear eBay Queen:

I have a couple of questions.  Well, I guess I have a comment and a question.  I was at an auction this last Saturday and was appalled at how rude the people were! I’ve been to plenty of auctions, but it seems lately people are just down right rude.  No one says “excuse me,” they just barge on through.  I was standing at a jewelry table in the rain, and instead of saying “could you hand me that box,” these people practically laid their body across me to get to a box of goods on the table, that I could have easily passed to them.  I had people shove their way between my friend and I while we were standing there bidding!  Recently, I was at another auction house that has “a seat for everyone”.  I was sitting in the third row, and there were people that were standing in front of the seats!  The auctioneer told them to sit down several times and they ignored him! What is wrong with people in 2011? 

I am trying to sell a vintage crystal aurora borealis pin/brooch. I can't figure out what the best title would be for my item.  I listed it on eBay, and when I run a search for the item, I can't find my own listing, by just browsing through crystal brooches, or aurora borealis brooches or Vintage aurora borealis pins! I can find it when I go to “My eBay”—but how can I expect to sell something if it can't be found by someone looking for it?  What suggestions do you have for choosing correct search terms to name one's product?

My title is:   Vintage Aurora Borealis Crystal pin

Here is my description: Vintage AB Crystal brooch from the 40s or 50s, given to me by my grandmother in law. In good condition, 2 of the smallest stones missing (I couldn't tell until I looked very, very closely, a little bit of the gold tone on the back of the brooch is rubbing off. The brooch comes with vintage gift box. It is in bright, sparkling pink tones.

***Vintage—sold as is*** No Returns. I only accept PayPal.

Thanks for your help!

Jewels, Ottawa, KS

Dear Jewels:

Maybe we were at the same auction!  I’ve experienced the same things you have.  I don’t know why auctions have become a place for people to show their true colors.  My only thought about this is maybe people are in such a frenzy to buy stuff that they have forgotten the manners they were taught as a child.  When someone leans across me, I usually say “Would you like for me to hand that to you?”   Sometimes a simple “excuse me,” or “ouch! You just elbowed me!” etc.. will maybe shock these people out of their auction stupor.

When I search for your title: Aurora Borealis Crystal Brooch Pin, I came up with 59 items with the same words in the title. I would suggest using better keywords in your title.  What color is your pin? Is it marked? What year was it made?  When writing a title, make sure you use words that will describe your item.  Buyers search for the stuff they want using keywords. eBay gives us 55 characters to use to describe our items.  Did you know you only used 21 characters? eBay has a title helper, that might assist you in writing better titles.  http://labs.ebay.com/erl/demoto/to A better title might be: Vintage Pink Circle Rhinestone Aurora Borealis Pin.  I would make the following changes to your description: Up for auction is a Vintage Aurora Borealis, Crystal brooch from the 1950s.  This was given to me by my husband’s grandmother

• Rhinestones are a beautiful shade of pink
  
• Gold tone metal
• Pin back is in good working order
  
• Pin is 2.5” across and is circular
  
• 2 of the smallest stones missing (I couldn't tell until I looked very, very closely)
• A bit of the gold tone on the back of the brooch is rubbing off.
  
•     The brooch comes with vintage hinged gift box.

Your description is pretty good.  Make sure you put the positive things about the item first, then anything that might be negative. It’s important to remember to include, size, shape, color, age, and any damage. I would also remove “Vintage Sold as is, No Returns” While your policy is you do not accept returns, if your buyer is unhappy and opens a claim, you will have no choice but to accept a return.

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item: 320662470743 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): All this talk about rhinestones, I thought I should see what was selling. Check out: Vintage Sherman Pin Brooch Taupe Rhinestone SOLD $411.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/Vintage-SHERMAN-PIN-BROOCH-Taupe-Rhinestone-Japanned-/200580605405  

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen:

I made a resolution last year to buy all my Christmas gifts locally OR on eBay.  I have found it very easy for me to do, and it has really saved me lots of time. I’ve bought five things so far off of eBay, and I haven’t had any problems.  My husband told me that SOMETHING bad is going to happen if I don’t know the right way to buy on there!  Here I thought I was doing it just fine!   I don’t have a whole lot of time left to buy gifts, and I have at least 10 more to buy.  Could you give me some pointers to appease my husband and help me finish my Christmas shopping?

Tina, Emporia, KS

Dear Tina:

Congratulations on the great buys!  Here are a few tips to make sure your buys are problem free on eBay!

·         Check the seller’s feedback. What kind of negative and neutral feedback have they received?  Is all the feedback saying the same thing? If so, there could be a problem.  What type of response does the seller have for these feedbacks? Does the seller’s defense sound reasonable? Sometimes new members who buy items on eBay are paranoid and they leave a negative feedback in a rush so make sure if the seller has defended themselves in a reasonable manner. If there are too many complaints of the same nature, then it is probably true.

·         Ask the seller a question before bidding on the item. I always like to ask the seller a question if I am uncomfortable with their feedback, or if they have low feedback numbers.  All good sellers will reply promptly to questions.

·         When in doubt, call them. If you are buying something expensive, you can ask for the contact information of the seller at http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQtZvbQQsofindtypeZ9.  You will have to login to your eBay account and send a request. You can get the seller’s address and phone number. In doing this, your address and phone number will also be emailed to the seller.

·         Check description of the item. Read the item description carefully.  Is there any damage? Does the color match the picture?  Is it a complete set?  Make sure your questions about the item are answered before you bid.  

·         Refund Policy.  eBay requires a seller to have refund policy.  Make sure your seller’s refund policy is in line with your comfort level for this transaction.

·         Always pay with PayPal. This will insure if you have a problem it will be resolved fairly.

Dear eBay Queen:

I haven’t sold on eBay in almost four years.   I’ve decided to start selling again. I’ve sold 2 items so far, and they went out of the country!  One went to Japan, the other item to Spain.  The good news is I have 3 items with bids and several watchers on the rest of my items!

Since returning to eBay, I seem to have a lot of questions.  I hope you can help me answer them.

·         When do you find the best day to end is?  What about the best time to end them?

·         I can’t seem to find a way to add insurance after the sale. I’ve looked everywhere on eBay, and I even sent a question in.  I haven’t received an answer.

·         I’ve always used the SYI or Sell Your Item Form. Is there a more simple way to list items quickly? 

 Thank you for your help. 

 Christina, Topeka, KS

Dear Christina:

Welcome back to eBay, and congratulations on the sales!  eBay has made lots of changes over the last three years.  One of the best places to read about these changes is on eBay.  Check out the eBay announcement board,  http://announcements.ebay.com/.  There you will find he current announcements and in the archives all of the stuff that happened while you were away.

·         I personally like to end my items on Sunday in the evening or Monday in the afternoon.  I know that many times it depends on what you sell.  I have a friend that sells vintage clothing and she likes to end her items on Friday night.  Terrapeak (http://www.terrapeak.com ) has a tool that will help you pick the best day to end an item based on it’s category.

·         eBay no longer allows a seller to charge insurance.  The best way to handle this is to build it into the price of the item. 

·         The Sell Your Item form is a great way to list.  If you are looking for something that is more automated, you might want to look into TurboLister, or Blackthorne Basic.

Welcome back to eBay!

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 220700684710 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page): Sometimes you think you’ve seen it all, then you visit eBay. Check out the Danbury Mint Poodle Dog Christmas Tree SOLD $1,027.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/Danbury-Mint-Poodle-Christmas-Tree-/130458904360  

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com

Dear eBay Queen;

I don’t have any experience selling on eBay.  I hope that you can help me.  I would like to start selling stuff right away, but I have no idea what to sell. Which would be better, selling a new product or selling vintage items? Is there an easy way to find product to sell?  If so, could you please tell me what website and what product? I have some friends that sell toys, action figures and comic books.  They won’t help me out at all when it comes to finding stuff to sell. Thank you.

Inessa; Lawrence, KS

Dear Inessa;

I don’t know too many eBayers that will share where they purchase their product from. Don’t take it personal, your friends are just trying to protect their source. Finding the right product to sell is a closely guarded secret with every bricks and mortar store and online retailers.

Before jumping into finding items to sell, I always recommend getting your feet wet by selling something you have laying around the house first. eBay can be a lot of work, and most people do not realize that when they are just starting out.

After you’ve sold 10-15 things, you probably will know if you like photographing, writing up, listing, packaging and shipping eBay items.  After selling that many items, it would be a good time to start looking for a product line to sell. Whichever way you choose, new or vintage, each have a good market share on eBay.  It is up to you to decide which one you are interested in.

 Here are a few things to think about when trying to find what to sell:

1. What are you interested in?  Do you like electronics, jewelry, shoes?

2. How much work is it to pack the product for shipment?

3. How hard will it be to find the product for resale?

4. What will your profit be after paying for the product, eBay and PayPal fees?

There are a lot of websites that carry products for you to sell on eBay. Three of the more popular ones are: http://www.WholesaleBoxLots.com , http://www.alibaba.com, or http://www.worldwidebrands.com . 

I wish I had the right answer for you.  Fortunately there is no right or wrong item to sell.  It takes lots of hard work to find the product that is just right for you to sell.

Dear eBay Queen;

Yesterday, I received an eBay email saying my fixed price listing had ended, (the standard email you get when fixed price listings end).  Thing was, I knew that this listing was not a fixed price listing, but was a store listing that was good till cancelled.  Nothing in the email indicated why it had closed. 

When I went to relist this item, I got a message saying information needed to be changed – and eventually found out that for this particular store listing, I had not specified a handling time.  Do you have any idea what this means? What exactly is a handling time?

Ivan J.

Dear Ivan;

eBay implemented the “handling time” feature in April of 2009 and started enforcing it in late October of 2009.  This feature is to let buyers know how long it will take for you to ship the item off after they pay for it.  I’m not sure why it came across as a Fixed Price listing instead of a Store listing.  I have contacted eBay and they said it was probably a glitch in the system that changed the name from Store to Fixed Price on the email.  Have you updated your other store listings so that those won’t be cancelled also?

Handling time is the number of business days the seller will take to ship the item after receiving your cleared payment. A payment is considered "cleared" after the money from the buyer has been deposited into the seller’s account.  Keep in mind this does not include the number of business days the shipping service will take to deliver the item to you.  For more information on handling time go here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/contextual/domestic-handling-time.html

Strange eBay item of the week: eBay item 11045036789 (enter this number in the eBay search box in the top right corner of the home page).  I love old crocks, and I think other people do too! Check out this vintage Rare Red Wing 2 Gallon Advertising Crock. SOLD $3,550.00 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=110450356789      

Suzie Eads is a nationally known eBay marketer and eBay trained Education Specialist. She lives in Rantoul. Do you have a question for the eBay Queen? E-mail: questions@asktheebayqueen.com.