Learn to Sell Successfully on eBay: Selling Tips for Small Business

You may have heard a friend or a colleague go on and on about the cool profit he made selling his grandma’s old umbrella on eBay. But somehow you have never gotten around to selling anything on the site. Here’s how to get started with your own eBay business.

Well, getting started with your own eBay business isn’t exactly rocket science. But for every small business owner that ever wanted to cash in on the craze, here’s a simple step-by-step guide.

Something to Sell

The first thing, of course, is having an item to sell. Looking in your garage would be a start; you have surely heard success stories about the selling of junk. Choose something that you think will create interest among potential buyers.

You can even sell products for affiliate companies of eBay. Many people have, in fact, set up home businesses by selling on eBay – so if you are looking to make a living here, you definitely can.

Pricing

You need to have some idea of how much money you want for your items. When auctioning on eBay, there are three prices that you need to give. The first is the “reserve price,” the second is the “buy-it-now” price, and the third is the “opening-bid” price.

Of these, only the opening-bid price is compulsory. Tip: keep the opening bid below $50 to make your products attractive to bidders.

Prepare To Sell

Any successful eBay business begins with marketing your products. Take a good photograph of the items you wish to sell from various angles, as a picture is worth a thousand words.

Make sure that you also list all the features of your items; if they have important or notable histories, you should highlight that as well.

Shipping Details

You need to arrange for shipping of your items before you list them. You will have to mention the shipping costs; these will be paid by your customers.

If you are willing to cover the shipping charges or do it cheaply, you will get a lot more bidders.

Payment Terms

You can choose COD payment (Cash on Delivery) or you can accept online payments through PayPal (www.paypal.com).

The latter is a better option, as eBay offers secure money transactions to its sellers through PayPal.

List Your Items

Now that you have done all the preparation, you can list your items on eBay. Follow the simple step-by-step instructions on the site.

You already have the preliminaries taken care of, so all you need to do is fill in the blanks.

Category

Put your items in a general category, like antiques or electronics. You can also list your products in more than one category, if applicable.

Title

Give each of your items a title that includes as many keywords as you can get in.

This will get you more hits; buyers normally type in keywords when they’re searching for products.

Picture

Post pictures of your items on the site, using eBay Picture Services to crop, rotate, or resize if needed.

You should always try to include pictures, as products that customers can look at usually sell much better – and faster.

Description

Include all details of each product such as the manufacturer, year of manufacture, color, texture, and so on.

Price and Format

Decide whether you want to sell by auction or fixed price.

Payment and Shipping

Fill in your details here.

eBay has revolutionized business-to-consumer business. Once you get started, there your profits will be limited only by your own imagination.

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