How to Improve your eBay Business

I have been an eBay seller for many years, and a Silver Powerseller for some of that time. Here are some things I have learned about eBay auctions and listings that if you put into practice will help you improve your eBay business.

DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPITALS, it’s much easier to read if it’s not in capitals. You Should Do Your Titles So The First Letter Only Is Capitalized As That Stands Out Best.

Use English words as well as American words, then people searching for either will find your auctions.

Use your own photographs and not stock photos, people actually buy more from people who use their own photographs.

Offer some auctions, don’t just offer store items for sale. I know they cost more, but offering no auctions means that people who only search for auctions will miss your items. Maybe start your auctions at 9.99 with a buy it now of 11.99.

If listing auctions are too expensive, then just list auctions on free listing days.

Don’t start your auction at a price where you would be unhappy if it sold. Often now there are no eBay bidding wars, so don’t start your auction at 0.99 unless you would be happy with that sale. You want to make your BIN price 1.00 or 2.00 above your starting auction price.

Use the best offer feature on your store items. If you want to sell for 11.99, then list your item at 12.99 with an option of a best offer. You can automatically accept any offer over 11.99 and then you are not wasting your time with people offering you silly amounts.

Make sure you are selling Internationally, especially if you don’t live in the US. The United States is by far the biggest market on eBay. Then list the cost of shipping to the US in your auctions. If I have to email you to find the shipping cost then I might just pass your listings and move on to someone who tells me the cost in their auction. Even if you don’t want to ship to some countries (I don’t ship to South America or Africa) you still need to ship to at least the English speaking countries.

If you are selling only one type of product, then try and change your user name to reflect that. Have your product or type of product in your user name, and make it memorable. I often buy something from a seller years after I’ve bought something because I remember their eBay ID.

List the same item multiple times. You are allowed to list the same item up to 3 times. If there are more auctions, then my opinion of you is that you are more professional. Also you can put different words in the title each time you list something, so attracting different people.

Don’t use punctuation in the title. In particular don’t use the apostrophe as it messes up the searches. Some punctuation messes us searches and some don’t, the best is just not to use any. Write mens and not men’s in your title.

When you list something ask yourself if you were looking for this item, what would you search for then put those words in the title.

Use your “about me” well. Tell me in your about me page why you are selling, why you are a trusted seller, what great merchandise you have and how often you get new stock. Then invite me to follow you as a seller, even giving instructions (click here to follow me…). Some people put a photo here. If you sell anywhere else on the Internet, you are allowed up to 3 links on the about me page, but not in your auctions. I put my personal web page here and links to my other writing. I used to put a link to the things I was selling on Amazon.

Talking of Amazon, are you selling there too? Maybe when you have sold on eBay for a while you can work out how to sell on Amazon too, that will double your sales. But be careful, if you sell something from one place you have to remove it from stock in the other. (I’ve made that mistake more than once!)

Get the URL of your auctions and list them on IMAutomator.com, it just gives them more visibility. Or you can use auctionbump.com.

Give eBay time, it took me 3 years before I was earning what I would call a “decent amount” from selling on eBay. Treat your first few years as a learning experience. When you make mistakes, just ask yourself what you have learned and do better in the future.