Guide to of Gaining a Buyer's Trust and Gaining Credibility on Ebay

Undoubtedly AC is already flooded with articles on how you can sell on eBay with it being incredibly easy, quick and simple. This is probably true and the other articles are probably correct in the majority of their assumptions and claims. However, I have been buying and selling not only on EBay but on various websites, markets and portals, and all of this selling has lead me to a bring forth a few tips for you the seller.

Starting with the basics

EBay is a giant online auction site, EBay serves as the middleman between you (the seller) and millions of buyers worldwide. This is what has made EBay so incredibly popular. For the buyers they can find anything, because sellers are from all over the world, and more importantly they can find it cheap. But for sellers this is even better because the buyers are from all over the world and thus the product they are offering is all of the sudden being marketed to millions rather than those in their local area. First you must register on EBay which is completely free and takes little more than five minutes. The registration locks down your address and saves your credit card information in case you want to buy items quick and easy. Once registered a seller may begin selling by listing items. In order to sell successfully you will need products, pictures of your products, and it helps greatly to have a paypal account. The pictures are very important, the better the picture the more confident buyers are in what they are seeing, remember this is not like a store where they can physically see the item, you will get bids based upon the trust you gain from the buyer. When you list your item you will type out a description of what the item is. Your description and picture(s) are the only ways that buyers can trust what you are selling (besides your feedback, but so many sellers have such good feedback that it has become somewhat void).

Take a down home approach

Look at the other auctions of similar items; is everything a "buy now" item, is everything presented by a clear EBay power-seller? If so then feel free to put your item out into the market with a bit of a home-style approach. I'm not saying misspell words, but just because the other sellers paid over a dollar to list their items doesn't mean you have to. Give a back story for your item. Buyers tend to trust you if you can sell them on a certain reason why the item is for them or not for you. For instance many sellers list items with lines like "great item, just do not have the time fore it anymore, my loss your gain" this line automatically puts the buyer at ease. It is always important to make the buyer feel that they are getting a deal on the item they want. More than likely they are but at the same time you are getting what you want, which is high profit margins.

Starting price/shipping

The starting price is crucial for most items. If your item has a lower starting price then it will get bids before other items of a similar nature. Remember, just because your item is starting lower does not mean that it will finish lower. Buyers see the low price they get sucked in and once they start bidding, they stick with that item, they do not want a different TV, and they want yours! Also shipping prices are very important. It is against EBay policy to charge buyers for the cost of your EBay listing fees, however more often than not sellers make up the cost of listing the item in the shipping charges. As a seller you need to make your shipping low enough to where you don't scare away potential bids, and yet high enough to cover all possible expenses, that is why it is called shipping and HANDELING. Generally a safe rule for shipping is to find the zip code of a location as far away from you as possible (within the U.S.) and calculate the cost of shipping the item to that spot. The shipping price can also off set a low final sale price of your item in case too few bidders acted on the item.

The most important thing about selling on EBay is marketing your product to the wildest range of buyers and also gaining as much trust from those buyers as possible. Just because an item is worth a certain amount to you, does not mean that a buyer will pay that amount. Be willing to settle for a low bid, or place a reserve on your item. Once you have been selling for awhile the shipping will get easier and the listing process will be quicker but one aspect will always remain the same and that is the aspect of trust. Trust in the product and trust in the seller, if neither of those exists then there will be no sale.