How to Make More E-Bay Sales

To the novice, the site can appear intimidating. There are sellers who have feedback totals in the thousands. Their item descriptions have colored text and graphics and logos, and look like magazine ads. They offer everything short of personally delivering the items to your door.

Low feedback has become suspect. Many sellers will not accept bids from buyers with a feedback rating of less than 10, or sometimes 25. Buyers tend to think twice, or more often, before purchasing an item from a seller who appears inexperienced.

You can do something about all this.

Even the simplest transaction, for the smallest opening bid, can look like a pro managed it when common sense is combined with courtesy.

Apply these suggestions, and the chances are good that you'll get off to a good start, increase your positive feedback, and build a base of repeat buyers.

The nicest compliments I get arrive days after I've mailed something, from buyers who didn't have to send them. Second to them are Item Sold confirmations with the address of a buyer that I remember because I've sent him things before.

LISTING

If I know absolutely nothing about the item I'm listing, I do some research. Rarely has a Google search turned up no useful background information. A fleshed-out item description tells a prospective buyer that the seller knows his wares, has taken the time to be helpful, and isn't just selling things in the abstract.

Unnecessary information -- arrrrgh! Many many times I've looked for classic silver-face Pioneer and Marantz receivers and seen, in item descriptions, a serial number or manufacturer's address copied from a label on the back panel, that the buyer doesn't need to know.

The fiction writer must ask himself: will the reader need to know (whatever detail it is) to visualize a scene? The same rule can be applied to writing item descriptions, even those with pictures.

Typing an entire description in an 11 point font, in capital letters, serves no purpose. Actually, it's yelling. If small text is hard to read, use a larger, bold font.

PACKING

Neatness now counts. Seller feedback includes ratings -- one through five stars -- for how well an item is packaged for shipping.

So it's better to use too much packing material than too little. There's always more cardboard, tissue paper, and filler. Tape is cheap. Use recycled materials, generously (see my AC article on salvaged packing stuff).

STAMPS

Everyone likes to get a package in the mail with lots of stamps on it. Stamped packages stand out among those with pre-printed postage. Anything that might make a customer remember you is worth the effort.

Stamps related to the item add a personalized touch. Example: the 45 of "Donna / La Bamba" I mailed using, among others from the 1993 Legends Of Rock sheet, the Ritchie Valens stamp.

Sheets of old stamps can still be purchased, many at below face value (see my AC article on below-face postage). Some collectors of first-day-of-issue covers (envelopes) prepare theme covers, with several stamps linked to the subject of the first-day stamp. Your stamps could also be linked to what's inside the package. For records, I've used the 13 cent Centennial Of Sound Recording stamp issued in 1978, from a below-face sheet. It's easy to assume that no one notices the postage on a package. You'd be surprised how many people do.

COMMUNICATE

I'm grateful that anything I list sells, even if it's a two dollar 45 that yields around 60 cents after expenses and fees. So I don't let too much time pass before contacting the winner. If an auction ends after midnight, I'll wait until morning, but no longer.

To make this easier, I use a template message from my Sent folder, and change the winner's name, name of the item, shipping costs, and payment total. This way, I don't have to re-type the whole message.

Every winning bidder, once their item has been mailed, gets a confirmation message. This I have done each time since my first sale eight years ago. I never could imagine sending a package without this simple courtesy.

My standard confirmation message reads (NAME OF ITEM) SENT THIS (AM or PM) (CLASS OF MAIL) THX 7-3 N/T.

One line that fits nicely into the Subject field of an e-mail message; no text so the receiver doesn't have to open it.

Any or all of these, applied to a transaction, tell a buyer that, even thought you're just starting, you're committed to your on-line business and to offering a first-rate E-Bay experience.

Apply them, come up with some of your own, and you'll also be rewarded when that little star next to your feedback total changes color.