Learn from My EBay Mistakes

I've sold quite a few items on eBay, but I could have sold more if I didn't make some pretty foolish mistakes.

Here are a few of my biggest eBay blunders - and here's to hoping you learn from my gaffes:

Low profit margin items. I used to sell tons of items on eBay which netted me $5 or less per item. Sure, they were easy sales. And yes, they added to my PayPal account. But when I calculated the time I spent acquiring the items, taking pictures, writing the listings and putting the items up live, I wasn't making much per hour at all. I would have been better off with a part-time job. I was able to increase my hourly take by increasing the profit margin. I negotiated the lowest prices I could for quality items, then sold them on eBay for as much as the market would bear. Netting $20 per eBay item made it worth while.

Start everything at $1.00. The first item I ever sold on eBay was a novelty radio I bought for $6.00 sometime in the '80's. I listed it for $1.00 and it sold for $35. I didn't replicate that feat, but I did try. Most of the reset of my $1.00 items sold for $5.00 or less, making it hardly worth my time and effort.

Lack research. In order to set the right starting prices of your eBay auctions, it's essential to study eBay auctions of similar items. This will allow you to determine the viability of a particular item. Research can also tell you what's hot on eBay. Holidays and seasonal whims often dictate what items move on eBay and which do not. When I started on eBay, I set arbitrary listing prices and didn't even figure out the probability of actually selling my items. As a result, I wound up with low final prices and many items that wouldn't sell.

Keep trying to sell same item. There were a number of items I thought would sell on eBay and tried to sell them over and over and over. This cost me the listing price (which is nominal) many, many times - which meant I was losing money on those eBay auctions. I decided that I would try to sell a particular item on eBay no more than twice. If it doesn't sell after the second time, I'll either try to sell it in a yard sale or donate it (and take a deduction).

Get in over your head. By now you've heard how you, too, can get rich on eBay. And, by now, you've heard great eBay success stories. Heck, some people make a living off of their eBay auctions and eBay stores. Others try it and wind up in the hole - like I did at first. They list more items - and pay more listing fees - than they can cover if their items go unsold. And, if they make the mistakes I did early in my eBay career (see the rest of this article), then they wind up in the hole. Like anything else, start slow and learn the ropes. Then gradually ramp up.

Lack pictures. On eBay, pictures sell. Take great pictures and your items have a much better chance of success. I tried to sell a few things on eBay without pictures (when my camera was on the blink) and wound up getting very, very few hits. None of them sold. Thankfully, my camera was fixed and I was able to attract more hits - and sold most of those that were unsold before.

Bad descriptions. How you describe your eBay items can determine if your item will sell - and for how much. If, for instance, you're trying to sell window blinds, provide the color, width and length. These are important factors - which I left off of my early auctions. Some eBay sellers add humor to their descriptions, too. This helps make your eBay listings "sticky" - buyers will tend to spend more time looking at your items.