Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The Long Lost Secret About Selling on Ebay: What We've All Forgotten


What is right there is not always apparent. This is certainly the case with selling on Ebay. It seems that everyone has forgotten about or is deciding to disregard the one most important aspect of any online marketplace: Trust.
Buying online isn't like going to the store; you can't sample or touch any item, read the package and know you're getting the real deal. Hence, the buyer must trust the seller regarding the quality of the product.
WIth this requirement come another: To earn this trust. Most people know exactly what this means in real life but don't seem to be very web-aware.
To begin with, do not use all caps. While this attracts attention, I can assure you that it doesn't attract customers. Consider it, would you buy anything that has all it's specifications in an amateurish Arial all-caps?
Further, you don't have to be a great photographer to post a decent image of your item. One thing you must not do is retrieve a generic one from Google Images because again, this is unprofessional and appears extremely untrustworthy.
One more small thing that I still see for some reason is links to your blog or website with promotion in mind. Ebay isn't a classifieds host so don't use it as one. It definitely loses my trust nice and quickly if I see blue underlined text.
Lastly, make an effort to create as complete of an auction as possible. Specifiy the shipping price and means instead of leaving it blank, make a "Buy it Now", and insert all the product information (model number, size, battery life, warranty, colour, regular price etc. can make something incredibly impressive). One more tip, if you use sophisticated but understandable language, you'll garner more trust. And of course, your seller rating and feedback makes the biggest difference while a reasonable price that isn't too good to be true is crucial. But hopefully, that's obvious.
So happy money-making!

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