i want to start selling on ebay. do i need a long history to be taken seriously?

ebtek

ebtek

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Oct 21, 2008
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i want to start selling items on ebay. my ebay account has 1 sale, and about 3 purchases, from a couple years ago.

am i good to go to just use it to start selling stuff? or will sellers with a longer/higher history have a better crack at my my customers?

should i invest in an ebay account with a long history? and what would it cost?
 


Just buy a bunch of 99 cent auctions. Invest around $100 and within a week you have 100 feedback.
 
I used to be an ebay powerseller before I got into AM.

Make damn sure your paypal account is verified and your address is confirmed.

Be sure and fill out your ebay me page Creating an About Me page

and

your ebay world page. Creating a My World page

Pick up and ebay store - they are cheap, easy to maintain, and well worth it. http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/start.html

Fill out your stores homepage info too - a real picture of you, or some of your items can build credibility.

You can even promote your website on these pages (last time I checked), but not your actual listing. When I promoted a memorabilia website, I made like 20 guitars $99,000 so people would look at them. Of course no one bought them, but if you typed in "*famous person* autographed guitar" in google, I was the first with a picture to my listing. It drove a lot of traffic to the site since they kept browsing my store.

As long as the transaction goes well, be sure and request feedback from those who do not give it to you - but don't bug them. Your first 10 or so are the most important, but staying at 100% positive is pretty much mandatory if your newer. Anything besides 100% positive is bad feedback. Usually for the very first 10 - 20 I write a hand note asking for their feedback immediately in a kind manner.

As long as you have some feedback that is recent - people shouldn't be too wary to buy from you. Ebay protects buyers much more than sellers.

I could go on all day about ebay, PM me if you have any questions.
 
metalshark said:
I used to be an ebay powerseller before I got into AM.

Make damn sure your paypal account is verified and your address is confirmed.

Be sure and fill out your ebay me page Creating an About Me page

and

your ebay world page. Creating a My World page

Pick up and ebay store - they are cheap, easy to maintain, and well worth it. eBay Stores: Overview

Fill out your stores homepage info too - a real picture of you, or some of your items can build credibility.

You can even promote your website on these pages (last time I checked), but not your actual listing. When I promoted a memorabilia website, I made like 20 guitars $99,000 so people would look at them. Of course no one bought them, but if you typed in "*famous person* autographed guitar" in google, I was the first with a picture to my listing. It drove a lot of traffic to the site since they kept browsing my store.

As long as the transaction goes well, be sure and request feedback from those who do not give it to you - but don't bug them. Your first 10 or so are the most important, but staying at 100% positive is pretty much mandatory if your newer. Anything besides 100% positive is bad feedback. Usually for the very first 10 - 20 I write a hand note asking for their feedback immediately in a kind manner.

As long as you have some feedback that is recent - people shouldn't be too wary to buy from you. Ebay protects buyers much more than sellers.

I could go on all day about ebay, PM me if you have any questions.
Click to expand...


Kickass post man. thanks for the head start :)

why did you 'use' to be an ebay power seller? and not anymore?


thanks to FerrisHilton and Tongol too. good idea, to just buy a bunch of cheap shit and build credibility.

what about creating a 2nd account that 'buys' a few things to my primary account...just to build some 'sellers' credit? im sure that's frowned upon, but thought i'd ask
 
the very first 2 items I sold on ebay were 700$ and 950$ each (video recording and editing equipment), had plenty of bids and no one ever doubted my account based on the fact that I had 0 prior sales
 
bizousoft said:
the very first 2 items I sold on ebay were 700$ and 950$ each (video recording and editing equipment), had plenty of bids and no one ever doubted my account based on the fact that I had 0 prior sales
Click to expand...

I noticed that when looking at high demand items. It doesn't matter THAT much unless you're selling everyday items where competition is fierce.
 
ebtek said:
Kickass post man. thanks for the head start :)

why did you 'use' to be an ebay power seller? and not anymore?


thanks to FerrisHilton and Tongol too. good idea, to just buy a bunch of cheap shit and build credibility.

what about creating a 2nd account that 'buys' a few things to my primary account...just to build some 'sellers' credit? im sure that's frowned upon, but thought i'd ask
Click to expand...

I don't do ebay that much anymore, but I still use it. The company I worked for went out of business and although I have a decent work history, I couldn't get a job. I'm young and Vegas is pretty shitty right now, so I basically created my own fucking job, ending up having like 14 local ebay clients.

^It was pretty awesome being able to get drunk and party every night since I had my own schedule , but anyways...

The problem with newer accounts, mainly 0 feedback ones, is that scammers target them hoping your an idiot. So usually, a scammer will win your item...which really is just a pain in the ass when you've had it listed for a week. They will say some shit like "hey, before I purchase I need to make sure you can ship it to me immediately" then when you say yes you can, they will pay via paypal "echeck" or some shit which hasn't cleared. Some noobs will ship the item immediately and then they will cancel the check.


Also, it actually looks worse if you have ~3 feedback, but none in the last 90 days. It appears as a hijacked account to many people.

Point -----Just get some recent feedback and you'll be fine.


Careful about buying your own stuff. I'm not sure how in depth ebay goes to find this, but if your paypal/ebay account is registered to the same email then I THINK they can suspend you. I got a 1 month suspension one time for doing something similar to this, but my dumbass had the 2 accounts attached to the same email.

Heres a few seller hints:

-Always fill up your letter/number characters for the item title - even if its just adding GORGEOUS! or RARE! or the end

-Set your items to end Sunday evening ~5pm - 7pm, thats when ebay has the most traffic (only for auctions, not buy it now)

-Make sure all of your Buy It Now items are set to "good til canceled" , I really don't know why there are other options

-If your simply promoting a digital product, such as an eBook, make listings for 1c that are a downloadable mini (lite) version of your product. Have some decent info with a hint or 2, but then direct them to your site for the full product

-Never fucking ever ship to anywhere besides the paypal address and make damn sure it says in green "Eligible for Seller Protection" before you do


^ Just some basic shit for you, hope it helps.
 
I started selling on eBay two weeks ago. My account was new with 0 feedback. Within 24 hours I had my first sale. I have had quite a few sales since then, and still only have 3 feedback's. So, it seems accounts with low feedback do make sales.

Go for it.
 
The best days of Ebay are long gone, especially for sellers. I used to sell tons of stuff, and pared that down to just a few auctions a year. I sold a few things over the holidays, and bracing to get rid of a few more things. Here are a few tips that will help you get a better price:

Post lots of pictures of the item. If you're new, avoid grabbing a generic picture from Amazon and post your own pics.

Give very explicit descriptions. If you forget an important description detail after getting a bid, you can add to the description at the bottom of the page. Before getting a bid you can change anything.

Answer all questions people ask you that you feel would be helpful, making them public. You have a choice of answering privately or publicly.

Don't list an inflated shipping price. This is a common way for sellers to skimp on fees, but buyers don't like it. Free shipping will get more and higher bids.

Be honest about the item and take pains to describe all flaws.

I personally would not rely on Ebay as a permanent income source. Ebay and Paypal fees will skim your profits. Dealing with customers and Ebay's new rules for sellers will burn you out fast, and as a former seller with 800+ positive feedbacks I know a little something. Occasionally, a buyer will bust your nuts because they can. I'd just sell the crap that you want to get rid of and get out of business. They have a lot of Ebay talk threads at Black Hat World if you want to read more.

Good luck bro.
 
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