Wednesday 25 April 2012

eBay: The Basics

eBay has been around for years and i'm sure practically everybody reading this will have heard of it, For those who haven't heard of it I shall explain, eBay is an auction site where users buy and sell items across the interwebs.

Now the question is how do I start well firstly you create your eBay ID, this allows you to buy and sell items. The second step is to setup a PayPal account this is the most common way to pay for products on eBay, It is a secure website where you can link your credit/debit card too or deposit funds into your PayPal account.

Buying on eBay - to buy on eBay you have to bid on items (unless the buy it now option is available)  each item has a time until the auction finishes e.g. a week. If you really want an item just click add to watch list (this will watch the item until the auction runs out) and wait for the time to near its end, this is the best way to buy because bidding early on items raises the price if there are more than one interested eBayers. All searches on eBay can be refined using the left hand side toolbar where you can change the maximum price of the product displayed etc.

Selling on eBay - this is what most people are interested in, making money. You have to make sure that you have a good quality item you're willing to sell, whether this be found in your house or bought from a garage sale (car boot sale for UK’ers) you need to make sure that the item is wanted.

How do I know if item will sell?
This is the most commonly asked question, to find out search the product you're going to sell. e.g. dog chew toy and select the completed listings option located on the left hand side toolbar, this will show you the recently ended listings, if the price is coloured red then the item hasn't sold if its green than it has. Now there may be a lot of unsold listings don't worry about this can be due too a lot of different factors for example postage costs, too expensive, damage etc. Always check the listing for any of these signs that put buyers off.

Selling Rules:
  1. List items professionally - no spelling mistakes or bad pictures.
  2. ALWAYS include a picture, people don't tend to buy things they can't see.
  3. Start the bidding low - if you're selling an iPad and list it at £0.99/$0.99 it's going to catch peoples eyes.



P.S I will do future eBay tips and tricks (just the basics for the moment)


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