Suppose that valuable porcelain lamp you just put up for sale takes a tumble offthe shelf and shatters in bits on the concrete floor of your basement? Suppose youraunt, who gave you that painting to sell, suddenly decides to donate it to an artmuseum instead? In such cases you can cancel your sale. eBay provides you witha form that allows you to explain the reason for ending the sale early. The form letsyou choose between canceling all bids or selling to the high bidder and cancelingall other bids. After you fill out the form, an e-mail message is automatically sentto any bidders explaining that the sale was ended early. On the other hand, you can also extend the end of your auction if your itemhas not yet received any bids.
Sometimes, when sellers conduct a three-day auctionand their item does not receive any bids during those three days, they extend theauction one day. The moment a bid comes in, the auction must either end at thecurrently advertised time, or you must cancel it. Some sellers will list for 3 days, and if they get no bidders will extend the duration one increment at a time untilthey reach 10 days (this is done via the item revision link on the description page).
Control Your Emotions
You're bound to run into problems during your time as an eBay businessperson. Someone will e-mail you and leave negative feedback because they're not happywith what they purchased. Or the item you sent got lost or delayed in transit andyour customer is understandably displeased. What's the best way to respond tosuch problems? Longtime sellers know it's best not to get emotionally involved. Even though you are involved in a person-to-person sale, this is a business transaction. Keep cordial at all times when you're communicating with someone who is unhappy. File a complaint in the Rules & Safety Support area (http://pages. ebay.com/help/basics/select-RS. html) and let eBay pursue those bidders who turn out to bedeadbeats. Other than that, try to resolve disputes yourself in an effort to avoidnegative feedback.
Consider coming up with a stock response when you run intoan unhappy camper. That way, bidders will get some money back, you keep yourpositive feedback, and you dodge a dispute:My Auction Company, Inc. , puts costumer service first and is committed tokeeping you happy. If you are unhappy with what you have purchased, wewill refund your purchase, less a shipping fee. You can't give a refund to everyone who complains, of course nor shouldyou. I'm only saying that sometimes, it's better to resolve disputes yourself andwrite off a moderate financial loss once in a while. You can cancel someone's bid if you notice that they have received substantialamounts of negative feedback and have not followed through with othersales. If a bidder contacts you and asks to be taken out of the sale, or ifhe or she is located overseas and your description clearly states you willnot ship overseas, you can also cancel a bid. When you do so, you shoulde-mail the individual to explain the reason for the cancellation. The bidcancellation form is located at http://pages. ebay.com/services/buyandsell/seller-cancel-bid. html.
Resell Items When You Need To
If something doesn't attract any bids, or you had to cancel your auction early, orthe bidders didn't meet your reserve price, simply wait a week or so and then relist the item. You can relist by returning to the completed auction page and clickingthe link Relist item. You get a small bonus the first time you relist: If your itemsells the second time around, eBay refunds you the Insertion Fee. If it doesn't sellthe second time, however, you will have to pay the Insertion Fee. Don't simply repeat the original auction description when you relistsomething. Look around at other eBay sales descriptions of similar itemsand try to identify some adjectives that might generate excitement, or addsome phrases that suggest how people might be able to use what you aretrying to sell. Consider going no reserve, or lowering the opening bidprice when you relist.
Buy Strategically So You Can Resell
Once you've got the routine of selling down to a regular system, the big challengeisn't actually making sales on eBay. Rather, the challenge is finding merchandiseyou can resell. Many of the sellers I spoke to spend a considerable amount of timeeach week gathering merchandise at garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, auctions wherever they can find it. As anyone who has tried to make a purchase at a conductedsale (a sale of someone's possessions that is conducted by a professional dealerrather than the homeowner) knows, such sales are likely to have great bargains, butthe competition for them is fierce. Often, you have to stand in line for hours beforethe sale opens just so you can have a chance at finding treasures. If a sale opens at9 A. M. , for instance, you might have to get in line at 6 A. M. , 5 A. M. …who knows?There aren't many tricks to obtaining inventory you can resell online. It requiresa lot of commitment and "sweat equity. " Here are a few suggestions I've discoveredin my own bargain hunting over the years and from talking to eBay sellers:
- Don't do it alone If you work as a team, you can find more merchandisethan you could alone. You'll also have help hauling away what you buy. Some sellers hire college students to go to sales before the sun is up andwait in line for them; they show up at a more reasonable hour, ready forthe hunt.
- Buy off-season Often, resale shops have plenty of winter clothes inspring and fall, and summer clothes in winter, for the simple reason thatmost people don't need them at that time. Buy off-season and store yourinventory so you can sell it at a time when most of your customers willactually want it.
- Become a dealer yourself If you become a licensed auction seller or ifyou are an antique dealer, put out advertisements suggesting that peoplewho are retiring or moving out have you conduct their house sale. Younever know you might be able to find a bargain or two for yourself.
- Try dollar stores One of the most interesting trends in the world ofbargain hunting is the proliferation of stores that sell all, or most, of theirwares for a dollar of less. All too often, the shelves are full of junk, butonce in a while, you can find pop culture memorabilia or good articles youcan pick up for a bargain.
- Join a warehouse club Costco, Sam's Club, and other warehouse storesdeal in volume; sometimes you can find DVDs or computer games attwo-for-one promotions at these brick-and-mortar discount warehouses.
- Look for bargains online Some discount outlets hold their own onlineauctions, and you should definitely check them out. The Sam's Club auctionpage (http://auctions. samsclub.com) is a great placeto find bargains you can resell on eBay. You can shop online at Costco(http://www.costco.com ) and at other bargain outlets like the 99¢ Onlystores Web site (http://www.99only.com ). Know when the garbage pickup days are for your own neighborhood andany neighborhoods where people who are well-off live. Be sure you startscouring alleys either the night before or early in the morning on garbageday. I, personally, am not above "garbage picking" or "dumpster diving"in order to uncover bargains that others are discarding. For a primer on thispopular activity, read the online diary "Dumpster diving: an Introduction"at http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2003/1/29/215523/088.
Drum Up Some Free Advertising
Everyone who sells online needs to drum up business by doing some form ofmarketing and advertising. By choosing to sell on eBay, you take a big step towardgetting lots of attention for you and your merchandise. You can go even further bymarketing your eBay sales. For example, you might include links to your eBay Store, your About Me page,or to a specific sale in a posting you leave in an Internet newsgroup that's relatedto what you are selling. That's how I first found out eBay ever existed, back in themid-1990s. I subscribed to a newsgroup for individuals who collect and sell antique fountain pens. In the course of reading postings, I frequently saw listings by dealersthat contained links to pens they had up for auction on eBay. I clicked one of thelinks, and instantly became an eBay junkie.
Link to Your Web Site, and Vice Versa
If you have a Web site, whether it catalogs the members of your family or theitems your business has for sale, use it to promote your eBay auction listings. Selling on eBay is a remarkably personal activity. Buyers remember sellers, and ifthey have a good experience with you, they are quite likely to check you and yoursales out once in a while to see what you have to offer. Many eBay sellers includelinks to their eBay auctions on their Web sites, and their auction listings or eBayStores/About Me pages include links back to their Web sites.
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1. Things to know to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing
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