Technology Toolkit

Being an eBay seller brings a lot of responsibility, sometimes you may feel like you aren’t doing everything that you could possibly do. This checklist should help you keep right on top of things.

Have you found out everything you possibly could about your items? Try typing their names into a search engine – you might find out something you didn’t know. If someone else is selling the same thing as you, then always try to provide more information about it than they do.

Do you keep tabs on your competition? Always keep a keen eye on products that are the same as yours are selling for and what prices these products have their starting bid set to. There’s usually no real point in starting your auction at a fixed price of $150 when someone else on eBay is selling the exact same item at $140.

Have you got pictures of the items? It’s worth taking the time to photograph your items, especially if you have a digital camera. If you get serious about eBay but don’t have a camera, then you will probably want to invest in one at some point.

Are you sending out emails to your sellers? Its well worth it sending out a small email when a transaction goes through successfully, something like ‘Thank you for buying my product, please bring it to my attention when you have made payment for it’. You can also follow that up with an email such as ‘Thanks for the payment, I have posted out the item today’. You may be surprised just how many problems you will potentially avoid just by using this method of communication.

Also, are you checking your emails? Remember that potential buyers can send you email about anything at any time, and not answering these emails will just make them go somewhere else instead of buying from you.

Do the descriptions for your items have all the information that your buyer might need to know? If you’ve made plans to offer international posting, then it’s always a good idea to list the different charges for respective nations and list them on every auction. If you have any additional terms and conditions, example giving refunds on items providing they haven’t been opened, then you should make sure that this information is made available to the buyer.

Have you been wrapping your items correctly? Your wrapping should be professional for the best impression: use appropriately sized envelopes or parcels, wrap the item in bubble wrap to stop it from getting damaged, and print labels instead of hand-writing addresses. Oh, and always use first class post – don’t be cheap.

Do you make a follow up email? Is it really worth sending out another email just a few days after posting the product to the buyer saying ‘Is everything good with product? I hope you received the product that you wanted just as you expected.’ This might appears as though you’ve created an avenue for your customer to make a complaint, but your stance should always be fixated on helping your customers not taking their money and running.

Being a really good eBay seller, more than anything else, is about providing genuinely good and honest customer service. That’s the only foolproof way to protect your reputation.