E-Bay Questions

I've got one item that I may be putting on E-bay. And I'm considering putting the wreaths that my family makes in November on there. Any tips in general? Also when selling several of the same item are you best off doing Dutch or multiples? If you want a minimum price are you better off doing a first bid or reserve?
I am sure there are many things I haven't even thought of so any tips would be welcome. TIA

Here's a few things I've learned:

1) Try and time the end of your auction well. I like to run 7 day auctions that end about 5 or 6 pm PST on a Saturday or Sunday. People are at home and can check the auction in the final hours regularly.

2) Lots of people don't like reserves. I spent some time on the eBay forums and ran into people that refused to bid on a reserve auction as they felt it took away from the "real" auction experience. That said, when I was selling fairly expensive e-bikes I found that a starting bid of $800 spooked people out. Opening bid of $100 and an $800 reserve got things rolling and auction fever sets in (Aside: I've heard people who bid on a reserve auction for the minimum amount with no intention of going higher refered to as "snowball bidders", ie. not a snowball's chance in hell they were going to win. I thought that was witty). It depends a lot on the items you are going to auction and the $$$ amounts you're talking about.

3) Try and accomodate international bidders! There's a great big world of people itching to buy your product who may be willing to pay more for your item. Don't use UPS to ship to Canadians; they charge us silly brokerage fees.

4) Work a little on your description page. Try and throw a little HTML in there. I used Netscape Composer. Just remember to only paste the stuff that comes between the opening and closing body tags. Fast loading pictures and an accurate description will help out a lot and save you from answering tons of email.

5) Spend some time reading the buyers and sellers forums on eBay. You can learn a lot by listening to people.

I hope this is of some help. I certainly don't claim to be an expert (I've only had 15 or 20 auctions up), but this is the stuff that I've used to help me get bids.

Good Luck!

I've only sold 2 items on eBay and I'm getting ready to sell another item. (I must be a pack rat who keeps a lot of junk.)

I learned that a good picture is the best "tool" to sell your product. I used white bath towels as a simple backdrop to photography my items against. I took about a dozen photos and selected the one that looked the best (no flash glare, no shadows, etc.)

I also looked for similar items that were on sale (or were sold) so that I could find out how I should describe my items (and how much money I could make). Use the AIDA principle in your description: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. Two powerful words are FREE and NOW (if you have the opportunity to use them): FREE shipping, FREE gift with order, Buy 3 and Get One FREE, Don't wait: bid NOW, etc.

If you know how to use HTML in the description, use the color red (especially in the headline) because it is attention getting and invokes action.

Lastly, as a bidder on eBay, I like "Buy It Now" auctions to avoid the bidding process, although the final price is usually higher. I once got into a bidding war that went right down to the last second and I lost. What a bummer. On a dutch auction that I desperately wanted to win several items, I got up at 4 a.m. to make sure I didn't get outbid.

Good luck and get started NOW!

Oh, how I hate reserve prices. I'm one of those who won't bid on reserve auctions. I see why people use them, but I think we'd all be better off if it simply was not an option.

Great advice from mekki. One more thing to add is *pay attention to the auction title*. If you spell something wrong, nobody will ever be able to find your wreths, if you know what I mean. Most folks search on a keyword, so put as many of them in as you think of. The Title doesn't even need to make sense. The most important thing is to get it to pop up under as many relevant searches as possible. Good luck.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't know about the forums there. I'm sure E-Bay has lots of info but I like to get "real" world info here.

What mekki said.

I can't say enough how a couple of good pictures are worth a thousand emails

Seriously they help people decide whether to bid or not and answer a lot of their questions.

the biggerst thing I have found is that you really have to have a grip on the spirit of how the auctioning process works. the whole original idea is that you can buy something without getting ripped off and for cheaper (even if only a little) than going to a store.You absolutely must post a pic to get good results. Be detailed and himble in your description. tell as much about the item as you can. people will be able to see if you are genuine or a scammer in what you say.
For myself, I have always had decent luck selling and getting a little more than I expected, but also I would spend 1-3 hours setting up an auction. I try to tell everythinbg I can about the item and speak it like a plain honest joe on the street. I have in the past been able to get a fair price on an item that wasn't in the greatest of conditions by being honest and pointing out flaws that the unscrupulous would try to hide. I've found honesty to be a big key in winning bidders over.
Get a handle too on how the whole process works before during and after the auctioning process. try to e-mail the winner as soon as possible once they've won, sending also your address for payment (I like using PayPal myself). they will mail you back with address for item's delivery. An extra helpful task is to mail them when you send the item so they know you got the payment and it's on it's way. When initially communicating after an auction ends, I always tell them their payment options and ask that they reply with how they are going to pay and when they send it so I will know to expect it. I inform them that I will mail them when I get payment and again when it gets mailed (usually the next day). Try to do things in a fashion that you yourself would be satisfied with the transaction if you were the buyer. Keep everything simple, honest, and well informed, and you will get great feedback and that in itself will help out tremendously in future sales.
On a final note, I personally for myself, have found that I have made the most money selling items that are just pure junk or useless to me. For example I had an old karate instruction book (pictures showing step by step moves) that would bring me $0.50 at a garage sale or maybe a dollar if traded in at a used book store. At auction it brought me $8.15, go figure?