What Does it Cost to Sell on eBay?
Published April 24, 2009 | 
The cost to sell on eBay varies depending on which eBay site you’re selling on, and how you list your item. When you sell an item, you’ll be able to review your fees on the Sell Your Item form before you submit your listing. Your total cost will be a total of the insertion fee, final value fee, and listing upgrade fees. Here’s how it works:
- Insertion fee: When you list an item, you’re charged an insertion fee for the listing. The insertion fee is based on the starting price and the category of your item. If you specified a reserve price, the insertion fee is based on the reserve price amount.
- Final value fee: If the item sells, you’re charged a final value fee. The final value fee is based on the final sale price and category of the item. It does not include shipping costs.
- Listing upgrades: If you add upgrades to your listing, such as a subtitle, extra picture, or highlighting, there will be an additional charge for each listing upgrade.
To determine the cost of selling your item, refer to the following pages.
It is important to remember that the cost of using eBay is much lower than developing your own auction platform application and the cost effectiveness is greatly increased with the huge size of the market that eBay Nation represents, and being able to connect with a market that size is priceless.
How Long Should I wait to Receive my Merchandise?
Published March 13, 2009 | 
Even if a seller ships your order on the day they receive the payment, there is still an interval of time before your item arrives at your doorstep. Factors that affect shipping time include distance, class of service, unexpected mail delays, misaddressed mail, and quality of packaging. Normal delivery times can range anywhere from one day to eight weeks. If you’ve done your homework, you should know the seller’s track record for shipping by reviewing his or her feedback. If you feel your package is late, contact the seller to find out what is going on. Whenever possible, obtain a tracking number so you can check the status for yourself online. If you need to contact the seller, you should verify the shipping address, date sent, and the tracking number.
I’m New to eBay and want to Sell
Published March 13, 2009 | 
How can I Convince Others of my Honesty?
Start small, selling relatively inexpensive items that can be shipped cheaply. Deliver them promptly, and pack them carefully. It’s a whole lot easier to sell a $5 to $10 item when you have no feedback than it is to sell a $50 or $100 item. Count on not making too much if anything on that first group of auctions. When you’ve built up a few positives, start selling more expensive merchandise.
People want to see a pattern of transacting business in an honorable fashion. Starting small is the easiest way to establish a record of honorable behavior. Admittedly, some people do the same thing to sell nonexistent $2000 laptops, but if you’re selling books and toys, starting with the cheaper stuff first, and gradually moving into the higher priced but still similar merchandise, people are less likely to automatically assume you’re a scammer.
What Shouldn’t be in my Auction Listing?
Published March 11, 2009 | 
Background music, large or dark backgrounds, animated images, and huge photos of the item for sale all can take a long time to load and buyers are often too impatient to wait. Also, if the listing is too “busy” visually, bidders will have a difficult time figuring out what you are offering and may move on.
Complicated backgrounds, particularly with small text, are extremely difficult to read. If the background has a pattern containing colors similar to the text, the text may be illegible. The bottom line to consider is the value of the graphic, image, or other elements in helping to accurately describe your item. If it doesn’t help the buyer determine what they are bidding on, leave it out.
Sellers should also keep abreast of listing violations that may cause your auction to be cancelled by eBay or cause them to NARU your account.
Someone is Using My Pictures on eBay. What can I do?
Published March 4, 2009 | 
If they are linking to a picture in your web space, you can always replace the picture, but a great gag would be to use a picture of your item, but horrible destroyed. Just be sure none of your current auctions are using the same picture! If the seller was smart enough to copy your picture before using it, you can complain to eBay or the seller, but this is mostly ineffective since eBay takes 2-3 days to respond and you’ll need to prove somehow that you indeed own the picture.
So if you consider your artwork and auction listings valuable, register with eBay’s VeRO program and state your rights on About Me page. I haven’t heard any feedback on how effective this tactic is, but the VeRO email address is looked at quicker than safeharbor.
A good way to discourage people from using your pictures is to put your name or eBay handle in the graphic image with an editor. For example, put the text “Copyright 2009 -your ebay handle-” in the image using your favorite paint program before posting it.
Someone could always edit it back out, but it takes much more effort, especially if your background is multi-colored.