Tips to Make a Living with Ebay in Australia and Overseas

If you are running an eBay business, you may not realize that the need for great customer service still exists - even for online auctions.

When a buyer receives quality customer service from you, they will potentially do one of two things - or both. They will give you great feedback, and they may look for more of your auctions in the future. If you hope to make a living from eBay, you have to stop thinking of it as an 'auction' and start running it like a 'business.'

If you owned a brick and mortar business, how would you treat your customer while they were standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish ringing up their order? You would be helpful and respectful of course!

You would do everything that you could to guarantee that customers return to your establishment in the future. You would bend over backwards to make sure that their buying experience with you was both satisfactory and enjoyable.

Why would you do any less at the close of one of your eBay auctions?

First, act quickly at the close of your auctions. Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe the item they have won and how the item will be
shipped - even if this information is already part of the description for the auction. Remind them of their winning bid amount, and give them payment options and instructions. Let them know when the item will be shipped.

Close your email by thanking them for participating in your auction. You might even take this opportunity to tell them about other open auctions that you have as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a conversation that you are having with a customer who is standing at your counter in that imaginary brick and mortar store.

Once the payment and shipping details have been taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them know when the item was shipped - the exact date and time - and when it is expected to arrive on their end. During this contact, let them know that if they have any problems or questions, that they should contact you through the eBay site. If they do contact you in the future, make sure that you answer promptly, and that you do all that you can to make them happy with their purchase - even if it means issuing a refund.

Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds, depending on what the item is. Furthermore, you should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to you, at your expense, before the refund is issued - but once you receive the item, issue the refund promptly. This is just good business!

Because eBay is such a huge marketplace, with members from all walks of life, in almost every single country around the world, it is no wonder that there are many scammers lurking about.

In order to better protect the buyers, eBay has specific rules concerning the items that can be auctioned off on the site. These rules must be followed, or the
person posting the item for auction can be banned from the site.

Even though there are numerous categories, items that are put up for auction really only fall into one of four categories at eBay: Prohibited, Questionable, Potentially Infringing, and Approved.

Approved is the simplest category to define and understand. An approved item is any item that does not fall into one of the other three categories. That is fairly simple, right?

After the 'approved' category, however, it starts to get a little harder to understand - with the exception of prohibited items. A prohibited item may not be auctioned on eBay for any reason, under any circumstances.

Prohibited items include alcohol, drugs, animals, tobacco, human remains or body parts of any type, lottery tickets, and governmental property. There is quite a bit more on the list, and that list can be viewed at the eBay website.

Questionable items are those that are not prohibited, but are not necessarily infringing. Adult material falls under the 'questionable' category. Tickets of any
type may also be questionable.

Law enforcement related equipment, as well as guns, knives, and other weapons are questionable items. Artifacts, food items, batteries, all hazardous chemicals and materials are also on the list of questionable items. You can auction questionable items at eBay, as long as those items meet certain conditions.

Potentially Infringing items are those that violate copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights. These items are almost always some type of media, such as software, DVDs, and CDs, but the list contains other items as well, such as counterfeit items and illegal recordings. You can find out more about 'potentially infringing' items at the eBay website as well.

If you are unsure as to which category your item falls into, you should contact eBay with this question before setting up the auction. As a buyer, you should carefully consider the consequences of purchasing items that fall under one of the three categories above.

In some cases, it may be very illegal to have some of those items in your possession - no matter how they were obtained. Before making such a purchase, or bidding on such an item, you should find out more details about the item in question, and then get some legal advice.

Whether you are an eBay buyer or a seller, problems may arise at some point.

That is why the eBay Security and Resolution Center was created. Even if you have never had a problem on eBay, and you don't expect to, a visit to this eBay resource can be very enlightening, and it may even help you to protect yourself in all of your online activities.

If you do not receive an item that you bought from eBay, this is where it is reported. The same is true if you sold and shipped an item and did not receive payment for it.

But there are many other ways to use the security center as well. You can learn how to protect yourself from identity theft, how to protect your eBay account and the eBay guidelines that are designed to make everyone's buying and selling experience safe and enjoyable.

If you are an eBay seller, you will learn how to become a trusted seller, which will ultimately bring you more profits. There is something for everyone at the eBay Security and Resolution Center - even if you have never had a security problem at eBay.

New Free Work from Home eBook for you!

Work From Home Truths!

Before You Give Your Boss a Pink Slip, Consider Every Angle of Whether or Not You Have What It Takes to Be a Self-Employed, Work-at-Home Internet Marketing Entrepreneur

This Guide has all the steps you need to know to set up a successful home based business!
Just right mouse button click on the link above or the book cover and select 'save target/link as' to download this book to your computer to print out later

Rate Me, Please!

Your Ratings Help Us Immensely

Do you think we earned a 5 Star rating from you for the work we have done on this Squidoo lens about eBay Australia?

Your ratings help us improve this lens, and get the word out to more people around the world about eBay Australia. Please 1-5 Star rate us at the top of the page, and sign our guestbook!

Thank you!