Selling on eBay - Best Practices to Success

Choosing an eBay id or Shop Name

This is possibly the most crucial part of the sign-up process - in an ideal world you need to choose a name that encompasses what your business is about, or something catchy or short that allows you to diversify your product range. Or you could keep it simple and use your company name, if you have one.

Here are some ideas anyhow:

Make it easy to remember or catchy, or both

Make it flexible: for example, you could go for "kidswatches", but what if you later decided to sell hats too?

Try to include relevant keywords as this will help the search engines

Beware of infringing copyright and trademark laws: avoid including brand, famous people, events or landmark names, and especially the word "eBay"

Remember, you can change your eBay name at a later stage, but you cannot change a shop name.

[Photograph courtesy of @boetter on Flickr]

The following list covers some of the ways of purchasing stock on a wholesale or low count basis. You will need your own research before parting with any cash and remember the golden rule: "if the deal looks too good to be true, it probably is".

When possible ask for references, samples and do not ever pay by direct bank transfer: serious sellers will accept Credit or Debit cards. Paying by credit card may also give you automatic protection should things go wrong.

Alibaba.com
From their site: "Founded in 1999 in Hangzhou, China, Alibaba makes it easy for millions of buyers and suppliers around the world to do business online".
My experience: none - I wasn't able to find any supplier that sold small quantities of the items I was looking for. The few that did were advertising very low (read suspicious) prices. There is a history of fraud affecting this site: this was reported in the press such as this article in The Guardian. Use with caution.

DHGate.com
From their site: "DHgate.com is a B2B e-Commerce marketplace that has revolutionized global online trade with China. Provides sourcing, payment, tracking and delivery services to over 3 million buyers from over 230 countries".
My experience: none, I never had a need to use their services.

Global Sources
From their site: "Global Sources creates, manages and delivers the information that trading partners need to meet and do business".
My experience: none, but I have heard good things about this site. Their vetting procedures are very stringent.

The Trader Magazine
From their site: "The Trader provides the very latest information on the widest range of stock, available to bulk purchasers".
My experience: Good magazine, both in print and online

Wsdeal.com
From their site: "Online e-commerce wholesale company, based in Shenzhen the global manufacturer and sourcing center of all kinds of electronic products from 2007".
My experience: I have made about 4-5 purchases from them, including the USB adapter pictured further down this lens. The items I purchased were of good quality, it took about a week for the order to be processed and another week for the package to reach me in the UK. One of the shipments was short of a couple of items, but I received a refund in good time and with no hassle. I would suggest you order a small number of items first to sample the quality and test the market.

[photograph courtesy of jpmartineau on Flickr]

Where to sell to?

I generally consider some countries to be a no-no in terms of risk. Quick examples would include some African states, some Eastern European Countries and some Far Eastern Countries. I will not name any specifically (you can do a search on the eBay forums and get as many opinions as you want), but suffice to say that eBay allows you to set which countries you are willing to sell to and I would suggest you make use of the facility.

I personally only sell to the UK, EU, Canada and USA. The main reason for this relates to my particular market - these are the areas that would be most likely to be interested in buying my items.

The other reasons include:

Easier to work out correct postage
Reduces likeliness of packages being lost or damaged in transit
Reduces chances of fraud

Who to sell to?

eBay also allows you to set specific preferences relating to potential buyers. You can, for example, block buyers with negative feedback or that have breached the policies x times. You can set your own preferences by clicking on Block Bidders in the To-Do section of Selling Manager and then navigate to "Set up my Buyer Requirements Preferences".

Setting Realistic Prices

With the exception of loss leaders (see feedback section) I suggest you set realistic prices for your items.

Offer Free Postage

Consider make all or most of your listings postage-free. From Experience I have found that the most contested issue relates to postage, Here's how I play it:

- All Buy-It-Nows (BINs) are post free (2nd Class, unless the item exceeds £5 or so)
- All BINs have an option to upgrade to 1st Class for the difference in cost between 1st and 2nd)
- All Auctions have postage added at cost (because you can't be sure what the final price will be)
- Exception to the rule for BINs: Royal Mail Special Delivery charged at cost (for my items this works out at £5.05 so I can't absorb that in the price)
- Postage to outside the UK is also charged more or less at cost with discounts for multiple items purchased or combined purchases

Good pictures or scans of the items you are selling will instill confidence to your customers.

Hardware

The picture on the right was taken using a cardboard box, a piece of shelving, a couple of outdoor floodlights, some paper and a digital camera, It was edited using the software listed further down.

In other words a light tent (or softbox) on the cheap!

You can find the instructions I followed here

Equipment Used

a square corner shelf purchased from a DIY store
two 150W worklights (see right). I placed one either side of the box and added a 60W desklamp at the top to equalise the spread of light
a cardboard box which used to contain my Dell Computer (very good quality)
some sheets of standard printing paper to line the inside of the box
a digital camera
an Eye-Fi SD card (transmits your pictures by wifi)
a bit of patience and trial and error..

Software

I use the following free programs to edit and host my images:

 Photoscape: has just the right number if tools to crop and manipulate stock images.
 Faststone Image Viewer: good for browsing, renaming and converting your pictures.
 ZenPhoto: online photogallery - this is perfect for self-hosting eBay images.

This page gives you an overview on how I pack my items. Bear in mind that 90% of what I send is paper-based and will fit in a C6-size (about the size of A4) envelope. You might have to refine my process for the goods you are selling.

Packing Slip / Invoice

I like to include a packing slip with each order. As I run a VAT-registered Company I also offer to send a VAT invoice if required. The packing slip is not mandatory but has the following advantages:

it makes your business look for professional
it gives you the opportunity to publicise special offers or advertise your company website
it ensures the right items are sent out, using the right carrier/service, to the right person - i.e. you can place a tick next to each item as you pack them and mark the item as despatched on eBay once the packing is complete

These three points combined may encourage repeat business / word of mouth advertising

I buy my packing slips from http://www.integratedlabels.co.uk/ - the Single Integrated label (IL1) is perfect for the job and comes with free software which allows you to process downloaded sales and print them. You can then peel off the address label and stick on your package.

A few tips about the integrated labels:

- a box of 1000 integrated sheets costs around £44 (at time of writing), this includes the software licence for 1 year. In order to reduce my costs I tend to buy one box from them every year and the rest of my requirements are fulfilled by http://www.cheap-integratedlabels.co.uk/ - their size S3 matches the IL1 but costs around £15 less (including delivery and VAT) - the paper is just as good as the original.

- the software that comes from IL comes with various Word templates - you will need to tweak them to suit your needs

- it is also not that great at formatting non-UK addresses as it removes the country name for example, so I tend to download those sales one at a time and copy/paste (use paste special / unformatted text) the address from the Paypal email notification and then manually format it before printing

Addressing your Parcel

It is important to correctly address your shipments - this will speed up the delivery process as many systems are now automated.

If you're sending an item abroad, the country name, printed in CAPITALS, must come last. You should write your address on the back of all mail so that it can be returned to you if there's a problem delivering it. Do not centre or stagger your lines. Include an Airmail sticker if being sent by Airmail.

[Image courtesy of sludgegulper on Flickr]

If you are sending several items a day you may wish to consider avoiding repeated visits to the Post Office and streamlining the despatch process. This is where Royal Mail Smartstamp might come in handy.

 Pros
- avoid repeated visits to the Post Office
- instills a more professional image
- can accept personalised logos
- online management of account
- supports most Royal Mail Products
- improves processing through the automated Royal Mail Systems

 Cons
- monthly fee
- no discounts on postage (unlike PPI)
- items must be posted within 24hrs
- you need a set of scales
- you need a Pricing in Proportion (PIP) ruler

Updated news: From 31st January 2011, RM are required to charge VAT for the following services: Special Delivery 9.00am, Airsure and Additional Compensation for Standard Parcels.  These services will no longer be available via SmartStamp, until a software update is issued.

Printing from Smartstamp

I use a Brother QL-550 label printer and 38mm x 90mm address labels from Labelzone - this model has been supersed but any similar one will be ok. Check the Royal Mail website for compatibility with Smartstamps.

Couriers

I do not use couriers for my business, but if I did I would consider trying www.parcel2go.com

Generating Feedback

Positive feedback makes you feel better, impresses potential customers, helps with the DSR stats and contributes to the attainment of Top-Rated and Powerseller statuses. All this in turn improves the visivility of your items in search results, improves your sales, makes you feel better etc.

Boost your feedback count:

Send despatch emails

One of my pet hates as a buyer is not knowing if an item I purchased has actually been posted by the seller. I would highly recommend you send a personalised email to confirm you have shipped an item; you can then include a subtle request for feedback such as "please confirm safe receipt of the item by way of feedback on eBay". I reckon about 70-80% of my customer leave feedback as a result of this simple message.

You can do this either manually or automatically with Selling Manager Pro.

Upgrade the delivery method

If you send most items out by 2nd Class, consider occasionally upgrading the shipment to 1st Class. I do this where multiple items have been purchased, the total exceeds a certain amount (say £5), the buyer has left a special note on Paypal (pleading for an item to arrive before a deadline) or the purchase is made close to a special time of the year (Christmas, Bank holiday etc).

Sometime I upgrade items ordered on a Friday, so the customer receives it on a Saturday which will a) hopefully impress and b) improve the chances of them leaving feedback as most people have free time over the weekend.

Loss leaders

Sell items at cost or that will give you a small loss. This is particularly true of small items that can be shifted quickly for the least amout of postage. This is a legitimate way of gaining feedback, but don't overdo it.

Buy things

Stock up on envelopes, boxes, labels and so on from other eBay sellers. If they have a shop they are most likely to give you feedback, and since it can only be positive it will help build your feedback count.

Do not:

- artificially boost sales with another account that you control or that is registered at the same address
- sell your loss-leaders too cheaply - you will lose too much money and gain a reputation for selling tat
- be tempted to undermine your competitors by buying something from them for the chance of leaving giving them a negative - it's not cricket and you'll probably be unmasked before long

Handling Negative Feedback

As your sales increase it is possible that a buyer may leave negative feedback. Well actually, it will happen some day, you can't please everyone... When it happens:

do not take it personally
do post a reply to the comment but: a) keep it polite and b) to the point: potential buyers will accept the odd negative as long as you are professional in the way you handle it
remember buyers are able to retract negatives (and are probably not aware they can) so if you feel it was unjustified do get in touch with them to discuss the possibility (especially if the issue was remedied by way of a refund or replacement)
do consider banning the purchaser from future sales, especially if they have been awkward or unrealistic in their expectations
do take a look at the buyer's feedback history - they may be in the habit of leaving negatives - contact eBay for advice as they may be able to remove the comment

eBay Announcements

eBay General Announcements -  gives you information on listing free days, special arrangements for weather or strike events, introduction of new features etc.

3rd party sites

TameBay - loads of information, hints/tips and a forum to interract with other eBayers.

Retail weekly Retail trade news, requires membership, but you can read the headlines for free.

Terapeak Provides 365 days of eBay data: find hot products, price trends, seasonal peeks etc.