Questions for eBayers of my own.

[Cygnet]

Am thinking of starting to sell on eBay -- anyone have any advice?

My idea (and I don't know if this is a good one) is to sell packs of jewelry findings sufficient to, say, make 3-4 sets of earrings, or a couple of necklaces, plus instructions, all high quality findings. Plus a booklet of instructions.

(i.e., a necklace kit might have chain, beads, wire, clasp, crimp beads, etc. or an earring kit might have ear wires, beads, eye pins, etc.)

-- Leva

[Starsmom]

do a search every and any way you can think of to see if any one else is selling your item. If so, pay attention to the catergories they list in. Also if you find the listing, go in and click on completed auctions, that will show you what they are getting for their items. Then compare to yours. Read the auctions of the ones selling and not selling. See the type of things they put in their listings (don't copy or you will violate policy) just do a comparison. If you look at the successful listings and follow their selling points and keep your prices in line. Don't undercut them, stay in line with them. If you cut your prices below theirs, then they will cut their prices lower than yours and a war will start and you will both lose. Stay in line. If you product is different, tell the buyers why it is different than others sold on ebay...don't mention seller names. Also, and this is important...post you rules of selling. If you don't give refunds, say so, if you don't allow returns, say so, if you expect payment within so many days say so. Although ebay and paypal have their own thoughts on those matters and what they say will override what you say, you will never stand a chance if it is not in your listing. Besides, some buyers will respect that and you will have fewer problems. Some buyers will not care what you put in your auction, if they don't want it, they will return it and you will refund their money or you will be receive negative feedback. Ship quick and believe it or not, the free shipping feature works. The price is higher as it includes shipping, but they do buy when it says free shipping. Ebay wants that as they are able to collect more fees from the seller. They don't charge fees on the shipping, so when you include the shipping in the sales price, ebay gets more money. You need to decide if the extra fees are worth the sales. Put some items up with free shipping and list the same item slit showing price and shipping and see which ones sells more. I do that and even though the price comes out to be exactly the same or in some cases a little higher, the free shipping items sell more...go figure. I am csews on ebay and you can feel free to contact me if I can help you with anything.

[ErinP]

On free shipping:
My shipping cost DSR is getting dinged because I don't offer free shipping. (I'm trying to figure out how to do that since a single yard of fabric costs about $2.50 to ship, but a second is only another $.50 or so and I'm pretty evenly split between those buying a single and those buying multiples).
I do have a maximum of $6.50, so no matter if they buy 5 or 50, my customer won't pay more than $6.50...
But in order to get my full 20% discount on fees again, I think I'm going to have to figure out how to do free shipping.

[ErinP]

If you don't give refunds, say so, if you don't allow returns, say so, if you expect payment within so many days say so.

and go for a really upbeat tone when you are explaining you rules. And always assume the best of your customers when putting anything in writing.
You're going to get burned. It happens.
But you have to remember that the vast majority of buyers are honest, straight forward people.

[Nevada]

I market by starting an auction for each item I sell every weekday. The purpose was to have an auction marching up to the top of the "ending soonest" page every day. "Ending soonest" used to be the default page view, but recently eBay changed the default to "best match". They also don't display duplicate listings any longer, so 80% of my auctions aren't visible like they used to be. That may have ruined the daily listing strategy.

Best match really screws sellers, since the object of best match is to drive traffic to eBay's banner ads, not to auctions. In the end, this has hurt both eBay and the sellers, as evidenced by eBay laying off 1600 employees. Hopefully they'll change their ways soon.

That said, selling at eBay is all about technology and staying ahead of what everyone else is doing. The key to success at eBay is to spend lots of time hanging around your selling category to see what works and what doesn't for other sellers, then do your own test auctions. Don't invest in a theory, invest in what you can demonstrate works.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by ErinP

On free shipping:
My shipping cost DSR is getting dinged because I don't offer free shipping. (I'm trying to figure out how to do that since a single yard of fabric costs about $2.50 to ship, but a second is only another $.50 or so and I'm pretty evenly split between those buying a single and those buying multiples).
I do have a maximum of $6.50, so no matter if they buy 5 or 50, my customer won't pay more than $6.50...
But in order to get my full 20% discount on fees again, I think I'm going to have to figure out how to do free shipping.

I'm getting free subtitles for free shipping through March. It's part of an eBay promotion for power sellers. That's a 50 cent value for each auction started.

When I ship my CD products, I ship them by first class mail, small envelope class. That shipping class does not quality for delivery confirmation, but it saves me about $1 for each CD I ship. About once per month someone will claim that they didn't get it, so I'll reship. When they claim they didn't get it the second time I know that they know the PayPal rules and are trying to get it for free. Normally it's not worth fooling with so I just refund the $4.99 purchase price. If they get too nasty with me then I sent it again with the parcel rate, then give PayPal the delivery confirmation number.

Now here's the funny part. I was discussing this at an eBay forum one time and the other seller's reactions were strange. They insist that they wouldn't allow anyone to take advantage of them, so they say they would send them all with delivery confirmation. I explain that I get maybe one of these per month, yet I sell hundreds of CDs each month. The additional postage would cost me several hundred each month, to save maybe $5. The attitude with eBay sellers seems to be "I don't care what it costs, I'd still send it with delivery confirmation. I'm not letting any customers screw me!"

The point is that you need to be careful taking advice from other eBay sellers. I don't know if they give insane advice to throw other sellers off, or if they're really insane. Do your own research, and do what makes sense to you.

[Starsmom]

That is correct, it is very important to do your own research and to weigh the options of charging shipping and providing free shipping. If providing free shipping, you have to make sure the selling price includes enough to ship and the ebay fees. Double check the cost of the product, calculate what ebay charges and what you spend for shipping and don't forget listing fees too. You would be surprised to find that your profit margin is little to none on some products, so they are not worth selling, unless you find they are driving traffic to your products. Then sometimes a little loss is worth it to gain additional sales. It is certainly a trial and error process and what works for some certainly won't work for others. Research is the key and trial and error. Start easy and work into it so changes can be easier if you find something is not correct or working for you. Nothing worse than listing 100 items and find that you made an error and have to go back and fix it in all the listings. Or need to change something. Good Luck, ebay can be lucrative or at the least add a little extra cash in your pocket.

[Cygnet]

Thanks, guys. Useful info. I put a couple finished pieces of jewelry out on the site last night. No nibbles so far, but I wasn't really expecting any.

How many sales do I have to make before I can haz a store?

My day job is customer service -- and I did customer service for a very large mail order pharmacy for three years. After having dealt with shipping issues day in/day out for years, I think my expectations are realistic as far as both customer behavior and shipping issues go. And, I've got a thick skin.

(Dealing with customer service issues is actually easier when you're the owner, IMHO. There's nobody looking over my shoulder criticizing my decisions. And if I screw something up, I don't get fired, I just have to fix it. And I can hang up on them if they swear at me and they're my own customer! :banana02

I'm inclined, by the way, to offer free first class domestic shipping simply because it's easier.

Is there anything I need to know in regards to overseas shipping? I'm assuming I just charge 'em whatever the cost is to get their purchase to their overseas address. But what about customs, and tracking/insuring that overseas parcel. Or is there a way to just refuse to sell overseas, and would that be a smart option if so?

(I know from experience that overseas shipping is WAY less reliable than the USPS.)

While I'm at it -- how does buying from an overseas seller work if you're the buyer? I've been eyeing some glass beads that are overseas.

-- Leva

[ErinP]

You can have a store right now, if you want.

But really, for a few items the extra monthly cost of a store doesn't make a whole lot of sense. ($15 per month or thereabouts?)
The only reason i have one is to organize my items and make them easier for customers to find.

Is there anything I need to know in regards to overseas shipping? I'm assuming I just charge 'em whatever the cost is to get their purchase to their overseas address. But what about customs, and tracking/insuring that overseas parcel. Or is there a way to just refuse to sell overseas, and would that be a smart option if so?

I have been shipping overseas since they day I started selling on eBay, nearly 10 years ago. Knock on wood, I've yet to have any bad experiences.
I was afraid this week was going to be the first actually as a $200 order to Singapore had gone missing! but it turned up yesterday... Otherwise, I've never had one disappear.

I usually ship either flat rate Priority (which I know you can't track) or First Class (which I'm not sure of). They both require customs form, but it's no big deal. Just a simple form to fill out in most cases.

What is and isn't allowed, obviously, is going to be completely dependent upon your product.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by Cygnet

Is there anything I need to know in regards to overseas shipping?

I ship a few items overseas, but not the lower priced ones. The problem is that I don't like standing in line at the post office to submit customs forms.

[Starsmom]

I ship overseas, but since there are forms to fill out and if you use paypal shipping, the cost to ship overseas is very high as they will only allow you to ship priority or express. To ship 1st class parcel, you have to go to the post office or calculate the shipping charges on the USPS site and use stamps. Since I like to get a receipt for the overseas shipping, I go to the post office. Also, when purchasing insurance on an overseas item, double check with the post office, as I have been told that some countries do not honor the insurance and do not cooperate and you won't get paid, so paying for insurance is useless. So, depending on your items, you could request that all overseas bidders contact you prior to bidding. That way you can check with the post office, determine costs..unless you set a flat rate...and have all you bases covered. If it is an expensive item and you can't get insurance, I would decline the overseas sale. I shipped a sewing machine to New Zeland I believe it was and was told that the cost of insurance and the fact that if it was damaged I would not get paid was useless to buy it. I contacted the buyer and explained that and offered him a way out and covered my basis. He agreed to complete the sale, I made sure it was super well packed and shipped with my fingers crossed. All ended well, but if it was damaged due to improper handling, I would not have had to reimburse as he agreed to that ahead of time. I don't think I will do that again, but this guy really wanted the machine for his wife for her birthday, so I went ahead.