Section 5.4. Listing an item

5.4. Listing an item

Listing an item means creating a title and description for your item, setting a price, adding a photo, and putting the whole thing up on eBay for buyers to bid on.

But before you do any of that, you have to register as a seller. Even if you're a registered eBayer and have been buying on eBay for a long time, you still have to officially register as a seller before you can list an item for sale. Here's how.

5.4.1. Register as a Seller

You only have to register once, no matter how many items you want to list. And there's no charge as long as you have credit card and a checking account.

To register as a seller:

  1. Head to the navigation bar, and then click My eBay .

    Your My eBay page (Section 1.4.9) appears.

  2. From your My eBay page's left-hand menu, click the Start Selling! link .

    The How To Sell Items on eBay page appears.

  3. Click the Set Up A Seller's Account link .

    You see a Sell Your Item: Create Seller's Account page similar to the one shown in Figure 5-1.

  4. Click Create Seller's Account to enter your financial information and register as a seller .

    eBay asks for a credit card or bank account to prove that you're who you say you are. If you don't want to give eBay personal financial information, you can pay $5 to have your eBay ID verified . What this means is that eBay checks out your contact information and verifies that it is correct (Section 5.4.2 tells you more about verification).

A checkmark icon appears next to the ID of verified eBayers on the Member Profile page. Verification is good until you change your contact informationand you can't change that information for the first 30 days after verification, so hold off on that out-of-state move. To have your ID verified, go to eBay's home page, hit the navigation bar, and select Services ID Verify.

Figure 5-1. To set up a seller account with eBay, you need to submit a credit card and a checking account number. eBay uses this information to verify your identity and establish how you'll pay your fees for selling on the site.


5.4.2. Choose an Auction Type

After you finish registering as a seller, you can begin to list your items.

Tip: eBay's Sell page (go to the navigation bar and click Sell) offers tons of advice about selling, including how to how to put together a good listing, how to research prices, what eBay tools are available for sellers, how to accept online payments, and much more. There's even an audiovisual tour on how to sell. Use it in conjunction with this book to become a savvy seller.

The first thing you need to do, before you specify the nitty-gritty details about your item, is choose what type of auction you want to run. To choose an auction type:

  1. From the navigation bar, click Sell Sell Your Item . ( Alternatively, from your My eBay page, click Selling Resources; on the page that opens, look under Managing Your Items and click the Sell Your Item link .)

    The Sell Your Item form appears. On this page, you select a format for your listing.

  2. In the Sell Your Item: Choose a Selling Format page, shown in Figure 5-2, choose what kind of auction you want to run: timed, BIN, real estate ad, or Store listing .

For your first auction, you'll probably choose a regular, timed auction, so select "Sell item at online Auction." Click Continue to go to the first page of eBay's five-step Sell Your Item process. In step 1, you select a category.

Figure 5-2. Most sellers select the first type of auction, which is the standard timed auction. If you're new to eBay, this kind of auction might be your only choice. If you want to sell your item for a fixed price using Buy It Now, you must have a feedback score of 10 or more or be ID verified. After you've selected the type of auction, click Continue.


Note: If you're thinking this listing process is too complicated before you've even gotten started, click the Trading Assistant link to find someone else to sell your stuff on eBay for you. Find out more on Section 5.7.6.

5.4.3. Step 1: Choose a Category

On the Sell Your Item: Select Category page, choose the category you want your auction to appear in: Antiques, Books, Consumer Electronics, and so on. For an example, see Figure 5-3.

When you've got the right category, click Continue to move on to the next page, Sell Your Item: Describe Your Item.

Tip: List your item in two categories to have it turn up in more searches, so more potential buyers will see it. Selecting two categories doubles your listing fees (but not the Final Value Fee you pay when the item sells). To list in a second category, scroll down to the bottom of the Sell Your Item: Select Category page and use the box that says "Choose a second category (optional)."

Figure 5-3. From eBay's list, select the category that best matches your item. If you're not sure which category best suits what you're selling, type the name of the item into the text box and click Search to see eBay's suggestions (and the percentage of similar items listed in each suggested category).


5.4.4. Step 2: Write a Title and Description

After you've selected a subcategory , it's time to write the title and description of your auction on the Sell Your Item: Describe Your Item page, shown in Figure 5-4. The title and description are two of the first things potential buyers notice about your listing, so it's worth taking the time to do a good job. (All other things being equal, "MP3 Player for Sale" won't attract nearly as many bids as "Silver iPod MiniBrand New in Box," for example.) The next section gives you ideas for creating knockout titles and item descriptions.

Depending on what you're selling, eBay might ask for additional, specific information about the item, such as processor speed and screen dimensions for a laptop, or size , color , and style for a pair of shoes. In the example in Figure 5-4, eBay is asking for details particular to collectible books.

Figure 5-4. Your item title can be up to 55 characters long. Most buyers search titles (as opposed to titles and descriptions), so load up your title with the keywords buyers looking for your item are most likely to use. You can add a subtitle for 50 cents , but many sellers feel that adding a second line isn't worth the extra expense ( subtitles aren't part of title searches). Some categories ask for Item Specifics; if you fill these in, eBay's Product Finder search tool can help buyers zoom in on your auction.


When you're finished with your title and description, click "Spell check" to search for typos, and then click "Preview description" to see how your description will look on an auction page. When you're ready, click Continue, which takes you to the next step, Sell Your Item: Enter Pictures & Item Details.

5.4.4.1 Writing good titles and descriptions

Creating titles and descriptions that sparkle and popthat make buyers say to themselves , " I've just got to have that !"is more art than science, but the following top-ten strategies can help.

For titles:

  • Focus on keywords . Because most searches comb through titles only, you want to get the keywords in your title that buyers are most likely to search for. You've only got 55 characters (and that includes spaces) to play with in your title; don't waste them with nonsense like L@@K!!! . Instead, focus on writing a title that will show up in many searches and will make your item stand out from the others. If you were buying, what words would you search for in hopes of finding this item? Put them in your title.

  • Add misspellings . If the name of what you're selling is often misspelled , try putting both spellings into your title to maximize search results. For example, the title for an auction selling a sapphire ring might say 14K yellow gold sapphire ring saphire to maximize search hits.

  • Be as descriptive as possible . Try to use as many of the 55 characters as you can to have your item appear in the highest number of search results. For example, the preceding title for a sapphire ring contains only 37 characters. You could mention diamond accents or the cut of the stone or the lab that certified the sapphirewhatever's relevant and will display your ring listing in more searches.

  • Use capital letters sparingly . Titles written in all caps can look overexcited and make the title hard to read. Instead, capitalize key words, like the model name or any special feature, to draw attention to them.

  • Add acronyms . Acronyms like NR ( no reserve ) and NIB ( new in box ) can also get buyers' attention. (For the inside scoop on eBay shorthand, go to Help eBay Acronyms.)

For descriptions:

  • Keep it short . For the description, learn the trick of giving specifics without overwhelming buyers with paragraph after paragraph of detail. Buyers simply won't read very long, dense descriptions, especially if they're written entirely in capital letters. You risk losing buyers' interest if your description could serve as the script for an hour -long infomercial.

  • Use bulleted lists . When buyers are scanning auction pages, it's a lot easier to read a bulleted list of features than to hack through a long, dense paragraph. Appendix B shows you how to use HTML to created bulleted lists.

  • Think like a buyer . What does someone thinking about bidding on this item have to know? What are its features? What, if any, are its flaws? Look at current auctions for similar items and see which listings appeal to you most.

  • Keep it neat . Your page should look professional and give the facts in an easy-to-read format.

  • Make it personal . If you're selling one-of-a-kind items, consider giving a little of the item's history. Personalized descriptions appeal to buyers who are looking for something they can't get at the mall.

  • Be honest . When you're writing your sales pitch, be honest. Don't try to hide any problems or flaws because you're afraid they'll scare away bidders. If you do, you're likely to end up with a dissatisfied buyer who'll demand (and be entitled to) a refund because the item wasn't what you described.

As you build your eBay business, use the item description to sell yourself, too. Showcase your positive feedback by linking prominently to your About Me page (Section 5.7.6) and your eBay Store (Section 7.3), if you have one. Include a link to your other auctions, as well. A buyer who's checking out this auction is likely to look at your others.

Tip: When you've got an item description you like, copy it and paste it into a text file (WordPad for Windows or TextEdit for the Mac). Later, when you're listing a similar item, just paste the text file back into the item description box of the Sell Your Item form and edit it to fit the new auction. This saves you tons of time and typing.

5.4.5. Step 3: Add Pictures and Details

On the Sell Your Item: Enter Pictures & Item Details page, you set the starting price, length, and other specifics of your auction, as shown in Figure 5-5. There are many areas to consider; you have to keep scrolling down the page to find them all:

  • Starting price . This is where you set the opening bid that will get your auction rolling. Lower starting prices attract buyers, but there's a danger that the starting price could become the selling price. If you open the bidding for a mountain bike at $1, there's a chance the bike could actually sell for a buck. Some sellers protect their investment by setting a reserve price (see next bullet item); others set the starting price at or near the amount they're hoping to get for the item.

    Figure 5-5. Click the "completed items " link to do a quick search of similar auctions that ended in the past 30 days. Researching other auctions helps you figure out a starting price. If you set a reserve price, the insertion fee eBay charges you is based on the reserve, not the starting price. You can hide bidders' IDs by making the auction private (there's no charge to do so), but many eBayers feel more comfortable bidding in open auctions. Don't make an auction private unless you've got a good reason, such as a high-priced item or something that people might be embarrassed to bid on.


  • Reserve price . This option lets you start the bidding low, but sets a secret price that represents the minimum you'll accept for the item. Set a reserve price if there's absolutely no way you can part with an item for less than a certain amount. But be aware that a reserve price will cause many bidders to pass on your auction; why should they bid if they don't know your real price?

    Note: eBay charges a fee for reserve price auctions: $1 if the reserve price is below 50 bucks, $2 for a reserve price between $50 and $199.99, or 1 percent of the reserve price for prices more than $200 (with a maximum fee of $100). The reserve fee is on top of regular insertion fees (which are based on the auction's reserve price, not its starting price). eBay refunds the reserve fee if bidding meets the reserve. If bidding doesn't meet the reserve and you use a Second Chance Offer (Section 5.7.2.2) to sell to the highest bidder, eBay won't refund the reserve fee.
  • Buy It Now price . If your feedback score is 10 or higher, you can set a BIN price. If a buyer clicks the Buy It Now button, he commits to buying the item at the BIN price and the auction ends immediately. If a buyer makes a bid rather than clicking the BIN button, the BIN price and BIN button both disappear. So even though buyers can see how much you'd like to get for the item, they might try to get it for less by bidding instead of clicking Buy It Now. And if the auction ends for less than the BIN price you originally specified, you still have to sell to the high bidder.

    Tip: If you set a BIN price, you can require any buyer who uses the Buy It Now option to pay immediately. Until the buyer pays, the listing remains active and others can bid or buy. This is a popular way to avoid inexperienced buyers' BIN mistakes. There are a few restrictions: you need a PayPal Premier or Business account, you need to include shipping costs in the auction, and the BIN price can't be over $2,000.
  • Duration . Auctions can be as short as one day or as long as 10. (You need a minimum feedback score or ID verification to run a one-day auction.) Choose a shorter length if your item is time-sensitive, like concert or sports tickets; choose a longer length if you want to give more people time to find what you're selling. Many sellers like 10-day auctions, even though there's a small fee to run an auction that long, because if you time it right, a 10-day auction runs over two weekends. See the box on Section 5.4.5 for more about timing your auction.

    Note: You can't run a one-day auction for a motor vehicle in the U.S. or Canada.
  • Start time . Normally, the auction starts as soon as you've checked and submitted your listing. For 10 cents, you can schedule a different start date and time for your auction. Use this option if, for example, your busy schedule dictates that you create your listings at 2:00 a.m. on a Wednesday, but you want your auctions to start (and therefore end) on Sunday evening, thus spanning two weekends.

  • Quantity . If you're selling one item per auction, the number to put in this box is 1. (eBay only allows up to 10 auctions for identical items from a seller at a time.) If you want to set up a multiple-item (Dutch) auction (Section 1.4.7), type in the number of items you have for sale here.

Note: To sell items in a Dutch auction, you must be ID verified or meet certain feedback requirements: a score of 15 if you accept PayPal or, if not, a minimum feedback score of 30 and a registration two weeks or older.

Use the Lots tab if you're selling one lot that contains several items. For example, you might have three pairs of jeans to sell, but you want to sell all three pairs together in one sale. Click the Lots tab, then type 1 as the number of lots and 3 as the number of items in that lot. When you preview the auction page, the Quantity field should say "1 lot (3 items each)." The reason this is important is that if you don't use the Lots tab (if you put 3 as the Quantity on the Individual Items tab), you're inadvertently setting up a Dutch auctionwhich gets confusing for you and your buyers if that's not what you meant to do.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
Timing Is Everything

When's the best time to start and end an auction?

eBayers have a lot of theories about this question, but no definitive answers. (If everyone agreed, everyone would start and end their auctions at the same time, and the best time would quickly become the worst time.) Some people think that Sunday evenings are best, because that's when people have leisure time to spend at the computer; others say that's the worst time, perhaps because of all the competition.

Slow times include the wee hours of the morning in North America (from about 11:00 p.m. PST until 4:00 a.m. or so PST) and the first week of each month (when people pay rent and their bills). And every week from Thursday at 11:00 p.m. PST to Friday at 1:00 a.m. PST, eBay does maintenance work on its computers, so that's probably not the time to start or end your auctions.

With the popularity of automated sniping (Section 3.3.2.2), ending times matter a little less than they used to. Buyers can instruct the sniping engine to bid on any item in its last few secondswhenever it ends. The buyer can win your auction without being anywhere near the computer when it ends. Proxy bidders who make their highest bid and then let eBay do the rest also have no reason to worry about ending times.

One thing you do want is to make sure that your auction runs over the course of a weekend ; more people have time to shop eBay then, so it's more likely that buyers will come across your auction. Avoid a three-day auction that starts, for example, on Monday and ends on Thursday.

Play around with different starting and ending times to see what works best for you. Think about when shoppers looking for your item are likely to be at their computers: office managers buy supplies during the work day; kids bug their parents to buy them video games after school (or in the evening when they're supposed to be doing their homework); and hobbyists are likely to look for what they need during their spare time in the evenings and on weekends.

On the other hand, even if you ship only to the U.S., when you include Alaska and Hawaii, that's an area that spans five time zones. Bottom line: don't spend a lot of time worrying about timing your auction to end at just the right minute.


  • Item location . If the item you're selling is someplace other than where you're registered, you can change location info here.

  • Add pictures . eBay lets you add one picture to your listing for free; any additional photos cost 15 cents apiece. Supersized pictures (up to twice the size of a standard picture) cost 75 cents; a slideshow, which shows multiple photos in a player at the top of the auction page, costs 25 cents. (See Section 6.2.3.1 for info on taking good photos.)

    Tip: You can host your pictures on another site to put as many photos as you want in your listing for free. See Section 6.2.4.2 for details.
  • Listing designer . For 10 cents, eBay helps you spiff up your auction with predesigned themes and layouts (Figure 5-6). You can play around with different themes and layouts before you make up your mind, viewing each by clicking the "Preview listing" link. The listing designer is a cheap way to make your auctions look good if you don't want to mess around with HTML.

    Figure 5-6. eBay's listing designer lets you choose different frames and layouts to customize your listing. Click the "Preview listing" link to see how your auction page is shaping up.


  • Gallery options . To get a small picture of your item next to the title in buyers' search results, choose Gallery (which costs an extra 35 cents). Gallery Featured adds a gallery picture and puts your auction in the Featured section at the top of Gallery View search results, but it's expensive at $19.95.

  • Make your listing stand out . This section lets you use boldfaced font ($1), a border ($3), or highlighting ($5) to make your listing stand out on the search results page. But before you spring for these extras, do some searches and see whether these options really do make a listing stand out enough to justify their cost.

  • Promote your listing . This section offers eBay's priciest promotion tools: Featured Plus! listings that appear at the top of search results page (for $19.95) and Home Page Featured listings that promote your item on eBay's home page ($39.95 and up). The expense is rarely worth it. Most buyers go straight to the search engine or use automated search tools (Section 3.1.15) to find what they're looking fornot even glancing to see what's featured on eBay's home page.

    Note: You need a feedback score of 10 or higher to use Home Page Featured promotions, and you can't feature adult items, tasteless novelty items, or listings for services or the sale of information there.
  • Gift services . Popular around various holidays, this option puts an icon of a wrapped package in your auction to show that you think the item would make a great gift. It costs a quarter. (If you're also willing to offer other services related to gift-giving, like wrapping the item, throwing on a nice bow, shipping it to the recipient instead of the buyer, or using express shipping for last-minute gift givers, say so in the item description.)

  • Page counter . If you want to keep track of how many people have viewed your item, choose a counter here. Counters can be public or private, depending on the style you choose. They're a good way to keep track of how many people look at your auction in relation to the number of bids.

That's a lot of information for one page! Check to make sure that everything is the way you want it, and then click Continue to go to the Sell Your Item: Enter Payment & Shipping page.

5.4.6. Step 4: Specify Payment and Shipping Details

On the Sell Your Item: Enter Payment & Shipping page, you let buyers know what kind of payments you accept and how much it will cost to get the item to them.

5.4.6.1 Payment

Payment options include PayPal (Section 2.3.1.1), money order/cashier's check, personal check, credit cards (if you have your own merchant account with a bank), and others, like cash or BidPay (Section 2.3.1.2). Most buyers like PayPal for its ease and convenience, so it's a good idea to accept it along with any other methods you prefer.

5.4.6.2 Shipping

The next section of the Payment & Shipping page asks where in the world you'll ship to. Many sellers will ship only to the U.S. because of the extra costs and hassles of shipping internationally (think standing in line at the post office and filling out customs forms); others have been burned by international buyers who turned out to be scammers. (For more on common scams targeting sellers, see Section 6.6.3.) On the other hand, limiting your shipping range limits potential buyers. Many sellers, realizing eBay is a worldwide market, gladly ship anywhere. If you're selling a bulky item that you don't want to ship at all, you can specify "local pickup only" in this section.

Note: If you ship only within the U.S., don't check the box that says "N. and S. America." Checking that box indicates that you'll ship to Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazilany of the countries on the North American or the South American continent (and that includes Central America, too).
WORKAROUND WORKSHOP
PayPal Without Credit Cards

When you're just starting out, you might want to use your personal PayPal account to receive payments. It costs nothing to receive money into a personal account, but these accounts can't accept credit card payments. If you accept a payment by credit card, you automatically upgrade to a premier accountand start paying PayPal fees, which can be as high as 2.9 percent of the money you receive, plus 30 cents.

Even though PayPal charges for premier and business accounts to receive payments, it's a good idea to accept credit cards if you're running many auctions or selling relative pricey items, because using a credit card through PayPal is how most buyers want to buy. But for occasional sellers, especially sellers of inexpensive goods, a personal account will probably be enough.

If you select the PayPal option as a payment method, though, beware: eBay automatically inserts a PayPal logo that includes a bunch of credit cards. Buyers who see this reasonably assume that you accept credit cards through PayPal, and you can get into a nasty dispute after the auction if you won't let the buyer pay that way.

In fact, flying the PayPal credit card logos when you don't accept credit cards violates the usage polices of PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard, and eBay considers it "search manipulation." If a seller shows the PayPal credit card logos and then refuses a credit card payment made through PayPal, the buyer can report that seller for refusing to sell. And that can be a path to NARU land.

Your options: You can upgrade and pay the extra fees, or you can display a PayPal logo on your auction page without the credit cards. Here's how to do the latter:

  1. Go to www.paypal.com and sign in to your account.

  2. Under the My Account tab, click Profile.

  3. Under Selling Preferences, click Auctions. If you haven't registered your eBay account with PayPal, you can do so now.

  4. Find the column that says Automatic Logo Insertion and make sure it's set to Off. If the setting is On, click it. On the page that opens, turn on the button next to Off, and then click Update.

  5. Click the Auction Tools tab, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click View All Tools.

  6. Find Auction LogosManual, and then click the Get Started link.

  7. Find Standard Logo. It shows the PayPal symbol but not the string of credit cards flying after it. Select and copy all the text in the text box under the logo. Paste it into a document to save it for later.

  8. When you're setting up a listing on eBay, paste the text you copied from the PayPal site into the "Item description" text box to insert the PayPal logo into your description. Then, when you select payment methods in step 4 of the listing process, do not check the PayPal box. Instead, check "OtherSee Payment Instructions ." Explain in your item description that you accept only bank transfers through PayPal. Highlight this info: make it bold or a color that stands out, so that shoppers will notice it.

  9. When the auction ends, PayPal won't appear as a payment option on the auction page. Send an invoice through PayPal using your PayPal account's Request Money tab.


You don't have to specify shipping costs in an auction, but it can hurt your auction if you don't. Smart buyers know never to bid without knowing exactly how much they'll pay for shipping and handling. They could always email to ask you, but many will simply move on to find an auction that does state these costs up front. You have two options in spelling out shipping costs:

  • Flat . This means that shipping will cost the same no matter where the buyer lives. The drop-down menu offers options including various postal and UPS rates. If you're not sure how much it will cost to ship a package, click the "Research domestic rates and services" link to get estimates for various weights, speeds, and distances for both the post office and UPS. Don't forget to add a little for the handling charge; reimburse yourself for the money you spend on boxes and Styrofoam peanuts, and the time you spend packing and sending the item.

  • Calculated . This option adds a shipping calculator to your auction page, so that buyers can type in their Zip code to find out how much shipping will be. When setting up this option, you indicate the weight and shape of the package and whether to add a handling charge.

Tip: Get a good scaleyou can buy one on eBayso that you can weigh your item (don't forget to include the bubble wrap or plastic peanuts when you weigh it) and get accurate shipping costs when you write the listing. Don't wait until you take a package to the post office. You might find that your guesstimate was way off and end up paying the extra cost yourself.

Whether you choose flat or calculated shipping, you can specify up to three shipping options to offer buyers a choice, as shown in Figure 5-7. For example, you might offer a choice of UPS Ground delivery or Priority or Express Mail via the postal service, letting your buyer choose the shipping speed and the cost. (Section 5.6.3.2 has tips on choosing a shipping service.)

Tip: If you offer expedited shipping, such as Express Mail or UPS Next Day Air, make sure the package is ready to be shipped now. Not tomorrow, not when the buyer has paid, but now. Buyers who pay extra for expedited shipping want their items fast and won't be pleased if it takes you three days to get around to packing up the item and calling the shipping service.
5.4.6.3 Insurance

This is the section of the Sell Your Item: Enter Payment & Shipping page where you let buyers know whether you require insurance. You don't have to offer insurance at all, or you can make it optional, require it, or factor it into your shipping and handling charge. (See the box on Section 5.4.6.4 for a discussion of insurance and why you might want to require it.)

Also, if you charge sales tax to sales made in your state, this is the section where you specify which state you collect for and what the collection percentage is.

Note: Most states require you to obtain a sales tax number and start collecting tax on sales made within any state where your business has a "significant physical presence." To find out if this applies to you, check with your tax consultant or the Sales Tax Institute (www.salestaxinstitute.com); look for the Helpful Information link.

Figure 5-7. Including a shipping calculator lets buyers enter their Zip code and find out how much it will cost to ship the item to their address; to set one up, use the Calculated tab. Estimate the weight and package size, choose a shipper, and specify whether insurance is optional, required, or unavailable. If you specify a Packaging & Handling Fee, the calculator adds this to the shipping cost to come up with an S&H total; all the buyer sees is the total amount.


FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
Insurance

Should I require insurance on my eBay sales?

eBayers sometimes debate whether insurance really benefits the buyer or the seller. The truth is that it benefits both.

For example, eBay's Standard Purchase Protection Program (Section 2.4.4) doesn't cover items lost or damaged during shipping, unless the buyer bought insurance in the transaction. But sellers are responsible for getting items to their buyers in good condition. Insurance makes sure that neither buyer nor seller loses out if the item is lost or damaged en route.

When a buyer pays for insurance at the end of an auction, you, the seller, must use that money to purchase insurance for the item when you ship it. Most insurance claims require a receipt to prove you bought insurance, evidence of value (like the invoice you sent the buyer), and evidence of the problem: if the item didn't make it to the buyer, you may have to submit a letter from the buyer saying so; if the item was damaged, either you or the buyer will have to submit the item itself and all packing materials. After the shipper has investigated, you'll be reimbursed for the amount you insured the item for, usually within 30 days. Check deadlines. For example, the Postal Service won't accept damage claims more than 60 days after the date of mailing.

Many shippers offer free insurance up to $100; check to see whether your shipper does. Another option is to use a third-party insurer like Discount Shipping Insurance (www.dsiinsurance.com), which offers low insurance rates and further discounts for high-volume shippers.


5.4.6.4 Return policy

A return is when you ship something to a buyer and the buyer sends it back (returns it, hence the name) and demands a refund or a replacement. If you have a return policy, spell it out in the next section of the Sell Your Item: Enter Payment & Shipping page. Some eBayers won't accept returns; others accept returns for a refund (minus shipping and handling costs), or offer a replacement if an item is faulty or defective. If, after giving the matter some though, you decide to accept returns, it's a good idea to explain in your policy that you won't issue a refund until the buyer has returned the item. (Believe it or not, some buyers think it's perfectly reasonable to demand their money back before they return an item.) Think, too, about whether you want to set a time limit for returns or charge a restocking fee (usually 10 to 15 percent of the sale price). Explain these policies clearly to avoid confusion later on.

Tip: All this might sound like it's better not to accept returns at all. Before you set a "no return" policy, however, take a minute to think like a buyer. What would you find reasonable if you were buying an item like the one you're listing? Keep in mind that even if you clearly specify that you don't accept returns, an unhappy buyer who wants to return his purchase still might leave negative feedback or file a claim with PayPal or eBay to get his money back. So try to come up with a return policy that's fair to you and the buyer both.
5.4.6.5 Payment instructions

If you want to elaborate on how you want your buyers to pay you, explain in the Payment Instructions section of the Sell Your Item: Enter Payment & Shipping page. For example, if you accept personal checks but plan to hold shipment until the checks clear, say so here. Similarly, if you decide you'll ship only to PayPal confirmed addresses, make this stipulation part of your terms in this section. No matter what your intentions, you can't hold your buyer to any terms that don't appear on your auction page. Spell it out.

5.4.6.6 Buyer requirements

You can block certain types of buyers from bidding on your auctions (Section 6.6). The following types of buyers all might present problems you don't want to deal with:

  • Buyers in countries to which you don't ship . Even if you spell out clearly in your auction terms that you ship only to certain countries, buyers sometimes miss this stipulation. If it's in your auction terms that you don't ship outside the U.S., for example, you don't have to sell to a buyer from another country. But it wastes your time, and perhaps the momentum you had going on the auction, to list the item all over again. Setting this option automatically blocks bidders registered in countries you don't ship to.

  • Buyers with a negative feedback score . Keep proven deadbeats away from your auctions. You can set up your auctions so that buyers with a score of -1, -2, or -3 (you choose the number) can't bid in your auctions.

  • Buyers with Unpaid Item strikes . Choosing this option is a good guard against known deadbeat bidders, preventing any eBayer who's received two Unpaid Item strikes in the last 30 days from bidding on your auctions.

  • Buyers without a PayPal account . eBay estimates that PayPal members have an 80 percent lower Unpaid Item rate than eBayers who don't have PayPal accounts. Restricting your auctions to PayPal members won't guarantee you're paid, but it'll up your odds. On the other hand, some perfectly legit buyers prefer to pay with money orders or checks; blocking these bidders might mean fewer bids.

  • Buyers who may bid on several of my items and not pay for them . This one is mainly for people who sell expensive items, like cars and diamond jewelry .

Note: If you change your mind about any of these Buyer Requirements after you've set them, you can change them by going to My eBay, clicking Preferences, and then looking under Seller Preferences to find Buyer Requirements. Click the Edit link, make the changes you want, and then click Submit.

When you've completed all the information related to payment and shipping, click Continue. You're finally ready to review your listing and start your auction.

5.4.7. Step 5: Review and Submit Your Listing

Sell Your Item: Review & Submit Listing is the confirmation page. Here you check all your information to make sure it's correct before you submit the listing to eBay. Click "Preview how your item will look to buyers" to get a sneak peek at the listing you've created before your auction goes live; a new browser window opens, and you might notice a mistake or two when you see how the listing in its full glory . You can change any aspect of the auction; look on the far right side of each section for the Edit link. If you spot a mistake in, for example, the item description, click "Edit title & description," make your changes, and then click Save Changes when you're all set.

This page also gives you a chance to review eBay's fees for this listing. If you've spent more than you wanted to, go to the appropriate section and make changes. For example, if you decide that a Featured Gallery listing is likely to cost more than you'll make on the item, click "Edit pictures & details" to remove the Featured Gallery listing charge. When you're looking at your fees, don't forget that eBay also charges a Final Value Fee (Section 5.3).

When you're sure that everything is the way you want it, click the Submit Listing button. A few minutes after you've listed the item, eBay sends you an email to confirm the auction. Check through the details and make sure they're right. If you want to make any changes, you can follow the links in the email or sign in to eBay and revise your auction (Section 5.5.3).

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
PayPal Seller Protection

Does PayPal do anything to protect sellers from fraud?

PayPal offers a Seller Protection Policy that covers you for up to $ 5,000 if a buyer tries to rip you off (by paying with a stolen credit card, for example). To be eligible for full coverage, you must follow PayPal's guidelines. Follow these practices for every sale you make that involves PayPal:

  • Have a Business or Premier account . Seller Protection doesn't apply to Personal accounts (the ones where it's free to receive money).

  • Get verified . You've probably already done this to avoid PayPal's sending limit (Section 2.3.1.2). In case you haven't, get verified by giving PayPal a bank account number, and then confirming two small deposits that PayPal makes to prove it's your account.

  • Sell tangible goods . Services (like Web design) and intangible items like eBooks and software downloads aren't covered. It's got to be something you can put into a box or an envelope and load onto a delivery truck.

  • Ship to the address on your PayPal Transaction Details page . If a transaction is eligible for Seller Protection, it's marked as eligible on the Transaction Details page of your PayPal account. You must ship to the address listed for that transaction on the Transaction Details page, or you forfeit coverage.

  • Ship fast . To get Seller Protection, you have to ship within one week of receiving payment.

  • Get delivery confirmation . This is in case a buyer claims the item you shipped never arrived. Delivery confirmation means such disputes won't turn into a game of "you-did-not-I-did-so!"

  • If the item you're shipping is worth $250 or more, get a signature receipt .

  • Accept the whole payment in one transaction . In other words, insist that the buyer pays onceand pays in full.

  • Don't add an extra charge to cover PayPal fees . Doing this violates PayPal policies, anyway.

  • When you hear from PayPal, answer immediately . If you don't respond to a communication from PayPal in three to seven days (the time period depends on the type of claim), you might lose your right to make the claim.

PayPal Seller Protection protects against only buyer fraud, such as when a buyer claims he didn't receive the item and tries to get his money back. If the dispute is about the quality of the itemfor example, if the buyer thinks that genuine John Lennon autograph you sold him looks like it was scribbled by a 5-year-oldSeller Protection won't get involved. And it's not available for most international shipments, either. Check PayPal's Help Center to see which countries it covers.


It might take a couple of hours for your listing to appear in eBay's search engines, but you should be able to look at it right away. On the navigation bar, click My eBay to go to your My eBay page and then click the Selling link; eBay shows you the information in Figure 5-8. Auction pages look a little different when you're the seller, as you can see in Figure 5-9.

Figure 5-8. Your My eBay page shows how much time is left before the auction ends. Click the item's title to go to the auction page. The drop-down arrow next to Sell Similar lets you answer questions, make changes to your listing, or end the auction early.


Figure 5-9. When you're signed in and you view the auction page for an item you're selling, you see a different auction page than prospective buyers. On your version you can revise your listing, promote it (which basically means paying eBay more money), or list something similar right from the auction page. Just click the appropriate link to get started.




eBay[c] The Missing Manual
eBay[c] The Missing Manual
ISBN: 596006446
EAN: N/A
Year: 2006
Pages: 100

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