The Auction s Over Now What?

The Auction's Over! Now What?

The days go by, and finally your auction is over. If you're fortunate, you've received a high bid that far exceeds your opening bid or reserve pricewhich means that you have a buyer.

The question is, now what do you do?

You've sat around watching the bidding for seven days or so, but now it's time to go to work. You need to contact the high bidder, figure out the final selling price (including shipping and handling), deal with the payment process, pack the darned thing up and ship it out, sit around for another couple of days hoping it gets to where it's going in one piece, and then leave feedback for the buyer. Whew! That sounds like a lot of hard workand it is.

To learn about the post-auction process in more detail, turn to Chapter 21, "After the Sale: Concluding the Transaction." And to learn more about how to ship items to buyers, turn to Chapter 23, "Packing and Shipping Your ItemsCheaply and Safely."

The Absolute Minimum

Here are the key points to remember from this chapter:

• Before you sell an item, you have to be a registered eBay user and have a credit card on file.

• To start an auction for an item, click the Sell link on the Navigation Bar, and work your way through the following pages to create your item listing.

• You can choose from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, or 10-day auctionsalthough the default 7-day auction is the most popular.

• You can opt to run a traditional online auction, or utilize the reserve price or Dutch auction options.

• If you're selling a commonly sold item, you can have eBay fill in the product details for youall you have to do is enter the item's UPC/ISBN number or name.

• When the auction is over, you'll be notified by eBay; you then should contact the buyer and communicate payment and shipping terms and information.