Selling on eBay

[Clintmax]

Hello, everybody!

Someone recently asked of the Lounge if being asked what the Reserve Price was on an auction was kosher or not. In the past, I've done a lot of selling on eBay and I've learned a lot by doing so, and posting on the "Seller Central" board in eBay's Community forum. So, I decided to list for those of you who do sell on eBay, some important information that will help you avoid bad issues later.

1) Do NOT buy and sell with the same ID. Use a separate Buyers ID and Sellers ID. Why? Feedback. Buyer feedback means nothing. If a person bids in the last few seconds of an auction, the seller does not have time to react to it to try to cancel the bid if he/she sees the bidder has bad feedback. If the bidder wins, the seller has to sell to them. Seller feedback is VERY important! Potential bidders (if they're smart) look at ALL the sellers ratings and comments and decides to bid or not from those numbers. Protect your sellers ID feedback! Forget your buyers ID feedback.

2) "Reserve Prices" are not a good idea. Reserve auctions turn off a LOT of potential bidders and when they see that your auction is one of those, they simply hit the back button and move on to the next auction that isn't. If you MUST set a reserve price, disclose that amount in the body of the auction. It isn't a mystery and there is no reason to not show it. If you don't do that and someone e-mails you and asks what that price is, tell them. If you want to keep everything a mystery, don't be surprized if your auction ends with no bidders. The best idea is to start your minium bid at the least amount you're willing to sell it for.

3) I've seen this statement in COUNTLESS auctions; "Insurance is optional and the seller is not responsible if insurance is not purchased." WRONG! Insurance protects the sender. NOT the receiver. So, you can ASK your buyer to pay for the insurnace, but if they refuse, BUY IT ANYWAY! If your widget arrives damaged, you're going to have to refund the buyers money and submit the insurance claim to the post office. You'll get YOUR money back from them.

4) If you accept Paypal as a form of payment, you MUST use delivery confirmation WITH signature and tracking (the buyer must sign to receive it) to be protected under Paypal's seller protection policies. If you don't use the signature option and the buyer claims the item never arrived, Paypal will refund to the buyer every time. Regardless whether you can produce a delivery confirmation from the post office or not. Also, do NOT attach your Paypal account to your regular checking account. Open a separate account just for Paypal. A lot of sellers have gotten away from Paypal just because they side with the buyers nearly every time.

5) Do NOT leave feedback as soon as you get your money from the buyer. The transaction is not over until the item is received and the buyer is happy. If something goes wrong and you've already left feedback, you could get a Neg and there's nothing you can do about it. The best idea is to wait until the buyer has given YOU feedback. Then post it for them.

These are just a few things I've learned by reading through some of the horror stories in "Seller Central"! You wouldn't BELIEVE what some people have pulled on sellers! So, have fun with eBay, but protect yourself, be professional and courteous to those who are buying your stuff. I hope this helps!