BOOT CAMP 384 (05/07/05)

ebay Top Tips part 3, Selling

Once you’ve got a few purchases under your belt you’ll probably want to try your hand at selling on ebay. It’s really easy, a great way of getting rid of clutter and you never know, you might even make a few bob!

The key to successful selling is preparation; this week we’ll look at some simple steps you can take to make your auction easier to set up and hopefully achieve the best price for your goods.

You can sell almost anything on ebay but there is a list of prohibited and questionable items, which you can view at: http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/item_allowed.html. Most restricted items are fairly obvious: alcohol, animals, drugs, firearms, human remains and so on but check the lists anyway as they make interesting reading.

Once you have decided upon something you want to sell spend some time looking through the ebay listings for similar items. This serves two purposes; it gives you an idea of the likely selling price and helps you compose a title and categorise your auction, to make it easier to find. Listing Categories are displayed at the top of every auction page so make a note of the ones used by lots that have attracted the most bids and viewings.

Novice sellers often have an unrealistic idea of what their property is worth and set high Start or Reserve prices and then wonder why it doesn’t sell. Not only is this a waste of time and effort you will also forfeit your listing fees. In general auctions with the lowest starting prices generate the most interest. A high Reserve price at or near the hoped for selling price can also be a turn-off for some buyers.

Don’t worry too much about setting a low Start price, if the auction is going badly, only a few people have looked at it and you fear it may sell too cheaply you can withdraw the lot up to 12 hours before the auction ends, though you will still have to pay the listing fee. However, bear in mind that most bids will probably be placed in the last few minutes so if your lot has received plenty of interest and you suspect potential bidders are holding off, grit your teeth and wait…

The next step is to take some photographs and the simplest way to do that is with a digital camera. You can use a film camera but you will have to get it processed then scan the image. If you haven’t got a digital camera you know where to look to find a bargain. You don’t have to include a photograph but people really like to see what they are buying.

Take your time with the photography, it is your main shop window and a well-lit picture with an unfussy background will attract more attention than a dark grainy or out of focus image. Take several pictures from different angles, capture any special features or points of interest in close up, though you can crop your images later using a photo-editing program once they have been copied to your PC (see Top Tip).

The first picture is free, extra ones cost 12 pence so prepare two or three, (picture fees are doubled if the auction is listed in two categories). The first picture can also be shown as a thumbnail in the listings ‘Gallery’. This costs extra but it’s 15 pence well spent.

It’s easiest to compose your Title and Description ‘off-line’ using your word processor then copy and paste the text into the boxes on ebay’s Selling pages. This also means you have a permanent copy, which you can use or edit to save time should you sell a similar item at a later date.

The Title is the most important element in attracting potential bidders as it contains the keywords buyers are searching for. Unfortunately you only have 55 characters to play with so chose your words carefully. Critical items include the manufacturers name, model number, date, period, style, artist etc. If you are stuck for ideas refer to the Title line of similar items that have sold successfully. You should also put in one or two words relating to condition, such as ‘as new’ or  ‘perfect’.

Don’t forget the car boot sale side of ebay; it’s a great place to get rid of your unwanted junk. A surprising number of buyers are on the look out for ‘fixer-uppers’ -- old hi-fi equipment and cameras from top name manufacturers often sells well -- so if the item is broken, worn or damaged say so and the key words here are ‘spares or repairs’, ‘faulty’ etc.  

There are no limits on the length of the description but try to be concise and scrupulously honest. If the item has flaws point them out and you will avoid problems later on. This is your primary selling tool once someone has found their way to your auction page, so talk it up, mention any unusual features but avoid too much flowery language, you don’t want to put bidders off, or make them suspicious. If you know of a web site where there’s more information put in the address. Finally, check your grammar and spelling; you don’t want to give the impression that you are careless or lazy.

Next Week -- ebay Top Tips, more about selling

JARGON FILTER

CROP

Cut out and Save part of an image to make it appear larger

KEYWORD

Words or phrases used to search for information

THUMBNAIL

Postage stam sized image

TIP OF THE WEEK

An easy way to get a close up view from part of a photograph is to use your picture editing software’s Selection Tool; this technique works in most programs. Select the Tool then align the mouse pointer or crosshair on the top left hand corner of the area of the photo you want to use. Click the left mouse button and drag the pointer to the bottom right hand corner to define the area. Press Ctrl + C to Copy the image to the Clipboard then Ctrl + V to Paste it as a new image. Go to Save As on the File menu, give the new image a name and save it in JPEG format.

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