Three Simple Rules To More EBay Sales

EBay is no longer the seller friendly location it once was where it was very easy to offload a few of your extra items and make a few bucks on them.

When it comes to seller experience it is now a bear pit, where the good sellers struggle a little to make the profits they once did and the bad sellers find it difficult to even break even.

We have already looked at getting rid of negative feedback on eBay and The Secret Of Preventing Negative Feedback On EBay preventing negative feedback on eBay.

Blogs On The Negative Feedback Battle

 

• Neutralizing Negative Feedback On EBay, How To Stop Your Seller Page From Becoming A Sale-Free Zone

  A blog on how to eliminate negative feedback on eBay, which has several links to the eBay policy pages dealing with this issue.

• The Secret Of Preventing Negative Feedback On EBay

  A blog on how including several important pieces of writing on your seller page and listing can eliminate negative feedback entirely

 

However, it is worth asking the broader question: what does it take to be a good eBay seller? What makes the difference between being a good seller and one floundering with low sales?

Be A Good Guide For Customers

Anybody can sell but to be a consistently good seller you need to take the right approach.

A good seller is one who takes care of their customers, manages them well and adopts best practice by providing a professional service at all stages of the selling process. From the moment you begin to write the item description to the point where the transaction is completed and feedback is written.

Think of an eBay transaction as a journey. It has a beginning and an end and your job is to guide the buyer through the entire process.

The end goal being to have many more journeys (transactions) with that companion, plus other companions in the future.

 

Some of the more successful sellers on eBay are those that guide their customers through the sales process

 

Be professional and responsive, this will ensure that the customer relationship is managed correctly, to the satisfaction of both parties, and is key to building trust, repeat sales and ultimately your online business.

This, more than anything else, will make the difference to either receiving negative feedback or glowing feedback from your buyer.

It’s been said that to find a new customer costs six times more than retaining an existing one.

Therefore, it makes sense to do everything right in the first place and keep return sales coming in. This, after all, makes more sense than spending all of your time addressing problems and customer complaints.

Don’t Focus On ‘Damage Control’

It doesn’t take much to realize that the options to remove negative feedback are limited.

But, while your positive feedback percentage it is only one of the criteria that buyers use to determine the level of service.

How a buyer views your overall professionalism and salesmanship is actually a complex process. Some of the other key criteria that a buyer will evaluate include:

• The quality, content and layout of your auction pages
  • Do they appear professional?
  • is the information clear, relevant and helpful?
  • Are the photographs useful and an accurate depiction of the goods?

 

• The quality of the communication from the seller
  • Was it timely, responsive and professional?
  • Did it address any issues that arose?

 

• Dispatch time
  • Was the time between payment and receiving the item reasonable?
  • Was the packaging appropriate for the item(s)?

 

• The condition, size and quality of the item
  • Was it as described on the auction page?

 

• How problems are resolved
  • Are returns accepted?
  • Are refunds issued in a timely manner?

Remember that, even if there is a problem (e.g. if the item is no longer available or the shipping company is at fault), it is possible for both the seller and buyer to reach an amicable conclusion.

This will depend, first and foremost, on good communication to explain and discuss the problems in a transparent manner.

Share What You Know

You’re not alone!

Never underestimate the importance of sharing knowledge, tips and resources from existing online groups of eBay sellers.

A list of some of the more useful ones are included below. If you are experiencing a problem as an eBay seller, it’s worth remembering that, someone, somewhere, will have experienced it before.

Here are some useful online resources for resellers:

• Powersellers Unite (powersellersunite.com)
• Powersellers Forum (powersellersforum.com)
• US EBay Community Discussion Boards(pages.ebay.com/community/chat/index.html)UK EBay Community Discussion Boards (pages.ebay.co.uk/help/account/community.html)

Review your eBay listings and seller page and make sure that you’re giving your customer all the information they need to proceed in confidence with your order. Take an objective look at your communication method to make sure your customers leave happy and check out some eBay alternatives while you’re at it.

You will gain from the improve customer service without having to worry about the monetary punishment of increased fees if you get your customer service policy wrong.