It’s extremely easy to put your eBay business 6 feet under. You have to be careful, even though you can start over from scratch without it costing you much, but is this something you really want to do? However, if you want your business to end up dead in the water, here are some simple ways to do it.
Lie about an auction item: If you say an item works fine when it sometimes doesn’t or if you say it’s in perfect condition when it has blemishes then you will have angry customers.
Mail the auction item whenever you feel like it: If you leave your customers hanging around wondering when their item is going to turn up then you will probably end up with no repeat buyers.
Let items end anytime: Few people will be around to bid on your auction if it’s ending in the middle of the night. You should go to the trouble of working out whether auctions will end at a good time.
Don’t bother with email: If you take the attitude that communicating with customers is a timewasters then your eBay businesses will end up on the chopping block fast. Communicate by giving informed responses to questions about your auction item.
Offer trash: Don’t get caught up thinking you can just sell any old tat from the market for a huge profit on eBay. Don’t let quality be someone else’s concern. At the very least, if you do sell an item at auction that is old, tarnished, scratched, etc. then be open and honest about this in your eBay auction ad.
Give no discounts: If you stand hard and fast to the adage that you will give no eBay buyers discounts then you are going to leave money on the table. Not only can you get buyers to buy more, you can get buyers to come back again.
Use visually unappealing auction listings: Things to do if you want to repel potential bidders: use a bunch of colors, flashing lights and animations. Write the entire auction description in CAPITALS!!!! Hey, might as well use big, red capital letters. Also, be sure to use the fonts Impact and Comic Sans, and for an extra special touch, see if you can figure out a way to add some music.
Don’t use pictures of your auction item: Not only do pictures give more information to your eBay bidders, but they will also give your auction more of a chance of getting checked out when buyers do searches. And I personally think having pictures in your listing can give bidders more of sense that they will not get ripped off by you.
Write short descriptions: Another eBay business killer is to be as brief as possible in your auction description. Also, try not too use too many mysterious abbreviations, and for goodness sakes do not just write the title again in the description box. Use reserve auctions: Now, this is a fairly controversial idea, but this can be one of the best ways to scare away your eBay customers. They’ll see ‘reserve not yet met’, and click that ‘back’ button before you know it. Luckily, they can always bid in a normal auction for the item somewhere else. Now I know this can be used properly, but try to avoid it as often as possible.
God bless, Clint
Clint Herman is a successful eBay seller with over 6 years experience selling on eBay. He also loves teaching others how to sell on eBay. He is the author of “How to Get Started Selling on eBay,” which is a beginner’s guide to selling on eBay designed for people who are new to selling on eBay. The guide is available at http://www.beginnersauctionguide.com
