Your biggest obstacle to selling at the outset is going to be that you have
no transaction history on eBay. Buyers have no reason to trust you. And the best
indicator of whether or not they should trust you to deliver what you promise is
your feedback rating.
This is how eBay describes feedback ratings:
“Feedback ratings are used to determine each member's feedback score. A
positive rating adds 1 to the score, a negative rating decreases it by 1, and a
neutral rating has no impact. The higher the feedback score, the more positive
ratings they've received from members. However, a member can increase or
decrease another member's score by only 1 no matter how many transactions they
share.”
There are two ways to quickly build feedback while you are establishing your
new eBay business. One is to make purchases, and the other is to sell
inexpensive things that bidders are willing to risk a couple of dollars on. You
should achieve a feedback rating of no less than 25 before listing items in your
specialty (unless you can sell some cheap items in that niche). Doing so will
bring more bids and higher selling prices when you list those items.
When exploring eBay for bargains to build your feedback, you might think
about picking up some business or success books. These are tax deductible for
you as a business owner. One book that every business owner should read at least
once a year is “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill. You should be able to
pick it up for five or six dollars, including shipping. Be wary of shipping
costs while bidding, by the way. Always decide the most you are willing to pay
for an item prior to bidding, subtract the shipping cost, and bid no higher than
the difference between those two figures. You might also look for some books
about selling on eBay, or a recent edition of “Taxes for Dummies.” If you
haven’t received feedback by the time you receive your item in the mail, first
leave feedback for the seller, then send them an email informing them that you
received the item, posted feedback for them, and ask them to post feedback for
you as well.
Another quick way to build feedback is by bidding on penny auctions that have
no shipping fees associated with them. These are usually placed by sellers
trying to recruit bidders into a business opportunity. Listing these types of
auctions is against eBay’s policies, and many will be closed before the auction
ends. However you should be able to gain at least a couple of feedbacks a week
by bidding on them. Use the advance search feature to ferret them out. Search
for the terms “no shipping,” “free shipping,” “free auction” or something
similar in the auction description, and only search auctions that are between
one and three cents. Sort the results to display the auctions ending soonest,
and bid on the ones ending in the next couple of days. Make sure you don’t win
more than one from the same seller, as only the first feedback from each member
will count in your rating.
We also mentioned selling some cheap items that bidders will be willing to
risk a couple of bucks on. Small paperback books or other items around your
house that are inexpensive to ship work well for this. Mark the shipping up by
about a dollar more than it will actually cost to ship your item, and start the
bidding at a penny. Even if the item only sells for a penny, you will probably
break even on the auction after you pay your eBay and PayPal fees. Remember,
this is about building feedback, and not about making money (yet).
James Penn is an experienced eBay seller & has assisted many eBay sellers to
help them make money
on eBay in 2007 and for many years to come. Discover many of his other
eBay
selling tips that will help explode your eBay sales & grab a selection of
free eBay eBooks by signing up to his free eBay newsletter.
