How to be a Good Seller on ebay?

While I mostly buy stuff on eBay, I also sell every once in a while. I want to do my part to help the situation and to make things easy on the Buyer. By working together, buyers and sellers can make the eBay experience wonderful. Being a good seller essentially revolves around being honest about your merchandise and making every effort to get that stuff to your buyers in a friendly manner.


Being a good seller
How to do it
Give a detailed, honest description of each item.
This can be a delicate balancing act. Too little description, and people won't know what you're selling. Too much, and you may turn people off. However, I'd advise risking too much. Just tell people what it is, what it looks like, what kind of condition it's in, etc. Write enough to make sure that your buyers know exactly what it is. How big is the item? Some sellers put something in the picture (a coin or ruler for example) to show scale. Is the item new or used? What condition is it in? (note any scratches, nicks, odors, fading etc...) Don't worry about this making the item unappealing. Sometimes it adds character, but above all it shows a tendancy toward honesty! Listings that are TOO busy are annoying, such as endless graphics not having to do with the item, music, etc. Text should be easy to read with all the goodies up front.
Battling the catch-22
If you put very little information in your TOS, your buyers can get confused and may not fully understand how you want things run. On ther other hand, putting to many things in there, especially warnings about deadbeats, can turn some people off. The problem, of course, is that if you DON'T put all that stuff in, you open the door to deadbeats and people who will try to work around some things that you want. For example, if you don't take checks, but do not specifically say so in your TOS, they may try to send you one anyway. On the whole, I would advise to put in just the basic information. It's my experience that deadbeats will ignore your TOS, no matter how many times you say something. Certain things are assumed, like all bidders are expected to pay, serious bidders only. As briefly as possible, simply list your payment terms, shipping price and options. Loads of stern warnings and repetitions will only serve to turn off good buyers and sail right over the heads of deadbeats.
The only stupid question is that which goes unasked (and unanswered)
Try to answer questions from buyers as quickly as possible. Not responding can make a BIG difference in the final price for an auction. Let's say the high bidder has bidd 100.00, someone else comes along that is willing to go as high as 400.00, but has a question. It's not answered in time and the auction ends. You just lost 300.00. This is one reason it's important to have as complete a description as possible. The goal being to have enough information that someone could bid without having to ask a question and then wait for a reply. If someone asks a question, you might add the answer to future listings, since it's likely that someone else may have the same question.
A man's gotta cancel what a man's gotta cancel. (Women, too)
Sadly, there are times when you need to cancel a bid. Maybe you don't accept bids from buyers with an overall negative feedback rating, or maybe this is a buyer who's caused you grief in the past. When this happens, cancel the bid and e-mail them AND safeharbor. Explain that you have canceled this person's bid. Give full information : Auction number, names, dates, reasons why, etc. Then offically ask him never to bid on your items again. Each time he bids anyway, repeat the process, CC'ing to safeharbor. Eventually, this person will be suspended.
Communication is the cornerstone of any good relationship(just like the buyer guide!)
When you win, be sure to inform the seller right away. See my comments about auto-messages above. I suggest that with every piece of e-mail, send along all information. Include such things as auction number, description, your name, your username, your e-mail address, your snail-mail address, the total price, and so on. Is this overkill? Yes. However, it's often necessary. By always sending full information, there's less chance of error. I once had to ask a seller THREE TIMES for his address. Yuck. Send e-mail every day until you reach the buyer. As I've learned from the business world, there is an enormous difference between sending one e-mail five days ago, and sending e-mail every day for five days. Don't overdo it, though. Don't send more than one per day unless there is an ongoing communication between buyer and seller. Keep up the one a days until you establish initial contact.
Have a generous clock(also just like the buyer guide!)
eBay says communication must be established within three business days of auction end. However, this may not always be enough time. Don't be quick to jump the gun and run screaming to safeharbor the minute that you pass the 72-hour mark. I did that once, and while everything worked out OK, I don't recommend it. When I win an auction, I tag that day as day 0. If it's a weekend or holiday, I tag the next business day as day 0. I send an e-mail every day with full information and any questions that I might have. Beginning day 4, I start to announce how many business days have gone by. Beginning with day 5, I CC safeharbor. MORE