Archive for the ‘Auction Online’ Category

Customer Service Strategies for Selling on eBay

Sunday, May 14th, 2006

A key to success on eBay is good customer service. Buyers rate their satisfaction with sellers, and your rating can be critical when potential customers are deciding whether or not to buy from you.

Commendable customer service on eBay starts with providing an accurate product description. Displaying clear pictures and describing any imperfection shows the buyer what to expect. Customer satisfaction is enhanced if the buyer receives a product in better shape than he or she expected. Conversely, your seller rating can suffer if you oversell and disappoint enough customers.

Customer service strategies on eBay include acknowledgement of the winning bid and promptly providing shipping information. Use an automated response to let the buyer know that you have received his bid. Acknowledge payment quickly. Ship immediately, and inform the customer when the product is shipped. Customer service strategies include providing a tracking link to the product whenever possible.

Some eBay sellers offer free shipping as a customer service strategy. If you charge for shipping, do not charge much above shipping costs. Customers notice the postage cost and will likely complain if the shipping and handling is several dollars more than the expected shipping rate. They understand the cost of materials, but they do not want to pay for your time to package the product.

Customer service strategies on eBay also include having a friendly return policy. In the long run, it is worthwhile to accept returns whenever a customer asks. You can probably resell the item, and receiving a good rating is worth the cost and extra effort.

Customer service strategies on eBay are essentially not any different than those used in traditional online stores. Make sure the product is as good as you say it is; do not inflate shipping and handling; ship quickly; and have a liberal return policy. Attention to these issues is the way to achieve high customer service ratings.

Top Five Most Popular Online Auction Sites

Friday, May 5th, 2006

If your goal is to buy or sell products on auction sites, you need first to find the best sites for your needs. One sensible way to start is by focusing on the top 5 internet auction sites. This approach almost guarantees that you will be considering high-energy sites but will not get overwhelmed by a large number of sites.

When you look for the top 5 online auction sites, you will find that different sources give you different answers. What remains the same is that eBay is consistently at the top of the list. If you are looking for a site that almost everybody knows, of course try eBay. EBay offers useful information to both the buyer and the seller. The success of the seller adds to the success of eBay, so eBay gives the seller several tools to help him get a good price.

“Yahoo! Auctions” is another site that ranks consistently in the list of top 5 internet online auction sites. Amazon.com auctions, UBid.com, and bida-lot.com are also highly rated for sellers.

While it is important to sell at a site where there are a large number of buyers, remember that competition is also much tougher at sites like eBay. Research the sites to make sure there is a market for what you are selling, and then consider the competition for your product. The fact that eBay seems to sell anything does not mean that everybody who lists an item there sells it or gets the price they want.

Check out the top 5 internet auction sites. Narrow your choices further to auction sites that have a market for the item you are selling. Find the site that works best for you, and enjoy the excitement of making some money with auctions.

Sources
http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/0,4621,311268—–,00.html
http://www.toptenlinks.com/cat.php/Shopping:Auctions:General
http://auctions.nettop20.com/

Earning Money by Selling on eBay

Tuesday, May 2nd, 2006

By now everyone knows that the king of online auction sites is eBay. Sellers seem willing to sell anything on eBay, and often find buyers for even the most offbeat items. Some people work full time selling products on eBay. How do they manage to operate a successful eBay auction business?

Those seeking to understand the online auction world will often be advised to check eBay for best sellers in order to get ideas about choosing a successful product. This can be helpful, but it is also important to sell a product with which you are already familiar. You will then 1) know the quality of the item, 2) be able to describe it well, and 3) also be able to set a realistic price.

Those three elements are important factors in operating a successful eBay auction. Keywords are another important factor. Potential buyers find your item through the use of keywords. After finding the desired item, they look at price. If the price is still something they are willing to pay, they read your description and look at pictures you have uploaded to see the condition of the item.

Pricing has its own strategy. Often a seller will post the price he or she has paid for the item, knowing that anything more is profit. Others operate a successful eBay auction by offering prices starting as low as a penny or a dollar, knowing there are people who cannot resist a deal. Once the bidding starts, buyers get caught up in the bidding and spend more than they originally planned.

To carry out successful eBay auctions, start with a limited number of products. Use eBay tools to help you write your ad. Make sure it ends at a time of day when people are awake. If you try different strategies, and read what works for others, the chances are good you will find a way to operate a successful eBay auction.

Source:
http://www.askdavetaylor.com