Taking Your Garage Sale Global Cont'd
THE PERSONAL ACCOUNT
On first introduction to the site, it’s hard to not be drawn to the lure of millions of items for sale and the prospect successful enterprise is only a mouse click away. What’s more, after you register for a personal account you may bid on auctions or even list your own immediately. In both cases, eBay will prompt you to provide a method of payment for your first purchase or seller related fees respectively. EBay and the payment service PayPal once functioned as a single entity but now exists as independent companies. Nevertheless, if you aren’t registered with PayPal you will be redirected to a page to sign up for the free service. Though you can opt out, PayPal remains eBay’s preferred payment service and will encourage you to create an account and become PayPal Verified. PayPal verification is a free measure designed to show buyers and sellers alike you can securely send and receive funds.
Explore eBay and take genuine notice of the products members offer and how they engage buyers. Some sellers offer .99 cent auctions that draw lots of bidders. While more popular promotions, common to sellers, are auctions with free shipping or discounted postage rates offered with multiple purchases. The earliest indication that you may be flirting with the roll of seller is looking at auctions from the perspective of a competing seller, not a wandering consumer. Perhaps you’ve dabbled in selling, organizing garage or white elephant sales that were met with success. Pushing further and elevating those efforts in an e-commerce setting is the next logical step. If you have items like clothes, electronics or well-known, unused beauty products in excess, your seller’s inventory builds itself.
THE COST
The beauty of a personal account is there is no need to commit to a seller’s monthly subscription. You are allowed to create auctions for a limited number of items, paying only for the insertion fees of items that sell.
INSERTION? LISTING? AUCTION…WHAT?
When eBay breaks down the standard seller’s fee for users-especially non-subscription holders-insertion is a word used to describe what most commonly identify as a listing or auction. Be mindful of this with further reading; you may create a eBay listing, perhaps refer to site articles for help and notice the term insertion fee pops up often. Because words listing and auction are synonymous with insertion, regard the term insertion fee as the itemized cost to create and launch a single auction. If you create a no frills auction the insertion fee (aka listing/auction fee) may be little or nothing. However if you design an insertion with bold words and listing enhancements that make your item stand out in eBay search results, you will incur additional seller insertion fee charges. A snippet taken directly from the eBay site states:
“Insertion fees for your first 20 or 40 listings per calendar month, depending on listing format and category, are free (exclusions apply). Learn more about monthly free-insertion-fee listings.”
With the freedom and ease afforded a personal eBay account, pressure to conform to the standard business practices of eBay Power Sellers may not be foremost on your mind. However if you regard eBay as a powerful tool, that connects you not only with popular products but billions of eager consumers, then it probably should. As you gradually acclimate to eBay it will dawn on you that the time to assume the role of seller is now. No matter your account classification, the key to succeeding as a seller on eBay is establishing trust and recognizing the needs of consumers. Create a few listings and commit to the process, you quickly realize your strength as a seller hinge on basic customer service. To that end, eBay is a platform that thrives on buyer feedback and a detailed ratings system. When patrons purchase items from you, they are given the opportunity to share their buying experiences in a forum visible to prospective customers. Customer feedback can make or break a seller in the making so never take your early reviews for granted.
With the beauty of this a la carte approach to selling, why consider a paid subscription? Well, I'll put it to you this way. You wouldn't run a marathon in shoes two sizes too small.
Yeah, read on to learn the advantages of an eBay paid subscription!