Fun But Dangerous eBay Selling Technique
©AverageJoeGuides.Com
There's all sorts of little tips and tricks you can find for selling stuff on ebay. So how can an ebay selling technique be classified as €dangerous€?
I use this one once in awhile to test market things. I don't recommend using it too often because you can upset bidders and probably get into trouble with ebay. However, I've never run into any problems with either.
You can list anything on ebay as long as it adheres to their listing requirements. You can't list items that fall into their prohibited or restricted categories. That being said, you can list other things.
Other things like what? I prefer to do this with items that I may have some chance of actually selling. I really don't care what it is. As long as I can get some good pictures of it and I either own it, or I can buy it. It's best if it's something that there are more than one of but it's not totally necessary.
Look around the house. What about that old vase that Grandma gave you for a wedding gift? You hate it, but it may be worth a fortune! You don't know what it is but she gave it to you and her Mom gave it to her. Run an auction and see what happens. What about your Dad's old car he's been restoring for 20 years! He still is no where near finishing and Mom wants it gone. Take some good pics and run an auction. You might just sell it. You get the idea. Don't limit yourself when you run an auction. There's usually a bidder for just about anything.
So what's the €technique€ that's so dangerous? It's called ending the listing early. If you don't know the rules, you may get into a mess. That's why it's dangerous.
This is how I run one of these:
- 1) Take alot of nice pictures of the item
- 2) Give a very detailed description of it
- 3) Include a notation indicating the following: Item is for sale locally and auction may end early if a local buyer purchases.
- 4) Start the auction for 99 cents
- 5) List with no reserve and include that in your title
Number 3 isn't that important and in some cases some bidders won't waste their time if they see that. Number 4 is pretty important. Auctions with low starting bids draw the most attention. Number 5 is also fairly important because auctions with reserve prices don't draw as much attention as no reserve auctions.
Now, let it run! You'll probably get bidder questions so do your best to answer them promptly and accurately. You may get a local buyer which wants to come by to see the item. In that case you can either ignore them or if possible make arrangements for them to inspect it.
Congratulations, you have bids. Dad's old restoration project is shockily quite valuable. You don't have to sell it if you don't want to. Maybe you never mentioned to Dad that you were trying to sell it. He's gonna be mad! As long as the auction has more than 12 hours left, you can close it and cancel all bids. No harm no foul. During the cancelation eBay will ask if you want to sell it to the highest bidder or cancel and close it. If you aren't planning on selling, cancel it.
Here's the dangerous part. If you procrastinate. If you forgot for some reason and you try to cancel the auction with less than 12 hours to go, you're screwed. You have to sell to the highest bidder.
So, there you go. A very fun method to test market items on eBay and in some cases even sell some. Approach with caution
©AverageJoeGuides.Com
There's all sorts of little tips and tricks you can find for selling stuff on ebay. So how can an ebay selling technique be classified as €dangerous€?
I use this one once in awhile to test market things. I don't recommend using it too often because you can upset bidders and probably get into trouble with ebay. However, I've never run into any problems with either.
You can list anything on ebay as long as it adheres to their listing requirements. You can't list items that fall into their prohibited or restricted categories. That being said, you can list other things.
Other things like what? I prefer to do this with items that I may have some chance of actually selling. I really don't care what it is. As long as I can get some good pictures of it and I either own it, or I can buy it. It's best if it's something that there are more than one of but it's not totally necessary.
Look around the house. What about that old vase that Grandma gave you for a wedding gift? You hate it, but it may be worth a fortune! You don't know what it is but she gave it to you and her Mom gave it to her. Run an auction and see what happens. What about your Dad's old car he's been restoring for 20 years! He still is no where near finishing and Mom wants it gone. Take some good pics and run an auction. You might just sell it. You get the idea. Don't limit yourself when you run an auction. There's usually a bidder for just about anything.
So what's the €technique€ that's so dangerous? It's called ending the listing early. If you don't know the rules, you may get into a mess. That's why it's dangerous.
This is how I run one of these:
- 1) Take alot of nice pictures of the item
- 2) Give a very detailed description of it
- 3) Include a notation indicating the following: Item is for sale locally and auction may end early if a local buyer purchases.
- 4) Start the auction for 99 cents
- 5) List with no reserve and include that in your title
Number 3 isn't that important and in some cases some bidders won't waste their time if they see that. Number 4 is pretty important. Auctions with low starting bids draw the most attention. Number 5 is also fairly important because auctions with reserve prices don't draw as much attention as no reserve auctions.
Now, let it run! You'll probably get bidder questions so do your best to answer them promptly and accurately. You may get a local buyer which wants to come by to see the item. In that case you can either ignore them or if possible make arrangements for them to inspect it.
Congratulations, you have bids. Dad's old restoration project is shockily quite valuable. You don't have to sell it if you don't want to. Maybe you never mentioned to Dad that you were trying to sell it. He's gonna be mad! As long as the auction has more than 12 hours left, you can close it and cancel all bids. No harm no foul. During the cancelation eBay will ask if you want to sell it to the highest bidder or cancel and close it. If you aren't planning on selling, cancel it.
Here's the dangerous part. If you procrastinate. If you forgot for some reason and you try to cancel the auction with less than 12 hours to go, you're screwed. You have to sell to the highest bidder.
So, there you go. A very fun method to test market items on eBay and in some cases even sell some. Approach with caution