eBay Help-Steps to take for problems with an item

Posted on March 31, 2011 by Eleanor

Need some eBay Help? This is an excerpt from eBay’s Help Department

When you buy an item on eBay, you can do so with confidence. If you haven’t received the item or it doesn’t match the seller’s description, your purchase price plus original shipping may be covered by the PayPal Purchase Protection for qualifying transactions. If you have a problem, we’re here to help you.

1.
If you haven’t already, contact the seller. Many issues can be solved with a simple conversation.
2.
If the seller hasn’t made things right, contact us so we can help. You can open a case 3 days after the estimated delivery date of an item or 7 days after the listing ended if you weren’t given an estimated delivery date.
3.
If you’ve already received the item, and it’s damaged or doesn’t match the listing description, you can open a case.
To open a case, contact us.
Click the My item hasn’t arrived yet, what do I do? or What can I do when I get an item that’s not as described? link and follow the instructions.
4.
If you haven’t received the item, the seller may:

  • Provide shipping tracking information

  • Issue you a full refund

  • Offer to send you a replacement item, if you agree

We’ll ask you to confirm that you’ve received the item or the refund.
If you received the item, but it doesn’t match the seller’s description, the seller may:

  • Offer you a partial refund

  • Ask that you return the item for a full refund

  • Ask that you return the item in exchange for a replacement item, if you agree

If you’re offered a partial refund, you can accept it, request a different amount, or suggest another solution, like returning the item for a full refund. You can also ask PayPal to review the case. Keep in mind that PayPal’s decision on a case is final.
We’ll ask you to confirm that you’ve received the refund or sent the item back. To show that you’ve sent an item back to the seller, you’ll need to ship the item with tracking information and then enter the tracking number in the Resolution Centre.

Knowing the steps to take as listed in the ebay help guide above can save you a lot of stress. Protecting the rights of both buyers and sellers is what eBay strives to do well so everyone will enjoy their shopping and feel confident enough to come back again.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

eBay Buying-Do You Know Your Rights?

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Eleanor

eBay Buying and Your Rights as an eBay Buyer

When you buy things on eBay, you pay the seller before they send you anything.   This means that you, as a buyer, are vulnerable to all sorts of problems. You might not get the items you have paid for, or they might be damaged or faulty.   Luckily, you have two very important rights when you buy on eBay.

The Right to Receive Your Item.

Maybe the seller never sent the item, or maybe it got lost in the mail. Whatever happened, you paid for the item. If it doesn’t arrive in the mail as described, you have the right to a replacement or a refund, whether it’s the seller’s fault or not.

The fact that you bought something on eBay doesn’t mean that you don’t have the exact same rights that you would have if you bought it in a shop (these rights are pretty much the same all over the world). Plus, under eBay’s rules, the seller isn’t allowed to change their mind about selling you the item: once the auction ends, it becomes a contract – you must buy and they must sell, or face eBay’s penalties.

The Right for Your Item to Be as Described in the Auction.

Sometimes sellers don’t wrap items properly, and so they get broken. Occasionally they write descriptions that are misleading or just plain wrong to begin with, leaving out vital details that would have caused you to change your mind about buying.  If this happens to you, you again have the right to a replacement or a refund.

Watch for my next blog post – Your Rights – Part Two – How Do I Use My Rights? Knowing your ebay buying rights will enable you to have a satisfied and enjoyable experience time and time again.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

What is eBay? A Refresher for Beginners

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Eleanor

What is ebay?

eBay is an online auction website – and not just any auction site, but the biggest one in the world. If you know how an auction works, then you already know how roughly eBay works. Someone adds something they want to sell to the site, and then buyers come along and place bids on it. The highest bid wins the item! It’s that simple.

eBay being an online auction makes a big difference, though. Buying and selling are not reserved for any elite. eBay accept almost any item, no matter how small, and will then advertise it on their sites all over the world. It’s a powerful combination of an auction and a slightly chaotic marketplace. Continue reading →

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ebay Tips for How to Increase Your Response Rates

Posted on January 21, 2011 by Eleanor

10 eBay Tips for Increasing Your Response.

So you’ve got the buyer in front of your auction, and they’ve read the description. They must be interested, or they wouldn’t be looking… but just how can you push them over that line and make them leave a bid? Read on for some tips.

Improve your picture: In all that description writing, you might have missed the vital importance of your item’s picture. A picture with bad lighting or an intrusive background looks amateurish and won’t make anyone want to buy from you.

Add an About Me page: You’ll be surprised how much you can reassure bidders just by creating an About Me page and putting a little bit about yourself or your business on there. You can also have a few special offers there for people who bother to look at the page, and let people subscribe to your mailing list so that you can email them updates.

Use SquareTrade: Signing up at SquareTrade and displaying their logo on your auctions shows that you are committed to have them resolve any disputes that arise. You always see this on PowerSellers auctions – it makes you look more professional.

Write terms and conditions: Have the ‘small print’ clearly visible on all your auctions, giving details of things like shipping times and prices, your refund policy, and any other business practices you might have. This helps build confidence with buyers.

Show off your feedback: Copy and paste a selection of the feedback comments you’re most proud of  to each item’s description page, instead of making bidders go and look for it. If you have 100% positive feedback, be sure to write that on every auction too.

Add NR to your titles: If you have extra space in a title, put ‘NR’ (no reserve) on the end.  Bidders prefer auctions that don’t have a reserve price, and doing this lets them see that your auction does not.

Benefits not features: Make sure your description focuses on the benefits that your item can give to the customer, not just its features. This is a classic sales technique. If you have trouble with this, remember: ‘cheap’ is a feature, ‘save money’ is a benefit.

List more items: If you want more people to respond to your items, then list more items! You might find you like listing items at the same time, instead of one-by-one. There’s no need to use a Dutch auction – you can just keep two or three auctions going at once for an item you have more than one of in stock.

Accept unusual payment methods: To reach those last few buyers, accept payment methods that many sellers don’t, like checks.

Buy some upgrades: The best upgrade is the most expensive one, which makes your item appear first in search results. In crowded categories, you might find that this is worth the money.

Using the ebay tips given above, you should start seeing a dramatic increase in the volume of people who stick around and place their bids. Who knows, you might even get to be part of some exciting bidding wars for your items which will most surely add to your enjoyment of being a successful ebay seller.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Tips for Selling on Ebay-The Best Way to Write an Item Description

Posted on December 16, 2010 by Eleanor

Of all the tips for selling on ebay you may learn about, how to craft your item description is one of the most important ones. Once you’ve drawn the buyers in with your title, the next thing to do is to tell them all about your item with the description. But just what should you write in your description?

At its heart, your item description is an ad. Without making it too obvious, you should be writing sales copy. You’re trying to get buyers excited about your products, and that’s usually hard – but on eBay, if you have the right thing to sell and give enough details, the buyers almost excite themselves.

Technical Details.

Include every technical detail you know, including the item’s manufacturer, its condition, how big it is, where and when it was made, its history, and anything else special about it. Don’t be too boring, though: the best descriptions are written in friendly, conversational language, and show a real knowledge of the item. Whatever you do, make sure you tell the truth!

Remember that most of the people who’ll be buying your item will be just as knowledgeable about it as you are, if not more – this is their hobby, and they’re experts. Don’t feel that you need to explain the basics of the item. As a rule, don’t write anything in the description if you don’t know what it means, as the chances are someone will, and if you’ve got it slightly wrong then you’ll look like you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Interesting Details.

You might find that you enjoy writing a few things about how you got the item, why you’re selling it, and who you think might like it. This isn’t strictly necessary, but it gives your auctions some character and a personal touch, and can make people more likely to trust you. People might wonder what you’re doing selling 500 CDs all at once, and if you tell them the reason, then they’ll feel reassured that nothing dodgy is going on. If you’re selling them because you’re having a baby and you need the space, just say so.

Write as Much as You Can.

Leave nothing out of your description, even if that seems to you like it makes it cumbersomely long. There is no way you can be too thorough: someone, somewhere will appreciate that you took the time to write the extra information.

Don’t assume that anyone who wants extra information will email you to ask a question: many buyers are shy and won’t do it. Think of questions that buyers might have and add the answers to your description, as people generally tend to ask the same questions over and over again.

Each time a buyer does email you with a question, you should both answer their question and update your description so that it will include the answer next time. If people ask questions that are answered in the description, try putting these parts of the auction on a line alone, or in bold, to make them easier to notice.

I hope you have been enjoying all of these tips for selling on ebay I have been able to share. While learning is one thing, you must put your knowledge to practice to see just how well it can work. Now get out there and create some great item descriptions that will really draw your customers in!

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ebay Auctions-Choosing the Right Title for Your Item

Posted on October 22, 2010 by Eleanor

Trying to help your buyers find your ebay auctions can be a truly daunting task. Most people only search eBay by title, not by description, and that means that you only have those 55 characters of the title to cover all the possible search terms. That’s not easy. Here are a few pointers.

Don’t bother with eBay clichés: There are plenty of eBay auction titles that say things like “Super rare camera wow look low price”. These are stupid things to put in your title, as no-one is going to search for them.

Think like a buyer: If you were looking for your item, then what exactly would you type into that box? If you think it’d help, try searching yourself to find someone else selling your item. What were the first things you thought of typing?

Think like other sellers: Keep an eye on which sellers are doing best with items like yours, and try to copy their title styles – if it works for them, it can work for you.

Be specific: You should be sure to write the item’s brand and specific model number in the title, as people will often search only for this information. Make sure that you also say exactly what the item is.

Here are a few examples of good titles for ebay auctions. They’re real, and they’re on eBay right now, making their sellers money. So what makes them good?

“Dell Latitude Laptop P3 500mhz Notebook PC Computer”

If you know about computers, you’ll know instantly what this auction is selling. It has manufacturer (Dell) and product line (Latitude), followed by a few technical specifications (P3 500mhz is the processor speed). Notice also that the title includes the four words ‘laptop’, ‘notebook’, ‘PC’ and ‘computer’, as the seller wants people looking for any of those words to see his auction.

“OASIS Don’t Believe the Truth CD Album (New)”

This auction for a CD is well formatted: it gives the artist name in capital letters, followed by the album name. It then manages to include the two key words ‘CD’ and ‘album’, as well as the word ‘new’ – that means that anyone searching for ‘new oasis cd’, ‘oasis new album’ and so on will find this auction.

“1840 Penny Black stamp, certificate, four margins”

Here’s a slightly more obscure one, from the exciting world of stamp collecting. A penny black is one of the oldest and most famous stamps. It uses a few key words that collectors will consider important: ‘four margins’ indicates that the stamp has been cut out with some margins around it and so isn’t damaged, and ‘certificate’ tells you that the item has a certificate of authenticity – it’s a real penny black. Remember to use every bit of space to squeeze in as much important information as you can in the title.

So see, choosing the best title for each of your ebay auctions doesn’t have to be such a hard task after all. So now that you’ve written a winning title, you need to start on a great description. Our next post will show you how.

Technorati Tags: , , , ,

Posted in eBay Learning | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment