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Auction Seller Tips

Filed Under Sellers' Insights 




Although a topic of some debate, Sundays between 5 and 6pm PST is generally considered the best time to close an online auction (Long holiday weekends excepted). 10 days – spanning two weekends – is generally considered the best auction length.

Some Caveats:

  • Friday and Saturday nights are not the best time to end youth oriented online auctions.

  • Online auction items that appeal to retirement age people or Stay-At-Home-Moms may do best to end mid-morning.

  • Bottom Line: Try to anticipate who your buyer is, and try to schedule your online auction so it will close when they would likely be online.

The old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words”, is very applicable in the online auction business. Many potential bidders won’t even look at your auction if there is no picture. Make sure it is a picture of the actual item. Need help with pictures? Click here to see Auction Insights’ picture tutorial.

Want a professional looking auction page? Learn a little HTML and use it in your online auction listing. Click here to see Auction Insights’ basic HTML tutorial. (It’s not as hard as it looks).

Add a link to all of your current auctions with every e-mail you sent or message board post you make. Click Here for some more tips on this subject.

Your product description should include (at a minimum):

  • Condition

  • Age

  • Original Use

  • Value (state a credible source)

  • Any included accessories

When developing your description, try to anticipate all of the questions prospective bidders may ask and address them as briefly as possible.

Online auctions involve a great deal of trust. In order to gain the trust of potential bidders, remove as much doubt and mystery as possible.

  • Publish your shipping and handling costs up front.

  • Clearly state your check acceptance policy.

  • Don’t be so anonymous. Consider providing your name and location in your auction.

Enclose a handwritten personal note thanking your buyer with each order you ship. Click here to look at an example note.

Promote your online auctions through your personal website.

If you are new to online auctions, consider being a buyer first in order to build up positive feedback ratings

Offer the use of an escrow service for high price items. Make sure the you and the bidder come to an agreement as to how to pay for it, before the auction closes.

To reduce the risk of a bidder claiming that you never sent the goods, and for peace of mind, use the US Postal Service’s Delivery Confirmation service.

Provide an alternate E-mail address for your your bidder to contact you in case technical problems prevent them from sending E-mails to your primary address.

Cancel bids from known bogus bidders before your auction closes.

If you’re just starting out, pick one category of goods to focus on something that you know very well. (I began with comic books.) Within that category start with items that you know won’t sell for very high prices. Save the more valuable items until you have built up feedback and perfected your ads — you could end up making considerably more that way.

Consider alternate spellings of your product in the description field. For example, if your selling a lawn mower, write it as one word(”Lawnmower”) and two words (”Lawn Mower”).

Summer is the slow time for online auctions. Sellers should save their “high end” items for the winter to fetch a higher price.

For collectables, give some background. People will pay for a good story. Keep it short though.

On eBay, the title is limited to 45 characters. The default search method only scans auction titles. Don’t waste precious space with useless descriptions like “Awesome”, “L@@K”, or “Wow”. Nobody searches for an “awesome” beanie baby.

Avoid Reserve Pricing. Reserve-pricing figures are kept hidden from bidders. It does not foster trust between buyer and seller. Most people are hesitant about participating in reserve auctions.

Auctioning off a lot of products? Create a template and save it as text file. It’ll save you time and give your auctions a consistent identity.

If your policy is to hold personal checks for a period of time before shipping, state this in your description.

Accept credit cards. There are dozens of credit card services available. I’ve tried several. I’ve been very happy with PayPal.

Order FREE priority mail shipping supplies on-line at http://supplies.usps.gov

Make sure that you list details and keywords in your auction that will potential bidders can search on. For example, If a Captain America comic book that I am selling has guest appearance by Spiderman, I will mention that in the item description. A bidder entering “Spiderman” in Yahoo! Auctions’ search engine will get a listing of auctions that includes mine.

Create professional looking ads quickly with Auction Insights free Instant Auction Template Creator

Your e-mail to the winning bidder should be sent as soon as possible after auction close and include:

  • Final Price

  • Shipping Costs

  • Payment Options

  • Time frame in which you expect payment

  • Mailing Address for Payment

  • A hyperlink to your feedback page (to encourage feedback).

Check your e-mail morning and evening. Promptly respond to bidders’ questions.

Related Posts:

  • eBay Tools
  • eBay Shopping Tips and Tricks
  • Review: Sell Used Books Online eBook
  • Auction eZine - Issue 13
  • Articles


    • Comments

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    4 Responses to “Auction Seller Tips”

    1. Paul S on July 16th, 2006 1:13 pm

      Hi, thanks for the info you’ve shared. I’m a modest/moderate ebay user and have learnt from and concur with your advice.
      Keep up the good work
      Paul

    2. Jan Wareing on August 14th, 2006 3:01 pm

      Hi

      This site is very informative. I am thinking of becoming an ebay seller and this has helped enormously.

      Many thanks

      Jan

    3. Adam on January 17th, 2007 5:35 pm

      I thought I knew a decent amount about selling on eBay and this just broadens my knowledge. A lot of useful information in here. Thanks!

    4. Tony Wilson on February 14th, 2007 9:17 am

      Good information, I found your advice on timing your auction ending to make good sense. I am fairly new, less than 60 feedback, most of it purchases. I want to increase my feedback on sales, though. Do you know of any good ways to contact people to get them to lower a price if I plan to order the same item, or good sources for light-bulk shipping to my home for better individual prices. Any advice on this would be great, thank you so much.

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