5 Major Reasons Sellers on eBay Fail

By the DoItYourself.com Staff

There are thousands of sellers trying to earn a living or seriously supplement their current income by opening up shop on eBay. Out of the many would-be profiteers who attempt this feat, only a comparatively small handful succeed. These people know the ropes of selling on eBay: how to attract both searchers and browsers to their sites and turn them into customers without making the five most common major pitfalls of the beginning seller.

Five Major Reasons Sellers on eBay Fail

1. Lack of Passion

Many sellers on eBay first open up stores or start selling items en masse because they think they have recently discovered a relatively easy way to make money, whether it be by selling items from around the house, a garage sale, a drop shipping outlet, or a liquidation center. Often sellers who choose items from around their homes or garage sales (especially in winter) run into problems finding enough items to sell to make a continuous profit. Sellers who use items from a drop shipping outlet or liquidation center often fall into the trap of trying to sell the newest hip product. This is a venture at which they are quickly defeated or at least stymied by the competition – namely, other eBay sellers trying to do the exact same thing. Even with sellers for whom a steady supply of marketable items and competition is for whatever reason not a problem, those who do not have a passion for what they are selling often find themselves disinclined to take the time to post the hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of listings required to describe their items.

2. Bad Feedback

When sellers don't communicate quickly and effectively with their customers via email, or are in some other way negligent during a transaction, they accumulate bad feedback. Additionally, particularly persnickety customers who aren't handled with kid gloves are inclined to leave negative comments on a transaction at the drop of a hat. If an uncareful seller encounters too many of these people, doesn't answer emails regarding potential purchases or status of shipping questions, sends wrong items or those that do not match descriptions, or a combination of the preceding faux pas, their number of negative comments will grow to seriously offset, or even surpass, the positive. This will immediately deter customers who check feedback ratings before they even begin bidding – no one wants to buy from an unreliable, clearly careless seller.

Another potential obstacle to many customers is lack of feedback entirely, either because previous purchasers have been lazy or forgotten, or sellers simply haven't been selling long enough to accumulate a reassuring amount of comments. When people check feedback ratings, sellers with 100 positive comments and over usually fare better than those with less, since this is a large number that resonates with would-be buyers as clearly indicative of selling experience and prowess.

3. Not Accepting Credit Cards

Before customers bid on an item, they usually check to see what kind of payment options a seller offers. Many people prefer to pay via credit card because of the ease, relative speed, and safety of corporations like Paypal, compared to the slow, risky sending of cash, personal check, or cashier's check. Sellers who do not offer paying by credit card as one of their payment options are sure to lose many potential customers, simply because most people do not feel safe not using electronically protected methods (ie, sending cash through the mail), and do not feel like waiting several extra days for cash to be received or a check to go through.

4. Poor Advertising

Customers find auctions they would like to bid on by clicking categories and typing in keywords that describe the item they are looking for. If a seller's listings are improperly categorized, or the titles of a seller's listings contain misspellings or rare, little-known keywords that most people wouldn't think to use, then it follows that most people will not find the auction in the first place, let alone bid. Once people have found a seller's auctions, their titles must contain enticing adjectives, and the sidebar photos must be clear and desirable, to make them stand out from other auctions advertising the same product. Additionally, once people click the product link to discover more, a seller's descriptions must offer complete, detailed information that satisfies pertinent questions about the product, as well as advertises it in a positive, alluring manner. Weak keywords, titles, and product descriptions turn people off.

5. Underestimating Costs And Losing Money

In the excitement and rush of starting a business, many new sellers underestimate the costs involved in buying items they plan to resell. They may spend more than they planned to on the original purchases, or find that the prices at which they intended to market their items are too high. They may even find that their items are not as popular with customers as they imagined. The amount of money spent on items compared to the amount they can feasibly sell for, as well as the price eBay charges for putting each item up for sale (including picture, mini headlines, picture carousels, and more) should all figure into the seller's financial calculations. When sellers miscalculate, spend more than intended to, or do not make as much they thought they would, their businesses lose money that is hard to regain. Many eBay shops go under because sellers simply could not break even.

With these tips in mind, entrepreneurs and amateurs alike starting a new business on eBay will safely avoid the pitfalls that most commonly doom a seller to failure.

© Doityourself.com 2006