Pricing
Pointers
Once they get a look at your product,
potential buyers want to know about price. It only takes two
bidders to drive up the price of an item you list, but if you price
that item too high, the buyers may never come. So what starting
price do you set?
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Experts agree $1 works most of the time.
"People like looking for a good deal, and they can't get
much better than $1 for an item worth $500 [even if they do end up
paying $500]," says Corriher. Plus, the lower you set the
price, the more people are likely to bid and become emotionally
attached to the item, wanting to bid more frequently because they
promised their wife that pair of diamond earrings. (For more on
pricing see "How to Inspire Bidding Frenzies".)
How long you should list an item depends
on a variety of factors. You may list an item for one, three, five,
seven or 10 days, though sellers must meet certain qualifications
to use one-day listings, and 10-day listings are subject to fees.
Consider your buyers: Listing an item longer allows more time for
buyers to watch your item and place bids. Your selling volume is
also a factor. For example, if you're a high-volume seller and
are listing several identical items, choosing the one-day option
allows you to offer more listings for those items. Also, if the
item you're selling relates to an event, such as a concert or a
holiday, be sure the listing ends with enough time to ship the item
to the buyer.
Check Out the Hit
List
What if you have plenty of great photos
and a good starting price, but you feel like you're still not
receiving the hits you should? Find out just how many visitors
you're getting, and you can start to solve the problem. To do
so, add a hit counter to your page when you are setting up a
listing. Knowing how many visitors you receive compared to the
number of bids you receive will tell you how successful your
listing is. Getting 10,000 onlookers a day but no bids? Perhaps
your title copy is great, but your description or pricing is off.
Or maybe you placed your item in the wrong category. Look at your
listing in more detail to determine where the problem is.
Scott Hunter, co-owner of consulting
firm HowToSellAuctions.com in San Jose, California, discovered just
how critical the listing details can be. A client through his
previous employer wanted to sell a 6-inch change plate from the
Titanic that he'd inherited from his aunt. Hunter listed the
item on behalf of his client and expected it to generate thousands
of hits. And it did. In the first three days, he noticed tens of
thousands of visitors had taken a peek into the item listing, but
no bids had been placed. Hunter determined something must be off
with the description, so he revamped the listing copy. Instead of
simply describing the plate as coming from the Titanic, he told the
story behind it: A woman on the ship took the plate upon check-in,
long before the ship hit the iceberg. Because women and children
were loaded onto the safety boats first, she survived, bringing the
plate, hidden in her coat, with her. The Czech Republic
manufacturers of the plate verified its authenticity. A bidding
frenzy ensued. By the time the auction ended, the plate had sold
for $10,000 to the owners of the internet casino
GoldenPalace.com.
When you begin to draw traffic, managing
potential buyer inquiries can be time-consuming. To cut down on
questions, be as detailed as you can in your listing. It will save
you time, especially when the bidding frenzy begins and bidders
start to e-mail you questions they may need answered in a
two-minute time frame as the end of the listing draws
near.
The Payoff
After the high of the listing winds
down, it's time to handle payment and shipping. Every seasoned
seller will tell you to accept PayPal. The secure online payment
system handled $6.2 billion in the first quarter of 2005 and has
over 70 million accounts from users in 56 markets. Additionally, 3
out of 4 buyers on eBay prefer paying with PayPal, according to
eBay. A primary reason for this is that PayPal keeps buyers'
information secure by sending sellers the money without sharing the
buyer's financial information. Indeed, a recent survey found
that 92 percent of PayPal customers viewed the service as a secure
way to pay online, helping overcome mounting concerns among
consumers about the safety of their personal information
online.
PayPal allows sellers to accept major
credit cards and bank account payments with no merchant account or
gateway required. Fees are considerably lower than those sellers
would otherwise pay through a traditional credit-card
arrangement.
In addition, PayPal offers protection
programs for both buyers and sellers. Buyers are shielded from
merchandise that may be misrepresented or not delivered, while
sellers are protected for up to $5,000 from fraudulent transactions
and against credit-card chargebacks.
When considering shipping, you'll
need to figure out 1) how much to charge customers, and 2) how you
will execute the shipment. When deciding on shipping charges, you
can offer three different flat-rate amounts or let the buyer use
eBay's Shipping Calculator to determine the cost for
themselves. The Calculator is a free eBay tool the bidder can use
during the listing process to estimate in advance how much they
will be charged for shipping. The Calculator works by ZIP code and
can also determine international rates.
For shipping average-size packages, eBay
supports the U.S. Postal Service and UPS. For items weighing more
than 150 pounds, Freight- quote.com can provide
solutions.
A rookie seller mistake when shipping
smaller items is standing in endless lines at the post office.
Invest in a scale, suggests 34-year-old Kim Everitt, CEO of
Walk In
Auction, an eBay drop-off store in Golden, Colorado. Since
buying a scale on eBay for $30, she now weighs her items at her
store and prints out most of the labels via PayPal. The pre-printed
labels save her time and save her customers money, as metered mail
can have a slightly lower rate than stamped first-class. Most
important, says Everitt, who averages $25,000 a month in sales, is
to be able to send packages on a daily basis, improving your
customer service.
Keep 'Em
Happy
Happy customers are a large part of
securing success on eBay, as is evidenced by the 2.7 billion
feedback comments eBay members had left by the end of 2004
regarding their eBay transactions. To maintain a good rating, you
must have the attitude that the customer is always right. If
there's a mistake, fix it. Corriher explains that if a buyer
tells him he missed a problem on a tractor before shipping, he
handles it immediately. "I have shipped it back at my expense
or sent them the part. I [do] whatever it [takes] to make the
customer happy," says Corriher. "I have spent hundreds of
dollars fixing things that were maybe not my fault. But hundreds of
dollars is a small percentage of the millions I've sold on
eBay."
Current eBay PowerSellers have a wealth
of information and tips, and they're willing to share their
know-how with others. Check out eBay's Community discussion
boards to seek answers to some of your concerns. But know everyone
is in it together. "We are still learning," says
Corriher. "And by learning, you grow."
Sheree R. Curry specializes in
management best practices and is an award-winning business
journalist and former staff reporter at Fortune. She currently
freelances from her suburban Minneapolis home.
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