How to Avoid Failure on Your eBay Auctions

Many first time sellers have one thing in common –

they fail. Many of them fail time and time again,

never understanding what is going wrong. They do

hours of research looking for the perfect item to sell,

get the auction set up, and wait for the bidding to

begin. Hours go by and no bids are placed. Days go

by, and there are still no bids – or there are very low

bids. Finally the auction ends, and it turns out to be

a total failure. Considering the huge number of sellers

who run eBay auctions, there are specific things you

must do, and specific things you must not do if you

are to be successful.

There are many reasons why auctions fail. The most

common reason is that the item is not in high

demand. This problem can be avoided by doing the

necessary research to determine which items sell

well, and which items should be avoided. This

research takes a great deal of time – but in the end,

you will find that it is time well spent.

Another reason for eBay failure is pricing. No matter

what your reserve price is, your opening bid price

should never be more than $50 or so. This is how you

will attract potential bidders to your auction. If you

set that opening bid too high, most people won’t

even click the link to read the description for your

item. Another pricing problem is lack of research.

Before you set your reserve price, you must

determine what the item is really worth, and the price

similar items have sold for in past eBay auctions.

Poorly written descriptions are another cause of

failed auctions. Poor grammar and misspelled words

drive people away. Failing to post a picture of the

item will also keep people from visiting your auction

page. Make sure that your description is well written.

This is essentially your ‘sales copy.’

Shipping prices scare people away from auctions if

they are too high. Find the lowest shipping prices

that you can find, and consider paying for the

shipping yourself if it won’t cut into your profits too

much. Do not charge handling fees.

Offer great ‘customer service’ for all of your auctions,

and ask your buyers to give you feedback. If the

items that you sell are everything that you said they

would be, and you offer great customer service, you

can expect wonderful feedback – and this

feedback will help a great deal in your future auctions.