eBay virgin tips

[ivykaty44]

never used it before until Sunday and trying to sell an item

have a few more items for sale, many tips?

the one item I have listed now has had a few views etc and a few people watching - do the watchers actually bid? or are they just seeing if it doesn't sell and then make offers?

Is it at buy it now or auction? For auction people generally watch and bid at the last minute. For buy it now it more like browsing and perhaps come back to it. If someone really wants it as BIN they will make and offer or just purchase.

its for auction with a buy it now option

Most likely you'll get a bid at the end of auction. Few people use BIN is there's an auction as they'd likely get it cheaper bidding.

Sometimes the "watchers" are other people who have the same item for sale, who are looking to see if you sell yours and for how much, you can have several watchers and not get any bids.

A serious bidder will wait until the last few seconds to bid, to try and get the item as cheap as possible without being outbid.

my advice would be to sell via a buy it now (for a price you are happy with).

Also buy your postage through ebay or rm click n drop so that your packages are tracked.

I always do 5 day listings instead of 7, no idea why it just gets on my nerves waiting for 7 days to sell, or not sell many times!

Ok, thanks 😊 it’s gone over the reserve, still got a few days to wait

My first item sold in 55 minutes on the BIN and courier picked up as I put collection only

This item is collection only as it’s to big to post etc

Always price things as x.99. If you want a tenner for something list it as 9.99. It's annoying but that way anyone looking for (and filtering their search for) something under £10 will find your item.

Always describe any faults. Point them out. Be honest.

Wrap it well.

If someone asks you to end an auction early and sell to directly them - refuse (politely). No matter what sob story about their daughter's birthday in three days they tell you. They've seen you're a newbie (low feedback number) you've undervalued an item - or deliberately started an auction at a low price - and want to get in quick before the price goes up.

But above all, trust me on the sunscreen...

Make sure you only accept cash on collection. Scammers pay by PayPal, collect and then say they've not been able to collect. Then they contact PayPal for a refund. You lose the money and the item. Only use eBay messaging to arrange collection so you have everything documented.

If you are prepared to put something for auction starting for 99p you'll often get people trying to do a deal with you before the auction ends if it's worth a bit. Pretty much a guarantee it'll go for good money ime. I found that ten day auctions ending on a Sunday afternoon work best.

Wowfudge I took a photograph of the collection of the first item