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Article by: Thomas Parker
This month I have encountered two small problems which have affected
my eBay business. If I had spent a little more time thinking about
the design of my auction listings, these problems could have easily
been avoided and I would have had more time to spend on other
things instead of editing tiny mistakes in nearly 100 listings.
There have been many similar occasions in the past where a little
more forward planning would have avoided me redesigning all my
eBay auction listings. Therefore, my advice to you in this issue
is to think carefully about the design of your auction listings.
More time spent on your listing now can mean MUCH less time spent
redesigning them in the future.
Now the two actual problems I encountered this month were the
down to my PayPal address and my eBay ID. The first problem was
that for some reason the Pay Now button in eBay was not working
for all customers. This led to me getting many emails from buyers
saying the Pay Now button is not working, or worse many people
sending payments to one of my email addresses that was not registered
with PayPal. The end result was me having to explain and solve
the problem via multiple emails to multiple customers. So how
could I have avoided this problem? Well in my actual eBay listing
and Payment Policy I made no reference to my PayPal email address
but included all my other email addresses. I overlooked including
my PayPal email address in the listings simply because I assumed
that the Pay Now button would work at all times. Obviously not.
I have now amended all listings to include my PayPal email address
and thankfully since then I have had no PayPal payments sent to
the wrong email address.
So now all seems fine and dandy with my eBay listings when 2
days ago I received an email stating that I needed to change my
User ID because the previous one made reference to this website.
Now on eBay you can get away with this type of User ID for a while
but sooner or later eBay will catch you out and make you change
it. I knew this so really I should have chose a more sensible
User ID instead of trying to get a little extra traffic to my
website. So how does this affect my listings? Well in every listing
I include a link to my eBay feedback and eBay About Me page which
now needs to be changed. So that means more fun for me as I will
have edit all my eBay listings yet again.
So you may be wandering OK but what's the point of this story.
Well you (and hopefully me as well) can learn from my mistakes.
These two examples illustrate how just a LITTLE forward planning
would have saved a LOT of time for me and can do for you too.
I will give you a few things to think about when designing your
auction listings but you may think of more.
1) Ebay ID:- When choosing an eBay ID you need to think about
using one that both reflects your line of business and also sticks
to eBay policy. I know that it may be tempting to use **yourwebsitename**
as a User ID but that is a violation of eBay policy and they will
make you change it eventually. If you have to change your User
ID then you have to change every Feedback and About Me link in
all your listings. Choosing a User ID which is within eBay policy
will save you a lot of time in the future.
2) About Me Page:- Do you have an About Me page? If not you should
get one as it is one of the best promotion tools you have on eBay.
If you do have one you really should link to it in your auctions
as from the About Me page has much fewer restrictions than your
other eBay pages (for example you can link to your own website).
If you want to promote yourself on eBay the About Me page is the
best way to do it and the best way to increase traffic to your
About Me page is promote it fully.
3) Ebay Store:- If you have an eBay store then it is essential
that you provide a link to it within your auction listings. Many
customers who view your auctions will not know that you have an
eBay store or if they do they may not know exactly what one is.
If you want to maximise your sales potential you need to make
as many customers aware of your eBay store as possible. Putting
a simple sentence at the top of your auction listings such as
"Can't wait for this auction to end? Then Click Here to purchase
it right now from my eBay store" will give your eBay store
maximum exposure in your eBay auctions.
4) Email Addresses:- Make sure that all relevant email addresses
are included in your auction listing. Your PayPal email address
must be in here to avoid similar problems to the ones I experienced.
All the email addresses you wish to be contacted on should also
be included as well. For example I include my PayPal email , my
delivery enquiries email, and my general enquiries email. Even
if you only have one email address which is the same as the one
associated with your "Contact the Seller" you should
still include an email link in your auction description simply
because it makes it easier for the customer.
5) Ebay Store Custom Pages:- If you have an eBay store you are
allowed to design custom pages for whatever purpose you see fit.
If these custom pages are in any way relevant to the auction then
you should include a link to them too.
6) Images:- Have you put in all the images you want to use to
promote your auction. If not make sure they are all included.
What about your eBay store? If you have one then a store logo
is a great way to promote your store, make you look more professional,
and hopefully increase traffic and sales.
These are just a few of the many things you should consider before
listing an item on eBay. I am sure you can think of many more.
These rules are especially applicable to ebook sellers on eBay
because you will be constantly re-using the same auction listing
to sell an ebook because you have an infinite supply. Getting
the listing as close to perfect now will save you a LOT of time
in the future. Good luck!!!
Tom Parker (Owner and Creator of The Ebook Cavern) http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern
http://www.theebookcavern.co.uk/
http://www.theebookcavernreviews.co.uk/
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