EBay for Dummies (44 page)

Put me in the Gallery

The Gallery is a legacy term that refers to the single picture you post to accompany your listing. It also causes a postage-stamp-size version of your image to appear next to your listing in the category or search. Many buyers enjoy browsing the Gallery catalog-style, and it’s open to all categories. (I explain how to post your pictures in Chapter 14.)

The best things about using a Gallery picture in your listings are that it’s
free
and it increases the space your listing takes up on a search or category page. If you don’t use a Gallery picture and just have an image in your description, your listing will get very few hits.

Filling out the item location

eBay wants you to list the general area and country where you live. The idea behind telling the bidder where you live is to give him or her a heads-up on what kind of shipping charges to expect. Don’t be esoteric (listing where you live as
The Here and Now
isn’t a whole lot of help) but don’t go crazy with cross-streets, landmarks, or degrees of latitude. Listing your city and state is enough.

If you live in a big area — say, suburban Los Angeles (who, me?), which sprawls for miles — you may want to think about narrowing your region a little. You may find a bidder who lives close to you, which could swing your auction. If you do a face-to-face transaction, doing it in a public place is a good idea. (I picked up an eBay purchase at Starbucks recently.)

A picture is worth a thousand words

Clichés again? Perhaps. But an item on eBay without a picture is almost a waste of time. If you haven’t set up photo hosting elsewhere, you can list one picture with eBay’s Pictures Service for free. Additional ones cost you $0.15 each. Alternatively, you can put all the pictures you want in your auction description for free. See Chapter 14 for the necessary coding and instructions.

Listing Designer

How many times have you seen an item on eBay laid out on the page all pretty-like with a fancy border around the description? If that sort of thing appeals to you, eBay’s Listing Designer will supply you with pretty borders for almost any type of item for $0.10. Selecting your design is as easy as clicking the menu (see Figure 10-6). You can designate where you’d like to place your image on the page relative to the description (left, right, top, or bottom).

Will the pretty borders increase the amount of bids your auction will get? It’s doubtful. A clean item description with a few good clear pictures of your item is really all you need.

There’s a special combination deal called the Value Pack. For $0.65, you can place a subtitle on your listing, add a Gallery Plus picture, and doll things up with Listing Designer. All those features would normally cost $0.95, so the savings is clear if you run several listings a week.

If you don’t want to use the Listing Designer graphics to distract from your item, you can still get a discount. Just select the Listing Designer check box, but
don’t
choose a graphic pattern. You’ll still save $0.30 over the price of a subtitle and Gallery (sneaky, huh?).

Listing the payment methods you’ll accept

Yeah, sure, eBay is loads of fun, but the bottom line to selling is the phrase “Show me the money!” eBay allows the following payment options: PayPal, credit or debit card processed through an Internet merchant account, ProPay, Moneybookers, and or Paymate. You make the call on what you’re willing to take as money from the buyer of your item.

So as not to confuse you here — just accept PayPal! As a new seller you have enough on your plate without worrying about several payment options. By the way, this advice isn’t just for beginners — I accept only PayPal in my listings.

In some cases, you may still accept checks and money orders in certain categories. Since these categories can change per eBay’s policy, I suggest you check
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html
to see if your category is listed.

eBay’s rules say that you must clearly state the payment methods you accept and can’t make generalized statements or ask buyers to contact you for additional payment methods.

Some sellers who use credit card services try attaching an additional fee (to cover their credit card processing fees) to the final payment. However, that’s against the law in California, home of eBay, and therefore against eBay’s rules. So forget about it. eBay can end your auction if it catches you.

Setting shipping terms

Ahoy, matey! Hoist the bid! Okay, not quite. Before you run it up the mast, select your shipping options. Here are your choices:

Ship to the United States only:
This option is selected by default; it means you ship only domestically.

Will ship worldwide:
The world is your oyster. But make sure that you can afford the time for the extra processing of customs forms.

Will ship to United States and the following:
If you’re comfortable shipping to certain countries but not to others, make your selections here; they show up on your auction page.

When you indicate that you will ship internationally, your auction shows up on the international eBay sites, which is a fantastic way to attract new buyers! eBay has lots of good international users, so you may want to consider selling your items around the world. If you do, be sure to clearly state in the description all extra shipping costs and customs charges. (See Chapter 12 for more information on how to ship to customers abroad.)

Traditionally, the buyer pays for shipping, and this is the point at which you must decide how much to charge. You also have to calculate how much this item will cost you to ship. If it’s a small item (weighing under a pound or so), you may decide to charge a flat rate to all buyers. To charge a flat rate, click the Flat Shipping Rates tab and fill in the shipping amount. Before you fill in the amount, be sure to include your costs for packing (see Chapter 12 for more info on how much to add for this task) and how much the insurance charges will be.

If your item weighs 2 pounds or more, you may want to use eBay’s versatile shipping calculator. Because UPS and the U.S. Postal Service now charge variable rates for packages of the same weight, based on distance, using the calculator simplifies things for your customers (and you). Be sure you’ve weighed the item and know how much your handling charge will be. The calculator allows you to input a handling amount and adds it to the overall shipping total but does not break out the amount separately for the customer. The calculator also conveniently calculates the proper insurance amount for the item. Figure 10-7 shows how simple the form is.