How would I get started in eBay?

[General Atarian]

Signing up, I know alot of people would not deal with someone with no feed back or very little.

 

It is like the old saying," I need a job to get experience, but I cant get experience without a job."

 

What should I do?

[lonesome_pa]

I've been selling for about 8 months now, and I have had a quite a few 0 bidders. I only had one problem with a non-payer. But, I also didn't have a 0 bidder on a very high price item so you may want to consider that end of it. The way I look at it is I was a 0 bidder at one point and someone had to give me that first sale. Based on that, I tend to be a little lenient in it.

[Snider-man]

Start building your FB rating by bidding on (and winning) several different non-expensive items. MAke sure to not win everything from one seller, as 10 FBs from one guy only shows up as "1" FB. (Your feedback is from each UNIQUE user, not from multiple buys from the same guy.)

 

A FB rating of 10 (with no negs) is usually enough to allieviate most seller's concerns.

[maximebeauvais]

A FB rating of 10 (with no negs) is usually enough to allieviate most seller's concerns.

 

I agree

[AtariDude]

That is exactly what I did in the beginning. I bidded on some inexpensive items and waited until I had at least 20 individual recommendations before I started selling items on Ebay.

[Philflound]

Well, here is my opinion. Buy my mailorder guide!

 

No, seriously, if you want credibility, start with cheaper items and make sure you have pictures. When you ship the item, email your bidder that you've shipped the item, and that you would appreciate a positive fb if they are happy with their purchase. Tell them you wouldn't usually ask for a feedback except you need it and if they would be kind enough to lend a helping hand to a new seller if they're happy with their purchase.

 

Now that I've read about your problem, I think I may go and add this in the section of my mail order/auction guide.

 

I've finally made 500 posts!

 

Phil

[Cap5750]

I have to disagree about the asking for feedback. Don't do it! There's people out there like me!

 

For example, I bought a car back in July and the sales guy told me I'd be getting a survey soon. He told me that if I didn't give him the highest marks he'd lose his job. He told me several other times during and after the sale the same thing and then even sent me a couple of letters. Needless to say, I blew it off!

 

Same thing goes for e-bay. People don't need to beg for feedback...just do your job and (especially if you're a seller), leave feedback first as soon as you receive payment. For me, if I buy, I don't leave feedback until after I receive the item...that way I can rate them on the whole process. If I sell, I leave feedback as soon as I have the payment.

 

I do agree with others...buy up a bunch of things first. Also, if you're lucky, deal with people you know who you know won't "lay one over on ya" and build up that rating.

 

And when you DO sell...or even if you don't sell, the best thing you can do is COMMUNICATE! Dang it, it don't take but a couple seconds to send an e-mail and say "Just wanted to let you know....XXXXXX".

 

As the guys as NIKE say, Just Do It!

 

Cap

[Bez]

Another thing to not scare away bidders, is as a newbie seller offer to send the item before payment is recieved, if the winning bidder has a positive feedback over 50 or something.

[Philflound]

BUZZ>>>> I have to disagree with that. I never send an item before payment. I don't care who you are. You can have a feedback rating of 10,000. No money, no item. Simple as that.

 

As I was saying, if you phrase it nice, I wouldn't be afraid to ask for feedback. The worst thing the guy can do is just not leave it for you. Of course you can wait a few days after they receive it and then ask if they haven't left you feedback.

 

Once you have about a 25, you're pretty safe.

 

Phil

[CaliColts]

I'm beginning to think feedback is kinda worthless, I have had more probs with people not leaving feedback I wonder why I leave it anymore.

 

Here are my numbers from eBay, the gap between left and received feedback builds every month.

 

439 positives. 391 are from unique users and count toward the final rating.

 

1 neutrals.

 

0 negatives. 0 are from unique users and count toward the final rating.

 

617 Feedback Comments Left

 

Oh well, Im thankful to those who have left feedback.

[CPUWIZ]

BUZZ>>>> I have to disagree with that. I never send an item before payment. I don't care who you are. You can have a feedback rating of 10,000. No money, no item. Simple as that.  

 

So you wouldn't send something to Albert or Alex before receiving the money ?

 

Now that's not very nice.

[CincYnoTi]

if you are brand new and want some useful "how to" steps, then buy philflound's guide. it has plenty of useful info for the person just starting out with ebay.

[Philflound]

Thanks for the comment about my guide. I know the subject of feedback has come up alot lately. Most people are against it, especially where my buddy has his store. The one worker said something that made alot of sense.

 

"If someone comes to the store and doesn't have a pleasant experience, he cannot put up a flyer on the store saying this place sucks. When you see a feedback, it is like seeing a storefront, but you get to see all the comments about the store without actually judging it from yourself."

 

I think the only time the feedback system works is when there are people who are not serious about bidding and just do it for the fun of it, or just deadbeat bidders. Other than that, most of the feedback is useless, and I think the feedback number is actually useless once it reaches 100.

 

Ebay though uses it as a rating on their power seller status. You must maintain a 98% positive fb ratio in order to maintain the power seller status. I think this is also a little bogus because I have had MANY successful transactions which has resulted in no feedback for me.

 

Just to give the numbers:

 

1101 feedbacks were posted FOR me.

1606 feedbacks were posted BY me.

 

So that means 500 transactions had no feedback left for me. That is ALOT! My rating is 836. This would put me well over 1200, just in case some of those were repeat buyers. But you know what? It doesn't matter to me. My feedback is so high that spending the time and energy asking people for feedback is useless.

 

One thing though if you are starting out, when you email or have paypal email your high bidder, some people put in their email. "If you are happy with this transaction, please leave positive fb for me." This is asking for it without actually asking for it, since it is not a bothersome email, but the email with the seller's info.

 

Just a thought. Now I have to get to Ebay again.

 

Phil

[sku_u]

If the item is appealing enough (unless the user does not publicize his/her feedback), it does not matter how many items the seller has sold in the past. People will bid on the item. Offer Paypal and make insurance required (1.30 is not a great deal of money). Also make sure to keep in contact with the person. Let them know when the item was shipped and provide a tracking #.

 

You could also start out of half.com since the feedback laft counts yowards your ebay account. This may take fowever, though. Especially if you're trying to sell common items for premium prices.