Is Ebay right for you

Ebay is the ultimate online garage sale. There are many things to consider before you take the leap to selling on Ebay. Many people are making a healthy living off Ebay, but will you be the next big Ebay star. Buying off Ebay is one thing, but selling is a whole different animal of its own. Should you take a chance or pass on the opportunity? Never jump into something without knowing exactly what is required from you!!!

The first thing you should always do is familiarize with the rules and guidelines with Ebay. Make sure you read their terms of service thoroughly, before doing anything with them. The fine print is the part that always gets people. For example, when Ebay makes an offer for first time sellers to place their first few items free, make sure you read the fine print.

Yes, the first few items are free to place. However, when you add pictures, details, and any other detail they will charge you for the additional services. You want to have a solid familiarity with their rates and there are a lot of rates to learn. I highly recommend you print out their rate sheet, so you always have it right in front of you. This will greatly assist your every selling decision.

Second, know the products you are offering. This is an important decision when considering how much you want to charge or how much you want your starting bids set at. If you are offering an item without any significant value, then you will not want to place the product in any of their feature categories. Chances are, you end up spending more than you receive when doing so. Please remember, visibility is important to the success of your sale, however you have to work within your budget.

Third, you want to familiarize yourself with shipping rates of all the major shippers. Make sure you request shipping rates from each of the major shipping companies. Of course, this is critical when placing your product on Ebay. Ebay does offer help in determining the best shipping rates, however they tend to overcharge the rates a little bit. These rates are crucial to your success on Ebay, because people want to pay as little as possible for shipping.

Fourth, you want to think ahead. You do not want to get blind-sided by some unforeseen event. You have to expect the unexpected when dealing with a buyer. I highly recommend signing up for Paypal, which is free, and making sure you sell only to people with Paypal. There are too many bad things that happen regarding the sale of a product to someone without Paypal. For example, it is not uncommon to discover you have a customer who wrote you a bad check for their item. This leads me to another point. Never send your item without receiving payment first! You cannot assume a customer is a trustworthy person. If you ship the item, without payment, you increase the probability of someone taking advantage of your generosity.

With Paypal, if you do not receive payment, you can place a claim to retrieve up to $1,000 of your sale. Without Paypal you risk the loss of everything, without getting any of your money back.

Fifth, remember when I said visibility is crucial. You want to pay attention to the days you are placing your item on Ebay. The busiest sales day on Ebay is Saturday, so you want to make sure your item will close on Saturday. If you only want it to visible for three days, then you want to make sure you place the item on a Wednesday, with five days you would place it on Monday, et cetera.

Finally, pay attention to the details of your item. Make sure everything is correct the first time, because editing your item can effect the visibility and charges attained with your item. Make sure everything is correct the first time. You do not want to get burned. You will not be very happy when you are expecting $10 for your product and end up owing Ebay $20 instead.