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What You Can Learn From Competing Ebay Auctions.
If you've a savvy businessperson, the chances are you've already taken a look at your competitors' auctions. What you might not have realised is just how much you can learn if you know what you're looking for. To begin with, don't bother...

When And How To Cancel An Ebay Auction Early.
One day, you might decide that you want to end an auction early. Before you do, though, you should consider why you want to do it: cancelling auctions upsets buyers and upsets eBay, and there might be a better to way to get what you want. I Want...

Top Ten Internet Auction Shipping Tips
Here are some tips to help you with your Internet auction shipments. 1. Ship Small, Lightweight Products The heavier and bulkier the product, the more it will cost to ship. Pick light items in preference to heavier items. Of course,...

If You Want to Save Money, Reverse Online Auctions Are The Way to Go
By now everyone knows how eBay works. You list an item you're trying to sell, and buyers place bids on it. After a predetermined length of time (commonly seven days), the highest bidder "wins" and gets to pay that much money for the item. That's...

Succeeding with Ebay Auctions
Ebay just seems to be another one of those darling Internet phenoms like Google that just seems to do no wrong. With nearly 15 billion in sales last year and over 10 million visitors every month (and still growing!), it seems like Ebay might be...

 
The top 10 reasons why auctions fail on eBay

Are you finding that auction after auction fails to attract any bidders or buyers? It happens to the best of us sometimes - take a good look at these things to see if any of them could be making your bidders avoid you.
The starting price was too high: People don't want to have to make a high bid before anyone else has - you should always start your auctions low and let the bidders bid them up.
The fixed price is too high: If you're just selling with Buy it Now, then of course your items won't sell if they're too expensive. Try reducing the price a little each time the item fails to sell.
No picture: Most buyers are reluctant to bid on something without a picture, and that goes even more for high-value items. Think of it from the buyer's point-of-view: would you want to bid on an item when you've no idea what it looks like?
You had a reserve: Reserve prices scare away buyers like you wouldn't believe, not to mention costing a percentage of your final sale price. Avoid them like the plague.
Bad spelling and grammar: If your titles are spelt wrongly, then no-one will find your auctions. If your descriptions are incoherent, then no-one will know what you're talking about. Always run your text through a spelling and grammar checker before you put it up on eBay.
Too much for shipping: You might be expecting people to pay more for shipping than they're prepared to. Give them a few cheaper options that will take longer, or use cheaper materials.
Negative feedback: If you got negative feedback on your last transaction, expect things to be slow for a while. Try selling cheap things for a while to get your account back in good standing.
Nasty terms: Don't write things all over your auction like "I will only accept returns in PERFECT condition" or "Serious bidders only, no timewasters!!" This is entirely unnecessary and just makes you look difficult to deal with.
No PayPal: Many buyers simply avoid any seller who doesn't accept PayPal as a payment method - they can't be bothered with the hassle of anything else. Even if you don't like PayPal, you should accept it if you want to business on eBay.
The items were bad. You will have to accept that there are some items no-one wants - perhaps they were hyped to begin with, but now people had heard that they're useless and stopped buying. Before you come to this conclusion, though, check everything else you can, and check if anyone else is managing to sell it. If you're sure, try to return the items, and buy in some new stock.
About the Author
Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisation with a wealth of experience in personal development, management development, e-learning and operational management. In addition he owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) two sites specifically aimed at those who want to successfully sell on eBay http://www.ebay-profits.co.uk and http://www.info-entrepreneurs.co.uk

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