Top 10 Reasons Why eBay Auctions Fail

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 top ten reasons to see if any of them could be making your bidders avoid you.

1. The starting price was too high.

People don't want to bid high before anyone else has. Always start your auctions low and let the bidders bid them up.

2. 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.

3. 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 even looks like?

4. You had a reserve.

Reserve prices just aren't good for business. It scares away buyers like you wouldn't believe, and it costs you a percentage of your final sale price. Avoid them like the plague.

5. Bad spelling and grammar.

If your titles are spelled incorrectly, then no one can actually find your auctions. If your descriptions are incoherent, 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.

6. Too much for shipping.

You might be expecting people to pay more for shipping than they're willing to. Give them a few cheaper options that will take longer or use cheaper materials.

7. 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.

8. 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.

9. 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 do business on eBay.

10. The items were bad.

You will have to accept that there are some items that nobody wants. Perhaps they were once popular but then people had found out that they're useless and stopped buying them. Before you come to this conclusion, though, check everything else you can including if anyone else is managing to sell it. If you're sure it's something people don't want anymore, try to return the items and buy some new stock.

Copyright 2006 J. Sheridan

For more free information on ebay selling, drop shipping strategies, handling bid snipers, and to find out what's the hottest selling items on eBay, visit http://www.Ebay-Selling-Tip.com

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