If you are already an eBay seller, or perhaps a budding entrepreneur, it never hurts to have an edge on the competition. If you are looking to maximize your eBay bids, start by offering a thorough product description. Make sure to note the condition of the product, along with payment options and shipping time. It is a good idea to accept as many types of payments as possible, including cashiers check, money order, personal check or PayPal. By accepting a broad range of payment methods, you will increase the number of potential customers that may bid on your auction.
When listing an auction, include a photo of the item that you are selling. A quality photo can be obtained in several ways. Many eBay sellers acquire their photos through the use of a computer scanner. But, if you dont have a scanner, thats no problem. If youre a good photographer, a digital camera can provide the same results. In fact, a digital camera will be an excellent way for you to photograph the items and possibly add some extra special touches to make the photo even more beautiful. For example, if you are selling sports memorabilia, perhaps you want to include a sports theme in the background or a display to show the details of each item. If you arent comfortable operating a digital camera and still prefer the regular film cameras, you will be glad to know that most photo labs can develop pictures and include a picture CD-Rom with your film developing order. Simply snap the photos using any regular camera and request a picture CD-Rom when having your film developed. Once you have the CD-Rom, you will be able to retrieve the photos onto your computer using the CD-Rom drive.
If you open an eBay storefront, your listing fees will be more affordable and will allow sellers to comfortably list more items for sale. With all of the extra features that eBay offers, its difficult to know which ones work best. In fact, the only way to learn is often the trial and error method. However, there are a few tips that can suggest better exposure at a minimal cost. The gallery feature is widely used and is a bargain at only $0.35. This allows your auction photo to be listed in the auction gallery and, as potential customers scroll the list of auctions, they will see the photo of your product. This is just one more reason to have a quality image. By making your title bold, you may increase the ability for your auction to stand out above others. If you see 10 lines of writing in regular type and one in bold, that one in bold will stand out and catch your eye first. The subtitle feature works nicely, as well, but only if you absolutely need it and do not have room in the title field.
A final way to maximize your eBay bids is one that not every auctioneer has considered. By submitting your auction listing page to search engines, you will be increasing exposure and gaining placement on some of the nets top website directories. If you sell a lot of a similar product and offer a constant inventory, the search engines will recognize your site and place it in the appropriate category. This is a terrific little promotional tool, especially if you plan to sell on eBay for an extended period of time.
