[eBooks, Videos, Links etc.] The eBay Thread

[TK1]

Hey guys, I would like to start this thread by combining our knowledge about selling on eBay.

I would like to start and post some of the best eBay threads / discussions / tips over here at our forum:

This post is saved for Fastlane forum threads on eBay

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/your-goals-your-fastlane-plan/27474-broke-try-ebay.html

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/general-entrepreneurship-startup/26073-ebay.html

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/yo...n/513-3-000-1-000-000-15-months-how-do-5.html
(in this thread fastlane member Jill shares her ebay success story - very valueable, thanks a lot Jill!!!)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fastlane/35694-addicted-passive-income-deposits-14.html#post219683
(in this thread fastlane member Vigilante shares some of his ebay secrets - check out the complete thread, too, it's one of the best out there)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/pr...-yay-my-first-purchase-overseas-supplier.html
(follow fastlane member Amail in his progress thread from buying his first product and selling it on ebay - contains a lot nice ebay tips on how to list, what's important etc.)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/in...business-looking-go-fastlane-where-start.html

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/your-goals-your-fastlane-plan/38415-ebay-challenge.html

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...9-hustlers-guide-buying-selling-anything.html
(very valueable thread about buying and selling, learn from many ups and downs, probably one of the best threads over here)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...rand-yourself-your-products-your-company.html
(very good advice on branding your products by fastlane member Patrick)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fr...at-bootstrapping-thread-how-create-money.html
(a fastlane thread that helped thousands of people on how to make money, must read, and: don't forget to sign up at the lambo forum and read the original thread over there that contains lots of more advice - how a guy taught his friend about reselling stuff and making 17k / month)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...0-profit-september-iphone-5-a.html#post226426
(fastlane member hustleeveryday shares his ebay experience)

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/fastlane/11134-1-million-sales-19-he-did-ebay.html

Update 7th September, 2012: Good stuff to buy in bulk to resell?
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/pr...05-good-stuff-buy-bulk-resell.html#post208484
^excellent tip by zen*******

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-whats-your-fastest-ebay-sale.html#post232387
intersting thread


I will keep this updated with more good threads, ebooks, other links etc.

You are of course welcome to share yours

 

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[TK1]

EBAY VIDEOS

[video=youtube_share;gdpjaTSkuyg]http://youtu.be/gdpjaTSkuyg[/video]

The Queen of Auctions Trash to Cash Reality Show FREE Flatware Baccarat and a Piano? Really! - YouTube
(Lynn Dralle is one of the most popular ebay selling coaches, check out her products, amazing value)

EBAY SELLING TIPS

What to do when you start selling and don't get many sales:
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/pr...purchase-overseas-supplier-13.html#post228633

How to sell your items with a reputation of 10,000 or more RIGHT NOW
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-videos-links-etc-ebay-thread.html#post228382

eBay tip: How a little trick can put you above many experienced top sellers
https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-videos-links-etc-ebay-thread.html#post228644

 

[jilla82]

I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this.
Im currently selling liquidated/Customer Return items...Soon im going to start testing my products on eBay.

My problem is that my listings look like crap...I'm still making sales, but im hoping someone on here has experience or knows how to make listings look great.
I.E.
NEW Dolce & Gabbana Women's Green Suit Jacket w/ Gold & Pearl Button - US 4 | eBay

Is that just HTML like a website? Im struggling w/ how to pull that look (or anything clean) off.

 

[BeingChewsie]

Is that just HTML like a website? Im struggling w/ how to pull that look (or anything clean) off.

Yes, it is just a template they either made or had made.

Here is a company that does templates designs: eBay Design | eBay Store Design | eBay Shop Design | eBay Listing Template Design | eBay Templates| US

This site might charge a little more, but you would certainly stand out more.

You can also use something like Seller's Sourcebook which is what I have always used. There are many companies out there that make templates and I'm sure you could get one done on e-lance or Odesk for cheap money if you didn't want to make it yourself.

Sue

 

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[TK1]

I was actually thinking of starting a thread like this.
Im currently selling liquidated/Customer Return items...Soon im going to start testing my products on eBay.

My problem is that my listings look like crap...I'm still making sales, but im hoping someone on here has experience or knows how to make listings look great.
I.E.
NEW Dolce & Gabbana Women's Green Suit Jacket w/ Gold & Pearl Button - US 4 | eBay

Is that just HTML like a website? Im struggling w/ how to pull that look (or anything clean) off.

Try Billboards in the eBay app center: Billboards - Productivity apps for eBay users

I can recommend you checking out the other listing apps, too (most of them free): Listing apps for eBay sellers

 

[TK1]

This post is saved for ebay success stories

Meet the eBay Millionaires - AOL Small Business

eBay Millionaires - eBay Entrepreneurs | Slideshow | Entrepreneur.com
(get to know 9 ebay millionaires)

Secret to Success: ''Most of my diamond auctions start at 99 cents. Sometimes I lose money; sometimes I make money. Whatever makes the customer happy, I do.''

this is VERY valueable advice. most people look for the quick way, but that quote describes PROCESS. 'I'm going to win on one deal and maybe loose on the next, but as long as the customer is happy I know this is the way to long-term success.' BRILLIANT!

Secrets of the eBay Millionaires: Inside Success Stories--And Proven Money-Making Tips--From eBay's Greatest Sellers: Amazon.de: Greg Holden: Englische Bücher
(an incredible book, I promise you, you won't regret reading it. It follows ebay millionaires through their business and gives you all the best ebay advice you can get. Wonderful stories by extremely passionate business people. Note: NO AFFILIATE LINK!!!)

Meet the eBay Millionaires - AOL Small Business

"The keys to our success are to be honest, take good pictures and respond to our customers as quickly as we can," Chapman says.

Real Success Stories On Ebay 2011

I'm an eBay millionaire | The Sun |Woman|Real Life

Online 'Del Boy' goes from City lawyer to eBay millionaire | Mail Online

The couple who've made £8million on eBay - Mirror Online

First eBay Millionaire in the UK: How He Did It

Nasty Gal: From eBay Store to a $24 million Business | Inc.com

11 Businesses You Can Start in Your Pajamas in 2011 | Inc.com

 

[TK1]

How to sell your items with a reputation of 10,000 or more RIGHT NOW

As everybody knows probably the most important thing after what you sell on eBay are your seller feedback ratings.

When you start out on eBay it can take you some time (sometimes over 1-2 years) to get to power seller status and having thousands of positive feedbacks.

Unfortunately, there's no way around having many positive customer feedbacks, because that's what makes customers trust you and drives more sales.

So many come up with the idea of buying an eBay shop from someone: This won't work as its not allowed by eBay policy to do this.

But: There is another possibility!

#1 Research the top sellers in the product niche you want to sell (browse ebays seller directory).

# 2 Contact all sellers with really high ratings and ask them if they can sell your items for you. The downside is: They want a cut from your profits and you don't build up your own account. The upside: A joint venture can boost you directly up there and make your product be sold way more often and faster than selling it with a new account that has like 100 positive customer ratings.

Important: Make sure whatever you sell that there is a possibility for profit for both sides. If the product you sell has thin profit margins it might not make sense.

A good product can be: Fashion. Let's say you have 100 suits for 20$ each, but want to use a powerseller and sell them for 99$ each, there can be profit for both sides. Another good product can be anything handcrafted. When you create selfmade-soap and the cost for each soap is like 1$, you could sell 1000 of them for 29$ each. Just like this guy did it: Dennis Anderson, Anderson Soap Company: Onetime Homeless Man Starts A Soap Business

Not so good products: Electronics. If you buy an iPhone for 300$ and want to sell it via a power seller for 359$ it makes basically no sense at all.

You need to come up with an offer the powerseller can't refuse and that would mean nice profits for him.

Note: There's one more huge advantage using this tactic instead of building your own account. Many eBay sellers have experienced the downfall of their business when they got 10 negative feedbacks and suddenly things changed. Or when eBay shut them down. Building an eBay shop over years and knowing it can be over because of one thing can give you nightmares. 'The commandment of control' how it's called by MJ in 'The Millionaire Fastlane ' book. Somebody can kick you out of business and you don't have control over it.

Using this tactic there is no absolut control, either. BUT. When you have like 1,000 potential sellers in your niche with very high feedback ratings and your current partner kicks you out, there are still many more left to contact and work out a deal. This can result in more good sleep for you instead of using your own eBay store.

 

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[MNentre]

Good thread idea TK1, let's keep it going! I'll be contributing where I can.

 

[TK1]

eBay tip: How a little trick can put you above many experienced top sellers

Let's say the product you want to sell is a iPhone package consisting of a case, headphones and a charging cable.

Now you research your competition and see that the top sellers sell this package starting at 9,99$ as a buy it now option.

How can you compete with that?

Well, there CAN be a possibility:

Many, many eBay users search for a certain product and then sort the results by 'price + shipping, lowest first'.

This gives you a possibility to try this:

#1 Create an offer where your listing has more than one type of product you sell. What a certain type is? For example when people sell an article that is available in 12 colors, they add those colors as various types and the customer can pick the one he likes to buy.

In our case:

We split the iPhone package consisting of 3 articles into 4 types: 1 type for every one article out of all three, and the last type for all 3 articles as a bundle.

Now we price all articles for a price like 3.99$ and the bundle for 9.99$.

#2 The title of your listing is important now

The title needs to have to be called the same as for buyers who look to buy an iPhone accessoires package or whatever it's called for your specific product.

Wrong listing title: New iPhone 4 S headphones [ FREE SHIPPING ]

Right listing title: New iPhone 4 S accessories bundle (iPhone headphones, iPhone case, usb charger)

That way the customer that searches for the bundle and sorts by lowest price first now sees your offer for 3.99$ above the 9.99$ offer that your competitor offers.

Why?

Because your first type you select is one of those products that goes for 3.99 and only the fourth type is the complete bundle. Somebody who has the same listing with only one type for 9.99 will be listed way below you, no matter if you have 10 positive ratings and the pro seller has 10k. Because the buyer sorts by price.

Another bonus for listing your article this way, with many different types: You save ebay fees as your listing has basically 4 ebay articles offered in one listing.

Note: Unfortunately, this tip doesn't work for all articles. If you sell a mountainbike or an iPhone, this won't work as you have nothing to split into smaller types. But there are thousands of products where this can work and put you above the competition, and when you browse eBay a lot you will this tactic being used in many different niches.

 

[TK1]

The big misconception about success on eBay: Can anybody become a successful eBay seller, because it's so easy to sign up and start?

MJ DeMarco, author of 'The Millionaire Fastlane ' talks about a term that he calls 'the commandment of entry'. The commandment of entry defines how hard it is for people to get into a certain business, copy an existing model etc. So, if you have a medical business that requires a million to start it's pretty clear, that not every second person can copy this business, or start one like this. The entry for this business is pretty high.

Now, if you know multi level marketing businesses, you have seen that those businesses advertise, that everybody can get rich, easy and fast. Everybody can join and sell stuff from big MLM companies like Amway. The same goes for starting a blog. Basically anybody can start a free blog and start writing - free blog software like Wordpress provides all you need in order to start. Everybody can get into the blogging business, everybody can sign up to join an MLM business.

As we know, eBay has per se a low 'barrier of entry'. Anybody can sign up, anybody can start selling. This makes eBay extremely crowded as anybody wants to make money and any sign up has basically no barrier of entry. The same time it takes to sign up for a free Wordpress blog and become a blogger is not really different than signing up as an eBay seller. So, does the fact, that everybody can start an eBay business make an eBay business not the smartest to pick, or even useless? Not really!

Let's make no mistake: The barrier to entry the eBay business is pretty low and anybody can sign up, but: The barrier to entry SUCCESS is as high as in every other business.

So, even if anybody can start an eBay business doesn't mean that everybody is game and success is easier to reach.

- From the thousands that start selling on eBay, how many will sell 10,000 items and provide excellent customer service?

- From all the sellers on eBay, how many will go through ups and downs, through no sales, more or less sales etc.?

- How many will survive the long period of starting the business and maybe taking 1-2 years to become a pro seller?

- How many take the time and learn from the best eBay sellers, read hundreds of books, browse through even more eBay blogs, talk to other eBay sellers and even attend seminars?

- Not to forget: eBay is still a business, too. How many have the determination and focus to learn something about all parts of a business? How many people give up, because of sheer 'moneyhunting' and even all their friends told them to try it and join they realize it's not a bit easier than any other business - or way to earn a profit?

- How many will never understand and figure out WHAT to sell? And how many will never master the art of HOW to sell?

- And the most painful question out of all: How many people will continue to sell on eBay even though after making TONS of losses on trying different things?

Don't be afraid: Even IF anybody can become an eBay seller that doesn't make more people successful or in any way easier to find success. An eBay business and eBay success are a long term process that takes long time to figure out, learn about what to sell, how to sell, many ups and downs and so on. It takes a lot of testing, continues learning from the best and your own failures and the stamina to get up again and again if you fail with 10 product ideas you sell only for the search of those things that can become bestsellers.

There goes a saying that 'some people can earn money like magic, a little bit in one niche, a little bit more in another, while some people will blow even the best opportunity for success'. Anybody can swing a baseball bat, but becoming a successful baseball player is no way more or less difficult than success in business. Reaching success has always the same level of difficulty. How easy it is to beat the whole video game and finish with a new highscore isn't determined by how many people play the game, it's determined by how difficult the game is. And in our case this game is called success.

The entry for success is always high, it takes a lot to reach it. Be aware of this fact and you will be fine on eBay - and probably in any other business or goal you pursue.

 

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[TK1]

How one super stupid eBay offer can make your business a huge success

Starting your eBay business, you face the biggest problem of all new eBay sellers:

You need hundreds, or better thousands of good feedback ratings ASAP.

The reason for this is eBay's system, that is based around those positive customer feedback ratings. Ebay works like a reward system, pushing sellers with many positive customer ratings above the other sellers. The more you sell and the more you offer good customer service, the more sales you get. Sales beget sales.

So, how do we get thousands of positive ratings and become one of the eBay sellers with lots of action?

Easy! Even if every seller has this problem, or 'this challenge', only a few take the time and effort to 'spy' the competition and the complete niche marketplace.

The answer to getting thousands of positive customer feedback ratings easy and quick: Offer ONE product that you sell for a very low price BUY IT NOW; including FREE SHIPPING. This product will serve only one purpose: Masses of sales and masses of positive ratings.

- This product doesn't need to make you a profit. Offer it for 1 buck buy it now INCLUDING FREE SHIPPING (make sure that your shipping is in fact covered in this buy it now price. Example: If you sell something that you can ship for 55 cent shipping costs, price it 1 buck, if the shipping for every article would take 3,99 then make it 4,99 buy it now. Recommended: Look for the smallest product possible that you can sell for 1 buck buy it now. Don't mess around with products that take lots of space and take a lot of money to ship.)

- Your 1 buck buy it now product needs to be something that masses of people need

- Research your market and find out what complementary product buyers of a certain product need

- but: your 1 buck buy it now product doesn't need to be related to your other products you will sell in the future. Example: If you plan to sell smartphones, your 1 buck buy it now product can be a design coffee spoon, too.


Example: This eBay art seller has one product for 1€ buy it now, a clip that helps you hang an artpiece you buy on your wall. The screenshot in this article shows you the product and how much the eBay seller has sold so far: 8.263.



(As I sell on german eBay, my screenshots are in german. Sorry!)

Imagine that: That's over 8,000 positive ratings. Over 8,000 buyers. And: As this eBay seller sells art pieces, too, he offers a perfect complementary product, that he can market to all buyers of this 1€ buy it now 'tooth hanger'. Another positive side effect can be: Even if it doesn't look like that, it's possible to make some profit with product like this, too. Sometimes you can get 10,000 packages of small products like this for 1,000€. That leaves some place for profit to be made. Funny fact: Some eBay careers have started with small 1€ products just to get some positive customer feedback ratings, but many sellers realized, that selling those small products made them lots of profit. So, they began to sell only those small products instead of focusing on bigger products.

TO DO: Look for a small product on eBay and collect ideas. What product can you sell in masses to get thousands of positive ratings?

 

[Dezzamondo]

I don't suppose one of the mods would mind making this thread a sticky would they? There certainly seems to be a recurring theme with eBay help on the forums!

 

[Amail]

I second that - there's some really good stuff here.

 

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[TK1]

Thanks, guys!

I'll try to keep this updated and if you have questions I'll be glad to help out.

About the eBay videos: I'll add over 50 valueable eBay videos, but right now I am on a slow mobile internet connection and can't view videos. As I want to post the best videos I can find I'll need to view all videos and select the best, so I don't post here any stuff that is not the best content out of all. Please be patient a few weeks, when I'm on fast DSL I'll post the best videos.

Also I hope you can excuse my mediocre english

 

[TK1]

How To Find Your TOP Selling Product To Get 1000+ positive eBay Ratings ASAP

(This is part two to my previous post here: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-videos-links-etc-ebay-thread.html#post229713)

We have now learned, that we can get us thousands of positive ratings very fast on eBay using a 1$ product as a buy it now offer including free shipping.

Step-by-step guide to find a product that will serve us as a huge positive feedback generator:

1.) Visit eBay and pick a category of your choice. I have picked the highly popular category iPhone accessories: Cell Phone Accessories | eBay

2.) When you are in your selected category, scroll down and on the left side select 'completed listings'.



3.) Now, eBay shows us all completed listings in our iPhone accessories category. The next step is to only show the lower price products that could be a potential product we will offer for 1€ buy-it-now including free shipping. Again, you can select this option in the left bar:



If you like to you select a price range from 1$ - 1$, but I recommend going from 1$ - 5$, just to get more ideas.

4.) eBay shows us now the list of completed articles:



5.) As we have lots of potential product ideas, there are some very important steps to consider now:

A.) Shipping cost: Which product can be shipped for the cost of a stamp? Check the limit of your local post office for how far a regular stamp can take you. If you pick a product that costs you more shipping than a stamp, you will need to increase your buy it now price, or you are willing to take some loss. Believe it or not, many longterm pro sellers on eBay DO take significant losses at the beginning, just to build up thousands of positive buyer ratings ASAP, because they see the loss at the beginning as an investment for the future. You decide - or the money in your pocket decides ;-)

B.) Is the product an item that sells A LOT > is there a big need? Basically, the #1 fact to check out if one certain product is something lots of people in the marketplace need is: How big is the competition? If you look for one product and you only find 100 people offering it on eBay, you can be almost 100% certain, that this product won't sell easy, quick and in masses.

Note: Many people do really believe that no competition or a bit competition is a nice things to have, but that's a typical rookie business mistake. Lots of competition is good for us in this case! Why? Because much competition is an indicator for a big need. Many people need this product, or why would thousands of sellers offer it? Much competition increases the probability of this product serving a need that many people have and this gives us the opportunity to DO THINGS DIFFERENT / BETTER. It's much easier to have lots of competition and do a certain thing different than the competition (branding, customer service, pricing etc.) than offering a product nobody needs and try to 'teach' people that they need it. It's easier to offer a special headphone product like 'beats by dr. dre' than knowing nobody needs headphones and teach the masses, that headphones are a product they should need.

So, search for every product idea you have that you could sell for 1$ and if you get like 10,000 results you have a good indicator that the market need is there - and you have a potential hot seller that millions of people need.

We have now checked some product ideas for A.) and B.) and have found a possible product that could serve us well: Apple iPhone anti dust plugs. Iphone anti dust plugs help you to protect your headphone port. Those anti dust plus are offered over 10,000 times on eBay (=possible big need) and they are small and low weight (=low cost shipping through a regular stamp).



If you have picked some potential products like our iphone anti dust plus your next question is: Where to get those in order to re-sell them?

Finding the supplier for your product step by step guide

Many people would come up pretty fast with saying: "Use alibaba to import this article from China". This is a possibility that you can try, but be aware that importing from china etc. takes lots of more work. Understand one thing: We don't know YET how good a certain product will serve. Maybe the market is over-crowded, maybe there's a decreasing need? Fact is: We don't know for sure, if it's a hit or miss. So, why bother browsing through tousand Alibaba listings, writing to hundreds of suppliers, wait weeks for the first package to be delievered etc.? Remember: #1 We use this product only to build 1000+ positive customer ratings, it's not a product we plan to initially to sell on the longterm. #2 As long as we don't have some REAL market test, why not make it as simple as possible to test this article?

Well, that's exactly what we'll do:

Instead of going the Alibaba / importing route, we just buy our desired article directly on eBay. We prefer to find somebody who sells them in bigger lots for a discount. If our selected product is not sold on eBay in lots packages, we can buy them one by one and resell. Means: Buy 1 iphone anti dust plug and re-list it afterwards. Just pick a seller that has bigger amounts for sale. You can contact top seller of your desired product and ask them for a discount ("Hey, I'd buy 100 anti dust plugs from you - can you offer me a % discount?).

In our case we are lucky: There are some sellers offering anti dust plugs. There is one deal that catches our eye: 100 x anti dust plugs for 16,99$ (see picture).



Last step: We can now buy those 100 plugs for 16,99$ and relist them for 1$ each including free shipping. And sometimes, believe it or not: There is even a profit to be made with those low price products ;-)

One sidenote I almost forgot: You can aswell list your 1$ product as an auction to get more traction going...

 

[Amail]

I would have made that "typical rookie mistake" of avoiding a saturated market.

 

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[jilla82]

Where is that article from?

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk

 

[Dezzamondo]

I think I've made every possible newbie mistake so far on eBay after reading this AND looking closer at my competition's tactics! Rather than combine listings into 1, I used 4 seperate ones. Instead of offering one cheap item and hen a bunch of others, I have 4 higher ticket ones. The result? No sales yet. Am I surprised? Not after reading your posts TK.

Once my listings end in a few days, I'm going to trial a multiple choice listing in one, along with a couple of cheaper options to take it to the top of the searches. I'll let you know how it goes!

Thanks for the great thread Tom, Ii'm sure its going to really help a lot of newbies (and maybe some veterans!) on the forum in their journey through the fastlane. Nice one

 

[Omer]

This thread is GOLD!!! So much amazing info on here. I am going to try and find that $1 item everyone needs to get my eBay feedback up.

Thanks for all the info!

 

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[TK1]

Where is that article from?

Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk

All articles are straight from my brain =)

I would have made that "typical rookie mistake" of avoiding a saturated market.

The mistake is made often times, because we forget what we want to achieve with a certain action - why we do a certain action.

When we start to sell on eBay our biggest problem to solve is:

Build rapport with customers = in eBay terms this means many positive customer feedback ratings.

When using the described tactic to sell those 1$ articles, our main objective is NOT to make profit with this article. So we are not in the 'make profit market', but 'build rapport market'.

If we try to test a new product (maybe even one that no one is selling on eBay) less competition can be good (> small niches can be very profitable as mentioned in the book 'The long tail' or check out biophase's thread: https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/internet-mobile-apps-software/38312-ask-me-about-ecommerce.html).

So, if you have a new product to offer to the market / niche = your long term profit product
the 1$ products = your investment to build rapport (and of course get eyes on your other products, too).

This thread is GOLD!!! So much amazing info on here. I am going to try and find that $1 item everyone needs to get my eBay feedback up.

Thanks for all the info!

Good luck, Omer! If you need more help go ahead and ask me. The best would be to ask your question in this thread and not PM, so the complete community can get value out of our combined knowledge and experiences.

 

[mayana]

I have an Ebay question: I've been doing way better than I expected to do on Ebay over the last couple of months (shows what persistence and follow through can do... lol). The problem is that I have a lot of lots of items that I am selling but my account limits are still really low.

Has anyone had any luck getting Ebay to raise account limits (primarily on # of items that you can be selling at once)? I was going to give a call today to see what happens, but I wondered if anyone had any experience with this. I assume that after a while, they might be automatically raised, but I don't want to (and can't) wait.

I sell products from my own website, so I'm pretty well set-up to ship (I've got a ton of supplies and a system, etc)... is that what they worry about?

 

[mayana]

Just so anyone else had the same question:

I just got off the phone w/ Ebay and the representative agreed to raise my item limits. I had to answer some basic questions about where I get my products, how many items I'd like to list each month, how fast they get shipped, etc.

He said (which is true, and what I had assumed) that they have the account limits because listing is a "learning curve" and they don't want sellers to get overwhelmed and either have a negative selling experience or have the buyer have a negative buyer experience.

Also, he said that you can call every 30 days for a review to have your limits raised.

 

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[Amail]

Speed+ for traction and for forcing the issue directly with eBay!

 

[jilla82]

Just so anyone else had the same question:

I just got off the phone w/ Ebay and the representative agreed to raise my item limits. I had to answer some basic questions about where I get my products, how many items I'd like to list each month, how fast they get shipped, etc.

He said (which is true, and what I had assumed) that they have the account limits because listing is a "learning curve" and they don't want sellers to get overwhelmed and either have a negative selling experience or have the buyer have a negative buyer experience.

Also, he said that you can call every 30 days for a review to have your limits raised.

How do you list your items? Spreadsheets or an Auctiva type product?

 

[TK1]

Just so anyone else had the same question:

I just got off the phone w/ Ebay and the representative agreed to raise my item limits. I had to answer some basic questions about where I get my products, how many items I'd like to list each month, how fast they get shipped, etc.

He said (which is true, and what I had assumed) that they have the account limits because listing is a "learning curve" and they don't want sellers to get overwhelmed and either have a negative selling experience or have the buyer have a negative buyer experience.

Also, he said that you can call every 30 days for a review to have your limits raised.

As you now have learned this is the 'commandment of control' in full effect. Still, those freaking selling limits make sense from eBay point of view: They protect customers and keep many scammers away.

Selling limits are just the next 'challenge' on eBay to sort out most 'wannabe' pro-sellers, since many people give up on selling with profit on the long term. <--- which is a good thing, because knowing about the fastlane, we know it's a LONGTERM PROCESS TO SUCCESS ;-)

As you've said you're selling and plan to do so, you are on a good way.

This means: It's only a matter of time.

Just focus as good as you can to keep customer ratings AS GOOD AS ANY WAY possible. From experience: Avoid ANY possiple low rating or even dispute - at any cost! If that means to even call your customer on the phone DO IT. Bad ratings can destroy ANY eBay career!

A tip: Add a feedback flyer to all your articles you ship. This flyer asks buyers to basically rate you 5 stars and it shows them how to do so - make it a very simple layout. Something like this picture here - but make it look a little bit nicer:



One thing more: Add some reward for users for rating you the maximum in any category - I would say give them something like free shipping on next order (if you don't offer free shipping usually...) or 10% etc. It's always easier to get what you want from somebody if you make it fun and rewarding for them to do it (thanks Dale Carnegie!).

Here is some info from eBay - maybe this answers why they didn't upgrade the limits:

If you already have an established seller account

You may be able to increase the limits on your account if you have another, more established seller account on eBay. Your other account needs to meet all of these conditions:

You've been a registered seller for at least 90 days.

You don't have any unresolved eBay Buyer Protection cases.

Your detailed seller ratings are at least 4.8 in all areas.

If your account meets all of these conditions, follow the instructions on the Request higher selling limits page to confirm that you already have an established seller account.

If you have a history of selling authentic items

Sellers who have been a seller for at least 90 days with good detailed seller ratings and are confident in the authenticity and origin of their items may be eligible to have their selling limit increased. We'll consider the following when we determine whether to change selling limits:

Positive buyer Feedback

No unresolved eBay Buyer Protection cases with buyers

Selling history (minimum 3 months) and activity as a seller on the site

Absence of Feedback questioning the authenticity of the item(s)

PayPal verification

History of following eBay policies

General good standing of the account

If your account meets the above factors, contact us and we'll be happy to review your account.

If you don't qualify to have these limits increased at this time, please check back in 30 days. You may be able to list more items of this category or type at that time. These selling limits only apply to certain categories or types of items, so you can usually continue listing other types of items as long as they also follow our policies. Find out more about our rules for sellers.

Source: Limits on eBay sellers


Here are some more hopefully helpful links I found regarding ebay selling limits for you:

How Do You Raise eBay Selling Limits?

Ebay Selling Limits, The End Of Ebay Selling For Me - UK Business Forums

eBay Selling Limits - Does Ebay limit some sellers and not others - Page 1 - Wholesale Forum

Increase the selling limit eBay places on new accounts. - eBay Suspension & Paypal Limited Forums

Also, I would recommend to a search on this topic at the eBay forums: eBay Forums: Selling Limits on Listings by eBay ...

ntapia, if you like to you can send me your ebay store url and I'll review it and try to help out, what could be the reason.

Hope this helps,
Tom

 

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[mayana]

A tip: Add a feedback flyer to all your articles you ship. This flyer asks buyers to basically rate you 5 stars and it shows them how to do so - make it a very simple layout. Something like this picture here - but make it look a little bit nicer:

That's a GREAT idea! Thanks for the suggestion... I am going to include it from now on. I can definitely see the commandment of control at work here (which is why Ebay wouldn't be Fastlane, really, unless it were part of a bigger Fastlane strategy)... but it's okay for now, because it is the means to an end.

I might not have been clear in my post - Ebay DID raise my selling limits as I requested. I posted the reasons that they might not just so others would know what they would need to address if they ever wanted to call and have theirs raised.

How do you list your items? Spreadsheets or an Auctiva type product?

I did use the Turbo Lister that they have available on Ebay, but I found that it was tedious to use for listing individual products (I started off selling stuff from around the house that I've had for a while and don't have a use for). I just list the "old-fashioned" way - it doesn't take that long.

The trick, I think, (I'm not quite there yet, but I think I'm on the right track is to "batch" work. We've all seen this concept at work in other aspects of work. The idea is to make a listing (spend 10 minutes) and sell hundreds of the same item, basically making a profit on work that you've already done, again and again.

I haven't sold hundreds of the same item yet - I'm more at the dozens level, but it's been a really interesting lesson for me in application of some of these ideas tossed around here.

Ebay has actually taught me something! Imagine that!

 

[Omer]

Just ordered that $1 item that sells like hotcakes. Lets hope I can get my seller feedback into 1xx and then into 1xxx and so on. Thanks again for the great info and keep it up man!

 

[Dezzamondo]

A tip: Add a feedback flyer to all your articles you ship.

How about a Bit.ly link or just a plain link to an online survey service like www.surveymonkey.com? It could help reduce postage costs & additional paper/printing expenses, particularly when you start getting feedback for 100s of items.

Perhaps an incentive for giving feedback could be worked out, like a minor discount for their next order from YOUR website?

Just a thought

 

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[Omer]

How about a Bit.ly link or just a plain link to an online survey service like www.surveymonkey.com? It could help reduce postage costs & additional paper/printing expenses, particularly when you start getting feedback for 100s of items.

Perhaps an incentive for giving feedback could be worked out, like a minor discount for their next order from YOUR website?

Just a thought

This is a great idea my friend. Instead of wasting money and time this is a good alternative to put your product and brand out there!

 

[TK1]

I would like to 'cross-promote' this post, because LOTS of people ask me how to start, what to sell first etc.

Try this:

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/ge...-whats-your-fastest-ebay-sale.html#post231556