Introduction to E-Business I (E-Bay) e-bay is The worlds online market place it is an inexpensive and excellent site that allows almost anyone to begin a small online e-business. Whether you are Buying or Selling on e-bay you will be provided with the ability to turn a small business venture in to something much bigger. With the proper management most transactions can be done electronically at your own leisure. Handout Objectives: 1. How to Register and Setup and E-Bay Account 2. What is needed to open a sellers account 3. Fees associated with having an account 4. How to Take Photos 5. How to work with the Sell Your Item Wizard 6. How to Monitor your listings 7. Payments and Shipping 8. Safe online trading.
1. How to Register and Setup and E-Bay Account In order to start with your online business of selling items on e-bay you first need to be a registered user and create a seller's account. Registration is completely free and takes only a couple of minutes! Open up your Internet Browser and type www.e-bay.com in the address bar and select register Once in the registration page, enter your information accordingly, follow all prompts and continue until all steps in the wizard have been completed. 2
2. What is needed to open a sellers account E-Bay consists of two parts Buyer and Seller, since we are focusing on starting our own e-business we will consider ourselves to be the Seller. To register as a seller by clicking on the sell tab at the top of any e-bay page you will initialize another form with steps necessary to add your funding information. Information Required: 1. Debit or Credit card information 2. Checking account details The two requirements above are needed to handle payments: payments received as well as payments sent. When dealing with e-bay it is important to become ID Verified this proves that the accounts you have used are legitimate and makes the buyer aware that this is a 100% trusted and verified account. This simple step allows you to verify your account. You will receive a call on the number that you provided that will gather your information so that you can start selling in confidence. 3. Fees associated with having an account. There are three types of fees charged when selling on e-bay: Insertion Fee - A non-refundable fee will be charged to your account when you list your item on e-bay. This generally ranges between $0.00 and $4.80. If your listing ends without a winning buyer you may qualify for a credit by relisting the item. Additional Option Fee - only charged if you choose optional seller features such as: Buy It Now, Gallery, Featured Item, etc. 3
Final Value Fee - based upon the final sale price of your item and only applicable if the listing closes successfully - that is, if there is a winning bidder declared. It is generally a small percentage of the final value of the item. 4. How to Take Photos Taking photos is one of the most important things when selling an item there is a saying a picture is worth a thousand words. No matter how well you describe your item most buyers want to see a picture before they place a bid. 4
Before sitting down to list your item 1. Take a photos of the item 2. Transfer photo to Computer 3. Use e-bay picture services within the sell your item wizard to easily add photos during the listing process. Looking below you can clearly see that the auction with the Photo is more appealing than the one without. Your main goal is to attract the buyers attention. A. Item Page with Image B. Item Page without Image 5
There are 2 ways to capture photos and save them 'digitally' on to your computer: Digital Camera: A digital camera simply stores the image digitally, once the picture is taken transfer the photo to the computer and save to a designated folder on your pc using.gif or.jpg format. These formats are widely recognized by ebay. (This method is by far the most efficient of all) Regular camera with Flatbed Scanner: This way can be time consuming, take a picture with your regular camera, get the film developed, and use a scanner to convert the photograph to a digital image then save to designated folder. (This method is more time consuming and not adviseable) No matter which method is used when creating a great photo make sure to set your surroundings: Use natural light whenever possible. Use a plain background to make your item stand out, however don't use a white background as it tends to wash away colors and makes too much of a contrast. Consider taking a close-up of a section and multiple views (front, back, side, top) so potential buyers can see the actual condition of the item. 6
Notice below that the good picture captures a main focus on the item while the other has no set or focused attention. The buyer is not able to see the item and make a decision since it is cluttered with other objects. A. Good picture B. Bad Picture Edit your Photo Once your photo is in the computer you could easily improve it by using editing software such as Microsoft Paint or e-bays Picture Services for basic editing. 7
Basic tips in preparing photos for auction: Crop your photos to remove any unnecessary background. Balance the contrast and brightness. The Rotate or Flip command will turn your picture right side up (if necessary). Resize your image files to approximately 330 pixels tall by 440 pixels wide. Save your edited picture as a.gif or.jpg file. 5. How to work with the Sell Your Item Wizard The easy to follow Sell Your Item wizard guides you through the steps to a successful item listing. This is the place to enter all the important details about your item, including Price, Payment methods, Shipping costs, Return policy and your freshly edited Photos. 8
Important listing tips Select a Category - Doing some research before listing your item is key in choosing the most successful category for your item. Place the item in the section that most identifies it. For example: Camera would fit in with the Electronics category as a Book would fit into the literature category. Search for items on e-bay that are similar to yours, and notice which categories they are listed in. Look at the page-view counters and numbers of bids on similar items in different categories. Select categories where others are having successful listings. Sometimes when selecting a popular item e-bay provides you with Pre-filled Item Information. Popular items such as electronics, books or cell phones by using their model number simply select item and accept the prefilled information. 9
If found stock photos are automatically added to your listing, this step is helpful due to the fact that the picture is already provided. Use descriptive keywords to create a meaningful title. The textbox provided allows up to 55 characters to describe your item. 10
Sometimes it is helpful to search on ebay to find similar listings that will aid you in the process of creating an auction that will make a huge impact on the bidders decision. When describing your item, use as much information as possible, this way your description is complete. Keep in mind that some buyers look for flaws in the listing so that in the end they could gain from. Key Elements to Include Include all item attributes. For example, model number, year item was made, color, dimensions, and most importantly the current condition of the item. Don't be afraid to emphasize the positive things about your item a little or even include a story about the item; just make sure that you are truthful. Include your payment and shipping information, and information about your refund or return policy. Use the provided text editor to help format your description. 11
Use a friendly and inviting tone to attract buyers. Determine your price - Before entering a starting price, you might want to see what similar items are listing for using the e-bay search bar. To Kill a Mocking Bird Starting Price - The price at which you would like to start the bidding at in an auction listing. Reserve Price - If necessary, a reserve price can be set to safeguard against selling the item for less than you're willing to accept. But it's important to keep in mind that a reserve price may discourage bidding Buy It Now Price - Include this option in your auction listing to give your buyers the option of buying the item right away at a fixed price. This set price displays in the item listing as long as there are NO bids. Once a bid is placed, the Buy It Now option goes away and the auction proceeds as normal. Fixed Price format - To use the Fixed Price format, indicate the price at which you'd like to sell your item(s) and buyers can purchase from your listings immediately at this price. No bidding necessary. 6. How to Monitor your listings Monitoring your listing is very important, when selling more than one item at the same time your My e-bay page is the best way to keep track of all your e-bay activities neatly displayed in one location. 12
Listed Below are 5 main Sections in My e-bay A. Summary - This page displays all, buying and selling reminders which keeps you up to date and on top of all your current bidding, buying and selling activities, along with recent e-bay Announcements. B. All Buying - This section displays all the items you are bidding on, won, lost, or are watching. (Items in green mean that you are currently the highest bidder, or have purchased using Buy It Now), while (Items in red mean that someone has outbid you. The Watching section is a great way to keep a close eye on items of interest so you don't miss out on any last minute bidding! C. All Selling - This section displays all the items that you are selling, it displays how many bids are on the item if any, and how many watchers are waiting on your item! D. All Favorites - This is a great feature that lets you bookmark your favorite categories, sellers, and searches so you can access them quickly and easily. E. My Account - From this page you have access to all your e-bay and PayPal account information. Sign up here to start using PayPal, or link directly to your PayPal account. Update personal and financial information, customize your e-bay experience, and leave feedback for others to review or review feedback left for you! 13
7. Payments and Shipping At the end of a successful listing, both you and the buyer will receive an email notification. Depending on your payment instructions, the information you receive in this email will include your buyer's shipping address and payment method. Once you have confirmation of payment from PayPal, receive the money order, or the check has cleared, you may ship the item. Respond to Buyer Emails Many new buyers are confused as to what to do after the sale. You can help your buyers by emailing them an invoice and standing by for questions. When communicating with your buyers it s important to always be polite and professional. Acknowledge Payment once received from buyer send an email to 1) Acknowledge receipt of payment 2) Acknowledge that you will be shipping the item. Payment Method When choosing Payment methods the most popular method will be via PayPal, Sending and Receiving payments is more secure and quicker this way to pay on e-bay. They can simply click the Pay Now button on the item page, the end of auction and send payment directly to your account. This method is free for buyers!! Receiving payment alert is quick and simple an email will arrive, discussing the completion of the transaction. 14
Packing like a Pro Nothing makes a better impression on your buyer than receiving their item in professional and secure packing. Double-box any fragile items, use clean and appropriate packing materials (Bubble-wrap, peanuts, etc.) Shipping Etiquette e-bay buyers expect their items shipped immediately after payment has been received. Do not delay in shipping. If you must, make sure to make your shipping schedule clear in your item description. If there is an unforeseen delay, email the buyer informing them of the situation, most of the time they understand. 8. Safe online trading. e-bay is dedicated to providing tools and services that allow us to build buyer confidence and trade safely on e-bay. e-bay's programs are designed to teach people e-bay 'trading sense' so that you can be successful and safe. Leaving Feedback Building a good reputation on e-bay is important, make sure that the transaction is as smooth as possible and address any questions or problems the buyer might have in an appropriate manner. 3 Types of Feedback Positive Customer satisfied with transaction Neutral Customer undecided with transaction Negative Customer not happy with transaction Negative feedbacks can cause others from not bidding on item and can decrease your score on ebay. A low score is never good for business. 15
Safe online trading is made possible by accepting Payments with PayPal as mentioned previously. It's easy to sell on e-bay when you use safe and secure PayPal processing for your online payments. PayPal lets you receive and send online payments using a credit card or bank account linked with your e-bay account. If a problem might occur the security and resolution center allows you and the buyer to resolve the situation smoothly and professionally. 16