Why eBay Auctions Fail – A Look at the Top 7 Reasons - By Paul Heitman

EBay is one of the most popular auction web sites across the vastness of the internet. Many people make full-fledged businesses out of eBay auctions. Just as with any business, perhaps more so than other businesses, an eBay business can quickly and easily become a failure. There are a few sure-fire methods that will ensure that your eBay business becomes an almost instant failure. The following is our top seven reasons why eBay auctions fail.

Price

Price plays a big part in the success or failure of your eBay auction. If you set your starting price too high, bidders will look elsewhere. Many successful auctions set their prices low to begin with and leave it to the bidders to raise it higher. The same holds true for buy it now items (fixed price). If the price is too high, it will not sell, period. Aim a little lower for both. This area also includes shipping prices. If you charge excessively for shipping, it will keep bidders away.

Photograph

If you don’t have a picture of your item, your customers will again look elsewhere. Bidders want to buy what they can see. If you provide at least one clear photograph of your item, it is more likely to sell then without any photographs at all.

Reserve Price

These are horrible words to a bidder. Bidders want to bid freely and not worry about a reserve price. If you have something you want to minimum price for, you should consider a fixed price auction.

The Listing

If your listing is loud and flashy with an abundance of spelling errors or simply written in a way that no human being on earth could read it, your auction will fail. Ensure that all titles and text of the description are clear, concise, and clean.

Negative feedback

If you have negative feedback, you will have problems selling on eBay. Bidders want a seller they can trust.

PayPal

If you do not accept PayPal on eBay, you most likely fail. Most bidders on eBay use PayPal and ONLY PayPal. Consider creating an account for eBay purposes.

Being Difficult

You will want to avoid making statements in the listing that will make you appear as a difficult seller. You will want to be clear on your return policy, but do not be so strict in the policy or who you will sell to, that you put the bidder off your auctions forever. Be firm, but fair.

Paul Heitman is the owner of http://www.spot-deals-here.com Here you'll find more eBay articles and other resources like our free misspelling tool.