News > Tips for being a Savvy Member of the eBay Community

Tips for being a Savvy Member of the eBay Community

Posted on 11/01/2012

eBay provides an effective solution for selling unwanted goods at a reasonable price. It makes perfect sense - you get money for an unwanted item whilst someone else gets a used item they so badly want/need for a rate that’s (usually) cheaper than RRP.

You do hear horror stories from people who haven’t received goods they’ve paid for or have sent goods to a buyer who hasn’t paid and cancelled their account. If you’re new to eBay these stories can be rather off-putting, but with this simple guide you should be eBaying with confidence in no time.

• Always post a buyer’s goods to them within the agreed timescale. There’s nothing more irritating than buying something and not getting it for when you need it. You could use a same day/next day courier like us reliable chaps here at Speed Couriers to be sure it’s received in time. If the buyer has kept their agreement by making a speedy payment you should reciprocate with speedy delivery.

• Charge a reasonable amount for deliver. If you’ve whacked on an extortionate delivery rate to bump up the price of your item you may risk putting off potential buyers, if you have your item on an auction you could potentially lose out on money through lack of bids.

• Always use secure methods of payment. eBay recommends using PayPal to transfer payments between buyers and sellers, this is so the payment can easily be tracked. This makes it safe for both buyers and sellers to use eBay properly and reduces the risk of being scammed.

• Beware of phishing emails which claim to be from eBay. Some unfortunate ebay users have fallen victim to scammers, who have pretended to be eBay in order to obtain personal information such as bank details. If you’re ever unsure as to whether an email is genuine then call eBay to make sure before sending any information – remember genuine websites would never ask for bank details through emails.

• Don’t be a fraudster. So many people cheat their way to getting amounts for their items by getting friends to make false bids on it to increase its value. Instead of doing this, promote the auction through your social media profiles to implement genuine interest.