Why is selling on ebay so hard

Most buyers who ask for a return never get around to doing it. A large number of return requests are closed by eBay because the buyer failed to ship the item back. You can also include this verbiage in your return policy:. Item must be returned in original condition, new in package if applicable. This disclaimer keeps you from being scammed. If you receive your returned item in the same condition as you shipped it out, just go back to your Sold Items folder, hit re-list and your item will be up for sale again.

Returns are a part of being a seller, so accept it and keep listing. It is accessible to anyone, there are no barriers to entry, and eBay is a household word. Make sure you take the proper steps to educate yourself about eBay policies and rules before jumping in. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Table of Contents Expand. Table of Contents. Learn to Price Items for the Most Profit. Finding Things Inventory to Sell. Improve Your Feedback Score.

Understand Seller Limits. Avoid Selling Problematic Items. Get the Right Supplies. You should also be very transparent about any product defects the item may have, and disclose any issues or flaws related to the product. Using product identifiers in your listings can help increase your item visibility, which in turn will help optimize sales. When buyers look for items on search engines like Google or Bing, those search engines look for specific data called product identifiers.

You can find a comprehensive list of categories here. When you include product identifiers in your listings, your product will be eligible for higher search visibility — on eBay as well as outside search engines.

It will also be eligible for special price alerts e. Adding product identifiers is highly recommended to maximize your potential on eBay through better product placement and better SEO data for search engines. Product attributes define the relevant and important facts about a product — such as brand, style, size, and color. Product attributes are created by mapping the product specs to the item specifics of the eBay category. Providing a very detailed set of item specifics will create a complete set of structured data that allows the search engine to locate and filter products.

This improves the relevance of search results to what users are typing in their search queries. If applicable, include the dimensions of the item in the attributes. The product dimensions should specify the size of the actual product, not the packaging size. Here are some important details to remember when creating the attribute list for a multi-pack or manufacturer-created bundle:. Another tip is to include product variants on one page instead of multiple.

You could use spreadsheets if you only have a half-dozen items listed, like eBay Ellen. However, if you have hundreds, thousands, or even millions of products, a spreadsheet will be too complicated, unwieldy, and inadequate.

A feed management platform , used in conjunction with an ecommerce platform like BigCommerce, can make your listings much more manageable. You never want to be in a position where you are listing out-of-stock items on your site. With feed management platforms, orders are updated and synced to your online store. A client needed help with managing orders for two marketplaces: eBay and Amazon.

This client had multiple products that were low in stock, and they wanted to avoid running into an oversold situation — which can get sellers suspended from eBay. Feedonomics was able to solve this problem by intelligently controlling inventory on multiple channels. The best practices listed here are much the same as best practices you should follow on any marketplace, as well as on your ecommerce site. Here are some general tips, with more information to follow:.

Then she could do me worse. She only had like a 6 so I doubt she cares. Now the feedback system becomes totally flawed PLUS I sold some really great items, packed with much care, and people won't take the time to leave me feedback!

Ebay is like a monkey on your back. Most people want one day shipping. And I have a scenario! Last night someone asked me a question about one of my items, I answered, then went to bed. This morning I went hiking and I always turn my phone off when I'm communing with nature! So I turned it on when I got in the car to come home and saw that right after I answered the buyer's question that he bought it! I actually came back on here to find out if they buy it Friday night--what is ONE business day?

Is Saturday a business day? Am I not going to get positive feedback now because I walked away from ebay for about 18 hours, 8 of which were sleeping??? I'm going to inbox him and explain I had plans! I would have run around like a crazy person packing it and I realize I should have all of my stuff packed already, however, to me it's a waste of time when items don't sell. I would have been late meeting my hiking buddies. Where do you draw the line? I should go back and try to shorten this post And to "narilandau's" point Awesome track record!

Ebay has become an online garage sale. And I'm not bashing people who really need the five bucks they are going to get from a used pair of shoes.

Not at all. Some people really, really need this income. However, with SO many listings I find that my "new listings" are sometimes not even on the first page of the category--even if I only listed it an hour prior to looking.

It's already on the 2nd page! Other "new listings" pushed it back! If you got this far I give you tons of kudos! Have a great Saturday all! I still don't know if today is a day off for shipping or a business day!

Saturday and Sunday are not business days. Good for you spending time living life and enjoying it. And I'm going to search all over this board to get info on how people accomplish that--because ebay help pages are not going to tell me! Thank you again for taking your time to write.

The trick to selling here is to list items that are not available elsewhere. You can't compete with wallyworld, amzn, target or any othere large seller. Even if you sell items not available elsewhere, be prepared for extremely thin profit margins. This is not the same place as 17 years ago, where when you sold an item, you waited for the buyer to send you a postal money order, and then shipped. I feel like one of those "stupid" sellers sometimes even though I probably have read hundreds of posts here, watched ebay "help" videos on YouTube there are tons of them!

As I stated in my other "book" post And I havent been a passive observer. I guess I have to apologize for my previous long post and asking so many questions or sounding sort of dumb.

Message 2 of Can you tell us what happened? Message 3 of What happened? Message 4 of Message 5 of Maybe I've been using eBay for too long but I don't see where it's complicated. I bid on a item, I win it, I pay for it. I purchase a fixed price item, I pay for it. Message 6 of In response to takikawa4. I find amazon more clunky and hard to use at times than Ebay. Message 7 of I used Amazon several times less than 10 purchases and it always was a nightmare for me.

I haven't any issues even with my first purchases here. Message 8 of Message 9 of