EBAY SELLING TIPS

Alpaca Projects

Our ebay selling tips for alpaca projects comes from knowledge gained in over a year of selling on ebay. We hope some of these tips will help you first to decide if this is the right place for you to sell and second how to get the most for your creations that you worked so hard to produce from alpaca wool.

Here are our ebay selling tips:

• Research to find out if your craft will sell. Go to the category in which you want to sell on ebay. For instance, we use dolls and bears a lot, so we'll use it as an example.
  Click on Dolls and Bears
  Click on artists
  Click on One-of-a-kind
  Look at the yellow navigation bar on the left. Check the completed listings box. At the bottom of the list is an items priced box. Check it and put in amounts like 10 to 50. Click on show items.
  This will show you items whose auctions have ended, whether or not they sold, and how much they sold for. The items with prices in green are the ones that sold. Also, look at the ones that didn't sell and try to figure out why so you can avoid their mistakes.
  This is great information to learn if your product will sell for a profit. And sometimes you'll see other items that are selling that you can make that are unique to you. DON'T COPY!
• Get a Pay Pal account. It will make your life and sales easier.
• If you are just starting out and your feedback is under 25, you will not get as many bids. People have not developed trust with you, yet. Buy some items on ebay to get some positive feedback a little quicker or just realize that it will take a little while to get known and trusted.
• Another one of our ebay selling tips is to remember to value your handmade craft. We'll never understand how people can start their bid at $1.00. It may actually sell for that! Do you really deserve $1.00 for your hard work? If you are POSITIVE it will bid, then maybe you can start that low.
• One of our best ebay selling tips is to try and keep what you need to get for your craft to between $5 and $50. People will easily spend up to $25 on ebay, $30-$40 a little harder for them to spend, $40-$50 they've really got to want it, over $50 it must be very special and of excellent quality before people will purchase.
• Have your auction end on Sunday evening between 4PM and 6PM. That's when most people are home and you will increase your chances of getting more bids.
• Don't forget to include ebay listing and final value fees (and Pay Pals too if you use them) in the price you need to get to make a profit with your alpaca craft.
• Learn to write descriptive auctions. Think about how your craft benefits your customer and write with that in mind.
• PHOTOS, PHOTOS, PHOTOS! Take the time to produce good photos and post at least 6. Photos will make or break your auction. This is how people will decide whether or not to buy so take care to make them great.
• Accept checks in the beginning. Hold them until they clear before you ship the item. After you have completed at least 25 positive feedbacks, just accept Pay Pal and money orders. You may eliminate one or two bidders but you will make your life much easier. Most people use Pay Pal anyway.
• Try to build a following of people who know and trust your work. Build a relationship with customers so that you sustain your business instead of just getting a one-time sale. Always answer questions promptly and with a friendly tone. Ship the item as soon as it has been paid for.

We hope our ebay selling tips will help you get your business on ebay started. You need to decide if ebay is right for you and your alpaca creations. It may not be. Your item might sell better locally or at craft fairs. It's a great place to test the waters, though.

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