Going Above And Beyond As An Ebay Seller

There are many, many ways to set yourself apart from the competition on eBay and get more than your fair share of your market.  You need to get a little bit creative and try to put yourself into your buyers' shoes.  What you need to do is absolutely shock your buyers at the level of service you provide.  I'm going to give you a few examples, but I'm sure you'll be able to think of many ideas on your own.

One thing you can do is offer an optional service for buyers where they can ship a gift to someone else.  You could offer gift-wrapping for free with any item over a certain price, and ship it with a gift message to anyone they choose.  There is one point to keep in mind here, however.  This type of service is sometimes taken advantage of by people who are using stolen PayPal accounts, so it is up to you to decide whether or not you wish to take that risk.  It certainly can be worth it, especially if you are selling items that are very commonly given as gifts.  It is also a great service during the Christmas holiday shopping season.

You should also go as far as you possibly can with regards to packing items for shipping.  Tossing a piece of delicate glassware into a box wrapped in a couple of layers of newspaper is not good packaging.  You should always take great care to carefully package everything you ship as carefully as possible.  Buyers will often make extremely glowing positive feedback posts for you if you go out of your way to pack the item carefully.  Packing is one extremely important area that you should never, ever skimp on.  Even magazines should be packaged with a little extra padding inside the mailer, especially if they are ten years old or older, or sell for over $10.

You might offer a small bonus inside the packages that you send out.  One seller that I made a purchase from gave me a sheet of stickers for free with my purchase of a sticker album.  The seller did not advertise this in the auction, so I was especially happy with this  Another seller included a beautiful bookmark for free with a book purchase, and that bookmark included her eBay seller ID and the URL to her auction listing on the back.  This was a great way to offer an unannounced bonus, as well as reminding me to visit her auctions again.  And yes, I have bought from her again!  Try to keep the bonus related to the item you have sold, if possible.  If it's not possible, a generic bonus is still something that sets you apart, and people will definitely appreciate the extra effort.

Include a personalized, hand-written thank you note with each purchase.  Your buyer is going to really appreciate that you took the time to thank them, and that you've included their name on the thank you note.  Even something very simple like, "Thank you, Lisa!" will go a long way toward making your buyer happier with their purchase.

Shipping very quickly is extremely important to the way people see you on eBay.  If you only ship once or twice per week, it is probably going to hurt your business somewhat.  If you really cannot ship any more often than that, it is extremely important to state this fact very, very clearly in your auctions!

One final point is that you should always answer every single e-mail quickly and courteously.  Even if you think a question is stupid or the tone of the e-mail is rude, be professional and respectful, and respond quickly.  That angry buyer might be a really nice person who is genuinely interested in buying from you, but just happened to be in a bad mood that day.