Advice for new sellers: How to sell on s Part Two

Advice for new sellers on okay: Part twoSome of what you will read in this guide may seem like gemon sense to most, but to others it is very important. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, if you find any part of this guide informative or important, take the time to vote 'yes' at the top of the page.This is part two of the guide that I wrote for new sellers on okay. Part one covers things that you should do, and this part is the things that you should not do; it was originally one guide, but was too long for okay standards. This part of the guide is not meant to offend anyone, but is problems that I have gee across as either a buyer or a seller, and are things that you should definitely keep in mind if you are to be successful on okay. There is both basic information on this guide, as well as some very helpful information for the seasoned sellers on okay; and definitely is worth a look.Don't:These are the things that kill people on okay the most...1. Don't skimp on customer care.Package your items carefully, and take the extra few moments to put some effort into the sale. I have had small handwritten notes placed into shipments I receive, bows tied around the item, special wrapping paper around the item; all personal touches that I appreciated. Remember, your customer can't see your smile as you hand them their widget across the counter, or hear the sincerity in your voice when you say thank you. The face that you put on your sale is in the form of the packaging that you provide. A shirt shoved in an envelope, without an invoice or note, leaves your customers kind of flat. If it is a delicate item, and packed poorly, even if it arrives in good shape, the customer is generally upset at your careless approach to the shipment; and this fact gets mentioned more often than not in the feedback. Remember, your packing is the face that you put on the sale.2. Don't nickle and dime your customers:I would never consider emailing a customer to tell them that their shipping cost was $.35 more than they paid, but I know that there are some sellers that do. If I under-estimate the cost of shipping, that is my fault, so I eat the cost.Don't ever refuse to sell an item because it sold for less than you expected. okay will not force you to sell an item, but it is bad business. Period. You are inviting negative feedback for doing so, and I will not bid on an item if I see negative feedback that states that a seller wouldn't geplete the sale, and I know that there are other okayers out there that do the same thing. This kind of feedback will cost you more money in the long run, in bidders who wont bid on future items you list, than you will lose in the one sale.Another don't that goes hand in hand with this is, I personally don't bid on and don't list items with a reserve. That is just a personal thing with me, but you will lose out on bids if you do list items that way. I have found that, more often than not, items that are well presented from a reputable seller sell for what they are worth on okay, because so many people have a chance to look at them. If you must list with a reserve, it is helpful to put the amount of the reserve in the auction; that way people looking at your item at least know if they are willing to pay it or not. The other thing is that, traffic on okay is much higher during the fall and winter months; more people trapped inside because of the cold, it is gloomy and rainy, and people shop on their geputer more to raise their spirits. If you have an item you are really concerned about, hold onto it until the peak times of selling; the fall season. I personally stock-pile items that are very high-end until that time of year; it is like a savings account.3. Use words very carefully when leaving or responding to negative feedback.When I am checking someones feedback, no matter if I am buying from them or selling to them, I always look to see what their response was. You can tell a great deal about the person you are dealing with in how they respond to adversity. Rude, name calling people are people that I avoid on okay. On the other hand, someone who owns up to their mistake, and takes responsibility for it, earns my respect every time. This is the easiest way to judge someones character on okay, so take time to cool down and think about how you will deal with the situation; once feedback is left, it is there for life... even if there is mutual feedback removal. Then there are the people who don't respond to negative feedback at all. When I see this, I instantly assume that they don't care about the feedback. When you are dealing with someone who doesn't care about their feedback, you can expect poor customer service to say the least. Dealing with these people is hit or miss at best.In the same vein, I personally don't ever respond to positive feedback that mentions something negative. Occasionally I will get a positive feedback from someone who will state something negative in the feedback; the shipping was fast, but the shirt didn't fit. Leaving a response to the gement draws attention to it, and someone flipping through your feedback will be drawn automatically to the extra line where you left a response. If you simply let it go, it will blend in with the woodwork. This kind of thing happens more than you might expect. I also don't retaliate with feedback. I leave detailed feedback, and mention the customer by name and what they bought for all my customers, no matter what they say in their positive feedback.The other thing to know about feedback is that there are customers out there who will use feedback to blackmail you into giving them more than they deserve; this should begee very interesting now that buyers can only receive positive feedback. Ex: "Either you can lower your shipping to $X.XX or I will leave you negative feedback." Know that you don't have to cave-in to these people in order to save your feedback rating. Feedback blackmail is prohibited on okay, and you can report people for doing so. If it is found by okay that your claim is legit, they will remove the feedback from your score; the feedback will remain, but will carry a note saying that it was removed by okay. Then you would simply want to respond to the feedback politely explaining that the buyer was engaged in feedback blackmail; most buyers will see it for what it is.The last thing about feedback is that there is a web site that will search for negative and neutral feedback exclusively, and it is a handy tool when buying or selling on okay.http://toolhaus.org/A word of caution though, as by only reading someones negative feedback, it paints a very bad picture of them; as you are only reading what bad things were written. When using this tool, you have to learn to place it in perspective, or you will never buy or sell anything on okay. I look for the dates and frequency of the negatives, and again, check the feedback that they leave for others; as this is another option on this site, and will give you a peak into their character.4. Don't ever ship an item without tracking:This cannot be emphasized enough. The simple truth is, as far as Pay-Pal is concerned, if you cannot track the item, and there is a problem, you are the one who is out the money; period. It doesn't matter if you offer insurance, and the customer declines. It doesn't matter if you can prove that the item was shipped, providing receipts or whatever. If you cannot prove that the item was delivered, and the customer files a claim with Pay-Pal, they will yank that money out of your account, and hold it until the dispute is closed. They even have a policy that you cannot offer a partial refund, it is 100%. I had a situation where me and one of my customers had agreed to split the loss, because they didn't buy insurance and I had a customs number showing that the item had been shipped, and Pay-Pal wouldn't allow the partial refund.Now, tracking for domestic shipping is only $.65; free if you process your own shipping on line. The catch is with international shipping. The USPS offers regular air mail for international shipping at a fairly reasonable rate, but you cannot have tracking on air mail; and to have an item tracked internationally, you must get express mail, which costs three times as much in most cases. Express mail gees with tracking and $100 of insurance; though they will only cover the value you place on the customs form, and your customer will pay duty fees on that value. Express is also much faster than air mail. I have had shipments to Italy take (literally) two months to clear customs, when express clears in a few days; and many countries are the same with that... Russia is even worse. A two month wait in customs will automatically trigger a Pay-Pal dispute, as your customer only has a limited time to file a claim; and most will. Once the claim is filed, you have to prove that they received the item; they don't have to prove anything. So you run the risk of losing the item you shipped, plus the cost of shipping the item, and Pay-Pal hands all the money you collected for the item back to your customer. I even had a Pay-Pal customer service rep tell me that "choosing to accept Pay-Pal as a form of payment, without tracking, is a business decision that I had to make, as I was responsible for making sure that package arrived safely". The bottom line is, track everything, or accept the loss when it goes bad.5. Don't ever lie to your customers:This almost seems silly to mention, but when dealing with people on line, the temptation is definitely there, and therefore, worth mentioning. I have caught both buyers and sellers in lies while dealing with people on okay, and from that point on, they are just about done in my book. If I make an error in a transaction, I admit to it immediately, and take responsibility for it; and customers appreciate that fact. Very rarely do you ever find yourself in a situation that a person doesn't appreciate the fact that you have told the truth in a matter when it would have been very easy to lie in, and customers respond very well to that type of honesty. Lieing on the other hand, almost always returns to bite you in the end. I know, gemon sense to most...I hope that this guide provided some helpful hints for you to start selling on okay, and that you make a ton of money doing so. Again, if anything in this guide proved helpful, please take a second to vote yes at the bottom of the page. This guide took me quite some time to put together, and a bit of recognition is always nice. Best of luck to you in your okay future, and God bless!Jon