Sure if the shipping costs are only £5 and you charge people£10 you are making an extra £5 in profit, but guess what; you are loosing a lot more than you are gaining, because a high shipping price stands out like a sore thumb and most people will refuse to place a bid on your auctions.

You need to charge the lowest possible price for shipping; because most people will notice the low price and you will be rewarded with more bids and profit.

While on the subject of shipping; there seems to be some bad advice going around. And that advice is; to charge a flat-shipping rate in order to save time. This is horrible advice because A: you will most likely be overcharging and B: you will be taking control away from the costumer.

You need to give the costumer as much control over the buying process as possible. And you can’t do that with a flat shipping rate. You need to let the costumer decide how much they want to pay for shipping and how fast they want their product delivered to them, you need to let the costumers decide weather they want their stuff delivered to them over night or in 3-5 days.

Remember the more comfortable and convenient you make the buying process for your costumers, the more likely they are to come back and buy from you again. So instead of having a “my way or the high way” type flat shipping charge. You need to give the costumer some choices (express shipping, regular, priority etc.).

Reason 2: bad photos or photos lifted from manufacturer’s websites

When someone decides to buy a product from the internet they have no chance to see, feel, inspect or try out the product they are about to buy in person. And since they can’t see the actual product they are buying in person; you should show them as much of the product as you possibly can!

High quality photos that show the product from every angle can ease your costumer’s doubts and grow his/her desire to own what you are selling. If your photos are of a poor quality, they can make the product look worse than it actually looks in person and make it seem less valuable than it really is. The truth is, photos can make or break your eBay career.

The number of bids received by listing with high quality photos compared to the number of bids received by listings with poor quality photos has been proven to be much higher. So the better your photos are the more bids you will receive, and the more bids you receive the more money you will make.

Another thing you should never do is use manufacturers photos in your listings. Why? Because chances are a lot of other sellers will already be using the same photos. This is bad because instead of standing out from the crowd, you will be blending in. A picture is worth a thousand words, and on eBay it can be worth a thousand dollars.

If you are using manufacturer’s photos people will think that you don’t have the item you are selling in your position, you might even be trying to rip them off (take their money and run). So another reason you should take your own photos is credibility and trust. Your own photos will make your listings look more legitimate and gain the visitors trust.

The photos are one of if not the most important thing about your listing. The photos are what every person that visits your auction listings craves more of. Everyone wants to see more of what the product actually looks like.

What you absolutely NEED in order to maximize your profits when selling products on the internet is high quality photos that show the product you are selling from every angle, and show off its best features.

Let me ask you a question. If you were buying a £150 camera, would you buy it from A: a seller that has a small photo of the camera on a white background or B: a seller that has many large, high quality photos that show the camera from every angle? Exactly, and that is why you absolutely need the best photos you can take, because if some else has better photos; that is where all of the costumers will be.

Reason 3: short item descriptions

Once again, when someone decides to purchase a product over the internet they have no chance to see in person the actual product being sold to them. When you buy something from a regular store you get to touch, feel, test out, try on and inspect the product you are about to buy.

Do you get to do this over the internet? NO! But as obvious as that may be, many sellers (including power sellers) are selling £300 products over the internet and all they have to describe the product is a few short sentences! These are the same sellers that often complain about not making enough profits.

When someone decides to buy a product over the internet (eBay, yahoo, Amazon etc.), they are basically going blind. They don’t know who you are, where you live or weather you will rip them off or not. In other words these people have a lot of doubts. And when people have doubts, they will usually have second thoughts about buying from you. And that’s NOT a good thing.

So what you need to do when you are putting something up for auction on eBay or trying to sell something on Amazon (or anywhere on the internet for that matter). Describe the product you are selling in as much detail as possible. I mean mention everything about the product. Mention the color, weight, size, texture, features, accessories, condition, warranty, box size etc.

You need to not only mention everything, but explain what it all means as well. Don’t just say “this camera comes with X2r-c finder scope” say “this camera comes with X2r-c finder scope which allows you to take pictures at night and improves the quality of photos you are taking by 50%”. You need to make your description simple to understand because if you don’t, you might confuse your potential costumer. And most people hate being confused.

Confusion can lead to frustration, and if your potential costumers get frustrated all they have to do is click the back button on their web browser. And boom, you’ve just lost a bid.

So remember, your costumer doesn’t have the chance to actually see, feel and inspect the product they are buying from you. And that can fill their head with doubt (BAD!). So make sure you have a clear, detailed and easy to understand description.

Reason 4: reserve auctions

Most eBay members absolutely hate reserve auctions and refuse to even look at them. The reason for this is because most people don’t want to spend a week bidding on something and have all that time wasted in the end because of a high reserve. Would you want to bid on something for a week only to have the reserve not met?

Another reason reserve auctions are hated is because it can be very frustrating to see a big bold “RESERVE NOT MET” after every bid you place. Most people don’t want to keep guessing about weather or not they will actually be able to buy the product they want; they want to know for sure.

I understand that starting something at $1 with no reserve can be very scary (what if the item sells for a dollar?). But what you must understand is, a no reserve listing will always attract more bids than a listing for the same product that has a reserve.

No reserve auctions have proven again and again that NR is the best way to go. I know I know it’s scary. But you gat to take some risks along the road to success, and think about it: what do you have to loose?

There are sellers out there that list Rolex watches and luxury cars starting at 99p and no reserve! What are you going to sell? The truth is you have A LOT more to gain than you have to loose. And besides, you can always get a friend to bid on your auction if things don’t go as planned (this is against eBay policy, but if you are truly afraid its ok). Braking eBay rules is a sure way to end your auction career prematurely, but chances are you won’t have to break any rules because when you list something at 99p. The bids go up pretty fast.

Reason 5: refusing costumers

There are sellers out there that accept only one way of payment and sell only to citizens of the country they live in. Can you see what’s wrong with that? Why would anyone ever refuse to take someone’s money?

There are sellers out there that accept payments only through Paypal. This is bad because there are a lot of people out there that don’t have a Paypal account, why would you turn them down? The more people are allowed to buy from you the more people will actually buy from you!

It is not wise to exclude a big chunk of potential costumers just because you “prefer” Paypal. You should accept as many payment methods as possible. You should accept Paypal, Bid Pay, credit card, check, e-check, wire transfer, cash (yes some sellers actually accept cash) and any other form of payment you can think of.

Go to http://www.ebay.co.uk and brows through the listings, what you will realize is that most successful power sellers accept more than one form of payment. You should do the same.

The more people are allowed to buy from you the more people will actually buy from you. So what do you think has more people, your country or the whole world? So why would you refuse to sell to every country but your own?

I’m sure the sellers that do this have their own crazy reasons (terrorism, Osama, Russian mafia…). But c’mon, you are smarter than that! I have spoken to over 50 power sellers, and nearly every single one of them recommends selling internationally.

So please understand that if you accept only one form of payment or sell to only one country, you are neglecting a lot of potential costumers.

Reason 6: too much rules and stipulations

Your listings are made to attract costumers and put everyone in the mood to buy what you are selling, not scare everyone away!

Some sellers have so many rules and stipulations you must agree to in order to buy from them, it can seem that you would be signing your life away if you buy from them. The rules and stipulations I am talking about is the seller’s policy. Some sellers require you to contact them with in 24 hours if you want a refund, others will charge you a 25% restocking fee if you chose to return your item. There are also sellers that threaten to report you to eBay if you don’t fulfill your end of the deal and some even threaten to take legal action!

All of these rules and stipulations are a very negative and scary thing for the costumer. Your listing is supposed to make the visitor feel welcome, comfortable, safe and ready to buy. That is why you should never include anything negative like a 25% restocking fee in your listing. Your costumers are already worried about weather or not you are going to rip them off or not, why would you want to give them more things to worry about?

Reason 7: no refunds

If department stores, shoe stores, internet stores and even service companies give refunds, you should definitely do the same. Most successful eBay sellers offer a 100% money back guarantee, why? Because like I said before, when someone decides to buy a product over the internet they are usually going blind.

There are so many things to worry about when you buy something over the internet (credit card scams, flawed products, thieves etc.) that when a person is about to buy something they are usually full of doubt and worry.

That is why you need to offer a 100% money back guarantee…to easy the worry and take away the doubts of your potential costumer.

Would you ever buy something that you haven’t had the chance to inspect in person, from somebody you have never seen in your life. Knowing that if there is something wrong with what you have bought there would be no way for you to get your money back? I didn’t think so. But when you say “no refunds” that is exactly what you are asking people to do…go blind and hope for the best.

If your policy is “no refunds” most people would have to be crazy to ever buy from you. And guess what, most people are NOT crazy.

Reason 8: sloppy and unprofessional listings

Your auction listings are both your company representative and salesperson, and how are company representatives and sales people made to look in the real world? Professional and presentable! So why would you’re representatives and sales people (auction listings) be dressed in rags?

If your listings are filled with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and look like they were put together in 2 minutes, it will look very amateur and some people will think that you don’t take your business seriously (which would probably be true). Most people don’t want to deal with amateurs because amateurs are usually the ones that will screw up and send the products to the wrong address.

Your listings need to neat, clean, easy to understand and appear professional.

Your listings are what you are judged by, so if your listings look sloppy; you will look sloppy. If your listings look chaotic and confusing you will appear the same. The truth is that it doesn’t take much effort to put together a nice, professional looking listing. So there is really no reason why your listings should appear like something a mentally disabled seagull put together.

Reason 9: unreasonable prices

You must understand that the reason most people chose to buy off of the internet is to get a great deal. A lot of people also think that it is more convenient to shop from the comfort of your own home, but the biggest reason is still savings. So why would anyone ever want to buy something that is close to or at the retail prices?

Another thing you should keep in mind is that besides the cost of the item, the costumer must pay for shipping and possibly even costumes taxes! Remember the number one reason why people refuse to buy stuff over the internet? It is because most people believe shipping and handling charges add too much to the final cost of the product. That is why your prices should always be below retail.

What you should do is check what prices the competition sells the products you want to sell at. That way you can get a good idea about the prices you should charge your costumers.

Now I know you might think a good idea would be to find out what the competitions prices are and make your prices lower in order to attract more costumers. While that may sound like a good idea, it’s really not. The last thing you want to do is needlessly undercut your competition and get into a price war with some of the more established and respected sellers…they will destroy you.

And besides, as soon as someone else lowers their prices everyone will run to them. Costumers that are looking for the lowest possible deal are not loyal and they will leave you as soon as they find a better deal.

If you are putting an item up for auction it would not make any scents to start it at a high price. Auctions are meant to start at low prices and get bided up until there is a winner. And if you check eBay you will notice that most of the power sellers out there always start their auctions at 99p and no reserve.

So remember, if you are going to sell something over the internet, whether it be through eBay, yahoo or Amazon. One of the biggest advantages to buying something from the internet is the great prices. And that is exactly what most people are looking for, bargains.

Reason 10: bad reputation

There is a reason why eBay created their now famous and imitated feedback system, that reason is trust. The folks at eBay realized a long time ago that the internet is full of scams and thieves. They also realized that when it comes to spending money over the internet, most people are very nervous and worried about getting ripped off.

Every time a seller rips someone off or makes a costumer unhappy, the costumer has a chance to give the seller negative feedback. This negative feedback will stay with the seller for as long as they remain a member of eBay and will forever be a stain on their reputation. So naturally, the last thing most eBay sellers want to do is make someone unhappy. This results in a very safe and comfortable environment for people that are looking to buy something on eBay.

But regardless whether you are planning to sell your products on eBay, yahoo, Amazon or open your own internet store. You should protect your reputation at any cost. Because even though a costumer can’t give you bad feedback if you own your own internet store, what they can do is go to internet forums and let others know the horrible things you did to them. The word will spread quicker than you think, your reputation will get ruined and before you know it you can find yourself out of business.

If you think about it, would you trust someone that has a bad reputation? Of course not, because when it comes to buying over the internet, most people are already nervous enough buying from someone they know anything about. And if you have a bad reputation you have no chance.

The ten reasons above can severely hurt the number of bids your auctions receive and as a consequence make you loose a lot of money.

Overcharging on shipping, using bad photos and short descriptions are not mistakes only rookies make. If you brows through the listings on eBay you will find that many established sellers make a lot of mistake, maybe not as much as sellers that are just starting out, but they do make these common mistakes. So just by following the advice given to you in this short list; you will be able to gain an upper hand on some of your more established competitors.

I think you will agree that most of the advice in this list doesn’t take a lot of effort to apply to your eBay, yahoo or Amazon business. But even though it is quite easy to apply the advice in this book; the results can be overwhelming.

Now that you know what NOT to do, go out there and apply everything you should do. Because unless you use the information in this list to your advantage all of that great advice you have just received will go to waste.

Something you should keep in mind is that even though the advice in this book is aimed at primarily eBay sellers. The advice can be applied to any kind of online sales business, whether its eBay, QXL, CQout or your own website etc.

I hope you apply the advice in this book and use it to your advantage, good luck!