Ten Commandments for Sellers

What to know if you want Buyers to bid on your Used or NWT Designer Clothing

Written by an eBay Shop-a-holic!

1.  Include a good picture or two:  Sellers, please, go back and review your listing after you've posted your item.   It is surprising how many items have terrible photos, photos of the wrong item entirely, or photos that  just won't open.    If you feel you need to apologize for the quality of the photo...maybe you should take a different photo...or get a new camera! 

2.  Include some basic measurements-hip, waist, bust, inseam.  Nothing is more irritating than to pick through a twenty-paragraph listing and find no words that actually tell me something useful.  What's "flattering and comfy" on you, may be skin tight on someone else, and sizes mean nothing, there is no "standard", not even with the same manufacturer.  The only way is to measure. 

Sellers who say, "email me if you'd like the measurements" make me wanna scream!  I don't want to email you, wait for a reply, go back to the listing again to remind myself what it even was for, etc.   Everyone wants to know the measurements, please, just include them.

3.  Don't call me Fat!!  I don't care if you lost weight and frankly, putting that in your listing is a Huge turnoff .  I see it all the time, though.  As a buyer, I read that and think, "wow, I need to go on a diet, too.  If this seller went on a diet so she wouldn't have to wear this huge size, do I really want to bid, and admit that I am still fat enough to wear it?" 

I know you want to pat yourself on the back for your achievement, who wouldn't, good for you!  But it sure isn't going to help put me in the mood to buy your "fat" clothes.  Save your self-congratulations for your friends & family; let your buyer feel good about what size she wears right now. 

4.  Leave out all the petty, picky rules.  I am buying a ten dollar used blouse, not a new car, and I am probably bidding on five different ones, plus twenty other items, all from different sellers.  I am not going to spend a half hour reading through your rambling diatribe about how you've been burned and now require this and that. 

Here is what this eBayer actually reads in your listing, aside from the item description:  I check to see what the seller's feedback is, what the shipping cost is, and then I bid.  That's all.   If I win, I click on the pay now button in eBay, takes me to paypal, I pay, done.  I don't check for emails about the win, or go back to re-read the listing; these small-ticket items are not worth spending a lot of time dwelling over. 

Find out what the eBay rules and listing features are, and how to use them, and leave out all the excess commentary (unless you are a professional seller with an eBay store and need all the extra language for some reason).  

For most sellers, listing rules in your listing is just repeating what is already a rule, or you are perhaps making up rules that are not approved by eBay or enforcable anyhow. 

If you have some very specific information, such as you will be on vacation and unless payment recieved by a certain date, shipping will not occur for 2 weeks, by all means, include that.

5.  Refunds the Right Way: If you send out the wrong item, or make a major, deal-breaker mistake on your listing, then don't expect the Buyer to pay you shipping and handling for sending this mistake out and then also pay to send it back to you.  Not to mention the time and effort that the Buyer has now had to invest in returning your mistake to you.  Please be fair, and if you err, make it up to your Customer. 

We all know there are Buyers With Remorse who make mountains out of molehills so they can get a full or partial refund.  Or even damage goods upon receipt so they can return them. Shame on them.  If you know that's what you are dealing with and their communication and/or feedback supports your suspicion, by all means, put 'em through the wringer!  But don't paint all Buyers with the Guilty brush from the get-go.  After years of buying and selling with hundreds and hundreds of people, I've never once, at least not to my knowledge, been ripped off by anyone.   

6.  Use your title to give us useful info.  This includes telling us what the brand, color, and size is, and a brief description of what the item is.  If I see "womens blouse", with a lousy picture, trust me, I am not going to bother looking.  If that is all you think of your item, and that's all the effort you are putting into this, I will assume it is junk.   I scroll past 99% of clothing listings without even opening the auction to see more info.  If you don't catch my eye when scrolling, I'm gone. 

7.  Be honest, Be clean; (aka:"Do Unto Others..."):  If there is severe pilling, a missing button, the zipper doesn't stay up, the garment truly reeks of perfume or cigars, or there is a stain on the front,  and you still want to try to sell it, be honest.  Either someone is going to be okay with the flaw or not, but don't hope they don't notice, because they will.  And,  eBay rules are that all clothing and shoes sold should be clean.  Please adhere to this. 

8.  Please Do Not Scream At Me Like A Used Car Salesman!   "LQQK!"  "MUST SEE!"  Don't give me orders (LOOK!), and don't say things like "Fabulous!"  unless it's really true.  If I open your "Awesome!!!" listing only to find a used plain red t shirt with no special features, I am not going to trust you on any of your other listing descriptions, and I will stop looking at your items. 

9.  Pack neat, and Ship reasonably fast.  I don't appreciate getting a blouse crammed into a letter size envelope, three weeks after I paid for it, so you can ship it on the cheap and take $6 of your $7 shipping fee as additional profit.  (Yes, I know who you are.)  Those of us who bid and buy tons of stuff off eBay, know that most Sellers use Priority mail, ship a few times each week, either place the garment in a ziplock bag or wrap in tissue, or both, inside the Priority pkg, and most include a copy of the receipt, and a personal note or card.  That's pretty much the norm.  Some packages are even better, once you open the outside box, you find your item wrapped like a gift, or like a boutique would do, with tissue, ribbon, and a trinket/gift.  Those sellers go on my favorite seller lists, since it's like having a birthday present come in the mail when you get their deliveries.  Fun fun fun! 

10.  Above all, eBay should be just that:  FUN.  No hassles, no lists of rules for your customers as long as my arm, no major disappointments from misleading or incomplete listings.  No month long wait for your item to arrive and if there is a problem, the Seller should handle it professionally and remember to always treat others the way you yourself would like to be treated when you are a Customer!