If you were to look through eBay, or any other online auction site for that matter, you would find that many people build some very basic mistakes. And, they repeat these mistakes over and over again. As indicated in my book "eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak" with a little common sense these mistakes are completely preventable. So to prevent you from creating these very identical mistakes I have put together the Top Ten Tips For Auction Success.

10. Shipping
Always state what your shipping price will be. And, Do Not try to rip off your buyers by inflating the shipping price to increase your profit. Believe it or not, everybody do have a fair idea of what shipping costs should be. If they feel you are inflating your shipping price they will no bid on your item and may not look at any of your other auctions either from fear of being ripped off.

9. Customer Support
You must respond to all emails regarding your auctions. Yes, responding to emails is time consuming. But, if you do not , that potential bidder will look else ware for the product and you will have lost yourself a customer.

8. Reserve Price
Do your research on the price for your item. If you must use a reserve price keep it real. If you over price your item you will not get as many bids. And, while all dazzling marketers know there is a time and place for the Reserve Auction, you may actually get more bids using no reserve pricing at all. Do your research to help you contruct this decision.

7. Item Condition
You must let bidders understand what condition your item is in. Is it new and in its packaging, or used but like new condition. Does it have any imperfections they should be made aware of.. A potential bidders will want to understand what condition your merchandise is in before creating any bids.

6. Terms
This could come under the heading Customer Service. If you have terms
on your auction page that read something like this "Not Responsible For Item Once Shipped" or "Item Sold As Is" you will lessen the number of bidders for that auction. Be a responsible eBayer, have insurance on the merchandise that your buyer might purchase. And be sure to have some sort of guarantee on your businesses products .

5. Feedback
One of the most important parts of your eBay Business. Feedback is a method eBay uses to allow buyers and sellers to record their experiences with each other. Then, others can check out the feedback of any eBayer they wish to deal with, to see if there has been any negative comments left. Therefore, it is extremely important to keep your feedback rating positive.

4. Auction Start/Close Time
You must plan your auction beginning/close measure around the bidders you wish to
attract to your auction. If the merchandise you are selling appeals to the working
woman, the best instant to beginning/finish your auction would be in the evening or on the weekend. Always create a profile on your item and what group of the population you are selling to.

3. Item Description
Not enough understanding or too much rambling of knowledge will discourage
everybody from bidding. So too will to many typos. Your product description must be clean and concise. Succinctly provide all the understanding required to describe the product sufficiently and create buyer interest.

2. Image
You need to make use of an image on your auction page. Remember a picture is assessment of value a 1000 words! Potential bidders will want to see what the product looks like before they contruct a bid. With digital cameras, being so affordable these days adding a image to your auction page is easier then ever. But, contruct sure the image is clear and well lit to show its detail or any imperfections it may have. Also, keep the image at a reasonable pixel size so your auction page doesnt take to long to load.

1. Headlines
This is the most important issue for taking more bidders to your auction
page. You must include words that everybody will search on eBay. And, you must contruct your headline enticing, so potential bidders will click it. If you are selling an antique contruct -up table a headline quote old vanity table would not pull in a lot of bidders. But, if you said something like "Vintage Vanity Table - Mint Condition - Collectors Item" not only would you get more potential bidders to view your auction, you would also be using words everybody would search eBay for. Your auction title would appear in searches for Vintage, Vanity Tables, Collectors Items. Therefore, allowing even more potential bidders to see your headline.

Happy Selling!
Joe Clare