Considering Starting Ebay Sales - All Advice Appreciated

I'm not an active seller but I have sold on ebay, things as low as $20 to over $1500. Here is the advice I can offer:

- are there good terms to use to help buyers find your items? I created my own description. The AI one wasn't great. I make sure I list all the faults I know of. The most important is making sure you are in the right category. Also for example if selling a coin list it like this - 1886 Type 2 Indian Head cent and make sure you fill out specifics.
- how many photos should you include? As many as needed. A lower price item generally gets less photos, a for example 2019 S - Enhanced Reverse Proof American Silver Eagle will get a lot of CLEAR photos. If you can't take good phots get a light box to help you. CLEAR Photos are important.
- what are the best shipping options / should we use USPS/FedEx/UPS or some version of ebay's shipping? Use what is cheapest, offer up options if not shipping for free. Use Insurance for expensive items, for cheaper, take a chance, not worth paying $3 for insurance on a $20 item, you can take a loss for some low cost items. Make sure you have insurance where you don't feel comfortable losing the money.
- I have a PayPal account - are there ways to help harden that account against possible scamming? Create a separate stand alone bank account for paypal. Only keep a few dollars in that account. Move money in an out as needed. My paypal bank has $2.17 as of today. I only move in money as needed. With internet banking you can move money as needed. Remember ebay will take time paying you, so be prepared to wait especially as a new seller.
- any other advice that I haven't thought to ask about? Be ready to block annoying tire kickers. Ignore the trolls. Most 99+ of all buyers are good, but you have the 1% get to know the tells of these buyers and ignore them.

Good Luck and let us know when you start selling!

Also, and this may sound harsh, be prepared to be scammed. ebay WILL SIDE WITH BUYERS!
If you have any coins that are worth $$, I suggest going with GreatCollections instead.

Here's something to consider. Last year I sold quite a bit with no problems. The issue came at tax time. ebay sent me a 1099 form in which your total sales amount is considered taxable income. It was quite difficult to calculate the percentage of that which was profit and what percentage was initial cost of the coins, shipping, ebay fees, etc.

USPS HATES to pay, but if something is really lost, then they will. I shipped a telescope part that cost about $350. I kept checking Informed Delivery and it got to Miami and disappeared. After 10 days nothing, I opened a case. After 10 more days of no updates on my case I filed a claim. I included the case number and the shipping cost. I had to include the ad, the pictures of the items, picture of the shipping receipt (one reason I always always go to the service desk) and the case number. USPS paid.

Another time they dropped the package and broke a frame. I submitted a claim like above but they rejected. I ended up getting pictures from the person I shipped it to and included the ebay listing and I also created a case. I filed again after I created the case and it was approved. Looks like the case is what is needed to make them pay. Please note both items were over $200 and I usually include insurance if the seller seems iffy and/or the item is over $150. I've shipped $400 items to a seller that purchased from me before without insurance.

To date, I have only sold low cost coins on ebay.

Their shipping service is the only viable option for low cost selling, in my opinion, because you need tracking to prove the buyer received the item. ebay tracking through the USPS machines is inconsistent, but as long as you get an initial scan at the first facility, they will pay the insurance for any missing items. I have only been burned by ebay about 1% of the time.

Most buyers are honest, and if they receive the item, they will not file a false missing item complaint, even if ebay tracking is blank. Pay attention to the 1/2/3 oz limits, because many times if you are over the shipping stamp, USPS will charge the buyer a Postage Due, and that can lead to negative feedback.

Pay attention to what post office location and sorting facility causes the problems for you. For example, I will not ship on Friday, Saturday, Sunday because I know the envelope will be routed through the state capital instead of our local (and much better) sorting facility. Envelopes routed through the middle of my state have a much lower chance of reaching the buyer, and are often not scanned at all.

For listings, I agree with the sentiments above that you cannot use an AI listing. Two clear photos have worked for me. For varieties, a picture or two of the special feature will help.

After experimenting with auctions, I really came to the conclusion that fixed price listings were better, at least for what I was trying to sell.

Bump,

One really good point by brandmeister. Some post offices suck! We have 5 post offices in my town, the one nearest me is a different zip code and all the packages get routed to the main office and everything I ship from there is scanned and routed well. The main post office sometimes it's a few days before it gets to distribution center. When I asked the local post master it's because all the packages from her post office are already packaged so they go directly to the truck to the distribution center, the ones at the main po have to be scanned and packaged and they are busy so stuff gets pushed to the next day or next next day. The better post office is from trial and error. Sometimes the biggest isn't the best.