Tips on selling from the Goverment

Tips for Sellers...

Know Your Legal Obligations

Under federal law, you're required to advertise your product or service and the terms of the sale honestly and accurately. You can't place "shill" bids on your item to boost the price or offer false testimonials about yourself in the comment section of Internet auction sites.
You're prohibited from auctioning illegal goods. While many auction sites monitor their sites to ensure that illegal items are not being offered, the responsibility for ensuring that a sale is legal rests with the seller and buyer. Some auction sites post a list of prohibited items as a guide.
You are required to ship merchandise within the time frame specified during the auction, or, if a time frame is not specified, within 30 days. If you can't meet the shipping commitment, you must give the buyer an opportunity to cancel the order for a full refund or agree to the new shipping date. To learn more about your responsibilities when shipping products, see A Business Guide to the Federal Trade Commission's Mail or Telephone Order Merchandise Rule.

Advertising Your Product

When describing your item and its condition, state whether it's new, used or reconditioned.
Anticipate questions buyers might have and address them in the description of your item or service.

When possible, include a photograph of the item. The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words is especially relevant in Internet auctions.

Specify the minimum bid at the lowest fair price you're willing to accept.

Specify who will pay for shipping, and note whether you'll ship internationally.

State your return policy, including who's responsible for paying for shipping costs or restocking fees if the item is returned.

Let prospective bidders know whether you provide follow-up service; if you don't, tell them where they can get it.

Dealing with Bidders

Respond as quickly as possible to bidders' questions about the item you're auctioning or the sales terms.

When the auction closes, print all information about the transaction, including the buyer's identification; a description of the item; and the date, time and price of the bid. Save a copy of every email you send and receive from the auction site or the successful bidder.
Contact the "winning" bidder as soon after the auction closes as possible; confirm the final cost, including shipping charges, and tell the buyer where to send payment.

Arranging for Payment

If you accept credit card payments from the buyer directly, bill the credit card account only once you've shipped the product.

If a buyer insists on using a particular escrow or online payment service that you've never heard of, check it out. Visit its Web site. Be suspicious of claims about being affiliated with a government agency. Call the customer service line. If there isn't one, or if you call and can't reach someone, don't use the service.

Before agreeing to use an online payment or escrow service, read the terms of agreement:
If it's an online payment service, find out who pays for credit card charge backs or transaction reversal requests if the buyer seeks them.

Examine the service's privacy policy and security measures. Never disclose financial or personal information unless you know why it's being collected, how it will be used, and how it will be safeguarded.

Be suspicious of an online escrow service that cannot process its own transactions and requires you to set up accounts with online payment services. Legitimate escrow services never do this.

Check with the Better Business Bureau, state attorney general or consumer protection agency — where you live and where the online payment or escrow service is based — to see whether there are any unresolved complaints against the service. Be mindful that a lack of complaints doesn't necessarily mean that the service has no problems.

For Buyers and Sellers...

Where to Turn for Help

If you have problems during a transaction, try to work them out directly with the seller, buyer or site operator. If that doesn't work, file a complaint with:

1. The attorney general's office in your state.

2. Your county or state consumer protection agency. Check the blue pages of the phone book under county and state government.

3. The Better Business Bureau.

4. The FTC. File a complaint online at www.ftc.gov or call toll-free 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint or to get free information on consumer issues, visit www.ftc.gov or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY: 1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad.

Tips for listing design

Give the right first impression
Just as with any brick-and-mortar storefront, your auction listings need to captivate and interest visitors through professional design and a clear presentation of what's offered. After all, if your shop's floors were cluttered and the walls in desperate need of repair, what kind of message would this send to potential customers? Make no mistake about it, this is the same impression visitors will have of your business if they find your auction listing in similar disarray.

Excelling beyond the basics
In days of old (of course, we're only talking a few years ago by Internet standards), having a basic auction listing was generally accepted and excused. But in today's day and age, when the online auction marketplace is pursued by professional corporations with design prowess, you don't want potential buyers to ignore your listing in favor of one that is more attractive.
Granted, if you're just looking to sell a few loose items from your basement or consider yourself an infrequent auction seller then having professional listing templates might be overdoing it a bit. But, if you are trying to use Overstock to build a business or second income stream, then you'll absolutely want to make sure you build bidder confidence with nice, solid listing design.

Making the impact
Whether or not you decide to use our auction template design services, here are some killer tips you can employ to set the stage for a more successful online auction experience.
Build your brand whenever possible. If you are trying to build an Overstock business or if you are using Overstock as another marketing channel for your company, be sure to use your company's logos and other details in your listing. Ideally, use a similar template or design theme for everything you sell so that you establish yourself in the marketplace.

Make sure your auction listings look professional.
Your auction listing not only has to help you sell your products or services, but your business as well. Your listing will absolutely help shape people's perception of your business, and a sloppy or shoddy listing will only detract from this.

Be careful with new bells and whistles.
While some animated GIF's might be fun to look at and MIDI musical chimes seem great at first, most of your visitors will find them annoying or “old school”. Animated GIF's, if they must be used, need to be used sparingly. They were certainly the rage at the dawning of the 'net, but today, they are seen as a distraction. Rule of thumb...if a special whirly-bird feature has nothing to do with your business, then you don't need it!

Make sure your auction listing is laid out in such a way that people can easily understand what you're offering. Don't use a lot of filler text, just stick to the facts, describe the condition, and clearly communicate the benefits of buying that particular item from your company.

Keep it consistent and easy to read.
We often see auction sellers making the mistake of using gigantic text in a variety of colors throughout their auction listings. There is no reason to try and blast them with huge text or overly-bright font colors to get their attention. They're already interested...after all, they clicked on your auction title to learn more, right? Gigantic font sizes are the footprint of amateurs so do all you can to maintain a professional appeal.

Keep it clean.
Your auction listing should be simple, informative and uncluttered, yet engaging. Throwing too much information at your visitors will only confuse them. Make sure you leave some breathing room for their eyes to help ensure that your auction's details are read, not skipped.

Open a line of communication.
Your visitors will feel more comfortable if you give them a way to contact you for more information about your item. While this wouldn't really apply to something small like a poster or album, you'll certainly want to be accessible if you are selling expensive, complex or highly technical items.

Tips for the beginning seller

I was doing some reading on selling online and found the following article. It has some great information for the beginner and I learned a couple of things.

Fire

Beginner's Guide to Online Auctions

Auctions can be quite frightening for the newcomer. Although it may seem overwhelming, an auctioneer needs to know only a few things to start out on the right foot.

Registration
Registration is necessary for all online auctions. This process is usually very simple, and very secure. However, auctioneers must be at least 18 to participate in most auctions. To complete the registration process, you'll have to agree to the services terms of service or terms of participation. (Amazon.com Auctions calls it a participation agreement.) This information will outline the services dos- and-don'ts -- mostly the don'ts -- such as trying to manipulate prices, selling illegal goods, and other infractions. Use this agreement as a guide for any activity that comes into question.

Know About Fees
Although some online auctions are free, most charge some kind of seller fee. Most sites have insertion fees, or standard fees that are applied when the seller lists an item. These fees are usually very low but can vary from auction to auction. Other auctions may have value based fees or fees that are cut as percentages of the final sale. Whether an online auction uses one fee system or another, it is important to know how they will effect both the seller and buyer.

Know Bidding and Selling Rules
Auctions are rigorously structured, and rightly so. Therefore, it is important to know what your given role in an auction involves. It is important to know what kind of responsibilities both the buyer and seller have in the auction relationship. These may involve bid honoring, payment or shipping. Not only is it important to know these rules but it is also important to know what could happen if you break them.

Auctioning Tips
Like any form of online communication, Internet Auctions have their own etiquette. If an auctioneer fails to use this etiquette, he/she could find themselves losing a sale or at the short end of a bad deal. In general, basic online rules apply. It is important, however, to remember that auctioneers are not always trustworthy and that the buyer (and seller) must beware.

Seller Tips
* Keep It Serious: You wouldn't participate in an auction with haphazardly written descriptions and poorly outlined policies; buyers will expect the same from you.

* Keep it Concise: Avoid lengthy descriptions or worded sales pitches. Although these approaches might work elsewhere, they have no place in online auctions.

* Include a Photo: Photos add to authenticity. Try to include one if you can. Remember to keep it focused and relatively compact.

* Answer Questions: Include an email address and answer questions promptly and thoroughly. People will buy from sources that they can trust.

* Finish It Up: Don't drop your buyers at the moment of purchase. Be prepared for follow up emails and inquiries. You may have the sale now, but you might not in the future.

* Don't Be a Stranger: Don't keep yourself too anonymous. Anonymity creates suspicion and suspicion is the auctioneer's worst enemy.

* Ship it Right: Don't rip people off in the shipping. Try to bundle items together and package them properly.

Buyer Tips
* Start Low: It would almost seem like common sense but it's always a good idea to start bids low. Starting high usually backfires and ends up costing the buyer more than
it is worth.

* Pay Up: When it is time to pay, pay immediately and with the most efficient way. Nothing makes a seller more angry than late payment.

* Ask Questions: If you have a question about an item, don't be afraid to ask. Asking can lead to valuable information and develop better relationships.

* Keep at It: Monitor your auctions and don't leave them alone for too long. Leaving them alone could cost you a small fortune.

* Don't Go Too Far: Take it easy on sellers. They don't deserve being attacked with negative emails or other annoyances.

Auction Formats
There are three main types of auctions online. It is important to know how they differ and how auctioneers function within them.

Dutch Auction: This is an auction in which the seller lists multiple quantities of an identical item. With multiple items up for sale, multiple bidders can win. Also, one bidder can try to buy more than one quantity. All winning bidders pay only the lowest successful winning bid amount. This is different from a Yankee auction, in which each winning bidder pays his or her exact high bid.

Reserve Auction: This is an auction in which the item for sale has a reserve price. The reserve price is the lowest price at which a seller is willing to sell an item. Although the reserve price is not listed per se (the auction posting will be marked as "reserve met"), it can be extrapolated when a bidder bids at or above the reserve price. The high bid will automatically be elevated to the reserve price, providing the current high bidder with what the seller would agree to sell at.

Straight Auction: Also referred to as an absolute auction, this is an auction in which there is only one item up for sale, and there is no reserve price. The seller sets the opening bid and must respect the final price at the end of the auction.

Auction Lingo
* "As Is": Also known as "as is, where is" and "in its present condition." Typically, this is a sign that no return privileges will be granted.

* Bid Cancellation: The cancellation of a bid by a seller. During online auctions, sellers can cancel a bid if they feel uncomfortable about completing a transaction with a particular bidder.

* Bid History:: A historical list of all the bids made on a particular auction during or after the auction.

* Bid Increment: The standardized amount an item increases in price after each new bid. The auction service sets the increment, which rises according to the present high bid value of an item.

* Bid Retraction: The legitimate cancellation of a bid on an item by a bidder during an online auction.

* Bid Rigging: Fraudulent bidding by an associate of the seller in order to inflate the price of an item. Also known as shilling and collusion.

* Bid Shielding: Posting extremely high bids to protect the lower bid of an earlier bidder, usually in cahoots with the bidder who placed the shielding bid.

* Bid Siphoning: The practice of contacting bidders and offering to sell them the same item they are currently bidding on, thus drawing bidders away from the legitimate seller's auction.

* Bulk Loading: Listing a group of different items in separate lots all at once using an online auction site's bulk loading tool.

* Buying Up Lots: The practice of buying all quantities of an item during a Dutch auction. This is typically done for resale purposes.

* Caveat Emptor: The Latin phrase meaning "let the buyer beware."

* Cookie: A piece of information sent from a web server to a web browser that the browser software saves and then sends back to the server whenever the browser makes additional
requests from the server.

* Deadbeats: High bidders who fail to pay for the item they won.

* DNF: Discuss Newest Features board. This is one of the more lively, if not antankerous, message boards in the online auction community.

* Escrow: Money held in trust by a third party until the seller makes delivery of merchandise to the buyer.

* fdbk/fk: Feedback. One user's public comments about another user in regard to their auction dealings. Feedback comments cannot be removed or changed once submitted to an
auction service.

* Featured Auctions: Auction listings placed prominently on the home page and category pages of an auction service. Sellers pay for this prime placement.

* Feedback Padding: One user posting fraudulent positive feedback about another user and his or her auctions.

* Final Value Fee: The commission charge the seller pays to the auction service after his or her item sells.

FVF Request: Final value fee request.

* Grading: The process for determining the physical condition of an item. Different items have different grading systems.

* IMO/IMHO: The message board abbreviations for "in my opinion" and "in my honest (or humble) opinion."

* Initial Listing Price: The opening bid price a seller attaches to his or her auction.

* Insertion Fee: A fee paid by the seller to the auction site in order to list an item for auction,
calculated as a percentage of the opening bid or reserve price.

* LOL: Message board abbreviation for "laugh out loud."

* Lot: A single auction listing.

* Market Value: The highest price a property will bring in the open market.

* Maximum Bid: The highest price a buyer will pay for an item, submitted in confidence to an online auction service's automated bidding system to facilitate proxy bidding.

* Minimum Opening Bid: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

* NARU'd: A auction user term to describe users whose memberships have been discontinued. NARU is the acronym for "not a registered user."

* Neg: Short for "negative user feedback."

* Net Cops: Auction users who actively attempt to report instances of fraud, such as shilling or bid shielding, to online auction sites.

* NR: Short for "no reserve." This indicates in the item description line that the auction has no reserve price specified.

* Opening Bid: The seller's opening bid, which sets the opening price.

* Outbid: To submit a maximum bid that is higher than another buyer's maximum bid.

* Registered User: A person who has registered as a member of an online auction service. All online auction services require registration prior to buying and selling.

* Relisting: The relisting of an item by a seller after it has not received any bids or met its reserve price. Typically, the first relisting is free.

* Reserve Price: The minimum price a seller will accept for an item to be sold at auction. This amount is never formally disclosed.

* Retaliatory: The user term for retaliatory negative feedback, posted by one user in response to another user's negative feedback.

* S&H Charges: Shipping and handling charges.

* Secondary Market: The buyer market for secondhand goods. Online auctions serve the secondary market.

* Shilling: Fraudulent bidding by the seller (using an alternate registration) or an associate of the seller in order to inflate the price of an item. Also known as bid rigging and collusion.

* Sniping: Outbidding other buyers in the closing minutes or seconds of an auction.

* Starting Price: The mandatory starting bid for a given auction, set by the seller at the time of listing.

* Terms of Service: A legally binding agreement that outlines an auction site's operating policies. All registered users must agree to a site's terms before using the service.

* User Info Request: A request for a user's background information, which provides personal information, such as a phone number.

© 2005, Ipswitch, Inc.

Tips on promoting your auctions and yourself for Overstock.com Sellers

Selling Your Stuff
Tips on promoting your auctions and yourself
For
Overstock Auctions Sellers.

Below are some proven tips on promoting your auctions and making your home page stand out. Most of these tips can be done for free or at a very low cost and are proven to work by Overstock Seller.

Your Home Page: People like to read something about the person they are buying from. It goes a long way if you can provide your buyers with a little personal information. Keep it positive and give them the information that makes them know you care about your business reputation. Put a picture of something that represents you on your home page. Some sellers like pictures of themselves, their pets or something that represents their business. Leaving the red stick man sends the wrong message. Make your home page attractive you can find free graphic, animations and lettering on the web. Most of all be honest in your information remember they want to know a LITTLE BIT about you not your life story.

Your auctions: Once again honesty is the best policy, let the buyers know up front what your shipping policy, return policy and any other information you can provide to make the transaction smooth and fun. Here are some dos and don’ts for your auctions listings.

Dos

Hide nothing; make all information about the item and your policies clear in the listing.
Keep you shipping and Handling Fees reasonable, you may suck in the new buyers with low starting bids and make up the rest in S&H but they will not come back. Return customers are you most valuable assets and come in real handy with things are slow.
Avoid the 99 and 01 cent starting fees, you will get bids but spend a lot of time explaining why your S&H fees are so high. You will also get more negative ratings and few return customers.
Take good detailed photos of you item and offer as much information as you can.
Offer combined shipping and multiple item discounts. Some time giving a couple of dollars back can make you more money down the line with return customers.
Offer something free with the purchase. You can find all kinds of stuff that is very cost affective and people love to get something free. TOASA is in the process of putting together a list of web sites where you can go to get free or low cost stuff to help you sale.



Yourself: Here are a few tips on promoting yourself or business. Remember if you were to develop a customer base you can stop your customer service when you ship you package.

When you get notice of a closing auction with a bid send the buyer an email and let then know what payment types you take. Be sure to thank them for their purchase and let them know what time period you expect payment in.
When you receive notice or payment, their Money Order or Cashier’s Check sent them an email and acknowledge the receipt of payment, Thank them and let them know when you how and when you will ship the package.
When you ship the package include a business card, flyer, tips on bidding or how to protect their identification or some other type of document that has information on how to find your auctions, website, other sellers they can trust and any other information that makes them feel like you are there for them.
Try sending out an email to all you customers a month or so after the sale. The email could be about safety tips on bidding and buying on line, identification protection or something that is directed toward them and not a promotion. If you have done your job that will make them feel special and remind them you are around. Include links to your auctions, trusted friend, website, how to report a fraud and so on.
Some buyers also like to be notified if you have listed something new or special to identify them may take time but it will come.

Some free site, with more to come.

http://www.95mb.com/index.htm (Free Web Hosting)

http://www.amazingcounters.com/index.php ( Free Web page counters)

http://www2.flamingtext.com/ (Free animated lettering)

http://www.animationjungle.com/index.php (Free Clip Art)

http://go.to/animationworld (Free animation and clip art)

http://mygallery.timegonebuy.com/index.html (Free Auction Galary)

http://www.frontiernet.net/~dmishle (Low cost web page design, also a TOASA Member)

http://www.dollardays.com/ (Low cost item to give away)