Start Selling on eBay with eBay Listing Rules Explained
You’ve probably heard about how much money can
be made on eBay. With dreams of quick riches and
easy money, you are probably ready to jump in with
both feet – right now! The best thing you can do if
you are serious about making money with eBay,
however, is to slow down. In fact, just stop for a
minute. Don’t rush straight in. Take your time, and
do it right.
eBay has over 100 million members. Think about
that number for just a minute or two. When you get
your eBay business set up, that is how big your
customer base will be – instantly. 100 million people
- 100 million people who are just waiting for you to
get set up and running so that they can throw money
at you! Well, not quite. It is true that there are over
100 million members, but at this point, they don’t
know that you exist. In fact, no matter how well you
do on eBay, most of them will never know that you
exist. 100 million is a very large number.
The most successful eBay sellers started out as
buyers – and you should too. This will give you a
sense of how everything works. It will also show you
how things are from the buyer’s side of the fence.
Let’s call this period of time ‘consumer research.’
You are literally studying how eBay works, from a
customer’s point of view. You may not realize this,
but this eBay buyer experience will
actually make you a much better seller – right from
the very start.
Really pay attention to the customer service you
receive from the buyer. Think about how you want to
be treated as a buyer, and take notes. Take your
time during this process. Interact with the sellers.
Get involved in hot auctions to see what they are
like. In your spare time, start making notes about
the hot items that you see. These notes will come
in handy later.
eBay works just like any other business. You have
to determine what people want to buy before you can
hope to be successful. There are very specific items
that sell really well on eBay – you just have to figure
out what those items are. There are many
resources for finding out this information. Start with
the lessons that eBay offers to their sellers.
Strongly consider attending the eBay University as
well. This is the next step in the process. After you
have had the eBay buyer experience, it is time to
learn how to be an eBay seller.
Read all of the information eBay provides for you at
the site. The information is free and you will learn a
great deal from it. Take full advantage of this – before
you start setting up your first auction or your eBay
store! By reading through all of the resources, you
will avoid making numerous mistakes that so many
before you have made. This is another step towards
building a successful eBay business. Once you’ve
made it through the learning process, you should
know everything you need to know to get started
with a money making eBay business of your very
own.
The eBay Item Listing Rules
Because eBay is such a huge marketplace, with
members from all walks of life, in almost every single
country around the world, it is no wonder that there
are many scammers lurking about. In order to better
protect the buyers, eBay has specific rules
concerning the items that can be auctioned off on
the site. These rules must be followed, or the
person posting the item for auction can be banned
from the site.
Even though there are numerous categories, items
that are put up for auction really only fall into one of
four categories at eBay: Prohibited, Questionable,
Potentially Infringing, and Approved. Approved is the
simplest category to define and understand. An
approved item is any item that does not fall into one
of the other three categories. That is fairly simple,
right?
After the ‘approved’ category, however, it starts to
get a little harder to understand – with the exception
of prohibited items. A prohibited item may not be
auctioned on eBay for any reason, under any
circumstances. Prohibited items include alcohol,
drugs, animals, tobacco, human remains or body
parts of any type, lottery tickets, and
governmental property. There is quite a bit more
on the list, and that list can be viewed at the
eBay website.
Questionable items are those that are not prohibited,
but are not necessarily infringing. Adult material falls
under the ‘questionable’ category. Tickets of any
type may also be questionable. Law enforcement
related equipment, as well as guns, knives, and
other weapons are questionable items. Artifacts,
food items, batteries, all hazardous chemicals
and materials are also on the list of
questionable items. You can auction questionable
items at eBay, as long as those items meet certain
conditions.
Potentially Infringing items are those that violate
copyrights, trademarks, and other legal rights. These
items are almost always some type of media, such
as software, DVDs, and CDs, but the list contains
other items as well, such as counterfeit items and
illegal recordings. You can find out more about
‘potentially infringing’ items at the eBay website
as well.
If you are unsure as to which category your item falls
into, you should contact eBay with this question
before setting up the auction. As a buyer, you
should carefully consider the consequences of
purchasing items that fall under one of the three
categories above. In some cases, it may be very
illegal to have some of those items in your
possession – no matter how they were obtained.
Before making such a purchase, or bidding on such
an item, you should find out more details about the
item in question, and then get some legal advice.
- Leon Edward
