TOP 10 REASONS PEOPLE WONT BUY FROM YOU (Part 1)

Reason 1: charging your costumers too much for shipping and handling. The number one reason why most people refuse to buy products over the internet isbecause they believe the shipping charges add too much to the overall cost of theproduct. So why would you ever over charge on shipping? Some people get the cleveridea to over charge on shipping to make a profit (not a good idea).Sure if the shipping costs are only $15 and you charge people $25 you are making anextra $10 in profit, but guess what; you are loosing a lot more than you are gaining,because a high shipping price stands out like a sore thumb and most people will refuse toplace a bid on your auctions.You need to charge the lowest possible price for shipping; because most people willnotice the low price and you will be rewarded with more bids and profit.While on the subject of shipping; there seems to be some bad advice going around. Andthat advice is; to charge a flat-shipping rate in order to save time. This is horrible advicebecause A: you will most likely be overcharging and B: you will be taking control awayfrom the costumer.You need to give the costumer as much control over the buying process as possible. Andyou can’t do that with a flat shipping rate. You need to let the costumer decide how muchthey want to pay for shipping and how fast they want their product delivered to them, youneed to let the costumers decide weather they want their stuff delivered to them overnight or in 3-5 days.Remember the more comfortable and convenient you make the buying process for yourcostumers, the more likely they are to come back and buy from you again. So instead ofhaving a “my way or the high way” type flat shipping charge. You need to give thecostumer some choices (express shipping, regular, priority etc.).
Reason 2: bad photos or photos lifted from manufacturer’s websitesWhen someone decides to buy a product from the internet they have no chance to see,feel, inspect or try out the product they are about to buy in person. And since they can’tsee the actual product they are buying in person; you should show them as much of theproduct as you possibly can!High quality photos that show the product from every angle can ease your costumer’sdoubts and grow his/her desire to own what you are selling. If your photos are of a poorquality, they can make the product look worse than it actually looks in person and make itseem less valuable than it really is. The truth is, photos can make or break your eBaycareer.The number of bids received by listing with high quality photos compared to the numberof bids received by listings with poor quality photos has been proven to be much higher.So the better your photos are the more bids you will receive, and the more bids youreceive the more money you will make.Another thing you should never do is use manufacturers photos in your listings. Why?Because chances are a lot of other sellers will already be using the same photos. This isbad because instead of standing out from the crowd, you will be blending in. A picture isworth a thousand words, and on eBay it can be worth a thousand dollars.If you are using manufacturer’s photos people will think that you don’t have the item youare selling in your position, you might even be trying to rip them off (take their moneyand run). So another reason you should take your own photos is credibility and trust.Your own photos will make your listings look more legitimate and gain the visitors trust.The photos are one of if not the most important thing about your listing. The photos arewhat every person that visits your auction listings craves more of. Everyone wants to seemore of what the product actually looks like.What you absolutely NEED in order to maximize your profits when selling products onthe internet is high quality photos that show the product you are selling from every angle,and show off its best features.Let me ask you a question. If you were buying a $250 camera, would you buy it from A:a seller that has a small photo of the camera on a white background or B: a seller that hasmany large, high quality photos that show the camera from every angle? Exactly, and thatis why you absolutely need the best photos you can take, because if some else has betterphotos; that is where all of the costumers will be.
Reason 3: short item descriptionsOnce again, when someone decides to purchase a product over the internet they have nochance to see in person the actual product being sold to them. When you buy somethingfrom a regular store you get to touch, feel, test out, try on and inspect the product you areabout to buy.Do you get to do this over the internet? NO! But as obvious as that may be, many sellers(including power sellers) are selling $500 products over the internet and all they have todescribe the product is a few short sentences! These are the same sellers that oftencomplain about not making enough profits.When someone decides to buy a product over the internet (eBay, yahoo, Amazon etc.),they are basically going blind. They don’t know who you are, where you live or weatheryou will rip them off or not. In other words these people have a lot of doubts. And whenpeople have doubts, they will usually have second thoughts about buying from you. Andthat’s NOT a good thing.So what you need to do when you are putting something up for auction on eBay or tryingto sell something on Amazon (or anywhere on the internet for that matter). Describe theproduct you are selling in as much detail as possible. I mean mention everything aboutthe product. Mention the color, weight, size, texture, features, accessories, condition,warranty, box size etc.You need to not only mention everything, but explain what it all means as well. Don’tjust say “this camera comes with X2r-c finder scope” say “this camera comes with X2r-cfinder scope which allows you to take pictures at night and improves the quality ofphotos you are taking by 50%”. You need to make your description simple to understandbecause if you don’t, you might confuse your potential costumer. And most people hatebeing confused.Confusion can lead to frustration, and if your potential costumers get frustrated all theyhave to do is click the back button on their web browser. And boom, you’ve just lost abid.So remember, your costumer doesn’t have the chance to actually see, feel and inspect theproduct they are buying from you. And that can fill their head with doubt (BAD!). Somake sure you have a clear, detailed and easy to understand description.
Reason 4: reserve auctionsMost eBay members absolutely hate reserve auctions and refuse to even look at them.The reason for this is because most people don’t want to spend a week bidding onsomething and have all that time wasted in the end because of a high reserve. Would youwant to bid on something for a week only to have the reserve not met?Another reason reserve auctions are hated is because it can be very frustrating to see a bigbold “RESERVE NOT MET” after every bid you place. Most people don’t want to keepguessing about weather or not they will actually be able to buy the product they want;they want to know for sure.I understand that starting something at $1 with no reserve can be very scary (what if theitem sells for a dollar?). But what you must understand is, a no reserve listing will alwaysattract more bids than a listing for the same product that has a reserve.No reserve auctions have proven again and again that $1NR is the best way to go. I knowI know it’s scary. But you gat to take some risks along the road to success, and thinkabout it: what do you have to loose?There are sellers out there that list Rolex watches and luxury cars starting at $1 and noreserve! What are you going to sell? The truth is you have A LOT more to gain than youhave to loose. And besides, you can always get a friend to bid on your auction if thingsdon’t go as planned (this is against eBay policy, but if you are truly afraid its ok).Braking eBay rules is a sure way to end your auction career prematurely, but chances areyou won’t have to break any rules because when you list something at $1. The bids go uppretty fast.
Reason 5: refusing costumersThere are sellers out there that accept only one way of payment and sell only to citizensof the country they live in. Can you see what’s wrong with that? Why would anyone everrefuse to take someone’s money?There are sellers out there that accept payments only through Paypal. This is bad becausethere are a lot of people out there that don’t have a Paypal account, why would you turnthem down? The more people are allowed to buy from you the more people willactually buy from you!It is not wise to exclude a big chunk of potential costumers just because you “prefer”Paypal. You should accept as many payment methods as possible. You should acceptPaypal, Bid Pay, credit card, check, e-check, wire transfer, cash (yes some sellers actuallyaccept cash) and any other form of payment you can think of.Go to http://www.ebay.com and brows through the listings, what you will realize is thatmost successful power sellers accept more than one form of payment. You should do thesame.The more people are allowed to buy from you the more people will actually buyfrom you. So what do you think has more people, your country or the whole world? Sowhy would you refuse to sell to every country but your own?I’m sure the sellers that do this have their own crazy reasons (terrorism, Osama, Russianmafia…). But c’mon, you are smarter than that! I have spoken to over 50 power sellers,and nearly every single one of them recommends selling internationally.So please understand that if you accept only one form of payment or sell to only onecountry, you are neglecting a lot of potential costumers.