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Try to be aware of the time when you are listing.

I try to have auctions end at night, especially on the West coast. 90% plus of bids come at the very end of the listings duration.

I don’t want items ending in the middle of rush hour, the middle of the work day etc. I want people to be able to be home and able to bid. You can write up auctions all day long and save them as drafts. At the right time you can click ‘ finish drafts ‘ one by one.

If you are selling similar collectibles don’t have them end all at once. Stagger the ending times by a few minutes. You will have collectors bidding on multiple items most of the time.

Make sure you don’t have auctions ending on holidays, the day before Christmas or Thanksgiving etc.

A lot of people use the eBay international shipping program. It works well but be prepared for endless whining from overseas buyers. A lot of them piss and moan about the coast but I think the real reason is they do not want to pay customs.

I have had endless numbers of overseas buyers ask me to fake the customs forms. I refuse.

The number of overseas buyers I have these days has greatly decreased. Shipping a book overseas is expensive and flat rate surface ( by ship ) is long gone.

All of my chargebacks have come from overseas buyers “ I didn’t get it...I’m contacting Paypal and getting my money back “. Unless you pay for shipping with online tracking they can make a chargeback and you are out of luck.

I have meet some honest overseas buyers though. One, an Italian, waited over two months to receive his package but did not file a chargeback after we spoke about the problem. The Italian post office is possibly the worst in the world. I never have buyers from Italy any more - they know a lot of what they purchase will just vanish in the mail. I have spoken with Italians first hand about their postal system and they’ll say exactly what I have said - it’s awful.

Many, many sellers just do not ship overseas. As long as Ebay offers no real protection for sellers it’s actually a smart thing to do.

I enclose a personal thank you note in my packages. It’s not really needed, but people appreciate it.

I also sell on Etsy and really, it’s a different world. Seems like most of the people on Etsy will not buy on Ebay due to bad experiences. I have had items sell very well on Etsy that did not sell at all on Ebay. Etsy is a retail place and I have managed to gather many repeat buyers.

Postage...shipping is getting very expensive and will continue to do so. At some point the base price to send something first class mail is just going to be far too much for people to pay or absorb in the cost of an item.

It’s a growing problem.

Been on Ebay since 1998 with over 12,000 feedback. Currently 100% positive but that can change overnight. Still - I have negatives from years past!