A question about : Selling your stuff on EBID. advice for new sellers
Thanks to the board guides for permission to start this thread, and thanks to the Amazon thread which has inspired me to provide something similar
Newcomers please read.
This thread is for discussing our collective attempts to sell succesfully on EBID. The aim of the threads opening postings is to provide help, advice and guidance for sellers using, or considering using EBID to sell.
Intentions for this first post ( which will be regularly edited ) is to provide tips on using EBID as a seller. The tips will include all the following topics and more:
What it costs to join, what it costs to sell, what works well - and what doesn't! Tips on listing auctions, on using the bulk uploader. Tips on feedback, on ebids 'buddy points system'. Advice on selling strategies. What payment options does ebid accept? what's the verdict on pppay?
I will be editing and adding to this opening post regularly as I get feedback and tips from other users. The second posting in this thread will be used for a FAQ for the most common questions about EBID.
I appreciate EBID is not for everyone, however it is a viable option for some of us, and this thread will help more people avoid the any known problems and make the most of what EBID has to offer.
Important. please read
For those of you who already sell on EBID, This is NOT a thread for plugging individual auctions or shops. Nor is it a promotion thread for ebid. Please keep your postings to the topic of giving advice on selling succesfully on EBID.
For those of you who don't sell on EBID at the moment, but are considering doing so. This is a good place to pose your questions.
For those of you (for whatever reason) don't like EBID and have no intention of selling on EBID. Are you on the right thread? 
Finally
Who the heck am I and what do I know about EBID?.
My name is Val. I sell succesfully on EBID, and Amazon predominantly, with some listings on smaller sites too.
I have been selling on EBID for just over 2 years and have carried out around 2000 transactions there. I am under no illusions about EBID, it's not perfect and I'm often raising unresolved issues on the EBID forums. However EBID does have redeeming features and has some of the qualities that the bigger site has lost long ago. Somewhere along the line I (and others) have started to 'care' about EBID and want it to succeed. I'm starting this thread because EBID - love it or hate it- should have a place here!
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Third update. 25th June
EBID : Wilkpedia definition
eBid is an online auction website founded in December 1998.
eBid operates in ten countries, UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland and five other European countries
EBID owns its own online payment service Pppay to allow for buyers and sellers to pay each other in Euros and Pounds Sterling, although members are not restricted to using this form of payment.
Unlike eBay, listing a basic auction on eBid is free and a small percentage final value fee is paid on selling your item.
Currently eBid has 3 membership levels available for new members,
Bronze (free) buyer only,
Silver (free but requires credit/debit card verification) occasional seller, final value fee's are 3% but the seller has a restricted range of options at the moment, but these are due to be improved soon.
Gold not available to new members.
Platinum subscription based membership aimed at professional sellers with a recurring fee, payable every 7,30,90 or 365 days, OR a one off lifetime payment (currently less than Ј100.00).
Platinum members can open up to 5 shops free. For a basic auction Platinum members pay no fee, for a gallery one they pay 2% fvf. Options like BIN only auctions & Run until Sold, are also available for free.
Thanks to jmccarmods for summerising on the following table what each membership level gives in terms of selling features:
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Getting around EBID
Once you've set up your account you can access lots of useful information by clicking on the 'My ebid' tab near the top of anyy ebid page.
From here members can control all aspects of their eBid account using the sub menu which is displayed:
'My Gallery' Here's where you upload photos for use in your auctions.
'My All About' Here's where you can tell buyers about you as a seller, for example what your returns policies are, whether you offer combined postage etc.. TIP. Do take a little time to complete this page- especially if you have no feedback as this will help you gain some buyer confidence
'eBid Stores' Platinum users can create up to 5 stores. It's very easy to do, although you will need to make or acquire your own store banner to display
'My Buddy Points' eBid's Loyalty scheme. - will be covered later
'My WatchList' List of auctions you are watching.
'My Interests' keyword mailing facility. ( doesn't work that well!)
'My Emails' choose which emails you wish to receive.
'My Subscriptions' Review & update your registered credit cards and subscriptions.
'My Feedback' Post, monitor, request and edit feedback. Tip. The edit facility is useful
'My Money' View your statement and invoices.
'My BulkUpload' Here's where you find the dowmloadable upload spreadsheet.
'My Defaults' Set defaults here. Tip You can make your own default listing templates plus set other choices such as how your visitor counts work
'My Favourites' Keep track of your best sellers, stores and searches.
'My Personal Details' edit or change your address, email and password.
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EBID help and FAQ.
Here's a direct link to the EBID help and FAQ .
https://uk.ebid.net/help_main.php.
Potentual sellers will find some answers there, however in my experience they do not cover everything so I will continue to add to this page and answer queries posted.
Best answers:
- This post will be for Questions and Answers about selling on EBID
Q. I signed up for EBID and now want to change my membership level. How do i do this?
A. If you signed up for anything less than the 'lifetime' platinum, you will be on a recurring subscription which debits every ( 7days, 30 days, annual etc..) based on your original choice. If you decide you want tochage or cancel your recurrring subscription you do this via the 'my subscriptions' area of your EBID account. To stop a platinum subscription you'll need to downgrade to either silver (no subscription, still able to sell- but less seller tools) or bronze( buyer rights only).
Q. I set up an auction and have just noticed i've been charged a 'featured' listing fee when i never requested featured listing?
A. Part of online listing process is selecting one of the following auction types:
free
gallery ( pic displayed)
featured ( listed before other auctions in it's category- incurrs a £1.00 fee every time an auction reposts)
The problem (which is regularly reported to ebid!) is that if you don't t make a concious choice, the template defaults to 'featured.
One way to avoid this known issue is to us ethe 'my defaults' area to set your auction format preference. Click on "My Defaults" then the to set your auction options is in Section 4.
If you've already been caught out by this known issue, send an email to ebid support explaining you did not select the featured option - but the template defaulted to it anyway, then ask for a refund of fees. Most cases reported on the ebid forums DO get refunded.
Q. Can i sell E books on EBID?
A. No. E books are not allowed (and based on forum polls the majority of users agree with this decision). For a comprehensive list of what is not allowed to be sold on EBID visit https://uk.ebid.net/help_selling.php - Nice to see an informed, rational post about ebid Hope this can become a helpful, constructive thread
- I'm a little fed up with ebay and the service provided by the ebay staff (if you call automated replies to e-mail service!!) and would like to know about alternatives such as Ebid.
Especially from those who have used Ebid, is it reliabale, fees etc..
Thanks - Using the Wilkpedia definition as a starting point I've made my first update to the opening thread so that there is some basic information available.
I has been trying to build the opening post using the EBID help pages, but it wasn't reading right, I'm now looking at gathering the most useful postings I can find on specific topics ( how to list, using the bulk uploader etc..).
If anyone has something they think would fit well on the first information post, or on the FAQ post, please either post it here or PM me
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Hi Edsjad.
EBID does have an international presence, but the UK site is by far the most established. I know there's a free offer on just now for EX USA Yahoo users to join the site, so the US site is growing too.
Hi Sara.
When you contact EBID support you do get an automated acknowledgement, but this is followed up by a response from a real person! Usually the responses are very helpful, although sometimes they do appear to have skim read an email and give incomplete replies, but there's always the the option to email them back - Hi Val
After reading your first post I decided to give Ebid a go. I've signed up for 30 days Platinum and am trying to do a bulk upload. I mainly sell books on Amazon and Play, so I prefer the BIN option.
I have emailed a bulk upload with only 6 books on it to see if I have got the format right, this was about 3 hours ago. I have seen different estimates regarding upload times - do you know if they do uploads at weekends? Do you have to delete the advisory tabs in the excel spreadsheet before emailing? Do you have any tips where you have previously made 'false starts' in trying to bulk upload?
Sorry I have so many questions, but I can't seem to find the answers on the FAQ on Ebid.
TIA FFM - Hi Val
Thanks for the quick reply
So, based on what you said, do you get a confirmation of either success (or not) when the bulk upload is attempted?
If that is the case I will sit back and wait for the email - rather than pondering about what I might have done wrong.
I mentioned 'false starts' based on my own experience of bulk uploads to both Amazon and Play - there are 'favourite/typical/predictable errors' here and there that can cause items to be rejected - I assumed Ebid was probably the same
Great thread by the way - thanks for starting it.
FFM - Hi again FFM.
They tell you when you've got it wrong,. If it's gone ok- the auctions appear.
What you might like to do whilst you're waiting is set yourself up a few listing templates in your 'my defaults' area. You can then set up some generic default templates for things you sell. For example if I have a pile of postcards I want to list, I can use my 'default' postcard template which aready has the correct postage and other listing choices i use for postcards. All i need to do then is enter the title, description and upload my photo. For the next postcard i want to list i can choose to 'list similar' and just change the title and pic.
If I don't have too many books to list i sometimes use my 'default' book template and work my way through the pile and have Amazon open in a separate window to help me complete the descriptions
EBID does have a 'list with ISBN' function- but last time i tried it there were very few ISBN details set up - even for common mass market paperbacks, so I've not tried it since. - Thanks again for updating the thread, I too have signed up but just as a buyer for now.
Trying to get used to the site before attempting to sell anything, I had thought I'd buy a few things to get some feedback but can't find anything useful to buy!!! - I have always said give ebid a chance, because I have COMPLETELY given up on ebay now, due to stupid incompetant sellers.edit: YES not all sellers are but when you keep getting scam mails from nigeria " i wanting you to send to nigeria please, I am being on holidays" it really !!!!es me off as all i sell on ebay are just books and craft supplies
- Well, out of curiosity I've set up he same item on Ebid and Ebay just to see what happens. (Yes I do have more than one of the item.) Also had the same item in Tazbar since Jan without a bite. Tazbar seems mostly craft, jewellry and discs.
- Hi
I am currently setting up my shop categories but it says you can only have 30 categories, there are others with more than 30 - as I am categorising books I definitely need more than 30.
Does anyone know how this is done, or is this a recent restriction?
TIA FFM - I have signed up for the 7 day platinum account just to test it out, I'm interested in the lifetime platinum account as it is a fifth of my last weeks ebay fees!
First item listed so I'll see how it goes.
I presume I'll be able to upgrade to the lifetime platinum account if I want to? - Oh dear, I got all excited! then let down.... I was keen to see if I could cut my selling fees on ebay and searched completed listings in one of my most used categories.
Out of 129 items only 2 sold :rolleyes: so no matter how cheap it is to sell I just can't see how it would work in my case
Maybe next year Rodney - What are the rules for linking on ebid? For example, you can link to your own website on your eBay 'me' page provided prices are two clicks away and the moon is in the eighth house of ridiculous or something, and I was wondering if there's a similar rule on ebid. If there is, I can't find it, and I'd hate to fall foul before I've even started
Thanks. - I agree that any new site won't get properly started until enough people are willing to give it a chance, both buying and selling.
I just I don't have the hours in the day or more importantly the enthusiasm to take time and care over a listing that in all likelyhood won't sell, about half of my buyers are from overseas and they they may not be regular users yet either.
Although I'd like to think that I had 'vision, integrity and guts' I don't in this case so I'm going to stand back and let others be the pioneers and watch on the sidelines - I truly wish everyone well with this but after nearly 8 years of selling on ebay, 6 of them full time and with 2 ebay shops to run, my furrow is well worn and it would be very hard to dig another.
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