Expert: Marvinator - 2/8/2004

Question
Hello. I would like to sell tshirts for charity and am having a hard time selling them. With so much competition, how does one get noticed on Ebay? Thanks.

Answer
Charity Auctions don't do well on Ebay. The one reason for this is that most people don't believe the 'story' behind the auction.  "This is for XXX Charity" means nothing, since the user ID covers any identity.  Anyone could be behind that name, and it's hard to be sure.  

You can attract more people to your auctions by making a good looking auction, offering a good product at competitve pricing.  Alas, there is no guarantee.  I've seen beautiful looking auctions with no bidders and sloppy adds get bids.  With Tee-Shirts, there is a very heavy competition.  Ebay may not be the best venue - especially if you are not going to be doing it full time.  
The best way to attract someone is to learn how to list properly. Take the time to surfe Ebay a bit and ask around. Try out the templates in the selling section and see if any of them make your items look better. (A better looking auction draws bids.) DO NOT use music, extra graphics, flashing animations, or banners to dress up your auction. These items only add to the page load, which in turn simply means that the page takes forever to view. If that happens, bidders will move on. NO one wants to wait for a slow page, when there are HUNDREDS of pages will will load quickly for them. Likewise Bright Fonts such as Yellow and Pink. The harder it is for the end user to read your auction, the less the chance of a bid.

Next important is the pic. Very few bidders will bid on an auction without a pic and the same is true if the pic does not show the item well. It is not necessary to post a HUGE pic with incredible clarity, but do try to show the item in good light and with sharp focus. There are many examples of items photographed fuzzy, in low light, at an odd angle, or without any regard to the viewer.

Lastly, the one area where drawing bidders is the most important is the Title. A good and enticing title will draw someone to click on your auction, and obviously they can't bid unless they click on the auction! Put as much of the description in your title as possible. Avoid such tacky things as "LQQK!", or "WOW!". Use interesting words such as "Beautiful" or "Unique" and get a list of some of the abreviations used. OOAK (one of a kind) NR (No Reserve) OOP (Out of Print/Production). You'd be surprised at the number of auctions where the title is one word. These auctions rarely sell.  

Never use the Gallery images or pay extra for the features unless the profit you stand to make is worth it. Even the 5 cents for Buy it Now must be considered for what it means. You list an item for a BIN at $20 and it may actually be bid up to $25! A BIN means you lost 4.95. Remember that any extra thing you pay for the auction comes out of your pocket. I look at it like this. Gallery Pics should be saved for unique items that can be viewed in small pics. As an example, a whole tee-shirt may not show up in a thumbnail, but a closeup of the design on the front, by itself may look quite enticing.   In addition, the extra .50 for a subtitle may also take profit from your bottom line.

The best thing you can do is to start with a lean auciton - no frills, nothing extra and see how you do. Experiment with the other features one at a time as you grow with it, and see which ones actually work for you.