1. NOT AUTOMATING THEIR EBAY PROCESSES. Automating your emails, feedback and sales processes will save you VALUABLE TIME and a lot of effort. Why write emails again and again when you can write one out once, and let eBay send it out once, twice, one hundred times without ever having to look at it again.



2. NOT DOING ANY MARKETING. Don't just rely on the daily traffic that your listings can get from customer searches. Start sending out emails that direct traffic to your new listings and capture newsletter subscribers so that you can keep them notified of your sales and special items. Which leads me to #3...

3. NOT USING LISTING ENHANCEMENTS. Investing a few dollars in featuring your products or highlighting your listings means more people will look at YOUR item as opposed to your competition. Spend a few dollars on highlighting your listings because in the long run you will have more people save you as a favorite seller or visit your store and you will capture that $3 back many times over. It's a wise investment from your advertising and marketing budget.

4. NOT OFFERING A REFUND. I have offered a full refund on every product that I have ever sold and have never had a customer return something that I couldn't just resell. In fact I have only had one return that I can think of! I don't think that you have to offer a 30 day full refund in most cases - 7 days should be enough. After that time you can refuse if you absolutely have to and if you think that the customer is really ripping you off. Try it and see.

5. NOT BUYING ON EBAY FIRST. Find out what it feels like to be in a bidding war and go through the process of waiting fingers crossed for your package to arrive safe and sound. If you don't know what this feels like then how are you ever going to appreciate the way that your customers feel when they buy from you and give them the service that they want and expect. Also buying gets you some feedback and opens up a whole world of credibility to you!

I hope that these ideas have been helpful to you. I have made my fair share of these mistakes but I have also been HYPERCAREFUL to protect my feedback and so I am now a very successful seller. Guard your feedback with your life! Good luck.