If you’ve ever tried to sell something on eBay, you may have felt like you had to speak a foreign language just to read the instructions. To help you take advantage of eBay’s many features, I’ve included a kind of Cliff’s Notes or Vocab Page. This is Part One, and in subsequent posts we should be able to work our way through the rest of the eBay alphabet.

photo credit: bagaball
About Me: This is an eBay page you can create to inform your customers of your products and selling terms and conditions. Make sure you have a comprehensive About Me page, because most people who bother to look here are probably shy buyers, and need the security and encouragement your profile can convey.
Advanced Search: This is an important search function you should use every time before you list a product. It allows you to search for items by seller, item number, and title and description, but most importantly it allows you to search completed listings. By seeing what your particular product has sold for recently, you can make sure that you are likely to get a similar price. For instance, if you’re planning to dropship an electric train set that will cost you $138, but you see similar sets are only selling for around $90, you know not to waste your $2 posting fee.
Announcements Board: This is an online bulletin board where eBay posts information and updates including policy changes. Check this board regularly to make sure you’re not missing crucial information.
Apps: EBay recently added a number of apps or programs that you can use in conjunction with your eBay account. Some are free and others have monthly, annual, or one-time fees. They include accounting, shipping and packaging, and marketing software. For more information, check out the blog “Overview of the New EBay Apps”.
Auction-Style Listing: This is a listing where the seller offers an item for customers to bid on. The seller sets the starting price, and then potential buyers bid, just like at a regular auction. There is a set time-period when bidding will end, and whoever has the highest bid at that point gets the item. (You can set a reserve price to make sure you get at least a minimum amount for your item – though you will have to pay eBay a percentage of your reserve.)
Average Selling Price (ASP): This is the average price for all items in a particular category sold during a particular time-frame. This is what you’ll be checking with an advanced search before you post any products.
Best Offer: If you are listing products in the Fixed-Price format, you can add the Best Offer feature. It allows bidders to submit a Best Offer price, and if the seller accepts it within 48 hours, the listing immediately closes. A Best Offer is binding, just like a bid (meaning once it is made, the buyer has to follow through if it’s accepted.)
Buy It Now (BIN): Whether you are selling your item auction-style or in a Fixed-Price listing, you can offer a Buy It Now option. This allows customers to purchase the product immediately for a set price without waiting for the auction to end. Adding a Buy It Now price can help you get more sales quickly, but it puts a cap on how much your product will sell for. Thus, if you are selling an item that may be bid up very high, it’s probably not a good idea.
Certified Solution Provider: This term refers to third-party software developers who offer programs to use in conjunction with eBay. They are bound by criteria and compliance standards set by eBay, and their programs are often quite useful. The eBay Apps would be an example of this kind of software.
Closed Item Listing: This indicates that a listing that has ended. If the item sold, there will be information provided about payments, shipping and the buyer. If it’s your closed item listing, you can also find the info in My EBay.
Completed Listings Search: This is what you’ll be doing on the “Advanced Search” page to research the closing sale prices of products similar to yours.
Confirmed Address: This is an address considered safe and reliable by PayPal (usually confirmed by something like a credit card billing address match). You should know that the only sales protected from chargebacks by PayPal are those sent by confirmed mail to a confirmed address. If you ship to anyone else, you do so at your own risk (they could easily claim they never received the package and even if you have the delivery confirmation, PayPal will probably charge it back – even if the money is already in your bank account.)
Dropshipping: You can dropship on eBay just like you can from a personal website. You simply post the item on eBay, and once it sells, you order it from your wholesaler / manufacturer / distributor and have it mailed directly to your customer. You keep the difference in the price.
Dutch Auction: Synonymous with a Multiple Item Auction, this means a seller has two or more identical items offered in the same auction-style listing.
EBay Shipping Calculator: This is something you insert into your listing so buyers can tell how much shipping is going to cost them.
EBay Store: Once you’ve gotten a minimum feedback rating of 20 and you are ready to handle multiple listings, you may want to switch to an eBay store. This will allow you to sell add-ons and show inventory. You’ll also have more customizable pages and banner ads that will help bring business your way.
EBay Toolbar: This is a tool you can download to your web browser to help you keep track of your items and protect your account even when you’re not on eBay’s site.
Featured Listing: You have the option to pay more to have your listings showcased in the “Featured” sections at the top of the listings pages.
Feedback: After every sale, your buyer has the option of rating you positively, negatively or neutrally. (They give a numerical rating and can leave a short comment). Likewise, you the seller can leave feedback on your buyer. Feeback ratings are checked by other potential buyers judging whether they want to do business with you, so make sure you do whatever it takes to keep your customers happy and avoid negative feedback.
Final Value Fee (FVF): This is the percentage of your product’s selling price that will be paid to eBay.
Final Value Fee Credit: Sometimes you can request a Final Value Fee Credit, like if your buyer backs out and doesn’t buy the item after all.
Fixed Price: A set price for selling items immediately without bidding.
Flat Shipping Rate: When you post your shipping costs, you can either offer a shipping cost calculated according to where the buyer lives, or a flat rate that is the same no matter where your buyer lives. If you go with flat shipping rates, you can offer promotions like discounted or free shipping with a certain volume sale (these kinds of marketing techniques work much better when you’re selling from an eBay store, not single items).

photo credit: Doctor Yuri
Keep an eye out tomorrow for the next installment of eBay terms.
dropshipping, eBay, make money online