As Henry Brooks Adams said, “No one means all he says, and yet very few say all they mean, for words are slippery and thought is viscous.”  Never was this more apparent than in the delightfully idiosyncratic language of eBay.  Here is the third and final installation of eBay vocab to help you become one of the comprehensive elite:

photo credit: chefranden

Private Listing: In a private listing, the bidders’ user IDs are not visible on the listing page.  You would definitely want to use this kind of listing for, say, adult items.

Prohibited Items: These are items which are not allowed to be sold on eBay. If you sell prohibited items, you risk having your account suspended or canceled.  You can find a list of prohibited items under Rules & Policies in the “Help Topics” section on eBay.

Proxy Bidding: If you prefer, you can enter the maximum amount you would bid for an item and eBay will automatically place bids for you until it hits the maximum.  This allows you to remain the top bidder without you logging on and bidding every few minutes.  (Don’t be confused – if no one else bids, your bid won’t shoot up to the maximum).

Reseller Marketplace: PowerSellers can use this section of eBay to purchase products for resale.

Reserve Price: When you’re posting an item for sale, you can enter a hidden minimum price below which you won’t sell the product.  This means that you are not required to accept bids lower than your minimum price.  However, you are required to pay eBay a portion of your reserve price if you make a sale.

Restricted Items: Restricted items have special rules for resale, but they are not prohibited.  Again, you can check the rules for these kinds of items by going to Rules & Policies and looking in the “Help Topics” section on eBay.

Sales Reports: The Sales Reports are a tracking system to help you monitor your eBay business. The reports include information on your sales, completed listings, your successful listing percentage, average sale price, your eBay and PayPal fees, and so on and so forth.  It’s a free subscription.

Search Optimization: Like with your website, you need to perform search optimization to make your eBay listings and eBay store visible.  The best way to optimize your listings is through efficient and appropriate keyword use in titles and descriptions.  EBay stores require more complicated optimization, much like a website, including keywords, backlinks, fresh copy, etc.

Second Chance Offer: You can extend a Second Chance Offer to bidders who didn’t win the item you had for sale.  This would be appropriate if the winner backed out of the purchase or failed to pay for the item, or if you had duplicate items you wanted to sell (you could also sell duplicates through a Multiple Item auction).

Security & Resolution Center: This is an eBay resource with safety and security tips.  You can also find assistance for eBay confrontations and disagreements here.

Seller Dashboard: This is the part of My eBay where you can find account details like your 30-day rolling average DSR score (Detailed Seller Rating score) and your PowerSeller discount eligibility.

Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro: These are tools that you can use to perform your listing and sales activities from one location in My eBay.  They’re supposed to save you time and help you stay organized.

Shill Bidding: Shill bidding means placing bids on your own items to raise the price in auction-style listings.  This is totally dishonest and forbidden on eBay (it’s even illegal in some places). It’s also wrong if you’re doing it on your friends’ listings.  Any time you’re bidding to raise the price, not because you actually have an interest in purchasing the product, you are shill bidding.

Shipping Center: This is a page on eBay where you can print labels, order boxes, and organize your shipping, but you certainly don’t have to use it.  If you already have your own packing and shipping system that works for you, or are dropshipping, you don’t need to use eBay’s system.

Sniping: This refers to deliberately placing a bid in the closing minutes or seconds of a listing.  It’s not actually forbidden on eBay.  Some people do it manually, and some people use sniping programs.  You can also place proxy bids to help you snipe.

Solutions Directory: This is a directory of the eBay and third-party software which is compliant with eBay standards and is supposed to help you run your eBay business smoothly.  Some of the software is free, some has fees.

Spoof Email: This is email that appears to be from eBay or PayPal, but is really a phishing scheme.  (A phishing scheme is a phony request for financial or personal information).  Don’t respond to these emails and report them to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com.  Real emails from eBay and PayPal won’t ask for personal or financial information – that would be a non-secure way to request the information.

Starting Price: This is the opening price for an auction-style listing.  Unless you have a reserve price, your product could conceivably sell for the starting price or a tiny bit more, so unless you have a popular product you are positive will attract aggressive bidding, you’ll probably want your starting price to equal the lowest price you would accept for your product, or include a reserve price.

Turbo Lister: This is a free tool you can use on eBay to list many items at once.  It helps you create professional-looking listings and allows you to upload and edit items in bulk.

Unpaid Item: If your buyer commits to purchasing an item but doesn’t provide payment, you need to report the unpaid item.  This will prevent you having to pay the Final Value Fee.  To report an unpaid item, you’ll first have to speak with the Resolution Center.  If you can’t fix the problem working with them, you report your unpaid item by going to My eBay, clicking on Sold, finding the listing, and selecting “Resolve A Problem” from the pull-down menu.  A Resolve a Problem form will appear: on that form you select “I sold an item and haven’t received my payment yet”, then click Continue.  You sign into your account, and the “Report an unpaid item case” form will appear.  You’ll have to put in your number from the Resolution Center, then submit your case details.  Only after the unpaid item is reported can you re-list it or make a Second Chance Offer to somebody else.

Verified Rights Owner (VERO) Program: If someone lists an item on eBay that is actually your intellectual property, you can use this program to request the removal of the listing.

Want It Now: EBay buyers can post in this format to let sellers know that they’re looking for a particular item.  For example, if you wanted to purchase a pair of vintage aviator sunglasses, you could post a Want It Now listing stating the details of the sunglasses you’re looking for.  Sellers could then make offers.

Voila!  You are now an eBay lingo expert.

photo credit: Nick J Webb

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