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Post
your item in the relevant category : Posting
your item in the related category is momentous,
as most prospective bidders would be in search for
the product in its specific category. Placing items
in incorrect or unrelated categories will not generate
the right kind of response for your auctions. It
would also simply fester users and may culminate
in you being blacklisted by fotobazar.com. If you have
only one quantity of a particular item, do not list
the item in more than one category. Each listing
should map to a unique product.
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Give
maximum product details : Fill
in complete and genuine information in ALL relevant
fields provided in the sell page. Don't miss key
details like payment terms, shipping details (who
will pay for shipping), item location etc. Anticipate
possible questions that users would have and answer
them beforehand. The more information you give at
this point, less likely are the chances of confusion
after the auction closes.
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Use
the description field to your advantage: Not
defining properly is the worst mistake that a seller
could ever make. Ensure that you take out your time
and write a professional description. Enumerate
the advantages / special features of the product
you wish to sell in the description field. Please
remember that the description is your main marketing
tool to auction your item. Make sure that your description
fits perfectly not only from the content point of
view but also from a design perspective. In other
words it should be elaborated enough so that prospective
bidders get a complete overview of the product and
it should fascinate enough for them to read through
it. Remember while designing
the description, keep the
description classy but lucid. You could also place
additional pictures of your products in the description
field.
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"Seeing
is believing" - Add a picture : Adding
a picture to your auctions more than doubles your
chances of your selling the product. Prospective
bidders may harbor certain apprehensions about the
of your product condition, which would be eliminated
when they get to see a picture of the product.
Adding a picture to your listing
at Fotobazar.com is child’s play. All you have
to do is get a scanned picture of you product and
attach it on the item form in the sellers menu.
While adding a picture please
make a note of the following points. Ensure
that the picture depicts the true (recent) condition
of your product, i.e. if it's a used product; please
do not use a picture of a new product with similar
details. Please make sure that the picture that
you attach is not very bulky, ideally the picture
should be in a GIF or JPEG format and the file should
not be more then 50 KB. The bigger the file, longer
it will take to appear on the product page. An image
processor like Adobe Photo Deluxe / Photo shop can
be brought in use to touch up your picture and make
it more appealing.
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Timing
is crucial : One
of the most critical functions for a good response
to your auction is the timing. The duration of your
auction depends on the type of product you are auctioning.
For lower priced items you should have shorter auctions
compared to big-ticket items. Under ideal conditions
your auctions should not be for more than one week.
Shorter auction duration say of 2 or 3 days can
be had and the item can be reposed in case the product
is unsold. Having shorter period auctions have the
following plus points. Shorter period auctions are
perceptively more attractive; since they end up
early if the wait for them is not too long.
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Strategic
pricing is the key to success : The
most important function leading to success or failure
of your auctions is the pricing. Start Price and
Bid Increment; you can make use of these tools to
efficiently price the model.
If you want to test the
acceptability of your product and its perceived
market value, you can start your auction with a
low start price (10 - 15 % lower than your desired
price) and have relatively large bid increments.
But please note that most prospective bidders find
this model uninviting and distasteful.
We recommend that you start your auction with the
start price being the price at which you are willing
to part with your item. If you are using this model
you should keep the bid increments low, this will
encourage more people to participate in the auction.
Also make sure that you keep the start price and
the bid increments in multiples of round numbers
which are easy to calculate like 5, 10, 25, 50,
100, etc.
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Quantity
Auctions : If
you have more than one quantity of a particular
item, you can post a quantity auction. What a quantity
auction means is that more than one bid will be
accepted for your auction. Each individual quantity
will be individually bid upon. (This is unless a
user bids for more than one).
What you should note is that
any price you set should not be considered collectively
for all the items. The start and desired price is
always taken as per item. Therefore you should be
careful when you set the price for multiple items
and set the start price accordingly.
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During
an Auction : During the
auction , keep them riveted. Until the time your
auctions are on, see that you keep a close watch
on the bidding activity on your auctions. It
is important for you to know what the bidding activity
is on your auctions. You
will get Auto Updates via email, we would constantly
update you by sending you and email
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Be
Spontaneous, deferent and fact-surrounded in your
response to queries : Every
now and then you may receive email queries from
prospective bidders about your auctions through
the "Ask the seller" facility from the
Item page. These queries are from people who might
be interested in buying your items but would want
to inquire about the product.
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After
an Auction : As the auction
closes, you would receive an auto-generated mail,
titled "End of Auction " via email that
will include the name and email address of the winner.
You should regularly go to your seller's area and
check the auction status. In the seller’s area,
you can also repost unsold items.
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Sending
email and follow up : Immediately
after receiving the winners email address notice
you should contact the winner and explain the procedure
you would want to follow so as to finalize the transaction.
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Be
informative: Give the winner
a premeditated path of action for finalizing the
transaction. Delve on the following point :
- The item name and item number
of the auction.
- Payment terms.
- Shipping terms.
- Your physical address / telephone number (for receiving
payment).
- His
physical address / telephone number (for shipping).
- Any other details like (Taxes, insurance,
etc.)
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Receiving
payment : The terms of
payment for your auction would have been pre-planned
before the auction started, but it is always important
to accentuate the same at the end of the auction.
You can receive payment from
the winner in a variety of ways like Cash, Cheque,
Demand Draft, Cash on Delivery, etc. We recommend
that you accept payment by asking for a Demand draft
or a cheque. In case it's a cheque payment then
you should wait for the cheque to clear before you
ship the item. You could also make use of the COD
(Cash on Delivery) option offered by a lot of courier
companies and also by the Indian post (called VPP).
This facility gives you an option to ship the product
and collect the charges for the same at the time
of delivery. Courier companies also call this facility
Charges Collect.
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Packaging
: Proper packaging is the
crux of a successful auction. It can lead to
satisfied buyers and repeat business--or, if you're
reckless it can lead to lost or broken objects,
canceled sales, and poor ratings. Take proper caution
to package you product before you ship it.
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Shipping
: The last step towards
smart selling is shipping your item to the winner.
You should always make sure that the terms of shipping
are defined and communicated clearly on the item
page and also in your emails at the end of the auction.
The shipping terms should include the following
points:
•
Who
will pay for shipping
•
If
buyer pays, how much would it cost
•
Which
service would be used
•
Terms
of insurance
•
Who
would bear the statutory taxes (like octroi, state
taxes, etc)
•
Also
ensure that you make use of reputed shipping agents
for shipping your item. If your product gets
lost,
is subjected to pilferage or damaged en-route to
the winner, its possible that he would refuse
taking delivery
of the same and not pay for it either. Late and
tardy delivery of your product could lead
to the buyer
not being satisfied and a posting negative rating
for you.
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