GunBroker.com Tips for Sellers
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| GunBroker.com
would like to offer you some tips on creating a successful listing and maximizing your sale price. Our experience shows that a well-designed listing will help you get a much higher price for your item. With a little effort, you can create eye-catching auctions that draw attention from bidders and get good prices for the item. |
Past experience shows that the successful seller takes uses the following suggestions to create eye-cateching listings:
- Add Pictures! Pictures sell. Items with clear, attractive pictures tend to bring a higher price. Since pictures are a complex subject we cover them in-depth in a later section of this document.
- Create a Descriptive and Compelling Item Title. We cover this topic in a later section of this document titled Creating a Proper Item Title.
- Provide a Thorough Description of the Item. We cover this topic in a later section of this document titled Writing a Winning Description.
- Price your item appopriately. If you price your item too high you will tend to put off bidders and it will take a long time to sell. We cover this topic in a later section of this document titled Pricing your Item.
- Spell out all terms, including shipping, payment, and warranty. Use the correct boxes on the List an Item Form to enter all of the terms of your sale, including payment you will accept, shipping costs, and sales tax (if you must collect it). If you fail to properly specifiy your terms you may end up with problems with the transaction.
- (Optional) Use our Optional Services to enhance your listing.
- (Optional) Use HTML in the Item Description get the user's attention.We cover this topic in a later section of this document titled Using HTML in your Item Description.
- (Optional) Consider using an Escrow Service. Escrow addresses one of the major issues between a buyer and yourself - the issue of trust. Buyers do not know you so they may be hesitant to place a bid. Escrow can make the buyer more comfortable with the transaction and can therefore increase the number of bids you receive. Click Here for more information on the online escrow services.
All auctions for 'Modern Firearms' should include text explaining that the item must be shipped to an FFL. Sample text for this might be "The buyer must arrange for the item to be shipped to a FFL holder in his area. Buyer must mail a signed, current copy of the FFL holder's license before item may be shipped." |
Picture (Image) Hosting |
New! GunBroker.com has an Automated Picture Upload Facility! You can now upload a picture at the same time you are entering your item listing. Our new service is fast, free, and easy to use. To use this facility, go to our 'List an Item' page. Fill in the form, leaving the 'Picture URL' field blank. When you have filled out all of the other fields, click the 'Upload Picture...' button located to the right of the 'Picture URL' field. A screen will pop up that will walk you through uploading you picture to our server. When the upload process is complete, the 'Picture URL' field will be updated with the name of your picture file. Click the 'Review Listing' button at the bottom of the page to submit your item listing.
If you cannot use our automated picture upload facility, you can send us your pictures by email. Please list your item before sending us the picture(s). Once your item has been listed you can send an email with the item number and your GIF (.gif) or JPEG (.jpg) files to pixhost@gunbroker.com and we will add the pictures to your listing. We recommend that you use the automated upload as described above as pictures sent in by email must be posted manually and this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
Note: Pictures emailed to us or uploaded to our servers are deleted after 60 days for space considerations. |
Creating a Proper Item Title |
The Item Title is the most important part of your listing because it is what the potential bidder sees when he browses our listings or performs a search on our site. Your item title must attract the potential bidder's attention and, since it is what is most commonly searched, it must contain the proper words so that the bidder will find your item when he performs a search.
You should always include the manufacturer name and the model of the item you are selling. Add as much information as you have room to add, including information about the item, its caliber, finish, or style, its condition, and anything else you can fit in. Keep in mind that some bidders are novices and may not know what an item is by make and model alone. Descriptions like 'Colt Pistol' are terrible because it does not describe anything important about the item. Instead, try 'Colt King Cobra .357 magnum stainless revolver'.
We strongly suggest against putting junk in your item titles or descriptiopns. Use of ALL CAPS is prohibited. Put a space character between each word in your title and do not use special characters like exclamation points, asterisks, etc. Characters like # ^ & * ~ @ and most other characters that are not letters or numbers can interfere with the search function so titles containing these characters may not be found by potential bidders. |
Writing a Winning Description |
Once the bidder finds your item he will look at the description. You have to provide all of the information needed by the bidder to eliminate his objects and allow him to place his bid. This is also your chance to sell your item to your prospective bidder. Provide as much information as possible about the item and its condition. Keep in mind that the bidder may not know what the item is or what it may be used for based on the make and model alone, so give information on the product and its uses. Statistics show that if the bidder has to look elsewhere for this information you will probably lose the sale.
Tell the buyer what is included with the item (original box, owner's manual, clips, accessories). Make sure the user is clear on what is included with the item. |
Pricing your Item |
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Using HTML in your Item Description |
| GunBroker.com
has prepared a sample HTML Item Description for you to use as a template. To use this template, you will need to download it to you local system, then edit it in an HTML editor, such as FrontPage or FrontPage Express.
FrontPage Express is pre-loaded on Windows 98, and is typically loaded when you install Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0. If you have Internet Explorer loaded on your system, you can download FrontPage Express from the Microsoft.com site at: www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/ie40/download/rtw/x86/en/download/addonnt.htm.
Preparing a HTML Item Description requires four easy steps. We will elaborate on each step below:
- Download our HTML Item Description template
- Edit the template in an HTML editor such as FrontPage Express
- Copy the HTML source to the clipboard
- Paste the HTML source into the GunBroker.com Item Description field.
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| Step 1: Download the HTML Item Description template. Our template is located at http://www.gunbroker.com/User/samples/itemdescription.htm To download the template to your local system, right click on this link and select 'Save Target As...'. Use the 'Save As' box that pops up to save the file onto your hard drive. |
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| Step 2: Open the file you just downloaded with your HTML editor. For this example, we are using FrontPage Express. Use the editor to the wording, links, and pictures of the sample template. When you are finished, save the modified template but do not close the editor. |
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| Step 3: Copy the HTML source to the clipboard. In FrontPage Express, there is a HTML tab at the bottom of the screen. For advise on how to view the HTML source in other HTML editors, check the editor's help file. Once you see the HTML source, click on the 'Edit' menu and select 'Select All'. Then click on the 'Edit' menu and select 'Copy'. This copies the HTML source into the clipboard. |
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| Step 4. Page the HTML source into the GunBroker.com Item Description field. Open your browser and go to http://www.gunbroker.com. Then click on the 'Sell Your Item' link on the home page. Enter your user name and password. The item entry screen will appear. Fill in the Item Title, then move to the Item Description field. Right click on the Item Description field and select 'Paste'. This will fill the Item Description field with the HTML source from the template. Fill out the balance of the form and click 'Preview Listing'. |
Step 5. Use free online web sites for creating auction listings. Another method of desiging a nice looking auction listing is to use any of the free web sites that will help you create a good looking auction listing from pre-formatted templates. You can search Google for 'auction template' to find many of these web sites. One of the simpler ones can be viewing by clicking the link below:
http://www.antique-central.com/tips1.html |
