Pictures help. Don't worry if you don't have a scanner or digital camera. If you look you can always find a representative pic of you best book of the lot. If you don't feel like leaving a pic, make sure you have a detailed desrciption. Make sure you spell your Bid headings right. I got several excellent deals by deliberately misspelling stuff like KINGDUM COME just to see what would pop up. If you spell the header wrong, people that just do random searches won't ever see your stuff.
Always include a link to your current auctions page in your description. That way, folks can check out your other stuff without having to search for it. I suggest putting together your descriptions on Word and copying/pasting it on eBay after you've checked it for errors.
Always start your auctions later in the evening so that people that work have a chance to bid. I always started mine after 10:00 pm Eastern time. That way, West Coast bidders who get off at 5 or 6:00 pm have a shot to snipe at the end. Make sure that your auctions end around midnight ET. Any later than that and you cut down on the snipes.
Try to be as accurate as you can with grading but under rate the books that you feel are mint. Mint means nothing in this era of CGC grading. Most of my lots were at least near mint but, I always rated them as very fine.
Start your minimums as the absolute lowest you will except for them. If you have a good run of books that you want at least 100 bucks for, then start there. Don't leave it up to the whims of the bidders. Never have reserves unless you have a serious collector's item you are trying to sell...and even then be fair with it and always let people know they can e-mail you to find out the reserve without actually having to place a bid to guess it.
Offer actual shipping costs instead of one estimated cost for all your lots. People that are buying just a few books hate it when you charge way more for shipping that what it actually costs. It will make a little more work for you but, that's one of the biggest reasons for negative feedback I saw.
Promote your auctions where ever you can. The more people that know aout it increases your potential bidders. Any board you have access to should have a post. Even if it's deleted, someone will probably see it beforehand. Make sure to include a link to your selling page...not just the page of a particular auction. You never know what a fanboy is trying to find. There's some guy on the DCMBs that always post about his auctions but, never includes links. That's just stupid. Most of the people that click on the post are too lazy to try to find the actual auctions without a shortcut.
If you have some spare crap that's not worth auctioning on it's own but is related to the lot you are selling, offer it as a bonus. Fanboys love getting free crap...for instance, if you have some promo posters or 2 issues of a particular title...give it up.
Make sure you have enough time to manage your auctions. Silly things like work can interfere with your ability to answer e-mails or research postal rates.
When you get a winner, have a standard e-mail prepared that you can send immediately on close of auction. Be sure to include all payment options and links to any on-line payment services you accept. Make sure that first e-mail includes your land addy so they can't say they don't know how to contact you.
Give several payment options but, never accept personal checks unless you know the buyer. Register with Bidpay so that people can use credit cards and you are garaunteed payment. Paypal sucks so stay away from it.
Be willing to ship anywhere. You lose nothing since your buyers are willing to pay actual shipping costs. It makes a little more work for you but, opens your auctions to everybody. All you need is two geeks in Australia and Thailand to get to fighting over your prized collection of Sad Sack books and you stand to make a fortune!!!
That said, limit the ways you will ship: Post Office all the way. Always ship with delivery confirmation to be sure they got the package. Media Mail is a good, cheap way to ship and it only takes 2 or 3 days longer than Priority Mail. Make sure that you pack the stuff well.
Always leave feedback as soon as possible. It lets people know that you got payment and will be sending their books. I always sent an e-mail when I send the books including the delivery confirmation number so they can track the package at usps.com
Finally, place limits on the time that winners have to respond to you with their info and make payment. Some guys will bid knowing they can't pay for 2 weeks, until they get paid. Let them know in your description that you expect pay within a certain length of time.
Hope you make a lot of money, dude.
