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eBay Mediocrity Abounds. Don’t let it Compromise your Integrity.

 

I let my guard down and shared with you that I may be allowing the fear of success to paralyze me. Then I was called a lazy whining mom who has never had a real job in her life. Ooh, and also a cry baby.

Impressive. The number of insults in the full comment, coupled with the ignorance displayed, was simply entertaining.

Rather than be offended or delete it from the post, however, I want to use it as an opportunity to illustrate what we are up against as eBay sellers.

We are up against mediocrity.

Think you can handle the competition?

A few more pearls of wisdom from the same comment:

“Secondly, u dabbled on ebay, made some money, and now that its actually requiring some work and the fun of it is a little lost, ur too lazy to do what is essentially a job.

I work full time and sell stuff on ebay that i have lying around, stop proacrasting and just do it instead of whining that its overwhelming your life.

It really doesn’t take that long to take some pics and throw up a description. And if you’ve got so much, then just learn to streamline it.”

Who wants to pick out the problems in these eloquent statements? Woah, woah, settle down, eParents, one at a time. Here, I’ll start:

The last thing I want you to do is to grab some stuff you have lying around the house, take some pictures and throw up a description. Folks, this is what everyone else does and that is precisely why eBay seems like a big junkyard of unappealing clutter half the time. That is also why a little research (okay, a lot) and attention to detail will set you apart from the sea of mediocrity.

eBay can be a blinding mass of mediocre sellers and bland listings. Set yourself apart. Pay attention to detail. Your customers will reward you for it.

Your customers will notice when you are taking your listings seriously. They will notice that you are treating your eBay business like a business. This translates to respect, which grows into trust. If your customers trust you, you’ve won. Now you just have to deliver.

Unfortunately, it’s the having to deliver part that can become a little overwhelming. And no, dear insult-slinging commenter, I don’t mean literally deliver, as I’m not being held back by trips to the post office. This may come as a shock, but I am well aware that USPS will pick up your packages for you. She of multiple website authorship was able to use mah wicked huge internet smahts to edumahcate mahself on that one.

Wait. Cain’t think. Have the duhms. Must go paint my toenails and spend my husband’s money.

Okay, I’m back. ;)

My point is simple: You are up against both professional dynamos and mediocre schmoes. Don’t be intimidated by the dynamos and don’t be tempted into complacency by the schmoes.

This is a job. If you want to do it right, if you want to be successful, it’s going to take work. This isn’t a hobby. And as such, you are going to have ups and downs. You will be riding high one day, full of energy and motivation, and then you’ll find you can’t even muster the enthusiasm to check your feedback the next.

Such is the nature of a real business. When you are the boss, when you are in charge of your own professional future success or failures, rather than just a drone at a “real job,” the details are never so simple as black and white. It won’t always be as simple as “manning up” and just doing it. It is not a question of laziness or motivation. It’s far more complicated.

If you are going to do this, if you are going to sell on eBay with any hope of being a long-term success, then do it right. Commit. Go “all in.” Accept the challenge and know that it won’t always be simple.

Are you “all in” or not? Time to put it on the table.

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    1.
    On October 20th, 2007 at 7:33 pm, Juliesews said:

    I own my own photography business and in the photography world, there are two words that are killing us… “good enough”. It is “good enough” to email grandma a scanned print with “proof” on it, it is good enough to get snapshots and call them portraits. Same thing here.

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