When I talk about feedback to new Ebay sellers, I usually compare it to having one note posted on door of a brick-and-mortar business for every transaction. At almost any business--no matter how bad service--you would have a lot of positive transactions; and thus a lot of positive notes. As a potential shopper, you probably wouldn’t bother to read all of these positive notes. Instead, you’d look to see if there were any negatives.

If you were planning to eat at a restaurant and you found a bunch of notes in big, red marker that said food was moldy; waiter dumped hot coffee on me on purpose; and manager chased me out of store with a gun, you probably wouldn’t go there--or at least you’d think twice about it.

And likewise, if you wanted to buy an engagement ring, but you found a number of notes on local jeweler’s door that said I bought an engagement ring. The diamonds were fake. And owner refused to give me a refund, you would drive out of town to another jeweler.

If I could convey only one concept to someone who was about to start selling on Ebay, it would be this: no one has ever purchased anything on Ebay with this in mind--"I think I'll buy something on Ebay from some random guy and pay more than I would at store down street."

No one has ever said that. Not once. That is why Ebay sellers who appear to be "that random guy" always fail miserably. It's not enough to simply be professional and responsible. You have to make an active effort to appear professional and responsible.

To begin with, you must actually have a good deal. There are dozens of liquidators and wholesale outlets. If you do your research, you should have no problem finding good prices on anything you want to sell. I list a number of best ones in my book.

Once you have something good to sell and a good source to buy it from, you have to decide how you are going to present it.

At this point, you are giving your customers a good deal --which is important--but if you don't present it as a good deal, they will have no way of knowing.

One way you can do this is by setting yourself apart from pack with a unique selling proposition: tell potential customers exactly why they should shop at your store over other Ebay sellers' stores.