In your quest to build credibility as an Ebay seller, few things are more important than creating and following consistent store policies. Doing so will provide your customers with an attractive buying atmosphere, where they will feel safe making any transaction.

Whenever I create store policies--whether it be for an Ebay business or an Internet business--I use one standard: I promise what I can reasonably deliver. And I deliver more than I promise as often as possible.

If I can reasonably offer to ship everything two days after payment, I will promise it. But if I get the chance to ship some items within one day, I take that opportunity to overdeliver.

Not only is this a more ethical approach--delivering or overdelivering on all promises--but it is also a more practical business strategy for the long-run.

Developing relationships with your customers is the best way to get repeat sales, testimonials, and positive feedback--the three pillars which will support your business and increase your cashflow.

You should extend this principle to other policies.

Create a return policy that stipulates when and for what reasons you will accept a return. Again, you will want to give the customer certain guarantees, but at the same time, you dont want to promise what you cant reasonably deliver.

For instance, you may want to stipulate that you will only accept returns if the item is broken. You may also want to add that you can only accept returns within 14 days of delivery.

In addition to a shipping and return policy, you will want to create a statement of quality assurance. When I used to sell jewelry on Ebay, I promised my customers that the metals were solid, the gems were real, and everything was stamped.

It was relatively easy for me to prove this because all of my jewelry came with gemologist-certified appraisals; however, if you arent selling something that can lend you credibility in a similar fashion, you will need to earn it in the form of testimonials and positive feedback.

. . .and this is precisely why it is so important for Ebay sellers to create and follow store policies. Not only will this lend you credibility and subsequently encourage visitors to bid, but it will also prevent customers from making unfair complaints against you.

In addition to this, when you overdeliver, your customers will know it - and they will verify it with feedback and testimonials.