Email: answering emails can be one of the most time consuming parts of an eBay business. Some PowerSellers can receive over 1000 questions per day, most of them by email. Can you imagine how long it would take to answer 1000 emails!?

I have spoken to several sellers that spend more than half of their work day answering emails and contacting customers about their payments. Can you believe that? Answering emails takes up more time than listing auctions, packing and shipping products, taking photos, keeping track of expenses and profits and everything else put together.

Luckily, the most time consuming part of an eBay business can easily be cut n half. That's right, it is extremely easy to take time off answering emails. There are several good ways to take time off answering emails. Here are 3 of the best ways...

Detailed listings: this is the most obvious way to not only save the time of answering emails, but more importantly answer everyone's questions right in the listing. If your listing provides all the information anyone would like to know, less people are going to email you.

That is one of the major reasons your listings need to be full of information about the product you are selling, shipping, payment options, delivery times etc. If your listing is full of detailed information, everyone's questions will be answered right there. That way less people will email you. This isn't a way to answer emails quicker, it is way to reduce the number of emails you get in the first place.

A lot of PowerSellers complain that they get too much email every day, and that it takes too long to answer those emails. Instead of complaining they should take a moment and look at their listing, because than they would surely see why they get so many emails.

It would be easy to spot the problem because most of these sellers are selling $200 products with only a couple of sentences describing the product and a small photo lifted from the manufacturer's website. You need a listing full of relevant contents (description, clear photos, shipping and payment info etc.).

Not only to make visitors comfortable and anxious to buy but to reduce the number of emails you receive. Most of the questions you will receive will be about things you failed to mention in your listing.

So unless you want a hundred emails a day asking you what color the socks you’re selling are… Make sure you mention everything anyone would possibly want to know about the product you're selling and how they can get their hands on it.

FAQ page: another way to reduce the number of emails you get, is to include a FAQ (frequently asked questions) page. Most sellers that list a large quantity of items up for auction make use of a FAQ page. But even something as simple as a FAQ page is sometimes done wrong. This is how to do it right...

First make a list of questions people might ask you. To do this simply look at one of your listings and ask questions about it; questions like "can I pay with cash?" or "does the camera come with a leather case?" After you have about 30 questions, write the answers to the questions.

Note: the questions don't have to be about information that is not included in your listing. So even if you clearly say that shipping takes 1-3 days, you can have a question asking how long shipping will take. After you have answered all of the questions, organize them into categories.

You should have a "questions about product" category, a "questions about payment" category, a "questions about returns" category etc. You need to organize the questions into categories in order to make the FAQ page easy to use. If it's hard to use people will give up and simply email you with their questions.

You should include a link to the FAQ page at the bottom of the page. You should present it right beside your contact information. Say something like "if you have any questions please check our FAQ page or email us at..."

You will notice that a lot of the questions you get regarding your listings will be about something you clearly explained in the listing. Why do people do this, why do they ask you questions you clearly answered?

Because they want to hear the answer straight from you, they want to make sure, double check etc. It's a comfort thing, it makes people feel comfortable to hear the answers to their questions straight from you. That is why a FAQ questions page will not only decrease the number of emails you get but also make people more comfortable.

It is because the FAQ page is a list of questions with the answers to the questions listed right below them. A FAQ page is basically a "double checking" list, a "making sure" list and a "just checking" list.

Make sure that you save all of the questions people actually do send you by email, answer them and add them to your FAQ list. You should also use the questions people send you to your advantage. How? Well if someone is asking you a question, there is a good chance you forgot to answer it in your listing. Use questions as "hints" to improving your listings.

Even if you don't have problems with the volume of emails you receive. You should include a link to a FAQ page in your listings. Because a FAQ list will not only decrease the number of emails you receive but it will also make people comfortable and push them farther towards placing a bid on your auctions.

And when you receive an email asking you a question that you clearly answered in both your listing and FAQ page… Don't reply by suggesting the person should read the listing and FAQ page more carefully and refer back to the FAQ page. If you do this the person reply might be "FAQ YOU!" HAHAHA. Get it?