The Center for EBay Education and Training: November 2006

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Using The Ebay Anything Points Program.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

eBay Anything points are a loyalty scheme, just like you might get in a shop. The buyer earns points on their purchases, which they can then redeem for money off when they pay for items through PayPal.

Buyers can also earn eBay Anything points when they use the eBay credit card, or exchange their frequent flyer miles for eBay Anything points. People think it's really great to take frequent flyer miles they're never going to use and get stuff on eBay for them.

How to Offer Points to Your Buyers.

Go to http://anythingpoi nts.ebay.com/offer.html and click 'Log In to Offer Manager'. Enter an item's number to offer Anything points on that item.

How Does it Work?

You choose how many points per dollar you want to offer to your buyers when they pay you with PayPal. Each point costs you 1c, and is worth 1c to the buyer - eBay don't take anything out along the way.

For example, if you sell an item worth $500, and you offer 2 points per dollar, then the seller will receive 1000 eBay Anything points - the equivalent of $10. You only pay for the points when the buyer actually receives them, and you can offer points on as many or as few listings as you like.

Each listing you add will get a big banner below the description, saying ""X Anything Points per dollar of the final price for buyers who pay with PayPal"". Buyers can click it for more information on the scheme.

Why Would You Want To?

Really, most sellers who offer points are doing it to get around a condition of their contract with their supplier. Many sellers only get access to goods at wholesale prices provided they don't list them for sale below the manufacturer's MAP, or minimum advertised price. The points allow them to offer the items at the MAP and then give their buyer money back in the form of points. It's a bit like a virtual rebate.

The eBay Anything points scheme is good for you and for eBay, as it encourages buyers to use PayPal instead of more cumbersome payment methods. eBay are keen to promote PayPal, and obviously thought this would be a good way of doing it - not to mention that it keeps buyers coming back, to spend their points. You will also get to be listed on the 'Earn Points from eBay Sellers' page, which is here: http://anythingpoin ts.ebay.com/earn.html .

Here's another advantage for you: if you buy things from sellers who offer Anything points, you can then use those points to pay your own seller fees. Another seller gets to pay your fees for you! All you need to do is go to My eBay, then Account Management, click the Pay button, and then choose the option to use your Anything points to pay.

If you're going to offer points, then you want your auction to end for as much as you can possibly get - let the buyer pay for their own points! All you'll need is our next email, all about strategies for when to start and end your auction.

About the author: Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

Ebay Description Writing Tips.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

Once you've drawn the buyers in with your title, the next thing to do is to tell them all about your item with the description. But just what should you write in your description?

At its heart, your item description is an ad. Without making it too obvious, you should be writing sales copy. You're trying to get buyers excited about your products, and that's usually hard - but on eBay, if you have the right thing to sell and give enough details, the buyers almost excite themselves.

Technical Details.

Include every technical detail you know, including the item's manufacturer, its condition, how big it is, where and when it was made, its history, and anything else special about it. Don't be too boring, though: the best descriptions are written in friendly, conversational language, and show a real knowledge of the item. Whatever you do, make sure you tell the truth!

Remember that most of the people who'll be buying your item will be just as knowledgeable about it as you are, if not more - this is their hobby, and they're experts. Don't feel like you need to explain the basics of the item: just go into as much technical detail as you can. As a rule, don't write anything in the description if you don't know what it means, as the chances are someone will, and if you've got it slightly wrong then you'll look like you don't know what you're talking about.

Interesting Details.

You might find that you enjoy writing a few things about how you got the item, why you're selling it, and who you think might like it. This isn't strictly necessary, but it gives your auctions some character and a personal touch, and can make people more likely to trust you. People might wonder what you're doing selling 500 CDs all at once, and if you tell them the reason, then they'll feel reassured that nothing dodgy is going on. If you're selling them because you're having a baby and you need the space, just say so.

Write as Much as You Can.

Leave nothing out of your description, even if that seems to you like it makes it cumbersomely long. There is no way you can be too thorough: someone, somewhere will appreciate that you took the time to write the extra information.

Don't assume that anyone who wants extra information will email you to ask a question: many buyers are shy and won't do it. Think of questions that buyers might have and add the answers to your description, as people generally tend to ask the same questions over and over again.

Each time a buyer does email you with a question, you should both answer their question and update your description so that it will include the answer next time. If people ask questions that are answered in the description, try putting these parts of the auction on a line alone, or in bold, to make them easier to notice.

In the next email, we'll focus on increasing the number of buyers who respond to your auctions.

Tips And Tricks For Using Ebay Search

Author: John Maxim

If you know what you're doing, you can quickly find what you're looking for on eBay. Here are a few golden rules.

Be specific: If you're searching for the first edition of the original Harry Potter book, you'll get further searching for 'harry potter rowling philosopher's stone first edition' than you will searching for 'harry potter'. You'll get fewer results, but the ones you do get will be far more relevant.

Spell wrongly: It's a sad fact that many of the sellers on eBay just can't spell. Whatever you're looking for, try thinking of a few common misspellings - the chances are that fewer people will find these items, and so they will be cheaper.

Get a thesaurus: You should try to search for all the different words that someone might use to describe your item, for example searching for both 'TV' and 'television', or for 'phone', 'mobile' and 'cellphone'. Where you can, though, leave off the type of item altogether and search by things like brand and model.

Use the categories: Whenever you search, you'll notice a list of categories at the side of your search results. If you just searched for the name of a CD because you want to buy that CD, you should click the 'CDs' category to just look at results in that category. Why bother looking through a load of results that you don't care about?

Don't be afraid to browse: Once you've found the category that items you like seem to be in, why not click 'Browse' and take a look through the whole category? You might be surprised by what you find.

Few people realise just how powerful eBay's search engine is - a few symbols here and there and it'll work wonders for you.

Wildcard searches: You can put an asterisk (*) into a search phrase when you want to say 'anything can go here'. For example, if you wanted to search for a 1950s car, you could search for 'car 195*'. 195* will show results from any year in the 1950s.

In this order: If you put words in quotes ("""") then the only results shown will be ones that have all of the words between the quote marks. For example, searching for ""Lord of the Rings"" won't give you any results that say, for example ""Lord Robert Rings"".

Exclude words: Put a minus, and then put any words in brackets that you don't want to appear in your search results. For example: ""Pulp Fiction"" -(poster,photo) will find items related to Pulp Fiction but not posters or photos.

Either/or: If you want to search for lots of words at once, just put them in brackets: the TV example from earlier could become '(TV,television)', which would find items with either word.

So once you've found your bargain item, bid for it and won it, what if it all goes wrong? Don't worry - eBay has a thorough dispute resolution procedure, and we'll cover it in some depth in the next article, so you'll be prepared if the worst happens.

About the author: John is an Ebay Powerseller. He's published a blog listing his best resources and articles. His blog can be found at http://www.auctionblogonline.com.

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Five Simple steps to your first eBay sale!

Author: Paul Duxbury

It's surprisingly simple to get started posting your very first auction on eBay. Here's what you need to do.

Step 1: Open an eBay seller's account.

If you've bought things on eBay, then you already have an account - just log in with it and click 'Sell' in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click 'Create a seller's account'. If you've never used eBay before, then you'll need to open an account first using the 'register' link underneath the toolbar, and then click 'Sell' and 'Create a seller's account'. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell.

For your first little experiment with eBay, it doesn't really matter what you sell. Take a look around the room you're in - I'm sure there's something in there that you're not all that attached to and could put in the post. Small books and CDs are ideal first items.

Step 3: Submit your item.

Click 'Sell', and you're on your way to listing your item.

The first thing you need to do is choose a category - it's best to just type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box.

Now set a starting price. A low price £0.01 or $0.01 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise wouldn't, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to set is the duration of the auction: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is up to you: longer sales will usually get more bids, but will also seem to drag on forever. If you've taken a picture, add it now - items with pictures always sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (just PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you're done!

Step 4: Wait for it to sell.

This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing - buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can.

Remember that if your item doesn't sell then you can list it again for free once.

Step 5: Collect payment and post it.

eBay will send your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything.

Once you've got the payment, all you need to do is pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyer's address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, post it, and you're done!

About the author: Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisation with a wealth of experience in personal development, management development, e-learning and operational management. In addition he owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) two sites specifically aimed at those who want to successfully sell on eBay http://www.ebay-profits.co.uk and http://www.info-entrepreneurs.co.uk

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

How to sell more on eBay by studying your competitors

Author: Paul Duxbury

If you've a savvy businessperson, the chances are you've already taken a look at your competitors' auctions. What you might not have realised is just how much you can learn if you know what you're looking for.

To begin with, don't bother looking at listings that haven't ended yet - you don't know what's going to happen with them. Instead, use the advanced search page to search for listings that sold. Just go to the advanced search page, type in the keywords that you know will find your competitors' items, tick 'Completed listings only' and set the minimum number of bids to 1. Set it to sort by 'Price: highest first'.

This will show you auctions competing with yours that have recently finished, starting with the ones that sold for the most (ignore any with prices in red - they didn't sell). Go through and take a look, paying special attention to the following points:

Titles. What information do the top sellers of your item put in their titles, and what do they leave out? If your titles are very different to theirs, it might be time for a rethink.

Descriptions. You'll probably notice that the highest sellers haven't just copied text from the company's website or an Amazon.com review - they've gone to the trouble of writing a little about the item, and about themselves. Learn from their example.

Pictures. I can almost guarantee you that the listing will have very nice pictures - not catalogue quality, but good enough to see what you're getting. With items of any significant cost, you'll probably find more than one photo from different angles.

Style. Is it written conversationally, or in terse businesslike language? The way you should write entirely depends on what the market seems to like - and the market seems to like what the top sellers wrote.

Time. It's pretty easy to ignore this as a factor without meaning to, but pay attention to when the top selling items' auctions began and ended. This might give you a few clues about the best to catch buyers who will bid highly on your item, and then you can schedule your items accordingly.

Price. If your competitors are selling using Buy it Now, you can see what the maximum is that they've managed to sell for recently, and set your own Buy it Now price slightly below that.

Shipping. Look around to see the sweet spot for shipping. If you can figure out a way to get your shipping costs lower than the highest sellers, then this is a great opportunity to differentiate yourself in the market.

Once you see what works, you can start to emulate your competitors - of course you can't just copy them completely, but you can structure your auction similarly and make sure it includes the same information.

You Sell On eBay And You Don't Have Your Own Website? Are You Crazy?

Author: Ian D. Major

Whether you sell items on eBay as a hobby or for a part time income or even if you earn a full time living on eBay, not having a Website of your own to augment your eBay sales is like throwing money down the drain.

Look at it this way.

Lets say that over a 10 day auction, 200 people visit your eBay Sales Page and one of those visitors buys your item.

Then what?

What do your 200 visitors do now? Where do they go?

Well, if your not directing them to another buying opportunity then you have probably lost them for ever.

Now, if you had a Website that promoted products similar to those that you sell on eBay, you would be able to direct them to that site and give them another opportunity to make a purchase.

And it's so easy to do!

On your eBay Sales Page you place a link to your AboutMe Page.

On your AboutMe Page you add a link to your Website.

eBay wont tolerate you sending visitors to a Website from your Sales Page, but they are perfectly happy for you to direct visitors to your AboutMe Page.

eBays's policy on the use of the AboutMe Page is that you can direct visitors to a Website outside of eBay as long as that site provides further information on the item you are auctioning or selling.

More information about eBay's AboutMe Page and Sales Pages can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/services/index.html.

So, lets go through a brief scenario!

Let's suppose that your selling ""How To"" CDs and DVDs on eBay.

You set up your Sales Page for a particular ""How To"" CD or DVD .

Let's assume in this example that it's a CD or DVD that teaches people ""How To Grow Award Winning Roses"".

After describing the DVD you would add a line or two to your Sales Page explaining that the visitor can find out more about gardening ""How To DVDs"" by visiting your AboutMe Page . Then you would include a link that will take them to your AboutMe Page.

It's a good idea to include this information at the beginning, middle and end of your Sales Page.

AboutMe Page

Ok. So you've set up your AboutMe Page to briefly describe some of your other product titles.

You could include an opt-in form here to help build your mailing list. You would definitely include a link to your Website.

Hopefully your eBay Sales Page has done it's job and you have sold the ""Award Winning Roses"" DVD at a good profit.

But what about those visitors that didn't buy? All 199 of them in this example.

Perhaps that particular DVD wasn't quite what they were looking for.

Not to worry!

You have offered those visitors an alternative and some will visit your AboutMe Page to see what other products you have,

Some will click on your link and visit your Website.

Some of these visitors to your Website will see products that they are interested in and buy.

Even if this only happens with 2 out of your 200 visitors you will have made more money than you would have done if you didn't have a Website.

WEBSITES and DOMAIN NAMES How do I get a Website?

It couldn't be any simpler to get your own Domain Name and Website than it is nowadays.

WYSIWYG You could go for a WYSIWYG EDITOR (What You See Is What You Get) site builder where you fill in the ""blanks"" with your information. See www.ephox.com/default.asp for a WYSIWYG Editor

LEADING EDGE EDITORS You could use one of the leading edge brand products such as Dreamweaver at www.macromedia.com or MicroSoft FrontPage at www.microsoft.com/frontpage/.

DIY CODING You could learn to write HTML (Hypertext Mark Up Language)if you wanted to. A good tutorial can be found at www.htmlgoodies.com/.

A good HTML Editor can be found at http://www.evrsoft.com/1stpage2.shtml (this is what I use and it's free).

OUT SOURCE You could pay someone else to do it for you and a good place to find someone is www.elance.com/

DOMAIN NAMES You will want to choose and register your own Domain Name.

A word of warning here. Don't use a free hosting account for your Website.

You will not be able to use your own domain name and if you want your business to look professional and be taken seriously you must have your own Domain Name.

You can buy a unique Domain Name for as little as $8.00 per year and you can find out if the name you want is available by carrying out a search at most hosting sites for example Namecheap at www.namecheap.com

HOSTING There are many hosting sites to choose from and a search on your favourite search engine will bring up many.

The most important thing here is that you get what you pay for.

By now, most people are aware of free web space. I'm all for getting something for nothing but a time may come when you choose to promote products or services belonging to you and this is where the need for you to own your own Website becomes paramount.

A Website belonging to you is a must if your business is to be taken seriously.

WHAT WILL IT COST Website hosting can cost from nothing to upwards of hundreds of dollars but I would suggest that a good average fee would be about $20.00 a month for Hosting.

The monthly fee will largely be dependent on what services and optional extra's you need, my advice would be to start out with an inexpensive package and upgrade when you need to - but remember, you ""get what you pay for"".

If you think that you may need technical help, or you might have questions that you need answering, be sure to pick a hosting company that can provide that level of support.

You will have to decide how important this is to you.

My minimum requirements of a hosting company would be one that backed up it's servers on a daily basis (that way my precious information is protected) and provided secure server access so that my customer's details such as credit card details etc were kept confidential.

FREE WEB HOSTING SERVICES Why pay for hosting when there are so many free Websites?

The main problem with free Website providers is that you will not be able to use a Domain Name belonging to you, and as we have already discovered, your very own Domain Name is a must if you are considering running a business on the Internet.

10 Tips For Selling On eBay

Author: Mark Kenny

Many people have chosen a work-at-home career and, thanks to today's technology, it's easier than ever. One such opportunity for entrepreneurs is available at internet auction site, eBay. The concept seems simple enough, but having an edge over the competition is always a good idea. For those who already sell, or who are considering a new business venture, a little knowledge can go along way. Here are a few tips to keep in mind.

Tip 1: Many eBay sellers accept PayPal, also an eBay company, as a way for buyers to quickly pay for their auction purchase. Payments are done immediately and are deposited directly into the seller's PayPal account. It's very important to make sure a buyer's address is confirmed, which is a method PayPal uses to verify the identity of the customer, before shipping an order. In addition, sellers should purchase tracking numbers whenever possible so that they may confirm delivery of an item.

Tip 2: If you have a refund policy, make certain that your terms are clearly noted in the auction description. Consider the conditions under which you will accept a return, how long the buyer has to return an item, whether or not you are willing to refund the original shipping price and who will be responsible for the return shipping. Do not leave anything open to interpretation because it's very important to describe your refund policy in a clear and concise manner. If you do not accept returns, it's helpful to note this in order to avoid confusion.

Tip 3: The most important part of an auction is the description. Describe your item clearly and in detail. If it's new, let your buyers know. The description should contain everything from the condition of the item to the cost of shipping, payment methods that you accept and payment due dates.

Tip 4: When possible, include a color photo of the item you are selling. On eBay, the first photo that you include is free of charge. Buyers generally want to see the item they are considering, so avoid the 'sight unseen' scenario if possible. If you do not have a digital camera or scanner, purchase a disposable camera at your local supermarket.

Tip 5: Always be polite and respectful to your customers. It's extremely important to keep the lines of communication flowing. If possible, notify your buyers immediately when they win your auction and answer any questions throughout the process.

Tip 6: Sellers should consider the best listing options for their product. Unless you are selling a very expensive item, avoid the higher priced listing upgrades. Keep in mind that, if a bidder wins and fails to follow through with payment, sellers can request a final value fee credit. However, sellers will be stuck paying for the listing fee - even if the bidder doesn't honor their bid.

Tip 7: Show appreciation to your customers. If possible, include a free gift with every purchase. Whether it's a small picture calendar or other gesture, buyers will love the added surprise.

Tip 8: After the transaction is complete, buyers and sellers should always exchange feedback for one another. Everyone loves to increase their reputation and build trust within the auction community.

Tip 9: If a buyer fails to follow through with payment, contact them to see what happened. It may be a simple mix-up, so be polite in your letter. After your contact, if the buyer still refuses to honor their bid, sellers should promptly send an unpaid item reminder. This option is available seven days after the auction closes. The last step, after an additional 10 days have passed, is to file a request for a final value fee credit and relist the item.

Tip 10: If an item doesn't sell the first time around, don't be discouraged. Through a new relist policy, eBay refunds all relisting fees if your item sells the second time. In order to qualify, you must not increase the price or change other important auction information before relisting your item.

At the end of the day, internet auctions can be a terrific way to earn extra cash or as a full-time career. Where else can you earn money 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and even when you're sleeping? Happy auctioning!

About the author: Mark Kenny creates profitable turnkey websites at http://trading-web-solutions.com. This article is taken from his eBay maximum profits mini-course showing you how to get the most out of eBay. To subscribe send a blank email to taebay@aweber.com

Understanding Ebay's VeRO Program.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

'VeRO'? What on Earth is that? Well, it's a very scary eBay program that can get your auctions shut down, that's what it is.

VeRO stands for 'Verified Rights Owner'. It is the eBay policy that deals with complaints about your auctions from companies who own copyrights, patents or trademarks on the items you are selling. Unfortunately, it is often abused to remove items from eBay that are perfectly legitimate to resell, simply because the copyright owner doesn't want people getting their hands on them.

If the copyright of something you're selling is owned by one of eBay's 5,000 verified rights owners, be prepared for trouble. eBay have given these companies the right to remove any auction from eBay that they see fit, and, say eBay, ""eBay cannot require the rights owner to provide you with the exact reason of the request to remove your listing"". Worse, eBay may even suspend your account, or give your real-world contact details to the company in question.

Why Do eBay Do This?

Basically, they do it to avoid getting sued, or even getting threatened with being sued. There is a law called the DMCA (digital millennium copyright act) that means that eBay must either take these auctions down when it asked to or take full responsibility for them from that point on. eBay doesn't want to take any responsibility for your auctions.

It's not worth worrying too much about it - 99% of the VeRO program is aimed at stopping fake brand-name goods or pirated media being sold through eBay. Big companies also seem to get quite upset when eBay sellers take the company's ad copy, logos or professional pictures and use them for selling on eBay.

If you'd like to take a slightly patronising quiz about copyright to help you understand eBay's policy, go here:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/tutorial/verotutorial/intro2.html

So Who Are These Companies?

There's a complete list available here: http: //pages.ebay.com/help/community/vero-aboutme.html . This list includes everything from the Microsoft and Adobe to Chanel and Nike, not to mention the RIAA (recording industry association) and MPAA (motion picture association). Most of the companies, understandably, deal in software, media or fashion.

eBay Say I Violated VeRO and I Want to Appeal.

Use the link at the bottom of this page:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/vero-removed-listing.ht ml . That'll get you to eBay's VeRO Seller Appeal Form, where you can put your case to them directly. You are supposed to take it up with the company that complained about you first, however - and sometimes you might find that they just back down, which makes the whole thing a lot easier.

If you have no luck getting any response from eBay by email, it's not really worth trying to phone them - you'll find they're most responsive if you use the 'Live Chat' feature or write them an actual, real-paper letter. You're best off being nice to eBay: they have absolutely no obligation, after all, to ever let you sell anything at all.

On a happier note, have you ever heard of eBay Anything Points? No? Well, you're not alone. The next email will explain what these little-used points can do for you.

Monday, November 27, 2006

An eBay Seller's Checklist for Success

Author: Paul Duxbury

Being a seller is a lot of responsibility, and sometimes you might feel like you're not doing everything you should be. This simple checklist will help you keep on top of things.

Have you found out everything you possibly could about your items? Try typing their names into a search engine - you might find out something you didn't know. If someone else is selling the same thing as you, then always try to provide more information about it than they do. Do you monitor the competition? Always keep an eye on how much other items the same as or similar to yours are selling, and what prices they're being offered at. There's usually little point in starting a fixed price auction for £100 when someone else is selling the item for £90.

Have you got pictures of the items? It's worth taking the time to photograph your items, especially if you have a digital camera. If you get serious about eBay but don't have a camera, then you will probably want to invest in one at some point.

Are you emailing your sellers? It's worth sending a brief email when transactions go through: something like a simple ""Thank you for buying my item, please let me know when you have sent the payment"". Follow this up with ""Thanks for your payment, I have posted your [item name] today"". You will be surprised how many problems you will avoid just by communicating this way.

Also, are you checking your emails? Remember that potential buyers can send you email about anything at any time, and not answering these emails will just make them go somewhere else instead of buying from you.

Do your item description pages have everything that buyers need to know? If you're planning to offer international delivery, then it's good to make a list of the charges to different counties and display it on each auction. If you have any special terms and conditions (for example, if you will give a refund on any item as long as it hasn't been opened), then you should make sure these are displayed too.

Have you been wrapping your items correctly? Your wrapping should be professional for the best impression: use appropriately sized envelopes or parcels, wrap the item in bubble wrap to stop it from getting damaged, and print labels instead of hand-writing addresses. Oh, and always use first class post - don't be cheap.

Do you follow up? It is worth sending out an email a few days after you post an item, saying ""Is everything alright with your purchase? I hope you received it and it was as you expected."" This might sound like giving the customer an opportunity to complain, but you should be trying to help your customers, not take their money and run.

Being a really good eBay seller, more than anything else, is about providing genuinely good and honest customer service. That's the only foolproof way to protect your reputation.

5 Simple Steps to Posting Your First eBay Auction

Author: James Mahony

Here is a short introduction to a subject many hundreds of readers are eager to learn more about.

In response to a growing demand for quality content on the topic, we commissioned a group of expert writers to create this article specially for you. Let's get right into the content.

Its surprisingly simple to get started posting your very first auction on eBay. Heres what you need to do.

Step 1: Open an eBay sellers account. If you've bought things on eBay, then you already have an account just log in with it and click Sell in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click Create a sellers account.

If you've never used eBay before, then you'll need to open an account first using the register link underneath the toolbar, and then click Sell and Create a sellers account. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell. For your first little experiment with eBay, it doesn't really matter what you sell. Take a look around the room you're in Im sure theres something in there that you're not all that attached to and could put in the post. Small books and CDs are ideal first items.

Step 3: Submit your item. Click Sell, and you're on your way to listing your item. The first thing you need to do is choose a category its best to just type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box. Now set a starting price. $0.01 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise wouldnt, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to set is the duration of the auction: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is up to you: longer sales will usually get more bids, but will also seem to drag on forever. If you've taken a picture, add it now items with pictures always sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (just PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you're done!

Editor's Note: I came across this article quite by accident - through a friend. He was reading a website - and the articles on it captivated him. He mentioned it, fortunately we managed to convince the author to agree to share this valuable content with others, and now you're reading it!

What you've learned has the potential to change the way you view this topic in the future. And there's more to come...

Step 4: Wait for it to sell. This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can. Remember that if your item doesn't sell then you can list it again for free.

Step 5: Collect payment and post it. eBay will sent your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything. Once you've got the payment, all you need to do is pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyers address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, post it, and you're done! I hope you enjoyed selling your first item. Now that you're starting to get into it, the next article will give you a checklist of things you need to do to be a successful seller.

Now that you've learned something about this topic, maybe you want more information or need greater detail about certain specific issues.

I encourage you to explore this site, read a few more articles on related topics, and get even greater insight into the subject.

And if there's any way I can help you, please write. We welcome feedback and thrive on your support.

An eBay Sellers Checklist

About the author: James Mahony is the founder of Online Auction Handbook - Learn How to Make Money on eBay

Make Money on eBay

How To Turn Ebay Bidders Into Long-Term Customers.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

Once someone's bought something from you on eBay, you suddenly have all sorts of details on them. In marketing terms, this information is gold dust. If someone's bought from you once before, then the chances are that at some point in the future they'll want to buy a similar item, and you can take advantage of this to market to them directly.

The simplest form of direct marketing is the email newsletter - and it's one that is still oddly underused on eBay. Simply ask people who buy from you if they'd like to be added to your mailing list, and then send them a monthly update on your new items. You should also include some information you think might be useful to them, to give the email more value.

For example, here's a newsletter you might write if you were selling DVDs.

""Here are the dates for this month's new DVD releases:

[list of release dates]. If you want to pre-order anything on this list, just click here [your website/email] and let us know.

Meanwhile, we've got some great deals for you this month! [links to your best ebay auctions]

You are receiving this email because you signed up for my newsletter when you bought an item from me on eBay. To unsubscribe, hit reply and type 'remove'.""

Isn't that simple? As long as you can remember to do it once a month, people will come to like your information, and perhaps take a look at some of the things you're offering.

It's all about building up a customer relationship, and making the customer feel like you are providing them with some information they wouldn't otherwise have. Make your email a useful service to them, whether they buy anything from it or not.

Remember that it's not a newsletter without the news, and send out the best things you can think of: you might even try writing an article or two. Think of it as a free gift for your customers: the gift of useful information. Apart from anything else, it's quite fun to have your own newsletter.

If you sell items that a seller is likely to need more than one of, like auto parts for example, then you can even try highly targeted emails like this.

""I'm sending you this email because you bought a [item name] from me a while ago - I hope you were happy with it. This is just to let you know that if you ever need another [item], I'm currently doing special offers on them. [link]"".

You would probably want to automate this, though, as it could quickly get tedious to do it manually.

Of course, that brings us on to our next subject: eBay stores. eBay stores offer you an easier way to sell your items than having to list them every time on eBay, and they have built-in facilities for targeted direct marketing. You can read all about it in the next email.

eBay auction pricing strategies that really work!

Author: Paul Duxbury

If your items aren't selling, then you might have a bad pricing strategy. There as many pricing strategies in the world as there are buyers - if you look at two businesses selling the same thing, often the only difference you'll be able to find between them is pricing.

The 'Few Dollars More' Strategy.

Here's something you might not have thought of. If you set your auction's starting price to what you would usually charge for Buy it Now, while setting the Buy it Now price a few dollars above, you can make a profit by setting off an interesting psychological reaction in the buyer's mind.

Here's what they'll think. They want the item, but why should they bother bidding for it? After all, they could use Buy it Now for just a few dollars more, and be sure of getting it! Doing things this way makes the value of the Buy it Now option extra clear to the buyer, and makes them more willing to pay extra for the privilege.

The 'One Dollar Less' Strategy.

This is simple, but requires you to keep an eagle eye on your competition. As soon as they start a Buy it Now auction for an item you stock, start an auction for one of those items yourself. Match the title closely, but price your item one dollar less than theirs. This will mean that your auctions will sit together in the search results, and who's going to see both and go for the one that's a dollar more expensive?

The 'Free Shipping' Strategy.

Buyers really hate paying for shipping. With Buy it Now, you might find it easier to incorporate the shipping cost into the main price of the item, and then write ""free shipping"" in the auction's title. You'd be surprised how many buyers would prefer to pay one price including shipping for the auction, instead of having shipping added on at the checkout. Again, this is psychological: they pay the same at the end, but it doesn't feel like they've paid an unnecessary 'extra' cost for Internet shopping.

The 'Go for It' Strategy.

If you'd like a slightly more risky strategy, try this. List your item for the maximum duration (ten days), starting the listing on a Thursday so it goes across two weekends and finishes on a Sunday. Set the starting price to the minimum (one cent).

What you're trying to do here is give bidders as long as possible to discover your auction, so that they push the price up themselves. Pay for a few upgrades like bold and highlight, to give them a helping hand. If you do this right, you can make a much bigger profit than you would have with any Buy it Now price, especially with a medium or high value item.

The 5 Mistakes That Can Lose You Money On Ebay

Author: Dave Bromley

I am often asked by subscribers to UK Auctionline web site to have a look at their eBay listings. This is usually because they are not doing as well selling their items as they had hoped. When I go and look at the listing I will often find that they have made one or more of the common mistakes that deter bidders.

1. Too many negatives. Some people, especially newcomers to eBay have a very real fear of being cheated or ripped off. Because of this they apply negatives in their listing. This can be in the form of a long list of types of payments they wont accept or conditions that they apply. Something else I have seen is the warning that thee seller will not be responsible for any item lost in the post. Even worse are threats such as negative feedback if payment is not made within a certain time after the auction ended. These sorts of restrictions and threats are a great big turnover to any potential bidder.

2. High shipping charges. Most reasonable people are happy to pay something over the cost of postage to cover packing materials. But as I saw the other day someone who charging $10 to ship a $4.99CD, that is pushing it a bit. If you doubt how the average bikdder views hyped up shipping costs just go and read the commentgs on any eBay forum and see what buyers feel about it.

3. Not using a Gallery Photograph. I assume that no one who is serious about selling on eBay would consider putting up any listing without a picture. I cannot think of any item that would not benefit from a photograph. But there are still a great number of sellers who do not use the gallery feature to have a photograph next to their listing in the search results. Ebay's own figures show that the use of a gallery photograph can increase the final bid figure by as much as 12%.

4. Setting you opening bid price too high. If you want to attract the most bids and therefore a higher final price for your item you should not set too high an opening bid price. A low opening price attracts casual browsers who place a bid just on the off chance of getting a bargain. Once a few bids have been entered other people start noticing and come to your listing to see what it is all about. Then before you know it, the price is shooting up. However, if you start with too high a price you could end up as one of the many listings that attract no bids at all.

5. Not communicating. I know some eBay sellers who really resent having to answer e-mails. In fact I know some who just do not answer any questions from sellers. How stupid is this? A question from a seller is a great opportunity for you to build up rapport with a potential buyer. A quick and pleasant response will almost certainly encourage bids whilst a curt or a non-reply will not.

The bottom line is that eBay is a numbers game, the more people you can get to bid on your items the higher the price they will achieve. Therefore it is important to do everything you can to encourage bidding not trying to deter it.

About the author: Dave Bromley is a writer and Internet Marketer who specialises in subjects related to online auctions,especially eBay.You can register for his newsletter and free 6 part eBay mini course at his information packed web site http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Design Tips For Ebay Templates.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

Templates are the design elements that you might have noticed some sellers using on their auctions, like the borders around the edge, and the different fonts. Many sellers who are new to eBay don't bother using them, and you might not have either - generally, a descriptive listing and a good picture will do the job just fine.

If you want to really finish your auctions off and make a really good impression on your buyers though, it's useful to have a good template. Here are a few tips on what to do and what not to do.

Choose something appropriate. The most important part of your template is what you choose in eBay's listing designer (in step 3 of the Sell Your Item process), or the equivalent in whatever listing software you're now using. You might prefer to use third-party software for this, as eBay's designs can be somewhat... unimpressive.

Anyway, the different template designs will usually be themed, with names like 'Computers', 'Toys' or 'Crafts'. Make sure what you choose is appropriate for what you're selling - those flowers might be very pretty, but what exactly do they have to do with DVDs?

Put the photo at the top. The photo of your item is far more important than the text. Put your best photo at the top of the description, followed by the text, and then finally any extra pictures you have. The full-size photo of the item is the first thing your buyers want to see when they click your auction - why leave it for last?

Add your logo. A well-designed logo gives a professional air to your auctions, especially if the colour scheme and look fits in with the rest of the template, and it also serves to create more recognition when people have seen your auctions before. Pay a logo designer a few dollars to do you a logo if you don't have one already.

Don't be afraid of large fonts. Fonts are supposed to be different sizes sometimes. When you have something important to say, don't be afraid to put it in a bigger font, headline-style... just as long as you don't get carried away, of course.

Learn a little HTML. It might sound scary, but there are plenty of books out there about learning HTML, and a little goes a long way. Once you know what you're doing, you'll find all sorts of ways to make your auction look better - you'll be able to put complicated information in a table,

Preview your listing. Remember to click that 'Preview listing' button to see what everything's going to look like when it goes live. Good luck!

One of the best things you can put into your auction template to make it more appealing to buyers is something called a 'SquareTrade seal'. This seal is a promise that you will handle any disputes using SquareTrade, an independent dispute resolution service. We'll take a closer look at what it is and how to get one in the next email.

How To Check An Ebay Seller's Reputation (And Why You Should Do It).

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

When you buy something from an eBay seller, you are giving them your money and hoping that you will get something in return. However many guarantees of safety eBay might make to you, nothing is certain: if you just give your money to scammers all the time without doing any checks then the chances are you won't get all of that money back.

That's why you should always check the seller's reputation, or 'feedback rating'. This is a quick and easy-to-read summary of their history as an eBay seller, which gives you some idea of whether or not you should trust them with your money. Buying anything is a calculated risk: you want to minimise that risk.

How to Check Feedback Ratings.

On each item's description page, there is a box in the top-right hand corner about the seller, with the title 'Seller information'. This contains the seller's name, their feedback score, and their positive feedback percentage, as well as any stars they have earned.

Different coloured stars are given to eBay sellers depending on their rating, in this sequence: yellow, blue, turquoise, purple, red, green, shooting yellow, shooting turquoise, shooting purple, shooting red. Anyone with a 'shooting' star is an experienced eBay member who you should be able to trust.

If you click on the seller's name, you can get to a more detailed view of their reputation - their 'member profile' page. This page shows the total number of people who gave them a positive or negative rating, as well as a breakdown by time. You can also see a complete history of all the comments that have ever been left about them, with the most recent first.

What to Look For.

You might assume that anyone with a very high number can be trusted, but that isn't always true. It is more important to look at their positive feedback percentage - and you should really consider anything below 99% to be a red flag and investigate further.

Take a look through the first visible page with the most recent transactions: are there any negative comments? What do they say? Take others' experiences into account, as they could happen to you if you deal with this person. Be careful not to punish sellers unfairly, however, if they did bad things in their past on eBay but have improved since. You should look at the breakdown by time and ignore any negative feedback that was left a long time ago. Equally, though, you should sit up and pay attention if a seller seems to have been left an out-of-character amount of bad feedback in the last month or so.

Now that you know who to trust, it is worth learning a little more about how the different kinds of auctions work, so that you don't accidentally slip up and make yourself and your feedback page look bad. Our next email will be about the different kinds of auctions you can expect to encounter during your time on eBay.

The top 10 reasons why auctions fail on eBay

Author: Paul Duxbury

Are you finding that auction after auction fails to attract any bidders or buyers? It happens to the best of us sometimes - take a good look at these things to see if any of them could be making your bidders avoid you.

The starting price was too high: People don't want to have to make a high bid before anyone else has - you should always start your auctions low and let the bidders bid them up.

The fixed price is too high: If you're just selling with Buy it Now, then of course your items won't sell if they're too expensive. Try reducing the price a little each time the item fails to sell.

No picture: Most buyers are reluctant to bid on something without a picture, and that goes even more for high-value items. Think of it from the buyer's point-of-view: would you want to bid on an item when you've no idea what it looks like?

You had a reserve: Reserve prices scare away buyers like you wouldn't believe, not to mention costing a percentage of your final sale price. Avoid them like the plague.

Bad spelling and grammar: If your titles are spelt wrongly, then no-one will find your auctions. If your descriptions are incoherent, then no-one will know what you're talking about. Always run your text through a spelling and grammar checker before you put it up on eBay.

Too much for shipping: You might be expecting people to pay more for shipping than they're prepared to. Give them a few cheaper options that will take longer, or use cheaper materials.

Negative feedback: If you got negative feedback on your last transaction, expect things to be slow for a while. Try selling cheap things for a while to get your account back in good standing.

Nasty terms: Don't write things all over your auction like ""I will only accept returns in PERFECT condition"" or ""Serious bidders only, no timewasters!!"" This is entirely unnecessary and just makes you look difficult to deal with.

No PayPal: Many buyers simply avoid any seller who doesn't accept PayPal as a payment method - they can't be bothered with the hassle of anything else. Even if you don't like PayPal, you should accept it if you want to business on eBay.

The items were bad. You will have to accept that there are some items no-one wants - perhaps they were hyped to begin with, but now people had heard that they're useless and stopped buying. Before you come to this conclusion, though, check everything else you can, and check if anyone else is managing to sell it. If you're sure, try to return the items, and buy in some new stock.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Tips For Managing Multiple Ebay Auctions.

Author: Kirsten Hawkins

It can be very time-consuming to keep your auctions ticking along, especially if you have hundreds listed at a time. Don't despair, though: there are a few things you can do to take the weight off you.

Use My eBay.

If you want a broad overview of where you are with your auctions, make sure you pay a visit to My eBay occasionally instead of just relying on emails. With my eBay, you can see all your auctions in a big table, and sort by things like the number of bids and the current price. If you want to see which of your auctions currently has no bids, then you can do that.

One of the most useful things about My eBay, though, is the 'Summary' view. If you're not sure what you should be doing next, then this acts effectively as an eBay to-do list: anything you need to be doing will end up here.

Use Selling Manager.

If you're willing to pay the fee of $4.99 per month, you can sign up for Selling Manager, which is a more effective version of the My eBay 'Selling' view. It lets you customise your view more effectively to see the information that's important to you, see useful snapshots of how things are going, make automated responses to your buyers using email templates, and more.

Selling Manager Pro gives you more features: it keeps track of inventory for you, and lets you relist items in bulk. It will even produce a monthly profit and loss report to help you keep track of the big picture. Unfortunately, it costs $15.99 per month.

Use a Listing Tool.

Even though they're called listing tools, much of the software out there lets you manage what you're doing long after it's been listed, with all the features of Selling Manager and sometimes a few more besides. This programs also often have the advantage of being programs instead of websites, meaning they're faster to respond and can do more sophisticated analysis.

Remember the 'Relist' Button.

After your auctions end each time, there's an easy way to put the exact same thing back again: the 'Relist' button. You can Relist items quickly and easily this way, as long as you don't want to change in the listing.

Pay Someone!

Here's something you might not have considered: if you're listing so many expensive items that even automated selling tools take too long to use, then have you considered paying someone to help out, as an employee? After all, you wouldn't try to staff a shop full-time on your own, would you? If you already run a business, you could even give the responsibility to someone who works for you there. Freeing up your own time to do something else might pay off for you in the long run.

When you're managing so many auctions, sooner or later you might need to cancel one of them early. The next email will let you know when and how you can do it.

The Hidden Costs Of Selling On Ebay

Author: Dave Bromley

There is little doubt that given the potential audience advertising on eBay can be very cost effective. Compared to other forms of advertising it is relatively inexpensive. However, many eBay users rarely bother to work out exactly what it is costing them to make a sale.

There are the obvious costs such as the listing, enhancements and final value fees. Also you have to add the charges made by Paypal if that is the option of payment chosen by the buyer. But then you should really also consider what I call the invisible costs. Let me explain, if for instance you buy many of the items that you sell from Flea markets and garage sales what value do you place on your time going to such events and don't forget any travel expenses to get there.

Once you have got your items home you will need more time to research, photograph and list your purchases. Now add the time you spend packaging the items after sale and standing in line to post them. You could easily find that each sale you make on eBay could take an hour or more of your time.

If you really want to know how much time you spend on your eBay business you need to keep a detailed diary for a few weeks. Record the time when you leave your home on ""eBay business"" and when you return. Add any expenses other than the cost of any items you buy to sell on eBay. Once you are home log any time you spend listing, photographing and packing items.

Do this for a few weeks and this will give you a good idea of the non costed time you spend on your ebay business in an average week. Next decide what you think your time is worth $10, $20 or $50 an hour, this figure is entirely up to you and represents what you would expect to be paid for an hours work by someone else.

You can then work out how many items you sell a week on average. So your figures might look something like this. Average hours per week 6 at $20 an hour, average number of items sold per week 30. This would mean your time is worth $120 a week to you and if you sell 30 items it has cost you $4 of time per item.

So to work out your true profit on any item you need to add not only the cost of the item but also the other costs. eBay, the Paypal and shipping fees and your time costs. You will now be able to calculate what profit or lose you made on the sale. You should also include something to cover those ""mistakes"" that we all buy that disprove the theory that you can sell anything on eBay. After that you will be able to calculate the true profit that you are making from your ebay business.

I am not knocking eBay, quite the contrary; I think it is one of the best methods for anyone to build a successful online business. The point is that if you are to make real profits on eBay it is important to make sure that you use your time to best advantage. This can mean getting software to speed up some tasks and possibly reviewing how and where you buy the items you sell through eBay.

About the author: Dave Bromley is a writer and internet marketer who specialises in subjects related to ebay and online auctions. You can subscribe tio his newsleter and 6 part mini e course by visiting his information packed web site at http:http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk

The Five Things You Must Do Before Buying On Ebay

Author: Ian D. Major

As a consumer, you will find many great deals on items that you want and need through eBay auctions. Many people visit eBay on a daily basis looking for auctions for items that they may be interested in - simply because eBay auctions are so much fun!

However, before you start buying on eBay, there are some steps that you need to take. Here are five things you must do before buying on eBay.

1. You can't buy anything without registering first.

Registration is free and only takes a few minutes. You will be asked for credit card information, and this is required before you will be able to bid on auctions. Your email address must be confirmed before your account will become active, so make sure that you use the correct email address.

You will be given the option to sign up for a Paypal account, if you don't already have one, and you should strongly consider doing so. Signing up with Paypal is free, and many auctions will require you to have a Paypal account.

2. Once you have completed the registration process, you are ready to start bidding on auctions.

However, don't jump in right away. Navigate around the site a bit, and get a feel for things first. Some unscrupulous sellers try to take advantage of new eBay users, and you must be wary of them.

Start by searching for the items that you are interested in. Using the category list, click on the categories that you feel that you are interested in, and start looking at the open auctions in those categories. You should find the items that you are looking for quite easily.

3. Once you have found items that you want to bid on add the auction to your favorites - but don't place your bid just yet.

Instead, go find old auctions for similar items. See how much those items sold for so that you know how high to bid. Research the item as best as you can. Determine what the item would cost if it were brand new, and what you should bid now on the used item, in the condition that it is in.

4. Learn more about the seller.

Remember, not everyone is honest. Avoid buying from sellers who have low reputations. The reputation system at eBay is an important tool for buyers. This will enable you to determine whether or not you can trust the person that you are buying from.

Read their feedback page. Read the seller's 'About Me' page. Get to know who you are dealing with a little bit better by communicating with the seller about the auction.

5. Place your bid.

Once you know what item you want and how much you should bid on it, you are ready to place your bid.

There are two ways you can do this. Some sellers take bids on their auctions, with the item going to the highest bidder. Others choose to use the 'Buy Now' feature, which means that they have a set reserve price that you must meet - but you are not in competition with other bidders. This is a typical option that sellers use when they have multiple identical items to sell, or when they sell brand new items on eBay using drop shippers.

If you are entering into an open live auction - where bids are placed and the highest bidder wins - you will need to watch the auction closely to ensure that you keep raising your bid to win the item. Just make sure that you don't end up winning by paying way too much - unless it is a unique item that won't be found elsewhere!

About the author: Ian D. Major makes it easy to understand and use eBay, quickly and easily. Learn all you need to know by visiting

http://www.ebay-articles.com

Friday, November 24, 2006

Beware: The Dangers of Selling on eBay 101

Author: Brad Eden

It's obvious that eBay provides internet users with an online flea market where buyers and sellers from around the world meet to conduct trade.

However, like most traders who are faced with an innovation of this sort, the first question will always be: It is safe?

The answer is yes, but devious scammers seem to be plotting daily to forward their dastardly schemes and take advantage of eBay's power.

So, what is the user's recourse? The users of eBay must learn to gather information and take meticulous care in dealing on eBay. Only then can they be less gullible to scammers.

A common consensus is that bidders are often scammed by sellers. But it is possible for things to be the other way around.

Here is a list of the common problems sellers encounter and the means to handle them.

Fake Escrow Services

A winning bidder may request that an escrow service be used to assure both parties of a fair transaction. Unfortunately, the seller is sometimes duped into using a fake escrow system.

To avoid this situation, the seller must always verify the authenticity of an escrow service. eBay recommends the use of escrow.com. If the bidder insists on his or her escrow service, chances are, that person is a scammer.

Victims of this fraud find it difficult to reclaim their items. They may, however, appeal to the legal system afforded by the state they live in. They must also contact eBay regarding the matter for any assistance they may be willing to offer.

Deadbeat Bidders

Deadbeat bidders (a winning bidder who doesn't pay for an item at the auction's close) are more common on eBay. If the winner of your auction does not pay, you may leave that person a negative feedback.

As for the listing fees the seller shells out, eBay lays out a four step procedure that sellers can use to potentially recover lost selling fees. If sellers complete the process to eBay's satisfaction, they will receive a Final Value Fee credit and a re-list credit. Filing out an Unpaid Item dispute is the first step toward eBay reimbursing such fees. A person can report an unpaid item up to 45 days after an auction's close.

Trade Dispute

This occurs when the seller and bidder disagree on some terms of the sale. This may also happen if there is a purported violation of any of these agreements.

If communication between both parties does not help, they may consider availing of a third-party dispute resolution outfit to help. SquareTrade.com is one of these outfits that eBay recommends.

An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure

A seller's life may be made terrible because of the constant scamming attacks unscrupulous individuals undertake. But, with proper information and care, he or she can continue trading on eBay with relative safety.

Payment Methods on eBay

Gone are the days when only cash (or cattle in some cases) was the only accepted mode of payment for trades. As the concept of trading evolved, so did the means of paying for items.

Today's electronic world pushes the envelop further. With the advent of online trading systems such as eBay, many new forms of payment have flourished.

First of all, on eBay, the mode of payment depends on the agreement between the buyer and the seller. Most often, the seller will specify his or her desired payment method. In these cases, the seller often has primacy in the decisions regarding payment modes. However, the buyer may still communicate with the seller regarding a viable alternative if it suits both parties.

The following is a list of common eBay payment modes.

Cash On Delivery

Cash is, after all, still cash. This payment method can be done through a third party courier system or by the buyer and seller meeting each other at an agreed place. The advantage of a cash transaction is that the exchange of the item for payment is done in the presence of the buyer and the seller (or the seller's representative). However, some people will not accept the risk present when two strangers meet.

Personal Check

One popular method of payment is personal check. Writing checks is easy and safe. However, many sellers do not like accepting check because they are easy to cancel.

PayPal

PayPal is the payment of choice on eBay. In fact, eBay owns PayPal.

Using PayPal is easy, convenient, and relatively safe. PayPal acts as like an internet 'wire transfer.'

After signing-up for PayPal, one may send cash to anyone with an email address using the PayPal system. PayPal also has security features that safeguard against fraud in case there is a dispute between the seller and the buyer. This system is best for transactions up to $1000.

Escrow.com

Escrow.com is the payment of choice for purchases over $500. Escrow.com holds the buyer's money from the seller until the seller delivers the item. Only then will the funds be released to the seller. This system makes for a very safe, although highly procedural transaction.

Wire Transfer

This is the payment of choice for countries that do not carry the PayPal service. Wire transfers are risky because the buyer usually has to wire over the funds before the seller sends the items. The chance for non-delivery of items is high.

Other Payment Systems

The number of third party payment services is steadily on the rise. Their systems for payment vary. However, to be successful they must be convenient to use and safe as well.

About the author: Brad Eden is a Entrepreneurial Sciences expert with 14 years of industry experience in real estate, marketing and technical communication. He currently consults with IBM in CA. Brad owns & operates a free traffic resource for entrepreneurs. http://www.americanfreetraffic.com

How you can Obtain Life-long Customers from eBay

Author: Partha Mitra

How do you do this?

It's as simple as creating a newsletter you can offer along with your eBay ® listings.

In this article I'm going to briefly cover how you can use a newsletter to do the following:

Turn Your eBay Browsers Into Customers Turn eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers This article will be a two part lesson. Watch for my next article (lesson) covering the basics of creating an effective newsletter. It can be very simple to create a newsletter following a few easy steps!

1.Turn Your eBay Browsers Into Customers

Remember that although your initial goal is to turn your eBay ® ""browsers"" into buyers, you can't stop there. Many eBay ® sellers assume if they don't have something the ""browser"" is looking for, then they aren't going to sell anything to that person at all. But, that is far from the truth.

You've already overcome the most difficult part, which is getting the ""browser"" to your listings. The important part is to make sure each visit counts. You have to make sure that once you get a visitor to one of your listings, they don't leave until you have tried everything possible to get their contact information such as name and email, to try and convert them to a future customer.

Let's say you sell home décor products and someone visits your listings while looking for a particular window treatment. The visitor views the auction they were led to and also visits your ""other listed items."" This particular visitor doesn't find what the item he/she is looking for. So, he/she leaves your auctions and you never have the chance to do business with this person, right? Wrong!

It would be very simple to invite each visitor to your About Me page, with something like, ""Click here to visit my About Me page and receive free, weekly tips to help you redecorate your home like a professional designer for half the cost.""

Once the visitor reaches your About Me page, you can provide them with simple instructions on how they can receive your weekly newsletter for free to get the tips they are looking for.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

It is and, in just minutes, you can have this set up and will be collecting valuable names and email addresses.

2. Turning eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers

This is so easy, but SO overlooked in the eBay ® industry. If eBay ® is your business, than you have to treat it as such. Like any ""typical"" business, you try to do your best in every aspect of the sale to ensure your customer will return. However, online it is so easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Once you pick up a customer, you need to be sure to stay in contact with that customer so there is no doubt in your mind that, if they return to eBay ® to purchase something, they will come to you first.

There are auction programs such as Vendio that offer great customer management software. You can easily include a ""join my mailing list"" link to all of your post-sale emails. Remember, once you sell to an eBay customer, they are your customer so you're allowed to email them off eBay ®.

You want to present them with an offer such as, ""Join my monthly newsletter and receive updates on my product line including notification of newly listed items, and member discounts.""

Doing this allows you to stay in touch with your past customers to keep you fresh in their minds. And it also gives you the opportunity to invite them to your auction listings on a regular basis. But, remember you have to treat your customers well. You have to provide them with good offers so they appreciate you and want to return.

Whether you obtain the names and emails of those who are visiting your auctions, or those who have bought from you, collecting the information of those who are in the market for your type of product is absolutely priceless.

If they are on eBay ® to purchase a product ""like"" the products you offer, they are more than likely going to purchase this type of product again in the near future. If you offer them sound information and special discounts, as well as keep in touch with them, chances are they will come to you first for their next purchase.

About the author: Janiece Smith is the author of Internet's top-selling eBook teaching everyday people how to make their own small fortune selling on eBay®. Discover The Secrets Janiece Smith Used To Earn Up To $11,212 Per Month Selling On eBay. Her New eBook allows you to easily and quickly apply the author's secrets of finding and selling products on eBay® to create huge amounts of instant profits! For more details see http://ebay.dotpacket.net

Bargain Vacations: Your Dream Getaway on EBay

Author: By: George W. Cannata

Do you want to get away from the stress of daily life for a few days but do not think you have the money to do it? Think again. eBay, the largest and most popular worldwide trading website, now offers people the opportunity to purchase vacation packages online at bargain prices.

Stay at a bed & breakfast, a hotel, or rent a house or condo. Purchase a trip to visit the sunny beaches of Florida, the tall mountains of Colorado, or the tropical islands of Hawaii. The possibilities are endless on eBay and chances are that if you have a destination in mind, you will be able to surf the website and find bargain prices for your vacation.

The travel section of eBay offers six sub-categories for vacation seekers to browse through. The airline section features airline tickets that people can either bid on or buy now. The section also includes flight-related items such as passport holders and other items for sale. The section offering cruises is where you will find vacation cruises listed for sale. Take a seven-day cruise to the Bahamas or jump on a boat for five days in the Caribbean. A cruise is a great way to kick back and relax in paradise.

The lodging section is where you will find the greatest variety of vacation destinations for sale. Currently there are 310 listings in the lodging section from everything to a condo for rent in Las Vegas to a four-night stay at a resort in Montego Bay. The highest priced vacation listed was a time share at a luxury resort in Scottdale, Arizona priced at $4,800. From there prices got considerably lower with only about ten other auctions priced at over $1,000. The bargains were extremely evident. A buyer could purchase a four night stay in Tampa, Florida for just $125 - it does not get much cheaper than that.

The luggage section typically has the most auctions and sales listed of all the sub-categories in the travel section. The luggage section is where you will find great deals on luggage to take with you on your bargain eBay vacation. Travel in style to your vacation destination with brand new luggage. The vacation package section features bargain packages for your vacation. Instead of only offering lodging, the auctions in the vacation package section typically offer all-inclusive vacations, usually at resorts or on cruise liners. The final sub-category in the travel section of eBay is the ""other"" travel section. Here you will find all other auctions that have to do with travel but do not fit into the usual travel categories. Some auctions in this section include coupon books, rental car vouchers, and other travel gear.

eBay auctions typically last for seven days but can be arranged for shorter amounts of time such as three days or five days. When you open an auction, it will let you know what day and time the auction ends and it will also provide you with a detailed description of everything the auction includes. If you choose to bid on the auction and you do not have an eBay account you will need to open an account. It is free to open an eBay account and once you open yours, you can bid on any auction you wish.

When placing a bid, the website will tell you the current price and what the next possible minimum bid is. Once you enter your bid, you will either become the highest bidder or you will be outbid by a previous bidder whose maximum bid was higher than yours. If you are the highest bidder at the end of the auction, the vacation becomes yours to enjoy. Buy It Now auctions on eBay allow you to make a purchase right away, rather than wait for an auction to end. The seller lists a set price that you can buy the vacation for at the current time. This method is more like a standard sale of an item, rather than a bidding auction.

For people interested in bargain vacations, take the time to browse through the travel eBay section. For those who have never used the World's Largest Online Marketplace, you will most likely be pleasantly surprised with what you find on eBay. By: George W. Cannata, author and publisher of the web site http://www.caveatemptorus.com

You may copy this article in it's entirety so long as you include credit to the author and links to my web site.

About the author: By: George W. Cannata, author and publisher of the web site www.caveatemptorus.com

You may copy this article in it's entirety so long as you include credit to the author and links to my web site.

Paying for Items with eBay Coupons

Author: Dechen Lau

There's a novel idea afoot nowadays: Using electronic discount coupons to pay for items people are interested in purchasing.

This only goes to show that most good marketing ideas can be adopted for the internet. Instead of cutting coupons out from newspapers or carton boxes, eBay gives out electronic copies of coupons to purchase merchandise. The coupons are fast and easy to use.

Coupons are routinely sent by eBay to members who then use them to pay for items through PayPal. The coupons signify specific discounts that can be applied to the purchase of items.

Using Coupons

To use an eBay Coupon one must buy an item where the seller accepts PayPal as a payment method. Upon payment of the item using PayPal, an opportunity will be given to the buyer to enter a coupon redemption code and receive the discount.

Sharing Coupons

Some coupons from eBay can be shared with other people while some can only be used by the owner. If the coupon indicates that only a specific email address may use the coupon, it may not be shared.

Coupons and Your eBay and PayPal Accounts

To use the coupons the owner must have a PayPay and an eBay account. If the owner does not have these accounts, he or she must sign up for them to avail of the discounts. PayPal lets you pay securely over the Internet using a credit card, checking account, or a PayPal account balance.

Important Restrictions

Upon winning an eBay auction, the bidder is required to purchase the item even if the coupons they are holding turn out to be invalid for the auction.

Also, coupons can only be used one-at-a-time. This means that Gift Certificates, single coupons, or eBay Anything Points are valid for only one auction and only one type can be used each time.

One more restriction is that the coupons cannot be used for Half.com purchases.

Items must also meet all coupon requirements and must be paid for in ten days from the closing of the auction on eBay.

Coupons have expiry dates. Coupon holders should take note of the expiry dates noted on the coupons.

Sellers may also configure their listings to accept coupons. To accomplish this, the seller must accept PayPal as a payment mode. If a coupon is used in the purchase of one of the seller's items, the value of the coupon is forwarded to the seller as it's equivalent in regular currency.

About the author: ----------------------------------------------------- Dechen Lau., is an Author, Speaker and Consultant, specializing in Internet Marketing and Website Solution. http://www.ezinenewsletter.com

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Top Ebay Business Secrets Revealed

Author: Jason James

Ten million-let me say that number again-over ten million people visited the Ebay website last month. With everything from online auctions to drop shipping opportunities, the Ebay business website has something for everyone. If you are thinking about joining in on the hysteria and trying to make your fortune with an Ebay business of your own, here are some of the best things you can do to maximize your chances for success.

Do Your Homework

To begin with, you want to know as much as possible about the items you plan on offering on the Ebay auctions. This not only helps you create more interesting descriptions, but it also helps when trying to answer the barrage of questions that inevitably fly at you from potential buyers. The more knowledgeable you appear, the more likely you are to make a sale!

You also need to know if there is actually a market out there for what you are planning to sell. While you might occasionally hear about some off-the-wall item commanding big money at auction, these are the exceptions and not something to base your Ebay business upon. Run a search on the item and see how many items for that keyword come up to get an idea about your potential market. Chances of success are poor if no one else is selling a similar item.

Keywords and Descriptions Will Make or Break You

People find their way to Ebay auctions by using keywords to find the items they want. Your listing will use keywords to draw people in to bid on your item. If you try employing a keyword that no one uses, then who will come to bid on your item?

There are websites out there that will allow you to type in a keyword and see how many people used that keyword in the past month. These sites are free and a great way to test the keyword you intend to use. Just go to any search engine and type in ""free keyword selector tool"" and a number of sites will come up offering help finding the perfect keyword to attract people to bid on your item.

Once you have the people coming in to look at your item you are going to need a great description in order to get them to actually bid. If you are not the best writer but are serious about succeeding with your Ebay business, you may want to consider hiring a freelance writer to compose stunning descriptions that will awe people into bidding on your item. But, by doing your homework, it is usually possible to write a great description simply by being knowledgeable about the item and simply conveying some of that knowledge in your description.

Post Items During ""Hot Periods""

Anyone serious about succeeding with their Ebay business needs to know when to post items and when to hold onto them. Online auctions offering leather jackets in July may solicit a few bids but they will obviously be lower than they would be had the item been posted in late fall or early winter. If you have an odd item and are not sure what the best time would be to post it on Ebay auctions, try searching for the item on the Internet. Find out what the current buzz is or whether there is any for your item. Also, try finding other sellers on the Ebay business site offering the same item. If you find a lot of people selling the same item now, then clearly it is a good time to post. Timing can really make a difference in the final price you receive for your item.

Now there are of course other things you need to do if you want your Ebay business to succeed such as: post the item in the right category, make buying easy by offering a number of payment options, and keeping your shipping costs to a minimum. All of these are essentials to a successful Ebay business but are not likely to have the same effect upon your chances of success like the other ideas mentioned earlier.

There is no doubt that Ebay auctions are a great way to make some serious money. By doing your homework, using the right keywords and descriptions, and by posting during the hot periods for your items, you significantly increase the odds of your Ebay business succeeding and making all of your financial dreams a reality. So what are you waiting for? Start doing your homework now!

About the author: Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website ""The Auction Resource Network"" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him earn over $10,000 per month on eBay.

Claim your FREE 14 Day ""Learn How to Sell on eBay"" e-Course Here: http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

The Center for EBay Education and Training

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Using The Ebay Anything Points Program.

Ebay Description Writing Tips.

Tips And Tricks For Using Ebay Search

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Five Simple steps to your first eBay sale!

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

How to sell more on eBay by studying your competitors

You Sell On eBay And You Don't Have Your Own Website? Are You Crazy?

10 Tips For Selling On eBay

Understanding Ebay's VeRO Program.

Monday, November 27, 2006

An eBay Seller's Checklist for Success

5 Simple Steps to Posting Your First eBay Auction

How To Turn Ebay Bidders Into Long-Term Customers.

eBay auction pricing strategies that really work!

The 5 Mistakes That Can Lose You Money On Ebay

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Design Tips For Ebay Templates.

How To Check An Ebay Seller's Reputation (And Why You Should Do It).

The top 10 reasons why auctions fail on eBay

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Tips For Managing Multiple Ebay Auctions.

The Hidden Costs Of Selling On Ebay

The Five Things You Must Do Before Buying On Ebay

Friday, November 24, 2006

Beware: The Dangers of Selling on eBay 101

How you can Obtain Life-long Customers from eBay

Bargain Vacations: Your Dream Getaway on EBay

Paying for Items with eBay Coupons

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Top Ebay Business Secrets Revealed

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