WHATEVEReBay.com

eBay funnies :)

Busy week for eBay. They announced the following and I am providing to you only the highlights for your entertainment:

·         eBay changes fixed price for media related listings

·         BIN’s price increase and now will run 30 days

·         Bans Check and Money Orders

·         FVF may increase up to 12% (Amazon charges you 15% and no listing Fees)

·         eBay/Paypal still in battle in Australia for not allowing other forms of payment

·         Troubles with consumers  - “Ripped-off consumers furious at PayPal”

o   eBay’s decision to only extend refunds to customers of a failed eBay seller as a “courtesy” demonstrates that the ‘PayPal guarantee’ is far from rock solid.  Details at http://apcmag.com/Content.aspx?id=2827

 

You may want to listen in today to their live Town-Hall Meeting.

Friday, August 22nd, 2008 from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pacific time  - For details visit  www.ebay.com/townhall to join the event or for more information

 

Note: With all the changes eBay is making to catch up to Amazon; really…why don’t they just sell eBay all together. If the current sellers wanted or liked the Amazon platform; they would be there already. Amazon runs a tight ship and they are known for this. They offer you as a seller better customer service and a knowledgeable staff. If you want to sell on their site; be prepared to accept all their Terms & Conditions. Due to Amazon running such a tight ship, I enjoy selling on Amazon. Amazon will again, place restrictions on certain categories for safety. They do this every year to help reduce any possible Holiday Fraud.

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what to sell and where to find it

With the busiest shopping season of the year here; you have no time to waste.

What to sell is a very personal. Its just like an artist; you must have a passion for it and be willing to put in those long hours.

Where to find items:

New

Location, Location and Location.  Are you willing to pay for Freight fees? Depending on what you want to sell; it may not be practical for you to have items shipped to you. The expense and the headaches with damages; whether concealed or damaged during transit.

 

For new product check your Local MarketPlace. I like to attend all sorts of shows, from Fashion to Electronics.

 

·         Google your favorite brand and find out what Trade Shows they attend.

·         Chamber of Commerce – ask for a link or fax of Manufacturers in your area

·         Trade Magazines

·         Convention Centers

·         Alibaba – this site is a great source for importing anything from all over Asia, South America and other Eastern Countries – This will require a structure plan as you will have to deal with Customs

·         Trade Shows – attend Bridal Shows, Car Shows, Home & Garden and so on. These are great places to obtain Free reading material and guides to the sources available to you

·         Team up with a local store in your area. You can help each other out.

 

 

 

 

Used

 

·         Start with your Garage  - Always check there first.

·         Garage sales are a good place to find rare items. You would be surprised how many items are being sold for pennies; when you can sell it for hundreds? I found a rare book once, I was so excited; No I did not sell it.

·         Check the classifieds for Going Out of Business Sales – make them an offer

·         Shop Craigslist for stuff people do not want and even the Free section

·         Contact your local City – They usually get rid of old furniture and machinery; ask if they have a department that would handle the sale or donations of the items

·         Demolition Companies – That’s right – They have the list of buildings that will need to be evacuated and the can supply to you the information. These projects usually have money set aside to have other companies haul out the furnishings etc…. You can pull-out, doors, windows etc…..

·         Antique Stores – Now, they are in business (most) because they know the value of the items. Check in though, you may get lucky.  

·         Salvation Army – My suggestion for the Salvation Army or Goodwill stores is shop to the ones closer the higher income areas. You have a better chance of finding some designer names. Now, any of these stores you will have a good change of also finding those priceless items.

 

Seasonal

Now would be late to start shopping for those deals. However, you can start this season for next year. Shop the day after Christmas and New Years. The department stores will have all the left over décor on sale!! Yeah! Some for you and some for sale. Get the idea???

 

Next… we will talk about selling on other sites …. And provide you with the latest eBbay News.   We will call it from now on eBay Funnies!  J

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The Secret Law of attraction Stay positive

Stay positive ……….. You can have and achieve all you want. This is a great video to watch or just listen too.  Pass it along. Create your own video and share it. I will be creating my own videos and posting them on YouTube and here. Smile

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get free traffic to your website or blog

 So here is how I generate a substantial amount of traffic.

1)      Blog – Blogs are the OMG I cannot believe you do not have one! J Seriously…  

The advantages of having your blog is the exposure and support out there for you. So many bloggers are blogging for money and its more personal than an Advertisement. You are in a community of peers and the support is incredible. You can talk freely about your handmade items or general items you offer. Get the word out: You are a Serious Seller.

Also, when experienced buyers are Googling you; they will stumble upon your Blog and know you have a passion for what you do. (I have a story to tell you about a Power Seller who lost it all due to Bad Customer Service; in fact I have several)

I had to build my support back in the say with College peers. Not bad, but we were are learning….. and I still am.  J

 

 2)      Video – I have so many favorite people on YouTube that are now Celebrities (on YouTube)…. They got in front of the camera and told it as it is.

My all time favorite is http://www.bebo.com/LaurenL8312 - you can also find her on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/panacea81 . She sells on eBay, boosted her sales on eBay by offering tutorials on 7/22/07. This took her further than she could ever imagine. She is famous around the world, has appeared on the BBC and has millions of viewers. Her blog above needs some work. All I have suggested to her is to Monetize it.  Place other ads/affiliates to generate income.

Now, back to the Video! Lauren generates sales by demonstrating her product on herself online. Not all of us can do this. Most of the items I sell must be assembled etc…

(Note, I have two small kids and they review …..that’s right….they review Toys, Sports Stuff, Books  and Video Games and Educational PC games.  Of course, they do this when they are inspired too; but they like it. )

I do attend markets and have a showroom I created in my home for videos.

No matter what you are selling or doing online; your benefits from placing video on your site, blog or auction templates are enormous that you should not pass up. 

Video allows you to really get close and personal with your viewers or buyers. You are not just a website or blog; you are now HUMAN!!  J You are serious and responsible for the success of your business.

(If you do not have a business location; I insist you have a PO Box or Executive Office for all your transactions…I will elaborate later on..)

 

 3)      Social Networks – The other OMG!  As I explained about the Blog. Social Network has revolutionized the internet. You can network with people around the work in all walks of life. You can gain much traffic and create your own Community. A community where you are the expert of anything. You can join all the Social Networks, increase traffic and improve your Alexa.com rating. You will be having fun. Not kidding……. Think about it. You are working for yourself, your hours, your location…. You are generating the income you decide you want. Its all about YOU! You are asking for what you want….The tools are available to you at NO COST.

 

 The most important thing about the above is they are all available to you for FREE!!! Not kidding!!!  You will find many Blogging sites and Video  offering all the services Free of Charge. I do recommend Word Press. As for Social Sites there are Endless of them. I suggest you subscribe to at least 10. J

 

 

 

 

 

 

……………………Coming up…. Tutorials ….Oh yeah…and Video!!!  ….

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Driving Traffic | Comment (0)

drive free traffic to your website using ebay!

 

This is a very easy process if you are currently selling on eBay.

On eBay you are identified by your (Seller) User ID or Store Name. Most sellers have both. Make sure your eBay user ID and eBay store is the same.  You want to be able to hint to all potential buyers to visit your website. Your About Me page on eBay can reference your email address.

Use your email address associated with your website.  HINT Hint

Now; get involved in the eBay Community page. You can many other ways of making yourself searchable both on eBay and on the search engines.

·         Write reviews or guides.  Go to http://reviews.ebay.com/

·         Create a Blog on ebay. Rave about your favorite or top seller. Do not list your website address. That is not allowed.  Let others know that you are actively selling on eBay and offer a link to your eBay listings. Go to  http://blogs.ebay.com/

·         Join every forum eBay provides to gain more popularity. Now is the best time to get started. The shopping season is approaching and you want to be able to drive all this traffic on and off ebay.

Go to >>>

·         http://myworld.ebay.com/

·         http://neighborhoods.ebay.com/

·         http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html

·         http://groups.ebay.com/groups/Ebay-Groups/1

·         http://pages.ebay.com/community/answercenter/index.html

·         http://pages.ebay.com/community/chat/index.html

 

All you need to do is:

1)      Talk about the items you want to feature.

2)      Take a Poll or ask for the communities input and provide your EMAIL address for contact

3)      Images are Great. Google picks up on them. Put some fun images all to reference your User ID name

4)      All your ID’s on ebay should be your Website name

5)      Offer internal links to your ebay listings

***Note:  DO NOT OFFER ANY LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE directly. AS EBAY WILL REMOVE YOUR LISTING OR SUSPEND YOU FROM EBAY.

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Creating a Listing and Title to drive traffic

Heading   - Increase your Chances to Appear on First Search Page

With eBay making changes you now  must make each heading unique to get on the First Page of searches.  

It does not benefit you to list the same or similar item more than 10 times on eBay. Instead add quantity to the listing. This will allow you to keep the listing up in the event of purchase. Of course, this does not apply to Auction only to Buy it Now (BIN).

You have only 55 Characters for the Heading (title)

·         If you are listing more than one or similar item; you should prepare several options for your heading. Check what you competition is doing or go directly to the vendors site or catalog and get some ideas.

·         You want each heading to differ in order to get more exposure on the searches.

 

Your listing Template should contain the following information:

Description – Now that you have grabbed the buyers attention you should not overwhelm them or  provide information that may confuse them. Any buyer feeling misled will result in a charge back/bad review and a very unhappy experience for both. What is clear to you is NOT always clear to the buyer.

·         Identify the item

·         New or Old

·         Features

·         Included

·         Measurements

Payment Method –  Always provide options to your buyers and be very clear what methods you accept and where to send it to. 

·         Paypal address  example:  payme@mystore.com  

·         Accepting Money Orders – Provide Mailing address/Payable to / Request Print out of Wining Notification

·         If you have your own merchant account – Get it approved through ebay 1^st. For your merchant account payment you can sign up at www.auctioncheckout.com for the Checkout buttons.  This is good when you are not using any Auction Management Companies

 

Contact – All buyer feel better what they can communicate directly to the seller. It provides reassurance you are human and will be responsible to them for their order. Do not list hours of service if you have no intention  to  honor them. This is very frustrating to the buyers. Also, you may be able to convert this sale in an in-house sale vs. pay ebay any Final Value fees. This is where you benefit from the rewards of Excellent Customer Service / Positive Feedback and eBay’s exposure.

·         Provide Toll Free Number (preferably) Dedicate a phone line just for your customers. Add additional lines as you grow.

·         Provide them with Two email address to contact you

·         If you have a website – provide them the option to Chat Live with you online

·         Provide them with a Fax Number (optional)

·         Always keep those lines of communication Open

Shipping -  Always allow yourself time for shipping. Provide an estimate time-line. Offer NO guarantees on a delivery date. Outline the following:

·         Method of Shipping

·         Cost of shipping

·         Set Fee or offer a Calculator for shipping

·         Do you provide insurance / or is there additional cost for insurance

·         Provide an Estimated time of delivery

·         Ask for full mailing/delivery address

·         Phone number in the event carrier must contact buyer

·         Ask for signature at delivery. This is to protect you from any false claims

·         Once shipped provide  a Tracking Number

Terms & Conditions – Again, provide your Policy on Method of Payment, Shipping and Contact for both buyer & seller. You however, should include:

·         Return Policy

·         Cancellation Policy

·         Restocking Fees

·         Final Sales

·         Chargeback Policy

·         Damage Policy

 

  

Auction Checkout offers you a great service even without having a website. You would be surprised how many small business owners do not have a website but do have a Merchant Account. Auction Checkout offers you all the tools you need to accept Credit Card payments safely and securely online.

 

My Top 5 Listing Tips

1.       Be very clear – Honesty is your best Policy. Only sell what you have at hand, in stock. If you drop ship; let your buyers know.

2.        Do your homework – Offer a low start bid. You can always place a reserve on the auction to ensure you get what you want

3.       Place plenty of pictures – If you are hand dandy with a Camera; upload a video of the item. Stock photos are nice, but offer the buyers actual images of the item.

4.       Provide your Contact email address on all your listings. Respond to your sellers no later than 24 hours.

5.       Take advantage of Second Chance offers. If you have more than one of the same item or if the original auction bidder fails to perform send it out.

Comedy Time Note: Do not Let this be you!

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So here we go again! eBay announced changes that will HURT your listings!

Before I provide my top 5 strategies to a great Description and Headline; we will have to discus the changes eBay has made.

It is about time sellers can offer (as you can offer in your own webstore) color and size option under one listing. Previously, eBay would force you to list the same item 5 times for each size and color. Forcing you to pay them additional listing fees. So that has now changed.

Do NOT SPAM on keywords. The common ones sellers spam on are Celebrity Names, Name Brands and TV Shows. No more. So if you list something such as “POTTERY Brown Finish Ottoman”….guess what… eBay will take it down. Clever but not allowed and not fair to Pottery Barn.

Careful with those links. I am waiting on eBay to clarify on the link factor. Before you could create an about me page and drive traffic to your website. Its was not allowed on the listing but it was on your About Me Page. You were allowed to list links to your favorite places and offer them the option to visit our site for variety or details on the items. So for now; do not do it.

For details on the eBay Policy Updates you can visit them at  http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200805191328272.html 

 

 

 

 

So it does get better. See, now ebay has made changes to “Identical Items and Finding Updates”

Search & Browse Manipulation Policy…..wait….. I gotta lol  J 

Okay,  so what’s so funny? Well, eBay announces they will no longer require you to list separate listings for the SAME SHIRT (example). You can now offer the buyer color and size options in one listing.

The twist is… that eBay is now limiting the number of listings per Seller that will appear on the first page. Of course this matters a great deal. If you have several items on auction (Buy It Now Items a whole other story) that are the “same” ; eBay will only list 10 unique listings per seller.

This is good as you it can offer the buyers more variety on the first page and offer New Sellers a chance to get on that first page.

However, if you are selling Children’s Clothing and have about 25 pieces from the SAME brand, color, gender etc…. you might use up all your 55 characters. Of course, the pieces are not the same item, they can be for a Newborn,  Toddler, color or offer accessories etc…

 Therefore, you are now going to juggle making your Headline (title) unique or risk not being listed on the front page (first page that comes up when buyers perform a search….Not eBay’s Homepage).

When it comes to your keywords, it really can hurt your sales. The holidays are coming up; how is eBay to determine identical listings; if they are not going to view each one to make that determination.

eBay will now compensate “Top Performing Sellers” any seller with a 4.7 DSR will be rewarded with additional boost in the search standings. I have to stay this is good and well deserved. This should keep sellers motivated in order to make the first page and be known for offering Great Customer Service.

Here are the additional links.

You should read this. As sellers are having a fit over “Search & Browse Manipulation Policy” . Its really the “Search” part they are having a hard time with.

http://forums.ebay.com/db1/thread.jspa?threadID=2000611551&tstart=0

 

Search and Browse Manipulation

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/search-manipulation.html

 

Announcement form John McDonald,Sr. Director of US Trust & Safety.  Handsome guy too….

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200805191328272.html

 

So, with all the changes that have just recently come in effect. I have to go back to eBay for some clarifications and search to provide you the best ways to get the most exposure for your items. Can’t emphasize enough; if you want to sell on eBay or are already selling on eBay start your plan of action NOW!  J  You will benefit so much… The holiday season is here and eBay as any  other market place is working to making everyone’s shopping experience a pleasant one. You also want to benefit from all the money eBay will be placing into advertising.

 

J Whatever………………  J

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eBay listens! Neutral Feedback will not be calculated on (DSR’s) Percentages

Whatever ebay! eBay finally announced they will be taking the neutral feedback off the percentage scale. Hello! Isn’t that what a Neutral Feedback is, in match a neutral will not count for nor against.

Of course, eBay interprets whatever it wants…right…

So, finally, a smart move.

Many sellers and small business owners complained on the Negative impact the change on the Feedback system had made. eBay made several changes at once on the feedback system causing chaos and great concern amongst sellers.

We all have heard by know, that eBay will NOT allow a Seller to leave Negative ratings for buyers. Well it also started counting the neutrals against the sellers total percentage score.

Actual story from a seller:

Started selling on eBay in April 2008. All was well, until in June a buyer left her a neutral for an item she purchased. The neutral was not bad; it simply stated the Buyer was not impressed with Post Office delivery. NO biggy right??? Well, she left a Neutral. The sellers 100% score dropped to 92.3%!!! Come on!…. Over a neutral and was not commenting on the service or quality of item; it was about the Post Office.

Well, this seller is not selling on eBay; she moved on to www.ecrater.com   Good luck to her. I do like eCrater. I will be opening a store there for case study. I have some really nice items I would like to sell.  I will let you know how my sales compare to my previous sales on ebay. Cool huh!  Yeah!!!  J

Okay, so eBay goes on to say; they will also allow the Buyer to edit feedback left. Hmmm…. I am not crazy about it. But oh well. I will be following this story; as eBay is working on another method to assist buyers and sellers after leaving a negative. Let’s hope its better than Square Trade.

Here is the link to more details on eBay for Feedback

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/feedback.html

Here is a link to eBay-ink-blog

http://ebayinkblog.com/2008/07/10/positive-news-about-neutrals-not-being-negative/

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Changes on eBay | Comment (0)

SEC Ruling over Website & Blogs

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A picture is worth a thousand words (Dollars)

 

Presentation is critical to a successful sale. I have seen many sellers be just plain lazy.

 

Do not inset any images that have been cut-out, small pixels or blurry.  This will have a tremendous impact on the buyer. At auction time you will find the seller with a higher start bid have made the sale versus the other seller with lower start bid and a very bad image.

 

Another example of a No No is when an image is too larger. You need to always keep in mind; the consumer shops online for the convenience and images are what will catch their eye.

 

Offer them: