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Establishing a Niche Market on eBay

There are a number of ways to make money on the Internet. One of those ways is using the eBay marketplace to showcase your wares. But, just because you offer products doesn’t mean the customers will be beating down your virtual door. Learn how to establish your market and bring the customers to you in order to reach your success potential with eBay.

]]> In order to bring buyers your way you must first know who your potential buyer is. You’ll need to narrow down your customer type as much as possible into what is known as a target market. You might be wondering how to do this. Keep reading to find out the answers.

What is a niche market?

Think of animals. In nature, each animal has its native habitat. Some nest on the ground, under the ground or in trees. Placing food in the right spot will attract the animals you want to see. The same goes for niche marketing online. You’ll need to strategically place your food in order to attract those hungry for it.

A niche market can be a smaller part of a larger market. As such, it is more specialized and therefore, more targeted. If 500 people live in an area, half of them probably won’t be interested in your products. That still leaves 250 people to target and make a sale. If your product sells for at least $100 each…do the math…that’s a lot of bread. So, how do you find your niche market?

Finding Your Niche Market

This will take a bit of time but once you find your market for your first product, the process will be simpler the next time around. People buy for a number of reasons. In this unstable economy, those reasons become even more important. Ask yourself what reason your product satisfies. Here are a few examples of things your product will want to do in order to keep your potential buyers attention and ultimately get them to buy from you.

• Does your product satisfy a need that must be met?
• Does it provide entertainment?
• Does it solve a problem efficiently?

If your product or for that matter, your service, does one or more of the things above, it will stand a chance amongst bidders on eBay. Now that you know you can compete, find out how many of those people who fall in your target niche are out there.

Look at similar products being sold right now on eBay. How are the auctions going? What are the winning bids? Are these people repeat buyers of other products in that same category? What time of year do the products sell the best?

All of this information can be used to see if a niche has been established on eBay. In that case, the number of bidders can help you estimate how large the niche is and if there is room for competition. If the particular niche has been exhausted, you might want to reconsider selling that specific product or possibly go about it in a different way.

Finding an untapped niche on eBay is rare, but it can be done. More than likely you can find a niche that has not been hit to its potential and establish yourself as a reputable supplier of a certain line of products. Researching a niche ahead of time saves wasted energy trying to sell something that won’t sell. On the flipside, if you take the time to do the research and find you’ve got a hot product on your hands, with some researching and testing you could very well find yourself making a nice chunk of change on eBay.

5 eBay Selling Tips

There has been a lot of nonsense written about eBay. Some experts will tell you that because eBay gives you access worldwide to offer your goods for sale it is relatively an easy way to make money. This is a misconception it is no easier to sell on eBay that anywhere else. You will need to develop a professional approach if you want to maximize your profits.

]]> The one big plus point in favour of eBay is that it is an ideal starting point for just about anyone who wants to start selling on the Internet. Everyone from teenagers, stay at home moms and silver surfers have made a success of eBay selling. So how do they do it, here are 5 tips that could help you get started. These will help you get started and get off to a good start.

1. Do market research first. Just about everything has been sold on eBay but everything you sell won’t make you money. Take a look at auction results. Some products sell in cycles. What is popular today may not be popular at this time next year. If eBay is your business, you want to bring in more money than you are putting out.

2. Set your prices carefully. Again look at auction results. What is the most competitive price? Your laptop may be worth $300 but if laptops from the same manufacturing year are selling at $250, asking for $280 won’t make you competitive. Choose a price that is lower than the top selling price and charge more for secured shipping.

3. Work on your descriptions. Even though hundreds of thousands of people shop online every day, they are still skeptical about sketchy details. Leaving out pertinent facts about your product can be a turn off for buyers. If they think you are hiding something, they’ll be reluctant to buy.

4. Read all of eBay’s policies. The last thing you want is to run afoul of the law. eBay has policies in place to protect the seller AND the buyer. Non-compliance could get you sanctioned on the site. Ignorance is not an excuse. All you need to know can be found on eBay’s website in an easy-to-read format for users.

5. Decide on all aspects of selling before listing your products. How many people have forgotten to be specific about their shipping and payment methods? Who wants to wait for the check in the mail? We all know how that scenario usually turns out. There are guidelines for disputing with non-paying auction winners but you don’t want to have to use them. The same goes for shipping. If it costs you more for shipping than you anticipated, you won’t make any money.

Are you contemplating selling items on eBay? Use these five tips to get started today. There is much more to creating a successful business on eBay, but these will definitely help you begin on the right foot.

Get a Free copy of Auction Map Success

I am sure that you have seen or heard newspaper, television and radio stories of people who have made a lot of money from selling things on eBay. It is not unusual to read about people who have gone from nothing to making heaps on money each and every week through selling items on the online auction site.
Perhaps you have even been tempted to try yourself and see if it really is as easy as it appears. The answer to that question is yes and no. You have only got to look at the number of power sellers that there are on eBay. To be a power seller means that until recently you had to be selling consistently over £750 or more a month. To be a Platinum Powerseller the turnover has to be in excess of £15,000 a month. So there is no doubt that people are reaching these levels of sales and in many much higher. This at least shows that it is possible.
Many of these powersellers had no intention of setting up a business, whether full or part time when they started. Many just wanted to get rid of few surplus items from around their homes and discovered how easy and what fun eBay selling could be. Now there are over 100,000 people who claim eBay is either their whole or primary source of income. When you think about it this is hardly surprising.
Other than selling online can you think of any other business where you do not need premises, staff or many of the other costly overheads that go with running your own business? Because of the low overheads there are many eBay sellers making a larger annual profit than many bricks and mortar businesses. It is also no exaggeration to say that many standard retail businesses have only managed to stay in business by using eBay as a secondary sales outlet.
Perhaps it would be rash to give up your job and launch an eBay business straight away. There is no reason why you cannot start on a part time basis and build your business up in your spare time. This is how many power sellers started.
You can start your business from anywhere in the world and sell a wide range of products. However, the chances of building a business that relies purely on eBay sales are not that good. There are signs that both eBay and the public are tiring of the online auction format and more and more items are being sold using the “buy it now” fixed price option. This does not mean that eBay does still offer a great opportunity for you to develop a low cost start up business.
What you should be looking to do is to start by selling items on eBay and then building on other online marketing methods to make your business grow. If you want to discover how to do this there is a free course that will show you the way.
The Map- A guide to eBay Success was created by the first Ever eBay Entrepreneur of the Year. This course Integrates Internet Marketing with eBay selling. It Is unique In that It teaches you dozens of business models you can use to earn multiple streams of income.
To get your free copy of Auction Wealth Map Click Here

Selling on eBay - Are you ready to deliver?

Having placed an item up for sale on eBay, watched the biding go up and up and finally close the excitement is over. Shortly you will receive a cheque or Paypal will let you know they have the successful bidder’s payment and it will be time for you to ship the item. This can be the most time consuming part of the whole selling process.
If you get this wrong it could lead to a request for a refund and badly affect your feedback. Here are some suggestions to help this part of the process go smoothly.

]]> Be Ready
Pack but do not seal your items before you list the item. This serves two purposes; first you can check the exact cost of shipping, either by the mail service or courier. This means you can set a fair shipping cost in your listing. If you charge it too much above the actual cost the buyer might complain and reflect this in their feedback, charge too little and you will lose money.

Know all of your costs.
There is more to the cost of shipping than just the postal of courier charges. Have you had to spend money on packaging materials? It would not be unreasonable to ad £1 to an item to cover the cost of packing materials. Does it cost you anything to take your packages to the post office or the distribution centre. Are there any insurance costs that need to be paid and if so who will pay them, you or the buyer?

Communicate
Once the auction or sale is over it is a good idea to email the buyer and congratulate them on their purchase. In the email you can also tell them when you expect to dispatch the item and suggest that if they do not receive it within a certain time to contact you. You can then promptly chase it up with the shipper.

Get it away
The quicker you can dispatch the item the faster it will get to the buyer. Nothing impresses buyers more than a fast delivery. It is one of the most commented upon facts in positive feedbacks.

Look at all the options
The majority of sellers rely on one shipper whether it is the mail service or a specific courier such as TNT or UPL. For small items normal mail may well be the best option but for bigger items or if you are selling large quantities on a regular basis it could be worth shopping around for quotes from all available shippers.

They say that the opera is not over till the fat lady sings, on eBay the sale is not over until the customer gets their goods.

How to bid on online Auctions

Online auctions, eBay in particular, are very good places to discover bargains for a wide range of products. Whether you are looking for the latest i phone or some antiques or collectibles you are likely to find them available in online auctions.

]]> The problem for many people is how to actually place a bid and what will happen when you do bid. The first thing you have to do before you can make a bid is to register with the auction site. In most case this is free and just requires you to submit your name, address and email details.

Having registered you can begin looking for suitable items to bid on. The easiest way to do this is to use the search feature on the site and put in details of what you are looking for. If for instance you typed in lap top computers on eBay you will find nearly 50,000 items and should be able to find what you are looking for.

When you find an item you want to bid on enter your username, password and amount you are bidding and submit. Before you actually make your bid you should make sure that you have read the listing correctly and know exactly what you are bidding on. Also check what the shipping charges are going to be applied. If you are in any doubt there is nothing to stop you using the online auctions contact the seller system to ask any questions you may have.

The bid that you make will have to be higher than the previous bid which will be shown on the listing. If someone places a higher bid than you then normally the auction site will email you to tell you this and invite you to make an increased bid.

Once you make a bid it becomes binding and if it is successful you will be expected to pay for the item. If you fail to do this you will almost certainly be barred from using the auction site again. Therefore it is important that you do not get carried away and end up bidding more than the item is worth or that you can afford.

If you are successful once the auction is over you will be expected to send your payment either through one of the online payment services such as PayPal or by cheque. The majority of online auction sales go through without any trouble but should you encounter any problems you will have to contact the seller in the first instance. If this does not work you can seek the help of the auction site to resolve the problem.

5 Tips for work at home eBay sellers

There are many good reasons why working at home can be a good idea. It can be ideal for moms who want to be home when their children get back from school. It can also be a good idea for people who for one reason or another are confined to their homes. Selling items on eBay is a business that can make an excellent work from home business. However, if you decide that this is for you then you are going to have to set down some strict rules.

]]> Working from home requires some strong discipline if you are going to make the best use of your time and maximise your profits. Here are 5 tips to help you achieve the most out of your business.

Tip 1. Your friends and family would never dream of phoning you at work to just have a chat or get you to run an errand for them. But when you work from home unless you educate them they will consider you permanently available. You should set down guide rule and tell them that from say 9 till 3 you will be working and are unavailable for any non-work related task or to talk.

Tip 2. Draw up a daily time table and try to stick to it. Of course there will be times when something will crop up that means that you have to alter your plan but the more you stick to it the more you will get done. A good idea is to list the jobs you wish to get done that day and prioritize them. Then start with the most important and work your way through your list.

Tip 3. Focus on those jobs that will generate income for you such as posting to eBay or dispatching sold items. Leave jobs such as tidying your workspace or creating a filing system until you have some spare time.

Tip 4. Cut down on all non-productive work. It is amazing how much time you can waste just checking your emails. Make a rule to check your email first thing in the morning and just before you finish for the day. It can be tempting to check every hour to see if you have any sales but it is a big waste of time and it is also easy to get side tracked once you open your mailbox.

Tip 5. Guess what? You are not going to be good at everything. Jobs that you do not like doing or have no talent for will take at least twice as long as they should. In this case it makes economic sense to outsource. This might be book keeping or web design but paying someone else to do in an hour what might take you 5 hours is the sensible option.

Just because you are working from home it does not mean that you can be any less professional than any other type of business. But with a little discipline you will be able to make a success of your home based business

Spoonfeeder shuts down

I received an email yesterday from Sponfeeder the listing tool and photo hosting service. They announced that with immediate effect they were closing down and could no longer support their software. Spoonfeeder owner Gene Chandler has subsequently said that the problems were cause d by their failure to resecure a new loan on their commercial property.

Currently there are somewhere between one and two thousand regular users of the software and possibly up to 14,000 casual users. Most users appear to be based in the USA but it is believed that there are UK users of the software. Anyone who is using this software should change their eBay listings as soon as possible.
eBay Boy has to pay just £1

Twenty two year old Phillip Shortman, 22 who is currently serving a 30 month prison sentence for online fraud after having fleeced eBay buyers of over £100,000 was today order to repay £1 or face a further 7 days in jail.
He was back in court facing a recovery order for £7,000. However, he has spent all the money that he cheated people out of and has no funds. This left the court little choice but to settle for a nominal pound. However, in the future if Shortman should ever have any assets then he could be bought back o court for recovery action. A police spokesman said the “the best chance of anyone getting their money back is if Shortman should win the lottery”.

12 Points of Comparison - eBay and Amazon

Think of any situation, and there are likely pros and cons. The same is true when deciding whether to expand your sales to Amazon. The fact is, neither eBay nor Amazon can claim to be the best across the board nowadays.

]]> Many eBay sellers have wondered if it's really worth selling on Amazon. Some feel there are too many rules and it wouldn't be worth the effort. Some have asked for a point by point comparison between the two sites. Here are a dozen points of comparison that may help sellers make a decision.

1. Fees
2. Format (Auction vs. Fixed-price)
3. Community
4. Stability
5. Feedback
6. Branding
7. Photos
8. Taxes
9. Average Sale Price
10. Payment Methods
11. Return Policy
12. Shipping

1. Fees

Most sellers agree that fees between the two sites are almost a wash. Especially when you consider that you pay for every item to be listed on eBay whether it sells or not. When you consider unsold items, time spent relisting items, and time spent dealing with unpaid items, my opinion is Amazon comes out ahead.

Amazon collects the payment for the seller, and deposits the funds into your checking account. There are no fees for this, while PayPal fees are substantial. If eBay moves to a PayPal only model in the U.S., they can increase fees for collecting payment at will.

Advantage: Tie

2. Format (Auction vs. Fixed-price)

eBay popularized the auction format listing. Amazon failed at auctions and only offers fixed-price listings. Which is best?

For collectibles, auctions are the best way to get market value. eBay is better if you are running an antique store online and want the best prices, and shoppers looking for unique items.

But most businesses, do not deal in collectibles, they sell "practicals," commodity items that people want to buy and get on with their day. Buyers can readily find these items, and buy online for convenience. It's easy to set a fixed-price for these items.

While Amazon is the fixed-price king, eBay is moving in that direction by downplaying auctions and encouraging fixed-price listings. The advantage is in the buyers. The Amazon buyer is more affluent, and pays a higher average price for products.

Advantage: Auctions: eBay

Advantage: Fixed-price: Amazon

3. Community

eBay sellers are very involved with eBay buyers. The transactions can be extremely interactive. Amazon buyers and sellers rarely interact. The Amazon buyer tends to expect high customer service and they don't expect to have to ask if an item has shipped.

Because of the higher interaction with customers, eBay sellers have to spend more time per transaction. Amazon transactions take less time.

Advantage: Amazon

4. Stability

Online retailers rely on the stability of their chosen platforms to operate smoothly. Changes cost time. Sellers have developed systems that allow them to list, sell, and deliver items. When rules change, or things don't work, the systems break down and profit is lost.

Amazon has had very few major changes in the past few years. Even though there are some restrictions, they generally stay the same, and are enforced consistently. When changes have been made, they tend to stick and sellers can adjust.

eBay has had major changes over the past year, including Feedback, fees, digitally delivered items, search results, Detailed Seller Ratings, eBay's affiliate program, and more are to be expected. Sellers have been greatly affected in real and perceived ways. Some changes have been rolled out, only to be reversed causing even more consternation among sellers.

Advantage: Amazon

5. Feedback

Both eBay and Amazon have a feedback system allowing buyers and sellers to record their impression of a transaction. Both sites allow buyers to leave negative comments for sellers. Both sites allow sellers to leave only positive comments for buyers.

The eBay culture has given much more weight to feedback than their Amazon counterpart. Amazon buyers can see the seller's feedback score, but tend to overlook it more readily than eBay buyers. Amazon's A-z Guarantee may have a bearing on this by making the buyer feel more protected when purchasing an item.

Amazon does not "disadvantage" sellers, as eBay does, by moving them down in the results when shoppers perform a search. eBay does this by considering the seller's feedback score and making them less visible to shoppers, rather than letting buyers make the choice themselves.

Advantage (especially for sellers): Amazon

6. Branding

Amazon restricts sellers from reaching out to buyers and marketing to them. Traditionally, this has been an advantage to eBay since eBay allowed sellers to link to a site off eBay from the seller's About Me page.

Recent changes at eBay have virtually eliminated the ability to use eBay as a lead generating tool for off-eBay business. eBay has all but forbidden any outside links from any eBay pages including custom store pages. The only place a link may appear is on your eBay About Me page. This has effectively neutralized eBay as a "branding tool."

Advantage: Tie

7. Photos

eBay sellers have always struggled with photos. How to take good photos, how to get the photos to show up on eBay, how many photos. Each item, no matter if it's exactly the same as another, gets its own photo on eBay.

Amazon is different. An individual product gets one photo, and one description page, and all sellers use the same page.

Generally, the first photo posted on a given product, is the photo everyone will use. Some sellers don't like the idea of other sellers using their photo. But if "one photo fits all" for a particular product, it's pretty likely that product is a commodity product. Not many photos are needed.

As an Amazon seller, I absolutely love the fact that I can list 20 items without shooting a single photo. It saves a ton of time.

Amazon buyers will buy an item without a photo. They know that the image they see is generally just representative anyway.

Advantage: Amazon

8. Taxes

Marketplace sellers are responsible for the sales tax on any items sold on Amazon.com, and if necessary, they generally add this cost into the price of their items. This is a pain for Amazon sellers who are running a business.

eBay provides a mechanism in the Sell-Your-Item form to collect the taxes in addition to the sale price. This way the taxes don't eat into the seller's profits.

It seems Amazon could add a tool like this to their process quite easily for their Marketplace sellers and I wouldn't be surprised to see it in the future. But until that happens, I'd say...

Advantage: eBay

9. Average Sale Price

Amazon buyers have been shown to be more affluent, and more willing to spend more on similar items. eBay buyers tend to look for bargains, and are willing to wait through a seven-day auction to save a buck.

As a seller, I'll pick the buyer that is willing to spend more. I have actually used eBay to source products at rock-bottom prices, then sold for good profit on Amazon. Amazon buyers often don't even look on eBay, and they ultimately pay more.

Advantage: Amazon

10. Payment Methods

Amazon sellers must use Amazon Payments to accept payment. That's it. Amazon collects the payment, and deposits it into your bank account twice per month (more often if you choose). They collect and deposit the funds with no fees added. eBay sellers can accept PayPal, money orders, cashier's checks, or cash (in person).

eBay seems poised to require PayPal payments on all transactions. If that happens, it will significantly affect many sellers. If you sell an item for $500, you may now accept non-PayPal payments and keep most of your money. If PayPal is required, you will fork over 2.9% + $.35 ($14.85) in PayPal fees.

Amazon sellers do not have to send invoices, payment reminders, or track unpaid items. If Amazon cannot collect the payment, you don't have a sale, and your item is still listed on their site. eBay's system is simply more work, more time, and ultimately costs more to manage as a seller.

Advantage: Amazon

11. Return Policy

Some eBay sellers fear Amazon because of their obligatory return policy, called the A-z Guarantee. This guarantee allows the buyer to receive a full refund if the item is "materially different" from that described, for up to 90 days. Amazon will usually side with the buyer. Sounds pretty tough.

The eBay seller is free to fight it out with buyers with a dispute resolution. This could ultimately result in negative feedback for the seller. They are not required to offer a refund. If eBay forces sellers to use PayPal for payments though, your funds could be held or you may even receive a charge-back against your account. It's basically the same difference, but the eBay / PayPal route is a lot messier and time consuming. If you have a buyer that is determined to get a refund, they'll generally figure a way to get it.

Simply based on the time consuming mess the dispute resolution process is, I'm saying...

Advantage: Amazon

12. Shipping

eBay sellers have long looked at shipping charges as a small revenue stream. They bump up shipping prices and skim a little for themselves to cover shipping supplies, labels, and pixie dust. (Okay, I added the pixie dust.) The fact is, many sellers have turned this legitimate charge into a way to avoid eBay fees.

eBay has now begun penalizing sellers who charge above average shipping amounts by lowering their visibility in the default search results. They are even giving breaks to sellers who offer free shipping, in effect hurting those sellers who cannot afford it.

Amazon gives sellers a "shipping credit", based on an item's category. This does not always cover the full shipping amount, but usually does. The amount is fixed by Amazon. You cannot ask for more from the customer, and even if the shipping credit does not cover your shipping costs, you must ship the item. Since the shipping credit is fixed, it can be figured in when setting your price.

Which is better? I like to have control over my shipping. But if a seller is careful, it's pretty easy to figure in the shipping credit on Amazon and not lose money. Even if there is a loss, it's minimal.

I have found items I wanted on eBay, only to leave because of the outrageous shipping charges. ($1.99 item + $10.99 shipping for a cell phone cover.) I go straight to Amazon, because I know shipping is standard and I won't feel ripped off. How many other buyers do the same? I'll take those buyers...

Advantage: Amazon

Summary

There is no question eBay is best for some items, while Amazon is best for others. But the overlap is incredibly large. The vast majority of items that sell on Amazon will also sell on eBay, and visa versa.

The important thing to remember is the shoppers are different. While you and I may shop on several sites, many Amazon shoppers are very loyal to Amazon and won't even visit eBay. Some eBayers feel it would be a sin to shop on Amazon. By selling on both sites, you are potentially getting millions of additional eyeballs on your products.

If you are avoiding Amazon because you think there are too many rules - take a look at eBay's User Agreement. eBay is moving closer to Amazon's model, in many ways. Like it or not, this is the wave of the future. Will you be ahead of the game, or will you be playing catchup?

About the author:

Steve Lindhorst is the author of "Selling on 'the River' - The eBay Seller's Guide to Amazon.com". http://www.SellingOnTheRiver.com

Get his free report "25 Things eBay Sellers Must Know Before Selling on Amazon"

He is a former eBay employee and National eBay University instructor and a featured speaker at eBay's largest annual event "eBay Live!" He is a successful online retailer and consultant to businesses and auto dealers around the U.S.

EBay.co.uk Spring Changes

Ebay.co.uk have given more details of the changes that they are implementing this Spring. Currently, international listings are only displayed on the US or Canadian site when there are either a limited number of similar items being sold, or if the buyer chooses to search using the parameters “Location: Worldwide”. This is the case even if sellers have said that they will dispatch the item worldwide.

From 29th March sellers will be able to purchase a listing upgrade that will enhance their visibility in the general search results for fixed price listings on eBay.com and eBay.ca. At the moment, this is available for auction-style listings only.

To qualify to get a listing upgrade a seller must have
A minimum of 10 Positive Feedback.
An eBay account that is in good standing.
A PayPal account and be PayPal Verified.
Meet the selling requirements of eBay.com.

eBay have now also announced details of the new lower powerseller sales requirements. To become a powerseller you will need a minimum of 100 UK & IE transactions per 12 months/minimum UK & IE sales volume of 2000 pounds per 12 months. At the same time, it will raise the minimum performance standard for selling on the site by instituting a maximum number of low ratings.

A new maximum postage and shipping charge is being applied to the Clothing and Shoes categories. The maximum that can be charged from 29th March will be £4 Clothing and £6 shoes.

Easier to Become a Power Seller?

eBay have just announced that it is lowering the sales level needed to reach Power Seller status with effect from April. They claim this will more sellers to receive the discounts and benefits of having the status of being power sellers. In conjunction with this the minimum performance standard of selling on eBay will be raised. This eBay say will l help ensure a consistently high level of service across the entire marketplace and will continue to help deliver sellers with the highest buyer traffic and conversion rates online.

No doubt more details will follow.

eBay Selling – Think like the supermarkets.

In this article I am going to put forward a very simple and profitable business plan that will help you make money initially selling products on eBay. What I suggest you do is to take a leaf out of the supermarkets that attract the customers to their store with reduced priced loss leaders.

]]> The first step I this process is to find yourself a niche market. This is a small but relatively prosperous market that is willing to spend money. For instance Golf is a main market, but Golf Shoes or Golf balls might be niche markets. Find your niche which should ideally be in an area that you already have some and interest and knowledge in.

The next stage is to find some products to sell in your niche. It should be a good quality product that you are going to be able to offer at a lower price than your competitors. As well as price look for other incentives that you can add to your offer such as a bonus and a long guarantee. What you are trying to do is make your offer as attractive and inviting as possible, The whole point of this first sale is not necessarily to make a profit but to build up a list of customers.

Once a customer makes a purchase from this your front end you can offer them a discount on their next purchase or offer them a free downloadable gift such as an eBook in exchange for their email address.

As your list grows you will be able to email offers to them on a regular basis. At this stage it is also a good idea to build a web site where you can advertise a\ll the products that you have for sale. At one time it used to be very difficult to build your own web site but now thanks to Wordpress a website blog very simply. If you go to the search engines and type in “wordpress” you will find plenty of free instruction on how to do this.

The whole purpose of the exercise is to build a rapport between yourself and your customers so that you can offer them products outside of eBay. Why pay listing and final valuation fees when you do not need to? Even when you have your web site and mailing list you should still continue offering loss leaders on the auction site because it is still one of the cheapest ways to initially advertise your goods for sale on the Internet.

EBay Buyers –What are your rights?

There is a lot of confusion about exactly what rights you have when you buy something through eBay. Of course nearly every major country has some form of consumer rights laws but these do not always apply when buying from a private individual or across International borders.

]]> The two main problems that a buyer may encounter are either not receiving the item or when it arrives it is significantly different from the description given. Despite what you may have read the majority of sellers on eBay are honest and reliable therefore do not automatically assume that they are cheating you.
Allow a reasonable time for your item to arrive but if after a few days you have heard nothing contact the seller. You can ask them to confirm that the item has been dispatched and request information on the method of dispatch i.e. mail or courier. It is always best in the first instance to make a polite request for information but do keep a record of any correspondence that you have with the seller.
If you think that an item that you have purchased is not as described in the listing the first step is to go back and reread the listing. On occasions you may have thought that the listing said one thing when in fact it said something different. Don’t assume just re check. Then if you are still certain that you have a genuine grievance in the first instance contact the seller.
Only if after trying to make contact with the seller and receiving either an unsatisfactory or no response whatsoever should you contact eBay’s Resolution Centre. You can do this anytime between 10 and 45 days after the sale. It is important to remember that you should contact the EBay Centre for the site that you actually purchased from, ebay.com , ebay.co.uk etc.
The Resolution Centre will act as a go between and try to resolve the problem. I think it is fair to say that eBay tend to favour the buyer in these matters so if you have a genuine complaint it should be resolved in your favour.
If it is a case of you making a payment but not receiving the goods you should contact the Paypal Resolution Centre or if you paid by credit card, your card company. Although it may take time you will receive your money back.
The final stage is to leave feedback. Try to be fair, if an article has genuinely got lost in the post or there has been an honest misunderstanding between you and the seller do not rush to give negative feedback. After all we are all human and mistakes do happen. However, if the seller has treat you in a bad manner or tried to cheat you then have no hesitation in giving negative feedback. If you do this it may prevent someone else having to deal with the problems that you have just had.

Could your business benefit from being on eBay?

In these financially troubled times many small businesses are looking for ways to expand their markets and increase turnover. It is not surprising that many see eBay as an opportunity to do just that. After all eBay is one of the largest online retail sites with over 180 million buyers annually.

]]> Therefore it is easy to see why it can appear such an inviting option but many small companies have discovered it is not as easy as it looks. In fact some have invested heavily only to make losses and retire from the fray. If you are thinking of trying to break into this market here are some of the points you should consider.
Do your homework first. EBay has been online in the USA since 1995 and the UK since 1999. Over that period a large number of companies and individuals have mastered the techniques that are required to be successful on eBay. They are experts and you are going to be competing against them.
If you can, appoint one person to be responsible for your eBay business. Get them to buy some things from the site; this will not only give them a little experience but help build up your companies’ feedback. Get them to study your competitors on eBay, look at their listings, prices and general way they operate. The idea is that you are going to look for their strengths so that you can copy them and their weaknesses so that profit from them.
There is no other marketplace where you can monitor your competition as completely as eBay. You can not only find out what they sell but how many for how much. Once all this information has been gathered you can begin the planning phase.
If you already have a bricks and mortar business there should be little need for any big investment. You will probably be selling items online that you already stock. In most cases anything you sell online at above cost will represent additional business profit. (Not forgetting to take out eBay and Paypal costs of course).
Planning is going to be critical to your success but the other important point is that you should continually monitor both your company’s performance and that of eBay. It is an ever changing market and what works this year may not work next. However, with careful planning and good control eBay could offer you a good way to increase turnover.

Ebays Profits Grow

eBay’s fourth quarter results have led to an 8% jump in their stock value. Partly due to the Christmas sales rush, the sale of Skype and the performance of Paypal eBay have seen their net income rise to $1.4 billion.

Paypal has definitely been the Jewel in the Crown of eBay this last year. Its total payment volume has passed the $20 billion in the last quarter. It has 81 million active accounts, is in 190 countries and supports 24 currencies.

Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay has just injected another $20 million into her campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in California.. She's written a book about her experiences called The Power of Many: Values for Success in Business and in Life. AS the person who took eBay from a small Internet company to an $8 billion global giant what she has to say will be worth reading.

We are also sad to report that Meg Whitman’s 89 year old mother recently died. Auctionline offers its condolences.

Changes to start time of scheduled listings

eBay are making some small changes to better manage their listing traffic. From 19 January, the start time of a scheduled listing may be delayed by up to 15 minutes from the original scheduled time. If a listing is delayed, the end time for that listing will also be delayed by the same period of time so that listings will have the correct time exposure in search results.
Listings which are not scheduled in advance will not be affected by this change.

Can eBay save itself?

A couple of years ago very few people would have expected Amazon to outperform the giant of online selling eBay but that is just what is happening now. Last October Amazon had over 54 million unique visitors compared with eBay’s 50 million. This was the first time Amazon went ahead in the race for traffic.
But it is not only in the amount of traffic that eBay is falling behind. They are getting very low customer satisfaction ratings. In a recent survey only 13% surveyed gave eBay as their answer to the question “which site gives the best shopping experience” which is 14% down from a similar survey last March. In the same survey Amazons positive response went up from 36% to 65%.

]]> Probably more worrying for eBay should be the fact that amongst the PowerSellers in a JP Morgan survey, 54% had a negative opinion of the company. The fact that 69% also viewed Amazon positively should also be a cause for concern. It would appear that eBay is starting to leak customers to Amazon at an alarming rate.
There are several reasons for this, firstly the company’s apparent move away from the auction format towards fixed price Buy It Now option. Quite simply in the past eBay has been conceived as the site for bargains but they cannot compete against Amazon on discounts. EBay is not selling their own products so they would have to find a way to encourage their retailers to make the discount offers which will be no easy task.
In the good expanding years eBay paid no more than lip service to the concept of customer care. They ignored complaints, failed to answer questions and concentrated purely on expansion and new markets. In the long term that is not sustainable and now they are paying the price.
You do not have to search very hard on the Internet to find web sites, articles and blog posts complaining about eBay and their methods of operation. One of the big causes of dissent is the way that eBay seem to have abandoned the home based and small retailers as they wooed the large companies. These disenchanted sellers felt it was no longer a level playing field and moved to Amazon in their droves.