Paypal to shut down on 20th April, but only for a couple of hours..
PayPal has scheduled maintenance for a 2-hour period from midnight April 19 to 2:00 am on April 20, and its site will be inaccessible for around an hour. This is to allow for a scheduled maintenance and upgrade. In the UK the shutdown will occur between 5 am an 7 am on Friday morning.
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Posted by Dave Bromley
eBay .co uk announced a new initiative last week which is the introduction of monthly update emails to sellers who have had action takenno0n their accounts the previous month. The intuitive was announced in the community new section of eBay.co.uk
“As part of the ongoing support for sellers, eBay takes proactive action in a number of areas to protect accounts.
From 3 April (and every month thereafter) we will be sending an update email to sellers that have had action taken on their accounts the email will show:
• The number of negative and neutral feedbacks removed and/or number of low detailed seller ratings (DSRs) removed as a result of proactive reviews by eBay.
• If multiple DSRs from a single buyer have been excluded from review.
• Any resolutions cases removed proactively from the seller’s account
• If the seller performance standard has been protected by the standards grace period
The first email will cover the period from 01 February 2011 to 31 January 2012 and sellers don’t need to do anything. This proactive initiative by eBay is to help protect and support sellers and is taken in line with our existing policies.
We’ll be monitoring accounts on an on-going basis and all sellers affected by any of the above actions will receive an update email monthly.
Please note that some data may differ between this email and the seller dashboard, due to timing differences between the email and updates to your Seller Dashboard. “
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Posted by Dave Bromley
Another blow for auction sellers is the news that with effect from 30th April the Royal Mail is raising its prices by up to a staggering 33%. First class stamps will go fro 46p up to 60p and the price of a second class stamp for a standard letter will rise from 36p to 50p. The cost of a Large Letter stamp up to 100 grams will rise from 75p to 90p for First Class and from 58p to 69p for Second Class.
Royal Mail say that the rises are essential if it is to return to a stable financial position. I wonder when so many customers are turning to emails and text instead of letters if this rise will not prove to be counter productive.
You would think that if you had an eBay user name for 14 years and had over 11,000 positive feedbacks it would be safe. But not so, As eBayer Marlene discovered when eBay offered her username “animal” to a company called Animal as an inducement to open an eBay store. Animal have a chain of 4 bricks and mortar shops selling surfing equipment.
In fairness to Animal they did not know anything about this and when they discovered that the id name had been taken from Marlene they asked eBay to reverse the decision. It would appear that it was only the intervention of Ina Steiner of EcommerceBytes newsletter that lead to eBay.co.ukretuning the user id to Marlene. Animal have now taken the user id “animalshop”. We wish them both good trading.
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Posted by Dave Bromley
Easy Auction Tracker accounting software could be the easy was to keep you out of trouble with HM Revenue and Customs. In recent years R & C have taken an increasing interest in eBay sellers and the amount of money they earn. On several occasions they have claimed that they have set up specific teams to look at eBay sellers and as a result some have faced hefty tax bills.
Do not let you reBay accounts become a headache
Given the fact that once again the R & C are believed to be showing an interest and eBay is duty bound to pass on any details they request now would be a good time to get your accounts in order. Keeping accounts and records can be both boring and time consuming but fortunately there is now a very good software program on th market that will do the job for you.
Easy Auctions Tracker was especially created for eBay users and there are versions for eBay US, eBay Canada, eBay UK and eBay Australia. It is a spreadsheet that uses Microsoft Excel 2002 XP or higher. The spreadsheet connects directly with your eBay account and automatically pulls off all the information it needs. The main part of the spread sheet is the Selling Tab which retrieves all the information on items that you have sold. The Easy Auctions Tracker also has monthly and annual Profit & Loss features which make end of the year accounting simple.
The software pulls the following information from your eBay account:
Details of the Item .eBay Item Number, Listing Title, Selling Price, Sales Tax and Charity Donation Listings
eBay Fees. Insertion Fees ,Final Value Fee,Store Referral Credits, Paypal Fee and Payment Method.
Shipping information. Shipping and Handling Charged ,Paypal Shipping Information,Shipping Method Used and Tracking Information*
The Easy Auctions Tracker is the brainchild of husband and wife team Josh and Jen Sinsel who originally created the spreadsheet for their own use. Since its launch customer comments have been very favourable about Easy Auctions Tracker particularly the fact that all the information is kept in one place and the ease of use. The spread sheet can be customised for individual customers and the cost for this is dependant upon how much extra work is required
Currently there is a free months trial version of the software available after which there is an annual charge of $49.99 (£32.50) which could be a small price to pay to keep the R&C off your back.
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Posted by Dave Bromley
Best UK Online Auction Site
Best UK Auction Site is not an easy question to answer. First of all you have to define exactly what you mean by UK Auction Site. In the top 3 there is really only one true British site and that is CQout. Both eBay and eBid are basically off shoots of American web sites. Although it can be argued that both have bases in the UK and offer a service targeted at the UK. Therefore we will consider them for the title of best UK online auction sites.
Over the last 10 years in the UK eBay has managed to see off nearly all of the threats to its online auction monopoly. Companies such as QXL have disappeared and even giants such as AOL and Yahoo threw in the towel in the face of eBay. However, one UK based company has not only survived but has prospered and has now expanded into the USA. That company is CQout pronounced “seek you out.”
CQout has grown mainly by word of mouth after being launched in 1999, the same year eBay came to the UK, by 3 London Business School graduates. The number of members has swelled in recent years with many dissatisfied eBay users swelling the ranks and reached the magic million items for sale figure in March of last year.
A unique feature of this online auction site is that it actually charges a token amount as a registration fee. The company explains that the £2 fee actually covers the costs of validating user details and this helps to create a secure environment for trading.
One of their policies is that if you get 3 negative feedbacks then you are banned from the site for life. This fact alone must discourage many unscrupulous sellers and I am told it is almost impossible to rejoin the site using different details.
At the moment CQout does not get anywhere near the traffic that eBay does but this should not deter potential users of the site because it does have one big advantage. There are no listing fees and they operate a no sale no fee policy. It also offers a service similar to eBay’s Buy it Now which it calls Instant Buy.
The company has members in over 80 countries although they are predominantly based in the UK there is a growing membership from the USA, Ireland and the rest of Europe.
There is a lot to like about the CQout online auction site and the service it offers.. The customer support is better than many similar sites and the listing process is simple and easy.
It is doubtful whether CQout will ever reach the size or global proportions of eBay. However, with eBay seemingly intent on moving away from online auctions and into straight retail sales CQout is ideally set to benefit in the UK. So in answer to the question can CQout offer a viable alternative to eBay I think that the answer is yes it can.
eBid currently has around 4 million items listed on it very easy to navigate auction site. It is free to list an item but you do pay 3% of the sale price of sold items as commission. I get the impression that eBid may be easier to deal with than eBay has proved in the past and still seem to support the small sellers. However, I still suspect they do not get the same number of visitors to their site as eBay.
I have no hesitation in naming the 3 Best online auction sites as
eBay
CQout
eBid
If you are new to online auctions I would recommend that you try all 3 to see which works best for you and gives you the best results.
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Posted by Dave Bromley
eBay is still the largest online auction site on the Internet. For this reason mostly of our information and tips relate to that site. However, it is fair to say that what applies to eBay also applies to most of the other online auction sites although prices and some rules may differ.
If you are going to set up as a seller on sites such as eBay it is important to remember the following:
1. It is their ball and they make the rules. You break their rules and they can take the ball away and you will have no business. It is well worth reading their rules before you start.
2. Knowledge can lead to success. There are plenty of web sites (such as this one) books and ebooks that offer advice on how to list items and generally run an online auction business. Read some of this before you start to avoid making what could be expensive mistakes.
3. Using eBay or any of the other auction sites should be a starting point for your Internet marketing business not a destination. You can gain a great deal of experience and knowledge selling through auctions. Equally so you can use it to build up a list of customers interested in the type of items that you offer. Your eventual aim should be to have your own web sites selling directly to those and other customers. That way whatever happens to online auctions in the future you will still have a business.
The first question to ask before you start selling on eBay is what am I going to sell? Ideally you should select an area that you have some interest in. A good starting point is to browse through the eBay categories and sub categories as this should give you some ideas. Once you have decided the product range you want to concentrate upon then go and look to see what other sellers are offering. We go into more detail on how to evaluate a market in an article below which you should read.
Once you have found your market you need to select a suitable product or products that you can offer at a competitive price. In this section of our web site we are going to take you step by step through the process either showing you what to do or pointing you to where you can get the information to succeed in selling on eBay.
Next week, in the early hours of Thursday morning 23nd of February SaleHoo are going to release a very special offer..
Alice Delore, an education specialist and seller coach at SaleHoo.com, is releasing a free online training video where she will be revealing expert insights on “the state of the web” right now. 
The one hour long video will provide us with high quality content including:
• What the hot markets are this year – the 7 top products to sell
• Where the hottest places to sell are in 2012. A LOT of SaleHoo members have been asking about this recently!
• The ‘next big thing’ in how to sell items to an untapped market of eager buyers
This is a totally free video which is going to be a must watch film for anyone who is or is thinking about selling online. I will send you a reminder nearer the time but if you would like to take a look at Salehoo before then and get some free
supplier advice visit The SALEHOO website NOW!!
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Posted by Dave Bromley
Recently Web User magazine managed to get an interview with Patrick Munden, Head of Seller Communications Europe and reporter Vicky Woollaston was able to ask him some questions that many eBay sellers have wanted to ask for some time. Whether we are much wiser after the questions were answered is another matter.
When asked why the Final-Valuation Fee had been increased to 10% for Buy It Now Items the answer was:
“It’s about levelling off and simplification, because in the Electrical category we actually decreased fees. We found that sellers were totally confused by the fee structure so we wanted to make it easier by having a tiered structure based on selling fees compared to price. We also looked at the total market, at individual seller websites and how much consumers would pay elsewhere, and 10 per cent is a fair price. One big plus for sellers when using eBay is that it has 17 million unique visitors. In the Fashion category alone, it has four million. We think we’re good value for money when you consider how many people potentially look at a listing.”
[In English – We wanted to make more money so we put the price up]
To the question “Why can’t sellers leave negative or neutral feedback?” the response was “We had a lot of buyers tell us that sellers were unfairly giving bad feedback. We want more buyers, and one of the biggest things stopping them buying was the feedback structure.”
[What about the sellers who complain that buyers give them unfair feedback?]
When asked “Have you transformed eBay into just another online store, neglecting its online auction roots?” Patrick Munden said “: “Online shopping and buying behaviour has changed. We realised that a lot of the time, people wanted the product straight away – especially mobile phones. They didn’t want to wait days for an auction to finish and risk not getting the item. Sixty per cent of our sales are for ‘Buy It Now’ items. We are the biggest online marketplace for lots of brands and they want to sell the product at a fixed price. However, that still leaves 40 per cent of auction listings. You’ll always find the weird and wonderful items on the auctions because private sellers like putting old stuff on there and still love the format.
[In English – The answer is yes unless you are selling old or weird stuff]
The interview carried on with some more interesting questions and in fairness to Patrick some good answers. To read details of the full interview visit
http://sellersphere.ebay.co.uk/post/147
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Posted by Dave Bromley
If you are anywhere near the NEC, Birmingham and looking for products to sell on eBay it will be well worth visiting the International Spring Fair. It runs from next Sunday 5th February until the follwing Thursday the 12th. This is the largest trade fair in the UK and manufacturers. Importers and wholesalers will being filling the 20 large exhibition halls with a wide range of products. Many which can be purchased on trade terms for resale on eBay.
The range of products on display include Contempoary gifts, home products, Greeting cards and stationary, kitchen, dining and houseware. Toys, Games and Kiddies crafts,art and framing, jewellery, body, bath and home fragrances, watches, and both fashion and select jewellery.
Although this is strictly a trade show it is possible to register for free by visiting the web site http://www.springfair.com.
A few tips for attending the show and approaching potential suppliers:
Dress reasonably tidily, (You are representing your business i.e. YOU
Wear Comfortabl Shoes – There is a lot to see and a lot of standing.
Get some business cards printed . These are a must if you want to create contact suppliers.
Make sure you pick up any promotional material for products you are interested in.
Buy a catalogue. They are expensive but you will have the details of all the exhibitors and information on how to contact after the fair finishes.
Do not tell suppliers that you sell through eBay. Some can be a bit sniffy about this. Simply say that you are an Internet marketer and sell online.
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Posted by Dave Bromley
Since its inception in 1995 eBay has been the path to success and wealth for many small traders and home entrepreneurs. There are innumerable stories of the online auction site helping individuals to build online businesses generating millions of dollars in sales. However things have changed and eBay is no longer the path to online wealth for the individual or small business.
The trend for eBay to court big business at the expense of the individual has been obvious since the later days of Meg Whitman’s period as CEO of Ebay. However since John Donahoe took over as CEO the process has speeded up. At the recent Digital Life Design Conference in Munich he stated that “eBay has transformed itself from an auction site to an open commerce platform” This is a fact that many small sellers have been aware of for a long time.
There has been a steady decline in the numbers of sellers claiming that eBay represented a portion of their income and over the last couple of years this has turned in deluge Increased fees and charges, poor sales and poor customer service from eBay are amongst the reasons given.
Those who are still struggling trying to make money from eBay need to drastically change their attitude. Past success or even tales of others successes may encourage some to stick with it in the hope of change but this is a mistake. Whether you are starting out or already have an established online business you should not view eBay as your key to success. Quite simply it is not going to happen.
Certainly there can still be a role for eBay to play in your online business plans. It is quite simply another tool that can be used to attract traffic to what has to be the real moneymaker, your web site. There is no way of escaping it if you want to make money selling online your own web site is an essential. Fortunately thanks to WordPress, X Site Pro and other text editors it is far simpler to either build your own sites. Even if you do not feel confident you can get someone else to do it for you for a small fee.
The online commerce world is constantly changing and there are lots of exciting prospects ahead, not least the growth of mobile e-commerce. Only time will tell if eBay’s change of emphasis will be successful although many experts have their doubts. For those currently loyal to eBay you may need to change your attitude if you are to keep base with the exciting, growing e-commerce market.
