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Welcome to the eleventh edition of UK Auction News

I have been really pleased to see a big increase in subscribers over the last few weeks. This can only be a sign of how popular the Ebay.co.uk online auction site has become.

We are also starting to get plenty of feedback from our subscribers and in response to this you will notice a few changes to the Newsletter. We are keeping the basic format of a introduction 2 articles and a tail piece. But from this issue we are going to include links to other articles that you can access online. The reason for this is that we can keep the size of the actual e-zine to a manageable size that should not cause any delivery problems with the ISPs. Also we have discovered that our readers span a vast level of interests and experience. This means that some readers are looking for how to get started type articles while others want more advanced articles. The new online links should mean that there is something for everybody.

The articles will also be placed in the information section of the UK Auction line web site. This way new subscribers will be able to access them and anyone can re-read them when they wish. In the coming few weeks we are also adding some new features to the web site. I hope to have more details of these in the next issue.

Last Thursday eBay.co.uk had a free listing day for items starting at 99p or less. I did not upload my items until the evening and had no problems. However, until about 2p.m. there was some type of problem and listing charges were applied. This I am told created a bit of a furore but eBay have said that all listing fees that were wrongly charged will be refunded. So if you were effected by this do not worry all has been resolved.

Dave Bromley

Contents:
1. PayPal UK Introduces Payer Protection
2. Selling Information on Ebay
3. Final Thoughts

PayPal UK Introduces Payer Protection

Paypal are continuing to introduce more UK targeted initiatives and they have just announced their Seller Protection Programme. The purpose is to protect sellers from losses arising from fraudulent buyer activity. This is an area that gives concern to many eBay sellers and this initiative should be welcomed but it is worth having a look at the guideline Paypal have laid down.

Paypal will safeguard UK sellers from charge backs (repayment of credit card payments) that are the result of a buyers unauthorised use of a card or when the buyer makes a false claim of non receipt of an item. These are the two most common areas of buyer fraud and the good news is that Paypal will provide this service for free.

To qualify for this protection you do have to follow certain guidelines. The central one is that you have to send the goods to the address provided in the Transaction Details page and you must use a postal service that is capable of tracking the item online.

To benefit from this program you also have to have a verified Business or Premier account.
Dispatch the items within seven days of receiving the payment. Provide proof of postage that can be tracked online. If the amount of payment is greater than £150, a signature from the recipient as proof of receipt is also required.

The program does not cover the delivery of digitally downloadable items.

You do not ask for a surcharge to accept a Paypal payment.

You must also respond in timely fashion to any Paypal enquiries.

At present the Seller Protection is only available when sending tangible goods to a UK or USA address.

In the UK Royal Mail only provide two types of service, which include online tracking Recorded Delivery, and Special Delivery. Recorded delivery costs 64p on top of the normal postage charge and requires someone at the address to sign for the package. Items are insure for up to £27 in the event of them being lost in transit.

Special Delivery costs between £3.65 and £19.65 dependent upon weight and the amount of compensation cover required. The Royal Mail guarantee delivery within the UK by midday on the following working day or your money back.

Up until now for most items that I ship out I have used the Royal Mail’s free Certificate of Posting service, which at least proves that I posted an item out. The problem with Recorded Delivery is that if there is no one at home when it is delivered
the item will be taken back to the sorting office and the recipient has to travel there, often a journey of some miles to pick up the package.

With the introduction of the new Paypal Program I suspect more of us will be using Recorded Delivery as an option. But what do you think? I would be interested in hearing your views and experiences using the Royal Mail services.

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One of my favourite auction information sites in the USA is Robin Tungetts "Auction Riches". I am subscribed to the free newsletter and her private members section. It is worth going and having a look at the site.

A great number of people specialise in selling information products on eBay. These can take many forms, e-books, software programs, CDs and even web sites. There is a lot to recommend it and you can make money providing you go about it in the right way. But this article is not on the subject of how to buy and sell information but how eBay views it all.

When you sell information products it can be very easy to fall foul of Ebay’s rules and regulations. The first that you will know about it is when you receive the dreaded “Listing Deleted “ message. Get too many of these and you may well find yourself suspended from eBay so lets look and see what the problems may be.

Copyright. You can only sell products that you own the right to sell. Obviously if you have written or created the product yourself and you say so in your listing there should not be a problem. If you have purchase the resale rights from the copyright holder you should ask for a SIGNED resale rights licence and include the fact that you have this in your listing. The area becomes a bit greyer when you buy a compilation of e-books that all have different original copyright owners. If I buy such a compilation I keep a copy of the Ebay listing or web site that I purchased the rights from. At least this shows that you have purchased the rights, (presuming the person you purchased them from had the right to sell them in the first place.) I am moving away from selling these types of compilations through online auctions as I think that you can get better results selling individual items.

The golden rule when you are selling information on eBay is:
If you are the copyright owner or have legitimate rights to resell an information product that you are listing make sure that you say so in that listing.

Before we end a word about Ebay’s Downloadable Media Policy.
Despite the number of auctions I see that would appear to contradict it the Ebay rules clearly state that you cannot list any software program or e-book you own the copyright or can prove that the material is in the public domain.

I believe that Ebay are tightening up on some of the “business opportunity” and “information” products on offer. And I am sure many will think that this is not before time so it is important that we are all aware of the rules. A browse around the Site Map will give you most of the information you need.

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I have been asked if there is any alternative to Paypal as a method of paying or being paid on eBay. Although I do not use it myself I have heard good reports of the NOCHEX service. If you would like to know a litle more read An Alternative to PayPal

Cory Rudl is a world renown Internet marketer.Last year he took an in depth look at Drop Shipping. I am pleased to say that we have been given permission to reproduce that article in UK AuctionLine. So if you have ever wondered what drop shipping was all about or are just looking for new products read Drop Shipping

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Are you looking for information products to sell on eBay and other online auctions? A good selection of CDs with resale rights are available at www.eclipsepublishing.com

If you sell the kind of items that can be broken in transit then one of your major problems will be how to pack items safely. From experience I find that two of the best packing mediums are the little polystyrene chips or newspaper.

Of course you can improve your chances of safe delivery by using reasonably strong boxes. I know some people scour their local super market for boxes but you might be better off going and talking to your local gift shop owner. You will find that they are always receiving strong boxes containing the goods they have ordered for their shops. Because many gift shop items are fragile the boxes they get are stronger that ones designed to hold packet soup and the like.

And I know from experience when I owned a gift shop many boxes came with polystyrene chips to protect the items inside. After unpacking both the box and the packing were of no use and they would be thrown away. I know if anyone had asked me for them I would have been quite happy to give them all the boxes and packaging that I got and no doubt your local gift shop owner may feel the same.

If you cannot get enough polystyrene chips you can use newspaper. What I would recommend is that you buy a cheap office paper shredder. (They cost about £20) and shred any newspapers or magazines that you can get hold of. However as newsprint
can leave ink marks I would but the items being packed into polythene bags to prevent them being marked.

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