UK Auction Line News. Issue 17

The leading ezine of users of Ebay.co.uk...

16.02.2004

The Path to Power Selling

Archive

Editor's Note

Welcome to the the Seventeenth Issue of the UK Auction Line Newsletter

The main purpose of UK Auctionline is to help anyone who is a buyer or a seller on eBay.co.uk or any of the other British based online auction sites. Over recent months the site has continued to grow as we have added extra features. This month we are expanding it even further with the introduction of an online forum within the next few days and we have also enlarged the online auction book section with links to over 40 books about online auctions.

There is a high level of knowledge amongst the subscribers and visitors to the site and the forum gives us all an opportunity to share that knowledge. Anyone can register to post contributions related to online topics. The rules are quite simple, comments, opinions and questions are welcome, however, please no advertising or self-promotion.

In this issue I have a look at the PayPal Seller protection Policy and ask how much protection does it really give? I also tell you how I used information in the Public Domain to create a new product.

Have you downloaded you free copy of Make Your Network Auction Sell yet. If not it is still available by CLICKING HERE

 

Dave Bromley

 

Contents:
1. Looking for Products to Sell
2. PayPal- Sellers Protection Policy
3. Extra Reading
4. Final Thoughts

 


Content section 1

Looking for Products to Sell

My vision of the ideal online auction business is having an unending supply of about 100 in demand products that I can list and relist on a weekly basis. Using a program like Turbolister it is easy and quick to relist any number of items. In the time that I have been selling through online auctions I have built up a batch of 25 products. Some sell better than others and all the time I am looking to add more products.

In this article I am going to describe how I set about selecting a product to add to my list. It can happen in two ways, I might see a product which I think will sell well in online auctions or I may find a demand and try to fill it.

An example of the first is a booklet called “Collecting Novelty Salt & Pepper Sets”.
This was a 50+ page well illustrated booklet which is full of information for collectors. To test this market I simply went to eBay’s collectables category and looked up the number of novelty salt and pepper sets for sale and found that on Ebay.com there were 3000 sets for sale and 500 on eBay.co.uk. This indicated to me that there was a market for this type of book and so it proved and although I did have a good supply I have now sold out of this item.

The second method is to find a need and then either create or search for a product to meet that need. Recently I had the idea that there is a real interest in Unidentified Flying Objects (UFO’s) and I wondered if I produced a product connected with this subject if there would be a market for it.

First of all I went to my Deep Analysis tool and entered the keyword UFOs. I discovered that in the last 100 completed auctions connected with the keyword 47 had resulted in sales. The average sale price was $10.17 9 (remember that Deep Analysis actually uses eBay.com for its research).

So if I could come up with a product on the subject of UFO’s to sell at around $9 then it would stand a fair chance of success. These days 47% sales is considered fair so I thought that this was an idea worth developing. The next stage was to either find or create a product.

I could find nothing readily available so decided to create my own product, but there was one small problem, my knowledge of the subject was minimal. If you search on the Internet you will find that there is a vast amount of information on the subject. And the big plus was that much of it was in the “public domain” which means that I could use it freely as I wished.

The obvious answer was to collect as much of this material as I could and put it on a CD and that is what I have done. To give it greater value I also researched material on conspiracies and included that on the disc as well. It is now completed and will be listed on eBay shortly. At this stage it is impossible to say whether this will be a successful product or not. No one can guarantee that everyone will be a winner but it has cost practically nothing to develop except a little time.

Resources I used to create the UFO CD
Deep Analysis( Free 30 Day Trial)
PUBLIC DOMAIN RICHES by Yanik Silver

 

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Content section 2

PayPal –- The Sellers Protection


Since eBay purchased PayPal it has grown in to the most popular method of making payments for online auction purchases. It is also becoming a more common way to pay for other Internet purchases as well.

On the 13th of this month Paypal transferred all EU registered customers to Paypal (Europe) Ltd.. The company claim this will allow them to provide European users with an improved service both online and through their new European Customer Service Centre based in Dublin.

In the coming months I intend to look at PayPal in detail to help you get the most from the service. In this issue I am looking at the modified Seller Protection Policy. Basically Paypal will reimburse the seller if a buyer uses an unauthorised credit card or false claims of non-dispatch of goods. However as you would expect there are conditions:

    1. The items you sell must be tangible goods. (Not digitally delivered)
    2. Does not cover goods “falsely” described.
    3. You are limited to maximum claims of £3,250 per year.
    4. Protection only applies if you are shipping to UK or US Customers. (This seems strange that Paypal (Europe) does not give protection when sending to other EU countries!)
    5. The payment is listed as “Seller Protection Policy Eligible” on the transaction page.
    6. The Seller must have a Verified Business or Premier Account.
    7. The goods must be sent to the address listed on the transaction details page.
    8. The seller must provide reasonable proof of posting that can be tracked on line. (Recorded , registered or special delivery). If The transaction is for £175 or more you need online proof of receipt in the form of a signature.
    9. The seller accepts a single payment from only one Paypal Account
    10. The seller dispatches the goods within 7 days of receiving Payment.
    11. The Seller does not surcharge the buyer for the cost of the Paypal transaction
    12. The seller cooperates in resolving the dispute within 7 days of being notified.

As most of you will have now realised for most of us the Seller Protection Policy willgive little protection. I for one have relied upon the Post Offices “Proof of Posting” which of course is not track able online as my evidence of dispatch. I could of course send everything recorded delivery but that would require passing on the cost to the buyer. Another problem with RD is that if the buyer is not at home when the package arrives they will have to go to the delivery centre to collect it. This can in some places, especially rural areas be some distance away.

I recently had a case were a customer claimed someone had fraudulently used his credit card to buy 2 items from me priced at £4.99 each. Because he was an unverified buyer in the USA and I had not used a trackable postage method I had no option but to accept the refunds but then I was surprised to be charged $14 by Paypal for administration charges.

Despite the above this will not put me off using Paypal as my prime payment receipt method because I still think it is the best system available. But it still pays to read the small print.

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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

This Months Extra Reading

Audio Tutorial - Questions to Sellers

Need Help with your Photographs?

Want to make money with affiliate programs?

Offers of the Month

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Content section 4

Final Thoughts

In the last issue of UK Auctionline Newsletter I asked if anyone had any thoughts about Free Listing days. Subscriber Jane Fazackarley has emailed me with her experiences.

You were asking in this newsletter about thoughts on Ebay's free listing day's. I used to think they were a good idea but after my last auction using free listing I doubt I will again. I quite often list around 20 - 26 items a time and usually sell around 20 - 22 of them. I used the free listing day with 15 items and only sold about five items. It wasn't until I saw the item in Money Master magazine that I realised that serious buyers tend to steer clear until the free listing auctions are over and 20p per listing isn't much to advertise to millions.

The other thing is the smaller auction sites. I've never listed on them, I find them better for buying then for selling and I'm not the only one who does it because I've seen comments about it on one of the forums. One downside, I've bid on and won items on QXL's one pound auctions and won some bargains compared to the prices they go for on Ebay. The problem is I've had quite a lot of people who just won't get back to me to complete the auction, they don't want to let the item's go so cheaply I suppose so they would be better off listing on Ebay.

Before I go, Pay Pal fee's, If they're minimal, some people charge 20 - 25p, then I would use it still because I'm going to spend more than that on a stamp if I'm sending a cheque but I saw someone a little while ago with a start price of £1, postage of a £1 and £1 for PayPal "because that's how much pay pal charge me per transaction". The problem with that is most people on Ebay who are buyers are also sellers so they would know Pay Pal don't charge that much.

 

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Writers Wanted

Articles relating to online auctions are always welcome. They should be on subjects of interest to users of UK based online auctions and be between 400-600 words. In the first instant either the article or an outline should be sent to webmaster@ukauctionline.co.uk

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