Hello <$firstname$>
Well eBay Live is over for another year and as the delegates and visitors left New Orleans the majority appear to have considered it a good event. From what I can see very little came out of it that will be of interest to users of eBay.co.uk. There was also recently a television program telling the eBay story and a half hour program on Radio 4s In Business series, which took a look at the companies UK operation.

Since February eBay have had their share of problems with their customer base. In the USA the new billing system they introduced has had a far from a smooth ride. Instances of over charging and double payments abound on the forums and a group of users have resorted to legal action..

Another cause of complaint has the category changes that eBay have introduced. As far as I can see it has become more difficult to "Browse Down" through categories to finds items that are of interest. According to Ina Steiner of Auctionbytes many dealers are reporting that this is adversely affected their sales. In an interview with Ina, the Vice President of Marketing and Merchandizing, Michael Dearing said that eBay would over a period of months evaluate the effect of the changes. However, they have caused such a stir that only a couple of days later the company announced it would reverse the changes in the pottery and glass category and made minor amendments to the Books and Art categories.

On the other side of the world eBay Australia have announced that they are doing away with reserve prices. According to their figures that items with no reserve have a 34% better sell through rate. One cannot help wondering if this is a trial and if from eBay’s point of view it is considered a success it will not spread to eBay.co.uk and eBay.com. I have rarely used a reserve price and it would have little affect on my business but I am sure that not everyone will be happy if this happens.

I spend a great deal of time browsing around eBay.com and I noticed that an old friend has now disappeared from the site, the "going, going gone" feature which listed the auctions with les than 5 hours to go. I have often made purchases of items I have discovered using this tool but I am afraid that it is no longer available. It is still on the ebay.co.uk site as I write this but I wonder for how much longer?

When you write a listing you are trying to get people who read it to take action.
Basically what you want them to do is make bid on your item. In other words you have to motivate them to take action. Copywriters have identified 10 triggers that will motivate people to buy or in this case bid.

Those triggers are:

1. People want to make more money. They may want to start their own business, get a higher paying job or or learn a new cash generating skill. This will make them feel successful.

2. People want to save money. They may want to buy a bargain or buy something that reduces a regular cost such as a low energy light bulb. This will make them feel more secure.

3. People want to save time. They may want to work less and spend time enjoying life's pleasures. This will make them feel more relaxed.

4. People want to look better. They may want to lose weight, tone their body, or improve their facial features. This will make them feel more attractive.

5. People want to learn something new. They may want to learn how to change their car oil or build a deck. This will make them feel more intelligent.

6. People want to live longer. They may want to get in shape, eat better or gain extra energy. This will make them feel healthier.

7. People want to be comfortable. They may want to relive aches and pains or want to sleep in a more comfortable bed. This will make them feel relieved.

8. People want to be loved and be loved. They may want to show that love by buying a special gift for a loved one. This will make them feel happy

9. People want to be popular. They may want to be a famous celebrity or be more popular in school. This will make them feel praised and admired.

10. People want to gain pleasure. For a collector this may be the pleasure of ownership or with a record the pleasure of listening to it.

All items consist of benefits and features. For instance lets take a washing machine for example. This may have lots of features such as a state of the art motor, bigger capacity, shorter spin cycle and goodness knows what. But as buyers these facts will not motivate us to buy. A feature always leaves you with the question “so what?”

For instance, it has a high revolution spin cycle. So what?
Well it means that you can dry the clothes in half the time – a time saving
Because it is quicker it uses less electricity – saves me money
So from one feature we have two benefits for the product, it saves us time and money.
This is what you should emphasize in your listing, what is in it for the customer.
Because if you think about it when you make the purchase as a customer you are not really after a washing machine you are buying clean clothes.

Look for the features that your items offer and see how you can use a motivational trigger to increase your bids.

Just like any specialist group eBayers have created their own language and abbreviations. In this article I thought I would run through some which you may come across when browsing eBay, especially eBay.com.
First of all terms relating to the condition of an item.

As is – This is an item that is offered as seen with no guarantee. This means that the buyer will no accept the return of the item or give a refund. Very
Much a case of “buyer be aware”.

Certificate of Authenticity (COA)– A paper certifying either the item is genuine. Particularly important with limited edition items.

Certificate of Provenance (COP) A paper giving the history of an item. Applies
mainly to antiques.

HTF LE MIB NB NBU NBW NM NP NWT OB SIG

Hard to find Limited Edition Mint in Box No Box Never Been used Never Been Worn Near Mint Not Packaged New With tags Original Box Signed

Condition P (Poor) F (Fair) G (Good) VG (Very Good) Mint (As New- No marks or wear)

And now a few terms relating to auctions:

Bid Cancellation - This is were the seller does not accept a bid from a specific
bidder. In eBay auctions the seller always has the right to refuse a bid.

Bid Retraction: - This is were the bidder withdraws a bid he has made prior to the end of the auction.

EOA Notice This is the notice that are sent opt to the wining bidder and seller
Once the auction is finished.

Escrow A system were a third party holds the money for an item until the
buyer receives the goods and can inspect them item and approve it.

Feedback The positive, neutral or negative comments left by buyers and
sellers.

Final Valuation Fee The total commission to be paid by a seller to eBay.

Non-Paying Bidder Someone who does not pay for an item they have bought in auction.

Proxy Bidding Submitting a maximum bid above the actual current bid price.
Your bid will increase incrementally as other bids come in until it reaches your maximum price.

Relist Submit an item again after an unsuccessful auction..

Sniping Out bidding others buyers at the last minute. (Often using software to do this)

If you come across any abbreviation or phrases that we have not included do let us know and we will add them to a new Glossary page that we are going to put on the web site.

Audio Tutorial - eBay Stores

Business week interview with Ebay CEPO Meg Whitman

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This months special offer

I was reading some interesting information the other day, which seemed to suggest that the sell through rate for 7 day auctions was better than for any other length of auction. I must admit I had always favoured 10 days as I figured that this represented the best value for money, but now I shall have to have a rethink. I would be interested in hearing any subscribers views on the best length for an auction.

Also last week I received an e-mail from a subscriber who had problems getting eBay to accept the fact that he owned the copyright on an item he was selling. One of the most frustrating facts for him was the almost impossibility of being able to actually talk to anyone at eBay. Most people seem to agree that eBay are not the best communicators in the world but what have been your experiences? We would like to know.