Hello <$firstname$> and welcome to the 30th issue of UK Auction Line.
eBay recently announced that they are to introduce yet another new feature. This allows the seller to specify whether an item is new or used. eBay's thinking behind this idea is that surveys have shown that condition of an item is one of the top purchasing criteria for buyers.
They also believe that details that state the condition of an item are more likely to attract bidders than those that do not.

The condition that the seller selects will appear on the View Item page just above the Item description. Buyers will be able to specifically search for new or used items using the sites search engine. Whether a seller uses this feature will be optional, but I can see no reason why we should not use it.

eBay had a 10p listing day last Thursday. I do not know if anyone else has noticed it but after these special days I always find that sales drop off quite a bit. Whether it is because there is so many items up for sale that potential bidders find it daunting I don't know. My own belief is that so many people upload low quality or poor value items that they really do not expect to sell. I am sure that eBay consider these days worthwhile, they seem to have them on all their sites but, I am not sure that they are doing the serious sellers any favour. But what do you think are free or low cost listing days a good or a bad thing? Let me know your views.

I keep getting sales letters from people telling me I can make a fortune by going to car boot sales and then selling items I buy on eBay. In fact one letter I got quoted a £1000 a week profit. Now as I have said many times in this newsletter I am a great fan of car boot sales and in the past have purchased some bargains. But this year it has been most disappointing. Maybe it has been in part due to the weather but there do not seem to be as many sellers as in the past and the quality of the items for sale have been for my purposes pretty poor. Are there still bargains to be got from car boot sales? Of course this could be another victim of eBays success, now so many more people know about eBay and rather than standing in a wet and cold field to sell their goods they just go straight online. Oh and by the way if you earn £1000 a week from buying at car boot sales I am sure we would all like to hear from you.

Bets regards
Dave

Ask most people what Aida is and they will tell you it is an opera set in Egypt. Ask a marketing person and they will tell you that it is the sales formula that all advertising must incorporate if it is to be successful.

It stands for:	A	Attention
	I	Interest
	D	Desire
	A	Action

It does not matter how well your description is written, how good your product is or what terrific value it represents if no-one knows about it. So how do you grab people's attention
and get them to read your listing?

We know that the majority of potential bidders will start by going to eBay's search engine.
So the important thing is to get as many key words or phrases that they might use into your title. If I am looking for a Rolex Oyster wristwatch I might type in Rolex, Oyster or wristwatch
into the search engine. If you have a Rolex Oyster Wrist Watch for sale at £25 I will not even find it if your listing title is something like "Amazing Value Top of the Range Quality Watch"

The secret is to think like a buyer. EBay offer you some tools to help you gain attention. If you cannot get everything in your title that you want you could pay an extra 50p and add a sub title or go for one of the other enhancements that eBay offer. Only testing will tell you whether these are worth it for your products.

Having gained attention and got people to read your listing you have to get and maintain their interest. The very best way to do this is to answer the question that we all have in the back of our mind when we read any advertising, "What's in it for me?" If your description starts by outlining what the item is and then details the benefits it offers you will draw the reader onto the next stage which is to create the desire to own the item. One of the best tools to create desire is visualization. Phrases like "Just imagine how you will feel wearing a top of the range watch" or "Just think as a Rolex owner you will standout from the crowd".

So far you have done really well in attracting potential bidders attention, getting their interest and arousing their desire, but unless you can get them to take some action it will all have been a waste of time. So how do you get them to take action? It is quite simple really you just ask them. "If you don't want to miss this wonderful item, watch this bid now."

This has been a brief introduction to the AIDA formula but I am sure if you keep it in mind while you are writing your listings you will see an increase in bidders.

There are around 9 million people who have registered with eBay.co.uk but this is a drop in the ocean when you compare in with the 60 million plus who are registered with eBay.com. It is quite a sobering thought when you think that there are more people registered with this site than there are living in the UK.

It would seem to me that if you have the right type of product it makes a great deal of sense to target the American market. Obviously one of the major factors you will have to consider is how easy is it to ship your goods. For instance if you sell CDs there is no problem but if you sell grand pianos exporting may not be for you.

Currently listings from eBay.co.uk appear on Ebay.com as well. I am not totally certain if this applies to all listing or just those were the seller has indicated they are prepared to ship world wide. You can also list your items directly on eBay.com giving the opening or buy it now price in dollars. I have noticed that I attract more bids from the USA when I list the item on eBay.com because many Americans are put off when the price is given in pounds sterling.

If you are selling high price items, especially internationally, you should use an Escrow service. But just a warning that there have been instances of fraudulent Escrow companies being established to scam the unwary. If you use the eBay recommended Escrow.com you should have no problems.

If your item weighs less than 2 kg you can send them by mail at the "small package rate" which ranges from £1.20 for up to 100 gms and around £18 for 2 Kg. Therefore it is important that you state in your listing that you will be charging extra for postage overseas. I have on occasion had overseas customers pay at the end of the auction and just add the a UK postage amount. As most of my items are CDs which cost very little to ship, (I've just sent 3 CDs to the USA at a cost of £1.31) I tend to bear the cost but you will have to decide for yourself how to handle it if it happens to you. Of course you can use service mail which is considerably cheaper but the item can take up to 6 weeks to arrive. The Post Office have a very useful booklet called "International Postal Services for Business" which you should be able to pick up one at any post office counter.

One thing I do insist on is that I will only accept payment from overseas via Paypal. The cost of processing an overseas cheque at the bank makes it prohibitive. This is something that you should make clear in your listing.

Whilst you are picking up your booklet at the Post Office you might also pick up some sticky customs labels and Airmail stickers. If you complete the customs declaration and put on the correct stickers it can save you time when you go to the post office to send them off. If the package is under 2kgs you should also write the words "Small Package Rate" on the front of the parcel.

It is very easy to come up with lots of reasons why not to sell outside of your own country but from my experience adopting an insular attitude can seriously reduce your profits. The world is getting smaller all the time.

The Audio Tutorial - Where can I buy Products to Sell?

Audio Tutorial – Resources Page

Scotsman Auctions Friendship

Scottish Couple Arrested

How to pump up your eBay profits

This program amazed me.

Let me give you an eBook from a Dropship expert

Are you a lady from Canada?

The other day I received an e-mail from a lady in Canada. (I think her name may have been Valerie). I have a program on my computer called Mail Washer which hold e-mails from my
computer until I have a chance to look at and decide if it is spam or not. The other day I received this e-mail from this Canadian lady and quickly read it, and then tried to download it to my computer. Somehow it has vanished and as a result I cannot answer her e-mail, which I know had a question in it. If this is you PLEASE e-mail me again.

Have you got a story to tell? Have you had an interesting or unusual experience whilst selling on eBay. Have you any tips or hints that you would like to pass on to fellow subscribers? Would you like to write an article or a letter for publication in UK Auctionline? We would like to hear your views and ideas. All contributions are welcome and should be sent to editor@ukauctionline.co.uk

And finally before we close, just a quick reminder that our Drop Shipping service is up and running, for more details go to www.eclipsepublishing.com

Regards,
Dave