Hello <$firstname$> and welcome to the issue 31 of UK Auction Line.
I am looking to make some changes to UK Auction Newsletter in the coming months to make it even more relevant and useful to you. I am looking to introduce a product review section and from this month you will have the opportunity to download a complimentary e-book with each issue. This issues e-book is 10 Steps to eBay UK Success. Further into this newsletter you will find details of the survey I am holding to try and find out exactly what you would like from this newsletter. Do please complete the survey and let me know your thoughts as they will be most helpful in shaping the newsletter for the months to come.

The most interesting news to break this week is that eBay.co.uk are to launch a radio and television advertising campaign in October. Up until now eBay has concentrated its advertising mainly online and this type of promotion will continue, but plans are in place for the new Radio and TV campaign to run well into 2005.

The aims of the campaign are to expand the base of eBay users and to grow activity on the site. The fourth quarter of the year is traditionally the most active in terms of sales and this new campaign is likely to boost this further.

To keep current members informed and to allay any fears that they may have about the advertising campaign eBay are holding a Workshop that will provide further details of the campaign and answer any questions on the Workshop Discussion Board on 27th September at 6:30pm. The workshop is to be hosted by Simon Darling, eBay.co.uk’s Marketing Director and Iain Hildreth, Head of Brand Marketing. You can access the Workshop board via the Community link in the Navigation Bar.

Ebay have also announced the introduction of a listing analysis feature available for new sellers who use Sell Your Item to list. The purpose of Listing Analysis is to educate sellers about listing best practices and help them increase their chances of selling the item they are listing. The listing analysis is performed automatically during the listing process. Based on the results, recommendations to enhance the listing will be displayed at the top of the Review & Submit page on the Sell Your Item form.

The recommendations and tips offered are optional and may help increase a newer seller's chances of selling successfully. The listing tips will not be visible to current, active eBay sellers in order to reduce interruptions or revisions.

Current, active sellers will continue to see recommendations at the end of Sell Your Item which provide information about optional listing upgrades designed to help increase the value of their listings.

It looks as though we are in for a busy time with online auctions in the coming months and now is the time to make sure that you are ready for the rush. And if you have not really made a start yet then NOW is the time to get started. The evenings are pulling in and soon many of us will be spending more of our evenings in front of the computer so there is not a better time to decide to become serious about selling on eBay.

Bets regards
Dave

I have mentioned QXL in the past as one of the better UK online auction sites around. If you specialise in Football, Gaming or Music you could find this a profitable site to visit. During the 14 day free listing period it might be worth putting up some items on this alternative to eBay to see how they do. Because of course it will not cost you anything unless you make a sale.
I have also found QXL can be a good source auction site to make purchase of items that I can then sell elsewhere online. Why don’t you go and have a look at QXL.

I have been editing the UK Auction Line for over 12 months now and now seems a good time to review our progress.

I sit here twice a month and write what I hope you will be interested in reading but I never know for certain if it really is what you want to read.
Therefore I thought it would be a good idea to have a survey to get your opinion and suggestions. The survey is quite short and should not take more than a couple of minutes to complete. As a thank you for participating I will send you one of the first copies of my latest e-book, “How to turn eBay into your own personal goldmine”

You will receive the survey in an e-mail following this Newsletter. Just answer the questions and then click on the reply button and enter the word Survey in the subject and send. You will then be sent download instructions by return.

The Audio Tutorial - Your Photographs

This issues downloadable e-Book – 10 Steps to eBay UK Success

eBay Founder Ranks Second in 40 Richest Americans Under 40 List

eBay is favourite website for shirking workers

Last month I asked for subscribers views on the free and cheap listing days and I suggested that they might be counter productive. But Darren Bunting has found that they work well for him.

The Hi Dave,
With regard to your question on the 'cheap' listing days that Ebay runs across all its sites, yes I find they work very well for me but could understand how what works for me does not work for other sellers.

I find these listing days work on a couple of levels, first off it gives me an incentive to list items that had got put at the bottom of the box, back of the draw, however you want to say it and usually they do sell.

The cheaper listing fees also tends to up my enthusiasm all round for Ebay which tends to rub off in my descriptions and which will often carry over into sales, also a lot of the items I sell (mainly music CDs) have a small profit margin if they only sell with one bid so paying less listing fees ups my profits and speeds turn around of stock.

Another plus I have tried with this 10p listing offer is raising the start price of some auctions as the listing fee was the same whether the start price was £0.99, £2.99 or more and I am sure this will also improve the profits I make.

To give an example I listed about sixty items for ten days on the latest offer and with two days to run I had sixteen auctions with one or more bids, as you well know most bids tend to happen in the last twenty four hours of an auction so I am hopeful of something like a fifty percent sell through on this cheaper auctions and I could well sell even more, so bring on the cheap days for me!,

Cheers Darren (Ebay seller name Arrad at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/arradsfilmmusicandgamesshop )

And I received an e-mail from Keith McDuff telling me about a Post Office service that might be of interest to some of our subscribers.

Hello Dave,
I don't know if you or your readers are interested but if you are selling a lot of things on Ebay you might be interested in Smart Stamp from Royal Mail, it allows you to print your own postage stamps and therefore saves you time queuing up in the post office. It cost £4.95 per month for the service, but you can print stamps for anywhere in the world and once you have printed your stamps you have to post them by the following day, ( you do have to pay for the price of stamp you are printing ) you can also have your company name or logo on the stamps if you wish. Do hope this might of use to you, keep up the good work, Keith McDuff