Hello <$firstname$> and welcome to the issue 33 of UK Auction Line.
This will be the last of the fortnightly editions as the result of our recent survey showed that over 60% of the subscribers would prefer a monthly edition. But to please the other 40% I will send out a brief update of latest news and other facts of interest in between issues.

As spam filters become more effective to ensure that you do not miss a copy of UK Auction News or the update you might like to add ukauctionline to your white list of friendly addresses.

In this issue I am pleased to include an article by John Reece. He is the man who recently generated over $1 million dollars worth of sales in a 24 hour period so he knows his business. John has been writing about eBay for quite a few years now. He produced a wonderful 2 hour video which I would have recommended before but unfortunately it was in the NTSC format which meant that it would not play on UK video players that use the PAL system. However it is now available on DVD. And what is more for a limited time John is offering this program at a 50% discount.

I am attending the eBay University day at Sheffield on Saturday and if any readers are going there it would be great to meet you. I shall be wearing some sort of name badge so do come up and say hello. There is also another eBay University day being held in Bournemouth on the 30th October. If you want more details of either event go to the eBay Community page.

Best regards
Dave

By Dave Bromley

It was all supposed to go so smoothly. Last Friday eBay launched “an improved version” of the PayPal site and according to some people the system practically ground to a halt. On Tuesday they issue an announcement to say that they had encountered technical problems and the system was running much slower than normal but hoped to soon have back to normal.

Yesterday, (Wednesday) they told us “they hade made good progress in their efforts to restore the PayPal site functionality. The PayPal site performed well during peak traffic levels this morning and the overall member experience has improved significantly. Members are now able to log in to the PayPal site to access account information and pay for items online with no difficulty.

When I checked it late yesterday and this morning it was still taking up to 8 hours to be notified of payments that had been received but I am sure they will soon get it back to normal. They appear to have had the same problems in the USA and the news groups and discussion boards are full of complaints.

Earlier this week the papers were full of the story of the teenager who conned £45,000 out of people by advertising non-existent goods on eBay. The thing I found most worrying about this story was that it seems he had been doing it for a year before he was apprehended. I would have thought eBay's security system would have picked up his operation much quicker than that.

This follows on from the Which report that claims there are 200 fraudulent transactions a day on eBay. This was countered by the company who said that only 0.001% of all transactions were found to be fraudulent. I remember them quoting this statistic when I first became interested in eBay some years ago. Since then the number of transactions have grown two or threefold which I suppose means that there are 2 or 3 times the number of fraudulent transactions as there used to be.

With the case of the teenager he used to get his victims to bypass the normal payment procedures and I suppose this was how he got away with it for so long. We all love bargains but when an offer seems almost to good to be true, it probably is. Check a sellers feedback and ignore feedback as a buyer. It is relatively easy to build up a 100 or more feedback figure by buying cheap items and this is a common way for fraudsters to build credibility.

Never be tempted to go outside of the eBay system. If you do you are only trying to save a few pounds and if it is a con you will lose a lot more than that. If you are buying high value items insist on using the escrow system and because there have been so many scams involving false escrow services I would only use eBays own service. Not that I normally sell items that would warrant using an escrow service.

The whole structure of eBay is based on trust and it has worked well and the vast majority of transactions go off with no problems. Unfortunately it is the few that do not that attract the attention of the media. But even so it is still a case of “Caveat Emptor “ let the buyer be aware.

I have recently received information about another new UK Auction site uk-flogit. It specialises in Auto and computer consumables and as the owners told me

“uk-flogit launched 1st July this year has had a fantastic first quarter. Traffic increased rapidly from day one and flogit quickly hit the number one spot in Google and many other popular search engines.

The concept of online auctions is already well established but we felt the choices for users of online selling sites were limited by the charges and commission payments generally required before listing items for sale. We decide to make flogit commission free and have no listing fees for the popular auctions and fixed price sales and allow our users to choose any of the pay options available to enhance their ad's.

Our research has indicated that October is a time when traffic to auction sites increases significantly and we are confident that uk-flogit will attract more and more buyers, sellers and browsers in the lead up to Christmas 2004. Throughout the final quarter of this year we have planned enhancements to the flogit site both visual and technical, which will further improve our users experience when visiting or using the site.

uk-flogit is rapidly developing it's own identity which is important for any site, but even more so when there are so many other sites operating in the same category. Users leaving feedback have been referred to as flogateers which is a strong indicator that the whole flogit experience is coming together for it's users.

Although flogit was never intended to compete in the online auction arena, but rather add choice for sellers and buyers the early signs are that this site is rapidly attracting a loyal user base and an online culture of its own.”

I wish it well in what is a very difficult market.

The Audio Tutorial - Online Auctions - Maximum Profits

Google launches Froogle in the UK

By John Reese, creator of "Internet Auction Secrets"
(http://www.auctionsecrets.com)

No matter how many times I see it happening, I'm constantly amazed at the number of people who are literally throwing money away by making incredibly simple mistakes when they sell items in an online auction.

Over the last seven years, I've been making a great living buying and selling products on eBay and other online auction sites, and I've perfected a technique that pretty much guarantees anyone can start making a profit right away. That technique starts with avoiding mistakes like these -- mistakes I've seen people make every day for those same seven years.

If you're doing any of these four things, you're leaving money on the table with every single item you sell.

• Listing an item at the wrong time. It's a proven fact more buyers browse Internet auction sites on Sunday evenings than any other time during the week. If your auction is scheduled to end at any other time than Sunday evenings (specifically between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time), you're not getting the maximum exposure for your auction at a time when people are most eager to buy.
  
• Not giving your photos the attention they deserve. There are two common mistakes people make with the photos they use to entice buyers on eBay. One is not having enough pictures to accompany your item's description. Over the years, I've learned pictures of your item are one of the most important components of your sales page. (There are many reasons for this, but I don't have the space to go into much detail here.) Multiple pictures from various angles will ALWAYS help you get higher bids for your products. The second mistake is not making sure the pictures are up and running on whatever server you're using BEFORE you list your item. How many times have you been browsing an auction site and seen a blank box where a picture of the item should have been? That's a seller who's losing money because of a very simple, and very common, oversight.
  
• Using "Las Vegas style" listings. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here. A Las Vegas listing is one that uses all kinds of flashing animation, multicoloured text and other bells and whistles in an attempt to entice bidders. In fact, it does just the opposite. Listings like these are distracting, hard to read, and will always discourage people from bidding, resulting in a lower final sales price. The descriptions that you give of your item on your sales page ARE NOT designed to get a buyer's attention (you already have that if they've clicked on your listing in the first place). They should be designed to get someone to actually place a bid.
  
• Using a reserve. Using a reserve to guarantee that you'll get a minimum price for an item will absolutely kill your auction. Trust me, I've seen it happen too many times to not accept this as a given. In fact, I often use other seller's auctions that have a reserve as a way to pick up items at ridiculously low prices that I can sell "the right way" for a huge profit a few days later -- but that's a different article altogether. For now, just realize that nothing scares away potential bidders better than seeing the "Reserve Not Yet Met" tag. If you're truly concerned about a minimum price, simply set your starting price a little higher.

About the Author:
John Reese has been actively involved with online auctions and eBay since 1996. Mr. Reese has written several articles on the subject and has recently created the "Internet Auction Secrets" Video for teaching others how to start, run, and manage a successful online auction business from home.

His 2-Hour Step-By-Step Video comes with access to a "Student's Only" web site where his students can keep up with the latest tips, tricks, and techniques. You can learn about how *you* can become one of his students at: http://www.auctionsecrets.com