Hello <$firstname$>

I don’t know how you are doing with eBay at the moment.. I have to admit that things have slowed down a little for me. That is not unusual for this time of the year when many people have other things to do rather than sit at their computers. This combined with the general reported slowdown in consumer spending is having some effect on sales.

Over the last month eBay have also received some adverse publicity over the Live 8 ticket affair. On the plus side the 3-day annual event eBay Live held in San Jose was a great success. This annual jamboree includes special events, seminars, trade stands and general partying. This being the 10 th Anniversary of eBay made it a not to be missed event for many users of eBay.com and even some people travelled ove from Europe.

I have had reports from subscribers that they have been receiving communications from HM Inland Revenue requesting details of their eBay businesses. I have even been told that within the Inland Revenue there has been a dedicated task force set up specifically to look at eBay sales and sellers. If you have a business selling on eBay you are just as liable for tax on the revenue as if you ran any other business such as a shop or factory. To help you in this issue I am including an article on how to make sure you do not find yourself paying too much back to the Taxman.

We must have all heard the news of the London bombings with sadness but the after effects could have some impact on both eBay buyers and sellers. EBay have issued a statement pointing out For the next few days at least it is entirely possible that postal services in the Greater London area, and South East of England in general, will be disrupted.

Changes to eBay's Feedback System.

At eBay Live 2005, Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America announced some changes to the feedback system. One off the big complaints that many people have is that they can easily receive unwarranted negative feedback and once given there is little they can do to get it removed.

In my time on eBay I have received 2 negative feedbacks, one was for a 99p item that got lost in the post and the buyer never contacted me but went straightaway and posted a negative .The second was bizarre, the person with the eBay account let her niece make a bid on an item, but having won it never sent a payment and yet somehow lodged a negative feedback. And trying to get a negative feedback deleted even using Square Trade is almost impossible. The proposed changes are designed to overcome this problem.

Whilst there are obviously many genuine cases where a negative feedback is warranted there are also many where they are not. It is often those new to eBay who are the first to reach for the negative button. The new measures should go a liong way to overcome the problems with negative feedback.

There are 3 main proposals, first if a complainant does not participate in the issue resolution process the feedback will be neutralised. This means that before submitting a negative feedback if appropriate the Unpaid item or Item not received process should be used to attempt to resolve the problem. I would also hope this would apply to anyone who submits a negative but will not take part in the Square Trade resolution process.

What will then happen is that the feedback comment will remain but their will be a note from eBay attached indicating that the feedback does not count towards the members total score.

Feedback will be removed from users who are indefinitely suspended within 90 days of registration. They will be considered never to have been members and all feedback, positive, neutral or negative left by them will be removed.

Finally all new members (those with a feedback of 10 or less) will have to complete a tutorial before leaving neutral or negative feedback. This short tutorial will show them the full range of options available to resolving their problem. I think this is a great idea but surely it would be better to make everyone undergo the tutorial the first time they submit a negative.

Although no implementation date has yet been given eBay. have confirmed that these changes will be coming into force both for eBay.co.uk and eBay.ie.

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by Dave Bromley

I must start this article by telling you that I am by means a tax expert and remind you that you should consult your own financial advisor for up to date expert advise. This article is based on my own experiences as a self-employed businessperson for the last 15 years.

The first point that must be made is that you should not only keep records of all your transactions but also retain any documentary evidence such as invoices, bank statements and the like. To be liable for tax on your eBay sales you have to be considered to be running a business either part or full time. For instance if you are just selling your own items, i.e. clearing out the loft or garage then there should be no tax liability. However, if you are buying in or manufacturing items to sell on eBay then the Inland Revenue will consider that you are running a business and you will be liable for tax.

You should ideally contact the inspector of taxes for your trading district and notify them that you have started trading. Another point to consider is that should your turnover exceed £55,000 you will become liable for VAT. You will need to register with your local Customs and Excise department and you will be liable for 17.5% on your sales. (There are a few exceptions such as books which are zero rated.) If you fail to register when you should you could find yourself liable for back tax.

As a business the inspector of taxes will ask to see your accounts. These will include a profit and loss account and possibly a balance sheet. He will also want to see a complete record of all your receipts and payments. If your annual turnover warrants it you should consider using the services of an accountant. For the sole trader I find that a good accountant can often save you much more money than they charge for their services.

This may all sound pretty gloomy but remember that you can also claim back expenses against turnover to work out the final figure owed to the Inland Revenue.

For instance you might pay a wage to your partner if they help you with your business, you can claim back travel expenses for attending events such as the eBay University days. You may have purchased books on how to run your business orhow to trade on eBay and these should be legitimate deductible expenses.

If you are running a simple business all you may need is a book where you can enter income on one side and out goings on the other. A pad of petty cash vouchers can be useful for keeping track of the small purchases that we all make in connection with our businesses. There is also a wide range of computer based accounts programs that you can also use.

The two certainties in life are death and taxes. Providing that you can prove your actual income from your eBay business and pay the required taxes due you should have few problems. But you should be aware that often happens when the Taxman learns that you are running a business he will pluck a figure out of the air, (usually a high one) and send you a tax demand. It will then be up to you to prove that this figure is wrong and without records this could be a difficult thing to do.

But the best advice I can give you is to go and talk to an accountant, and remember most will make no charge for your first interview. Also if you are really serious about your business it may be worth joining The Federation of Small Businesses www.fsb.org.uk

1. End your auctions when everyone is home: The time you list your auctions can have a big effect on the number of bids your auction receives and the closing price of your auctions.

The time when your auction usually gets the most bids is near the end. If you have listed an auction for 7 days, the whole seven days have been building up to the end of the auction. The end is when the last minute bidding begins, bidders desperately try to out bid one another to win the auction. The end of your auction is also when it gets the most traffic because the less time your auction has left the higher it places in the search results of someone that is looking for items similar to yours.

So what is the best time to list? A better question would be: when is the best time for an auction to close? The best time for an auction to close is in the evenings and on weekends. Why? Because that is when most people are home! You want to make sure that when your auction is closing, everyone that is bidding on it or is interested in bidding on it is free to do so.

What would happen if your auction closes at 9 am on a Monday morning? Everyone would be either sleeping or going to work and no one would have the time or energy to place any bids.

You need to make your auction end at the bidder’s convenience, in other words when the bidder is home and surfing the internet, in the evening or weekend.

How important is it to end your auctions when everyone is home and on their computer? Studies have shown that a listing that ends at peak hours can attract up to 25% more bids that one that has a poorly timed ending.

This is something you should definitely look into because simply listing your auctions at certain times is probably the easiest and most effortless ways to attract more bids and make hire profits.

So if you want to increase your profits; you should have your auctions end at anywhere from 8 pm – 11 pm in the evening, or end on weekends (in the afternoons). In other words, your auctions should end when everyone is home and has a chance to place a bid.

2. 100% money back guarantee: you need to make your potential costumers feel comfortable, completely safe and take away any fears or doubts they may have about buying from you. A very effective way to accomplish that is to give a 100% money back guarantee. This is no “secret”. Nearly every retail store, internet store, manufacturer and power seller does this. And yet a lot of eBay sellers try to avoid it.

Some sellers are scared of buyers taking advantage of their money back guarantees, so they either create a huge list of rules and regulations that simply scare people away or have a “no refunds” policy. A guarantee’s purpose is to take away any fear or doubt people may have about buying from you, some seller’s guarantees do the exact opposite; there are just too many scary rules and stipulations. That’s why you need a %100 money back guarantee with no strings attached!

The only “string” you need in your 100% money back guarantee is a time limit. The best time limit to give is a 90 days. Don’t worry, most items are returned within the first couple of weeks, so if they haven’t returned it in the first 30 day their most likely keeping it. So why give 90 days instead of 30? Because it sounds better, Would you rather have 30 day guarantee or a 90 day one? 90 days it is.

A 90 day 100% money back guarantee can do wonders for your business, it will take away doubts, fears and uncomfortable feelings of skeptical visitors and make them choose you over other sellers that have less promising guarantees.

If you are scared to offer a guarantee, don’t be. You will gain more money that you loose. Sure there might be some people who take advantage of your kindness, use the product for 90 days and return it. But that is inevitable, the only way to completely avoid those nasty people is to never do anything. Stop being so scared, you will gain much more than you loose.

3. Professionally designed listing graphics: professionally designed listing graphics have been proven to increase the number of bids an auctions receives by up to 25%. And that is why getting hiring a graphics designer to design your auction graphics is worth every penny.

How can graphics increase the number of bids your auctions get by up to 25%? Well, let’s see:

First of all a unique design will give you an identity and make you stand out from a crowed.

Graphics can give your auction listings a professional appearance, and most people want to deal with professionals not amateurs.

A unique design will keep people thinking of you. Every time a costumer comes across one of your listings they will recognize you. Big companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars to gain recognition, why? Because most people tent to trust companies they recognize over companies they have never heard of before.

Those are some of the main reason why professionally designed listing graphics can dramatically increase the number of bids your auctions receive. There are many more reasons why you should get your own auction listing design, but the most important thing you should know is 25% more bids translates into a lot of extra money.

4. Detailed item description and high quality photos: remember that when a person buys something from eBay, they don’t actually get to see, inspect and try out the item they are buying. This is why good photographs are a huge part of attracting bidders. The better your photos are the more likely it is that people will bid on your items.

That is why you should have multiple photos of the item you have up for auction. You need to show every part of the product in your photos. So the visitor can see what the product he/she is about bid on looks like. Remember, if the visitor was in a store they would get to see the product from all angles.

Remember the saying; a picture is forth a thousand words. On eBay its worth two thousand! You need good, clear photos in order to maximize the efficiency of your listings. And to take good, clear photos you will need a good camera. If you want to sell small products like watches, jewelry, MP3 players, palm pilots and other compact products you will need to take very close up pictures, for that you need a camera that is cable of small detailed photos.

The pictures in your listings need to compliment the product you’re selling and make it look beautiful. For that you need to take the photos in good lighting and at an angle that shows off your product’s good looks. If your camera is of cheap quality, the pictures might turn out blurry. Combine blurry pictures taken at bad angles with bad lighting and your product can turn out looking worth half of your asking price.

Having clear, detailed pictures that compliment the product you are selling will create more value. Pictures that make the product look great will also grow the desire your visitor has to buy the product. Desire is big, and pictures that show the product in all its glory will definitely create more desire.

What you also need to do when you are putting something up for auction on eBay or trying to sell something on Amazon (or anywhere on the internet for that matter). Describe the product you are selling in as much detail as possible. I mean mention everything about the product. Mention the color, weight, size, texture, features, accessories, condition, warranty, box size etc.

You need to not only mention everything, but explain what it all means as well; don’t just say “this camera comes with X2r-c finder scope” say “this camera comes with X2r-c finder scope which allows you to take pictures at night and improves the quality of photos you are taking by 50%”. You need to make your description simple to understand because if you don’t; you might confuse your potential costumer, and most people hate being confused.

Confusion can lead to frustration, and if your potential costumers get frustrated; all they have to do is click the back button on their web browser, and boom; you’ve just lost a bid.

So remember; your costumer doesn’t have the chance to actually see, feel and inspect the product they are buying from you, and that can fill their head with doubt (BAD!). So make sure you have a clear, detailed and easy to understand description.

5. Offer shipping discounts: The number one reason why most people refuse to buy products over the internet is because they believe the shipping charges add too much to the overall cost of the product. If this is the number one reason why people won’t buy from you; offer shipping discounts.

Most power sellers offer combined shipping discount. This means that if you buy more than one item from the seller; they will ship the items together instead of separately, and that can save the costumer a lot of money.

To almost everyone that buys products off of the internet; shipping charges are a pain in the butt. That is exactly why you should offer to ease their pain in the form of shipping discounts and NEVER over charge on shipping and handling. Some people get the clever idea to over charge on shipping to make a profit. This is an extremely bad idea, and it can severely decrease the number of bids your auctions receive and the price they close at.

Remember; shipping charges are a pain in the butt, offer to take the pain away and you will be rewarded with extra bids, and bids translate into pounds.

High quality photos, professional graphics, 100% money back guaranties and shipping discounts will work not only on eBay, but on yahoo, Amazon, your own website etc. Just because I chose to use eBay as a basis for explanation doesn’t mean that the advice in this list can’t be applied to anything else.

I think you will agree that most of the methods to improve your sales featured in this list require very little effort. Be that as it may; professional graphics and strategically timed auction listings alone can increase the number of bids your auctions receive by up to 25% each (combined total of 50%).

The methods and advice in this book are simple and easy ways to dramatically increase your profits and everything in this list is worth applying many times over.

Now that you know what to do, go and do it!! Because if you don’t; nothing will change!

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We are continuing to build up our web site at www.ukauctionline.co.uk.and have launched our own blog at www.ukauctionline.blogspot.com. All subscribers are welcome to contribute to the blog with any comments they wish. However, I would ask you not to use the blog to promote and products or auctions. That is not its purpose. Just above this I have added a review of some of the software programs that are available to help you sell on eBay. These have been provided thans to The Auction Software Review.

I also have to apologise if anyone sent me an e-mail that has not been answered. Our ISP has been moving there server recently and this has resulted in it being off line at times and many e-mails getting lost.

Don't forget that your contributions are always welcome, we love to hear from you.