Hello <$firstname$>

I am sorry this month’s edition is a couple of days late but it has been a busy few weeks. As some of you may have heard I recently acquired the rights to publish the Money Master Magazine. For the last eleven years this has been one of the most successful printed business opportunity magazines in the UK.

The founder, publisher and Editor Shirley Garlick has now decided it is time to retire to the sun drenched coast of Greece. Having given it great thought I have decided to change the way the magazine is produced and from next month it will become an online publication.

It will still contain articles on all aspects of business opportunity and home business including eBay but it will be published in pdf so that those who want a hard copy magazine can print it off at home. I have also started a new web site to compliment the magazine at http://www.moneymasteronline.co.uk There is still a great deal to be added but do go and visit it and let me know what you think. Eventually the magazine may well be come a paid subscription but if you would like a guaranteed lifetime no cost subscription go to the web site and register before 1 st March. If you do this you will also be able to download a complimentary home business pack.

On the eBay front Meg Whitman, eBays CEO announced the introduction of a new “eBay Express “ site. Initially it would appear that this is only going to be available to US based sellers. However if it is a success I am sure that it will be extended to other sites such as eBay.co.uk before the end of the year. You will find an article on this new service later in this newsletter.

A quick reminder for subscribers in London and the West Country that eBay University will be in Bristol on the 18 th February and Central London on 11 th March.

The London event will be particularly interesting because it is offering both the “Beyond the Basics” and “The Top Sellers” courses. For more details go to http://pages.ebay.com/university. If any subscribers attend these events I would be interested to hear your feedback.

Many eBay sellers totally disregard one of their most valuable assets. That is their customers details. When you have made a sale and dispatched the goods what do you do then? If your answer is that you move on to your next listing then you really are missing a golden opportunity to double or even treble your profits.

Elsewhere both on and offline businesses will pay incredible sums just to capture the details of potential customers. Yet here you are literally throwing them away. For instance if your customer buys a book about aeroplanes from you there is a fair chance that they might be interested in any similar products you offer in the future.

According to eBay rules you cannot send unsolicited mail to your customers but legitimate method you can use works as follows. When you dispatch the item to your customer send them an e-mail telling them that you have dispatched the goods. In the same e-mail you could ask them if they would be interested in receiving your newsletter or current sales list. Alternatively you could offer some type of gift related to the product they have just purchased. If they respond you can consider them to have opted into your list and send them further mailings as you wish.

I also add a flyer offering further products in the item package when I send it. It is initially all about building up a rapport with your mailing list. It is also important that you make regular contact. I usually send out a short newsletter about once a month and possibly send an e-mail in between if I have something really special to offer.

If you have a good niche market you will also be able to add people to your list who have not actually made a purchase from you yet. You can do this by giving details of your newsletter in your about me page. The best way of doing this is to set yourself up a single page web site with a sign up form for visitors to register for the newsletter.

None of these measures will cost you very much money but if you do this diligently you could find that you are selling more off of eBay than on. This will save you a bundle on listing and final valuation fees. In the meantime your eBay listings will continue to bring you names to add to your customer list.

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In the middle of last month on an earnings conference call eBay’s CEO Meg Whitman announced details of a new speciality site called eBay Express. Initially it will only be available to US residents but no doubt if it proves a success we will see it in the UK before too long.

Basically the site, which is due to be launched in the US in the spring, will offer just fixed priced items. There is no doubt that this site has been created to challenge the likes of Amazon and Google Base.

There are still many people who do not like what they perceive as the hassle of online auctions or even buy it now. They simply want to go on line, find what they are looking for, buy it and get off. This is the service eBay Express is designed to provide. Obviously it will not be suitable for all types of products but will be useful for those that sell commodities such as videos and clothes.

From what I can see for those that are eligible and join the service their Buy it Now and Store items will be automatically included. The initial qualification to join the service will be a feed back of 100+ with a positive rating of 98% or higher. Although some traders are suggesting the entry level should be set at 500 + with 99% positive.

For more details I would recommend that you go to Ina and David Steiner’s excellent site AuctionByte.com were you will find the matter discussed in their 8 th Feb Newsletter. http://www.auctionbytes.com

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It amazes me that only 6% of eBay Sellers actually have an About Me page.

Probably only 1% realise how much additional income an About Me page can actually generate and are using it to its maximum advantage.

To discover how much money you are missing out on visit The Silent Sales Machine

<>What Else Belongs On Your Ebay Shipping Box?By Kirsten Hawkins

The quickest answer I feel I should give to this question is this: not your handwriting! Scrawling addresses on boxes with a pen is extremely amateurish, and you shouldn’t do it. Print your own labels instead. But what should you put on them?

The buyer’s address: This might sound obvious, but you need to make sure the full address is there, including country and zip or postal code. Make sure you spell their name correctly, too, as they might be a little insulted if you don’t.

The eBay item number: Write this somewhere discreet and quite small, in this form: ‘Item number: 123456789’. Under the address is a good place. This makes it easy for the buyer to find the auction again if they need to look at it for any reason.

Your logo: Putting your logo on the shipping box looks professional, and lets your buyers see what it is that has arrived. A good logo can make the whole package look very nice, and can help build recognition of your business.

Your address: It’s worth putting your own address on the box in case the item can’t be delivered and needs to be returned to you. It looks good to write this under your logo, as it reinforces the impression that you’re a real business with a real address, not some shady operation.

Stamps: If you start to sell on eBay in a significant quantity, you might consider buying a postage meter. Again, this is a matter of looking professional – it looks much better than having stamps stuck everywhere. It also saves you from having to weigh your items at the post office and buy stamps there.

The ‘eBay Items’ Debate.

Some sellers like to mark their shipping boxes with a phrase like ‘eBay items’, while some feel that this is an unsafe practice that could mark their boxes out to get stolen or interfered with in the post. Whether you’re willing to risk it is up to you – it’s probably better to be safe than sorry, though, and there will be few of your customers who get so many packages that they won’t know what yours is.

And Inside?

You’ll probably find it worth printing off a ‘receipt’ from eBay – the confirmation of payment page – and putting it in the envelope. If you want to make your customers feel even better about having ordered from you, you can also include a compliments slip, featuring your logo, your website address and a message like ‘Thank you for your order. Please contact me if there are any problems. [Your name].’

Always remember: the more they like what they get, the more likely they are to come back and order again from you in the future.

In the next email, we’ll look at exactly that, using a strategy you might not have considered. You can make backend sales over and over again, simply by emailing buyers with good offers for things you think they’re going to need. See you there.

About the Author: Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

Source: www.isnare.com