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The extensive collection of all matters relating to Online Auctions
Don’t Become a Bore on eBay
Be careful not to become a bore. I have discovered the joy of selling on eBay. When I was in the corporate world I used to do a lot of coaching. Mostly it was sales related in order to enhance business performance.
It is very enjoyable when you get the right responses from your colleagues and improvements start to come through. I love negotiating and we all do a lot of negotiating.
Don’t forget it is eBay’s ball
Recently some of the fees on eBay were raised and what was the immediate reaction from some sellers?
“We will all boycott eBay, that will bring them to their knees.†They cried.
What a load of old rubbish.. eBay is a massive company that makes billions of dollars in profits and a few whinging sellers throwing their toys into a corner and sulking is not going to make one iota of difference
Wake up to reality eBay can do what they like it is their ball. They can put the fees up, they can change the rules, they can have the worst customer support system imaginable and when all said and done there is nothing anyone can do about it except walk away.
Any company that can grow and develop the way eBay has is not going to do anything to seriously jeopardise their position in the market place.
Since they went public their first responsibility has to be to their shareholders and they are always going to be looking for ways to increase
the profits. But that is only the same as we are all trying to do with our eBay businesses.
Quite honestly we should all be used to price rises by now. Look at what has happened to fuel, gas and electricity over the last few months. But just because the prices have gone up does not mean that we are all going to stop driving or turning on our air conditioning or heating. I am sure that owners of bricks and mortar businesses have seen their rents and business taxes rise over the years. So why get all hot under the collar because eBay have raised some of their fees?
As long as your business is all about selling on eBay you are going to be totally tied and reliant upon them. I have no reason to believe that eBay will not continue into the foreseeable future providing a service the same or similar to the one that is available today. But perhaps we should be looking for ways to reduce the reliance on a company over which we have no control.
Just because eBay is the market place that finds the customers for us it does not mean that we cannot develop a relationship with that customer outside of eBay. Normally you will have an e-mail and physical address of your auction customers and you should be using these to build a customer list. Many sellers who started out selling purely on eBay now find they are making greater sales by e-mailing or sending offers by snail mail to their loyal customer list.
The big advantage of this is of course it does not matter how high eBay fees go up because you so not have to pay any fees to sell to your list.
My advise is to stop worrying about the odd fee increase and get on with building your customer list and developing your business both inside and outside of eBay. It is a lot more profitable than whinging.
eBay Sellers of the World – its official Christmas is coming.
I have it on very good authority that Christmas this year will fall on
25th December. I tell you this because so many people get caught out
and seem amazed when Christmas arrives.
There are now less that 100 days to Christmas which apart from being
the celebration of the birth of Jesus is also one of the most active times
of the year for eBay sellers.
It is the time of the year that for many people common sense goes out of
The window and they spend as though there were no tomorrow. There is
a saying that the way to financial success is to find out what people are
spending on and throw yourself in front of the money.
Ask yourself, what will people be buying in November and December.
Gift items obviously, decorations, books, CDs and DVDs in fact practically
anything if you can give it a bit of a festive slant.
But if you are going to cash in on this bonanza you should have started your
planning and product sourcing by now. But there is still time if you are quick.
My Christmas products will being going up for sale on eBay from the first week
in October. You don’t want to leave it too much longer if you want a share of the
festive profits
Sydney Johnston was terrific
I have just about got over Yanik Silvers. “Underground UK seminar. What a great weekend. Without exception all the speakers had really useful information to pass on and I came away with a notebook full of ideas and actions to take.
Of course for me the highlight was on Sunday morning when Sydney Johnston, the undisputed Queen of eBay gave her presentation. What a speaker, this was a no nonsense, straight from the hip, tell it like it is low down on how to make cash on eBay.
Much of what she said went against the perceived wisdom trotted out by some other so-called experts. However, as she explained her ideas it all fell into place. If you want to learn Sydney’s methods I shall be telling how you can in the next issue of the ukauctionline newsletter. If you are not already a subscriber just go and register at http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk now.
eBay’s Weirdest Items
by David Riewe
Indeed, E-bay is today’s most sought-after shopping portal in
the Internet. It has created in itself a worldwide phenomenon
that people get inflicted with. The joy and the thrill of
bidding online create a certain diagrammatic representation of
life’s drama.
Is the future bleak for eBay drop off stores?
Back in 2002 the first eBay drop off stores began to appear on the West Coast. Auction Drop was in the forefront of this move and attracted millions of dollars of venture capital. There plan was simple, they would open a nationwide chain of stores were people with items to sell could drop them off and Auction Drop would list them on their behalf on eBay.
Our servers been down
I am afraid that we have had a few problems with our server over the last couple of days but know I am glad to say all is back to normal. Also today I have posted 5 new articles up to UK Auctionline. They are
An Introduction To eBay Consignment
By Terry Gibbs
eBay Online Auction Sniping Secrets
by Doug Feiring
Instructions on How to Put Picture on Ebay
By Renee Matt
The 5 Mistakes that lose you money on eBay
By Dave Bromley
Professional eBay Auctions Reap the Profits for Sellers
If you sent us an e-mail between 17th-19th October we may not have received it so please send again.
Dave Bromley
Is eBay Trying to Difersify?
Over the last ten years the growth of eBay has been nothing short of phenomenal. Both in terms of registered users and monies spent the company has continued to surge forward. It was untouched by the dot com slump and now boasts of over 30 International sites.
Hoax Bid costs Tsunami Appeal
Yesterday the MCC played an International XI in a cricket match to
raise money for the Tsunami appeal.Many of the worlds leading cricketers took part in the one day match which the MCC won by 112 runs.
The one big disappointment of the day was an Auction on eBay for the right to face an over from Shane Warne, one of the worlds leading bowlers in front of the 20,000 crowd at this famous home of cricket.
Can you make Norwich tomorrow
I know that it is a bit short notice but if you are in the Norwich area tomorrow ebay are holding one of their successful eBay University Days at the University of East Anglia.
Is Ebay losing its attraction?
In an article in last Saturday’s Guardian, Miles Brignall highlights some cases of sharp practice by sellers on eBay. He cites examples of items being sold on the auction site that could be purchased much cheaper elsewhere.
It is an interesting and thought provoking article and if the types of practices described continue to flourish then it could have a detrimental effect on the long term growth of eBay.co.uk
To read the full article Beware all the Dell boys on eBay Click Here
Looking for goods at Wholesale?
I am always looking for new sources of items to sell on eBay.co.uk. One site that I have come across has details of UK Wholesalers and drop shippers. Lifetime membership of the site costs only £4.99, which seems reasonable.
However I am always a little wary of recommending any of the so-called wholesale directories as they do not always meet everyone’s needs. And to be quite honest the information contained can usually be found by anyone with the time and inclination to search on or offline for it.
To make sure that all my readers get value for money, anyone who goes to http://www.wholesale-list.info and takes up the £4.99 lifetime membership option can also receive a free copy of my CD Buying and Selling on eBay. After you sign up just e-mail me a copy of your Paypal receipt and I will put your CD in the post.
Ebay’s 5p Listing Day
eBay have announced a 5p listing day on Thursday 19th May. However you need to read the small print. It only covers some categories and as to whether it covers Buy It Now listings is not plain.eBay say
“Sellers who use Item Specifics in their auction-style or auction with Buy It Now listings on Thursday 19th May 2005 will be eligible for a reduced insertion fee of just 5p per item.” But later on they state “Fixed Price (Buy It Now) listings are not included in this promotion.” So your guess is as good as mine.
Radio eBay
Did you know that every week Radio eBay has a 2 hour broadcast.? Presenter Jim”Griff”
Griffiths hosts the show, which includes interviews, hints and tip plus the latest
eBay news.
There is also an interesting phone section when eBayers get an opportunity
to ask questions or express their views. To be fair as you would expect the
program obviously has more relevance to ebay.com users who are based in the
states. However, there is a lot of material in the programs that could be of
interest to eBay members in the UK.
By clicking on the link below not only can you hear this weeks program but
also listen to past broadcasts contained in the archives.