• Welcome from Brian McGregor
• 1. Thought for the Day
• 2. Should we be Negative About Negatives?
• 3. Ten Steps to Making More Money on eBay
• 4. A Gift From Me to You
• 5. News & Views:
  eBay Alternatives
  Can't Spell, Won't Spell
  Interested in Last Minute Bargains?
  Fancy a buffet with Buffet?
  New UK Product Source
  eBay going PayPal only?
• 6 . Someone's Auctioning What???
• Back to Newsletter Archive
  

Do your friends, family and colleagues a favour, and share this eBay Auction Newsletter with them. Why not email them a copy NOW?

Or tell them to grab their own copy free from:
http://www.auctioninnercircle.com

Eden Phillpotts

Now that the eBay has changed in relation to negative feedback, what are sellers to do?

Let me backtrack a little...

You do know that sellers are no longer able to leave negative feedback for buyers? This change in eBay policy came in during May.

The question for sellers now is, how can you protect yourself from bad buyers and bidders? And how can you help to warn other sellers about these characters?

Whilst eBay has promised to look at the way in which it handles bad bidders, there are some things you can do.

First, you can file Unpaid Item disputes and report buyers who try to cheat the system. These systems are already in place , are already in place, but sellers are often apprehensive about using them. Such dispute processes have traditionally been very slow, and not too sympathetic to the seller.

eBay has said it will deal with problem buyers more quickly and effectively in future. As eBay points out, they now have resources available of those who used to resolve feedback disputes. These will be redirected toward removing non-paying bidders and users who try to abuse the feedback system.

The message from eBay to sellers is to please use the proper dispute mechanisms to report problem buyers.

While we're on about encouraging sellers to report bad buyers and bidders, these are the kind of actions they want you to report:

Unpaid items

Buyers who bid on an item but don't pay are a big headaches for sellers have. File an Unpaid Item dispute from 7 - 45 days after the listing closes. Or you can file one immediately if a) both you and the buyer want to stop the transaction or b) the buyer is not a registered user. Negative feedback and Detailed Seller Ratings left by unpaid bidders will be removed.

For more on the process, go here:

UK eBay
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/tp/unpaid-item-process.html

USA eBay
http://pages.ebay.com/help/tp/unpaid-item-process.html

Feedback extortion

Some buyers use the threat of leaving negative feedback unless the seller gives them a better deal. If you can provide the evidence, eBay will ban them on the first offence.

You can find out more at:

UK eBay
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

USA eBay
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-extortion.html

Feedback abuse

If you have a buyer who leaves malicious or dishonest feedback in an attempt to harm your reputation, you should report them. Although eBay may not ban them immediately, their record will contain the mark and opens them up to further action if this unacceptable behaviour continues.

You can learn about feedback abuse here:

UK eBay
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/feedback-abuse-withdrawal.html

USA eBay
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/feedback-abuse-withdrawal.html

Transaction interference

Sellers who find bidders cancelling bids, who then proceed to bid again, or if they make any kind of bid designed to disrupt a seller’s auction are breaking eBay policy.

Here’s where you can find out more:

UK eBay
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/policies/transaction-interference.html

USA eBay
http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/transaction-interference.html

If you have a buyer or bidder who tries any of the above on you, or indeed who violates any of eBay policies, please report it.

If you have any views on eBay's changes to the feedback system, I'd love to hear from you.

Here are ten steps which I'm sure will help to improve your eBay earnings.

Step 1: Find a Market

Conduct your own research, primarily on eBay. Watch for what sells well, and what doesn't. Make notes on your research. You'll identify some possibles quite quickly - those one or two items that always seem to sell for a good price.

Step 2: Locate a Product

Use all the available resources you can to find a supplier for the products you wish to sell. Use the internet, wholesale directories, telephone directory etc. You're after the best deal possible. Fundamentally, if the eBay selling prices you've seen are substantially higher than the cost suppliers are quoting you, you're on a potential earner.

Step 3: Spy on your Competitors

Before you buy any supplies of your product, do a double check on eBay to see how other sellers in your category are doing. Observe their strategies, and see if you can identify anything you could do better.

Step 4: Begin Small

Once you're ready, start by dipping your toe in the water. Don't throw thousands at the opportunity just yet! You need to find out what works and what doesn't. With eBay it's relatively affordable to try things. Get your creative juices flowing - you never know, you might just hit on a gold mine!

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat

Once you find an eBay sales methodology that works for your product, keep re-listing while you're making good money. At the same time, go back to step 1 and find another market or product.

Step 6: Maximise Your Income

Every eBay member who buys from you is now your customer. This means that you have built a trusted relationship with them. It also means that if you should offer them another (related) product at a special price, they may well be inclined to take up your offer.

Step 7: Investment and Growth

If you unearth a product that sells well on eBay, you may wish to consider investing in more auctions for the product. In this circumstance, eBay is basically a numbers game. You can now run as many identical auctions as you wish.

Step 8: Automation

With increased volume, you'll probably notice that you're writing the same things again and again in emails or item descriptions. Now is the time to turn to automated software that can create and renew listings for you, generate automated emails, apply feedback automatically etc.

Step 9: Ensure Legality

Once your sales get to a certain level, it may be difficult to consider your eBay activities to be a hobby. In some countries, the tax and revenue people are looking more closely at those who are deriving income from eBay. It might be appropriate to register yourself as a business. There is a huge amount of information on the internet about the steps you need to take to achieve this.

Step 10: Persevere

There is one fact you need to keep in mind as you go - and that is, eBay works. It may be that you're not there yet. But this is because you haven't quite the right market, product, method of listing etc. But you will! Just keep at it.

Write to me if you're having problems, I'll gladly help.

You can do it!!

eBay Alternatives

Have you ever wondered if there was an alternative auction site to eBay that might be worth trying? I know I have.

The problem is that you imagine most of eBay's competition to be small, with a limited number of listings and buyers.

Well, here is an interesting list of about 20 auction sites. Among the information given, you can see the number of live auctions each site has when you view the page.

It's what you might call, illuminating....

http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php

Can't Spell, Won't Spell

You know that we sometimes despair about the poor spelling taught at schools nowadays?

Well, on eBay, this is nothing new. And misspellings can make you money if you come across an auction with zero bids due to errors in the title.

There's a website called Fat Fingers that lets you take advantage of this situation.

Enter a query into the Fat Fingers search box, and it will search the eBay country site of your choice for that phrase and phrases that contain similar misspelled words. It really works!

Check out Fat Fingers yourself. It's fun!

http://www.fatfingers.com

Interested in Last Minute Bargains?

When you search eBay listings, be sure to display the results in Ending Soonest sequence. Scan the list for soon-to-end items with no bids or few bids, and pick off some bargains that have slipped others' attention.

Of course, the best way to find these last minute bargains is to use eBay's Deal Finder.

Here on UK eBay:
http://dealfinder.ebay.co.uk/dlf/home

And here on USA eBay:
http://dealfinder.ebay.com/dlf/home

I guess that title doesn't make much sense, unless you know who Warren Buffet is.

Warren Buffet is Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc, and is the financial genius who has made billions on the markets.

Last year, in an auction on eBay, two investors paid $650,100 for the chance to have lunch with him.

The auction benefits the Glide Foundation, which provides social services to the poor and homeless in San Francisco.

This year's auction will begin on June 22 and end on June 27.

So, if you've 700 grand or so (dollars), you can have buffet with Buffet.

On the other hand, if you had $700,000 in the bank, would you be bothered?

New UK Product Source

There's a superb new wholesale and dropship product sourcing site for UK eBayers.

It's called esources, and is worth checking out if you want to locate new product sources for your eBay auctions.

You can see the site here:

http://www.workwinners.com/esources/

eBay going PayPal only?

You possibly know that eBay has introducing the policy of accepting PayPal as the only payment method for listings on their Australia country site.

eBay says this move is an effort to cut down on fraud. They say that by requiring the use of PayPal, they are able to see buyers and sellers through the payment process, rather than them risking fraud through the use of outside payment services.

It's obviously got nothing to do with the increased fees which eBay will enjoy from it's wholly owned subsidiary company, PayPal!

There's an outcry Australia about it, but my guess is that this policy WILL happen. And, it will reach an eBay country near you in the future!

If you haven't already, I recommend you get yourself a PayPal account now, just in case!

Nothing surprises me when it comes to internet auctions. Amuse yourself with some of these beauties in our regular trawl through eBay's auctions.

Here are some auctions I've spotted as I trawled eBay recently:-

I'm often called this - I hope I don't look like it!

I was getting quite excited, until I read the last line of the auction.

Funny that he's fed up with eBay, yet he's using it!

Anyone out there called Stickers? This is for you...

But what are we going to use for the turkey?

Disclaimer - I have no association with any of the sellers of the above items.