The eBay Auction Newsletter

Issue 3809 - September 30, 2009

Top eBay Downloads

 IN THIS ISSUE
 
 
 Welcome from Brian McGregor
 

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Welcome to the latest edition of the eBay Auction Newsletter.

If you're a new subscriber, a particularly warm welcome to you.

What a difference a day makes. Well, a few months actually!

Despite all the negative forums and all the bad press, can eBay begin to be getting it right?

Is it really possible?

Well, in America, an annual poll is conducted to find the most trusted companies for privacy practices. This includes features such as access to account information and data sharing practices.

The top 10 companies in the fifth annual TRUSTe/Ponemon Institute survey has a distinctly internet flavour..

Here are the winners in order:

1. eBay
2. Verizon
3. US Postal Service
4. WebMD
5. IBM
6. Procter & Gamble
7. Nationwide Insurance
8. Intuit
9. Yahoo
10. Facebook

I never doubted eBay for one second. Did you?

Take care, and good luck in your eBay business.

Speak to your soon.

 
 Thought for the Day
 
"If you don't think every day is a good day, just try missing one."

Cavett Robert

 
 Once Upon a Time we Used to Read Books
 

One of the secrets that smart eBay sellers use is to listen to their buyers.

I don't know about you, but I've always been an avid reader. I remember as a child, if I wasn't playing football it seemed I was reading books, like the Hardy Boys, Captain Hornblower and Just William.

As I matured (!), I became more and more interested in non-fiction. I wanted to learn everything! I was constantly in the library, or at second hand book shops, looking for my next information fix.

In this internet age, however, I find I rarely read a physical book. I gather information from either reading directly from my PC screen, or by watching a video onscreen.

When I think about it, I guess I'm somewhat guilty of contributing to the demise of the printed page! When I wrote my book about making money on eBay, The eBay Formula, I sold it as an ebook. Customers' downloaded it and read it on their PC screen.

Well, today, it's great to report someone who is bucking the trend.

Amanda O'Brien is a UK based eBay PowerSeller, and she has just released a BOOK! Yes, a real book...

Like me, Amanda is keen to show others how to make the most from eBay. As a PowerSeller with a feedback rating of over 10,000, she is ideally placed to pass on the benefit of her experience.

Amanda has just released a book detailing how she has succeeded on eBay. She passes on real and valuable information on how you can copy her achievements.

Incidentally, as well as being a PowerSeller, Amanda is also a certified eBay Education Specialist. In other words, not only does Amanda know her stuff, she knows how to put it across effectively.

If you'd like to earn up to £2,500 per week from an eBay business, it could be worth seeing what Amanda O'Brien reveals in her book.

And, if you don't have the time to read it all at one sitting, you can always turn over the corner of the page so you know where you're up to. Try doing that with your computer screen!

There's more information about Amanda O'Brien and her book here:
http://bit.ly/mnzv2

 
 Now That's What I Call Competition
 

There is one similarity between Amazon and eBay. "Only one?" I hear you ask. Well yes, but this similarity is pretty fundamental…

It's the principle whereby Amazon and eBay provide the platform for third party retailers to sell their goods.

Put simply, whenever we list on eBay we are in effect a third party retailer utilising eBay's platform to offer our products.

Now, there are two new players on the block. And these are not just any players. These are giants of the retail world.

We're talking about Walmart and Sears.

Walmart Marketplace appeared in August. Participating in the program are e-retailers including Boston based CSN Stores, Denver based online luggage store eBags and sports collectible store ProTeam. Participating retailers will have their products sold on Walmart.com. On the Web pages, their products will be distinguished with the banners "Sold by Marketplace Retailer."

According to Walmart Marketplace Chief Marketing Officer Kerry Cooper, the new marketplace will be a consumer magnet to Walmart.com.

"Working with select retailers, known for their strong customer service and large online assortments of new merchandise, gives our customer more reasons to choose Walmart.com when shopping online," Cooper said.

While the third-party retailers will be able to use Walmart.com's checkout system, the retailers will be responsible for their own shipping and customer service. The companies currently participating on Walmart Marketplace were chosen because they can handle mass shipping and customer service.

Sears have created an online presence they call Sears Market, in which they enable third party retailers to offer their wares.

Vendors on Sears Market are charged on a cost-per-click basis or a flat fee when a customer visits the retailer's web site.

Another alternative is the "fulfilled by merchant" option. The merchant sells through Sears' checkout system and then invoices Sears. The retail giant charges a monthly fee of $39.99 to participate in its market. It also asks for a commission on sales.

Given the power of a trusted name, what if the online stores section of ASDA, Marks & Spencer or Tesco allowed selected third parties to list items?

Do you think buyers in the UK might be more inclined to buy from sellers on such a marketplace, rather than say from eBay or Amazon?

This could be the way of the future.

Watch this space...

 
 A Smart Source of Products to Sell on eBay
 

If you're looking for some items to sell on eBay, you will know that finding items on eBay itself is a useful idea.

For example, we know that auction titles with misspellings on significant words can produce bargain purchases which can then be resold for profit.

Here is another method to find items that may be undervalued by eBay bidders. Sometimes, auction titles aren't very inspiring or are lazy and ineffective. Or an auction ends at a time when relatively few people are online causing few or no bids.

Recognising the potential here, there is a new zero cost software program you can use called Single Bid Auctions.

Single Bid Auctions searches eBay for items that are about to end where the auctions have either zero or just one bid AND the current price is 99 pence, 99 cents or less (depending on the country you select).

You can narrow your search by the main eBay categories and suggests items to look at depending on the category that you choose based on the most popular searches.

If you'd like to look for something specific, simply enter it into the search box at the top of the site.

This should allow you to find some killer bargains that you can then relist in just the same way as you would with misspelled auction items.

It works across all of the major eBay sites including eBay UK, eBay US, eBay Canada, eBay France, eBay Italy and eBay Australia. It should work out your location automatically and direct you to the correct page but if it doesn't simply click on your country flag at the top of the page.

You can try it out here:

UK eBay
http://www.single-bid-auctions.com/gb/index.php

USA eBay
http://www.single-bid-auctions.com/us/index.php

 
 A Gift From Me to You
 

I have several clients who use Auctiva as their listing and auction management tool.

Auctiva is an excellent program. However, in July this year, Auctiva announced that for the first time it was going to charge for its services.

It isn't a particularly heavy fee, but you can imagine that customers who were used to a no cost service were not too happy.

I've found an alternative for any Auctiva user who would like a similar service at no charge. It's called Auction Splash and you'll find it here:

http://www.auctionsplash.com/AuctionSplash/Home.html

 
 News & Views
 

THE Abbey Road

I mentioned in a recent Newsletter that Westminster City Council in London was selling off famous street signs on eBay.

Well, the sale of the original Abbey Road street sign has just completed.

It went for £*******. Let me know if you are the buyer.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280400201240


Crime Won't Pay - Hopefully...

eBay has a tough enough time without people like these:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6845133.ece


Will Your eBay Blog be Removed?

If you have an eBay Blog, you probably know that this facility is being removed from 31 October 2009. All your blog posts will be lost, unless you take some action before that date. Here are the announcements:

eBay UK - http://pages.ebay.co.uk/blogretirement.html
eBay USA - http://pages.ebay.com/blogretirement.html


Internet Business for you?

If you're interested in making money on the internet outside of eBay, this could be a great start:

http://bit.ly/4yC4i


How to Lose an eBay Auction Gracefully

You know what it's like. You WANT that item on eBay. You're watching the item. You keep out bidding everyone else.

Then, the auction ends.

And the winner.....

isn't you!! WHAT THE??

Now, this video shows what I call a bad loser! Don't watch if you're offended by moderately bad language.

But it IS funny...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIaSf3soBzY&feature=player_embedded


Want to Meet Colin Firth?

International relief and development agency Oxfam America has teamed up with eBay to benefit Oxfam's poverty relief and advocacy efforts around the world.

Colin Firth is one of three film stars to lend their support.

If you're quick i.e. before 3rd October, you can bid and win an auction to meet Colin Firth at the premier of his new film "A Christmas Carol". The premier takes place in London on 3rd November 2009.

Here's the auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200387566424

 
Someone's Auctioning What???
 

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

Many thanks to Andy for bringing this one to my attention:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=370265220192

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

Form an orderly queue for this...

Do you think this goes round in circles?

Not sure whether I dare test this!

Can you think of anybody who should get one of these?

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

 
 Copyright
 

The eBay Auction Newsletter is copyright © Brian McGregor

You can distribute this newsletter, providing the contents are left unchanged.

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NOTE: Depending on when you view this newsletter, you may find some links to third party sites no longer work. I know how frustrating this can be. But please don’t shoot the messenger! The internet is a fast moving environment and, as the newsletters age, it is to be expected that some links may become obsolete over time.

The moral of the story?

If the newsletter sends you to a site that interests you, and you think you might want to refer to it later, make sure you store the site address in YOUR favourites.