• Welcome from Brian McGregor
• 1. Thought for the Day
• 2. Which Browser?
• 3. Are you Measured on Dispatch Time or Delivery Time?
• 4. Time to Review Your eBay Business
• 5. A Gift From Me to You
• 6. News & Views:
  Survey Results
  EU Flexing their Muscles?
  Protect Yourself from Bad Buyers
  Now That's Magic!
  Eagle Eyes can Help you Make Money on eBay
  eBay's Own Trendy Online Magazine
  Coffee Time
  
• 7. 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

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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.

I have some big decisions to make soon that may well impact on the eBay Auction Newsletter.

These decisions will to some extent be informed by the results of the survey I ran recently.

If you responded to my survey, I thank you for taking the time to answer my question. A summary of the survey results appears later in this Newsletter in the News & Views section.

Now, on to those big decisions.....

In March this year I reach the UK's official retirement age and I will be adjusting my workload so that I have a little more time to myself.

In deliberating what to do, I am considering the future of the eBay Auction Newsletter.

I'll let you know what's happening soon.

In the meantime, I wish you every success in your eBay business.

Speak to you soon.

"Most of us can read the writing on the wall; we just assume it's addressed to someone else."

Ivern Ball

Which browser do you use? There are several to choose from.

These are the five major browsers with their respective share of the market:

Internet Explorer 60%
Mozilla Firefox 25%
Google Chrome 7%
Apple Safari 5%
Opera 3%

Another, perhaps bigger, question to ponder is: which browser do your prospective eBay buyers use?

Why is this important?

You may not realise it, but there are slight differences in the way in which individual browsers interpret the HTML code which make up each web page. Put simply, your eBay listings may display differently depending on the browser being used.

It can get as bad as your listing appearing to be mixed up, with images and text being in the wrong place.

Most PC and laptop users use one browser, and stick to it. If you're an eBay seller, it is probable that you create your listings and then view them through the one browser that you happen to have on your computer.

However, it is probably a good idea to check how your listings appear under all the major browsers. To do this, you need to download and install the other browsers that you currently don't have on your PC. Then you can switch to each browser and view your listings.

The chances are that your listing will display in an acceptable way, but you'll be surprised how different your listing can appear between browsers. It's worth checking - you could be losing out on potential buyers and bidders.

If you only have one browser on your PC or laptop, here is where you can download the others:

http://www.microsoft.com/uk/windows/internet-explorer/default.aspx

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/

http://www.google.com/chrome/

http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

http://www.opera.com/browser/

Most sellers are fairly familiar with eBay Detailed Seller Ratings. If you're an experienced seller you probably feel you know the four elements that buyers are asked to rate you on.

There's one type of sale, however, where I'm pretty sure you don't know the four elements upon which buyers are requested to rate your service.

Let's check this out.

These are the detailed seller ratings as eBay define them:

1. How accurate was the item description?

2. How satisfied were you with the seller's communication?

3. How quickly did the seller dispatch the item?

4. How reasonable were the P&P charges?

But I said there's one type of sale where this isn't quite the case. The type of sale I'm referring to are those made via eBay's Mobile App. Given that those sales amounted to $2 billion in 2010, we're talking about a significant chunk of eBay business. More importantly, eBay expect sales via mobile devices to grow rapidly.

Now, can you spot the difference? Here is what buyers are asked to rate you on when they buy via eBay's Mobile App:

1. Accurate Description?
2. Seller's Communication?
3. Speed of Delivery?
4. Reasonable Postage Cost?

The crucial difference is on item 3. What eBay has done here is to mix up two factors. With the original DRS, buyers are asked how quickly the buyer dispatched their item. In other words, was it dispatched within the timescale the seller said it would be?

With the eBay Mobile App the Speed of Delivery question implies the buyer is being asked how quickly the item was delivered and landed on their doormat.

We can probably deduce from this that the eBay employee who constructed the feedback section of the eBay Mobile App had the same misconceptions as many buyers have. It would seem that whilst eBay wants buyers to rank sellers on dispatch time, even their own employees construe that to mean speed of delivery. An ex eBay employee said, "I wouldn't say it's contradictory, just inconsistent".

While we're on the topic, there's another difference between leaving feedback on your PC and via the eBay Mobile App. You will probably know that if a seller is offering free postage, they automatically get 5 stars against the DSR question of "How reasonable were the P&P charges?" The buyer cannot change that rating.

On eBay's Mobile App, however, when postage is free the buyer is given the opportunity to input a rating on Reasonable Postage Cost. Who knows if this is a deliberate feature on the Mobile App or is another inconsistency and the seller gets 5 stars anyway?

By the way, if you're in the UK and you're wondering if any of this will impact on you, you should know that more Brits are shopping through the eBay Mobile App than anywhere else in Europe. Indeed, an item is purchased every two seconds through the eBay Mobile App in the UK.

The start of the year is often a time for reflection - an opportunity to think about personal and business goals.

If you sell on eBay, this might be a good time to review how it's going. Here are a few quick actions you can take to help revitalise your eBay business:

1. Look to save money

Can you get better deals from your suppliers? Check out your current arrangements with your item suppliers, packaging suppliers, courier or postal services supplier etc. Another way to save money would be to analyse your stock turnover and eliminate slow selling lines. Why pay for listing on eBay if an item isn't selling?

2. Use the right tools

Software tools can save you time and money. If you use tools such as TurboLister or eBay Selling Manager, are these still the best for the job, or has your business developed to the point where there are better and more efficient tools for you? If your eBay business has grown since you first started but you're still using the same tools it's likely that you can find better tools to help you streamline your operation.

3. eBay listings check

Many eBay sellers adopt a strategy of list it and leave it. When was the last time you went back and checked your own listings? Are you sure your policies are up to date? Are you using the best item specifics? Are your images showing properly? Is the pricing correct for current market conditions? Can you improve your item description, perhaps by adding video? Is your listing title the most effective it can be?

4. Would diversifying help?

Selling only on your own eBay country site may be limiting the development of your business. If your products are appropriate, you could list on other eBay country sites. USA, UK and Germany are the biggest eBay markets, but Australia, Ireland and Canada are also thriving English speaking eBay markets. What about listing on Amazon, Play or Etsy? Locate other marketplace sites that relate to your product portfolio. Plus, a website will almost certainly help in developing your business.

5. Use extra marketing

Make use of your base of previous eBay customers and email them regularly with special offers and new listings. If you have a website, email market to those customers too. Consider branching out into shopping comparison, paid advertising and coupon sites. You can also use social media sites like Twitter and Facebook to promote your eBay and website business.

If you're an experienced eBay seller you know that eBay will continue to introduce changes and challenges. There's no reason to wait until eBay changes cause you to review your business. Take the initiative yourself. You will find plenty of opportunities whereby you can increase the profitability of your eBay business today.

Survey Results

As you may recall I ran a quick survey during January. Essentially I wanted to know how valued the eBay Auction Newsletter was by the readership?

The survey asked how much would you feel it is fair to pay per issue to receive the eBay Auction Newsletter. The survey results were:

79% wouldn't pay and want it free
14% would pay £1 ($1.55) per issue
5% would pay £2 ($3.11) per issue
2% would pay £3 ($4.66) per issue

EU Flexing their Muscles?

You may know that one of the fundamental principles of eBay is that states it isn't responsible for what is listed on its website. eBay's stance is that it take all reasonable precautions to prevent fake goods from being listed and, via their VERO service, will take down listings that rights owners complain about.

But what happens if eBay removes the offending listings and the user simply re-lists them? To date, the assumption had been that the onus is still on the rights owner to keep monitoring and notifying the host site, whose only obligation is to remove the offending material each time.

However, in an advisory opinion given by Advocate General Jaaskinen to the European Court, it is suggested that if the site (e.g. eBay) is told once, that may amount to notice for all subsequent re-listings by that user.

If the European Court follows this interpretation, then companies such as eBay risk being sued if they don't put in place monitoring procedures to ensure repeat postings don't happen.

Wow! Now that would be a problem eBay country sites in the European Union could do without!

Protect Yourself from Bad Buyers

Have you had any unpaid bidders or buyers recently?

Did you know that you can insulate yourself from habitual bad payers? Here's how you do it…

First, go to My Account and select Account Preferences from the drop-down menu. Then scroll down to Buyer Requirements and click Show.

Now you can edit the Block buyers' settings to be as stringent as you wish. In effect you are setting a quality level in relation to those who you allow to bid or buy on your listings.

You know what they say - "Prevention is better than cure."

Now That's Magic!

You may have seen that UK magician Paul Daniels has recently been selling some of his old props on eBay.

The (hair) piece de resistance was a wig, which sold for £1,100 ($1,740).

If you want to see what Paul's been up to on eBay, his User ID is pauldaniels.

Go to Advanced Search, By Seller and check Completed Listings box.

It's quite an eye-opener.

Eagle Eyes can Help you Make Money on eBay

The Royal Mint in London produced a £2 coin in 2005 to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the Gunpowder plot.

Unfortunately they didn't use a spell checker, and some of the coins have the words 'Pemember the fifth of November' engraved around the outer rim. Yes, Pemember.

Eagle-eyed collector Albi Pinnion noticed the mistake after being handed a £2 coin in change at his local pub.

The misprinted coin has now become hot property among collectors and they're selling for over £10 on eBay.

The Royal Mint has admitted the mistake but refuses to disclose how many might be in circulation. So far, Mr Pinnion has found 20.

You'd better have a look in your pocket now!

eBay's Own Trendy Online Magazine?

Did you know that eBay has its own online magazine called The Inside Source? Neither did I.

This is how eBay describes it...

"The Inside Source, eBay's digital style magazine, is a media destination that harnesses unique insights to tell stories about what people are shopping for right now — their collections, their passions, and their must-haves."

See what you think - http://www.theinsidesource.com

Coffee Time

This game can become addictive. Careful! It takes time to load, but it's worth it.

My best to date is level 7.

http://www.onemorelevel.com/game/dublox

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

This takes me back to my childhood..

Going camping this year?

Want a custard pie in your face?

Hello, hello, hello. Evenin' all.

I threw all mine out! What an idiot!

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