Increase Auction Profits

I Sold It On eBay Wholesale Secrets Using SEO Keywords For eBay Selling Success Part One

2009-07-17T00:27:00.000-07:00

If you are trying to sell wholesale products using auction sites and you'd like to increase the "I Sold It On eBay!" factor, most top eBay sellers know they have to research their SEO keywords.

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization (a good thing when you are trying to attract new customers to your wholesale products or business), and it's a lot easier than you think. Plus, using SEO keyword tactics works equally as well with your website as it does with your eBay seller auctions. Although it may take you a little bit to get the hang of the process, once you lea this crucial technique you'll be eBay selling with the pros.

First, visit eBay's Pulse section, which offers anyone who visits the page a quick view of what's hot on the auction site. I'll walk you through this process using some SEO keywords that I'm personally interested in: wholesale and retail doll supplies. (For a list of wholesale companies that offer doll supplies, visit WholesaleGopher.com).

My eBay Pulse search shows there is only one "wholesale doll" item listed, 46 items matching "retail doll", 82 items matching "doll supplies" and 84 items for "wholesale doll". (Of course, your results may differ from mine, since eBay sellers are constantly changing their auctions, offerings and products). You can also use the scroll down list on the site to pick an item category that interests you, and then write down the top terms from there, too.

Next, you need to check and see how popular those keywords are. Using a freebie keyword suggestor, I find out that my keywords "wholesale and retail doll supply" were searched 564 times last month over many of the search engines (explaining this process will take too long to go into in this article; hopefully we'll touch upon it a bit more in another piece). Because my SEO keywords are so specialized, I'm not seeing any other results than the ones I stuck in there, but you'll probably get a whole slew. Any that describe your wholesale wares well, plug them into eBay Pulse as well to see what their demand is on the auction site, too.

Then, I visit Google and type in "wholesale and retail doll supply" (WITH the quotations - this is really important), and find that there are only eighty-four websites listed that meet the search term requirements. (Let me add here that these are incredible odds; you won't see search results like this often).

Are you still with me? Okay, now comes the hard part: figuring out which search terms are the best to populate your eBay auction with. Read the next article in this series for an in-depth explanation how to use these SEO keywords so you can start yelling, "I Sold It On eBay!" sooner, rather than later.

Jim Staley is the is the CEO for WholesaleGopher, one of the most trusted dealer and distributor directories on the Inteet, offering visitors wholesale items, import and export goods, surplus and closeouts from true wholesale sources. Lea more about wholesaling with his free, bi-weekly blog at http://www.wholesalegopher.com/blog/.

How to Win on eBay

2009-07-15T20:25:00.000-07:00

I've bought over 100 items on eBay over three years and am ready to share my knowledge of how to win at eBay and buy from reputable sellers.

1. You can find anything on eBay. When searching on eBay I suggest first doing a general search such as "ionic breeze" and checking what the items are going for. I noticed the items by companies with eBay stores were selling much higher than those by individuals. This is true for all categories. So don't be scared of buying from an individual as it could be much cheaper.

2. Before bidding look at the seller's rating. I only buy from those with 99% or higher ratings.

3. Next check the shipping cost. Quite a lot of eBay sellers are willing to sell their high priced item at NR or no reserve but make the money back with outrageous shipping costs. How do you know a shipping cost is too high? When checking out the auctions for your item such as "ionic breeze" keep an eye on the shipping cost. The average cost for shipping quadra ionic breeze machines seems to be $20. If someone is charging $30 then you know you're getting had on the shipping. I make my maximum bid less on those auctions where the seller is charging too much for shipping.

4. To have less search results to wade through limit the search by using the minimum and maximum amounts setting. Think of what you'd really like to get the item for and put it as the maximum amount. By combing the listings for "ionic breeze" I've found it is possible to get a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra for $50 if I buy it used from an individual or reconditioned from a business. That's ok with me as I just want to pay less than what Sharper Image is charging!

5. One of the most important tips is to read every word in their auction page. People sell broken items on eBay. Some of the auctions for ionic breezes looked great but in between their text stating how great ionic breezes are, how much square feet it covers, was the sentence that the item was broken. Imagine how I'd feel if I had bid and won only to find out I didn't read the auction carefully! Yes it's a nasty way to do business selling items that are broke and tricking people into buying them. But if you bid you legally have to pay for it.

6. Ask questions before you bid. If the auction does not state how the item is being packaged then ask. I once bought a wall mounted barometer, temperature, humidity item that was shipping in a shoe box with no packaging! It was busted, glass shattered. So make sure you ask how they are going to ship it and what packaging they are going to use.

7. Also ask if the item works, do they have the manuals, does it still have a warranty if ownership is transferred, are items sanitized, does it come from a smoke free pet free home? You need to ask these questions as it's "buyer beware" on eBay.

8. The cheapest prices on items is during the summer when people are on vacation and not stuck at home during the winter. The worst time to buy is before Christmas. Everyone is trying to outbid each other for a gift. The prices are unbelievable!

9. After spending time doing the legwork I mentioned above, you'll find that a few eBay sellers seem to be ideal to buy from. Add them to your favorite seller's list. Then it's easy to go straight to their store, or items for sale page, and bid on what they have. You've already checked them out so don't forget who they are!

More ebay tips at ebay tips

Online Auction Sites Oh The Possibilities

2009-07-15T05:03:00.000-07:00

Online auction sites are set up in such a way that they can be very profitable both for you and for the auction house itself. But, what most people do not realize is that there is a world that is beyond that of Ebay! Yes, there are many other online auction sites for you to consider. Take a look at your options and see just what they offer you before you get started bidding on the web.

Let?s face it, Ebay is the largest online auction site. It has become so very successful because of its vast marketing plan and the ease of use it offers its users. Everyone knows that if you can find something in the local retail area or you can find it online that you will likely find it too right on the Ebay auction site.

So, how does it all work? Online auction sites are set up to allow for a meeting place of bidders and sellers. They do not sell products themselves but provide a meeting environment for you to find the people you are looking for. Of course to list a product to be sold, or in some cases to purchase a product on the web, you will be charged a fee. This is a necessary part of doing business on these websites but in cases like Ebay, it has become an excellent source of revenue as well

So, who else is out there? There are other online auction sites that you should take a good look at. These include the following:

? TradeMe
? Yahoo!
? EBid
? Inteet Bargain Center
? Marktplaats
? Bidville as well as many more

There are many benefits to using these online auction sites including the ease of connecting with prospective buyers, the use of 24/7 availability, and worldwide exposure to say the least. Many people find excellent reasons to get into the online auction site as a business as well. There is no limit to what can be found on these websites. Taking a look at those that are less well known can be an excellent opportunity as well.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

For more information please see www.online-auction-sites.co.uk

Looking to Buy High Quality Cheap Electronics Here s Why an Online Auction Site May Be the Place

2009-07-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Since they began back in 1995, Inteet auction sites have become one of, if not the, hottest phenomenon on the Web.

And today, the popularity of these sites is growing faster than ever before due to a new wave of sites that auction off brand name products at deep discounts; offering their members cheap electronics and other items at up to 80% to 90% off their regular retail price

In effect, these online auction sites allow members from around the world to save significantly on brand-name products (including collectibles, cheap electronics and much more) with a few simple clicks of their mouse. But is joining one or more these websites that auction off brand name products right for you? Are there any risks involved? According to the Federal Trade Commission, auction fraud – where a seller takes your money and never delivers a product – can be a problem at sites that regularly auction off brand name products. Here are some additional auction fraud statistics:

In a recent FBI study, online auctions ranked No. 1 as a source for fraud on the Inteet.

The Inteet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) has received 1,000 consumer complaints per week since opening its doors.

EBay says one in every 40,000 of its listings ends in a confirmed case of fraud.

Online auction fraud entails 64% of all Inteet fraud that is reported.

Complaints against individual subjects, as opposed to complaints against businesses, account for 84% of all complaints received.

That's why, should you decide to join an online auction site, you must be careful to select a reputable one that keeps its members; best interests in mind at all times. For example, at one well-respected online auction site, www.ahmoze.com, members can instantly send their feedback to site officials and most of the brand-name products the site features in its online auctions come with warranties. Another factor you will want to consider before taking the plunge and joining an online auction site is what type of online auctions does the site offer? Most experts consider blind online auctions, which are offered at www.ahmoze.com and several other sites, as the best approach for ensuring members have the best auction experience possible. Why? Because in blind auctions members never have to worry about competitors using automated bid monitoring tools, which are very common at other sites.

Ultimately, whether you're in the market for cheap electronics or another type of product, you're sure to find exactly what you're looking for at one of the many sites online that auction off brand name products.

Most online auction transactions are easy and smooth. However, auction fraud can be a problem. You may find that the item you receive is not what the seller promised. Or, you may never receive the item that you won the bid on.

Fortunately, you can help to prevent online auction fraud by doing a little research and by choosing to join only a reputable online site. In the end, the benefits of being able to purchase brand name products at deep discounts certainly outweigh the limited risks that exist.

Ken Dare is a freelance writer based in Tampa, FL. Ken has over 15 years of writing experience in the marketing communications field - which includes over seven years of web writing experience. Ken founded WriteDare Copywriting at the beginning of 2004 and now specializes in crafting online copy that sells - specifically corporate websites, online direct response sales letters and emails.

Buying Tips For Maximum Profits On EBay

2009-07-14T05:25:00.000-07:00

Buying on eBay can be lots of fun and profiting. If you love bargains, and am yet to see anyone who doesn't, i stand corrected, if there is anyone one out there who doesn't, then eBay is the right place for you. 24 hours a day and the whole year through in the comfort of your own home, you can find and profit from lots of bargains.

From eBay antiques to eBay motors, real estate to sought after event tickets, consumer electronics to collectibles, there is something for everyone on eBay. And these are just a few of the categories i have mentioned. At any one time, eBay has hundreds of thousands of items for sale on its network of sites.

Items are organised into categories on eBay, and these are listed down on the left hand side of the screen. It's amazing what's on sale on eBay. Rather than moving through all this categories, it's a better idea to use eBay's search facility.

Because eBay has such a massive number of items for sale, it's very likely you will be presented with hundreds if not thousands of items when you search for items to buy on eBay. The first thing to have in mind, when you need to buy on eBay will of course be the price.

EBay is supposed to be the bargain warehouse, but over the years, there have been so many items that have exchanged hands for way above their retail value because of the bidding frenzy that comes with certain items offered for sale on the auction site.

It's always a good practice to compare bids if you are involved in an auction, and if this has already exceeded the pre - determined amount you are willing to pay, don't be tempted into a bidding war, just move on and find similar items with a different seller, you are always bound to find these because remember there are thousands of items available for sale on eBay.

Items you buy on eBay will be mailed to you unless stated otherwise, so be very wary of postage and delivery costs when determining the amount you are willing to pay for an item. When you have decided on these, also consider the condition of the item. EBay is an auction site, and as is the case with all auctions, there are always old and new items for sale. So be very careful, usually the seller's description of the item should give you an idea about its condition.

When in doubt you can always email the seller through eBay's mail system. All good sellers will answer questions regarding their items.

Some auctions come with a "Buy It Now" icon, you can end the auction immediately by paying for the advertised price using the "Buy It Now" icon. I suggest you should only do this if the "Buy It Now" price is within the pre - determined amount you are willing to pay.

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://fishing-lures.lyecryads.com and http://podiatry.lyecryads.com He has helped several new online business owners get started, For Inteet Business Ideas and Opportunities visit his website http://www.Profits-Web.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=David_E_Nettey

A Huge Selection of Office Chairs are Available Everyday on eBay

2009-07-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

Ebay can offer great options when purchasing a new office chair for your business or home office. With a huge selection and new models constantly being added, you should be able to find the right office chair for you with relative ease. Auction style listings with a 1-10 day fixed time limit, which go to the highest bidder are how eBay started out drawing a crowd. Now they have many different ways to purchase.

Buying office chairs through Fixed Price Buy It Now listings and through eBay stores seems to be the quickest and offers the best pricing available on eBay. Although, auction style listings can sometimes end for pennies on the dollar, they are more time consuming and can end in prices way over the normal retail price.

In order to see the items that are listed under the Auction Style price Category, simply enter the keyword term into the search box on the eBay homepage and see what listings appear. The listings directly below the box are the auction style listings all with a fixed time frame of start and end that appears with each listing and current bidding price as well as a photo, if available, and a shipping cost.

With eBay Stores, you get the same display, but with auctions at a set price and easy to compare statistics, most with buy now options. You know how to compare pricing because you know what price the auction will end at. This makes price comparison and even "window shopping" of a sort, possible and quick.

With easy to view photos and up to 25 listings per page, it is better to narrow down your search to a more specific type of chair in order to find the right model quicker. This small search step can save you time and help you to find exactly what you were looking for. Many keywords such as ergonomic, leather, executive or mesh are commonly used to help in the search.

Office chairs offer a huge range of pricing and options available but so does eBay, making it easy to find a great chair for a terrific price. Once you know what you are looking for in both a chair and a listing on eBay, you are halfway done and the rest of the battle is simply picking the right chair for you and getting comfortable once it arrives.

Amy Lieberfarb has been in the office fuiture and interior sales industry for 11 years and currently runs two online websites dedicated to Office Chairs and Fuiture. Providing information on how to pick the right ergonomic chair and featuring hundreds of different chairs, the site is very informative.

http://stores.ebay.com/liebswholesale

Specializing in Office Fuiture and Ergonomic Chairs.

http://www.liebswholesale.com

Please see her other articles for more information on buying online and on eBay, and ergonomic information for the workplace and home office.

She is an expert in most things office chairs and is an eBay Gold Level Powerseller with years of experience and great positive feedback from all of her loyal customer base.

Online Auction Fraud

2009-07-13T19:53:00.000-07:00

eBay sales may have grown 51% last year over the previous year, but general online complaints jumped by 66.6% over the previous year to some 207,000+ complaints in 2004. The Inteet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), stated in its yearly report that 71.2% of all complaints received pertained to auctions.

Online fraud is a growing problem on the inteet and the auction segment is far from immune. The IC3 reports that most complaints consist of late or no shipment of products, items that don't match advertised condition and bogus payment or escrow services.

If you decide to offer "all items to be shipped within 24 hours", make sure you keep your word, and go to great lengths to honestly represent and describe the item in your auctions. Your bidders will appreciate your honesty and it will eventually show up in your feedback.

As consumer fears increase, there are a number of common sense ways to help protect you from fraud, as well as enhance your reputation as a trustworthy seller and set you apart from the crowd.

Watch Out for Bad Checks, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks Years ago I had a buyer who complained rather loudly when I didn't ship an item as soon as I received the check in the mail. In hind site it was a good decision to hold the shipment since the check ended up being fraudulent. Bad checks, money orders, and cashiers checks are rampant in ecommerce today. The simplest way to offset the danger of bad paper is not to ship the auction item until the check, money order or cashier check clears your bank for payment.

Overpayments

Never accept any overpayments for any item. One of the more popular scams today is for a buyer to send a cashiers check for an amount that is higher than the agreed upon final price. They then claim it was in error and ask the seller to kindly retu the overage when the item is shipped. Off goes the item, the overage amount in good money, and the defrauded seller finds out too late the cashiers check was fake.

Use an Escrow Service for High Priced Items

The primary purpose of escrow services is to protect buyers and sellers from fraud. Basically what they do is to accept the money from the buyer and hold it until the buyer receives and approves the merchandise. Please note that fake escrow services are increasing on the inteet. If a buyer contacts you after a sale and recommends an escrow service you are not familiar with BEWARE. At present eBay only recommends one escrow company: www.escrow.com. For information go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/payment-escrow.html

Records, Records, Records

Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.

Protect Yourself by Being Educated

At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material.

A few of the key recommendations from Paypal's Protection for Sellers section include:

Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page

Use a shipping service with tracking

Check out the buyer's reputation

Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer

Limit credit card payments

Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image

Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.

Identify Yourself - Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long you've been in business and how much their business means to you. Be honest.

Feedback Ratings - Auction buyers want to see 100% positive feedback.

Methods of Payment - Make it easy for your customers to buy but consider convenience, cost and security in choosing any payment method you offer.

Full Disclosure - Your auction listings should clearly state the condition of the item you're auctioning, your shipping/insurance and retu policies.

Bonding programs - A number of bonding programs are available on the inteet. One of the more popular is BuySafe (www.buysafe.com). In a bonding program the seller agrees to certain obligations such as shipping on time, representing the item correctly, and standing behind the transaction. In retu the seller can display a seal on their auctions showing bidders they are honest sellers and providing transaction insurance in some cases up to $25,000.

Other programs you should be familiar with include:

IDVerify
SquareTrade
Trust-e

If You Become a Victim of Online Fraud

You need to know exactly what should be done in the event you are victimized. Make your plan now, before it happens. The most recommended steps to take if you are victimized are listed below but please keep in mind these are general recommendations and you should have you own plan based on your needs.

File a complaint with your auction site
File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission
File a complaint with the IC3
File a complaint with the National Fraud Information Center
Contact your local and state law enforcement agencies
Contact the local and state law enforcement agencies in the perpetrator's home area
File a complaint with the shipping company you used
It the perpetrator is a business and a member of the Better Business Bureau you should also file a complaint there.

Learn How To Be A Successful eBay Seller

2009-07-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

Anyone can sell anything on eBay. Open an account, list your product, and wait for the bids to start coming in. While it is true that anyone can sell, to be successful, you need to know the inside secrets.

One woman made over $250,000 last year on items sold on eBay. She is just one out of thousands and thousands of people that make a ton of money just selling merchandise.

Are you ready to lea how to be an eBay seller? You will find it to be easy, fun, and exciting. Here are some of the things that you need to know to get started.

Just eBay

Although there are several other quality auction websites, eBay is by far the most popular and most successful. Although you could start using all the other sites, by spreading yourself out too thin you take the risk of getting things mixed up. In reality, it is better to use eBay and focus your attention and efforts on this one site. You will not be disappointed.

Look Around

Navigate through each section to familiarize yourself with all the different pages. You will find a site map and help tab, which are very useful tools. It will take a little time to get used to the site but start by looking. As you start selling, navigating will become much easier.

Terms & Conditions

You will run into all types of buyers that try to move past the terms and conditions provided by eBay. Know the Terms & Conditions inside and out and if you have problems, contact eBay immediately. A few examples of the insider secrets are listed below:

* Bid Shielding – Two buyers work together. One person bids high to protect a low bid place by the other person. Right before the auction closes, the high bidder cancels, meaning the low bidder gets your items for a huge bargain.

* Bid Shilling – This is where the seller actually uses a separate ID set up to inflate the number and price of the bid.

* Deadbeat Bidder – The deadbeat bidder bids on your auction and then simply fails to pay.

* Sniping – A "sniper" is a bidder that waits until there are only minutes or seconds left on an item and then quickly bids just a little higher to get the items. Although not against the T&C's, it is considered unprofessional and limits competing bidders from driving a high price.

Excluded Items

Although eBay accepts just about every type of item, there are a few exclusions such as explosions, corrosive material, etc. Before you go through the entire process of listing your items, make sure you are not listing something forbidden by checking out the do's and don'ts listed on eBay.

Competitor Analysis

Just like any other business, you need to know what your competitors are doing. This will help you make the best possible decision when it comes to your own auction. Before listing your items, do a search for the same type items to see what their descriptions looks like. Find different aspects from different sellers and use them to form one comprehensive site for yourself.

Community Boards

Pay attention to the community boards provided by eBay. They offer valuable information and helpful tips that can ultimately save you time and effort.

Category Guide

Use eBay's Category Guide, which is a helpful tool to ensure you place your auction items in the appropriate category.

When to List

The time of day you list your auction is important. The start time will be the same as the end time, which is why it is so important. If you want your auction to end at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night, you need to have the auction start at 10:00 p.m. For this reason, be sure to set the start time accordingly.

Do your Homework

In addition to researching what other people are selling similar items for, you need to conduct your own research outside of eBay as well to determine the going rate for your items. As an example, if you are selling artwork, jewelry, or collectibles, you need to state in your description the going price. Although you may or may not get that price from the buyer, it shows buyers that you have done your homework and will stand a little more firm in your price. It also tells buyers that they are getting quality for a good price.

When it comes to selling on eBay, the door of opportunity stands wide open. Opportunity is what you decide to make of it. As mentioned in the beginning, people literally buy and sell just about everything on eBay. For this reason, do not think that items you have would not be of interest to anyone because more than likely, they will be.

Lewis Leake helps people make money from home. His website at GrowNetProfits.com contains tools, resources, articles, newsletters, product reviews and traffic builders to help you make money from your home based business. Click here to get additional Online Auction articles.

How to Spot Fake Deals On eBay

2009-07-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

With millions of auctions running at any hour of the day, there is no doubt good deals abound on eBay. From flea treatments for your dog, to a mini-van for hauling your family around, the selection runs the gambit. With everything under the sun for sale, the only thing an auction surfer needs to know is whether or not to actually put in a bid.

Recently I was auction surfing for a new 20.1 inch flatscreen LCD monitor. Like anyone else working from home, my equipment costs fall on my shoulders, and I must undergo a delicate balancing act between, do I really need it, and can I get a good deal. Having already perused a few dozen price and spec comparison websites, I had a good idea of which model I wanted and the average price I could expect to pay. A simple search for 20 inch LCD monitor brought up a few hundred to choose from. Prices ranged from absurdly high, to "you know it's a scam" low. There were however, dozens of monitors priced at reasonable, yet believable prices. Too good to be true?

The model I had focused in one was from Dell. It had gotten good reviews, and the discount from dozens of eBay sellers was tempting enough to almost make me click the "buy it now" button. The shipping was indicated as "calculate," so I clicked it and input my zip code. Almost $100 to ship an LCD monitor. High? Seemed that way, but I've never had one shipped, and anything is possible.

Hopping over to Dell's site, I pulled up the same monitor. The price was much better on eBay, but the shipping from Dell was free. After some basic math, the cheap eBay price with shipping tued out to actually be one of the worse deals on that particular LCD I could get. Checking around, I soon found the stock photos and specs the sellers on eBay were using in their auctions, and putting two and two together, I figured out what they were doing.

The eBay sellers were using a rudimentary low price tactic. They mark down the price, and count on the buyer not checking the shipping until the auction has been purchased. Even with the high shipping, a buyer may still equate the price paid for the monitor as being a good deal, and just assume the shipping price from everyone is in the same ballpark.

What the eBay sellers were actually doing, was acting as their own dropshippers. They created an auction using Dell's stock photo's, claimed they had the items in stock, and used terms like "special purchase," or "largest seller on eBay." In actuality, they were selling the LCD to buyers, and then purchasing one from Dell after they had received the buyers payment. They then have Dell send it to the buyers address, and pocket the massive markup in shipping; in this case, $75.

The same tactic was used for desktop systems, laptops, flatscreen TVs, and several other items I looked at. While the "buy it now" price was substantially lower than anyone else was offering, the price plus shipping actually exceeded the final cost of everyone out there.

In this case, a little homework and price checking saved me $75. Unfortunately, after looking at the various sellers completed auction results (see my previous article for how to do this), I found there were a lot of people who had not bothered to check. Hopefully, after reading this article, you won't fall into their ranks.

Chris Yarbrough writes for Ebay Guides, a free resource site with hundreds of articles and guides. You can view his guides at http://www.ebay-guides.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Yarbrough

Killer Tips To Succeed With eBay Auction

2009-07-12T00:33:00.000-07:00

For just a moment, try to comprehend the power of the Inteet. Every day, there are millions of people from around the globe "surfing the web."

People run their business from the Inteet, search for love, research succulent recipes, plan vacations, and best of all they SHOP! People that shop are always looking for a bargain, not just any bargain, but something spectacular.

The most popular public auction site, eBay, is where people gather to find anything from dishes to jewelry to houses and just about everything in between. Last year there was even a mother sold on eBay!

You can purchase amazing original artwork from China, have it signed by the artist, and shipped directly to your home. Perhaps you are trying to find 12 yards of Toile to reupholster your couch. You might even be looking for a new lawnmower or different power tools. The great news is that eBay has it all!

The other side of buying is the selling. Anyone can sell anything on eBay. Open an account, list your product, and wait for the bids to start coming in. There are secrets to being a power seller on eBay. While it is true that anyone can sell, to be successful, you need to know the inside secrets. One woman made over $250,000 last year on items sold on eBay. She is just one out of thousands and thousands of people that make a ton of money just selling merchandise.

Are you ready to lea how to be an eBay seller? You will find it to be easy, fun, and exciting.

1. Collectibles

Hot sellers on eBay are collectibles such as coins, stamps, or dolls. You can check out the collectibles category to get a better idea of what people love to buy. Anything that will move up in value would fall in this category.

2. Consumables

This popular category would include anything that people use and then would need to buy again such as lotions, perfumes, camera film, candles, etc.

3. Information Products

In this category, you would sell anything that can be sent on a CD or floppy disc or downloaded from the Inteet. This is another popular category.

4. Start at Home

When you first get started, it can be a little unnerving. The best option is to start by looking around your own home. Think of items that you would sell in a garage sale. However, instead of pricing each item and lugging it outside hoping for a nice sunny day, you can advertise them on the Inteet.

5. Just eBay

Anantha krishnan is a writer and seller of high quality eBooks covering various topics. He gives 90 days money back guarentee for all his eBooks, because he is so confident that his eBooks are of very high quality and nobody will be unhappy about his ebooks and ask money back.V.Anantha Krishnan is a resident webmaster at http://www.ebook-retailers.com/

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My Secret Fear About Using Drop Shippers When Selling On eBay

2009-07-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

I spent nearly three months trying to sell products on eBay using a strategy called drop shipping. For those of you not familiar with the concept, here's how it works. You find a wholesaler who is willing to work with you on a drop shipping basis. (Note: there are several fine directories available of just such wholesalers.) You put some of this company's products on eBay, sell them, and then pay the wholesaler who packs and ships the products for you.

Sounds pretty cool, huh? You never have to take possession of any products so you don't need warehouse space.. There's no packing and shipping. You just market the products and count your profits.

As the punch line in one old joke would have it, "not so fast there, Abeathy."

First, the market niche

First, you have to find a profitable market niche and this just ain't easy. You might say that eBay has been too successful as it is now da near impossible to find a market niche that isn't already very, very competitive. If you don't believe me, go to eBay and type in some uoffbeat search term such as "emperor penguins." I did this when writing this article and found two pages of stuff related to these birds, including penguin crossing signs (who would have guessed?), penguin art, and glass penguin figurines.

Second, you have to find a niche where you can expect a good mark-up. This is because your profit is the difference between what you will have to pay the wholesaler and what you can sell the item for on eBay.

And there's the catch. Since you know what you will have to pay the wholesaler, say $25 for a nice lambs wool sweater, you have to either start the auction at $25 to keep from losing money, or do a "buy it now" for maybe $40 to get a $15 profit. But wait a minute. You have to pay your wholesaler to pack and ship the product – say $5 -- so your profit drops to $15. Plus, you check eBay and find the same sweaters are selling for $25. So, what are the chances you'll be able to sell yours for $40 or even $35?

Now comes my secret fear

I tried to sell a lot of products from a lot of different wholesalers. What I found is that no matter what products I put up for auction or buy it now, the same item was always available for less. In fact, hmm, some were available at the exact same price I had to pay my wholesalers.

So my secret fear is that there are wholesalers who are selling products on eBay for the same amount they wanted me to pay for identical items – making it almost impossible for me to make a profit.

Can I prove this? Of course not, because the sellers on eBay always had these really generic names such as "bargainprinters" and "memory4less." But who's to say what companies are really behind them?

Am I being paranoid? It's possible. But if you want to try drop shipping, I would suggest two things. First, stay away from computer stuff and consumer electronics. It is a jungle out there. Second, try to find a small market niche where there isn't enough volume to attract the big guys and where you can ea a fair mark up.

It's not easy but it is doable.

Here's an alteative that is both free and easy. It's called HD radio, a new technology that enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally, a tremendous technological leap from today's familiar analog broadcasts. These digital broadcasts provide listeners with radically improved audio quality, more radio channels through multicasting, and new data services. To lea more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz.

Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio, old time radio and family finances.

12 Tips To Make Your eBay Business More Profitable

2009-07-11T01:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes it's the simple things that can make your eBay business more profitable and run smoother. Here are twelve things you can do that will lead to more sales and increased profits on eBay.

1. Use auction management tools or services

Using an auction management tool or service allows you to automate most of your day-to-day auction business and frees up time for other activities. There are numerous ones available and the majority of them offer a free 30-day trial period. Find one that fits your needs and budget, lea how to use all of it's features, and then stick with it. Make certain the one you choose supports eBay's Item Specifics and Pre-Filled features.

2. Target all your items toward the same market

There's nothing wrong with offering several different items on eBay, but try to sell things that target the same general market or 2-3 markets. You will find this makes it much easier for satisfied customers to buy from you again. The majority of my customers have retued to buy five or more items from me in the past year. You should strive for this also.

3. End all your auctions on the same day and during the same general time frame

Whatever you are selling, test different days and times of the day to determine what works best for you. Once you determine what day and time works best for you, stick to that time. Your customers will come to know your auctions always end on a certain day at a certain time and know that they can go on the computer on Sunday night at 10 PM, for example, and be able to bid.

4. Fast shipping equates to repeat sales

We live in an instant gratification world. Once an item is paid for, get it in the mail as quickly as possible. This will lead to higher customer feedback and repeat sales. If you aren't seeing comments about how fast a customer received their item in 60 to 70 percent of your feedback, it's taking you too long to get things in the mail and it's hurting your business.

5. Give your product a vacation once in a while

It pays to stop listing an item, or type of item, every once in a while so that potential customers don't begin to take it for granted that it will always be available. You will find that if you don't list an item for two or three weeks, when you do it again, it will almost always result in increased bidding and higher bids.

6. Make use of eBay's "Second Chance" offers

If you have multiples of the same item and more than one person has bid on it, make a "Second Chance" offer to the next one or two unsuccessful bidders. You will find the response rate to these offers is quite high. If you simply choose to re list, there's a good chance that many of the under-bidders will never see your item when it is re-listed.

7. Use a template to create a recognizable identity

Every auction you run should have a similar layout, graphics, and style that your customers can quickly associate with you. When one of your customers clicks on an item link and first arrives at your auction, they should instantly be able to say, "This is one of Bill's auctions." They will instantly feel at home and be more ready to bid.

8. Make use of eBay's Keyword program

Most people associate eBay's Keyword program with eBay stores, but it can be used very successfully in conjunction with your auctions too. The Keyword program is usually running some kind of free trial. Take advantage of it and see how it can increase both the number of bids and the ending price for your auctions.

9. Use Google's Adwords program to attract buyers

Used correctly, Google's Adwords program is an excellent way to attract potential bidders who would otherwise never see your auctions. As long as you use search words or phrases that are tightly targeted to the item you are selling, this can be a cheap and effective promotional tool.

10. Sell only one item per auction

There are exceptions, but bundling similar products into one auction almost always leads to fewer bids and decreased sales. While there may be times you do this to get rid of inventory that hasn't sold, it's normally not a good way to do business.

11. Sell inteationally

The simple truth is that if you don't allow inteational buyers to bid on your auctions you are throwing money out the door. This is a lucrative market with lots of money to spend. Since many sellers exclude these buyers, it only makes sense that you give them the opportunity to spend their money with you.

12. Accept PayPal

If you're not accepting payment by PayPal, you may be loosing a lot of bidders and money. Buyers love the convenience of using this service and many won't bid on an item if the seller doesn't offer it as a payment option. If you're not doing it, you are throwing money away.

Gary Hendrickson has been making his living selling on eBay for more than six years. He's the author of two eBay related ebooks, has a blog for eBay sellers, and is the owner of ColdItems.Com.

ColdItems.Com The Auction Rebel Blog

Make Make Even More Money on eBay

2009-07-10T04:06:00.000-07:00

Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their things on eBay.

For every seller who doesn't like the idea that their item might sell for a far lower price than they intend, there's another who wants to shift hundreds of the same item quickly. eBay tries to cater to all tastes. This email gives you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.

Normal Auctions.

These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows: buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Simple.

Reserve Auctions.

Reserve auctions are for sellers who don't want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you'll know about if you're familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and they'll need to bid again if they want the item. If no-one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep the item.

Fixed Price ('Buy it Now') Auctions.

Buy it Now auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a Buy it Now button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and avoid the whole bidding process. Some sellers, though, now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want them to sell for.

Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the 'best offer'. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worth using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones – but remember that you can combine the two formats.

Multiple Item ('Dutch') Auctions.

These are auctions where you can sell more than one of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done by bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that, then don't worry – everyone else does too! These auctions are very rare.

What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types: a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you they have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click Buy it Now to get them.

Paul Duxbury has spent several years leaing what not to do on eBay! He now sells quality eBooks through eBay and through http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk. He has written many articles about eBay and these can be obtained through his Free Course at http://www.ebay-profits.co.uk

eBay and How to Play the What If Game

2009-07-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

If you've never played the 'What If?' game before, this is how it goes. You take a common item, say an empty bottle, and you ask yourself: What if it was bigger? What if it was smaller? What if it was packed with sand from Brighton Beach? What if it was painted red with white stripes?

It's a strange pastime, this What If? game, but from it has emerged some of the most profitable products of all time, the most prominent being Coca-cola which allegedly started life as a cough syrup, rather thick, very gooey, and leaving a strong after-taste. Until someone said 'What if we add water and drink it'. The rest, they say, is history.

Here are a few What If? questions, and products they must surely have spawned:

* What if we fill it with something silly?

Tins filled with holes from Polo mints, offered as competition prizes in the 1970s, are valuable collectors' items today and like one I saw in a recent sale of advertising memorabilia they can fetch hundreds of pounds a time.

Tins filled with London Smog - a kind of dirty fog that hung across London and caused hundreds of deaths daily in the early 1950s - were offered as souvenirs to American tourists who sometimes sell them on eBay.

Bottles filled with Irish Turf sold like hot cakes to Irish-American families when they first appeared in the 1980s, before copycats moved in and killed the market.

* What if we broke it and sold the pieces?

Witness the former wooden Brooklyn Bridge, to down and replaced by the current metal and concrete variety, which was sold piece by piece by Paul Hartunian and generated millions of dollars.

The same technique helps sell pieces of turf from well-known football grounds, pieces of meteorites (see www.themeteoritemarket.com - they sell lots of the stuff), even pieces of Plymouth Rock that sold on eBay last year at between $609 and $2165 apiece and none bigger than a walnut.

When the Berlin Wall fell a friend transported hundreds of fragments home, framed them, and sold them in pre-eBay times at £20 a time. Goodness knows what they'd be worth now with an inteational audience to target.

Demand and price can be inflated by linking items to specific events. So pieces of Plymouth Rock (from where originated America's Pilgrim Fathers) sold well during Thanksgiving Week and strips of turf flew out of the tustiles when Wembley's historical football ground was closed for refitting!!

* What if we buy this stuff that doesn't sell and add it to something else that does always sell?

One hundred plus Penny Black postage stamps offered at an auction in Yorkshire last month attracted no bids, not from stamp dealers unused to selling anything quite so to and tattered as these pathetic specimens. My daughter bought them instead, made them into charms, and sold them as charm bracelets under her 'Hobo' vintage jewellery banner with stamp catalogue value of £100 and £200 a time highlighted in her eBay descriptions. Those stamps costing a few pounds each, added £50 and more to bracelets normally fetching ten or twenty pounds each.

Here are some questions for you to answer and tu ordinary items that nobody wants into products that sell like hot cakes on eBay.

* What if we paint it red with white stripes? (Bearing in mind England's presence in the Football World Cup this year and a national flag of similar colours!)

* What if we look for anniversaries that might lend themselves to unique product ideas? This is one of the most profitable ways to play the What If? game so you'll be happy to know that this year:

- May 24th marks 100 years since the The London Ritz was founded by hotelier Cesar Ritz.

- Marmite was created in Staffordshire one hundred years ago. The 'Love It, Shove It' relationship we all have with Marmite might be worth exploiting. I'll be hunting through vintage magazines for cartoons and advertisements from Marmite's early years to recreate as prints, postcards, key rings, place mats, or hundreds of other popular items. Be careful not to break trade mark and copyright laws if you decide to copy early designs, they won't normally be public domain until 70 years after the artist's death. But why bother with copies, I recommend you stick with original items, they're prolific in early magazines.

- Poet Laureate John Betjeman was bo 100 years ago, the same year that the British Labour Party was bo. The perm is also one hundred years old, as is the first diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease. And the Japanese are currently celebrating the centenary of The Book of Tea, written by art historian and curator Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913) and representing the first study in English to explain the philosophical and aesthetic background of the tea ceremony. Now I wonder if that book is still in copyright or could I reproduce it, maybe bundle it with some special tea bags, or use it to sell vintage tableware, use it as the basis of a book I want to write about healing teas …. OR WHAT IF?

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and editor of eBay Confidential and webmaster of http://www.publishingcircles.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and ebooks at http://www.toppco.com

5 Secrets for Increasing Auction Profits

2009-07-09T03:59:00.000-07:00

1. Include your ebay seller name, store, and website information with all items you ship. THis can encourage re-orders and help the buyer leave feedback. I remember one particular incident, as a buyer I wnated to reorder a product from a seller but I couldn't remember their ebay seller name and so never reordered the product.

2. Email customers after you have shipped their item to ask them if they recieved the item and if they are pleased with it. This not only builds trust by showing you care but also gives you the opportunity to add a link to your recently lited items on ebay or your website in your signature line.

3. Put a subscription box on your about me page to capture email addresses and follow up with visitors with news about your products, industry, sales you may be having, product information and inprovements, specials, etc.

4. State in all your auction listings that customers can save on shipping costs by bidding on multiple items at the same tim. Include information about other auctions you have listed at that time that may be related to the product in the auction. Try to link to the items and open the page in a new window so the bidder does not lose his place. Use a picture of the item to encourage bidders to look at your other items.

Many people use an auction listings gallery which inserts pictures of their other items into their auction descriptions like the the one at andale.com.

5. Try to add bonus items to your auctions where applicable to encourage bids. Free ebooks, extra ad space (if you're selling ad space), free software, free samples of related items you sell, coupons for free shipping of the next item the bidder wins, etc.

There are several ways to skyrocket your eaing with your auctions, be creative and you're sure to see a difference in your bottom line.

Jennifer Parks is the author of Selling on Ebay Now with free information, software, resources, and secrets for selling on ebay.

Make Money Selling on eBay What to Sell How to Sell

2009-07-08T18:56:00.000-07:00

The biggest question people have when starting an Ebay business is what to sell. We will get to that in a minute. First, here are some general guidelines to help you know how to sell:

1. Make sure you have a quality picture of the product: The last thing I want to see when I trying to decide to buy something is a blurry picture or one that doesn't show the product well. You can sometimes raise the price of a product by taking an appealing photo of it.

2. Write an good description: When writing a product description use words to build value but don't over do it.

3. Build up positive feedback: If you don't have enough good feedback you won't make a lot of money. Concentrate on smaller items that you can deliver quickly and that are in great condition and then you can move on to bigger items.

What to Sell: Once you build up some positive feedback and reviews you can move on to selling stuff that will make you money. Just some beginning tips for what to sell: Sell something that will need to be replenished - such as vitamins, energy drinks, protein shakes, etc…. That way you can create an income stream that builds with time and more customers instead of just selling one time items. You should also plan on building a main website separate from Ebay so that you can maintain a list of customers. You can sell them your products and also cross sell them new items. This is a strategy that uses Ebay an alteate source of leads for your main website.

Another good strategy to get started is to find a product you think will do well and then see how popular that item is by using a keyword analyzer tool: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ You can use this tool to see how many times a keyword is typed into a search engine each month. Once you find out how many times it is searched for each month, you then need to see how many websites there are out there about this keyword or product. If the keyword is searched for a lot and there are only a few websites pertaining to it, then you will have a good chance of being successful with that product and make good money. Be creative when searching for what to sell and you should be able to come up with something that will sell.

After you are making a decent amount of money, you can then teach others how to do the same and charge consulting fees or mentor fees. A lot more money can be made from this than selling products on Ebay. Begin to sell your services on Ebay and use the items as just a way to gain new clients. If you have any experiences with Ebay and making money this way, share it with the people here. Helping others helps you.

Kent Hamilton - founder of http://www.moneygenius.net shares his making money tips for Free to help others get started. Lots of useful information. He has been developing and promoting websites for over 10 years.

List Your Item The Wrong Way And Your eBay Auctions Will Fail

2009-07-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

It is a sad fact that most first time sellers have one thing in common; they fail in their auctions. Many of them fail time and time again, never understanding what is going wrong with their listing. They do hours of research looking for the perfect item to sell, get the auction set up, and wait for the bidding to begin. Hours go by and no bids are placed. Days go by, and there are still no bids; or there are very low bids. Finally the auction ends, and it tus out to be a total failure; no one bought the item. Considering the huge number of sellers who run eBay auctions, there are specific things you must do before you can expect to sell any item, and specific things you must not do if you are to be successful selling in eBay.

There are a number of reasons why auctions fail. The most common reason is quite logic, this is,the item is not in high demand. This problem can be avoided by doing the necessary research to determine which items sell well, and which items should be avoided if you expect any profit. This research can take a great deal of time, but in the end, you will find that it is time well spent.

Another important reason for eBay failure is related to pricing. No matter what your reserve price is, your opening bid price should never be more than $50 or so, always remember that. This is how you will attract potential bidders to your auction. If you set that opening bid too high, most people won't even click the link to read the description for your item, and they will simply walk away. Another pricing problem is lack of research. Before you set your reserve price, you must determine what the item is really worth, and the price similar items have sold for in past eBay auctions.

Poorly written descriptions are another cause of failed auctions that you must consider. Poor grammar and misspelled words drive people away. Failing to post a picture of the item will also keep people from visiting your auction page. Always use good pictures. Make sure that your description is well written. This is essentially your 'sales copy' and must be taken seriously.

Shipping prices scare people away from auctions if they are too high. Find the lowest shipping prices that you can find, and consider paying for the shipping yourself if it won't cut into your profits too much. Do not charge handling fees.

Offer great 'customer service' for all of your auctions, this is of vital value and always ask your buyers to give you feedback, this will keep your business marching. If the items that you sell are everything that you said they would be, and you offer a great customer service, you can with no doubt expect wonderful feedback from your buyers and this feedback will help a great deal in your future auctions.

If you want to lea more bout Ebay and how to sell and buy like the pros. You should visit:

http://www.ebay-auction-advice.com

Auctions Make Money

2009-07-05T23:31:00.000-07:00

An untapped online business resource--outside of your basic Yahoo and Ebay, among others--is setting up your own auction sales venue.

Since most families have items in their home that have outlived their usefulness, they can get started at online auctions for mere pennies.

And, most selling online at auctions does not have start-up or membership fees. There is a nominal fee per item listed and a percentage commission on each sale. Still, you come out ahead.

With this minimum investment, many are flocking to auction sites to gain additional income to get their families and selves through the seemingly ever present economic downtu.

Besides the low financial risk, individuals see auctions as one of the select few online vehicles where scams are not associated, or not as prevalent as with most online business opportunities. Plus, a majority have ongoing fees which you must absorb; auctions do not.

As with most home business opportunities, to be successful at online auctions also takes time to lea the ropes. Many auction sites do much of the work for you, providing standard formats for the sellers to insert data. Sites further assist in communications between buyer and seller as well as additional support.

Perhaps the toughest part is finding the right products to sell. Don't think for a moment that Uncle Charlies' false teeth in a jar that you've preciously held onto for years will fetch thousands of dollars, although nowadays you never know. Irregardless, with sites such as Ebay with over a thousand categories, that remedies that headache!

With over 30 years of media experience plus background in special events, fundraising, development, grant writing and administration plus Inteet marketing, Walt Pfarr is now writing his own e-course, ebook and soon will publish the PfarrOut ezine newsletter. He and his wife, Joann, reside in Oklahoma and he may be reached at walterpfarr@lycos.com

How To Use Ebay Listing Tools

2009-07-05T00:47:00.000-07:00

Listing tools automate the process of adding listings to eBay, to stop you having to go through the Â'Sell Your ItemÂ' process every time. There is a surprising amount of choice out there when it comes to eBay listing tools, to the point where you might not know what to choose. HereÂ's an overview of whatÂ's useful and whatÂ's not.

Turbo Lister.

Turbo Lister is a free download from eBay, and allows you to sell on eBay without ever having to actually visit the site. You can write descriptions, save them and list them over and over again Â– if you want to, you can even do most of your eBay work offline, and just go online for a few seconds to upload it.

You can list in bulk and schedule your listings to start any time. Since this is eBayÂ's officially supported program, youÂ're guaranteed that upgrades to eBayÂ's site will never break it and leave you out in the cold. Personally, though, I find the design quite bad Â– itÂ's not really that much easier than just going through eBay directly.

Blackthoe.

Also from eBay, this is what used to be called the Â'SellerÂ's AssistantÂ'. ItÂ's a downloadable program, but itÂ's more powerful than Turbo Lister is. It lets you do everything in bulk: listing, re-listing, and even feedback. You can export your sales data to an accounting program, and track your auctions while theyÂ're still going on. You only have to enter things like payment choices and shipping details once, and theyÂ're saved forever.

So whereÂ's the disadvantage? It costs $9.99 per month, or $24.99 for the pro version, which also lets you print shipping labels in bulk and manage an inventory.

Andale Lister.

If you want to try something thatÂ's not been made by eBay, AndaleÂ's lister is still web-based, but aims to streamline the process.

You can create Â'profilesÂ' with different selections for your auctions. For example, you could create a Â'NormalÂ' profile that doesnÂ't include any of the listing upgrades, a Â'PromoteÂ' profile that includes Bold and Highlight, and a Â'Super PromoteÂ' profile that buys Bold, Highlight and Featured Plus. This makes it easier to choose the set of options you want for each item.

ItÂ's all about saving things youÂ've done. Each time you upload a picture, it gets added to a Â'Picture LibraryÂ' for you to use again, and you can store an inventory and choose from it to create a listing. You also get nicer-looking templates than eBay provide.

Of course, if eBay had their act together then this is what their own process would be like Â– but theyÂ're happy for third-parties to make money doing the work instead of upgrading their own site. Andale Lister can cost anywhere between 20c and 4c per listing, as you get discounts for volume.

Now that youÂ're listing in bulk, you can spend more time trying to attract people to come and bid on your auctions. But how should you be doing your marketing? In the next email, weÂ'll go through some of the options available to you.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

How to Supercharge Your eBay Feedback Rating

2009-07-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

Quickly boost your eBay feedback score in just three days using these simple tips.You can use this system to buy liquidation or wholesale lots and double or even triple your bid.

Your feedback score on eBay and any of the other auction sites allows you to have instant credibility with both buyers and sellers. I will explain in the following paragraphs a quick way to add 10 to 50 positive feedback points for under $5, and you may get also get some great new information.

Important - You will only receive one feedback rating per eBay User ID, no matter how many products you buy from that user. For example, if you purchased 10 books for 1cent/each from the same seller, you would only be credited with one positive feedback point. In the beginning, my advice to you would be to buy multiple low cost items from different seller id's. This will allow you to build a great feedback record in a matter of hours instead of the normal 2-3 months time frame it usually takes.

There are many people selling information products for pennies on eBay. Log on to eBay and do a Search. Types in book then choose Lowest Priced Listings; you will see a multitude of offers, many as low as a penny, for books that can be downloaded with no shipping charge. This is a great way to build instant feedback. You can pay via www.paypal.com. Click their link to sign up. You can send payments in seconds with PayPal, which was purchased by eBay last year.

I also recommend you buy any consumables, such as inkjet and toner cartridges on eBay. You will find they are super values! When you shop smart on eBay, you can pick up many items at wholesale or below. You can buy these using the auction sniping service Bidnapper. This will allow you to become familiar with auction sniping (winning the bid in the last seconds with automated bid software). The ideas and concepts will be much clearer when you actively participate in the eBay community as both a buyer and a seller.

There are definitely many positive aspects to having 10 or more positive feedback points. First, it allows you to use the Buy It Now feature when you are selling products on eBay. Many eBay buyers search for these listings if they don't want to wait for an auction to end.

Your auctions will receive more bids, and in tu sell for higher amounts, when your feedback is over 10. Auction studies have shown that when feedback achieves 50 or greater, you will see an additional 10% increase in views and prices.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting and working with other Top ebay Power Seller's to give you real life in use insight, not theories. Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay.

How you can Obtain Life long Customers from eBay

2009-07-04T01:12:00.000-07:00

How do you do this?

It's as simple as creating a newsletter you can offer along with your eBay ® listings.

In this article I'm going to briefly cover how you can use a newsletter to do the following:

Tu Your eBay Browsers Into Customers
Tu eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers
This article will be a two part lesson. Watch for my next article (lesson) covering the basics of creating an effective newsletter. It can be very simple to create a newsletter following a few easy steps!

1.Tu Your eBay Browsers Into Customers

Remember that although your initial goal is to tu your eBay ® "browsers" into buyers, you can't stop there. Many eBay ® sellers assume if they don't have something the "browser" is looking for, then they aren't going to sell anything to that person at all. But, that is far from the truth.

You've already overcome the most difficult part, which is getting the "browser" to your listings. The important part is to make sure each visit counts. You have to make sure that once you get a visitor to one of your listings, they don't leave until you have tried everything possible to get their contact information such as name and email, to try and convert them to a future customer.

Let's say you sell home décor products and someone visits your listings while looking for a particular window treatment. The visitor views the auction they were led to and also visits your "other listed items." This particular visitor doesn't find what the item he/she is looking for. So, he/she leaves your auctions and you never have the chance to do business with this person, right? Wrong!

It would be very simple to invite each visitor to your About Me page, with something like, "Click here to visit my About Me page and receive free, weekly tips to help you redecorate your home like a professional designer for half the cost."

Once the visitor reaches your About Me page, you can provide them with simple instructions on how they can receive your weekly newsletter for free to get the tips they are looking for.

Sounds easy doesn't it?

It is and, in just minutes, you can have this set up and will be collecting valuable names and email addresses.

2. Tuing eBay Customers Into Life-Long Customers

This is so easy, but SO overlooked in the eBay ® industry. If eBay ® is your business, than you have to treat it as such. Like any "typical" business, you try to do your best in every aspect of the sale to ensure your customer will retu. However, online it is so easy to get lost in the shuffle.

Once you pick up a customer, you need to be sure to stay in contact with that customer so there is no doubt in your mind that, if they retu to eBay ® to purchase something, they will come to you first.

There are auction programs such as Vendio that offer great customer management software. You can easily include a "join my mailing list" link to all of your post-sale emails. Remember, once you sell to an eBay customer, they are your customer so you're allowed to email them off eBay ®.

You want to present them with an offer such as, "Join my monthly newsletter and receive updates on my product line including notification of newly listed items, and member discounts."

Doing this allows you to stay in touch with your past customers to keep you fresh in their minds. And it also gives you the opportunity to invite them to your auction listings on a regular basis. But, remember you have to treat your customers well. You have to provide them with good offers so they appreciate you and want to retu.

Whether you obtain the names and emails of those who are visiting your auctions, or those who have bought from you, collecting the information of those who are in the market for your type of product is absolutely priceless.

If they are on eBay ® to purchase a product "like" the products you offer, they are more than likely going to purchase this type of product again in the near future. If you offer them sound information and special discounts, as well as keep in touch with them, chances are they will come to you first for their next purchase.

Janiece Smith is the author of Inteet's top-selling eBook teaching everyday people how to make their own small fortune selling on eBay®. Discover The Secrets Janiece Smith Used To Ea Up To $11,212 Per Month Selling On eBay. Her New eBook allows you to easily and quickly apply the author's secrets of finding and selling products on eBay® to create huge amounts of instant profits! For more details see http://ebay.dotpacket.net

Auctions a Game of Who Can Be the Weirdest

2009-07-02T23:18:00.000-07:00

The auction website eBay is known as a place where you can get almost anything at a very respectable price. Even with the small amount of fraud on eBay, its popularity and revenue continues to grow year after year. One other thing that continues to grow on eBay is the number of weird and entertaining auctions popping up everyday.

In the last week auctions for breast advertising, neck tattoo advertising, and even a person selling himself have been listed. Many people that list those outrageous auctions walk away with a fistful of cash because they know numerous people spend their time hunting for those weird auctions. In most cases, people hunting for those auctions do it for the laughs, while others just like buying stupid stuff.

With more and more weird stuff being placed on eBay everyday, it seems that the people selling those items don't just care about money they can make. They seem to care more about publicity and being the first person to do something new. Whatever their reasons, weird auctions are at an all time high on eBay and they will only increase as people get more creative in their hunt for money and fifthteen minutes of fame.

Andre Bias is the creator of http://www.MustSeeAuctions.com a website that points you directly to the weirdest, funniest, and sexiest auctions on eBay.

How To Use Ebay s Second Chance Offer Feature

2009-07-02T19:04:00.000-07:00

When someone wins your auction, you might think thatÂ's the end of it. In fact, you can offer the item to anyone else who bid in the auction but didnÂ't win.

Why Would I Do That?

There are three reasons you might want to do this:

1. Your top bidder never paid. Unfortunately for sellers, it is all too common for buyers to win an item and then decide they donÂ't want it after all. Making a second chance offer lets you offer the item to a buyer with a better reputation.

2. You have another one. If you have another item just like the one you just sold then you might as well sell it to another bidder Â– after all, you know theyÂ're interested and what theyÂ're willing to pay.

3. A buyer emails you directly to ask. If they got Â'snipedÂ' at the last second, or just werenÂ't around when the auction ended, then a buyer might email you to ask if youÂ'll sell them one for however many dollars. You might as well make them an offer Â– itÂ's a free sale.

So How Do You Make a Second Chance Offer?

Well, itÂ's easy really. The easiest place to send a second chance offer from is the My eBay screen Â– simply go to the Selling page and click Â'Make a Second Chance OfferÂ'. eBay should also provide a link for you to make a second chance offer in the email you will receive after the sale of an item is completed, or you report a non-paying buyer.

What Happens Next?

The buyer can choose to either accept or reject your offer. If they decline, thatÂ's the end of it, and you pay nothing for making the offer. If they accept, then things work exactly the same way they would if theyÂ'd won the auction Â– you pay a final value fee, they pay you, and you can leave feedback for each other as normal.

Making a second chance offer on all your auctions can be a great way to make extra sales. You will probably find that about 50% of the buyers you make offers to will take them up, and you save the effort of relisting the item and paying another insertion fee.

The only disadvantage is the time that it might take you to send so many second chance offers, but the chances are it will be time well spent. If you find that it doesnÂ't work for your particular kind of items, though, donÂ't keep pushing it Â– just re-list the item and let people bid again. It might be that the buyers for your items just arenÂ't the negotiating type Â– or perhaps they hope that the next one will sell for less.

By now, youÂ're probably starting to make a success of your eBay business Â– I hope youÂ've enjoyed it so far! But the chances are you still want a few more strategies to increase your profits. Well, in the next email, weÂ'll take a look at what you can discover from taking a good look at your competitorsÂ' auctions.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

Clueless About What You Can Buy On Ebay

2009-07-02T07:31:00.000-07:00

Being clueless on what items to buy on E-bay is a phase.

In fact, it's the very first step to online shopping. With every new day, online shoppers conquer more E-bay buying techniques, and slowly lift off the novice's launch pad.

From then on, online shoppers realize there's more they can buy on E-bay than meets the eye.

Generally, E-bay is comprised of almost all the things a buyer would want and need under the sun. In fact, it seems that E-bay's selling almost everything.

Because of its diversity in items being sold, E-bay categorized each item for easier search. Though, each listing varies from one country to another.

Generally, online shoppers may choose to buy things under the category of antiques. These may include old-fashioned decors; house wares; vintage cars, clothing, and accessories; historic collector's item; and old postcards.

Buyers may also deliberate on buying items classified under the automotive category. These may range from cars to accessories to almost insignificant extras like car stickers, car perfumes, and collectibles.

Those who are looking for computer gadgets, electronic bolts, or printers may look at the Electronics and Computers category of E-bay.

E-bay listings also have the basic necessities like clothes, shoes, and accessories. It also includes different kinds of jewelries like trinkets, charms, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, watches, and oaments.

Those who are looking for stamps and other collectables like postcards, old papers, even different kinds of minerals, rocks, and fossils will find E-bay a very lucrative place to do online shopping.

E-bay also caters to people who are into sports. Buyers can find different sorts of sports gadgets, sports get-ups, and tools. Those who are hobbyists may also find practical tools for their respective hobbies like gardening tools, cross-stitching paraphealia, cooking and baking utensils, or scrapbooks.

Best of all, E-bay offers a great line of entertainment appliances and high-tech gadgets like mobile phones, mp3 players, pc tablets, PDAs, memory cards, flash cards, video cameras, digital cameras, audio recorders, sensors, and camcorders.

Aside from these common items that reflect fads and fashions in today's contemporary society, e-bay has also that special section that consists of "everything else." These are the things that do not fall under the basic categories. These are ephemera, costumes, children's themed gift sets, party packages, mobile sim card, and mobile load, even a Google account.

With these things, buyers can be assured of a wide array of things and gadgets that would serve them best provided that it does not fall under E-bay's prohibited list.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

David Riewe is a Publisher and Online Marketer. Visit his eBay Blog to Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips in this FREE ebook www.push-button-online-income.com/ebayblog

eBay Eighteen Profit Busting Listing Tips

2009-07-01T18:56:00.000-07:00

How you describe your goods is vitally important to your chances of making a little or a lot of money from every listing.

Your listing comprises not only words used in the title and body text; it includes layouts and colours, too, as well as fonts, size of text, even the length of sentences and paragraphs. These tips will help you list more products, create better listings and eventually make more money:

* Inside your listing, give viewers a reason to call back later if they are in a hurry now or not quite ready to bid. Ask them to visit your 'About Me' page for a free eBook or newsletter and be sure they give their email addresses for you to contact them later. You can also begin a mailing list for later sales outside of eBay. Remind them, too, to add you to their Favourite Sellers list.

* Choose keywords to describe your items and use them in the heading and body of your listings. People can choose to search according to heading (title) or by checking body text too, but few remember to check the box to include this second option. Most people will find your product by either going directly to category listings and clicking through to their appropriate sub-category or, most likely, by simply keying words to describe the item into eBay's search tool. This means if your title does not include those keywords your listing will be missed. Check what keywords are most common when people search for items like those you are listing by going to http://pulse.ebay.co.uk (or .com or other) and continue through the sub-categories until your product type appears. Now check the most commonly keyed search terms at the left of the screen. Alteatively, go to 'Advanced Search', top right of screen and on the next page use keywords to describe your item and tick the 'Completed Auctions' box. From the results choose 'Price: Highest First' to locate similar items, check the keywords used in the heading on which to model your own. Be careful not to breach eBay's stringent rules on 'Keyword Spamming'.

* Avoid using too many bells and whistles in your listings. One that is guaranteed to make me move away really fast is the wizard that flits about the screen thanking me for visiting and generally getting in the way of everything I am trying to see. Music, flashing lights, moving conveyor belt pictures of other products from which to choose a selection – if you're quick enough - have roughly the same effect, as do many other totally useless and generally hugely frustrating devices.

* Use colour, sparingly, in your listings, as well as experimenting with different fonts and font sizes. It all adds interest for the visitor while also creating a professional image for your business.

* Never write titles in full upper case – CAPITALS. IT LOOKS AWFUL, UNPROFESSIONAL, AND FAR FROM ATTRACTING ATTENTION IT MAKES YOUR TITLE MUCH HARDER TO READ. IT IS OKAY TO USE UPPER CASE ON ONE OR TWO WORDS IN YOUR TITLE.

* Try using html to create a more professional appearance especially in highly competitive product fields. For old postcards and other rare, sometimes one-off collectibles, basic text is fine. Where similar or identical items are available from numerous sellers, such as CDs, mode jewellery, make up, improving the appearance of your listing will help distinguish your business from others with hastily created listings packed with spelling mistakes, poor descriptions, and so on.

* Basic html is very easy to use and stunning auction templates can be created in Microsoft Word or FrontPage. Alteatively, choose from thousands of free and low-cost auction templates available online.

* Use templates where possible, it saves listing time later, and can create a more professional appearance. They can look especially good with subtle use of colours, different fonts, background designs; subtle meaning delicate, not garish or gaudy.

* Use light coloured backgrounds, not vivid red or dark blue with black text (Yes, I saw one like this only yesterday where the text was completely unreadable). If you must use pattes, use simple pastel pattes, not bold tartans or flashing backgrounds or dazzling stripes.

* Use fonts that make reading easy. Never make it too hard for visitors to read your listing or they will do the most intelligent thing. Click out and look somewhere else to buy! Most popular fonts are Times, Times Roman, Arial, New York, Verdana.

* When you find a font you like, stick with it, don't change fonts between templates. It isn't worth it and time wasted would be better spent on listing new items. Avoid using too much italic or other embellishing device such as embossing or shadowing in your listings.

* Do not use large fonts in your listings, except for headings and sub-headings, and even those do not need to be more than two or three sizes bigger than body text. Size 12 or 14 is adequate for body text, 18 for main headings, 16 for sub-headings.

* Very large text is a big put-off and is also difficult to read, while also absorbing more memory and taking longer to upload and download.

* Use a maximum two or three different colour fonts (including basic black or navy or other appropriate choice) and never use different colours within the same word. I know major companies like eBay do it but they are well-known, their logos are professionally created, anything less would look trashy and cheap. Not to mention hugely unprofessional.

* Keep text aligned to the left, sometimes to the right where the graphic is placed extreme left. Don't center or justify a column of text without good reason. And there are few if any goods reasons for doing so. Centre text is difficult to read and creates odd lengths that create a totally amateurish appearance. Justified text is even worse with lengthy gaps between words which themselves are longer than average.

* Keep listings fairly narrow especially when using html. Wide listings are okay on wide screen computers, but on narrow screen computers the entire right side will be missing and few people will scroll left and right every few seconds to get the gist of your listing. eBay's own listing boxes, that is where you type directly into eBay, and those created in Turbo Lister, are just the right size, never too long, never too short. When using html or creating your own designer template, practice using eBay's systems first to get the desired length.

* Keep paragraphs short and always with a gap between them. And actually USE PARAGRAPHS where text extends beyond two or three lines. Notice how some listings containing hundreds, sometimes thousands of words, are created in one L – O - N - G chunk which no one in their right mind would read. Others with long, long descriptions actually use paragraphs though the effect is hardly noticeable.

* Try to stagger listings even if you list just once a week. This helps people who are bidding on several of your items and might want to check last minute bidding against them on those items. Too many of their chosen items ending within seconds of each other is confusing and frustrating for them, and means you lose out on last minute impulse bids. Using Turbo Lister you can choose how many already listed items to upload at any time, say in units of 20, and you can also alter the order of items to hopefully prevent 'same item' products selling within seconds of each other.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avril_Harper

Billion Dollar eBay Products They re More Common Than You Think

2009-06-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Ebay does a massive amount of business on a global level every day. Last year, in fact, eBay sold 38 billion dollars worth of goods and services. 14% of all transactions that take place online are done via eBay's auctions. 45,000 people buy products through eBay every day, and it's only growing as eBay expands and enters new markets. Ebay provides a tremendous amount of opportunity to all people of an entrepreneurial mindset.

So what are people buying on eBay?

The truth is that people are buying anything and everything. Of source, there are some markets that are more popular than others. The billion dollar business takes place in the following categories:

· Clothing. In eBay land, an article of clothing sells every three seconds. Much of this clothing is gently used, bought on clearance, or has been sitting in a closet for years. Power Sellers usually buy wholesale and sell below retail.

· Electronics. This covers a lot of technology - televisions, broken equipment for parts, outdated computers. A digital camera sells every minute on eBay - an important thing to know if you're constantly upgrading your own technology at home.

· Collectibles. This is the niche lover's dream. Avid collectors of antiques, artifacts, pop culture, and even used dental equipment swarm to eBay to compete over the next addition to their collection.

· Jewelry. People buy costume jewelry, handcrafted jewelry, wedding bands, precious stones and antiques. The profit margin is usually much better than you will get at an estate sale or pawn shop.

· Sporting goods. Every day somebody throws in the towel and gets rid of that unused ab cruncher, weight bench, or boxing gloves. There always seems to be somebody else that is eager to take that sport or activity on themselves.

· Cars. This is the top grossing category on eBay by far. Ebay sells more cars in a moing than most car dealers sell in a year. This is why many car dealers are taking their hard-to-sell trade-ins and auctioning them off on eBay. Other car sellers on eBay have tued their fixer-upper mentality into a profit by going to local govement auctions, replacing parts, and then auctioning the car off to the highest bidder.

No matter what you're selling on eBay, there is a market for your product. These categories will give you an idea of where the most common profits come from, but don't think that you can't carve a niche out in a different category. There is plenty of room to develop, and test, new products on eBay and find your own spot in the market. Just do your research, be creative in your marketing, and make sure your auctions have good descriptions and accurate pictures. And if something isn't selling, you can always change to a new category or change your product lines. In many cases, you can actually change your entire focus oveight! How many offline retailers can do that?

Matt Bacak, Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host became a "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to Retire From Your Job This Year and Still Make More Money Than the Average Medical Doctor... You Can Do It Once You Know the Proven Steps Outlined here! ==> http://www.inteetmillionairemind.com

8 Top Tips For Successful Art Auction Listings

2009-06-30T04:11:00.000-07:00

Why is it that some artists seem to make easy money on eBay while others struggle to break even? Seller A and seller B could be selling paintings of the same calibre, yet seller A tus a good profit year in year out and has Powerseller status, while seller B struggles to even make a profit at all. Often it has a lot to do with the look of their auction listings.

I have been selling my original artwork on eBay for 5 years now and boy was I green when I started off. I didn't own a digital camera - I used an ordinary camera with film ... you know that old stuff ... I would take photos of my artwork, then tramp into town, wait three days for the film to be developed, then scan the prints into my computer. The quality of my photos were obviously pretty poor in those days.

I didn't know anything about HTML, templates, how and when to list to get optimum benefit from my auctions. It's a wonder I even got off the ground! But get off the ground I did - though dogged persistence and a willingness to lea, I went from selling paintings for a couple of pounds/dollars, to eaing a good full time living. These days I am a Powerseller and often get hundreds for my paintings.

So, here are my top tips to make your art auctions stand out and promote you from part - time pin money eaer to top seller;

1; Think about KISS .... Keep It Simple Stupid! A listing that has lots of different colours, fonts, animated pictures, text in capitals can be very confusing for the reader. Don't bombard people with too much information.

2; Be factual in your description. If your item has a fault - list it. This way a buyer knows exactly what he/she is getting and there will be no negative feedback later. I have sold paintings that had repairs where they had had small rips in them. I was honest in the fact that the paintings weren't perfect, but my buyers were perfectly happy because they knew beforehand what they were buying.

3; Never be negative. Recently one artist who was struggling to sell anything at all (despite being a very good artist) complained how eBay just wasn't working for him. After looking at his auctions I could see why! His listings were basic to say the least, but he could have gotten away with that. What was stopping any chance of him selling were the words at the end of his auction;

"The artist is unwilling to offer this item at a lower starting price as to do so would be insulting."

Potential buyers might look at this statement and think "well I wouldn't want to insult anyone" or "well if you feel insulted, why list it?" and click away ... to someone else's paintings. Comments like this are far too negative.

4; When selling art, a picture paints a thousand words, as the saying goes. Try to make your pictures as high quality as possible. Include side views of your canvasses and possibly a room view. Don't clutter your listing with pictures of other artwork you have for sale - it's just confusing. If you have an eBay store, you will get automatic 'cross promotion' for several other items at the end of your auction anyway.

5; Don't undersell yourself / under price your work. Who takes 5 to 10 pounds / dollars as an opening bid price seriously? Only very well known, well established artists with large fan bases can get away with starting a listing so low. Until you are established, don't risk selling your art for pennies. You'll not even cover your listing fees, never mind make a profit.

6; Utilise keywords effectively. I saw a pencil drawing of a mum and baby Koala in a tree listed as "A mother's Love Original Pencil Drawing" Unfortunately, it is very unlikely that anyone will search "a", "mothers", or "love". Well maybe love .... but not in the context of an original drawing of an animal. The seller was wasting a lot of keyword space there. Better would have been something like "Original Contemporary Drawing Sketch Koala Bear Bears" Doesn't mean much as a sentence in itself, but it is packed with keywords, people might use to find that type of item.

7; Offer excellent customer service. I have always prided myself on the number of positive feedbacks I have attained over the years. On various eBay IDs I have well over 1000 unique positive feedbacks. This is money in the bank! A happy customer will come back again and again, and it is much easier to sell to an existing customer than to gain a new one. Keep your buyers happy and they will reward you with loyalty and repeat purchases.

8; Have a 'ME' page. With art buying, people like to know who they are buying from. They like to 'get to know' the artist. If you can offer a small biography and artists statement on your me page, your potential buyer can feel like they already know you. I have a bio, a photo of myself with my artwork and a recent article that appeared in a regional arts and culture magazine. This allows buyers to see a friendly face - yours - and to feel like they know a little about you and 'where you're at' before they buy.

I hope these tips help you a with your eBay art career. There's loads more I could add, but eBay is a real leaing curve. Often success comes simply though experience and trying different thing until you find something that works for you. The above tips, however, will get you off to a good start to becoming a successful eBay art seller.

Gail Miller is a professional artist whose wild funky artwork is a visual feast of line, colour and fun. Visit her brand new updated website at http://www.gailmiller.com or her eBay store at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/painttillyoufaint

An Emerging Market in eBay Consignments The eBay Trading Post Part II In A Series

2009-06-29T08:35:00.000-07:00

In 2002, the eBay consignments business was bo, referred to by eBay as the Trading Assistant Program.

It's possible that eBay didn't foresee just how much they would benefit form their eBay consignments program. Designed to unite experienced eBay sellers with people who want heir merchandise sold on eBay without having to do it themselves, the Trading Assistant program has enjoyed enormous success.

As big as eBay had become -- larger than all other online auction venues combined -- they were still missing out on a large segment of the population; the technophobes. These people would sell goods on eBay if they had access to a computer and a digital camera, and had the time and inclination to lea how to run an auction. But they either don't have the technology or they lack the desire to become auctioneers, or both. Since they're not on line, they're not likely to lea about Trading Assistants who advertise primarily through eBay. And even if they saw the ads, they probably wouldn't trust them.

You see, people active in the online community are already comfortable with the environment, which has an element of anonymity. But a non-computer person is more likely to want to deal with a real, brick-and-mortar retail business. They may not trust someone who runs auctions out of their home.

How to reach these people? Introducing the concept of the "Trading Post"...

A Trading post is to eBay consignments what the typical consignment shop is to the average community. It's a drop off location that allows consumers to drop their stuff off and have it sold for them as a service. It's a retail location that markets itself to consumers as a local, experienced ebay consignments seller -- a Trading Assistant with a brick-and-mortar store.

While any ebay trading assistant can establish an ebay consignments service out of a retail location, only a Trading Post can put the eBay brand on their physical storefront. (A trading assistant can only advertise inside their store). With this privilege comes a higher standard, ie, eBay has "raised the bar" on their requirements.

A Trading Post must meet the following additional requirements:

-Offers a staffed drop-off location or storefront with regular drop-in hours, so that clients can visit the location without calling ahead.

-Has a feedback score of 500 or higher

-Has at least 98% positive feedback

-Has sales of at least $25,000 on eBay each month

Online, clients can search for Trading Posts specifically, and Trading Posts may receive priority placement in search results. (Yes, even some online clients prefer the retail setting). Also, Trading Posts are displayed with a special icon next to their User ID. If you're a Trading Assistant who also meets the requirements, you automatically qualify as a Trading Post and do not need to take additional steps.

Walt Duflock, Director of the eBay Trading Assistant Program and a real life trading assistant, has announced eBay's intention of having "secret shoppers" and "customer satisfaction surveys" to see if there are certain Trading Post locations eBay would like to support more than others.

Regardless of your status on ebay, there are tools that everyone can use to build their success as TAs, available on the ebay site. I've found many of them quite valuable. For example, among their efficiency tools, they recommend using contact management software. eBay regards this as a great tool for getting "a better understanding of how many prospects it takes to actually create one new client and how long it takes for a client to go from initial contact to hiring you as a TA."

And as far as support, some of the Trading Posts have become so large that they no longer rely on eBay for help. Some have developed their own proprietary systems for tracking customers and inventory, and managing their auctions. The largest and most successful ebay consignment business will even get you started with your own franchise which includes the use of their proprietary systems. All you need to come up with is $55 K plus operating expenses.

But, never fear. You can start your ebay consignment business on a shoestring, and this is how the majority begin. Since 1998, eBay and similar auction sites have been growing by leaps and bounds. eBay consignments are still in their infancy, but I predict a very bright future!

© Copyright 2004 Carolyn Schweitzer DDS. Dr. Schweitzer was a family dentist for 20 years and is now owner and editor of several websites. You can lea more about where to find specific links to the Trading Assistant and Trading Post programs by visiting her website at http://www.netbrainer.com/site/500041/page/449460.

Are You an Ebay Shopper

2009-06-28T21:15:00.000-07:00

As I write this article, I am keeping an eye on an item on eBay. Do I have to keep an eye on it? No. I have set up a program that swoops in in the final seconds of the bidding, leaving the previous bidder, who thought they had the item, wondering what happened.

Is that what is happening to you in business? Do you think you have customers sewn up; success just with your grasp, but something always goes wrong?

There is talk in the news about the Retail Industry slowdown in home décor, fuiture and home improvement sales. Pier 1 mentioned they are streamlining and cutting their merchandise offerings by 25% to focus on their core customer. Many retailers who were interviewed mentioned that they have been watching the slowdown trend for a while and already have plans in place to manage what's happening.

Is that how you run your business? Do you look at seasonal, regional and/or global trends that will affect the future of your business or do you wait until the bottom falls out and then wonder what you are going to do. Wouldn't you rather have a heads up on what's happening, before it happens?

Sometimes even experience researchers find it difficult to be guided by research. Instead they look for facts and theories to support the hypothesis that is already formed.

If you think that research takes too long, sign up for a number of newsletters and let the information come to you. If you worry about being spammed, use a hotmail account. Keep an open mind. Rather than coming to conclusions before you have the information, make a list of specific facts and assign weights that will influence your decisions. Create a chart and fill in the answers from each information source, tally the weighted results and then make your decisions based on fact…tempered by entrepreneurial intuition. Set up a system that works for you and commit to use it.

If you are in Retail then these two web sites have newsletters that report on trends from all over the world.

http://www.springwise.com

http://www.trendwatching.com

No matter what your business, somewhere on the net there are newsletters/RSS feeds that can deliver information to give you the edge you need, so you aren't sideswiped…knocked out of the game in the final seconds.

And my purchase on eBay….I missed the first one because someone else paid more than I thought it was worth; but the second one…the competition is still wondering what happened and my purchase is on it's way. I used my proven system and won.

Do you want things to be your way in your world or do you want to know what's really going on in your industry so you can anticipate challenges and make plans to avoid problems?

A theory must be tempered by reality. -Jawaharlal Nehru

Nancy Fraser is the President of Nota Bene Consulting. She has been helping clients improve their advertising results and grow their businesses for over 20 years. Free advertising and marketing information in the Notable News http://www.notable-marketing.com

Boosting Your EBay Auction Profits Just Add Audio

2009-06-27T23:10:00.000-07:00

According to a recent report, adding audio to your eBay auctions could increase bids by as much as 22% over auctions without audio.

A recent trend showing up on a lot of websites is the addition of an audio clip. The clip is a personal message by the author or the website owner encouraging you to take advantage of what they offer.

The psychology behind this technique is really Marketing 101. It's called personalization. An audio clip added to your eBay auction allows you to personally tell the potential bidder about the product. Using your own voice allows you to make contact with the bidder on a personal level that written words cannot. Because, that's what your eBay auction really is...It's just a long written classified ad asking the bidder to make an offer to purchase your item.

Prior to the advent of the telephone the only reliable way to communicate long distance was by writing letters. It was not unusual back then for lovers to write each other daily or weekly. The decline of letter writing is a well documented event that coincides with the advent of the telephone.

With audio you can describe the item, tell the bidder why you are selling it or even communicate with them about your refund policy or provide your contact information. The possibilities are almost unlimited as a way to establish a rapport with the bidder.

But, the most important reason to add audio clips is that it makes it easy to convey excitement and invoke emotion, giving you a really powerful selling-edge.

How to add audio to a web site:

The simplest way is to upload a .wav or Mp3 file to a website and provide a link to the file. When the bidder clicks on the link his or her computer will automatically recognize the file and play it with the audio player on the bidders computer.

There are some drawbacks to this method. If the bidder's computer doesn't recognize the file it won't play. The overall effect is not as professional as it could be and it distracts the bidder. If you are a reasonably tech savvy type you can easily deal with the drawbacks of this approach.

For the rest of us, there are a number of software solutions and websites that will simplify the task of adding audio to our eBay auctions.

Here are two:

Audio Maker Pro - http://audiomaker.thynke.com - (The one I use and recommend)

Sound Streamer - http://soundstreamer.thynke.com - (Less expensive)

Different programs and websites range from charging a one time fee to monthly fees for the use of the program. The good news is that many will let you test them for as little as $1 for a trial basis or let you download a demo version to see how well it will work for you.

Mike Nalbone is an author, editor, publisher and webmaster who eas a living full-time on the Net. For more, exclusive eBay profit tips like this one, visit: http://auction-revolution.thynke.com

Boost E Bay Profits With Web Audio

2009-06-26T23:22:00.000-07:00

Can you boost profits significantly by adding audio to your E-Bay auctions? According to a recent article on a net business site the answer is a definite yes. In fact, one e-book author suggested that adding audio to your auctions could potentially increase bids by as much as 22% over auctions without audio.

A recent trend showing up on a lot of websites is the addition of an audio clip. The clip is a personal message by the author or the website owner encouraging you to take advantage of what they offer.

The psychology behind this technique is really Marketing 101. It's called personalization. An audio clip added to your Ebay auction allows you to personally tell the potential bidder about the product. Using your own voice allows you to make contact with the bidder on a personal level that written words cannot. Because, that's what your E-Bay auction really is...It's just a long written classified ad asking the bidder to make an offer to purchase your item.

Prior to the advent of the telephone the only reliable way to communicate long distance was by writing letters. It was not unusual back then for lovers to write each other daily or weekly. The decline of letter writing is a well documented event that coincides with the advent of the telephone. The power of the human voice to convey a message triumphs that of the written word.

With audio you can describe the item, tell the bidder why you are selling it or even communicate with them about your refund policy or provide your contact information. The possibilities are almost unlimited as a way to establish a rapport with the bidder.

There are some technical elements to adding audio to your E-Bay auctions. The simplest way is to upload a .wav or Mp3 file to a website and provide a link to the file. When the bidder clicks on the link his or her computer will automatically recognize the file and play it with the audio player on the bidders computer.

There are some drawbacks to this method. If the bidder's computer doesn't recognize the file it won't play. The overall effect is not as professional as it could be and it distracts the bidder. If you are a reasonably tech savvy type you can easily deal with the drawbacks of this approach.

For the rest of us, there are a number of software solutions and websites that will simplify the task of adding audio to our E-Bay auctions. These different programs and websites range from charging a one time fee to monthly fee's for the use of the program. The good news is that many of them will let try them for as little as $1 for a trial basis or let you download a demo version to see how well it will work for you.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips in this FREE ebook www.push-button-online-income.com/ebooks

Make Your Ebook Auctions Stand Out

2009-06-26T00:39:00.000-07:00

Selling ebooks on eBay is an inviting idea. By carefully shopping for in-demand content and wisely purchasing it with resale rights, you can secure a product you can sell over and over again with only a one-time expense. A very small initial investment can give you the opportunity to create a long series of successful auctions.

The hassles associated with shipping and handling also disappear, as delivering an ebook can be as simple as sending an email to the buyer. There are even great software packages and services available that make automated instant delivery of purchased ebooks possible. You can truly create a system that runs on autopilot, generating profits with little or no effort on your part.

That's the good news. The bad news is that a lot of other people have also noticed the opportunities presented by selling ebooks on eBay. As such, there is bustling market on eBay for electronically delivered information products and it is easy for your auctions to get lost in the crowd. No matter how inexpensive setting up your ebook auction business might be, the effort and expense will be wasted if no one is purchasing your products.

As such, it is important to make sure your auctions stand out from your competitors. There are a few great general techniques that when coupled with your own skills and originality can set you apart from the crowd and make your ebook business a success.

Look Different

Have you ever searched through the ebook offerings on eBay? Often, you will see the very same ebooks sold again and again. The auction titles look the same, as do the graphics used to promote them. If you follow the herd, you are simply hoping that of the many similar auctions offered, an interested buyer will happen to pick yours from the crowd merely by luck. This is not a particularly sound strategy!

Instead, you should make the effort to differentiate your auction from the others. Secure and utilize a different graphic than the standard ebook cover shot being used by everyone else. You should also spend some time writing a title for the auction—if your title reads like all of the others; your chances for success are reduced considerably.

Read Differently

Look through the auctions carefully and read the product descriptions and sales pages of the other eBay sellers in your market. You'll probably notice that many of them seem like carbon copies of one another. You need to make your eBay auction unique.

Spend some time and effort developing a sales pitch for your product that stands out from the rest. It will require some creativity and effort, but by writing the perfect sales pitch and creating a truly unique auction, your product will be perceived as a unique offering in a sea of sameness.

Offer Something More

If everyone is selling the same ebook, or several similar ebooks on the same theme, you need to make your auction different. There has to be some unique reason why buyers will flock to your auctions instead of others.

One used to be able to create a distinction by simply offering a better price or having higher feedback ratings. As the ebook marketplace has grown, these characteristics are tougher to use to your advantage. Prices are often set at low margins across the board already, and there are a variety of sellers with impressive feedback in the field.

Bundle something extra into your ebook auction. Perhaps a special report you have personally written, insuring the uniqueness of your auction is in order. Maybe you can bundle up an additional ebook for which you have resale rights into the deal. The possibilities are limited only by your own imagination.

In a more crowded marketplace it is possible to succeed. However, the days of merely listing a series of ebooks and waiting for the money are over. If you want to increase your chances for ebook success on eBay, it's time to do something that separates you from the pack.

John Thohill trades on eBay under the useame planetsms For more advice on how to succeed on eBay with information products visit http://www.planetsms.co.uk

Photographing Jewelry for Online Auctions

2009-06-26T00:35:00.000-07:00

I am still amazed how many photos in online auctions for sometimes quite expensive jewelry are too blurry and out of focus to let potential buyers see clearly what they are bidding on.

Would you bid hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a vague blob that is supposed to be a diamond ring? Here is what you will need to take improved photos of your jewelry with your digital camera:

1. A tripod (holding the camera in your hand will introduce some blur!)

2. Two or three worklights with 100 W bulbs (can be found at a hardware store for under $10 each)

3. A translucent plastic storage box to set up as a "stage", in which the object is placed on a display stand or jewelry bust

4. Several pieces of silky cloth as backdrops

You do not need to get a top-of-the-line digital camera with 5 Megapixels or more, but the camera should have a macro setting and should let you adjust the white balance to compensate for different lighting condition. Recharagable batteries are a must, as digital cameras go through batteries quickly, and you could easily spend a lot of money on batteries otherwise.

The plastic box setup, with worklights shining through the sides provides soft shadows, and you can use an extra worklight from the front or top when needed. Do not use your camera's flash (it tends to make small objects appear flat), and set the white balance to the type of lighting you are using (see your camera's manual). Some cloth (particularly the kind used for linings) in a nice neutral color (grey, light blue, etc.) makes for an attractive background.

These tips should improve your auction photos, and best of all, they do not require a large investment.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She has been beading since her teens. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the bead jewelry she designs and creates at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

Paying For Items With Ebay Coupons

2009-06-25T04:55:00.000-07:00

ThereÂ's a novel idea afoot nowadays: Using electronic discount coupons to pay for items people are interested in purchasing.

This only goes to show that most good marketing ideas can be adopted for the inteet. Instead of cutting coupons out from newspapers or carton boxes, eBay gives out electronic copies of coupons to purchase merchandise. The coupons are fast and easy to use.

Coupons are routinely sent by eBay to members who then use them to pay for items through PayPal. The coupons signify specific discounts that can be applied to the purchase of items.

Using Coupons

To use an eBay Coupon one must buy an item where the seller accepts PayPal as a payment method. Upon payment of the item using PayPal, an opportunity will be given to the buyer to enter a coupon redemption code and receive the discount.

Sharing Coupons

Some coupons from eBay can be shared with other people while some can only be used by the owner. If the coupon indicates that only a specific email address may use the coupon, it may not be shared.

Coupons and Your eBay and PayPal Accounts

To use the coupons the owner must have a PayPay and an eBay account. If the owner does not have these accounts, he or she must sign up for them to avail of the discounts. PayPal lets you pay securely over the Inteet using a credit card, checking account, or a PayPal account balance.

Important Restrictions

Upon winning an eBay auction, the bidder is required to purchase the item even if the coupons they are holding tu out to be invalid for the auction.

Also, coupons can only be used one-at-a-time. This means that Gift Certificates, single coupons, or eBay Anything Points are valid for only one auction and only one type can be used each time.

One more restriction is that the coupons cannot be used for Half.com purchases.

Items must also meet all coupon requirements and must be paid for in ten days from the closing of the auction on eBay.

Coupons have expiry dates. Coupon holders should take note of the expiry dates noted on the coupons.

Sellers may also configure their listings to accept coupons. To accomplish this, the seller must accept PayPal as a payment mode. If a coupon is used in the purchase of one of the sellerÂ's items, the value of the coupon is forwarded to the seller as it's equivalent in regular currency.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips www.push-button-online-income.com/101ebaytips.zip

Importing Products to Sell on eBay

2009-06-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

The interesting thing about online buyers is they are extremely price sensitive. A survey done by Forrester Research shows that 73 percent of surveyed online buyers expect prices on the Inteet to be cheaper than in stores. No wonder auction marketplaces are thriving. Among the most popular auction marketplaces growth of eBay is especially notable! Its market share is growing at roughly twice the pace of the over all market. So, it's only natural if you like many other wannabe entrepreneurs thinking seriously to start an eBay business.

Say, after spending long hours on the eBay and doing much research offline and online, you finally have come up with a niche category of products to sell. But, there is one little problem! You don't have a slightest clue where to get regular supply of this product for wholesale price. Often, entrepreneurs with great product ideas fail to materialize their dream business plan just because they are unable to find a right supplier. How to tackle this problem?

Finding a local supplier

Success in any trading business depends not only on how good you are in selling, it also relies greatly on your ability to source the product at right cost. If you have a fairly large list of products that you are considering to work with you have a variety of options to choose from. You may start your eBay auctioning business based on local liquidators, closeout dealers, govement auctions, newspaper classified or Drop-shippers (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/39). But to start a real niche business you need to find a constant source supplier, which could be a manufacturer, a distributor or a wholesaler. Obviously, Inteet is the easiest place to get the initial contact information. Try http://www.thomasnet.com/ or http://www.tget.com/ - both websites are good information sources for industrial products manufacturers.

Bear in mind that many manufacturers simply aren't able to handle small orders and don't sell products directly to retailers. Some times, the minimum sales lot is way too big for a small start-up company to manage. However, even if the manufacturer does not sell directly to retail levels, they will provide you with information on their products and refer you to their wholesaler or distributor companies, which will be in a position to cater your needs.

For some category of products, your best option is to attend trade or industry shows in order to locate a supplier. Check out websites of some exhibition centers in your vicinity and find one or two trade shows of your area of interest. Make sure that participants of the trade show are distributors and wholesalers as oppose to large manufacturers. After all, you need to find a supplier who will agree to work with your initial small orders.

Trade jouals or publications of your related field also could be a great source in your quest to find a supplier. Trade jouals publish information on industry trend, articles on major players, various industry related event schedules such as trade shows, and often carry classified sections. Sometimes, they also publish specialty issues such as a buyer's guide or a who's who issue. You may consider getting those issues by contacting the publishers.

Professional and trade associations similar to local chamber of commerce and other groups offer a variety of services, which are extremely useful to members and general people a like. Promotion of the industry and its products and referral services for buyers trying to find specific products are some of the services that they offer. You should not hesitate to contact these organizations for help.

Importing

Competition in world's largest electronic marketplace is fierce! If you have to buy products from a middleman, you may find that your prices are not workable at all. What to do? Since most of the consumers products are imported any way, you may consider outsourcing your product from a foreign country. Today, thanks to globalization importing products are no longer as difficult as it used to be! If you are trying to buy a labor-intensive product, the best places are probably China – which is the hottest at this time, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh and some other Asian countries. If you are looking for medium quality electronics and computer parts, your options are China, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, etc. For high-end designer products Italy, Germany and France are your best bet. For intellectual property related products, Russia and other Easte European countries are still a paradise.

There is a good chance of finding a supplier through online B2B portals. If you are looking for a supplier from China you may try www.alibaba.com and www.globalsources.com. Two of the largest trade leads aggregators on the Inteet. For products from India you may try searching the database of both www.indiamart.com and www.trade-india.com. For products from Russia and other CIS countries www.rusbiz.com is a great option.

Here are the steps you must take in order to import products successfully:

• Locate several suppliers either through online resources or by contacting Trade Commissions of respective countries.

• Contact the suppliers and see if they are in a position to deliver the right product. Make sure that the suppliers are not your direct competitors. Many foreign suppliers are actively selling products through eBay.

• If you find their price and quality of the product are acceptable get several samples. It is very important to give them an exact copy of the product you are looking for. Without a prototype you might end up getting something far different than you expected.

• Work out your cost, which include buying cost, packaging, shipping, insurance, customs duty, excise duty if any, financing and handling charges, etc. You may also incur other expenses depending on products and your location.

• Check out your supplier. If possible make a trip to visit the supplier. Ask for references. Contact their bankers if necessary. Importing requires absolute due diligence.

• Check with a logistics consultant about shipping and exporting rules of the country.

• Contact a customs broker to verify latest duty and other regulations related to importing of this particular product.

• Don't forget to consider product life cycle, shipping time, seasonality of the product and other characteristics specific to your product.

Importantly, do your homework! You can sure make money by importing and selling goods on eBay. Thousands are already doing this. But, the key to success relies on your entrepreneurial spirit, due preparation, sound judgment and hard work. If you think you are ready, go for it!

Nowshade Kabir, is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com – a Global B2B Exchange with solutions to create e-catalog, Web store, business process management and other features to run a business online. You can read various articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com.

10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business Product From An Online Auction

2009-06-23T17:09:00.000-07:00

1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value.

2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard eaed money.

3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid.

4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.

5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it.

6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure server.

7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about the their products or business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price.

10. Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

Don t Be A Victim Of Online Auction Fraud

2009-06-23T07:30:00.000-07:00

The Inteet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) reported that last year 7.7 million dollars was lost through online auction scams. The actual losses are much greater. Most auction scams are not reported because they involve only small amounts of money.

Most auction Web sites are aggressive at fighting fraud. eBay has a fraud investigation unit that has helped them hold down fraud to only .01% of its transactions. If you paid for an item and never received it, or if you received the item but it was less than what was described, eBay's Fraud Protection Program will reimburse you up to $200, minus a $25 processing charge. In order to qualify for Fraud Protection coverage, you must submit an Online Fraud Complaint with eBay after 30 days and before 60 days from the time the auction ended.

After making a purchase, buyers can leave feedback about their experience with the seller. Before you bid on an item, check the seller's feedback profile by clicking on the number next to the their User ID. There is also a feedback forum and discussion board.

Below are a few actions that you should take to protect yourself from Inteet auction fraud.

For a high cost item use an escrow service.
Avoid sellers who request payment by electronic transfer.
Never provide your Social Security Number or Drivers License Number.
Verify the delivery data and the sellers retu policy.
Review the online feedback on a seller.
If the seller is a business, check with the Better Business Bureau www.bbb.org.
Prefer sellers who accept credit card payments. When you use a credit card to pay for a purchase, federal law limits your liability for an unauthorized charge to $50. You can also request your credit card issuer to make a charge-back.
Be cautious about buying from a seller in another country. If you buy from a seller in another country, understand the difference in laws goveing auctions between that country and the US.

If you become a victim of Inteet auction fraud, you can submit a complaint report with an online form at the IFCC Web site www.ifccfbi.gov. The IFCC will review your complaint and refer it to the proper law enforcement agency.

Inteet Auction fraud is a large and growing problem. Take the measures outlined above to prevent yourself from becoming a victim.

Permission is granted for the below article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included.

About The Author

Stephen Bucaro

To lea how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com. To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter visit http://bucarotechelp.com/search/000800.asp

How to Pay for an Item on eBay

2009-06-22T21:57:00.000-07:00

There can be different payment modes on eBay, decision depends on the seller, and how he or she accepts. Each seller being unique can accept different payment methods listed. If you go through the item description before bidding you will find the payment method the seller is wanting. Best way to pay on eBay is to clicking on the "pay now" button. You will see such a button appearing on the web page when you have selected the item you want to buy and also in the email sent to you by eBay confirming your item selection.

PayPal is, as the name suggests, very user friendly and hence the easiest and fastest way to pay for items on eBay. It helps you with various options for paying like credit and debit cards, bank accounts or electronic payments. It is best if the seller of your item chooses PayPal. In that case you simply have to click on the "pay now" button. After reviewing your purchase you can soon pay with PayPal. The seller will then be immediately informed about your payment.

But if you are opting for some other kind of payment option like sending a cheque or a money order then after clicking on the "pay now" button you will get details on such kind of detailed payment procedures. In this you will get to note down the address where your payment has to reach. Here, where PayPal kind of reliable body is not involved, you have to be very careful. You should try to bid on items where you have the freedom to choose the payment type. For instance, if you want to send a cheque but the seller is pressing upon to pay via money order, sounds fishy. It is obligatory to pay to the seller using one of the methods stated in the eBay listing. If some seller changes such methods below the entire listing, you should press upon paying through one of the methods specified.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

eBay and How to Tell If Your Product Is Valuable or Worthless Junk

2009-06-21T23:44:00.000-07:00

When is a book not a book? When it's autographed, for example, or in pristine condition despite being centuries old, and other factors that make it stand out from the crowd.

These are a few of many reasons an item – not just books by the way - may be worth nothing and another virtually priceless:

* Is it dated? Dated items are usually provenance proved, not subject to guesswork. But, consider: is it original or a reproduction or reprint? Be careful, if it's dated, give the date, but don't testify to age. For example, a book dated 1900 may indeed have been printed that year, and be 105 years old, or it could be a mode reprint. If you're unsure you could say: 'Dated 1900, in good condition', but not 'Dated 1900. A wonderful example at 105 years old'. Play it safe and on all your listings add: 'All items described to the best of our knowledge and ability'. A satisfaction or money back guarantee also protects you against problems of innocently mis-describing items.

* Is there a signature? Did this otherwise ordinary item have a famous owner to increase its value? Is the signature genuine? Or a forgery? Is the signature original or printed into the book? If the signature is original, is it the hand of the famous person or an agent charged with signing on their behalf?

* Is it in good condition? Do you understand what 'good condition' means for this particular item? Many collectibles, such as books, postcards, stamps, have industry recognised grading standards to which you should also conform. For example, unused collectors' stamps with hinge marks, are not mint, but can be described as unused or mounted, and other recognised descriptions.

* Is it rare? Or is it something quite common but new to you? What does rare really mean? Unless you are sure, describe it as 'unusual' or 'uncommon', not rare.

* It is antique? So many things described as antique are simply old, less than one hundred years to which the word antique really applies. So say 'old' or 'vintage', not 'antique', unless you're sure of that 100 year rule.

* Was the item designed for heavy use, such as pots and pans, coins and banknotes, and unlikely to survive the decades intact? Was the item ephemeral, of limited shelf life, such as theatre tickets, newspapers, and typically used or given away in hours or days? If the item has survived decades, intact, it could be valuable, maybe very valuable.

* Does the item have 'double appeal'? Might it attract bids from two or more different eBay categories and consequently multiple bids, such as a book on a popular theme, but a collectible author, with a famous previous owner. A plate I bought at the auction of Dame Catherine Cookson's effects presented four collecting themes: as a plate in its own right (very popular collecting area), famous owner (well-known novelist), Ringtons design (advertising), area of manufacture (Newcastle-on-Tyne). Oh yes, it was also blue and white, another major collecting interest.

* Is the price too low for comfort? Is it a fake or reproduction? Broken? Even worse, stolen? Check items thoroughly, ask for proof of previous ownership, buy from reputable sellers only, avoid itinerant sellers at flea markets and boot sales unless they provide receipts and contact details. Most boot sale and flea market sellers are very genuine and a majority of organisers now provide written details of traders at the event. Stolen items belong to their original owner, not the innocent buyer.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avril_Harper

7 Reasons To Buy Electronics From China

2009-06-21T18:59:00.000-07:00

China has become the world's largest maker of consumer electronics, producing more MP3 Players, Digital Cameras, Video Players, Electronic Gadgets, and other high tech products than any other country.

Have you ever wondered how you could buy direct from the source in China and make your own profits from this economic miracle?

1. Hottest Unseen Consumer Electronics And Gadgets

If you work together direct with suppliers in China you will be ahead of your competition. You will be able to buy many cutting-edge consumer electronics, long before they arrive in the retail stores back home. And you'll have the chance to check out the newest products before they are even released.

2. Don't Worry, They Speak English

Many trading companies and wholesalers in China are already experienced in dealing day to day with their foreign customers in English. And if you are lucky, you will be able to find partner companies in China which are wholly run by Europeans or Americans. Many of them will provide just the same quality of service and support as you would expect from anyone back home.

3. Isn't China On The Other Side Of The World?

You can already see "Made In China" labels everywhere you go. Thanks to inteational logistics companies like UPS and DHL practically any country in the world can receive consumer electronics straight from China. Wherever your customers are in the world, your next buying opportunity will be in China, especially with the increasing number of Chinese wholesale drop-shippers opening their services inteationally.

4. Wholesalers, MOQ, Yadda Yadda

In most manufacturing sectors in China, suppliers require a minimum order quantity (MOQ) for their products before the production process even starts. However, recently it's become much easier to order smaller quantities of electronics: wholesalers such as Chinavasion.com are the leaders in this field. You want one sample, you got it. You need 20 pieces for your online business? No problem! Online wholesalers are opening the electronics market for small to medium business like never before.

5. Can They Drop-Ship in China?

The traditional trade triangle of wholesaler - retailer - customer has been revolutionized through the Inteet. Now at last you can ship direct from China to your customers worldwide without touching the products. (Just in case profiting with Chinese Wholesalers wasn't a big enough opportunity already.)

6. How Do I Pay Them If They're In China?

With online wholesalers you can usually choose to pay in many inteational currencies, and even submit payment "the eBay way" - through Paypal secure online ordering. Paypal offers total protection for buyers, and dealing with their approved online electronics wholesalers will give you extra peace of mind.

7. The Bottom Line

China has been described as the world's factory. The unbelievably cheap production costs for consumer electronics in China are well known to everybody.

Online wholesalers simply let you put those products straight in your cart, without all the hassle - and middlemen - normally associated with the import trade. With no sales taxes added or hidden charges, the price you pay… well, it will speak for itself.

A strong relationship with an electronics wholesaler in China will let you reap rewards for years to come.

Rose Lee is a member of Chinavasion Wholesale Ltd. To get access to real-time prices for wholesale electronics direct from China, register now for free at China Wholesale Electronics

eBay Getting More Bids Using An Auction Preview

2009-06-21T00:45:00.000-07:00

If you sell in small niches as I recommend and are organized enough that you know what you will be listing on eBay 1 to 2 weeks ahead of time, you should give serious thought to previewing your upcoming auctions for your customers. The result can be increased sales and higher final bids.

For two years I used a free hosting service to host a small web site that I used as a pre-auction catalog. Each week this preview site would contain pictures and descriptions of the majority of the items I would be listing on eBay the following week.

When that hosting service eventually dropped it's free hosting, because of time constraints, I let that part of my business slide. Over the course of the next 3-4 months I saw a significant decrease in the number of bids, the final selling price, and the number of auctions that closed successfully. At the time that was an industry wide trend but I also think it had a great deal to do with the fact I no longer had a preview site on-line.

After a few months I moved the site to a cheap hosting company and saw an immediate increase in bidders, final selling prices, and closing prices. Adding an auction preview site to your business model can have significant benefits to your eBay business.

An auction preview site has several advantages - both to you and to your potential bidders.

Advantages to the bidder include:

1. It gives them additional time to do research on an item if they want.

2. It gives them more time to ask questions about an item.

3. It allows them to plan their purchases. Many bidders budget a specific amount of money each month for on-line purchases. I've had several bidders tell me they'd decided not to bid on someone else's item so they would have the money to bid on what I was listing next week.

Advantage to you the seller include:

1. It gives you a chance to hone your description if needed. If you are receiving a lot of similar questions from several customers about an item it probably means you need more or better pictures or to make your description more detailed.

2. In most cases it will increase selling prices. I've found that people tend to bid earlier on auctions that they have been able to preview. This early bidding attracts other bidders to the auction and often drives the final price up.

Your preview site doesn't have to be anything fancy or expensive. A free hosting service works just fine for what this would be used for. Most of them offer 10-25 megabytes of space, and easy to use page building tools. That's really all you require.

Another option might be geocities.yahoo.com which gives you 25 MB of web space, 5 GB of data transfer and a helpful web page building utility for only $4.95 a month.

Also most of you will find that your ISP offers 10-25 megabytes of free space. If you have a basic knowledge of FTP and HTML this may be a good route to take.

What should you put on your preview page?

1. The items you will be putting on eBay the following week.

2 Clear pictures of the item.

3. A well written description of the item including any flaws.

4. An easy to find email link so prospective bidders can easily email you with any questions they may have.

Advertise your preview site by including a link on your About Me page. Include it in all winning bidder announcements and other correspondence you have with customers. A link in your signature file is a good idea. If you have a list, send an announcement of your new preview site to your list.

If you try this for a month or two I think you will find the results pleasantly surprising - and well worth the effort involved. And, your customers will love you!

Gary Hendrickson has been making his living selling on eBay for more than six years. He's the author of two eBay related ebooks, has a blog for eBay sellers, and is the owner of ColdItems.Com.

ColdItems.Com The Auction Rebel Blog

Online Auctions

2009-06-20T02:09:00.000-07:00

When you think of an online auction you think of Ebay right? Well, as huge as Ebay is there is much competition on bidding for items. Most likely the bargain you find ends up getting the price driven through the roof. There are many other online auction websites out there that are as good or if not better than Ebay. The good thing about these auction sites is that the traffic level is much lower and you have a much higher chance of winning your auction! That sounds wonderful right? Well, it is! Would you much rather have less or no competition when trying to bid on that one bargain you just have to have? Below is a list of less known auction websites:

Yahoo Auctions

Overstock Auctions

Ubid Auctions

Rummagehouse Auctions

Bidz

Squeagle

Again, the other auction websites offer many different products just like the giant Ebay, but no one knows about them due to the monopoly Ebay has over them. They are like gold mines just waiting for people to discover them. They are filled with merchandise at the lowest price possible. Get in there and bid on them before someone else has the chance to grab your deal! Great products + less bidding + competition = One great deal for you!

Brought to you by: http://www.hot-commodity.com/ The web's best online auction listing and buying service.

Online Auctions

While some companies have online auction sites, the individual seller conducts most online auctions. Auction sites such as eBay require sellers to register, and to pay a fee each time they auction an item. Sellers usually list a reserve price, or minimum bid they are willing to consider, and also set a time limit for bids. Better sellers provide a full description of the item being auctioned, and a photograph, and are willing to respond to any questions about the item. At the end of the bidding period, the person with the highest bid wins the auction. At this point, the seller establishes contact to discuss payment options, shipping, refunds and follow-up service, if any is available.

Auctions work best when both the buyer and the seller fully understand and comply with the rules of the auction site. Doing so helps either party notice if something doesn't seem quite right. Experienced sellers lea to identify and screen out bogus bids.

Once a buyer places a winning bid, the seller usually specifies payment terms via a third-party payment agency. For items of substantial value, an escrow service may be used, which holds the buyer's money until the buyer receives the item and is satisfied with it. Some auction sites provide payment and escrow services.

Unfortunately, online auctions don't necessarily proceed in a smooth manner or to the satisfaction of the seller and the bidder. The Federal Trade Commission ranks fraud related to online auctions as one of the leading causes of complaints. Fraud may be committed by either the seller or the buyer, and usually involves payment or receipt of items. Online auction fraud should be promptly reported, with as much documentation as possible, to the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, local consumer protection agencies and your state attoey general's office.

Online Auctions provides detailed information on Online Auctions, Online Antique Auctions, Online Auto Auctions, Online Auction Sites and more. Online Auctions is affiliated with Auction Services.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Eric_Morris

5 Reasons Why Playing Music On Your Auctions Is A Bummer Of An Idea

2009-06-19T19:55:00.000-07:00

There are 147 million registered users on eBay, and tens of millions of those are desperately fighting to make sales on eBay. When trying to make their auction listings as powerful as possible, many sellers use ill-advised tactics. They think that if they entertain buyers, they are more likely to get a sale. And as the Inteet becomes more multi-media, there are many temptations thrown in our way, especially the use of sound.

Using background music or sounds, unless you're selling music, is probably a bad idea. If you are going to include music or even an audio product pitch, you are wise to include a command panel that will allow the viewer to listen or not as she pleases. Do not! Do not! Do not! set up your auction listing so that a potential customer is greeted with loud music as soon as they click on your page. Here's why:

1. Potential buyers are there to see your Gucci handbag or Oakley sunglasses, not to be entertained. Making a buying decision is serious business and you to do not want to take their attention away from your merchandise. Instead, the entire focus of your page should be directed at whatever you are selling. Music is simply a distraction.

2. At this time, we cannot count on the quality of audio technology. Buyers have different browsers, different connections and possibly antiquated equipment. Even worse than unwanted music is unwanted music that sounds terrible, that is scratchy, too loud or of awful quality.

3. You will most likely not know what kind of music your perspective buyer wants to hear. If you are selling to teens you can be reasonably certain that they do not want to hear Big Band music. But can you know whether they prefer Eminem or Travis Twitt? Obviously not.

4. Consider the situation of your buyer. He might be prowling eBay while he is at work and is not supposed to be surfing the net. Sudden blaring music as the Vice-President of the company walks by is the last thing he wants. Or a Mom might have just gotten her colicky baby to sleep and when your music wakes up a cranky infant you can be certain you will never get a sale from that irate parent.

5. Audio files take longer to download than text. If your prospective customer has dialup instead of a high-speed connection, they will most likely be gone before your auction page has even loaded.

Ignore the temptation to make your auctions 'more exciting', and instead, concentrate every element on the page on your merchandise. The last thing you want to do is distract a serious buyer who might decide to purchase. Let them find their entertainment elsewhere!

Lea how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby.

Is An Online Auction Right For My Purchase

2009-06-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

Is an online auction the right place for you to purchase things at a price you can afford? There was a time when flea markets and garage sales were the destination of choice for those seeking a deal on certain items they wanted. Though both of those market places still exist, there is a better way of doing things: the online auction. Made popular by ebay, online auctions are now all over the Inteet and a great way to find a good deal on any number of items you may need without driving all over town or strolling from tent to tent over 20 acres of flea market.

There are a couple of ways to make sure you make the most of your online auction experience. Certain strategies will be helpful in getting you the price you want on the item you are seeking. Keep these in mind and the next time you log on to the online auction of your choice you will be armed and ready.

Most all online auctions work off of a timer on the auction. An item is put up for sale and site members bid on it. The bidding continues until the clock runs out on the auction, then the seller and buyer get together to decide how the item and money will change hands. First, though, you will need to search the site for the item you are seeking. Once you have found it, there is a little something else you should look for: a buyers auction time ending error. Sometimes you will find a seller who accidentally has their auction ending at a weird time, like 2:00 AM. Rarely will anyone be up bidding on that old pair of skis in the middle of the night. So, if that is what you really want, you can log on about 15 minutes prior to the end of the auction and bid at the last second over the last high bid and have little fear of another poacher being out there going over you as well. So, keep an eye on those end times.

Another thing to look for on online auctions sites is "buy now" features. Many times retailers will sell their overstocked merchandise at an online auction for a discounted price. Rather than going through the bidding of an auction, they offer their items at a "buy now" price. You can simply click on a logo or link and buy the item at a predetermined price without the hassle of the online auction process. These are great to watch for at online auction sites because you will also end up with new merchandise rather than the used or lightly wo merchandise you get with a person to person auction buy.

Online auctions are a great tool for getting the things you are looking for a good price. Long gone are the days of garage sale surfing for the perfect used item or browsing the booths of your local flea market. Now, you simply log on to your favorite online auction site and search for what you need. It is easy and certainly less time consuming.

If you would like to find more of my personal articles on auctions please check out my technology website!

Drop Shipping Your Way to Increased Profits

2009-06-18T20:22:00.000-07:00

Drop shipping, for those who are unfamiliar with it, is a system whereby you promote the products of a particular manufacturer, take orders directly, and the manufacturer/source handles all the inventory and fulfillment functions for you.

In a nutshell, here is the drop-ship system:

==>You generate and accept the order.

==>You take your profits out of the sale price.

==>You forward the order and the wholesale cost to the drop shipper.

==>The source factory ships directly to your customer.

The benefits of this arrangement are probably obvious:

* No inventory cost to you.

* Substantially higher profits to you over what most regular affiliate programs allow.

* The ability to quickly set-up inexpensive, highly targeted, niche or mini-sites to test and promote diverse products.

This process has been around for years and has been responsible for many highly successful mail order dealer relationships in the past. Many of the top catalogers and other direct response marketers, have been using this system to increase profits for decades. If you have ever ordered a high priced item from a mail order catalog and been told that the product was being shipped from the factory... then you have experienced drop shipping first hand.

Drop shipping is, I believe, a virgin un-tapped storehouse of profits for todays inteet marketer.

On-line directories exist [http://www.dropshipprofits.com] which reveal essential contact information for drop shippers of over 2,000,000 products and 4,000 brands. Most legitimate drop ship sources will require that you have a state tax reseller number in order to approve you to sell their products and give you the wholesale pricing you are looking for.

Beware of any drop ship source which requires you to pay a fee in order to become a drop-ship dealer... or requires a membership. These are generally organizations which make their money selling "drop ship licenses"... and are, for the most part, scams. Legitimate drop shippers and factory sources never charge you any fees other than the actual wholesale cost & shipping costs of the products you sell.

Another caveat... always make sure that you have a written agreement with the source factory that you own the customer! The factory or drop ship source should agree in writing not to solicit your customers in any form. This is very important to you. Your customer list is one of your most important assets. If the factory you are dealing with balks at this request... use another source who will agree.

Almost every conceivable type of product is available from a drop shipper willing to ship products in single units under your companies name. Pick your interest area... electronics, consumer products, agricultural & industrial products, office equipment & supplies, hobby gear, recreational / sporting goods, clothing, fuiture, etc. The list of available products from drop shippers is almost endless.

The products actual source is invisible to the consumer. The seller (you) is able to build a database of customers that he/she owns and controls (by agreement with the manufacturer) and has all the direct marketing advantages that accompany that arrangement... while eliminating the need for maintaining expensive inventory.

This arrangement offers maximum flexibility and cost savings for the seller. If a product does not sell well online you can pull the advertising (web page or mini-site) instantly with very little cost to you outside of the actual time it took to build and test the web marketing effort. Or, since this type of page/mini-site is so inexpensive to maintain and host... you can simply leave the pages online and take whatever orders trickle through... while you move on to the testing and promotion of new drop ship products. A quick marketing test can be done on eBay or other auction site to determine if the product sells... and at what price.

The manufacturer benefits from this relationship by gaining a legion of active marketers promoting their products... at little or no cost (other than those small costs involved with supporting the marketer with online marketing materials like product images, sales materials, etc).

As a marketer you are looking for several key components in developing the drop-ship relationship with a source factory or distributor:

** High Quality Products

** Blanket Product Liability Insurance (if applicable)

** A clear guarantee and retu policy

** High Quality Marketing Materials ... product images (gifs, jpegs, etc.), selling copy, other suitable web graphics, etc.

** A Customer Service Department that will work with you to develop the best selling situation for you.

If you are a manufacturer seeking to expand distribution (or an inventor with a new product ) you will find the willingness to drop ship in single units will give you a strong competitive edge while you carve out increased market share at little cost.

If you are an online marketer interested in offering high profit products to your niche market (your website visitors) without incurring high front-end development or inventory costs... then drop shipping is for you.

Inteet marketers are uniquely positioned to take profitable advantage of the drop ship arrangement and should give this system a serious look.

Thom Reece is CEO of Online Marketing Resource Center [http://www.E-ComProfits.com] and publisher of "Thom Reece's Web Marketing Strategies & Techniques Newsletter". You may subscribe free at: http://www.WMSTDirect.com, mailto:thom@e-comprofits.com

How to Make Money Selling on eBay

2009-06-18T05:19:00.000-07:00

Selling on eBay can be a lucrative business if you know what you're doing. More and more enterprising people are leaing the secrets of making money on eBay. We are here to show you all the tips and secrets you need to be successful and lea How to make money selling on eBay.

eBay is a great site to use if you want an alteative to a garage sale. But keep in mind that it can be a somewhat more complex process than a garage sale. You are relying on pictures and your product description to sell your goods to someone who is taking your word that the item is as described, and you are taking their word that they will come across with the payment.

I have made over $1000 in the past month selling both used and new goods. I also have an eBay Store, which is a good idea to showcase items you have plenty of stock. One of the great things about eBay is their search tool, in which you can search for the hottest sellers on eBay. I also use PayPal, eBay's payment processor and one of the largest payment processors in the world.

Selling on eBay, has been lucrative, but the amount of work involved can result in a feeling that it's just not worth it. Don't forget, at a garage sale the person picks up the item and leaves with it. Sales are final. With an eBay sale, you have to wrap it carefully and take it to the post office or UPS for delivery. You have to notify the buyer that the package has been sent (usually just an email), and hope that it is delivered. In some cases, if your descriptions are not crystal clear, the buyer will feel that the item doesn't reflect your description and will want a refund. This occasionally happens, and out of 200 successful transactions, has only happened to me once.

In the early days of eBay, the sellers were just regular people who wanted to clear out their garages or attics. Now, the site and interest has grown so significantly that "mainstream" businesses sell on the site. For example, you will see products offered by "Sharper Image" and other well-known companies. You can buy automobiles, boats, and almost anything imaginable. With reference to your conce about where sellers get their items, many buy discontinued goods from major retailers, so I wouldn't necessarily suspect the source. Just like any other business, eBay is "buyer beware", because there are scam artists out there who will take your money and give you nothing or inferior products. That's why it is very important to read the seller/buyer feedback.

How To Make Money Selling On eBay

I have enjoyed my experiences on eBay and would recommend it to potential sellers who are well organized and have the time to photograph their items, write descriptions, track the bidding, and package and mail their items in a timely manner. Not only can you make a few dollars but you also get to meet some really neat people. Although this site is designed to show you How to make money selling on eBay, we also show you how to build a good reputation and make some good friends.

Lonnie Robinson is a new einfopreneur, who is making a great income, selling information products on the net. His new membership website, The Ultimate software Membership Pak, has over 200 members and counting. To view his blog, please visit: http://resell-rights-club.blogspot.com

How To Respond To An eBay Buyer s Complaint

2009-06-17T20:15:00.000-07:00

At some point in your eBay selling life, one of your customers is going to send you a complaint. As long as you respond to it properly, however, itÂ's easy to keep a complaint from tuing into a crisis.

Respond Immediately and Grovellingly.

Someone might complain to you directly, or they might do it through eBay. Whatever happens, you need to email them immediately. HereÂ's a template to use:

Â"I have just received your complaint and I would like to say that I am very sorry you arenÂ't satisfied. If you would like, I can send you a [replacement/refund] for the item, as part of my Â'no questions askedÂ' guarantee. I apologise again for our mistake.Â"

Whatever you do, donÂ't start making excuses for yourself. Â"Oh, sorry, I didnÂ't get around to posting it yet because IÂ've been busy at work and IÂ'm going on holiday next weekÂ…Â" Â– no-one cares. If the buyer isnÂ't satisfied, then you screwed up, and you need to apologise repeatedly and do everything you can to make them happy again. Besides, is it really worth your time to go through eBayÂ's long-winded dispute process when all itÂ's going to do is alienate your customers?

This an attitude that will give you a massive advantage in eBay selling, for the simple reason that many smaller sellers are confrontational, unhelpful and out for every penny they can get. If buyers are rude to you, itÂ's just because theyÂ're used to dealing with rude sellers.

Responding politely, promptly and being willing to do anything for your buyers will mark you out as different. ItÂ's so rare that you might even manage to tu your complaining buyer into one of your most loyal customers!

Let People Phone You.

DonÂ't insist that everything is done with email Â– allow frustrated buyers to phone you and have a chat about their item. The chances are that they will never have talked to a human voice before about an eBay complaint, and will be even more impressed with anything you offer them to solve their problem.

Neutralise Negative Feedback.

If it really comes down to it and your complaint ends up as a piece of negative feedback on your record, make sure you post a response Â– and donÂ't make it something like Â"buyer was impossible to work with, avoidÂ"!

Instead, post an apology, and detail what you did to put things right, for example: Â"Very sorry for the scratched item, I have sent a replacementÂ". You may also find that some buyers leave feedback before you have the chance to put things right, in which case you could write a phone number in the response space, or something like Â"I have emailed you about a refundÂ".

This will let anyone looking through your feedback see that not only are negatives very rare, but the few that there might be arenÂ't really worth counting.

In the next email, youÂ'll lea how to tu your shipping costs into a profit center.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

Online Auctions How Much Do You Know About Them

2009-06-17T01:04:00.000-07:00

Online auctions are a great way to find a bargain on almost everything and it is an excellent way of getting the best price for selling something of your own. These are Virtual auctions on the Inteet. The seller sells the product to the person who offers the highest price. These products include houses, cars, seized electronics, jewelry, books, antiques and others.

Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying products through the Inteet. Through online auctions they are able to bid on state surplus items, using any computer with Inteet access.

There are innumerable auction sites, selling everything from a pen to a used car and even houses if you want to bid from them. For sellers, online auctions open up new sales channels for new products and offer buyers favorable purchasing conditions. Just think of the product and you will find it on one of the auction sites. All you have to do is sign up, get registered and bid a price for that item.

The items available for sale can include: airport confiscated equipment, boats, electronics, medical supplies, office fuiture and equipment, tools and equipment, antiques, computers, heavy equipment and machinery, vehicles, specialty items, and miscellaneous items.

Online auctions are different from their real-world counterparts. You are free to take your time browsing the listings and bidding takes place over a period of days rather than minutes. Online Auctions offer good opportunity for anyone wishing to start an online business for a number of reasons. If you feel you have the persistence necessary to run your own successful business, this is one opportunity you should consider.

There are thousands of online auctions on the Inteet with more popping up everyday. People love them because they can usually find great bargains.

Some of the tips for buyers and sellers at online auctions:

You could sell your excess or discontinued products at an online auction. It's an effective way to make extra income without any loss for your business. Thus you can make a profit depending on how much people will bid for your excess inventory. Also excessive inventory can be cleared off cost effectively.

An easy way to test new product prices is to see what people will bid for them at an online auction. First, sell your product at three different online auctions. Next, calculate the average selling bid from all three auctions and that will be your selling price for your new product. Hence we can know the exact selling price of the product.

There are numerous auction sites for bidding any product. Some of the auction sites draw over millions of hits a year. The key to being successful is to sell your product at multiple online auctions at the same time. Suppose if we sell a product at one hundred online auction sites that would be one hundred sales a day! This way we can increase our sales at one time.

You could drive traffic to your web site by starting your own online auction site. Customers will visit your web site to find bargains and to sell their own products. Thus plenty of repeat visitors from people re-bidding on products and adding new products to sell.

Lowering business costs is another benefit of online auction. The prices on business supplies and equipment at online auctions are lower. So, do some research work to find which site offers lowest price of the same product to make good savings. For example, a company may be selling them at a lower price at an online auction because they have excess inventory.

Drop shipping is used by intermediary and mail order companies who do not wish to stock inventory of the products sold for future delivery through mail order, catalogues and Inteet advertising. Manufacturers providing drop-shipping services can gain additional sales, shift advertising costs to middlemen, offer advertising material and reduce inventory requirements. Minimal capital is needed to start.

Pradeep Aggarwal is the creator of Auction Spectrum the online auction hub. This site is dedicated to helping people build Profit Pulling Websites and start and run a successful online auction business.

Are eBayers and PayPalers Really That Dumb

2009-06-16T18:58:00.000-07:00

By now you have no doubt read no less then six zillion waings about "phishing". (See definition below)

Sorry to test your patience, but here's yet another one.

I have a small presence on eBay selling art prints and posters. A hundred years ago, (maybe I exaggerate a little), I had three gallery/frame shops that I sold to someone that wanted them more then I did. About a year, maybe two years, back I decided I wanted to see about all the hype surrounding eBay. Truth be known, I also wanted to use it as an excuse to get back into the art business. Conversely, I reestablished a number of old contacts with some of my friends and associates in the publishing business. That is when I set up my eBay Store.

One of the things I quickly leaed was that these "phishing" thieves must think I am really dumb.

Since the first month I opened my store, I have been getting phishing emails. Lately, the number I get has increased to as many as 5-6 every single day.

These thieves must be making money on the scam. It must be working, and there must be some people out there that are falling for this. Otherwise, why would they keep doing?

I get not just "look alike" but copies of email forms from these people that are identical to the legitimate forms from eBay's new email system. To be honest with you, I cannot tell them apart and do not even try. I just delete them. I don't read any of them. I don't even click on them beyond what it takes to delete them.

One of scams they run is sending an email saying they have bought one of my prints. They claim that they have paid for it but that I have failed to deliver it to them. And there's the "Respond Now" button right where it should be. The trouble is it does not go to the legitimate eBay site. It goes to a phony site that these thieves have set up. If I were to click on it and log in, they would get my ID and Password which would give them full access to my account. To compound this, they are using the same information on their PayPal account and who knows how many other sites.

Same thing goes for PayPal.

I have had a PayPal account that goes back a year or so before eBay bought them out. To this day I have never opened an email form PayPal.

There is a simple solution to what is becoming a growing problem – don't do it! Don't fall for it!!

If these people want to contact you, they will do so from inside you account. Incidentally, PayPal is a bank, and like any bank account you have to track the transactions, check your balances, deposits, and debits… "Balance your check book" every month. I do this, and to this day I have not found one penny unaccounted for in a legitimate fashion. Although I do have some doubts about the three drivers I bought on eBay that still can't find the fairway on Saturday.

Keep in mind, it doesn't take a genius to set-up (steal) someone else's page lay-out. And anyone can attach any URL address to any form or set of words and letters.

Just because it says paypal.com doesn't make so.

Phishing

A method of identity theft carried out through the creation of a website that seems to represent a legitimate company. The visitors to the site, thinking they are buying something from a real business, submit their personal information to the site. The criminals then use the personal information for their own purposes, or sell the information to other criminal parties.

Investopedia Commentary

A classic example of phishing is an identity thief setting up a website that looks like it belongs to a major bank. Then, that thief sends out many emails that claim to be from the major bank and request the email recipients to input their personal banking information (such as their PIN) into the website so the bank may update their records. Once the scammer gets a hold of the needed personal information, they attempt to access the victim's bank account. –dictionary.com

Floyd Snyder is the founder and former owner of Executive Advertising, Camera Ready Art and Strictly Business Magazine. Currently he is the owner of Strictly Business Magazine at http://www.sbmag.org, TraderAide.com at http://www.traderaide.com/ and eBay Store FrameHouseGallery at http://stores.ebay.com/FrameHouseGallery.

One Step Ahead on Ebay

2009-06-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

1. Determine if the product that you are going to auction is a one time sale or if you have a continuous supply of this item. This means that if it is a one time item that you are going to want to get the best price for it. The best way I found to do this is to put a reserve price on the item close to what you need to get out of it. I know that alot of people say that a reserve price will hinder the chances of selling an item, but it won't if you try not to be greedy. If you have a continuous supply of a product, taking a $15-$20 profit is the way to go on something like a $200 Digital camera because you will have many more sales.

2. If you want a steady income on Ebay you need to find suppliers. The best way to do this is to determine what type of product you want to sell, and then start researching what that item is selling for on auction sites. Once you find a supplier that carries your product and you determine that you can profit at least 10% after your listing fees and Paypal fees if any, you are then ready to climb aboard the Ebay bandwagon.

3. The next thing you will want to do once you find the right supplier is to buy a few items to sell. This way you are going to test the suppliers quickness in getting the items to you. Also it is good if the supplier will dropship to your customers. The reason for this is sometimes you may get a item that is broke or scratched and you don't realize it until it is time to ship to your customer. A dropshipper can send this item to your customer just like it came from you.

I hope these few little tips will help you get started in a hobby on Ebay or maybe a lucrative business.

About The Author

Kevin Anthony is an Ebay seller who makes a nice living selling consumer electronics. For Ebay products to sell try: http://www.bestwholesaleelectronics.com

kanthony39us@yahoo.com

Online Auctions 10 Secrets You Should Know Before Bidding

2009-06-15T18:48:00.000-07:00

Online Auctions are the best thing that has happened with the advent of Inteet. It makes business online that much more easier and simple. Before you jump into the bandwagon, it is very important to know the facts about online auctions.

And the next time you decide to bid for a product or a service, do remember these vital online auctions secrets and tips.

1. Important to know the value of the product you plan to bid. Product is new? Check the price retailers are charging for it. It helps in two ways, you'll know the original cost and helps you to pay way less than the retail value, if it is old or re-conditioned.

2. To ensure that you get a good product, get the complete information and picture of the product from merchant, if the details are incomplete on the site.

3. Decide your maximum paying limit and stick to it lest you may end up caught in the 'bid war' and end up paying more than the actual cost.

4. It is always good to check a few auction sites for you may find the same product at a much lesser price in some unpopular sites simple because of the fewer number of buyers in those sites.

5. Make a note of the auction begin and end time. And the shipping time as well. This helps you to calculate the time when you want the product at a certain date.

6. Payments: Check the various payment modes the merchant offers. If checks and money orders are accepted, the delay in delivery will invariably be delayed for the payment has to clear. If the credit cards are accepted, ensure they have secure server.

7. Find out if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee before the bid. Surely you don't want to be bogged down with a defective or unsatisfactory product.

8. Always good to check the track record of the merchant, if offered one. See if you can bump into any complaints from the past customers.

9. Start your auction early to convey a message to other that you're interested in the product. If someone outbid you, you do the same. Always remember your maximum bid limit.

10. The reason to know the bid time - it helps you place a last minute bid, assuming that other bidders may not have kept track of the bid time

Pradeep Aggarwal is the creator of Auction Spectrum the online auction hub. This site is dedicated to helping people start and run a successful online auction business by providing Inteet Marketing Tools to build profit making websites.

eBay How to Find High Profit Products to Buy In Bulk Before You Even See Them

2009-06-15T06:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a simple trick I spotted just last week, one I hadn't noticed before, not in almost thirty years of bidding at offline auctions, one that could tu every auction you visit into a fabulous source of high price items that you'll pick up for pennies.

I sat there, Wednesday last week, wondering how, in just one day, and a few hours before the auction starts tomorrow, can I possibly see what's in these forty plus albums and suitcases filled with postcards, three hundred plus albums and shoes boxes packed with stamps and first day covers, and an entire shelf filled to the brim with cigarette cards and paper collectibles? How can I ever know how much to bid on almost six hundred auction lots, some of which take a minimum one hour just to flick through with no hope of perusing properly?

And where are those people who regularly bid against me at this auction, people who always spend thousands of pounds at this venue? They were nowhere to be seen on Wednesday, they arrived catalogue in hand next day just a few minutes before bidding commenced.

Maybe they got a sneak preview, a private viewing of items they'd bid for today? But no, I realise that doesn't happen here. When the answer finally dawned on me it opened my eyes to a wonderful way to bid at auction with confidence, even without viewing beforehand.

You see, you really can't view properly at auctions packed with multi-item lots and short viewing periods. Realistically, it could take months, dare I say years, to inspect every postcard, every stamp, every coin and cigarette card, every print, every book, every piece of paper for profit potential?

Over coffee, people I'd known for years confessed they wondered why I spent so long viewing items when a simple statistical formula was all they used to determine their maximum bids.

Let me emphasize this doesn't work with single lot items, like vintage dolls and teddy bears, paintings and toys trains. It only works with multi lots containing hundreds of items.

The trick is just to trust the auctioneers' estimate of how much a lot will fetch and never exceed that amount. Some bidders stop at the top of the estimate, others at the bottom, yet more buy only items that sell below estimate.

Also consider that offline prices are invariably inflated on eBay, where even common collectibles can reach way beyond catalogue value. Most offline auctioneers estimate according to offline value, they're rarely 'techies' and few are personally familiar with eBay, so whatever they think an item is worth can often be double, tripled, or more on eBay.

Tips

* You should always take a brief look at high estimate lots, people make mistakes, there could be typing and printing errors to inflate an otherwise affordable price. Like the rest of us, auctioneers have 'off days', when their estimates will be way off target. A quick check of a handful of lots will reveal how carefully today's lots were valued.

* Do not use the technique until you have experience of particular auction houses. View in advance of your first two or three sales, estimate values, check how closely estimates match actual realizations, calculate statistical accuracy for individual lots and write this in the margin alongside. Where lots typically go within ten per cent of estimate (higher or lower) add 10% to the margin. Where estimates double add 200 per cent and trust auctioneers with low percentage points over others whose estimates vary widely, and consistently, and can never be trusted.

How to Search for Best Offer Listings and Submit on eBay

2009-06-15T00:45:00.000-07:00

First you have to search for the item you want to buy on eBay. For this, when you go to the search results page, click the 'buy it now' button at the top of the page to get only the listing for 'buy it now'. You have to now view each item to see if it has the 'best offer' option offered by the seller. You can even use the key words 'best offer' to search for 'best offer' listings. Sellers include 'best offer' option in their item title to show that they are accepting this offer from the potential buyer.

When you want to submit your 'best offer' find a listing that accepts Best Offers. Now click the 'submit best offer' button seen in the listing. Type your best offer price. You even have the option to send a message to the seller in the message box, though it is not a private form of communication with your seller. This message is considered as the formal term of your proposed agreement. eBay has all the rights to review your message to the seller to make sure that it is not against any of the eBay policies or is an activity that involves fraud.

You will see the terms and conditions listed at the bottom of the page. Review them and then select the check box. Click the' continue' button. Again review the information given on 'review and commit best offer' page and when clear about the things click the 'commit best offer' button to submit.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

Buying At Auction Can Be A Thrill Just Don t Pay More Than You Have To

2009-06-14T19:07:00.000-07:00

There are many things to keep in mind when buying at auction, particularly in the fast-paced world of e-commerce. If you're a first-time buyer and you're not careful, you could spend a lot more money than you need to.

The first thing to remember is that buying at auction should SAVE you money. If it's going to cost the same as, or more than going to a store and just buying the item, then why buy it through an auction site?

Therefore, you want to avoid auctions for hotly contested items, where the price will be driven up by buyer demand. Unless the item is rare or hard to find, you shouldn't spend more than the average price for it. And look around the Inteet to see what prices you can find. Sometimes buying at auction isn't the best thing after all.

If the item you want is rare, and bidding for it will be competitive, decide up front the absolute maximum you are willing to spend -- and stick to it. Don't bid any higher than that, period.

A better option for a buyer is to use a reverse auction site, such as Oltiby.com. There, sellers compete for your business by offering their lowest prices on the items you're looking for. You don't have to worry about prices being driven up by competition, because there's only one buyer -- you. Buying something in an auction is most likely to be financially wise when there's less competition between you and other buyers.

When all is said and done, the important thing is that you got what you were looking for and you weren't ripped off. If you do it right, an auction service can be the safest, smartest way to buy things.

Richard Verker has been writing business articles for 15 years. After studies in general economy and e-commerce, his work on online auctions make his articles top-rated by magazines and thousands of readers.

Posh Up Your eBay Listings and Pack More Money Into Your Bank Account

2009-06-14T03:26:00.000-07:00

Some words just sound better than others meaning much the same thing and can create an air of mystery and excitement for your products. 'Gold Plated' for example, sounds cheap; 'Vermeil' and 'Gold Overlay' sound just that little bit more expensive! Here are some more ideas to help you make ordinary things sound very impressive.

* 'Reprint' means a copy of something else, often an old item in the public domain, and most people know what it means. 'Second strike' is a term I've seen applied to reproduction postcards which has generated double figure bidding for something worth pennies which can be printed millions of times from the owner's computer. That term 'second strike' was confusing even to me and I've been in the postcard business for years; it's a term best avoided. It's dishonest to use words just to confuse bidders into thinking your product is something it isn't, so exercise caution choosing words to dress up your listings. That 'Second Strike' example is acceptable where a definition is provided alongside so bidders know exactly what it means.

Let these ideas be your guide:

- 'Vintage' sounds better than 'Old'.

- 'Pristine' beats 'Perfect'.

* Descriptions are subjective. My idea of 'good condition' may be different from yours. Today, a postcard I listed as 'good condition' fetched a complaint from the buyer that the card was a little faded. That was true, but the card was 104 years old and a little fading on a real photographic postcard, to my mind, is not a major problem. I explained this, offered a refund, the card is now on its way back. Face it, your opinion will not always match the buyer's and it's better to offer a money back guarantee in all of your listings, as long as the product is retued in 'as posted' condition. For argumentative buyers, explain that descriptions are subjective, you stand by your original wording, and offer a refund where second chance buyers exist or just relist the item.

This is the wording I use in my listings which you are free to copy. 'All items are listed to the best of my abilities and reflect my own experienced opinion. However, all items are subject to money back guarantee in the event they are inadvertently mis-described, as long as items are retued within ten days of auction ending. All retus must be by insured post. Refund only applies to items retued in 'as posted' condition.' I'm quite certain this simple paragraph has saved some unscrupulous buyers lodging an 'Item not as described' notice to eBay. You are not obliged to retu original or retu postage but it's worthwhile doing so on low price items just to rid yourself of problem customers.

Avril Harper offers Inteet Marketing Articles to help new and experienced marketers and also offers a range of downloadable free reports including 103 EBAY POWERSELLER TIPS at http://www.toppco.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Avril_Harper

Better Than Sliced Bread Drop Shipping The New Home Business Craze

2009-06-13T03:55:00.000-07:00

Many of you will probably remember the days when the only way to start a successful home business was to join some sort of multi-level marketing program or sell makeup at parties. In those days, people would have to buy a membership in the 'program' along with an inventory of sample products that they would then sell to friends and coworkers at 'parties.' Most people were not very successful at this and made very little money and usually alienated their friends and family. In the 1990's however, all of that changed for the better with the advent of the Inteet and a retail delivery method called wholesale drop shipping.

Wholesale drop shipping is when a wholesale distributor or manufacturer agrees to send out single unit products to customers for a retailer. Many will also even include the retailers name on the invoice so that the customer is never even aware that they got it from anyone else but the retailer. This, along with the Inteet has changed the whole dynamics of home businesses in America, making it easier and more cost effective to start your own business.

Home business owners are now able to launch a business without purchasing any inventory up front and are able to open a 'store' without ever having to find a place to setup shop. Millions of Americans have setup ecommerce sites on the inteet selling everything from Personal Computers to lawn care equipment all using wholesale drop shipping. As a matter of fact, according to eBay over forty thousand people make their full time living on their auction site alone; many of these are using drop shipping as their main method of product fulfillment.

The only problem for today's small business owner is how to find wholesalers to drop ship. In general wholesale distributors don't make it a habit of getting out there and advertising; obviously the whole reason they are in wholesale and not retail is to get away from doing all of that work. So it makes it very difficult for someone who has little or no business experience to make contacts with distributors when they aren't even sure where to start looking.

To help out those small business owners I'd like to offer some advice for finding wholesale distributors:

Look for trade organizations and magazines to help you make contacts. Many trade organizations out their produce some sort of listings of their members, many of whom may drop ship.
Contact manufacturers. People don't realize that if you call the manufacturer they will provide you with a list of their distributors; so if you are looking for a particular product, ask the manufacturer. The down side of this route is that they may have hundreds of distributors that you may have to contact before you find one that is willing to drop ship.
Find wholesale chat rooms and message boards. There are many message boards on the Inteet today that are devoted to a wide range of discussions. You may find boards on wholesale, distribution, supply chain, etc. All of these may lead you in the direction of a wholesale distributor.

However, if you want to get up and running fast, or just don't have the time to go on a search for wholesale distributors much less ones that drop ship, then the way to go is drop ship directories. These are usually pay services that search out drop shippers for you then give you access to their contacts; there are many of these on the Inteet today, and many are very good. As with anything on the Inteet you must be very careful of the scams out there. Many drop ship directories will end up giving you an outdated list of wholesalers, or when you contact them you will find that they are a true wholesale distributor but they do not drop ship.

Here are some pieces of advice when looking for a quality drop ship directory:

Stay away from the cheap ones! Obviously with everything else in this world you will get what you pay for. If you find one out their for three dollars, you probably are not going to get a good product. In general the one's that offer the best information are charging $60 or more for a six month membership.
Look for one's that will do specialty searches! If you get into a drop ship directory and find that they do not have any products that you would like to sell, or think you can sell, then make sure they will go out and find it for you. If they do not do specialty searches then you will end up being stuck with whatever listings they have no matter what.
Find one with a Satisfaction Guarantee! There are several drop ship directories out there that offer a guarantee that all of their listings are true drop shippers, but in my opinion this is not enough. If you get into their directory and find that they have five hundred listings for widget suppliers and they are all real wholesalers you are out your money and only have access to one product. Make sure they guarantee your satisfaction with their product no matter what, especially if you are going to shell out seventy dollars of your hard eaed money.
Look for ones that are going to help you out as well, not just give you a list. Do they offer articles and help material on starting your business or are all they just going to give you listings and nothing else.

However you choose to find wholesale drop shipping, keep in mind that as with anything else in this world knowledge is power. Try and find out as much as you can before you jump in to get your feet wet. It will make your startup smoother and help you get the profitability stage much faster.

About The Author

Tony Keeler is the founder and publisher of The Drop Ship Connection – www.dropshipconnection.com - The web's only drop ship directory with a step by step guide for the home business owner. He is also the owner of MAR Services which publishes these great sites:

2DollarSoftware – www.2dollarsoftware.com - marketing, advertising, and inteet software.

DingleHopper.com – www.dinglehopper.com - Funny Name, Cool Products.

tony.keeler@dropshipconnection.com

Online Auctions Watch Your Ezine Subscription grow Exponentially

2009-06-12T21:19:00.000-07:00

Online Auctions are often called the "Entrepreneurs Dream', because it is the easiest and the cheapest way to make money. And who doesn't want to make money and grow rich? The online auction giant eBay has more than a million hits a year. And these are targeted customers. Unlike the regular auctions, in online auctions the customers are already there and they will come to you provide you go about it the right way. So how do you build your ezine subscription list with online auctions? Here are a few hints-

1. Decide who your targeted customers for your ezine are. For example if you are selling herbal health products, then customers who are interested in computers wont be looking at your site.
2. Choose the correct category for your products. To get an idea how to do this you can visit one the online auction sites. For example if you are selling leather belts, you can list it under apparel and accessories. Again, you have to list if it is for men or women.
3. Then you have to offer your item to the customers. To do this successfully you have to describe your product in a very positive and seductive way? How do you do this? List out the different colors of leather belts available, different sizes of belts. Offering a guarantee is also a sure way to make people know that you are genuine. You can also use positive feed back for previous customers who have bought the product from you.
4. A picture speaks a thousand words. So make sure you have good photographs of the product, so that customers can have n idea of the product that they are going to get.
5. Make sure that your product is listed with a very attractive headline. As the space for headlines is small in online auctions you have to express a lot with very few words.
6. Work in references and links throughout your sales copy to your ezine. Mention your ezine many times throughout your online auction site. Put your listing on some of the biggest online auction sites on the Inteet. Some of the big online auction sites charge for a listing but it is free on smaller online auction sites.

Some of the online auction sites are listed below—
http://auctions.amazon.com
http://auctions.cnet.com
http://auctions.lycos.com
http://auctions.msn.com
http://auctions.yahoo.com
http://www.ebay.com

Once your ad is put up then it is time for you to put up your feet and relax. Your ad will create a steady stream of subscribers for your ezine.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Pradeep Aggarwal is an Inteet Entrepreneur and a leading Online Business consultant, He has conducted many workshops and seminars across the world empowering people on How to start money-making Home Based Business. He also provides niche Website Promotion Tools for inteet marketing timings.

How to Locate Drop Shippers for Your Success

2009-06-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

Like the human heart, drop shippers can keep the blood pumping in an inteet business. Often, they can be the key to success for online retail businesses who do not wish to stock actual inventory. Drop shippers are the source of wholesale merchandise many Websites offer to customers. An authentic drop shipper will have many qualities that make them desirable by an online retail business:

They do not require you to buy a minimum amount of products.
They do all the warehousing and shipping of their products.
They do not charge for initial setup fees or membership dues.
They will ship product from their location to your customer.

Because the task of locating true drop shippers can be very labor intensive, so many people tu to us (www.hienote.com) to help them locate drop shippers which saves them time and money on doing the searches for drop shippers themselves.

Good Drop Shippers

Finding a good drop shipper is critical but there are some drawbacks to drop shipping. If you sell products from a wholesale drop shipper, you are dependent on them to get your products shipped to your customer's on-time. Drop shippers are truly a business partner of yours as they handle some of the critical pieces for your online business.

Interestingly, not all drop shippers want to work with online businesses. This is particularly true for folks wanting to sell products via online auctions. The most common reason for not wanting to work with online retailers relates to profit erosion and competition from sub-wholesalers. We will not go into that discussion for this article.

Where do you find them?

Finding a good genuine drop shipper takes time, research and plenty of fortitude. While there are no formally published methodologies describing how to find drop shippers, there are several techniques to take note. There are at least three methods proven to be tried and true. We will examine three of them:

Inteet searches
Trade show searches
Govement Embassies

Search Methodologies

Regardless of the search methodology used, they will all have one thing in common. They require labor intensive research.

Inteet Searches. Doing an Inteet search for a drop shipper has become one of the most widely used methods of finding a drop shipper. Many folks leverage the search engines to locate a desired product. After finding a specific product, they work their way backwards towards a search for a manufacturer listing the product. The manufacturer can sometimes be found by discovering several retailers selling the same product listing the name of a manufacturer. Once the manufacturer is discovered, a phone call can be made to find out about their distribution policies. At this point you can begin discussions to find out information about their drop shipping and business policies.

Trade Show Searches. Trade shows happen across the country in many major cities. There are many large shows that feature manufacturers and focus on a particular market segment (i.e. sporting goods, gift market, automotive, hardware…etc.). A trade show has the advantage of getting you face-to-face with manufacturers. Trade shows are some of the best ways to meeting a quality drop shipper as you can perform an interview and get the critical information needed for your business. Likewise, it gives your drop shipper a chance to meet you and find out your needs and requirements.

Govement Embassies. Some of the govement embassies have become a real opportunity for manufacturers, in other countries seeking to sell their products in the U.S. Many U.S. drop shippers in the import/export business have requested a list of these manufacturers from the embassies. Likewise, you can also get in contact with these same manufacturers to find out their U.S. wholesale distribution centers.

You're Search.

Regardless of the search methodology you choose, hard work and persistence will get you the desired results. Remember, your searches should always be focused on the brands and products you wish to sell. Once you have a couple of successful searches under your belt, you will start to get a little quicker at spotting the authentic drop shippers from the middlemen.

About The Author

Brad Beiermann Ph.D., is President of Hienote Inc., Crystal Lake, IL 60039. Dr. Beiermann is one of the leading experts in business technology and e-commerce. Hienote Inc. specializes in assisting businesses locate wholesale drop shipping companies. You can visit their site at www.hienote.com, or call 1-800-342-0386.

10 Reasons To Become An EBay Trading Assistant

2009-06-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

Many eBay sellers are finding additional revenue in signing up to be a Trading Assistant. This program is beneficial to both sellers and people who wish to sell their items but, for reasons of time or technology, aren't capable. When that's the case, they tu to a Trading Assistant to help market their wares. There are many reasons that someone may choose to become a trading assistant and, in tu, why someone would want to hire one.

Reason 1: When sellers become an eBay Trading Assistant, they increase their inventory without investing any money. The client will provide his/her items to be sold and the Trading Assistant will not have any out-of-pocket expenses for the new items.

Reason 2: If a business has a large selection of merchandise, it will attract more customers and generate even more revenue. The more variety that you can offer, the wider your consumer base will be.

Reason 3: As a Trading Assistant, sellers can ea extra money based on the fees that they charge. Selling someone else's product is a service and most sellers charge a fee for that service. As a Trading Assistant, it becomes your responsibility to photograph and accurately describe the item, list the auction and take responsibility for completing the transaction. Each Trading Assistant decides what fee, if any, they wish to charge their clients.

Reason 4: Each Trading Assistant will be listed in eBay's Trading Assistant Directory, which will give added publicity to your business. And, best of all, it's free!

Reason 5: If you take on the task of selling a client's product, and do a good job, then he/she will likely retu to you for future selling needs. In addition, your client may refer his/her friends to you. Word of mouth, when it's positive, is the best kind of publicity.

Reason 6: When you become a Trading Assistant, sellers may want to consider submitting a press release to local newspapers. Because it's a new development within your business, it's considered news. Press releases are one of the best ways to get free publicity for your business.

Reason 7: The eBay Trading Assistant program provides sellers with access to special training programs and other education reference materials. Knowledge of sales and marketing are always an asset to any business.

Reason 8: As a Trading Assistant, sellers can take pride in knowing that they are providing a service that is eaing money for their customers. By signing up for this service, and taking on clients, sellers are helping people to ea extra cash while also clearing some space.

Reason 9: The Trading Assistant program offers a seller the opportunity to gain experience and knowledge in a wide variety of fields, including marketing, buying, sales, customer service, business management, order processing and fulfillment. Each of these tools are extremely valuable in today's job marketplace.

Reason 10: The more you sell, the more feedback you will receive. If the feedback is good, customer confidence will grow based on your reputation as a seller.

Now that you know 10 reasons to become an eBay Trading Assistant, I'll bet you can't think of one reason not to. Happy trading!

This article is taken from Mark Kenny's eBay Maximum Resources Mini-Guide. To subscribe send a blank email to taebay@aweber.com

Mark Kenny, of Trading-Web-Solutions creates eBay related tukey websites including a tukey website to promote an eBay Trading Assistant business. This article is taken from his eBay Maximum Resources Mini-Guide. To subscribe send a blank email to taebay@aweber.com

Power Words Generate Sales

2009-06-11T21:21:00.000-07:00

Whether you have a website or an eBay Auction business the goal is to entice your visitors to become buyers. As explained in my book, experts both online and offline agree that the way to do this is by using Power Words in your ads. So, what are Power Words?

Power Words are the words experts use to create emotions in their readers. These words give the reader a visual picture and creates an urgency to buy. Below you will find some of the most important Power Words used by experts. These words have been tried and proven over and over again to attract and motivate visitors to become buyers. Use these Power Words in your headlines, on your website sales pages, and in your eBay Auction pages to generate more sales.

FREE
Web surfers are often looking for a freebie. So if you can include a "FREE trial" or give your visitors something for free, this will entice them take a closer look. Try saying "FREE Online Traffic!".

YOU
The word "You" makes your headline or sales copy more personal. Your visitor will relate to what he/she is reading, thus creating an image in their mind. The word "you" will help your visitor decide to become a buyer. Use sentences like, "Do you want to make a serious income online?" or " You can leave the rat race behind!".

NEW
Anything that is "NEW" always attracts attention. Use sentences like "New information never before shared with the public!" or "New product never before seen in America!".

PROVEN
People want to be told that a product or information they are considering buying is "PROVEN" to work. Use sentences like, "5 Proven Steps To..." or "A Proven Technique for...".

GUARANTEE
Your visitor is going to want to know that your product is guaranteed to do what you say it does. And that you have some sort of guarantee in place, so be sure to tell them you do. Try saying things like, "100% Satisfaction Guarantee!"

ACT NOW
You always need to tell people what you want them to do next. One way of doing this is to use the words "Act Now!". This tells them they should not delay. "ACT NOW! Don't miss this incredible offer!".

LIMITED TIME OFFER
If your product has a price that is only for a "LIMITED TIME" let your visitors know. Using the words "LIMITED TIME OFFER" will entice your visitors to "BUY NOW!" so they don't miss out on the great offer you are providing them. By the way "BUY NOW" is another set of Power Words you can use.

LATEST
We all search for the "LATEST" info or the "LATEST" gadgets we can find. The word "LATEST' will grab your visitors attention. Try sentences like, "Get the Latest Techniques on...!" or "The Latest Information on...!".

HOW TO
Today people are really into doing it themselves. We all want to lea "How To" do better in our business, our jobs and our lives. To entice your visitors to have a closer look use "How To" to describe what your product can teach them.

INSIDER
If you are an expert on any topic then you have the "Inside Scoop" on that topic. So tell your visitors that you are an "INSIDER". Try, "An Insider's Guide to..." or "Insider's Secrets that will...".

These are just a few of the Power Words that could make a huge difference in your sales when marketing your product or service. Use them on all your sales content to attract attention and convert more visitors into buyers thus increasing your bottom line.

Copyright - Joe Clare

Joe Clare is a successful eMarketer and Author. He has written numerous articles on eBay and how to make money online. Check out his eBook "eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak" plus FREE Articles, Hot Tips and Advice on how you can make a Serious Income with Online Auctions. http://www.ebooksnsoftware.com

Drop ship or U ship That is the Question

2009-06-11T05:29:00.000-07:00

For small Inteet retailers, drop-shipping is one of the best innovations since sliced bread. How else can a start-up offer a wide variety of products and convince customers that they have a fully-stocked warehouse—while investing virtually nothing in inventory or warehousing? Before you jump right onto the drop-shipping bandwagon, however, there are some pitfalls to avoid.

While a quality drop-shipper is truly a dream come true for the Inteet retailer, there are plenty of painful pitfalls to avoid. Things can get embarrassing and costly in a hurry when a drop-shipper:

• sends products out late
• forgets to process your orders
• sends out poorly packaged products
• double-bills your credit card for orders on a regular basis
• provides cheaply made products and/or shoddy workmanship.

A Matter of Credibility

In addition to the above drawbacks, many customers are not very impressed when they find out you retail drop-shipped products. This is especially the case with the rustic log fuiture I sell on the web. Many phone customers ask if we make the products ourselves, or are "merely" drop-shipping.

They are relieved and impressed when they find that we manufacturer, finish or pack most of the log fuiture we sell at our warehouse. We sell to a lot of people with expensive vacation homes, and quality is of utmost importance. It's always easier to testify to the quality of fuiture when you have seen it yourself, and we are able to offer a more unique line by going to Amish suppliers whose products aren't sold elsewhere on the Inteet.

Advantages of Drop-Shipping

With this said, there are still some sizeable advantages to drop-shipping. As the volume of our orders grows, it becomes more and more difficult to package all of that fuiture. Fortunately for us, our largest supplier is only two miles away and we have a pretty good deal going: we finish all the log fuiture they want finished, and they drop-ship the unfinished fuiture. So they make it, we finish it.

That means if somebody orders unfinished fuiture, it can go directly from the factory. This might have made me nervous about quality control at one point, but I have developed a high degree of confidence in our log fuiture manufacturer. In the five years I have been associated with them, they have never let me down. They fill orders with a high degree of quality and accuracy, which makes our job easy.

Choosing a Drop-Ship Partner

Unfortunately, not all drop-shipping companies are as reliable as the one I have found. This is why it pays to do your homework before choosing a drop-shipping company. If you align yourself with fly-by-night operations, your business will most likely suffer as a result. If you are wildly successful, which you no doubt hope to be, a small start-up may not be able to manufacturer or ship product fast enough to meet your needs. A drop-shipper that is unstable as a business may be happy to take your cash but fail to fill orders on a timely basis.

Any business who drop-ships your orders will affect your reputation as a company one way or another. As a result, it's important to make sure any drop-shipping companies you partner with meet the high level of customer service and quality control standards you set for your business.

Cari Haus is webmaster for http://www.logcabinrustics.com, an online retailer of quality log fuiture.

Auction Fortunes Are Dependant On Ebay Software

2009-06-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Ebay software, that is tools that automate many of the steps required to sell items online, are making all the difference for the small business types who are trying to make it as professional auctioneers.

So what kinds of tools are we talking about? Well if you are at all familiar with inteet marketing well then you know the jobs that most of these tools are created to accomplish. First there are simply automated tasks that ebay software or software designed specifically to interact with the ebay website. These include things like marketing research, that is finding out what kinds of things are popular and how the trends of the demand for these items is for specific times of the year. Research tools are also built to analyze the habits of people buying these products. What are the most effective descriptions of the products? What are the most profitable ways to display the products on line? What price structures should be used? What prices are most effective for certain times of the year?

After research comes building the descriptions and sales pages to put up on ebay's auction site. Each of these sites needs to be managed during the auction as well as after the auction has ended. There is ebay software that can take care of each of these steps. As you can imagine if each of these steps were automated, the scale that you can operate on becomes much larger and therefore more profitable.

The reason that computer programs (i.e. ebay software) can do this successfully is that marketing on the inteet has been reduced to a science of steps and formulas that create a situation favorable for the sale of an item. After that it is just a numbers game. All you need to get enough people who are interested in the product you are selling to see your sales page and you will make a certain percentage of the sales.

So much of the so called ebay software functions in the inteet world that exists outside of ebay. There are tools that promote product pages from ebay to the major search engines. This promotion is really the bread and butter of inteet marketing in general and may be the most important set of tools that a successful professional auction marketer owns. One thing that we know for sure is that the inteet is here to stay and anyone who invests in the ability to make an income online will not be disappointed.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

When not telling people how he built his ebay power selling empire you can find Boyd Troublerr gardening in his large vegetable garden. If you want to lea how to find success with the aid of ebay software go to www.buyebaysoftware.info.

Eating and Thriving On Line

2009-06-10T00:59:00.000-07:00

The Inteet SHOULD be "the place to shop" for low-carb dieters, diabetics, celiacs, and anyone else on a special diet. The posted prices are well below those in retail stores, the variety is greater, you are dealing with firms whose specialty is dealing with your need, and the products for sale are described fully in type that is designed to be read (isn't that a pleasant contrast to the packages you see in your local store.)

The bad news, of course, is the shipping charge that is attached to every order. Shortly after being diagnosed with celiac disease, I ordered a box of breakfast cereal ($4.00) on-line and paid a $7.00 shipping charge. I leaed from the experience that $11.00 box of cereal.

My solution stems from the fact that the cost of shipping items drops dramatically with the size of the total order. For example, the Gluten-Free Pantry charges $6.85 to ship a single but will ship $499.00 worth of merchandise for less than twice that much. At Bob's Red Mill, the shipping charge depends on the weight of the total shipment and depends on where you live, but in my particular ZIP code, a single item ships for $7.39. A 34 pound shipment would cost $13.43. You can probably find similar examples by browsing through the web sites you would like to patronize.

The strategy is to order as much as you can in a single shipment. Don't throw money away, of course, but do everything that you can to increase the size of the order and thereby decrease the cost of shipping each individual items. Work with people who share your diet. The only requirement is that the entire order be sent to the same place and paid for with the same credit card.

Good luck. Eat well. Obviously, inteet shopping is easier for persons who are ordering big-ticket items where the shipping cost is largely insignificant. But the system I have just described works.

Paul Colligan is the webmaster at sugar-and-gluten-free.com, a site that employs the shopping system described in this article. Contact him at paul@sugar-and-gluten-free.com to share ideas.

I leaed inteet shopping out of necessity. I live in a small city and have a very restricted diet not to mention a retiree's budget. I established http://www.sugar-and-gluten-free.com to help others do the same.

How to Fix Negative eBay Feedback

2009-06-09T19:33:00.000-07:00

As the editor of ebay-guides, one of the largest article requests I get is for fixing damaged feedback. Now don't read anything nefarious into this request; there are hundreds of reasons why someone may receive bad feedback. There is little doubt feedback is very important for both buyers and sellers. A rating in the high 80's or low 90's and you can almost forget about doing anything on ebay. While most negative feedback is well deserved, there are those out there who will use it to make threats or demand concessions. The "give me what I want or else," scenario seems to be the most prevalent. Should someone be able to hold your rating hostage? Certainly not, and the purpose of this article is to show you how to overcome a malicious feedback.

An unfortunate problem when you have a global marketplace like ebay, is the guaranteed number of bad apples. Ebay does their best to weed these individuals out, but they can't get everyone. Every once and a while someone will order an item and it will arrive in the mail damaged, or worse, not even close to what was paid for. Contacting the seller to resolve the issue then results in the threat of negative feedback, and an all caps attack on an otherwise perfect feedback rating. Basically, the seller is employing a method I like to call "mutually assured destruction." In the same way it has prevented nuclear war, it will often allow sellers to get away with things they should not be getting away with. You say "bad seller" he says "you never even paid for the product, or, AVOID AT ALL COSTS." It is a no win situation. Or is it?

The fear of receiving negative feedback not only sours users on ebay, but it also helps that bad seller stay in business. Instead of avoiding the bad feedback experience, embrace it. Tu on the flamethrower and blast the seller, and when you get hit with retaliatory feedback, bury it. How? Simple. Buy positive feedback. While ebay would prefer you don't, and they take enormous steps to stop people selling it, there are really no fallouts to buying it. So how much does it cost? About .01 cent. Surprised? Many people are. Yet day in and day out millions of positive feedback are purchased for one penny each.

If you find yourself in need of fixing a negative feedback left by another vindictive ebayer, simply do a search for ".01 cent ebook or .01 recipe." This should bring up several thousand auctions; more than enough for you to bury that negative feedback.

Don't abuse the system, as buying too much feedback can be just as bad as selling it. Buying 25-50 positive feedbacks over a day or two should cause no problem for you as a buyer. I've employed this method in the past, testing it as both a buyer and a seller with no problems. As a final note, I suggest buying from sellers who have marked their auctions as private. There is no point in fixing your feedback if anyone can click on the most recent received and see they are all .01 cent buys.

Chris Yarbrough writes for Ebay Guides, a free resource site with hundreds of articles and guides. For more guides like this visit, http://www.ebay-guides.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Yarbrough

Dropshipping Can You Use It on eBay in the UK as Well as the USA

2009-06-09T04:31:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in selling on eBay, you might wonder where you can get items to sell. I'm talking about after you've exhausted the logical first places, such as items in your garage or loft or spare bedroom!

One of the drawbacks for anyone wishing to expand an interest in auctions into a business – be it part or full time - is the need to have stock to sell. Here are some of the issues you face:

Locating suppliers of stock at affordable prices
Somewhere to store your stock
The means and space to wrap the items
The time to take them to a Post Office

One of the ways around all of these problems is to use dropshipping. There are many people in the USA making extra cash, and in some cases making a living, by selling items on auctions on a dropship basis.

Dropshipping has arrived in the UK, and you may want to consider it further. You might be asking, "What on earth is dropshipping?"

Dropshipping is a system of trading offered by certain suppliers. These suppliers have stocks of goods, normally products which will sell well on auctions, and which they are willing to package and forward to your customers DIRECTLY.

This is how it works. Let's imagine you are a seller on eBay. You join a dropship company. You then get access to the company's online catalogue, which will usually have hundreds of items at discounted prices. It will also explain to you how much they charge you for P&P to your customer.

You select an item, create an auction listing and list it. The auction finishes, and your winner pays you.

All you now do is send the winner's name and address, and the payment, to the dropship company. The payment is the cost price, plus the agreed shipping cost. The dropship company then package and send out the goods to your winner. Your profit is the difference between the discounted catalogue price you pay, and the winning bid.

The system has some great plus points - you've made zero outlay up-front for stock, and you are alleviated of all stock storage, packaging and mailing problems. And you have a ready made supply of new and different product lines.

On the flip side, you need to be careful you can make enough margin - don't forget you pay any auction fees incurred. And if you accept PayPal or any other online credit card payment system, you will have to pay their percentage too.

With the right product, at the right price, dropshipping might be a useful addition to any eBay seller's armoury.

Brian McGregor is an eBay and inteet entrepreneur. He recently created the 'eBay Master Class' for eBay sellers. For your free copy, please go to http://www.workwinners.com/ebm-request.htm

How To Write EBay Auction Descriptions That Get Bids

2009-06-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

The first thing you need to do is write an auction title.
This is the most important part of your auction. If your title doesn't interest anyone no-one will read your ad.

You could have written the most compelling auction description ever written. But unless anyone reads it you'll get no sales.

All professional ad writers agree that the title is 9x more important than the ad itself. Before you read a newspaper article, what's the first thing you read?

That's right. The headlines. Only when a headline interests you will you attempt to read the actual article.

The most effective way of coming up with the best title.
The best way is follow the 100-1 rule. First write 100 titles then pick the best one. Why?

Professional writers do this because 100 seems to exhaust all possible titles. You'll find when you've finished that the best one jumps off the page at you.

Try it! It works. It takes time but nothing comes without effort. And the results will outweigh the work.

There is however a better way that I stumbled across. This method is used by one of the most successful writers on the web.

He simple asks a special question that just gets headlines flooding from your fingers. I must say, it works like magic. He always gets his headline in less than 5 minutes. And what's more, always gets amazing results. Everytime!

Sorry I'm not going to reveal that question here, because I've included it in my best-selling ebook about ad writing. And it would result in less sales, because that would be one of the main reasons people are buying it. Amongst others.

How to write the auction description.
Your description is the part that needs to get the person to place a bid. So you better make sure it's persuasive.

Just about everyone reads the first paragraph. If this doesn't grab em, then they'll quickly leave and look for other auctions.

The best first paragraph is always the one that grabs the imagination. When they read it they should see themselves with your item. A bit like the car salesman who gets you to sit in the vehicle.

Hopefully you've done a good job of that so now they begin reading the rest of your ad.

People want to see the benefits of owning your item. So you need to show all the benefits of having your offering.

You also need to present the benefits in a certain way. The best way I've found for presentation is shown in my book. It always gets the best response whenever I do this in my auctions.

If possible you should always use a photo. When people see what your offering they're much more happy to buy.

So to summarise...

Get the auction title right. This is the most important part by far.

Use a powerful opening paragraph.

Present all the benefits of your item.

If possible use photos.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Ian Stables shows eBay sellers the best ways to get extra bids to their auctions in his ebook "The 37 Effective eBay Ad Writing Secrets. http://ebayadsecrets.tripod.com/

How To Write Up A Good Auction Listing

2009-06-08T00:31:00.000-07:00

Writing up your auction listing is equally as important as taking your photo's and pricing your auction. As I said previously, honesty is your best policy. If something has a small stain, list it in your auction listing. If there is minimal wash wear on your clothing items, then list it. Don't try to fool your buyer, they have a "keener" eye than you might think. Consider this, they are purchasing something from someone that they cannot see, they cannot interact with, and they may not be able to retu if they find that something is wrong with the item. In addition to this, they are paying for something before they have it, so they are placing a lot of "trust" in you the seller to give them the entire "scoop" on the item that you are selling.

Here is a list of items that should be included in your auction listing:

Name of item: be exact in your name and title. Give brand name and article name. Example: Gymboree Whale Watching Sailor Pants

Make of item: cotton, linen, silk, etc. be very specific, people have certain fabric and make preferences. Especially with children's clothing.

Size: read the label, also if you are selling jeans or pants make sure to include your inseam, waist size, etc. If you are selling European sizes, please make sure to have a size chart with equivalent U.S sizes for those of us who don't know the conversion of the sizes.

Condition of the item: make sure to include the following: wash wear, fading, pilling, stains, tearing, or pulling. I also add a rating system: fair, good, excellent, and like new. Keep in mind that what you may consider "like new" someone else may not, so try to remain objective in your listing.

Housing Conditions: where do you store your inventory? I always let people know that my items are in a "smoke free" and "pet free" home, and they are clean and washed prior to sending out.

Clear payment instructions: make sure you include clear and concise payment instructions. Don't leave any room for misunderstanding. Be firm, but polite.

Clear shipping and retu policies: again make sure that you include a clear and concise shipping and retu policy. Also, be consistent in all of your listings.

Open yourself up to questions: Be personable and customer service oriented. I always let people know in all of my listings that they should feel free to email me if they have any further questions or conces about the item.

Some great sites for listing information are:
1. Auction Insights
2. Here Comes The Stork
3. Auction Templates
4. Ebay's own selling resources

Robyn Ann Johnson http://www.themomscafe.net

10 Secrets You Should Know Before Bidding

2009-06-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

Yes! You know many online auction sites.

Course you may have participated in some of the biddings.

The next time you decide to bid for a product or a service, do remember these vital online auctions secrets and tips.

1. Important to know the value of the product you plan to bid. Product is new? Check the price retailers are charging for it. It helps in two ways, you'll know the original cost and helps you to pay way less than the retail value, if it is old or re-conditioned.

2. To ensure that you get a good product, get the complete information and picture of the product from merchant, if the details are incomplete on the site.

3. Decide your maximum paying limit and stick to it lest you may end up caught in the 'bid war' and end up paying more than the actual cost.

4. It is always good to check a few auction sites for you may find the same product at a much lesser price in some unpopular sites simple because of the fewer number of buyers in those sites.

5. Make a note of the auction begin and end time. And the shipping time as well. This helps you to calculate the time when you want the product at a certain date.

6. Payments: Check the various payment modes the merchant offers. If checks and money orders are accepted, the delay in delivery will invariably be delayed for the payment has to clear. If the credit cards are accepted, ensure they have secure server.

7. Find out if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee before the bid. Surely you don't want to be bogged down with a non-working or unsatisfactory product.

8. Always good the check the track record of the merchant, if offered one. See if you can bump into any complaints from the past customers.

9. Start your auction early to convey a message to other that you're interested in the product. If someone outbid you, you do the same. Always remember your maximum bid limit.

10. The reason to know the bid time - it helps you place a last minute bid, assuming that other bidders may not have kept track of the bid time

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

10 Ways To Avoid Being Ripped Off On eBay

2009-06-07T05:46:00.000-07:00

It is important to remember that eBay is a lot like a marketplace. There will always be a dodgy guy in the coer, selling things that most people wouldnÂ't touch. The trouble is that, on the Inteet, these people can be a little harder to spot. Here are ten tips to help you keep an eye out for the rip-off merchants.

1. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: This holds for everything in life, but especially for eBay. Things that seem too cheap are usually too cheap for a reason Â– it might be a complete scam, or the items might just be of extremely poor quality. Investigate before you go further.

2. Know the value of what you want to buy: There are people on eBay who regularly bid such high prices for used cameras that they might as well have gone out and bought them brand new. Check around for prices first.

3. Only bid on real things: eBay has plenty of people who are trying to sell all sorts of schemes and scams. It is never worth bidding for these, no matter how cheap they might be.

4. DonÂ't do anything outside eBay: Occasionally people will ask you to send them money outside eBay, to avoid the fees eBay charges sellers. Any money you send this way is entirely insecure Â– donÂ't do it.

5. Be careful where you send payment: People may hack into othersÂ' accounts, and ask you to send payment to addresses that eBay has not confirmed as belonging to that account Â– you might send your money and receive nothing in retu.

6. Look out for sellers who suddenly change what they sell: Sellers can look like theyÂ've made lots of transactions, when really theyÂ've never sold anything of worth. If they suddenly start selling $1,000 televisions, steer clear Â– the chances are theyÂ're planning to run off with the money.

7. Beware the shill bidder: If someone who doesnÂ't seem to have bought anything before is constantly outbidding you on a certain item, be suspicious. It might be a seller Â'shill biddingÂ' to force up his itemÂ's price.

8. DonÂ't use the sellerÂ's escrow service: If an escrow service is recommended to you by a seller, it could well be owned and run by them Â– and theyÂ're quite likely to keep your money and send you nothing.

9. Pay electronically: You are more likely to be able to recover any losses if you pay using a credit card instead of sending out cheques and money orders Â– these low-tech payment methods canÂ't be tracked as easily.

10. Buy from reputable sellers: Each seller has a number next to their name, which is their feedback rating. The higher this rating, the more you can trust them.

On that last point, feedback ratings are the most important way that buyers and sellers can protect themselves on eBay Â– and you, as a buyer, have a rating too! Now that you wonÂ't get ripped off, the next email will be all about your rating, and what you can do to make sure people know that youÂ're not going to rip them off either.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

How To Write a Traffic Pulling eBay Auction Title

2009-06-06T06:11:00.000-07:00

Selling an item on eBay should be simple but it is surprising how many people make some very silly mistakes.

As a buyer this is fantastic, you can pick up some absolute bargains by finding poorly listed items. However, if you are a seller you need to ensure that every item you put on eBay will be found and therefore have a better chance of commanding a high price.

Your auction title is really the most important part of your auction, after all, it is this feature which attracts buyers to view your description.

You have 55 characters to use to attract the bidders, try and use all of them - it is free and the more relevant keywords you can add, the more search results your auction will end up in.

For example:

A listing with the title: "Band of Brothers Region 2 – 6 DVDs – UK Version – Mint"

is likely to receive a great deal more interest than one with the following title:

"band of brothers dvd"

Also, try and avoid writing the entire title in capitals or using unrelated words like "L@@K" and "W@W". This simply annoys other eBay users and is not good netiquette.

Never keyword spam either. You see this all of the time on eBay, sellers add unrelated keywords to the title so their auction lands in more search results.

The problem is that these keywords won't attract more bids but simply attract users who are searching for something else entirely.

If you list an auction for a Playstation 2 but use the title "Playstation 2 not Xbox not Nintendo" it will attract people who are not looking for a Playstation 2. Quite simply, people who are not looking for a PS2 will not buy one.

Your time would be better served adding more relevant keywords to the title. "Sony Playstation 2 (PS2) – Mint in Box - No Reserve" is a much better title.

Where possible, try and include descriptive keywords to attract bidders. Some good examples are the following:

Rare, Mint, OOP (Out of Print), Low P&P, No Reserve or NR, Low Starting Price, 1p Starting Bid, Brand New etc

Ensure you spell check your title before you list it. This is easy to do if you write the title in Microsoft Word first. If you spell an important keyword incorrectly you will miss out on a lot of potential bidders.

To make the title look more attractive, add a capital to the front of every major keyword.

"Microsoft Xbox - Mint in Box with 4 Games - No Reserve"

looks more attractive and stands out more than

"microsoft xbox - mint in box with 4 games - no reserve"

If you are unsure of the best way to write your title, try searching for the same item under Completed Listings and see how others have done it before.

If their auctions have commanded high winning bids then their titles have worked.

Don't be afraid to copy them.

Ben Catt is an active eBay buyer and seller and runs an eBay Tips and Tricks website found at http://www.BenCatt.com. He also runs a business opportunity information site - http://www.BizOppsUK.com

Attract eBay Buyers Like Crazy

2009-06-05T20:06:00.000-07:00

As an ebay(TM) seller it happens very often (too often) that listings close without any bids. Did this happen to you? Many sellers are frustrated and quit their eBay(TM) business. Have you realised that these fees from unsold items can sum up quickly. We asked ourself: "What are the reasons for so many items not being sold on eBay(TM)?"

We did some research on compared many listings on eBay and to see which sites get the most hits. Of course the item itself plays an important role. But we have also found that many ebay(TM) sellers try to sell their items with very unprofessional auction listings. There is just some plain black text with white background. Arrrgh!!! We have seen it many times. The answer is simple. Many listings are closing without any bids because they have a lousy design.

But auction sites with a professional design are more likely to receive bids. A recent online study has shown that attractive and professional designed inteet sites convert better than badly designed sites. It's basically the same thing with eBay listings. If it is not in harmony with your eye, people click to another item. Remember, that they are on overage seeing your site for 10-20 seconds. If they like it, they may read it. If not, they'll leave.

But many eBay(TM) sellers don't know any thing about designing professional listings. Until now, these sellers had only the choice of hiring expensive third party auction services or to buy costly auction listing software. Auction Design has changed that. Every serious eBay(TM) seller can create their own professional auction sites without any knowledge of HTML and without spending any extra money for expensive auction services or software. We from auction-design-for-free think that every auction seller should have the right to launch professional designed auction sites without spending any additional money. The listing fees for auctions on eBay are high enough. There is no need for additional costs which would decrease your profit.

http://www.auction-design-for-free.com has set a new benchmark. This new released revolutionary step-by-step guide helps ebay sellers to get started and to get more bids on their items. This step-by-step guide has been written from ebay(TM) seller for ebay(TM) sellers in a non-technical easy to understand language.

Sit back and enjoy to be guided through every single step - supported by online video tutorials. With this new auction design secrets you can create your own professional looking listing with a breeze. If you are really serious about your eBay(TM) business and want to increase your profit you simply need this Step-by-Step guide. You will amazed how easy it is to make a nice looking auction sites on your own - For Free - without spending any additional cents and attract eBay buyers like CRAZY !!

Thomas Haselhorst is webmaster of http://www.auction-design-for-free.com
- a new website offering active ebay seller information how to design professional looking ebay auction sites without knowledge of HTML.

Dropshipping The Easy Way To Sell Hundreds Of Items On Ebay Without Ever Buying Or Holding Stock

2009-06-05T03:17:00.000-07:00

Imagine having top companies invent, design and buy products, test the market, employ world class copywriters to describe their products, hire top-notch graphic designers and photographers – and give you the whole lot FREE OF CHARGE! Well, that's exactly what you can do when you start using dropshipping as part of your eBay business.

This article reveals the inside strategies for getting this to work for you.

'Dropshipping' describes a process whereby a manufacturer or supplier delivers products directly to your customers without you ever needing to stock or pre-purchase goods.

Typically you list products on eBay, using your own or supplying companies' graphics and descriptions; you take payment, give the supplying company your buyers' names and addresses, and they send the product.

That's your part done; now you can go back to selling.

That's the theory, in practice it can be so different. Dropshipping is a wonderful way to make big money fast, and about the best way to lose money, too.

Sadly, it's a fact that many business owners - including dropshipping companies - care more about money than customer care and this can reflect badly for you, in the form of buyer complaints, poor quality products, long delays between customers paying and receiving their goods.

The onus is on you to take care of your business, and your customers, so be as careful picking dropshipping partners as you are planning all other aspects of your business.

MORE ABOUT DROPSHIPPING

* Some so-called dropshipping offers border on scams, asking a high fee to access a site, where you'll find more firms offering dropshipping information who in tu ask payment to access their sites, and so on, and so on. Where products are accessible with graphics and sales materials for your eBay listings, oftentimes the goods are rubbish, sometimes they're grossly overpriced. They might be seconds, end of line, customer retus, damaged… you get the picture!

* That said, there are many excellent paid-for membership sites offering sound contact details for worldwide dropshipping companies. Some membership sites continuously scrutinise their recommended suppliers, and score entries 1 to 5, acceptable to excellent, based on member feedback. The best we found, Worldwide Brands, is eBay acknowledged and operated by Chris Malta, Product Sourcing Editor of eBay Radio. The company has a team of researchers on constant lookout for new dropshipping and wholesale suppliers to add to their directory.

* Find dropshipping companies yourself via their own advertisements in local newspapers (not national; too competitive), at trade shows, by word of mouth from sellers of non-competing products. Search for them online via search engines such as www.google.com (our preference); use appropriate keywords like 'manufacturers dolls (or other product) New York (or other location)'.

* Look for firms selling lots of different products, on a related or unrelated theme. Within hours of deciding to sell dog featured jewelry, we searched www.google.com and found two firms willing to dropship their wide ranging products to our customers, with no minimum order, and a CD of graphics and sales materials arriving next day. Another firm, based a few miles from us, has more than twelve different products for over 100 breeds of dog, and no one currently selling their products on eBay! No graphics either, so we checked their products, bought one of each, and created our own unique listings.

* Typically you pay the supplier an agreed amount per shipment upfront, although some will invoice you later. For local firms you can pop down, offer their share, hand over delivery labels. When you have a good supplier, ask permission to pack goods yourself at their premises so you can insert special offer flyers, money-off vouchers. For distant suppliers keep close tabs on how well they serve your customers. See the next paragraph.

* Negative feedback is much more likely using dropshipping and other partner companies than where you handle all customer transactions direct. With the wrong partners you could generate bad feeling, requests for refund, negative feedback, dismissal from eBay. Check partner companies by reading feedback from your customers. Look for problem delivery times, product quality conces, poor customer service. Mounting negatives with similar complaints signify problems you must correct or seek new suppliers.

* My experience of dropshipping has been exceptionally good. I have companies posting products to my customers minutes after they get my faxed order and they always put my company details into the package, never their own. They don't poach my customers, they've never asked payment from me up front, they're better than I'd hoped for. Getting them was remarkably easy and all down to good communications. I telephone every potential dropshipper before promoting their products. I get to know the other person, determine how serious they are about their business, how approachable they are. Those I have chosen for my business talked more about customers and products than money, they were considerate and caring, keen to please. That first impression has always served me well. Do the same, you won't be disappointed.

* If problems ensue, don't blame the dropshipper without checking first. It could be you haven't explained your requirements properly, they may have serious business or personal problems, it could be coincidence or a batch of particularly difficult customers to blame for those negatives. Be careful, check thoroughly, and have an emergency plan for major problems. Have plenty of eggs in your basket: use several dropshippers, not just one, and have quality replacements waiting in line.

* Sales materials and graphics are normally provided by larger suppliers or can be downloaded from their web sites. Some have printed catalogues from which you can scan product pictures, others have CDs containing digital pictures. Using their pictures and descriptions makes life a lot easier for you; you won't spend time and money buying products, taking pictures, creating descriptions. But typically, the bigger the company, the more aggressive their marketing, and the more likely their products are known to other eBay sellers. The moral is to not rely solely on these bigger companies. Very often firms without sales materials and graphics are small companies, probably unknown to most other resellers, with fabulous products, and closer control over quality and communications. Of three companies providing my entire dog jewelry stock, two are one man set ups, the other a father and son business.

* Good organizational and communications skills are needed, especially where you sell hundreds of different products from numerous dropshipping and supplying companies. I've seen PowerSellers listing hundreds of thousands of products at one time, all totally different, and obviously from lots of individual suppliers. Imagine taking just one thousand orders a month (many eBayers take tens of thousands), where you must ensure each order reaches the correct fulfilment company, with accurate customer details, and proper payment. Complicated and very time-consuming! Far better sell a smaller range of high profit items from a few select suppliers.

* Check competition on eBay for your dropshipping company and their products before planning to sell. I found a wonderful dropship firm for CDs, there were hundreds of different titles, their graphics were bright and colorful, a more professional organization was difficult to find. I joined their program, downloaded their graphics and sales materials, created and uploaded my listings, and waited, and waited, and nothing happened. Soon afterwards I checked for others selling similar products on eBay and found dozens of them. I should have checked first as in the next tip.

* Search competition for your product by keying the name, title or maker's name into the search box top right on eBay's home page. No entries for similar products might be good news for you, might because others might still be selling these products, just not right now. Bad news too because others might have tried selling similar products with little success. Lots of entries signals lots of competition, but view listings first to check similarity to your product. Where you find just a few people selling similar products, see how much they charge, check completed listings for how many sold and how many second chance offers were possible. More than five firms selling similar products worldwide, I'd say is one or two firms too many, except where they sell through auction and you choose shop only listings. If overseas firms sell similar products, but not inteationally, consider selling in other countries.

NOT QUITE DROPSHIPPING BUT EVERY BIT AS GOOD

* Artists and craftworkers are keen on making, not so keen on marketing, and are my favorite source of quality products. I make a point of visiting local craft fairs at least once a month where I find exhibitors selling stunning creations at a tiny fraction of eBay prices for similar items, if any exist. Many items are unique or limited edition and never get seen beyond a few miles of their makers' homes. My eldest daughter obtains designer jewelry this way, my youngest opts for hand-made dolls and teddies, and I take watercolor paintings on hand-made paper from a young Chinese artist whose work I sell exclusively on eBay. She dropships for me direct to my customers. Visit these fairs once and you'll retu time and again. You don't have to buy items, most craftworkers and artists will work on commission, rather like a dropshipper who takes payment and delivers the product when you make a sale. Most will dropship to your customers. Find craftwork fairs advertised in local weekend papers, usually under 'Items for sale', 'Fairs and auctions', 'Days out', or similar.

I m New to Ebay What Scams Are Out There

2009-06-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

Wholesale List Scam

With this scam, the wholesaler gives you a photo of say, a computer monitor or DVD – the buyer is under the assumption that they are buying a monitor or DVD, right? Wrong? You may only be buying a wholesale list. This is what they call a "bait and switch". They are hoping that the individual is in a hurry or cannot read English well, and they blindly buy. Rule of thumb: read everything before buying.

Note: Wholesale List scams are very common for monitors, laptops, camcorders, DVD players, flat screen televisions and mp3 players; cutting-edge electronic devices.

Fake Money Order

The buyer sends the seller a fake money order, a bad check – and the seller sends the item before the money order or check has been successfully cashed. Seller is out the item and the money.

Credit Card Chargebacks

The buyer pays with a credit card through Paypal. Once the buyer has received the item, the buyer initiates a chargeback. This is where the novice come in, if you do not have proof that the item was sent – you are out the money, the item, and you have to pay a chargeback fee. Rule of thumb: Send your item through UPS, or certified mail to protect yourself.

Fake Escrow Scam

The scammer says that they want to buy your item, but they want to use an escrow service. The purpose of the escrow service is to add a layer of protection for the buyer. They will hold on to the money, and once the buyer has received the item from the seller, the escrow service will release the money to the seller. This is where the scam comes in – The buyer will request that you use the escrow service that they, so they say, have used with other transactions. The escrow service is a front – set up by the buyer.

Email Ebay Scam

The email Ebay scam – is an email that says it has come from Ebay. The email will state that it looks like your account has been compromised and they would like your to verify the information, for your protection, of course. Never click the link. Open a new Inteet session and manually type the information to get into your account.

Other email scams, include the fake payment received email. You will receive a payment-received notice, that looks authentic, but be aware, it could have been sent by the buyer. Never send anything, until you have verified that the payment has been received and the info received is valid.

To conclude, when you are looking at any new venture, it is always good to do the research and be aware of what you may be up against. It hard enough to start any business – and you definitely don't want anyone running off with your hard eaed money. Being aware – can keep your business moving forward.

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: http://www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate opportunities, and how to info for the affiliate marketer.

7 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Joining Any eBay Membership Site Part Three

2009-06-04T07:23:00.000-07:00

eBay membership sites can be the quickest way to jump on the eBay bandwagon & start building an predictable & reliable cashflow from the inteet. With the popularity of eBay growing every day, if your not yet selling on eBay your already losing sales. In this series of articles, I've been compiled the top seven questions you should ask before you join any eBay membership site.

4) How often is your content updated?

Ideally, the answer should be weekly or even daily. One of the main reasons to join an eBay membership site is to lea of the latest auction trends & niches so that you can cash in on them.

eBay membership sites should also contain

- Articles on marketing on eBay
- eBay ebooks & special reports
- eBay blueprints for selling successfully
- Interviews with successfull eBayers

Also, your eBay membership site should include reviews of the latest auction products so you can get an honest opinion before you part with your cash.

5) How long has the site been established?

The longer the better most would would assume, but if the site is not updated regularly any information may be out of date. So, look out for eBay membership sites that are ran by high-profile marketers. Do a bit of research by googling the name of the owner or the site name to see the results. You should quickly establish the credibility of any site online.

Trinity Tooke makes a full time living from tukey websites, purchasing them cheaply from eBay & running them on a full time basis. You can check out her blog at: http://tukeywebsites.blogspot.com/

Ebay Part Time Or Full How To Decide

2009-06-03T20:22:00.000-07:00

Going full-time as an eBay seller is living the dream: making a real income, working from home, being your own boss and all the rest of it. ItÂ's the promise of a million scams, and itÂ's finally come true Â– at least for some.

What they donÂ't tell you in the success stories, though, is that becoming a full-time eBay seller is by no means for everyone. You really, really ought to try it part-time before you even consider taking it up full-time, and even then, caution is advisable. Before you bu your suit, hereÂ's a list of questions you should ask yourself.

How Much Do I Ea From eBay Now?

Work out how many hours a week you spend doing eBay-related things (be honest here), and divide it by the average amount of profit you make in a week. If you were doing full-time hours, would you ea as much as you ea now?

Do I Have a Good Job?

Think about what you might lose if you give up your job to focus on eBay. If youÂ're in a well-paid job with good promotion prospects then itÂ's well worth reconsidering: you might get a few years down the line and wish youÂ'd stayed in your traditional job, as youÂ'd probably be the CEO by now.

Would I Really Make Much More Money?

Unless youÂ're selling a large quantity of small goods, most of what you do on eBay will be waiting for auctions to end Â– and you can wait at work just as easily as you can at home. This is why whether you would make more money on eBay really depends on what kinds of items youÂ're selling Â– for low value items, going full-time could be a good move. For high-value ones, the chances are youÂ'll hit the limits of how much money you have to invest in inventory long before you hit the limits on your time.

Is my Home a Good Place to Work?

Quite apart from anything else, you might find that the dream of home working is more of a nightmare in reality. People can start to depend on you to get things done that need to be done during the day. If you have a wife and children then they can resent the fact that youÂ're in the house but refuse to have anything to do with them for large parts of the day. Giving in to any of these things and stopping work for a while will cause your profits to fall.

Can I Survive if it All Goes Wrong?

In the end, would you be able to get by if you had a month or two where you sold literally nothing? Or would you be desperately looking around for a job and cursing the day you ever discovered eBay? ThatÂ's the real test.

If you made it through all these questions, then I guess youÂ're cut out for the eBay life Â– and even if you didnÂ't, youÂ'd be surprised just how far you can get part-time. In our next email, weÂ'll show you how to think like the eBay elite: the PowerSellers.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

I m new to Ebay What Scams Are Out There

2009-06-03T06:26:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at the possibility of doing some Ebay trading. And, since I have been on the Inteet for a while, I decided that I should see what Ebay scams, if any, was floating about. Why? It is always good to be aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly of any online venture. And since, IÂ've seen all sides Â– itÂ's wise to have cautious optimism.

Wholesale List Scam

With this scam, the wholesaler gives you a photo of say, a computer monitor or DVD Â– the buyer is under the assumption that they are buying a monitor or DVD, right? Wrong? You may only be buying a wholesale list. This is what they call a Â"bait and switchÂ". They are hoping that the individual is in a hurry or cannot read English well, and they blindly buy. Rule of thumb: read
everything before buying.

Note: Wholesale List scams are very common for monitors, laptops, camcorders, DVD players, flat screen televisions and mp3 players; cutting-edge electronic devices.

Fake Money Order

The buyer sends the seller a fake money order, a bad check Â– and the seller sends the item before the money order or check has been successfully cashed. Seller is out the item and the money.

Credit Card Chargebacks

The buyer pays with a credit card through Paypal. Once the buyer has received the item, the buyer initiates a chargeback. This is where the novice come in, if you do not have proof that the item was sent Â– you are out the money, the item, and you have to pay a chargeback fee. Rule of thumb:
Send your item through UPS, or certified mail to protect yourself.

Fake Escrow Scam

The scammer says that they want to buy your item, but they want to use an escrow service. The purpose of the escrow service is to add a layer of protection for the buyer. They will hold on to the money, and once the buyer has received the item from the seller, the escrow service will release the money to the seller. This is where the scam comes in Â– The buyer will request that you use the escrow service that they, so they say, have used with other transactions. The escrow service is a front Â– set up by the buyer.

Email Ebay Scam
The email Ebay scam Â– is an email that says it has come from Ebay. The email will state that it looks like your account has been compromised and they would like your to verify the information, for your protection, of course. Never click the link. Open a new Inteet session and manually type the information to get into your account.

Other email scams, include the fake payment received email. You will receive a payment-received notice, that looks authentic, but be aware, it could have been sent by the buyer. Never send anything, until you have verified that the payment has been received and the info received is valid.

To conclude, when you are looking at any new venture, it is always good to do the research and be aware of what you may be up against. It hard enough to start any business Â– and you definitely donÂ't want anyone running off with your hard eaed money. Being aware Â– can keep your business moving forward.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate oportunities, and how to info for the affiliate marketer.

A Look At Third Party Ebay Tools

2009-06-02T18:56:00.000-07:00

There are plenty of companies out there offering third party eBay tools. Most of them are web-based instead of downloadable, so you pay a monthly fee instead of just buying the software. But do you know what these sites can do for you? It can be hard to get to grips with whatÂ's out there using a search engine, so hereÂ's a quick rundown of the key players.

Andale (http://www.andale.com).

Andale offer lots of small products instead of one solution that does everything: you can take your pick from a lister, image hosting, counters, analysers, a gallery, a checkout and an email manager. The price plans are a bit of a maze, but quite reasonable as long as you donÂ't go and use everything.

AndaleÂ's real claim to fame is that theyÂ've been doing it for so long Â– theyÂ're not some fly-by-night organisation, and many eBay sellers have been using their free counters for absolutely years. They also have a reputation for being very responsive to customers, and will often talk to you directly on their forums and implement any suggestions you might have for improving their software.

Vendio (http://www.vendio.com).

Vendio offer two editions of their software, Sales Manager: a Merchandising edition and an Inventory edition. The difference between the two is that the Merchandising edition is designed to make it easier to list individual auctions, while the Inventory edition is for sellers who sell many of the same item. They offer a pay-as-you go price of 10c per auction.

They also offer software called Tickets Manager, special software for people who sell lots of tickets on eBay Â– an odd product to have, but useful if you happen to sell tickets. Other services offered by Vendio include web and image hosting, fancy Flash galleries of your products for your listings, and stores.

ChannelAdvisor (http://www.channeladvisor.com).

ChannelAdvisor offer their software in three versions: Enterprise, Merchant and Pro. Enterprise and Merchant are both designed for very big businesses, though, and the chances are that the Pro version does everything youÂ'd want. ChannelAdvisor is popular among sellers who want a solution that they know is used and trusted on a very large scale by enterprise-level customers.

It offers all the standard bulk listing and inventory features, as well as the unique feature of being able to create auctions from an Excel spreadsheet of your inventory. The cost is high, though, at $29.95 per month.

And Many, Many MoreÂ…

eBay maintain a comprehensive directory of third-party software, which you can browse through anytime you have a few days to kill. You can look either for complete solutions or for each part of what you want individually Â– the choice is so daunting that thereÂ's bound to be something out there for you. You can look at their directory at http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SolutionsDirectory.

Once your items have sold and youÂ're about to ship them, you might be a little nervous about whether you can trust your buyer. Our next email will give you a few tips for spotting problem buyers before you send them anything.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

Discount Government Auctions Real Government Auction Reviews of Top Ranking Government Auctions

2009-06-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

Are govement auctions real? Can you really buy cars, houses, jewelry, and all kinds of other expensive property for only pennies on the dollar? The answer to both of these questions is YES. Every year seized property worth billions of dollars are auctioned off at police and govement auctions. Govement auctions have been around for years and have gotten really popular lately, but many have outdated directories and make unrealistic claims. Most of these govement auctions boast that they sell cars and property at outrageously low prices and do not deliver on their claims. It is true that you can get cars and property for pennies on the dollar, but expecting to buy a "2004 Lexus SC430" for $100 is unrealistic.

WARNING! Do NOT trust other govement auction reviews... 99.9% of these so called "govement auction reviews" aren't reviews at all. The webmasters who create these fake reviews are only interested in the highest commissions, so they get you to click on their referral links by playing on your fear of being scammed and tell you that they have "reviewed them all" in order to gain your trust. They try to persuade you into thinking that they've reviewed all the govement auction websites by giving you the exact same information that you can find out yourself when you read what the websites advertise.

These webmasters who create these govement auction reviews do their best in portraying an image of being unbiased in hope of leading you to believe that they are "looking out for you" when they are in fact trying to get you to buy through their referral links so they can make a commission off of you. Some of these webmasters even go through the trouble of having their referral tags hidden in their referral links!

Do NOT join any govement auctions until you read our reviews...

Discount Govement Auctions is the ONLY review site of its kind that offers affiliate rebates!

We are the only govement auction review website that offers affiliate rebates this high! We offer affiliate rebates on all of the govement auctions that we review. Becoming a member of any of the govement auctions that we advertise through our links will save you money and is cheaper than paying for a membership by going straight to the source!

http://www.discount-govement-auctions.com/

Improve Your eBay Auction Success By Using All of the Free Product Sourcing Tools At Your Disposal

2009-06-02T00:31:00.000-07:00

Selling in-demand items on eBay is by far the most profitable choice you can make when doing your product sourcing. With so much competition on eBay, there's simply not room for error or choosing to sell anything less than popular.

The problem eBay sellers face however is that the state of the market is constantly evolving. Last months best-seller may be this month's total flop.

No matter how difficult or competitive selling on this auction giant may become, eBay will always try to make the process as painless as possible. Fortunately, eBay itself provides a number of tools that can help you identify the latest selling trends. This article will briefly explain these tools to you, show you how to access them, and evaluate their usefulness.

The first tool that eBay provides is "The Hot Items Report" (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf) - In the words of eBay itself "Hot...Very Hot…Super Hot! Discover which categories and products are on fire—where bid to item ratios are high and demand is outpacing supply." This is certainly an invaluable resource that will help you keep a check on the current state of the eBay marketplace and stay on top!

Second up there is the "The eBay Pulse" (http://pulse.ebay.com) - This allows you to view the most popular searches, largest stores, most watched items and more. It's an extremely useful tool, but a word of waing – sometimes only the most unusual and intriguing items show up here, and not the ones that are in the highest demand. It may not always be a true reflection on what is really the most popular item(s) on eBay. To demonstrate this, on the day of writing several items featured in The Pulse were what you might call "get rich quick schemes," whilst another was someone offering to have your advert tattooed on their back for all to see!

Marketplace Research

(http://pages.ebay.com/marketplace_research/index.html) is a new service that allows you to analyze data on completed auction listings. Although the service does incur a monthly charge, it may be worth a look if you'd like in-depth data and statistics already collected for you. If you're familiar with eBay's advanced search features you may be able to accomplish something similar to Marketplace Research on your own.

The eBay Community (http://hub.ebay.com/community) is another useful section to the site if you're seeking out popular items. The chance to talk with other sellers, network, and discuss the latest trends may mean you can keep ahead of the pack. It's nice for a good old elbow-rubbing session with fellow eBay nuts too. eBay is such a humongous marketplace most sellers realize it's not a bad choice to share your success stories with potential competition, since you may pick up some tips for yourself.

Of course you can also simply keep an eye out yourself. Take a look at completed auction listings. Is the item you're thinking of selling doing well for other people? Is this a seasonal item? How many other sellers are in this niche?

With this wide range of tools at your disposal, you've got a ready-made resource to search for those hot items. I've got dollar signs in my eyes already!

Chris Vendilli is the owner, founder, and CEO of The 3 Rivers Auctions Company. Chris has helped numerous people start successful online businesses mainly focusing on eBay and affiliate marketing. Chris is also an eBay Power Seller, indicating he has in depth knowledge of the way eBay works! If you're interested in getting more information regarding eBay tips, trends, strategies, & secrets please visit Chris's site using the link below:

http://www.3riversauctions.com

How to Store Preview or Stop Using Your Custom Logo

2009-06-01T20:30:00.000-07:00

When your buyers go through eBay checkout, they can see your uploaded custom logo. You can even add it in the invoice mails to your buyers. The format of your logo file must be either of the types .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .gif, or .png. Size of the logo should be 310 x 90 pixels. If you are a store seller then eBay uses your Store logo.

When you want to add your custom logo click 'my eBay' link at the top of any eBay page, click the 'preferences' link that you can find in the left side of navigation bar. On clicking the 'show' button for 'logos and branding' in the 'Seller Preferences' section, 'customizing checkout and invoice' page gets displayed. Now click on the 'browse' link to browse the image for your logo in the hard drive of your computer. There will be a dialogue box displayed for you to choose a file. If you click on your logo icon file twice it gets selected and in the browse box you can see the path to your logo file. Now click the 'upload' button to upload your logo to eBay. To include it on the checkout page and invoice select the check boxes for 'include it on the checkout page' or 'include it on the invoice mail'.

You can now preview your logo to see how it will look to your buyers. For this click the link 'preview checkout page'. Later, you can close the preview button by clicking the 'close' button for it. Similarly, you can preview for your invoice mail by clicking the link for 'preview invoice mail'. Later you may close it by clicking the 'close' button. Now you can save by clicking the 'save' button to save changes. If you clear the check boxes for 'include….' on the customizing checkout and invoice page and click on the save button you may stop using your custom logo.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

He also manages http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com an online wholesale and closeout forum.

Donny can be reached at 718-389-5502

Negating Negative Feedback on eBay

2009-06-01T06:09:00.000-07:00

Taking some pride in my one hundred percent positive feedback score on eBay, I was horrified to see a negative feedback appear against me.

What had I done wrong? Had I overlooked an auction win and failed to deliver product as promised? Had I given poor, slow service? Was I rude to the auction winner?

Certainly, if I had been guilty of any of these things, the negative feedback may have been deserved. But, wait a second! The auction had just ended!

Within minutes (perhaps seconds) of the auction`s end, I was being awarded negative feedback. Not only did I not receive any chance to fulfill the order or to right any wrong that I may have committed, I also received an e-mail from the perpetrator threatening to have me suspended from eBay if I didn`t meet certain demands.

This wasn`t fair! Obviously, I had been victimized by an online bully. (You would honestly think that people had more productive things to do with their time.)

What could I do about it? I e-mailed eBay and told them my story. I mentioned how libel was a cause for civil action. I forwarded to them the e-mail extorting me. Extortion is a criminal offense.

Happily, eBay took action. The negative feedback that appeared on my member profile was almost immediately removed. eBay also took disciplinary action against the suspected abuser.

Yes, it took extra time and effort to deal with the problem, but isn`t your reputation worth it?

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to ea maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

Learning How To Be Successful At Selling On eBay

2009-05-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Leaing how to be successful at selling on eBay

As you might have already noticed there's more to selling on eBay and the various other auction sites than just posting an auction and waiting for the money to arrive. You only need to to look at the many many eBay items that go unsold every day. This article will help you lea to successfully sell on eBay and other auction sites by examining the different skills to you need to lea to be successful. We will use combined experience of many eBay sellers with years of success and we will list here many pointers and tools that will help you join their ranks.

Sell something you know and care about.

The to be very successful on eBay requires more than just following a few steps. The above average sellers more than just anonymously listing a few items for sale. The top sellers reflect a portion of themselves in each item they list. This helps put aside any uncertainties a buyer might have purchasing from a complete stranger. Thus the first lesson in becoming a top of eBay seller is to lea how to put to that little something of yourself into your auction listings.

Research, what the buyers in your field of interest are looking for.

What is the main difference between eBay sellers who sell, and those who run up bills listing items that they don't get rid of? Those who are stuck with their stock look for items to sell that they want to sell, those who are very successful at selling looks items to sell that people want to buy!

Research is absolutely critical to being successful on eBay. You should utilise the Inteet to its full extent to find the information necessary pertaining as to which heightens will be the best sellers. Good sources for finding this information are eBay itself, and the various forums dedicated to eBay buyers and sellers.

Make sure what you know how to meet your eBay buyers' needs

You will need to lea how to obtain your products, be it through wholesalers or importers or other means. How to deliver your products, be it self delivery, out sourced delivery or drop shipping. Keep in mind the extra costs involved with the various forms of purchase and delivery.

Design your auctions to build relationships with your eBay buyers

Buyers would prefer to spend their money when they feel comfortable with the seller. You should therefore build up good relationships not only with your current customers that with any potential customers looking at your listings. Keep in mind that eBay keeps track your customer satisfaction through the feedback system. It is imperative that you build up an excellent feedback score.

Promote your auctions to attract new buyers

You should lea how to promote your products on eBay through use of the inbuilt tools such as eBay stores, membership profiles and cross-referencing of various listings.

By following these pointers you will improve your selling results in no time at all. It's all a matter of discipline and being realistic and with oneself.

Stuart Perryman Tips for selling on eBay http://ebay.alluneedtoknow.info

How to Locate Wholesale Products for Free to Sell on eBay

2009-05-31T06:55:00.000-07:00

How to Locate Wholesale Products for Free to Sell on eBay

Too good to be true? Is there a catch? Yes, you really can obtain items at no cost to sell on eBay. Read on for the details....

There is a new website in which people list items they are giving away for free. The sites are located across the country and all you have to invest is the time to pick up the products. The website is called FreeCycle. Do a Google Search to obtain their web address.

The FreeCycle Network is made up of many individual groups across the globe. It's a grassroots movement of people who give (and receive) things for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a volunteer moderator and membership is free. You can go directly to the website for your local group by clicking on community links at the FreeCycle website.

FreeCycle was started in May 2003 to promote waste reduction in Tucson, Arizona's downtown area and help save their beautiful desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. It provides individuals and non profit groups an electronic forum to "recycle" unwanted items. This site can be used to get rid of excess items in your house and garage, as well as getting items you can resell for a large profit on eBay. Obtaining a steady stream of items at no cost to sell on eBay can jumpstart a new eBay business; or it can add an additional revenue stream to your current eBay sales.

As mentioned above, you will need to pick the products up and store them. Use this service to expand your eBay business!

Online Auctions Discover 6 Myths Surrounding Them

2009-05-30T04:35:00.000-07:00

Online Auctions are unmistakably among the hottest e-Sourcing technologies on the Inteet business today. But what exactly is an online auction anyway and what are its benefits? According to The Pocket Oxford Dictionary, fourth edition (1942), an auction is a "public sale in which articles are sold to the highest bidder." And if done on Inteet it is online auction.

Online auctions create a competitive advantage because they make it relatively simple for Procurement managers to negotiate on all corporate purchases and create better deals.

Let us see some common myths surrounding online auctions:

MYTH #1: Only very familiar, particular or consistent items can be auctioned:

The myth came into being because no one understood how to measure criteria other than price. Total cost auctions take price and no-price factors, such as delivery time or customer service, into account, and they allow a customer to weight each factor accordingly. This is only a myth because when someone with sourcing expertise takes a creative approach to defining or breaking down the item in question, that item or its components can generally be auctioned.

MYTH # 2: Auctions are only effective when there is a level playing field:

This is false since a level playing field simply doesn't exist. And, not all suppliers are alike. Face-to-face negotiations have long proven this fact. Procurement managers can now normalize for differences (e.g., customer service, warranty terms, delivery cost, etc.) using Web-based technology. In effect, these technologies measure total cost allow customers to compare apples-to-oranges.

MYTH #3: Only Inteet-savvy suppliers can participate in an Online auction:

Today, the majority of legitimate suppliers have access to computers. The myth that only inteet-savvy suppliers can participate in an online auction is wrong. In order to participate in an Inteet based online auction, the suppliers merely need to be able to log on to the Inteet, log in to a web site, and log their bids. It's just very simple. Suppliers don't have to know how to navigate the World Wide Web or use any sophisticated search engines to participate.

MYTH #4: Maximum benefits could be derived only if large number of suppliers participate:

For any online auction, competition is a must and you must create a competitive environment, no matter if the suppliers is 4 or 400. Inteet auctions put the business "up for bid." Incumbents are wise to take notice. Once existing suppliers believe that the buyer really will change where he takes his business, a competitive environment is created. Thus concrete results for online auctions occur irrelevant to number of suppliers.

MYTH #5: Only products are auctioned?

Not true - in fact, services are also auctioned. Services such as Telemarketing services, Cellular phone services, Security services, and temporary labor services are all good examples. For example, a particular auction site held an auction for telemarketing services that resulted in an 18% cost reduction. The auction involved over 60 suppliers and more than 700 bids. The study shows that apart from products, services can also be auctioned.

MYTH # 6:Auctions are carried out only once in a year:

Event online auctions are generally used for categories of goods and services that require a long-term contract (say one year). These will achieve better results if auctioned year (or less). For example, a buyer may auction off the purchase of 10,000 PCs over a two-year period.

It is important for all to expand their concept of what can be auctioned, as long as the value of each item is 'elastic' enough to preclude fixed pricing. Once they have done that, the possibilities are almost endless.

Pradeep Aggarwal is the creator of Auction Spectrum the online auction hub. This site is dedicated to helping people to build Profit Pulling Websites and start and run a successful online auction business.

Make Money On EBay While Others Are Scratching Their Heads

2009-05-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

Aaargh! Why is my competition getting way more hits than mine?

There are several reasons why, but I hope to explain at least the major reason.

Poor titles with a lack of highly targeted keywords

The majority of eBay sellers are completely unaware that they are jeopardising their success through lack of knowledge. Knowledge is POWER and the most effective way to power-pack your auctions is to use highly targeted keywords in your auction titles and descriptions...

Let's start with your title …

eBay estimates that over 90% of users search eBay by using the basic search feature which means they only search the auction titles.

So what does this mean for me?

Above all else ... it means focus more on your auction titles first and foremost and then consider integrating those same highly targeted keywords into your auction descriptions.

So where do you find these highly targeted keywords and which ones should you use?

The best place to start is with 'eBay Pulse' http://pulse.ebay.com/ and browse through the top popular searches in the category where you would like to list your auction using the Category drop-down box. Jot down the list of the top 10.

Now the number of words allowed in your auction titles is limited so be sure to find several popular search terms that you can easily integrate into your auction title remembering to make it sound interesting also – not just a swag of keywords!

You can generally assume that on average, people search for the same terms on eBay as they do in search engines. In light of this, to see how valuable your chosen keywords really are I suggest using the Overture Keyword Selector Tool at http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ to see how popular those keywords/search terms are by the estimated number of times they were searched for in all the major search engines for the past month.

Please bear in mind that these results are not entirely accurate, however they will give you an overview of which keywords are the most important and will be searched for the most.

Enter each search term separately and from the results jot down the top 5 search phrase results for each of the keywords.

Another hot tip is with eBay itself. Go ahead and search for similar items to which you want to list and take note of 3 things.

1. The title at the top of the page – here eBay lists other highly targeted words for your item.

2. Undeeath the search box (depending on what you have searched for) you will see 'related searches' which can give you more ideas.

3. Be sure to click the check box on the left hand side for 'completed items' and then click the search button and have a look for items that have sold similar to yours. When the results are retued, click the column title called 'price' to sort by final price.

Make note of the most successful sales and look at their titles. (As a side note, it pays to look at what category they listed in and also anything you can lea from their description, layout etc – remembering of course not to copy their text or photos).

Now you're ready to strategically integrate those highly targeted keywords & phrases into your auction titles to drive highly targeted traffic to your auctions.

Remember, as I mentioned earlier, be sure to make full use of the best keywords but the title must make sense and be inviting (not just a list of keywords that will get your auction deleted for keyword spamming) – You need to be creative, after all you may get hundreds of visitors from searches but you still need them to click on your title!

Find out how easy it is to seriously Make Money on eBay. Everything you need to launch your own highly profitable Ebay business oveight ... It's all here from one convenient source at http://www.livingfreeonline.com

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as you leave the article title, author, body, resource box & links intact, unaltered & active (means NO changes whatsoever).

Ebay And The Advent Of Cybercash

2009-05-28T23:31:00.000-07:00

Gone are the days when only cash (or cattle in some cases) was the only accepted mode of payment for trades. As the concept of trading evolves, so does the means of paying for items.

TodayÂ's electronic world pushes the envelop further. With the advent of online trading systems such as eBay, many new forms of payment have flourished.

First of all, on eBay, the mode of payment depends on the agreement of the buyer and the seller. Most often, the seller will specify his or her desired payment method. In these cases, the seller often has primacy in the decisions regarding payment modes. However, the buyer may still communicate with the seller regarding a viable alteative if it suits both parties.

The following is a list of common eBay payment modes.

Cash On Delivery
Cash is, after all, still cash. This payment method can be done through a third party courier system or by the buyer and seller meeting each other at an agreed place. The advantage of such is that the exchange of item for payment is done in the presence of the buyer and the seller (or the sellerÂ's representative). However, some people will qualm over the risk present when two strangers meet.

Personal Check
One popular method of payment is personal check. Writing checks is easy and safe. However, many sellers do not like accepting check because they are easy to cancel.

PayPal
PayPal is the payment of choice on eBay. In fact, eBay owns PayPal.

Using PayPal is easy, convenient, and relatively safe. PayPal acts as like an inteet Â'wire transfer.Â'

After signing up for PayPal, one may send cash over to anyone with an email address using the PayPal system. PayPal also has security features that safeguards against fraud in case there is dispute between the seller and the buyer. This system is best for transactions up to $1000.

Escrow.com
Escrow.com is the payment of choice for purchases over $500. Escrow.com holds the buyerÂ's money from the seller until the seller delivers the item. Only then will the funds be released to the seller. This system makes for a very safe, although highly procedural transaction.

Wire Transfer
This is the payment of choice for countries that do not carry the PayPal service. Wire transfers are risky because the buyer usually has to wire over the funds before the seller sends the items. The chance for non-delivery of items is high.

Other Payment Systems
The number of third party payment services is steadily on the rise. Their systems for payment vary. However, to be successful they must be convenient to use and safe as well.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

David Riewe is a Publisher and Online Marketer. Visit his eBay Blog to Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips in this FREE ebook www.push-button-online-income.com/ebayblog

An eBay Seller s Checklist for Success

2009-05-28T20:43:00.000-07:00

Being a seller is a lot of responsibility, and sometimes you might feel like you're not doing everything you should be. This simple checklist will help you keep on top of things.

Have you found out everything you possibly could about your items? Try typing their names into a search engine – you might find out something you didn't know. If someone else is selling the same thing as you, then always try to provide more information about it than they do. Do you monitor the competition? Always keep an eye on how much other items the same as or similar to yours are selling, and what prices they're being offered at. There's usually little point in starting a fixed price auction for £100 when someone else is selling the item for £90.

Have you got pictures of the items? It's worth taking the time to photograph your items, especially if you have a digital camera. If you get serious about eBay but don't have a camera, then you will probably want to invest in one at some point.

Are you emailing your sellers? It's worth sending a brief email when transactions go through: something like a simple "Thank you for buying my item, please let me know when you have sent the payment". Follow this up with "Thanks for your payment, I have posted your [item name] today". You will be surprised how many problems you will avoid just by communicating this way.

Also, are you checking your emails? Remember that potential buyers can send you email about anything at any time, and not answering these emails will just make them go somewhere else instead of buying from you.

Do your item description pages have everything that buyers need to know? If you're planning to offer inteational delivery, then it's good to make a list of the charges to different counties and display it on each auction. If you have any special terms and conditions (for example, if you will give a refund on any item as long as it hasn't been opened), then you should make sure these are displayed too.

Have you been wrapping your items correctly? Your wrapping should be professional for the best impression: use appropriately sized envelopes or parcels, wrap the item in bubble wrap to stop it from getting damaged, and print labels instead of hand-writing addresses. Oh, and always use first class post – don't be cheap.

Do you follow up? It is worth sending out an email a few days after you post an item, saying "Is everything alright with your purchase? I hope you received it and it was as you expected." This might sound like giving the customer an opportunity to complain, but you should be trying to help your customers, not take their money and run.

Being a really good eBay seller, more than anything else, is about providing genuinely good and honest customer service. That's the only foolproof way to protect your reputation.

Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisation with a wealth of experience in personal development, management development, e-leaing and operational management. In addition he owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) two sites specifically aimed at those who want to successfully sell on eBay http://www.ebay-profits.co.uk and http://www.info-entrepreneurs.co.uk

Doing It eBay An eBay Business Means Fun and Profits in a Global Marketplace

2009-05-27T08:44:00.001-07:00

In 1995, when Pierre Omidyar introduced an online business venue that was essentially a virtual garage sale with auction pricing, no one knew a retailing revolution was about to occur. That site became known as eBay, and it's hard to find someone today who hasn't at least heard about the popular online auction company.

What's important to understand from the start is that eBay is a sales channel that you can use exclusively or in addition to selling through a retail operation, mail order catalog, independent Web site, or network of direct salespeople. You decide the type of business you want to have, what type of merchandise you're going to sell, and how you're going to operate.

To sell on eBay, you'll pay a listing fee to post your merchandise and a final value fee (a small percentage of the sale price) when the item sells. For the current eBay fee schedule, check the eBay site.

What can you sell on eBay?

Though eBay is a popular place for the sale of used items ranging from high-dollar antiques to second-hand junk, it's also a venue for brand-new, up-to-the-minute merchandise of all types and in all price ranges. Deciding what to sell on eBay can be particularly challenging because your options are virtually limitless. Some of the more popular categories of items are cars, computers, consumer electronics, books, movies, music, sports items, collectibles, clothing and accessories.

As you take the first step of deciding what to sell on eBay, keep these points in mind:

· Have an interest in the product. Don't choose a product based on potential profits alone; be sure it's something you'll enjoy working with.

· Cost and sale price. How much will the item cost you and how much can you reasonably expect to sell it for?

· Availability. Is the merchandise readily available or will you risk having to deal with supply problems?

· Storage. Do you have room to store the merchandise?

· Packing and shipping. Consider what is involved in packing and shipping the merchandise. Even though the buyer typically pays the shipping costs, think about your labor, time, and potential breakage.

· Seasonal issues. Will the item sell year-round or be subject to seasonal fluctuations?

How do you sell on eBay?

You have a variety of ways to sell on eBay. In addition to the traditional basic auction, where you post your item with a starting price and wait for bidders to drive the price up, you can use a number of other pricing features and auction types. In addition to auctions, you can also set up your own eBay store, which will allow you to sell auction and fixed-price merchandise from your special location on eBay. You'll pay a monthly fee based on the level of store services you want, plus additional fees for items listed and sold.

The technical side of eBay

eBay has evolved into one of the most user-friendly sites on the Inteet. Getting set up as a user is a simple process that you can complete in just a few minutes. You will be required to provide your name, address, e-mail, and telephone number, as well as a credit card number and your checking account information. eBay uses this information to confirm your identity, which protects the integrity of their operation, and to collect auction fees. If your contact information changes, be sure to notify eBay immediately.

You must register to buy or sell on eBay, but you can browse around the site without registering. Before you do any business on eBay, take the time to get to know the site. Set aside several hours to get online and browse around, study listings, read the help pages, understand the various tools and how you can use them, check out the forums, and get comfortable with how the site works.

Once your business is up and running, you'll probably want to consider using supplemental auction management software, which will save time and money, make you more efficient, and improve the level of customer service you offer.

Getting started as an eBay seller

Start off by buying a few things, then start selling, posting just one or two auctions at a time until you're comfortable with how the process works. You'll make mistakes, especially in the beginning, but if you lea from them they'll be worth the cost.

Keep in mind that eBay is ever-changing. As the economy cycles, you'll experience changes in pricing and demand. And as more people start operating on eBay, the competition will increase and prices may decline slightly (great when you're buying, but not when you're selling).

If you plan to make selling on eBay a full-time business, expect to work hard. Though there is plenty of money to be made on eBay, it's not a get-rich-quick or easy deal. You'll invest as much time and energy as you would in a traditional retail operation--but your potential for profits is greater.

Don't be intimated by the sheer size of the operation, and keep in mind that eBay has reached less than ten percent of its potential market—which means there is plenty of room for you. So find your eBay niche, get online, and watch your business grow.

Jacquelyn Lynn is the co-author of Make Big Profits on eBay: Start Your Own Million $ Business (with Charlene Davis, Entrepreneur Press, 2005) and the author of Start Your Own Business on eBay, plus nine other titles in Entrepreneur's Start-Up Guide Series. For more information, visit http://www.jacquelynlynn.com

Are There Any Ebay Secrets That Are Worth Buying

2009-05-26T19:28:00.000-07:00

If you look around a little on the web, youÂ'll no doubt come across people trying to sell you ebooks about eBayÂ's Â'secretsÂ' for as much as $20. HereÂ's a sample:

Â"Along with 400,000 other excited eBay fanatics I now make a living using the Inteet and eBay. I can go days without ever speaking to a single customer, but I have a world wide customer base. My online business runs like a well oiled machine with a part-time effort!Â"

You too can get such valuable tips as:

Â"All you need to do is write a list of questions other people would pay to get the answers to, give that list to a friend, have the friend call you on the phone and ask you those questions, record the call, have the recording transcribed, and edit the transcription! Presto - you've just created a Â'meatyÂ' ebook fast!Â"

So What Do These Books Contain?

DonÂ't be deceived by the slick sales copy and promises of Â'automatic sales machinesÂ' and unique sales strategies. Most of these Â'winning money-making strategiesÂ' boil down to the same thing. Follow their advice, and youÂ'll be writing long, old-fashioned sales copy in an effort to sell shoddily-written downloadable ebooks to gullible souls, either directly through eBay or by trying to redirect people through your About Me page to your website.

The theory is that the rubbish ebooks will sell themselves, and you wonÂ't have to do a thing.

HereÂ's a question to ask yourself: if these Â'secretsÂ' work so well, then why arenÂ't the ebooks authors spending every hour they have putting them into practice, instead of trying to sell you ebooks? If these secrets were so valuable, then why would they give them away for that price, or any price? Out of charity? Yeah, right.

HereÂ's the reality: trying to sell ebooks on eBay or anywhere else is very likely to get you nowhere, and fast. The bottom fell out of the ebook market a long time ago Â– in fact, itÂ's doubtful whether it ever had a bottom to begin with. The ebooks are an effort to get to you sign up for all sorts of services, making money for the ebooksÂ' writers each time. In short, the only way to profit from Â'secrets of eBayÂ' ebooks is to be selling them, not buying them Â– and do you really want to become a con artist?

If youÂ'd like to take a look at one of these ebooks, try searching for the name and picking through results. The chances are youÂ'll find an excerpt or review Â– and if itÂ's not by someone trying to sell you the ebook then it wonÂ't be a favourable view. The fact that most ebooks you buy for $20 come with unlimited resale rights should tip you off if nothing else does.

ItÂ's All Out There for Free.

You can almost any information that someone might be trying to sell you in an ebook for free using a search engine, if you take the time. Ebooks arenÂ't worth the paper theyÂ're not printed on.

If youÂ'd like a real way to make more money, look out for our next email: weÂ'll show you how and when to use eBayÂ's powerful Â'Second Chance OfferÂ' feature.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

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

Ebay And Dropshipping A Marriage Made In Heaven

2009-05-26T06:27:00.000-07:00

eBay is the 'BEST' opportunity you can use right now to make money online in the dropshipping business from the comfort of your own home.

Thousands of people just like you use eBay auctions on a daily basis to sell and buy products on the Inteet; now it's your time to START your own dropshipping home-based business and succeed in the eBay auctions 'game'!

There are no special skills required for this dropshipping business, all you need is a computer, Inteet access and some basic computer / Inteet knowledge.

Dropshipping is when you sell products on the Web, forward the orders to the dropship supplier and, in retu, the dropshipper ships the product to your customer (buyer).

You act as the middleman between the dropshipping supplier and your buyer. You can take orders by credit card, PayPal fax or any other method you can think of. You can sell via your own Web Site, Yahoo store, or even through e-mails.

Your profit is generated on the difference between your selling price and the price the dropshipping supplier charges you.

Thanks to dropshipping you can start making money 'instantly' without any investment in inventory, warehousing, shipping, equipment, employees or office space.

Having products drop shipped by suppliers, allows you to concentrate on truly important aspects like advertising, sales and promotion.

Pay attention! There are lots of companies claiming to be 'Drop Shippers'. However, a legitimate drop shipper is a factory-authorized wholesale distributor, or sometimes the actual manufacturer of the product. A legitimate drop shipper should not charge you an 'account setup fee' or ask you to place a 'minimum quantity order'.

Make sure you find legitimate drop shippers who have the product(s) you want to sell, talk with them on the phone or by e-mail and let them know that you are truly serious about doing business with them.

Customer support counts in the dropshipping business, so don't hesitate to contact dropshipping suppliers before you proceed to work with them.

This will help you decide if you really want to do business with a particular drop shipper or not.

To succeed in the dropshipping business you'll have to LOOK for hard-to-find products that people desperately need and want to purchase.

The key is to sell products with little or no competition.

Do some research for product's you want to sell that you think will have little or no competition on eBay.

I suggest you RESEARCH for quality products & legitimate dropship suppliers, MONITOR the eBay auction listings to see if there's any competition and TEST the market (e.g. find out if people really want to spend CASH on the product you want to sell)

Remember! Dropshipping makes it EASY for you to start and run your own home-based businesses on a shoestring budget; and eBay is the 'perfect' MEDIUM to expose your product to potential buyers all over the globe!

About the Author: Ron Keegan runs Megastar Distributors a red-hot Web Site jam-packed with lots of FREE Resources, Tips & Reports on DropShipping & eBay. Pick-up your *FREE* ebook at http://www.Megdis.com to lea more about making-money dropshipping!

Buying Art on eBay and Other Internet Sites

2009-05-26T01:31:00.000-07:00

BUYING ART ON EBAY
and other inteet sites.

Do you want information to help you purchase art on eBay and other auction venues?
Do you want to purchase art that you like a great deal and ensure that your transaction is an excellent one?

There are many wonderful artists who sell their art online and are honest and trustworthy.

One group of professional artists who are established and trustworthy is The Electronic Museum of Established Artists (EMOEA). EMOEA is a group of artists who consistently create high quality artwork in a wide variety of subjects.

We are artists who take a great deal of pride in the artwork we create. We create our own original and authentic artwork. We are very proud of the art we create and sign our names on each of our paintings.

We are dedicated to creating high quality artwork and to providing excellent customer service, as well.

In an excellent transaction:

the buyer receives the work of art that is represented in the auction pictures and in the description of the artwork.
the buyer receives the work of art in excellent condition.
the buyer's communication with the artist is helpful and friendly.
the seller ships the artwork in a timely fashion.
the seller is honest and trustworthy.

It is also important to be able to determine whether or not you are purchasing original artwork or reproductions of original artwork. Very often, reproductions of original works of art are referred to as prints.

You may trust EMOEA artists because:

We are all Verified sellers through eBay or Square Deal.
The artwork we sell is our own original and signed work.
We ship our own artwork directly to you.
All of us are established artists who have sold on eBay for at least one year.
Each of us has feedback from at least 100 different buyers.
Our feedback on eBay is excellent. This indicates that our buyers are extremely pleased with our artwork as well as the service we provide.

We want to make the process of purchasing art on eBay an experience that is honest, friendly and pleasant.

We strive to make the experience of purchasing original art on the inteet one that is based on honesty and trust, and take a great deal of pride in doing so.

To ensure that you are buying high quality, original artwork directly from a Verified seller, search EMOEA on eBay and other online auction sites.

Nina Kuriloff is a professional artist who sells her art online. Nina has exhibited her artwork in galleries throughout the United States. Her artwork has been chosen for exhibition in 21 juried competitions. She has had artwork published in exhibition catalogs and on the cover of a chapbook of poetry.

Ebay

2009-05-24T21:09:00.000-07:00

If you peruse Ebay a lot, you'll see a lot of members selling website businesses. Often advertising these as "Tukey", they claim that the site has been making X dollars a month for the past X months. The businesses include expired domain name searches, online auction sites, credit repair sites, dating and adult sites, etc. Take a look at the current bids or prices - $1.99? What gives? If this site is making money, why would they want to sell it??? Here are some tips to help avoid buying a waste of time.

Take a look at the domain name. Do a Google search for it. Does it show up? Keep in mind how long the seller claims the site has been in business. Go to Inteic and do a Whois on the domain name...how long has it existed? Chances are less than a month.

Are there any bids on it? the number of bids is generally a good indicator on how legit this "business" is. If there's only 25 minutes left on the auction, and there is one bid for a very low dollar amount, this one's most likely a dog. If it is down to 25 minutes and there are 60 bids on it up to 500 bucks, it's most likely a keeper.

Proof of income. Some sites show a screen shot of their payment processor. Visit the website. Is the payment processor the same? For example, is the screen shot on Ebay from 2Checkout, and Paypal is the only payment method on the site? Smells fishy to me.

Most of these sites claim to be "100 Percent custom hand coded by experienced developers". Do some Googling for "website templates". Look through some of the places that offer web templates for sale. You will most likely run across the design of the website that is for sale. View the source of the site that's for sale - you may find that the seller forgot to remove the comment code that states that "This site was developed by " . There are actually websites that SELL tukey web businesses specifically for sale on Ebay, and they use these templates all the time, over and over again.

If you are still skeptical, email the seller with your questions. If this site is truly on the up-and-up, they'll be honest. If not, they'll dodge your questions like a bullet.

One more thing to consider: Often these sites will come with "Dirt Cheap Web Hosting", for something like $6.99 per year. Think about it - would a TRUE e-commerce site that was getting tons of traffic and sales rely on lowest-bidder web hosting? Nope.

Now, don't get me wrong - there ARE some good web businesses available from time to time on Ebay...but with the availability of so many free website scripts and templates, they seem to be few and far between. Caveat Emptor, my friends - let the buyer beware.

However, if you want to lea more about running a real ebay business and selling real goods and making good sales,

take a look at this site, "ebay auction software" to find some great tips

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

ebay auction software

How To Use A WYSIWYG HTML Editor To Make Stunning Ebay Auction Listings

2009-05-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

What kind of browser are you using for online surfing? Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, Opera?? Sure, all are good programs but I want to talk about an excellent program called Netscape. If you use Netscape, do you know that you also get an amazing WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) web design program called Netscape Composer for free? Basically you don't need expensive HTML editors anymore. The list of commercially available HTML editors software is endless – and the price tags are enormous. Most people don't want to spend a lot of money to get started with their eBay business. Fair enough, since the goal is to make money and not to spend money. So it makes perfect sense to use a program to design auction listings which is available for free. And such a program is Netscape Composer.

It has the same professional features like FrontPage or any other similar program. To design stunning and professional looking eBay auction sites with Netscape Composer you need to download Netscape first. If you start up the program, select File->New Composer Page and basically you can start immediately to design your auction listings. You can make you letters in any colour, bold, italics, use background colours (or even images) etc. The options are endless. You can save this file on your local hard drive as html file. I used to have one file for every listing I generate. The best thing is that once you have got a nice and professional looking eBay auction listing, you can use it for ever. Just open your last listing in Netscape Composer and edit according to your new item. Amazingly, this takes only a couple of minutes.

But how do you transfer your listing saved as a html file on your local hard drive to eBay? The answer is simple. Once you have logged in into your eBay account and selected your category and starting price you have to type in your "item description". Did you see that eBay allows HTML format? Have a look when you launch your next listing. That's the time where you go back to your new listing you just have created with Netscape Composer. Down the bottom of your Netscape Composer page you'll see a button called: SOURCE - the source code of your listing. Click on that and highlight and copy the entire text. Select then the eBay site and paste this text into the "Item description box". Make sure that all links are working and that all photos are uploaded to the inteet.

When you have finalised your listing you will be surprised. A stunning and professional looking "DIY-listing". You can always use "ready-to-go" auction templates and edit these according to your item. You'll see that with an professional auction design you can easily attract more buyers and get higher bids. It's worth the effort. Keep in mind that professional web design software is highly expensive and does the same job. Alteatively, you can choose from a huge variety of third party auction services doing the job for you. But hey, there are incredibly expensive too. Don't you think that the eBay fees are high enough and you can easily do it yourself without spending any additional dollars.It's really simple!

Thomas Haselhorst is webmaster of http://www.auction-design-for-free.com From ebay sellers - for ebay sellers!

Dropship Wholesale Beware of Search Engine Results

2009-05-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Because Dropship and wholesale directories have becume so popular on the inteet many search results for related products can be scams. Do a search on Google.com for the search term "dropship wholesale" and you will get 962,000 results. The scary part is it's hard to know who you can trust online when you need a reliable directory of wholesale products.

Who is going to take your money and run? Who will deliver a high quality product that you know will give you results? Do they offer a guarantee and will they really stand by that guarantee and refund your money of the product isn't what you bargained for?

These are just a few of the questions you should ask yourself before investing in a dropship or wholesale directory on the inteet. Some more questions:

Have the companies within the dirtectory been contacted recently and are the phone numbers and addresses accurate and current?

Will the dropship compaines actually dropship products for me in my name?

Do I have to pay a Dropshipping Fee for products that the companies dropship?

Do the compaines within the directory actually have products on hand, or are they a "middle man" that will charge me more than factory or warehouse direct prices?

Such Middle men will many times claim to be an actual wholesale supplier of products, when in reality they get in between you and the factory or warehouse of products to take a cut into your profits.

Is the directory endorsed by a reputable company and not just the author of the directory?

Any dropship or wholesale directory that is advertised for sale should have an address, email and phone number for contact information. This should be a general rule of thumb for any product purchased on the inteet. If the above questions can't be answered on the website you should be able to contact the seller of the product and get your questons answered before you purchase.

As a general rule of thumb when looking for a dropship or wholesale directory remember you get what you pay for. If you pay a cheap $15.00 to $27.00 for a directory expect cheap results and poor customer service. A little higher priced item that has contact information will most likely result in a higher quality item and better customer service.

If you intend to use your dropship directory to actually make money or build a business on the interent you won't want cheap results. You want to invest wisely where you know your money will get results.

The Only Dropship and Wholesale Resource Certified by Ebay!

Don't settle for cheap and second hand results. Get the most up to date, high quality directory available on the inteet today at: http://www.freewebsuccess.info/dropship-wholesale

Affordable Online Car Auctions

2009-05-23T01:58:00.000-07:00

Still hunting for the car of your dreams? Public car auctions online are becoming a happy hunting ground for car aficionados for they bring you a huge selection of affordable cars in various models at unbelievable prices.

With online car auctions you can buy a new car at prices, which are quite less than the manufacturer's price in the retail showroom. You can buy a car at price that you can afford. Automobile auctions have car prices which are among the most affordable and there are all kinds of options available to suit every kind of budget.

For instance, you can find all kinds of auto auctions online - from recreational vehicle auctions to buying used cars on line. Buying used cars online is a win-win situation for you for you can find cars that are practically new in their look and feel but have prices far less than the new ones. Some of the vehicles listed in inteet vehicle auctions are still under factory warranty.

Inteet auto auctions is open to the people residing anywhere. Online auto bidding auctions include quality vehicles, used luxury and economy cars and even online auctions for car parts and accessories.

Buying car of your dreams at affordable prices gives you immense joy. To make your dream a reality, all you have to do is review all the listed cars in the inteet vehicle auctions sites. Most online car auctions try their best to ensure that the cars, which are listed for online public auto auctions are high-quality, well-maintained vehicles. You can decide how much you would like to spend after referring to the catalogues, which have a huge selection of cars in different categories.

But always keep in the mind that our public car auctions online do not give you a GUARANTEE or imply a WARRANTY of any type, kind, or nature on any purchase so make sure you know what you are bidding on.

This is a wholesale exchange between, you, the buyer, and the seller, this is not a retail used car showroom. Please make certain that you are comfortable buying in the "AS IS/Where IS" arena - you will be held financially responsible for any bids tendered.

If you are on the hunt to buy your dream car, visit Auctions4Wheels.com for some truly affordable online car auctions. Registration is FREE with this auction site. You can choose to place a bid and if successful you will receive a confirmation message. If your bid fails to outbid the current high bidder you will be offered the option to place a higher bid.

Ben Stewart