Beware There Are A Lot Of Crooks On Ebay

I hope you have not had a negative experience on ebay. I was very much enjoying the site until one day, some freak tried to steal nearly £200 from selling me an item which did not exist. This article explains what happened and also the advice the police gave to me.

As I have already mentioned I was having lots of fun buying and selling on Ebay for a number of months without any problems at all. I regularly sold second hand mobile phones and was doing very well for myself. If I ever bought anything that cost over £100, I would offer to meet the seller somewhere, normally just off the motorway. I pulled off what I believed was some good deals and also managed to offload some of my unwanted items which I either had no interest in anymore or that I had no longer a need for.

Unfortunately all good things have to come to an end and it certainly did with ebay.

One particular moing I was looking to purchase another second hand mobile phone, which I would then re-sell on. There was an advert for a buy it now phone with the asking price low but not extremely low.

There was a mobile number to phone if I had any questions. I decided to phone the number, his name was Tony and I asked him the general type questions. He sounded and seemed really nice, however stated that he was unable to meet me as he was unable to drive as he had not past his test. The alarm bells should have already started to ring, but me being a bit stupid they didn't.

His house was a long way from where I lived and reluctantly I agreed to pay via a bank transfer. He assured me he would post the phone, that very day via Royal Mail Special Delivery to arrive by 11am the next moing. He seemed very genuine, they always do your thinking and that was that.

Next moing have a guess what arrived, yes nothing at all, nor the next day, nor the next.

I tried e-mailing him, texting and ringing his mobile phone, guess what, there was no reply.

I realised what a fool I had been, however decided to go to the police. They were very helpful and half an hour later I had a crime number however was waed that it was very unlikely I would ever see a phone or recieve a refund of my money which was £170. The police advised me to be very careful as they regularly have complaints from people who have been defrauded on ebay, I was not alone!

Outside the police station I sent Tony a text with the police crime number. To my shock he phoned me straight away swearing at me but eventually agreed to refund me the money, if I stopped the police action against him.

I was very lucky, I am sure many other people as the police stated, never get their money back.

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

Stephen Hill has a number of websites including: std treatments natural health cure arthritis specialist

eBay PowerSeller Profit Tips to Help You Make More Money on eBay 3 of a Four Part Feature

Sometimes just a few small tasks make all the difference between making a few dollars profit on eBay and generating a small fortune each month. These ideas will help you make more from your listings.

* I find a scanner sometimes produces far better pictures than a digital camera, albeit some items are too big or heavy and might damage our delicate equipment. Use it for smaller, lighter items and place them gently onto the bed to avoid scratching the surface. DO NOT SCAN POINTED ITEMS OR OTHERS WITH SHARP EDGES – that is a definite shortcut to disaster.

* Don't write or price directly and indelibly onto delicate items. For example, write in ink on a stamp or book, append a price label onto a second hand toy, tie a tag onto a delicate necklace, and value drops drastically.

* Do keep items as close to original state as possible. For example, leave toys in boxes, book with dustcovers, sets of postcards in original envelopes, records in original sleeves.

* Do repair what you can without spoiling the item or reducing its value. Toys, jewellery and most household goods can be cleaned, clothing can be repaired or refashioned, marks can be removed from some pictures and prints. For rare items like paintings, postcards, stamps, consult an expert or leave it alone.

* Do consider if something can be done to an item to increase perceived value and price and interest a wider audience. Prints from early magazines can be removed, cleaned, coloured and framed, for example, and mode dolls and toys can be touched up and combined into multi-item offerings. Stamps are another good example of items often worth little on their own, but sorted into themes, say space travel, Disney, Elvis Presley, bagged and priced low, can attract multiple bids.

* Do stay within the law or risk fines, imprisonment or a possible end to your business for passing off mode goods as antique, intentionally mis-describing goods, trading in stolen items. 'Ignorance of the law' is no excuse. In most cases stolen items can be reclaimed by their real owners, while Trading Standards have wide-ranging powers to confiscate or withdraw 'iffy' items from sale. That's if eBay doesn't cut you off sooner.

* Offer a free gift with your products. This helps cut competition where your listed product is available from numerous sources. The gift does not have to be expensive, but it should be unique. Useful examples include: a book you've written or compiled yourself; a gift certificate for a discount on other of your products; a key ring or other small novelty created especially by or for your business.

* Sell 'must have' items eBay sellers needed to run their business and attract regular, repeat business. Choose products in constant need of replenishment such as packaging, craftwork materials, jewellery findings. You'll also find people contacting you to buy outside of eBay which helps keep your listing fees low.

* From second-hand buying sources like boot sales and flea markets look for multiple same-product items in need of repair or renovation. Few people want to repair items themselves so prices will invariably be low for damaged goods. Take the best parts from each item and create one or several perfect or near-perfect items to resell. We did this recently with a pair of Black American Money Boxes with movable parts. One box was dirty and paint badly damaged, with mechanical parts unaffected. The other was clean and unscratched but the moving bits were missing. With good bits from each matched and remodelled the money box made £40 pure profit.

* Make a big thing of proving the authenticity ('provenance') of your products, by including historical details in your listing or as a separate document to go with the product. Or do both and you'll find words used inside your listing will attract greater search engine traffic, while the separate document buyers receive will increase perceived value of your product.

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

How You Can Set Up An eBay Consignment Business

Amazingly, there are still a lot of people out there who don't have a computer or don't know how to use eBay. Even though all these people don't know how to use eBay or a computer, sometimes they would still like to sell items on eBay. That's where you come in with your eBay consignment business. All you do is list the items for the people wanting to sell on eBay. When the item sells, you pay the consigner the final selling price after you take your commission and fees for listing the item on eBay. If the item doesn't't sell, you simply retu the item to the consigner.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well there are a couple of problems that you will face when trying to set up this type of business. The first problem is trying to find merchandise at a price low enough to sell on eBay. When you start your own consignment business you can set it up in a way to make sure you have a constant stream of sellable items coming in. This article outlines some of the best tips to get you started with your eBay consignment business.

The Trading Assistant Program (TA) on eBay – The TA program is a great place to start. In order to use the service you must have had 4 sales on eBay in the last 30 days and have a feedback of a least 50 with no more than 2% negative feedback. The service is currently free, so be sure to take advantage of it!

You can get started here: http://shiptrack.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAssistant&page=toolkit

Local Publications & Newspapers – You can cost effectively advertise your eBay consignment business in your local newspapers and publications. Think about the type of people you are targeting and the type of items you want to sell and then find publications that go out to that group of people to advertise in. If you're interested in selling clothing, then you'll want to advertise in school or church newsletters. Just be creative and try to think outside the box. There are also many free classified ad websites on the Inteet that you can post your ad for free, just do a search on Google for "free classifieds".

Flyers Around Town - Use your favorite word processor and create flyers to post around town. Great places to post flyers include: supermarkets, colleges, apartment complexes, govement and city building and around downtown. Basically anywhere that gets a lot of foot traffic will work great. Create flyers that have tabs the people can pull off that include your name and phone number. By posting flyers around town, your potential consignors will be nearby making it easier to meet with them.

Read The Classifieds - Not only can you use the classifieds to advertise your service, but you can also read them to find other people looking to sell items. Simply call these people up and offer your services and an eBay seller.

People Moving - Keep an eye on any real estate transactions that your paper might publish. People who are moving tend to want to sell or get rid of extra items. Simply send your card or a flyer to the new owner and let them know about your services. Also a great place to advertise your services is through storage and moving companies.

Community Organizations & Clubs - By volunteering to speak at local organizations and clubs you can give your business some exposure. Clubs like the Rotary Club, and industry or trade organizations are great places to hit up. Also senior centers and retirement homes are a great place to speak at because these people are usually in the process of downsizing their lifestyle. To get your name and business out there you can offer to speak about many topics like, how to sell on eBay.

Message Board & Discussion Groups - There are thousands of message boards and discussion groups throughout the inteet that you can get involved in. Some of the biggest ones include Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups. Also the eBay Trading Assistant has their own discussion group as well. These groups are a great place for you to lea about and discuss your consignment business. Just include a link to your consignment business website in your signature. Never post blatant ads for your services on these boards as this could be considered spam.

Yard Sales & Garage Sales - Most people think that you would go to yard sales looking for a bargain to sell on eBay. Instead of looking for items that you can buy and resell, just offer your services to the folks running the yard sale. That way if the item doesn't sell, you don't risk your own money by purchasing the item and taking it home.

Educate Others - Offer to teach others how to sell on eBay. There will be many people who attend your class, but decide that they don't want to deal with selling on eBay even after they lea how. This gives you a great opportunity to offer your services and gives you expert status.

Word Of Mouth - As always, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool you have. Always be sure to provide your clients with the best service possible and try to over deliver. When your clients are happy they will tell their friends about your services. Once you get a good track record and some happy clients, this type of marketing can multiply exponentially. You can even reward clients who do referrals by giving them a discount on their next listing with you.

Getting started with your eBay consignment business can be a tedious task and take some time. But once you get things rolling and on track, you can do very well and the business will sustain itself. By using the ideas in this article you can be on your way to running your own successful consignment business on eBay. Right now your biggest hurdle is just taking that first step, so get out there and get started!

This article was written on behalf of eBayBusiness.net by Webmaster and Inteet Marketing Specialist Jason Cooper. Visit http://www.ebaybusiness.net and download 3 Free eBay Business eBooks today! (c) 2006, eBayBusiness.net. This article may be reproduced in all venues so long as the content and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are set live.

Auction Sales Keeping Customers You Worked So Hard To Get

If you've studied business concepts you know that finding a customer can be the most expensive part of the sales process. Once you've got a customer why not maximize the money you've already invested in the effort?

This time honored business concept certainly falls under the category of going the extra mile for a customer. Assuming your product, customer service, packaging and shipping all work together to create a positive feedback posting, here are a few simple ideas companies have been utilizing for years to help them stand out from the crowd and maximize the retu on sales dollars:

• A personalized thank you

• A drop in

• A thank you gift

Personalized Thank You

Every package you send to a customer should include a personalized thank you letter. Personalized means there is a salutary greeting such as "Dear Customer Name" and your personalized signature. Why personalized? Ever hear the old sales adage, "Don't sell the product - sell the person?" It's taught to sales professionals because it works. A friendly thank you note near the end of a good transaction (more on this later) reminds the buyer they are thought of as a person, not just another sale or number. A personalized touch in today's impersonal marketplace is very refreshing.

The body copy of the note or letter is certainly up you but should be as specific to the transaction as possible (if you also include a packing slip/invoice the letter can be a little more generic). The goal of the note is to let the customer know they, and the sale, are important to you. Here's a short example:

Dear (Customer Name):

I just wanted to personally thank you for your winning bid on our (product name), Item #11111111111, enclosed. Our customers are very important to us. We realize you have a choice in selecting who you buy from and we greatly appreciate your business - now and in future.

Sincerely,

(Your Signature)

Drop-ins and gifts

A drop-in or gift provide extra chances to say thank you, create customer loyalty, increase future sales, and maximize your retu on the investment of finding your customers. As an example let's say you're selling pet supplies. For a few pennies each you can have refrigerator magnets printed like business cards that include your company name, email, eBay store, or website address. They can be as simple or complex as you can afford but only need to include something like:

Acme Pet Supplies (Your company name)

For All Your Pet's Needs (A marketing line is a good idea)

Your Website Address (Either a link to your website or auctions)

Other inexpensive drop-ins and gifts could be something as simple as a business card, a sales sheet listing all the product types you carry, a gift certificate (to be used on your e-commerce website) for a future purchase, or an offer for your free newsletter. If you're selling kitchen products you could include your favorite recipe, or if you're selling poker supplies - a print out of the best starting hands might be nice.

Closing the Sales Cycle

Do you remember my comment earlier when I mentioned "near the end of a good transaction"? If you consider sending the product (with a thank you note, drop-in or gift) the end of the sales process you are missing another great opportunity to increase sales and improve you customer relations. Don't consider the sales process completed until you send your valued customer one more email. About a week or ten days after shipping the product, send a follow-up email such as:

Dear Customer Name (again, make it as personal as possible):

Just wanted to follow up on our transaction and make sure everything went smoothly for you. We trust everything went well but if you had any problems please let us know. We are always looking for ways to improve our service and your input is very important to us. We will post positive feedback for you and hope you'll do the same for us. We look forward to doing business with you again in the future.

Thanks again,

Your Name

(Suggestion: To avoid spam filters, in the subject line of your email include the eBay or auction item name and number)

Are the efforts to include a note, a drop-in, a gift, and do follow-ups a little more work and expense? Of course, but with the aid of simple automation packages on your computer the follow-ups can be somewhat automated and the drop-in or gift will help you create a retuing customer.

Copyright © Steven Woodward – All Rights Reserved

About the Author:

Steven Woodward is the owner, editor and publisher of the Auction Sellers Network (ASN); a web site for individuals and companies who are serious about utilizing the online auction marketplace for their business. In addition to topical articles, ASN provides an extensive resource center, news feeds, member forums and classified ads. For more information or to become a member visit http://www.AuctionSellersNetwork.com

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About the Author tag is left intact and included. We do request that we be informed where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered.

Is The eBay Fee Increase Actually Good For Business

Fee Increase Leaves Some Sellers Angry, Others Thrilled

Much of my email from readers this month conceed the recent announcement from eBay that it will increase many seller fees on February 18, 2005. Since many business people use eBay's online store system as their primary ecommerce point of sale, it's no surprise that most of the emails I received were of the angry variety.

One email in particular caught my attention because it urged me to visit a website to sign an online petition protesting the fee hike. The email directed me to http://www.petitiononline.com/ebayfee/petition.html and upon further investigation I found that 22,548 digital signatures had already been collected (as of this writing).

Thank goodness not all of them had my email address.

This will be the fifth rate hike in as many years for the auction giant and should really come as no surprise. Price hikes are a normal course of business. It was the size of the hike that has many sellers upset.

The rate hike involved the following fees:

· A basic eBay Store will now cost sellers $15.95 a month, a 60% increase from the current $9.95 a month.

· Closing commissions on most items sold through eBay Stores will increase by 50 percent.

· Gallery photo fees will increase from 25 to 35 cents.

· The Buy It Now fee will jump from a flat fee of 5 cents to 10 cents for items priced over $10 and 25 cents for items over $50.

· Final value fees will rise from 5.25% to 8%.

Many of the emails I received pointed out that small sellers are making very little profit as it is so the increase in fees will only serve to drive these sellers completely out of the eBay business. Some sellers accuse eBay of purposefully trying to run them off, but I doubt that's the case. eBay has no reason to drive away the small sellers, but that realization never occurs to those who feel they are being priced out of the market.

Not everyone is too conceed over the fee increase. Jim Cockrum, eBay Powerseller, publisher of "Creative eBay Selling News," the world's largest newsletter on creative eBay selling, and author of one of the best selling eBay books of all time "The Silent Sales Machines Hiding On eBay" has other opinions.

"I don't see the eBay fee increase as a bad thing," Cockrum said in a phone interview. "I actually see it as just the opposite - it's a good thing because eBay is eliminating my competition for me. Who leaves eBay when eBay increases seller fees? It's not the customers (or shoppers). They don't go anywhere since they aren't affected. Only a handful of the weaker sellers leave eBay when fees go up."

Cockrum recommends that sellers use eBay in non-traditional ways to build their online businesses so that future fee hikes will not have an affect on their e-business.

"Selling on eBay continues to be one of the more popular ways to make money online, though very few people are getting rich with an eBay business alone," Cockrum said. "Many Powersellers don't make enough profit to cover their costs. The key to really making money with eBay is not in selling items at auction, but to use eBay to drive customers to your other online ventures. If you do that, the rate hikes do not affect your bottomline nearly as much."

Not everyone shares Cockrum's enthusiasm. Many small sellers think the govement or a regulatory board of some kind should get involved to help keep eBay fees in line. This probably won't come to pass anytime soon, but who knows. I can remember when a little company called Microsoft had free rein before they killed off all comers and came to monopolize their market. eBay seems to be headed in the same direction.

The threat of regulation may be the reason eBay is now attempting to smooth the ruffled feathers of the miffed masses. eBay announced this week that they would give a one-time $15.95 credit to eBay store owners and reduce minimum listing fees for inexpensive items from 30 cents to 25 cents, effective immediately.

Too little, too late? Could be. Many sellers believe that eBay may be writing its own obituary with such stringent price increases and such little thought for the smaller merchant. The online petition predicted the long term effects of the fee increase to be:

· Smaller sellers will stop selling on eBay and try to sell somewhere else online. They will never have the chance to expand themselves on eBay.

· Larger sellers may consider starting their own online store or sell elsewhere.

· Prices of auctions will increase. Buyers will tu back to retail stores. The idea of eBay is that you can find things cheaper there, even when adding shipping and handling together.

· Discourage new sellers, decreasing competition (which is what the eBay market thrives on for pricing).

Only time will tell if the predictions come true, but for the short term many smaller sellers are closing down their eBay stores and moving up the street to Yahoo.com.

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox

Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim's latest books include "Small Business Success Secrets" and "The 30 Day Blueprint For Success!" Related Links: http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

A Beginner s Guide To The Different Ebay Auction Types

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.

Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell don't violate eBay's listing policies. The next email will let you know what's allowed and what is a big no-no.

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 You Can Set Up An eBay Consignment Business

Amazingly, there are still a lot of people out there who don�t have a computer or don�t know how to use eBay. Even though all these people don�t know how to use eBay or a computer, sometimes they would still like to sell items on eBay. That�s where you come in with your eBay consignment business. All you do is list the items for the people wanting to sell on eBay. When the item sells, you pay the consigner the final selling price after you take your commission and fees for listing the item on eBay. If the item doesn't�t sell, you simply retu the item to the consigner.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well there are a couple of problems that you will face when trying to set up this type of business. The first problem is trying to find merchandise at a price low enough to sell on eBay. When you start your own consignment business you can set it up in a way to make sure you have a constant stream of sellable items coming in. This article outlines some of the best tips to get you started with your eBay consignment business.

The Trading Assistant Program (TA) on eBay � The TA program is a great place to start. In order to use the service you must have had 4 sales on eBay in the last 30 days and have a feedback of a least 50 with no more than 2% negative feedback. The service is currently free, so be sure to take advantage of it!

You can get started here: http://shiptrack.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAssistant&page=toolkit

Local Publications & Newspapers � You can cost effectively advertise your eBay consignment business in your local newspapers and publications. Think about the type of people you are targeting and the type of items you want to sell and then find publications that go out to that group of people to advertise in. If you�re interested in selling clothing, then you'll want to advertise in school or church newsletters. Just be creative and try to think outside the box. There are also many free classified ad websites on the Inteet that you can post your ad for free, just do a search on Google for �free classifieds�.

Flyers Around Town - Use your favorite word processor and create flyers to post around town. Great places to post flyers include: supermarkets, colleges, apartment complexes, govement and city building and around downtown. Basically anywhere that gets a lot of foot traffic will work great. Create flyers that have tabs the people can pull off that include your name and phone number. By posting flyers around town, your potential consignors will be nearby making it easier to meet with them.

Read The Classifieds - Not only can you use the classifieds to advertise your service, but you can also read them to find other people looking to sell items. Simply call these people up and offer your services and an eBay seller.

People Moving - Keep an eye on any real estate transactions that your paper might publish. People who are moving tend to want to sell or get rid of extra items. Simply send your card or a flyer to the new owner and let them know about your services. Also a great place to advertise your services is through storage and moving companies.

Community Organizations & Clubs - By volunteering to speak at local organizations and clubs you can give your business some exposure. Clubs like the Rotary Club, and industry or trade organizations are great places to hit up. Also senior centers and retirement homes are a great place to speak at because these people are usually in the process of downsizing their lifestyle. To get your name and business out there you can offer to speak about many topics like, how to sell on eBay.

Message Board & Discussion Groups - There are thousands of message boards and discussion groups throughout the inteet that you can get involved in. Some of the biggest ones include Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups. Also the eBay Trading Assistant has their own discussion group as well. These groups are a great place for you to lea about and discuss your consignment business. Just include a link to your consignment business website in your signature. Never post blatant ads for your services on these boards as this could be considered spam.

Yard Sales & Garage Sales - Most people think that you would go to yard sales looking for a bargain to sell on eBay. Instead of looking for items that you can buy and resell, just offer your services to the folks running the yard sale. That way if the item doesn't sell, you don't risk your own money by purchasing the item and taking it home.

Educate Others - Offer to teach others how to sell on eBay. There will be many people who attend your class, but decide that they don't want to deal with selling on eBay even after they lea how. This gives you a great opportunity to offer your services and gives you expert status.

Word Of Mouth - As always, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool you have. Always be sure to provide your clients with the best service possible and try to over deliver. When your clients are happy they will tell their friends about your services. Once you get a good track record and some happy clients, this type of marketing can multiply exponentially. You can even reward clients who do referrals by giving them a discount on their next listing with you.

Getting started with your eBay consignment business can be a tedious task and take some time. But once you get things rolling and on track, you can do very well and the business will sustain itself. By using the ideas in this article you can be on your way to running your own successful consignment business on eBay. Right now your biggest hurdle is just taking that first step, so get out there and get started!

This article was written on behalf of eBayBusiness.net by Webmaster and Inteet Marketing Specialist Jason Cooper. Visit http://www.ebaybusiness.net and download 3 Free eBay Business eBooks today! (c) 2006, eBayBusiness.net. This article may be reproduced in all venues so long as the content and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are set live.