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How to keep up with ever changing eBay
publication date: Mar 1, 2008
eBay Confidential eZine
20th February 2008 *** - Editorial - Is the eBay Customer Always Right? - How To Sell Clothing From Thrift Stores On eBay - 10 Items That Will Sell For A Profit Every Time You List Them On eBay *** Hi, So many things are changing at eBay, they're changing fast, and it's very hard to keep up with new rules and responsibilities applied lately by eBay and by government authorities in Britain and Europe. Although you should always read eBay's announcements yourself every time they pop into your personal account pages, it's nonetheless worthwhile repeating them here and hopefully looking for ways to prevent many potentially very serious problems occurring. Here are just a few changes with my comments and hopefully some useful suggestions: * Registering as a Business on eBay Until very recently it was up to the seller to decide whether to register as a Personal Seller or Business Seller on eBay. That option now no longer exists. If you're selling for profit, you must register as a business. It takes just seconds to do and all the information you need is at: http://pages.ebay.co.uk anding.html But some people will definitely be asking: where is the dividing line between personal and business selling? When does whatever you are selling make the big step from offloading unwanted personal goods to selling for profit? Say you are offloading a lifetime's collection which almost certainly qualifies as personal, and you sell one or two items a month picked up at boot sales, does that mean you register as a business seller even though just 1 in 100 items are bought to sell? Yes, I rather think it does, according to people I've asked at eBay and also in information available at the Inland Revenue's main site: http://www.hmrc.gov.uk The most important thing to do where you sell personal goods and items bought specifically to resell is to keep careful records of all things you actually sell on eBay. An ordinary hard backed exercise book is all you need with income and overheads for the sale of personal items listed on left side pages and income and expenditure for stock listed on the right. Under Capital Gains laws you are allowed to keep some of the income from personal items that sell for more than whatever you paid. It's something few people know about, including me, and the reason I've sold my own unwanted collectibles over several years and included them as business income in my income tax calculations, until my accountant came to the rescue with help for the future. I probably won't be able to claim back on earlier mistakes but at least I can have my accountant advise me on tax matters regarding whatever personal items I sell in future. If you are selling regularly on eBay it makes sense to have an accountant or at least a professional book keeper, you will find they save you much more in tax than their actual cost to your business. * eBay Express is Closing in the UK eBay says, based on feedback from buyers and sellers, they have decided to close eBay Express in the UK and focus their efforts on the main site ebay.co.uk. Although no specific reasons were given I fancy it is the stifling rules for sellers at eBay Express that may be to blame. My own main concern, and the reason I chose not to use eBay Express, was the rigid rules regarding refunds on goods that may have been used and even damaged by purchasers. * Businesses to Display Addresses in eBay Listings This is the one that bothers me most but it's European Law so you take it or leave it. The new rule says that business must display their contact details for prospective buyers. That means the seller's home address in many cases and the rule has raised fears among sellers that criminals may visit to burgle their homes or even attack sellers and their families. It reminds me .... I wonder if I should tell you this? ... I think perhaps I will! Years ago, when a very close friend became a member of MOPS (Mail Order Protection Scheme) in order to sell her travel books in national newspapers, she was forced to give her home address in all advertisements, she was not allowed to use a Post Office box at that time, which just about matches the rules that eBay have in force. No P.O. boxes allowed! (I'm currently awaiting eBay's answer as to whether an accommodation address is allowable and I'll report back immediately when I have an answer). Back to my friend who had an elderly mother, aged well over 90, and operated her entire business from home, in Putney, London, and one night encountered a man who broke into the house and held both women at knifepoint while my friend sorted out his £5 refund! Yes, he even said who he was and considered himself entitled to use force to claim his money back! I don't want to frighten you, really I don't, and nor did eBay want to frighten its customers. But that's just what eBay did with their announcement about having to include your address in your listings. Thankfully, they've come up with one or two solutions that help you conform to the new rulings by our European masters without plastering your name and address all over the Internet. This is what eBay suggests: 'Last week we announced broad changes to the marketplace, including new rules for businesses to display their contact details to prospective buyers. E-commerce regulations clearly state that businesses must provide the geographic address at which their business is established. Members who are operating as businesses on eBay.co.uk need to comply with this law. eBay provides business registration functionality to help sellers easily display their business details directly on the View Item page. A number of sellers have voiced security concerns with displaying their address on the View Item page. To mitigate this, we are extending the list of permissible locations for a business to provide their contact details. Sellers operating as a business on eBay.co.uk must clearly display their business name and geographic address in at least one of the following locations: 1. On the View Item page - in the Business Seller Information section 2. On a user's About Me page 3. On a Shop's custom page that is no more than one click from their main Shop page. Please note: 1. PO Box addresses are not considered to be geographic addresses, and will not be accepted as a valid business address. 2. Businesses choosing to display their name and address on the View Item page must display that information in the Business Seller Information section. Displaying the name and address in the item description only is insufficient. Regards, The eBay Team' Happy eBaying! Until next time, Avril. ****************************** HOW TO POCKET £14,000 - £130,000 A YEAR SELLING JUST 1 USED CAR A WEEK ON EBAY ****************************** A car sells on ebay.co.uk every 2 minutes. With 3 million unique visitors every month hungry to buy a used car . . . isn't it about time you got a share of the profits? Follow this simple part-time plan to pocket £14,000 - £130,000 a year selling just 1 used car per week on eBay with no sales experience, mechanical know-how or even start-up cash! Click here for details: http://www.on2url.com/app ****************************** *** Is the eBay Customer Always Right? by Elaine Hodges *** A dissatisfied customer will leave negative feedback, and negative feedback is to be avoided at all costs. That one piece of negative feedback will always cost you more than it would have to deal with the complaint, whatever the value of the items you sell. You should consider any positive feedback percentage under 100% to be an absolute disaster, and a personal failure on your part. But What If... But nothing! There is no situation where you, as a seller, should get into any dispute with a buyer. Here are a few common situations and how to handle them. They say the item never arrived: Politely ask the buyer to wait a few more days to see if it turns up, and then email you again if it still hasn't arrived. If it still hasn't arrived, you should assume it was lost in the post somehow and offer to send a replacement if you have one, or give them a full refund otherwise. No, I don't care what that costs you. Are you serious about selling on eBay or not? The item has been damaged in the post: You must offer to replace it or take it back for a refund without hesitation. They say the item doesn't match the description: Resist the urge to email back with "yes it does, you just didn't read the description properly". Take the item back for a refund, and edit your description if you need to, to make any confusing points extra clear. I'm sure you're spotting a pattern by now. Offering a refund will make almost any problem go away, and it really will cost you less in the long run. Remember, one piece of negative feedback will stay with you forever, while having a 100% positive rating is like owning a bar of solid gold. You should always handle customers' complaints before they complain to eBay - in fact, you should email them preemptively to ask if they have any. Going through the dispute process is time consuming, reflects badly on you and is downright unnecessary. Are you still not convinced? Think this would only work with cheap items? Well, you see, the higher the price of the items you sell, the more your reputation is worth to you. Let's say you were selling $10,000 worth of items each week, for example, and making a $1,000 profit per week overall. You might think that refunding one customer's $1,000 purchase would be a tragedy, losing you your whole week's profit. It's far better to look at it this way: if you don't give that refund, then not only will you lose the next week's profit, but you'll probably lose a few weeks' profit after that too. Now which option looks better? I absolutely can not emphasize enough the importance of really believing that the customer is always right. But trying to make excuses for complaints isn't the only thing you need to avoid. There are a lot of pitfalls that you need to avoid if you don't want to kill your business before it has even started properly. Elaine Hodges is a eBay entrepreneur and writer. http://stores.ebay.com/ebooksm http://www.ebooksmarts.info *** How To Sell Clothing From Thrift Stores On eBay by Tom Graber *** Every day someone comes to eBay for the first time and is astonished at the vast variety of things for sale. It is truly overwhelming the amount of goods being sold on eBay every day. Supporting the massive amount of items listed is an even more massive number of buyers out there looking for stuff to buy. These buyers all are looking for a bargain but at the same time when they do find something that interests them, they will up their bid to win it. That is the brilliance of an auction rather than a straight sale. Competition. It is what drives prices up on eBay. There are many people who wish to take part in this whole process but have no idea where to start. What to sell on eBay is the first question everyone asks themselves when they first want to learn how to sell on eBay. You want a product that is in demand, is easy to find and is in constant supply and has no minimum order. There are many shady wholesale and drop ship list sellers who will just leave you more frustrated and broke than with sales and profits. You only need to look as close as your local thrift store. Thrift stores are filled with name brands that people are actively seeking to buy. They have thousands and thousands of potential items to stock your eBay business. The trick is to know what is in demand and will sell. This is done by research and study. By studying closed auctions, you will get very familiar with what sells and what doesn't. Department store and chain store clothing is a dime a dozen and not worth buying to sell. Other designer labels and brands are better to look for. The key is to look at enough auctions that you know a particular category very well. Let's take jeans for example, they are a favorite among eBay buyers. The trick is to know what will sell and what won't. As you research, you must take notes on everything you study. I suggest you use a notebook and start a new category every few pages to give you room to take plenty of notes. As you go on you will notice a pattern of certain brands selling for a premium price and others not selling at all. This does take some time but is well worth it. You don't want to just go out there and start buying every big name brand you find. There are other factors that will determine if something will sell. Age, condition, style and material are all factors of importance. But soon, you will see these patterns and start to be able to find these good pieces on the racks at your local thrift stores. The best way to know what to look for is by getting familiar with just a few categories at a time. Get to know winter apparel because it will be in high demand in the fall and can sell for quite a bit of money. A North Face jacket will sell for far more than a pair of shorts. Get to know several areas like sweaters, jeans and shirts, for example. As you go into the thrift stores, you will be knowledgeable in more and more categories and be able to find more and more items that will sell at a nice profit. As you know more and more categories, you can expand your scope and look different sections of the store for the opposite sex. Take sweaters. Once you know women's sweaters and what to look for and what to stay away from, you can do the same for men's sweaters as well. It is surprising what some people will pay for used sweaters. It is very possible to buy a sweater for $2 and sell it for $75-$100. The key is knowing what to look for and if you study women's sweaters, you might as study men's as well. And what about children's sweaters? Children grow so fast that parents are constantly buying new clothes for them. As you can see there is a huge potential from learning eBay by selling used clothing. It is a great way to learn to sell because the prices are so low at thrift stores and there is a ready market out there waiting for you to list their favorite brand name clothes or collectible item. Tom Graber is the author of Thrift Store Profits, a book about selling thrift store clothing on eBay. You can get a free report at his website, http://www.thriftstoreprofits names are in demand on eBay. *** 10 Items That Will Sell For A Profit Every Time You List Them On Ebay by Danny Gard *** These ten items are pretty much guaranteed sellers on eBay, and they will sell for more than what you paid for them. There is a good chance you have them in your house, and if not you can find them at estate sales or garage sales. If you want something to sell on eBay, this is a great place to start. Bamboo Fishing Rods - These are highly sought after by collectors and bring in some great profits. If you can find them in the original box they sell for even more. Rotary Telephones - These are for sale in antique stores and garage sales and they will sell on eBay every time you list them if they are in decent condition. Check your grandma's or your attic, you may find one. Slide Ruler'- These are so hot right now, and many collectors are buying up as many as they can find. Vintage is a great key word for these items when you list them. FM Converters - I don't even know what these things do or what they are for. Apparently they were used in cars in the old days, and people who drive restored cars need this. Ham Radios - These sell all the time on eBay. Take a look now, most of the items have multiple bids My Little Pony - The old ones are still selling, don't even need to be in box. There is a good chance you still have some of these in your attic. Used SLR Cameras - I have seen whole boxes of used camera equipment and parts at garage sales, and the SLR Cameras sell well for used goods. Used HP Calculators - These are still explosive sellers on eBay and can be found anywhere. Even the old 12C are still selling well. Cross Stitch Patterns - Sell these in lots if you can find them. Square Dancing outfits and accessories - Anything that has anything to do with square dancing sells very well on eBay. These are just a few of the best sellers. Good Luck with your eBay sales. For items that sell well on eBay visit the all new http://www.ebangels.com It contains hints, blogs, resources, and tips to sell more on eBay all written by powersellers and former eBay employees. Danny Gard is an eBay powerseller and employee of eBay. He is also the owner of the GardianGroup which specializes in auctions, and homes for the mentally handicapped. At eBay, he specializes in teaching eBay's biggest sellers on how to increase revenue and traffic. His personal website, which sells the nets best tee-shirts, can be found at http://www.shibbyshirts.com They can also be sold in wholesale and bulk numbers for resale on eBay or anywhere. |
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