A helpful hint for the new feedback changes
publication date: May 28, 2008
eBay Confidential eZine
21st May 2008
***
- Editorial
- Supplement Your Income - Top 10 Tips Using
Garage and Yard Sales to Find Items to Sell on eBay
(Editor: Similar to 'Boot Sales')
- Make Money Online Selling Your Trash
***
Hi,
Well the big day for feedback changes happened,
accompanied, sadly, by another big shock. That other
big shock is the fact that not only do negative and
neutral feedback detract from positive feedback
ratings, but they count in EQUAL measure. Negative
counts as one point in the overall calculation of
positive feedback ratings, neutral also counts as one
point.
You know how I've dreaded this new feedback system,
never thinking it would affect me personally as I have
10,000 plus feedback now, and not one negative. So
how come my 100% positive feedback has plummeted
to 99.9%? It's because of three neutral points left
about a year ago by bidders who clearly had not read
my auction listings properly.
One left a neutral because a book was presented on
CD (the word 'CD' was in the title for the product);
another left neutral because I didn't say a postcard had
writing on it (I did say the card was postally used and
I've never seen a postally used postcard that didn't
have writing on it - AN ADDRESS, for example!). The
other left neutral feedback because her product was
late arriving, despite the fact the Post Office gave me
proof this woman had been absent on three occasions
the postman tried to deliver my Recorded Delivery
package.
Three neutral points I can prove were none of my
making!
But I have had three points deducted from me, and
those three points are classed exactly as any other
seller with three negative points for really serious
offences, such as failing to deliver at all, selling fake
goods, listing stolen goods. It can't be right can it?
But it is right and that is something we have to live with.
Which brings me to another shortcoming I should warn
you about. It involved my complaints about the new
feedback system to eBay via their PowerSeller special
email box. Two different complaints, two different
questions, read by two different eBay employees, in
response to which I received two long letters with
exactly the same text, word for word, and not
answering my questions at all. It was a standard reply,
no one had read my letters, no one seemed to care, so
I complained again about eBay's apparent lack of
concern over my feedback problems and received,
guess what, the self and same standard reply.
The reason I want you to be aware of this standard
reply problem is that one day you might ask a
question, get a reply you think has been carefully
composed, and you act on that advice and
subsequently find yourself facing financial or legal
difficulties, or even banned from eBay. If your
question is could have legal or financial implications, I
urge you not to accept the answer without checking it
further. Be aware that eBay emails are answered with a
click of the finger on the seemingly most appropriate
standard answer. Be aware also that you may not be
conversing with experts on whatever the subject
concerned.
There is an easy way to solve this problem. You do it
by contacting Live Help on the ebay.com site where
you can ask questions online, see answers online, and
you don't have to leave the Live Help section until your
question is answered to your satisfaction. Best of all,
using Live Help you can print out your questions and
eBay's answers which should help if you later encounter
problems with eBay regarding the subject matter
concerned.
I say this because, when digital goods were banned
recently from eBay, there was a lot of confusion about
various aspects of selling eBooks online and
conflicting answers were given by many different eBay
representatives, even the top brass. As a result, a
colleague on eBay had his account shut down for
doing something he was advised to do by a Live Help
representative. He appealed, he handed over the
advice he'd been given, it took weeks to get a reply,
but eventually his account was restored. No apology
from eBay, and no damages for lost earnings. Not yet,
at any rate, because the print out is now with my
friend's solicitor who feels confident some damages
will be forthcoming.
So, if in doubt, don't contact eBay by email, use Live
Help instead, and remember to print out the entire
conversation and keep it somewhere safe.
Until next time,
Avril
***
Supplement Your Income - Top 10 Tips Using Garage-
Yard Sales To Find Items To Sell On eBay (Editor:
Note that similar rules apply to what we in the UK call
'Boot Sales')
by Robert Chrin
***
One great way to supplement your income is by selling
items on eBay. One big hurdle is finding the items to
sell. This article gives you 10 tricks that will allow you to
find items at Garage sales so that you can then turn
around and sell those items on eBay. By following
these simple tricks, you can find some great items that
will sell well on eBay. Each one of these tricks
individually will help create extra money that will allow
you to supplement your income, but if you really want
to make this as powerful as possible, then follow all 10
tricks and before you know it you'll be able to find
great buys at the many Garage sales that happen each
weekend which will translate to $$$ for you.
Tip #1: How do you find Garage Sales?
Garage sales are held in every city on every Saturday
of almost every single weekend. But how do you find
these Garage sales? Go through your local paper (or its
website), church bulletins, www.craigslist.org, and other
sources of local advertising to find Garage sales. If
you can find a neighborhood Garage sale, all the better
(that is, a large Garage sale that includes many families
in a single neighborhood). With the costs of gasoline
now, the less travelling you can do now, the more
money you save by spending less on gasoline.
Tip #2: Determining What Items to Sell on eBay
Antiques
Depending on the types of items that you're looking to
sell will determine what type and where the Garage sale
is located. If you're looking for antiques to sell I
suggest not wasting your time going to new
subdivisions or to areas where a lot of young people
live. Why? Well because most young people don't have
much in the ways of antiques. The best places to go to
find antiques are the old parts of town. If you can find
a neighborhood that has houses that are 50 to 75 years
old or older you're going to have a better chance of
finding antiques. Many of the people in these houses
are either original owners or second generation and
many of them have a large collection of antiques.
Antique items that sell well on eBay include:
old tins
smoking pipes
pictures
cameras
bottles
Upscale Items
Collectibles
Your best bet when you're at any Garage sale is to
keep your eyes out for collectible items in these
categories:
History
War
Fishing
Sports
NASCAR
Coke
Barbie
Tip #3: Planning your Garage sale strategy
Now that you've found the Garage sales that you're
interested in, it's a good idea to plan out your day. The
night before, set up your plan on which Garage sales
you want to visit and list them in order. You don't want
to be going back and forth from one side of town to
the next. If you're not sure exactly where the addresses
are use mapquest.com or maps.google.com to find out
where the places are located to better help plan your
strategy.
Tip #4: The Day of the Garage Sale
In order to find the best deals at these Garage sales,
you need to get up early to beat the 'early birds'. There
is a lot of information out there that promote getting to
Garage sales early. Because of this there are going to
be a lot of people out there that are going to get to
these Garage sales early. Most Garage sales start at
8:00 am, but make sure to get there even before that
because people will be waiting in line for the Garage
sale to start.
Tip#5: Get Started the Night Before
Another idea is to go to the area having a Garage sale
the night before when they are setting up. In some
cases you can shop early and beat the 'early birds', but
even if they're not interested in allowing you to shop
early, you can in most cases find out what they are
going to sell so that you can see if what they have is
going to interest you.
Tip #6: What to Bring to the Garage Sale
Comfortable walking shoes
Cash
Bottled water
Snacks
Cell phone (in case you need to call your spouse or
friend to ask them a question)
Tip #7: What should you do when you're at the
Garage sale?
First of all, you only have so much time, so you have
to remember that you don't have to look at everything
that is at the Garage sale. Your goal is to look for
things that you can sell on eBay to supplement your
income by making some extra money. Also, don't
waste time socializing if your goal is to find gems to
sell on eBay. The 'good' items go early at Garage
sales, so time is of the essence. For some of you, this
will be a hard thing to do, but just keep reminding
yourself that you're on a mission or make it a game.
See how fast you can get in and get out. If you keep
yourself focusing on this, it makes it easier to keep the
chit-chat to a minimum.
Tip #8: How to Determine What is the Best Price to
Pay
So how do you figure out what price to buy something
for? Before you buy anything, figure out in your mind
whether you'll be able to double the price on eBay. If
you feel that you can sell the item for more than double
that is even better, but normally to make it worth the
time of shopping at Garage sales, the work to put it on
eBay plus associated fees to put your listing on eBay,
a good rule of thumb is that you need to minimally
double the price you're going to buy it for or forget
about buying it. The amount of money you'd make if it
was less than twice the cost will simply not be worth it.
Tip #9: What Size Should the Items be that you
Should Buy?
One thing that is important to take into consideration on
which items to buy is the shipping of the items. Stick
with items that are relatively small and that don't weigh
that much. These types of items are much easier to
ship. Even though you can price the cost of shipping
and handling in the cost of selling an item on eBay, the
extra work is not going to be worth it when you can sell
an item that is smaller and lighter for a comparable
price.
Tip #10: Negotiate Great Deals at the End of the Day
You can only be at one place at one time, so if you
want to visit five Garage sales on a given day, you
can't be at all of them when they first open. Does that
mean you can only get great deals on the first Garage
sale you visit? Of course not. A great strategy is to
visit a Garage sale at the end of the day. Why would
you want to do that? Because at this point, the seller
wants to get rid of what they have to sell because
he/she doesn't want to have to cart all of that stuff
back into the house. Sellers are very open to getting rid
of things at very discounted prices. I've found some
great deals of $25 to $50 on items that I've been able
to sell for $300 or more on eBay.
If you would like additional information about how to
sell the items you found in garage sales, check out:
***
Make Money Online Selling Your Trash
by Robert Ricks
***
You know the old saying, "one man's trash is another
man's treasure?" Well, it's very true, especially when it
comes to unwanted items found around the house and
garage. It has been determined by online auction
experts that every household contains at least $5,000
worth of products that could be sold online.
Unfortunately, these potentially profitable products
often get thrown in the trash.
One individual decided to get rid of his old VHS
videotapes and started to throw them away but then
decided to try selling them on eBay. Two sacks full of
old videotapes ultimately made him an extra $500.
A friend of mine wanted to get rid of some old cassette
tapes, and decided to sell them on eBay rather than at
a garage sale for five bucks. She listed them on eBay
for a low price, and the bid reached over $200.
I recently cleaned out an old jewelry box and found a
few pieces of scrap gold that I had intended to throw
away but never got around to it. Instead of throwing
them away, I put them up for auction on eBay, and
those scraps sold for over $250!
Some online auction experts have come to the
conclusion that easy fortunes are lost everyday by
those who throw away unwanted items when they could
sell them online for cash. Some unwanted items will
only sell for a dollar or two, while other items will
surprise you and sell for much more.
The next time you look at all the unwanted stuff in your
house and garage as trash and think about throwing it
away, just take a look on eBay or your favorite online
auction site and see what others are willing to pay for
the unwanted items. Some quick research might
surprise you with the amount of cash your trash could
put into your pocket.
Many successful eBay sellers started out by selling
unwanted items around the house and garage. Then
they went on to sell popular products in hot, lucrative
niches to make their fortunes on eBay.
Would you like to learn about the hot, profitable niches
on eBay?
You can download the free Guide here:
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