Hi

First of all, thank you to all of you who applied to become 'guinea pigs' to an exciting new venture we have planned at eBay Confidential. There's still time to join us but I can't give you too much information right now as the subject is still very hush-hush in the editorial office.  If you want to join us, you'll have read most of the blurb in last week's eLetter, all you need do is email me guineapigs@clippingsfactory.com and put 'GUINEA PIGS' in the subject line.  I'll update all applicants very soon as to what's involved.

My Guinea Pig project is just one of several exciting projects we have planned for you; we've also added more eBay experts to our editorial team, and very soon you'll recognise some very well known names starting with the November issue of our main newsletter due out very soon.

We have people like Oliver Goehler on board, you know him of course as he's contributed so much good stuff before, and we also have Sharon Fussell who is a Canonbury author and an expert seller on Amazon.  Sharon also has experience of eBay and joins us to discuss the pros and cons of Amazon and eBay and to help our readers expand their options beyond the mere eBay auction model. 

Another new contributor and long time friend of mine is Mark Hempshell.  Mark is very well known in business opportunity circles, having authored many excellent guides to countless money making opportunities. He's also the man who got me started as a writer from the very day I bought and read his guide to writing for profit. But Mark is more than just a great writer, more than a good personal friend. He's also an expert at sourcing products to resell on eBay, and other places besides, and from January he'll be offering expert tips on finding products with high profit potential and almost guaranteed selling chances on eBay.

One thing you'll notice about all the new members of our editorial team is their ability to turn penny price products into high profit sellers, both on and off the Internet, on and outside of eBay.

You're going to love what our new team has in mind especially if the 'R' word is causing you concern.

'R', it stands for a word meaning a declining economy, I won't mention it for fear or tempting fate, even though I don't personally think it's a bad word, not for our readers at least.  And personally, like pawn mongers and second hand shops, and flea market sellers and charity shops, I think even the slightest sniff of an 'R--------' is good news for eBay sellers and almost anyone else selling good quality second hand or budget price products. 

Like pound shops, mentioned in a recent eLetter, eBay is proven to weather economic downturns and to help forward thinking sellers thrive and prosper even in the worst economic conditions.  Those forward thinking sellers are you and the rest of our readership, including yours truly, who will learn such a great deal from articles already being prepared by our new editorial team.

I'm signing off now and leaving you in the very capable hands of another soon to be regular contributor to eBay Confidential, namely author and eBay expert, Brian McGregor. 

Happy eBaying!

Avril

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How to Improve Your DSR

by Brian McGregor

The introduction of Detailed Seller Ratings (DSR) was one of several  controversial announcements made by eBay in 2008.

If you're a seller on eBay, I assume you already know about DSRs, and that you know your own DSR scores. If you don't, I suggest you get to your seller dashboard now and take a look.

Get along to My eBay, look down the left for the My Account section, and there you'll see the Seller Dashboard link. Click on that, and prepare to be amazed, shocked, disappointed - it depends on what you find!

Anyway, once you've seen your own DSR figures, you'll know how well you're doing in providing the kind of buyer experience that eBay would like sellers to offer.

The nearer you are to 5.0 on each of the four measures that constitute your DSR, the better. If your overall DSR is less than 3.9, you need to do some work!

The reason why you might wish to apply your energies to improving your DSR is that seller performance is one of the key elements of Best Match. You'll recall that Best Match is now the default sequence in which listings are returned in response to a search on eBay.

Best Match will penalise your listing in search return positioning if your DSR has been under 3.9 for the past 30 days. The good news is that if your overall DSR average is 4.8, then your listings will be rewarded in the Best Match search return algorithm.

Whilst this may seem to be out of your control - other people (your buyers) determine your DSR rating - remember whilst eBay may own the venue, it's still your business we're talking about here.

You need to apply yourself to your business to ensure you attract the response you want from your buyers.

To make the point, here are some actions you can take to encourage your buyers to give you top DSR marks.

There are no secrets and no magic bullets here. These are all business basics and require that you focus on your customers.

DSR has four elements:

1. Item as described

2. Communication

3. Dispatch time

4. Postage & packaging charges

First, make sure your auction description page tells it like it is! Ensuring that your item is accurately described is probably the easiest DSR element for which you can maintain a good score. There's really no excuse to get this wrong. If you find yourself getting marked down on the Item as described element, I suspect you probably already know why this might be. Go into your listings today and amend them so that your buyer cannot possibly misunderstand what you're offering.

Quick and concise communication is the next element in your DSR score that we'll consider. For example, any questions you receive about your listings via the My Messages route should be welcomed with open arms. This is because it gives you an unfair opportunity to demonstrate how responsive and genuine you are. Why do I say unfair opportunity?

Because, by taking the time to send you a message, you know that people are definitely interested in your item. Before they sent you the message, they were simply one more on your page visitor counter.

Now, they are in conversation with you. And if you can't take the opportunity to progress their interest into a purchase from you, you may like to think of some other way to invest your talents than trying to sell on eBay!

Moving along the eBay transaction timeline, active post-sale engagement of a buyer usually facilitates a quick turnaround of payment received. Quick shipment of the goods will convince a buyer that you're a conscientious and committed seller who's ready to do good business. However, quick shipment allied with an email stating that shipment is on it's way is a good strategy.

By following up to ensure goods are received satisfactorily, you'll also differentiate yourself from many other sellers. Within this email you can even mention the dreaded subject of dissatisfaction. It's far better to open the
door first and enquire if the buyer feels any portion of the transaction was less than stellar.

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To find out what Chris is so excited about click here:

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If there are any problems, what you want is that the buyer communicates with you about them rather than allowing them to simply place a negative feedback without giving you the chance to resolve the issue to their satisfaction. Remember, the battle field is now tilted in favour of the buyer in that sellers can no longer hold the sword of Damocles (threat of negative feedback) above the head of a buyer. Although this all sounds rather depressing, do recognise that buyers are always seeking reliable, conscientious and courteous sellers. If you can be one of these sellers, your DSR will be good and this is to your benefit.

Next, we'll discuss dispatch time and postage & packaging charges. It's important that you clearly and openly state your sales and shipping policies in all your listings. The last thing you want is for your buyer to receive what they consider to be a nasty surprise at some point through the purchase process. You can well imagine how this might impact on the DSR score they give you for the transaction! If you've been a little lax in updating these
policies, I strongly suggest you re-read your policies and ensure they cover everything. Of course not every buyer will read every policy, but most will. The last thing you want is a ticking time bomb on your description page caused by an inadequate dispatch or postage policy.

Also, in every listing it would be helpful to give prospective buyers a clear and comprehensive description of how you'll manage the transaction. For example, when will dispatch take place after payment, and how long will delivery take, and so on. This is where your customer-centric services come into play. Good sellers do this anyway, as they know that presenting such policies not only provide good customer service, they can also attract buyers.

Since postage & packaging element is an important element of the DSR calculation, it is useful to offer your buyers two or more shipping options. According to eBay's CEO John Donohoe, there are significant Best Match rewards in the area of shipping costs, to the extent that free P&P could be rewarded most highly! In reality, eBay buyers recognise that shipping costs are controlled by the carriage medium you use. Buyers also know it takes time for an item to get from Point A to Point B. Therefore, by giving buyer options, they are being well served in that they can fairly select how much
they wish to pay for shipping in relation to how long they choose to wait for an item to arrive.

For example, you may consider offering standard rate shipping, priority and rush delivery. You can also offer combined shipment of multiple items to save on costs to buyers. Also, occasionally reducing shipping costs as a temporary promotional tool can be highly effective.

Sellers need to remember that the satisfaction of their customers truly determines the DSR score.

At the end of the day, nothing has changed since eBay's inception. It's still a place where people meet to do business, person to person. But the business, remember, is yours.

Therefore, revisit and revamp how you communicate your sales and shipping policies, and offer choices and reasonable incentives to show the buyer you're eager to meet their specific needs. And always try to provide exceptional customer service on every transaction. This is your opportunity to ease any buyer apprehension and to garner repeat customers.

For more great articles by Brian McGregor, get his eBay Auction Newsletter here: http://www.auctioninnercircle.com


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Three Ways To Instantly Increase Your eBay Sales

by Roberto Bell

If you are an experienced eBay seller, you probably already have a significant amount of experience with marketing techniques targeted at new customers. But are you aware of the fact that one of the greatest potentials for new profit lies with customers that have already shopped with you?

Repeat customers often constitute the backbone of a successful eBay business. This is because repeat customers require less work. Once they have completed a few successful purchases with you they are reluctant to move to a new seller. And why should they? It makes no sense to buy from someone else who they don't know when they already have a friendly seller that they are used to buying from. Because of this, you can make a lot of money from these faithful customers rather than spending large amounts of energy looking for new customers.

Let me explain how to exploit this situation to the greatest effect. First we need to define a couple of terms:

LTV
LTV stands for 'Life Time Value' and represents the total value of a given customer to your eBay store. The more a customer shops with you, the higher their LTV and the higher your profits.

Sticky Markets
These are classes of products that encourage repeat purchases. Batteries, paper towels, dog food, even DVDs, for example, and other things that people buy on a regular or semi-regular basis, fit into this category. These types of products are the best basis for establishing customers with high LTV since they are things that people buy over and over again.

It should be obvious to you by now that you can make quite a bit of money off of repeat customers. But it doesn't stop here. You can increase both the overall profits of your eBay business as well as its efficiency (that is, the ratio of the amount of time you put in to the amount of money you get out) by channeling some of your marketing energy into reaching out to previous customers rather than trying to find new ones. Here are three great ways to start doing this:

Build a list of former customers and keep in contact with them

You can do this automatically with a program called Aweber.com. Every time that a customer purchase one of your products, you can add them to your list at aWeber. In addition this tool can be used to send automatic promotional emails to every customer on the list. This is a great free marketing tool that requires a minimum amount of time, and since you are only sending it to extistent customers your success rate will be higher than usual!

Use 'Selling Manager Pro' to send out instant confirmation emails

Many eBay sellers use this service as a way to continue contact with their customers during the final stages of the purchasing process. However, you can also use this tool as a free advertising technique. Since your customers can still add additional items to their order for four hours after it has been placed, you can encourage them to do this by offering free or discounted shipping on these items. Make this clear in your automatic follow up emails, and your customers are highly likely to respond.

Send complimentary 'Discount Cards' with the order

This will do two things for you. First, it will boost your reputation as a professional seller and increase customer's confidence level. Second, it will encourage your customer to make another purchase using the discount that you offer them. You can offer a nominal discount such as 'Free Shipping on Your Next Order' or '10% of Any Purchase Over $20' and your customer will appreciate the gesture. Print the cards on plastic, not paper, as this will look more professional. If you do this right, the small investment you make will more than pay off.

Andrew Minalto runs a successful eBay & E-commerce business as well as personal coaching programs for eBay sellers to learn how to make more money on eBay.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com/Article/3-Ways-To-Instantly-Increase-eBay-Sales/564503