Entries Tagged 'Selling on eBay' ↓

Ok, I'm showing my age. I have managed to keep up with what is trendy for a while now, but I have fallen behind. What is this Gossip Girl thing? Wikipedia says:

The Gossip Girl series revolves around a group of teenagers, three of whom live on the fabulous Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. They gossip, but they also deal with sex and relationship problems. They attend elite private single-sex schools, where their lives are watched by the unseen title character who writes a blog about them.

Now I know why I don't watch it. I've already been a teenager, already lived in New York (fabulous Brooklyn Heights), actually that's about where it ends for me. Unless I had an unseen title character blogging about me...

That's just a little creepy. So anyhow, I found the Gossip Girl scarf on eBay is selling for an ungodly amount. I'm no fashionisto, but I'll bet if you could get your hands on some of those, you'll be in deep cotton through the holiday season. That's your eBay trend tip for the day.

Exactly Same Patchwork Scarf Gossip Girl Chuck Jpress US $175.00

Gossip Girl Chuck Bass Signature 100 Silk Scarf US $167.50

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Popularity: 13% [?]

eBay and Walmart

One is a mega-corporation that is known for:

• its great bargains
• a vast selection of merchandise
• squeezing suppliers till they scream
• an ever-growing number of satisfied buyers

The other is eBay.

Buyers are not going to be satisfied because they will not find what they want.

eBay is stumbling through the summer toward what should be their biggest quarter this year. And they are still confusing and angering sellers. The newest policy affecting sellers states:

When buyers search and browse, only one of identical listings from the same seller will be displayed per result set.

In addition to displaying only non-identical listings from one seller, a maximum of ten listings from one seller will be shown per results page unless the only available listings are from the same seller. (bold is mine)

Why is that a problem? Well, lets say you have a set of Noritake china you picked up at a garage sale. You have 40 pieces to sell and you'd like to break them up and sell them one piece at a time. You list them on eBay at 8PM Sunday evening for seven days.

Lets say a shopper searches for that particular Noritake pattern. They want the salt and pepper shakers, and the gravy boat. But only ten of your items will show up at a time. So your salt and pepper shakers may show on page one of the search results, which would be good. But if your gravy boat happens to be number 40 of your items, the shopper will need to click through four pages of results to find it.

On Sunday evening when your listings end, all at 8PM, it's quite possible that items 20-40 will have never shown up together on page one of the search results. Not good exposure for your stuff.

Some sellers are beating their chests and saying eBay takes money for listings and refuses to display them. That's not true. eBay is simply not displaying them on page one. So they all need to put down their clubs and pitchforks and stop talking about lawsuits. It's silly. You cannot use the toilet at eBay without consulting the legal department. Generally speaking, eBay lawyers know more about the law than we garage-sale shoppers do.

(Even with the identical item policy, they have created a way for those items to be displayed. There is a link at the bottom of eBay pages that says "To view all identical listings, please click here." So legally, since the policy is stated quite publicly, by listing an item you agree to eBay's policies.)

Things You Can Do

1. Cross-reference every single listing in the description. Link to "Seller's Other Items" everywhere. Make sure your shoppers know you have more for sale.
2. Stagger your start times. Never list more than ten items at a single time. Spread every ten listings out by at least ten minutes to allow every ten to appear (at least for a while) on page one of search results.
3. Sell with multiple accounts. It's not against the rules (yet), so if you can manage it, use multiple accounts and get more than ten items to show on page one.
4. Learn to sell on Amazon. Buy my ebook and stop fooling around with eBay's ever-changing rules.

If you have other ideas, please add them via comments below. (And please - a lawsuit is not an idea.)

Popularity: 21% [?]

SB NOTICE: eBay Registration Suspension

If you see that dreaded header in an email, you are in for some trouble. If your eBay account was suddenly suspended, what would you do? Try to call eBay and work it out? Forget that. Could you afford to wait out the suspension and get started again? eBay rightfully suspends accounts every day for one reason or another, but they make mistakes too. Here's how you can prepare.

First, I'm not going to talk about whether a user deserved suspension or not. I don't want to hear that I'm telling the bad guys how to get around the system. They already know how. This is for the victim of the eBay "system" or an otherwise honest person that made a dumb mistake. Due to unmerciful decisions of robots, innocent people have lost their jobs. It's another case where eBay throws out the baby with the bathwater. I am in no way suggesting anyone break eBay's rules, I am suggesting you prepare yourself for the unexpected. Just because you follow the rules does not mean it won't happen to you.

Have (at least) Two eBay Accounts

eBay allows multiple accounts. If you only have one account, open another one right now, and use it. You'll need to use an email address that is different from your first account. If possible, you should also use a different credit card and checking account. Try to make sure your second account is in no way linked to your first account. The less linking the better.

Once the account is active, use it to buy and build up some feedback. If you can gradually get it up to 100 or more, the better you'll be. Use it for personal items if you wish. But use it. Grow your feedback and keep it 100% positive. If you only use it to buy, you can't get any negative feedback anyway.

One rule: Do not EVER bid on one of your own items between these accounts.

Back Up Your Inventory

If you ever have an account suspension, you will not be able to retrieve your listings. You will lose everything - unless you have a backup. If you're suspended, you won't have access to your My eBay page. You won't be able to send or receive messages from other members, you won't be able to see your sold items that still have to ship, and you won't be able to see any of your inventory. Why would you need those things?

Well, if your listings are wiped out you may want to relist them once you are back in good standing. (Or, if you want to make use of that second account, relist them right away.) I will say for the record, if you are suspended, eBay says you may not use eBay with ANY account. Of course if you have a backup account, in your spouse's name for example, he or she could begin selling on eBay right away if you have backed up your inventory.

As I was saying - you need to back up your inventory. There are a few ways to do this but I've found the best, and easiest for me, is Turbo Lister. Download Turbo Lister and set up a user account for both of your eBay accounts. Once that's done, in the navigation bar at the top of the page click "Tools" and "Synchronize Items". This will import all of your current items from eBay.

Make sure you're in the "Inventory" view (see the menu panel at the left of the page). Highlight all the items by clicking the top item, holding the Shift key, and clicking the bottom item. Then, in the top navigation bar click "File" and "Export Items". You'll be asked which type of file you want to create, select Turbo Lister and name the file and save it to your computer.

Now you have a complete backup of your inventory, including the information from every field of the Sell Your Item form. You should update this regularly so if you have to use it, you will have the most up to date version of your inventory.

Relisting Your eBay Inventory

Like I said before, you can use this backup file to restore your listings after your suspension is over. You can also use this file to move all of your listings to another eBay user ID. You do it right through the Turbo Lister program.

If you're simply restoring your listings after a suspension, skip the next step. If you would like to list your items on another user ID...

Click "File" again, then "Change User...". You should now log in to your second account and select "Inventory" in the left panel. Click "File" then "Import items... > From File". Select the file you saved earlier with your entire inventory and import ALL fields.

Voila! You now have restored your listings. Now you'll just have to upload them. This saves you a tremendous amount of work trying to recreate all the listings eBay ended and erased.

Download Turbo Lister for FREE!

Sometimes Even Backup Accounts Won't Work

There are some situations where even backup accounts won't work. If this is your second, or third suspension, you may really be hit hard. Any account linked to the suspended account may be suspended too. That's why you want to keep the accounts separated as much as possible.

If you are a fraud, or scammer, and you do your dirty business from your Mom's computer, there is a good chance that anyone with a matching IP address will be suspended as well - even though they have no knowledge of your shady deals.

Reason for a Second eBay Account - Part II

If you are an Education Specialist or a Trading Assistant, you must maintain an average feedback rating of 98%, keep your account in good standing, and sell four or five items per month. If the recent feedback changes disqualified you from these programs, or if you receive a suspension, etc., you can switch to a healthy "back up" account and re-qualify.

You wouldn't go on a trip without a spare tire right? Don't sell on eBay without a spare account.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I've just listed an interesting book on eBay. It's by [tag]Merle Armitage[/tag], who evidently was a book designer, author and concert impresario. He passed away in 1975 - but apparently not before befriending a certain "Betty and her squid."

The book is "Pagans Conquistadores Heroes and Martyrs." It's a special edition (1 of only 1500) from 1964 and it is all about the history of the southwest United States and how the bad Europeans came in and took over. In any case, the inscription is the interesting part. Just inside it says, "To dear Betty and her squid remembering our delightful orgy of June 14. -Merle" Wow.

If you are a thrift store buyer, do you look inside to find signatures and inscriptions? It could raise the value of your find considerably. I have found lots of signatures in the past few months, none earth-shattering, but I keep looking.

If you're an author - be careful what you say in your inscriptions. Your dear one's squid just may stick that old book in a rummage sale some day and news of your delightful orgies could be on display for the world to see...

Popularity: 5% [?]

Selling next to millions of other [tag]eBay[/tag] and [tag]Amazon[/tag] sellers can get you lost in the crowd. Buyers ignore the mundane, same old thing, which requires constant reinvention to keep their attention.

In this [tag]video[/tag], over 200 people freeze in place on cue in [tag]Grand Central Station[/tag] in New York. The "soon to be [tag]frozen[/tag]" people were not even noticed when they moved along like everyone else. But when they did something different, the "moving" people closely examined them - even poking them. The amazing thing is that they got all this attention without intruding on anyone else. No yelling, or crazy outfits, they just stopped doing what everyone else was doing. Amazing. Could you do something different that would get the attention of shoppers?

It's funny that people are snapping photos. What will a still picture show?

This is one of over 70 different missions [tag]Improv Everywhere[/tag] has executed over the past six years in New York City. Others include the [tag]No Pants Subway Ride[/tag], the [tag]Best Buy uniform prank[/tag], and the famous [tag]U2 Rooftop[/tag] Hoax.

Popularity: 13% [?]

Whether he knows it or not, [tag]Seth Godin [/tag]has summed up exactly what happened to eBay.

They started crisp, they added lots of things to the site, and rose quickly like a hot air balloon. Then they started to go "Holy crap! What if somebody screws this up?"

The problem is, a hot air balloon is never still, unless it's on the ground. It is always moving - and the [tag]eBay [/tag]community likes the status quo.

Popularity: 4% [?]

With all the hubbub over the recent changes still being debated, cooler heads are starting to prevail. Many bloggers such as Randy Smythe and Gary at The Auction Rebel are suggesting eBay may be around for awhile. Whew!

Randy brought up an idea that has been kicked around by us armchair quarterbacks for some time. Would eBay be better as two sites? One would have the collectibles, and one would have the practicals, or new merchandise. Interesting thought, but not likely.

But could the sellers effectively "split" the site themselves? It seems many are taking stabs at other auction sites, although with little success so far. eBay is still the best venue for these items. They have the traffic, the "critical mass" is still decidedly eBay's. Even if I sell on other sites, like Amazon, I will list my collectibles on [tag]eBay[/tag].

Speaking of [tag]Amazon[/tag]...

If you are a seller of newer goods, with UPC or IBSN numbers, you can take them to Amazon quite easily. Many sellers appear to be doing this. By doing so, could they be doing what eBay won't do for itself? Splitting the site in two?

For now at least, the most powerful decision sellers have over their eBay existence, is what they sell and where they sell it.

Use eBay for the good parts, and toss out the rest. Quit complaining and go sell stuff...somewhere.

Popularity: 4% [?]

[tag]eBay[/tag] announced the changes for 2008 this morning to a [tag]community[/tag] on the edge of their seats. Judging from the comments around the net tonight though - most of those folks fell off their chair right after their jaw hit the floor.

[tag]Feedback changes[/tag] cause an absolute uproar among sellers

eBay has decided that sellers will soon no longer be able to leave negative feedback comments for buyers. (Yes, that was a period.) They may however leave positive comments. The initial outrage was over what can be done about buyers who are - for lack of a better term - jerks. They are out there. They have outrageous demands and when not appeased, they leave the seller [tag]negative feedback[/tag]. "Tough," says eBay. eBay's intentions are to be more strict with the buyer behind the scenes, when they receive Un-Paid Item notices from sellers. Hmmmm... it's not flying with sellers.

The decision raises other questions though. Feedback was originally instituted to protect the community from bad members, and to reward good members.

[tag]Sellers[/tag] who sell regularly to the same buyer will now be able to receive up to one feedback comment per week. That seems nice. But what if a buyer leaves a negative comment each time? Can they receive a negative comment from the same buyer once per week? Not if the seller adds that buyer to their Blocked Buyer list I guess. Maybe that is why eBay has raised the capacity of the Blocked Buyer list from 1000 up to a whopping 5000 user IDs. What kind of signal does that send?

What's next?

I have tried to remain positive about eBay for a long time. I have openly criticized the whining, complaining members and suggested they grow up. Unfortunately I cannot disagree with them about this. It is a wrong decision. Sellers will leave. I have to think Amazon employees were howling with glee when this announcement was read today. Because that's where they're going. Some eBay instructors feel the added complications will help us get more students, but PR means a lot. The negative talk surrounding this decision will make people think twice about spending $50 - $75 for an eBay class. This is bad for everyone, including buyers, because there will now be fewer sellers and less product on the site.

If at the end of [tag]eBay Live![/tag] this year, the '09 city is "to be announced," I think that will be over too. My prediction is that 2008 will be the last year of eBay Live! Anyone else get that feeling yet?

As the old eBay goes away with [tag]Meg[/tag], and [tag]Bill Cobb[/tag], the end of eBay University, sellers leaving for their own websites or [tag]Amazon[/tag] - what do you predict the picture will look like one year from now?

Popularity: 4% [?]

[tag]eBay[/tag] has announced the details of the [tag]changes for 2008[/tag] including [tag]lower fees[/tag] including discounts for good performance, a revamped Feedback system, more integration of [tag]Detailed Seller Ratings[/tag], and new qualifications for [tag]Powersellers[/tag]. All of these changes seem reasonable on their face. I'm sure the eBay sellers will find a way to look at them through brown colored glasses though.

[tag]Free Gallery Photos[/tag]

One very welcome new change is free gallery photos for all eBay listings. This $.35 fee on every listing will not be missed. When calculating the new versus old fees, this is balanced a little by the higher Final Value Fee for items under $25.01. It is now 8.75% of the total for that tranche. For sellers who sell items that are $9.99 or under, and consistently use the gallery option - this will amount in an overall savings with the newer fee structure.

There are way too many details to report here, but you can read them all on eBay's Information Page.

[tags]eBay fees,Bill Cobb,DSRs,ecommerce,Feedback,selling[/tags]

Popularity: 4% [?]

If you are a seller on [tag]eBay[/tag] hoping for a return to the good old days - you were disappointed with what CEO-elect [tag]John Donahoe[/tag] had to say today at eBay's Q4 2007 earnings call.

Mr. Donahoe promised (among other things) "a break from the past" including changes to fees, feedback, and trust and safety. He promised to make the site reflect what buyers are asking for such as making the site easier to use, speed, convenience, and reliability. Maybe the most disturbing thing on the horizon is what sounds on its face like a Frankenstein-like "marriage" of [tag]auction[/tag] and fixed-price listings. Will eBay force sellers to add a Buy It Now to every listing?

The anticipated fee changes basically sound like a move toward Amazon's model. Lower up front cost, higher final value [tag]fees[/tag]. Also, a lower priced Gallery photo - maybe even free? - was announced. We'll see next week.

In any case one word that really stood out during the call was "aggressive," as in "aggressive changes." Do you think sellers will be aggressive in their efforts to skip this new idea that is, according to Mr. Donahoe, "uniquely eBay"? Is "uniquely eBay" even a compliment right now? [tags]ecommerce,ebay stock[/tags]

Popularity: 4% [?]

After ten years at the helm of what has been called the fastest growing company in history, [tag]Meg Whitman[/tag] has officially announced her retirement to the [tag]eBay Community[/tag] on eBay's Announcements Board. This comes about an hour before announcing earnings for Q4 2007.

As expected, Meg also named her apparent successor as [tag]John Donahoe[/tag], head of [tag]eBay[/tag] Marketplaces. I know a lot of people beat up on Meg for eBay's problems of late, but somehow I think it's going to get rougher before it gets better. Meg really does love eBay. She personally buys and sells on the site. I am not convinced Mr. Donahoe uses the site, nor am I convinced he appreciates the community and what really made eBay what it is (was).

For the full story you can read the official announcement. Comments are most welcome.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Hold on to your hats. Maybe Meg won't be standing on the stage with Bill Cobb in Chicago this June at [tag]eBay Live![/tag] The Wall Street Journal is reporting that [tag]Meg Whitman[/tag], [tag]CEO[/tag] of [tag]eBay[/tag] since 1998 may [tag]retire[/tag] in as little as a few weeks. It's reported that she is leaving on her own as she's approaching her ten year anniversary. She said she didn't think any CEO should stay in that position for more than a decade and she seems to be making following her own advice.

Here is the scary part though..."Any efforts to reverse the slowdown could involve drastic changes that may be more palatable under a new CEO..." Oh man. If you thought it was bad already, hang on. The conventional wisdom is that John Donahoe will take over for Meg. This will move management even further away from the early, "funner" days of eBay.

What will this mean for eBay? Will it have any effect at all if [tag]John Donahoe[/tag] takes the reigns? Will she sell the contents of her cubicle on eBay? The world waits on the edge of their collective seat... I'd love to hear your thoughts.

See the full report on CNET.com and Silicon Alley Insider.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Have you heard the noise about eBay's new way of "finding" on the site? Well, lots of people hate it. But that is not news. Lots of people would hate it if eBay found a way to attain world peace, just because it's eBay.

One big concern is the rumor that [tag]eBay[/tag] will use [tag]Detailed Seller Ratings[/tag] ([tag]DSRs[/tag]) to determine a seller's position within search results. That was my concern. With all the hatred boiling over for [tag]eBay's Best Match[/tag] - I must say I thought it was a terrible idea. I was sure it would penalize me, a relatively small seller, with less than 100% Positive feedback, and less than five stars on my Detailed Seller Ratings. It turns out though, that DSRs are only a small part of the equation.

I found a great article on understanding Best Match. Before I send you there, consider the power in knowing how to use it to your advantage as a seller. If you do research, use high quality relevant [tag]keywords[/tag], and charge fair shipping, you may be quite happy with the results. In fact, if you do those things, you may get a lot more exposure than you're getting now. DSRs may count for something, but in my research so far they don't count as much as high quality [tag]listings[/tag].

Take a look at the article mentioned over on Auction Insights on Decoding eBay's Best Match. Can you think of any other ways to make Best Match work for you?

Popularity: 5% [?]

This is the last in a series comparing the characteristics of eBay and the US Government. In the last post I discussed the fractured community and how it's hurt eBay in the eyes of buyers and sellers alike. The last way the two behemoths compare is a bit sad...

#5 - Faded glory

The image of the United States as a glorious beacon of freedom and liberty has undeniably faded around the world. It can be a bit sad to see historical films showing crowds cheering the troops as they liberated cities around the world only to see the negativity and bickering that goes on now.

[tag]eBay[/tag] reflects a similar faded glory. At one time people were proud to say they made their living on eBay. I can say from experience, when those people in my community (see part 1) told me of some of the trouble they'd had with eBay, I was a bit embarrassed. I used to hear those stories and it would turn out that it was something they had done wrong. Nowadays, they are more often victims of scammers or eBay's [tag]bureaucratic[/tag] red tape. What a shame it has come to this.

What now?

Even with all the problems I'll continue selling on eBay. I have never been an eBay-basher, and I'm not starting now. Sellers talk about expanding to other channels to sell. I think that is very smart. Do I believe eBay will go away? Nope. It always was the best place to sell collectibles and it still is. I will still teach people to use eBay and they can make some good money there. But in the end, the glory days are in the past. I could never imagine Pierre or Meg describe eBay's homepage as a "flea market." Looking back, it was when eBay started trying to be a retailing giant pushing loads of new "practical" items that it lost its fun, quirky edge. They insisted on pushing new, "practical" items instead of the unique, collectibles. Based on the "flea market" comment by John Donahoe, it seems that's the course they'd like to continue to take. Like Dr. Phil says, "If you keep doing what you've been doing, you're gonna keep getting the same results." Despite the current rhetoric, much like the U.S. Government - not much is likely to change.

Popularity: 4% [?]