The Unearthed Secrets Of An Ebay Powerseller

Writen by Seth Chong

Have you seen any sellers on eBay which shows a "star" and the word "PowerSeller" by the side of their names? PowerSellers are eBay's top sellers who have sustained a consistent high volume of monthly sales, a high level of total 98% positive feedback or better, and have met a threshold of compliance with all marketplace policies.

Sounds hard? Nope, not at all, in fact anyone can do it. Shortly, if you want to qualify for being an eBay seller you need:

•To be an active member for 90 days.
•Average a minimum of $1000 in sales per month for three consecutive months.
•Achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive.
•Have an account in good financial standing.

Now we'll learn about the methods used by our fellow eBay PowerSellers. A successful auction has three elements which are: the title, a description and pictures of your selling item.

When listing, always write a clear, attractive and concise title. The first thing any potential buyers see will be your title so you should grab their attention once they enter. It should tell what the buyers want, make them nod their heads when they read your title. Some descriptive words like old, vintage, runs, works or condition statements like "New in Box", anything that is appropriate can get you better results than a bold headline.

Many people left a lot of money on the table when they depended just on "see photos" instead of writing a good description. A large number of auctions are filled with paragraph after paragraph of information about where to send the payments, how to send the payments, when to send the payments, who can bid and who can't which sometimes clutters the auction.

It's really simple to include a good description which can make your potential buyers stay glued to what you say right until they make a bid or purchase your item and everyone in the world should do it!

By writing an accurate description you will make bidders more confident about your item. Not certain on what to describe? Search for similar items on eBay, and read the description, take down the catchy words then use it in your listing. The confidence can translate into higher prices.

As for your auction's pictures, use big clear photographs. The best way to get nice and clear photos is to take them using a digital camera. Other than that, it is also easier for you to upload the photos into your computer with a digital camera. Try and improve your pictures by adding suitable lightings as well, it can help produce better results in your picture's quality.

Now, all of us know that feedbacks are based on the seller's customer service. Whenever we go out somewhere for a meal, customer service is very important. Let's say DOME, people likes going there because the food has low calories, and of course, it tastes great. But what makes people feel comfortable eating there is the customer service. Good customer service is always defined by: a smile, fast service, and simple.

We'll need to always be pleasant to our customers. Don't be shy, be more humble than your customers and treat them as though they're your boss. When people know you have good customer service, they won't mind considering buying more items from you. Since you are a trusted person and easy to communicate with it, being your repeated customer in time to come will be great. If you have excellent customer service, it just hurts if I don't write you a good feedback and keep your items, right?

Selling the item to your customer doesn't mean he or she is done for good. There are a lot more ways to benefit from your current customers. After they've purchased your item, try to offer a bonus, like a free e-book or something that is useful.

But first, they will need to sign up for your newsletter, or subscribe to your opt-in list. You can instead not only offer the bonus for the buyer, but all the other bidders. This way, you add up your opt-in list, make everyone happy, and all these current bidders can be potential buyers of your items in the future.

In your auctions, you can always put a link to your other auctions in your description and inform the surfers that you have more items for sale. By telling the viewers you have similar items for sale and can offer cheaper shipping & handling cost, it urges people to buy more items from you.

A guarantee is always part of the most important factor in your auctions. This can be a simple statement like if the item is not as represented you can return it for a refund. Using a strong guarantee can greatly increase your response. If you offer a guarantee you need to honor it, but if you're diligent, you will definitely not have many returns. If you want to know how a good guarantee statement sounds like, you can refer this one:

"100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE – IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY FOR ANY REASON JUST RETURN YOUR ITEM FOR A COMPLETE REFUND INCLUDING SHIPPING BOTH WAYS."

How does it sound? Safe enough to buy definitely! It doesn't matter if they refund your item in the future, you just need to sell your items to your customers and let them make their choices after receiving it.

At the end of your auction's description, always make it easier for surfers and maintain their urge of buying by listing the shipping & handling costs for your items.

Refrain from letting them do the math or turn to other pages just because it's troublesome inquiring for the fees. A good example is:

"$5.00 shipping to US Destinations by Priority Mail. I will pack with care and ship with delivery confirmation for your protection. International shipping are sent by Airmail letter Post. I will combine items that end on the SAME day to lower your shipping cost."

This is absolutely clear and to the point. When you include this information, surfers will not have to figure out anything extra or look at other pages to find out the shipping information, and it can help increasing your response in sales!

People have many different opinions when it comes to how long they should list an auction. There's no definite answer to it, but five to seven days are the peak ones. Search results are presented by newly listed items or those items which are ending on the same day, which means the first and the last 24 hours are when most people will see one's auction.

Pack well! By packing nicely you inflict the message of how valuable your item is, and it increases your customer's satisfaction for the product. Chocolates like Ferrero Rocher or Kit Kat have nice packing and that urges people to buy it as well, noticed it before?

To be an eBay seller isn't hard at all, it takes a little time and effort, but that's it. Slowly build your customer database, keep the opt-ins, add up your positive feedbacks, continue providing good customer support, and you're almost there.

Seth Chong is the owner of IMViral, one of the largest, greatest viral Internet Marketing Newsletter which is being spread around the world, you can sign up for the Newsletter(worths $297) for Free at http://www.IMViral.com

Ebay Feedback And Customer Confidence

Writen by Cathy Stucker

When my voice mail system recently gave up the ghost, I discovered that the equipment I had been using has not been manufactured in years, and no one makes anything quite like it.

After learning more than I really wanted to know about phone and voice mail systems, I narrowed my decision to two systems. One seemed to be a better choice, and was even less expensive than the other. However, when it came time to place the order I got nervous. The manufacturer seemed less 'corporate' and not as well established as the maker of the other system. I started wondering if paying the higher price was the safer thing to do, rather than dealing with a lesser-known company. Would my credit card information be secure? Would the company provide a quality product, and would they stand behind it?

The factor that won me over was eBay. Although I was not shopping for their products on eBay, it turns out that this company sells a lot on eBay, and their feedback score is 100%. Of course, the raw number isn't enough to go on. They have enough ratings that the feedback score appears to be genuine, the feedback comes from many users with established feedback scores, and the feedback is primarily for selling the type of product I was planning to buy.

eBay had a great idea when they came up with feedback scores. While a good feedback score is not a guarantee that you will be happy with your transaction, it is a good indicator. In this case, even though I wasn't planning to buy on eBay, the fact that this merchant had good feedback there gave me the confidence I needed to do business with them.

Positive feedback from eBay customers is just one way you can build credibility and create trust in the online community. The more confidence your customers have in you, the easier it will be to get their business.

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the IdeaLady, Cathy Stucker helps authors, entrepreneurs and professionals attract customers and make themselves famous. To learn more about marketing and get free marketing tips, visit Cathy at http://www.IdeaLady.com/

Ebay Feedback How To Grow It And Keep Positive Feedback For Your Business

Writen by Avril Harper

Positive feedback is vital for growing a business and good reputation on eBay, especially when building feedback to sell BUY IT NOW or open a shop on eBay. Bad feedback can be avoided, even removed, read on to learn how.

eBay Feedback is the process where buyers and sellers rate one another based on actual trading experience. If the transaction is good you can expect positive feedback from buyers and sellers. Neutral feedback indicates room for improvement; negative feedback denotes an unacceptably flawed transaction –

Usually!

I say 'usually' because things don't always go according to plan. Feedback is subjective – some people are more easily pleased than others, some more forgiving while some are more honest. I have seen positive feedback left by people who haven't even received their product yet, and negative from others who just enjoy being cruel or haven't even paid the seller. Jealousy, bad hair days, downright nastiness, all contribute to negative feedback which few sellers can avoid.

Positive feedback is vital for growing a business and good reputation on eBay, especially when building feedback to sell BUY IT NOW or open a shop on eBay. Feedback – positive and negative (neutral doesn't count for % rating) is represented as a proportion of overall feedback. So the lower your feedback rating, the higher the impact negative feedback has, unlike PowerSellers with, say, 10,000 feedbacks, for whom one more negative has little or no effect.

Once feedback is given, even in the heat of the moment, it can't be changed, so a negative stays with you for life. That's more or less what eBay says, but the reality is different. Feedback can be retracted by mutual consent (learn more via 'Feedback' in your eBay account) and via firms like SquareTrade – www.squaretrade.com – who mediate between members to remove negatives.

It's vitally important to understand why people leave negative feedback and take steps to avoid these most common reasons:

* Delay in sending product. 'Delay' for some people is more than a day between paying and receiving their product, for most three or four days is acceptable. Seven days is too long. If there is a delay, be upfront about it, write to buyers, apologize and give an explanation and revised delivery date.

* Sending product badly wrapped. Pack products carefully, using bubble wrap or padded bags. It can be expensive but you are allowed to add packing charges to postal costs.

* Not sending product at all. More than three negatives for this will get you suspended or barred from eBay. Not sending a product is inexcusable and you should only list items you already have or can easily obtain.

* Item not as described. Describe items as carefully and comprehensively as possible and always include a message like: 'Item described to the best of our ability. Money back on all items with inadvertent listing mistakes or errors.'

* Not answering emails. Often the problem isn't yours, the other person may have spam filters preventing your email getting through, often they just don't check before leaving negative feedback. An estimated one-third of emails miss their intended destination, mainly due to spam filters.

But most PayPal letters make it through spam filters and they're rarely missed by people who've binned many of your earlier communications. Virtually everyone opens emails saying 'There's money in your PayPal account'. Poor communications can be solved by sending a small amount of money via PayPal with a message 'You have spam filters in place, contact me asap'. Or similar. Be careful, remember the recipient of money usually pays PayPal a transaction fee. Not so where you partially refund someone paying you through PayPal. Do this by entering the appropriate transaction within your PayPal account, scroll down to 'refund', pay a small amount back. The recipient won't pay but he will get your message. Don't refund by PayPal for buyers paying you by cheque or cash. They will be charged. The exception is where you send a token amount, plus PayPal charge, to the recipient.

* Charging high postage and trying to make more money that way. You can charge extra for packing and processing but be realistic. Don't charge $10 for a package costing $3 to post and $2 for packing materials. It's unprofessional and will earn negative feedback and complaints to eBay.

* In retaliation for leaving negative feedback for other eBayers. This is the most common reason for negative feedback and something you must learn to live with. If you're honest and leave negative feedback to warn other buyers and sellers against a member you consider dishonest or untrustworthy you will get negatives. You must decide if warning others is worth the red mark!

* Just Because! You will never please them all and it isn't worth your time trying.

Getting Good, Avoiding Bad and Managing Problem Feedback

* Retaliatory negative feedback is the most worrying aspect of all for serious business eBayers who, though they know it's their duty to warn other sellers about undesirable customers, are often too afraid of incurring negatives in return. I only give feedback when it's already been left for me. In my listings and compliments slip I say: 'If you have a problem email us at myemailaddress and we'll sort it out right away. Otherwise, leave feedback to let us know your product has arrived in good order and we will reciprocate within 24 hours.'

* 'Reciprocate' is the important word, and if someone leaves positive feedback we normally leave the same; if they leave neutral or negative we contact them to ask why. If we consider reciprocal neutral or negative feedback is warranted, that's what they get. To my mind it is totally, totally wrong to leave neutral or negative feedback for anyone without first trying to resolve the problem. In this case our negative or neutral feedback isn't retaliatory, it's simply to warn other sellers about the buyer's lack of care and communications skills.

* You can pre-approve bidders, allowing you to sell purely to individuals who have no negative feedback themselves and don't leave it unnecessarily for others. You might get people to email you before bidding, you check them out, you approve or bar them from bidding. Personally, I can't see the point.

* You can cancel bids or forbid certain people from bidding. Visit eBay's Feedback Forum for lots of advice and comments from seasoned sellers.

* A friendly, considerate disposition, and the ability to handle difficult people, all help avoid the 'Big N*' which can seriously damage your business. (*Negative feedback!!!). Now let us get real, bear in mind the bigger you get, the more items you sell, the more negatives you might genuinely earn, and the more difficult people you will encounter. Be careful, considerate, communicate.

Learn from earned negative feedback, try to avoid undeserved complaints, and learn to live with whatever else happens.

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 free to distribute reports and ebooks at http://www.toppco.com

What Is Your Reputation Really Worth On Ebay

Writen by Paul Duxbury

Your eBay reputation is everything you are on eBay – without it, you're nothing. Your reputation is worth as much as every sale you will ever make.

If you've ever bought anything on eBay (and the chances are you have), then think about your own behaviour. Buying from a seller with a low feedback rating makes you feel a little nervous and insecure, while buying from a PowerSeller with their reputation in the thousands doesn't require any thought or fear – it feels just like buying from a shop.

A Bad Reputation Will Lose You Sales.

In fact, a bad reputation will lose you almost all your sales. If someone leaves you negative feedback, you will feel the pain straight away, as that rating will go right at the top of your user page for everyone to see. Who's going to want to do business with you when they've just read that you "took a month to deliver the item", or that you had "bad communication and sent a damaged item"? The answer is no-one.

Your next few items will need to be very cheap things, just to push that negative down the page. You might have to spend days or even weeks selling cheap stuff to get enough positive feedback to make anyone deal with you again.

It's even worse if you consistently let buyers leave negative feedback – once you get below 90% positive ratings, you might as well be invisible.

You Can't Just Open a New Account.

Besides eBay's rules about only having one account, there are far more downsides than that to getting a new account. You literally have to start all over again from scratch.

You won't be able to use all the different eBay features. Your existing customers won't be able to find you any more. Your auctions will finish at a lower price because of your low feedback rating. Opening a new account is like moving to a new town to get away from a few people who are spreading rumours about you: it's throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

A Good Reputation Will Get You Sales.

When a PowerSeller tells me something, I tend to believe them. They can be selling a pretty unlikely item, but if they guarantee it is what they say it is, then I trust them – they're not going to risk their reputation, after all. This is the power of a reputation: people know you want to keep it, and they know you'll go to almost any lengths to do so.

This is true even to the point that I would sooner buy something for £20 from a seller I know I can trust than for £15 from someone with average feedback. It's worth the extra money to feel like the seller knows what they're doing, has all their systems in place and will get me the item quickly and efficiently.

You really will find selling on eBay so much easier, and there's only way to get a good reputation: make sure you please your customers every time.

Paul is Head of Training for a major UK Charitable Organisation with a wealth of experience in personal development, management development, e-learning and operational management. In addition he owns PK eBooks (http://www.pk-ebooks.co.uk) two sites specifically aimed at those who want to successfully sell on eBay http://www.ebay-profits.co.uk and http://www.info-entrepreneurs.co.uk

Improve Your Ebay Auction Success By Using All Of The Free Product Sourcing Tools At Your Disposal

Writen by Chris Vendilli

Selling in-demand items on eBay is by far the most profitable choice you can make when doing your product sourcing. With so much competition on eBay, there's simply not room for error or choosing to sell anything less than popular.

The problem eBay sellers face however is that the state of the market is constantly evolving. Last months best-seller may be this month's total flop.

No matter how difficult or competitive selling on this auction giant may become, eBay will always try to make the process as painless as possible. Fortunately, eBay itself provides a number of tools that can help you identify the latest selling trends. This article will briefly explain these tools to you, show you how to access them, and evaluate their usefulness.

The first tool that eBay provides is "The Hot Items Report" (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf) - In the words of eBay itself "Hot...Very Hot…Super Hot! Discover which categories and products are on fire—where bid to item ratios are high and demand is outpacing supply." This is certainly an invaluable resource that will help you keep a check on the current state of the eBay marketplace and stay on top!

Second up there is the "The eBay Pulse" (http://pulse.ebay.com) - This allows you to view the most popular searches, largest stores, most watched items and more. It's an extremely useful tool, but a word of warning – sometimes only the most unusual and intriguing items show up here, and not the ones that are in the highest demand. It may not always be a true reflection on what is really the most popular item(s) on eBay. To demonstrate this, on the day of writing several items featured in The Pulse were what you might call "get rich quick schemes," whilst another was someone offering to have your advert tattooed on their back for all to see!

Marketplace Research

(http://pages.ebay.com/marketplace_research/index.html) is a new service that allows you to analyze data on completed auction listings. Although the service does incur a monthly charge, it may be worth a look if you'd like in-depth data and statistics already collected for you. If you're familiar with eBay's advanced search features you may be able to accomplish something similar to Marketplace Research on your own.

The eBay Community (http://hub.ebay.com/community) is another useful section to the site if you're seeking out popular items. The chance to talk with other sellers, network, and discuss the latest trends may mean you can keep ahead of the pack. It's nice for a good old elbow-rubbing session with fellow eBay nuts too. eBay is such a humongous marketplace most sellers realize it's not a bad choice to share your success stories with potential competition, since you may pick up some tips for yourself.

Of course you can also simply keep an eye out yourself. Take a look at completed auction listings. Is the item you're thinking of selling doing well for other people? Is this a seasonal item? How many other sellers are in this niche?

With this wide range of tools at your disposal, you've got a ready-made resource to search for those hot items. I've got dollar signs in my eyes already!

Chris Vendilli Copyright © 2006

Chris Vendilli is the owner, founder, and CEO of The 3 Rivers Auctions Company. Chris has helped numerous people start successful online businesses mainly focusing on eBay and affiliate marketing. Chris is also an eBay Power Seller, indicating he has in depth knowledge of the way eBay works! If you're interested in getting more information regarding eBay tips, trends, strategies, & secrets please visit Chris's site using the link below:

http://www.3riversauctions.com

Drop Shipping Is Your Perfect Home Based Business Solution

Writen by Michael Nalbone

Drop Shipping Is Your Perfect Home Based Business Solution

Drop shipping is one of the greatest businesses to operate from home. With drop shipping you sell another company's products, use their warehouse and shipping facilities, and they provide you with the sales tools you need like product descriptions and images and more - free of charge!

Drop shipping is great for small businesses because you can start with literally nothing & gradually increase to higher levels of success. Drop shipping allows you to leverage other, much larger company's resources!

Any business owner who needs the an inexpensive & efficient means to market items online should look into drop shipping. Drop shipping allows you to sell almost any type of product you want with no warehouse & no inventory.

No inventory = low risk! You only purchase an item from the dropshipper after you've already made the sale! You never get stuck with a garage full of products that won't sell.

Drop shippers packages all of the products for you, they place your name on the return address of the package & then they ship it to your customer. You'll look like you're a multi-million dollar outfit to the customer!

In order to do business with a real wholesaler, some of them (not all) may require proof that you're in business & not just some consumer looking for great prices. So, you may need to file for a Resale Tax ID for your State. It's easy to do I filed my application online in just 10 minutes & even received a temporary certificate that I immediately printed out. I was literally in business within 10 minutes!

If you're SERIOUS about running a business you MUST have one! No ifs, ands, or buts. And, it's so easy to get one, there's no excuse not to.

If a wholesaler doesn't request a Resale Tax ID from you, they're a very small company or they're not real wholesalers, just middle-men.

When you find wholesale companies that drop ship many different types of products, everything from toys to electronics, and they don't request your Resale Tax ID, be aware that probably aren't a real wholesale company. Most legitimate wholesalers focus on a specific product type, like electronics or toys alone.

These middle-men companies just forward your order to the real wholesale company. You won't be able to compete on a level playing field with your competition if you do business with these guys. Chances are your competitors have Resale Tax IDs.

So be aware that you're dealing with a middle-man wholesaler who will have the real dropshipper dropship your products for you. Do yourself a favor & avoid dealing with the middlemen and get a Resale Tax ID. You'll save yourself a lot of money by be able to compete with the big-guns.

After your account is set up with the real wholesaler, you'll get a printed catalog and possibly a CD-Rom with product descriptions and images that you can use.

Middle-men usually don't provide these "bonuses". You just upload the image & description to your web site, decide on the price & wait for the orders to come rolling in!

Drop shipping will allow any person to run a successful & competitive business from home regardless of a lack of start-up funds.

Mike Nalbone is the creator of "The Wholesale Detective" http://www.nalbone.org/detective/ which is a complete resource for people seeking to utilize drop shipping to start or expand their own business.

How To Select Items To Use The Featured Auction Section Of Ebay

Writen by Donny Lowy

On eBay it is utterly simple to list an item in the featured auction section! If you are able to spend on substantial extra fee, you can get your auction featured. There are two price tags for two different kinds of auctions featured viz. for $99.95 you can have a regular auction featured on eBay. And for $19.95 you can have your auction featured in its special category. You will find the featured auction appearing at the top of its category. In the regular auction listing it shall appear in bold.

While you are opting for featured auction section of eBay you have to judge for yourself whether your item for auction is worth it or not ? For most items auction featured section does not work since when potential bidder is looking for something specific, they are least likely to browse through the featured sections. So you have to be very careful while selecting items to be in the featured auction section. Items that are supposed to be bought on impulse might get sold well in the featured sections. It is mostly seen that many people who visit the featured sections are actually browsing only to look for something to buy.

If an item of yours is not being identified with keywords or is really difficult to search for then the section for featured auction is best to sell your product as the visitor shall find the same on a listing with a huge number of auctions. Featured sections also prove to be good when the eBay users are new and are unable to search effectively with proper keywords. Even if you are selling a popular consumer item, featured sections help you to sell well.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

Louis Vuitton Avoiding The Ebay Nightmare Fakes

Writen by Rufus Steele

Without a doubt, eBay was one of the cleverest on-line ideas that anyone has had so far. The idea of creating a site where you can bid on and buy items ranging from an eggcup through to a disused Boeing 747 or a Nuclear Missile Silo was pure genius.

Sadly though, whenever a good idea comes along, the seedier side of humanity is sure to be not that far behind, sliding along in it's wake leaving a gooey trail behind themselves.

So it is on Ebay. Current estimation holds that nigh on 37% of the worlds counterfeit and fake goods are sold daily on Ebay.

Having seen some of the listings I can fully believe it.

Especially where designer label goods are concerned.

Take a look at just about any page of Louis Vuitton items listed on Ebay and on average you'll find 95% of them on each page are fake.

So how can you avoid the easy to make mistake of buying a cheap quality fake LV?

Learn.

Learn as much as you can about the specific item you're interested in.

Don't go trawling ebay for ideas on what to buy and expect to be able to find a prize, hidden away deep in the listings. There are LV addicts who spend the best part of the day doing just that, trawling the auctions, checking and rechecking, looking for the bags that are being sold by owners with little knowledge, owners who are selling at a price away below what it should be. Then they'll "snipe" the auction in the last few seconds - right out from under your nose!

If you really want to buy a pre owned LV then your best bet would be to go to a consignment store and see if they can get hold of one for you. They'll have a constantly changing stock of second hand authentic items for you to choose from and you're fairly assured of it being genuine.

But if you really must buy your LV off eBay then try to use one of the approved LV sellers.

Who or what is an approved LV seller, you may well ask?

Well, there are two sets of LV sellers and buyers who have proven themselves, over a period of time as well as a set number of successful sales of authentic goods, and who have a distinction awarded by one of two "bodies".

The two bodies are MyPoupette and ALVA (Authentic Louis Vuitton Addicts).

A MyPoupette recommended seller is known as an MPRS (My Poupette Recommended Seller) and an ALVA recommended seller is known as an ALVA SS (ALVA Seller Select).

Both of these lists have a criteria that any seller MUST meet before being granted the "badge". That criteria requires a certain number of authentic only items to have been sold with supporting feedback and good trading practice before they can qualify.

Once they are awarded this distinction they are then allowed to use that title and badge in their auctions.

Now, although nothing in life is guaranteed, you can be much more assured and comfortable buying your used LV through one of these sellers.

Why?

Well, two reasons really.

Firstly, many of the resellers who have earned this level treat their selling and buying as a business. To sell a fake would result in their being stripped of their titles which could seriously affect their turnover! They only deal in authentic items and HATE fakes.

Secondly, both of the bodies who issue these distinctions have an interest and a duty in ensuring that their members behave and sell properly.

Should a buyer have an issue with one of these sellers they can take their complaint to either MyPoupette or ALVA and ask that they intervene. Although neither of these bodies are legally responsible for your sales and purchases with their listed resellers, they do take any complaint seriously and will investigate and assist where possible.

On past record, when you deal with a seller with either of these titles you are going to have a good time!

And that means you avoid buying a fake LV on Ebay!

Copyright:: Rufus Steele 2005

Rufus Steele is the author and creator of the Louis Vuitton website, a site dedicated to all things Louis Vuitton

Have You Got Ebay Powerseller Potential

Writen by Darren Yates

What exactly is a PowerSeller?

PowerSellers are the eBay members that have made it, you can recognize them by the 'PowerSeller' badge next to their name. You've probably seen these people across eBay as you go about your usual business – to succeed on eBay, you need to think the way they do.

How do you get Awarded PowerSeller Status? eBay decides who can be a PowerSeller and who can't, and they have strict rules. To get in at the minimum PowerSeller level, you must have a feedback rating of at least 100 (minimum 98% positive) and sell at least $1,000 worth of items every month for three months in a row.

There are different levels of PowerSeller membership as you sell items of greater value:

$1,000 is bronze
$3,000 is silver
$10,000 is gold
$25,000 is platinum
$125,000 is titanium

If PowerSellers ever fail to meet the required amount of sales, or their feedback falls below 98% positive, then they lose their PowerSeller status. Essentially the only eBay users that get to be PowerSellers on eBay are the users that have been successful for a while and are on track to stay successful.

The Marketplace and the Shop.

This is the most important part of understanding how PowerSellers think. They don't see what they're doing as being some random bazaar, or a hobby – instead, they see themselves as a business.

For example, if you run a stall in a marketplace, the chances are that you have a general area of business, but you mostly just sell whatever you can get your hands on that week. If your dodgy buddy got his hands on a job lot of something at a discount, then that's what you'll be selling. This might be fun – and when you have a good week, you'll have a really good week – but it's no way to run a real business in the long-term.

PowerSellers think far more like shops. They sell the same things again and again, every week – regular stock for regular customers. They do 'boring' business things like keep inventories and budgets. They know what they're going to be selling, how much they buy it for and how much they expect to sell for. Just like a real shop, there can be hard times sometimes, but their income is stable and their business can grow slowly.

The best advice I can give you on thinking like a PowerSeller is this: don't take long-term risks for short-term gain. Look after your reputation, manage your selling properly, provide good customer service and the rewards will come to you in due course. And you'll get a little badge next to your name that makes people trust you more!

One option that you may of missed is - What can eBay do for any other businesses you have. Millions of people visit eBay every day – why keep everything separate when you're starting to tap into that kind of power?

In fact $14 out of every $100 spent online is spent at eBay!

Darren Yates has learned of Brandon Dupsky a guy making $22,000 a DAY! on eBay selling everyday stuff. Do you think you could too? - http://www.how-to-make-money-online.info/eBay-millionaire/

This article comes with reprint rights. Feel free to reprint and distribute as you like. All that we ask is that you do not make any changes, that this resource text is include, and that the link above is intact.

Traditional Marketing Techniques For Ebay Auction Ads

Writen by Chuck Mullaney

Ya know, I sort of giggle when I look at an ad on eBay that's just a black and white description of the item or product that's up for bid. It wasn't long ago at all that I would have done the exact same thing, but once I understood some traditional marketing techniques, not just been exposed to them; everything looked totally different.

It's been a few years now and I can't imagine how I got by in a "sales" career beforehand. I had been a fairly successful salesman in the mortgage business, or the term the public uses; Mortgage Broker. A commission only job with no promised monthly salary. My income was totally based upon my sales success or "lack of", each month. How was I able to eat without knowing how to write ad copy or how to use the "hook", or how to effectively use a "take away" move..?

Simple answer: Born for it.

If you're like me, in that you enjoy selling something that you, yourself are sold on, then eBay is where you need to be and learning traditional marketing techniques is the way to have any type of success. There is no other way for, us po folk(not millionaires), to reach such a huge amount of potential buyers for ANY type of item at all. One hundred twenty five million users! Whoa. At this point, they have daily new user sign ups in excess of one hundred thousand people...100,000 each day!

THE PRODUCT IS NOT WHAT YOU ARE SELLING!!!

Things are much more technical than that. Here's a short list of the different focuses:

1. Gallery picture is to grab attention only. It's not about looking nice and neat or pretty or professional; it's about human instinct, the power of basic colors, and their contrast with each other. It's about getting noticed on a page of 25 items in a list! We all just browse lists...there is no reading lists word for word! Of course I know that there are exceptions, but the majority are predictable.

2. The title is not for describing the item! Don't think for a minute that you will get noticed by enough people to make real money if they don't see you when they search. The bottom line is that most purchases are the result of a search at the top of the ebay page. Knowing this, you'd think that the search would be checking the entire ad text for matches, ...not! There is a specific checkbox to choose this option right next to the search area, but most don't "check" it, so normally the search is only checking the title. Think about that. Now do you understand why some of those auction titles sounded so stupid..? You got it! They are the smart ones. There's a real art to creating a title that sounds somewhat normal while being keyword rich.
3. Feedback must remain clean, if not perfect! It's an opinion and mine will not sway. There's an inherent communication problem on the internet already. Why would you do anything at all to place more doubt in a prospective buyer's head..? Well, one bad comment can ruin the whole record for, at least 10 more sales because they're structured like this blog, backwards! The bad comment will be there until you fill the page again with positive comments! Just keep it perfect at all costs or don't get upset when they bypass your item for someone else's.
4. Pricing. Again, more of a marketing or psychological factor than most think it is. Information products are even more suited to this because their value is based, partly, on perception or what people think it should cost. That literally means that a new product can sell more units priced higher than comperable products just because it's more expensive! Now, what I just said was not that they sell for more so they make more. I said "units". It's possible to sell 10 for one price and 10 for a higher price, quicker. If the whole dynamic, or feel of the ad, gives the item a higher perceived value, rather than a "ripp off", they may even move faster because of being more expensive. I'm beating this horse because most people are trained the opposite of this, that cheaper is better... Pricing is a tool, just a really important one to get right.
5. Traditional ad copy is usually a sales letter that is absolutley focused on purchasing your interest with well placed, and sometimes viosually appealling, words. Just as the title was only to get you to click the ad, the headline or first words in the desciption should be focused on getting you to read it and go to the next line. That's where the hand off takes place and now it's the second area or headline's job to kepp you and send you to the next. Just that methodical. The only way I can see to do this effectively is being obsessive about it. Invest some time in this because it directly effects your income, period. Sometimes I like to write most of the ad, right off the top of my head, then go over it with a fine tooth comb, making adjustments, over and over and over and over... Till it works and flows properly. Every great marketer has seemingly strict opinions as to which words to use or not and which colors to use or not. The funny thing is that a huge part of a marketer's job is to test new things and question there skills to hone them. I'm caught up in this circle all the time...
6. Your "store" policies. The only way to really get the idea of why you need to be particular about things such as this is to look around at the other auctions. You will definately run into some cheesy ones and some really well done policies. Now pick which seller you feel more comfortable paying money to "up front" for a purchase... Get my point..? Be a pro at all times, trust me; everyone is watching. Make your store policies more fair than most and make them easy to read and understand. Don't write them exactly the way you want to see them, smarter people than you will read them AND dumber people than you will read them. You need to make each of us feel good about you here.

Once you grasp these as the truth that they are, you'll see the potential of eBay just because you will simply be in the minority! These are the first steps of becoming an extremely over paid telecommuter or PJExec.

I've sold almost a half million dollars worth of products this year, from my bedroom, without employees, and in my PAJAMAS! Not one of my sales were drop shipped and almost every one of them was an Information Product.

I'm a High Level Powerseller on eBay, AND, I'm a Certified eBay Education Specialist, trained by eBay. When I took the acceptance exam to be an Education Specialist, in September 2004, my exam ranking was number 1! There were 582 other trainers at that point.

I have gross eBay sales of more than $300,000 this year.

I also have gross website sales of more than $140,000 this year.

I have 100% Positive Customer Feedback!!!!

I have Zero Employees.

I work, at home, in my PAJAMAS!

http://www.PajamaExecutive.com

Five Top Tips For Successful Ebay Selling

Writen by Brian McGregor

Here are five of the best tips I've come across when you're selling on eBay:

1. Keywords in titles and descriptions

When creating an auction for an item, try and catch a bigger audience by including related popular words in your title or description. For example if you're selling an XYZ make of DVD player, in your description you could say something like "it doesn't matter if you're looking for a Sony, Panasonic, Philips etc, you will find the XYZ competes on all features." So when people search for a Sony in the description, your auction will be returned in the list.

2. See my other auctions

Although your auction page on eBay provides a facility which lets people click over to see your other auctions, always include a link within your auction description. Many people don't know of the standard links which are at the top of the page, or they immediately click down the auction page to get to the item description.

3. Shoulder the risk

If you think about it, buyers bear all the risk in an auction transaction. They will probably have to pay the seller before the item is dispatched. This risk could be the final reason why someone may not bid on your auction. Think about removing the risk, and see if you can "afford" to offer a moneyback guarantee in your auction description. If you are honest and your item is as described, this tactic could be a win/win for you.

4. Save time on repetitive keying

You may have noticed during your auction activity how often you key in the same words or phrases over an over again. You can use a lovely little piece of software called Shortkeys which will reduce this keying by around 95%. You can find out about Shortkeys here:- http://www.shortkeys.com

5. Feedback promotion

If you have a web site, include its address in every feedback you give to your buyers. It's free advertising for you which will grow and grow as your auction business develops. For example, you could use something like this as feedback:

Excellent buyer. Prompt payment. A1 recommended www.more-auction-sales.com

Use these tips, and your eBay business will be greatly assisted.

Brian McGregor is an eBay and internet entrepreneur. He recently created the 'eBay Master Class' for eBay sellers. For your free copy, please go to http://www.workwinners.com/ebm-request.htm

How To Take Advantage Of Reverse Online Auction When Buying A Motorcycle

Writen by Richard Verker

Consumers in the market for a new motorcycle may want to consider the reverse auction process as a means to pick up a new or used motorcycle. You probably have made the rounds to the local motorcycle shops and priced out the motorcycle that you are hoping to purchase. The prices for motorcycles as with many products are often directly proportional to the amount of competition there is and a vendor with no competition is just not motivated to lower the price. That's were reverse motorcycle auctions may be able to help you obtain the best price available.

Motorcycle auctions of this type work in reverse of the normal auction. Basically, as a buyer, you list the motorcycle that you wish to purchase, complete with model number and all specifications that you are interested in. Vendors of motorcycles respond with their best prices and if there are a number of vendors they will bid down the price in order to obtain your business. As a buyer, you will quickly be able to understand if these prices that are being bid during the motorcycle auction are better than what you may have found during your trips to the motorcycle shops.

Using a motorcycle auction of this type is a great way to make your purchase. Not only will you receive the best price available based on real competition, you can do all of this from the comfort of your home. Using your computer you can list your motorcycle auction request and then sit back and relax while the vendors bid on your auction request. Completing the sale and purchase of your new motorcycle is simple and straightforward as well. Once the auction is completed, get in touch with the winning vendor to make arrangements for completion of the sale and delivery of your new motorcycle.

Richard Verker has been writing business articles for 15 years. After studies in general economy and e-commerce, his work on online auctions makes his articles top-rated by magazines and thousands of readers. Visit the Reverse Online Auction Site for more information.

Auction Image Hosting For Ebay Auctions Free Single Most Recommended Tip

Writen by Bob Tabor

It is a well known fact that the more pictures taken of an item, the better it will sell. Not only will you get more bids, but you will make a superior final profit. This is probably why this tip is the single most given tip when it comes to ebay.

Naturally, You will not list as many pictures as you should because E-bay's service charges per picture. Because of this you tend to ask yourself, do I really need another picture? This kind of thinking is bad for business. You should instead be asking yourself, how many useful pictures can I take of this item? This brings us to the big dilemma. Ebay charges you for every picture they host. So more pictures means a more expensive auction.

The best thing you can do as a seller is to look into subscribing to an Unlimited Picture Hosting Service. These services will host an unlimited number of pictures for you and some are very easy to use. Let me show you an example. My favorite is FoamTemplates.com.

I hope next time you put auction together you will consider posting more pictures, even if you have to use a free photo service. Some of the more popular are photo bucket, or snap fish but any will do.

If you do deicide to go with paid hosting, look into FOAMTemplates.com $8 a month will get you unlimited image uploads with no bandwith requirements, and that is unheard of. They do also offer a free template designer that is also nice.

Until next time, Have a great day!

I operate many affiliate programs in my spare time for sites including but not limited to FOAMTemplates.com. If you need leads, contact me today! or Visit Foam for Auction Image Hosting

Where To Find Items To Sell On Ebay

Writen by Lewis Leake

One question that always seems to pop up is, "Where do I find products to sell on eBay?" Here are some ideas to get you started.

Start at Home

When you first get started, it can be a little unnerving. The best option is to start by looking around your own home. Think of items that you would sell in a garage sale. However, instead of pricing each item and lugging it outside hoping for a nice sunny day, you can advertise them on the Internet.

Collectibles

Hot sellers on eBay are collectibles such as coins, stamps, or dolls. You can check out the collectibles category to get a better idea of what people love to buy. Anything that will move up in value would fall in this category.

Consumables

This popular category would include anything that people use and then would need to buy again such as lotions, perfumes, camera film, candles, etc.

Information Products

In this category, you would sell anything that can be sent on a CD or floppy disc or downloaded from the Internet. This is another popular category.

Hobby into Profit

If you have a favorite hobby, such as creating custom wreaths or swags, making homemade soaps or lotions, sewing stuffed animals, whatever it might be, put it to work for you. Turn your hobby into a business using eBay. People do it all the time and make good money.

Small but Expensive

One of the best ways to make good money on eBay is to sell small but expensive items. This allows you to move more items without the bulk of heavy shipping and to move fewer items while making more money. This type of selling provides you with a much higher profit margin.

Specialize

While many sellers on eBay sell anything you can imagine, many of the power sellers specialize. Rather than offer 100 different items with no real connection, focus in on something that you can offer several varieties and then change those varieties out from time to time. Two great examples are purses and shoes, and paintings. You are staying in the same category but providing a multitude of options. Gotham Online is a perfect example. They have their website, shopgco.com, listed with eBay and offer a tremendous value on high quality men and women's shoes. Once the buyer finds the value of this site, the next time they need shoes, they will go back to this site, either through eBay or directly to the URL. However, the buyer will not become bored since the styles and brands of shoes rotate on a consistent basis.

Wholesale Products

Some eBay sellers create a business relationship with suppliers. As you find reliable suppliers, you can be assured of the quality and bargain of the merchandise. If you are not sure where to find suppliers, you can visit stockmystore.com where there are thousands of wholesale products, with the majority coming from reliable suppliers.

Drop Ship

Another option many power eBay sellers use is to Drop Ship. This is where the seller acts as the agent between the buyer and the merchandiser. In fact, the merchandise sold does not belong to the seller and the seller does not even have to make the shipments. This is actually a strategy used by many small businesses. The Drop Ship option allows the manufacturer to sell more merchandise while the eBay seller makes money. On eBay, check out the Drop Ship Source Directory if you are serious about selling.

Lewis Leake helps people make money from home. His website at GrowNetProfits.com contains tools, resources, articles, newsletters, product reviews and traffic builders to help you make money from your home based business. Click here to get additional Online Auction articles.

An Emerging Market In Ebay Consignments The Ebay Trading Post Part Ii In A Series

Writen by Carolyn Schweitzer

In 2002, the eBay consignments business was born, referred to by eBay as the Trading Assistant Program.

It's possible that eBay didn't foresee just how much they would benefit form their eBay consignments program. Designed to unite experienced eBay sellers with people who want heir merchandise sold on eBay without having to do it themselves, the Trading Assistant program has enjoyed enormous success.

As big as eBay had become -- larger than all other online auction venues combined -- they were still missing out on a large segment of the population; the technophobes. These people would sell goods on eBay if they had access to a computer and a digital camera, and had the time and inclination to learn how to run an auction. But they either don't have the technology or they lack the desire to become auctioneers, or both. Since they're not on line, they're not likely to learn about Trading Assistants who advertise primarily through eBay. And even if they saw the ads, they probably wouldn't trust them.

You see, people active in the online community are already comfortable with the environment, which has an element of anonymity. But a non-computer person is more likely to want to deal with a real, brick-and-mortar retail business. They may not trust someone who runs auctions out of their home.

How to reach these people? Introducing the concept of the "Trading Post"...

A Trading post is to eBay consignments what the typical consignment shop is to the average community. It's a drop off location that allows consumers to drop their stuff off and have it sold for them as a service. It's a retail location that markets itself to consumers as a local, experienced ebay consignments seller -- a Trading Assistant with a brick-and-mortar store.

While any ebay trading assistant can establish an ebay consignments service out of a retail location, only a Trading Post can put the eBay brand on their physical storefront. (A trading assistant can only advertise inside their store). With this privilege comes a higher standard, ie, eBay has "raised the bar" on their requirements.

A Trading Post must meet the following additional requirements:

-Offers a staffed drop-off location or storefront with regular drop-in hours, so that clients can visit the location without calling ahead.

-Has a feedback score of 500 or higher

-Has at least 98% positive feedback

-Has sales of at least $25,000 on eBay each month

Online, clients can search for Trading Posts specifically, and Trading Posts may receive priority placement in search results. (Yes, even some online clients prefer the retail setting). Also, Trading Posts are displayed with a special icon next to their User ID. If you're a Trading Assistant who also meets the requirements, you automatically qualify as a Trading Post and do not need to take additional steps.

Walt Duflock, Director of the eBay Trading Assistant Program and a real life trading assistant, has announced eBay's intention of having "secret shoppers" and "customer satisfaction surveys" to see if there are certain Trading Post locations eBay would like to support more than others.

Regardless of your status on ebay, there are tools that everyone can use to build their success as TAs, available on the ebay site. I've found many of them quite valuable. For example, among their efficiency tools, they recommend using contact management software. eBay regards this as a great tool for getting "a better understanding of how many prospects it takes to actually create one new client and how long it takes for a client to go from initial contact to hiring you as a TA."

And as far as support, some of the Trading Posts have become so large that they no longer rely on eBay for help. Some have developed their own proprietary systems for tracking customers and inventory, and managing their auctions. The largest and most successful ebay consignment business will even get you started with your own franchise which includes the use of their proprietary systems. All you need to come up with is $55 K plus operating expenses.

But, never fear. You can start your ebay consignment business on a shoestring, and this is how the majority begin. Since 1998, eBay and similar auction sites have been growing by leaps and bounds. eBay consignments are still in their infancy, but I predict a very bright future!

© Copyright 2004 Carolyn Schweitzer DDS. Dr. Schweitzer was a family dentist for 20 years and is now owner and editor of several websites. You can learn more about where to find specific links to the Trading Assistant and Trading Post programs by visiting her website at http://www.netbrainer.com/site/500041/page/449460.

The Powerful Ebay Bidding Strategy That Claims A 99 Success Rate

Writen by Ian Major

Don't you just love it?

You've found that special item on eBay that you've just got to have!

No If's Ands or Buts, you've got to win that item.

You've checked and double checked the "End Of Auction" time and date and you're at your computer, signed in and raring to go at least 30 minutes before the auction ends.

You're happy to beat the latest bid and with nervous fingers you tap in the amount you're willing to pay.

Then you read those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

Now you remember, there are sneaky eBayers out there who use deviously cunning tricks, like placing high hidden bids and proxy bidding.

You heard somewhere that you should wait untill the closing minute of the auction before placing your bid.

Great, theres still 20 minutes to go, time to grab another cup of coffee.

Back at your computer you count down the final minutes, how can 5 minutes seem to last so long?

You constantly hit the refresh button so that you can check how long there's left to go.

At last the final minute of the auction arrives.

You tap in the next highest bid and hit "Place Bid". You're waiting for that page. The one that says'

!Congratulations! You Won The item!

But your heart sinks when yet again you see those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

This cant be right! They cant do this to you! It's just not fair!

But wait, theres still 15 seconds left to go.

You frantically type in a higher bid and you're greeted with-

!Listing ended!

No. No, It cant have ended.

But it has.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

I think every eBayer has experienced this at some time or other.

I know I have!

There has to be a simpler way. And there is.

Enter the Sniper.

SniperWare, as it has become known, is a program that will place a last second bid on your behalf.

Many of these types of Auto-Bid Programs claim a 95% to 99% success rate at placing the winning bid.

No more sitting staring at your computer counting down the minutes to try and place that winning bid because with Sniperware you simply enter the details of the auction you want to bid on, the maximum bid you are prepared to make and that's it.

You don't even have to be at your computer. You don't even have to be at home come to that.

SniperWare generally comes in two flavours.

1. Web Based

With a Web based program you will usually pay a small fee per use (although you are not usually charged anything if you fail to win the auction). Most of the on-line programs will allow you to make the first few Snipes at no charge.

2. Downloaded Sniper Software.

In this instance the Sniper Software Program is downloaded onto your own computer. The upfront cost is more but there are no ongoing fees and many of these programs can be downloaded on a trial basis for free.

There are many Sniper programs to choose from. Just go to your favourite Search Engine and type in "Sniper Programs".

My personal choice, having tried several, is PowerSnipe and I have won some great auction using this particular program.

You can try PowerSnipe for free for 30 days.

So if you don't want to see those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

Get Sniping.

For more information about PowerSnipe, email me at iandmajor@ebay-articles.com

Ian D Major is the creator of http://www.eBay-Articles.com, the one stop resource for information, reports and articles about all things eBay.

To subscribe for free to eBay-Articles and get Articles, Reports and Bonuses delivered to your inbox weekly, just send a blank email to ebay-articles1@majorian.par32.com

Copyright 2005 Ian D.Major

The Pros And Cons In Establishing An Ebay Store

Writen by Mark Flavin

Ebay has provided some amazing opportunities for many people to earn online. This widely popular auction site has become the primary destination for users who wish to purchase anything – ranging from tangible products to digital items – hence making eBay a website visited by millions of people every day. Because of the volume of transactions happening in its pages, eBay has also become a virtual market place where thousands, if not millions, of dollars exchange hands on a daily basis as well.

Do you want a piece of that big, big pie?

Then you must first have to establish an eBay store.

Now, this is not a strong recommendation. This article is not meant as a sales pitch for a membership with eBay, rather, it seeks to present the advantages and disadvantages of building your own eBay store. You must remember that eBay isn't the only place where you could peddle your goods. It is a good place where you could sell your items, but there are other alternatives you could consider. Should you settle with eBay? Or should you explore the alternative options? Let's study the matter more closely.

There are most certainly a lot of benefits that could be gained from establishing your own eBay store. Let's take a look at them.

* You'd be able to sell in a hotly visited environment. You'll be able to expose your products to a wide array of prospects.

* Once you have upgraded to a Featured Store, you'd be given $30 worth of PPC keywords per month. This means that your store would appear prominently in the results for the particular keywords that users will search for. Such would most certainly drive more traffic to your auctions.

* A Featured Store would also deliver some advanced reports for your auctions. You could use the statistics delineated therein to improve the way you construct your sales pages, and the way you present your items for better efficiency in your future offers.

* A Featured Store will also allow you more eBay pages, which would mean more exposure for your products. It's still a numbers game. The more auctions you have running, the more earning opportunities you could capitalize on.

* A Featured Store would allow you to reduce the size of the eBay banner appearing in your every auction. This would give you the chance to work on your page and bring the focus of your visitors to the items you will be selling.

* Ebay provides a certain level of seller protection and dispute resolution for potential problems you might encounter with your buyers.

Though these are great advantages for your online business, please bear in mind that they do not come without cost. There are also other disadvantages that are attached to having your own eBay store.

* Ebay stores don't come free. A basic store setup would cost $15.95 per month. A Featured Store status would cost an even higher $49.95 per month. And the king of all kings, an Anchor Store, would require you to spend an onerous $499.95 per month.

* Having your own eBay store would pressure you to perform well when it comes to your sales. Though some may consider this as a benefit since such will motivate the seller to plan his course of action, the dangers will be experienced when you fail to earn enough profit to cover the cost of your subscription.

* People go to eBay expecting the best deals in the online market. You have to compete at this level, otherwise, the moment people would see the going rate for your auction, they'd immediately hop to the next item up for sale.

* You'd be bound by eBay's selling policies. You cannot go around some of these restrictive policies, otherwise, you account can get suspended, or worse, terminated.

Establishing an eBay store is a solid choice for a business model. But you have to determine your goals as well as your marketing plan. Would an eBay store help you accomplish them? Or would selling your own goods in your own website, or through some affiliate automation program like www.clickbank.com , www.paydotcom.com or www.cj.com be better for your online business?

The choice is yours.

Mark Flavin is an online marketing expert. Mark specialises in website traffic generation, affiliate program promotion & email marketing. You can find out his secrets for free at http://www.markflavin.com

Mark recommends The Business Professional for increasing your profits online - http://www.markflavin.com/business.html

Warning Ebay Scams To Watch Out For

Writen by Jason Cooper

There are many eBay scams out there to keep an eye out for when you are buying or selling on eBay. This article will cover some of the known and not so well known scams to be aware of. Whether you're a causal buyer or seller, or a professional on eBay, you need to know about these scams so that you can take measures to prevent or recognize if it's happening to you.

Bid Shielding - This scam is something you need to watch out for as a seller on eBay. Basically the scam is run using two separate eBay accounts. The scam works like this. You put your item up for auction. Let's say your item is worth $100 and you have no reserve. The first bidder (scammer) comes along and bids $5 on your item. Right after that, another bidder working with the first bidder comes along and bids $200 on your item. Since your item is only worth $100, you receive no more bids for the duration of your auction. Right before your auction ends, the first bidder backs out and cancels their bid, leaving the $5 bidder the winner, effectively shielding all other potential bidders because of the $200 bid.

Because of the potential for this scam it is always good to have a reserve on your auction. Also, I would put some sort of disclaimer on your auction stating that if you suspect bid shielding on your auction, you reserve the right to back out of the sale. It's always a good idea to keep an eye on your auctions and watch for this type of behavior. If you suspect this is happening to you, be sure to report the parties involved to eBay right away.

Wholesale List Scam - This scam takes advantage of the fact that many people don't pay close attention or read the fine print on an auction. This scam is targeted at buyers who are looking for deals on electronics and technological items on eBay. The wholesale list scam is basically an auction that looks like the seller is offering a great deal on a product like an iPod for example. They may have a buy now price of $40 for an iPod that is worth $150. However, if you actually read the fine print on the auction, you will find that you are not really buying the iPod. In fact you are purchasing a wholesale list.

To avoid this scam, just be sure that you read the entire details of the auction before making a bid or a purchase. Basically, just use common sense. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is, so read the auction carefully.

Bad Check Scam - This eBay scam is exactly what it sounds like. The bad check scam is simple. Someone purchases your item and sends you a check as payment. You receive the check, and send out the item. However, 2 weeks later you find out the check bounces and now you are out your item and the money.

To avoid this, simply do not send out any products until the check has cleared.

Spoof eBay Emails - This eBay scam is an attempt to get your personal information and/or eBay account information. Basically the scammer sends you an email that looks like it's from eBay. The email may direct you to a website (that also looks like eBay) where it asks to you verify your information. In reality, the website is created by the scammer to collect your personal information and use it for identity theft. The scammers can be very tricky and make everything look very official.

To avoid this scam, you need to be wary of any emails that you get. The first thing you need to check is the email header. Emails from eBay, will have "@eBay.com" as the last part of the senders email. Also any links that are in the email may be directing you somewhere other than where they say they are. Also copy and paste the links into your browser, and only visit official links that start with "www.eBay.com". If anything seems suspicious to you, forward the email to eBay and wait for their response. They will let you know if it's legitimate or not.

In conclusion, most people you run into on eBay are good honest people and not out to scam you. You may do business on eBay for years and never run into any of this. However, occasionally these things do happen so it's important to use common sense and use your best judgment when it comes to this stuff. Just be aware that it can happen, and take the necessary precautions and you will be fine. There's a lot of money to be made on eBay, so don't let anything scare you off. Keep yourself armed with knowledge and information and you will be successful out there in the auction world!

This article was written on behalf of eBayBusiness.net by Webmaster and Internet Marketer Jason Cooper. Visit http://www.ebaybusiness.net today and get started on the road to eBay Business Success. Download 3 Free eBay Business Success Reports at http://www.ebaybusiness.net/free-reports.html and skyrocket your eBay business profits. This article may be published on your website or ezine as long as this tagline remains unchanged.

Online Antique Auctions

Writen by Eric Morris

According to strict definitions, antiques are objects that have collectible value and that are more than 100 years old. There are a number of auction sites that sell antiques online. Some sites specialize in items from a particular historical period, while others offer a wider range of antiques. While some online auction houses have stellar reputations, a specialist may better serve a new buyer with specific interests. A major advantage of online auctions is that prices for a particular antique tend to be lower than they might be in an antique store or show. However, not being able to see and assess an antique for signs of authenticity can be a drawback.

How can one determine authenticity? It is important to research online auction sites and to find one that enjoys a good reputation. Experienced buyers share certain tips, such as asking for close-up photographs of the base of an object. Even if carefully maintained, most antique objects show some wear and tear at the base. However, in the case of ceramics and glassware, chips can reduce the value of the antique.

To assess if a fair price is being asked, compare the price to that quoted by online auction guides for similar antiques that have recently been auctioned. These guides are usually helpful tools to estimate the value of an antique for both buyers and sellers. Sites should also offer a full refund if you end up with a reproduction instead of the real thing. Some sites only offer refunds for a limited period, but this should give you enough time to have the item appraised. As an alternative, paying a little extra to have an antique appraised before purchasing it online is well worth the cost and the knowledge that what you are buying is genuine.

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The Read Between The Lines Ebay Sales Technique

Writen by Tim Gilberg

When someone first starts selling on eBay, it is drilled into every seller's head to list every possible bit of information into their eBay ad. This includes shipping, condition, color, terms, etc. While I do agree with this, I have also used this subtle sales technique to generate large volume sales outside of eBay. As it states, you put information in your eBay listing which will cause the customer to contact you with opportunities. This is not in violation of any eBay policy; no one is linking to an outside website, or referring any customer to such site. The ads just state what products will be sold on eBay, and a photo of the entire stock of that product is attached to the ad.

If you buy a large quantity of product, you do not want to flood the eBay site with many listings of the same product. This will decrease buyer urgency, and also bring down the final sales price. It is a supply and demand factor, using the "read between the lines" sales technique to overcome this.

For example, I have 200 laptop batteries for model a2000 laptop computers that I want to sell. In my eBay ad, I will show a picture of the whole stock of batteries ( or whatever product you have in large quantity, whether it is cables, dolls, tape guns, etc.). I will also note in my ebay ad that I will be listing these up for sale on eBay.

The standard eBay buyer will not read between the lines, because they are only looking for that 1 item right now. It is easy to sell large purchases to volume buyers not even registered on eBay, but who search through the ads for contacts for large lots of product. The batteries sell on average between $79-$89 on eBay, and I make approximately $40 on each battery

A potential customer can be emailed about quantity pricing. I have found eBay sales prices to be very near to wholesale, so you normally only have to drop at most 20% from the eBay sales price. With this technique you do not erode your single customer sales price, but you are still able to move a large volume of similar product quickly outside of eBay.

You will soon have a great list of contacts who know and trust you, and you won't even have to put up an eBay ad. You just email your past customers and let them know what you have in stock. This is a great way to cultivate these large repeat buyers. They feel safe contacting you because they can see you are reputable via your eBay feedback.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting and working with other Top ebay Power Seller's to give you real life in use insight, not theories. Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay

Why Use Pictures For Your Ebay Auctions

Writen by Chris Ryerson

There are many sellers on eBay that slave away each day listing hundreds of auctions daily and reaping very small profit margins. This is unfortunate because there are many ways to easily increase your auction profits without a lot of extra work. One of the ways is by simply adding pictures. Study after study has shown that auctions with pictures will have a final ending value much greater then auctions without pictures.

eBay buyers are very internet savvy and they are looking for a great deal on a quality product. Adding pictures will help them feel more comfortable in purchasing from you.

Build Creditability

Since buyers are forced to purchase based on your auction they are often reluctant to bid on an auction without pictures. A picture builds trust and credibility in the seller. It ensures that the seller has the item and the condition of the item is also clear.

Make Your Auction Stand Out

Having a picture in your title makes your auction stand out from all of your competitors. Face it people are often to lazy or in too much of a hurry to read much. Therefore the average buyer on eBay will browse using pictures. If you have a picture on your ad you will get the traffic.

Here are some simple things that can easily be done to increase the final value or ending price of the auction. Just follow these steps to taking better pictures.

Too Many Pictures?

Honestly it is pretty difficult to provide too much information on eBay, especially in the area of pictures. The more pictures you add the more concrete information you provide the seller with. Therefore bombard them with tons of pictures.

Take Better Quality Pictures

Take the time to set up your lighting and the composition of the photo. While you do not need a professional studio or any expensive lighting you should think about these things. Take pictures during the day when there is lots of natural light in your home. Use lights in the house to provide extra lighting. Plan the composition of the photo a little bit. Maybe add a small background using a sheet or some old paper. This reduces the clutter from the background and makes the item stand out. Also consider taking close shots of the item.

Improve Picture Quality

No picture is perfect and using a picture editing software can great improve the quality of the picture quickly and easily. There are tons of great free image editing software programs out there. Two programs you will want to check out are Google's Picasa or ifranview. You can use these and then later purchase a higher quality paid image editing software program. That is after the money really starts rolling in. Then you might want to consider Adobe PhotoShop.

By simply adding good quality pictures to your auction page you can quickly and easily increase your auction profits. This can easily give a 10 to 20% increase on the closing bid price. By just taking a few extra minutes when creating your auction ads you will reap the benefit in pure profits!

***Free 5 day eBay Auction Profits Course***. Or learn more abouteBay's Want It Now Program and software that will help you profit from it.

Top Internet Businesses

Writen by Jon Evans

The internet is packed with web businesses jockeying for the attention of regular users. Selling everything under the sun and offering a substantial array of services, the internet is quickly becoming the favorite of users, surpassing traditional catalog and store shopping. In addition to phenomenal sales and dynamite deals, the internet offers access to all types of stores with just a click of the mouse. Open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it is no wonder why the internet is such a popular shopping alternative for individuals all over the world. Especially with such popular online sites such as Overstock.com and eBay, the online marketplace is quickly filling up with top internet businesses. If you are interested in joining this elite group of successful businesses, today is the day to start! In additional to the popularity of owning a web business, the remarkable ease will make it a popular alternative to the traditional job market. Working from the comfort of your own home and setting your own schedule around your pre-existing responsibilities, owning and running a web business will certainly fit into everyone's lifestyle.

Retail sites are by far the most popular type of web business currently based on the internet. Whatever types of goods you decide to sell; there is undoubtedly an audience on the World Wide Web. Instead of having your items dwarfed by the magnitude of the stores on the internet, consider joining an online marketplace instead. Popular auction site eBay has a special section for retailers in their storefront web pages. Owning an ebay small home business is an excellent way to quickly become a top e-business. By joining Ebay's marketplace, you gain the name and exposure available only with a top website. Instead of setting your home business set sail on the vast sea of the internet and compete for attention with all of the other web businesses, your business will be located on a highly visible website that millions of internet users frequent.

Starting a web business using eBay is extremely easy for even the most non-technical individuals. The step-by-step instructions allow you to quickly and easily create the best website for your business. Think of eBay as an online shopping mall with everything possible under its roof. This place could never exist in the real world, but on the internet, it is exactly what the public expects. Instead of renting a space that may only be accessible to a fraction of your town's audience, imaging moving your store to a space that is easily accessible by the entire world. Not having to worry about things like utility bills, cash registers, shelving, store displays, and employees to staff your store during its opening hours will save you thousands of dollars in start-up costs and dramatically lower your overhead. For a nominal fee, you can set up shop on eBay and be up and running in no time. With minimal equipment like a personal computer and digital camera, you can run your entire business from the comfort from your own home without having to hire employees.

Having a top web business is a lofty goal but readily attainable through venues such as eBay. Save money while working from home while adding or replacing an income. Everyone can set up shop on eBay, as there is not advanced technological experience necessary. Furthermore, your web business will be exposed to a large audience of dedicated eBay users who regularly turn to eBay for their purchasing needs. If you have the desire to start your own business but lack the excessive funds necessary for starting a traditional brick and mortar business, joining with eBay is an excellent way to live out your dream for little cost. Using one of the best retail websites on the internet is a sure-fire way to become one of the best businesses on the internet.

John Evans runs http://www.SuccessAlert.net and has written the book Success Alert - Conversations with Successful Internet Entrepreneurs which has been widely acclaimed in a variety of media. If you want to hear about Top Internet Businesses this book is a must-read!

How To Think Out Of The Box Selling On Ebay

Writen by Tim Gilberg

Jeff, wanted to use eBay to supplement his income. He is an electrical engineer in the manufacturing sector; and we all know that manufacturing has been hit very hard for the last few years. His company was closing down a satellite operation; and Jeff noticed some old Allen Bradley electrical controllers in a container headed for the dumpster. He was given permission to retrieve these controllers, and he was hoping he could find a way to market them... or if, in fact, there would even be a market for them. It was worth a chance!

Jeff had never sold on eBay and he realized there was no sales history on the electronic parts he had acquired. Jeff used these steps (listed below)

Steps To Take If A Product Has No Sales History On eBay:

1. Set a high reserve. (A reserve is a price set by the seller, which needs to be met before a sale is made.) This protects you from selling an item too low when you don't have any idea of its market value.

2. Take multiple pictures of the item.

3. Include pictures of any serial or model numbers or any unique markings.

4. Include as detailed description as possible.

5. Include in your description that you welcome email questions from bidders. to take when this situation occurs. He had no eBay feedback, he listed the items, and was able to sell them for over $4200. The bottom line is to get products and list them for sale with the techniques outlined above.

The important thing is to get your products up for sale on Ebay quickly. If you do not know where to set your price level use the steps outlined above.

Products do not sell unless the are put up for auction, This is common sense but many new Ebay sellers try and get all possible relevant data on the products they are selling which is not neccessary to sell on Ebay.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting and working with other Top ebay Power Seller's to give you real life in use insight, not theories. Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay.

Can You Really Make Any Money On Ebay

Writen by Frank Lomax

eBay is now a prime market place for selling just about anything online from antique buttons to sexy photographs of your girlfriend. And if there's a demand for your item then it will probably sell. You should then make a nice profit and be encouraged by your success.

But can you always make money on eBay? Is it as easy as we're all led to believe?

Well, common sense tells us that it all depends on what you're selling, the competition and the market for your product.

After all, eBay is essentially an online market place that brings together international buyers and sellers to do business and the basic economic law of supply and demand applies.

So what basic factors should we consider before we start to sell on eBay? Can virtually anything sell and make us a handsome profit?

The answer must be a definite 'No' - especially if the profit motive is important. And it must be, because we don't want to waste our time just breaking even or - dread the thought - making a loss.

But, for example, if you've really got your heart set on selling nineteenth century sweet wrappers on eBay because it's you're passion in life - you've already been divorced twice because of your obsession - then you just need to stop and think for a minute.

And before you rush out and invest £500 in a gold plated, digital camera, hand crafted by Balinese maidens, just because you know it will produce the finest quality images of your antique wrappers, it might be wise to first consider the following essential factors.

…is there likely to be a healthy demand for your product? Is it something people need or want to buy - hopefully on a regular, repeat basis?

…is the potential market big enough so as to make a decent profit (say a 'minimum' of 40% mark up on cost) and can that profit be sustainable?

…are there others already selling the same item? If so can you compete on a price basis or offer something different to justify a higher price?

and finally

…can you maintain a reliable supplier of your item so that you can consistently buy at the 'right price' and sell at a profit?

So what I'm saying really here is that before you dive into the eBay ocean make sure you've got your swimming costume on!

Or, to put it simply, before you decide what you want to do, or what niche you want to concentrate on, you need to be fully aware of whether it's even possible to do it at a profit.

So the basic message is: Don't let your enthusiasm or obsession for a particular market blind you to the basic economics of what you're doing. After some careful consideration, you may have to totally 'rethink' your plans and abandon your previous, cherished, pet ideas. If it's not going to pay then you don't really want to do it.

But sometimes you will never know unless you try and you shouldn't be afraid of trying to sell something totally different. However, always make use of eBay's 'feedback' feature as a useful research tool. And what I mean by that is studying the feedback of existing sellers in your general and particular area of interest.

You can quickly discover what volume of sales they are achieving; what their average selling price is; which country they are operating from (this can be important for some products); how long they have been trading etc.

All this information can help you get an overall 'feel' for that market and you can then test out your idea with some confidence based on facts rather than a personal, well intentioned 'gut' feeling.

And if you find that someone else is already selling what you had in mind then this isn't necessarily bad news. Maybe you can offer the same product cheaper ( but try to avoid a 'price war' if you can), or promote it in a different way or sell it with some other product as a free bonus. Try to think creatively and 'outside the box' to make yourself different.

If you discover that you're the only seller dealing in a particular item then perhaps it just can't be done profitably. Maybe someone has already tried it and abandoned the venture as a waste of time. Or, conversely, you may have discovered a unique and hopefully profitable niche!

Another vital consideration is your view of just how much income you want to make from eBay trading.

Do you see it a just a part-time, weekend affair or as a full time career alternative? If you're aiming high then what you intend to sell is very important.

Would there be enough 'in' the antique sweet wrapper market for you to reach, say, your £50,000 profit target? Probably not, you must be the judge, but you might easily achieve that figure dealing in more high ticket items.

So, in conclusion, you need to be absolutely sure of two things.

The first is to ask yourself if your market is financially viable. Are you going to make any money?

And, secondly, if you believe that money can be made then does the amount compare favourably with your income goals.

The answer to these essential factors should determine your activity. You may have to take some tough decisions but in the end you will benefit financially and develop a successful and fulfilling eBay business.

After 30 years business experience, I'm always searching for genuine online opportunities. Here's one worth serious consideration.

Are you looking for the best way to start your own eBay business but find yourself tied down with family commitments? Well this could be the answer. It's a proven system, making an average of $10,000 per month (working part time hours) and it was created by a hardworking mother who just refused to quit!!

For her full story please visit: http://ebayprofits.salesplease.com

More Resources For Ebay Sellers

Writen by Pamela Bruce

While eBay can seem confusing to the beginning seller, there is a wealth of great advice available. Here are some particularly useful sources, many of them on eBay itself.

Bob's Tips (http://www.bulls2.com/indexb/bobstips2.html). A long list of links, with an emphasis on photography. Topics include such areas as use of borders, HTML, proper sizing of pictures and watermarking.

Zoicks.com eBay Tips (http://www.zoicks.com/ebaylinks.htm). More tips in the areas of graphics and photography, from using external photos hosts to basic HTML courses.

Shipscript's Page (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=shipscript) Great tools for sprucing up your auctions - and the best thing is that these programs are free.

Mioka's Favorite Links (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=mioka). Great link collection with an emphasis on avoiding spam, online fraud and copyright theft.

Postal Shipping 101 (http://cgi3.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=*zip). Everything you could possibly want to know about mailing items.

Special HTML Tags (http://pages.ebay.com/help/account/html-tags.html). Information about eBay-specific HTML commands that you can use on your About Me page.

eBay Acronyms (http://pages.ebay.com/help/newtoebay/acronyms.html). Confused about BIN, FVF and NARU? Here are explanations of these terms and many more.

The eBay Pulse (http://pulse.ebay.com/). Do you want to find out what people are looking for on eBay right now? The ebay Pulse tells you what is hot on eBay today. Ignore the front page and dig down into your specific category do see what is in demand.

Don't forget to check out the discussion boards (http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html) which cover everything from photography, store ownership, HTML and shipping to category-specific topics such as antiques, coins, jewelry or electronics. At first some of these boards might seem a bit forbidding, and there is some flaming going on, but overall there are full of friendly and helpful individuals. Just lurk around for a while before posting.

Another great resource are the online workshops (http://pages.ebay.com/community/workshopcalendar/current.html) which cover many of the technical and design aspects related to eBay stores.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She has been beading since her teens. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

How To Make Money On Ebay

Writen by Joe Clare

Today, many people are choosing to work at home and make money selling on eBay. As you're reading right now thousands are making a full or part time income with online auctions. Why? Well, because the concept is simple, you can make money from home and you can have a lot of fun doing it. Of these people who choose to start an online auction business and make money from home, many will use dropshippers to get their business up and running. Then once they have products that are selling really well, they will look to locate these products at a better price. But where? Where does one find products at a better price? The answer is right here is this article.

You see, once you are comfortable with what you are doing, have run several regular auctions and have products that are popular and selling really well, it's then time to do some research on getting these products at a better price. This will allow you to offer these products to your customers at a better price and thus increase your auction sales which in turn will increase your auction profits. O.K. I can hear you asking "But Joe, where do I get these products for a better price?"

The answer is Liquidators! As explained in my book, a Liquidation Company is a company that buys surplus, over runs, bankruptcies, going out of business inventory and the like. They purchase this merchandise for pennies on the dollar, and can afford to sell this merchandise at below wholesale prices and still make a profit. Therefore they sell for less and you reap the benefits.

There are many Liquidators who could have just what you're looking for. There are General Merchandise Liquidators who basically purchase and sell all sorts of general merchandise. At any given time you can find anything from housewares to kids toys. Collectables to clothing. Jewelry to cosmetics. All for a fraction of the price of dropshippers.

Then, there are Liquidators who specialize and only purchase and sell merchandise in a specific niche. This niche could be electronics, jewelry, brand name clothing and so on. Whatever the niche is, this will be the only type of inventory that Liquidator will carry. For example, a Liquidator who specializes in only kids toys would purchase products from toy stores or department stores with a kids toy section that are going out of business, declaring bankruptcy or have overstock. From that inventory, you can find some of the latest and most popular products on the market.

Liquidators are similar to Wholesalers and Dropshippers in that you will have to become a member to have access to their inventory. Most require no fee to become a member, while others may charge a nominal fee. The one thing that does differ is that Liquidators have a set number of units you must purchase in order to get a great price. A Liquidator will purchase their inventory in bulk enabling them to get the merchandise for pennies on the dollar. Therefore, they will want to sell the merchandise in cases or lots.

If you have done your due diligence, have ran several regular auctions and you know you have a Hot Product, then Liquidators are your answer to more auction profits. Remember that selling products is all about research. What products are Hot? How much can you sell the product for, and where can you get the product at the best price.

Copyright - Joe Clare

Want to make some Real Money on eBay? We have access to over 200 Reliable Wholesale Dropshippers and Liquidators, and the eCommerce know how to make it Profitable. Joe Clare http://www.ebooksnsoftware.com