Auction Ignite

Where to Find Drop Shippers and How to Avoid Scammers

Admin — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 14:32:34 +0000

When you decide to sell products on eBay, you may need to source products, unless you make your own. One of the best sources of products are called Drop Shippers. These are companies who will sell products to you for the wholesale price, so that you can resell them at a profit. Not only that, but they will in many cases, actually package and post the item to your customer, leaving you more time to spend on the actual selling process.

But where do you find these Drop Shippers? It would be a very hard task to go all over the countryside searching for wholesale companies who are willing to do this for you. Even if you decide to search via the phone book, it will run into a lot of time and money on phone calls. Then, if you find some, how can you be sure that they are truly wholesalers and not about to rip you off by charging you retail prices? Luckily, eBay has compiled a directory of reputable wholesale Drop Shippers that you can access from their website.

They have spent a considerable amount of time and effort searching the country for reputable wholesalers. They are constantly adding to this list and you can be sure that they are careful about whom they allow to be included. They screen each company and make sure they meet certain criteria before including them. This goes for both Drop Shippers and Light Bulk Drop Shippers.

The most important thing for you to remember when selling as a business on eBay is that you don’t make money when you sell; you make it when you buy. This means that if you buy for a high price, you are less likely to make a profit on your item. It is important not to be scammed into thinking you are paying wholesale prices for your goods, when you are paying a retail price. When your customer comes along, he will have been noticing what the general price is on that product in the shops or even on eBay if others are selling the same thing. He will not buy from you if your price is higher than others, unless you have a better return policy or some other unique feature.

You should also be aware of other scams such as “Phishing scams”, where you may receive an email purporting to be from the ‘System Administrator’ of some place like a bank, IRS, AOL, Paypal or some such and asking you to perform an urgent maintenance on your account. NEVER DO IT! And never give out any personal information over the phone or by email even if you are familiar with the business that is asking for it. Rather, hang up and ring the business yourself to find out if they have made the request.

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Tags: ebay home business, ebay profits, ebay success, making money on ebay, ebay selling secrets

Where Merchants Can Find Great Ebay Selling Tips - From eBay!

Admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:22:13 +0000

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Once you take the plunge into selling on eBay and decide that you would like to continue, it can be a help to get some of those great selling tips - from eBay itself. Here are some tips hot from the eBay website.

* Your item will stand out more if you list it in bold. This costs only $1.00 and has been shown to increase the final price by 25%.

* Use the Featured Plus tool to get your item noticed more quickly. With this feature, your item may be selected for random display in another area. Shown to increase bids by 47%.

* Use the highlight feature for only $5.00 to increase visibility with a yellow band. Again, this feature seems to increase the final price by about 25%.

* Use a photograph to increase buyer interest and bidding.

* Include payment and shipping terms in your listing and if you accept credit cards it will give you more ability to verify the buyer.

* For higher priced items, insure the article before dispatch and offer an escrow service. This will increase buyer confidence and ensure you get paid.

* Keep your auction going till the last minute to endure you get the last-minute bidder.

* Always be polite and helpful to your trading partner. If emailing, take time to draft the letter with proper full sentences, and opening name and a closing salutation.

* Talk in person if necessary. A quick phone call may be appreciated, especially if the person does not check their email box every day.

* It’s a good idea to check on the buyer’s reputation. Bids over $15,000 require verification before placing the bid

* Be sure to make full use of all the tools and Wizards on eBay

* Learn how to use keywords in your listing headlines and ad copy. This will increase you visibility.

* Consider selling internationally. Ebay has many tools onsite that will help you learn how to do this.

* It is possible to cross-promote your products on eBay and so increase your selling opportunities. Take advantage of eBay’s promotions.

* Learn to use the tracking tools on eBay to find out what works and what does not. Track and analyze your sales to understand what is the key to your growth contributors.

* Understand the buyer mentality. This will allow you t refine your marketing strategies, thus increasing your profit.

* Attend free selling seminars on eBay.

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Tags: learn ebay, ebay powerseller, ebay income, money on ebay, online auction

What to do When Your eBay Buyer Has a Complaint

Admin — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 15:07:26 +0000

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Everyone hopes that they will be able to sell successfully without the buyer having any complaint, but in reality, there may come a time when something goes wrong - at least from your buyer’s perspective - and you will have to be the one to sort it out. How you do this will depend partly on the problem, but one thing that will greatly help you out is to write out a resolution plan before the problem even occurs. It is advisable to do it beforehand, because you will not be emotionally involved and you’ll be able to draft out a resolution that moves the buyer towards your goal of a successful sale.

When you have just received an email that may be accusatory and angry, your first reaction is to say something nasty back. This won’t help to resolve the problem, but if you have the resolution email already drafted, you’ll be able to send it off with a click of your mouse and tempers will be smoothed instead of ruffled. It will also help to preserve your reputation as a seller if you can reply without becoming emotionally involved.

This Resolution Plan can be indicated in your listings. It will help your customers and give them confidence in you if they can see that fair and reasonable dealings have been decided upon upfront. It also makes it harder for a complaint to be legitimate later on, if all your policies are in plain view of them as they buy.

To find out what you should say in your resolution Plan, you can go to various discussion boards, other sellers or eBay itself and just change the wording slightly to make it a good fit with what you are selling. Use similar terms and conditions that used by sellers you respect. These will include terms, return policies and guarantees that have been proven to work for them over a number of years.

Drafting a Resolution Plan in the beginning of your selling venture will not only help you resolve that complaint more quickly, but it will reduce the number of complaints by showing the customer what he should expect. Your customer will have more faith in you and be more likely to give you good feedback, something that will enhance your reputation. It is important to seek quick settlement of a dispute, because eBay’s policy is that it must be settled within 60 days.

Tags: online auctions, ebay profit, make money, learn ebay, ebay powerseller

What Sells Best on eBay?

Admin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:11:13 +0000

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Some people just want to sell that disgusting vase from great-great aunt Emmeline that they have always hated, but if you are looking for a product to sell that will get you a little profit, it is a wise idea to find out what is likely to be the most successful seller on eBay. You don’t want to be stuck for weeks with goods that don’t sell well. So how can you find this out?

You’ll need to watch all the ads that are already there. To do this, log in to the buyers section and see what goods are there. Don’t just notice the ones that are there most often. It could be they are there because they are not selling quickly. You’ll need to carry out your own little survey over a period of time to see how quickly certain things seems to be selling.

But you want to get started right now and you’ve no time to spend in surveys? Then the place for you to go is the ‘What’s Hot, What’s Not?’ link on eBay. This will give you several ways of finding out what is selling well. You can download a monthly PDF describing hot products. It is updated monthly.

‘Ebay Pulse’ is another good facility provided by eBay to find out what are the most searched for keywords, biggest eBay stores and most-watched items. You can also ask for the Merchandising Calendar. This will tell you what items eBay is going to run various seasonal promotions on in the coming months. Subscribe to Marketplace Research that will give you a list of the previous 90 days of selling activity.

The Market Research Wizard is also there especially to help you find out what would be a great product to sell and it will also help you determine the profitability of the product.

Then there is the Buyer Behavior Report to tell you what customers buy and why, among other things, and the Ebay Solutions Directory that provides marketplace research based on your own needs. Of course, once you’ve become a seasoned seller at eBay, you might want to try the resources found under the ‘Advanced Education’ link. There you will find comprehensive and free resources including a downloadable “Advanced Selling Guide” and eBay University where you can take lessons in selling either in person or online. Learn valuable skills from eBay experts.

Seller Onramp and Seller Best Practices are also links available on eBay for those who would like access to more expert selling advice.

Tags: ebay money, ebay income, make money with ebay, making money on ebay, ebay marketing

At What Price Should You Start Your Bidding

Admin — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:47:25 +0000

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To decide what price you should start your bidding at, you’ll need to do some research. Look at other similar items being sold on eBay to get an idea of the going price. Find out your likely freight or postal charges and the cost of packaging too, if you are going to add that to the cost. The Market Research Wizard that eBay provides is an excellent tool to help you research not only the price of your product, but what products will sell profitably on eBay.

Researching the historical price of similar items in the completed listings section will aid you in the decision of what price to start your bidding at. Once you have a fair idea of what price others have asked, you can set your own price a little lower. One of the basic principles of auction is to get your prospective buyers excited about the item and eager to jump in and purchase it before their competitors. One of the best ways to do this is to lower the starting price. This will get buyers interested and once the bidding starts you may end up getting an even higher price than you expected.

A listing with ‘No reserve’ notice usually attracts buyer interest because the buyer knows they will win if their bid is the highest. If there is a reserve on the item and the buyer does not know, he will assume the seller is simply asking too high a price and move on to greener fields. If you are concerned about a minimum price, you should set your price a little higher.

Some experts declare that you should start your bidding price at only one dollar to get your buyers excited and start a bidding frenzy. This might work in some cases, but if you do it too much, people will get to know and most feel it is a bit on the ‘cheating’ side. They know you really do want more than a dollar for the product. And what if yo only get one bid? It will be a bit silly to sell an item for one or two dollars if it cost you ten.

The best thing is to start the bidding at a fair and reasonable price, the price you would be happy to walk away with, having counted your costs first. This will keep the bidder happy and anything over and above that will be a bonus.

Tags: earn money on ebay, ebay ebook, become a powerseller, ebay selling secrets, make money

Tips For Selling Multiple Items on eBay

Admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 14:51:10 +0000

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If you are selling for profit, there may come a time when you have a number of identical items that you would like to offer. It would be most time consuming to have to list each one individually, so what can you do? Multiple listings are the answer. Multiple listings allow you to offer a number of identical items in the one lot. For convenience, there are three different ways you can sell multiple listings.

* Fixed Price listing. This is where you have many of the same item for sale. You will list the total number of items and the price for each of them. Buyers can buy however many they want at the set price. This is good for the buyer because they don’t have to wait for an auction to end. The seller must be ID verified to sell in this manner. If they are not, then their feedback rating must be above 30 and they need to have been registered for at least 14 days. Or if you have a Paypal account and accept Paypal as the means of payment, then you need only have a feedback rating of 15.

* Lot listing. This is where you sell say a case of similar things to the one buyer. For example a set of 10 records in a collection that you want to sell for an average of $10 per record. To sell items as a ‘lot’ you click on the ‘lot’ tab in the quantity section. Then fill out the details by entering the digit ‘1′ in the ‘number of lots’ box and in the number of items box you list how many items are in the collection, eg, 10. You the set the price at $100.00. The winning bidder will take all the items.

* Online auction-type listing. This works almost the same way as an ordinary on-line auction. The items are listed with the total number of items and the starting price. This is what the seller would like for each item. The buyers then bid with the number of items they would like to purchase along with their price. The highest bid price per item is one that wins, but the buyer does not have to accept the items unless he can get the number he actually wants.

Sellers are limited to 10 lots of multiple listing to prevent one seller from dominating the eBay marketplace and to make it fairer for other sellers. The seller is not to use multiple seller ID’s to get around this rule, or he will risk cancellation of his listing, account suspension and other unpleasant effects. The exceptions are only for tickets and vehicle light bulbs where you are allowed to have 20 for the former and 25 for the latter running simultaneously.

Tags: get rich on ebay, make money from ebay, ebay money, auction secrets, profit on ebay

Tips For Outsourcing Your eBay Business

Admin — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:11:50 +0000

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Once you have a good eBay business up and running you might find that it is taking up too much of your time, or something has changed and you are unable to continue, but don’t wish to pack it up altogether. You’ve put a lot of effort into it and are making some money, so it doesn’t make sense to just close it down. What can you do? The answer is outsourcing.

For a small fee, it is possible to have someone else sell for you. These people are called Trading Assistants. A trading Assistant must have certain qualifications to carry out this work.

* They must have sold at least ten items in the last three months.
* They must have a feedback score of 100 or more.
* This score must be 97% positive.
* Their eBay account must be in good standing.

A trading assistant does not work for eBay, neither are they endorsed or approved by them. Trading Assistants are simply using eBay to advertise and run their operation, just like you have been. The only thing that eBay retains is the ability to remove their profile if customers have justified complaints about them. These assistants may set their own terms and conditions and it is up to you whether to agree with them or not. If you don’t like the fees or terms, there may be room for negotiation. It’s up to you to ask. It is important to communicate clearly and tactfully in your inquiries and make sure you know who is to pay for certain things such as freight and packaging, what the selling price is to be and what happens to unsold goods. You will of course, have a say in these decisions.

A Trading Assistant is responsible for seeing that their services to clients are legal. This might vary depending on the laws of their particular state or country. To find a suitable Trading Assistant, you need to go to the Trading Assistant Directory, which is where Assistants advertise. The directory will list all the main features of each Trading Assistant You will be able to sort out suitable persons by the state they live in, by what type of product they prefer to sell and various other criteria.

Once you have signed an agreement with your chosen Trading Assistant, they are then responsible for everything to do with the sale of the products. They communicate with buyers, they handle the selling process, take charge of receiving buyer feedback and of course they pay the eBay selling fees. They may or may not pass this cost on to you, depending on the agreement.

Tags: ebay secrets, ebay ebook, earn money on ebay, make money, ebay profit

Learning the Basics of eBay

Admin — Fri, 30 May 2008 15:01:22 +0000

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When you decide to sell something on eBay, it is wise to learn all the basics first. That way, you’ll be able to surge ahead with no frustrating hold-ups. The first thing you will need to do is register. This is quite easy when you follow the instructions carefully and better still, it is free. There are a few points that you must adhere to, to register.

You must give a correct email address. If you don’t, you will not be able to register. If your email address is from a free source, eg. Hotmail.com, it will not be suitable to verify your identity, so you will need to use a credit or debit card to do so. It is quite safe and will not be charged without your express permission, at any time. If you feel uncomfortable using your card, then you’ll need to use a different email address - one from a paid Internet provider, a school or a company.

For selling purposes, ebay need to have both your credit/debit card and your checking account details. If you don’t want to provide this, then it may be possible to use a service such as ID_Verify to verify your identification details, instead. This is done online and all you do is answer a series of questions that help to establish your identity. It will cost $US5.00.

Even before you have registered, you’ll be able to find out a lot about ebay basics by simply surfing the website. You’ll find out that ebay does not buy or sell anything for you. When you sell things on ebay, you just use the facilities they provide. You will need to pay them seller fees. To do this you can use your Paypal account, checking account (direct pay), credit card or by check or money order.

If you don’t have a Paypal account, consider getting one. It’s free and you’ll be able to accept credit card and electronic check payments online from your customers quickly and easily. For this function to be activated, you’ll need a Premier Grade account.

Other things a seller needs to do are:
* Inspect the article to make sure it is clean and free from flaws.
* Photograph the article so that the buyer will be able to see what is offered. This can be done with a digital camera or an ordinary camera and scanner.
* Write an accurate description of the article.
* Weigh the article to calculate freight costs
* Have adequate packaging on hand

Joining the discussion groups in the forums is also a good way to find out details of anything you may be wondering about. It is also possible to get a free telephone consultation with ebay experts if you run into problems or simply need advice.

Tags: ebay money, ebay powerseller, ebay ebooks, ebay power seller, how to make money

Learn the Ropes in eBay Discussion Groups and Forums

Admin — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:18:52 +0000

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When you have a query about selling on eBay that is difficult to find an answer for anywhere else, it a good idea to go to ask about it at one of the many discussion groups or forums. For a start, you can be sure that your problem is not totally unique. Someone, somewhere will have had that very same problem or query and asked it at the forum. Many people who have worked out solutions to their own problems are willing to tell you how they solved it. Even if their reply is not suited to your conditions, you will usually be able to work out what to do after reading their advice. Experienced staff moderators are also watching the forums to answer any questions and help solve problems.

Sometimes, you may have missed some important information in your surfing of eBay’s rules and regulations and the answer in the forum will be just what you needed. The discussion boards are divided into three categories.

* Community Help Boards
* General Discussion Boards
* Category Specific Discussion Boards

You can access these and other chat rooms from the Community Board Home Page. There is also the Workshops Board, and eBay Giving Works from the same page. Ebay also provides an Online Help Link that will help you find the answer to just about any problem. If you are new to eBay, it is advisable to take the guided tour from the eBay Learning Center. Then there is the Contact Us link if the problem is not resolved.

Discussion groups have been formed on a great many subjects, some completely unrelated to selling or buying on eBay. They are fun to use and offer friendly comment and advice on a great many topics. The more you use these and other discussion groups and forums, the more you will familiarize yourself with the rules and regulations of selling on eBay. For the newbie at eBay, discussion boards and forums offer not only advice, but also invaluable support. There will be many hints on the best selling techniques, packaging, insurance, return policies, guarantees, what to sell and where to source it from, that you may not get from reading a list of rules.

So when you have a spare minute, it is wise to surf through the discussion boards and forums. You will be quite likely to pick up information that you’ll need further down the track. Knowing it ahead of time will save you much time and frustration.

Tags: ebay profit, profit on ebay, start ebay business, ebay course, make money ebay

Laws About Selling Homemade Goods on eBay

Admin — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:37:32 +0000

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As with all retail businesses, there are certain laws to guide those participating. If you are thinking about selling homemade goods on eBay, there are certain laws you must adhere to or risk being banned from selling.

If your homemade goods are food products, then you have rather more laws to deal with. These laws will mainly relate to health and safety. Both federal and state government regulate food laws, so sellers should make themselves aware of what applies to them. Before you list your item, click on the “Additional Information” link to find out whether your particular item is allowed at all.

Violations of the eBay policies pertaining to food will get the seller’s account suspended, the listing cancelled, the fees forfeited, and the loss of Power Seller status. Some of the forbidden foods are:

* Dairy foods that are not pasteurized.
* Wild mushrooms.
* Juices that are not heat pasteurized.
* Foods where the listings contain drugs claims, eg, if something claims to contain a cure for disease of some kind.
* Contact lenses.
* Pharmaceutical products.

Perishable items may be sold, but the listing should contain information about how the seller will ensure its safe and healthy arrival. The seller should offer overnight delivery. Foodstuffs should be packaged in properly sealed containers to ensure buyer confidence about product tampering. They should be delivered well before the marked expiration date.

Government regulations require all food to be labeled with the ingredients contained in it, the nutritional value and the place it was manufactured. Make sure all your labels are clear and easy to read. The seller will have to register with or get a license from health authorities before being able to sell foods. And you must be aware that importing or exporting certain foods is against the law. Any goods that need refrigeration must be delivered by refrigerated vans.

Laws about selling homemade craft and clothing are not so strict, but you still have to be careful to present a professionally made garment or item, or risk losing your sellers reputation. People prefer to buy clothes with the new tags or labels still on them. What can you do about this? If you can make garments professionally, you could get your own label. Take great photos of your item and if that is clothing, show a section of the seam so that the buyer can have confidence that is well made and finished.

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