Randomn3ss

Late last night eBay sent me an email officially announcing all their changes, some good, most not. Here’s a breakdown and what it means to you.

Reduced listing fees. You’re not going to hear me complain about this one. 2008 guidelines:

• Lower insertion fees
• Making gallery free
• Lower fees for gallery

Reward for great sellers. OK, this is pretty much bullshit if you ask me. You get better ranking in search’s based on how detailed the person who bought your item was when they left you feedback. I’d safely say that one out of every three transactions I do on eBay, buying or selling, the other party never leaves feedback. Even after I’ve sent them a message to make them aware that I did indeed leave positive feedback and would appreciate if they did the same when they had a moment. How it affects you as a seller:

• More search exposure through Best Match
• Fee discounts for PowerSellers
• Increased protection for PowerSellers

Feedback changes. For me, feedback is the only way that buyers and sellers can keep each other honest. These, are not in the best interest of the users of eBay in my honest opinion.

• Buyers will only be able to receive positive Feedback
• Positive repeat customer Feedback will count and Feedback more than 12 months old won’t
• Negative and neutral Feedback left by the buyer will be removed for transactions in which a buyer doesn’t respond to the Unpaid Item (UPI) or if the member is suspended

I want to know who thought it would be a good idea to stop sellers from leaving negative feedback for buyers who don’t pay? Why is negative feedback going to be removed if the seller is suspended?

In my eyes, there is no other auction site online besides eBay, many have tried, and all have failed. eBay has branded themselves much in the way Xerox, Kleenex and Coke have, and they have turned their branded name into the common name for a product. One can often hear in an office, “Can you make me a Xerox copy of that?” instead of “photo copy”. Same goes for your sick family member who asks you to stop on the way home and pick-up a box of Kleenex, not a box of tissues. You sell stuff on eBay, not an online auction site.

Sales numbers are down for eBay though as new up-and-coming sites again try to tackle the proverbial five hundred pound gorilla and sites like Craigslist continue to grow in popularity, especially for hard or impossible items to ship. EBay figures the answer is to cut listing fees, up to 50% in most cases. This is great news for anyone listing an auction. Three is a dark downside to this though. When you sell on eBay you have to pay two fees, one to list the item and a second based on what the item sold for. In the event that your item did not sell, a nominal fee is thrown at you, but you have the ability to re-list it a second time and if it sells, only pay listing fees and selling fees once.

EBay Inc. said Tuesday it will cut by up to 50 percent the fees it charges sellers to list their goods online, in an effort to boost listings and keep pace with other burgeoning e-commerce sites.To balance the fee cut, the company plans to increase its commission on items that do sell, a method the company says sellers prefer because it lowers their risk if items do not sell.

The greatest fee increase will come for goods selling for less than $25. EBay’s fee for those transactions will rise 67 percent, to 8.75 percent of the final sale price.

I’m sorry, cutting one fee by 50% and increasing the other is not a sound way to make people more interested in listing with your company. It sounds like a slime-ball used car salesman’s bait and switch program. I still buy off eBay several times a year and sell items from time to time, but unless you are moving high dollar item, it may be in your best interest to use a free site like Craigslist.

Source: Wired AP

Last week I took part in a blog writing project over at fellow blogger Daniel’s site, the focus being tutorials. I feel that I write pretty good tutorials so why not submit one and see how well I do.

In total, 71 people submitted tutorials covering a wide range of topics. The interesting part is that those 71 writers will determine whom the winners are by listing a top list of tutorials comprised of those 71 articles. So, here are my three top tutorials from the project:

• How to write a letter of complaint to your bank. The power of a written letter has, in some ways, been forgotten with my generation and those younger. We do everything in the now via email, text message and phone calls if we have to be bothered to pick up the phone at all. The written letter, when done properly, holds a good amount of weight, in my opinion, more than an email letter. This tutorial covers how to approach your bank with confidence and in a manor as to not come off sounding like a jerk. Banks are, for most, a necessary evil, we all need them, hate the fees, horrible hours and staff who are usually slower than road kill. Six easy steps in this tutorial could lead to a well written letter to waive a fee, get you better customer service or even a shiny new pen!

• How to RSS like a rockstar. For more than 2 years now I have been attached to iGoogle RSS reader and have grown the number of sites I track via RSS to nearly 60, all separated won by categories. Sadly, many people still don’t understand what RSS is, how to use it or why it rocks so much. This tutorial covers all the bases from soup to nuts and will get you reading feeds in no time.

• How to list an eBay auction for maximum profit. So I’m a little vain. In the last several months this article has been read nearly 11,000 times, clearly a few people found it interesting. I put a lot of time and energy in writing what I’ve learned over the last 7+ years selling on eBay and think that this article should be in any top tutorial list.

How do I call eBay? It is a simple enough question, asked to me by a co-worker who is not internet savvy. She is in her late 50’s and rarely uses a computer, but wanted to help a friend out who was having issues with the auction site so she told her friend she would ask the tech guy at work, that’s me. The first thing I suggested was to try to use the website to contact them, my co-worker said it was too confusing and it would be so much faster to make a three minute phone call to get the answers that she needed. She is right.

I’ve been using eBay to buy and sell items since the late 90’s and virtually every transaction has gone smoothly, however I did need to use their support system once, called safe harbor. It was a real pain in the ass from a customer standpoint, and I’m very fluent in websites and how to use them. Now I was understanding the frustration my co-worker and her friend were having. A quick Google search yielded me the results, since I know eBay doesn’t publicly publish their number, in less than five seconds I had a happy co-worker. The results:

Toll free phone numbers: 1-800-322-9266 and 1-888-749-3229. Business hours are 7.30am - 5.30pm Pacific time, Monday through Friday.

Mailing address:

2145 Hamilton Avenue
San Jose, CA 95125

From my understanding after trolling through some sites to find these numbers, eBay has a nasty habit of changing their customer service numbers if volume gets too high or they feel the system is being abused. It sounds really absurd that a billion dollar company would not want to help their own customers, but this seems to be the case. I have not found any “old” numbers to back this up, but I will add a caveat to this article. Try to resolve any and all issues with the buyer or seller you are did a transaction with first, utilize the support system on the website and then call if you still can’t get an answer.

Collecting is a unique hobby, it can be free items found like seashells, left-over items like corks from wine bottles or more expensive options like rare coins and artwork. Why one particular object of desire is collected over another varies from person to person, in this case it was a man’s 30 year obsession, video game systems, games and accessories. These items are now available on eBay to the highest bidder in one lot.

There is so much stuff listed that the seller can’t even list it all, but it seems to start around the Atari 2600 system through present. Current high bid is $7,600 with 2+ days to go. Check out the auction here and get your bid on.

Since I’ve already shown you how to list an eBay auction for maximum profit, now is the time to do it. eBay is currently running a sale offering 33% off listing fees, valid through November 5th. If you’ve been putting off selling something, now is the time, and maximize your profits with these savings in the listing price.

Celebrity tattoo artist Kat Von D is selling the photo booth that can currently be seen in her reality TV show, LA Ink. The auction was just listed and is already up near $4,000 and sadly, it seems to be just for profit. Given the high publicity of the show and the recent episode where random items were auctioned off to help fund shop manager Pixie’s tonsil surgery, I would think that this item would be sold with profits benefiting a charity, not just extra cash. One can only hope though.

Click here to see the auction.

AutoblogGreen is reporting that Black Eyed Peas front woman Fergie is getting rid of her Humer

maybe the Live Earth concerts actually opened her mind to the nonsense that is driving a HUMMER. We’ve heard that Fergie auctioned her HUMMER and donated the money a carbon-neutral group (although wouldn’t you think this sort of thing would be mentioned on something like Ecorazzi or TMZ, don’t you? No dice). But auctioning off your HUMMER is not exactly the greenest thing Fergie could do.

I’m going to have to agree here, I don’t see the how this is making her green. Someone is going to win this thing and drive it around, so there is no real green anything going on. If she agreed to crush it or something, then I’d be impressed. The top bid is a little more than $64,000 right now with 2 days left. At least some charity is going to get a check for some cash, but I’m not sold on this concept, pardon the pun.

Over the last 8 years I have been buying and selling items on eBay for myself and more recently, small businesses. In that time I’ve learned a few tricks to help get you maximum profit for your items with just a few tweaks during the listing process. Here is a checklist to go through when listing your items.

• List the item on Sunday
• Know the item you are listing
• Research what similar items have sold for
• Be honest with your description
• Be realistic with what you expect to get for it
• Avoid most eBay add-ons
• Get a good starting bid, avoid reserves, use Buy It Now
• List the item for maximum visibility
• Be as descriptive as possible
• Use quality photographs
• Explain any flaws
• Spell check
• Explain shipping & handling fees up front
• Create a disclaimer
• Reply to all questions in a timely manner
• Ship fast
• Use PayPal
• Promote your auction

List the item on Sunday. It is a proven fact that listing a standard seven day auction late Sunday afternoon into early evening will give you the best chance of a great auction selling price. More people are likely to be home and you will get the exposure of the remaining part of that day and the entire following Saturday. If you live on the east coast of the US, list it somewhere between 6 and 9pm, this will give people on the west coast ample time to see it. Ideally, you want as many people to see it in the last few hours as possible, which is when most people make the decision to buy.

Know the item you are listing. Sounds silly, but many people don’t know exactly what it is they are selling. Say for example you are selling a toy you bought for your toddler but they hate it. You threw out the box when you gave it to him, so you lost a lot of the information about it, what age group it was for, etc. Without that information, you cannot make a solid, descriptive auction. The information should be available on the manufactor website, so search for that. Likewise, if you are selling something like a handmade wood bowl that your grandfather gave you, list that it is a handmade item and that it is one of a kind (if it truly is).

Research what similar items have sold for. You’ll need to login to your eBay account to do this then go to the advanced search options. Search for already completed auctions to get an idea of what recently ending items have sold for and how much of a bidding war too place. With this information you should be able to properly gauge what your item is worth and start the auction accordingly.

Be honest with your description. Sounds easy enough, but the number of sellers who don’t give any information or very little about an items real condition can often not get as much money from their sale or have to deal with numerous questions during the auctions. If you are trying to sell a set of bookshelf speakers for example and you know that on the left side of one of them is a small mark, take a photo and make sure you note it in the description. By being honest you will not only save the aggravation of dealing with an unhappy buyer after the fact, you will be more likely to come off as a real person selling the item. Buyers like to know that they are getting something from an honest seller. If you embellish your listing you are only selling yourself short. Likewise, be sure that you mention other details that some may care about. Often times when selling used clothing it is a good idea to mention that your home is smoke free and pet free, only do this if it is indeed true.

Be realistic with what you want to get for the item. After you’ve done your research on what similar items have sold for, be realistic with the condition of the item you are selling and how much you can get for it. Sometimes people shoot for the stars and end up not selling the item; by not selling it you waste money in listing fees. If you are not comfortable with the price at which recent auctions have ended, don’t list your item. There is a chance the market for that particular item will have an upswing, just as likely as it could have a downswing though.

Avoid most eBay add-ons. There are dozens of options when listing your auction, you can see all the sellers fees here. Most of them will not get you more money in the end, such as fancy templates, making the title line bold and putting a funny little outline around your listing in search engines. Unless you have something really rare, I’d avoid these.

Get a good starting bid, avoid reserves and use Buy It Now. Low starting prices attract buyers, reserves scare them away, and so I’d avoid using them unless you really need to get a certain amount for the item. Listing your item at $1.00 with no reserve will more then likely draw attention but be aware that it might only sell for $1.00. Over the years, the Buy It Now option has become more popular; I personally prefer to buy auctions with them. There is a small fee associated with it, but auctions that list with the BIN add-on usually sell faster.

List the item for maximum visibility. eBay offers several add-on features for a fee to get your item to stand out better in the search results, some of these are worth looking into some are not. The only one I’d ever really consider is the thumbnail view of your item to the left of the text link. What you can do for free is use all the space available for your auction title. Currently eBay gives XX characters, use all of them. Additionally, use the underscore to separate words instead of a blank space. Why you ask? The modern type is dynamic to each letter; the lower case letter l takes up less horizontal space then the lowercase letter w. By using the underscore instead of spaces you will essentially widen the auction title and possibly get it to spill onto a second line for free. An example can be seen here:

New Playstation 3 Core System With 2 Controllers
New_Playstation_3_Core_System_With_2_Controllers

Not only is the wider one easier to read, it will attract more viewers. There is also an add-on when listing your auction called Gallery, it is a $0.35 add on feature. While I am against most of these add-ons because they can really cut into your profits, this is one that is worth it. Why? Because it will show the buyer what your item looks like from the search results field. This can be very handy for many different types of auctions, in addition to drawing more attention to the listing.

Be as descriptive as possible. If the item is of electronic nature, say a home stereo, see if the manufactures still has the specs listed on their site and either link to it or copy over the important ones. In addition, list your personal experience with the item, how it works, functions, etc. You’ll want to make a point of listing everything positive you can about the item. In some cases, I’ve also listed why I’m selling some items, depending on what it is. Recently I sold a piece of luggage that I purchased in California on vacation that was needed to haul home all the stuff I bought. It was used once as a carry on and was in as new condition. This information was listed in the auction. Also take the time to list the environment the items lived in. If for example you were selling clothing, even new with tags on it, list in the auction that the item is new with tags and if applicable, that it comes from a smoke free, animal free home, kept in a cool, dry closet. Don’t lie here!
Explain any flaws. Take photos of scratches, dents, scuffs, wear, etc. No matter how small it is, disclose the information in both photographs and pictures. This lets the seller know how are trying to be honest and up front about the item. You don’t have to go into full detail about how everything happened, just be sure to list them.

Use quality photographs. If it is something small, get a piece of white poster board from a local Wal-Mart type store and place it on your kitchen table. Put the item on it and turn on all the lights in that room. Take a few pictures of it making sure nothing else is being shown but the item and the white background. If the item is fairly small, look for a macro setting on your camera and use that. For any given item, 3-6 quality photographs will go a long way. Resize them down to be used on the web; an easy way to do this is with the freeware program Irfanview (Windows only, Mac users can use iPhoto). Once open, go to Image > Resize / Resample and click the 800×600 option, then OK. Save these to a new location. Since eBay only gives you one photo for free, use a free web photo hosting solution for the other images to be listed in your auction. Some of these sites are:

• xs.to
• PhotoBucket
• ImageShack

They all provide code to place them into eBay auctions and are free to use. I’ve been using xs.to for sometime and never had a problem. Simple and straight forward.

Spell check. Take two minutes and reread what you wrote, make sure it makes sense and there are no spelling errors. Not only will this make the auction more valid for your potential buyer, it is the right thing to do.

Explain shipping & handling fees up front. When listing your auction, eBay has the boxes you can use for shipping, flat rate, by weight, etc. I think it is also worth listing in the auction itself what the shipping & handling fees are, where you will and won’t ship to, what the insurance options are, etc. My experience is that buyers prefer flat rate shipping, so you will need to determine what your item weighs packed up and what the rate is from who you will use as a shipper (UPS, USPS, FedEx, etc.). I usually add $1-4 to that to cover my costs of the box, packing material and gas to drive to where I’m mailing it from. Insurance is an option in the listing process, you the seller decide if you want to make it required, optional or not available. I usually use the optional portion, 50% of the time the buyer will want it, and the other half they won’t.

Create a disclaimer. At the bottom of all my auctions I use something similar to the following:

I have listed this item to the best of my ability. If you have any questions, please contact me with at least 24 hours prior to the auction ending so I may reply to them. Payment is expected within three days of the auction ending, PayPal is the preferred method. The item will be shipped within one business day after payment has been received. Insurance is optional, however it is recommended. Please leave positive feedback for me when the item arrives, I will do the same for after you have left feedback for me. If for some reason there is an issue with the item when it arrives, please contact me ASAP to address it.

Reply to all questions in a timely manner. Common sense here folks. Don’t list an item and go on vacation. Do check your email and eBay account at least twice a day to look for questions. Reply to them in a timely manner and address each question to the best of your ability.

Ship fast. If you can, ship an item the day of payment or the following day. This will help build a positive feedback rating for you as a fast shipper, something a lot of buyers look for. No one wants to pay for something on Monday to find out it hasn’t shipped out till Friday. Take this into consideration when listing your item.

Use PayPal. PayPal allows instant payment and the ability for you the seller to receive credit card payments. By doing so, you have now enabled someone who may not have the cash to purchase your item to do so by putting it on their credit card. Additionally, it allows you to track payments and create shipping labels for both USPS and UPS. Using the built in option for shipping labels will also send notification to the buyer that the item has shipped and what the tracking number is, one less thing you need to do. There are too many instances where checks and money orders bounce, get lost in the mail, etc. to make them worthwhile. Additionally, it adds time until the buyer receives their item.

Promote your auction. On any given day there are millions of items listed. Just having a clever title isn’t good enough anymore. You need to tell people you have an auction. Get on the social network of your choice, like MySpace and make a blog or bulletin post announcing your auctions. Don’t go around spamming people, but once when you list the auction and another the day before the auction ends can help drive extra traffic to your auctions.

Lastly, build relationships. Use the feedback options on all auctions, making sure to emphasize what the buyer has done right, using terms like fast payment or painless transaction. This will make you seem much more human and more buyers will want to deal with you. Should have an issue, do everything in your power to resolve it as fast as possible.

Yesterday the iPhone became officially available at 6pm EST. Crowds started to form at Apple stores at the wee hours of Friday morning anticipating the phone, even people like Philadelphia Mayor John Street camped out for one.

This device is thought to be the next big leap in technology, thus driving forward the rest of the already competitive cell phone market. What is now interesting is to see how many people are going to try to profit off them. According to reports, only 3 million phones would be available for the launch, clearly there has been more of a demand for them than that.

Sure enough, a quick search on everyone�s favorite auction site shows someone trying to get $10,000 for an iPhone. Further searching reveals more then 7,000 iPhones up for auction!

« Previous entries