Set Realistic Expectations for your eBay customers

I believe that the one thing that makes a difference between a good and bad experience for buyers on eBay is the expectation set by the seller. When a buyer makes a purchase on eBay, they have nothing to go on for expectations except what you've told them in your descriptions and their past experiences buying online. And yes, I said 'online', not just eBay. As a seller, you don't know if your customers' past experiences were great and they have set high expectations for you, or whether they have had nothing but bad experiences and you can very easily wow them with a simple 'thank you'. So, being that the only factor that you have control over is what you are telling your customers, you simply must be very clear and realistic when telling your customers what to expect from you.

For example, if you only ship on the weekends, make sure this is stated plainly and clearly for the buyer. If they give you their money on Monday, and don't fully understand your policy, they will be upset that you didn't put their item in the mail until Saturday. Bitch and moan all you want after the fact about your "policy" but in the end it is your DSRs that are on the line. In a case like this, your best bet would be to, not only to have it in your description, but make sure to set up an automated response thanking them for their quick payment and that their item will be shipped out first thing on Saturday morning. This way they know exactly what to expect.

Example #2; If an item is used and is anything less than perfect condition, point out every flaw. Describe it accurately. Do not try to make it sound better than it really is because your customer will be let down when they open the package.

I'm sure I could go on and on here with examples, but it all boils back down to being realistic and clear about what your customers are expecting from you. If you tell them that you are going to give them the world... than you better have a plan to deliver.

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Shameless self promotion:

Items for sale on eBay under user id Shelley-Faye

Items for sale on eBay under user id Love2DressUp

Items for sale on Etsy under user id KitschyAprons

One more for the "what not to do" list, this time from Amazon

I made my very first purchase on Amazon last month on the 12th. I bought a 'How to' book about re-constructing t-shirts. I was super excited for this book and have a stack of T-shirts that I want to work with. When shopping online, eBay is always my first stop but I couldn't find a copy of this particular book from a seller with a reputation that I was comfortable with so, I ventured off the site.
I quickly found the book I was looking for and found it at a reasonable price, so I bought it.
On Thursday, I'm staring at this pile of t-shirts wondering where my book is since it had been 14 business days.
I look up the tracking and it tells me that I shouldn't panic yet because it is still within the "window" of time for delivery. Apparently, 16 business days is the time it should take to deliver a book.
So, I click out and find something else to do. No big deal.
The next day I get an email from the seller I purchased from on Amazon:
"I received your book back to me. The address was slightly wrong. I'm sending it again but this time priority"
Maybe I'm too nit-picky, but shouldn't I have gotten an apology? or at least an admission of making a mistake? "the address was slightly wrong"? What does that mean? My address isn't wrong. The seller made a mistake labeling it.

Please, people, we are all human. We make mistakes. Just like we tell our kids, tell the truth and own up to your mistakes. Say you are sorry if you need to.

Here is the Book I'm still waiting to get. Even though I'm annoyed, I'm still very very excited to get it! :)

Do you blog? If so, you simply MUST offer this

Do you keep a blog? If so, you simply must offer to send your blog to RSS feed readers and offer an email option too. I have been reading blog after blog lately, and I find some that I really enjoy but can never seem to remember to go back there. I am a techie doh-doh-head and can't figure out how to use RSS so if a blogger doesn't offer to send their blog to my email, more than likely I don't make it back very often.
Of course, as with every rule, the exception is twitter. IF I'm following you on twitter, and IF you tweet a link to a new post, more than likely I'll read it, but that is alot of ifs.
When I run across a blog I like, I always bookmark it, but rarely think to go through all my bookmarks and check for new posts. Having it emailed to me keeps me in the loop. Don't you want your readers in the loop?
Even though I don't know how to use an RSS reader, I have set up my blogs to transmit the feed. Make sure you do that too for those who prefer that option.
I'm sure that there are plenty of companies that will deliver your blog posts to subscriber's email addresses, but the one I use is feedburner. I absolutely love it and setting it up couldn't have been easier. (Plus it is free!)
If you notice over there ---> there is a box to sign up with your email address? That is what feedburner does. Once you get set up, every time you post, it will be delivered via email to your subscribers. easy peasy.
If you have a blog and you don't offer these two things... go do it now.
Then, send me a link to your blog so I can sign up.

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Shamless self promotion:

Items for sale on eBay under user id Shelley-Faye

Items for sale on eBay under user id Love2DressUp

Items for sale on Etsy under user id KitschyAprons

Some of my thoughts about why people fail at selling online

Yesterday I was "let go" from my part time side job. I'm a little bummed about the loss of extra income but I must admit I saw it coming months ago.
Thankfully, I knew it was coming so I had already re-structured my budget to account for it.
My job with X company (sorry, I'm just way to loyal to say) was to ship out their products for them and keep track of sales. I did not create the stites nor do any marketing for this company other than writing a blog post once a week. I wasn't paid much to do this, but I accepted the job because I already had all of the necessary things in place from my own business that shipping out another companies products was not a big deal. I would say I was paid appropriately for the work I did.
I was laid off because the company just wasn't selling any products. and yes, I mean NONE. The owner sat down with me several times to strategize about things that could be done to increase sales but didn't take action on any of my suggestions. Now, I'd love to say "I told you so" but again, that loyalty thing. Plus, I really like the people who own this company.

So, I've compiled a list of X company's mistakes so that hopefully, someone else can benefit from them:

1. not answering email. If you run an online business (even if it is just selling one product on eBay, treat it as a business!), you simply MUST answer your emails. This is crucial. The acceptable response time for an email question is shrinking. No one should ever have to wait over 24 hours for an email response (with the exception of major holidays). If the question the customer is asking is a difficult one that needs research, respond letting them know that you are on the case.

2. blaming someone else. When you are selling a product, YOU are selling that product. The customer doesn't need to hear about whatever drama you have going on, they just want what they paid for. If something goes awry, make it right. No excuses.

3. product knowledge. I know this can be difficult for those eBay sellers who sell a wide variety of products, but even then, do what you can to get to know what you are selling. Never mis-represent or assume.

4. ill prepared for shipping. Plan how your product will be boxed or packaged before listing it for sale. If you need a certain size box, go ahead and purchase that ahead of time. Know what your shipping will cost you so that you can charge appropriately without undercutting your margins or gouging the customer.

5. lack of commitment. Your products are up for sale 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You cannot walk away for three weeks at a time. You must be promoting your shop at every opportunity. I'm not saying that you have to work all the time, but being involved is priceless.

6. misunderstanding of the web. The web changes constantly, no one is expecting you to be involved in every new idea or social network that comes out, but having no clue about shopping online is a bad idea. I see this alot with my eBay students. If you have never shopped online or even browsed around, please do not open an online shop without spending some time online first. More than likely, if you are reading this, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking about the folks that have no idea what a blog is.

7. not researching your market. Not knowing what an item is currently selling for online before you commit to selling it can be detrimental. There are plenty of products that sell for one price in a shop and a significantly different price online.

Feel free to add some mistakes that you've seen ................

I learned how to make animated pictures and banners --- here is one FREE!

Because I always have to one-up my baby brother, I taught myself how to do animated pictures and banners for the web. Ok, that really wasn't the plan, it just happened that way.
I was talking to my brother the other day, and told him that I taught myself how to make animated logos. He told me that this was his homework for the week (he is in school right now for graphic design) and that he hasn't figured it out yet.
Score.
I have no clue why I'm so competitive.
Anyway, I've created two that you can use in your eBay auctions or store banner if you so choose.

Above logo is 250 x 100 pixels and the html code is:

<a href="http://URL FOR YOUR STORES SALE SECTION GOES HERE" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/addictedtorockabilly/Logos/sale_animated.gif" border="0" alt="Click Here for items on Sale" /></a>

The above logo is 600 x 200 pixels and the html code is:

<a href="http://URL FOR YOUR STORE SALE ITEMS GOES HERE" target="_blank"><img src="http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff153/addictedtorockabilly/Logos/sale-going-on-now_animated.gif" border="0" alt="Click Here for items on Sale" /></a>

Here are some instructions:

There are several ways to add it to your auction. If you use eBay's SYI form, I would suggest using the templette version, if you use a template or use Auctiva, you will need to add the html code into your template. Don't forget to add the URL for your store's sale items!

Templette Intructions:
In the *Describe the item you're selling section, click the drop down menu that says "Inserts", click "Create an Insert", a pop up window will come up. Name your insert then copy and paste the above code into the box. (Don't forget to add your store's sale item URL)
Then click Save.
Put your cursor where you would like your Sale banner to be and click the "Inserts" drop down menu and choose the Sale insert that you just added!

Adding a store banner Instructions:
In your store manager, click "Display Settings"
then click the Change button to the right of Store Header Display. Click Yes that you would like to include additional information, then change the tab below it to "Enter your own HTML"
Copy and paste the banner code into that box, click Save. Voila!

Don't forget to check your store and make sure it came up right and try the link to make sure it worked.

If you have trouble, comment here on the blog that way if others have the same problem, I'll know how to better give instructions for next time. :)

eBay in Person in Miami

This past Thursday I attended eBay in Person in Miami. I had a great time but it wasn't as "useful" for me as it could have been. I think it was very beneficial for sellers who are just starting out though. I'm sure that it would be very difficult to host an event like this and have it actually benefit sellers of multiple levels. I think it was probably best for the seller who is already selling but not at the poweseller level. The very green beginners seemed lost and people like myself were bored.
I rarely go down to Miami (I live in the next county North) so I mapquested how to get there. The travel time said 28 minutes. The event started at 9AM so I figured that estimate was way off and was right, it took me 1 hour 17 minutes. I managed to get there without getting lost trying to get out of the parking garage! I took the stairs instead of the elevator and ended up on a street where I couldn't even see the building I was supposed to be in. How embarrassing.
They had coffee and pastries and all the eBay people were there mingling. eBay does a wonderful job of showcasing the friendliest people on their staff. Either that company is the most fantastic place to work with all those positive people, or they just leave all the bad apples back at the office.
There were three sessions. Shipping, DSRs and Search Standings. Ok, so they had better names than that, but I'm just too lazy to go dig out my flyer to find out the exact name. Sorry.
Shipping was pretty basic but I think may have reached some folks. The nice thing was that they had Q & A and had a representative from the USPS and UPS on hand. Apparently the USPS will be introducing a new flat rate box. A smaller one this time, but they haven't decided on a price yet.
The things they talked about in the DSRs session seemed like common sense to me, but most everyone I talked to felt like that one helped them the most. I can sum it all up by saying "think like a buyer". I disagree with them about the "free shipping" to increase DSRs though. For some silly reason, I don't think it helps.
The findings session was the one that was probably most useful to me. They did a great job breaking down and explaining how their best match algorithm works. I feel like I've got a better grasp on it now.
They served lunch and appetizers at the end. The thing was set up very nicely and I met quite a few very interesting people. At the opening intro they identified all the Education Specialists, all three of us, so this gave folks an opportunity to approach us with questions. I found this to be nice because usually I'm pretty shy so having people approach me helped break the ice.
Overall, I thought the event was fun and I'll definitely participate again.

eBay in Person!!!!

To be quite honest, I had never heard of this event before. On Sunday, one of my clients asked me was I going. Huh? I had no clue that such an event even existed! I tried looking around the site to find out about it. Nothing.
Pretty sad that I know as much as I do about eBay but have no clue how to find this sort of thing.
So, today, I get an email from eBay inviting me to attend. Yay!
Of course I will attend! If I soak up a tenth of the knowledge and motivation that I got from eBay Live in Chicago it will be worth spending a day in Miami.
If you'd like to join me at eBay in Person in Miami, here is the info:

The event: eBay in Person
The place: Hyatt Regency Miami
The date: Thursday, September 25th; 9AM to 5PM
The cost: $25.00
Website to register: http://www.inpersonevents.com/miami

If you are not in the South Florida area, you can try google-ing "ebay in person" and the closest major city to you.

Custom Search

7 tips for using eBay's email Marketing effectively - Dos and Don'ts

I've been putting more time, thought and effort into planning my email campaigns. I started my research with checking out the competition (and my favorite sellers, friends, family & past students too). I've now got a pretty long list of "Favorite Sellers" that I'm subscribed to. Some send great stuff and make me wish I were that good, others.... well, you know.
I've compiled a list of tips here to help you tweak your eBay emails too:

1. You simply MUST put either your user id or your store name (or both) into the subject line. If you don't go in an manually do this, your emails go out like this:
If your email is going to someone who gets their email on their phone or who gets alot of emails a day, they may never open this up. The subject line is "eBay seller Email: Check out my Newly Listed Items". Whos newly listed items? Why should I care? Let them know so they will open it up!

2. Brand your emails. Put your logo on them, make them look like your listings as much as you can. See mine:
If you've shopped with me before, you've seen my logo and right away, you know who this email is from. This is super easy to do, eBay gives you the option of putting your store header in your emails... you just gotta click the box! (Also notice that I've got my store name and the brand name of one of my biggest sellers in the title?)

3. If you are advertising a $0.99 auction sale or a special something or other, please make sure that those items are the ones that show up in the email. It is frustrating to get an email from a seller who goes on and on about these great tops that just arrived and it sounds like something I'm interested in but when I scroll down, the only things featured are shoes. Nothing wrong with shoes, but why are you telling me about tops when the only thing I can click are shoes? Use the preview button to be sure witch items will show up first.

4. Don't include your feedback banner if you've recently gotten a really nasty feedback or don't have a good DSR percentage. If yours are wonderful, go ahead, include it.

5. If you are like me and too lazy (or too busy) to send out stuff as often as you should, make sure that at the very least you have your system set up to automatically send out "Newest Items" bi-weekly.

6. Go back in and check your settings every so often because your business may have taken a turn (I went from selling costumes to ticket stubs but still had a message about costumes months later....oops) or eBay may have added a feature.

7. Put a link to sign up for your newsletter or to save you as a favorite seller (or both) in every listing.

8. (Bonus tip) Spellcheck, grammar check and don't use ALL CAPS.

changes changes changes, what should I do?

This year eBay has pushed the limits on my flexibility. It seems like I've had to re-think my business plan every time I turn around. Most of the changes haven't made significant impact, and have been relatively easy to adjust to, but goodness, it is exhausting and difficult to keep up with. I'm very positive and flexible but I'm downright irritated this time. I think I will actually like these next round of changes in the long run, but it is going to take a major adjustment in my business plan and way of conducting business on eBay on a day to day basis.
I've been pouring over concepts and plans for two weeks now and still haven't nailed down my game plan.
Then, on top of that, it has put yet another stall in my Education Specialist plans. I had organized to teach two classes in September but have cancelled (or I guess.... 'postponed' would be a better word) them both because I haven't wrapped my head around the changes enough to teach them just yet.
Sorry for the gripe. My next post will be more positive once I get this all figured out.

nevermind.... I guess bidding DOES still work sometimes

It didn't go over a hundred like I thought it would, but got to $91.00. Close enough.

A little experiment, I guess it has failed - people really don't like bidding anymore

This little experiment is going to be pretty costly for me. Well, I take that back, I should say it MIGHT be costly for me. Right now, things don't look so good.
My girlfriend and I had a little debate the other day about whether or not people like bidding on eBay. I was insistent that people still do love the thrill of it, she disagreed. So, I did a completely unscientific experiment to see.
I've been selling this brand of dresses for two years now. Other times in the past I've put them up at auction for a dollar and they were bid up to well over what my "let it go" price would be. So, I picked out a playsuit to auction off. This suit is one that I have already sold several of and each sold for well over a hundred dollars. I put it up with a $0.99 starting bid and added the feature plus.
Only three days left and the bidding is up to a whopping $15!!!
My watchers are in double digits but geez, this is bad.
Now I know that my experiment was no where close to scientific and there are many many many other factors that could be involved here, but if things don't improve quickly I'm looking at a loss of about 5 times what it is selling for. Yikes.
Here is the listing, just in case you are interested.

Another one on the list of things NOT TO DO

I don't know if you can see this screenshot well enough, so if you click here it will take you to the page I'm talking about.
This seller puts " A+ (we want positive feedback ONLY, contact us first if u have questions)" on every feedback he/she posts.
Please sellers, I beg you not to do something like this. Think of the message it sends to your buyers.

New Screen - my thoughts on the new changes

After reading a blog post by AuctionBytes I decided to check out the "new" screen that eBay is testing right now. Most of the time I'm annoyed with the constant fiddling that eBay is doing all the time. I'm an Education Specialist and also do coaching, so many times the screen I see isn't the same as the screen my clients see because they are in the beta test and I'm not or vice-versa. I get an email or they skype me asking a specific question and I'll give a very detailed response on how to fix it but because their screen doesn't look like mine, it is a nightmare.
Anyway, this one really has me very very frustrated. If you are an eBay store owner, you might be upset by this too. Keep reading, you'll see why.

Here is how to check to see what your listings will look like in the "new screen"

Log into eBay and then click on one of your listings. Up at the top, over to the right, there will be a line of text that reads: "We're changing eBay! See how we're making a change for the better. Switch to the newer version of this page"

see, I've circled it here



On mine, at first everything looked ok, I have my template set up to adjust the width depending on the screen size so it didn't loose anything. cool.

I noticed right away that my DSRs still don't show up on the main screen. I really thought that was something they were going to be moving to because of all the hype they've been putting on them lately, but they are not. (see the right hand circle)


The shipping part is weird, people have to click to a different screen (left hand circle) versus scrolling down like they used to. Makes me think that newbies will have a hard time finding it, but not that big of a deal though.

Ok, so lets get to the meat of things. Store owners beware. The two pictures to follow here are the current view then the new view of the exact same area, take a look



Notice what is missing in the new version? My store logo, store banner, store search box and store categories!

The new version has a new store banner too and I hate it. It is a little higher on the screen, but my old store banner had five of my top selling categories listed, as well as an items on sale link and links to add to favorites and sign up for newsletter. The new store banner has only Add Store to Favorites and Sign up for Newsletter and a search box.







Because I am a positive person and I know that change is inevitable, I'll have to figure out a way to work around this. I guess I'll be updating my template to include the store categories that are now going away.


I welcome your comments and suggestions too, feel free to post a comment


and, just in case you love this shirt that I've used for my example, it is called "Bless the Kustoms" by Lucky 13, item #140225162965 (shameless self promotion)

A nice blog post, check it out

http://48daysblog.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/the-open-road-or-a-dead-end-street/

"Desire outwits mother nature" - Napoleon Hill

I'm in the process of reading Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. There are so many things in this book that I want to make sure I remember. I usually put a couple of post-it notes on the front cover of books that I'm reading so that I can grab one and jot down a note or two if needed. I'm about half-way through this book and gave up on the post-its and have been carrying around a notebook.
So far, this is my favorite quote:

"Desire outwits mother nature"

Are you using Twitter? I'm obsessed!

I finally broke down and checked out twitter and now I'm hooked.
I am usually hesitant to jump in to things, mainly because I sometimes feel inundated with social media. I just can't keep up with it sometimes.
So, after playing around for a few minutes I was able to "get it", or at least understand the concept. It is a place to post little mini blogs. Basically, you are just supposed to post the answer to the question:

What are you doing?

you have to do it in 140 characters or less. Sounds boring, I know, but the interesting part happens when you start 'following' people. You go into the search and find people with like interests and 'follow' them. Once you are following someone, their posts pop up on your main twitter page. It is voyeuristic. You always know what folks are up to. (well, those that post regularly anyway)
I've been playing on it for about six weeks or so and love it. When that earthquake happened in Cali the other day, I'd have never known about it if it weren't for twitter!
If you want to follow me, my name is shelleyfaye.
If you are already on Twitter, comment here or email me with your id so I can follow you!

Changes to policy on how your eBay items show up in the search results

July 31st there was an Identical items and finding policy announcement by Jeff King
I always have to take a few days to digest these things and try to determine how they will actually pan out and how they will effect me and my business.
I think the one that will effect me most is the limit of 10 items showing up on the search page. I sell in a pretty narrow niche and many of the search terms that most people find me on are the brand name of my products. I sell some brands that I'm the biggest seller of on eBay. In these particular searches that my potential customers might do, it seems that it will give a leg up to my smaller competitors.
Good news for the little guy. Lately it seems to have felt like the changes have been in favor of larger sellers, this one I think is to help level the playing field a little.
Overall, personally, I think they are good for the marketplace as a whole even if it does sting me a little.

Book Review - "Influence -The Psychology of Persuasion" by Cialdini

The other day on a road trip with my cousin we got to talking about books we've read. Then it hit me, I should be sharing my findings with fellow eBay sellers because lately I've read, and am in the process of reading, some really great books.

I've reviewed one so far and intend to continue to share.

The first review is of a wonderful book by Robert Cialdini called Influence - The Psychology of Persuasion and you can find the review by clicking the following link:

http://powersellerdaily.com/bookreviews.aspx

The next big thing... icons explained

Seth Godin rocks!
Check out this blog post:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/07/marilyn-monroe.html
This, among a few others, is totally a reason why eBay has nothing to worry about as far as competition auction sites goes.

Tips for using eBay blogs to promote your merchandise

As you can see, I write blogs. I write this one, a personal family one, and another one for just random ramblings. I also use the blog feature on eBay. If you are selling on eBay, you should too. The blogs on eBay are indexed in google searches and with very little effort, can show up very high in searches too. Many folks on eBay use the blogs as a social spot. I don't recommend this, actually, I very strongly recommend NOT to do this. What I mean when I say that they use it socially, is that folks will post blogs that just say nonsense. If you go to eBay's blog page blogs.ebay.com you can see what I mean. The most recent blog posted is at the top and will scroll off the page as more blogs are posted. Many will post several times a day saying nonsense or "good morning" or "good night" or other useless things in order to "talk" to their friends in blogland.
DO NOT DO THIS if you plan to treat to your eBay activities as a business.
Recently one of my clients began a pay-per-click campaign for her website and we were checking around to see where her site was coming up in searches. More than half of her results were not from her .com website, they were from her free eBay BLOG! Even the comments that she made on other people's eBay blogs were coming up in the search.

* 6 tips for blogging on eBay *

1. place any html code BELOW the text. In searches, the first couple of lines of text will show up and some don't have the ability to skip over the html code. So, if you have html code at the beginning of your post than it will show there. Make sure that the first line of your post is on target with your subject matter, and actual text.
2. have something to say. Don't just say "look at my items", "newly listed", "great deal" Your items are interesting, let the public know why
3. Check your spelling
4. don't use text-message language. Do not use 'u' 'thru' 'lol' 'c' etc. etc. Take the time to type out the word. It doesn't take that much longer and looks SOOOOO much more professional.
5. Do not post the same thing more than once. Search engines see duplicates and will count that against you. This is also true for repeating a keyword over and over. Don't do it.
6. Keep it short and sweet. Get to the point quickly. But also, don't forget rule #2!

Have fun!

Here is a great tool that will help you make clickable pictures to add to your blog and it is FREE.
http://www.isdntek.com/tagbot/qsell.htm
You just type in your eBay user id and then choose what items you want to highlight. It will create the html code that you just copy and paste into your eBay blog. Voila. Instant cross selling.

Now go get blogging.

How to win auctions on eBay - Auction Strategies Overview

There are several schools of thought on the subject of winning auctions on eBay. My personal favorite is the 'Set it and forget it' method. (What was that infomercial for? a rotisserie oven?)
Once I've found what it is that I want to purchase, I go in and place my highest bid, click out and move on. I don't win every auction, but I also don't miss opportunities or over spend. The trick to using this method is to know your absolute highest amount you are willing to spend. Because if you put in one number but are willing to pay another, you have defeated the purpose. eBay does what is called a proxy bidding for you. They only put up the LOWEST number needed in order to win the auction. If you bid $50 on an item with an opening bid of $2, if no one else bids, you could win for $2! This technique also prevents you from getting into a bidding war and ending up spending too much because you let the emotions of the hunt get the best of your better judgement. If you do things this way, eBay's program will do the bidding war for you. And, because computer programs have no emotions, the will actually stop when the money gets too high. You may be sad that you lost the auction, but you won't have buyers remorse or have to justify to your spouse why you spent two-hundred bucks on a used pair of khakis.
Another option is to use sniping software that inputs your bid for you at the last minute. I guess this could be beneficial if you are bidding on really high demand products, but the drawback is that if your software doesn't work properly, you've missed an opportunity. And, the only way to test it, is to try it, and you won't know until you have lost an auction, that it wasn't set up right.
I have a friend that manually snipes auctions. He literally sits in front of the screen and waits until the last second and places his bid. This would never work for me because I am a scatter-brain and would totally forget to come back and place my bid. By the time I would remember, someone else would have won the auction. Plus, this method has the drawback of the possibility of getting emotionally caught up.
In writing this post, I tried to come up with a list of don'ts but could only think of one. My advice would be, do not place a bid for the opening amount. Ever. Especially not in the first few days of the auction. It is unbelievable to me how many people win my auctions for only one cent more than the first bidder. Just doesn't make sense. I'm sure that many of them log back into eBay to find out that they were outbid in the last few seconds and had they just bid five cents more, they would have won.
Or, you can use the eBay Countdown tool. I've never used it myself because I haven't yet taken the time to download it and learn it, but when I do, I'll let you know how it goes.
What is your strategy?

I'm crushed. Sunny outlook on eBay just turned blue :(

I'm so sad right now. About 30 minutes ago I logged onto eBay and discovered yet another bad eBay sales day. This trend has been going on for about three weeks now and I'm starting to get worried. I use the Selling Manager Pro screen so right in the middle, the first thing I see when I log into 'My eBay' is the sales for the last 24 hours, 7 days and 30 days.

It is depressing.

I keep telling myself that I shouldn't worry because it is summer and I've just come off vacation and most everyone else is doing the same, and things will get better in the fall.

oh boy I hope so.

Then came the crushing blow. I looked over to the right where the seller dashboard is.. and there it was.... my all-green screen has turned gray and yellow. My search standings turned gray and now say "Standard" where before it said "Raised" and my seller performance turned yellow and now reads "Needs Help" where it used to say "Good".

I know exactly what happened too. It is all because of one lady. Here is how it goes:

• She committed to purchase a dress from me on June 1st.


• On June 5th, she wrote an email to me asking could she pay with a money order and that she is always a quick payer and I can check her feedback to prove it, she doesn't have a credit card, blah, blah, blah.


• All of my listings say paypal only. Not only is it the only option offered at the bottom, but it is written in the description too.


• I said ok, made the exception and shouldn't have.


• A week passes and no money. I email her a reminder and asked to confirm that it had been sent so I would know to look for it in the mail. Nothing.


• June 26th (nearly a month after the auction end), I filed the reminder notice with eBay. Nothing from the buyer.


• July 5th I close the dispute, get my FVFs back and re-list.


• July 16th she files a "seller non-performance" report on me!

how does eBay let this happen? I responded right away stating that the buyer never paid, included the information about the reports I had previously filed on her.

July 17th, her payment arrives. It was postmarked on July 3rd. Had she responded to any of my messages I may have known that the M.O. was on the way and waited to close the dispute. Oh well.

So, I emailed her asking did she still want the dress or would she rather I just return her money. No response. Yesterday, on the 21st, I mailed her M.O. back.

Now, today, I get blind-sided by eBay. I'm so frustrated over this. I called and the powerseller rep told me that it will close automatically if she doesn't respond. I thought, great, everything will fall back into place. How long will that take? 45 days!!!!!

I was flabbergasted to hear that eBay would allow a non-paying bidder to hurt my status for a month and a half without even reviewing the claim. I'm a powerseller with excellent DSRs and she is a Non-Paying bidder! Doesn't that matter? (well, technically, she DID pay, just really really really late)

The rep told me to email trust & safety because he didn't think she should be allowed to file a seller non-performance report if she had a non-paying bidder strike and to have them look it over. I did that. We'll see what happens.

Anyone else had this happen? Let me know, I'm curious to hear if they had a good result in the end.

eBay's bidding tool Average price to compare your bid

I have been doing some shopping for some DVDs for my daughter. Lately she has been enjoying singing and I don't know many songs so I'm buying up musicals and cartoon movies that have good songs. So, I discovered something kinda cool today during my bidding spree

I have no idea if this is a new tool or just something that I have never noticed before. Regardless..... I like it. It tells me where my bid stands compared to the average selling price of similar items. As you can see, I'm kinda low in comparison, so, if I win, I know that I truly am getting a great bargain!
It comes up on the bid confirmation screen so look for it after your next bid.

Practical Dreamers never quit

Yet again, I heard a line in a podcast that I had to re-wind and listen to twice so that I would make sure to remember it.

"Practical dreamers never quit"

I think I'm going to paint this on a plaque and hang it in my studio.
This line is from Napolean Hill's Think and Grow Rich. I don't know if it is a direct quote because I am listening to it on audiobook. I was running when I heard this line and once I returned home, I jumped on eBay and found a Buy It Now to purchase a copy of the physical book.
Can't wait to read it even though I've already heard it.

"Success principles are highly transferable"

"success principles are highly transferable" that is a quote from Dan Miller in a recent podcast. If you know me, or have been reading my blog for awhile you know that I'm training for the Race for the Cure in October. (I'm not trying to win it or anything, just beat my personal best time) And, you'll also know that I absolutely love podcasts.
I listen to all sorts of podcasts and radio programs. eBay radio is one of my favorites of course and just recently another one of my favorites "Justice Talking" has just gone off the air (boo!)
Most of the things I listen to are for a purpose. I'm hoping to gain something from it. Either enrich my life, keep me up to date on the news or help my business in some way. It is kinda a funny thing, if you think about it, why Dan Miller's podcast is one of my favorites, but it really is. If you don't already know who Dan Miller is, he is the author of 48 Days to the Work you Love and No More Mondays. I absolutely love what I do and am obnoxiously happy doing it. I have found the work that is totally fulfilling to me. Dan Miller teaches people how to find that. I continue to listen to his podcast because there is something about his voice that I find soothing and I love the fact that he is such a positive thinker. He is inspiring.
I just loved that line up there at the title. It is totally true too. I listened to this podcast twice just so that I would remember it. After he said it, I paused my ipod and ran about a half-mile just pondering over it. It is so true. I used to joke about how I used some of the same techniques for crowd control when I was a bartender as I did when I was teaching eigth graders. It is also the reason that you see entrepreneurs succeed in one venture after another. "Success principles are highly transferable".
Or, maybe I just like saying it over and over.

In the interest of full disclosure, I've never read his books. Not that I wouldn't, I just haven't yet. I found his podcast by accident a few months back and have gotten hooked. And yes, I do get a teeny tiny commission if you click from this blog to his site and buy his books.

More about eBay Live, solutions floor, shipping to Canada & Poloroid pictures

Found another pic. This one was taken by the folks at the booth promoting shipping to Canadians. I really loved the solutions center and loved being able to talk to the vendors. At times I just had to get away though because I'm a sucker for salespeople. I think it is because I am so positive about my business that it doesn't take much to get me super excited about ramping up my business and how easy things will be if I just signed up for this service or that product. Shipping to Canada... I didn't need to be sold on that. They were preaching to the choir. I LOVE to ship international!
Funny thing is that they took this photo of me with a poloroid. Did you know that they aren't going to be making poloroids anymore? So sad. What a fun camera. I guess the reality of the digital age finally caught up to them. Digital pics just aren't the same. No fun fanning and watching as the picture develops right before your eyes. I guess I'll just have to chalk this one up to nostalgia and tell my grandkids about it.
Wonder how the poloroid market is on eBay?

Pictures from eBay Live!

I'm such a doh-doh. I took my camera with me to eBay live and only took 7 pictures. How in the heck did I spend 5 days in Chicago and only get 7 pictures? Anyhoo.... here they are.

This is the dinner for the Education Specialists the night before eBay Live!



The next one here is my room. I was so excited about a free hotel room that I had to get a picture of it.


Not too bad for the money is it? And they say "you get what you pay for" ... I'm pretty sure I got WAY more than I paid for. Free Wi-Fi too.


The drawback to my free hotel room was that it was WAY across town. I took the subway because I'm cheap and I think that subways are the coolest thing considering that I've never lived in a city that had one. This is where I got off the train, Chinatown.


This is from the train platform. See that building in the distance? That is the Hyatt at McCormick place where all the cool people stayed, right next door to eBay Live. Lucky for me, I like to walk and the weather was nice because this is the closest that the subway will get you.

This was my lunch one day. I took a picture of it to show my dad how much $6.08 will get you at McCormick place.


These guys sang to us in the line for the Gala. They were awesome and funny too. I got a kick out of their eBay color jackets.

My first eBay Live! oh boy, I've got so much to blog about

Ok, so I haven't completely made it back yet, but I'm close. I got stuck because of weather and now am only about 300 miles from home. One more night and I'll be able to sleep in my own bed again!
I've got so much to blog about from my first eBay Live! I don't even know where to start. Also, I've been reading a book recently that I just finished this morning that I'm going to want to blog about too.
The day before eBay Live all the Education Specialists were invited for an extra day of training and a dinner. This was awesome. I couldn't get travel arrangements to afford me to get there for the beginning so I got there just before lunch, right in the middle of a seminar by Jeffery Gittomer. WOW. I am so upset that I didn't get to hear the whole thing because he was fabulous. He was inspiring, energetic and insightful. To make things even cooler, he gave us all a signed copy of his book The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way
(I'm not selling mine, but of course you can get one of your own on eBay)
Yet another thing on my to-do list. Read this book. The trouble with being so excited about how much I want to learn and do is that there is no time to do it all. I filled an entire notebook with things that I want to do and read and learn. Gotta go get started.

What the heck is a Google PageRank and why should I care?

I know I've mentioned before that my ipod has very little music and tons of podcasts. Well, I'm totally loving it for two reasons.
1. I'm training because I'm going to run the Race for the Cure in October and I my goal is to beat my best time. My best time was when I was 26 years old and now, at 32 I plan to shave off a full minute. Listening to podcasts helps me zone out and not realize how extremely hot it is here in south Florida and how much my legs ache when I run. Makes time fly.
2. I am learning so much. I got a ton of great tips from some recent podcasts on SEO (search engine optimization). I'm pretty sure that there are tons of people out there that will just say 'Duh' to themselves as they read this, but because I had no idea, maybe it will be useful to some, so I'm posting what I learned this week.
The podcast that I found to be most useful this week is one called "Internet Marketing" that I found on itunes. It is from a UK company and these guys have the cutest accents so not only did I learn alot, I was impressed with the pleasant sounds too.
They talked about some stuff that was WAY over my head but I was able to glean a few nuggets of worthy info about Google PageRank. I'd heard internet folks talk about this before but never really understood. I just kept thinking it was about how close you are to the top of the page when someone does a search. Well, that is not it. I kept thinking that it was a dumb judgement because if I typed in exactly the right words, I could manipulate just about any site to come up at the top!
It is a ranking that google gives your site from zero to 10. Zero being bad and 10 being great. I've been searching for two days and the only 10 I've found was google themselves! This blog is a zero. eBay is an 8.
The way to find out a site's PageRank is to add it to your google toolbar. If you don't already have one just go get the toolbar (it is free) by searching "google toolbar" and when you are setting it up, click to include "PageRank". Voila, once the toolbar is there you can see the rank of any site you visit. If you already have a google toolbar you can add the page rank feature by going into the settings.
For your convenience (and my profit) I have a google searchbox right here on this page :)

Another cool feature of the PageRank button on the toolbar is that you can check backward links on any site. It is a dropdown next to the PageRank button and is pretty cool. I checked my site Addicted to Rockabilly, and found a couple of people that were linking to me that I was completely unaware of. I was also surprised to find that none of my blogs show up as linking to my site. Hmmmm? I have links all over anything I have control of, maybe they aren't there because they are all zero page ranks. :(
The long way to find backward links is to type link:http:// then the site you want to check into the google search engine.

Ok, so the reason that you want to know about your backward links is because that is exactly how google ranks you! So, if lots of good sites (meaning not the zero ranks) have non-advertising links to you than you will rank higher. Advertising links and reciprocal links don't count.

Now, I need to go figure out a way to get folks to link to my sites. :)

Gotta love the eBay Marketplace, Fiestaware fetching over Four Hundred Bucks!

This is why I love eBay! I've got a client right now that I'm selling a pretty wide range of items for on consignment. She and her fiance have realized that in combining their households they just had too much stuff.
eBay Trading Assistant to the rescue!
One of her items was a set of Fiesta mixing bowls. I know very little on the subject but knew that Fiesta is a brand that people look for and has been around awhile so I was pretty confident that it would sell.
I did the research on similar items prior to posting the item. I did not find anything exactly like the set I was selling but I discovered that a similar bowl will sell for around $30.00.
I was selling a nested set of 4. I like to start the bidding pretty low and give a chance for it to go up so I started the auction at $24.99 for all four.
As you can see by the results of the auction for the set of Fiestaware mixing bowls, I was so very wrong about the value of the item that I was selling.
As I am writing this post there is just under two hours left of the auction and the bidding is currently up to $447.99!
Yes that is right folks.... FOUR HUNDRED FORTY SEVEN dollars!
This is what I love about eBay. If I had just put these bowls out at a Flea Market or something where I actually had to make up a set price (or used the buy it now option) I would have put a price of about $75 on the set. Boy would I have lost some money.
This is the beauty of the eBay marketplace.
Now I need to add Fiestaware to my list of items to look for at yard sales/thrift stores.

Pictures, Photographs, pics, whatever you call them.... they are important to selling on eBay

**Apologies to the folks who subscribe via email. My daughter ran over and hit my laptop pressing keys to publish this post before I was done typing it... sorry for that.**



I enjoy reading the eBay Discussion boards. Particularly the "Building an eBay Business" board because the people there are alot like me. People who take what they do on eBay seriously and are professionals. Quite often people post asking for critugues or suggestions on thier stores. I LOVE to do this. This hits on several of my favorite things. 1. eBay 2. helping people 3. telling people what to do. Yes, I hate to admit it, but I love to tell people what to do. If I didn't start eBaying when I did, I was going to go into restaurant management. I figured it would be a good fit because I love to tell people what to do and I had 14 years experience in the service industry.

Ok, back to the subject at hand. Most every time someone asks for criques, PICTURES are the main thing that needs inprovement. All of the things that go into an eBay auction are important but many times it is the picture that makes (or loses) the sale. Your pictures need to give your customers a clear idea of what they are really going to recieve. It should look exactly like the item does in real life. If you ever have to write an apology for the bad pic in the description than you need to go back and re-do the photo!

How to do that: You can spend a lifetime learning how to take great photos. Obviously, you have something that you need to sell NOW, so that is no good. I think these basic tips are a good place to start...

• Use good lighting. Either natural of bright household lights


• Use a tripod


• Crop your photos very close. no one needs to know what is going on in the background


• make your gallery photo the right size so it doesn't warp


• clean the product or if it is clothes, iron them (no excuse for dust or wrinkles)


• take shots of all sides


• have a regular shot and a close up


• place a ruler, tape measure or something next to the product to indicate size


• use a template or basic html to insert picturs into the description to save on fees

Of course, as with all selling on eBay, some of these things may not apply to you. I mostly sell clothes so I rarely use the tape measure trick, but use it always when I'm selling fabrics to that people can see how large or small the pattern is.

I would also give the advice to not over-edit. I had a consignment client one time who told me that she had taken all the pictures for me. She emailed me the photos before bringing over the products. I think I hurt her feelings when I didn't use any of her pictures. I didn't use them because she had photoshoped them to look great. The products were in ok condition, but not perfect. Her photos made the products look perfect!

Just this week I had an issue where a seller "borrowed" one of my photos. I turned them in to eBay and got a canned response back from eBay that my photo was a stock photo therefore they were allowed to use it! I guess this is the drawback to having a really good photo. It was NOT a stock photo, it was one I had taken of my best friend wearing the dress. So, now I've even started watermarking.

There are lots of sites out there that can help with pictures. Here are a couple I've found recently:

http://ezauctionphotos.blogspot.com/

eBay photos/html discussion board

http://www.sigma-2.com/camerajim/index.htm

Feel free to comment here and add a site that you find helpful too.
(if you'd like, you can Read my old post about pictures too)

Marketing your eBay listings - what more can we do?

Today I had planned something totally different to write about here but I just got an email that I just HAD to talk about. I started to respond to this person directly but decided that it may be a good topic to discuss openly so we would all benefit from it.
The question came in from an eBay seller who had been selling for about a year or so. They wanted help with marketing their eBay store.
Me too!
That seems to be constantly on my mind. Of course, I'm an eBay junkie so maybe it doesn't consume everyone else as much as it does me. All music on my ipod has been replaced with business podcasts. I've become obsessed.

This seller told me that these are the following things that they have done so far in their marketing:

• Website that links to my eBay store
• Craigs List Ads
• Submitted domain name to Yahoo, Google, MSN
• Google Base
• Links to my eBay store in auction listings
• Wrote a guide
• Read several books about eBay selling

and here are some of MY thoughts on these:

• links to eBay store - Great! just make sure that they all have the ?refid=store tag at the end so that you can get 75% off the FVF. or better yet, an affiliate link.
• Craigs List Ads - most of the time, this is not something I do, and for two reasons. One, most people on Craigslist are looking to buy locally and want to pay in cash to avoid internet scams and shipping charges. If I'm going to sell it locally for cash (which I would be happy to do.... Cash is King!) why would I bother with paying eBay fees? I list stuff for sale on Craigslist all the time, and although that same item may be listed on eBay at the same time, I don't usually link to it. The second reason is that most times if you do this too much the die-hard Craigslisters get very upset with you and consider you spam. Being considered Spam is bad.
• Submitted domain name to Yahoo, Google, MSN - yes this is good, having your listings SEO optimized will help more though.
• Google Base - I do this, however, I'm not sure if it helps or not. I figure, it is free and takes two seconds so why not. But, I can't tell if it is this or the SEO optimizing that is working.
• Links to my eBay store in auction listings - KEY. This is key! Every auction listing should link to your other auctions/store inventory. eBay shoppers are going to shop around, you want to keep them shopping around within your store. The thing I'd like to add about this one though is that the links need not be above the description or pictures of the item that is listed. Do not make them overwhelming or too prominent. Your main purpose for the eyes to be on that listing is to purchase that listing. "if not this one, how about this other one?" kinda thing.
• Wrote a guide - I did this and am ranked pretty high, but the one I wrote is for something that I don't even sell! Kinda pointless right? I think a guide can be helpful if there aren't alot of others on that subject, you are a good writer and it is highly specific to your niche. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother. If you notice on the guides there are items advertised on that page, you have no control over what items go there. They come up by an eBay algorithm of keywords so it could be your stuff, or it could be your competition. Ya never know.
• Read several books about eBay selling - yep. great thing to do. I read a bunch, reading one now and have several more I plan to read. However, choose wisely. If you are reading out of date material or things that are below the level you are already at, you will get very little from them. I would recommend reading other "outside of eBay" material too. I highly recommend Guerrilla Marketing and Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion.

So, here are a couple of tips I'd like to add to this list:

1. Write a blog. Either an eBay blog or a regular one. If you sell the same items regularly and have a 'niche' per se, I recommend a regular one. If your items change regularly, an eBay blog. They are picked up by search engines and can lead folks to your stuff.
2. name your pictures. Search engines see hyphens as spaces so name your pictures something like "lucky-13-sinner-wrap-dress.jpg" (that would be what you would name your picture for a lucky 13 "sinner" wrap dress)
3. get involved in a group or participate in discussions in your niche (on eBay or off) and post relevant posts with your eBay store name as a signature. Be careful not to spam. This will establish you in your niche and you may learn some new stuff in the process. You can do this on blogs too!
4. SEO - I'm still learning here but I wrote a blog on it once before, so check that out
5. Promote your Charity listings on my site www.rockabillycharityauctions.com (see that... shamless self promotion!) it is free!
6. Join social networks. Myspace, facebook, twitter, etc. etc. Be kind, thoughtful and professional in your posts and bulletins so that you will be taken seriously.

Feel free to add any more suggestions.... comments are allowed :)

How best to use eBay blogs, or... what NOT to do

"Blog-land" is what some eBayer's call it. It is where you go when you click into "Blogs" under the community link. Some, err, correction, LOTS of folks just cruise the blogs and read because they show up there in order of arrival. The most recent blog appears at the top.
This can be a fun exercise or a good way to kill some time. Some folks cruise and leave comments on the posts as they read. That is fine. Linking is good.
However, the mistakes are made by those who post silly things like "goodnight bloggers" in a blog post. This is space wasted. Believe it or not, eBay blogs are picked up by google. How awesome would it be for someone to be looking for a specific item that is sold out everywhere and they keep searching and searching. At some point they come across a blog post that you did six months ago, back when you had that item in stock. So, you no longer have it but.... now you've gotten eyes off the world wide web and into your eBay store. Your merchandise is interesting enough to keep their attention right?
So, why the heck would anyone ever search for "good night bloggers"? Don't waste your space.

Freebies, freebies... if they offer it, you should take it

Ok, so you've heard my rants about credit card companies before, but today I am loving American Express. I just booked my flight for eBay live and it was completely paid for by shipping costs from my eBay sales.

My customers give me the money to ship their items and I pass the money on to the USPS but I run it through Amex first. I've put nothing out. All I have to do is keep good records and make sure to pay my bill on time.

I'm loving Amex even more today because they "loaned" me the point that I was short.

I never knew that you could do that.

I found the flight I need on Delta and in order to purchase a flight from Delta with my Amex points I first had to transfer Amex points to Delta SkyMiles. The flight I wanted was 50,000 points. I had 49,685!

I talked to a Delta rep and they told me that I could buy SkyMiles but they are only sold in increments of 2,000 for around sixty bucks. Ok, so, $60 from south Florida to Chicago isn't bad. I was trying to figure out the math of how many points I needed to transfer into miles and the Amex rep made my day by saying "oh, don't buy points, we'll loan them to you"

huh?

really?

you can do that?

yep. She said I was eligible to "borrow" up to 15,000 points. So, my flight was free (except for the taxes.... nothing is ever completely free)
And, another cool thing is that I'm staying with my cousin who has enough hotel reward points to cover our room. Yippeeeeeee.
eBay Live, here I come!

Money making eBay to-go is back.. if you haven't you should

Awhile back I did a post on the advantages of using tools like eBay to go. Then a couple weeks later I did a post on affiliate links. Well, at the time that I did it eBay had an eBay to-go tool that allowed you to include your affiliate link so you were able to use them together. But, recently eBay switched their affiliate service from a private company to in-house and for over a month we were without eBay to go with affiliate links. Well..... it is back!
Yay.
It is a widget so you can get paid by eBay to bring people to YOUR listings. I've written in more detail in those two other blogs but the quick version goes like this:
1. Sign up to eBay Partner Network
2. Create an eBay to go widget & post it wherever you like that will allow the script.
3. you are promoting your stuff and eBay will give you a cut of the FVFs if someone buys

I have mine on myspace and I create them for my consignment customers to put their items up on their myspace pages too.

If you don't want to be an affiliate you can still use the tool, you just won't be paid for it. The regular eBay to go can also be posted in the eBay blogs (can't use the affilate one there)

In my quest for top notch customer service. . .

Because I've finally updated and streamlined my shipping processes (future post... stay tuned) and automated a few of the tedious tasks in my daily eBay "chores" I've been able to make time to start searching the rest of the web outside of eBay. I'm doing this with a purpose though. I had realized the other day that the only sites I'd visited in the last few months were the ones that I use daily. This can't be good for business.
Back when I was a bartender I worked for a guy one time that spent quite a bit of time bar hopping. "Market research" he would say. Some people may call him an alcoholic. But, he was also a very successful business man. It wasn't just the competition he was looking at either. It was the entire industry.
Being an eBay seller I need to look at more than just eBay. Sure, I am very familiar with my competition on eBay and frequently look at other listings outside of my niche, but what about the rest of the web?
So, I've been spending time looking at all sorts of websites. I've been looking at how many products they carry, what their policies are, terms, etc. etc.
I found a site that pretty much perfected the customer service end of selling on the internet. LApolicegear.com has about a million products to offer but the thing that impressed me most was the fact that they put the customer at the forefront of their policies. They have written things in such a way that it makes the shopper feel like they are being met at the door by a dedicated staff member and walked through the process of buying.
When I saw the site I immediately thought of my dad who is a total gun enthusiast. They have all sorts of gun holsters and things that my dad would love. Along with gun holsters, they sell boots, tactical gear, under armor, flashlights, and all sorts of neat gadgets and things. I even found a pair of pants that were on sale for only $2.99!!
One would imagine that they are only for cops or government agencies but they are not. They definitely do sell to the government, but they sell to the public too.

*Sponsored post*