New Fee structure, Changes to eBay's feedback system

Wow. Yesterday eBay announced some changes that they are making with their new management team and eBay sellers across the globe are up in arms about it! I regularly read some discussion boards and participate in a Yahoo eBay group and it seems as though the changes are the only thing being discussed right now. And people are passionate about it. It is almost comical if you take yourself out of it. Like when I look at it from the view of someone like my husband who could care less about eBay or their policies. For non-eBayers it is hard to comprehend so many people being ready to cause an eBay coup for a couple of cents and taking away the ability for sellers to leave negative feedback for buyers.
However, it really can make a genuine impact on our business. Those of us who ARE eBay sellers care greatly what our feedback rating is, and those of us who are in business on eBay rather than just selling for the fun of if, also care greatly about a couple of cents! Depending on your personal sales, this could be a very costly change. I haven't sat down and crunched the numbers just yet and I don't even know if I will. It is very easy to jump on the bandwagon and get ready to revolt but in reality what I need to concentrate on is how to make these inevitable changes work out best to my business!

First experience as an Education Specialist

oh happy day. This morning my cousin called and told me that she and her best friend decided that they were going to go into business selling on eBay and could I teach them a couple of things. And the bonus is that she didn't know that I had just passed by class and become an Education Specialist, she was just asking because I am her cousin and an eBayer. I told her how I would LOVE to teach them eBay and told them how I am an ES. They drove down (they live about 2.5 hours away) and spent the afternoon being the most engaged students you could have. They had already done their homework so some of the lessons were very easy. The nice thing is that it just worked out so well for me. Sometimes in life things just fall into place. I needed a little experience and practice in teaching the course before going at it full time and they needed to learn. Perfect. I had considering putting an ad up on craigslist to find a volunteer that I could teach the course to for free just so I could get the practice. How perfect is it that I have a family member wanting to learn?
I am so excited and motivated right now. Looking forward to teaching more. I really think I've found my calling.

When to open an eBay store?

I've been reading posts on the discussion boards and seems to be there is a lot of debate on this subject. When is a store beneficial? Most of the boards' resident experts say that having 100 items is a rule of thumb. I disagree. I think the time that you decide that it would benefit you to open an eBay store is when you have regular inventory and you are ready to start marketing your eBay sales. If you are an eBay person who is occasional and just list items here and there, or even for other people on a regular basis and your items don't have a consistent theme, you don't need a store. Even if you have hundreds of random items. You need a store when you are wanting to market to a certain customer base. Say for instance, handmade boutique baby clothes. Someone who is a part time seamstress and has a few items listed on eBay on a regular basis and is willing to do special orders should have an eBay store. Why? It is only $16 a month and it brings lots of lookers. This is a specialty item that could be listed in the store for only 11 cents a month. This seller could create a beautiful listing for a custom made product and set the availability to 10 or something and just let it roll from one month to the next. Over time, this same seller might run several auctions for already made merchandise and through marketing techniques, sell several of the custom made store listing items as well.
Of course, everyone has to decide for themselves whether the $16 is worth it, I guess the main thing would be to figure out if you can earn back the $16 in sales.

Are YOU ready?

I'm an Education Specialist trained by eBay!

Yay! It is official. I've passed the course....I'm now an Education Specialist trained by eBay! I can now spread my love of eBay and actually get paid for it! Wahooo!!! I can also now use this logo:

I'm a teacher by trade so the education part was pretty easy for me, and being the eBay junkie that I am, the other part wasn't so difficult either. I passed the exam with a 100%!!! Yay. I took the whole learning process very seriously and read everything thoroughly and quizzed myself too. My husband called me a nerd but what really happened is that I discovered how much I missed learning. I want to go back to college, just don't really have any reason to and can't justify the expense.
Anyhoo... I've set up the powersellerdaily.com website to be my eBay portal and realized that all of my links were broken! WOW. That site used to just house this blog and some advertisements and a few tips and tricks of the trade. I kept the tips and added my TA services and ES services. But then, I did what I should have done ages ago when I set up the thing, I tried my links. Every single one of them was broken! I've had thousands of visitors and not one person emailed me to tell me that my links were broken. I feel so foolish.
But, on the bright side..... they all work now.

New Trading Assistant guidelines

The other day I got the email notice that ebay was making changes to the Trading Assistant program and that I needed to check out the changes and re-register. ugh.
I shouldn't complain, I needed to update my policies anyway and get everything succinct. I'm about 3/4 of the way through an ebay store changeover so I had to update everything!
This is a cool thing about an ebay store. I decided that I didn't want to do costumes anymore and not long after found a new consignment client with enough inventory for an entire store so I just re-did my store. Didn't have to buy a new domian or anything and boom. Instant traffic!
I love ebay.
ok, back to my point about the TA thing. Well I go in and begin reading the new terms. Ugh. So dry and boring. Can't they just highlight to us where the changes are?
I get it all done and then log into my other ID and go through the same process. Then. I log out and go in and search for myself just the same way a potential client would. Ugh again.
Apparently, the NEW one doesn't show up until February. In this day and age of instantaneous everything and we have to wait WEEKS for our updated profile to be seen?
Well, I was reading on the TA discussion board and I guess there are a few bugs in the system so I guess a few weeks is probably a good thing. I just hope I don't get any new clients between now and then, it sure will be confusing!

becoming an education specialist

I've decided to become an education specialist. I have a teaching certificate that I haven't used in 4 years, so with that and my ebay experience I think I will be able to set up some classes here in my area. I am excited about ebay and am also excited to share. The one drawback to working for myself at home is that I don't have much interaction with other people in my field. I've tried to network locally and even started an ebay group but haven't had much success. So, maybe I'll fill my need for adult human interaction by teaching again.
I can't wait to get started with the program!

password frustration

I am so annoyed by passwords. I know they are necessary, but when you are like me and do all of your work online it gets overwhelming to memorize all those passwords! I have to keep a list on my PDA just to remember which password goes to which account. Many times you can just do the password recovery, but then there is the dilemma of remembering which email address you used!
I work from my desktop in my office (aka: "the cave"...used to be a garage), my laptop during the day when I am doing dual duty as mom and one of two computers at the real office so I keep very little data actually stored on the hard drive. Most everything is stored online...hence the need for a password.
Necessary evil. :)

Happy New Year! Time to reflect then look ahead

Happy New Year to all!
Every New Year I make resolutions and I usually keep them. I make realistic goals and I give myself the whole year to complete them. You know how so many people vow to quit smoking but think that they have broken their resolution and give up by the 5th because they have started again? Well, they are looking at it all wrong. As long as they have truely quit by the END of the year than their resolution is complete. Thankfully, I am not a smoker so that resolution will not be on my list.
Before I write my resolutions, I look back on the resolutions that I wrote the year before. Last year I had two business resolutions that I did not meet. I resolved to reach 1000 feedback by mid year and it took me until the end of November to make my star turn red. I'm not too concerned about this one because in the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter that much.
The other goal I had for one of my stores was to sell $50,000. I sold $49,643! Wow that was close. I have over $400 in sales right now that are "awaiting payment" so I guess I shouldn't be too concerned that I barely missed this goal.
So overall 2007 was pretty good for me.
For 2008:
The important thing about writing your goals it that they are measurable. Like for instance vowing to "increase sales" isn't measurable. In order to figure out whether your goal was met or not, you need to be able to prove it. Like putting a number or a percentage in there. "Increase annual sales by 20%" or "Sell $xxxxx by years end".
The next factor that should be in your goals is a time table. Most resolutions are for the entire year but a more effective set of goals would be ones that are spread out throughout the year to keep you on track. Like if you have resolved to "lose 10 pounds" altering the goal, or breaking it down into more than one goal will keep you more focused. Like maybe "lose 1 pound per month" this way you will be more likely to actually stick with it all year long versus going on a crash diet at the beginning or end of the year and then gaining it all back.
The same works for your business. If you expect to hit a certain sales mark, it is better to break that down by quarter, month or even by week rather than trying to have a blow out sale at years end.
The other two things that your goals should be is realistic and permanent. If your goals are lofty make sure that you include plans on how you are going to accomplish everything.
Put those goals in writing. Post them somewhere. Put them on the wall, post them on the internet, wherever, anywhere that you will be able to go back and check your progress throughout the year.