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.