Toy Story is heating up!

My almost-4 year old is just getting into the age where the commercials are influencing her opinions and she has jumped right on to the Toy Story hype. Lucky for me, she can't differentiate between the "old" Toy Story stuff and the new. She hasn't noticed the difference in Buzz Lightyear's belt or any of the other simple changes that have been made from one movie to the next. The only thing, she isn't interested in the Barbie & Ken characters (go figure... we already have those!). But, as an eBay seller, paying attention to the trends can pay off! Go search your kid's toy chest and start hawking the Toy Story stuff... right now you'll get top dollar! Check out some of these:

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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

Why "Hot Sellers" aren't so hot for sellers

Just about any time people contact me about learning to sell on eBay or starting an eBay business they are wanting to sell what is "hot". I don't have the hard numbers in front of me, but I would estimate that about 80% to 90% of my students have been people wanting to sell designer handbags or jewelry. I see posts on discussion boards time and time again from people wanting to sell the latest electronic do-hickey or ipods. why?
eBay has done a fantastic job marketing this to people. They publish a list of the hot selling items and popular searches (eBay Pulse). They tell success stories about sellers that have a million feedback from selling cell phone accessories. The list goes on. All this makes new and potential sellers believe that this is where they will find success selling on eBay.
Ever heard the rule of Supply and Demand? The more that is available (supply) the less demand for the product therefore the price goes down. From eBay's point of view, an abundant supply is a good thing. They get more fees from more sellers listing the product, the saturated market pushes down the price therefore more buyers come to their marketplace to buy stuff at the cheaper price, leading to more money again for eBay in final value fees.
Now, look at it from a sellers point of view. Selling the "hot item" isn't so hot. The model I just explained doesn't benefit the seller. The seller is better off selling the item that is scarce, therefore in demand, so that the price goes UP!
This doesn't necessarily make eBay bad, they are just doing a damn good job of looking out for their shareholders. Now.... you go and look out for yourself and find something scarce to sell.

eBay makes a much needed change committing to withdraw bad feedback regarding customs fees

Burried 11 pages back into my feedback is a neutral with this comment:

ottimi oggetti, ma spedisce come commerciante e bisogna pagare tasse doganali

which according to an online language translator, means this:

optimal objects, but send as trader and must pay customs taxes

I wasn't too overly concerned about it, but it does go to show that this customs issue is one that can effect eBay sellers' feedback and DSR scores. Which in turn, can effect an eBay sellers' ability to rise higher in searches and earn powerseller discounts. So yes, it does matter.

I am happy to hear that eBay is now willing to consider taking off neutral or negative feedback that is explicitly about customs fees. However, there are certain things that you have to do. (Click here for eBay's page on the new policy) You must have clear text in your description about the possibility for customs fees and charges. eBay has a standard line they would like you to use and although they say "or very similar", I'll be working tonight to update my template with eBay's standard text.

Which by the way is this:

International Buyers – Please Note:
- Import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer's responsibility.
-Please check with your country's customs office to determine what these additional costs will be prior to bidding/buying.

This new policy won't solve all the issues, it won't stop customers from getting upset about the fees, it won't stop buyers from asking sellers if they will mark something as a gift. But in my opinion, it is a step in the right direction. And had it been enacted a few months ago, I would have nothing but positives. That one neutral is the only neutral I have!

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.

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?

Customs charges, duty, taxes and fees for importing and exporting

My policies state that I do not forge documents and I refuse to do so. I don't have it written in huge font clearly across my listings, but it is there if one chooses to read all the fine print.
I mulled over placement and wording of this policy for quite a bit and still don't know if my way is the right way but here is my logic. I figure that paying the taxes, duty or whatever other fees that your government accesses is the 'right thing to do'. As much as I feel that governments (in general) over-spend, having income is a necessity in order to keep the country running. So, fees and taxes that are accessed at the borders are just a part of that system. Just like our state taxes, federal taxes and sales taxes, of course we would like to keep them to a minimum but we can't avoid them.
I feel that it is actually rude for someone to ask me to lie for them. It would be rude in other instances so why is it acceptable when it comes to shipping out of (or into) the country?
I feel that filling out the papers honestly is what I am SUPPOSED to do and that stating that I will do exactly what I am supposed to do is unnecessary. This is why I have only stated it briefly and in the fine print.
I am SUPPOSED to send them their item, but I don't feel that it is necessary for me to state "I will send you this item" in my listings.
Things always look a little different when taken out of context.
Like the request I got once asking me to still state that they paid XX amount but to manipulate it to state that they paid only $29.99 for the item and the rest was shipping costs. If I went to sears and purchased a new refrigerator, what do you think the clerk would say if I asked could my fridge be rung up for $99.00 and the rest be rung up as a delivery fee in order to only pay sales tax on the first $99?
I also understand that sometimes the fees are quite hefty so I am sympathetic, but just not wiling to risk my business.
What are your thoughts?

My thoughts on Selling times, Is Sunday the best?

Sellers always want to know the best time to list auctions. Me too. The only problem with this question is that there is no answer. Because if there were an answer to this question than it would only be relevant for a split second because everyone would list all of their items at that exact time making any other time better.

There are several factors that go into the timing equation.

There could be more, I'm no expert. Competition. Sometimes listing among your competition could be good, other times bad. I carry a particular line of dreeses that at any given time there are about seventy to a hundred of them listed at auctions from about ten different sellers. Just a rough estimate, but about 60% of these listings end on Sundays. So, my first thought was to NOT list mine on Sundays, and I did this for awhile. However, these dresses consistently get a higher price when I DO list on Sundays. AND, I sell more of them from store inventory on Sundays as well. The only thing I can think is that because all these other sellers have been listing on Sundays it makes customers SHOP on Sundays. It is a curious thing.

Customer Base- If your primary customer is a blue collar worker than you probably won't sell much if all of your auctions end on weekdays during working hours. This, as all theories go, is also not an absolute.

Product - what you are selling makes a difference too. Like that dress I referenced earlier, it sells well on Sundays but the men's T-shirts I sell do well early in the week. So, this has to be taken into consideration too.

Location - your location as well as the location of the customer makes a difference. I sell several brands that are very popular in the UK and Australia. I can list these brands very late at night or even early in the morning because my target is in a very very different time zone than I.

So, basically I just wrote a bunch to say that there really is no answer. Each product and each seller will have their own 'best times' the difficult part is trying to discover them!

I finally figured out how to add Skype to my auctions

I have been wrestling with this stupid skype thing for so long and have wasted so many working hours trying to get it right. Well, I think I've finally done it. Notice that I said "think"? I am not completely certain of the working capability or my ability to ever do it again, but here goes.

First, you must set up skype by downloading it onto your computer and signing up with a skype name. This is completely free click the logo (it will open skype in a new window)

Well, it is not COMPLETELY free. There are services that they offer that ARE free but of course, we all need to make a living, so they have paid services as well. What you want to use it for on ebay though, really is free.
You can call computer to computer worldwide for free. What costs money are the specialty stuff like calling actual phones.
Video calling from computer to computer is free too! We use this to talk to my inlaws in Africa so they can see the baby.
Anyway, back to ebay. So, where were we? Ok, so you've downloaded Skype and now you have a 'SKYPE NAME', this is what you need for ebay. Go into your my ebay page and under 'My Account' click on preferences. Now scroll all the way down and then click the edit link in member to member communication preferences. There is a spot there to enter your skype name. Do that and then you are ready to roll.
Now, you can go back and revise your auctions and it will give you an opportunity to include skype. And, when you go to list your next auction with the SYI form, it will give you a choice to add skype.
Personally, I really hate to talk on the phone and most of the time I am not presentable enough to be seen using the webcam. So, I've set mine to only use chat. It will give you an option to click 'chat' and 'voice'. You can click one or the other, or both.
If you do chose to use voice, it will not automatically run the webcam. Once you are in a connection with someone you will have the option through skype to turn on the webcam or not.
And, obviously, if your computer doesn't have a microphone and you don't plug one in, than the voice option is not an option for you. Ebay won't know this, so you'll have to only click 'chat'.

I am not sure yet about wether or not different listing services have skype available yet. I know that auctiva has not yet added it, but I am sure they will soon. Feel free to post here and let us know if your provider offers it or not. Maybe a little publicity on the subject will get someone working on it.
Feel free to skype me if you need extra help.

Shipping solution to save you time on shipping International

I must tell you, I really over-did it last night so I am not moving very quickly today. What a horrible way to start a new month!
Anyway. Since I am not having such a good day, I'd like to refer you somewhere.
You simply MUST check out this company if you are an ebay seller. I could go on and on about how much time they have saved me, but instead I'm just going to give you the link.
(Click the picture)

Halloween Sales on Ebay - tips for selling Costumes

October 31, 2007
Today, is Halloween. For me it is an ebay breather! I've been selling Costumes and I have plenty to write about this ridiculous experience too. I don't even know where to start. I guess I could start by reflecting on what I learned in the process.
Costmes are a category where the "immediate payment required" feature MUST be used.
Time tables for shiping needs to be at the top of the listings
a cut off time should be used for shipping
cross promotion is a must
very very clear policies are needed
1. "Imediate payment required" is a feature that I have never used before and now, after a season of selling costumes, I will never sell a costume again without it. Costumes, are something that brings people to ebay who may not have ever shoped at ebay before. This is a wonderful thing, however, it can be troublesome sometimes.
Here is the scenerio. Customer is frantic. They really want to be XXXXXX for Halloween but can't find the costume anywhere locally. All their friends and co-workers say "have you tried ebay?" because they know, you can find "it" on ebay! Great advice, however, searching for something that you need to have arrive in less than 3 days when you have never bought on ebay before is a dificult thing to do.
Here are some of the problems I encountered that would have been avoided if I had used the "immediate payment requrired" feature.
a zero feedback customer purchasing 2 of the exact same costume because she couldn't figure out how to "make the system accept a check"
countless non-paying buyers who just take the item out of the system and don't respond in any way to invoices or emails
"oh, nevermind, I found a cheaper one, I'm going to buy it instead of this one"
2. Shipping time tables. Even though ebay so conviently lists the time tables for USPS and UPS, even if they are the only two that you use, customers need to be told. I don't intend to be catty, but sometimes what seems obvious to me, is not to others. I have the time that it takes to ship Priority, Express and UPS ground listed in my TOS, and ebay has it listed with the options, and I have it spelled out on the FAQs that pop up when someone clicks to "Ask Seller a Question" and I STILL must have answered the question "Will this get here by Halloween?" a dozen times a day. I am pretty sure that my neighbors wonder about me because I scream at my computer on a regular basis.
3. Time cutoff for shipping. I ship daily and I advertised that in the listings for costumes because I knew it would be important because everyone needed their costume by a certain time. I very quickly ammended this because I'm on the east coast and I would get emails over and over asking me why their item shipped the next day instead of the day that they paid when they had paid me after 5PM EST. A three hour time difference doesn't seem like it would make that much difference, but it can! I then stated clearly on EVERYTHING that payment had to be received by 2PM EST in order to get same-day shipping. And of course....I still got the question..."if I pay for this today, when will you ship it?"
ARRRRRRRGGGGHHHHHHHH
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!