Ebay tips and tricks

Feast Your Eyes on Good Feedback

2007-07-21T12:54:00.001-07:00

You know how they say you are what you eat? At eBay, you are only as good as your feedback says you are. If you're selling, here's how to get a good reputation:

Establish contact with the buyer (pronto!) after the auction ends.
After you've received payment, send out the item quickly.
Make sure that your item is exactly the way you described it.
Package the item well and ship it with care.
React quickly and appropriately to problems -- for example, the item's lost or damaged in the mail or the buyer is slow in paying.

If you're buying, try these good-rep tips:

Send your payment fast.
Keep in touch via e-mail with the seller.
Work with the seller to resolve any problems in a courteous manner.

If you're selling, here's what to do to tarnish your name big time:

Tell a major fib in the item description.
Take the money but "forget" to ship the item.
Package the item poorly so that it ends up smashed, squashed, or vaporized during shipping.

If you're buying, here's how to make your status a serious mess:

Bid on an item, win the auction, and never respond to the seller.
Send a personal check that bounces and never make good on the payment.
Ask the seller for a refund because you just don't like the item.

Dressing Up Your Auction Image with Templates

2007-07-21T12:53:00.000-07:00

To give your auctions a consistent look and feel, you create a template (or pattern) that each auction follows. Just like a stencil that you'd use to paint a repeated pattern, an auction template makes it easy to create many similar-looking auctions.

When deciding whether to create your own template or find a prebuilt one, consider how much control you want to have over the design. If you're comfortable using a template that other sellers are using and can live with designs that don't allow much customization, then a prebuilt template may be for you. However, if you want to create a truly unique design and don't want to have any limitations placed on your creativity, it's time to dig into HTML and create your own!

A quick search on Google for eBay auction templates yields over 100,000 results! Within the first few pages of the results, you'll find numerous sites that offer hundreds of custom templates. Although some sites offer free templates, most require you to sign up for their services. They typically charge a monthly fee in return for access to their template libraries and other services.

What, No Sale? Timing Your Relist Wisely

2007-07-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Boo! Your Dansk China Maribo dinner plate didn't sell. Don't take it personally. It doesn't mean that your merchandise is trash. It's just that this particular week no one was looking for Maribo plates (go figure).

Often, when relisting, you need to make adjustments. For instance, there's always a chance that you're off base on your title. Or perhaps the keywords in your title aren't drawing people to your listing. To help you figure out whether it's you or just the market, try running a search for other, similar items — is anyone buying? If there's just no bidding activity (perhaps you're selling bikinis in January?), then perhaps that item needs to be retired from eBay for a while.

Consider some other variables. Perhaps your starting price is too high? Are other items selling on the site with a lower starting price? If you can comfortably lower your price, do so. If not, wait until other sellers run out of the item. Then put yours up for auction — you may just get more bidding action if you are one of the few (versus one of the many) sellers offering the same item

Placing Photos Inline with Your Text

2007-07-21T12:51:00.000-07:00

Buyers love seeing pictures of the products in your auctions. That's why eBay lets you add a free picture to every auction you post. Of course, eBay also offers you the option of adding a few more pictures to the auction (for a minimal fee, of course), but unfortunately every photo you include gets shoved into the same section at the very bottom of the auction — and that's not the best place for photos to go.

You can overcome that positioning problem and add any number of photos to your auctions at the same time by creating your own photo storage area and then including image tags () in your auction text. Although this adds an extra step to your posting process (namely, copying the photos to your online storage area), that minimal amount of work provides you with tons of flexibility, plus the ability to make a really awesome-looking auction.

First things first — you need an online home for your photos. Luckily, any Web hosting service covers this task perfectly. Even the storage space built into every AOL account (check out key word My FTP Space) works great! If you already have a Web site, just use a bit of space on that server. And if you always wanted to start a Web site, this makes a great excuse to start now.

Web hosts come in all shapes, sizes, and price ranges, so shop around. You can find basic hosting for as little as $2.95 per month, although reliable hosting usually starts in the $4.95 to $7.95 per month range. Many books and online articles tell you how to pick a hosting service, so dive into Google (or pick up a resource at your favorite bookstore) and see what you can find.

After you arrange for your Web space, find out how the host recommends transferring files from your computer to your online space. Some host companies offer a nifty Web-based tool for this, although a good FTP (File Transfer Protocol) program like Direct FTP from CoffeeCup Software usually works faster, easier, and better. Check with your Web hosting company for its recommendations.

Even though you can add pictures until your auction looks like a photo mosaic, don't get carried away. Every image you add increases the loading time for your auction, so keep the number low. Most auctions benefit from using two to three images instead of just one, but only the priciest auctions — stuff like cars, houses, priceless Ming vases, and such — require more than three pictures. If you want to use a gallery image for the auction, you still need to put one photo into the standard eBay image area.

Improve Auction Photos with Cloud Dome

2007-07-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

Ambient light, light that occurs naturally, is the best light for photographing many types of items that you want to auction on eBay (especially shiny items). Problems start when you use flash or flood lighting alone (without a Cloud Dome) for pictures of metallic objects, Common lighting problems that affect the quality of your photographs include shiny spots from reflections (off walls and ceilings), washed out areas from the glare of the lights and loss of proper color.

Enter the Cloud Dome to offer your at-home photos the ability to take advantage of natural, ambient light. The Cloud Dome looks like a giant bowl that you place upside-down over the object you want to photograph. This bowl evenly diffuses ambient room light over the surface area of the object. This way, you can produce quality digital images in average room lighting.

Keeping Track of ebay Sales

2007-07-21T12:48:00.000-07:00

Savvy eBay sellers have different methods of handling inventory. They use everything from spiral-bound notebooks to sophisticated software programs. Although computerized inventory tracking can simplify this task, starting with a plain ol' handwritten ledger is fine, too.

Many sellers tape sheets of paper to their boxes to identify them by number, and use that as a reference to a simple Excel spreadsheet for selling purposes. Excel spreadsheets are perfect for keeping track of your auctions as well, but if you're using a management service or software, you don't need both for physical inventory. After you're running a full-time business, however, you have to keep Uncle Sam happy with a dollars and cents accounting of your inventory, so keep your inventory records in a standardized program such as QuickBooks.

Organizing Your ebay Auction Presentation

2007-07-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

Selling products through an online auction works like selling things face to face in real life. As the seller, you need to connect with the customer, entice and interest the person in your product, provide information, answer questions, overcome objections, and close the sale -- or, in this case, get the bid.

A well-organized auction starts with the basics: complete, descriptive auction text and plenty of pictures that flatteringly (and fully) show off your product. Atop that foundation, add headings for each major section of your auction text -- namely the description, payment, and shipping information blocks. A consistent design builds your eBay brand in the eyes of your customers, which enhances your professional stature among the buyers and browsers and encourages new (as well as repeat) sales at the same time

Deciding How Many Days to Run Your ebay Auction

2007-07-21T12:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a little subject with lots of big opinions -- especially since eBay's introduction of the one-day auction. Consider this array of auction-length options.

One-day auction. Although a buy-it-now feature on any auction can bring great results, that only works if the item is hot! hot! hot! If people are bidding the item up -- and they really gotta have it -- you may do best by starting the bidding really low and listing it with a one-day format.
When you list in a one-day format, your listing goes right to the top of the list. Most people view their searches by auctions ending first. With a one-day format, you can pretty much choose the time of day your item will be at the top.
Three-day auction. A three-day is good, for all the same reasons that a one-day is good -- only it's better for the faint of heart because it gives your item more time to sell.
Another good use of a three-day auction is when you already have a seven-day auction up on the site, and the bidding is going crazy. You've reached your sales goal by the middle of a seven-day cycle. Once it's in the last couple of days of the listing, throw up a second one on a three-day.
Seven-day auction. The gold standard for eBay auctions, seven full days of fun, excitement, and (hopefully) bidding. Seven days gives your item plenty of time to be seen on the site and attract bidders.
Ten-day auction. Say you've got multiples of an item that you stock in your eBay store and want the longest amount of exposure on the auction site. You can put one up for a ten-day auction to draw attention to your items and store.
Also, a ten-day auction is good for more esoteric items. This can be a special collectible or an expensive item that normally doesn't get listed on the site by the hundred. Putting up a ten-day auction (starting Friday night -- so you get two weekends' exposure) is a near-perfect way to attract bidders.

ebay Power Supplies to Support Power Sales

2007-07-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

If you've ever used digital cameras, you know that they can blast through batteries faster than sugar through a 5 year old. A reliable power supply is a must. You can accomplish this in a couple of ways:

Rechargeable batteries: Many specialists on eBay sell rechargeable batteries and chargers. Pick up quality Ni-MH (nickel metal hydride) batteries because this kind, unlike Ni-Cad (nickel cadmium) batteries, has no memory effect. That means you don't have to totally discharge them.
CR-V3 lithium ion batteries: This battery that takes the place of two standard AA batteries. Lithium batteries are the longest lasting and lightest batteries available, but they're also expensive. Then some smart guy figured out a way to put two batteries into one unit; considerably cutting the price. This new battery can average 650 photos before you have to change it. The CR-V3 is available also in a rechargeable form, thereby extending the life even further (and reducing your battery budget significantly).

If your eBay photo studio includes a camera on a tripod (and it should), you can use a good, old-fashioned AC adapter (you know, it's the one that plugs into the wall).

Polish Up Your Sales Pitch

2007-07-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Shakespeare definitely wasn't selling items on eBay when he wrote these words. When it comes to listing an item successfully, the title (or name) really does matter. You need to think of a title that's provocative enough for a potential buyer to click your item in a list of similar items.

Which of these items sounds more saleable to you?

Silver Nut Dish
Vintage Gorham Sterling Silver Pierced NUT DISH.

The second one is a better choice because it gives more detailed information about the item and highlights four pluses of the item:

The dish is vintage, which means if it's not an antique, at least it's somewhat old. For a collector, the age of the piece is an important part of the value.
The dish was made by an important silver company (Gorham).
The dish is sterling silver (not silver-plated).
The silver is pierced, which means the lacelike design was made by punching holes in the silver to form a pleasing pattern. This is another bit of information that would interest a collector.

In addition to making the item sound more enticing, giving a detailed description makes it more likely that your item comes up when buyers use the eBay search function. With the strong title shown previously, searching on the terms Vintage, Sterling, Gorham, or pierced would show this nut dish in the list of items that meet the search criteria.

Silencing the Bells and Whistles

2007-07-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Any audio or video solution you add to your eBay listing should be optional for the customer and be provided in a streaming mode if at all possible. That is, any time you include audio or video in a listing, give your potential customers the option of not listening or viewing. Customers can view your listings in many different ways -- and places -- which raises the possibility that audio or video would be an unwelcome intrusion. (Think: Employees browsing your store from their offices during lunch hour, or a mother whose children are napping, may want to keep things quiet.)

So as you're evaluating a product that supplies any multimedia content, check the product specifications to make sure your viewers can easily turn off the multimedia elements supplied by the product. If you can't tell whether the product has this capability, ask the product's provider this essential question when evaluating their service and deciding whether to add it to your arsenal of eBay selling tools.

It's possible that some of your customers might have their computers' sound turned off (for any number of reasons), so be sure that any information you include as either a sound or video clip is also included in the text of your listing.

Capitalize on Keywords! in bay

2007-07-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Hands down, the most valuable real estate on eBay is the 55-character title of your item. The majority of buyers do title searches, and that's where your item must come up to if it's going to be sold!

Here are some ideas to help you fill in the keywords in your item title:

Use the most common name for the item, and only if there's room, list the alternate name. For example, say salt shaker, and if there's room, add saltcellar.
If the item is actually rare or hard to find, okay, mention that. But instead of the word RARE (so overused it's practically invisible), include the acronyms (OOAK, OOP, or HTF) that eBay users have come to rely on. (No, they aren't cartoon noises; the table in the next section lists what they mean.)
Mention the item's condition and whether it's new or old. When applicable (as with gently used items), include the item's age or date of manufacture.
Mention the item's special qualities, such as its style (for a handbag), model (for a camera), or edition (for a book).
Include brand names, if those names are significant. If you're selling a for-real Tiffany lamp, you want people to know it!
State the size of the item or other descriptive information, such as color or material content

Hangin' Out with My Favorite Sellers

2007-07-21T12:37:00.000-07:00

When you've been on eBay for awhile, you will find that certain sellers carry a type of merchandise that interests you. By saving their user IDs in the My Favorite Sellers area, you'll be able to revisit their current auctions without having to run a seller search from the search area. Remember that the purpose of the My eBay page is to have all your controls in one area.

From a seller's point of view, My Favorite Sellers is where you can keep a list of people who sell items similar to what you sell. You can check up on them and see what they're selling, when they're selling it, and for how much. It's a helpful tool that can prevent you from listing an item right next to one of their auctions.

My Favorite Sellers is handy also when your competition is selling an item that you plan to sell, but at a deeply discounted price. When that happens, don't offer yours until they sell out of the item, at which time the price will most likely go back up -- supply and demand, remember?

To add a seller to your My Favorite Sellers list, click the Add new Seller or Store link in the upper-right corner of the page. On the page that appears, type the seller's user ID or store name. You may add a maximum of 30 sellers to your list.

Multiplying Sales with Second Chance Offers

2007-07-21T12:36:00.000-07:00

When you have multiples of an item and your final bid amount exceeded your target price, you can feel free to make offers to underbidders to buy the same item for their high bid. You can also make a Second Chance offer if the winning bidder does not come through with the payment.

This is a perfectly eBay-legal way to make a second sale. Best of all? eBay doesn't charge you a second listing fee for your offer. You just pay a Final Value fee if the bidder accepts your offer.

Second Chance offers may be offered to underbidders, for a prescribed time period -- 1, 3, 5, or 7 days. The underbidder has the opportunity to take you up on the offer or pass. When the underbidder takes action, that is, buys the item or e-mails you that he is not interested (and you close the Second Chance offer -- just like an auction), you can make another offer to a different underbidder. You can follow this process on down the list of underbidders for up to 60 days.

You do not necessarily have to make an offer to an underbidder if you are not comfortable with that person's feedback. It's up to you to which bidder you make offers.

Sending a PayPal Invoice

2007-07-21T12:35:00.000-07:00

PayPal has a free service called the Invoice Manager that can speed up the process of sending invoices for items you recently sold on eBay. The Invoice Manager prepopulates the item fields, based on the auction information. You have no limit to the number of invoices you can send at a single time with the Invoice Manager.

You access the Invoice Manager through the Post-Sale Manager:

1. Click the Auction Tools tab.

2. Under the Receiving and Managing Payments heading, click the Post-Sale Manager link.

3. Select your eBay username from the list, or select the All eBay Accounts option.

You can add your eBay username and password if you haven't yet linked your eBay account to your PayPal account.

4. Select the Uninvoiced option from the Show list and click the Submit button.

5. Place a check next to each of the items you want to create an invoice for and click the Invoice button.

This brings up the Item Invoice Details page (also known as the Invoice Manager).

Each item is in a separate section of the page, displayed as a mini-invoice. If you sold more than one item to the same buyer, the items are grouped into a single invoice. The invoices include a Pay Now with PayPal button or link to make it easy for the buyer to send payment immediately.

Most of the fields on the invoice are already filled out for you. These include

The item name (clicking this shows the eBay listing in a new window)

The item number

The date the auction ended

The quantity of items sold

The price of the final bid

The total price

Shipping, insurance, and taxes

If the buyer's address is known, the price of shipping the item is determined by the eBay shipping calculator. If the shipping price is filled in, you can enter the amount you plan on charging the buyer.

eBay can also calculate the cost of providing the buyer with shipping insurance. If you don't know the buyer's address, you have a place on the page where you can enter the cost of shipping insurance yourself; adding insurance is optional, so don't feel like you have to offer it if you don't want to.

The last field on the Item Invoice Details page is where you add sales tax to the price of the item. Enter the tax rate, as a percentage, in the box and select your state from the list shown to the right. Sales tax is charged when you are selling to a buyer who is located in the same state you are.

The Sales Tax Clearinghouse has a nifty little online tool to help you calculate what percentage to use for sales tax. The tool is available at Online Sales Tax Calculator. All you do is enter your state, the address of the buyer, and click the Lookup button.

Formatting your invoices

After filling in any fields that haven't been filled in already, you can choose to customize your invoice by clicking the Edit Formatting Options link at the bottom of the page. You can select an alternate e-mail address, if you have more than one linked to your PayPal account. You can also edit the message to be sent to the buyer.

You can also add a logo to the invoice. After entering the Web address for the image, make sure to try the Click here to test your logo link to make sure the image is the right size and looks professional.

You can opt to have a copy of the invoice sent to yourself and can save the formatting settings as a default to use with all the invoices you send. Click the Save button to save the settings.

Sending out the invoices

After formatting the invoice, click the Send button on the Item Invoice Details page. You return to the Post-Sale Manager page. At the top of the page, PayPal shows confirmation that the invoice has been sent and displays an order number. The items shown in the Invoice column show a status of "Sent." If multiple items are combined into a single invoice, the status shows as "Consolidated."

A gentle reminder

After sending an invoice, when you look at your Account Overview, you may notice a Remind button. You don't get the chance to customize this message before it is sent, so make sure you're really ready to send it before clicking.

Auction Adhesive: Beeswax versus Museum Putty

2007-07-21T12:34:00.001-07:00

Hosting Images at AuctionPix

2007-07-21T12:33:00.001-07:00

PayPal Punishes Bad Guys

2007-07-21T12:32:00.000-07:00

PayPal used to allow online gambling, but changed their policy after they were acquired by eBay. If you use PayPal's services for gambling, adult content, or buying/selling prescription drugs from noncertified sellers, you're in violation of PayPal's User Agreement. In September 2004, PayPal announced that it would start fining users up to $500 for violation of the Agreement. Not only that, PayPal may take legal action in addition to levying the fines. If you engage in any of these activities, stop using PayPal unless you want to start paying hefty fines.

Looking Out for Liquidation Sales in ebay

2007-07-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

When a company gets into serious financial trouble, its debtors (the people to whom the company owes money) obtain a court order to liquidate the company to pay the bills. The liquidated company then sells its stock, fixtures, and even real estate. Items sell for just cents on the dollar, and you can easily resell many of these items on eBay. A special kind of auctioneer handles these auctions. Look in the phone book under Auctioneers: Liquidators and call local auctioneer's offices to get on mailing lists. This way, you'll always know when something good comes up for sale

A Domain by Any Other Name ebay

2007-07-21T12:30:00.000-07:00

Suppose that you've come up with a brilliant name for your site and you get really big and famous. Then someone else uses your Web site name but registers it as a .net -- while yours is a .com. To avoid this situation, when you're ready to register your site, make sure you register both domains (.com and .net) and park them with your registrar. For example, www.ebay.net and ebay org are registered to (guess who?) ebay.com. You can check the owner of any domain name at any of the Web hosting or registrar sites.

ebay Feedback: It's All in the Timing

2007-07-21T12:29:00.000-07:00

If you're running a lot of auctions, leaving feedback can be a chore. One solution is to automate the submission of feedback through an online service or software. But timing the automation of this task can be tricky.

Don't leave feedback for an eBay transaction until after you've heard from the buyer that the purchase is satisfactory. Leaving positive feedback immediately after you've received payment from the buyer is too soon. After you receive an e-mail assuring you that the customer is satisfied, manually leaving feedback by going to the feedback forum (or the item page) can be just as easy -- if not easier -- as bulk-loading feedback.

Preapproving Bidders in ebay

2007-07-21T12:28:00.000-07:00

Suppose that you're selling a big-ticket item and want to prequalify your bidders. If the bidder has taken advantage of the ID Verify feature, you can be sure that your bidder is a real person. You can scroll through a bidder's bidding history to see the amounts they've successfully bid in previous auctions and whether the feedback on those transactions is okay. Although eBay gives you the tools, you still have to do the research to determine whether you deem particular bidders trustworthy enough to bid on your special auction.

In your auction, state that bidders must prequalify by sending you an e-mail claiming their intent to bid. As you receive e-mails and approve bidders' intentions, you can build your preapproved bidder list.

Your preapproved bidder list is applicable only on an auction-by-auction basis. In other words, the bidders must be preapproved in the listings you indicate, not in all your auctions. To use this feature, you must supply eBay with the auction number. You can add approved bidders right up to the close of the auction.

If someone who isn't preapproved tries to bid on your auction, eBay asks that bidder to contact you by e-mail before placing a bid. After you've investigated the bidder to your satisfaction and are comfortable with that person bidding on your auction, you can add the bidder's name to your preapproved bidder list for that auction

Looking Good in Your ebay Listing

2007-07-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

eBay comes up with options to fill the needs (or wants) of users. Some sellers enjoy putting colorful graphics around their descriptions. Listing Designer will include pretty graphics and help you design your description, placing pictures in different places on the page. But if you have a good description (creatively done with HTML color and emphasis) plus a good picture (inserted creatively with HTML code, no less), your item will draw bids just the same as if you spent $.10 extra (per listing) for the Listing Designer option.

If you want your descriptions surrounded by graphics, make sure they aren't too intensive. Otherwise, the pages will load too slowly for dial-up users. Also, you can develop your own template or buy one from savvy eBay graphics gurus who sell their services on the site.

You can use a graphics template to brand your listings on eBay, giving them a uniform look. If you want to use a template, decide on one and make it your trademark.

Tracking Auction Buyer Information

2007-07-21T12:25:00.001-07:00

Keeping track of your eBay auction winners isn't rocket science. You can do it in an Excel spreadsheet or a Word document, both of which are exportable to almost any program for follow-up mailings promoting future sales. If you choose to have an online management service do this for you, be sure that you can download the information to your computer (in case you and the online service part ways someday).

Tracking Auction Buyer Information

2007-07-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Helping the Kids through School, the eBay Way

2007-07-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

Whether children are in a public school, private school, or being home schooled, they always need stuff for school. Lots and lots of stuff! When you're buying things, it seems like the list is endless. The older they get, the more expensive the stuff kids need becomes. Table 1 gives you an idea of just a few of the things a young girl may need for school.

These prices do not include shipping — so be sure to check how much the seller is charging for shipping before you bid.

Table 1: School Supply Bargains at eBay

*Product*	*Street Value*	*eBay Price*
Jansport bookbag	$34.95	$14.99
Nike Shox shoes	$110	$49.99
TI Graphing calculator	$130	New like new $20
100 #2 pencils	$15	$3.99

There are plenty more items at eBay — just give your item a chance and search!

Textbooks for home school, high school, and college

Textbooks are the most expensive items that parents purchase. Many schools across the country have been faced with budget cuts, and parents must buy supplemental books for their children — even if the children attend public schools. Home schooling is becoming increasingly popular, and of course, parents need the appropriate books. Last of all? If you have an offspring in college, you've already endured the shock of textbook costs. Used books are a bargain at $100 each — you can imagine the tariff on the new stuff!

School and college bookstores buy back students' books at the end of the term — maybe. Maybe, because professors may decide to change books, or a new edition may be published. Then you're stuck with an expensive doorstop — er, textbook. But even if the bookstore does buy back copies of books at the end of the term, the bookstore only pays you a fraction of what you paid for the book in the first place.

Half.com

eBay acquired Half.com in July 2000. Half.com started as a person-to-person book sale site. In true eBay style, the site began to carry all types of items (other than books).

If you tend toward the lazy way, you like to do all your shopping all in one place. Currently, you have to leave the eBay site in order to shop for stuff from Half.com. However, eBay just announced that Half.com will be fully integrated into the eBay platform by 2004. When the transition is complete, the Half.com site will disappear completely, and all the functions will be available within eBay.

Before the integration rolls to a close, you can go to Half.com or click the Half.com by eBay link under Specialty Sites on the eBay home page) to arrive at a page packed with offerings

Every book has an ISBN number, and if you type the ISBN number in the search box on the Half.com home page, listings for the book appear.

Get your student's booklist and run the ISBN numbers through Half.com (or search the title through eBay). You'll save a bundle on books.

The cheapest way to ship books is using Media Mail rate. Using this method can take as long as two to four weeks to get across the country so do your online book shopping as early as possible. That is, unless you're saving enough money at eBay to pay for Priority Mail shipping!

Using QuickBooks in Your eBay Business

2007-07-21T11:12:00.002-07:00

QuickBooks can give you up-to-the-minute reports about the status of your eBay business and keep track of everything in the background — including payroll and sales tax liability.

Here are a few things that make this business accounting software by Intuit an indispensable tool if you want to streamline an online business:

Inventory Reports: As you purchase inventory, aside from deducting the money from your checking account and expensing your merchandise account, QuickBooks adds the purchased merchandise to your inventory. Every time you sell an item, QuickBooks deducts the item from your inventory. QuickBooks has many other reporting features for your inventory and end-of-year reporting for taxes.

Sales Tax Tracking: Depending on how the program is set up (based on your own state sales tax laws), you can request a report that has all your taxable and non-taxable sales. The report calculates the amount of sales tax you owe. You can print out this report for backup information on your sales tax payments to your state.

Payroll: Whether you use the online payroll service to prepare your payroll or input the deductions yourself, QuickBooks posts the appropriate withholdings to their own accounts. When it comes time to pay your employees' withholding taxes, QuickBooks can generate the federal reporting form (all filled in) for submitting with your payment.

Sales Reports: QuickBooks gives you a plethora of reports with which you can analyze your sales professionally. One of my favorite reports is the Sales by Item Summary. This report gives you the information below for every inventoried item you sell in whatever time period you choose:

• Quantity sold

• Total dollar amount sold

• Percentage of sales represented by each individual item

• The average price the item sold for

• COGS (cost of goods sold) by item

• Average cost of goods sold by total sales per item

• Gross profit margin in dollar amounts

• Gross profit margin expressed as percentages

Depending on how you post your transactions, you can analyze your eBay sales, Web site sales, and/or brick-and-mortar sales individually or together. You can also select any date range for your reports.

Some online auction management services integrate with QuickBooks. This integration means that your individual transactions can be downloaded into the QuickBooks program, setting a up a new customer for each of your sales.

Although this process is quick and easy, inputting each sale as a new customer will cause the size of the database to become huge quickly. QuickBooks is a very large program to begin with, and if you're going to use it (and update it) for several years, the database will become even larger.

If you've ever worked with large files, you know the larger the data file, the more chance there is for the data to become corrupt. That's the last thing you want. Besides, QuickBooks will max out with over 14,000 customers — very doable in several years on eBay.

To keep track of your customers, you can use an additional copy of your PayPal monthly report and combine them with cash sales into an Excel (you can also use Microsoft Works) spreadsheet to build this important data.

Searching Out Merchandise to Sell on eBay

2007-07-21T11:12:00.001-07:00

Okay, you want to set up shop on eBay. You kind of know what type of merchandise you want to sell, but you don't know where to turn. Anyone in the brick-and-mortar world who plans to open a new store faces the same quandary: Find merchandise that will sell quickly at a profit.

Merchandise that sits around doesn't give you cash flow — which is the name of the game in any business. (Cash flow = profit = money to buy better, or more, merchandise.)

To gain access to legitimate wholesale sources, you must be a licensed business in your city or county. You also usually have to have a resale permit and tax ID number from your state.

Finding merchandise locally

Always remember that the cost of shipping the merchandise to you adds a great deal of expense. The higher your expense, the lower your return may be. The more you buy locally to resell, the more profit you can make.

The first place most potential retailers go is to their local wholesale district. You can find yours in your yellow pages (remember that giant brick of a book they drop in your driveway once a year) under the name of your item. For example, you want to sell women's apparel. Look up Women's Apparel in the yellow pages and find the subcategory of Wholesale. Bingo! Immediate merchandise sources, within driving distance of your home! Also be sure to check the directories in neighboring communities as well. The value of this printed (and usually overlooked) resource is immeasurable when you're starting up a business.

Newspaper auction listings

Another excellent source of merchandise for resale is your daily newspaper — in particular, the listings of major liquidation and estate auctions (usually on Saturday). Check out your daily newspaper each day and look for this page or section.

You may want to sell women's apparel, but if you can get a great deal on office or pet supplies, paying cents on the dollar, you just may bend your way of thinking!

Don't miss the daily classified section — look for ads that announce local business liquidations. Do not confuse any of this with garage sales or flea-market sales (run by individuals and often a great source for one-of-a kind items). Liquidation or estate sales are professionally run, usually by licensed liquidators or auctioneers and involve merchandise that may be new but is always sold in lots (in a quantity).

If your local newspaper has a Web site, use their online search to view the classifieds for major liquidations, estate auctions, or other similar deals. Right there online, you can often find just what you are looking for locally.

Regional merchandise marts

Your next stop, should you be lucky enough to live in a regional area, is to find out if there is a merchandise or fashion mart near you. These are giant complexes that hold as many as several thousand lines of merchandise in one area.

Merchandise marts are hubs for wholesale buyers, distributors, manufacturers, and independent sales representatives. They have showrooms within the property for manufacturers or their representatives to display their current merchandise. Under one roof, you may find both fashion and gift merchandise for your eBay business.

Wholesale trade shows

By discovering marts and checking out associated links, you'll also end up with links to the thousands of wholesale trade shows that go on across the country each year.

Trade shows are commonly held in convention centers, hotels, and at the local merchandise marts.

When visiting a show or a mart, view all merchandise before you place an order. Bring a notebook with you to make copious notes of items you find interesting and where you find them.

These trade shows are gargantuan bourses of hundreds of wholesale vendors all lined up and ready to take your orders. The vendors have samples of the merchandise in the lines they carry, and are delighted to answer all your questions about their products, credit applications, and minimum orders. These shows are designed to move product to retailers like you!

You may have to bring less than the items on this list. Be sure to check with the organization sponsoring the trade show or mart prior to attending so that you'll have everything you need. Don't let this list scare you — wholesale marts are fun and the organizers and vendors will do everything they can to help you make your retailing venture a success!

Very few trade shows are more exciting than the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), sponsored by the Consumer Electronics Association. If you buy breakthrough technologies to sell online, this show is a must! You'll find the latest in everything high-tech including digital imaging, electronic gaming, home electronics, car audio, home theater, satellite systems and much, much more. It takes days to see this show. You'll see what's new, but more importantly, you'll see what will be passé in a hurry — great merchandise to sell on eBay.

CES draws over 100,000 buyers each year and the vendors are there to sell their goods to you. Visit the CES Web site to get an idea of the excitement that the show generates.

See if the item is selling on eBay before you make your purchase. Bring a laptop with a wireless connection (if there is a hot spot at the show) or make notes for purchases on another day. Getting a good deal is one thing — selling it on eBay is another

What's That Thingy Next to My eBay ID?

2007-07-21T11:11:00.001-07:00

For the first 30 days after you register or change your User ID, eBay gives you an icon that stays next to your User ID every time it appears on eBay (when you bid, run an auction, or post a message on any of the chat boards).

So why the icon? eBay calls the graphic of a beaming robot-like critter the "new ID" icon. It's sort of a friendly heads-up to others that you are a new user. (If you've changed your User ID, the icon consists of two of the little guys with an arrow connecting them.) You still have all the privileges that everybody else has on eBay while you're breaking in your new identity. The icons are nothing personal, just business as usual.

eBay Charity Auctions: All for a Good Cause

2007-07-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

A charity auction is a high-profile fundraising auction where the proceeds go to a selected charity. Most people don't wake up in the morning wanting to own the shoes that Ron Howard wore when he put his footprints in cement at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, but one-of-a-kind items like that are often auctioned off in charity auctions. (In fact, someone did want those shoes badly enough to buy them for a lot of money at eBay.) Charity auctions became popular after the NBC Today Show sold an autographed jacket at eBay for over $11,000 with the proceeds going to Toys for Tots. Charity auctions are run like most other auctions at eBay, but because they're immensely popular, bidding can be fierce, and the dollar amounts can go sky high. Many famous celebrities use eBay to help out their favorite charities.

The Big Picture with eBay Thumbnail Images

2007-07-21T11:09:00.002-07:00

When you use thumbnail images in your eBay listing, you need to include the HTML coding that links each thumbnail to an alternative image. Using HTML, you can set up this link to allow your customers to click the thumbnail image and display a larger version of the picture, whether in the current window or in a new window. If the image opens in a new window, be sure to provide instructions on how to close the window and return to your listing (many such temporary windows include a Close button).

When you make a thumbnail image into a link, your customers’ cursors will change when passing over the thumbnail, indicating that they can click it. But don’t assume that they'll notice this nifty feature. In your listing text, be sure to include a message that the image is clickable; mention it more than once if necessary. You want to make it easy for your customers.

Pay Attention to eBay Packing Slips

2007-07-21T11:09:00.001-07:00

Lost packages are the bane of all carriers since they started accepting packages for delivery. The Post Office has been dealing this problem since it opened the Dead Letter Office in 1825.

The Postal Service's Dead Letter Office employees (call them DLOs) are the only people legally permitted to open lost mail. When an address label gets smooshed, torn, wet, or otherwise illegible enough that the box can't be delivered, it finds its way into the hands of the DLOs, who open the package with the hope of finding enough information to get it to the rightful owner.

Make sure that you always include a packing slip -- like the kind you print from Selling Manager or My eBay -- inside your packages. The packing slip should have both your address and the buyer's so that if the label is illegible, the packing slip will identify the owner and the package can be delivered

Break Out of Brick and Mortar with an eBay Storefront

2007-07-21T11:08:00.000-07:00

Do you already have an existing business? eBay isn't only a marketplace where you're able to unload slow or out-of-season merchandise. You can also set up your store right on eBay. An eBay store allows you to list a fixed-price item at a reduced fee and keep the item online until it's sold. When you run your regular auctions for special items, they will have a link to your store, thereby drawing in new shoppers to see your store merchandise.

Here are a few ways you can expand your current business with eBay:

Opening a second store on eBay: How many people run stores that sell every item, every time? If you're a retailer, you've probably made a buying mistake. Many times the item that isn't selling in your store is selling like hotcakes in similar stores elsewhere in the country. eBay gives you the tools to sell those extra items to make room for more of what sells at your home base.

Perhaps you just need to raise some cash quickly. eBay has tens of thousands of categories in which you can sell regular stock or specialty items.

Selling by mail order: If you've been selling by mail order, what's been holding you back from selling on eBay? It costs you far less to list your item on eBay than to run an ad in any publication. Plus, on eBay, you get built-in buyers from every walk of life. If your item sells through the mail, it will sell through eBay.
Licensed real estate agents: Plenty of land, homes, and condos are selling on eBay right now. List your properties online so that you can draw from a nationwide audience. When you offer listings on the Web, you're bound to get more action.

Watching Out for eBay Trading Violations

2007-07-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

Both buyers and sellers can commit trading violations by attempting to manipulate the outcome of an auction or sale. Many of the violations aren't necessarily buyer- or seller-exclusive but apply to both. Regardless of the nature of a violation, such behavior violates everyone who's part of the eBay community.

As a valued member of the community, it's partially your responsibility to look out for such violations — so that eBay continues to be a safe community in which to do business. Should you see a violation, report it immediately to the eBay Security Center.

We need to be watchdogs because we need to protect the other users in our community. Don't feel like a squealer if you make a report. Remember that it takes just one rotten apple to spoil the basket, so if you see a violation, do your duty and report it.

Unfortunately, you may sometimes encounter non-community-minded sellers who interfere with your auctions or sales. This interference can take on several forms, such as sellers who illegally drive up bids or "steal" bidders.

Again, should you fall victim to bad deeds, be sure to report the bad-deed-doer's actions immediately. eBay will take some sort of disciplinary action. Penalties range from formal warnings and temporary suspension to indefinite suspension. eBay reviews each incident on a case-by-case basis before passing judgment.

Shill bidding

Shill bidding is the practice of placing a bid on an item to artificially inflate the final value. It's the bane of every eBay user (whether buyer or seller) and undermines community trust. Shill bidding is a violation of the Federal wirefraud statute, which encompasses the practice of entering into interstate commerce to defraud — it's a felony and not something to be toyed with!

The practice of shill bidding has been a part of auctions from their beginnings. To prevent the suspicion of shill bidding, people in the same family, those who share the same computer, and folks who work or live together should not bid on each other's items.

Should you ever even dream of participating in any sort of auction manipulation, think twice. You might consider yourself clever by using another e-mail address and username, but that doesn't work. Every time you log onto your ISP, your connection carries an IP address. So no matter what name or computer you use, your connection will identify you. eBay can use this number to track you through its site.

Shill bidders are fairly easy to recognize, even for the eBay user who isn't privy to things such as IP addresses. By checking a bidder's auction history, you can easily determine a user's bidding pattern. A bidder who constantly bids up items and never wins is suspicious.

Spurious sellers often employ shill bidding to increase the number of bids on an item to more quickly make it a hot item. This doesn't mean that all hot auctions are products of shill bidding, it means that hot auctions are desirable and pull in lots of extra bids (due to the herd mentality). Rogues would like all their auctions to be hot and may take any road to ensure that they are.

Transaction interference

Have you ever received an e-mail from an eBay seller offering you an item that you're currently bidding on for a lower price? This is called transaction interference, and it can prevent sellers from gaining the highest bid possible.

Transaction interference occurs also when a troublemaker who has it "in" for a particular seller e-mails bidders participating in the seller's current auctions to warn them away from completing the auction. Tales of woe and much bitterness usually accompany such e-mails. If a bidder has a problem with a seller, that bidder can — and should — file a report with eBay and leave negative feedback for that seller. This sort of e-mail barrage can potentially fall under the category of libel and isn't a safe thing to practice. If you receive an e-mail like this, ignore its message but report it to eBay.

Transaction interception

They say the criminal mind is complex; when it comes to transaction interception, it certainly is! Transaction interception occurs when an eBay scalawag keeps track of closing auctions and then, when the auction is finished, e-mails the winner as if the scalawag were the seller. The e-mail often looks official and is congratulatory, politely asking for payment. Interceptors usually use a post office box for such mischief. This behavior goes beyond being a trading violation — it's stealing.

The best way to protect yourself from such miscreants is to accept payments through a payment service, such as PayPal, by using a Pay Now link.

Fee avoidance

Basically, fee avoidance is the practice of evading paying eBay fees by going around the eBay system. There are many ways to commit fee avoidance — sometimes without even realizing it. Read this section carefully so that you don't fall into this violation by mistake.

You're guilty of fee avoidance if you

Use information that you've received from an eBay member's contact information in an attempt to sell a listed item off the system.

Close your auction early because a user e-mailed you to offer to buy an item you were auctioning, and you accepted the offer.

End your auction before it legally closes by canceling bids, to sell the item to someone who has e-mailed you with an offer of a higher price.

Use an eBay member's contact information to sell an item from one of your closed auctions off the eBay site in which the reserve wasn't met.

Offer duplicates of your item to the unsuccessful bidders in your auction, unless you use the Second Chance option.

Non-selling seller

Refusing to accept payment from the winning bidder and refusing to complete the transaction is simply wrong. Very, very bad form! You are legally and morally bound to complete any transaction in which you enter.

Tuning Into Types of eBay Auctions

2007-07-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

An auction is an auction is an auction, right? Wrong! eBay has five types of auctions for your selling pleasure. Most of the time you'll run traditional auctions, but other auctions have their place, too. After you've been selling on eBay for a while, you may find that one of the other types of auctions better suits your needs.

Traditional auctions

Traditional auctions are the bread and butter of eBay. You can run a traditional auction for 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days, and when the auction closes, the highest bidder wins. You begin the auction with an opening bid, and bidders will bid up your opening price into a healthy profit for you.

Dutch auctions

When you've purchased an odd lot of 500 kitchen knife sets or managed (legally, of course) to get your hands on a truckload of televisions that you want to sell as expeditiously as possible, the Dutch (multiple item) auction is what you'll want to use. In the Dutch auction, which can run for 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days, you list as many items as you'd like, and bidders can bid on as many items as they'd like. The final item price is set by the lowest successful bid at the time the auction closes.

For example, suppose you want to sell five dolls on eBay in a Dutch auction. Your starting bid is $5 each. If five bidders each bid $5 for one doll, they each get a doll for $5. But, if the final bidding reveals that two people bid $5, one person bid $7.50, and another bid $8, all five bidders win the doll for the lowest final bid of $5.

Here are some details about Dutch auctions:

The listing fee is based on your opening bid price (just like in a traditional auction), but it's multiplied by the number of items in your auction to a maximum listing fee of $4.80.

The final auction value fees are on the same scale as in a traditional auction, but they're based on the total dollar amount of your completed auctions.

When bidders bid on your Dutch auction, they can bid on one or more items at one bid price. (The bid is multiplied by the number of items.)

If the bidding gets hot and heavy, rebids must be in a higher total dollar amount than the total of that bidder's past bids.

Bidders may reduce the quantity of the items for which they're bidding in your auction, but the dollar amount of the total bid price must be higher.

All winning bidders pay the same price for their items, no matter how much they bid.

The lowest successful bid when the auction closes is the price for which your items in that auction will be sold.

If your item gets more bids than you have items, the lowest bidders are knocked out one by one, with the earliest bidders remaining on board the longest in the case of tie bids.

The earliest (by date and time) successful high bidders when the auction closes win their items.

Higher bidders get the quantities they've asked for, and bidders can refuse partial quantities of the number of items in their bids.

Reserve price auctions

In a reserve price auction, you're able to set an undisclosed minimum price for which your item will sell,thereby giving yourself a safety net. Using a reserve price auction protects the investment you have in an item. If, at the end of the auction, no bidder has met your undisclosed reserve price, you aren't obligated to sell the item and the high bidder isn't required to purchase the item.

For example, if you have a rare coin to auction, you can start the bidding at a low price to attract bidders to click your auction and read your infomercial-like description. If you start your bidding at too high a price, you might dissuade prospective bidders from even looking at your auction, and you won't tempt them to even bid. They may feel that the final selling price will be too high for their budgets.

Everyone on eBay is looking for a bargain or a truly rare item. If you can combine the mystical force of both of these needs in one auction, you have something special. The reserve price auction enables you to attempt — and perhaps achieve — this feat.

The fees for a reserve price auction are the same as those for a traditional auction with one exception. eBay charges between $2.00 and $100.00 for the privilege of running a reserve price auction. If the reserve price is $200.00 or more, the reserve price fee is 1% of the reserve price (with a maximum of $100.00). When your item sells, you get that money back.

The reserve price auction is a safety net for the seller but often an uncomfortable guessing game for the prospective bidder. To alleviate buyer anxiety, many sellers put reserve prices in the item description, allowing bidders to decide whether the item will fit into their bidding budgets.

You can't use the reserve price option in a Dutch auction.

Restricted access auctions

eBay won't allow certain items to be sold in nonrestricted categories, so you must list them in the Adult Only area of eBay. eBay makes it easy for the user to find or avoid these types of auctions by making this area accessible only after the user enters a password and agrees to the terms and conditions of the area.

Items in the Adult Only area are not accessible through the regular eBay title search, nor are they listed in Newly Listed Items.

Anyone who participates in Adult Only auctions on eBay, whether as a bidder or a seller, must have a credit card on file on eBay for verification.

Do not attempt to slip an adult only auction into a nonrestricted category. eBay doesn't have a sense of humor when it comes to this violation of policy and may relocate or end your auction. eBay might even suspend you from its site.

Private auctions

Bidders' names are often kept private when dealing in the expensive fine art world. Likewise, to protect the innocent, eBay private auctions don't place bidders' names on the auction listing. No one needs to know just how much you choose to pay for something, especially if the item is rare and you really want it.

As a seller, you have the option (at no extra charge) of listing your auction as a private auction.

The private auction is a useful tool for sellers who are selling bulk lots to other sellers. It maintains the privacy of the bidders, and customers can't do a bidder search to find out what sellers are paying for the loot they then plan to re-sell on eBay.

A great option for sales of items that are a bit racy or perhaps for purchases of items that may reveal something about the bidder, the private auction can save you the potential embarrassment associated with buying a girdle or buying the tie that flips over to reveal a racy half-nude female on the back.

Although the private auction is a useful tool, it may intimidate the novice user. If your customer base comes from experienced eBay users and you're selling an item that may benefit by being auctioned in secret, you might want to try this option

Writing an eBay Listing Title That Sells

2007-07-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

Your title is (next to your Gallery image) the most important way to draw people to your listing. eBay buyers are search-engine-driven — they find most of their items by typing selected keywords into the search box and clicking the Search button. Those keywords should be all your title consists of. No fancy prose. No silly words that people won't search for. Here are a few examples of eBay's worst title words:

L@@K

Nice

RARE

Do yourself a favor — never include these words in your title. No one ever searches for these words — ever! (For that matter, nobody's looking for "!!!!!!" in the title, either. Can't think why . . . )

If you've finished writing your item title and you have spaces left over, please fight the urge to dress it up with lots of exclamation points and asterisks. No matter how gung-ho you are about your item, the eBay search engine may overlook your item if the title is encrusted with meaningless ****, $$$$, and !!!! symbols. If bidders do see your title, they may become annoyed by their virtual shrillness and ignore them!!!!!!!!

Another distracting habit is overdoing capital letters. To buyers, seeing everything in caps is LIKE SEEING A CRAZED SALESMAN SCREAMING AT THEM TO BUY NOW! Using all caps online is considered shouting — it's annoying and tough on the eyes. Use capitalization SPARINGLY, and only to finesse a particular point or name.

Look for keywords that pay off

Here are some ideas to help you fill in the keywords in your item title:

Use the most common name for the item, and only if there's room, list the alternate name. For example, say salt shaker, and if there's room, add saltcellar.

If the item is actually rare or hard to find, okay, mention that. But instead of the word RARE (so overused it's practically invisible), include the acronyms (OOAK, OOP, or HTF) that eBay users have come to rely on. (No, they aren't cartoon noises; the table in the next section lists what they mean.)

Mention the item's condition and whether it's new or old. When applicable (as with gently used items), include the item's age or date of manufacture.

Mention the item's special qualities, such as its style (for a handbag), model (for a camera), or edition (for a book).

Include brand names, if those names are significant. If you're selling a for-real Tiffany lamp, you want people to know it!

State the size of the item or other descriptive information, such as color or material content.

eBay lingo at a glance

Here's a crash course in eBay lingo that can help bring you up to speed on attracting buyers to your auction. Table 1 summarizes some abbreviations used frequently in eBay auctions; they can do wonders to jump-start your title.

Also, a whole smattering of acronyms that abbreviate item characteristics are part of the eBay business experience. As eBay has grown, so has this specialized lingo. Members use these acronyms as shortcuts to describe their merchandise.

So here, as promised, is Table 1: a handy list of common acronyms and related phrases used to describe items on eBay. (Hint: Mint means "may as well be brand new," not "cool chocolate treat attached.")

Table 1: A Quick List of eBay Acronyms

eBay Code	What It Abbreviates	What It Means
MIB	Mint in Box	The item is in the original box, in great shape, and just the way you'd expect to find it in a store.
MIMB	Mint in Mint Box	The box has never been opened and looks like it just left the factory.
MOC	Mint on Card	The item is mounted on its original display card, attached with the original fastenings, in store-new condition.
NRFB	Never Removed from Box	Just what it says, as in "bought but never opened."
COA	Certificate of Authenticity	Documentation that vouches for the genuineness of an item, such as an autograph or painting.
OEM	Original Equipment Manufacture	You're selling the item and all the equipment that originally came with it, but you don't have the original box, owner's manual, or instructions.
OOAK	One of a kind	You are selling the only one in existence!
NR	No Reserve Price	You can set a reserve price when you begin your auction. If bids don't meet the reserve, you don't have to sell. Many buyers are leery of reserve prices because they're after a more obvious bargain. If you're not listing a reserve price for your item, let bidders know.
NWT	New with Tags	An item, possibly apparel, is in new condition with the tags from the manufacturer still affixed.
HTF, OOP	Hard to Find, Out of Print	Out of print, only a few ever made, or people grabbed up all there were. (HTF doesn't mean you spent a week looking for it in the attic.)

Normally, you can rely on eBay slang to get your point across, but make sure that you mean it and that you're using it accurately. Don't label something MIB (Mint in Box) when it looks like it's been Mashed in Box by a meat-grinder.

Use the spell checker to verify your titling! It bears repeating: Check and recheck your spelling. Savvy buyers use the eBay search engine to find merchandise; if the name of your item is spelled wrong, the search engine can't find it. In addition, poor spelling and incomprehensible grammar reflect badly on you. If you're in competition with another seller, the buyer is likelier to trust the seller hoo nose gud speling.

Choosing Your eBay Password and User ID

2007-07-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Compared to finding a prime parking space at the mall during the holidays, signing up at eBay is a breeze. About the toughest thing you have to do is type in your e-mail address correctly. When it comes to choosing your password and User ID, the process is so easy that you may be tempted to speed right through it without giving much thought to your choices. Slow down there, partner! Take a deep breath and think about these two identifiers before you click that final Complete Your Registration button.

A quick word about passwords

Picking a good password is not as thought-free (but is twice as important) as it may seem. Whoever has your password can (in effect) "be you" at eBay — running auctions, bidding on auctions, and leaving dangerous feedback for others. Basically, such an impostor can ruin your eBay career — and possibly cause you serious financial grief.

As with any online password, you should follow these common-sense rules to protect your privacy:

Don't pick anything too obvious, such as your birthday, your first name, or your Social Security number. (Hint: If it's too easy to remember, it's probably too easy to crack.)

Make things tough on the bad guys — combine numbers and letters and create nonsensical words.

Don't give out your password to anyone — it's like giving away the keys to the front door of your house.

If you even suspect someone has your password, immediately change it by going to the following address:

pages.ebay.com/services/myebay/selectpass.html

Change your password every few months just to be on the safe side.

A not-so-quick word about choosing a User ID

eBay gives you the option of picking your User ID. (If you don't choose one, then your e-mail address becomes your default User ID.) Making up a User ID can be a lot of fun. If you've never liked your real name (or never had a nickname), here's the chance to correct that situation. Consider choosing an ID that tells a little about yourself. Of course, if your interests change, you may regret too narrow a User ID.

You can call yourself just about anything; you can be silly or creative or boring. But remember, this ID is how other eBay users will know you. So here are some common-sense rules:

Don't use a name that would embarrass your mother.

Don't use a name that's too weird, such as scam-man. If people don't trust you, they won't buy from you.

Don't use a name with a negative connotation.

eBay doesn't allow spaces in User IDs, so make sure that the ID makes sense when putting two or more words together.

If you're dying to have several short words as your User ID, you can use underscores or hyphens to separate them, as in queen-of-shopping. If you permanently sign in to eBay on your computer, typing those underscores won't slow you down.

You can change your User ID (once every 30 days) if you want to, but doing so might not be a good idea. People come to know you by your User ID. If you change your ID, your past does play tagalong and attaches itself to the new ID. But if you change your User ID too many times, people may think you're trying to hide something or you're in the Witness Protection Program.

Nevertheless, to change your User ID, click the My eBay link at the top of most eBay pages. From your My eBay login page, click the Preferences/Set-up tab and scroll to the Change My User ID link, fill out the boxes, and click the Change User ID button. You now have a new eBay identity.

eBay also has some User ID rules to live by:

No offensive names (like &*#@guy).

No names with eBay in them. (It makes you look like you work for eBay, and eBay takes a dim view of that.)

No names with & (even if you do have both looks&brains).

No names with @ (like @Aboy).

No symbols such as the greater than or less than symbols (> <) or consecutive underscores ___.

No IDs that begin with an e, followed by numbers, an underscore, a dash, a period, or a dot.

No names of one letter (like Q).

When you pick your User ID, make sure that it isn't a good clue for your password. If you use Natasha as your User ID, don't pick Boris as your password. Even Bullwinkle could figure that one out.

Succeeding by Sniping on eBay

2007-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sniping is the fine art of outbidding your competition in the last seconds of the auction — without leaving them enough time to place a defensive bid.

Bidders (that is, losing bidders) whine and moan when they lose to a sniper — but there is one thing to remember. eBay uses proxy bidding. If you're going to snipe, always assume that the current bidder has a high dollar proxy bid in the works. The high bidder always wins!

Sniping techniques for the beginner

Before you start sniping, be sure you know how fast your Internet connection will react. Figure out how long it takes to get your bid confirmed at eBay. Test it a few times until you know how many seconds you have to spare when placing a bid. Also be sure you're signed in first, before you attempt a snipe.

Follow these steps to snipe at the end of the auction:

1. In the last couple of minutes of the auction, locate the item you want to win and press the Ctrl key and the N key together to open a second window on your Internet browser.

Keep one window open for bidding.

2. Continuously click the Reload or Refresh button in the browser toolbar.

By reloading the item continuously, you'll be aware when you're in the last 60 seconds of bidding. You also can see instantly whether anyone else is doing any last-minute bidding.

3. Type your maximum bid in the bid box of the second browser.

This is the highest amount you will consider paying for the item.

4. Click the Place Bid button.

When you click the Confirm Bid button that appears on the next page, your bid is finalized.

5. Do not press the Confirm Bid button yet.

6. Continuously refresh your first browser.

7. As the auction nears its end, confirm your final bid by clicking the Confirm Bid button.

The longer you can hold off to bid before the auction ends, the better.

The three-screen approach to sniping

If you really want an item badly enough, try setting up a back-up sniping setup. With the triple-screen system, you can place a back-up high bid in case you catch another sniper swooping in on your item immediately after your first snipe.

Obviously, if you win with the first snipe, the second window is unnecessary. But if you lose the first one, that second window feels like a real lifesaver! If you're outbid after two snipes, don't cry. The winner paid way more than you were willing to pay. It's not much consolation, but rarely is an item so unusual that you only see it come on the auction block once in a lifetime.

Auto-sniping your auctions

There are many reasons for not wanting to snipe your own auctions. You might not have the time to be there for the closing of each one, you may have a slow Internet connection, or you may just not want to bother. All are valid reasons!

If you're in the market for some sniping assistance, you can seek out one of the many programs that automate the shopping and feedback processes. Here are just a couple of options:

Just remember that if you use software downloaded to your computer, your computer has to be online at the time of the auction.

BidRobot: BidRobot deftly places sniping bids for you from its servers. The service is one of the least expensive ones out there. It charges a low flat rate for all the snipes you could use. Get a free trial. Just enter the code cool in the registration box.

eSnipe: Another popular sniping server is eSnipe. This service charges a fee of approximately 1 percent of the final winning price, with a maximum of $10 (you pay only if you win). You can purchase Bid Points to place in your account to pay for upcoming snipes. For 14 days of free sniping, visit esnipe

Calculating Shipping for a Non-eBay Item

2007-07-21T10:58:00.000-07:00

If you want to sell a non-eBay item and accept PayPal as the form of payment, you can estimate and apply shipping costs to the invoice or money request you send to the buyer. You can add shipping costs as a percentage of the total cost or as a flat dollar amount. You can add the shipping cost when you're creating the invoice, or you can set your shipping calculations and preferences in advance.

If you're unsure about how much to add when estimating shipping costs on a specific invoice, you can still use the eBay Shipping Calculator for help, even if you're not selling the item through eBay! On the eBay Web site, click the Site Map link, which you find at the bottom of every page. Click the Shipping Calculator link, which you find in the middle of the Services column under Selling Tools. Go through the Calculator steps, filling out the weight and size of the package, the zip codes for the seller and the buyer, and opt to see sample domestic or international rates. You see approximate rates to charge your buyer, depending upon the type of shipping service(s) you plan to offer.

Checking Out the eBay Listing Page

2007-07-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

All item pages on eBay — whether auctions, fixed-price items, or Buy It Now items — look about the same. If you were viewing this auction page on the screen, you could scroll down and see a complete description of the item, along with shipping information.

Here's a list of stuff you see as scroll down a typical auction item page:

Item category: Located just above the item title and number bar, you can click the category listing and do some comparison shopping.

Item title and number: The title and number identify the item. Keep track of this info for inquiries later. Some sellers also use a subtitle to pass on more information about their items.

Watch this item: Click this link, and the item is magically added to the Watching area of your My eBay All Buying page so you can keep an eye on the progress of the auction — without actually bidding. If you haven't signed in, you have to type your user ID and password before you can save the auction to your My eBay page.

Starting bid or Current bid: This is the dollar amount that the bidding has reached. The amount changes throughout the auction as people place bids. If no bids have been placed on the item, it will read Starting bid.

Sometimes, next to the current dollar amount, you see Reserve not met or Reserve met. This means the seller has set a reserve price for the item — a secret price that must be reached before the seller will sell the item. Most auctions do not have reserve prices.

Time left: Although the clock never stops ticking on eBay, you must continue to refresh your browser to see the time remaining on the official clock. When the item gets down to the last hour of the auction, you'll see the time expressed in minutes and seconds.

Timing is the key in an eBay bidding strategy, so don't forget that eBay uses Pacific standard time (PST) or Pacific daylight time (PDT) as the standard, depending on the season.

Start time: The time that the seller began the sale on eBay.

History: This field tells you how many bids have been placed. The starting bid is listed in light gray next to the number of bids. When the listing is live, you can click the number of bids to find out who is bidding and when bids were placed. (In some circumstances, only the seller and buyer can access this data.)

High bidder: This field shows you the user ID and feedback rating of the current high bidder. It could be you if you've placed a bid!

Sometimes an item has no bids because everyone is waiting until the last minute. Then you see a flurry of activity as bidders try to outbid each other. It's all part of the fun of eBay.

Buy It Now price: If you want an item immediately and the price listed in this area is okay with you, click Buy It Now. You will be taken to a page where you can complete your purchase. Buy It Now is an option and does not appear in all listings.

Quantity: This field appears only when multiple items are available.

Item location: This field tells you at the very least the country where the seller is located. You may also see more specific info, such as the seller's city and geographic area.

Ships to: If the seller ships to only the United States, it will state so here. If the seller ships to any other countries, this is where they will be listed.

Shipping costs: If the seller is willing to ship the item anywhere in the country for a flat rate, you'll see it here. This area may also link to eBay's shipping calculator if the seller customizes the shipping expense based on weight and distance.

Seller Information box: This area, on the right side of the page, gives you information about the seller. Know thy seller ranks right after caveat emptor as a phrase that pays at eBay. Like any community, eBay has its share of good folks and bad folks. Your best defense is to read the seller's feedback. You'll see several things in the Seller Information box:

• Seller icons: Various icons that show the status of the seller. A varied color star reflects the feedback level of the seller. If the seller is a PowerSeller, you see the PowerSeller icon. If the seller has an About Me page, you see the blue and red me icon.

• Feedback score: This number is also to the right of the seller's name in parentheses. Click the number next to the seller's ID to view his or her eBay ID card and entire feedback history. Read, read, and reread all the feedback to make sure you feel comfortable doing business with this person.

• Positive feedback percentage: The eBay computers calculate this figure. It's derived from all the positive and negative feedback that a user receives.

• Member since: This line lists the date the seller joined eBay and the country in which he or she registered.

• Read feedback comments: This link does the same thing as clicking the feedback score.

• Add to Favorite Sellers: Clicking here adds the seller to your My eBay Favorite Sellers links.

• Ask seller a question: Clicking this link hooks you up with eBay's e-mail system so you can ask the seller a question regarding the item.

• View seller's other items: This link takes you to a page that lists all the seller's current auctions and fixed-price sales.

• Visit this seller's eBay store: If the seller has an eBay store, a link to it appears here as well.

• PayPal: If the seller accepts PayPal, the PayPal logo appears here. Also, if the seller qualifies for buyer protection, this is also indicated here.

• Financing available: If an item is selling for more than $200, and the seller has approved it, the buyer may finance the purchase through PayPal.

Description bar: Below this light-blue shaded bar is the item description. There may also be a colorful header with links to the seller's eBay store. Also, if the seller participates with SquareTrade or is bonded through BuySAFE, those company's seals will appear in the item description area. Read all this information carefully before bidding.

Below the seller's description area, you'll find some other important data on the typical auction item page:

Shipping and payment details: Check here to see the details on shipping. You see

• Whether the seller is charging flat shipping or is offering more than one shipping option through a shipping calculator.

• Who pays (usually the buyer).

• Whether insurance is offered.

• Which states have to pay sales tax (if any) and the sales tax rate.

• Whether the seller is willing to ship to your area. (Sometimes sellers won't ship internationally, and they'll let you know here.)

Be sure to also check the item description for other shipping information and terms.

Payment methods accepted: This field tells you the payment methods that the seller accepts — checks, money orders, credit cards, or PayPal. Often, it tells you to read the item description for more details.

Item-related links: From here you can e-mail the item to tip off a friend on a good find, get some advice from an antiques or collecting expert, or run the auction by someone who's been around the eBay block a few times and ask for strategy advice. You also have a link to a printer-friendly version of the page and an additional link to ask the seller a question.

Be sure to use the Watch This Item feature when shopping around. Organization is the name of the game on eBay, especially if you plan to bid on multiple auctions while you're running auctions of your own.

Time Is Money: eBay Strategy by the Clock

2007-07-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Most auctions at eBay run for a week; the auction item page always lists how much time is left. However, sellers can run auctions for as short as one day or as long as ten days. So synchronize your computer clock with eBay's master time and become the most precise eBay bidder around.

To synchronize your clock, make sure that you're logged on to the Internet and can easily access the eBay Web site. Then follow these steps:

Go into your computer's Control Panel and double-click the icon that represents your system's date and time functions.
On the eBay Web site, go to the Site Map by clicking its link above the navigation bar on the top of every eBay page.
Click the eBay Official Time link.

This link is located at the bottom of the Browse column on the left side of the page.

Check your computer's time against eBay's current time.
Click the minutes in your computer's clock and then click the Reload button (sometimes it's called Refresh) on your browser.

Clicking Reload ensures that you see the latest, correct time from eBay.

Type in the minutes displayed on the eBay Official Time page as soon as the newly reloaded page appears.
Repeat Steps 5 and 6 to synchronize your computer's seconds display with eBay's.

This process takes a little practice, but it can mean the difference between winning and losing an auction.

Take All eBay Sales Costs into Account

2007-07-21T10:55:00.002-07:00

Becoming complacent and blithely ignoring your eBay costs as you list items for sale is easy to do. As a person in business for yourself, you must always take into account outgoing costs as well as incoming profits. The cost of your initial listing is just the beginning of your advertising budget for that item; you have to factor in the cost of all the options and features you use as well. Then, when the item sells, you pay eBay a final value fee. If you use a credit card payment service, they will also charge you a fee.

Reining in Restaurant Bargains on eBay

2007-07-21T10:55:00.001-07:00

Did you know that you can find restaurant deals at eBay? The next time you're going on vacation (or even if you want a cheap night out at home) try searching for restaurant and a city name (including titles and descriptions) and you're likely to come up with bunch of restaurant gift certificates. A simple search for restaurant chicago, for example, returned 57 items, with the biggest savings being $25 in free drinks that had a starting bid of $0.99 and a 50% off coupon in a Mexican restaurant that had a starting bid of $2.00. Even those who shy away from coupons and those restaurant discount booklets will like these auctions. It's almost like you're being paid to eat out!

Restaurants.com is the seller in many of the eBay's dining coupons. Currently, this eBay seller has close to 9,000 restaurant gift certificates for sale. The certificates are wonderful for everyday use and make great gifts, as well!

Adding Custom Pages to Your eBay Store

2007-07-21T10:54:00.000-07:00

With each eBay Store, the seller can create a specific number of optional custom pages with additional information about the seller, the store, or the merchandise available for sale. A Basic Store can have up to five custom pages. These pages provide a virtual blank slate for the seller to provide more information to their customers about their business and items for sale.

Follow these steps to create custom pages for your eBay Store:

1. Go to your eBay Store.

2. Click the Seller, manage Store link at the bottom-right corner of the page.

3. Click the Custom Pages link on the left side of the page under Store Design.

4. Click the Create new page link to create a new custom page.

For sellers who create an optional custom page, eBay offers a choice of layouts which include promotion boxes, item showcases, text sections, item lists, and picture placements.

How many custom pages you can create depends on the level of your eBay Store; the higher the level, the more custom pages you are allowed. When you've created the maximum number of custom pages, you have to delete an existing page before you can create a new one.

Review Your eBay Listings Regularly

2007-07-21T10:53:00.000-07:00

After a while, the temptation is to not review your listings after submitting them. After all, they've looked fine for weeks, and you've not made any significant changes to your listing format, so why waste the time checking the look of final listing? Well . . . mistakes will happen. Easy-to-miss goofs affect your listing layout. When editing your description, you might have accidentally deleted one part of a pair of HTML tags. Even worse, you might have removed a part of your shipping or payment policies. So every few weeks, take a close look at a few of your listings to make sure they still display all the information as you designed them to.

Every so often you should go to the eBay home page, pretend you're a buyer looking for one of the items that you're selling, and see what your imaginary shopping experience is like. Ask yourself what words you would use to search for your merchandise, and then do a search and make sure that your merchandise is displayed. Click one of your titles, and imagine you're viewing it for the first time. Is all the information available that you need before you can make a decision to purchase the item? Putting yourself in the shoes of a customer is an invaluable final step in making sure that your listings are visible and readable.

Designing a Fine eBay Listing

2007-07-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

Looking for the inside scoop on putting together the "perfect" listing for your online auctions? You're in the right place with this lot of sure-fire design ideas.

Writing a detailed description

Write the description for your listings as if there were no pictures. Describe your merchandise in detail, noting the size of the item, the color of the item, any flaws it may have — and don't forget to include its uses and benefits. If you write the description as if the pictures were not present, you probably won't leave out any important details — such as whether the box is included, or the actual dimensions of the item.

Taking sufficient pictures

The task of taking multiple pictures from many different angles takes on more importance when your merchandise is an antique or collectible item. The condition of the item has a significant effect on the final selling price, and though your description plays an important part in conveying the condition of an item, multiple pictures can do the majority of the job for you.

Using color only to enhance

Color can provide a soothing break from the stark black and white of an unenhanced listing description. But avoid overuse of color. When new sellers first learn to change the color of their text with HTML commands, they often go wild and change colors every sentence. Severely contrasting colors are the biggest problem, distraction, and (ultimately) turn-off — so make sure that your colors blend smoothly subtly enough that they're almost not noticeable.

Keeping your customer informed

One big mistake new sellers make in their item descriptions is not including all the information a customer needs. In addition to every significant detail about the item you have for sale, each listing should include exact shipping costs. When viewing your item, the customer should know right up front what the final cost of the item will be, including shipping.

Although offering to provide a shipping quote is admirable, there is an inherent danger in doing so. Many buyers simply move on to another listing where all of the information is provided for them, rather than spend time haggling about shipping and waiting for a response from the seller. Even if some buyers do e-mail for a shipping quote, more often than not they continue to shop in the meantime — which increases the likelihood that they'll purchase from another seller who specifies the shipping costs.

Be sure to include other important information for your customers, including

What payment methods you accept

When they can expect their item to be shipped

What guarantees you provide

Your return policy

Establishing your brand identity

After you determine a listing layout you like — one that works for virtually all your merchandise — use it consistently for all your listings. Doing so helps establish a brand identity for you and the items you sell. It's a proven technique; chain stores use the same look and layout for the items they sell. The idea is to make return customers comfortable so they know where to go to find exactly what they're looking for with minimum effort. Creating a standard layout for your online listings provides the same kind of comfort for your return customers.

Avoiding unnecessary complexity

A common mistake new sellers make is to include animated figures they've run across that they think are cute — or include a sound file that repeats their favorite song as long as a customer is viewing the listing. Remember the KISS — Keep It Simple, Stupid! — principle and don't plaster your listings with unneeded gewgaws.

Encouraging multiple purchases

If selling one item is a good thing, selling more than one to the same customer is even better. Here are some advantages for you when a customer makes multiple purchases:

You can send a single, combined invoice.

You have to prepare just one package for shipment

You clear out more inventory with less effort.

Including links to your other listings is a good way of encouraging a customer to make a multiple item purchase. If you have an eBay Store, a built-in cross-promotion feature automatically displays other items available for purchase in your eBay Store. Which items are displayed is defined by the seller, and using this feature wisely will also encourage your customers to consider purchasing more than one item before leaving your store.

Keeping an eye on the competition

Be sure to set time aside in your busy schedule to browse around the eBay site and view other sellers' listings. Call it research; you not only find out what your competition is doing, but you also get ideas about what works (and doesn't work) in their listing descriptions.

Don't copy another seller's listings, or any part of them, word for word. This sort of thing is against eBay's rules.

Review your competition's feedback; are there comments about poor packaging or slow shipment? If your packages can withstand a fall down a flight of stairs, make sure to state that in your description. What words do your competitors use in their titles? Are your listings showing up at the same time as their listings when customers search for items to purchase?

Ramping Up Your eBay Business

2007-07-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

Organization is the key word for any retail business. Yes, your part- or full-time eBay business is an online retail business. Getting organized doesn't have to be a giant pain, but it will take some planning. You can compete successfully with the big guys — if you approach the enterprise professionally.

Setting up your eBay office

It's time to move the stuff out of the corner of your closet (or is it all over the dining room table?) and put it up on shelves. For starters, use any old shelves, but get the merchandise off the furniture and get organized! Here are a few organizational tips:

Bag and categorize all your items. Use plastic sandwich baggies and boxes — the white boxes they sell at office supply stores to store old file folders. These boxes have lots of white space, so you have plenty of room for labeling the contents of each box. And the cutout holes in the boxes act as handles for easy toting.

If you want to get fancy (and plan for the future), use the translucent plastic bins that are widely available. They have secure-closing tops and easy-to-lift handles.

Set aside a separate work area. You'll need this for packing and wrapping your items. It will also help when you need to assemble your items to ship.

Designate a place for storing your packing materials. Don't hesitate to be creative. For example, a spare bathroom may yield valuable space in the tub area for shelving, different sizes of boxes, and mailing envelopes.

Automating your shipping

When you start your eBay business, it's time to sign up with a shipping service. UPS, FedEx, and the United States Postal Service (through Endicia.com or Stamps.com) all provide software that will shave considerable time off your paperwork.

Spring for a thermal label printer. It will cut an eternity off the packing time of each item. Think about what kind of gizmos the big guys have. With the advent of the Internet, handy gadgets like label printers are available to the little guys, too.

Getting legal

With success comes responsibility — responsibility to your local community (translation: You need a business license) and your country (your partner, Uncle Sam). Depending on where you live, you may have to get a business license — even if you work out of your house. Often the license fees are less for home-based businesses.

When you apply for your business license, be sure to tell the nice folks at the county office that giant trucks won't be making deliveries several times a day to your home. Also, note that you won't be transacting business at your home. Your business transactions will take place online and through the mail. This really makes a big difference to the county and to your neighbors. If you get to the point where the trucks are coming several times a day, it just might be time to move to a commercial location.

If you want to buy your merchandise wholesale — that's part of the idea: Buy low, sell high — you need to find out if your state requires a resale or vendor's license. Most do. Genuine wholesalers will require you to produce this license as proof of your business status. If they don't ask for it, they're probably not legitimate wholesalers. This license also allows you to purchase items for sale without paying sales tax. When you resell the items, you will charge sales tax (assuming you live in a state with sales tax). You have to report and pay the tax you've collected to the state within predefined time periods.

Keeping records like a pro

If you're in a business, whether full time or part time, you have to keep some serious records. Get a good accounting program to keep your records. This isn't playtime; it's time to put out a professional image. If you want to do things right, talk to the person who prepares your taxes or go to an enrolled agent to help you set up the books.

Considering a wireless home network

A home network really helps you keep your sanity because you don't have to be tethered to your desk everyday. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to do some of your eBay business while sitting on the porch or in a hammock in the garden? Believe it or not, it can be done — without going to great expense.

Devoting Time to Your eBay Business

2007-07-21T10:50:00.000-07:00

So you've decided to get serious about your sales at eBay. Now you have to step up to the plate and decide just how much time you have to devote to your eBay business.

When you set out to launch a business, any business, you need to set your priorities. A business at home requires definite priority setting. You must apply some level of discipline to anything that you want to make a success of; your eBay business requires this discipline, too.

According to legend, Pierre Omidyar started eBay to help fulfill his girlfriend's Pez dispenser habit. He started his Auction Web (as it was called then) with a laptop, a regular Internet Service Provider (ISP), and an old school desk. He and his buddy Jeff Skoll (a Stanford MBA) ran the 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week Auction Web all by themselves. When the site started attracting more traffic, Pierre finally had to install a server in his apartment. To pay for the server, Pierre and Jeff began charging 25 cents to list an auction. Pierre was so busy running the site that the envelopes full of checks began to pile up — he didn't even have time to open the mail.

When Pierre incorporated eBay Auction Web in 1996 with his partner Jeff, they were each drawing a salary of $25,000. Their first office consisted of one room, and they had one part-time employee to handle the payments. They started small and grew.

Now it's time to talk about budgeting your time and planning just how much time you will be able to devote to your eBay business. Your eBay business won't grow overnight, but with dedication and persistence, you may just form your own online empire.

Budgeting your time: eBay as a part-time money maker

A part-time eBay business can be very profitable. You can spend as little or as much time as you want at eBay, from a few hours a week to a full-time job. One thing to keep in mind is that the more time and energy you spend on your eBay business, the more money you can make. That said, take a look at the lowest possible level of time that you can devote to your business.

Maybe you enjoy finding miscellaneous items to sell at eBay. You find these items somehow in your day-to-day life. So you can figure that you spend at least a couple of hours (maybe three) a week at eBay. That's already in your schedule; now, you must figure in the time it takes to write up your auctions. If you're not selling the same thing every day, you need to allow approximately twenty minutes to write your auction, to take your picture or to scan your image, and of course, to upload it to a photo-hosting site.

How much time it takes to perform these tasks varies from person to person, and will improve according to your level of expertise. Regardless, every task in your eBay auction business takes time, and you must budget for that time.

Only you can decide how much time you want to spend researching going rates for items at eBay and deciding when your item will sell for the highest price. You can take great photos and write brilliant descriptions, but cashmere sweaters won't go for as much in the heat of summer as they do in winter. Doing your research can take up a good deal of time when you're selling a varied group of items.

You also have to consider how much time it takes to shop for your merchandise. You may have to travel to dealers, go to auctions, or spend time online discovering new ways to find your auction merchandise. Many sellers set aside a full day each week for this undertaking. Your merchandise is what makes you money, so don't skimp on the time you spend identifying products. The time you spend on this comes back to you in higher profits.

Here's a list of various activities that you must perform when doing business at eBay:

Setting up and photographing items

Cleaning up and resizing images in photo editor

Uploading images to eBay Picture Services when you list or before listing to your ISP or third-party hosting service

Weighing items and determining shipping costs

Choosing auction titles with keywords

Writing concise and creative descriptions

Listing your auction at eBay

Answering bidder questions

Sending out end-of-auction e-mails

Carrying out banking

Performing bookkeeping

Packing the items safely and securely

Addressing labels and affixing postage

Going to the post office

Take the time to perform each of the tasks; watch the clock and time yourself to see how long it takes you to accomplish each of them. The time varies when you list multiple items, so think of the figures that you come up with as your baseline, a minimum amount of time that you must set aside for these tasks. This information can help you decide how many hours in a month you need to devote to running your part-time eBay business.

Jumping in with both feet: Making eBay a full-time job

As you can see in the list in the previous section, the tasks required for your eBay business can be time consuming, but careful planning and scheduling can turn your business into an online empire. The best way to go full time at eBay is to first run your business part time for a while. In any business, ironing out the wrinkles takes time; an eBay business is no different.

After you become comfortable with eBay as a business, you're ready to make the transition to full-time seller. As a full-time seller at eBay, you'll probably become an eBay Power Seller. The minimum gross monthly sales for a Bronze level Power Seller is $2,000. If you plan your time efficiently, you can easily attain this goal.

Running a full-time business at eBay is the perfect option for the working mom who prefers staying at home with her children, a retiree looking for something to do, or someone who'd just rather do something else than work for his boss.

Shopping eBay the Machiavellian Way

2007-07-21T10:47:00.000-07:00

When you've shopped eBay for a while, you will know the user IDs of many of the people you bid against in auctions. Don't be surprised that other people in the eBay universe have the same quirky interests as you. You may even come to dislike them if they outbid you often enough. It's a wretched feeling, being outbid, especially when it happens at the last minute.

The user ID of the person the item would belong to if the auction ended right now is listed on the auction item page (assuming someone has bid on the item). Take a look at this name because you may see it again in auctions for similar items. If the high bidder has lots of feedback, he or she may know the ropes — and be back to fight if you up the ante.

You may have heard the old comedy routine about how much quicker it is to shop in a supermarket from other people's carts rather than running from aisle to aisle. eBay is no different. When you get to know the IDs of your bidding competitors, you can run bidder searches on them.

For example, say meanguy123 outbids you in an auction for rare antique glockenspiels. You can run a bidder search on the old meany and find out what else he has been bidding on lately — and how much he bids.

You can find out the following information when you run a bidder search:

The items the bidder tends to be interested in: Might as well let your competition do the legwork of finding good auctions for the items you like.

What time of day the bidder likes to make bids: You can get a sense of whether the bidder is in another part of the country (or the world) and use the time difference to your advantage.

Other bidding habits: Some bidders like to place an initial bid at the beginning of the auction and then swoop in at the end and snipe. Or they never bid until the end of the auction. Or they never snipe. No matter what strategy your competition chooses, you can come up with a counter strategy to improve your likelihood of winning.

How high the bidder tends to like to bid: This is a key to enable you to win the auction by as few pennies as possible. Does the bidder end with .27? End yours with .32. Also, if the bidder is accumulating items one at a time, you really have a good picture of exactly how much he or she will bid. Information is power!

Bidding in odd increments is just one of the many strategies to get you ahead of the rest of the bidding pack without paying more than you should. Note: Many strategies are for bidders who are tracking an item over the course of a week or more, so be sure you have time to track the item and plan your next move. Also, get a few auctions under your belt before you throw yourself into the middle of a bidding war.

Investigating the opposing bidder is not snooping! It's totally legal and acceptable. (Okay, maybe it's a little sneaky.) When you've checked out your competition's shopping cart, you can swoop in and bid or snipe back if you like the other items this bidder is interested in. Isn't it easier to let someone else do the legwork and find the bargains for you?

You can run a bidder search by doing the following:

1. Click the Advanced Search link, which appears in the top-right corner of almost every eBay page.

2. In the Search links area on the left, click the Items by Bidder link.

3. Enter the user ID of the bidder you want to check out.

4. To check the bidder's previous auctions, click to add a check mark in the Include Completed Listings box.

By studying the past bidding history, you can see how high the bidder is willing to bid on certain items. This is invaluable information if you want to get a drift of how high you have to bid to win the next auction.

5. Tell eBay whether you also want to see the person's bid even if he or she is not the high bidder.

Selecting the Even If Not the High Bidder option means that you want to see the bidder's activity in every auction, even if the person is not the current high bidder. Check all the bidder's auctions to see how aggressively he or she bids on items. You can also see how badly a bidder wants specific items.

If the bidder was bidding on an item in the past that you're both interested in now, you can get a fairly good idea of how high that person is willing to go for the item this time.

6. Choose the number of items you want to see per page.

7. Click the Search button.

You may find that relying on the bidder search can give you a false sense of knowledge and confidence. Others may use the bidder search to become familiar with your habits, too. And many savvy buyers have two eBay user IDs and alternate to confuse those who try to follow their bidding patterns. Sniping can also help because no one will know you're interested in the auction until you win the item. Mix your bidding patterns up a bit to keep the competition wondering!

Insuring eBay Success

2007-07-21T10:41:00.000-07:00

When you're shipping a large amount of merchandise out on a regular basis, you're going to have to deal with the question of whether you offer your buyers insurance against damage or loss. Bottom line: Whether you offer insurance or not, you (the seller) are ultimately responsible for getting the product to the buyer. The lost-in-the-mail excuse doesn't cut the mustard, and having a delivery confirmation number doesn't guarantee anything either.

You may think that it's the buyer's responsibility to pay for insurance. If they don't, you say, it's their hard luck if the package doesn't arrive. This is far from the truth; a buyer who does not receive an item that she's paid for can legitimately file a fraud report against you. Buyers can also have the payment removed from your PayPal account if you have no physical proof that you've shipped the item, and you have no defense against this.

Eyeing eBay Bidder-Management Tools

2007-07-21T10:40:00.000-07:00

Most eBay users don't know the extent of eBay's seller-specific services. And sometimes sellers are so involved with their auctions that they don't take the time to find out about new helper tools. Here are a few excellent tools to help you with your online business. Even if you've used some of these before, it might be time to revisit them because eBay has implemented quite a few changes during the past year.

Canceling bids

Did you know that you don't have to accept bids from just anyone? Although many people include notices in their auction descriptions attempting to qualify bidders ahead of time, this doesn't always prevent them from bidding on your auction. Alas, part of the business is watching your bidders. With bidder-management tools, you can save yourself a good deal of grief.

You could have any number of reasons for wanting to cancel someone's bid. Here are a few more legitimate reasons for canceling a bid:

The bidder contacts you to back out of the bid; choosing to be a nice guy, you let him or her out of the deal.

Your bidder has several negative feedbacks and hasn't gone through with other transactions that he or she has won.

You're unable to verify the bidder's identity through e-mail or the phone.

You need to cancel the auction.

When you plan to cancel someone's bid, you should first e-mail that person and clearly explain why you're doing so. Your bid cancellation appears in the auction's bidding history and becomes part of the auction's official record. For that reason, you ought to leave a concise, unemotional, one-line explanation on the cancellation form as to why you've canceled the bid.

To get to the bid cancellation form, start on your My eBay, All Selling, Items I'm Selling page. In the Related Links box (on the left), click the More link. You'll now be able to access the bid cancellation form. You can get to the cancellation form directly by typing the following in your browser:

http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/seller-cancel-bid.html

Ending your listing early

You may decide to end a listing early for any number of reasons. If any bids are on your auction before ending it, you are duty-bound to sell to the highest bidder. So before ending an auction early, it's polite to e-mail everyone in your bidder list, explaining why you're canceling bids and closing the auction. If an egregious error in the item's description is forcing you to take this action, let your bidders know whether you're planning to relist the item with the correct information.

After you've e-mailed all the bidders, you must then cancel their bids by using the bid cancellation form; for the link to this form, see the preceding section "Canceling bids."

When ending a listing that has bids, the seller has the option of canceling all bids or leaving the bids, thus making the high bidder the winner of the closed listing.

To end a listing, use the drop-down list next to the listing on the All Selling: Selling page. On the screen that appears, click the link to end your listing. You can also go directly to

http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?EndingMyAuction

Following are some legitimate reasons for closing your auction:

You no longer want to sell the item. Your account may be subject to a nonselling seller warning unless you have a good reason.

An error occurred in the minimum bid or reserve amount. Perhaps your spouse really loves that lamp and said you'd better get some good money for it, but you started the auction at $1.00 with no reserve.

The listing has a major error in it. Maybe you misspelled a critical keyword in the title.

The item was somehow lost or broken. Your dog ate it?

Don't cancel an auction unless you absolutely have to because it's just bad business. People rely on your auctions being up for the stated amount of time. They may be planning to bid at the last minute, or they may just want to watch the action for a while. Also, if you have bids on the item, you may be in violation of one of eBay's policies and be branded as a nonselling seller.

Blocking buyers

If you don't want certain buyers bidding on your auctions, you can remove their capability to do so. Setting up a list of bidders that you don't want to do business with is legal on eBay. If someone that you've blocked tries to bid on your auction, the bid won't go through. A message will be displayed notifying the bidder that he or she can't bid on the listing and should contact the seller for more information.

You can block as many as 1,000 users from bidding on your auctions. However, use this option only when absolutely necessary. Situations — and people — change, and it's best to try to clear up problems with particular bidders.

You can reinstate a bidder at any time by going to the Buyer Blocking box at

http://pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html

and deleting the bidder's user ID.

Preapproving bidders

Your preapproved bidder list is applicable only on an auction-by-auction basis. In other words, the bidders must be preapproved in the listings you indicate, not in all your auctions.

To use this feature, you must supply eBay with the auction number. You can add approved bidders right up to the close of the auction. Access the form and enter the preapproved bidders' names at

http://cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?PreApproveBidders

Cool eBay Tools for Sellers

2007-07-21T10:39:00.000-07:00

eBay provides some smooth management tools on your Selling page. You can track items you currently have up for auction and items you've sold. It's a quick way to get a snapshot of the dollar value of your auctions, as they proceed. Although this page isn't as good for marketing information, it's a pretty good way to tell at a glance how your items are faring.

Items I'm Selling

With the Items I'm Selling page, you can keep an eye on your store items, your fixed-price sales, and the progress of your auctions. You can see how many bids your auctions have, whether your reserves have been met, and how long before the auction will close. By clicking an auction title, you can visit the auction to make sure your pictures are appearing or to check your counter.

Many people watch auctions and don't bid until the last minute, so you may not see a lot of bidding activity on your page. The # of Watchers feature can give you important information on the progress of your auctions.

The auctions that appear in green have received one or more bids (and met any reserves you've set). Auctions in red haven't received any bids or the set reserve price hasn't been met. Dutch auctions aren't color-coded and appear in black.

At the top of the Items I'm Selling area, eBay lists the current price of all items, including bidding on items that haven't met your reserve. The total dollar amount of the items that will sell when the auction is over appears beneath these totals. On the right side of your listings, eBay has a column for icons.

Items I've Sold

As you scroll down the All Selling page, you'll come to the Items I've Sold area. To avoid a lot of scrolling, you can reach an abbreviated version of this area (missing the detailed Selling Totals box) by clicking the Sold link in the Views box, under All Selling.

The Items I've Sold area keeps your sales in a concise place. You can use this feature in lieu of fancy auction management software. If you're selling hundreds of items, your list will probably be too long to monitor individual auctions — but you can view the total current price of the items that will sell.

If you're selling more than 20 items a week, you might consider using eBay's Selling Manager to give you an even more complete auction management solution.

The Items I've Sold page has the following features, which you'll find helpful in completing your transactions:

Check box: Click here to add a personal note to your record or to remove an item from your list.

Buyer's user ID and feedback rating: The eBay ID of the winner of the sale. Click it to go to the User's Member Profile, where you can use eBay's e-mail sever to contact the buyer.

Quantity: If the sale was for multiple items, the number of items is displayed here.

Item title: A direct link to the auction. You can click this link to check on your auction and see the other bidders, should you want to make a Second Chance offer.

Item number: The auction number for your records.

Sale price: The final selling price for your item.

Total price: The final selling price plus the shipping amount.

Sale date: Keep an eye on the end date so that you can be sure you get your payment as agreed.

Action: Here's where you find a hidden, drop-down menu that works with the icons to the left and offers links to various actions that you can take:

• Mark paid: If the customer hasn't paid using PayPal, you can indicate their method of payment (after you receive it).

• View payment status: See a copy of the payment receipt if the buyer paid using PayPal or a notation you inserted regarding other payment methods.

• Print shipping label: You can print a shipping label from here.

• Leave feedback: Leave feedback with a single click once you've heard that the item arrived safely and your customer is happy.

• Mark shipped. After you've shipped the item, click here to indicate that it's on the way.

• Second chance offer: Click here to make a second chance offer to one of your underbidders if you have multiple items for sale.

• Relist: Here you can relist your item on the site.

Icons: My eBay has several icons that appear dimmed until you perform an action with the Action command. You may also click the icons at the top of the list to sort your listings by actions completed, although most sellers prefer to keep the listings in the default chronological order.

• Shopping cart: The buyer has completed checkout (supplying a shipping address and planned payment method).

• Dollar sign: The buyer has paid using PayPal, or you've used the drop-down menu to indicate that the buyer has paid with a different form of payment (such as a money order or a personal check).

• Shipping box: The item has shipped.

• Star: You've left feedback.

• Comment bubble: The buyer has left feedback. A plus sign (+) indicates a positive comment, and a minus sign (-) indicates a negative comment.

Correcting Your Current eBay Auctions

2007-07-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

Don't worry if you make a mistake filling out the Sell Your Item page but don't notice it until after the auction is up and running. Pencils have erasers, and eBay allows revisions. You can make changes at two stages of the game: before the first bid is placed and after the bidding war is underway. The following sections explain just what you can (and can't) correct — and when you have to accept the little imperfections of your Auction item page.

Making changes before bidding begins

Here's what you can change about your auction before bids have been placed (and when it does not end within 12 hours):

The title or description of your auction

The item category

The item's Minimum Bid price

The item's Buy It Now price

A Reserve Price (add, change, or remove)

The duration of your listing

The URL address of the picture you're including with your auction

A Private Auction designation (add or remove it)

Accepted payment methods, payment methods, checkout information, item location, and shipping terms

When you revise an auction, eBay puts a little disclaimer on your auction page that reads Seller revised this item before the first bid. (Think of it as automatic common courtesy.)

To revise an auction before bids have been received:

1. Go to the auction page and click the Revise link.

The link will only appear if you've signed In to eBay. If the item hasn't received any bids, a message appears on your screen to indicate that you may update the item.

You're taken to the Sign In page, which outlines the rules for revising your item. At the bottom, the item number will be filled in.

2. Click Revise Item.

You arrive at the Revise Item page, which looks like the Sell Your Item form.

3. Make changes to the item information and then click the Verify button at the bottom of the page when you're finished.

A summary of your newly revised auction page appears on your screen.

4. If you're happy with your revisions, click Submit Revisions.

If not, click the Back button of your browser and redo the Update Your Information page.

You're taken to your newly revised auction item page, where you see a disclaimer from eBay that says you've revised the auction before the first bid.

Making changes after bidding begins

If your auction is up and running and already receiving bids, you can still make some slight modifications to it. Newly added information is clearly separated from the original text and pictures. In addition, eBay puts a time stamp on the additional info in case questions from early bidders crop up later.

After your item receives bids, eBay allows you to add to your item's description. If you feel you were at a loss for words in writing your item's description or if a lot of potential bidders are asking the same questions, go ahead and make all the addition you want But whatever you put there the first time stays in the description as well.

You've discovered that the Apollo 11 cookie jar you thought was a reproduction is really an original? Better change that description before you sell it. When your item has received bids, you can add to your item's description.

Follow the same procedure for making changes before bidding begins. When you arrive at the Revise Your Item page, you'll only be given the option to add to your description, add features, or add more payment information. Your initial listing will not be changed — only appended.

Alternatiively, click Services in the navigation bar at the top of the page, scroll down to Manage Your Active Listings and click the Add to Item Description link. If you use the route, you'll have to have the item number written down, as it must be input before you make any changes.

Don't let an oversight grow into a failure to communicate, and don't ignore iffy communication until the auction is over. Correct any inaccuracies now to avoid problems later on.

Always check your e-mail to see whether bidders have questions about your item. If a bidder wants to know about flaws, be truthful and courteous when returning e-mails. As you get more familiar with eBay (and with writing auction descriptions), the number of e-mail questions will decrease. If you enjoy good customer service in your day-to-day shopping, here's your chance to give some back.

Outsmarting the Competition on eBay

2007-07-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

You're not a loser if you lost at eBay. You just don't know the fine art of sneaky bidding, otherwise known as educated bidding. Sports teams study their rivals, and political candidates scout out what the opposition is doing. Bidding in competition against other bidders is just as serious an enterprise. What you need is a strong bidding strategy to help you outsmart the competition and win more auctions.

Your two cents does matter — at least at eBay. Here's why: Many eBay members tend to round off their bids to the nearest dollar figure. Some choose nice, familiar coin increments like 25, 50, or 75 cents. But the most successful bidders at eBay have found that adding two or three cents to a routine bid can mean the difference between winning and losing. Get in the habit of making your bids in oddish figures, like $15.02 or $45.57, as an inexpensive way to edge out your competition. For the first time ever, your two cents may actually pay off!

That's just one of the many strategies to get you ahead of the rest of the bidding pack without paying more than you should. Note: The following strategies are for bidders who are tracking an item over the course of a week or so, so be sure you have time to track the item and plan your next moves. Also, get a few auctions under your belt before you throw yourself into the middle of a bidding war.

Dutch auction strategy

Dutch auctions (auctions in which the seller has multiple items for sale) are funky. After all, each winner pays the same amount for the item, and Dutch auctions don't have a super-secret reserve price.

But winning a Dutch auction isn't all that different from winning other auctions. Your best strategy is to wait until the closing minutes of the auction to bid and then follow some key bits of advice for optimum success.

Here are the key things to remember about a Dutch auction:

The seller must sell all the items at the lowest winning price at the end of the auction, no matter what.

Winners are based on the highest bids received. If you up the ante, you could win the auction and only pay the lowest winning price, which may be lower than your bid.

and

Know where you stand in the pecking order. You can see a list of high bidders (and their bids) on the auction page, so you always know where you stand in the pecking order.

Avoid being the lowest or the highest high bidder. The highest bidder is sure to win, so the usual bidding strategy is to knock out the lowest high bidder. The lowest high bidder is said to be on the bubble and on the verge of losing the auction by a couple of pennies. To avoid being the bidder on the bubble, keep your bid just above the second-lowest winning bid.

If you want to buy more than one of an item up for auction, make sure you have that number of successful high bids as the auction draws to a close. Huh? Remember, winners are based on the highest bids. If you're in a Dutch auction for ten items and place five $15 bids, nothing guarantees that you'll win five of the item. Nine other people who want the item could bid $20 apiece. Then they each win one of the items at 15 bucks, and you end up with only one of the item. (At least you still pay only $15 for it.)

Most bidding at eBay goes on during East Coast work time and early evening hours, which gives you a leg up if you live out West. Night-owl bidders will find that after 11 p.m. Pacific Time (about 2 a.m. Eastern Time), lots of bargains are to be had. And believe it or not, lots of auctions end in the wee hours of the morning. Holidays are also great for bargains — especially Thanksgiving. While everyone is in the living room digesting and arguing about what to watch on TV, fire up eBay and be thankful for the great bargains you can win.

Bidding strategies eBay doesn't talk about

Here's a list of Do's and Don'ts that can help you win your item. Of course, some of these tips are eBay-endorsed, but that heading sure grabbed your attention, didn't it?

Don't bid early and high. Bidding early and high shows that you have a clear interest in the item. It also shows that you are a rookie, apt to make mistakes. If you bid early and high, you may give away just how much you want the item.

Of course, a higher bid does mean more bucks for the seller and a healthy cut for the middleman. No big mystery that many sellers recommend it. In fact, when you sell an item, you may want to encourage it too.

Do wait and watch your auction. If you're interested in an item and you have the time to watch it from beginning to end, the best strategy is to wait. Mark the auction to Watch This Item on your My eBay page and remember to check it daily. But if you don't have the time, then go ahead — put in your maximum bid early and cross your fingers.

Don't freak out if you find yourself in a bidding war. Don't keel over if, at the split second you're convinced that you're the high bidder with your $45.02, someone beats you out at $45.50.

You can increase your maximum bid to $46, but if your bidding foe also has a maximum of $46, the tie goes to the person who put in the highest bid first. Bid as high as you're willing to go, but bid at the very end of the auction.

Do check the item's bidding history. If you find yourself in a bidding war and want an item badly enough, check the bidding history and identify your fiercest competitor; then use the By Bidder search option to find what the bidder's recent auction experience is. Size up your competition.

To get a pretty exact picture of your opponent's bidding habits, make special note of the times of day when he or she has bid on other auctions. You can adjust your bidding times accordingly.

Do remember that most deals go through without a problem. The overwhelming majority of deals at eBay are closed with no trouble, which means that if the auction you're bidding in is typical and you come in second place, you've lost.

could

Know Your eBay Auction Terms

2007-07-21T10:36:00.000-07:00

Bolster your buying (and selling) vocabulary with these basic eBay terms:

Reserve price: The minimum price a seller is willing to accept for an item up for auction. Setting a reserve is optional, and only the seller knows the reserve price. If the bidding doesn’t exceed the reserve, the seller has the option to keep the item. eBay charges the seller a small fee for this option.
Minimum bid: The lowest acceptable bid for an item, set by the seller. This amount must be determined by the seller and is not kept secret. Minimum bid amounts are often different from reserve prices.
Multiple Item (Dutch) auction: An auction that allows a seller to put multiple identical items up for sale instead of holding multiple separate auctions. The seller must sell all items at the lowest winning price. You can bid on one, some, or all of the items.
BIN (Buy It Now): You have the option of purchasing an item with the BIN option. If you feel the BIN price is a bit more than you want to pay, place a bid at the minimum bid level (or the most you’d like to pay). That way, the BIN option disappears, and you may just win the item at the lower price.
Proxy bid: You can decide the most you’re willing to pay for an item and allow eBay’s bidding program to place bids for you while you go on with your life. The proxy bidder ups the ante incrementally to beat out your competition until you’re outbid or win the auction.

Tracking Down eBay Auction Troublemakers

2007-07-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Although eBay encourages the community to police the site, it also does its own investigations. Buyers beware: Violations are very easy to fall into, especially if you're new to online auction action.

Rules exist for buyers as well as sellers. If you are reported and found responsible for any of the following offenses, you may be subject to disciplinary action. Violations may result in the indefinite suspension of a user's account, temporary suspension, or a formal warning.

Here's the skinny on the kinds of buyer violations eBay looks into. Many of these violations go both ways. For example, if a seller e-mails you and offers to do a deal with you off the site, that's a violation from the seller's side.

If another eBay member pulls any of the following kinds of tricks with you, feel obliged to report him or her to eBay:

Transaction interference: If anyone sends an e-mail to other buyers warning them away from a particular seller or merchandise, eBay will investigate.

Off-site purchases: Contacting the seller and offering to buy (or sell) the item outside of eBay.

Invalid bid retractions: Misuse of the bid retraction process is a serious eBay violation.

Every bid you place is a binding contract to buy. Even if eBay somehow didn't investigate you for retracting bids, the rest of the community would ostracize you -- eBay members show no pity for serial bid retractors.

Non-payment after winning an item: If you bid or use the Buy It Now option, you must pay for your item. Again, refusing to pay for items not only gets you a scarlet letter, but also could result in your complete and total suspension from the eBay service. Forever. Period.

Unwelcome buyer: If you bid or shop from a seller who clearly states terms that you do not fulfill, you'll be investigated. For example, Susie Seller can state in her item description that she refuses to sell to someone with negative feedback. If you have any negatives, then you shouldn't bid. If you do, and you win, you may be investigated.

If you really want the item, e-mail the seller and ask if you may bid on the item, even if you don't fulfill his or her terms -- it never hurts to ask.

Another common example has to do with international shipping. Say Steve Seller says that he will only ship within the United States, and you live in another country. If you bid and win the auction, you may be investigated.

Bid shielding or shill bidding: Using a secondary ID to illegally manipulate the price of an item, without any intention of ever paying for it, is verboten and will be investigated.

Sometimes things happen, and you just don't know what to do about it. Maybe you have made a heinous mistake (who, me?), or you've seen something on the site that seems fishy. Who can you go to? Who's there to listen?

The Rules and Safety area of the eBay site has a support page where you may describe the problem using a series of drop-down menus. After using this system to explain your situation, you will usually get a response within 24-48 hours.

Here are some other options if you're seeking punishment for a deal gone bad:

United States Postal Inspector: If your interaction involved the United States Post Office in any way, you can file a mail fraud complaint through the Postal Inspector's office. Your deal would involve the post office if you sent the seller payment through the mail and the seller sends you merchandise (or doesn't send at all) that is not what you ordered.

Call (800) 275-8777 or your local post office for the required forms and information. After you file a fraud report, the USPS contacts the alleged bad guy on your behalf.

National Fraud Information Center: The National Fraud Information Center is based in Washington, D.C. This organization collects reports of fraud and transmits the information to the National Fraud Database, maintained by the Federal Trade Commission and the National Association of Attorneys General. You can file your report online at The National Fraud Information Center or you can call (800) 876-7060.

The information you provide by filing a complaint with the NFIC informs federal and state regulators of potential illegal activities. It will not, on the other hand, get you your money back. By just reporting fraud, you can help prevent wrongdoers from victimizing others.

Local law enforcement agencies: Contact the District Attorney or state Attorney General's office in the seller's city and supply as much information as these officers will take. You may also want to try the state's consumer affairs department — just run a Web search with the state's name and consumer affairs. Again, this option probably won't get you your money back, but may make you feel better.

FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection runs a popular Web site that takes complaints on fraud of all kinds.

Consumer Sentinel

There's a good deal of solid information (some pretty scary information, as well) on this site. Check it out and help the good guys!

Beware of Unsolicited Offers from eBayers

2007-07-21T10:34:00.000-07:00

Your bids at eBay are public record, and anyone can tell what you are bidding on (unless it is a private auction). Sometimes sellers scour the auctions and contact bidders to sell them a similar — or exactly the same — item for a lower price. Rather than putting their items up for sale, and paying eBay fees, these unscrupulous sellers choose to undercut other reputable seller's sales.

By participating in this bidder-stealing practice, sellers can avoid paying fees to eBay. Sadly, if you choose to accept one of these off-eBay transactions, you are not protected under the eBay Fraud Protection Program and cannot use the eBay feedback system. You are completely on your own.

The quickest way to contact eBay Customer Support is to click a feedback star anywhere on the eBay site and scroll to the bottom of the page that appears. Then click the link.

It is a violation of eBay policy for a seller to solicit sales, and sellers may be suspended for using this tactic

Basic Tips for eBay Sellers

2007-07-21T10:33:00.000-07:00

Sellers, get wise to ways to handle your eBay business. Here are some basic guidelines to live by.

Answer all e-mail questions from prospective bidders and buyers within 24 hours and check your e-mail hourly before the close of your auctions. (It can pay off in higher last-minute bidding.) Good customer service goes a long way in promoting and building your eBay business.
When listing a new item, research it and be sure that you know its current value and the going price.
Before listing, weigh your item and estimate the shipping cost. Be sure to list shipping (and handling) costs in your ad whether you use a flat rate or the shipping calculator for heavier packages.
Always see how many other sellers are selling your item and try not to have your auction close within a few hours of another.
To encourage bidding, set the lowest possible starting bid for your item.
Check the eBay guidelines to be sure that your item is permitted.
Get to know the listing patterns of sellers who sell similar merchandise to yours, and try to close your auctions at different times or days.

File Away Those eBay Photos

2007-07-21T10:32:00.000-07:00

You need a professional and safe place to store your pictures for eBay. If your images don't appear when someone clicks your auction, or if your images take too long to load, a user might click off your auction and go to the next one. If you have more than one option, test each with a few pictures because you want one that's reliable.

If you use auction management software, you may not need an FTP program to upload your images. Most complete management programs integrate their own FTP program as part of the package and may also include image storage space on their server.

You should always put your eBay images in a separate directory — not in an active part of your Web site. You may think that using your business Web site is a good place to store your images, but it isn't. If you want to keep track of your site statistics, such as the number of visitors, hits, and the like, hosting your own images will ruin the data. A call for one of your eBay images counts as a hit on your site, and you'll never get accurate Web site stats.

Cut the eBay Keyword Spam

2007-07-21T10:29:00.001-07:00

Keyword spamming is when you add words, usually brand names, to your auction description that don't describe what you're selling. (For example, describing that little black dress as Givenchy-style when Givenchy has nothing to do with it.) Sellers use keyword spamming to pull viewers to their auctions after viewers have searched for the brand name. To attract attention to their listings, some sellers use "not" or "like" along with the brand name, such as "like Givenchy."

Keyword spamming actually causes your auction to fall under "potentially infringing" items for sale on eBay. Keyword spamming is a listing violation. The wording you choose when you run this kind of auction manipulates the eBay search engine and prospective bidders

Cut the eBay Keyword Spam

2007-07-21T10:29:00.000-07:00

2007-07-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, writing feedback well takes some practice. It isn't a matter of saying things; it's a matter of saying only the appropriate things. Think carefully about what you want to say because once you submit feedback, it stays with the person for the duration of his or her eBay career.

Although you're not required to leave feedback, keep in mind that it's the benchmark by which all eBay users are judged. So whether you're buying or selling you should always leave feedback comments. Think of leaving feedback as voting in an election: If you don't leave feedback, you can't complain about lousy service.

eBay says to make feedback "factual and emotionless." You won't go wrong if you comment on the details (either good or bad) of the transaction. If you have any questions about what eBay says about feedback, click the Services link at the top of every eBay page; then click Feedback Forum on the subnavigation bar that automatically appears (or go to the user agreement by clicking the link at the bottom of almost every eBay page).

In the Feedback Forum, you can perform six feedback-related tasks:

See feedback about an eBay user.

Leave feedback for many auctions at once. Here, you see all pending feedback for all transactions within the past 60 days. You are presented with a page of all your transactions for which you haven't left feedback. Fill them in, one at a time, and with one click, you can leave as many as 25 feedback comments at once.

Review and respond to existing feedback about you.

Review the feedback you have left for others.

Make your Feedback Profile public or private. Remember, if you make your Feedback Profile private, you may hinder your future business on eBay.

Check the Feedback FAQ to review any changes in the feedback system.

In the real world (at least in the modern American version of it), anybody can sue anybody else for slander or libel at any time; this fact holds true on the Internet, too. It's a good idea to be careful not to make any comments that could be libelous or slanderous. eBay is not responsible for your actions, so if you are sued because of negative feedback (or anything else you've written), you're on your own. The best way to keep yourself safe is to stick to the facts and don't get personal.

If you're angry, take a breather before you type out your complaints and click the Leave Comment button. If you're convinced that negative feedback is necessary, try a cooling-off period before you send comments. Wait an hour or a day; see whether you feel the same. Nasty feedback based on pure emotion can make you look vindictive (even if what you're saying is true).

Safety tips for giving feedback

And speaking of safety features you should know about feedback, you may want to study up on these:

Remember that feedback, whether good or bad, is (above all) sticky. eBay won't remove your feedback comment if you change your mind later. Be sure of your facts and consider carefully what you want to say.

Before you leave feedback, see what other people had to say about that person. See whether what you're thinking is in line with the comments others have left.

Your feedback comment can be left as long as the transaction remains on the eBay server. This is usually within 60 days of the end of the auction. After 60 days have passed, you must have the transaction number to leave feedback.

Your comment can only be a maximum of 80 letters long, which is really short when you have a lot to say. Before you start typing, organize your thoughts and use common abbreviations to save precious space.

Before posting negative feedback, try to resolve the problem by e-mail or telephone. You may discover that your reaction to the transaction is based on a misunderstanding that can be easily resolved.

eBay users generally want to make each other happy, so use negative feedback only as a last resort.

If you do leave a negative comment that you later regret, you can't remove it. You can't go back and leave an explanation or a more positive comment (unless you're responding to feedback this person has left about you), so think twice before you blast.

The ways to leave feedback

Several ways are available to leave feedback comments:

If you're on the user's Feedback Profile page, click the Leave Feedback link; The Leave Feedback page appears.

In the Items I've Won area of your My eBay page, click the Leave Feedback link next to the auction.

Go to your auction and click the Leave Feedback icon.

Click the Leave Feedback about an eBay User — See All Pending Comments at Once in the Feedback Forum to see a list of all of your completed auctions from the last 90 days for which you haven't yet left feedback.

Click the Services link in the main navigation bar and then click Feedback Forum. On the next page that appears, click the Go Directly to the Feedback Forum link.

To leave feedback:

1. Enter the required information.

Note that your item number is usually filled in, but if you're placing feedback from the user's Feedback Profile page, you have to have the number at hand.

2. Choose whether you want your feedback to be positive, negative, or neutral.

3. Click the Leave Feedback button.

A Look through eBay's Linking Rules

2007-07-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Because many of your linking activities take place inside eBay, you need to play by eBay's rules on the subject. Although eBay generally doesn't mind links, it gets a little sensitive about links placed in your auction text. According to the official eBay policy on such things, you can't place a link in an auction listing that leads a customer to an off-site sale for the same item. You can, however, use off-site links that lead to more product information or customer service information. In general, you can link to anything that helps buyers complete their transactions inside eBay. You can also add a link to your About Me page, but don't go overboard -- eBay lets you put in one link of your own to the About Me page (in addition to the one eBay includes automatically at the top of your auction). You can also promote your eBay store as much as you want because eBay gets a cut of sales over there as well.

If you do any business on eBay, take the time to read and understand the linking rules. They don't take that long to work through (and they aren't terribly boring). To see the complete eBay rules and regulations on linking, visit Links Policy.

My eBay: Unsold Items Page

2007-07-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

The eBay Unsold Items page indicates the items that didn't sell. (Go figure.) To get to that area, you can scroll way down the page or click the Unsold link under All Selling in the My eBay Views box (on the left side of the page).

The drop-down list beside each item allows you to relist (so that you can get a listing credit for the first run of the item if it sells the second time) or sell similar (if the item hasn't sold after two listings, start the cycle in eBay's computer fresh as new).

When an item is relisted, a check mark appears next to the Relist link and the circular arrow goes from dimmed to solid.

Watching Out for eBay Abuses

2007-07-21T10:24:00.002-07:00

If you're on eBay long enough, you're bound to find an abuse of the service. It may happen on an auction you're bidding on, or a seller whose listings compete with your auctions may do something really, really wrong. Be a good community member and be on the lookout for the following:

Shill bidding: A seller uses multiple User IDs to bid or has accomplices place bids to boost the price of his or her auction items. eBay investigators look for six telltale signs, including a single bidder putting in a really high bid, a bidder with really low feedback, but a really high number of bids on items, a bidder with low feedback who has been an eBay member for a while but who's never won an auction, or excessive bids between two users.
Auction interception: An unscrupulous user, pretending to be the actual seller, contacts the winner to set up terms of payment and shipping in an effort to get the buyer's payment. You can easily avoid this violation by paying directly through the eBay site with PayPal.
Fee avoidance: A user reports a lower-than-actual final price and/or illegally submits a Final Value Fee credit.
Hot bid manipulation: A user, with the help of accomplices, enters dozens of phony bids to make the auction appear to have a lot of bidding action. Let the experts at eBay decide on this one; but you may wonder if loads of bids come in rapid succession but the price moves very little

eBay's Little Brother

2007-07-21T10:24:00.001-07:00

Half.com may be younger than its sibling site eBay, but it's no half-pint. This gigantic resale site is a shopper's (and seller's) paradise. Books, music, movies, and software are what they do best, but you can shop here for everything from jewelry to power tools, as well. More like a garage sale than an auction, sellers post their wares at a fixed price. All items are classified by varying degrees of wear and tear ranging from "Like New" to "Acceptable."

The shopping experience on this site is comparable to Amazon.com or any other major online retailer. After you find the item you're looking for, you can choose from a listing of all the sellers offering it. Choose the price and condition that meets your needs and click to buy. The transaction process also mirrors what you would expect from other online stores, complete with standard shipping charges and the ability to purchase multiple items (from multiple sellers) all at once. Half.com acts as a middleman to notify the appropriate sellers who are expected to confirm your order and ship your items within 48 hours.

Buy It Now through eBay

2007-07-21T10:23:00.001-07:00

From the buyer's point of view, shopping at an eBay store is much different than winning an auction. eBay stores feature fixed-price sales; the buyer will get the merchandise as soon as you can ship it (instead of waiting for the auction to run its course). Even though your auctions show up on your store’s home page, all regular listings in your eBay store are Buy It Now items.

When a buyer makes a purchase from an eBay store, here's what happens:

The buyer clicks the Buy It Now button on the listing page. The Review Payments page appears, where the buyer can review the purchase. This page contains the shipping amount that you specified when you listed the item.
The buyer provides shipping information (required). When eBay notifies you that a sale has been made, you have all the information you need. You don’t have to scurry around looking for the return address on the envelope when the payment arrives.
The buyer reviews the transaction and then clicks the confirm button. The information about the sale is e-mailed to you, and the buyer receives confirmation of the sale.

Your eBay store will be an essential backup to your auctions. It’s a great place to put out-of-season items, accessories for the items you sell actively, and even consignment items between relisting.

Recipe for Success: eBay Experience

2007-07-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

A fun way to get your feet wet on eBay is to buy some small items. Some of the least expensive items you can buy on eBay are recipes. Type recipe in the search box and sort the results by Lowest Prices First. You'll find recipes for a dollar and under. You don't have to pay a shipping charge, either. The sellers usually e-mail the recipe direct to you after the auction. You can also begin selling your very own secret recipes. This is a great way to become familiar with how eBay works, and you'll be gaining experience with feedback -- as well as building yours!

Importing Your Existing eBay Listings

2007-07-21T10:17:00.000-07:00

If you have multiple stock items listed on eBay (that you've listed through the Sell Your Item page or with eBay's relist feature), you can import those listings into Turbo Lister for future use and relisting. Just choose File, Import Items, From eBay Listings. In a moment or two, you're presented with a complete tally of everything you have listed for sale on the site. You may then select all or just a few to import into Turbo Lister. You can then save your listings as templates or for uploading at a later date.

Shelving Your eBay Merchandise

2007-07-21T10:16:00.000-07:00

Before you stock the shelves for your eBay sales endeavors, it helps to have some! You also need a place to put the shelves: your garage, a spare room, or somewhere else. You have a choice between two basic kinds of shelves:

Plastic: If you're just starting out, you can always go to the local closet and linen supply store to buy inexpensive plastic shelves. They're light and cheap -- and they'll buckle in time.
Steel: If you want to do it right the first time, buy steel shelving. The most versatile steel shelving is the wire kind (versus solid-steel shelves), which is lighter and allows air to circulate around your items. Steel wire shelving assembles easily. They come with leveling feet and 4-inch casters, so should you need to move a shelf unit, you can. Installing the casters is up to you. You can combine steel wire shelving units to create a full wall of shelves. Each shelf safely holds as much as 600 pounds of merchandise.
Search eBay for shelving to find sellers offering this kind of industrial shelving. The main problem with ordering this product online is that the shipping usually costs more than the shelving.

Searching eBay Stores for Items of Interest

2007-07-21T10:14:00.000-07:00

A little known fact about eBay is that when you search the eBay site for an item, your search will not extend to eBay Stores. Many eBay sellers have eBay stores chock-full of merchandise that's often cheaper than the items you'll find on the regular eBay site. (The listing fees are considerably cheaper in the stores.) If you want to search eBay Stores only, you can go to eBay's search page and search on the Stores tab.

A quicker way to get to the stores is to use the white-box search method and scroll down the page to those handy links on the left. Near the bottom of the page, you find the More on eBay box. If you find yourself in an eBay Store you particularly like, look for a Save this Store in Favorites link at the top of the store's home page. Click this link to save the store in your My eBay Favorites area

Exploring eBay Preference Settings

2007-07-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Many eBay sellers bemoan the fact that international buyers bid on their items, when the items clearly state that they do not ship internationally. Also, they get upset when a bidder with a minus level feedback wins an item.

On your My eBay, My Account, eBay Preferences page, you can set defaults that will affect your bidders. On this page, scroll to Seller Preferences: Buyer Block Preferences.

Click the link to change your preferences. On the Buyer Block Preferences page, you may indicate who you do not want to be permitted to bid on your items. If any of your bidders fall into that category and attempt to bid, they will see a notice saying they are unable to bid.

International buyers can e-mail you to ask if you'd be willing to ship to them. If you check their feedback, and determine that they know the ropes, you can put their user ID on your Blocked Bidder Exception list and they're free to win your item.

eBay's Promotion du Jour

2007-07-21T10:12:00.000-07:00

The eBay community is constantly changing. To help you get into the swing of things right away, eBay provides a couple of special boxes, smack dab in the middle of the home page, packed with links that take you to the latest eBay special events.

Even if the main promotion box doesn't appeal to you, usually you can find some interesting links dotted around the home page without a headline. Also take a look at the small promotion boxes below the featured items.

You can get there from here -- lots of places, in fact:

A rotating list of special-interest links changes at least once a day. (Half the fun is getting a closer look at pages you haven't seen.)
Special money-saving offers from third-party vendors can be a boon if you're on the lookout for a bargain.

Eyeing eBay Help Boards

2007-07-21T10:11:00.000-07:00

If you ever have specific eBay questions to which you need answers, several eBay Discussion Help boards on the Community: Chat page can help you. You can also go directly to the chat rooms to pose your question to the eBay members currently in residence.

Boards work differently than chat rooms. Chat rooms are full of people who are hanging out talking to each other all at the same time, whereas users of Discussion Boards tend to go in, leave a message or ask a question, and pop out again. Also, on a message board, you need to start a thread by asking a question. Title your thread with your question, and you'll no doubt get an answer to your query posted swiftly.

Most questions can be answered by going to eBay's Answer Center, which you can get to by clicking the Answer Center link in the Talk area. You then see boards covering almost any topic that you can think of regarding auctions at eBay. Just post your question and hopefully some kind eBay member will suggest an answer. However, remember to take that advice with a grain of salt, just as you would any advice from someone with unknown credentials.

Consignment Selling on eBay

2007-07-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

Consignment sales are the up-and-coming way for you to help newbies by selling their items on eBay. Lots of sellers do it, and several retail locations base their business on it. You take property of the item from the owner and sell it on eBay. You're responsible for taking photos and marketing the auction on eBay -- for a fee. In addition to the money you earn selling on consignment, you also get excellent experience for future auctions of your own merchandise.

eBay Invites TRUSTe Scrutiny

2007-07-21T10:06:00.000-07:00

By creating a comprehensive privacy policy and opening itself up to independent review by TRUSTe, eBay has earned the loyalty of millions of auction-crazed customers. TRUSTe is a non-profit organization that seeks to educate Internet users and to encourage Internet sites to regulate themselves.

eBay has proven that auctions are a very successful way to do Internet business. The company realized early on that Web servers are its life. Hackers repeatedly attack eBay’s site to try to crash those servers. With every attack, eBay improves its system. eBay also realizes that customers won't feel comfortable doing business unless they know that the venue is safe. eBay's diligent application of technology and good business sense have kept hackers and thieves away and kept customers coming back.