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eBay, Paypal…Sellers Hands Are Tied? I Have A Better Idea!

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

If eBay is “run for members by members”, why is it that so many Power sellers want out?

First, a Little About Me so that you know where I’m coming from with this article:

I am the founding partner of IC Online Services. Being quite busy with our new XXXXXXX.com jewelry site (I don’t want eBay to know who I am), Internet Classifieds and Bulletin Board Systems (icbbs.com), netshoppers.com shopping directory and now an SEO forums board, well you get the idea. And if all that isn’t enough, I am also a Power seller on eBay and a Trusted Merchant on Overstock Auctions.

Situational awareness:

Please don’t get me wrong, eBay was (I say “was” under my breath) once a great place for people to buy and sell their pez dispensers, used items and trash. (That’s a urban myth that eBay was started to trade PEZ) Then as time went on it progressed to professional merchants selling new items and finally to Power sellers basing their entire livelihoods on their auctions and eBay store sales, that’s when something snapped! EBay in all of it’s wisdom and greed decided that they could push charges slowly up until to this point, they make more profit than the people doing the selling, on a per item basis that is. (Taking eBay motors and real estate sales out of this equation)

Please read this eBay fact page: http://investor.ebay.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=170073&FYear

How in good conscience can eBay boast numbers like this when in fact they profit more each day than the sellers they cater to as a whole? The reality is that they are selling a dream that doesn’t exist on their site anymore, if ever. No more than steam will get the world off oil.

Even seasoned sellers can’t escape the overhead:

I sell more than 45% of my listed items and have good store sales, yet I still run somewhere in the 18-22% overhead range from eBay and Paypal fees. How many businesses would kill for a 22% profit margin? We have to sell at a 45% profit margin just to make what we pay eBay. Let’s not forget all the charge backs from fraudulent buyers that Paypal actually back up for simplicities sake, deadbeat bidders who tie our fees and stock up for weeks and a rule book the size of a bible…etc I sell on 4 accounts and have two eBay stores by the way.

Look at the numbers:

After figuring out the net profits from the last 12 months I was stunned. I found that between eBay and Paypal fees on just one of my accounts they made a little over $11,000.00 from my sales. On this same account I profited just $14,000.00. Now tell me if that isn’t usury? I know, I know… Don’t sell there if you don’t like the fees! That’s exactly my point; nobody should be selling there because nobody likes his or her fees. They should once again be a place to sell pez dispensers, used items and trash. The problem is that there just isn’t anywhere else for sellers to go at this time and eBay knows it. This will change I guarantee it.

EBay’s competition?

The competition is (at best) fighting a wildfire with water pistols!

Overstock is the best viable option at this point but they have also gone public and are cash poor. Because they are now a public company they will be forced to start doing the same thing. Their management software and auctions are also at least 5 year’s behind eBays as a whole in terms of functionality and automation. I don’t regard them as a long term solution but more a bandage to a bleeding artery.

Bidville is the closest in theory to the ultimate free listing site at this point. Even after 6 years they only have about 500,000 registered members. This means that they have less than .007% (1/140th) the membership that eBay enjoys. They also only pull 1/800th the traffic that eBay does. This makes the fact clear that they may have 1/2 million members but less than 1 in 1000 visit their site daily.

Site stats via Alexa

eBay = 35,000 per Million daily
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=ebay.com

Overstock = 2,000 per Million daily
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=overstock.com

BidZ = 400 per Million per day
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=bidz.com

Bidville = 40 per Million per day
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?q=&url=bidville.com

ICO’s www.netshoppers.com site actually had more traffic in 2004 then Bidville

With their 2005 jump attributed to yet another eBay fee increase in January, 05… Bidville has since sputtered and is losing momentum. I will not be holding my breath for Bidville to do what we all hoped it would. And again… they too were sold to a public company who then launched the Bidville, Inc IPO which is now trading for a whopping 5 cents on the OTC. They have just secured a 2.5 million dollar loan, which will do wonders for the free listing aspect of the business. Do you see where this is going? Bidville has actually been taken over. uBid Holdings formed a new subsidiary, DIBU Trading Corp., which purchased assets of the online auction company Bidville Inc. I am guessing that this was bail-out.

Pondering the situation:

I was working on one of my numerous projects and in my thoughts wondered how/why eBay could have such a rock solid following that even though sellers hate it, they stay there? Perplexing to say the least. Then it dawned on me that all of these sellers have to stay there.

I ran a small investigation and my hunch was correct. In just the last few years more than 3 million sellers have either quit their jobs to jump in full time or use eBay as a second income that they now can’t live without. So I asked myself (in the inward context of such questioning), how could it be possible to use the same strengths that eBay exploits to gain even a small foothold in the auction arena, to start?

A light went on in my head:

Ebay enjoys their popularity because of sellers being tied to them, almost like an addict is to drugs. Once you make it your primary basis for income you can no longer get away from them. That’s exactly how all of these sellers including myself were rustled into the eBay illusion. Just when things were getting good the fees went up. Just when we overcame and adjusted to those raises by using the eBay stores, again the fees went up…and so on.

note:

PRO: They just gave a tidbit back to us this last year by lowering 99cent listing by .05 (a nickel).

CON: At the same time they hammered several categories of auction listings with massive increases in listing and FV fees. They just give till it hurts…us that is! And now eBay has the nerve to implement what amounts to be their largest fee increase. This almost 400% increase it targeting the very sellers that they courted to open up stores as a way to help offset high auction fee’s! Tisk Tisk…

I now know how to overcome this “hands tied” syndrome:

It is widely agreed that the Power sellers are the main reason eBay has vaulted to the stars. It seems to me that if the Power sellers did it once then they could do it again as a group. There are, to my understanding, over 600,000 of us. I have yet to chat with one power seller that is happy with his/her situation at eBay. The widespread feeling is that fees are driving us all into the ground. I would suggest that we unite together and get the word out about an alternative auction/store site or sites that will boost the little guy and serve as a message to the deep pockets at feeBay.

Very Basic Traffic Numbers:

2000 power sellers bringing just 50 of their buyers into the site will translate into 100,000 accounts and if just 2000 associate sellers can bring 10 or more of their clients into the fold then that will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 120,000 or more active accounts out of the gate. This will provide a supercharged boost to momentum from the beginning, which is where most start-ups fail.

Do you think that my numbers are a bit simplistic and rather pie in the sky?

My personal customer list is well over 1000 strong. 2000 similar sellers getting just 25% (1/4th) of their buyers to become members on the new site would translate into a whopping 1 million members. I wanted to write a somewhat detailed post that showed how this can be done and even using the most conservative estimates of cost and possible traffic flow that this can be a very good solution to the problems we as sellers face. Allowing you to get a good idea of the message I have and of my line of thought. I will be adding and modifying this post as I move forward.

At this point the best alternatives to feeBay that I can find are wigglepop and bid-alot. So there just isn’t a venue that to this point will fill the void by itself.

For this reason ICO has also started our own auction indentity.

This alternative has been named the Netshoppers.com Auction Project. The URL will not be made public until we get our beta seller team installed and up. If you would be interested in grabbing a piece of this action please feel free to seek it out, you’ll be pleasantly surprised. The live auction site can be found in a search but there are no direct links being publicly issued at this moment. Do a Google search and check it out.

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3 Steps to Begin Making Money on eBay™ Fast - When You Don’t Know Where to Start

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

Do not sit in front of your computer any more, wasting time and daydreaming. Begin today to take the necessary steps needed to make money on eBay™.

I have discovered how awesome eBay™ really is!

It was not too long ago that I had no clue what eBay™ was about, and now look at me, an eBay™ enlightened Mom!

Would you like to get there too? It is not difficult and it is really a lot of fun.

eBay™ is the latest, and greatest money-making endeavor I have found. And believe me, I have searched high and low in all kinds of markets and businesses to find something that could work for me.

Nothing I found seemed to tickle my fancy until eBay™. There were always too many loopholes to stop me from pursuing any of the ideas I came across. Such problems I found were, for example: the costs which seemed to escalate, the amount of time that was required was more than I could give, the steps were way too complicated and the end result always seemed way too small.

No, not me boy, I wanted to invest only a small amount of money, I wanted to spend about 15 hours on this per week, and I needed it to be pretty simple, something that if I stopped at any moment, (you know the kids always distract me at the wrong times) I needed to be able to pick up where I left off and not end up completely confused. Does this sound like the same issues you have had?

Let eBay™ be your solution to the fastest and most simple way of making money! Let me share the ropes with you so you can begin right away.

Step 1 - Log on to eBay™ and start exploring!

Sounds too easy right? Well it is, as I promised. Just look up searches for things you are interested in and see for yourself how items are listed.

Make note as to how some auctions draw your eye to them, and others don’t. Look at the titles of the items, which ones would you be more drawn to and why. Under the “search” box, use different words to describe what it is you want to find and see what comes up.

Notice how many different categories there are and observe the specialty sites. Interesting now isn’t it!

If you are feeling a bit more comfortable the next thing you should do is buy something from eBay™.

Step 2 - Buy something from eBay™.

The reason you need to buy something is because to be a good seller you must understand what it is like to be a buyer. You do not have to spend a lot of money here, in fact you should not spend a lot, just get your feet a bit wet and try it out.

To find out the steps in buying from eBay™ check out my other articles. You will see that it is not difficult to set up a buyer’s account on eBay™, AND you get to choose an eBay™ user ID, a code word if you like that eBay™ users will know you by. Sounds exciting now doesn’t it! Who knew that part of the process to making money on eBay™ was shopping! Well I would say that is just too much fun.

Okay, now you have browsed around eBay™, you have familiarized yourself with auctions, and you have purchased something! That is great and you are now ready to make some money.

Step 3 - Sell something from your attic.

Don’t panic if you do not have an attic. Do you have a cupboard, a closet, a drawer, a child! No, just kidding, there is no need to sell your firstborn, at least not yet! But you do need to find something to sell, and it would be best if it was not your mother’s $5,000.00 wedding ring please!

You do not want to start with an expensive item, remember this is a first sale for you so make it easy for yourself. Also, keep in mind shipping costs and packaging needs, so size and weight is a factor here.

Once you have found your first item, or items, take some really good pictures of them and upload the photos on your computer. You are now ready to set up a seller’s account on eBay™. My other articles can guide you through this process.

If you have followed these steps, you can sit back now and watch the price of your item go up and up, until at last someone buys it!

You have taken the plunge. In essence you have begun your exciting career on eBay™. May this be the beginning of a very profitable journey for you.

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Don’t Lose An eBay eBook Sale With Silly Terms And Conditions

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

How many times have you seen terms similar to this at the end of a listing while browsing eBay?

“Terms and conditions! Please read before bidding”.

Payment must be made within 48 hours, if payment is not made within this time negative feedback will be left and eBay will be informed.

No new users. If your feedback is below 10 please contact me before bidding or I will retract your bid.

No time wasters, scammers or fraudsters..

Why do people do this? It’s not going to stop non paying bidders, fraudsters or scammers. What it is going to do is result in fewer sales. Sure, we all hate the non payers and eBay is a scammers paradise but do you really think having terms like that is going to stop it? Of course not.

“Payment must be made within 48 hours, if payment is not made within this time negative feedback will be left and eBay will be informed”.

If you even hint at giving me negative feedback for any reason I will simply move on to the next auction. You have just lost a sale.

“No new users. If your feedback is below 10 please contact me before bidding or I will retract your bid”.

Why pick on the newbie, we all have to start on zero feedback and most of us start by buying something. By having a silly statement like that you could have lost a customer for life.

“No time wasters, scammers or fraudsters”.

Do you really think this will stop a fraudster or a scammer?

What I am trying to say here is try and make your buyers experience as pleasant and easy as possible. For me silly terms like this sound negative and if I can get the product elsewhere I simply close the page and move on to the next auction.

We can all have unpleasant experiences from time to time on eBay and it’s not nice if you get scammed but don’t take it out on the rest of the eBay community. I would suggest you browse your listings and take a good look at your terms and conditions and if you have any negativity in your auctions have a serious think about changing them as all you are doing is harming your own sales.

All you need to do is keep your terms simple and easy to understand and you will have more sales, guaranteed.

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Ebay Ebook Success: How to Become a PowerSeller

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

PowerSeller status is something that many eBay sellers strive to achieve, but few actually manage. With PowerSeller status you gain recognition, respect, and trust which indirectly lead to increased sales. In this article I outline the methods I feel are the best in order to become a PowerSeller.

To qualify for PowerSeller status you have to meet eBay’s requirements which are:

1. To uphold the eBay community values, including honesty, timeliness and mutual respect.

2. To sell on average a minimum of £750 (or the exchange rate equivalent) or 100 items per month, for three consecutive months. In order to qualify you need to sell at least 4 items per month.

3. To achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive.

4. To have been an active member for 90 days.

5. To have an account in good financial standing.

6. To not violate any severe policies in a 60-day period.

7. To not violate three or more of any eBay policies in a 60-day period.

8. To maintain a minimum of four average monthly listings for the past three months.

Now looking at the above list, I feel points 2, 3, and 8 are the most significant. Points 1, 5, 6, and 7 can be achieved largely by just reviewing and following eBay’s rules. Point 4 is beyond your control, you simply have to accept that the minimum period (from registration wth eBay) that you can become a PowerSeller within is 90 days. However, points 2, 3, and 8 are fully within your control and these are the true keys to becoming an eBay PowerSeller.

I will begin with point 2, which states that you must meet either eBay’s Sales Value requirements or eBay’s Sales Volume requirements. In my opinion meeting the Sales Volume requirements is much more achievable than meeting the Sales Value requirements, especially when you are just starting out. As it states above, if you achieve sales in excess of 100 units for three months, then you will become a PowerSeller. Now 100 sales per month may sound a lot for a first time ebook seller, but if you break it down into daily sales then it is only 3-4 sales per day, a much more achievable target. If you run 10 auctions per day and 35% of these are successful then you will be selling enough to qualify for PowerSeller status. If 10 auctions does not bring you the required sales then keep experimenting till you discover the right amount of auctions to achieve 3-4 sales per day.

By following the above instructions you will also fulfill eBay’s minimum monthly listing requirement (point 8). That just leaves point 3, which outlines eBay’s feedback requirements for becoming a PowerSeller. If you are selling 3-4 items per day (as I outline above) then in three months you will have made approximately 300 sales. From these 300 sales you can potentially receive 300 positive feedback ratings. So long as you maintain a good level of customer service, describe your ebooks accurately within your listings, delivery your ebooks quickly, and promptly respond to customer queries, then you should receive at least 98% positive feedback from these 300 sales.

So to summarise if you want to become an eBay PowerSeller then:

· Sign up as an eBay User:- If you haven’t signed up for a basic eBay account then Click Here to do so.

· Sign up as an eBay Seller:- Once you have a basic eBay account you then need to sign up as a seller which you can do so by Clicking Here.

· Review and Follow eBay’s Rules:- In order to become a PowerSeller you must be in good standing with eBay. To achieve this you must follow eBay’s Rules and Policies which you can view by Clicking Here.

· Sell 3-4 Ebooks per Day:- Start by listing 10 ebook auctions per day and measure how many are successful. Through testing you can determine how many auctions you need to run in order to generate 3-4 sales per day.

· Maintain a Good Level of Customer Service:- Deliver your ebooks promptly, respond to customer queries quickly, describe your ebooks accurately etc, and you should have no trouble gaining at least 98%+ positive feedback.

· Keep following the above steps for 90 days:- Do the above and you will be a PowerSeller within 90 days, with at least 300 sales to your name, and at least 300 positive feedbacks.

And that’s all there is to it. By following eBay’s rules, selling 3-4 items per day, and being good to your customers, then you can become a PowerSeller in as little as 90 days from now. Take action today and three months from now you could be rewarded with eBay PowerSeller status.

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The Worst eBay Selling Strategies… Ever? Part Two

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

There has been a lot of buzz and hype in recent years relating to selling on eBay. It is true to say that there are people successfully selling on eBay and are able to give up their boring, stressful day-jobs. However there are considerably more people who are not successful.

In Part One of “The Worst eBay Selling Strategies… Ever?” I told you about researching your products and the importance of quality photographs. Now in Part Two I will be advising you on staring bids, Buy it Now, why you need to find competitively-priced sources of goods plus warning you of the risks of over-diversifying.

Starting bid too low

It is cheaper to list your item at 99p than it is £20, so I got into the trap of listing everything at 99p. The problem is that it can take a lot of frenzied bidding to get the closing price you want and more often than not I was disappointed.

I noticed another seller starting the bid at what they were looking for with the addition of a Buy it Now price which was quite a bit higher. What this does is sets a perceived value in the customers mind. If you have the bidding start at £25 with a Buy it Now price of £30, then it will look like the lower price is discounted and that they are getting a good deal. Some people are impatient or don’t want to get involved in a bidding war so they simply buy now. I love it when that happens, although sometimes I feel a little guilty as they could have bought it much cheaper elsewhere.

The key is to experiment and take note of the closing prices. Each product is different so you should ultimately decide for yourself.

Paying too much for your goods.

Depending on what niche market you are selling in, eBay can be very competitive. A lot of customers on eBay shop around for the best deals before buying so you need to have a competitive edge. What sellers are now doing is importing from abroad, especially China. This means you are cutting out the middle-man so can pass the savings onto you customer.

Don’t I need to buy in bulk?

It depends on what supplier you are dealing with. I have seen a lot of jewellery manufacturers asking you to buy a minimum of 120 of each item. This is a massive risk when you are just starting out. However the industry in China is highly competitive so it should be easy enough to find a manufacturer who is willing to sell you much lower quantities in hope you will spend more in the future. I know of some very good resources which I will tell you about later.

Diamond Rings and Power Tools.

It is always a good idea to diversify with the products you sell, however it looks very bad if you just have one shop to sell them all in. If you have a shop selling jewellery, then by all means branch out into other fashion accessories such as handbags and scarves. Just don’t list power tools, computers and wheelchairs as well, otherwise you could end up looking like a cheap market stall.

Also be aware of combining differently priced goods together. I really don’t think having an £8,000 diamond engagement ring listed next to a £2.99 plastic necklace gives a good impression.

Try and get into the mind of your customer. If you are selling expensive jewellery, what else will your customer need? Jewellery cleaner and a jewellery box perhaps? Always try and up-sell by letting your customers know of complimentary products in your store.

I can’t think of a better way to start your own business than on eBay. Whether you are just looking for a part-time job or want to build up a massive company with warehouses and staff, eBay provides the tools you require. With other businesses you have to spend a lot of time and money advertising your goods whereas eBay takes care of this and has an already massive customer base all over the world. Just be careful and make sure you do your research. Remember this, if you fail to prepare, you should be prepared to fail.

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