In: my ebay
25 Jun 2009The great thing about the About Me page is that it’s a page with an unchanging URL that always lists your current auctions. When you want to direct other users to your eBay auctions, it’s easier to direct them to your About Me page than it is to enter the individual URLs for all your item listing pages.
The address for your About Me page is shown in the address box of your web browser. The address is typically in the form of members.ebay.com/aboutme/userid/; just replace userid with your own user ID and you should have the URL.
The About Me page is also a good way for other eBay users to get to know you especially those who are bidding in your auctions, or hosting auctions in which you’re bidding. Be sure to include text that positions you as a reputable eBay citizen and not some goofball flake who’s likely to cause trouble.
You can then insert this URL into your personal web page, your email signature, or any other item you can think of. It’s a great way to publicize your ongoing eBay activity!
In: my ebay
20 Jun 2009If you buy or sell a lot of items on eBay, wouldn’t it be nice to have a web page you could show to other users? You know, a page that would tell all those buyers and sellers you deal with all about yourself and the items you have for sale?
Well, eBay lets you create such a page. It’s called About Me.
eBay’s About Me page is a personal web page just for you. It’s a great way to personalize the eBay experience, tell a little about yourself, and inspire bidder trust. It’s also easy to do and no HTML coding necessary.
You can view any user’s About Me page by clicking the Me icon next to his or her user name on any item listing page. (If no icon is displayed, that user doesn’t have an About Me page.) You can also search for other users’ About Me pages by clicking the Advanced Search link at the top of eBay’s home page and using the Find a Member search option.
You don’t have to be a web programmer to create your own About Me page. All you have to do is click a few options and fill in some blanks, and you’re ready to go.
Follow these steps:
You’ll now see a confirmation page, which includes a link to your new About Me page. Click this link to view your new page.
In: my ebay
15 Jun 2009Each of the My eBay views can be personalized according to your personal tastes. Let’s take a quick look at these common view management features.
The information in any My eBay list (what eBay calls an information table) can be sorted by any individual column. Just click the column header to sort by that column.
You can also filter the listings presented in most tables to cut down on information overload. At the top of each information table is a series of Show links; click a link to filter the information accordingly. For example, in the Items I’ve Won table (in the All Buying view), you can choose to show All items, or just those items Awaiting Payment or Awaiting Feedback.
If you don’t need to see all possible information for specific listings, My eBay lets you customize which columns are displayed for each individual information table. Just click the Customize link above the information table, and then select which columns you want to see.
For most My eBay information tables, you can select how many days’ worth of listings you want to display; you can display up to 60 days’ worth of items if you want. Just pull down the Period list at the top of a given information table and make a new selection.
Every now and then you might have an auction that requires additional action on your part, or somehow needs further annotation. Fortunately, My eBay lets you add electronic “sticky notes” to any auction listing. Just check the option box next to a particular listing and then click the Add Note button; add your comments into the resulting text box.
The information presented in My eBay looks great onscreen but can be a little much if you need a hard copy. Fortunately, My eBay lets you print a simplified, printer-friendly version of any information table. All you have to do is click the Print link next to any section of any view page. For example, to print a list of auctions you’ve won, go to the All Buying view and click the Print link at the top of the Items I’ve Won section.
In: my ebay
10 Jun 2009The All Favorites page, shown in, is where you can access your most-used categories, searches, and sellers. There are three lists on this page:
You can add items to your favorites by clicking the Add links to the right of each listAdd New Search, Add New Seller or Store, and Add New Category. From there, follow the onscreen instructions to add the items you want to appear on the All Favorites page in the future.
The My Account page, shown in, is where you can manage your eBay seller’s account and leave feedback about specific transactions.
The My Account Summary list, at the top of the page, displays your last eBay invoice total, any payments and credits made since your last invoice, and any fees accessed since your last invoice. There’s also a section that lets you pay your eBay fees via PayPal.
The My Account page is particularly useful because it contains direct links to some of eBay’s normally well-hidden customer service features, including fees and credits, payment terms, credit card setup, credit requests, and refunds. It’s easier to click these services here than to hunt them down on eBay’s Site Map page.
In: Using eBay
30 May 2009The My Summary view, is the default view when you access My eBay. It consists of several distinct sections:
One other nice thing about the My Summary view is that you can customize it to display as much or as little information as you wish. Just click the Customize Summary link near the top of the page to remove sections you don’t use often.
In: eBay Community
25 May 2009When you have questions or problems with your eBay auctions, You can get tons of help from other eBay users, via eBay’s community discussion boards. Just click the Community link on the eBay Navigation Bar (or go directly to hub.ebay.com/community).
Click the Discussion Boards link to see all the different boards available.
eBay offers discussion boards for individual product categories, as well as more general boards for buying, selling, and creating auction listings. The users who frequent these boards are extraordinarily helpful, and can answer just about any question you pose.
As helpful as the board members are, they probably can’t answer all the questions you might have. In particular, don’t expect these users to reveal their personal buying/selling secrets, merchandise suppliers, or other proprietary information. So be realistic about the help you can getand make sure you thank those who answer your questions!
In: Video
20 May 2009Another Video from the eBay Tutorials Video Series: Basics of eBay Video
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KrDhUimUYY[/youtube]
In: Tips
19 May 2009Here it is – part 4 of the tips for closing more auctions on eBay:
Remember that you’re dealing with another human being, someone who has feelings that can be hurt. A little bit of common courtesy goes a long way. Say please and thank you, be understanding and tolerant, and treat your trading partner in the same way you’d like to be treated. Follow the golden rule; do unto other auction traders as you would have them do unto you.
Ship promptly after you’ve received payment (and after the check has cleared). Nobody likes to wait too long for something they’ve paid forand you don’t want to gain a reputation as a slow shipper.
If you didn’t sell your item the first time, try it again. eBay lets you relist unsold items at no additional listing charge; even if you have to pay again, you still want to sell the item, right? But remember that if it didn’t sell the first time, there was probably a reason why. Was your asking price too high? Was your description too vague? Was the title too boring? Should you have included a picture or used HTML to spice up the listing? Whatever you change, change something to increase your chances of selling your item the second time around.
When your high bidder does a vanishing act, file an Unpaid Item Dispute and request a refund of the auction’s final value fee. There’s no sense paying eBay for something you didn’t get paid for!
If you run up against a nonpaying bidder, you can try to sell the now-unsold item to the next highest bidder, if he or she is still interested. It never hurts to ask, in any case; just use eBay’s Second Chance Offer feature and see whether the bidder bites.
Although many sellers take a hardball attitude and refuse any discussion of refunds, I recommend a more customer-friendly approach. When I have a dissatisfied buyer, I offer a full refund.
Yeah, some buyers might try to take advantage of you, but most are honest. So if you have a buyer with a complaint, you can generally assume that it’s a legitimate beef. You’ll get better feedbackand sleep easier at nightif you have the customer return the item and refund the purchase price. It’s the right thing to do!
If you choose not to offer a “satisfaction guaranteed” policy, be sure to state that “all sales are final” in your item listing. (Alternatively, you can say that your item is “sold as-is” or that there are “no returns.”)
One of the easiest ways to increase the number of bids in your auction is to accept payment via credit card. Unless you’re a real business with a merchant bank account, this means signing up for PayPalwhich is extremely easy to do.
The reality is that many buyers prefer to pay by check. That’s okay, as long as you wait a good 10 business days for the check to clear. Don’t be stupid and ship an item before the check proves goodyou’re bound to get burned!
This book isn’t meant to offer tax advice (and you’d be foolish to consult me for such!), but larger eBay sellers need to be aware of the tax issue. In general, if you’re an individual who classifies as a casual eBay seller, you probably don’t have to worry about collecting sales taxes or reporting taxable income. However, if you’re a business or an individual at the power seller level, the Internal Revenue Service will want their share. The best advice here is that no matter what level your eBay sales, you should consult your accountant or a similar tax expertand never, never try to fool Uncle Sam.
In: Tips
9 May 2009Here it is – part 3 of the tips for closing more auctions on eBay:
For whatever reason, eBay traffic slows way down in the summertime. (Lots of potential buyers are on vacation, and even more are outside enjoying the sunshine.) If you want to maximize your bids, you’ll get a higher price when fall and winter come along.
Let people outside eBay know about your auction. Mention your auction in relevant newsgroups and mailing lists, feature it on your personal website, and send emails about it to all your friends. Include your item listing’s URL in everything you do so that anyone interested can click the link to view your auction. Do anything you can think of to draw traffic to your listingand thus increase your chances of selling it.
Don’t let your auction activity get away from you. Use My eBay to look at all your auctions daily, or use auction management software to track your auctions automatically.
You can also use My eBay to track your favorite auction categories, as well as your feedback ratings and account status. Personalize your My eBay page the way you like and then bookmark it; it’s a great home page for the heavy auction trader.
My eBay is great for tracking your auctions, but when it comes to managing your end-of-auction activities, consider subscribing to eBay Selling Manager. For just $4.99 per month you get assistance in sending emails, printing invoices and packing slips, and leaving feedback. It’s great if you run a lot of auctions simultaneously.
Know that many bidders wait until the very last minute to place a bid. (It’s called sniping, and it really works.) If you cancel an auction early, you’ll miss out on the bulk of the potential bids. So don’t cancel!
You don’t have to sell to just anybody. You can stipulate that you won’t sell to bidders with negative feedback or with feedback ratings below a certain level. If you receive bids from these potential deadbeats, cancel them. If the deadbeats continue to bid (after being warned off via email by you), block their bids. You want to sell to someone who will actually consummate the transaction and send you payment; bidders with negative feedback are more likely to leave you high and dry.
When figuring your shipping and handling costs, be sure to factor in all your costsnot just the shipping itself, but also the cost of the packaging, the labels, and the packing tape. Don’t gouge your buyer (this isn’t meant to be a profit center), but don’t cheat yourself, either. If actual shipping costs are $3.50, think about charging the buyer $4 to cover your additional costs. And, when you’re figuring the item’s shipping weight, remember that you don’t just ship the itemyou also ship the box and all cushioning materials. These items have weight and must be included when you’re weighing your item for shipment. (Those free Priority Mail boxes are especially heavyand can easily increase your cost of shipping.)
If you’re selling a high-priced item, consider offering the buyer the option of using an escrow service. It’s a good deal for you; the buyer pays for the service (in the neighborhood of 5%, typically), it provides a level of peace of mind for the buyer, and it lets you accept credit card payments that you might otherwise not accept.
In case something goes south, it helps to have good records of all aspects of your transaction. Print copies of the confirmation email, plus all email between you and the buyer. Be sure to write down the buyer’s user ID, email address, and physical address. If the transaction is ever disputed, you’ll have all the backup you need to plead your case.
When your auction ends, get in touch with the high bidder immediately. Don’t wait until the next day; send your post-auction email within minutes of the auction close. Remember, the faster you notify the high bidder, the faster you’ll get paid.
And here’s something the best sellers do. Email the buyer again when you receive payment and once more when you’re ready to ship the item. The more everyone knows, the fewer surprises there are.
Also, remember that not everyone reads his or her email daily, so don’t expect an immediate response. Still, if you don’t receive a response, send another email. If you’re at all concerned at any point, get the buyer’s phone number or physical address from the auction site and call or write him. A good phone conversation can clear up a wealth of misunderstandings.
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