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UK
The
newsletter for buyers and bidders on
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This latest
issue is now also available online at
http://www.workwinners.com/newsletter/040225.htm
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In This
Issue
1. Hints
and Tips
2. The
Figures Speak for Themselves
3. What are
the Best Items to Sell on eBay?
4. I've
Never Seen Anyone Run so Fast
5.
Someone's auctioning what? Unusual items currently available
6. Finally
7. My
Products Catalogue
=============================
Inspirational
quote of the day
"We
tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of
getting
something we don't have, but rather of recognising and
appreciating what we do have."
Frederick Koenig
=============================
Brian
McGregor speaking - you receive the
Newsletter
because you have bought from me or enquired about my
auction
items on eBay or QXL.
If you do
not want to receive this newsletter, the only one
dedicated
to eBay
email to
remove@workwinners.com
=============================
1. Hints
and Tips
Here are
some useful hints and tips for
sellers.
a) If
you're an avid buyer on eBay, you will know part of the
excitement
of auctions is monitoring how your bidding is going on
items you
desperately want to buy. Unfortunately, you will
sometimes
find you miss out at the last minute when another
bidder swoops
and makes the winning bid with seconds to go on the
auction.
The best way to prevent this is to have auction sniping
software
to assist you. This is software which automatically
makes
bids on items and within parameters you specify, right up
to the last
second of the auction.
Auction
sniping software can be expensive. Today, I can bring to
your
attention an auction sniping package which doesn't cost you
a penny.
You can find out all about it here:
b) Instead
of just making money for eBay, now you can get some
back! I'm
talking about affiliate fees. eBay.co.uk has recently
re-introduced an affiliation scheme whereby you receive $8 for
introducing
new members to eBay. So, if you have a web site, or
run a
newsletter, and you have a link to eBay.co.uk, you will
receive
an affiliation payment from eBay of $8 per new member.
I'm sorry
to quote this in dollars, but that is how it appears on
eBay.co.uk.
You can find out more about this here:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/affiliate/index.html?ssPageName=Affiliates_88x31
c) This
isn't really a tip - more an observation, and a small
gripe.
From
characters
with which to create their auction titles. As you may
know, we
in dear old blighty are still limited to 45 precious
characters
to generate our auction titles. This would just about
be
acceptable if the guys with 55 characters to play with could
sell
their items in competition only with other people who also
have 55
characters. But, eBay being a global auction market
place,
this isn't the case. If you're in eBay.co.uk, and you do a
search
which brings back items available to the
could get
back eBay.com auctions listed in all their glory with
55 character
titles. This clearly isn't fair. Why is that I hear
you ask?
Well, 79
million times each day, eBayer's key words into
eBay's
standard
search box. The eBay system takes those words and
matches
them against auction titles. Where the words match, eBay
includes
that auction in the search return list. Once the auction
is in the
search return list, it has at least a chance of being
clicked
through by a prospective buyer. If an auction is not
returned
in the search return list it has no chance of succeeding
with that
searcher. Clearly having an auction with 55 characters
of title
gives you a better chance of matching searched terms
than an
auction with 45 characters. If my maths are right, you
have a
22.2% advantage!
Am I being
unreasonable? I hope not. In addition to having a
better
chance of being returned in a search list, these sellers
also have
more characters in which to influence the buyer to
click
through to the auction description page.
I for one
have emailed eBay.co.uk and asked for their reaction to
this, and
to know what plans if any they have to level the
playing
field.
Of course,
if you're devious and your auction items are relevant
to the
and
password, and set up an auction from there. In this way you
get those
55 characters of title. This won't work for me, as most
of my
items are only for
relevant
to you.
d) Not a
week goes by that I don't get a query about PayPal.
If
you have
a problem with PayPal, I hope you know you can get in
touch
with them by phone! Here is their UK Customer Service
number
0870 7307191. Put it into your telephone number book now.
You never
know when you might need it!
Just when
I'm on about PayPal, I'll tell you what annoys me.
I've
lost
count of the number of emails they've trickle fed me telling
me about
their "Europeanisation", and that they've
now opened a
better
reflect the fact we're PayPal members in the
wish I'd
saved one of those emails so I could quote from it!
However,
it's great to know that being a British PayPal member
counts
for so much when you try to log onto PayPal at
(GMT), only
to find that "The PayPal website is temporarily
unavailable
due to maintenance. It will be available again at
approximately
Ah well,
intention good - delivery cr**, er...
not so good!
=============================
2. The
Figures Speak for Themselves
One of
questions I am most often asked is, "what is the
best
ending
time for an eBay auction?".
Our friends
at AuctionBytes conduct an annual survey of eBay
sellers
about this very question. And, for the fifth time in a
row, the
most popular response was Sunday evening.
The survey
found that the best day to end an auction was Sunday.
The next
most popular days were Monday, and then Saturday and
Thursday equally.
In terms of
the best time to end an auction, this was between
to
My own
views concur to a degree with the respondents of this
survey,
however, when I have multiple similar items to sell I
also to
stagger auctions so that they appear regularly in front
of
searchers at different days and times during the week.
If you want
to see the full results of this useful survey, you'll
find it
all here:
http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abu/y204/m02/abu0113/s04
=============================
3. What are
the Best Items to Sell on eBay?
And now,
another of the most asked question I get, "What are the
best
products to sell on eBay?"
The truth
is that virtually anything will sell on eBay, but it
must
first of all be realised that nothing can be guaranteed -
eBay is
after all an open market place.
Here are
some pointers which will lead you in the direction of
finding
the right type of products for you to sell:
a) Before
we talk about actual products, at all times try and
appear as
if you know about what you're selling. You will look
more
professional as a seller, and sell more if you give good,
authoritative auction descriptions. This is just another way of
saying
ideally you should be selling things about which you have
knowledge
- indeed a hobby can be the basis of a successful
selling
business on eBay.
b) Some
items are much easier to mail than others. So, think
about
small, lightweight items - these are easier to store, pack
and post.
Jewellery fits the bill neatly.
c) The
items need to be robust enough to survive the handling
they will
get in the mail service. This also means they must be
able to
be well packaged. (Dropshipping is an alternative
here,
where
someone else has the responsibility for packing and
posting.)
d) Consider
the debate between volume and value. Some items
require
volume sales to make reasonable profits. At the other end
of the
scale, expensive items could require a high investment but
may
return acceptable profits on low volumes of sales. You can
see this
better perhaps with an example - consider DVDs and cars.
Selling
DVDs on eBay is now a highly competitive market, often
with
narrow profit margins per item. You can make good money
selling
DVDs, particularly in specialist niche markets, but it
will pay
to plan along the volume route. By contrast, if you
could
sell one car per week with say £500 profit each time, this
may be
where you want to be. But I've only got one car, how can I
make a
business out of selling one car? Easy, go and visit your
nearest
car dealer, preferably one who sells above average
vehicles
or even classic cars, and offer to put one of those cars
in front
of 5.6 million
much he
wants for the car, and then put it on eBay with a Reserve
Price of
his figure, plus your profit! Go and have a look at eBay
motors
and see what buying traffic is generated there!
One final tip. Information and computer products are also good to
sell on
eBay. Why is this? Because everyone looking on eBay has
automatically qualified themselves in as a prospect for both of
these
types of products. They're using a computer to access eBay,
and
they're also using the information superhighway.
=============================
4. I've
Never Seen Anyone Run so Fast
A friend of
mine is a jeweller. I mean a proper jeweller, a
craftsman.
He specialises in old pieces. No, I'm not referring to
his wife
- she's lovely - I mean he is an expert in early 20th
century
jewellery. Anyway, he asked recently if I would mind as a
favour
trying to sell a piece of his on eBay, just as a trial. I
should
explain he is not computer literate at all. He'd read
about
eBay in a jewellery trade magazine, and he knew I was
somehow
involved with it so he just wanted to see if it could
work for him.
So I
agreed, and we put up for auction a beautiful amethyst and
diamond
necklace. To give you an idea of the value, I can tell
you the
Reserve Price was over £2,000.
I kept an
eye on the auction, and we were getting superb viewing
figures.
And then it happened....
I received
this email:
Hello!
I'm very
interested in buying your Item and I would like to know
if you
can ship it to
selling
price including shipping costs. Thanks and looking
forward
in doing business with you.
Regards.
And I replied ........
Hi
Yes, I
would ship to
shipping,
is £xxxx.
Regards
And he
replies (I know it's a he, as he signs this email Luigi)......
Hello
Thanks for
your fast answer. I will give you £xxxx (overnight
shipping
by FedEx, UPS or DHL included). I'll use escrow, and I
am
registered with http://www.ebso-trader.com. Please register
yourself
with them and let's start the transaction. I will cover
the
escrow fees.
Thanks,
Luigi.
And then I
did a sneaky thing. I decided to check out
http://www.ebso-trader.com,
the escrow company.
Why did I
want to do this? Well, just to come out of the story
for a
second. If you haven't heard of escrow services before,
they are
recommended to be used on high value items which are
bought
and sold via internet auctions. The escrow company is like
a middle
man. The buyer sends his money to the escrow company,
who then
informs the seller that the payment has been safely
received.
So, the seller despatches the good to the buyer, for
them to
examine. The buyer receives the goods and tells the
escrow
company they're fine, you can release the payment now to
the
seller. The seller is sent the payment held by the escrow
company,
minus their fee.
This all
works very well - in theory. The problem is that about
90% of
escrow companies on the internet are fraudulent. Yes, you
read that
figure correctly - 90% !!! I know this from being aware
of a guy
called Paul Moreau. He runs a special website under the
pseudonym
Fenton.Smith
You can
check it out for yourself here:
http://sos4auctions.com/escrow/escrow.asp
However, as
I wanted to know the position quickly, I decided to
investigate
http://www.ebso-trader.com myself. I'll tell you how
I did it
later, but it turned out that they were a fraudulent
outfit.
The only escrow site which
So, back to
the story....
If you
remember, Luigi was in
agreed a
price, and he wanted to use his suggested escrow
company.
I reply ......
Hi Luigi
Great. I
use http://www.escrow.com. Let me know
when you have
registered
with them, and I'll set up the transaction.
Regards
And guess
what? Since then, I've hearda narthing
froma Luigi!
Surprisa,
surprisa!
If you have
a buyer who suggests you use their preferred escrow
organisation, be very wary. You could find yourself without your
item and
without any money.
These
escrow fraudsters are nothing if not fair - they treat
everyone
equally. So if you're a buyer, and your seller suggest
you use
their escrow organisation, Guess what? You'll find
yourself
losing your money, and you'll never see the item you're
supposed
to have bought.
Incidentally,
how did I check out http://www.esbo-trader.com?
Here's a
useful checklist:
1. Their
site says they've been in business since 2001 (or some
other
date indicating they have been in operation several years)
but the
domain name was registered a couple of weeks ago.
2. When you
begin to register, they don't take you to an SSL
secure
site to do it. By that I mean no little padlock appears at
the
bottom of the screen, which you will always find on a
legitimate
escrow web site. The reason the fraudsters don't have
a secure
site service, is that it costs money!
3. Most
fraudulent escrow sites copy pages and pages of
information
from genuine escrow sites, and in particular
http://www.escrow.com. And in fact
http://www.ebso-trader.com
claimed
their escrow services are provided by Internet Escrow
Services
(IES), and IES can be verified to be an independent
escrow
company licensed in
Services
(IES) is a wholly owned subsidiary of escrow.com and
only provides
escrow services to escrow.com.
4. There
was no phone number or address on the website, which is
another
indicator of a potentially fraudulent escrow company.
5. Poor
grammar and/or spelling is also a giveaway.
For more
details on detecting fraudulent escrow companies take a
look at
the excellent advice given here http://www.escrow.com
Better
still, try and avoid using escrow at all!
=============================
5.
Someone's auctioning what?
Unusual
items currently available
Nothing
surprises me when it comes to internet auctions. Amuse
yourself
with some of these beauties ...
If you're
copying and pasting the links, just make sure you get
the whole
address into your browser.
What's your
maths like? Do you want to count, but find it
difficult
to go 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 etc? Well, this is the device for
you.
It'll either intrigue you, or send you to sleep.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990364567&category=324
Curiosity
got the better of me. I just had to find out what a
gimp was.
Be warned, you might regret it too!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990345677&category=324
I suppose
this is a sign of the times. No doubt we'll hear about
this
auction on TV and radio soon!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990343765&category=324
Just check
the maths out on this one for me please - 20, plus 20,
plus 5,
equals ??
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990248888&category=324
Please
don't look at this auction if you are easily offended. You
have been
warned!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2990678518&category=324
Disclaimer
- I have no association with any of the sellers of the
above
items.
=============================
6. Finally
If you are
changing email addresses soon please put a note on
your
calendar to send a blank email to:
newsletter@workwinners.com
after you
get your new email address.
I don't
want to lose touch with you!
If a friend
sent you this newsletter, you need to send a blank
email to:
newsletter@workwinners.com
That way
you can get your own copy next time!
Increasingly,
email filters are preventing genuine email
communications such as this newsletter from reaching subscribers.
If you use
any method of checking on your email, and you wish to
continue
receiving the newsletter you may need to include my
email
address in your safe list, whitelist or address book.
Thank you
for continuing to take my newsletter - I hope it gives
you as
much enjoyment to read, as it does me to write.
Regards
Brian
McGregor
Editor -
"
====================================
7. My
Products Catalogue
All the
following are original products, services and
opportunities written and created by myself.
"The
eBay Formula"
How to sell
successfully on
time.
http://www.workwinners.com/ebf/nloffer.htm
NB Save £5
with this Special Offer price for Newsletter readers.
"
Nine genuine
http://www.workwinners.com/UK_Dropshipping.htm
"eBay Keyword Selling Service"
The top 4
buyer keywords by eBay category, emailed weekly to
subscribers.
"Sourcing
DVDs, CDs and Videos at Trade Prices"
Where and
how to buy DVDs, CDs and Videos at trade prices, and
how to
sell for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/DVD_CD_Video_at_Trade_Prices.htm
"Sourcing
and Selling Electrical Products for Big Profits"
Where and
how to buy Widescreen TVs, DVD players and VCR players
at trade
prices, and how to sell for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/Electrical_wholesale.htm
"Sourcing Maternity Clothing and Baby
Needs at Trade Prices"
Where and how to buy at trade prices.
http://www.workwinners.com/Maternity_baby_nursery_at_Trade_Prices.htm
"Sourcing
and Selling Jewellery for Big Profits"
Where and
how to buy jewellery at trade prices, and how to sell
for
profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/Jewellery_wholesale.htm
"Sourcing
Mobile Phone Accessories at Trade Prices"
Where and
how to buy mobile phone accessories at trade prices,
and how
to sell for profit.
http://www.workwinners.com/Mobile_Phone_Accessories_wholesale.htm
"The
Streetwise Buyer's Guide to Radar Detectors"
Don't buy a
Radar Detector system until you read this.
http://www.workwinners.com/Streetwise_Radar_Detectors.htm
Oil
Painting Marketing Business
Become my
partner in this pleasant money-making venture
http://www.workwinners.com/oil_paintings.htm
Reseller
Programme - Limited number of places available
Join my
Reseller scheme and sell my eBooks and Special
Reports for profit
http://www.workwinners.com/rs15.htm
See the
whole catalogue here: http://www.workwinners.com
=============================
"
In each
issue you'll get ideas on how to make the most of buying
and
selling on eBay sites from a
If you
would like to unsubscribe please use the link at the
bottom of
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Finally, be
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ever!
=============================
Copyright
Information
Copyright © 2006 Brian McGregor. All rights reserved.
No part of
this newsletter may be copied or published without
prior
permission, but do please forward it to your friends and
colleagues
as long as you keep it in its entirety. Brian
McGregor,
as publisher, disclaims any liability for the use of
any
information contained herein. We further claim no
responsibility for the legality or accuracy of any advertisements
or
articles. It is the reader's responsibility to practice due
diligence
in any product or service acquired based on information
contained
in this newsletter.
To
unsubscribe, send a blank email to remove@workwinners.com
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