Brian McGregor's |
Back to Newsletter Index
=============================
***
The newsletter for
Issue 0501
=================================
This newsletter is written
by and for eBay and QXL users in the
=================================
1. QXL re-introduce listing fees
2. Paying for your winning bids
3. Update on dropshipping
4. Coming soon .....
5. Someone's auctioning WHAT???? Unusual
items currently available.
6. Finally ......
=================================
Brian McGregor speaking -
you receive the UK Internet Auction
Users Newsletter because you
have bought from me or enquired
about my auction items on
eBay or QXL.
I have no wish to encourage
S-P*A-M, so if you do not want to
receive this newsletter, the
only one dedicated to
sellers, you can unsubscribe
by sending a blank email to
=================================
Inspirational quote of the
day
"Never let your
memories be greater than your dreams."
Doug Ivester (President of
Coca Cola)
=================================
1. QXL re-introduce listing fees
Regulars might recall in a
recent newsletter I compared QXL and
eBay. I suggested that QXL
was great place to test any items you
wanted to sell as it was free
to list on QXL. Well, that's now
changed, it WAS free to list
on QXL. They re-introduced listing
fees on 13th May.
The listing fees appear to
have been pitched at one third of the
price of listing on eBay.
QXL have also tried to
sweeten the pill by reducing the cost of
promotions ie bold titles,
highlighted titles etc.
This is QXL's explanation of
why they have re-introduced listing
fees:-
"Since listing fees
were removed in April 2002 there has been a
large increase in the number
of "Spam" auctions listed on the
site many of these auctions
never sell due to being undesirable
products, priced too high or
simply not described in full or
illustrated with a good
image.
The number of these Spam
auctions mean that appealing auctions
listed by serious sellers
can be buried or hard for buyers to
find. This means that the
number of auctions selling on the site
compared to the number of
auctions actually listed is relatively
low.
Our aim is to improve this
so that the number of auctions selling
relative to the auctions
listed on the site increases
dramatically, so that
serious sellers sell more of their auctions
quicker.
Experience from other QXL
markets has shown that the
implementation of listing
fees can result in an increase in
successful auctions so that
over 1 in 3 auctions that are listed
sell. We know that this
increase will really benefit serious
sellers."
Speaking personally, as both
a buyer and a seller, I approve of
QXL's move. How about you?
=================================
2. Paying for your winning bids
You've won the auction on
eBay or QXL, and you want your item
yesterday! Credit/Debit card
payment would save time, but your
seller only takes credit
cards via PayPal, Nochex or FastPay, and
you don't know exactly what
these are. Or if they're reliable and
secure?
I thought it might be useful
to run through the implications of
opening accounts with
PayPal, Nochex or FastPay.
First of all, what service
do they provide? Fundamentally, they
enable you to use your
credit/debit card to pay someone else an
amount of money. In the
context of auctions, they enable you to
pay for your winning bids
with a credit/debit card.
As a bidder and a buyer,
that is really all you need. (If you're
a seller, then there is a
little more to it and we'll cover that
later.)
If you only want to open an
account to buy i.e. pay for auction
wins, here is how the big
three compare:
PayPal - recommended by eBay
------
1. cost of setting up a
PayPal account to pay sellers - FREE
2. time taken to set up and
use a PayPal account - instant
3. cost of sending money to
another person - FREE
4. does the person you're
sending money to have to have a PayPal
account? - No, but they will
need to register with PayPal in
order to access the money
5. who runs PayPal? - owned
by eBay
Nochex
------
1. cost of setting up Nochex
account to pay sellers - FREE
2. time taken to set up and
use a Nochex account - a number of days,
due to verification process
3. cost of sending money to
another person - FREE
4. does the person you're
sending money to have to have a Nochex
account? - No, but they will
need to register with Nochex in
order to access the money
5. who runs Nochex? - Nochex
Limited is a company based in Leeds,
set up to enable people to
send money by email.
FastPay - recommended by QXL
-------
1. cost of setting up
FastPay account to pay sellers - FREE
2. time taken to set up and
use a FastPay account - instant
3. cost of sending money to
another person - 20p per payment
4. does the person you're
sending money to have to have a FastPay
account? - No, but they will
need to register with FastPay in
order to access the money
5. who runs FastPay? - owned
by NatWest
The above factors apply when
you're buying and you wish to send
money to your seller. If you
are only interested from the
perspective of a buyer,
please go to the next section of the
newsletter.
If you are a seller, read on
because there are additional charges
and other elements to be
aware of, as follows:
PayPal
------
1. Loading money into your
PayPal account - no charge
2. Commission payable when
receiving a PayPal payment from
someone - 3%-4%
3. Cost of withdrawing money
from your PayPal account to your
bank account - 50p per
withdrawal
Nochex
------
1. Loading money into your
Nochex account - 99p
2. Commission payable when
receiving a Nochex payment from
someone - None
3. Cost of withdrawing money
from your Nochex account to your
bank account - 1% or 99p per
withdrawal, whichever is the higher
FastPay
-------
1. Loading money into your
FastPay account - no charge
2. Commission payable when
receiving a FastPay payment from
someone- None
3. Cost of withdrawing money
from your FastPay account to your
bank account - None
Whether you are a buyer or
seller, if you would like to open any
of these accounts, go to the
relevant web address shown below:
To open a PayPal account, go
to:
http://www.workwinners.com/PayPal_application.htm
To open a Nochex account, go
to:
http://www.workwinners.com/Nochex_application.htm
To open a FastPay account,
go to
http://www.workwinners.com/FastPay_application.htm
=================================
3. Update on dropshipping
In an earlier edition of
this newsletter I introduced the topic
of dropshipping. If you're a
seller, you have probably heard of
this topic and may even have
researched it.
Just to recap, dropshipping
is a method of selling whereby the
seller never holds stock,
doesn't wrap items or mail them.
This is because all this
activity is undertaken by the dropship
company. A dropshipper is a
company who enable you, as a seller,
to offer their products to
your customers. You pay an agreed
trade price for each
product, which normally includes P&P cost.
When you get an order and
payment from your customer, you supply
the dropshipper with your
customer delivery details and the
agreed trade price payment.
The dropshipper packages and ships
the item to your customer.
To work with a dropshipper usually
entails a one-time
membership fee.
Dropshipping is massive
business in the USA, but is in its
infancy here. And it is
quite hard to find dropshipping
companies.
I have recently written a
Special Report giving contact details
of six UK dropshipping
companies. The report also provides offers
on membership fees.
If you're interested in
dropshipping, you can read about my
Report here:
http://www.workwinners.com/UK_Dropshipping.htm
=================================
4. Coming soon .....
I don't know about you, but
I'm fed up with seeing adverts for
manuals which purport to
show me how I can make my fortune on
eBay.
I have no objection to the
thought of making a fortune! But I am
put off when I realise the
book was written for American eBay
users.
As you know if you're a
regular reader, eBay.co.uk is
approximately one tenth of
the size of eBay.com using the normal
metrics like numbers of
auctions, numbers of members, numbers of
page views etc.
As we don't have the
volumes, to make real money from selling on
eBay.co.uk requires a
different approach.
For several months now I
have been working on a Guide which shows
UK sellers how to make
meaningful money consistently on
eBay.co.uk.
It will be ready very soon,
and I can promise you that readers of
this newsletter will find
out about it before anyone else.
================================
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 ...
Just type the auction number
into the Search Box on eBay/QXL.
-----
Looking for an ideal home.
Oh, and you're not prone to
seasickness? This might be
what you're looking for. How about a
US tugboat converted to a
houseboat. I kid you not. Take a look
at eBay auction 2322793498.
-----
Who needs a gold mine when
you can buy your very own gold nugget?
This auction is for a 1.7
pound gold nugget from California. Or
so it says. It's on QXL
auction 6493195.
-----
Fancy a flutter? I don't
mean on the horses. I mean on eBay. Here
is an intriguing auction for
.... I'm sorry, I can't tell you what
it is because its billed as
a "mystery item". Look for yourself,
it's on eBay 2929405176.
-----
Now this is what I call
initiative. The title of this auction is
"Viagra for your
Classic Car". If your car is limp and lifeless,
these pills might do the
trick. They're here on QXL item 6571156.
-----
Are you an engineer, or
interested in engineering? If you are,
you could get yourself 70%
ownership of a new invention which is
a fluid flow control device.
Interested? First bid is £100,000.
You can see it on eBay
2929250612
-----
Disclaimer - I have no
association with any of the sellers of the
above items.
================================
6. Finally .....
I have been using eBay and
QXL for around two years, initially
for buying, but very quickly
I started selling items. My current
feedback ratings are 544 on
eBay and 98 on QXL.
I have three User IDs, two
on eBay and one on QXL.
eBay User IDs: gbm0 and workwinners
QXL User ID: bptrad
If you use Advanced Search
on eBay or QXL, and key in my seller
ID, you can find out what I
am currently auctioning.
I also write Special
Reports, and you can find out about these at
my web site:
================================
And finally...
If you are changing email
addresses soon please put a note on
your calendar to send a
blank email to:
...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:
That way you can get your
own copy next time!
Regards
Brian McGregor
Editor - "UK Internet
Auction Users Newsletter"
==================== A note about S-P*A-M ====================
"UK Internet Auction
Users Newsletter" is published whenever
there is useful information
to share.
In each issue you'll get
ideas on how to make the most of buying
and selling on eBay and QXL
auction sites from a UK perspective.
If you would like to
unsubscribe please use the link at the
bottom of this email.
Finally, be assured that
your email address will NEVER be shared
or sold - EVER!
I can't stand spam, and
don't want to send any. Thank you for
joining and staying on this
mailing list.
=====================
Copyright Information
=====================
Copyright © 2003 Brian
McGregor. All rights reserved.
No part of this newsletter
may be copied or published without
prior permission, but please
feel free to forward this 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
readers 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
================================
Back to Newsletter Index
=============================
Home | Newsletter | Articles | Privacy Policy | Site Map | Testimonials | Contact
Workwinners Home | The eBay Formula | Keyword Pro | Free Sky TV | Dialup Broadband | Oil Paintings Business | Radar Detector Guide