The primary purpose of an eBay photograph is to enable a prospective buyer to easily make a detailed inspection of an item. Such an inspection
is one of the best ways a prospective buyer has to evaluate an item. Therefore, make it easy for prospective buyers. Provide clear and sharp photographs of the items you sell. Another purpose essential to eBay photography is to save you time, effort, and money in doing a necessary chore. You have other important things to do in running your eBay business. You need to spendtime taking photographs of items, but you don’t need to spend any more time than absolutely necessary. You need a workflow that’s efficient; that is, one that provides the highest quality for the least time, effort, and resources.

The post eBay Photography Tips first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

There are people who buy items that are accompanied by poor (or no) photographs on eBay, take good photographs of these items, and then resell the same items on eBay for a profit.

Of course, this isn’t cost-effective with $5 items. It’s much more likely to be successful with expensive items where the profits can be counted
not in dollars, but in tens of dollars, or even hundreds or thousands of dollars. But any way you look at it, this seems to me a shocking practice,
one that catches your attention. Don’t let this happen to you.

The post eBay Product Photography first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

• If you’re selling more than $1,000 per month, you may be eligible for eBay’s PowerSeller program.
• To turn your eBay hobby into a money-making profession, you need to start with some detailed business and financial planning.
• Most power sellers specialize in a specific type of itemand buy it in bulk.
• Successful eBay businesses keep detailed records and perform regular analyses of their auction activities.
• The more auctions you list, the more value you’ll get from third-party auction management sites and services.
• Opening an eBay Store is a good way to sell various fixed-price merchandise through the eBay system.
• When you start making a living from your eBay auctions, be sure to engage the services of a qualified accountantto manage your tax liabilities, if nothing else.

The post eBay Seller Tips first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Another benefit of selling merchandise in an eBay Store is that eBay will automatically advertise items from your store on the Bid Confirmation and Checkout Confirmation pages it displays to bidders in your regular auctions. These “merchandising placements” help you cross-sell additional merchandise to your auction customers.

Setting up your own online storefront is surprisingly easy to do, thanks to a service called eBay Stores. An eBay Store is an online storefront where professional eBay merchants market fixed-price goods, in addition to their traditional auction items. If you’re a heavy seller thinking of making the move into real honest-to-goodness retailing, eBay Stores is a relatively painless way to start.

You access the eBay Stores home page at stores.ebay.com

Do You Qualify?

Just about any seller can open an eBay Store. All you have to do is meet the following criteria:

• Be a registered eBay seller, with a credit card on file
• Have a feedback rating of 20 or more, or be ID verified
• Accept credit cards for all fixed-price sales

Given that accepting credit cards can mean using PayPal, you can see that you don’t actually have to be a big traditional retailer to open an eBay Store. Any individual meeting the requirements can also open an eBay Store, thus making eBay Stores a great way for entrepreneurial types to get started in retailing.

Why would you want to open your own eBay Store? Well, it certainly isn’t for casual sellers; you do have to set up your own web page, and keep the store filled with merchandise. But if you’re a high-volume seller who specializes in a single category (or even a handful of categories), there are benefits to opening your own store. These include being able to sell more merchandise (through your store) than you can otherwise list in auctions; being able to display a special eBay Stores icon next to all of your auction lists; and being able to generate repeat business from future sales to current purchasers.

eBay Stores are great for small merchants who don’t otherwise have a Web presence. They’re overkill for the casual seller, however and probably not worth the effort for larger retailers.

You also have to pay eBay for each item you list and each item you sell just as in a normal auction. The difference is you’re not listing for a (relatively short) auction; you’re listing for longer-term inventory.

eBay Stores also offers a full assortment of listing upgrades, just like the ones you can use in regular eBay auctions. These enhancements gallery, bold, highlight, and so on are priced according to the length of your listing. You can also offer multiples of the same item in Dutch auction format.

Setting Up Your eBay Store

Opening your own eBay store is as easy as clicking through eBay’s setup pages. There’s nothing overly complex involved; you’ll need to create your store, customize your pages (otherwise known as your virtual storefront), and list the items you want to sell. Just follow the onscreen instructions, and you’ll have your own store up and running in just a few minutes.

When you’re ready to set up your store, go to the eBay Stores home page and click the Open a Store button. When you accept the user agreement, the store creation process begins. On seceding pages you’ll be asked to choose a store theme, enter a store name and description, provide a logo (or choose from supplied clip-art), and then choose a subscription level. On the last page you’ll click the Start My Subscription Now button, and then eBay will create your store. It’s that simple!

The post Supplementing Your Auctions with an eBay Store first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Probably the most important type of promotion, however, is word of mouth based on your good reputation. You want to encourage repeat bidders and drive buyers into your online store (if you have one) for additional sales. That means treating your buyers fairly and with respect, and going the extra mile to ensure their satisfaction. It also means sending previous buyers emails when you have items up for auction that they might be interested in. (Which argues, of course, for keeping comprehensive records of all your eBay auctions.)

The post Promoting Your Online Auctions first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

In particular, you want to track unit cost and final selling price for every auction you list. You should also track all your ancillary costs shipping, PayPal fees, eBay listing and final value fees, and so on. By tracking all your costs and revenues, you can generate an accurate profit and loss statement, and thus determine how much money (if any) you’re generating from your online auction activities.

It also helps to track information about the buyers of your auction itemsname, shipping address, email address, and so on. The name and shipping address are necessary in case an item gets lost in transit; the email address is necessary not only for auction-related communication but also for promotional purposes which we’ll discuss next.

The post Tracking Revenues and Costs first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Let’s consider an example. Caitlin has found a source for iron-on transfers for T-shirts and sweatshirts. She can buy these transfers for $1 each and (based on her experience and research) can sell them on eBay for an average price of $5. That’s four dollars profit for every transfer she sells.

Caitlin has huddled over her copy of Quicken and determined that she needs to generate $30,000 in profit (not in revenues!) to make her eBay business worthwhile. Assuming that she works 50 weeks a year (everyone needs a vacation), that means she needs to average $600 in profit each week. At $4 profit per item, she has to sell an average of 150 iron-on transfers a week each and every week.

Because only about half of all eBay auctions end with a sale, Caitlin knows that to sell those 150 items she has to launch 300 auctions each week. That’s a lot of work, as you can imagine.

Can Caitlin make a go of it? It depends. Can she physically manage 300 auctions a week? Can she pack and ship 150 items a week? And, more important, can she realistically sell 150 items a week is the market big enough to support that sort of sales volume?

If Caitlin answers yes to all those questions, there’s still more planning to be done. To begin with, this example greatly simplifies the costs involved. Caitlin will need to figure eBay’s costs for all those auctions the listing fees for 300 auctions, and the final value fees for 150 completions. If she accepts PayPal payments, she’ll need to determine what percentage of her buyers will use PayPal, and what her fees for those transactions will amount to. Assuming that she uses a third-party website to help her launch and manage those auctions, she’ll also need to figure those fees into her cost structure.

All totaled, these auction listing and management costs can add up to 5%10% of her revenues. That means increasing her cost per item from $1.00 to $1.50 or more which reduces her profit per item to just $3.50. With this reduced profit margin, she’ll need to sell even more items to hit her profit dollar targets an extra 20 or so successful auctions each week.

All this needs to be factored in before Caitlin launches a single auction. And at these volume levels she’s definitely running a business, which means reporting the income to the IRS and paying taxes. There’s also the matter of sales taxes, which she’ll need to collect on all sales made to buyers in her home state.

The takeaway here is that making a living from eBay sales is just like running a business, especially in its financial complexities. Anyone contemplating this type of endeavor should do some serious business planning, which should include consulting an accountant or another financial planner.

If the numbers work out, you need to answer one more question: Is this something you’ll enjoy doing every day of the week, every week of the year? Even if you can make money at it, managing hundreds of auctions a week can wear down even the best of us. Make sure that you’re up to it, and that you’ll enjoy it, before you take the leap.

The post Real Business with eBay Online Auctions first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

For tens of thousands of eBay users, making a living from online auctions isn’t a dreamit’s reality. It’s definitely possible to sell enough items to generate a livable income from eBay auctions. It takes a lot of hard work and it’s as complex as running any other business; but it can be done.

One of the steps to running your own eBay business although not a requirement, by any means is to become an eBay PowerSeller. eBay’s 100,000-plus PowerSellers generate enough business to warrant special attention from eBay, in the form of dedicated customer support, premier tools, and the occasional special offer. Plus they get to display that cool PowerSeller logo in all their auction listings.

To become a PowerSeller, you must meet the following qualifications:

• Maintain a consistently high level of eBay sales
• Maintain a minimum of four average monthly total item listings for three straight months
• Have been an active eBay seller for at least 90 days
• Achieve and maintain a minimum feedback rating of 100, 98% positive
• Deliver post-auction messages to successful bidders within three business days of each auction close
• Be an eBay member in good standing and uphold eBay’s “community values”including honesty, timeliness, and mutual respect

The most important point is the first, because it’s the most quantifiable. There are five levels in the PowerSeller program; qualification for each level is based on average gross monthly sales, calculated over the past three months of selling activity.

Note: To keep your PowerSeller status, you have to maintain this sales rate. If your sales drop below these levels, eBay will give you 30 days to bring your account back into compliance; if you don’t, your membership in the program will be revoked. (You’re free to re-qualify at a later date, however.)

That’s right, there are some eBay sellers who average $150,000 or more a month. That’s almost two million dollars a year in revenues from eBay auctions no slight accomplishment!

Membership in eBay’s PowerSellers program is free. However, you can’t apply; PowerSeller status is by invitation only. Each month eBay sends out invitations to sellers who meet the PowerSeller criteria. You become a member by (1) meeting the criteria; (2) receiving an invitation; and (3) responding positively to the invitation.

The post Make a Living from eBay first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

For more information visit: http://www.vendio.com

The post Vendio – Auction Management Software first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

Several things can now happen:

• If you accept payment via PayPal and if the buyers opts to pay via credit card or bank debit, the buyer can initiate payment from the end-of-auction email he receives. If the buyer pays immediately like this, you’ll receive a second email informing you of the completed payment.

• If the buyer doesn’t pay via PayPal, he can still go through eBay’s checkout process, which then sends you an email notifying you of the buyer’s intention to pay via check or money order or whatever, and providing you with the buyer’s shipping address and other relevant information.

• If the buyer doesn’t pay or checkout immediately, you can send the buyer an invoice. Just click the Create and Send an Invoice link in the end-of-auction email you received (or the Send Invoice link on the closed auction page, or on your My eBay page) to display the Send Invoice to Buyer page. Edit the payment information and instructions as necessary, and then click the Send Invoice button to email the thing.

eBay lets you combine multiple auctions into a single invoice, for those occasions where one buyer has made multiple purchases. The auctions are grouped by buyer, so all you have to do is select all the auctions from a single buyer to create a combined invoice. You can even manipulate the shipping/handling costs for the combined auctions, in order to offer a discount for multiple orders.

Alternately, you can choose to send your own personal end-of-auction notice directly to the buyer. If you opt for this method, include your name and address (so the buyer will know where to send the payment); your email address (so the buyer can contact you with any questions or issues); the total amount the buyer owes you (the final auction price plus shipping/handling); and your preferred method(s) of payment. You can also use various auction-management tools to handle all this post-auction messaging and processing for you. One of the most popular tools is eBay Selling Manager. If the buyer doesn’t pay immediately, he should at least respond to your invoice or end-of-auction email. If you haven’t heard back from the buyer in a day or two, send another email. If, after three days, you still haven’t been able to contact the buyer, you can consider that person a deadbeat bidder.

The post Post-Auction Messaging and Processing first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

The post-auction process involves more work, in most cases, than the listing process. You have to contact the buyer, arrange payment, receive payment, pack the item, ship the item, and leave feedback. And that’s if everything goes smoothly!

The post-auction process can also be a long one, depending on how the buyer pays. If the buyer pays by PayPal (or other credit card method) as soon as the auction ends, the post-auction process can be over that day or the nextas soon as you pack and ship the item. If, on the other hand, the buyer pays by checkand is a little slow in putting the check in the mailthe post-auction process can last two or three weeks.

That means, of course, that you need to remember this potential time lag when you’re planning your auction activity. For example, if you’re planning to go on vacation in two weeks, now is not the best time to list an item for auction. You need to allocate a full month, from beginning to end, when you’re planning your auction listings. If your buyers help you complete the process faster, that’s great. But there will always be that one last buyer who hasn’t sent the check yetand there goes your schedule!

What happens during the post-auction process is actually rather cut and dried. Put simply, you contact the winning bidder with a final price; he or she sends payment to you; you pocket the payment; you package and ship the item; the buyer receives the item; and you both leave feedback for each other.

Checklist: After the Auction

• Receive an end-of-auction email from eBay

• If the buyer doesn’t pay immediately via PayPal, send an email to the high bidder (containing final price and payment information)

• Receive payment from the buyerand wait for payment to clear, if necessary

• Package the item

• Ship the item to the high bidder

• Leave feedback for the buyer

The post eBay Auction Ended. What’s Next? first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.

What do you do if you need to cancel an auction completely?

It happens, you know. Maybe you have an unexpected trip come up, so you won’t be home when your auction ends (and when the item will need to ship). Maybe you discover you really don’t have the item you thought you have. Maybe you drop the item and break it into a zillion pieces. Or maybe someone comes along with a better offer and you decide to sell the item outside of eBay.

In any case, if you need to cancel an auction, eBay will accommodate youas long as you have a good excuse, and don’t make a habit of it.

To cancel an auction in progress, go to eBay’s Site Map page and click the End My Listing link. When the next page appears, enter the item number of the auction you want to end. You’ll then be prompted to cancel all current bids on the auction and end your auction early. (You also have the option of selling to the high bidder early, if you want to do this.) It’s pretty easy.

The post Canceling an Auction first appeared on Tips For eBay Sellers & Buyers.