Automate eBay eBook Delivery For Free! - By James Penn

As an eBay eBook seller you have the ability to automate a lot of your work – starting with digital delivery. You can automate for free using Outlook Express and here’s how you do it.

Setting Up Your Message Rule

At the top Menu Link, Find the word/link: "Message", click it. From the menu displayed, select: "Create Rule From Message. .".

A new window will appear giving you multiple check boxes to select from.

Here are the ones you MUST check:

1. Select the Conditions for your rule:

"Where the Subject line contains specific words"

2. Select the Actions for your rule:

"Move it to the specified folder"

and

"Reply with message"

Now, 3. is where you will be setting all these rules up that you have previously selected under numbers 1. and 2. Inside the small text box area of 3., you will see several words that are links. Click on each of
them so that these rules can be set up successfully.

For the first rule, you will want to enter the following text in the appropriate text field once you click the linked words: "contains specific words". . .

Item #00000000 Notification of Payment Received

You will need to replace the zero's above with your actual auction listing number which you can find inside your "My Ebay" area.

The next rule you want to adjust is the "specified" text link provided inside 3. text field.

For this, you may want to create a special folder for all incoming Ebay Auction Payments for your listings to better keep track of them and to separate them from other payments you receive from other sources if you are running other types of businesses online. You can name the folder anything you wish and when you click on the above text, you will be given the option to create a "New Folder".

The last and final rule you will want to adjust is the "message" text link provided to you. This is when you will need the email message you made up earlier. Click on the "message" link and a new window will open up ready to accept your settings for the specific email message you created to be sent out. Find it on your hard drive and select it as the message that will be sent out for your auction listing as a payment is received.

Then, hit the "OK" button. And close the Message Rule settings window.

Now, Open up the "Tools" > "Message Rules" > "Mail" and find the Message Rule that you just created. Highlight the name of the message rule, usually it will be "New Mail Rule #1" if you did not give it a specific name earlier.

Then, click on the "Apply Now" button. It will apply the rule immediately to all incoming messages to your inbox. Then simply hit "OK" to exit. And you'll be all set for automation!

You can follow the above process and create as many email message rules as you like if you have different items up for auction.

If you can afford it however you should consider purchasing an eBook delivery programme. Outlook only sends the eBook when you are online so is not ideal if you are away from the computer for a long time.

James Penn is an experienced eBay eBook seller and owner of make money on eBay website http://www.auction-enterprise.com
If you are looking for more advanced auto delivery software then you can purchase My Digital Dispatch from this link http://www.auction-enterprise.com/mydd.html

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The Sure Fast Way To Make Money On EBay - By David E Nettey

If you are looking to make some extra money from home, or even looking to start your own business, you will want to look into eBay. There are thousands of people who are making a good living off of selling items on eBay.

But before you get started you will want to do some research on the subject. EBay may sound easy enough, but it can be slightly complicated for a beginner. The first thing you may want to do is buy a book on how to make money selling on eBay. These books offer eBay selling tips from people who have been successful in the industry. If you do not want to purchase a book, there are also hundreds of articles online on how to make money selling on eBay. These articles are a great source of information for anybody who is getting started, and needs help getting their business off the ground.

Opening an eBay shop is also something that a lot of people take advantage of. Again, you will want to do some research on this aspect of the business before starting. The basic gist of opening an eBay shop is that you will have your own store on the eBay site that outlines all of your products, etc. This will allow interested parties to visit your shop, and see exactly what you are all about and what you have for sale at that particular time. If you decide to go this route, you will then want to put a plan into effect that will drive traffic to your eBay shop. There are many tools available on eBay that will help you market your shop to potential customers.

When you are looking for information on how to make money selling on eBay you will need to also consider what product(s) you want to sell. Many people prefer to turn their hobby into their business. But there have also been many successful people have been able to start up an eBay business that fills an open niche in the market.

When you are finally up and running, you will want to continue with your research and try to find some eBay selling tips. There are many people who make a lot of money in this industry, and most of them are willing to share their tips with you. The eBay community is very friendly, so finding eBay selling tips should not be too big of an issue.

Overall, learning how to make money selling on eBay can take a little bit of time. But over the long haul you will begin to become comfortable with the system and it will become second nature to you. And after a while you will be the one giving out the eBay selling tips!

Copyright © David E Nettey

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://www.sourceneeds.com and http://www.Profits-Web.com. He owns a successful Home Business and has helped hundreds of people to start their own Home Business. For a FREE Internet Home Business Ebook that trains you and Top tips to drive traffic to your Internet Home Business Website, visit his website, How To Drive Endless Traffic To Your Website

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What is Ebay Express? - By Karen Beasley

What is Ebay Express and How do I Use it?


Ebay Express is a new buying system that Ebay has introduced. It is more like a shopping mall than an auction site. As a buyer, you can browse all the categories that are available in the Ebay Auction site. However, all items are fixed price, or what Ebay is calling “Get It Now”.

Now, you can now add all the items you want into one shopping cart, instead of paying for items separately. This will definitely speed you up if you make multiple purchases. Plus you can compare products’ prices, just as you would on the auction site and find the best deal for you.

There is also more buyer protection with Ebay Express. Only the Sellers with a positive feedback greater than 100 can sell on Ebay Express. This prevents you from buying from an inexperienced seller. Always look at the feedback ranking of a seller. This gives you an idea of how many transactions he or she has done. However, it’s usually an UNDERestimate of actual transactions, because many buyers fail to leave feedback for the seller. Rest assured that Ebay is only trying to present the buyer with the best possible sellers.

For the Seller, Ebay Express is another free way to get your product in front of more people. If you have a feedback of 100 or greater and is 98% positive, and you list an item in your store or with fixed price listing in an auction, the item will AUTOMATICALLY show up in Ebay Express! This is even more incentive for a Seller to open an Ebay Store because items are cheaper to list in your store and they will show up on Ebay Express for FREE.

About the Author:
Karen Beasley has been an Ebay Member since 2002 and actively buys and sells on Ebay. She also has created a website with FREE Ebay Tips and Tricks to help the inexperienced buyers and sellers, or for those looking for new ideas to invigorate their eBay sales. Visit her website at http://www.Free-Auction-Info.com

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Top 10 Reasons Why EBay Auctions Fail - By Ricky Lim

Is your ebay auction not attracting any bidders? Do you find it difficult to sell your items with so many competitors. Then you need to take a look at the list below of the top 10 reasons why auctions fail.

1. High Starting Price

Many ebay buyers are looking for a good deal on ebay. If you fixed your price too high, you are probably scaring them away. They will not even look at your auction. Try to lower your starting bid each time the auction fails.

2. Ebay Buyers Can't Find You

With millions of listings on ebay with thousands added each day, buyers may not be able to find your auction listing. That is why your auction title is so important since most buyers only uses basic search function.

3. No Picture

Humans beings are visual animals. We tend to be attracted by images. So it is important to insert an image for every auction you list. Buyers like to see what it is they are bidding on even if they already know the product well.

4. Reserve Price

Putting a reserve price sometimes scares potential buyers away. Try not to have a reserve price if possible.

5. Bad Presentation

The presentation of your auction needs to be professional. Get a free auction templates from ebay or on the internet. Make it easy to read your auction by choosing a light colored background and 12 size black font.

6. Bad Spelling and Grammar

Run a spelling checker before you list your auction. A bad spelling or grammer auction makes you look bad and doesn't inspire the buyers' confidence in you.

7. High Shipping Cost

Do not overcharge your shipping costs. Most buyers will be able to know if you overcharge pretty easily by using the shipping calculator provided by ebay. A small handling charge is reasonable.

8. Low Feedback

Are you just starting out selling on ebay? If so, it may be quite difficult to sell your auction. My advice is to get your feedback rating up to at least 20. You can buy some cheap items to increase your feedback. It will be easier for you to sell then.

9. No Payment Options

Paypal is far the most acceptable form of payment on ebay. If you do not have it, go and get it. There are also other payment processor such as 2checkout, nochex but they are not integrated into ebay like paypal. Your customers may not know how to pay through those.

10. Don't respond To Questions

There will be times when buyers have questions regarding your auction. You should try to respond as soon as possible or within 24 hours. Take too long and your buyers will run off to buy your competitor's product.

There you have it. This is my list of top 10 reasons why auctions fail to get any bidders. Of course there are other reasons as well which I will highlight on my website but if you can eliminate the points I mentioned in your auction, then you should be able to get bidders.

Ricky Lim is a ebay seller who has been quietly earning a comfortable living online. Visit his site for more ebay selling secrets and strategies

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Elements Of An eBay Strategy - By Stephen S Alison

Strategy is an art concerned with achieving a goal. It is an art based upon devising and employing a careful plan or process towards the goal. This means that actions and efforts are pre-determined rather than haphazard. The ability to plan effectively is critical to success. Effective planning is a continuous process. It also entails learning from the outcome of previous plans in order to understand the reasons behind their failure or success. This knowledge is applied in an ongoing planning, executing, learning cycle.

The ability to change direction decisively is also crucial to success. For no matter how fine a plan may be, it cannot be perfect. There will always be some unexpected variables or some untoward events that cannot be anticipated.

For any particular endeavour such as selling on eBay, a good plan will help to bring about success, however it is not a guarantee. Consider the following potential strategy statements for your eBay online business:

• I want to be the largest online seller of eBooks;

• I have my own store selling a variety of consumables and I want to use eBay as another sales outlet;

• I want to sell only hot-selling items;

• I want to sell products with a profit margin of $10 and upwards;

• I want to sell products with a profit margin of 50% or more;

• I have a specialist knowledge in stamp collecting (philately) and I will stick to the area I know and am interested in;

• I want to pile it high and sell it fast;

• I want to maximise my profits;

• I want to make a profit but maintaining my good business reputation is more important to me than profit;

• I want to be a Power Seller;

• I don’t want to use a lot of capital so I do not want to carry a large stock or inventory;

• I want to make $52,800 a year either part-time or full-time;

• I want to make $105,600 a year either part-time or full-time;

All the above strategy statements are reasonable, valid and achievable objectives. Also several are inter-related and complementary to each other.

Here is an example of how one of the above strategies can be executed on eBay:

Let us assume that your strategy, or one of your strategies, is to make $10 profit per item sold. Let us also assume that another of your strategies is to make a gross income of $52,800 a year either part-time or full-time. We have chosen the figure $52,800 for mathematical convenience – because the figure $52,800 is easily divisible by both 12 and 22.

Why 12 and 22?

There are 22 effective listing days in the eBay calendar and there are 12 months in the Gregorian calendar (our usual calendar).

If you want you can replace this figure with $75,000, $100,000 or any figure you wish. The starting $figure does not matter and does not invalidate the concept. The concept is the same and is a sound one. The mathematical steps are the same and the reality is the same. The only difference is the $result. Let us continue.

Firstly let us break down the $52,800 into its lowest common denominator: there are 12 months in a year and there are 22 auction listing days in every month.

$52,800 divided by 12 months = $4,400 per month.

$4,400 divided by 22 = $200 per day.

Given that one of your goals is to make $10 profit per item, this means that you have to sell an average of 20 items per day ($10 x $20 = $200) to achieve this goal.

Expressed another way, in this example your strategy really means earning $200 a day selling a minimum of 20 items a day with a gross profit margin of $10 per item. That’s it.

How should you go about this?

In another article we discussed Closing Ratio (CR). Let us revise and underscore our understanding of Closing Ratio. In summary:

• A closing ratio of 25% means that 1 item was sold out of every 4 items for sale (1/4 = 25%);

• A closing ratio of 50% means that 2 items were sold out of every 4 items for sale (2/4 = 50%);

• A closing ratio of 75% means that 3 items were sold out of every 4 items for sale (3/4 = 75%);

It follows from the above that one way of achieving your daily objective of earning $200 per day is to do the following:

• Option 1: - List 80 auctions every day in any Category of your choice with an average Closing Ratio of 25% (20/80 = 25%; 20 x $10 = $200);

• Option 2: List 40 auctions every day in any Category of your choice with an average Closing Ratio of 50% (20/40 = 50%; 20 x $10 = $200);

• Option 3: List 28 auctions every day in any Category of your choice with an average Closing Ratio of 75% (21/28 = 75%; 21 x $10 = $210);

Obviously the higher the Closing Ratio and/or the higher the $profit per item sold, the fewer the auctions you must list every day.

• Experiment With Different Categories, Prices And Auction Formats;

• Do some more creative or lateral thinking. Think outside the box. For example, people who buy computers may also buy laser printers or cartridges;

• Use Arbitrage opportunities - eBay is one of several major online auction houses or markets. Your local school or village fund raising events are other potential markets. Items purchased locally can most probably be re-sold at a profit on eBay and vice-versa.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The information presented herein represents the experience and views of the Author with the subject matter at the time of publication. No warranties are made whatsoever about the amount of money, if any, that the reader will earn from following the steps described in this Article and the reader is encouraged to seek competent legal and accounting advice before engaging in any business activity.

Stephen S Alison is a retired "bean counter" who spent 26 years in middle management positions for major US financial institutions in Europe and a further 10 years as an adviser/consultant to a number of European financial institutions. He has traded successfully on eBay for over 2 years using the same strategies and tactics published in his websites:
http://www.best-online-auctions-guide.com
http://www.howtomakeyourfortuneonebay.com
http://www.learntomakeyourlivingonebay.com

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eBay Auctions vs Amazon Auctions - By Mark Kenny

Every day, buyers and sellers log on to the world wide web in the hopes of finding a treasure or earning some big bucks. In that spirit, this article attempts to compare two of the largest, most well-known auction sites in existence. They are both popular, offer excellent features for both buyers and sellers and are in constant competition with one another. Amazon and eBay are the auction sites of topic and while, in many ways they are alike, there are an equal number of ways in which they differ.

Bay, the minimum fee is $0.25 for a starting bid of $.01 to $0.99. If an e
Beginning with similarities, both eBay and Amazon charge their sellers a listing and final value fee. The listing fee, from both auction sites, is non-refundable even if the item does not sell. However, an unsold item may be relisted for free at both Amazon and eBay auction sites. Amazon Auctions charge their sellers a $.10 listing fee with the possibility of having all listing fees waived if the seller signed up for a Pro Merchant Subscription. Where listing fees are concerned with eBay seller opens an eBay Store, listing fees may be as low as $.05 each.

An unfortunate aspect of internet auction commerce, but a presence nonetheless, is an uncompleted transaction. This usually occurs when a buyer fails to send payment. In this instance, both eBay and Amazon auctions will refund the final value fee for that particular auction, which is based on the final bid amount. Both auction sites also provide seller tips and a bulk loader program, which allows the seller to upload a number of auctions all at once.

One of the greatest differences that stand out amongst these internet auction powerhouses is their policy on poor seller performance. According to Amazon's website, the company reserves the right to charge sellers a fee for poor seller performance. The amount of this fee is not mentioned and, therefore, sellers have no way to know how much this fee may be. According to Amazon Auctions, reasons for this fee may include excessive refunds, high rates of A-Z Guaranteed claims filed against the seller and/or credit card chargebacks related to Amazon Auction payments. According to Amazon Auctions, they will communicate any charges to the seller prior to assessing them. On the other hand, eBay auctions has an entirely different approach to seller performance. Their 'Item Not Received' complaint process was recently changed to a 'Fraud Alert' system, which allows buyers to file a complaint with eBay if they do not receive their merchandise or if it is not as advertised. Much like the non paying bidder complaint process, the seller has an opportunity to respond to any complaint and communicate with the buyer in order to resolve the dispute. If an amicable resolution cannot be reached, the buyer may close the complaint and request a refund under eBay's Buyer Protection plan. In order for an item to qualify, it must be priced at a minimum of $25.00 (excluding shipping & handling).

In recognition of it's most well-performing sellers, eBay offers it's PowerSeller program. This membership is restricted to sellers who earn a minimum of $1,000.00 in sales each month and maintain a 98% or greater feedback rating. The PowerSeller program is exclusive to eBay and it's members. Few other auction sites can come close to the number of buyers, sellers and merchandise that is offered on eBay every day. Regardless, entrepreneurs are grateful for the competition of other auction sites. It is this competition that inspires greatness, which promotes more customer incentives and lower listing fees for sellers.

About the author:

Mark Kenny reviews eBay Products & eBay Gurus while also running an auction forum at http://www.AuctionCUT.com where you can get advice on any related eBay or auction subject.

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How To Justify Your Order and Explode Your eBay Profits - By James Ojo

Apply the following bits to your eBay operations and tell me the story of business explosions almost immediately! You want to make real money and be one of the super-sellers, then learn their secrets here!

Go Through the Pathway of Viral Marketing.

Is it possible to sell to your buyer over and over again?
Can you, through persuasion, motivate and propel your buyer to patronise your eBay shop over and over again? This can be done through this simple tool of viral marketing! You will follow up your past highest bidders and encourage them to buy more from you. You can also encourage your past buyers to persuade their friends to buy from your shop! You will surely need to learn more about these tricks of effective viral marketing, hence visit my and get a detailed analysis on my web page.

Place Headlines that Pull Persuade and Propel.

Your headline can make or mar your online (eBay) sales. If you have been long online, you would have discovered what brought to many websites where you eventually bought some products. It was never the quality of the products (you never get to know the quality before your purchase some items). But the headlines were captivating and attracted your curiosity.

Apply the Same Principle to your e-mail Subject Line.

When following up your past buyers, you need to convince them to open your e-mail rather than throwing it to the thrash bin. Note that they receive tons of e-mails daily; most of which are thrashed without having a chance of being opened let alone being read. Therefore, your subject line should induce them to open your mail and read.
Yet, I offer you an opportunity of learning more on the same subject of writing “killer headlines” on one of my pages.
Get a foretaste of what you will get there- “your headline should appeal to the following areas of the reader’s emotion-curiosity, mystery, fear, pain, envy, assurance, sloth and laziness, convenience…”

Test and Try Your Headlines and Subject Lines For Effectiveness.

This may be done on a small group of people before sending it to the generality of your list. If it fails in the small group, modify or change the subject line. Do this until you are sure your mail will be read. You already know that you must create enough tracking links to determine which subject lines are more successful.

Your Mail should be addressed to Your Customers and not to EVERYBODY.

You will definitely get an amazing result if your e-mail is addressed to Mr. Somebody rather than to Mr. Everybody and eventually Mr. Nobody gets it read. Mention the name of your customer in the mail as much as possible. This gives the e-mail a different perception by the customer as being written specifically for them rather than auto-responder mass delivery.

Tell them the benefits of Your Products.

Ok. I believe that your e-mail would be read now. You must still go further to tell them why they must act on your information. Why should they buy from you again? What do you offer that others are lacking? What is the benefits of patronising you? What pains would they alleviate by coming back to your online shop? Although, they need a brief description of the products, yet it is much more important to tell them what benefits they will derive from purchasing and what loss they stand to suffer by neglect.

Be specific and Straight to the Point.

Put your feet in the shoes of your customers. There are many mails you opened daily and eventually thrashed because of the length. Go straight to the point. The customer has a few minutes allocated to reading his e-mails per day. Although your subject line has propelled him to open the mail, the length of the e-mail should be as short as possible but yet detailed enough to cater for the aforementioned points while also giving them the step-by-step guidance to necessary lines of action.

Others.

There still many other things you might do. Give them true testimonials, tell them short stories, tell them what may probably be their reason for not buying and immediately point out the danger, point out the perceived limitation of your product and immediately provide necessary rebuttal.

You are on your way to explosive eBay business. I have more resources on my website http://www.hothomebizonline.com

James Ojo is a prolific and seasoned author of many online business articles.
He is the President of Hot HOme Business Online.
Visit him at http://www.hothomebizonline.com
Email admin@hothomebizonline.com

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eBay Auctions: Some of the Oddest Items Ever Auctioned - By Mikel Beck

eBay has become the hotspot for people to sell strange items. Over the past few years, where eBay has grown from a virtually unknown web site to the leading online auction marketplace in the world, some very odd items and services have been offered up for auction on the site. Strangely enough, many of these strange items have sold for thousands even tens of thousands dollars. A few of these items have sold for six or seven figures as well. eBay does have a policy that it takes down any auctions that it sees as not legitimate, but still, it allows many of these strange auctions to take place. In fact, these strange auctions have become part of the culture in America as they appear in Late Night Television shows, comedic sketches, and in thousands of websites and Internet blogs.

The most recent strange auction that was covered on a National scale and fetched a very high price was when a mother found an old lunch box with a cheese sandwich more than a decade old on which mold had formed in the shape of the face of Virgin Mary. The item was put on eBay and sold for $28,000. That’s right, an old moldy sandwich with the shape of a religious figure fetched $28,000 on eBay. Many people have offered other strange services like becoming a fan of a certain team, while others have sold themselves for a week or attempted to sell their families (I am not making any of this up. Some people really do go to far lengths to make some money.)

I always find it very interesting when some item that many would disregard as worthless fetches thousands of dollars. It is truly mind boggling. Each day, tens of thousands of items are placed on eBay and as of late, it is a growing trend to try and sell all the worthless junk you can imagine on the web site, buy spinning the sales pitch to make the item sound one of a kind or very rare and valuable.

Some of the more recent items that were placed on the web site include a x-ray of the stomach of a duck which seems to have an alien inside (sold for the whopping price of $9,600), a French fry in the shape of the Nike logo, and a guy willing to bang his head on a door until he was unconscious for a certain sum of money.

Just note, if you are planning on selling a strange item on eBay, it will not automatically make you thousands, the market is now becoming saturated and many auctions do not sell. The more strange and shocking your auction is, the better chance it has of being sold on eBay.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are thousands of other very, very strange eBay auctions going on right now and hundreds more are added daily. Use our eBay product search engine to find some of the strangest items ever sold on eBay. Just type in the term for an item you wouldn’t expect to be sold over the Internet, like "hot dog", and see what you get.

Mikel Beck is the owner of ListedWrong.com, which is a search engine that allows you to search eBay for listings that have misspellings. He can be reached by e-mailing mikel.beck@elite-computing.net or webmaster@listedwrong.com.

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Selling Your Car Successfully On eBay - By Mark Kenny

eBay (UK) now sells more cars than Autotrader. If your not based in the UK, Autotrader is a dedicated weekly magazine which contains thousands of classified vehicle adverts each with a colour photo & detailed description.

Despite the massive success eBay have achieved with vehicle sales it's a fact to say a large percentage go unsold, as they do not attract enough attention, do not reach there reserve price or the sale falls though for an unknown reason.

So, if your considering selling a car though eBay what can increase your chances of a successful sale. As a car is a massive purchase for most users it's absolutely essential to include two elements to your item description.

Lets start with the description. Your item description should everything about the car including any known faults, scratches or marks. Is there anything in the car that should be working but doesn't? Any warning lights being displayed on the dashboard?

Don't think that because you've got use to a minor problem, the next owner will think it's acceptable. This attitude could cost you a sale. I've known someone recently, win a car on eBay - when they turned up it had no radio fitted so the winning bidder walked away from the deal.

The listing did not even specify the car had a radio fitted, but in reality we assume that almost 100% of cars have some kind of radio fitted. With the seller not specifying the lack of radio, the winning bidder felt he'd been lied to.

What's the mileage on the car? & is it still being used while until it is sold. If it is, then specify this in the listing as the mileage may be slightly higher when someone comes to view it.

Equally important are photos of the interior, exterior, & engine Bay. Don't be shy to use photos and don't limit it to just one or two - take photographs from every side of the car.

It is simply not worth listing your car without photographing it. If you do not have a digital camera, then try to borrow one from a friend or a colleague.

In a rare exception, when selling a car on eBay I strongly recommend using the Featured Plus option. This option will place your car at the top of the relevant category. I'm still testing many aspects of Featured Plus, though out eBay categories but my own sales in this area have increased bidding by upto 21% - well worth the upgraded listing fee of £9.95.

"We don't sell many cars on eBay, it's more of a platform we use to advertise cars and then conclude the sale away from eBay", an unnamed eBay powerseller tells me. eBay generally frown upon this practice as they lose revenue through final sales fees.

However, a car is a purchase that most users will view before bidding so a bigger opportunity exists to conclude the deal away from eBay, saving yourself money and time.

Finally, be sure to include a phone number in your listing, allowing interested parties the opportunity to contact you for a quick, easy sale.

About the Author

Mark Kenny has written two ebooks on eBay and hundreds of auction articles which have been syndicated worldwide. You can read Mark Kennys blog at http://www.Trading-Web-Solutions.com or visit his eBay forum at AuctionCUT.com

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Selling Antiques Online - Another Option - By Elizabeth Pershing

When I tell people I sell my Antiques online they immediately jump to the conclusion that I sell at Ebay. Although selling on eBay has its benefits there are also additional ways to sell online. Consider the fixed price online Antique Mall. There are many benefits when selling on an online Antique mall.

Important benefits are you sell at a fixed price, you benefit from the co-operative effort of many items within the mall site which brings repeat customers and more links into your shop from Google than you can possibly get on your own website. Important functions are part of the shop, for example a shopping cart where customer can add to cart, input their payment information and your antique is sold. If you have considered opening a shop at one of the Antique malls available there are many thing you must consider when determining which fits your needs.

What is the REAL cost?

What is the REAL cost of opening a shop? In our example we will talk about a well known Antique Mall.

Initial Signup Fee $50. Once you are open you pay a monthly fee which includes 50 items within the price.

This is where it can get costly. In addition to your monthly fee you will be charged a $0.30 cents for uploading your item to your shop

You are also charged a monthly maintenance fee of $0.30 cents per item.

Another well known mall has options for members

A one year contract

$79 - unlimited items + 6% commission or

$39 - unlimited items + 10% commission

What Features Are Offered To Shop Owners?

Another important consideration is functionality provided to shop owners. Does it provide your shop with a shopping cart system making it easy for your customers to buy or do your customers need to send emails back and forth before the actual purchase takes place? Remember make it as easy for your customer as possible.

Look at the cost carefully. Imagine you have 100 items and sell one item for $500. Then compare cost taking into consideration monthly fees, listing fees, monthly maintenance fees, commissions and fees to gain exposure within the site. The above example appears very inexpensive initially but as you can imagine it can add up.

Getting noticed within the online mall:

Most malls are set up so the last item listed is listed first within the category or search. You must list and list but this becomes expensive. If you do not list you can pay for listing enhancements. You can opt for the Featured Listing for example where you pay a set price and you are listed higher or in a highly visible spot on the site. Take the time to look at the cost of using this feature and compare. When comparing also look at the time your listing is given the elevated listing status.

Is it easy for customers and shop owners to navigate the site?

Is the site confusing? Can you get lost easily?

How many pictures can you add per item. Remember Antiques can be expensive and 4 pictures per item just does not give the buyer the security they need.

Is it easy for shop owners to manage their shops?

Can you view a demo or login to a demo account?

What will your neighbors be like?

What are the restrictions? Is there any type of quality control. Are shop owners listing correctly? Does the mall owner so much control that it now
appears tacky. Is it a high end venue with high quality control standards or does anything go? Will the type of Antiques you are selling fit the site?

Selling at malls definitely has its benefits and I would consider the best
option out there but there is much to consider.

MALLERIES

ANTIQUES AND COLLECTIBLES MALL

http://www.malleries.com

Shop Antiques, Collectibles, Fine Art and Jewelry

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Top 7 Tips on how to Successfully Sell on eBay - By Haze Spehar

I remember when I first started to sell on ebay. I had been going to flea markets, selling at garage sales, etc.

A neighbor of mine asked if I had ever heard of ebay. Of course, I had heard of it, I just never actually went to the site. I was amazed by what I saw! There were people on here selling and buying everything you can think of! It was incredible! It was then that I knew I had to get in on this action.

But where do you start?
That was my first question. So I went to the ebay seller's pages. There were so many links, I just clicked out of ebay entirely, and didn't go back for a while. I did stay with ebay, but only buying.

After I was involved with ebay for a while, I decided I would really try to sell. Hey, everyone else was doing it, why couldn't I?

I will give you 7 very helpful tips, when you are starting to sell on ebay.

#1: Go to your local bank and open a free checking account. You will need it. I don't want anything I do in cyberspace to mess up my actual checking account! It takes a few minutes, and could easily save you a lot of aggrivation in the long run!

#2: Sign up with PayPal. This is a must! More and more ebayers use PayPal, for buying and selling. It is the safest way for money transaction on the net.

#3: Get a GOOD digital camera. I don't mean to go out and spend a thousand dollars on a camera, my first one was 50 dollars. You can even find a good camera on ebay for less than that!

#4: Take good pictures. If you are selling clothes, take a picture with them grouped together, then sepatately. This costs a little more, but is well worth it, as it brings more and higher bids at the end of your auction!

#5: Proven fact all ebayers must know. End your listing on Sunday noght, between 9pm and 12 pm. This is when most ebayers are on, and you get both the buyers looking for the 'what's new' listings, and the buyers who are looking for that perfect deal, the last minutes of the auction.

#6: Ship worldwide. Why? Simple. Quite a few sellers won't go to the additional 'trouble' of shipping worldwide. (trouble being you have to fill out a paper for the Post office) This takes about a minute of your time, and a lot of my sales have come from overseas!

#7: Treat each and every customer you have as your friend. Actually, they are-they are the reason that you're in business, right? Wrap their item with care, enclose a personal thank-you note, etc. Just one simple extra step from you can bring many happily return customers, and word-of-mouth customers!

There are so many tips and tricks to the 'ebay trade'. And some sellers may get mad at me for telling you these secrets, but I don't care. I finally became successful, and these are only a few of the things that I have learned, through my trials and errors with ebay.

Good Luck Selling!!

Haze Williamson Spehar is an accomplished ebay seller. Items ranging from handmade to vintage, and currently ebooks. Visit her at http://www.hazescrochet.com

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It Is That Easy Registering on eBay - By David E Nettey

It is that easy registering on eBay, many people keep complaining of the fact that, the eBay registration process is the reason they have still not joined the online auction site. I hope after reading this, the perception of most people about eBay’s registration process will change.

Registering on eBay is very simple, provided you follow all the guidelines, you will be registered and become a member in no time. EBay members after joining the auction site can search and browse the various categories available to buy or sell.

EBay gives you hundreds of categories to choose from, add the sub categories that fall within the hundreds of main categories already available and you'll find a category that has something you want. From eBay Motors to eBay Antiques, you can find from automobiles to collectibles to buy on the auction site.

Buying anything on eBay can be great fun. There is the thrill that comes with bidding and the happiness that comes after successfully bidding and completing a transaction. Buying on eBay can be very profitable just as selling, because after all, you do get bargains and this means profiting from transactions which you would not have profited from if you bought from the traditional brick and mortar store.

But hold it; do not get too excited yet. Before you can buy anything from eBay, you need to be registered first. To do this, go to the eBay website of the country you live in or to www.ebay.com and you will find your country from there. It is worth noting eBay is not available in all countries yet. You will find the list of countries eBay is available in on their website.

Registering on eBay is very simple, and free, but you must be over 18 to join. In three easy steps, eBay makes you enter basic information about yourself onto their secure database. Provide them with an email address and your credit or debit card details for
verification purposes. If you do not wish to give your credit or debit card details or you do not have a credit or debit card, eBay has another option for you.

EBay will ask for an additional or secondary email address to be added to your account. This additional email address must be from an established Internet Service Provider such as AOL, the additional email address can also be from a company, organisation or school.

Next you will be asked to agree to eBay’s user agreement and privacy policy. Please do take your time to read this through, so you are fully aware of what your legal obligations and rights are once you are on their website.

EBay then sends a confirmation email to the email address you registered (or the secondary email address if a credit or debit card is not held on file). This helps to confirm that the email address you just registered is valid. This email will ask you to complete your eBay registration by clicking on a link in the email that they have sent you. Once this is done, you become a member of the eBay community and you can start bidding straight away.

EBay has a help page dedicated to registration on their website, which is worth reading if you have a problem any time during the registration process.

Copyright © David E Nettey

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://manicures.lyecryads.com and http://culinary-arts.lyecryads.com. He has helped several new online business owners get started, To learn about how to start an Internet Home Business and how to create wealth online visit his website http://www.Profits-Web.com.

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eBay Explained: Private Auctions - By Mark Kenny

You may not be familiar with private auctions on eBay as they are only used by the minority of sellers. Private auctions, are exactly the same as regular auctions except you can not see who you are bidding against. All users who participate in these auctions are completely unknown to each other.

The first time I bidded in a private auction I was a little skeptical, after all it would be very easy for the seller to take advantage of the privacy factor & bump up the auction price though the practice of shill bidding. I'm guessing I'm not alone here, as a recent survey I conducted amongst my website visitors showed 27% of eBayers would be unlikely to bid in a private auction.

However, there are some very good reasons for using a private auction. Firstly, it provides privacy to both parties - the seller and the winning bidder. If your auctioning off something that may be considered embarrassing or perhaps something of an adult nature bidders may not want this item shown on their feedback profile. With a private auction, both parties can still leave feedback but the item number will be unavailable to click on.

Unfortunately, it may be sometimes necessary to run a private auction to protect yourself from other sellers. Many less than credible sellers have been known to poach bidders for their own auctions, using the contact member feature to alert members to their own auctions.

In some eBay categories such as the Business & Industrial, this is very very common practice. If you suddenly find a lot of bidders withdrawing their bids for no reason, it may be worthwhile trying a private auction.

Overall, there's no reason to avoid bidding on a private auction more than any other auctions. Just be sure to check out the sellers feedback first - if that's been made private as well then maybe it's worth having a second thought before you place your bid.

Mark Kenny is an eBay expert who specialises in launching eBay related online businesses. You can see read his blog via http://www.Trading-Web-Solutions.com/blog or visit Marks online auction forum.

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So you want to sell DVDs on Ebay? - By Stephen Tierney

Want to sell DVDs on Ebay? A lot of people do. Its a competitive market to say the least, but how do they do it - where do they get their stock from? Drop-shipping? Wholesale outlets? Possibly, if you have a spare lockup to store all the bulk purchased DVDs you just bought to get that extra discount. Chances are if you are considering buying to sell on Ebay you have looked into buying wholesaler lists from Ebay itself. Well, If I was you I would not waste my money. In my experience these lists are nothing but junk, containing at
best outdated information for wholesalers in the US, with nothing relevant to the UK. There are many, many other ways to purchase DVDs to sell on Ebay - by all means follow the wholesaler route. There are wholesale outlets out there that cater for the Sole Trader, without having to be VAT registered but you usually find that the prices offered are not that much better, if at all, than the prices offered by the larger more reputable stores on the internet. So with that in mind, where should you start...? Well you really need to bear in mind 2 things.

1. People that buy on ebay are looking for a bargain, the trouble is they think that Ebay is the best place to look. They are wrong!

2. The higher the RRP the more bang for your buck.

When people first start selling DVDs on Ebay, they quickly find that the profit margins are slim to non-existent, but they usually have a plan: so what, they think, if they only make £1.00 for every DVD sold - sell a hundred DVDs in a month and before they know it that's £100 profit. Fair enough if you are prepared to put in the work. But you will quickly find that of those 100 DVDs you sell in a month, a fairly high percentage of them will make even less than £1.00 profit, some will just break even and some will incur a loss. That's just the way Ebay is designed: with the consumer in mind (if you have never sold on Ebay before you have to remember that that you are charged a fee when you list your items, charged again when the item sells and charged yet again when the buyer uses paypal for pay for it..!). The promotion of the "Watch this item" option on Ebay has been a boon for the customer but a bane for many a seller, whereas in the early days to watch an Item the customer had to place a bid, now it is very apparent that items can be added to a customers watch list the day you upload your listing and they do not have to place a bid until the auction closes, which can make for a last minute bidding frenzy and lower final values!

So what is the best way round this? For the most part steer clear of the latest Region 2 blockbusters. There is too much competition for those, but if you can find a good source for Box-sets, Limited Editions, Deleted DVDs or Imported DVDs you will be onto a winner. These items will tend to fetch more money because of their perceived higher value or rareness of the DVD. But where should you buy them from? That is the 6 Million Dollar Question, but here are a few recommendations.

1. Price comparison Sites.

There are many price comparison sites on the internet, search for these in google, identify your favourite, enter your keywords and search for your DVDs. Some of them offer a list of the the best bargains currently available, sorted by either percentage or value discount across the majority of the big name retailers on the net. Yet more will allow you to target a specific DVD: enter your email address and select a target price. When the DVD reaches that
price you will automatically be sent an email informing you where to purchase the DVD. Advantages of this are obvious since it will save you a lot of time an effort hunting down the bargain yourself.

2. Community Forums.

These sites can be worth their weight in Gold. Specialist Bargain hunter forums run by people just like you and populated with members just like you - all devoted to finding the
latest and best bargains on the internet, whether they be legitimate sale discounts or the more sort after and flirtatious Mis-Price (these occur when the an on-line store messes up and lists a high value DVD for a 95% discount or something similar - it happens and if your quick off the mark, you might be able to get an order dispatched before the retailer rectifies the mistake). As well as the Bargain sections of these forums many also have a classified section, which brings us onto....

3 Second Hand.

This is really a good market. I know I said earlier to steer clear of the latest blockbusters, but some of the forum sites have a very good classified section populated by people who purchase all the latest DVDs from all regions then sell them on when they are finished watching them for a discounted price. It is in forums sections such as this that you may find your ebay rarities and deleted limited editions being offered for sale at very discounted prices, possibly because the seller does not realise the true value of what
he is offering.

4. Ex Rental.

Sometimes DVDs are released only for rental, with the sell thru DVD delayed for a couple of months. These DVDs can sometimes be picked up from the ex-Rental bin of your local DVD shop, usually for a very palatable price. List on Ebay as RARE, Not available in shops or some other sensational tag line and the DVD will probably sell for a good price. (But make sure you let the customer know that the Item is not new)

These are just a few ways for you to get hold of your DVDs at the best possible prices. I hope you find them useful and I wish you the best of luck with your Ebay endeavours.

Stephen is the administrator of Cheap DVD, Video Game & CD Website DVD Bargain Alerts. Dedicated to finding the best prices on the Internet.

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Solving The eBay Riddle With The Right Tools - By James Ojo

eBay is a multi-national mega-wealth creating market platform from which many are driving much money to their pockets daily, weekly and monthly.
However, for profitability to be a reality, it is expected of all market players to avail themselves of the various tools and resources which are generously provided by eBay.

An attempt has been made here to describe some of this tools and how to access them at eBay. It is expected that as you are reading this article, you are connected to the internet and check up the links included. Otherwise, you may print this article or store it and refer to the links at your convenience.

Disabled Online Users Association (DOUA)

As the name suggests, this is tool is provided for the disabled who intend to earn a living through online trading. Such disabled are supplied with necessary training, tools, technology and assistance that enhance profitable trading online.
"Our goal at DOUA is to help the differently disabled become self-sufficient and independent," says Marjie Smith, founder and executive director of DOUA. "If you're disabled and would like to start your own online business, we can help." The DOUA Training Centre comprises students, counsellors, tutors and volunteers, forming an educational community unit

eBay Radio

This is a powerful tool for those who want to make fortune out of eBay. The Radio is broadcast at various times during the week and features interactive call-in opportunity for those privileged to partake in the live show. However, if you miss the live show, you may check the archive at:
www.wsradio.com/internet-talk-radio.cfm/shows/eBay-radio.html.

Reviews and Guides

This is a fairly new section which affords you the opportunity of reading some specific product review written by some eBay expert-members. This is to guide users of this platform on effective auction thereby improving the quality of the platform.
Guides are meant to support users and aiding them in taking the right decisions. They are usually written by experts, collectors and eBay members, and include topics such as "Introduction to eBay Shipping," "Buying and Selling for Charity on eBay" and "Seller's Guide to Researching Your Market."

Trade Shows

If you are really serious about making a good living out of eBay, you will avail yourself the opportunity of meeting with eBay employees and eBay users selling similar products or products in the same categories as yours in trade shows organised for your industry. This is being organised throughout the year and many of it include classes specific to selling within a certain category. For a directory of trade show locations and other eBay events, go to

http://pages.ebay.com/community/events.

eBay Developers Forums and eBay Community Codebase:

You may either be involved with the eBay Community Code-base is projected to help software developers work in partnership on creating open source applications using eBay Web Services. Also, there are bulletin boards called eBay Developer Forums at www.developer.ebay.com/help/forums. These forums allow developers to share knowledge and ask questions about building applications using eBay Web Services. You must be a registered member before you can access some of these portals. You will get a lot of information about new technology, as you discuss with other programmers in the forums.

Professional eBay Sellers Alliance (PESA)

This is association is meant for highly successful eBay traders. The volume of trading represents about 30% of eBay gross merchandise volume annually. It is an important training platform.

Turbo Lister

This tool is downloadable and will reside in your computer and it is free for all categories of sellers. It is an indispensable tool that is suitable to input hundreds of listings and launch them at once. To download your own free copy, go to:
http://pages.ebay.com/turbolister2/.

Selling Manager and Selling Manager Pro

This tool is almost indispensable for a serious-minded eBay trader. They help you in your listing management by supplying you with many tools to automate your sales. These are two versions of the same tool which helps you in your listing management by supplying you many tools that automate the sales.

Sales Reports and Sales Reports Plus

These are tools that are useful for measuring the effectiveness of your trading on eBay.

eBay Stores

When you are making some reasonable number of sales per month, you can decide to apply for eBay stores. Check this up from:
http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/seller-landing.html.

About the Author.

James Ojo is a prolific author and a seasoned writer of many online articles.

He is the President of Hot Home Business Online.

http://www.hothomebizonline.com

http://business.hothomebizonline.com

admin@hothomebizonline.com

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admin@hothomebizonline.com

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Online Auctions - By Eric Morris

While some companies have online auction sites, the individual seller conducts most online auctions. Auction sites such as eBay require sellers to register, and to pay a fee each time they auction an item. Sellers usually list a reserve price, or minimum bid they are willing to consider, and also set a time limit for bids. Better sellers provide a full description of the item being auctioned, and a photograph, and are willing to respond to any questions about the item. At the end of the bidding period, the person with the highest bid wins the auction. At this point, the seller establishes contact to discuss payment options, shipping, refunds and follow-up service, if any is available.

Auctions work best when both the buyer and the seller fully understand and comply with the rules of the auction site. Doing so helps either party notice if something doesn’t seem quite right. Experienced sellers learn to identify and screen out bogus bids.

Once a buyer places a winning bid, the seller usually specifies payment terms via a third-party payment agency. For items of substantial value, an escrow service may be used, which holds the buyer’s money until the buyer receives the item and is satisfied with it. Some auction sites provide payment and escrow services.

Unfortunately, online auctions don’t necessarily proceed in a smooth manner or to the satisfaction of the seller and the bidder. The Federal Trade Commission ranks fraud related to online auctions as one of the leading causes of complaints. Fraud may be committed by either the seller or the buyer, and usually involves payment or receipt of items. Online auction fraud should be promptly reported, with as much documentation as possible, to the Better Business Bureau, Federal Trade Commission, local consumer protection agencies and your state attorney general’s office.

Online Auctions provides detailed information on Online Auctions, Online Antique Auctions, Online Auto Auctions, Online Auction Sites and more. Online Auctions is affiliated with Auction Services.

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A Little-Known eBay Technique Where You Can Sell Anything Today - By Shaun Baird

A few weeks ago I was desperate for some money.

I decided that something HAD TO GO.
Regretfully I decided to sell my laptop.

I searched on ebay to see how much they were selling for, and to compare the quality of those which were being sold against my own laptop.

I saw auctions which were just about to finish, and one of the auctions was the exact same laptop as mine.

Looking down I realised that there had been 18 different bidders for that laptop.

Only 1 person could win.

So, then the light bulb switched on inside my head.... !

I decided to contact every one of the other bidders who were successful and mention mine.

Of course, they were jumping all over themselves with excitement because they REALLY wanted that particular laptop and had been deeply upset that someone else had outbid them at the last minute.

Pipped at the post!

Anyway, it was almost as though I was their knight in shining armour because here was me with the exact same laptop giving them a second chance to own it.

6 people came back to me within a few minutes, and I had 3 offers within 30 minutes.

1 hour later I drove and met up with one of the buyers, and came home later that day with a huge grin on my face and a wad of cash in my hand!

Now this is absolutely true and happened to me a few weeks ago.

When you are trying to sell ANYTHING online these days, people always tell you that you need the right targetted buyers to be viewing your goods.

Here you have not only the right targeted buyers, but you also have buyers who had just opened up their wallets or purses and had their credit cards out ready to make payment there and then.

This is a completely EXCELLENT WAY to market anything you could ever imagine - especially as eBay is the worlds biggest online marketplace with millions of products and buyers online every day.

Think another way.

Utilise some resources to find out what people are buying, then go out and buy bucket loads at trade prices, and start contacting members as well as placing your auctions.

This will ensure your sales go out faster than you can get the goods in!

If you want to know more about ebay and other entrepreneurial habits come and grab 7 days free access to our training center at www.someinfo4u.com.

If you have strange goods, you can still sell them! Just search ebay for similar items, if people are bidding on them, youve got a pile of people who you can send an email to and make money from.

Simple supply and demand - you have just become a middle man and put buyer and product together.
If the buyer is happy then everyone is happy.

Thanks for enjoying this article. I don't think anybody else is using this technique yet, but it won't be long before everyone is talking about this!

This article was created by Shaun Baird the owner of the successful entrepreneur magazine called Someinfo4u.com Grab a FREE 7 day pass today and watch all the training videos as well as accessing the latest content from our resident experts. http://someinfo4u.blogspot.com/

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eBay - So You Want to Make a Mint Selling Online - By Charles Hammer

As with most phenomena of the Internet heyday it's no longer possible to make a fortune just by selling any old thing on eBay. However, there are still opportunities aplenty for the hard working, savvy eBay seller. In order to have a happy ending though you need to have a good beginning and that's what we're here to do: Start at the very beginning. Explore eBay and decide if being an e-commerce tycoon is really the ticket for you.

Never even visited eBay? There then is your first step. Go to eBay.com and have a look around. eBay realizes that buyers and sellers are its lifeblood so the eBay website is very user friendly. You don't have to register to browse and at this point you probably shouldn't. Registering requires choosing a user I.D. which will follow you forever. You will want to choose it and use it carefully.

For now just get the feel of the site. eBay is enormous and it's entirely true almost anything a person could want can be found there. It may be that you already have a store and want to use eBay to increase your sales or even to become your sole outlet. Or, you may be new to the whole process and have only the vaguest idea of what you want to sell. Either way, now is the time to scope out the competition.

eBay sellers are a very sophisticated lot. Many of them make use of cutting edge software to list literally hundreds of products a day. They may also have separate eBay stores and even traditional brick-and-mortar locations. Anyone who becomes part of eBay today will need to have skills in lots of areas not just have something to sell. A successful eBay merchant needs to be computer literate, able to write copy that sells and give excellent customer service. All of this must be done while also taking care of the primary business: Selling product.

After spending time perusing the website and doing a quick study of its diverse content, stop by the eBay Learning Center. Be sure and pay strict attention to the feedback system which rates all eBay sellers and buyers. Maintaining a sterling reputation is imperative for being a winner on eBay.

Now you have probably spend an afternoon on eBay and you haven't even registered yet; that's exactly as it should be, too. eBay is not a sign up and get rich quick scheme. Before making a commitment of your time or an investment of your money you have some hard thinking to do.

· Do you have a product for which there appears to be a market?

· If so, is that market saturated?

· Are you comfortable with the technological skills which significant sales on eBay will require?

· Are you willing to spend the hours and capital needed to get your eBay venture off the ground?

If the answers to all these questions are yes, then congratulations: You are now ready to register on eBay and make a purchase.

If you want to learn more about buying and selling on eBay you need to come over to http://www.AuctionBullet.com. We provide many tips, tactics, articles and more to help with eBay. Learn how to make money using eBay.

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How To Play The Bidding Game On EBay - By David E Nettey

Bidding is the act of making an offer for an item that is up for auction. Bidding on eBay however is slightly different, and does not work in exactly the same way as normal auctions, at least in theory. Bidding on eBay is meant to be fun, but remember that all bids on eBay are binding, except in the sales of real estate or businesses and the sales of items that are prohibited by law or by eBay's user agreement.

On eBay, you enter the maximum amount for the item you are willing to pay, and then eBay's bidding system bids for the items on your behalf. Meaning supposing you are willing to pay $100.00 for an item, you can end up paying only $30.00 for the item, if that was the highest maximum bid anyone else placed.

Bidding on eBay can be very addictive, so its a good idea to have a pre - determined amount you are willing to spend for an item and not exceed it regardless of loosing out on the auction. A good strategy here is to use eBay's proxy bidding system to automatically bid on your behalf. This means you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time someone places a higher bid.

An Example of how eBay's Proxy Bidding Process Works

* Search for an item you want to bid on.

* You determine how much you are willing to pay for it, in this example $30.00.

* The current minimum bid on the item is $18.00.

* Enter your maximum bid of $30.00.

* If there are no other bids on the item, eBay's proxy server will bid for the item at the minimum of $18.00.

* If someone bids $22.00 for the item, eBay's proxy server will automatically increase your bid to $23.00, which is what it is currently bidding for plus the minimum increment.

* EBay then emails the other bidder to inform them that they have been outbid.

* If there is another bidder with a higher maximum, you will obviously be outbid. But if no other bidder has a higher maximum, you win the auction, and the item is yours and this saves you the time and effort of having to sit around to bid again anytime you are outbid.

And because the proxy bidding system bids using your pre - determined maximum amount, there is no tendency for you to overbid, which significantly saves you some money. Of course you will not always win if someone bids a higher maximum value, but then it will not make you over spend, and because it's eBay you can always come back again and bid on a similar item from a different seller.

Copyright © David E Nettey

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://manicures.lyecryads.com and http://culinary-arts.lyecryads.com He operates a successful home based business and coaches others to successfully start their own home based business, for a home business that comes with training that you can easily start, visit his website http://www.PlugInProfitsSite.net

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Buying Tips For Maximum Profits On EBay - By David E Nettey

Buying on eBay can be lots of fun and profiting. If you love bargains, and am yet to see anyone who doesn't, i stand corrected, if there is anyone one out there who doesn't, then eBay is the right place for you. 24 hours a day and the whole year through in the comfort of your own home, you can find and profit from lots of bargains.

From eBay antiques to eBay motors, real estate to sought after event tickets, consumer electronics to collectibles, there is something for everyone on eBay. And these are just a few of the categories i have mentioned. At any one time, eBay has hundreds of thousands of items for sale on its network of sites.

Items are organised into categories on eBay, and these are listed down on the left hand side of the screen. It's amazing what's on sale on eBay. Rather than moving through all this categories, it's a better idea to use eBay’s search facility.

Because eBay has such a massive number of items for sale, it’s very likely you will be presented with hundreds if not thousands of items when you search for items to buy on eBay. The first thing to have in mind, when you need to buy on eBay will of course be the price.

EBay is supposed to be the bargain warehouse, but over the years, there have been so many items that have exchanged hands for way above their retail value because of the bidding frenzy that comes with certain items offered for sale on the auction site.

It's always a good practice to compare bids if you are involved in an auction, and if this has already exceeded the pre - determined amount you are willing to pay, don't be tempted into a bidding war, just move on and find similar items with a different seller, you are always bound to find these because remember there are thousands of items available for sale on eBay.

Items you buy on eBay will be mailed to you unless stated otherwise, so be very wary of postage and delivery costs when determining the amount you are willing to pay for an item. When you have decided on these, also consider the condition of the item. EBay is an auction site, and as is the case with all auctions, there are always old and new items for sale. So be very careful, usually the seller’s description of the item should give you an idea about its condition.

When in doubt you can always email the seller through eBay's mail system. All good sellers will answer questions regarding their items.

Some auctions come with a "Buy It Now" icon, you can end the auction immediately by paying for the advertised price using the "Buy It Now" icon. I suggest you should only do this if the "Buy It Now" price is within the pre - determined amount you are willing to pay.

Copyright © David E Nettey

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://fishing-lures.lyecryads.com and http://podiatry.lyecryads.com He has helped several new online business owners get started, For Internet Business Ideas and Opportunities visit his website http://www.Profits-Web.com

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Successful eBay Selling: Evolution Of An eBay Mutant - By Donovan Baldwin

Many successful eBay sellers have two things in common:

• The way they got started on their individual paths to success, and
  
• The number of additional sales they COULD have made if they had just learned a little more about one other subject...internet marketing.
  

eBAY SELLERS ARE MADE, NOT BORN

Almost everybody selling things for a living, or at least for a recognizable income, on eBay started the same way...by intentional accident. Usually, they have become intrigued by the phenomenon, looked around their house and found a few things to test the waters with, and after that, they were hooked! That's the birth. After that comes evolution.

Once they run out of things to sell, but have been struck by the business opportunity lurking on eBay, they have to find other sources of eBay merchandise. This problem is solved in various ingenious ways. Some link up with a wholesale drop ship operation, some find merchandise elsewhere, such as at auctions and estate sales, while some create their own products.

Having gotten a product source, they still had to learn...learn...learn. In general, becoming a success at selling on eBay is comprised of varying amounts of research, study, trial-and-error, failure, success...and luck.

WHAT eBAY SELLERS DON'T KNOW

Many eBay sellers arrive at this particular internet business niche independently of a previous internet marketing experience. As a result, while successful in their own area of expertise, eBay, they often miss cues and opportunities that an experienced internet marketer would pick up on or take advantage of. They lack knowledge of ways that they could expand the auction success by applying some standard internet marketing techniques.

BEYOND EVOLUTION

eBay has now been such a successful internet phenomenon for long enough that the evolutionary path of eBay selling has produced experts. In true entrepreneurial spirit, some of these experts are now sharing their hard-won knowledge by publishing courses on the subject. As in many things, there are good courses, there are not-so-good courses, and there are plain awful ones. Their prices range anywhere from a few dollars to a great many dollars, and the process is still new and fluid enough that few, if any, can truly claim to be major players.

ONE BENEFIT MOST eBAY SELLING COURSES OFFER

Many people do not take the plunge simply because of an uncertainty and fear of failure due to ignorance. If they have visited the eBay site, they have often be over-whelmed by all the links, warnings, and terms specific to eBay. It seems as if they have wandered into a meeting of a secret organization and lack the password and handshake, and they feel that anything they do will be greeted with derision, if not complete animosity.

One thing that almost any course about selling on eBay can do is familiarize you to some extent with the experience. That will erase some of the fear and uncertainty. A GOOD course on selling on eBay can cut your evolutionary time considerably because the author will have already been there and can guide you past some of the pitfalls and help you mutate more quickly than you could grow through simple evolution. The lag time between first eBay auction and the point where you consider yourself to at least be skilled at the process, if not yet wealthy from it, can be cut considerably.

Although not immediately necessary to learning the eBay process, learning something about internet marketing as well can help you expand your opportunity beyond just the auctions. Fortunately, there are eBay selling courses that cover at least some of the internet marketing aspects as well.

HOW TO GET STARTED

The easiest way to get started selling on eBay, with or without a course, is to do what so many others have done. Look around the house and find a couple of things you think SOMEONE will possibly want to buy. Remember, the purpose here is to learn the process, not to get rich. In fact, even if the item doesn't sell, you will have benefited from the experience. Be aware, however, that you will have fees to pay even if your item does not sell. This is not a terrible thing because, unless you have bought every possible option, these costs should be minimal. Chalk it up to tuition. Anyway, if this test develops into a real internet business those expenses become tax deductions.

RECOMMENDATION?

Give eBay a shot with a couple of sales of things you already have just to see what's going on and how you feel about it. If you believe that this might be a business you want to get involved in, get yourself a course and learn a little bit more about the business before you leap in with both feet...or with your wallet in your hand. It's better to spend a few bucks up front and realize the experience is not for you, than it is to spend a lot of bucks and experience a great deal of frustration only to learn that you should have let this opportunity pass you by.

Donovan Baldwin is a Dallas area writer. A graduate of the University Of West Florida (1973) with a BA in accounting, he is a member of Mensa and has held several managerial positions. After retiring from the U. S. Army in 1995, he became interested in internet marketing and developed various online businesses. He has been writing poetry, articles, and essays for over 40 years, and now frequently publishes articles on his own websites and for use by other webmasters. He has blogs on the subjects of weight loss and health, and internet marketing and related business topics. He has a wholesale dropship program at http://donovanbaldwin.com/ebay

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Avoid Middlemen at All Costs-Wholesale Smarter With Effective Multi-Profit System - By Heston Hopps

Have you been seeing sellers on eBay, or other auctions, selling the same items you offer, for less than you’re paying for them?

Ever wonder how this is possible? If so, you’d better pay close attention, otherwise you’ll never be able to compete.

I’ll bet my last red cent you want to eliminate the possibility that you’re paying too much for your merchandise, so you can STAY in business.

So, how are you going to weed through thousands of companies to find only the legitimate wholesalers?

As an eBay seller & an online business consultant, I know firsthand the enormous problem online resellers are facing and it can be extremely frustrating when you put alot of time and energy into your auctions, only to end up with very low profit margins!

I did extensive research with a focus group of 10 eBay sellers as we rolled up our sleeves and began an investigation that would make Sherlock Holmes proud.

The results are shocking: We found that a full 93% of the wholesaler & dropshippers listings on the major search engines are middle-men! The possibility that you’re doing business with one or more of them is virtually certain. The Biggest Problem You’re Facing Right Now.. Over 3 million business owners like you are buying from middle-men wholesalers & dropshippers this very minute.

Fact is, the real wholesale distributors & dropshippers do not advertise widely online and their web sites aren’t positioned anywhere near the top of the search engine listings.The middle-men do a much better job at getting listed on sites like Google, Yahoo, MSN, Ask Jeeves, Altavista and others.How is this possible?

These fakers know how the search engines work, and often, they pay money to get listed at or near the top of your search results.The middle-men study which words you use when you perform a search for dropshippers or wholesalers, and they optimize their sites to be listed FIRST, before the real wholesalers. Let’s face it, it’s in their best interest to do so.

Then, they take advantage of this & claim to be dropshippers themselves because they know you probably won’t be able to find the sources they use.

They are small companies with operators that act like llusionists…Many of them are very successful with manipulating online resellers into thinking that they are a legitimate “wholesale company” with an extensive warehouse network scattered across the country. One of these “clubs” that I’ve seen charges $50 per month for a storefront & they STILL don’t give you access to the best pricing available. They have the nerve to claim that they don’t make any money on the merchandise! (I even emailed them to ask how they could make such a claim…they didn’t respond).

Along Came A Service Called Drop Shipping……The Evil Exposed

This form of selling has caused more aggrevation for more people than any other form of selling.

This program is a complete waste of time for anyone trying to make a quick buck. One of the main problems with this type of selling is that there are too many people selling the same product to the same potential audience.

Can you make any money with this form of selling?

Yes, however your profit margins are so low per unit after paying your auction seller fees and drop shipper fees, that the effort to list does not justify the limited revenue coming out the other end. There are many people selling dropshipped goods on eBay right now that are locked in stiff competition with hundreds of other sellers, selling the same exact product on eBay and independent websites. The only winners here are the “drop shipping” companies themselves.The truth is, there are too many fake companies pretending to be true wholesalers on the internet. They set up web sites with the same product as the actual true wholesalers and then markup the wholesale price and sell directly to you or drop ship the product(s) to your customers at an inflated price. They are the Middleman in the way of you getting the proper wholesale price! These shady characters can be running a large scale business out of a one bedroom apartment and you would not even know it when you look at their fancy web sites. All they are doing is redirecting product without even touching it!

This is a major problem in the online wholesale business that is not going to go away quickly. Even if you are buying merchandise through bulk wholesale channels, these Middlemen will drop ship marked up product purchased from a true wholesaler to you even by the truckload!

The Only Way to Make Money In Wholesale

In order to make money in the wholesale business you have to buy in bulk direct from the source where there is no middleman to be found. You also have to buy from true wholesalers that own all their merchandise and are not brokering goods for another wholesaler. These true wholesale companies actually have contracts in place with the major department stores and retailers to move their overstocked or distressed merchandise. These legit wholesalers do not make much money by selling you 1 or 2 pallets of merchandise. (This is exactly the kind of wholesaler you want) They only make money by getting repeat orders from you of bulk overstocked merchandise. These companies realize that they must get your repeat business in order for them to grow their own business. When you’ve been buying from true wholesalers for at least a year, you start to realize what the approximate wholesale price of a pallet of product should be within a particular category. If they overpriced their wholesale merchandise, they would soon be out of business fast because their regular buyers would go to find product elsewhere. These dealers know what a pallet of DVD players; housewares; sports apparel, etc, should be approximately and these true wholesale companies do not want to loose their primary business core which are these regular dealers. These Discount Wholesalers do all the work for you scouring the country for these overstocks and have large contracts in place with many of the major department stores like Target, JC Penney, Wal-Mart, etc. They also have agreements in place with national drug store and major grocery store chains PLUS they are constantly on the lookout for corporate bankruptcies & receiverships.

Heston Hopps writes about and reviews home based business opportunities for today’s progressive netpreneurs. He is the author of the popular “Rethink Vendor Programs For Perpetual eBay Profits”-A unique multi-profit system for sourcing niche merchandise which online vendors use in tandem with their online auctions and stores. As the internet is constantly evolving, he strives to provide the most current and practical emarketing advise for creative online professionals. He created the Rethink Vendor Program so that online vendors could be free from the "chains" of wholesalers that tie so many home business owners down. This program shows the online vendor how to be independent in gaining access to top quality merchandise for just pennies on the dollar without relying on conventional wholesaling sources. You can check out his popular Rethink Vendor Program here: http://www.rethinkvendor.com

Additional tips & tricks for progressive online vendors can be found here: http://www.rethinkvendor.com/blog

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Don't Let Negative Feedback On Ebay Get You Down - By Stephen Pope

Remember the student in school who complained (or even cried) because they only got a ninety-nine percent mark on an assignment or test. Meanwhile, some of us were relieved (if not ecstatic) to have merely passed.

I actually witnessed one case where the math student insisted that he was not wrong. On rechecking the test, the teacher realized the answer sheet was wrong and not the student. The student got one hundred percent correct.

Realistically, however, most of us lesser mortals can't expect to get a perfect mark or score every time.

First of all, none of us are perfect. We all make mistakes.

Secondly, unlike math, some subjects are more subjective in nature. In certain subjects, the answer to a question may not be simply right or wrong. The teacher may have more latitude in how your grades are calculated. The teacher may even (consciously or subconsciously) increase or decrease your grade based on whether they like you (or your attitude) or not.

Similarly, in business, you can't please everybody all of the time.

In eBay or other Internet auctions, you will not be able to satisfy everyone. Even if you have one hundred percent positive feedback on eBay now, eventually it must fall.

Not all of your customers will be happy with you all of the time. You might make a mistake resulting in an unhappy customer. Sometimes factors beyond your control (such as a lost shipment) may result in a negative feedback.

Occasionally, you might even get a customer who is unreasonable. If he leaves you negative feedback, sometimes all you can do is leave a negative feedback in return. This is not so much as an act of retaliation; it is more a matter of presenting your side of the story.

Sometimes, a customer has a legitimate complaint. Other times the customer has jumped the gun and hasn't given you a fair chance to resolve matters. It is even possible that your customer is a sadist who takes delight in tormenting others.

Regardless, you can make the offer to mutually agree to withdraw negative feedback from each other.

If you both agree and follow eBay's procedure, the negative feedback will be removed from both of your total scores (thus improving both feedback ratings). The negative comments themselves won't be removed by eBay but neither will your response to defend yourself.

Even if this tactic to remove negative feedback is not successful, at least you tried. Don't let your pride stand in the way of trying to make peace with the customer and reversing any negative feedback.

If the customer won't agree, at least you've told your side of the story. Let your prospective customers decide if they want to do business with you or not.

I personally like it when I see an eBay seller with a perfect feedback rating. Realistically, however, I realize that you simply can't please everyone. Even if you did everything perfectly, there are still people who are just not reasonable.

Thus, even if a seller has some negative feedback, if the overwwhelming majority are pleased with him, I tend to discount the few dissidents. I suggest you do the same in evaluating others as well as yourself.

About The Author

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. To learn more about Internet auctions and other profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/auctions.html.

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How To Take Advantage Of Reverse Online Auction When Buying A Motorcycle? - By Richard Verker

Consumers in the market for a new motorcycle may want to consider the reverse auction process as a means to pick up a new or used motorcycle. You probably have made the rounds to the local motorcycle shops and priced out the motorcycle that you are hoping to purchase. The prices for motorcycles as with many products are often directly proportional to the amount of competition there is and a vendor with no competition is just not motivated to lower the price. That's were reverse motorcycle auctions may be able to help you obtain the best price available.

Motorcycle auctions of this type work in reverse of the normal auction. Basically, as a buyer, you list the motorcycle that you wish to purchase, complete with model number and all specifications that you are interested in. Vendors of motorcycles respond with their best prices and if there are a number of vendors they will bid down the price in order to obtain your business. As a buyer, you will quickly be able to understand if these prices that are being bid during the motorcycle auction are better than what you may have found during your trips to the motorcycle shops.

Using a motorcycle auction of this type is a great way to make your purchase. Not only will you receive the best price available based on real competition, you can do all of this from the comfort of your home. Using your computer you can list your motorcycle auction request and then sit back and relax while the vendors bid on your auction request. Completing the sale and purchase of your new motorcycle is simple and straightforward as well. Once the auction is completed, get in touch with the winning vendor to make arrangements for completion of the sale and delivery of your new motorcycle.

Richard Verker has been writing business articles for 15 years. After studies in general economy and e-commerce, his work on online auctions makes his articles top-rated by magazines and thousands of readers. Visit the Reverse Online Auction Site for more information.

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EBay – How It Came About - By David E Nettey

The internet is not all about eBay, but that will be very hard to prove to some people. The auction site is the main and sometimes only destination for online shoppers these days, and you tell me this is not staggering if i tell you the site is adding to its online customer base everyday.

EBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar a Paris native in his San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the beginning meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services to individuals, which to some extent, is still is today.

In 1998, Pierre Omidyar and co-founder Jeff Skoll brought in a woman called Meg Whitman to mastermind the auction site's continuing expansion.
Meg Whitman who studied at the Harvard Business School had previously worked for the Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company, in various capacities.

Meg Whiteman was also employed by the Walt Disney Company, an entertainment company, most recently as senior vice president, marketing, Disney Consumer Products, she was also at Bain & Co, a consulting firm and other reputable firms, but we will not go into much detail.

Credit must be given to Meg Whitman for beating back three tough competitors, Amazon.com, Yahoo and Lycos who tried to knock the site from its perch.
From its flea market - like roots, the site now host auctions for big-ticket items such as automobiles and real estate. The site has not just weathered the storm – it is steaming full speed ahead.

The online auction site has built a strong online presence, it has been through some though times since its inception, but that seems to make eBay even stronger. For those of you that have still not heard about eBay, it is an online auction website, and it is not just any auction site, but the biggest in the world. If you know how an offline auction works, then you already have an idea about how eBay works.

Most people are turning to eBay for their online shopping needs. The auction site has made it easy for shoppers with its user-friendly search facility. Just type the name of whatever product you are after and eBay searches through its various categories and comes up with various links relating to the product in that category. Click the link, and you are on your way to your very first purchase on eBay. It is that easy. And it is for this reason, most shoppers keep going back to eBay, not just for bargains, but because the auction site has a user friendly interface and it is easy to navigate, even for the novice Internet user.

EBay has built an online person - person trading community on the internet, using the World Wide Web. Buyers and Sellers are brought together in a manner where sellers are permitted to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest and all members to browse through listed items in a fully automated way. These items are arranged by topics, where each type of auction has its own category.

The site has spawned a whole industry of programs and websites catering to online auction buyers and sellers. You can find help to list, buy, pay or sell. These days, selling on the site has become a full time job for many people. Some sellers consistently make more than $150,000.00 in monthly sales and there are over 260,000 people selling on the auction site and this figure keeps growing by the day.

Copyright © David E Nettey

David E Nettey is the webmaster of http://www.sourceneeds.com and http://www.LyecryNet.com and operates a successful home based business and coaches others to successfully start their own home based business. For Internet Business Ideas and Opportunities visit his website http://www.Profits-Web.com

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What is this I Hear About Ebay? - By Norman Dreamer

I was up watching TV one night and saw an commercial by Dave Espinozo about how you can make millions on Ebay. So the next day I decided to give it a try. I knew that they gave you all the instructions on the site itself, so it took me about 20 minutes to come up with a listing.

It wasn't so bad at first, but then it began. I got three scam bids from Nigeria offering 2 to 7 thousand
dollars for a $850 refurbished laptop. I had to wait a week and file items unpaid to get the final value fee of $130 removed.

Undaunted, I continued for about 3 weeks listing more items hoping they would sell. Then it happened again. Two of the items I listed got sold out at the drop shippers and I had to pull the listings.

12 listings and over $50 later, I finally got a bid for a camcorder I listed for about $60. I had worked on the listing for over 3 hours and I knew something had to sell. Just as I got done ordering the item, an email came in saying that the bid was withdrawn. On closer inspection, someone had listed a similar item for $1 opening bid. Yes, I lost to the competition.

That was it for me, I was back to square one. They say only 40% of the items listed sell, even for experienced power sellers (those who sell over $1,000 in one month) but I did not even come close. I decided to call it a $59 lesson and move on.

So next time you have something that you think might sell, try Ebay. But be forewarned, it may not be as easy as you think. As for Dave Espinozo and his Ebay system, well it's probably a lot of hype. They probably don't tell you the other side of that story. For every item sold on Ebay, there are probably countless others that did not. Well, back to the drawing board...

Author Norman Dreamer has three websites. http://www.MidnightFantacy.com
http://Wxyz.atspace.com
and http://Dreammart.cabspace.com.

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On Ebay Aida Is More Than An Opera By Verdi - By Dave Bromley

Ask most people what Aida is and they will tell you it is an opera set in Egypt. Ask a marketing person and they will tell you that it is the sales formula that all advertising must incorporate if it is to succeed.The letters stand for:

A Attention

I Interest

D Desire

A Action

It is a formula that can also help you write better ebay auction listings.

It does not matter how well your description is written, how good your product is or what terrific value it represents if no one knows about it. So how do you grab people’s attention and get them to read your listing?

We know that the majority of potential bidders will start by going to eBay’s search engine. So the important thing is to get as many key words or phrases that they might use into your title. If I am looking for a Rolex Oyster wristwatch I might type in Rolex, Oyster or wristwatch into the search engine. If you have a Rolex Oyster Wrist Watch for sale at £25 I will not even find it if your listing title is something like “Amazing Value Top of the Range Quality Watch”

The secret is to think like a buyer. EBay offer you some tools to help you gain attention. If you cannot get everything in your title that you want you could pay an extra 50p and add a sub title or go for one of the other enhancements that eBay offer. Only testing will tell you whether these are worth it for your products.

Having gained attention and got people to read your listing you have to get and maintain their interest. The very best way to do this is to answer the question that we all have in the back of our mind when we read any advertising, “What’s in it for me?” If you description starts by outlining what the item is and then details the benefits it offers you will draw the reader onto the next stage which is to create the desire to own the item. One of the best tools to create desire is visualization. Phrases like “Just imagine how you will feel wearing a top of the range watch” or “Just think as a Rolex owner you will standout from the crowd”.

So far you have done really well in attracting potential bidders attention, getting their interest and arousing their desire but unless you can get them to take some action it will all have been a waste of time. So how do you get them to take action? It is quite simple really you just ask them. “If you don’t want to miss this wonderful watch bid now.”

This has been a brief introduction to the AIDA formula but I am sure if you keep it in mind while you are writing your listings you will see an increase in bidders.is to be successful.

About The Author

Dave Bromley is a writer and eBay fan who runs one of the UKs biggest online auction information sites. He also publishes a monthly newsletter and has a 6 part mini course for people who are new to eBay auctions. For more information visit http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk.

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