Friday, April 27, 2007
Ebay Consignments: The Giant Opportunity Hiding On Ebay (part I)
More and more, people are becoming aware that they have potential cash sitting in their closets, attics, and basements. But not everyone has the time or the know-how to tap into it, so these items remain where they are or are given away. Or worse, they're tossed out with the trash. eBay is about to change that.
eBay Consignments are a Growing Opportunity for experienced eBay sellers and a boon to consumers who want to unload their "stuff"
Heres a common scenario:
Renee has a basement full of record albums from the 1940's that she inherited from her Uncle's estate. She has no interest in them, and would love to see what she could get for them on eBay. The trouble is, Renee is not only unfamiliar with how eBay works, but she's also a "technophobe". She breaks out in a rash every time she sees a computer or a digital camera. But Renee has heard something about eBay consignments.
So, Renee asks her neighbor Anne, the eBay whiz, to help her out. Anne does a quick check of recently closed eBay auctions to see what similar items have been selling for. She adjusts Renee's expectations with this information, and the next day Renee drops off her cartons full of records.
Ann takes a couple of digital photos, writes a general description for the lot, and launches the eBay auction. She invites prospective bidders to email her with any questions.
Things go smoothly, and a week later the lot is sold. Renee is pleased with her earnings and extremely grateful to Anne. She asks Anne what she owes her for her hard work. Anne, good neighbor that she is, only accepts enough to cover her eBay expenses and tells Renee she can take her out to lunch some time.
An Opportunity Seized
This kind of informal arrangement has been going on between members and nonmembers of the eBay community for several years. Many auctions will state that "I'm selling this item for a friend", or "a woman in my neighborhood found these in her attic and asked me to sell them on eBay".
eBay, who has a knack for keeping an ear to the ground and spotting to trends, saw a golden opportunity in this kind of arrangement. In 2002, they launched the "eBay Trading Assistant" program.
The program is run on the same basic principal as eBay consignments, only more formalized. Sellers can now advertise themselves as Trading Assistants on eBay, and people with items to sell can use eBay's Directory of Trading Assistants to find someone in their area.
Because of eBay's minimum requirements for becoming a "TA", only those sellers with experience and a good reputation (or high positive feedback ratings, in "ebay language") have the privilege of selling items for others.
Benefits for Everyone
The system benefits the Trading Assistant by expanding their reach far beyond the next door neighbor. When a seller joins the Trading Assistants Directory, he or she is telling the world that they are willing to sell for others.
For those seeking out eBay consignments as a means to cash in their "stuff", the system offers an "official" source of experienced eBay sellers and information about how things work.
And of course all of this brings more business to eBay. As always, eBay is simply the portal for consignment selling, not an employer of the Trading Assistant. So each individual "TA" makes their own rules about how they wish to structure their eBay consignments business.
How it Works
Trading Assistants are experienced eBay sellers who have indicated their willingness to sell items for others for a fee. People who want to hire a Trading Assistant can search the Trading Assistant Directory to find someone to sell for them. All the terms of how the services will work are negotiated between Trading Assistants and their clients. You can become a Trading Assistant if you meet some basic requirements (1 past sale in the last 30 days and a feedback rating of at least 50 with fewer than 2% negative feedback points).
Cost and Requirements
Currently, it costs nothing to become a Trading Assistant and be listed in the eBay consignments Trading Assistant Directory. eBay has not expressed any intentions of charging for it, but they do reserve the right to change their policies.
To become a Trading Assistant, you need to meet the following requirements:
-You've sold at least 4 items in the last 30 days.
-You have a feedback score of 50 or higher.
-97% or more of your feedback is positive.
-Your eBay account is in good standing.
Note: The ability to join the directory is a privilege, not a right, and eBay can remove the ability of a TA to post to the directory if they receive complaints and/or find evidence of unprofessional behavior.
Interestng Facts
According to Walt Duflock, eBay's director of the trading assistant program, consignment selling has really taken off since the program's inception:
-The TA Program began in February 2002
-There are more than 50,000 registered trading assistants worldwide as of August 2004
-"Collectibles" is a very active category for TAs and TA clients
How to Find or Become a Trading Assistant
To find a "TA" At eBay, you'll be asked to enter your ZIP code code to find a Trading Assistant near you who can handle your ebay consignments. To find someone who specializes in particular items or services, you may select an item category or use their "Advanced Search" link.
Provided you meet the requirements listed above, you can fill out eBay's online application to become a TA and start your own eBay consignments business right away. Although you can run your business however you choose, and you're not employed by eBay, they do provide some assistance:
eBay provides extensive resources for the trading assistant program, among them Trading Assistant Worshops such as the recent one entitled, "Getting the Most Out of the New Trading Assistant Directory". The "Trading Assistant Toolkit" is an extensive directory of tools and education to help Trading Assistants market their services better and find more clients.
eBay also offers an Advertising Reimbursement program, which helps PowerSellers market their products and services offline by subsidizing a percentage of their
advertising efforts. And eBay has produced at least two training manuals outlining Best Practices for marketing, selling, fincance, efficiency, and working with clients.
With all of these resources at hand, anyone interested in eBay consignments, whether to tap into "the money in the attic" or to further their eBay auction success, is not likely to be disappointed.
Be sure to look for Part II, in which eBay takes the program to the next level with the Trading Post.
© Copyright 2004 Carolyn Schweitzer DDS. Dr. Schweitzer was a family dentist for 20 years and is now owner and editor of several websites. You can learn more about where to find specific links to the Trading Assistant and Trading Post programs by visiting her website at http://www.netbrainer.com/site/500041/page/449460.
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Thursday, April 26, 2007
E Bay.com Html Auction Templates: Which Is Best For Ebay Selling?
There are a plenty of free e bay.com free auction template services out there and I would like to help you find the service that will best suit your needs by comparing what i feel is the top two contenders. FoamTemplates.com and Auctioninsights.com.
In the left corner? we have www.auctioninsights.com with the number one ranking website in google for the coveted search phrase, "free auction templates" This site contains a large amount of helpful information but the Template Designer does lack customization options. You can enter a title, description, and shipping details like most template makers, but are limited to 3 full size pictures, and there is no easy way to change your color scheme without diving into Html. I would say this site does have an edge on reach because of the helpful e bay.com related information and the site age is much greater so there is a slight reputation boost as well.
In the right corner? we have www.foamtemplates.com. This is a new site and lacks the trusty useful information the opponent has, but it has the strength of being able to not only format your information into tables, but also the ability to easily edit everything there is to edit about your templates design. Many free colors, fonts, and backgrounds are available. You can also upgrade to the premium edition for unlimited picture uploads. When you upload a picture to foam premium, it is optimized, resized, and can also be automatically thumbnailed for you. Great time saver.
I hope you find this review to be helpful in determining which site will best suit your needs. And above all, enjoy the FREE templates and information!
Try http://www.foamtemplates.com today, for Free Auction Templates!
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Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Ebay Bargain Hunting - Spell Your Way To Success!
Have you ever wondered how identical items can fetch such widely differing prices on eBay? Or why some items fail to receive any bids at all?
Sometimes it is a matter of luck, or just timing - especially for things which are pretty unique or where there are not manybuyers.
Many commentators however suggest that it has much more to dowith the quality of the item title. With thousands of items listed in each category the search box becomes the buyers best friend and that can in itself present opportunities.
All too often items are listed with spelling mistakes or typosand with millions of lots added to eBay daily this can provide real bargains for the determined eBay bargain hunter.
Buyers for instance may search for a "television" but would not find the several auction lots where the seller listed the item as "telivision" or "televisino". As a consequence the item will probably fail to receive any interest and closes without a bid.
Of course the money saved by finding bargains could be offset if you have to spend many hours trawling through listings searching for misspellings. Now a clever piece of software aims to notonly help you find all those misspelt bargains but does it in a matter of seconds! http://www.auctionspeller.com
With no software to download you simply enter the correct spelling and in many cases it returns misspelt bargains instantly. The cost of this useful (multi-country) tool will also come as a pleasant surprise to bargain hunters - it's completely free!
Finding bargains this way should carry a health warning though - it is rather addictive! http://www.auctionspeller.com
Steve Durkin is a Director of Online Merchants Ltd whichoperates the Auction Lotwatch network of sites. Auction Lotwatchhave been providing a selection of free auction tools and information to the online auction community for nearly five years. http://www.auctionlotwatch.com
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Tuesday, April 24, 2007
E-bay Auctions: Sell Better, Spend Less Tip #1
Just about everyone alive today has heard of E Bay.com, but most people don't realize the sheer size and complexity of this Auction beast. Do you have something to sell? Then read on for the single most important tip to Selling better and Spending less.
79 million searches are done on E bay each day. Yes that is a very large number of searches, large enough to contain very valuable selling potential, but there are also around 19 million items on E Bay.com alone on any given day. After you have time to take this in please continue reading this article.
How can I sell more effectively? How can I lower the cost of my auctions? These are good questions with many answers, but I will cover in my opinion, the most important and effective e Bay tip of all.
More Pictures!!!
It is a proven fact that the more pictures taken of an item, the better it will sell. Not only will you get more bids, but you will get a higher final price.
The Problem.
You will never list as many pictures as you should because E-bay by default charges per picture. This causes you to ask yourself, do I really need another picture? This kind of thinking is bad for business. You should instead be asking yourself, how many different pictures can I take of this item? This brings us to the problem. Ebay charges you for every picture they host. So more pictures = more expensive auction.
The Solution
The single best thing you can do as a seller is to look into paying for an Unlimited Picture Hosting Service. These services will host an unlimited number of pictures for you and some are very easy to use. Let me show you an example. My favorite is FoamTemplates.com.
FoamTemplates.com give you unlimited uploads and they are very easy to use. And even more imporantly, they don't restrict how many times your picture can be seen! This is very important. It is very annoying to view an auction and see that Bandwidth exceeded message. Foam Premium costs around $8 a month and includes a really nice template maker that allows you to design your whole auction on the FoamTemplates webpage. It even gives you the option to thumbnail your pictures if you have very many so your viewers don't have to scroll 3 miles down to see your payment information.
If you see any other services that come close to this, please contact me and let me know and I will compare them. Hope this tip will save you as much money as it has me!
Joe Regan is a freelance writer for various websites.
More FOAM Information:
Free e bay.com Auction Image Hosting for your Auction Picture Hosting Needs. FOAMTemplates is compatible with E-bay and other online Auctions. Free E Bay.com Auction Template Maker allows you to design custom auction templates for auction sites including but not limited to E-Bay. Any Html auction service will work. We also offer a members only section with enhanced features such as unlimited picture uploading, and auto thumbnailing. Thank you for your interest. - FOAM Team
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Monday, April 23, 2007
Ebay Auction Selling Secrets - Using Ebay To Launch Your Very Own Highly Successful Website
Launching your very own successful website is the dream of many people worldwide because it is a new way to make money and be employed by oneself with little overhead. So, once you have your website you will need traffic to make it successful. The question is, how will you get the targeted traffic you need to support your website, sell your products, and realize your dream of a highly successful website? The answer is eBay. Yes, eBay is an auction site and regardless of whether or not you are interested in auctioning off your products, eBay is the perfect forum for generating that targeted traffic you are so interested in. You may be skeptical, but read the following reasons why eBay will get you the traffic you need.
First of all, eBay is affordable and you can run an auction for up to 10 days at a time. During this period you will have use of a small portion of the web and can advertise and describe your product or service for sale in any way you see fit. You can even add links. Ah, now you are starting to understand. These links on eBay will instantly begin to generate traffic to you site. You do not have to search out qualified websites, contact their webmaster, and grovel for a link. All you have to do is pay pocket change to auction off your product or service and add links to your site. This has several benefits.
One, you will be actually auctioning off a service or product so you might even sell it. And two, you will have the links you need to drive people to your website, and this is targeted traffic. Since eBay has billions of pages and millions of members worldwide, you will immediately realize many hits on your web pages from people who are interested in your particular products and services. Your sales will increase and you will have spent very little money to get those visitors to your site.
You certainly will save a lot of time by using eBay as part of your online marketing strategy. On eBay, you can list a lot of auctions in one day and continuously re-list them. That means you are in control of getting your company linked and noticed on the web. You won't have to be so concerned about other companies not linking to you or waiting long periods of time for them to do so. Using eBay will reduce the pressure a little bit and make the job of promoting your site much easier. Go ahead and try it. You might be skeptical, but you'll be amazed with the results.
Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/
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