eBay Tips Newsletter July 2009

Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay is on its way! Featured Article: 5 simple steps to guaranteed eBay success eBay's latest "gift" to sellers: Sometimes "FREE" isn't all it's cracked up to be Worldwide Brands gives away "Drop Ship Focus" videos eBay UK introduces "Easy Returns" -- But will it make life easier for sellers? Auctiva's "free-to-fee" change sparks fury

1. Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay is on its way!
We're excited to announce that our new, online eBay training system, Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay 2009, is almost ready for release!


This new system teaches you everything you need to know to discover eBay's untapped niches (oh yes, they still exist!) and find great sources of hot products that you can sell for healthy profits in the world's largest marketplace.

You'll also discover the little-known marketing secrets that will help you take your products "off-eBay" and introduce them to brand-new markets -- and then turn your first-time buyers into loyal customers who will buy from you again and again.

(These secret strategies will help you blow away the competition in the increasingly cutthroat world of eBay selling -- so get them working for you before your competitors find out about them.)

Our new eBay training system isn't *quite* ready... But because you are one of our loyal Bidding Frenzy subscribers we will make sure you hear about it first as soon as it's good to go.

So keep an eye on your inbox this month...

You'll soon be receiving a very special email letting you know exactly how you can use our new teaching system to grow your eBay business into a monthly cash generator that deposits up to $10,000 a month into your bank account -- or even more!




2. Featured Article: 5 simple steps to guaranteed eBay success
eBay is a GREAT place to make money.

You might not hear many people screaming it from the rooftops these days -- especially with all the changes eBay has made over the past couple of years to its selling policies.

But if you know the proven step-by-step process you need to follow to make guaranteed profits from selling on eBay, you will make money.

So today we'd like to go back to the basics and review the 5 simple steps you need to take in order to guarantee healthy profits on eBay. These steps have been proven time and time again by our successful in-house eBay mentors as well as sellers just like you. (Our mentors refer to this 5-step process as "RSLAP" -- see if you can figure out why.)

Step 1: Research

Market research is the most important step you'll take in building your eBay business -- yet it's the one most eBay sellers ignore!

Research will reveal the undiscovered "gold mines" on eBay -- in other words, the products that people are searching for on eBay but not having much success finding.

When you discover these under-served niches, you KNOW you have found a strong foundation for a successful eBay business!

Our favorite research tool for this step is Terapeak eBay Research.

Terapeak shows you exactly how buyers are behaving on eBay -- the keywords they're searching, the products they're buying and how much they're willing to pay for them, and which sellers are doing the best job of giving them what they want.

(For a quick demo of how to do this kind of research, watch this Carson Clark "eBay Tips" video).

You can also use Terapeak to “spy” on the competition to learn exactly what’s working and what’s not… then put their top strategies to work for YOUR business!

Step 2: Source

The days of finding things to sell on eBay in your grandma's attic are long gone. Yes, you can make a few extra bucks that way, but it's not the foundation of a reliable eBay business that's guaranteed to deliver steady profits month after month.

To guarantee your long-term success, you need to find reliable suppliers that will sell you the hot products your market is clamoring for -- at prices low enough to guarantee you a handsome profit margin.

The "Big 3" sources of low-cost merchandise you should check out are...

• Drop ship companies such the ones you'll find at Worldwide Brands or Doba.
  
  NOTE: These are the only two drop ship resources we recommend. There are a lot of scammers online offering fake lists of drop shippers for hundreds of dollars, as well as middlemen posing as drop shippers who will charge you much more for merchandise than you should be paying. Don't be taken in by them!
  
  
• Wholesalers such as the ones you'll find at goWholesale. At this useful site, you'll find lists of wholesalers and a lot more. No membership is required to use the site, and you can learn about industry trends and the best bargain sources in the site's very popular forums.
  
  
• Liquidation companies such as Liquidation World or the companies you'll find listed at Liquidation.com.

Step 3: List

It's not enough for you to offer a quality product... You also have to know the secrets of how to create magnetic eBay listings that compel people to make a bid or click on the "Buy it Now!" button.

In order to reach out to your audience and outshine your competitors, you need to know how to create a keyword-loaded title that stands out in the search results. You have to write compelling headlines that draw people into the rest of your listing. And you need to know the simple salescopy tricks that will drive your visitors to take action -- whether it's making a bid or purchase or checking out your other auctions.

... And that's just the "salescopy" part of your listing!

You must also know how to...

• Get a glowing feedback rating that establishes your credibility and overcomes your visitors' buying objections
  
  
• Use photographs to drive up your final selling price
  
  
• Choose the right category to catch the eyes of eBay’s experienced (and ready-to-buy) shoppers
  
  
• Implement the proven payment and shipping strategies that will put more money in your PayPal account
  

On top of that, you should always be testing new techniques and tracking your results so you can put your most successful strategies to work in all your auctions.

Obviously this step is too big to delve into here... We explain how to implement each of these strategies in detail in our comprehensive new Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay seller's course. Click here now to learn more about it.

Step 4: Automate

Here's the beautiful part of running an eBay business... with all the automation tools at your disposal, you can set up your business to run practically hands-free -- and you only need a couple of hours a week to manage your campaigns and grow your profits!

Here's just a sampling of the automation tools and resources that will make your life easier as an eBay seller:

• Auctiva
  
  
• eBay Accounting Assistant
  
  
• eBay Blackthorne Basic
  
  
• eBay Blackthorne Pro
  
  
• eBay Solutions Directory
  
  
• eBay TurboLister
  
  
• Selling Manager Pro
  

Note that some of these automation tools are free or available to eBay store owners only. To take full advantage of the most automation opportunities -- particularly those offered by eBay -- you really need to open your own eBay store. An eBay store makes your listings look more professional and will increase your credibility as a legitimate seller.

On top of that, eBay provides store owners with powerful tools to build, manage, promote, and track their business. These tools will definitely help you get the edge on your competitors -- especially the ones who don't have their own store.

Step 5: Promote

Once you reach this step, you should have your own eBay store that's easily generating thousands of dollars for you every month.

... Now here's your chance to add even more zeroes to your monthly bank account -- by promoting your eBay business to the entire world!

By using proven "search engine optimization" strategies you can turbo-charge your listings so they appear at the top of the search results for Google and the other search engines -- unleashing a powerful new source of visitors to your eBay store.

You can even create your own off-eBay website to capture even more high-quality traffic and send it your way.

Plus, you can use your "About Me" page to build a list of potential buyers you can then contact via email to let them know about your new listings -- and create a community of eager buyers who return to your auctions again and again.

... There it is: RSLAP -- our proven 5-step process for guaranteed eBay success.

As you've probably guessed, "RSLAP" stands for each of the five steps: Research, Sourcing, Listing, Automating, and Promoting. If you take the time to do all five of these steps correctly, then you will make great money on eBay. It really is that simple.


3. eBay's latest "gift" to sellers: Sometimes "FREE" isn't all it's cracked up to be
On June 16th, eBay kicked off its new "5 Free Insertion Fees Every 30 Days" campaign.


Basically, this is just as it sounds: No matter what the starting price, you pay no Insertion Fees on your first five auction-style listings every month when you use eBay's "Sell Your Item" or "Simple" listing form. If your items don't sell, you pay nothing. All other auctions after the first five will revert to the regular Insertion Fee and Current Value fee system.

Sounds like a sweet deal, right?

... Maybe not so much.

If those five items sell, you pay a flat rate of 8.75% of the final value OR $20 -- whichever is lower. Many sellers are complaining that this new format is forcing them to shell out more money than they do under the "regular" fee structure.

Here's the math...

Under the old fee structure, eBay charges you 8.75% of the first $25, 3.5% of the amount from $25.01 - $1,000, and 1.5% of the amount above $1,000. 

Say you auction a pair of hiking boots starting at $9.99 and selling for $100...


In other words, you'll end up paying eBay $3.41 more for the "privilege" of not having to pay that initial 35-cent insertion fee.

Not much of a deal, is it?

However, you can avoid paying these extra fees. First make sure your first five auctions are for items that will sell for up to $25 or $500 or more, and you will save good money.

Finally, please note that these five "free" insertion fees don't work if you use automated software such as eBay's Turbolister or a third-party tool such as Auctiva to manage your auctions. So if your auctions don't fall into the "safe" areas of under $25 or over $500, then make sure you use your software for every listing you create.

When to use List 5 Free

Final Value =	$0 - $25	$25.01 - $500	$500.01+	Automated listing
	OK		OK	OK

To guarantee you don't end up spending more than necessary on your listing fees, always calculate exactly what your final value fees will end up costing you by using a tool such as this eBay and PayPal Fee Calculator.

A few seconds of research could end up saving you a LOT of money in the long run.


4. Worldwide Brands gives away "Drop Ship Focus" videos
Here's another free giveaway -- this time with no strings attached. (Pay attention, eBay!)


Worldwide Brands recently announced that they would be giving away their five-part video series "Drop Ship Focus" (valued at $97) FREE to anyone who wants it.

You will have complete access to all five of the "Drop Ship Focus" videos which will teach you how to...

• Find profitable products to sell
• Make money with drop shipping
• Grow profits with light bulk wholesale
• Get more bang for your buck with liquidation sales
• Get legal or get cheated

If you are interested in learning how to use drop shippers to make more money on eBay, this is a resource you can't afford to pass up.

To claim your free access, click here now.


5. eBay introduces "Easy Returns" in UK and Germany
Here's some good news if you're an eBay buyer in the UK... but not such great news if you're a seller in that country.

eBay has just rolled out a new "Easy Returns" system that makes it easier for buyers to send recently bought items back for a refund. The system applies only to items sold in a Fixed Price or Second Chance Offer format and doesn't apply to items bought in an auction.

A drop-down menu on the buyers' My eBay page lets them select a reason for the return, although they can also type a personal message to the seller to explain why they want to return the item.

The seller is then obligated to accept the item and refund the money to the buyer.

To reduce the chances of this happening to you, make sure your listings are as accurate as possible and provide enough detail about the size and condition of the item so your buyers don't receive an unpleasant surprise when they open their package.

Also make sure you're familiar with eBay UK's Return Item policy to make sure you're working within the stated guidelines.

At present, the "Easy Returns" service is only available in eBay UK and eBay Germany. But unless it causes huge problems and incites a major backlash from the sellers, you can expect it to be rolled out to other countries in the near future.

As we mentioned above, the best way to avoid returns is to make sure your buyers aren't disappointed when they get the item in the mail.

Always give them excellent service and ensure the item they receive is as good or even better than what they were expecting. "Over-deliver" on your promise by including a special surprise bonus such as a small gift or some useful information about the product. That way you will keep your customers happy and ensure they come back to your eBay store for more!


6. Auctiva's "free-to-fee" change sparks fury
Auctiva outraged its customers in May when it announced that was adding a hefty price tag to its services, which previously had been offered for free.

The move came largely because of changes to eBay's Partner Network affiliate program, which had provided a percentage of Auctiva's income.

The auction management software company originally introduced the proposed fees as a tiered system with different prices based on monthly sales volume. High-volume sellers were told they would have to spend as much as $199 a month for services that had once been free.

As you can imagine, people were -- how shall we say? -- less than pleased.

Customers flocked to forums where they raged against the company and started shopping around for cheaper alternatives. Savvy competitors took advantage of the confusion and offered Auctiva users excellent deals on their services if they wanted to make a switch, and many did.

The backlash caused the company to quickly backpedal, and in short order they issued a public apology and announced a flat fee of $9.95 a month for anyone who sells more than 15 items a month.

The service includes 1GB image hosting, a one-page lister, super-sized images, templates, its eBay scrolling gallery, automated scheduling, round-the-clock customer support, and other tools.

Casual sellers who sell 15 items or less can use Auctiva's Starter package, which costs $2.95/month for up to 15 listings and includes 500MB image hosting.

And if you sign up before August 1st, you will get your first two months free.

... Sounds like Auctiva knows it's got some serious kissing up to do in order to make up for the fiasco in May!

Are YOU an Auctiva user? It's THE program our eBay experts have always recommended... even at $9.95. We'd love to hear what you have to say about this recent price change. Click here to email us and let us know what you think!



Thank you for reading this month's issue of Bidding Frenzy -- we hope you enjoyed it!

If you have any questions or comments about this issue, or want to suggest topics for future issues, please email us at:
ebaynewsletter@marketingtips.com

Until next month, happy eBaying!