Auction Selling Revealed Blog

A new tool released by Calgoo called BidCal allows users to be able to add auctions to their calendar.

You can view the details of the auction directly from your calendar, and be reminded of when the deadline for your auction occurs.The BidCal tool is unique in that it integrates with Calgoo’s calendering system.Basically Calgoo allows you to manage  multiple calendars in one system. So if you’re on the go and have a calendar in your phone, on your desktop, laptop, different computers, you can coordinate and synchronize them all so that everything is on one easy to find location.

You can browse for similar items or even monitor your auction directly from within your web browser.In the article from Profy about BidCal they mention In-Calendering Marketing which sounds it be an interesting methodology for promoting your auctions to past customers as well as potential new customers. 

Sometimes when you buy some used things on eBay you may find an extra something or other that you weren’t initially expecting. Well that’s exactly what happened to an IT Manager who paid £35 for a second hand NAS box. Note for non-techie people NAS according to wikipedia is a Network attaches storage device. Basically it’s a very very large hard drive(s) where people at a corporation or business can store their files.

He discovered that he had bank information on over a million people.

Unbeknown to Chapman, the machine contained personal bank account and credit card information on over one million American Express, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), and NatWest customers.

It is a good thing that this was an honest, and upright IT manager. If someone had purchased those same hard drives and they weren’t upright citizens they would have access to millions of people’s credit card and banking information. And who knows what kind of nefarious things they would do.

This is a great reminder for folks to make sure that your personal information is secure as well as checking on the security of your own information because sometimes the banks that we “trust” automatically may not be taking care of our personal information as much as we’d like.

I came across this story as I was reading up on things related to eBay.

It seems that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae keep popping up in the news lately. I had never thought about eBay in this manner, but it is definitely an interesting take. And who else would know what’s really going on except the people inside. Or the higher ups.

If people are thinking that the ship is sinking they’ll get whatever they can while the going is still to be had. I remember a friend of mine sending me a link to some special corporate auction site, specifically for companies that went belly up, a couple years back when Enron and other companies went bust. Seems like people are wizing up and selling stuff off when things get rough.

I came across this story this morning and it seems like the IRS wants your eBay profits. One exciting thing about the article was that it said that in difficult economic times people try to sell the things in their closets and attics. The gist of the story is that you are supposed to report any profits to the IRS and it’s a voluntary process.
As the saying goes:

One man’s junk is another man’s treasure!

This might not sound like good news to you, but you are already one step ahead of the crowd or herd. eBay is such a great platform because as

“We’re uniquely positioned as a great resource in strong times to find good items, and in counter-cyclical times we can be used as a way to sell goods people no longer need to make a few extra dollars,” said eBay spokeswoman Kimberly Rubey

You are interested in learning how to sell on eBay and probably making some decent money on the side already and if not that’s why you’re reading this blog.

I know some of you are doing better, and are making a part-time or even full time income from your sales on eBay. If you’d like to find out more about how to sell on eBay take a look at Auction Selling Revealed.

We’ve been hearing that we’re in a recession, no we’re not, yes we are. It doesn’t matter that much to me what the “offical word” is if we are in a recession or not. I can see the price of gasoline at the pump is running full speed ahead towards $5.00 a gallon, and the costs for everyday goods are continuing to go up. To me, the times they are a changing.

It applies even more now that we have rising costs for gas …

Oil jumps $5 on shrinking stockpiles

Price of food and other household needs are rising

Fed: High energy, food prices keep economy weak

I’m sure one of the reasons that the IRS is more interested in your eBay profits is because if the economy is slowing down they are looking for other places to get increase their revenues.

The story goes through the 3 types of sellers:

The casual seller - sells once in a while, usually at a loss; only report any profit they make but cannot deduct expenses. Use Schedule C

The Hobbyist - seller whose income can be offset by losses; those who do more than a few sales but whose motive is not solely for profit. Use Schedule D

The business - can write off losses, for profit intent, check with your accountant for proper filing process

Please check with an accountant for your individual needs. This is not intended as advise or legal consel but for informational purposes only.

Targeting an audience is quite necessary for an ebay seller or a Powerseller. You may say ebay shoppers are my target audience. Yes, it’s true but it’s not enough. You need to narrow it down to specific audience. You need to consider a few things first. Are you selling local or international. If you target local customers, you may need a bit of research on how you are going to reach these customers. As sellers, you will probably want to drive buyers to your auctions from outside ebay. Today, this requires a website with someone commercial educational content along with links to your auctions or ebay store. Your success with both buyers and sellers will be determined by how well you get to know them. Who are they? Which group is likely to become repeat customers? Knowing this will change your approach to reach them. Once you have defined your audience you will be smart enough to change the appearance of your ebay listings, business cards, signage, location and everything in your ebay store.

People who shop online will always consider selling at ebay. Although some people think ebay as an online store that sells junk. Yet ebay is undeniably the best place to shop cheap items compared to the local stores. People now have become more practical that they would consider buying cheaper and slightly used products in good condition than buying expensive items.

Digital products are very salable at ebay. If you try to look ebay’s most sold items, digital products are always first in the list. Although competition is quite tough but if you try to look at it, ebay has so much traffic and there is a big chance that your product will be noticed. As long as you display quality items with a good photo shot and detailed description, people will always buy it.

Selling on ebay is always an advantage than having your own store especially for new sellers. Many of those who build their own online store outside ebay has always started selling at ebay. If you are new to selling digital products, the best way for you to start is on ebay. You may start by trial and error. Be an ebay member; understand the fees and the auction styles. If you are successful with the few products, there is a great chance of making it a stable home business and later on be a powerseller.

Home-based businesses like ebay are done in either a room or if things get crowded, in a garage or basement. A 200 square foot space is a good way for you to start rolling. It is important that you organize the place and make it like a real ebay store. Be clever when designing a garage space so you’ll keep enough of the garage door area clear so that you can open it and easily move parcels in and out when the delivery folks arrive. It would be practical to make your own shelves. Consider using tall shelves to scrounge as much vertical storage space as you can. Build a shipping table which needs to be a little lower than a regular workbench or desk as most shippers prefer this. You can visit the UPS facility shipping table if you want to make sure of the height for your shipping table. Provide a desk for photo editing and somewhere you can do your photo editing. A Photo table is very important. It can be at least four feet wide. Reserve some sturdy shelves empty store space and for oversized items. Lastly, install smoke detector, extinguisher, heater and air conditioner if necessary.

Today is the launch of new ebay feedback policy.  The changes includes: (1)no negative feedback for buyers only for sellers (2) feedback lasts only 60 days from date of transaction (3) no more feedbacks for suspended members or if buyer fails to respond to unpaid items  (4) members will get credit for weekly repeat feedback. (5) Positive feedback percentage will be computed after every 12 months and requires Powersellers 98% feedback. 

Ebay stated the reason for the change is they think buyers were prevented from leaving honest feedback since they feared retaliation from sellers if they left a negative feedback.  Though sellers has bombarded ebay for making ebay pro seller instead of being neutral. Powersellers even so react negatively with the changes, especially those who are Trading Asssistants and Ebay Educators.  A positive feedback of 98% is too much as a requirement and credits not enough for repeat feedback.     

To decide on a starting bid price is one of the most difficult tasks an eBay Trading Assistant has to decide. Imagine how you expect to get $1500 from a starting price of $0.00. Powersellers of course have some tricks on how to they are able to meet the expected price. It is more difficult for an Ebay Trading Assistant to sell items of other people than selling his own. It is always good to start at low price. Most auctions that start a low bid price ended high as you would expect. The trick is, never start an item at more than one-third of the expected ending price, and lower if possible. But when you are selling obscure items of high value, with very small following, start the item at a price you will be comfortable taking if only one person bids.

In ebay selling, it is important that you avoid selling junks. Powersellers never do this. Obviously, junk won’t sell for much, so you will get a little if no profit from selling it. But something else happens. When potential buyers get interested in you, they will often click on your “View Seller’s other items” link. If they find a lot of junk there they will think less of you as a seller. And all that junk will make it harder for interested bidders to see the good stuff you are also offering. Still, selling junks consumes eBay and PayPal fees that could be better spent. As an ebay seller, you have to set a minimum dollar value for each item you list. If you think an item can sell profitably for that minimum value, don’t list it. Do not compromise your business reputation. Selling good quality products will keep you in ebay business.