How to Use the Promotional Tools on eBay

eBay wants you to be successful. Essentially, if their sellers are not making any money, eBay is not making any money – or not enough money. eBay does have one other very small source of revenue, which comes from the sellers. This revenue is realized from the promotional tools that actually help you, as a seller, have more successful auctions.

The promotional tools on eBay are very inexpensive. For instance, you can have a bold listing for just a few cents. Highlighted listings are equally inexpensive. These two tools could easily raise your final price by as much as 25%! Not all promotional tools cost money. Many of them are free. The available promotional tools 
found on eBay are product finder, gallery, bold, highlight, border, gift services listings, subtitles, featured home page, featured plus, featured gallery, keywords, co-op advertising, and optimized listings. 

If you are serious about making money from your eBay auctions, or if you are selling just one high ticket item, you should definitely take advantage of the eBay promotional tools that are available to you. These can 
easily be found through your sellers account.

How to Use eBay Escrow Services

If you buy or sell big ticket items on eBay, you need to know about the available escrow services. An escrow service is designed to protect buyers and sellers from being ripped off. The funds for the sale go to the escrow service, and then the seller ships the item to the buyer. Once the item has been received, the funds are released from the escrow service to the seller. 


In some instances, both the item and the funds go through the escrow service, and the service makes sure that the buyer gets the item, and the seller gets the money. There is a small fee for the service, and it is usually a fixed percentage of the sale price. It is up to the buyer and seller to decide who will pay the fees. Often, the fees are split between the buyer and seller.

If you want to use an escrow service, there is only one service that eBay recommends, and they back that service up. This service is Escrow.com. Over the years, there have been many ‘look-alike’ escrow services, using variations of the escrow.com domain name, but they have shown to be less than reputable companies. Make sure you use the services of escrow.com for the greatest protection.

Steps to Take if You Have Been Defrauded

eBay is a relatively safe marketplace. Unfortunately, like most online marketplaces, it is vulnerable to scams. eBay tries to keep instances of scams occurring, but with more than 100 million members, and approximately $40 million moving through the site on a daily basis, this can be a little difficult. Sometimes, scams occur.


If you have been scammed, there are certain steps you need to follow to report the incident, and to try to come to a resolution. If you paid for the item through Paypal, the first step is to login to your Paypal account and open up a dispute for the payment. If you did not pay through Paypal, contact your credit card company. In most cases, if you have used one of these two cases, you will recover your money.


The next step is to use eBay’s dispute process to report the seller. This is specifically for items that were not received, or items that were significantly different than what was described in the auction. eBay also has a purchase protection program to further protect buyers. If a settlement cannot be reached with the buyer, the next step is to make an eBay buyer purchase protection claim.

How to Price Your Items

Many new sellers don’t realize how important pricing is when it comes to eBay auctions. Many don’t even 
realize that ‘pricing’ needs to be done. eBay is an auction site after all! But eBay auctions are not quite the same as the auctions you attend in the offline world. In fact, quite a bit of work goes into determining and setting prices.


Essentially, there are only three prices that can be set for an eBay auction: the ‘buy it now’ price, the reserve price, and the starting bid price. Of these three, the starting bid price is the only one that is required for an eBay auction. The reserve price and the ‘buy it now’ price are optional. The starting bid price is fairly simple – never set it higher than $50 or so – no matter what your item is really worth. This low opening price will get bidders to your auction.


Setting low starting bid prices creates the need for a reserve price. A reserve price is the absolute lowest 
price that you want to get for your item. You may sell the item below the reserve price, but you will not be 
required to. In other words, if you set your reserve price at $100, and your highest bid is only $50, you 
do not have to sell the item to the highest bidder. You can close the auction without any negative feedback or repercussions. Set your reserve price at the absolute lowest price you are willing to sell your item for. Keep what the item is worth, as well as what it cost you in mind.


The ‘buy it now’ option will allow you to set a price, and buyers can buy the item immediately, without bidding, for that set price. This option can be used for any type of item, and it should be set to match your reserve, give or take a few dollars. This option is great if you have multiple identical items to sell.


Shipping has a price, and potential buyers take this into consideration when they are looking at an auction. If you can see your way clear to offer free shipping, you will find that people are placing more bids. Make sure that your potential buyers realize that you are offering free shipping!


Before setting any prices, you need to determine what the item is really worth. The value of the item in different markets might be quite high. However, you are selling on eBay, and it is a different world altogether! Find out the price that similar items sold for on eBay before setting any prices. If it is a collectable, or a high ticket item, have the item evaluated to ensure that you aren't going to lose money!

Hot Selling Items for eBay Auctions

Many people who are trying to start an eBay business spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which items sell the best on eBay. Many of these people have elaborate systems for determining this information, and many others purchase expensive courses that teach them how to find this information as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you need to know is right in front of you – on the eBay website!


Take a look at any category, and you will see the word ‘hot’ beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly – there is a method to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there have been more than thirty bids placed on the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well. 


However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items sell best than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that will result in a successful auction in the future is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .


A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is ‘eBay Marketplace Research.’ Marketplace 
Research will allow you to view important statistical information on the buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well – or how poorly – an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools, however.


Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the 
listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/ . This list is divided into categories, which will make it easier to determine 
how popular your potential item may be. 


Don’t make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your 
homework on the item first. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.

The eBay Trading Assistants Program

If you excel at eBay auctions, you might want to consider an additional source of revenue as well. The eBay Trading Assistant Program will allow you to sell items for other eBay members on consignment. Being successful at your own auctions is the key to becoming a successful trading assistant for other people.


Often, newcomers simply don’t know how to make their items sell. Many people who are auctioning off a one time big ticket item, such as cars or real estate, will often employ the services of an eBay Trading Assistant. Items such as these can add up to very big commissions for serious trading assistants! Usually, trading assistants are responsible for every aspect of the auction, including shipping the product to the customer and collecting payment. For high ticket items, the person who hires. 


Trading Assistants get access to trading assistant marketing materials which are quite helpful. In order to become an approved trading assistant, you must have sold at least ten items in the last ninety days, have a feedback score of at least 100 with 97% positive feedback or higher, and your eBay account must be in good standing.

The Gift Solution Suitable for Everyone

We all know one. There is at least one in every family, and one in every circle of friends. There is even one in every office! There is always that one person that you know who is absolutely impossible to buy a gift for! These people either have everything, or want nothing. They don’t drop hints at all, and when asked, they simply say that they don’t know, they don’t care, or they don’t want anything.


Well, now you can buy a gift for that person. The solution lies in an eBay gift certificate! This will allow your loved one to essentially buy anything that they want, in a very exciting way. eBay gift certificates can easily be purchased through pay-pal, in varying amounts.


There are things that you should point out to the gift recipient, however. For instance, eBay gift certificates do expire. eBay gift certificates will not be accepted for all auctions either – they can only be redeemed for those auctions that accept Paypal as a form of payment. Other than that, your loved one should not have any problems redeeming their eBay gift certificate!

eBay and Customer Service

If you are running an eBay business, you may not realize that the need for great customer service still exists – even for online auctions. When a buyer receives quality customer service from you, they will potentially do one of two things – or both. They will give you great feedback, and they may look for more of your auctions in the future. If you hope to make a living from eBay, you have to stop thinking of it as an ‘auction’ and start running it like a ‘business.’


If you owned a brick and mortar business, how would you treat your customer while they were standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish ringing up their order? You would be helpful and respectful of course! You would do everything that you could to guarantee that customers return to your establishment in the future. You would bend over backwards to make sure that their buying experience with you was both satisfactory and enjoyable. Why would you do any less at the close of one of your eBay auctions?


First, act quickly at the close of your auctions. Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe the item they have won and how the item will be shipped – even if this information is already part of the description for the auction. Remind them of their winning bid amount, and give them payment options and instructions. Let them know when the item will be shipped. 


Close your email by thanking them for participating in your auction. You might even take this opportunity to tell them about other open auctions that you have as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a conversation that you are having with a customer who is standing at your counter in that imaginary brick and mortar store.


Once the payment and shipping details have been taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them know when the item was shipped – the exact date and time – and when it is expected to arrive on their end. During this contact, let them know that if they have any problems or questions, that they should contact you through the eBay site. If they do contact you in the future, make sure that you answer promptly, and that you do all that you can to make them happy with their purchase – even if it means issuing a refund.


Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds, depending on what the item is. Furthermore, you should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to you, at your expense, before the refund is issued – but once you receive the item, issue the refund promptly. This is just good business!

The eBay Shipping Center

eBay wants to help sellers with every aspect of their eBay business. The eBay shipping center was created to help ensure that you get your items to your customers in a timely manner, in the most efficient and economical way possible.


The eBay shipping center will help you print shipping labels, help you figure shipping costs, and even help you with International shipping. Shipping information for all of the major shipping companies, including the USPS can be found through the shipping center. You can even purchase insurance for packages that will be shipped by the USPS directly through the shipping 
center.


One of the greatest features of the eBay Shipping Center is the ability to order free co-branded shipping boxes for USPS shipments. These boxes are delivered to you, at no cost! This will cut a great deal of your shipping expenses because you won’t have to purchase your own boxes! There is also a great video that will teach you how to save time and money on your shipping, and whether you are a buyer or a seller, you can easily track your packages through the eBay shipping center as well.

eBay and Drop shipping

If you hope to own an eBay business, and make a full time living at it, you can easily make that dream come true – even if you don’t have a product of your own to sell. eBay provides many people who want to quit their corporate nine-to-five jobs with a way to make a good living, without having to put up a lot of start up capital. This is made possible with the help of drop shippers. Drop shippers send merchandise to the customers of business owners. If you have an eBay business, you are a business owner. This will allow you to offer a wide variety of stock in your eBay store, without having the need to warehouse all of those products!

All you have to do is set up your auction, and sell the product. You then pass the customer’s information on to the drop shipping company. The drop shipper does the rest, and they will even use your company information, as well as your company logo if you have provided it to them. When the product arrives at your customer’s home, they will have no idea  that your company didn’t send it. The drop shipper will package, label, and ship the products that you sell, allowing you more time to set up even more auctions, for greater profits.

You must establish a relationship with several drop shipping companies in order to become successful. In the beginning, most companies will require you to pay for the items that your customers order before they are shipped. You need to fill orders in a timely manner, so you should pay for the items with a credit card for speedy service. Eventually, you will be able to have the drop shipper fill your orders, and then bill you for them later.

When you set up your eBay auctions, make sure that your reserve price is set higher than the price that the drop shipper will be charging you for the item. The idea, of course, is to earn a profit! Depending on the item you are selling, a markup of about 10% should be about right, but you should do some research to see if the item is selling for a lower price in another eBay auction, or through other online sources.

By starting an eBay business using the drop shipping method, there is essentially no financial risk involved. The product will be sold before you pay the drop shipper for the item. This is one of the few businesses where you can actually turn a profit before you have expenditures!

How Important eBay Data And Research Is

eBay is a business anyway you look at it. Sure, it is a great deal of fun for both the buyers and sellers, but when you look at it from another view point, you will see that it is a business from the seller’s point of view, the buyer’s point of view, and eBay’s point of view. 40 million dollars a day travels through eBay. 


Selling items on eBay successfully is an art, and eBay offers many different forms of Data and Research to ensure that you are selling the right items, to the right people, in the right way.


Some of the data and research is not free, but much of it is. The available resources include hot items by category, eBay Pulse, merchandising calendar, sales reports, marketplace research, buyer behavioral report, and the eBay solutions directory. 
These tools are quite easy to use, and the information that can be gleaned from them is 
extremely valuable.


The Data and Research tools are all accessible through your seller’s account, by clicking on the ‘Advance Selling’ link. Learn to use those tools, and get your piece of that $40 million eBay revenue each day.

eBay University – What Is It All About?

eBay University is the learning program that eBay established to help people become successful eBay merchants. For convenience, eBay classes are held in many locations throughout the United States, and classes may also be completed from home, using your computer. 


You should note that all of the information you will learn through eBay University can be found on the website – for free. However, understanding that free information isn’t always easy. eBay University will teach you how to open a seller’s account, how to 
conduct research and create listings, how to improve listings for greater success, how to integrate Paypal with eBay, how to monitor your auctions, and how to complete transactions.


Once you’ve finished the Selling Basics course, you are ready for the ‘Beyond the Basics’ course. This advanced course will teach you how to start and grow an eBay business, how to choose and create listing formats that sell, how to use all of the eBay resources, how to market your business, how to pack and ship your items, and much more. Both courses are reasonably priced, and well worth the short amount of time that it takes to complete 
each course.

Are They Worth It?

There are numerous eBay courses that are available on the Internet today. These books and courses are designed to help you become more successful on 
eBay. Unfortunately, not all of these courses are worth the money that you will pay for them. Some of them are full of what used to be good information – 
when it was relevant – and others are simply junk information, written by someone trying to make a quick buck.


Before you purchase any eBay course, find out when the course was written. If it was written in 2004, for instance, you don’t want it. Even though that hasn't 
been very long ago, eBay changes so fast that much of the information will not be relevant. However, if the original issue of the course was written several years ago, but the course is updated each year, this will probably be a good course for you.


Again, use care when purchasing eBay courses. They can be quite helpful and enlightening, but only if the information in them is still good. Talk to other 
eBay sellers – preferably successful ones – to find out what courses are recommended.

The eBay Item Listing Rules

  Because eBay is such a huge marketplace, with members from all walks of life, in almost every single country around the world, it is no wonder that there are many scammers lurking about. In order to better protect the buyers, eBay has specific rules concerning the items that can be auctioned off on the site. These rules must be followed, or the person posting the item for auction can be banned from the site.


  Even though there are numerous categories, items that are put up for auction really only fall into one of four categories at eBay: Prohibited, Questionable, 
Potentially Infringing, and Approved. Approved is the simplest category to define and understand. An approved item is any item that does not fall into one of the other three categories. That is fairly simple, right?


  After the ‘approved’ category, however, it starts to get a little harder to understand – with the exception of prohibited items. A prohibited item may not be auctioned on eBay for any reason, under any circumstances. Prohibited items include alcohol, drugs, animals, tobacco, human remains or body parts of any type, lottery tickets, and governmental property. There is quite a bit more 
on the list, and that list can be viewed at the eBay website.


  Questionable items are those that are not prohibited, but are not necessarily infringing. Adult material falls under the ‘questionable’ category. Tickets of any 
type may also be questionable. Law enforcement related equipment, as well as guns, knives, and other weapons are questionable items. Artifacts, food items, batteries, all hazardous chemicals and materials are also on the list of 
questionable items. You can auction questionable items at eBay, as long as those items meet certain 
conditions.

You Can Sell Anything on eBay – Or Can You?

Over 100 million people are members of eBay. Through eBay, you can buy items in almost any category that you can imagine – at great prices. You can also sell almost anything you can imagine on eBay – people often sell items that have absolutely no real value for very high prices. There are limits, however, to what can be bought and sold. 


eBay does not allow certain items to be auctioned through their website. Services are one type of ‘item’ that cannot be auctioned – simply because it is not an item. Some seller’s blatantly ignore this however. The sell of other items is illegal, even if it isn’t being sold through eBay. eBay restricts the sale of any type of item that is considered ‘illegal for sale’ in any other selling format. Illegal items such as satellite descramblers are forbidden as well.


Anything that is copyrighted - such as copies of DVDs, CDs, or software - may not be sold through eBay auctions. You can, however, sell a DVD, CD, or any software that you bought legitimately…as long as you are not just selling a copy that you made of these types of items. eBay does not allow the sale of ‘replicas.’ A replica is a knockoff version of designer items, such as purses, dresses, shoes, or sunglasses that look identical to those that have designer labels. 


Items that are regulated by the state or federal government are forbidden on eBay. These items include alcoholic beverages, weapons and firearms, all tobacco products, and both prescription and illegal drugs. There are small exceptions to this rule, however. If you have a collectable, such as a tin that contains tobacco, you may sell that item if the package has never been opened, and if you state the contents of the package are not meant for consumption. There are other conditions that must be met as well when selling these types of collectables.


Any type or breed of animal or reptile may not be sold through an eBay auction. This includes animals that were once living, and are now stuffed and mounted. This rule may also apply to items that are taken from endangered species, such as Ivory. When it comes to these types of items, when in doubt, 
don’t.


Tickets may be sold, but it is illegal to sell tickets for a higher price than you originally paid for them. This is called ticket scalping, and it is illegal. Lottery tickets are also banned from eBay auctions, as well as raffle tickets. Again, if you are not sure if your item is eligible for an eBay auction, either don’t put it up for auction, or contact eBay to get an answer one way or the other. Don’t risk breaking the law!

Getting Started on eBay

  You’ve probably heard about how much money can be made on eBay. With dreams of quick riches and easy money, you are probably ready to jump in with both feet – right now! The best thing you can do if you are serious about making money with eBay, however, is to slow down. In fact, just stop for a minute. Don’t rush straight in. Take your time, and do it right.


  eBay has over 100 million members. Think about that number for just a minute or two. When you get your eBay business set up, that is how big your customer base will be – instantly. 100 million people - 100 million people who are just waiting for you to get set up and running so that they can throw money at you! Well, not quite. It is true that there are over 100 million members, but at this point, they don’t know that you exist. In fact, no matter how well you do on eBay, most of them will never know that you exist. 100 million is a very large number.


  The most successful eBay sellers started out as buyers – and you should too. This will give you a sense of how everything works. It will also show you how things are from the buyer’s side of the fence. Let’s call this period of time ‘consumer research.’ You are literally studying how eBay works, from a customer’s point of view. You may not realize this, but this eBay buyer experience will actually make you a much better seller – right from the very start.  


  Really pay attention to the customer service you receive from the buyer. Think about how you want to be treated as a buyer, and take notes. Take your time during this process. Interact with the sellers. Get involved in hot auctions to see what they are like. In your spare time, start making notes about the hot items that you see. These notes will come in handy later.


  eBay works just like any other business. You have to determine what people want to buy before you can hope to be successful. There are very specific items that sell really well on eBay – you just have to figure out what those items are. There are many resources for finding out this information. Start with the lessons that eBay offers to their sellers. Strongly consider attending the eBay University as well. This is the next step in the process. After you have had the eBay buyer experience, it is time to learn how to be an eBay seller. 


  Read all of the information eBay provides for you at the site. The information is free and you will learn a great deal from it. Take full advantage of this – before you start setting up your first auction or your eBay store! By reading through all of the resources, you will avoid making numerous mistakes that so many before you have made. This is another step towards building a successful eBay business. Once you’ve made it through the learning process, you should know everything you need to know to get started with a money making eBay business of your very own.