The eBay Seller's News, October 2006, Volume 6, No. 10
The Newsletter for Professional eBay Sellers
by: Skip McGrath

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you
take your eyes off of the goal..... Henry Ford

Musings ////

Welcome to our new subscribers. If you have not yet confirmed your subscription, please take a moment to do so by clicking on the confirm link in the newsletter your received. If you don't see a confirmation email, please look in your spam filter and mark the email as "not spam." This way you will be sure and receive all issues. If you ever want to unsubscribe, there is an un-subscribe link in the same email.

I spent last week in San Francisco promoting my latest book, Titanium eBay. I was on KGO radio with Ronn Owens, the Dow Jones MarketWatch internet TV show and a local ABC show called View From The Bay. So welcome to all the new readers who found my web site from those shows. The Ronn Owens show was really fun because it was a one hour call-in show and I got to take about a dozen questions from listeners. I have a few copies of eBay Titanium available in my eBay store. I am selling them signed if any of you are interested. If you get there and don't see them, then they are gone. But you can still get a copy on Barnes & Noble.com and Amazon.com or your local book store.

If you would like to know who the top sellers on eBay, check out The Top Seller List.

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I am often asked about various money making products --which ones I recommend and which ones are scams. I have created a product review page where you can read about the products I recommend. One of the newest programs I review is 1st Promotion. I have tried several variations of this type of system before, but this is the first one that has really worked well for me. It generates affiliate commissions from seven different affiliate programs. Best of all it is a one-time cost --no ongoing fees. I am using it in conjunction with Search Big Daddy that I told you about last month. I am using the free pay-per-click dollars to drive hits to this money-making web site.

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I received several emails from readers who had tried the EZ Lister listing tool and really liked it. I think EZ Lister has the best looking templates of any auction management company out there and I really like the pricing model.

For those of you who like to do your own thing, there is an outfit called Auction Boutique you might want to check out. They have some nice templates and a very low-cost photo hosting service. You get both for $3.95 a month. It works with Turbo Lister and eBay's Selling Manager.

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Last month in my blog and the newsletter I mentioned the new version of HammerTap's research tool called Deep Analysis3. BrightBuilders the owner of the HammerTap tools has re-branded the product as HammerTap3. This new tool completely blows away the competitor's products. Since I have a good relationship with Bright Builders (I contract with them for my eBay coaching program and my web builder program), I have arranged a very sweet deal for my readers.

HammerTap3 normally costs $24.95 a month --and at that price is very well worth it. Believe me, what you learn with this tool can easily put much more than that in your pocket each month by reducing your risk and increasing your auction profits. They are offering my readers a 10-day Free Trial and if you sign up, you will get it for only $17.95 --a savings of $7.00 per month. Just go to www.hammertap.com/skip to get this special offer. (Yes, I make an affiliate commission when you buy this, but believe me, at this price it's pretty small, and I really believe in --and strongly endorse this product.)

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Speaking of my new blog; I am coming into my third month and it is really building in popularity. I did a Google search the other day and several of my blog posts came up under some very competitive keywords. Also I know a lot of my readers like to see my auctions. If you look at my blog there is a link to My eBay Auctions in the upper left corner of the blog. If you click on that you will be linked to all of my eBay auctions, but notice that you will still be on my blog. This feature has been driving traffic to my eBay listings. It has also been driving traffic and page placement for my web site. There are several important key word terms where my web site never appeared on the top 10 pages of Google, but I am now showing up as high as pages 2 through 4 --and on two terms (sell on eBay and eBay selling tips), I am now on page one.

If you look near the top of my blog, you will see little buttons that allow you to add the blog headlines to your home page on Yahoo, Google or MSN. I am trying to post daily so this is a good way to keep up with changes on eBay without having to go to the announcements page and scroll through all of the announcements. I also post selling tips, interesting news and links to new products.

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Do you have a problem with Non-paying bidders? I am trying a new service called Reliabid. It puts a seal in your auctions that lets bidders know you are a professional seller and that you expect people who bid on your auctions to pay you. According to research done by the company it can reduce your non-paying bidder rate by over 50%. See the story below on third party services to boost your auction profits.

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My latest book How To Create & Sell Information Products on eBay has gotten some great reviews. One reader wrote me earlier this week: "Great information, you'd have to fight me to get it back." Several buyers have taken advantage of my offer to review their first products. I am sworn to secrecy, so I can't tell you what they are, but I am really stunned by some of the new ideas I have seen. Some of these folks are going to make some serious money.

If you want an actual demonstration of how you can make money with information products, Dave Guindon is a great guy who has launched a series of videos that show you the steps to create and sell your information products. His Online Videos are a great companion to my book. With my book and his videos, it's a snap to create and start selling your first information product.

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I am often asked what are the best products and systems for making money on eBay and the internet. There are so many scams, and just crappy products out there, that people are naturally cautious. So I have created a new page in my products section called eBay and Internet Income Product Reviews with links to products and programs that I recommend.

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In This Issue:

1. Cash and Carry Trade Shows: Great Opportunity for eBay Sellers to Find Merchandise
2. Are You Ready for The Holiday Sales Season on eBay?
3. My World to Replace eBay's About Me Page
4. Leaving Out Important Information Can Really Hurt Your eBay Profits
5. Making Money on eBay is Important --But Are You Having Fun?
6. Sourcing eBay Products from China
7. Third-Party eBay Tools to Boost Your Profits
8. New Wholesale Sources for October 2006

1. Cash and Carry Trade Shows: Great Opportunity for eBay Sellers to Find Merchandise

There are all types of wholesale trade shows. One that is becoming more popular is what is called a Cash & Carry Trade Show. Most wholesale trade shows have exhibitors who take orders and ship the product to you after the show. A Cash & Carry show is just what the name implies --you pay for the goods and carry them away. Some of the vendors will demand actual cash, but most take credit cards. So you will want to take some cash with you for the few that don't.

There are all types of merchants at these shows. They include importers, antique and collectible dealers, lots of jewelry and timepiece dealers, garden supplies and decorative items, houseware dealers and more. The prices are typically really good --easily low enough to make money on eBay.

Here's an example. At the last cash & carry show there was an importer from China that was selling small wooden antique reproductions made out of really old wood. We bought several small tables and footstools for as little as $10 or $12 each and were able to sell them on eBay for as much as $40 each. That is a pretty good markup. Yes - we told buyers they were reproductions, but the pieces looked really good and an original would have been over $100.

The trick is to make sure there is a market on eBay for what you buy. Most of these shows are in convention centers and have wireless access and some even provide terminals. So if you see something you like, get to a laptop or a terminal and check it out on eBay or, even better, use HammerTap to run a quick analysis of the product and the pricing and sell through potential.

2. Are You Ready for The Holiday Sales Season on eBay?

It is only the end of September, but people have already started their holiday shopping.  If you are selling products on eBay that sell well as Christmas gifts, now is the time to get them listed. 

Here are some tips for maximizing holiday profits on eBay:

• Test your ebay auction titles for keywords that work.  People find products by searching. If you don't have the right keywords they won't find you
• Don't be in a hurry to cut your prices.  Gas prices are falling, the economy is good and people will pay for quality and service
• Free shipping always works well around the holidays
• If you have multiple quantities of a product, launch an auction listing and a fixed price listing for the same item at the same time.  They will appear together and one will support the other
• As you get closer to Christmas, be sure to offer a fast shipping option
• Select the Gift option and check the box that says you will ship to a gift recipient
• If you have the time to do it, check the gift box that says you will gift wrap.  You can charge extra for this.  If done right it can be a real money maker
• Tell your bidders you will give them excellent service --and then do it.  Feedback is like show business.  You are only as good as your last performance.  A negative sitting right at the top of your feedback comments can hurt your business anytime --but it can really affect it this time of year.
• Keep going right up to the last minute.  Last year I sold several items that people paid overnight FedEx to get them in time.
• Don't position your products as a bargain.  People are used to paying top prices this time of year

Don't save time by cutting corners with your photos and descriptions.  Although people will pay higher prices this time of year, they are still cautious and don't want to be disappointed. The overall image of your listing is critical.

3. My World to Replace eBay's About Me Page

My World. An interesting title for eBay's My Space knock-off. This new page is available to all eBay users and can be customized to fit your needs. In addition to your profile (which can include a photograph), you can choose "modules" to include in the page from: Blog, Bio, Reviews and Guides, and Listings.

The Bio is the most interesting feature. The title choices are: Bio, eBayness, My Business or Business Profile. I'm not quite sure what "eBayness" means, but I guess someone will choose it.

When filling out the bio, you fill in boxes for topics including All About Me, Interests, and Business Profile. Here is the interesting part -  the words you use become tags which other users can search for. So it is vitally important to use lots of keywords relevant to your auctions and business.

I anticipate My World will ultimately replace both the About Me page and the Feedback Profile page. eBay announced that the link from usernames will be directed to the My World page instead of Feedback Profile beginning at the end of October. It appears that My World will become the central location for all information about a user which does make sense. You can find out more about My World and set up your own page for personal use or to promote your eBay business here.

4. Leaving Out Important Information Can Really Hurt Your eBay Profits

Karen (my wife, for new readers) has collected iron trivets for about 20 years. Her collection is not huge --she probably owns about 30, but they are all very good quality and consist of hard-to-find designs. Iron trivets are not expensive to collect. Most of them sell in the $3.00 to $25.00 range, but there are some that are worth hundreds of dollars. One of the designs she did not have was a fairly easy-to-find Confederate States of America (CSA) model. I have seen these on eBay for as little as $2.99 and as high as $29.00. The issue has always been condition --she only collects perfect ones or in the case of the more rare ones --those in very good condition.

Well a couple of weeks ago I found one with a really good photograph and it looked to be in perfect condition. The starting bid was $9.95. I bid on it using BidSlammer (an eBay sniping program). No one else bid, so I won it. The package arrived a few days later and when I opened it I was shocked. The trivet was still in the original box from Virginia Metalcrafters dated 1952 and the box was in perfect condition. The addition of the box made this trivet worth much-much more. I would have gladly paid close to $30 if the auction had mentioned the box and included a photo of it. This also would have attracted several bidders.

I know a lot of collectors who tell me they see this all the time. Someone who is not a collector, or not knowledgeable about the worth of packages, boxes and tags, who list things on eBay that end up selling for well under their true value. OK - making a nice score is what makes collecting fun for the collector --but not the seller. I collect Starbucks city mugs and I frequently find one at a flea market or on eBay for well less than its true value because the seller has no knowledge of what they have, they mis-describe it, or they don't use the right keywords in the auction title.

The lesson here is research. Besides always performing a Completed Auctions search on eBay, or using a tool such as Hammertap3, if you come across something whose value you are not sure about, be sure and also Google it. A Google search will find posts on blogs and message boards about the item. You may also come across websites and collector groups where you can post a question and get answers. Then there is also the Kovels Research Guides. This is a subscription service that can find prices for almost anything and also has excellent information on fakes and reproductions. The lesson here is to research your values before you list an item.

5. Making Money on eBay is Important --But Are You Having Fun?

Are you still having fun? Karen and I were sitting at the dinner table the other night. She looked over at me and said: "Do you remember why we got started and kept selling on eBay for so long?"

I was a little perplexed and said something like: "Well, we have always made pretty good money."

"Yes --but don't you remember how much fun it was when we sold something?"

That got me to thinking. It is so easy to get wrapped up in all of the things you have to do to be successful. And, frankly running a full-time eBay business is a lot of work. It is far better than commuting to work for someone else, but it is work nevertheless.

The truth is we do work hard, but we are still having fun. I have the eBay toolbar installed on my computer. This is a neat feature. Every time you sell something a little window pops up in the bottom right of your screen showing the item that just sold. When that happens one part of me says "cha-ching" to myself, but there is another little space in my mind that gives me a personal high-five. I think it triggers a little shot of dopamine in the pleasure center of my brain. The other thing that triggers this is getting a nice feedback comment. Is is fun when you as a buyer win an auction and as a seller when you sell something --especially if it goes for a nice price.

I have been opining here for some time that eBay needs to return their focus to the average seller and not stress big business and big-time consumer products so much. This means focusing on the average buyer too. eBay succeeded not because it was a place to locate a new DVD player, but because auctions are fun. the other part of the "fun" is that you are dealing with real people. I know I much more enjoy buying from another small seller than one of the big professional stores where everything is automated. Yes I am a big believer in automation --but only up to a point. You need to keep the personal touch.

So think about this when you are creating your descriptions and your automated emails. You should set out your payment, shipping and return policy clearly --but also do it in a friendly way. Avoid terms such as

• "We only accept..."
• "You must..."
• "Don't bid unless..."

You have all seen the kinds of auctions I am talking about where the seller has all these strict rules to follow. That always turns me off and I rarely bid. The same goes for your automated emails. Take the time to add a little personality.

6. Sourcing eBay Products from China

It is no secret that thousands of products you see selling on eBay every day are coming from China. Importing from overseas --once a mystery and source of great risk is now getting easier. There are two websites that contain a wealth of sourcing information. Alibaba.com and GlobalSources.com. Both of these web sites list not only hundreds of suppliers for a wide variety of goods but they also contain lots of valuable information as well.

The other thing you may not have thought of is actually going to Hong Kong or China to buy stuff. Airfares are surprisingly low, hotels are reasonable and there are trade shows all year long, but especially now in the Fall. Going to a trade show in the Far East is a real experience. You will be absolutely blown away by the variety of goods and how cheap they are. I met a lady recently who was a beaded jewelry manufacturer. She was buying her sterling silver findings and silver charms that went into her bracelets from a distributor in the US. Her price was $3.30 per each bracelet for one popular model she sold. When she visited a trade show in Hong Kong, she found the actual manufacturer who agreed to sell them to her for $1.10 --exactly 1/3rd the cost.

Both Alibaba.com and GlobalSources.com have some great information on their respective websites about attending trade shows. But you should also go to www.chinasourcingfairs.com where you can link to videos and sign up for seminars. Each of the big shows runs a seminar the first day called "Buying From China, What New Buyers Need to Know." All of the shows are in English and they all have Help Desks or Concierge Desks where you can get all sorts of help and assistance. If you are worried about the customs duties, regulations and paperwork related to importing you can relax as there is plenty of help for this too. There are professional freight forwarding companies and customs brokers who exhibit at the show or who the show help desks can connect you to that can do all of this stuff for you.

Lastly is the misimpression that you have to import container loads. This is true of some companies and some products, but more and more of these sellers are willing to sell in smaller quantities and many of them are setting up offices and warehouses in the US where they import the products in bulk and you can buy in smaller quantities.

7. Third-Party eBay Tools to Boost Your Profits

I use several third-party tools in my eBay auctions. These include buySAFE and SquareTrade. Recently I have just started testing Reliabid. Each of these has a different function and each costs money --but do they, or will they pay off for you?

1. SquareTrade has been around the longest. SquareTrade is a company that puts a seal in your auctions that says you are a SquareTrade approved seller. To get a SquareTrade seal you have to verify your identity and that your identity matches your eBay username, profile and auctions. Once this is done, SquareTrade has an interface that will automatically place the SquareTrade seal in your auctions. When someone clicks on the seal they will see your profile that states that your identity has been verified and that you are a seller in good standing. SquareTrade also offers a dispute resolution program that will help you remove negative feedback.
   
   SquareTrade charges $9.50 a month. eBay offers something similar for $5.00 called ID Verify, but it is a one-time ID verification process and does not include the ongoing compliance checking or the dispute resolution service. I have not seen any data that proves SquareTrade increases your bids or final values. I have used it since 2002. Unfortunately I have not blind tested it to see if there is any change in my outcomes with or without the seal.
   
2. buySAFE is a bonding service that I have used for the past three years. It does work for me and they have data that shows it increases conversion ( successful sale) rates by 2.1% and final values by 4.7%. These are not huge numbers but that study was across all types of auctions. I have noticed a higher sell through rate and final values my more expensive products --although even lower priced products have benefited as well. buySAFE is a proven tool used by some of the biggest sellers on eBay.
   
3. Reliabid is the new guys on the block. They were the title sponsor of this year's Professional eBay Seller's Alliance conference in San Francisco. Reliabid is designed to help you reduce the number of non-paying bidders. In addition to a seal program that lets sellers know you are a professional seller, if a deadbeat buyer doesn't pay you even after you go through eBay's NPB process, Reliabid will actually send a collection service after the buyer and attempt to collect for you. The seal actually states: "This auction is protected against Non-paying bidders." Reliabids studies conclude that fewer potential NPBs will click on your auctions thereby saving you not only the hassle of tracking down the NPB, but saving you from losing money and listing fees.
   
   Reliabid contacted me this week and made an offer of a free 30-day trial and $10 credit for my readers. You can click here to see a demo and get the offer.
   

Everyone's auctions and business model is different and only you can tell if these services will work for you. About the only way to know for sure is to give them a try.

8. New Wholesale Sources for October 2006

Before we get started --first a warning: In an earlier issue I told you about a seller called Rachel's Clothing. They used to be a reliable clothing supplier for eBay sellers, but lately something has happened and they are not shipping orders that customers have paid for. So I have removed them from my list of wholesale sources and recommend any eBay seller avoid them.

Pieces of History offers military medals, commemorative badges and medals and other historical items. The web site is Retail. You must call them at 800-564-6164 to get the wholesale pricing.

CKB Products has been around a while. Some of their products are priced too high to sell on eBay, but they have thousands of products and if you spend a little time searching you can find some great items. They cover pet products, automotive, clothing, gifts and a wide assortment of general merchandise.

Beads and beading are hot. Desert Fire beads sells a nice line of beads and charms.

AudioTape Inc. is a great source for more than audiotapes. They sell music and movie VCR Tapes, audiotapes, CDs and DVDs. The web site shows retail prices. Email them through the web site for wholesale pricing.

The Denim Shop is a family owned business that specializes in denim clothing --everything from shirts, jeans to aprons. They have also started to carry a line of polar fleece products. Register first and then get access to the wholesale site.

The SolarEX Sunglass Company has just expanded into fleece products for winter including the popular six-way fleece hoods. My son who works in Alaska has one of these and swears by it. Click on the link to register at the top of the page to get access to the wholesale site. If you have a problem (I did) call them at 866-298-0433.

Here is a niche product for you. Wipe-eeze sells a line of environmentally friendly wet wipes.

KCH Hawaii sells a complete line of Hawaiian and Tiki novelties.

Christmas Products International sells a unique Christmas Tree Skirt support.

Mid America Liquidators is the official liquidation source for Costco. They primarily sell furniture, but they also get pallets of electronics, footwear, and other household items. There are no prices on the web site. You have to call them to set up an account.

That's it for this month. Don't forget to visit my blog.

Skip McGrath