Absolute Beginner's Guide to eBay (2nd Edition)

Absolute

Beginner’s

Guide

to

eBay®

800 East 96th Street,Indianapolis, Indiana 46240

Michael Miller

Second Edition

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Absolute Beginer’s Guide to eBay®, Second EditionCopyright ©2004 by Que Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, pho-tocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from thepublisher. No patent liability is assumed with respect to the use of theinformation contained herein. Although every precaution has been takenin the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume noresponsibility for errors or omissions. Nor is any liability assumed for dam-ages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

International Standard Book Number: 0-7897-3105-3

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2004100882

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing: May 2004

07 06 05 04 4 3 2 1

TrademarksAll terms mentioned in this book that are known to be trademarks or ser-vice marks have been appropriately capitalized. Que Publishing cannotattest to the accuracy of this information. Use of a term in this bookshould not be regarded as affecting the validity of any trademark or ser-vice mark.

eBay is a registered trademark of eBay, Inc.

Warning and DisclaimerEvery effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accu-rate as possible, but no warranty or fitness is implied. The information pro-vided is on an “as is” basis. The author and the publisher shall haveneither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect toany loss or damages arising from the information contained in this book.

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Associate PublisherGreg Wiegand

Acquisitions EditorStephanie J. McComb

DevelopmentEditorChristy Miller Kuziensky

Managing EditorCharlotte Clapp

Project EditorSheila Schroeder

Copy EditorCheri Clark

IndexerKen Johnson

Technical EditorSteve Schwartz

Team CoordinatorSharry Lee Gregory

Interior DesignerAnne Jones

Cover DesignerDan Armstrong

Page LayoutJulie Parks

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Contents at a Glance

Part I Essential eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

1 Introducing eBay, The World’s Largest Online Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . .72 Joining Up and Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213 Creating a Home Base with My eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Part II eBay for Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

4 Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .375 Searching for Items and People . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .596 The Best Ways to Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .737 After the Auction: Taking Care of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .818 Dealing with Fraudulent Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .899 Secrets of Successful Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Part III eBay for Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

10 Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11311 Determining What to Sell—and for How Much . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13512 Deciding on Your Payment Methods—and Using PayPal . . . . . . . . . .14313 Choosing the Right Listing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15114 Writing a Listing That Sells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16115 Using Pictures in Your Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17316 Creating a Great-Looking Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18717 Automating Item Listing with eBay Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19918 Managing the Auction Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21319 After the Auction: Concluding Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22120 Automating Auction Management with eBay Selling Manager . . . . .22921 Shipping It Out—Cheaply and Safely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23922 Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26323 Secrets of Successful Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .269

Part IV Using eBay’s Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283

24 Creating Your Own Personal About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28525 Understanding and Using Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29126 Participating in the eBay Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29727 Buying and Selling Wheels and Walls: eBay Motors and

Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .301

Part V Becoming a Power Seller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

28 Using Auction Software and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31129 Going International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32330 Making a Living from eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .331

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .343

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Table of ContentsIntroduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

I Essential eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

1 Introducing eBay, the World’s Largest Online Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

What Is eBay—and How Did It Come to Be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8The eBay Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8How Big Is eBay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

How Does an eBay Auction Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

What You Can—and What You Can’t—Trade on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Major Categories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11What You Can’t Trade on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

What’s What (and What’s Where) on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13eBay’s Home Page—for New Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13eBay’s Home Page—for Registered Users . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Where to Find Everything Else: eBay’s Site Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16How to Go Directly to the Most Important Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17Contacting eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2 Joining Up and Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Everybody Does It: Filling Out eBay’s Registration Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Checklist: Before You Register . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Setting Up Your Payment Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Credit Card Billing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24Direct Pay Automatic Checking Withdrawal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

The Costs of Using eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3 Creating a Home Base with My eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Accessing and Using My eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30My Summary View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30All Buying View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

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All Selling View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31All Favorites View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32My Account View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Managing and Personalizing My eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32Sorting and Filtering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Hiding or Displaying Columns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Changing How Many Listings to Display . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Leaving Notes to Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Printing Key Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

II eBay for Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

4 Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Understanding the Bidding Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Deciding How Much to Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38Understanding Proxy Bidding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

How to Read an Item Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Title and Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41Your Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Auction Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42Seller Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43Shipping and Payment Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44Payment Methods Accepted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Ready to Bid? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Before You Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45Checklist: Before You Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Just Do It—Placing a Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Bidding in Other Types of Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Dutch Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Reserve Price Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50Winning Quickly with Buy It Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52Fixed-Price Items—from eBay Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

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What to Do After You’ve Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53Keeping Track of Your Bids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Increasing Your Bid Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Oh, No! You’ve Been Outbid! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54Retracting a Bad Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55Bidding in the Final Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Five Common Bidding Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Mistake #1: Bidding Too Early . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Mistake #2: Bidding Too Low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56Mistake #3: Bidding Too High . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Mistake #4: Getting Caught Up in a Bidding Frenzy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Mistake #5: Not Reading the Fine Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

You Won! Now What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5 Searching for Items and People) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Browsing or Searching—Which One Is for You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Browsing: The Easy Way to Find Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Searching: The Powerful Way to Find Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Using eBay’s Search Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63Complex Searches—for Simpler Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Practice Makes Perfect: Some Sample Searches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69Saving Your Searches—and Repeating Them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70Get Notification of New Items That Match Your Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

6 The Best Ways to Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Different Ways to Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Paying by Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Paying by Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74Paying by Money Order or Cashier’s Check . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75Paying by Credit Card—via PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76Paying Cash on Delivery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77Using Escrow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Evaluating Different Methods of Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Which Method Is Fastest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Which Method Is Safest? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Which Method Should You Use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

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7 After the Auction: Taking Care of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

Using the Post-Auction Checklist . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Checklist: After You’ve Won . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Making Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

Checking Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83

Arranging Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Waiting for Your Doorbell to Ring… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Receiving the Goods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Finishing Things Up and Leaving Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

8 Dealing with Fraudulent Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89

Protecting Yourself Before You Buy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Protecting Yourself After the Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Getting Help from eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Resolving Conflicts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93Beyond eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Reporting Inappropriate Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94

Tips for Protecting Yourself on eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

9 Secrets of Successful Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

The Guaranteed Way to Win an Auction—Be Sneaky and Snipe . . . . . . . . 98Sniping: Pros and Cons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98Successful Sniping, Step-by-Step . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99Using Software to Snipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Placing a Winning Bid—and Getting the Most for Your Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Tip #1: Bid in the Off Season . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Tip #2: Look for Off-Peak Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101Tip #3: Do Your Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

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Tip #4: Don’t Bid on the First Item You See . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Tip #5: Know When to Say No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Tip #6: Don’t Let the Proxy Bid Things Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Tip #7: There Are Other Fish in the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Tip #8: If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102Tip #9: Ask Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #10: Check the Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #11: Check the Seller’s Past Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #12: Check the Seller’s Other Current Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #13: Search, Don’t Browse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #14: Search Smart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Tip #15: Search for Misspellings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Tip #16: Search for Last-Minute Bargains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Tip #17: Don’t Show Your Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105Tip #18: Watch, Don’t Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Tip #19: Use the eBay Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Tip #20: Watch the Finish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Tip #21: Get in Synch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Tip #22: Put Your Best Foot Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Tip #23: Bid in Odd Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Tip #24: Don’t Be a Deadbeat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Tip #25: Use My eBay to Track Your Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Tip #26: Read the Fine Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Tip #27: Don’t Forget Shipping Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107Tip #28: Don’t Overpay for Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #29: Pay Quickly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #30: Pay by Credit Card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #31: Money Orders Cost Money . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #32: Provide All the Information Necessary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #33: Use a Middleman for Expensive Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108Tip #34: Insure It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #35: Document Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #36: Keep a Log . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #37: If You Win It, Inspect It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #38: If You Get Ripped Off, Tell eBay About It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #39: Communicate! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109Tip #40: Be Nice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

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III eBay for Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

10 Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

Getting Ready to List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114Checklist: Before You List an Item for Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114

Getting Started: Creating an Item Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Step 1: Get Ready to Sell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Step 2: Choose the Type of Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115Step 3: Choose Your Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Step 4: Choose a Listing Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Step 5: Describe Your Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118Step 6: Fill in the Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119Step 7: Enter Payment and Shipping Info . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122Step 8: Review and Submit Your Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124You’re Done! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125

Selling Commonly Sold Items with Pre-Filled Item Information . . . . . . . . 125

Dealing with Different Types of Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126Set a Higher Minimum with a Reserve Price Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127Sell Larger Quantities with a Dutch Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128Keep It Anonymous with a Private Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128End It Quickly with Buy It Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

Managing Your Item Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Editing Your Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129Canceling an Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Blocking Buyers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Relisting an Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Five Common Selling Mistakes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Mistake #1: List in the Wrong Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Mistake #2: Set Too High a Starting Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Mistake #3: Don’t Adequately Describe the Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132Mistake #4: Don’t Include a Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133Mistake #5: Don’t Charge Enough Shipping and Handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

The Auction’s Over! Now What? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134

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11 Determining What to Sell---And for How Much . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Finding Items to Sell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Garage Sales and Yard Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Flea Markets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Estate Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136Live Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Vintage and Used Retailers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Thrift Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Discount and Dollar Stores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Closeout Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Going Out of Business Sales . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137Classified Ads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Friends and Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138Liquidators and Wholesalers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138eBay! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Picking the Right Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138

Setting the Right Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139Set It Low Enough to Be Attractive… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139…But Don’t Set It So Low That It’s Not Believable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140Make Sure You Recover Your Costs… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140…But Not So High That You Pay Too High a Listing Fee . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141Make Sure You Can Live with a Single Bid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141

12 Deciding on Your Payment Methods---And Using PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Accepting Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Accepting C.O.D. Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Accepting Personal Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

Accepting Money Orders and Cashier’s Checks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145

Accepting Credit Cards—via PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Signing Up for PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146Paying for PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Choosing PayPal in Your New Auction Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Collecting PayPal Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147Withdrawing PayPal Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

Which Way Is Best? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

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13 Choosing the Right Listing Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Choosing the Right Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

Choosing a Different Start Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152

To Reserve or Not to Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153

Sell It Now? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Public or Private? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154

Local Is Good . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

A Pretty Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Go for the Gallery? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Grab Attention with Listing Upgrades . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Subtitle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Bold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157Featured Plus! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Home Page Featured . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Gift Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158Listing Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

Count ‘em Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159

14 Writing a Listing That Sells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Write a Title That SELLS! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Include Key Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162Make Your Title Stand Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163What to Avoid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163

Write the Right Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164Take All the Space You Need . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164First Things First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164The Bare Necessities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Describe It—Accurately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Stress Benefits, Not Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165Break It Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Don’t Forget the Fine Print . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166Include Alternate Wording . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167

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Making the Grade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Making a Mint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167Getting Graded . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

Other Ways to Describe Your Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169

15 Using Pictures in Your Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173Checklist: eBay Pictures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

Take a Picture—or Make a Scan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Tips for Taking Great Product Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174Scan Instead of Shoot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179Use eBay’s Stock Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Convert a Picture to a Digital Graphics File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179

Edit the Image File . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Things to Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Graphics Editing Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180Resizing Your Photos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Resizing Your Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181

Upload Your Image File to the Internet—or Use eBay Picture Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Using eBay Picture Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182Using Another Web Host . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Adding a Picture Within Your Item Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186

16 Creating a Great-Looking Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Apply Cool Templates with eBay’s Listing Designer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Create Fancy Listings with Listing-Creation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189eBay Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189Third-Party Listing-Creation Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

Insert Simple Formatting in Your Item Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

Crack the Code: Entering HTML by Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191Codes for Text Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192Codes for Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193Codes for Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194Codes That Insert Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195Codes for Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195

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Codes for Links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196Codes for Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

17 Automating Item Listing with eBay Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

Downloading and Configuring the Turbo Lister Software . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Downloading Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Configuring Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200

Creating an Item Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Creating Listings for Commonly Sold Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

Uploading Your Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

18 Managing the Auction Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213

Keeping Tabs on Your Current Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Receiving Daily Updates from eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214Using My eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215Using Auction Management Software and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 216

Editing In-Process Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Updating Your Auction Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Deleting Unwelcome Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217Canceling an Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218Answering Bidder Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

Promoting Your Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Linking to Specific Item Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219Linking to All Your Auction Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220

19 After the Auction: Concluding Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

The Post-Auction Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222Checklist: After the Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Communicating with the Winning Bidder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

Accepting Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Packing and Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

Finishing Things Up and Leaving Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225

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Handling Buyer Complaints and Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

What If You Don’t Sell Your Item? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226

What If the Buyer Doesn’t Pay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227

20 Automating Auction Management with eBay Selling Manager . . . . . . . . 229

Introducing eBay Selling Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230How Selling Manager Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230For Higher-Volume Sellers: eBay Selling Manager Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232

Sending Buyer Emails . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232Sending a Standard Email Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233Editing an Email Template . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234

Receiving Payment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

Printing Invoices and Shipping Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236

After the Item Is Shipped . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236Leaving Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Archiving Completed Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

21 Shipping It Out---Cheaply and Safely . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Packing 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Essential Packing Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Checklist: Packing Supplies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240Where to Find Boxes and Packing Materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241Picking the Right Shipping Container . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243How to Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244Packing for International Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246How to Seal the Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

Labeling 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Buying the Right Kinds of Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247How to Create an Idiot-Proof Label . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247Using Your Computer to Print Shipping Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249Printing Labels from Your eBay Item Listing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249

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Shipping 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251Examining the Major Shipping Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251How to Reduce Shipping Weight—and Shipping Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Shipping Large or Heavy Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255How to Price Shipping and Handling for Your Item Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255How to Track Your Shipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259When to Recommend Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259What to Do When Things Go Wrong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259Tips for Less-Painful Shipping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260

22 Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263

How to Handle Bum Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264Checklist: Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Contacting an Unresponsive Bidder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Filing a Non-Paying Bidder Alert . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264

Asking eBay to Refund Your Fees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Leaving Negative Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Giving Other Bidders a Second Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Relisting Your Item . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

23 Secrets of Successful Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

Two Different Strategies for Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270The High Road: High Price, High Quality, High Value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270The Low Road: Low Price and a Lot of Excitement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Closing More Auctions—and Increasing Your Revenues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Tip #1: Research Your Price . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Tip #2: Make Your Listing Stand Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Tip #3: Use Turbo Lister to Create Your Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Tip #4: Get All the Buzzwords in the Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272Tip #5: A Picture Says a Thousand Words . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Tip #6: Be Descriptive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Tip #7: Reuse Text That Sells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Tip #8: Include Shipping and Payment Details . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

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Tip #9: Be Honest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273Tip #10: Promote Yourself with Your About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Tip #11: Make the Buyer Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Tip #12: Go Long… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Tip #13:…or Create a Short-Term Frenzy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Tip #14: There’s No Reason to Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274Tip #15: Single Items Are Best… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Tip #16:…Although You Can Unload Some Dogs in a Pack . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Tip #17: Don’t Compete Against Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Tip #18: Start and End in Prime Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275Tip #19: End on a Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Tip #20: Don’t End on a Friday or Saturday Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276Tip #21: Slow Down in the Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Tip #22: Promote Your Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Tip #23: Use My eBay to Track Your Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Tip #24: If You Sell a Lot, Use eBay Selling Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Tip #25: Avoid Premature Cancellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277Tip #26: Avoid Deadbeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Tip #27: Include All Your Shipping Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Tip #28: Use a Middleman for Expensive Items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Tip #29: Document Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Tip #30: Communicate Quickly—and Clearly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 278Tip #31: Be Nice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Tip #32: Ship Promptly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279Tip #33: If Nobody Buys, Relist—With a Different Description . . . . . . . . . . . 280Tip #34: If You Get Stiffed, Ask for a Refund . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Tip #35: Don’t Forget About Number Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Tip #36: The Customer Is Always Right… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280Tip #37: …or All Sales Are Final . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Tip #38: Accept Credit Cards—Via PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Tip #39: Wait for the Check to Clear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281Tip #40: If It’s a Business, You Pay Taxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281

IV Using eBay’s Advanced Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .283

24 Creating Your Own Personal About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Introducing the About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286

Creating Your Own About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Publicizing Your eBay Auctions with About Me . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

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25 Understanding and Using Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

What Do All Those Stars and Numbers Mean? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

Reading Feedback Comments—and Contacting Other Users . . . . . . . . . . 293

How to Leave Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Figuring Out What Kind of Feedback to Leave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 294

Dealing with Negative Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295

26 Participating in the eBay Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297

Using eBay’s Community Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298

Communicating via Third-Party Forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Joining an Online Auction Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300

27 Buying and Selling Wheels and Walls: eBay Motors and Real Estate . . . . 301

Buying and Selling Vehicles on eBay Motors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Shopping for Cars and Other Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302Using eBay Motors Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304Selling Your Car Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305Checklist: Before You Sell Your Vehicle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

Buying and Selling Houses on eBay Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Shopping for Houses and Other Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306Listing Your House Online . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308

V Becoming a Power Seller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .309

28 Using Auction Software and Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311

Listing and Auction Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312All My Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312Ándale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312Auction Hawk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Auction Lizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314Auction Wizard 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314AuctionHelper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 314AuctionSage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315

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AuctionTamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315Auctionworks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315Auctiva . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315ChannelAdvisor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316eBay Seller’s Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316eBay Selling Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316eBay Selling Manager Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317eBay Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317eLister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317HammerTap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317inkFrog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318ManageAuctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318Shooting Star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318SpareDollar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318Vendio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319Virtual Auction Ad Pro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319

Sniping and Bidding Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320Auction Sentry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320Auction Sniper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320AuctionStealer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320AuctionTamer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320BidNapper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321BidRobot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321BidSlammer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321Cricket Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321eSnipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321HammerSnipe . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321

29 qGoing International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323

Pros and Cons of Selling Internationally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

Selling Outside the U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Communicating with International Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325Accepting Foreign Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326Shipping Across Borders—and Oceans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 326

eBay’s International Marketplaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

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30 Making a Living from eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331

Becoming an eBay PowerSeller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

Turning Your Online Auctions into a Real Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 333

Maintaining Your Sales Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 334

Automating Your Auction Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

Tracking Revenues and Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336

Promoting Your Online Auctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337

Supplementing Your Auctions with an eBay Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 337Do You Qualify? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338The Costs of Running an eBay Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 339Setting Up Your eBay Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347

xx ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO EBAY

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About the AuthorMichael Miller is a top eBay seller and a successful and prolific author. He has areputation for practical, real-world advice and an unerring empathy for the needs ofhis readers.

Mr. Miller has written more than 50 nonfiction books over the past 15 years, for Queand other major publishers. His books for Que include Absolute Beginner’s Guide toLaunching an eBay Business, Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Computer Basics, and AbsoluteBeginner’s Guide to Upgrading and Fixing Your PC. He is known for his casual, easy-to-read writing style and his ability to explain a wide variety of complex topics to aneveryday audience.

You can email Mr. Miller directly at [email protected]. His Web site islocated at www.molehillgroup.com, and his eBay user ID is trapperjohn2000.

DedicationTo my mother and father—who spend too much time and money on eBay auctions!

AcknowledgmentsThanks to the usual suspects at Que, including but not limited to Greg Wiegand,Cheri Clark, Stephanie McComb, Christy Miller Kuziensky, Sheila Schroeder, andSteve Schwartz.

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We Want to Hear from You!As the reader of this book, you are our most important critic and commentator. Wevalue your opinion and want to know what we’re doing right, what we could do bet-ter, what areas you’d like to see us publish in, and any other words of wisdom you’rewilling to pass our way.

As an associate publisher for Que, I welcome your comments. You can email or writeme directly to let me know what you did or didn’t like about this book—as well aswhat we can do to make our books better.

Please note that I cannot help you with technical problems related to the topic ofthis book. We do have a User Services group, however, where I will forward specifictechnical questions related to the book.

When you write, please be sure to include this book’s title and author, as well asyour name, email address, and phone number. I will carefully review your com-ments and share them with the author and editors who worked on the book.

Email: [email protected]

Mail: Greg Wiegand

Que Publishing800 East 96th StreetIndianapolis, IN 46240 USA

For more information about this book or another Que title, visit our Web site atwww.quepublishing.com. Type the ISBN (excluding hyphens) or the title of a book in theSearch field to find the page you’re looking for.

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IntroductioneBay is a true phenomenon.

In 2003, eBay defined a new economy worth more than $24 billion in transactions.Read that number again; it’s not a misprint. Twenty-four billion dollars. That’s $24 bil-lion in sales that didn’t exist before eBay. Twenty-four billion dollars of transactionsthat appeared seemingly out of thin air. Twenty-four billion dollars in merchandisethat wouldn’t have been sold otherwise.

Where did that $24 billion come from? It came from you and from me and from 95million other people around the world who log on to the eBay site to buy and to sellall manner of merchandise. Before eBay, there was no global marketplace for the 95million of us; there was no way to buy and to sell that $24 billion of merchandise,except for small local garage sales and flea markets.

eBay made that $24 billion happen. eBay brought 95 million of us together.

In doing so, eBay became one of the first—and maybe only—online business tomake a profit from day one of its existence. eBay kept its costs low by not actuallyhandling any of the merchandise traded on its site, and generated revenue by charg-ing listing fees and sales commissions on every transaction.

Smart people, with a smart concept.

And here’s somebody else who’s smart about eBay:

You.

You’re smart because you bought this book to help you learn how to buy and sellmerchandise on the eBay site. You know that you need to learn how eBay worksbefore you can start buying and selling, and you also know that a little extra knowl-edge can give you the edge you need to be a real auction winner.

Absolute Beginner’s Guide to eBay, 2nd Edition, will help you get started with eBay auc-tions—even if you’ve never bought anything online in your life. Read this book andyou’ll learn how to bid and how to sell, and what to do when the auction ends.

More important, you’ll learn how to maximize your chances of winning importanteBay auctions—without paying through the nose. And if you’re a seller, you’ll learnhow to stand out from the crowd and generate more bids—and higher selling prices.

You’ll also learn that buying and selling on eBay isn’t that hard, and that it can bea lot of fun. You’ll even discover that you can actually make a living from your eBayactivities, if you don’t mind a little hard work.

Really!

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How This Book Is OrganizedThis book is organized into five main parts:

■ Part I, “Essential eBay,” shows you how online auctions work, as well ashow to find your way around the eBay site. You’ll also learn how to sign upand become an eBay member, and how to use My eBay—eBay’s “best keptsecret”—to track your auction activity.

■ Part II, “eBay for Bidders,” tells you everything you need to know aboutbidding for items in eBay auctions. You’ll take the Bidding 101 tutorial, learnhow to search for specific types of items, discover the best ways to pay forthose auctions you win, and find out how to avoid getting ripped off byunscrupulous sellers.

■ Part III, “eBay for Sellers,” is the flip side of the coin. This section tellsyou everything you need to know about selling on eBay; you’ll take theSelling 101 tutorial, figure out what to sell and for how much, determinewhat payment methods to accept, learn how to create more effective item list-ings, find out how to pack and ship your merchandise, and discover how tobest manage your current auctions.

■ Part IV, “Using eBay’s Advanced Features,” is all about the little extrasyou can find on the eBay site. You’ll discover the eBay community, learn howto create a personal About Me page, find out how to use post-auction feed-back, and learn how to buy and sell in eBay Motors and eBay Real Estate.

■ Part V, “Becoming a Power Seller,” is for the really ambitious eBay user.You’ll learn how to manage your auctions with third-party software and ser-vices, and how to sell and ship internationally. You’ll even learn how to turnyour hobby into a full-time profession—and make a real living from youreBay auctions.

Taken together, the 30 chapters in this book will help you get the most from youreBay experience. By the time you get to the end of the final chapter, you’ll be buy-ing and selling online just like a pro!

2 ABSOLUTE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO EBAY


Conventions Used in This BookI hope that this book is easy enough to figure out on its own, without requiring itsown instruction manual. As you read through the pages, however, it helps to knowprecisely how I’ve presented specific types of information.

Web Page AddressesThere are a lot of Web page addresses in this book—including addresses for specificpages on the eBay site. They’re noted as such: www.molehillgroup.com

Technically, a Web page address is supposed to start with http:// (as inhttp://www.molehillgroup.com). Because Internet Explorer and other Web browsersautomatically insert this piece of the address, however, you don’t have to type it—and I haven’t included it in any of the addresses in this book.

Special ElementsThis book also includes a few special elements that provide additional informationnot included in the basic text. These elements are designed to supplement the text tomake your learning faster, easier, and more efficient.

INTRODUCTION 3

A note is designed toprovide information that is

generally useful but not specificallynecessary for what you’re doing atthe moment. Some notes are likeextended tips—interesting, but notessential.

A caution will tell you tobeware of a potentiallydangerous act or situa-tion. In some cases,ignoring a caution couldcause you significant problems—sopay attention to them!

caution


Finally, in various parts of this book you’ll find big checklists. Use these checklists toprepare for the upcoming task—just check off the items on the list, and you’ll beready to go.

Let Me Know What You ThinkI always love to hear from readers. If you want to contact me, feel free to email meat [email protected]. I can’t promise that I’ll answer every message, but Iwill promise that I’ll read each one!

If you want to learn more about me and any new books I have cooking, check outmy Molehill Group Web site at www.molehillgroup.com. Who knows—you might findsome other books there that you’d like to read.


This element is mypersonal opinion or

recommendation regarding thetopic at hand. Remember—I might not always be right, butI’ll always have an opinion!

Mike Sez“ ”tipA tip is a piece of advice—

a little trick, actually—thathelps you use your computermore effectively or maneuveraround problems or

limitations.


IPART

Introducting eBay, The World’s Largest Online Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Joining Up and Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . 21

Creating a Home Base with My eBay . . . . . . 29

Essential eBay

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02 0789731053 F PT1.qxd 3/10/04 3:16 PM Page 6

In this chapter

• What Is eBay—and How Did It Come to Be?

• How Does an eBay Auction Work?

• What You Can—and What You Can’t—Trade on eBay

• What’s What (and What’s Where) on eBay

1

Introducing eBay,

the World’s Largest

Online Auction

What is it you need?

A new modem for your computer? A vintage German military helmet?

An authentic prop from your favorite movie? A specific trading card or

comic book or Barbie doll? How about some jewelry, or an antique

desk, or a new DVD burner for your PC? Or, perhaps, you have one of

these items that you would like to sell?

Whatever you’re buying or selling, there’s an increasingly popular way

to trade merchandise over the Internet, called an online auction. And

the biggest online auction is eBay.

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What Is eBay—and How Did It Come to Be?What is eBay? I think the site’s official mission statement does a good job of sum-ming up what eBay is all about:

eBay’s mission is to help practically anyone trade practically anything onearth.

What eBay does is simple: It facilitates the trading of merchandise from one user to another, over the Internet, in an auction format. This makes eBay a person-to-person auction site. eBay itself doesn’t buy or sell anything; it carries no inventoryand collects no payments. eBay is just the middleman in the auction process, hook-ing up buyers and sellers around the world—and collecting fees for doing so.

The eBay StoryeBay was one of the first auction sites on the Internet, launched way back on LaborDay of 1995. It almost single-handedly pioneered the concept of online auctionsand, in doing so, carved out the dominant market share. (It also made a lot ofmoney for those who invested in the firm—especially in the early years.)

As the official story goes, founder Pierre Omidyarlaunched eBay as the result of a conversation with histhen-girlfriend, an avid collector of PEZ dispensers.She supposedly commented to Pierre about howgreat it would be if she were able to collect PEZ dis-pensers using the Internet. Pierre did her a favorand developed a small PEZ-dispenser trading site,originally called Auction Web.

This small site quickly became a big site. Pierrestarted charging users a small fee to list items tohelp pay his expenses. The day that Pierre openedhis mailbox and saw $10,000 worth of fees was theday he quit his day job and made eBay a full-timeproposition.

Because of its fee-based model, eBay is that rare Web site that made money fromday one. That made eBay an attractive candidate for venture capital investmentand eventual IPO; the company did, in fact, go public in 1998, and it made a lot ofpeople (including Pierre) a lot of money.

Today eBay is one of the most successful Internet businesses in the world, havingweathered the storms of the dot-com implosion quite nicely, thank you. It also


The word eBay comesfrom a combination of two

other words—electronic and bay(for the San Francisco Bay Area).

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survived (and thrived) as dozens of smaller onlineauction sites closed their doors. The result is thateBay, under the leadership of current CEO MegWhitman, is the dominant online auction site, withno real competition. It truly is the number-oneplace to buy and sell any type of item online.

How Big Is eBay?How big is eBay? Just look at these statistics:

■ On any given day eBay has more than 24million items listed for auction.

■ As of the end of 2003, eBay had close to 95million registered users.

■ During the entire year of 2003, $24 billionworth of merchandise, in more than 971 mil-lion individual auctions, was traded over eBay.

All this activity makes eBay not only the biggestshopping site on the Internet, but also the largest online community of any type—bigger even thanYahoo! or America Online.

And that’s not small potatoes.

How Does an eBay Auction Work?

If you’ve never used eBay before, you might be alittle anxious about what might be involved. Neverfear; participating in an online auction is a pieceof cake, something tens of millions of other usershave done before you. That means you don’t haveto reinvent any wheels; the procedures you have tofollow are well established and well documented.

An online auction is an Internet-based version of atraditional auction—you know, the type where afast-talking auctioneer stands in the front of theroom, trying to coax potential buyers into bidding

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING EBAY, THE WORLD’S LARGEST ONLINE AUCTION 9

Although this bookfocuses on eBay, there are

some other online auction sitesyou might want to check out,including Amazon.com Auctions(auctions.amazon.com) andYahoo! Auctions(auctions.yahoo.com)—althoughneither is nearly as big as eBay.

Before you can list anitem for sale or place a bid

on an item, you first have to regis-ter with eBay. There’s no fee toregister, although eBay doescharge the seller a small listing feeto list an item for sale, andanother small transaction feewhen the item is sold. eBaydoesn’t charge any fees to buyers.

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just a little bit more for the piece of merchandise up for bid. The only difference isthat there’s no fast-talking auctioneer online (the bidding process is executed by spe-cial auction software on the auction site), and your fellow bidders aren’t in the sameroom with you—in fact, they might be located anywhere in the world. Anyone canbe a bidder, as long as they have Internet access.

We’ll get into the detailed steps involved with buying and selling later in this book;for now, let’s walk through the general operation of a typical eBay auction:

1. You begin (as either a buyer or a seller) by registering with eBay.

2. The seller creates an ad for an item and lists the item on the auction site.(eBay charges anywhere from $0.30 to $4.80 to list an item.) In the item list-ing, the seller specifies the length of the auction (1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days) andthe minimum bid he or she will accept for that item.

3. A potential buyer searching for a particular type of item (or just browsingthrough all the merchandise listed in a specific category) reads the item list-ing and decides to make a bid. The bidder specifies the maximum amount heor she will pay; this amount has to be above the seller’s minimum bid.

4. eBay’s built-in bidding software automatically places a bid for the bidder thatbests the current bid by a specified amount—but doesn’t reveal the bidder’smaximum bid. For example, the current bid on an item might be $25. A bid-der is willing to pay up to $40 for the item, and enters a maximum bid of$40. eBay’s “proxy” software places a bid for the new bidder in the amount of$26—higher than the current bid, but less than the specified maximum bid.If there are no other bids, this bidder will win the auction with a $26 bid.Other potential buyers, however, can place additional bids; unless their maxi-mum bids are more than the current bidder’s $40 maximum, they areinformed (by email) that they have been outbid—and the first bidder’s cur-rent bid is automatically raised to match the new bids (up to the specifiedmaximum bid price).

5. At the conclusion of an auction, eBay informs the high bidder of his or herwinning bid. The seller is responsible for contacting the high bidder andarranging payment. When the seller receives the buyer’s payment (by check,money order, or credit card), the seller then ships the merchandise directly tothe buyer.

6. Concurrent with the close of the auction, eBay bills the seller for a small per-centage (starting at 5.25%) of the final bid price. This selling fee is directlybilled to the seller’s credit card.

That’s how it works, in general. For more detailed instructions on how to bid in aneBay auction, see Chapter 4, “Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders.” For


03 0789731053 F CH01 3/10/04 3:17 PM Page 10

more detailed instructions on how to place an itemfor sale on eBay, see Chapter 10, “Selling 101: ATutorial for Beginning Sellers.”

What You Can—and What YouCan’t—Trade on eBay

As you can tell from eBay’s mission statement, youshould be able to trade practically anything youcan think of on the eBay site. You can’t trade liter-ally everything, of course; there are some types ofitems that eBay refuses to deal with. Read on tolearn more.

Major CategoriesTo give you an idea of what you’ll find up for auc-tion, here’s a list of eBay’s major item categories:

■ Antiques

■ Art

■ Books

■ Business and industrial

■ Cameras and photo

■ Cars and other vehicles

■ Clothing, shoes, and accessories

■ Coins

■ Collectibles

■ Computers

■ Consumer electronics

■ Crafts

■ Dolls and bears

■ DVDs and movies

■ Entertainment

■ Entertainment memorabilia

■ Health and beauty

■ Home (home decor, home and garden, pet supplies, tools, and so on)


eBay is kind of like anewspaper that runs classi-

fied ads—eBay isn’t the actualseller, and isn’t even really a “mid-dleman.” All eBay does is facilitatethe transaction, and therefore itcan’t be held responsible for any-thing that goes wrong with anyparticular auction or sale. Whenyou buy an item, you buy it fromthe individual who put it up forsale—you don’t pay anything to eBay.

03 0789731053 F CH01 3/10/04 3:17 PM Page 11

■ Jewelry and watches

■ Musical instruments

■ Pottery and glass

■ Real estate

■ Specialty services

■ Sporting goods and fan shop

■ Sports cards and memorabilia

■ Stamps

■ Tickets

■ Toys and hobbies

■ Travel

■ Video games

■ Everything else...

Most of these major categories include dozens—or hundreds—of subcategories forspecific types of items. For example, the Collectibles category has more than threedozen subcategories (from Advertising to Vintage Sewing), and most of these subcat-egories have subcategories of their own. The result is that eBay is divided into liter-ally thousands of separate categories and subcategories—with more being addedevery day.

What You Can’t Trade on eBayOf course, you can’t sell just anything on eBay—there are some items that eBay pro-hibits you from selling. This list of what you can’t buy or sell on eBay makes a lot ofsense; most of these items are illegal, are controversial, or could expose eBay to vari-ous legal actions.

eBay’s list of prohibited items includes the following:

■ Alcohol

■ Animals (except for tropical fish and snails) and wildlife products

■ Counterfeit CDs, videos, computer software, or other items that infringe onsomeone else’s copyright or trademark

■ Counterfeit currency and stamps

■ Credit cards

■ Drugs and drug paraphernalia


eBay management isconstantly reevaluating its

category listings—introducing newcategories, subdividing crowdedexisting categories, or eliminatinglittle-used categories.

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■ Embargoed goods and goods from prohibited countries

■ Firearms

■ Fireworks

■ Government IDs and licenses

■ Human body parts and remains

■ Lock-picking devices

■ Lottery tickets

■ Mailing lists and personal information

■ Postage meters

■ Prescription drugs and devices

■ Recalled items

■ Satellite and cable TV descramblers

■ Stocks and other securities

■ Stolen property

■ Surveillance equipment

■ Tobacco

Other items, such as artifacts and adult items, fall into the questionable category. Ifyou’re in doubt about a particular item, check out eBay’s Questionable Items pageat pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-items.html.

What’s What (and What’s Where) on eBayNot even counting the millions of individual auction listings, eBay has a ton of con-tent and community on its site—if you know where to find it. (And the home pageisn’t always the best place to find what you’re looking for!)

eBay’s Home Page—for New UsersOn your first visit to the eBay site (www.ebay.com), you’ll be prompted to register as anew user. The Welcome to eBay page, shown in Figure 1.1, provides some generaloverview information on using the site, and also provides a shortcut to registration.Just click the Register Now button, then follow the onscreen instructions. (Learnmore about eBay registration in Chapter 2, “Joining Up and Getting Started.”)

eBay’s Home Page—for Registered UsersAfter you’ve registered with eBay, you see the site’s normal home page, shown inFigure 1.2. From here, you can access eBay’s most important features and services.


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FIGURE 1.1

Welcome to

eBay—for new

users.

The big chunk of space in the middle of the page isprobably best ignored; it’s nothing more than a bigadvertisement for the category or items du jour.Better to focus on the links along the top and leftside of the page.

Across the top of the home page—across virtuallyevery eBay page, as a matter of fact—is theNavigation Bar. This bar includes links to themajor sections of the eBay site: Browse, Search,Sell, My eBay, and Community. When you clickone of these links, you not only go to the mainpage for that section, but you also display a list ofsubsections under the Navigation Bar.

Along the left side of the home page is a collectionof links to specific eBay item categories and spe-cialty sites. When you want to find an item to bidon, it’s easy to click through the categories listedon the left of the home page—or to search for

There are also severallinks above the Navigation

Bar—Home, Pay, Register, Sign In,Services, Site Map, and Help. (Ifyou’ve already registered andsigned in, two of those links arereplaced by a Sign Out link.) Likethe Navigation Bar, these linksappear at the top of most eBaypages.

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TABLE 1.1 Key Home Page OperationsTo Do This Click This Link

Sign up for eBay membership Register

Search for an item or a user Search

Browse items for sale Browse

Sell an item Sell

Access your My eBay page My eBay

Access other parts of eBay via the Site Map Site Map

Access message boards Community

Get help Help


FIGURE 1.2

Access the most

important parts

of eBay from the

home page

(www.ebay.com).

items using the Search box (labeled “What are you looking for?”), located under theNavigation Bar.

For other key activities, refer to the information in Table 1.1, which shows you whichlinks to click.

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Where to Find Everything Else: eBay’s Site MapUnfortunately, there’s just so much stuff on the eBay site—and it’s so haphazardlyorganized—that most users never find some of eBay’s most interesting and usefulfeatures. In fact, you simply can’t access many features from the home page. Toreally dig down into the eBay site, you need a little help—which you can get fromeBay’s Site Map page.

You can access the Site Map page by clicking the Site Map link above the NavigationBar. This page, shown in Figure 1.3, serves as the true access point to eBay’s numer-ous and diverse features.


FIGURE 1.3

Use the Site Map

to quickly access

all the different

parts of the eBay

site.

If you’ve never visited the Site Map page, I guarantee you’ll be surprised at every-thing you’ll find there. The Site Map offers direct links to a bunch of features andservices that you probably didn’t even know existed!

You can also use the links on the Site Map page to keep up with all the new featuresof the site—and keep up on the daily events and happenings. For example, if you’renew to eBay, you might want to check out the discussion boards, community help,and chat rooms links in the Community section. If you want to learn how to usevarious site features, try the Buyer Guide and Seller Guide links in the Help section.

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To find out about any technical system updates (or planned outages), click the News& Announcements link.

How to Go Directly to the MostImportant Stuff

Tired of clicking to eBay’s site map and thenclicking to another link (and maybe anotherafter that) to access a specific eBay feature?Don’t despair; just about every part of eBay’s sitehas its own unique Web address. Just referenceTable 1.2 to find the direct URLs for eBay’s mostimportant features.

TABLE 1.2 Direct Access Addresses for KeyeBay Services

Feature/Area URL

Home page www.ebay.com

About Me personal pages members.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?AboutMeLogin

Auctions ending today listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/endtoday/index.html

Auctions new today listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/newtoday/all/category0/

Big-ticket items pages.ebay.com/buy/bigticket/index.html

Buyer protection program pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-protection.html

Cancel a bid (seller) cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow

Category overview listings.ebay.com/pool1/listings/list/overview.html

Chat rooms pages.ebay.com/community/chat/

Community overview pages.ebay.com/community/

Completed auctions listings.ebay.com/pool1/listings/list/completed.html

Contact customer support pages.ebay.com/help/contact_inline/

Counters (manage/edit) www.andale.com/promos/upsell/counters_manage.jsp

eBay Education pages.ebay.com/education/

eBay Motors pages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/

eBay Real Estate pages.ebay.com/realestate/

eBay Stores www.stores.ebay.com

eBay system status www2.ebay.com/aw/announce.shtml

End an auction early cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?EndingMyAuction

Featured listings listings.ebay.com/aw/listings/list/featured/index.html


tipTo avoid repeatedly enter-

ing these long URLs, youmight want to bookmarkany of these pages you go tofrequently.

03 0789731053 F CH01 3/10/04 3:17 PM Page 17

Fees pages.ebay.com/help/sell/fees.html

Feedback Forum pages.ebay.com/services/forum/feedback.html

Gallery pages.ebay.com/buy/gallery.html

General announcements www2.ebay.com/aw/marketing.shtml

Help pages.ebay.com/help/

Library pages.ebay.com/community/library/

List an item cgi5.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?SellYourItem

My eBay cgi1.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?MyEbayLogin

Official eBay time cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?TimeShow

Password (forgotten) cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ForgotYourPasswordShow

PayPal www.paypal.com

Prohibited and questionable items pages.ebay.com/help/community/png-items.html

Search pages.ebay.com/search/items/basicsearch.html

Seller’s Assistant software pages.ebay.com/sellers_assistant/

Selling Manager pages.ebay.com/selling_manager/

SquareTrade www.squaretrade.com

Turbo Lister software pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/

Contacting eBayAlthough you could use eBay’s various discussion boards to try to contact eBay,you’ll quickly discover that this method of communication often leaves something tobe desired—like a fast response! Instead, try contacting eBay staff directly throughthe Web form support system. Start at the Contact Customer Support page (shown inFigure 1.4), located at pages.ebay.com/help/contact_inline/. Select a topic, subtopic,and specific issue, and then click Continue. The following “instant help” pageincludes links that answer the most common questions. To continue through to con-tact eBay, click the Email link to display the Send an Email to eBay form. Enter youremail address and message, and then click the Send Email button.

You can also contact eBay by phone (800-322-9266 or 408-369-4830) or by snailmail, at

eBay Inc.

2145 Hamilton Avenue

San Jose, CA 95125


TABLE 1.2 (continued)Feature/Area URL

03 0789731053 F CH01 3/10/04 3:17 PM Page 18


FIGURE 1.4

Contact eBay by

using the form

on the Contact

Customer

Support page.

The Absolute MinimumHere are the key points to remember from this chapter:

■ eBay was founded in 1995 as a site for trading PEZ dispensers; today eBay isthe world’s largest online auction community, facilitating the trading of allsorts of items between buyers and sellers around the world.

■ An eBay online auction is similar to a traditional auction, except that auto-mated bidding software replaces the role of the human auctioneer.

■ eBay’s home page (www.ebay.com) lets you access the most important opera-tions—although the Site Map page is better for finding all of eBay’s featuresand services.

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In this chapter

• Everybody Does It: Filling Out eBay’sRegistration Form

• Setting Up Your Payment Options

• The Costs of Using eBay

• Getting Started

2

Joining Up and

Getting Started

You can browse through eBay’s millions of listings anonymously (and

without registering), but if you want to buy or sell something, you have

to register with the eBay site. Registration involves telling eBay who you

are, where you live, and how to contact you. If you’re interested in sell-

ing on eBay, you’ll also need to give eBay a valid credit card number—

which won’t be charged. (At least, not yet!)

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Although eBay registration is free, selling an itemisn’t. You have to pay eBay a fee for every item youlist for sale, and for every item you actually sell.You don’t have to pay eBay when you buy an item;fees are charged exclusively to sellers.

Read on to learn more about eBay’s registrationprocess—and its fee structure.

Everybody Does It: Filling OuteBay’s Registration Form

Registration is free, easy, and relatively quick. Butbefore you register, you need to be prepared toenter some key information, as detailed in the fol-lowing checklist:

Checklist: Before You Register| Your name

| Your street address

| Your email address

| Your phone number

| Your date of birth

| Your credit card number (optional if you’reonly going to be bidding on items; manda-tory if you’re going to be selling items onauction)

With this information at hand, you register as aneBay user by following these steps:

1. From the Welcome to eBay page, click theRegister Now button. (Or from eBay’s regu-lar home page, click the Register link abovethe Navigation Bar.)

2. When the Registration page appears (asshown in Figure 2.1), enter the followinginformation:

■ First name and last name

■ Street address (including city, state, ZIP Code, and country)


eBay asks all membersto supply a valid physical

address and telephone number.They don’t disclose this info to anythird parties outside the eBay site,although they will supply personaldata to other eBay users on theirrequest. (It’s how they try to con-tact deadbeat bidders and sellers.)You can get more details fromeBay’s Privacy Policy, found atpages.ebay.com/help/

community/png-priv.html.

Your eBay user ID must be at leasttwo characters long, and can con-tain letters, numbers, and/or cer-tain symbols. It cannot containspaces, Web page URLs, or the fol-lowing symbols: $, &, <, or >—and you can’t use your emailaddress as your user ID.

If you ever move, you’ll need tochange the address and phonenumber information eBay has onfile. Just go to the Site Map page,scroll to the My eBay section, andclick the item you want to change:User ID, Password, RegistrationInformation, Email Address, and so on.

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■ Telephone numbers—primary (required) and secondary (optional)

■ Email address

3. Still on the same page, create and enter a user ID into the Create Your eBayUser ID box.

4. Create and enter a password (at least six characters long, with no spaces)into the Create Password box.

CHAPTER 2 JOINING UP AND GETTING STARTED 23

FIGURE 2.1

Enter the first

page of your

registration info.

5. Select a question from the Secret Question list, and then enter your answer inthe Secret Answer box. (This is used if you ever forget your password.)

6. Enter your date of birth, and then click the Continue button.

7. eBay displays its user agreements. Read these agreements (if you want),check each of the I Agree boxes, and then click the I Agree to These Termsbutton.

8. eBay verifies your email address and sends you a confirmation message.Click the Web page link in the confirmation email message to continue.

9. eBay displays a congratulations page, along with a pop-up window that asksyou to enter more (optional) information about yourself. This information is

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used for marketing purposes; you can choose to fill in the blanks, or close thewindow and click the Home link to go directly to eBay’s home page—andstart buying and selling!

Setting Up Your Payment Options

If you intend to sell items on eBay, you’ll need togive eBay either your credit card number or yourchecking account number. (You can pay eBayfees by check or money order, at least theoreti-cally; but it’s a hassle to do, and not encour-aged.)

When you set up your eBay account for creditcard billing, eBay bills your credit card once amonth for all the fees you’ve incurred in the pre-vious 30 days. When you set up eBay to debityour checking account (called eBay Direct Pay)you authorize eBay to automatically remove funds from your account on a specified day each month.

Credit Card BillingTo set up your eBay account for credit card billing, follow these steps:

1. Go to the Site Map page and click Place orUpdate My Credit Card on File with eBay (inthe Seller Accounts section of the Servicessection).

2. When the credit card submission formappears (see Figure 2.2), enter your creditcard billing information.

3. Check the I Would Like to Use This CreditCard to Pay Seller Fees option.

4. Click the Submit button.

Your credit card information will be applied to youreBay account within 12 to 24 hours—at which time you’ll be able to participate fully in everything eBay has to offer.


tipEven if you’re just a buyer,

you still might want to enteryour credit card informa-tion—not that eBay requiresit, or will charge anything

against it. Registering yourcard allows you to access

eBay’s adult areas and sets every-thing in place in case you do wantto list items for sale in the future.

I recommend thatyou go with credit card

billing. I don’t like the idea ofeBay (or any other company) hav-ing automatic access to my check-ing account; who knows whetherI’ll have enough funds on tap theday they decide to make theautomatic withdrawal? Creditcard payment is easy and just asautomatic, with few (if any) hassles.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Direct Pay Automatic Checking WithdrawalIf you’d rather pay via automatic checking account withdrawal, eBay offers theDirect Pay option. To sign up, go to the Site Map page, select Sign Up/Update eBayDirect Pay for Seller Fees, and complete the form that appears there.

The Costs of Using eBayYou don’t have to pay eBay anything to browse through items on its site. You don’thave to pay eBay anything to bid on an item. You don’t even have to pay eBay any-thing if you actually buy an item (although you willbe paying the seller directly, of course). But if you’relisting an item for sale, you gotta pay.

eBay charges two main types of fees:

■ Insertion fees (I prefer to call them listingfees) are what you pay every time you listan item for sale on eBay. These fees arebased on the minimum bid or reserve priceof the item listed. These fees are nonrefund-able.

■ Final value fees (I prefer to call them sell-ing fees, or commissions) are what you paywhen an item is actually sold to a buyer.


FIGURE 2.2

Entering credit

card informa-

tion for your

eBay seller’s

account.

View eBay’s current fee structure at

pages.ebay.com/help/sell/

fees.html.

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These fees are based on the item’s final selling price (the highest bid). If youritem doesn’t sell, you aren’t charged a final value fee.

eBay also charges various fees for different types of listing enhancements. Table 2.1lists all the fees eBay charges, current as of February 2004. (Fees for items listed inthe Real Estate/Timeshare and eBay Motors categories are typically higher.)

TABLE 2.1 eBay FeesType of Fee Explanation Fee

Insertion fee In a regular auction, based on the Items priced $0.01–$0.99: $0.30opening value or minimum bid Items priced $1.00–$9.99: $0.35amount. In a fixed-price auction, Items priced $10.00–$24.99: $0.60based on the Buy It Now price. In Items priced $25.00–$49.99: $1.20a reserve price auction, based on Items priced $50.00–$199.99: $2.40the reserve price. In a Dutch Items priced $200.00–$499.99: $3.60auction, based on the opening Items priced $500 and up: $4.80value or minimum bid—multiplied by the number of items offered, up to a maximum of $4.80.

Final value fee In regular and successful reserve- 5.25% of the amount of the high bid price auctions, based on the closing to $25.00, plus 2.75% of that part of bid.In Dutch auctions, based on the the high bid from $25.01 up to lowest successful bid—multiplied $1,000, plus 1.5% of the remaining by the number of items sold. amount of the high bid that is

greater than $1,000. For example, if the item sold for $1,500, you’d pay5.25% of the first $25 ($1.31) plus2.75% of the next $975 ($26.81) plus1.5% of the remaining $500 ($7.50),for a total fee of $35.62.

Scheduled Schedules your item to be listed at a $0.10specific date and time, up to three weeks in advance.

List in two Enables you to list your item in two Double listing and upgrade feescategories separate categories.

Reserve price Additional fee for holding a reserve Items priced $0.01–$49.99: $1.00auction price auction. Items priced $50.00–$199.99: $2.00

Items priced $200 and up: 1% of thereserve price (maximum $100)

Buy It Now Fee to use the Buy It Now instant $0.05purchase option.


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10-day auction Additional fee for extending your auction from the normal 7-day to $0.20the longer 10-day format.

Bold Boldfaces the title of your item on $1.00the listing pages.

Featured Plus! Puts your listing at the top of the $19.95listing pages for that category, and also displays your listing (randomly) in the Featured Items section of therelated category home page.

Gallery Displays a thumbnail picture of $0.25your item in the Gallery section.

Gallery Randomly displays your Gallery $19.95Featured listing at the top of the category,

at a larger size.

Gift Services Adds a Gift icon to your listing and $0.25lets you offer gift wrap, express shipping, and shipping to the gift’s recipient.

Highlight Puts a color shading behind your $5.00item on the listing pages.

Home Page Puts your listing at the top of the $39.95 ($79.95 for multiple items) Featured main Listings page and also displays

your listing (randomly) in the Featured area on eBay’s home page and on the Featured Items section ofthe related category page.

Item Subtitle Adds a subtitle to your item listing. $0.50

Listing Applies fancy templates to $0.10Designer your listings.

There’s all manner of fine print associated with these fees. Here are some of themore important points to keep in mind:

■ Insertion fees are nonrefundable—unless a buyer ends up not paying for anitem.

■ You will not be charged a final value fee if there were no bids on your item or(in a reserve price auction) if there were no bids that met the reserve price—that is, if your item didn’t sell.


Type of Fee Explanation Fee

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■ It doesn’t matter whether the buyer actually pays you (or how much he orshe actually pays); you still owe eBay the full final value fee. (You can, how-ever, request a refund of this fee if the buyer punks out on you; see Chapter22, “Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders,” for more info.)

Invoicing on your account occurs once a month for the previous month’s activity.You’ll get an invoice by email detailing your charges for the month; if you’ve set upyour account for automatic credit card billing, your credit card will be charged atthat time. (If you prefer to pay by check, now’s the time to get out the old check-book.)

Getting StartedNow that you’re all signed up (and aware of eBay’s fee structure), you’re ready tostart bidding—and selling. The bidding process is fee-free; all you have to do is findsomething you want to buy, and start bidding. (This process is detailed in Chapter 4,“Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders.”) The selling process is a little moreinvolved and costs a little money. (This process is detailed in Chapter 10, “Selling101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers.”) Whichever you choose, get ready for lots ofaction—and fun!



■ Before you can bid or sell on eBay, you need to create an eBay user account;registration is free.

■ If you want to sell items on eBay, you’ll have to either leave a credit cardnumber on file or sign up for eBay Direct Pay (automatic deductions fromyour checking account).

■ Buyers are never charged any fees by eBay.

■ eBay charges sellers various fees, including listing fees (nonrefundable) andfinal value fees (if your item actually sells).

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In this chapter

• Accessing and Using My eBay

• Personalizing My eBayManaging andPersonalizing My eBay

3

Creating a Home

Base with My eBay

Whether you’re a buyer or a seller, if you’re active at all on eBay, it’s

likely you’ll have more than one auction going at any one time. Just

how do you keep track of all this auction activity?

The best way to monitor all the auctions you’re participating in is to use

eBay’s self-professed “best-kept secret”: My eBay. My eBay is a page—

actually, a set of pages—that you can personalize to track your bidding

and selling activity in your own way. I highly recommend that you avail

yourself of this useful feature.

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Accessing and Using My eBayYou access My eBay from any eBay page by clicking the My eBay link on theNavigation Bar. This opens My eBay in the My Summary view, which (as we’ll dis-cuss in a moment) presents a general overview of all your current auction activity.My eBay actually offers several “views,” which you access by clicking the appropri-ate links contained in the navigation panel along the left side of the page. We’lllook at each of these views individually.

My Summary ViewThe My Summary view is the default view when you access My eBay. It consists offour major sections:

■ Buying Reminders, which includes summary information for items youneed to pay for, items you’re watching, items you’re bidding on, item’s you’vebeen outbid on, items you’ve received a Second Chance Offer for, and itemsfor which you still need to leave seller feedback. This section also includes adollar total for all the items you’ve won within a specified period.

■ Selling Reminders, which includessummary information for items for whichthe buyer has requested a payment total,items you’re awaiting payment for, itemsyou need to ship, items you’ve cross-pro-moted with other items, items you’re sell-ing, and items for which you need toleave buyer feedback. This section alsoincludes a dollar total for all the itemsyou’ve sold within a specified period.

■ eBay Announcements, which includeslinks to the most recent eBay systemnews.

■ Recent Feedback, which lists the mostrecent feedback comments left about you.

I use My Summary as my “home page” for all my eBay activities. It presents a greatvisual overview of all your important eBay activity, and lets you link directly to indi-vidual activities.


tipOne other nice thing

about the My Summary viewis that you can customize itto display as much—or as lit-tle—information as you wish.

Just click the CustomizeSummary link near the top

of the page to remove sectionsyou don’t use often.

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All Buying ViewYou use the All Buying view to keep track of all items you’re either bidding on orwatching—or have won or lost. The page contains four lists of use to bidders:

■ Items I’m Watching

■ Items I’m Bidding On

■ Items I’ve Won

■ Items I Didn’t Win

The Items I’ve Won list is worth an extra glance. Not only does it list those auctionsin which you’re the winning bidder, but it also includes an Action column that letsyou know what you need to do next for each item—leave feedback, view paymentstatus, and so on. Click the link in the Action column to perform that action.

Also interesting is the Items I’m Bidding On list, which presents all your current bid-ding activity—even those auctions in which you’ve been outbid. All auctions you’recurrently winning are in green; all auctions you’re currently losing are in red. And,at the bottom of the page, you’ll find a set of links to various buying-related serviceson the eBay site.

All Selling ViewYou use the All Selling view to keep track of all theitems you’re currently selling or have recently sold.The page contains four lists of use to sellers:

■ Items I’ve Sold

■ Items I’m Selling

■ Unsold Items

■ Pending Items

Like the Items I’ve Won list on the All Buying page,the Items I’ve Sold list is especially useful. TheAction column lists the next action you need totake for every one of your closed auctions; click thelink to perform the appropriate action.

Also useful is the Items I’m Selling list, which letsyou see, in a single glance, the status of everythingyou’re currently selling on eBay. All items that cur-rently have a bid higher than your minimum or

CHAPTER 3 CREATING A HOME BASE WITH MY EBAY 31

If you’re using eBay’sSelling Manager feature

(discussed in Chapter 20,“Automating AuctionManagement with eBay SellingManager”), the My eBay All SellingView tab is replaced by a SellingManager page.

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reserve price are listed in green; all items that haven’t yet reached the minimum bidlevel are listed in red. And, at the bottom of the page, you’ll find a set of links tovarious selling-related services on the eBay site.

All Favorites ViewThe All Favorites view is where you can access your most-used categories, searches,and sellers. There are three lists on this page:

■ My Favorite Searches

■ My Favorite Categories

■ My Favorite Sellers/Stores

You can add items to your favorites by clicking the Add links to the right of eachlist—Add/Change Categories, Add New Search, and Add New Seller/Store. Fromthere, follow the onscreen instructions to add the items you want to appear on theAll Favorites page in the future.

My Account ViewThe My Account view is where you can manageyour eBay seller’s account and leave feedbackabout specific transactions.

The My Account Summary list, at the top of thepage, displays your last eBay invoice total, anypayments and credits made since your lastinvoice, and any fees accessed since your lastinvoice. There’s also a section that lets you payyour eBay fees via PayPal.

Below this section is the Items AwaitingFeedback section, which lists those completedauctions for which you need to leave feedback.Click the Leave Feedback link in the Action col-umn to leave feedback comments.

Managing and Personalizing My eBay

Each of the My eBay views can be personalized according to your personal tastes.Let’s take a quick look at these common view management features.


tipThe My Account page is

particularly useful because itcontains direct links to someof eBay’s normally well-hid-den customer service fea-

tures, including fees andcredits, payment terms,

credit card setup, credit requests,and refunds. It’s easier to clickthese services here than to huntthem down on eBay’s Site Mappage.

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CHAPTER 3 CREATING A HOME BASE WITH MY EBAY 33

Sorting and FilteringThe information in any My eBay list (what eBay calls an information table) can besorted by any individual column. Just click the column header to sort by that col-umn.

You can also filter the listings presented in most tables to cut down on informationoverload. At the top of each information table should be a series of Show links; clicka link to filter the information accordingly. For example, in the Items I’ve Won table(in the All Buying view), you can choose to show All items, or just those itemsAwaiting Payment or Awaiting Feedback.

Hiding or Displaying ColumnsIf you don’t need to see all possible information for specific listings, My eBay lets youcustomize which columns are displayed for each individual information table. Justclick the Customize link above the information table, and then select which columnsyou want to see.

Changing How Many Listings to DisplayFor most My eBay information tables, you can select how many days’ worth of list-ings you want to display. The default value is 2 days; you can display up to 31 days’worth of items if you want. Just pull down the Period list at the top of a given infor-mation table and make a new selection.

Leaving Notes to YourselfEvery now then you might have an auction that requires additional action on yourpart, or somehow needs further annotation. Fortunately, My eBay lets you add elec-tronic “sticky notes” to any auction listing. Just check the option box next to a par-ticular listing and then click the Add Note button (atthe top of the information table); add your com-ments into the resulting text box.

Printing Key InformationThe information presented in My eBay looks greatonscreen but can be a little much if you need ahard copy. Fortunately, My eBay lets you print asimplified, printer-friendly version of any informa-tion table. All you have to do is click the Print link

My eBay is such auseful tool that I make

it my primary gateway to theentire eBay site. I never use eBay’shome page—I use My eBayinstead. It’s the very first book-mark in my Web browser!

Mike Sez“ ”

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next to any section of any view page. For example, to print a list of auctions you’vewon, go to the All Buying view and click the Print link at the top of the Items I’veWon section.



■ My eBay lets you track all your eBay activities and information in one place.

■ My eBay includes separate “views” for tracking items you’re bidding on orwatching, items you’re selling, your favorite searches and categories, andyour eBay account.

■ You can customize My eBay for your own personal preferences—includinghow you like your lists sorted, and how many days’ worth of items you wantto display.

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eBay for Bidders

IIPART

Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Searching for Items and People . . . . . . . . . . 63

The Best Ways to Pay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

After the Auction: Taking Care of Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

Dealing with Fradulent Sellers . . . . . . . . . . 93

Secrets of Successful Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . 101

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06 0789731053 F PT2.qxd 3/10/04 3:32 PM Page 36

In this chapter

• Understanding the Bidding Process

• How to Read an Item Listing

• Before You Bid

• Just Do It—Placing a Bid

• Bidding in Other Types of Auctions

• What to Do After You’ve Bid

• Five Common Bidding Mistakes

• You Won! Now What?

4

Bidding 101: A Tutorial

for Beginning Bidders

After you’ve browsed through or searched the item listings and actually

found something you’re interested in, it’s time to pony up and make

a bid.

How does bidding work? In a nutshell, it’s as simple as telling eBay how

much you’d be willing to pay for an item—and then finding out

whether anyone else is willing to pay more than you. If you’ve made the

highest bid, you win the auction—and you have to buy the item.

It’s important to remember that it doesn’t cost you anything to bid. You

only have to pay if you win—and even then, you don’t have to pay any

fees to eBay. (All eBay fees are charged to the seller.) You’ll have to pay

the seller the amount of your winning bid, plus any reasonable shipping

and handling costs to get the item to you.

Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it?

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Understanding the Bidding Process

It’s important that you know all about the itemyou want to buy before you place your bid. It’s alsoimportant that you know how eBay’s biddingprocess works—or you could end up paying toomuch, or (even worse) not enough to win the auc-tion!

Deciding How Much to BidDetermining how much to bid on an item on eBayis no more complex than determining how muchyou’d pay for an item at a flea market or garagesale. You should bid an amount no higher and nolower than what the item is worth for you—andwhat you can afford. It doesn’t matter what thecurrent bid level is; you should make your bid inthe amount of what you’re willing to pay.

That doesn’t mean you’ll actually have to pay thatamount, of course. Thanks to eBay’s automatedbidding software (discussed in the next section,“Understanding Proxy Bidding”), registered bid willonly be as high as necessary to beat out the next-highest bidder. If you bid $40 but the next highestbidder bid only $20, you’ll win the auction with a$21 bid.

And you should make that $40 bid even if, at thetime, the current bid is only $1. Now, you mightthink that if the bidding is at the $1 level, youshould bid no more than $2 or so. This isn’t thecase, again thanks to eBay’s automated biddingsoftware. If the item is worth $40 to you, bid the$40—and let eBay’s proxy software handle themechanics of the bidding process.

How, then, do you determine that an item is worth$40—or $4 or $400? The key thing is to never bidblind; always make sure you know the true valueof an item before you offer a bid.


Learn more aboutbrowsing and searching the

item listings in Chapter 5,“Searching for Items (and People).”

If you remembernothing else from this

book, remember this: Alwaysenter the highest amount thatyou’re willing to pay for an item,no matter what the current bidlevel is. If you think an item isworth $40, enter $40 as yourmaximum bid—and don’t worry ifthe current bid is half thatamount. You also shouldn’t getupset if the bidding goes higherthan your specified maximum;have the discipline to bid only ashigh as you initially thought theitem was worth. If you’re biddingon a collectible, invest in an up-to-date price guide (or referenceone online). Whatever you’re bid-ding on, search eBay for com-pleted auctions on similar items,and determine a reasonable pricerange. Make it a point to shoparound, and make your bidaccordingly.

Mike Sez“ ”

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This means that you need to do a little research before you make a bid. If you’re bid-ding on a piece of new merchandise, check the price in a catalog, at your localretailer, or with an online retailer.

Understanding Proxy BiddingThe automated bidding software used by eBay is called proxy (or “robot”) software. Ifyou’re a bidder, eBay’s proxy software can save you time and help ensure that youget the items you want. (If you’re a seller, it doesn’t really matter, because all you’reinterested in is the highest price at the end of the auction—no matter how it gotthere!)

On eBay, proxy software operates automatically as an agent that is authorized to actin your place—but with some predefined bidding parameters. You define the maxi-mum amount you are willing to bid, and then the proxy software takes over anddoes your bidding for you.

The proxy software bids as little as possible to outbid new competition, up to themaximum bid you specified. If it needs to up your bid $1, it does. If it needs to upyour bid $5, it does—until it hits your bid ceiling, when it stops and bows out of thebidding.

The proxy software bids in the official bid increments used by eBay. If the next bid is$0.50 higher than the current bid, the software ups your bid $0.50. In no instancedoes the software place a bid over the next bid increment. (It’s pretty smart software!)

Of course, because all bidders are using eBay’s proxysoftware, what happens when you have two usersbidding against each other? Simple—you get aproxy bidding war! In this instance, each proxyautomatically ups its bid in response to the last bidby the other proxy, which rapidly (seeminglyinstantaneously) increases the bid price until one ofthe proxies reaches its maximum bid level.

Let’s say one proxy has been programmed with amaximum bid of $25, and another with a maxi-mum bid of $26. Even though the initial bid mightbe $10, the bids rapidly increase from $10 to $11 to$12 and on to $26, at which point the first proxydrops out and the second proxy holds the high bid.

CHAPTER 4 BIDDING 101: A TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNING BIDDERS 39

The bid increment isautomatically calculated by

eBay based on the current price ofthe item—the higher the price, thehigher the bid increment.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 39

Proxy Bidding, by ExampleLet’s walk through a detailed example of proxy bidding. The process is totally auto-mated, and goes something like this:

1. You see an item that has a current bid of $100, and you tell eBay that you’rewilling to pay $115 for it. The $115 becomes your maximum bid.

2. The bid increment on this item is $2.50, so eBay’s bidding software—yourproxy—bids $102.50 in your name. This becomes the current high bid.

3. Another bidder sees this item, and bids the next bid increment (as specifiedon the item listing page), $105.

4. Your proxy sees the new bid, and ups its bid automatically to $107.50.

5. A third bidder sees the item, and enters a maximum bid of $150. In accor-dance with the current bid increment, his proxy enters a bid of 110.

6. Your proxy responds with a bid of $112.50.

7. The third bidder’s proxy responds with a bid of $115.

8. Your proxy drops out of the bidding, and eBay notifies you (by email) thatyour bid has been surpassed. (If the auction were to end right then, the thirdbidder would win the auction with a bid of $115. Even though he specified a$150 maximum bid, the bidding never got that high.)

9. At this point, you can place a new maximum bid for the item, or you canthrow in the towel and let the new bidder have the item.

Proxy Bidding AdviceThe nice thing about proxy bidding is that you can engage in a fierce bidding war—and never get your hands dirty! The proxy software does all the dirty work for you,and just notifies you of the results.

When you’re placing your bid, realize that just because you set a maximum bidprice doesn’t mean you’ll have to actually pay that price. The proxy software worksin your favor to keep your final price as low as possible; don’t assume that justbecause you specified a price, the bidding will always rise to that level.

Also feel comfortable that the proxy software will never exceed your maximum bidprice. It just won’t happen; the software is smart enough to know your limits. Andby bidding your maximum right away, you guarantee that you won’t get carriedaway and pay too much at the end of a heated competition. Remember, if you losean auction because the bidding goes higher than your maximum, you didn’t wantto pay that much for the merchandise anyway. Get comfortable with that—and beglad the proxy software helped you stay within your limits.


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Of course, some bidders don’t like proxy bidding. It is true that if two or more peopleare bidding for the same item, the bids can automatically (and quickly) rocket upuntil they max out. For this reason, some bidders prefer to bid the bare minimum onevery single one of their bids—effectively defeating the purpose of the proxy soft-ware. Of course, if you choose to operate this way, you have to be a lot more hands-on with your bidding, essentially checking back on all your bids as frequently asnecessary to ensure that you always end up on top.

How to Read an Item ListingBefore we do any bidding, let’s take a look at a typical eBay item listing to see whatyou can find out about the item and its seller.

Each listing page includes several distinct sections, each of which is equally impor-tant—which means that you need to take your time and read through the entireitem listing before you place your bid. Don’t skim; read carefully and pay attentionto the details. If the seller mentions a known fault with the merchandise (in theDescription section) but you gloss over it, don’t even think about complaining whenyou receive the item after the auction, fault and all. It’s your responsibility to read—and agree to—all the information in the listing.

Let’s look at each of these sections in detail.

Title and NumberThe very top of the item listing, shown in Figure 4.1, displays the listing title (on theleft) and the item number (on the right). The item number is important; you use thisnumber to reference the auction in all correspondence, and when paying by PayPalor other payment services.


FIGURE 4.1

The title and

number of the

current auc-

tion—along with

details of your

bid.

Directly above the item number is the category that the item is listed in. Click thecategory link to view other auctions in this category.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 41

Your InformationJust below the title is a section that displays yourpersonal information regarding the current auc-tion. If you haven’t yet bid, this section is fairlyempty; it will tell you if you’re signed in, or ifyou’re tracking this item in My eBay.

If you’ve placed a bid, this section will grow todisplay the status of your bid—whether you’rethe high bidder (as in Figure 4.1) or you’ve beenoutbid. If you’re the seller of an item, this sectionwill display the current bid price.

Auction DetailsThe Auction Details section is next, as shown inFigure 4.2. This section tells you about the statusof the current auction. In particular, you will seethe current bid price, the time left in the auction,the number of bids placed (history), the ID of thecurrent high bidder, and the location of the item.There’s also an Add to Calendar link; click this link to receive an email reminder justbefore the auction is scheduled to end.


tipIf you’re not tracking this

item, you’ll see a Watch ThisItem link on the right side ofthis section. When you clickthis link, this auction is added

to the Items I’m Watchingsection of your My eBay

page; you can then use your MyeBay page to track the high bidsin this auction. (Learn more aboutMy eBay in Chapter 3, “Creating aHome Base with My eBay.”)

To see who else has bid on thisitem, you can click the history link

FIGURE 4.2

The Auction

Details and

Seller

Information

sections.

There’s one more important item in the Auction Details section—a Place Bid button.Although there’s a whole bidding section at the bottom of the page, if you like whatyou see so far, you can place your bid right from the top of the page by clicking thisbutton.

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Seller InformationOn the right side of the Auction Details section(also shown in Figure 4.2) is a shaded box that listsimportant seller information. Most important is theseller’s eBay ID and current feedback rating. Thereare also a handful of useful seller-related links,including these:

■ Read feedback comments—to learn moreabout the seller’s eBay history

■ Ask seller a question—to send a question viaemail to the seller

■ View seller’s other items—to see what else theseller currently has for auction

DescriptionThe Description section, shown in Figure 4.3, offers a description of the item for sale,as written by the seller. Because the main item description is written completely bythe seller, the amount of detail varies from auction to auction. Some sellers providea wealth of detail; some write terse one-line descriptions. If the seller doesn’t includeenough detail in the description, you can always email for more information—ordecide that if this wasn’t important enough for the seller to spend more time on, it’snot important enough for you to bid on, either.


If I find an item I’minterested in, I like to

take a look at that seller’s otheritems. I’ve often found otheritems worth buying from a partic-ular seller. (And some sellers willcombine items for lower shippingcosts if you buy more than oneitem.)

Mike Sez“ ”

FIGURE 4.3

A typical eBay

item description.

Depending on the type of item, the Description section might also include somestock details about the item, provided by eBay; for example, a listing for a CD (like

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 43

the one in Figure 4.4) might include artist, format, release date, and label informa-tion, along with the CD cover art. Additional information, such as a track listing oreditorial review, might also be provided under the main item description.


FIGURE 4.4

Stock item

details as pro-

vided by eBay

for certain types

of items.

Often accompanying the text description are one ormore pictures of the item. Some of these picturesmight appear a tad small; if you see a SupersizePicture link under a thumbnail picture, click thepicture to view it at a larger size.

Shipping and Payment DetailsThe Shipping and Payment Details section, shownin Figure 4.5, lists the shipping/handling charge forthe item, if the seller has stated a flat fee. In someauctions, this section will include a ShippingCalculator; enter your ZIP Code to calculate yourspecific shipping charge.

Some item listingsinclude a counter at

the bottom of the Descriptionsection. Watch the counter over aseveral-day period to judge theinterest in this item. A largecounter number (in the hundreds)indicates a lot of interest, and alot of potential last-minute bid-ders. A small counter number (inthe single digits or the teens) indi-cates less interest—which meansyou may be able to win this itemwithout bidding too high.

Mike Sez“ ”

FIGURE 4.5

The Shipping

and Payment

Details section.

Also listed here are details on whether the seller offers shipping insurance, where theseller will ship to (U.S. only or internationally), and the seller’s payment instructionsand return policy.

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Payment Methods AcceptedNext up is another short section, shown in Figure 4.6, listing the payment methodsaccepted by the seller. Most sellers accept personal check and money orders; manyaccept credit cards via the PayPal service.


FIGURE 4.6

The Payment

Methods

Accepted

section.

Ready to Bid?eBay put the main bidding section, shown in Figure 4.7, at the very bottom of thepage. All you have to do is enter your bid into the Your Maximum Bid box, andthen click the Place Bid button.

FIGURE 4.7

Use the Ready to

Bid? section to

place your bid.

Before You BidAlthough anyone is free to browse on eBay, toplace a bid you have to be a registered user. If youhaven’t registered yet, now’s the time. (For infor-mation on registering, see Chapter 2, “Joining Upand Getting Started.”)

Before you place your bid, be sure to read all thedetails of the item you’re interested in. In particu-lar, look at the following:

■ Is the item you’re bidding on new or used?If it’s new, what kind of warranty does itcome with? If it’s used, what’s your recourseif you’re dissatisfied with the item?

■ What condition is the item in? Is it an original,or a reproduction? Is there any way to verify that condition—through photos of the item, perhaps?

If you have any ques-tions about a particular

item, ask ‘em! Click the Ask Sellera Question link in the SellerInformation section to send theseller an email, and ask whateverquestions you want. If the sellerdoesn’t respond, pass this auctionby. And if something about thelisting sounds too good to betrue, it probably is!

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ Check out the seller’s feedback rating —is itpositive? (Never deal with a user with a nega-tive total feedback number.) You might evenwant to click the Read Feedback Commentslink in the Seller Information section to viewhis or her feedback profile; this is where youcan read the individual comments aboutthis person left by other users.

■ What methods of payment will the selleraccept? Are you comfortable using one ofthese payment options?

■ How much shipping and handling is theseller charging? Are these fees in line withwhat you think actual shipping will cost? Ifyou or the seller lives outside the U.S., willthe seller ship internationally?

In other words, take your time and become knowl-edgeable about and comfortable with both the item and the seller before you placeyour bid. If you find anything—anything at all—that makes you uncomfortable, don’t bid.

All that said, let’s look at a final checklist for buy-ers; check off each item before you make your bid.

Checklist: Before You Bid| Make sure you’re an official registered

eBay member.

| Read the item description—thoroughly.

| Note the payment methods that the sellerwill accept.

| Note how the seller intends to ship the item, and the shipping/handling price being charged.


The seller’s feedbackrating reflects the number

of successful auctions the sellerhas conducted. The higher the rat-ing, the more reliable the seller.(Learn more about feedback inChapter 25, “Understanding andUsing Feedback.”)

It’s okay for ship-ping/handling to be a

little higher than actual shipping;the seller has to pay for packingmaterials and so forth. But if thecharge runs more than10%–15% (up to a buck or so)higher, the seller is viewing ship-ping/handling as a profit center,at your expense.

Mike Sez“ ”

continues

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| Check the seller’s feedback rating—and click the feedback rating to browsethrough comments from other eBay users.

| Note the current bid level, and the next bid price.

| Research the value of the item. (That means searching eBay for pricing oncompleted auctions of similar items, as well as doing your own online andoffline research.)

| Determine the maximum amount you’re willing to pay for the item.

| Subtract the estimated shipping/handling price from the price you’re willingto pay; this becomes your maximum bid price.

| Email the seller if you have any questions about anything.

| Decide whether you really want to bid; every bid you make should be a seri-ous, binding bid.

Just Do It—Placing a BidYou’ve waited long enough. Now it’s time to finally place your bid!

Here’s what you do:

1. Scroll down to the Ready to Bid? section of the listing page, and enter yourmaximum bid amount.

2. If you’re bidding in a Dutch auction (in which the quantity is more thanone), enter the number of items you want to bid on.

3. Click the Place Bid button.

4. When the Submit Your Bid page appears, enter your user information (ifprompted), confirm your bid, and then click the Submit button.

5. Your bid is officially entered and the item listing page is redisplayed. At thetop of the page, in the blue shaded box, is your bidder status; this is whereyou learn whether you’re the current high bidder or whether you’ve alreadybeen outbid.

Remember, eBay’s proxy bidding system will automatically place your bids for you,up to but not exceeding your specified maximum bid amount. If the minimum bidis currently $10, and you entered a maximum bid of $20, eBay enters your bid as$10. Your bid will get raised automatically if and when other bidders enter their(higher) bids.

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Bidding in Other Types of AuctionsThe preceding section covered the typical eBay auction, one without a lot of bellsand whistles. eBay offers a lot of different auction options, however (as you’ll learnin Chapter 13, “Choosing the Right Listing Options”), and the bidding procedure isslightly different depending on the type of auction being held.

Dutch AuctionsA Dutch auction is an auction in which the seller has more than one of an item forsale. An example might be a seller with a half-dozen T-shirts (all identical), or agross of inkjet cartridges. Although most sellers on Dutch auctions are small busi-nesses that want to unload multiple quantities of an item, you’ll also find some indi-viduals with several like items to sell.

In a Dutch auction, the seller specifies both the minimum bid and the number ofitems available in the auction, as shown in Figure 4.8. As in a normal auction, bid-ders bid at or above that minimum for the item—although, in a Dutch auction, bid-ders can specify a specific quantity that they’re interested in purchasing.


FIGURE 4.8

An example of

a Dutch auc-

tion—note the

quantity avail-

able.

When you’re bidding in a Dutch auction, you not only have to place your bid, butalso have to indicate how many of the item you’d like to buy. You enter the desiredamount in the Quantity box in the Ready to Bid? section of the listing page. (Thisbox—shown in Figure 4.9—appears only in Dutch auctions, not in regular auctions.)

FIGURE 4.9

Enter the quan-

tity you want

for a Dutch

auction item.

Determining who “wins” a Dutch auction is a little different from determining whowins a normal auction. In a Dutch auction, the highest bidders purchase the items,but all buyers pay only the amount that matches the lowest successful bid.

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Dutch Auctions, by ExampleLet’s work through an example. Say a seller has 10 identical copies of a particularLord of the Rings T-shirt. The seller indicates the number of items available (10) andthe minimum bid (let’s say $5). Potential buyers enter their bids, which must beequal to or higher than the minimum bid of $5; each buyer also indicates the quan-tity (from 1 to 10) that he or she is interested in purchasing.

If 11 people bid $5 each (for one shirt apiece), the first 10 bidders will win the auc-tion, each paying $5 for their items, and the last bidder will be out of luck. But if the11th person had placed a higher bid—$6, let’s say—then that 11th bidder would belisted as the #1 bidder, and the last $5 bidder (chronologically) would be knockedfrom the list. All 10 winning bidders, however—including the person who bid $6—would have to pay only $5 for the item. (Highest bidders, lowest bids—get it?)

In a Dutch auction, the minimum price ends up being raised only if enough biddersplace bids above the minimum bid. In our example, if 9 bidders bid over the mini-mum, but the 10th bidder bid $5, all bidders would still pay $5. But if the lowest bidwas $6 (and the other bidders bid from $6 to $10), all 10 bidders would pay $6 (thelowest current bid). So posting a higher bid increases a buyer’s chances of winningan item at a Dutch auction, but it also increases the risk of raising the price foreverybody.

When a potential buyer bids on multiple copies of theitem, those toward the end of the list may not get thequantity they desire. Still using our T-shirt example, ifthe top bidder wants three shirts, the remainingshirts are distributed among the next seven bid-ders—leaving the last or lowest two bidders out inthe cold.

Tips on Bidding in Dutch AuctionsDutch auctions actually benefit the buyer morethan any other type of auction by letting higherbidders pay the lowest bid price. Should you bid ona Dutch auction? Why not? If someone is sellingsomething you want, by all means, bid!

How much should you bid? Ah, there’s the issue. Iactually like bidding on Dutch auctions later in thegame so that I can get a handle on how manyother bidders I’m competing with. The number ofbidders versus the quantity of items available deter-mines my strategy:


Remember, the higherbidders get first dibs on

multiple quantities. So if the low-est bidder wants multiple quanti-ties of the item on the block, he orshe may find that there aren’tenough to go around. If only apartial quantity is available, thebidder can officially walk awayfrom his or her bid.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 49

■ If the seller has a large quantity of items and a small number of bidders, bidthe minimum. In this scenario, everybody wins because there’s more thanenough merchandise to go around.

■ If the seller has a small quantity of items and a large number of bidders, youprobably should bid higher than the minimum. In fact, in this scenario, treatit like a normal auction and bid the highest amount you’re willing to pay.The worst thing that could happen is you lose the auction; the second worst isthat you’re a winning bidder and you have to pay your maximum bid; thebest scenario is that you’re a winning bidder but get to pay a lower amount(because of a lower bid entered by another winning bidder).

Reserve Price AuctionsIn a reserve price auction, the seller has reserved the option to set a second price (thereserve price) that is higher than the opening bid. At the end of an auction, if thehigh bid does not meet or exceed the seller’s reserve price, the auction is unsuccessfuland the seller does not sell the item to the high bidder. Sellers sometimes use areserve price on high-end items if they want to make sure that the market does notundervalue what they are selling.

In other words, the reserve price is the lowest price atwhich a seller is willing to sell an item (unrelated tothe opening bid price). The seller specifies thereserve price when the item is initially listed (natu-rally, the reserve price should be above the mini-mum bid price). The reserve price is known only tothe seller (and to eBay) and is never disclosed tobidders.

A reserve price auction begins just like any otherauction, at the minimum bid price. The only differ-ence is the reserve price indication in the listing’sauction details, as shown in Figure 4.10. You placeyour bid as you would in a normal auction, andthe auction proceeds pretty much as normal.


FIGURE 4.10

An example of

a reserve auc-

tion in which

the reserve price

hasn’t yet been

met.

Reserve price auctionsare not available for Dutch

auctions. In a Dutch auction, theminimum price is the minimumprice.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 50

If your maximum bid is equal to or greater than the reserve price, the item’s currentprice is raised to the reserve price, and the reserve price has officially been met. If,through the course of the auction, the reserve price is not met, the auction ends withthe item unsold.

Reserve Price Auctions, by ExampleLet’s look at a brief example of a reserve price auction. Suppose a seller has aleather jacket to sell that she feels is worth $50—but she wants to set a lower initialbid, to get the bidding going early. So the seller sets $25 as the initial bid, and $50as the reserve price.

The first bidder on this item sees the $25 initial bid (the reserve price isn’t displayed,of course) and bids $25. The bidder is notified that he has the current high bid, butthat the reserve price has not been met. If the auction were to end right now, theitem would not be sold—the seller is obligated to sell only if the reserve price is met.

The bidding continues, and the bid price increases until it hits $50. At that point, thelast bidder is notified both that he is the high bidder and that the reserve price hasbeen met. If the auction ends now—or at any point afterward—the seller is obligatedto sell, because the reserve price ($50) has been met.

So, in this example, any bids under $50 don’t win the auction; any bids $50 andover can be winning bids.

Tips for Bidding in Reserve Price AuctionsIf you want to bid in a reserve price auction, what should your strategy be? Itdepends on how badly you want the item.

If you really, really, really want the item, you should place your first bid and seewhether you hit the reserve price. If you didn’t, place a new, higher bid, and seewhether it hits the reserve price. If you still didn’t, repeat until your bid is highenough to guarantee a win.

For most bidders, however, this is simply a strategy to ensure writing a large check.In most cases, play a reserve price auction as you would a normal auction, and letthe high bid be the high bid. If you have the high bid and the reserve price isn’tmet, it’s no skin off your nose; it simply means that the seller set an unreasonablereserve price. You always have the option of contacting the seller post-auction to seewhether he or she is willing to sell at the current bid price, even though the reservehasn’t been met. The seller isn’t obligated to do so, of course, but some might bewilling to let the merchandise go to forgo starting a whole new auction (and payinganother listing fee)—or they may be willing to negotiate a selling price somewherein between your bid and the reserve. You never know until you ask!


07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 51

Winning Quickly with Buy It NowSome sellers choose to list their items with eBay’s Buy It Now option. With Buy ItNow, the item is sold (and the auction ended) if the very first bidder places a bid fora specified price. (For this reason, some refer to Buy It Now auctions as “fixed-price”auctions.)

Buying an item with Buy It Now is really simple. If you see an item identified with aBuy It Now price (as shown in Figure 4.11), just enter a bid at that price. You’llimmediately be notified that you’ve won the auction, and the auction will be offi-cially closed.


FIGURE 4.11

A Buy It Now

auction.

Of course, you don’t have to bid at the Buy It Nowprice. You can bid at a lower price and hope thatyou win the auction, which proceeds normally.(The Buy It Now option disappears when the firstbid is made—or, in a reserve price auction, whenthe reserve price is met.)

Fixed-Price Items—from eBay StoresThere’s something else you might find as you’rebrowsing for items on eBay—fixed-priced items.These items are different from Buy It Now items inthat they’re not up for auction at all; they’re onlyavailable for sale outright.

Most fixed-priced items are available from eBay sellers who run what are called eBay Stores. AneBay Store is an online storefront where eBaymerchants can sell their goods without puttingthem up for auction. You can browse throughthousands of different eBay merchants at theeBay Stores page (www.stores.ebay.com), shown inFigure 4.12. eBay Stores merchants are organ-ized by the same categories as the eBay auctionsite—Antiques, Art, Books, and so on. You canalso search for a specific store or a store selling acertain type of item, or view an alphabetical listof all stores.

You should use Buy ItNow only if you really,

really, really want the item; if youthink the Buy It Now price is rea-sonable; if you fear that the finalprice will be higher than the BuyIt Now price; or if you don’t wantto wait for the auction to run itscourse to complete your purchase.

Mike Sez“ ”

tipYou can also access eBay

Stores from the regular eBaysite. Just click the Browselink in the Navigation Bar,and then select Stores.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 52


FIGURE 4.12

The home page

for eBay Stores.

The items offered by eBay Stores merchants are a combination of items currently forauction on eBay and additional fixed-price inventory. When you access a particulareBay Store retailer, you have access to this entire collection of merchandise; if youtried searching on eBay proper, you wouldn’t find the non-auction items the retailermight have for sale.

Buying an item from an eBay Store retailer is a little like buying from any otheronline merchant, and a little like winning an item in an eBay auction. On the onehand, you’re buying from an actual merchant at a fixed price, and you can alwayspay by credit card. On the other hand, you have all the niceties you have on eBay,including the ability to check the merchant’s feedback rating.

After you locate an item you want, you’re taken to the “virtual storefront” of theeBay Store that is selling the item. When you’re in a specific store, you can purchasethe item you were looking at or shop for additional items. Your checkout is handledfrom within the store.

What to Do After You’ve BidLet’s forget about all those special types of auctions and fixed-priced items for aminute, and get back to the normal auction process. Let’s assume that you’ve foundan item you want and you’ve placed a bid. What happens next?

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The answer to this question is a four-letter word: wait. And, as Tom Petty says, thewaiting is the hardest part.

That’s certainly true with online auctions.

Immediately after you place a high bid, eBay automatically sends you an emailnotifying you of your bid status. You’ll also receive an email once a day from eBay,notifying you of your status in any and all auctions in which you’re the highest bid-der. In addition, if you get outbid on an item, eBay sends you an immediate emailinforming you of such.

Otherwise, feel free to check in on all of your auctions in progress, just to see howthings are proceeding. Remember that a watched kettle never boils—and constantlytracking your auctions doesn’t make the time go any faster, either.

Keeping Track of Your BidsThe easiest way to keep track of your bids is with the Bidding/Watching tab on yourMy eBay page, as you learned in Chapter 3. Just click the My eBay link in the eBayNavigation Bar.

Increasing Your Bid AmountAs you get further along in a particular auction, you might suddenly realize thatyour maximum bid isn’t going to hold, and you want to ensure a large enough bidto win a long, hard-fought auction. How can you increase your bid—even thoughyou’re currently the high bidder?

It’s really easy. Just return to the item listing page and place a new bid, making surethat your new maximum bid is higher than your old maximum bid. (You can’tdecrease your maximum bid!) When you enter this new bid, it replaces your previ-ous bid.

Pretty easy, isn’t it?

Oh, No! You’ve Been Outbid!It happens. Your auction is progressing, and then you get that dreaded email fromeBay informing you that you’ve been outbid.

What do you do?

First, you have to decide whether you want to continue to play in this auction. If youdecided up front that an item was only worth, let’s say, $10, and the bidding hasprogressed to $15, you might want to let this one go.


07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 54

On the other hand, if you hedged your bets withthe earlier bid, you might want to jump back intothe fray with a new bid. If so, return to the item’slisting page and make a new bid. Maybe your newbid will be higher than the current high bidder’smaximum bid.

Or maybe not. You don’t know until you try!

Retracting a Bad BidEverybody makes mistakes. What happens if youplace a bid in an auction that you shouldn’t haveplaced?

Fortunately—but reluctantly—eBay lets you retract bids under certain circumstances.

When does eBay allow you to retract your bid? Well, if the seller has substantiallychanged the description of the item after you bid, you’re free to change your mind,too. You can also retract your bid if you made a “clear error” in the amount of yourbid. What’s a “clear error?” Well, bidding $100 when you meant to bid $10 is clearlyan error; other circumstances are left up to your judgment.

The thing is, you can always retract a bid (because you can always claim a “clearerror”), but you won’t win any friends doing so. In fact, if you retract too many bids,eBay will come after you and possibly kick you off the site. So retract a bid if youhave to, but don’t make a habit of it.

How do you retract a bid? It’s actually fairly easy;just follow these steps:

1. Click the Services link above the NavigationBar.

2. When the Services page appears, scrolldown to the Bidding and Buying Servicessection and click the Retract Your Bid link.

3. When the Bid Retractions page appears,enter the item number of the auction andthen choose an explanation for your retractionfrom the pull-down list.

4. Click the Retract Bid button; your bid is now deleted from the auction inprocess.


When the biddingexceeds the top level

you’ve set for yourself, just walkaway. Absolutely, positively, donot let yourself get caught up in abidding frenzy—and end up pay-ing more than the item is worthto you!

Mike Sez“ ”

It’s common cour-tesy—and common

sense—to email the seller beforeyou retract a bid, explaining thecircumstances and begging for-giveness.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Bidding in the Final MomentsIt’s during the last hour of most auctions that thebidding really heats up. If you wait for an email toinform you when you’ve been outbid during anauction’s final minutes, you might not haveenough time to log onto eBay and make a new bid.For that reason, many bidders will log on to eBay(and onto the individual auction about to end) andmanually monitor the auction’s closing minutes.Just remember to hit the Refresh or Reload buttonon your browser frequently, to keep the item listingpage up-to-date with the latest bids!

Five Common Bidding MistakesYou’ll learn some tips on how to be a better bidder inChapter 9, “Secrets of Successful Bidders.” But let’s take a moment and examinesome of the things you can do wrong—actions that can either keep you from win-ning or cause you to pay too much.

Mistake #1: Bidding Too EarlyWhen you’re interested in a particular item, it’s tempting to place your bid as soonas you read the item description. The problem with this is that as soon as that bid isentered, you’ve announced your intentions to other bidders—who might then reactby placing even higher bids. So, right away, you’ve started a bidding war. Whichyou could lose.

There’s really no benefit to bidding early in a long auction. So what if you placeyour bid on day one of a seven-day auction? The only bid that really counts is theone that’s in as the auction closes. Besides, when you bid early, the bidding pricegoes up faster. It’s better to hold off and place a later bid, one that other bidderswon’t have as much time to respond to. Bid early, and you’re likely to either lose toa higher bidder or unnecessarily drive the price higher; bid later, and you’re morelikely to win—with a lower bid.

Mistake #2: Bidding Too LowIf you really, really, really want to win a particular auction, there’s no point in beingcheap. You think you can get by with a low-ball bid, so that’s what you offer. Theproblem is, if the item is really worth a higher price, someone else will bid thatamount—and you’ll lose the auction.


The reason for all thislast-minute bidding activity

is the use of a technique calledsniping. Learn more about how towin auctions with sniping inChapter 9.

07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 56

It’s especially tempting to bid low when the seller sets an unrealistically low startingprice. Don’t get suckered in by a low price early in the auction. If you think an itemis really worth a particular price, bid that full amount. Remember, eBay’s biddingsoftware automatically sets the current bid level for you, so you’ll never pay morethan you have to—and if there’s not much bidding, you might actually end up pay-ing a lower amount. But if you want to win, you have to bid high enough to beat allother bidders. Don’t be cheap!

Mistake #3: Bidding Too HighOn the other hand, don’t be a dummy and bid an unrealistically high amount forsomething that isn’t worth that much. You’d be shocked at how many items sell formore than their fair value on eBay; a lot of buyers just don’t know what things areworth when they place their bids, and end up overpaying. Do your homework aheadof time, and find out what that item is really worth. Then place an appropriatebid—and don’t bid more than that. If you get outbid, tough; the item wasn’t worththat much, anyway!

Mistake #4: Getting Caught Up in a Bidding FrenzyOne reason that many items sell for too high a price is that it’s easy to get caughtup in a bidding frenzy. If an item is popular and several bidders are interested,you’ll see the current bid price keep going up and up and up as each bidder tries tostay in the game. I know the feeling; when bidding starts to heat up, you don’t wantto lose. So you keep placing higher bids, trying to stay a few dollars ahead of theother bidders—and end up bidding up the price way too high.

The solution to this problem is simple—don’t lose your head in the heat of themoment! Set a maximum amount you’ll pay for the item, and do not—repeat, donot—bid any higher than that amount, no matter how hot and heavy the bidding.It’s okay to lose one every now and then!

Mistake #5: Not Reading the Fine PrintYou’ve found an item you want. The bid price is reasonable. You think you can winthe auction, and get a pretty good deal, besides.

But when the auction ends, you get an email from the seller telling you that thefinal price is several dollars higher than what you expected. That’s because the selleradded a shipping and handling fee to the selling price. Now, you should expect topay shipping/handling; that’s your responsibility as the buyer, and you should fac-tor that into your total cost of the auction. But many inexperienced bidders get sur-prised by this charge and end up with an unsatisfactory auction experience.

So make sure you know what the shipping and handling fee is before you place yourbid. If the seller doesn’t include this fee in the item listing, email him and ask him to


07 0789731053 F CH04 3/10/04 3:20 PM Page 57

estimate the fees to your location up-front. And always be on the lookout for higher-than-normal shipping/handling fees, or other unexpected charges. You probablydon’t want to pay $10 to ship a $2 item—especially if the actual shipping might beonly half that. Although it’s common for sellers to include a “handling charge” ontop of actual shipping charges (to pay for boxes, packing material, and so on), youdon’t want to pay too much over the actual costs. Jacking up the handling charges isone way unscrupulous sellers make a little extra money on each transaction, andyou don’t want to play along. Bottom line? Be sure to read the fine print before youbid—especially where it concerns shipping and handling charges.

You Won! Now What?You’ve somehow waited patiently (or not) throughout the entire progress. As theclock ticked down to zero, no other viable competitors entered the arena, and yourhigh bid stood. You won!

Now things really start to happen. You’ll receive an email from eBay notifying youthat you’ve won the auction. You’ll also receive an email from the item’s seller,telling you how much you need to pay, and where to send the payment. Then you’llneed to reply to the seller, make your payment, and wait for the item to arrive.

To learn about the post-auction process in more detail, turn to Chapter 7, “After theAuction: Taking Care of Business.”



■ Before you place a bid, you have to be a registered eBay user—and youshould check out the feedback rating and comments of the item’s seller.

■ You place your bid in the Ready to Bid? section of the item listing page; thenyou enter your user ID, password, and the maximum bid you’re willing tomake.

■ eBay’s proxy bidding software manages your bidding, raising your bid asnecessary up to but not exceeding your specified maximum bid amount.

■ If, at any point during the auction, you get outbid, you have two options:Place another (higher) bid, or walk away free and clear.

■ When you win an auction, you’ll be notified by eBay; you should then con-tact the seller to arrange payment and shipping terms.

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In this chapter

• Browsing or Searching—Which OneIs for You?

• Browsing: The Easy Way to Find Things

• Searching: The Powerful Way to Find Things

5

Searching for

Items and People

Let’s get right down to it: eBay is the largest auction site on the Web,

no questions asked. It’s big. It’s bigger than big. It’s, like, really incredi-

bly massively big. Think of the biggest thing you’ve ever seen, and eBay

is bigger than that.

If you want to browse through the largest selection of merchandise for

sale on the Internet, this is the place to go.

However, eBay’s size (it’s big, remember?) sometimes makes it difficult

to find that one item you’re looking for. So how do you find that one

special item among the 24 million or so items that are up for bid on

eBay on any given day?

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Browsing or Searching—Which One Is for You?There are two main ways to locate items to bid on and buy on eBay. You canleisurely browse through eBay’s thousands of categories and subcategories, or youcan perform a targeted search for specific items.

Table 5.1 shows you what’s good and what’s bad about both browsing and searching.

TABLE 5.1 Browsing Versus Searching—Strengths and WeaknessesQuestion Browsing Searching

How easy is it to do? Easy Not as easy

How quickly can you find a specific item? Slow Fast

How many items will you find? A lot Not quite as many

Will you find the specific item you’re Not always Yeslooking for?

Can you isolate items geographically? Yes Yes

Can you find other bidders and sellers? No Yes

The bottom line: If you’re not sure what you’relooking for, or if you’re looking for all types ofitems within a general category, you should browse.If you’re looking for a specific item or type of item,you should search.

Browsing: The Easy Way to Find Things

eBay has an ever-increasing number of categories,listing all sorts of items—antiques, books, coins, col-lectibles, comics, computers, dolls, electronics, fig-ures, gemstones, glass, jewelry, magazines, music, photography, pottery, sportsmemorabilia, stamps, toys, and many, many more. To view all the items within aspecific category or subcategory, you need to browse through eBay’s category list-ings.

eBay’s main categories are listed on its home page. You can also access a completelist of eBay’s categories and subcategories by going to the Site Map page and click-ing the Category Overview link (in the Browse section).


Most eBay categoriesare so large they’re

practically unbrowsable. (Do youreally want to click through ahundred pages of listings to findthe item you want?) I definitelyrecommend searching overbrowsing—you’ll find what you’relooking for a lot faster!

Mike Sez“ ”

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eBay’s major categories are divided into a hierarchy of subcategories. For example, ifyou click the Antiques link on eBay’s home page, you’ll see Antiquities, Architecturaland Garden, Asian Antiques, and a dozen other subcategories. In fact, many ofeBay’s subcategories have their own subcategories—which makes them sub-subcategories, I guess!

When you access a main category page, like the one in Figure 5.1, you see a list ofsubcategories. (Some category pages will have a top-level subcategory list at the topof the page, and a detailed list of all subcategories at the bottom.) Click a subcate-gory link, and you’ll see either a list of additional subcategories or a list of availableitems.

CHAPTER 5 SEARCHING FOR ITEMS AND PEOPLE 61

FIGURE 5.1

A typical eBay

category page.

When you finally get to the list of items within a category or subcategory, the pagelooks similar to the one in Figure 5.2. At the top of the page are three tabs; thesetabs display All Items for sale, Auctions only, or Buy It Now items only. The first list-ings on the page are the Featured items (sellers pay extra for this placement); belowthat (or on the next page, sometimes) are the complete listings, with items endingsoonest listed first.

Some listings have pictures or icons either before or after the title. If it’s a picture,great; that means the listing has an accompanying photograph. Same thing if yousee a green Picture icon.

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If you see a yellow Gallery icon, that means the item is listed in eBay’s Gallery. (TheGallery lets you browse through listing pictures, rather than listing text; you accessthe Gallery at pages.ebay.com/buy/gallery.html.) A Gift icon indicates that the selleroffers various gift services, such as gift wrap. The New icon indicates that the itemhas been listed within the past 24 hours. And the Buy It Now icon indicates that theseller has chosen the Buy It Now option for this item.

Table 5.2 shows the various icons you might encounter.

TABLE 5.2 Listing IconsFeature Icon

Picture

Gallery

Gift

New

Buy It Now


FIGURE 5.2

eBay item list-

ings.

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Searching: The Powerful Way to Find ThingsYou could browse through the merchandise categories listed on eBay’s home page, asI just described, but given the huge number of categories, this could take forever—and, besides, you’re never quite sure whether all sellers have picked the right cate-gories for their merchandise. (Does a Batman statue belong in the Collectibles:Comics: Figurines category or the Toys & Hobbies: Action Figures: Superhero cate-gory?) In most cases, a better solution is to use eBay’s built-in search engine.

Using eBay’s Search PageeBay’s home page has a simple search box, but I prefer to use the more powerfulSearch page displayed when you click the Search link. That’s because the Searchpage lets you search by several criteria: You can search by listing title, by specificwords in the listing, by item number, by location, by seller, or by bidder. You caneven choose to search completed auctions—which is a great way to get a handle onfinal selling prices for various types of items.

Let’s look at how you can use eBay’s Search page for some of the more commontypes of searches.

Search by TitleTo search for particular words in the listing’s title, follow these steps:

1. Click the Search link on the eBay Navigation Bar.

2. When the Search page appears, select the Basic Search tab.

3. When the Basic Search page appears, asshown in Figure 5.3, enter one or more key-words in the Search Keywords or ItemNumber box.

4. If you want to exclude listings with certaindescriptions from your results, enter thosekeywords in the Words to Exclude box.

5. If you want to limit your search to specificcategories, pull down the Search inCategories list and make a selection.

6. Click the Search button to start the search.eBay displays your results on a separateItems Matching page.


All eBay search pageslet you sort your results

by items ending first, newly listeditems, lowest-priced items, orhighest-priced items. I like to dis-play my results by ending date,with expiring auctions listed first;that way, I know what items musttake priority in my bidding activities.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Search by DescriptionYou don’t have to limit your searches to the item’s title. You can also search theentire item description for any keyword that you specify. Just follow these steps:



3. When the Basic Search page appears, enter one or more keywords in theSearch Keywords or Item Number box.

4. Check the Search Title and Description option.

5. Define other search parameters, as necessary.

6. Click the Search button to start the search. eBay displays your results on aseparate Items Matching page.

Search by Item NumberIf someone has given you a specific item number to check out, you can use eBay’ssearch function to track down and display that item. Follow these steps:



3. When the Basic Search page appears, enter the item number in the SearchKeywords or Item Number box.

4. Click the Search button to find and display the item you entered.

Search by PriceIf you’re on a budget, you might want to limit your search to items within a certainprice range. To perform a price-limited search, follow these steps:




FIGURE 5.3

Searching via

title on the

Basic Search

page.

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3. When the Basic Search page appears,enter one or more keywords in the SearchKeywords or Item Number box.

4. Enter the low and/or high prices you’rewilling to pay into the Price Range boxes.

5. Define other search parameters, as neces-sary.

6. Click the Search button to start thesearch. eBay displays your results on aseparate Items Matching page.

Search by LocationThere may be times when you want to search only for items within a certain region.Perhaps you’re looking for a large item that would be too expensive to ship overlong distances. Perhaps you want to limit your search to a particular geographiclocation. In any case, you can use eBay’s regional filtering options to limit yoursearches to specific regions.

Follow these steps:


2. When the Search page appears, select the Advanced Search tab.

3. When the Advanced Search page appears, as shown in Figure 5.4, enter oneor more keywords in the Search Keywords or Item Number box.

4. To limit your search to items that can be shipped to a specific country, go tothe Location/International section, select the Items Available To option, andthen select a region from the pull-down list.

5. To limit your search to sellers located in a specific region, go to theLocation/International section, check the Items Located In option, and thenselect a region from the pull-down list.

6. Define other search parameters, as necessary.


Search for Completed ItemsIt’s sometimes useful to search for items in auctions that have already ended. Forexample, you would search completed auctions if you want to find out what a cer-tain item (or type of item) has actually sold for.


tipIf you prefer to pay by

credit card, limit your searchto PayPal sellers by selectingthe Search for Items ThatAccept PayPal option.

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To search for completed items, use the Advanced Search page, as described here:

1. Click the Search link on the eBayNavigation Bar.

2. When the Search page appears, select theAdvanced Search tab.

3. When the Advanced Search pageappears, enter one or more keywords inthe Search Keywords or Item Numberbox.

4. Check the Completed Items Only option(in the Refine Your Search section).


6. Click the Search button to start the search.eBay displays your results on a separateItems Matching page.

Search in eBay StoresIf you can’t find an item for auction on eBay proper, you can opt to search itemslisted for sale in eBay Stores. eBay Stores is a collection of individuals and small merchants offering goods for sale at a fixed price. (Not for auction, in other words.)


FIGURE 5.4

Use eBay’s

advanced

search options

to limit your

search to spe-

cific regions.

tipYou can also opt to display

completed items afteryou’ve initiated a search.When the Items Matchingpage appears, go to the

Display section at the leftside of the page, and then

click the Completed Items link.When you’re done looking at thecompleted items, click the ShowActive Items link to return to thecurrent auctions.

08 0789731053 F CH05 3/10/04 3:22 PM Page 66

You can sometimes find items for sale in eBay Stores that you can’t find elsewhere—including in eBay’s normal auctions. Plus, all items you buy in eBay Stores can bepaid for by credit card.

Follow these steps:

1. Click the Search link on the eBayNavigation Bar.

2. When the Search page appears, select theStores tab.

3. When the Stores page appears, enter oneor more keywords in the Search Keywordsor Item Number box.


5. Click the Search button to start thesearch. eBay displays your results on a sep-arate Items Matching page.

Search by SellerEvery now and then you come across a seller whom you trust, and who often hasitems for auction that you’re interested in. You can search eBay to display all currentauctions for that seller by following these steps:


2. When the Search page appears, select the By Seller tab.

3. When the By Seller page appears, as shown in Figure 5.5, enter the seller’suser ID in the Single Seller box.

4. Choose whether to display completed auctions—and if so, completed auctionsfor how many days in the past.


Search by BidderSimilarly, you can search eBay to display all auctions that have been bid on by aspecific bidder. Follow these steps:


2. When the Search page appears, select the By Bidder tab.

3. When the By Bidder page appears, enter the bidder’s user ID in the Bidder’sUser ID box.


tipYou can also search for

specific stores by enteringthe store’s name into theSearch for Stores by StoreName box and then clicking

the Search Stores button.To access eBay stores

directly, go to www.stores.ebay.com.

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4. Choose whether to include completed items.

5. Choose whether to include items for which the bidder is not the high bidder.



FIGURE 5.5

Searching for

items listed by a

specific seller.

Complex Searches—for Simpler ResultsTo get the best results from your eBay searches, you need to know which commandsand operators you can use in the various search boxes. You use these commands tohelp modify your keywords and fine-tune your searches. Table 5.3 lists the com-mands you can use when searching on eBay.

TABLE 5.3 eBay Search CommandsUse This

To Do This Command Example

Search for part of a word * bat*

Search for either word (word1,word2) (batman,robin)

(NOTE: Do not include spaces after the comma.)

Search for an exact phrase “ “ “batman pez dispenser”

Must include a word + batman +pez

Must exclude a word - batman –pez

Must exclude two or more words -(word1,word2) -(batman,robin)

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Note that eBay automatically assumes that you want to search foritems that match all the words in your query. This is the equivalentof inserting a Boolean AND between all the words inyour query; a query for batman robin essentiallylooks for items that match “batman” AND“robin.”

Practice Makes Perfect: Some Sample Searches

Let’s quickly put together a few sample searchesusing some of the commands we’ve discussed.

First, say you want to look for all Batman-relatedmerchandise. The search is simple; enter thisquery in the search box:batman

That’s almost too simple. What if you want tosearch not only for Batman, but also for Batgirl orBatmobile or Batplane or Batanything? For this task, you apply the * wildcard to cre-ate this query:bat*

Good enough. Now, let’s make it more complex. You want to search for Bat stuff, butnot all Bat stuff—just PEZ dispensers or costumes. For this search, enter this query:bat* (pez,costume)

What if you want to look for something by title—such as the title of a movie? This iswhere you use quotation marks to surround the exact phrase you’re searching for. Ifyou want to search for anything associated with the movie Batman Forever, you enterthis query:“batman forever”

What if you want to search for Batman stuff but don’t want anything related toAdam West? In this case, you use the exclude operator, in the form of a – sign, toautomatically exclude any listings that include the designated word. The querylooks like this:batman –west

Conversely, if you want to look only at Batman items that had something to do withGeorge Clooney, you use the include operator, in the form of a + sign, to search onlyfor items which include that specific word. The query looks like this:batman +clooney


If you’re an experiencedsearcher, you’re probablyused to using Booleanoperators (AND, OR, NOT,and so on) to fine-tuneyour query. Well, forget your ANDsand NOTs; eBay doesn’t permit theuse of Boolean operators in itssearch function. In fact, if you enterBoolean operators in your query,eBay will treat them as keywords—and search for them!

caution

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Finally, don’t be afraid to string several of thesecommands together to create a more complexquery—which will return more targeted results.Let’s do a hypothetical search for all BatmanForever props and comics featuring GeorgeClooney but not including Jim Carrey. (Whew!)Here’s the query:“batman forever” (prop,comic) +clooney–carrey

See how it works? It’s a little like constructing analgebraic equation; you just have to think itthrough logically, and use all the tools you haveat hand.

Saving Your Searches—and Repeating Them

You’ve taken the time to create a complex search. You figure you’ll want to repeatthat search at some point in the future, to keep looking for the items you want. Youdon’t want to reenter the query every time you perform the search.

What do you do?

When it comes to repeating your searches, eBay makes it easy. All Items Matchingpages (which display your search results) include an Add to My Favorite Searcheslink, at the top right of the page. Click this link, and this search is now listed on theFavorites tab of your My eBay page.

You can repeat a saved search by following these steps:

1. From the Navigation Bar, click the My eBay link.

2. On your My eBay Page, select the Favorites tab.

3. Click the My Favorite Searches link, or scroll down the page to the MyFavorite Searches section, shown in Figure 5.6.

4. Identify the search you want to repeat, and click that search’s Search Namelink.

The search is now executed, as originally entered.


tipDon’t be surprised if you

enter that complex samplequery into eBay’s searchengine and end up with zeroresults. The more targeted

the query you enter, thefewer results will be

returned—and some queries canbe so targeted that nothingmatches at all.

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Get Notification of New Items That Match Your SearchIf you want to be automatically notified when new items of a particular type comeup for auction, you’re in luck. You can instruct eBay to email you when new itemsappear that match any of your saved searches.

Just follow these instructions:

1. Navigate to the My Favorite Searches section of the Favorites tab of your MyeBay page.

2. Click the Preferences link next to the search you want to be notified of.

3. When the Favorite Searches: Preferences page appears, select the Email Me DailyWhenever There Are New Items option.

4. Pull down the For How Long? list and selecta duration.

5. Click the Submit button when done.

When you’ve activated this notification service,eBay will send you an email (one a day) when newitems that match your search criteria come up forauction. The email contains links for each newitem in your search; click a link to open your Webbrowser and display the matching item.


FIGURE 5.6

Saved searches

on your My

eBay page.

eBay’s email notifica-tion service is a great

tool for active eBay bidders or foranyone searching for that elusiveitem. I love having eBay tell mewhen it has something for me,rather than having to log on anddo a manual search every day. Ihighly recommend this service!

Mike Sez“ ”

08 0789731053 F CH05 3/10/04 3:22 PM Page 71



■ Browse through eBay’s categories and subcategories when you’re not sure ofthe exact item you’re looking for.

■ Use eBay’s search pages to track down specific items for sale.

■ Use wildcards and other search operators to fine-tune your item search.

■ Click the Add to My Favorite Searches link to save your search criteria forfuture use—and then access your saved searches from your My eBay page.

■ Activate eBay’s email notification service to have eBay notify you whendesired items come up for auction.

08 0789731053 F CH05 3/10/04 3:22 PM Page 72

In this chapter

• Different Ways to Pay—Cash, Check,Money Order or Cashier’s Check, C.O.D.,and Credit Card

• Evaluating Different Methods of Payments

6

The Best Ways to Pay

In practically all eBay auctions, the buyer has to pay before the seller

ships; that’s just the way it is. In effect, this means that the risk of the

transaction is on the buyer; the buyer is trusting the seller to actually

ship the merchandise (in the agreed-upon condition) when the payment

is made.

With that in mind, how you pay is every bit as important as how much

you pay. Read on to learn more about the payment options available—

and to figure out which method of payment you should use.

09 0789731053 F CH06.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 73

Different Ways to PayHow can you pay for your auction item? Well, you might not have too manychoices. This is because most experienced sellers specify which methods of paymentthey’ll accept, right up front in the item listing. So even if you want to pay by creditcard, if the seller doesn’t accept plastic, you’re out of luck.

Paying by CashNothing could be simpler than paying by cash.Cram some greenbacks and a few coins into anenvelope, stick a stamp on it, and you’re done.

Right?

Wrong.

Paying by cash is definitely the least recom-mended method of payment. There are a fewreasons for this, all involving safety.

First, it’s hard to hide cash in an envelope. Evenif you wrap the bills in several sheets of paper anduse a double envelope, there’s something about awad of cash that draws attention.

Second, it’s easy to steal. Some disreputable typesmight see a cash-laden envelope sitting in a mail-box and make a grab for it. Easy to do.

Third, there’s nothing to track. If the seller says henever received your payment, there’s nothing totrace to prove otherwise. (That’s why cash is thepreferred method of payment for illegal drug deal-ers—it’s virtually untraceable.)

So, unless the auction item is priced absurdly low(so low you don’t care if the money gets ripped off),you should probably avoid paying by cash.

Paying by CheckThe most popular method of payment is a personal check. Some sellers might notlike accepting checks, for several reasons. Checks are too easy for the buyer to can-cel, which could leave the seller in the lurch. Plus, it’s difficult for a seller to verifythat funds actually exist for payment.


tipAlways check which meth-

ods of payment areaccepted by a seller beforeyou place a bid.

As much as I’d like tosay otherwise, I have to

admit to paying cash on a fewvery rare occasions, all of them inthe weeks before Christmas, andall on very low-priced items. (AndI sweated through each and everyone of those transactions, untilthe items finally arrived!)

Mike Sez“ ”

09 0789731053 F CH06.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 74

In addition, paying by check will probably slow down your item’s shipment. That’sbecause smart sellers wait for the check to clear before they ship your item. However,for most buyers, paying by check is just about the easiest way to go.

Let’s face it. Most other methods of payment—especially cashier’s checks and moneyorders—are a bit of a hassle. To draw a money order or cashier’s check, you have tomake a special trip to the bank or the post office, stand in line, pay a fee, and onlythen can you send your payment. With a personal check, you write the check fromthe comfort of your own desk, pop it in an envelope, and have the payment in themail almost immediately.

Know, however, that some sellers will hold items paid for by a personal check for oneto two weeks, until the check clears your bank. Other sellers will look at a buyer’sfeedback rating, and if it’s strong, they’ll go ahead and ship the merchandise whenthey receive the check. (That’s one good use for eBay’s feedback rating, as discussedin Chapter 25, “Understanding and Using Feedback.”) But don’t expect all sellers toship immediately if you pay by personal check, especially if they haven’t dealt withyou before or you’re a relatively new user of the auction site.

Paying by Money Order or Cashier’s CheckMost sellers state that they prefer cashier’s checks or money orders, and try to dis-courage payment by personal check. This is understandable; to the seller, cashier’schecks and money orders are just like cash, but a personal check isn’t good until itclears the bank.

To you, the buyer, there are three potential downsides to paying via money order orcashier’s check. First, it’s a hassle; you have to go to the bank or post office or creditunion, wait in line, fill out a form, and then arrange funding. Depending on yourlocal conditions, that’s probably a 15- to 30-minute effort.

Second, depending on where you get your money orders, there may be a feeinvolved. The U.S. Postal Service, for example, charges $0.90 to cut a money order.Your bank may charge less (or more—or, in rare instances, nothing), but it’s onemore fee to add to what you’re paying for the auction item. If you won a relativelylow-priced item, the charge might not be worth it.

Finally, cashier’s checks and money orders are, like cash, virtually untraceable. Youget no record of the money order or cashier’s check being cashed, so if the seller sayshe never cashed or received your payment, it’s your word against his.

CHAPTER 6 THE BEST WAYS TO PAY 75

09 0789731053 F CH06.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 75

Paying by Credit Card—via PayPalPaying via credit card is a pretty good deal for most buyers. Assuming that you payyour credit card bill in full when it arrives, there are no fees involved. Unlike withmoney orders or cashier’s checks, you don’t have to leave home to arrange payment.You also have an excellent paper trail for your payment; you know almost immedi-ately if the seller has received payment. And, unlike personal checks, credit cardsensure faster shipment; as soon as you authorize payment, the buyer receives hisfunds and can ship the item to you.

Unfortunately, most private individuals don’thave the capability to accept credit card pay-ment—and most sellers on eBay happen to beindividuals. Many small businesses sell items oneBay, however, and most of these firms do acceptpayment by credit card.

There is, however, a way for an individual sellerto accept credit card payments: by using PayPal.PayPal serves as the middleman for these trans-actions; you pay PayPal via credit card, andPayPal handles all the credit card paperworkand sends a check to the seller (or deposits fundsin the seller’s checking account). From your stand-point, using PayPal is transparent—you don’teven have to pay any additional fees (outside ofyour normal credit card fees, of course). So if you seea PayPal logo in the item listing, you’re in luck; thatmeans you can use your credit card to pay, if youwin.

If you use the eBay Checkout at the end of an auc-tion, you can pay via PayPal by clicking the PayNow button, either in the closed item listing or ineBay’s end-of-auction email. Follow the onscreeninstructions and you’ll be transferred to the PayPalsite, where you can enter your credit card numberand complete payment.

You can also pay for an eBay auction directly fromthe PayPal site (www.paypal.com). Just make sure youknow the seller’s eBay ID or email address, thenumber and title of the auction, and the total


tipIf you need an item in a

hurry—around the holidays,for example—choosing aseller who accepts creditcards can be the key to a

successful transaction. (If indoubt, email the seller

while the auction is still inprogress and ask!)

If you’re not yet aPayPal member, you might

be prompted to create a Personalaccount before you can initiate apayment. Personal membershipis free.

09 0789731053 F CH06.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 76

amount you owe (including shipping and handling). From the PayPal main page,click the Send Money tab to display the Send Money page. Follow the instructionsthere to enter the seller’s email address and necessary auction information.

Finally, PayPal offers the AuctionFinder service. When you use AuctionFinder, PayPalsearches eBay for all auctions won by you that have not been paid for by PayPal.You can then pay for any of these auctions by clicking the Pay button next to theitem listing. To use AuctionFinder, go to the PayPal site and click the My Accounttab, then the Overview tab. Click the Items Won link to display the AuctionFinderpage, and proceed from there.

Paying Cash on DeliveryYou might occasionally have the option of C.O.D. (cash on delivery) payment.Although this is rare when buying from an individual, it is a good route to take ifyou can. With C.O.D. payment, you don’t actually part with your money until youreceive the merchandise—and you can’t stiff the seller, either, because if you don’tpay the delivery guy, he doesn’t give you your stuff.

Using EscrowA final option, used primarily in higher-priced auc-tions, is the use of an escrow service. This is a com-pany that acts as a neutral third party between thebuyer (you) and the seller, holding your moneyuntil you receive the seller’s merchandise. If youdon’t get the goods (or the goods are unacceptable),you get your money back; the seller gets paid onlywhen you’re happy.

Here’s how a typical escrow transaction works:

1. At the end of an auction, you and the sellercontact each other and agree to use anescrow service. The escrow service’s fees canbe split between the two parties or (moretypically) can be paid by you, the buyer. Feesdiffer widely from service to service.

2. You send payment (by check, money order, cashier’s check, or credit card) tothe escrow service.

3. After your payment is approved, the escrow service instructs the seller to shipthe item.


eBay recommends usingescrow for all auctions

above $500 for which the sellerdoesn’t accept credit card orPayPal payments.

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4. You receive the item, verify its acceptability, and notify the escrow service thatall is fine hunky-dory.

5. The escrow service pays the seller.

Although you can use any third-party escrow service, eBay recommends Escrow.com(www.escrow.com). Go there for further information and instructions.

Evaluating Different Methods of PaymentsNow you know how you can pay; you still want to know how you should pay.

Which Method Is Fastest?When it comes to speed, paying by credit card (either directly or via PayPal) winshands down. The seller receives his funds a few seconds after you click the Sendbutton on the payment page, which means that shipment can occur almostimmediately.

Paying by personal check is definitely the slowest method. Not only do you have towait for the postal service to deliver your check to the seller, but you also have towait for the seller to wait—for your check to clear your bank. All this waiting meansthat the seller probably won’t be able to ship your item for at least two weeks afterthe end of the auction, and maybe longer.

Coming somewhere in the middle are money orders, cashier’s checks, and plain oldcash. You still have to depend on snail-mail delivery of your payment, but when theseller receives it, he can ship your item immediately. Depending on the speed of themail, figure anywhere from two days to a week before your item is shipped.

Which Method Is Safest?Of course, how you pay for an item can increase or decrease your protection duringa transaction; some methods of payment are safer for you than others.

The least safe method of payment for a buyer is cash; there’s nothing to track, andit’s very easy for someone to steal an envelope full of cash. Also considered less safe(although better than cash) are cashier’s checks and money orders; like cash, theyprovide no money trail to trace if you want to track down the seller. Paying by checkgives you a minor trail to trace, but when the check is cashed, it’s still pretty much adone deal.


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A safer way to pay is by credit card. When you payby credit card, you can always go to the credit cardcompany and dispute your charges if the item youbought never arrived or was misrepresented. Thesame safety measures typically apply to credit cardpayments made through PayPal and other bill payservices—although you should check with the billpay service, just to be sure.

For the ultimate protection when buying an expen-sive item in a person-to-person option, use anescrow service. Because the escrow service acts as aneutral third party between you and the seller, ifyou don’t receive what you won—or are otherwisedissatisfied with the item—you get your moneyback, guaranteed.

Which Method Should You Use?Use Table 6.1 to determine how you want to pay, based on several key conditions.

Table 6.1 When to Use Which Payment MethodSituation Payment Method

Very low-priced item (<$5 total), trusted seller, no time Cashto write a check or get to the bank

Low-priced item, no hurry for shipment Check

Low-priced item, need fast shipment, trusted seller, Money order/cashier’s check don’t want to use credit card

Higher-priced item or need fast shipment or desire Credit card/PayPal fraud protection

High-priced item, desire protection in case item doesn’t Escrowmeet expectations, don’t mind paying additional fees


If you have the choice(and have a credit

card), my personal recommenda-tion is to pay by plastic. You’llhave a paper trail if anything goessouth, as well as protection fromyour credit card company (abovea certain amount). If payment byplastic isn’t available, I pay bycheck if I’m not in a hurry, or bymoney order if I am.

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ Paying by cash is very unsafe, but it can result in relatively fast shipping.

■ Paying by cashier’s check or money order is just as fast as paying by cash,and slightly safer.

■ Paying by personal check is safer than cashier’s check or money order andprovides a nice paper trail—but it can slow down shipment of your item byone to two weeks.

■ Paying by credit card is probably the best way to go, when available (typi-cally via PayPal); it’s fast and safe.

■ For really expensive items, consider using an escrow service. For a fee, theescrow service holds onto your funds until you receive the item—and are100% satisfied.

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In this chapter

• Using the Post-Auction Checklist

• Making Contact

• Checking Out

• Arranging Payment

• Waiting for Your Doorbell to Ring…

• Receiving the Goods

• Finishing Things Up and Leaving Feedback

7

After the Auction:

Taking Care of Business

You’ve somehow waited patiently (or not) throughout the entire

auction process. As the clock ticked down to zero, no other viable

competitors entered the arena, and your high bid stood. You won!

Now things really start to happen.

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Using the Post-Auction ChecklistWhen you’re an auction winner, you have a bit of work to do. Work through thetasks in this post-auction checklist to make sure you’ve covered all the bases.

Checklist: After You’ve Won| Wait for the seller to contact you

| Respond to the seller’s email

or

| Use eBay’s Checkout feature

| Choose a shipping method, if a choice is offered

| Decide whether you want insurance

| Choose a payment method

| Send payment

| Receive the item

| Examine the item

| email the seller that you’ve received the item

| Leave feedback for the seller

Making ContactThe first thing that is supposed to happen after an auction ends is that eBay shouldsend you an email notifying you that you’ve won the aforementioned auction. I say“the first thing” because sometimes eBay’s system is a little slow; I most often receivenotification within an hour of the auction end, but sometimes this notificationdoesn’t come until the next day!

Figure 7.1 shows a typical end-of-auction notification from eBay.

In any case, if the seller is conscientious, he should send you an email on his own.The seller’s email should tell you how much you need to pay (your high bid amountplus shipping and handling) and where to send the payment.

If you don’t hear from the seller within 24 hours, you should take the initiative andsend your own email. Click the seller’s name on the listing page to generate anemail message, introduce yourself, and gently inquire about shipping and handlingcosts and where you should send your payment.

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Checking OutMost sellers opt to use eBay’s Checkout service. If your seller is using Checkout, a PayNow button will appear on the closed item listing page after the auction ends, asshown in Figure 7.2. (This button also appears in eBay’s end-of-auction email notifi-cation, and on your My eBay Bidding/Watching page.) Click this button to initiatethe checkout process.

CHAPTER 7 AFTER THE AUCTION: TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS 83

FIGURE 7.1

Congratulations

—you’re a

winner!

FIGURE 7.2

Getting ready to

check out at the

end of an

auction.

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eBay now displays a Review Your Purchase page, like the one shown in Figure 7.3.Make sure that all the transaction details are correct, and then scroll to the bottomof the page, select a payment method, and click the Continue button.


FIGURE 7.3

Confirming the

details of your

transaction.

If you opted to pay via PayPal, you’re transferredto a PayPal payment page; follow the onscreeninstructions to make your payment. If you optedfor another payment method, you’ll see the SendInformation to the Seller page, shown in Figure7.4. Make sure that all the information here iscorrect, and then click the Send Information toSeller button. You’ll then need to mail your pay-ment, as normal.

tipIt’s a good idea to print

the Send Information to theSeller page and send it alongwith any payment you sendvia mail. This way the buyer

will have detailed informa-tion on what should be

shipped, how, and where.

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Arranging PaymentAfter you’ve heard from the seller or used eBay’sCheckout service, it’s time to pay.

In most cases, the price you pay will include yourhigh bid and a reasonable amount of shipping andhandling fees. Don’t be surprised if the shipping/handling actually runs a little more than what youmight know the actual shipping to be; remember,the seller has to cover the costs of packaging and(in some sellers’ minds) the cost of listing the itemon eBay. If shipping/handling runs a few bucksmore than actual shipping, don’t sweat it.

You should also think about whether you needinsurance on this item. In most cases buyers don’topt for insurance, but if you’re buying a high-priced, rare, or very fragile item, you might want toprotect yourself against damage in shipment.


FIGURE 7.4

Sending your

payment

information to

the seller.

Remember, in the worldof online auctions, the

buyer pays for everything—including shipping. Don’t expectthe seller to throw in shippingfree! Remember to mentally addthe approximate shipping costs toyour bid price on any item so thatyou’re prepared for the total costwhen the auction is over.

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(That’s if the seller offers insurance, of course; notall sellers do.)

Many sellers offer several shipping options (insur-ance versus no insurance, UPS versus FedEx versusUSPS Priority Mail, and so on), at different costs toyou. Others ship only one way. If given the choice,pick the best compromise between cost and speed.If not given the choice, live with it.

If you have special shipping concerns (for example,FedEx doesn’t deliver to your address), you shouldraise them before you bid on an item. If you can’twork out something else, don’t bid in this auction.

Also, find out what kind of payment the sellerwants. Short of receiving cash in the mail (never agood idea), most sellers prefer to be paid as fast and assecurely as possible. As you learned in Chapter 6, “The Best Ways to Pay,” paying bycredit card is the best option, when it’s available. Some sellers might strongly preferpayment by money order or cashier’s check, but you might strongly prefer paying bycheck. In any case, verify the method of payment before you send the payment sothat there are no surprises. Figure out when you should receive the item shipped,and make a note to email the seller if you don’t receive it by thatdate. (Allow a few extra days of wiggle room just to be fair.)

If you’re paying by personal check, now is the timeto write the check and put it in the mail. If you’repaying by cashier’s check or money order, headto the bank or post office, cut a payment, andthen put it in the mail. Remember to includeyour name and shipping address, along with theitem number and description, with your pay-ment. (Or just include a printout of the SendInformation to the Seller email that eBay sent toyou.)

If you’re paying by credit card, payment is a littledifferent. If you’re buying from a merchant seller,you may be directed to that seller’s retail Web siteto arrange payment. If you’re buying from aseller using PayPal, all you have to do is click thePay Now button on the item listing page, asdescribed previously. If your seller is using another online payment service, look fora logo to click or instructions on how to pay, somewhere on the item listing page.


Insurance might notmake sense for lower-

priced items. For example, theU.S. Postal Service charges $1.30for $50 worth of insurance, whichisn’t necessarily a bargain forlower-priced items. However, ifyour item is higher-priced—ormight be easily damaged—itmight be worth it to insure thepackage.

Mike Sez“ ”

When it comes to pro-viding your credit cardinformation, make sureyou’re working in asecure environment. Thatmeans you don’t send your creditcard number via email (too easilyhijacked), or enter it at an unse-cured Web site. Look for a site thatuses a secure server, or arrange tophone in your information.

caution

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Waiting for Your Doorbell to Ring…Now you wait for the item to arrive. If the wait is too long, you should contact theseller and confirm that the item was actually shipped out on a particular date; if anitem appears to be lost in shipment, the two of you can work together to track downthe shipment with the shipping service.

This is also the stage of the process where some unlucky buyers discover that they’redealing with deadbeat sellers—frauds who take your money but never ship youritem. If you find yourself in this situation, there are options available to you; turn toChapter 8, “Dealing with Fraudulent Sellers,” to learn more.

Receiving the GoodsIn most cases the item arrives promptly. Now you should unpack the item andinspect it for any damage. If the item is something that can be tried out, you shouldmake sure that the item actually works. If all isfine, email the seller to say that you received themerchandise and that you’re happy. If all isn’tfine, email the seller and let him or her knowthat you have a problem.

If you have a problem—or if you didn’t receivethe merchandise at all after a reasonableamount of time—you should first try to work outa compromise with the seller. Most sellers willbend over backward to make you happy; somewon’t.

If you can’t work out anything with the seller,turn to eBay for assistance. See Chapter 8 forinstructions on what to do when a deal goes bad.

Finishing Things Up and Leaving FeedbackYou’ve made your bid, won the auction, paid the seller, and received the merchan-dise. Now you’re done—right?

Wrong.

The last thing you need to do is leave feedback about the seller. Whether it was agood transaction or a bad one, you need to let your fellow eBay members know howthings turned out.


tipWhen your item arrives,

check it immediately. Don’twait a month before deter-mining that there’s some-thing wrong; find out now

whether the item is ingood shape and delivers

what was promised.

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To leave feedback, go to the listing page for the itemyou just bought, click the Leave Feedback to Sellerlink, and then fill in the resulting form. You canleave positive, negative, or neutral feedback, aswell as a one-line comment about the transaction.Make sure you really want to leave the commentsyou’ve written, and then click the Leave Commentbutton. Your feedback will be registered and addedto the seller’s other feedback comments.


See Chapter 25,“Understanding and Using

Feedback,” for more advice aboutthe type of feedback to leave indifferent situations.


■ When an auction is over, the auction site notifies both you and the seller viaemail.

■ The seller must contact you—and you must respond—within three workingdays.

■ The seller will inform you of the total amount you owe, includingshipping/handling and insurance (if you opt for it).

■ In many auctions you can use eBay’s Checkout feature (by clicking thePay Now button located on the item listing page) to consummate yourtransaction.

■ The buyer sends payment to the seller, normally via personal check, cashier’scheck, or money order.

■ Upon payment, the seller packs and ships the item to you.

■ After you receive the merchandise, let the seller know that you’re satisfied (ornot) and leave feedback on the eBay site.

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In this chapter

• Protecting Yourself Before You Buy

• Protecting Yourself After the Auction

• Reporting Inappropriate Behavior

• Tips for Protecting Yourself on eBay

8

Dealing with

Fraudulent Sellers

When you’re bidding for and buying items on eBay, you’re pretty much

in “buyer beware” territory. You agree to buy an item, almost sight

unseen, from someone whom you know practically nothing about. You

send that person a check and hope and pray that you get something

shipped back in return—and that the thing that’s shipped is the thing

you thought you were buying, in good condition. If you don’t like what

you got—or if you received nothing at all—the seller has your money.

And what recourse do you have?

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Remember, when you buy something through an eBay auction, when it comes downto making the financial transaction, you’re dealing with an individual—not eBay.And as you’ll soon learn, every person you deal with behaves differently and expectsdifferent behavior of you. In the course of your eBay dealings, it’s not unlikely thatyou might run into a shady seller who never sends you the item you purchased—ortries to pass off a lower-quality item for what was described in the item listing. Whatcan you do to protect yourself against other users who aren’t as honest as you are?

Fortunately, you can do several things to protect yourself on eBay—and, in general,shopping at eBay is no more dangerous than shopping at a local garage sale. Thischapter details some of the standard guidelines and procedures you can follow toensure that your eBay buying and selling experience is not only successful, but prof-itable and enjoyable as well.

Protecting Yourself Before You BuyThe first line of defense against frauds and cheats is to intelligently choose the peo-ple you deal with. On eBay, the best way to do this is via the Feedback system.

You should always check a seller’s Feedback ratingbefore you bid. If it’s overwhelmingly positive, youcan feel safer than if the seller has a lot of negativefeedback. For even better protection, click theseller’s name in the item listing to view his MemberProfile, where you can read individual feedbackcomments. Be smart and avoid those sellers whohave a history of delivering less than what waspromised.

You can also use the Member Profile page to viewthe user’s ID history (shifty users sometimes changeIDs frequently) and other items for sale. You caneven email the seller to ask for more information;just click the Contact Member button. If the sellerwon’t work with you—or if the information doesn’tcheck out—then don’t deal with him!


To learn more aboutfeedback and the Member

Profile page, see Chapter 25,“Understanding and UsingFeedback.”

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Protecting Yourself Afterthe Auction

What do you do if you follow all this advice andstill end up receiving unacceptable merchandise—or no merchandise at all?

First, know that eBay doesn’t accept any responsi-bility for any transactions conducted on its site. It’snot the buyer or the seller, only a relatively disin-terested third party.

However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t contacteBay if you’re the recipient of a sour deal—youshould, and eBay encourages you to do so. At thevery least, eBay will start tracking the seller’s otheractivities and perhaps kick the seller off the site if apattern of fraudulent activity can be shown. Bestcase scenario, eBay will actually refund some ofthe money you’ve lost.

Getting Help from eBayeBay offers a Buyer Protection Program that pro-tects you up to $200 (with a $25 deductible) forany auction transaction gone bad.

Understanding the Buyer ProtectionProgramYou can participate in eBay’s Buyer ProtectionProgram if you have a feedback rating of zero orabove. Here are some of the details you need to know:

■ You’re insured (for up to $200) on items with a final value over $25. If theitem is priced under $25, you’re on your own.

■ There’s a $25 deductible on each claim. If you submit a claim for a $35 item,you’ll get $10 back ($35 minus the $25 deductible). If you submit a claim for$200, you’ll get $175 back.

■ You’ll be reimbursed only for the final bid price, not for any other fees—suchas shipping, handling, or escrow fees.

■ To qualify, both your feedback rating and the seller’s feedback rating have tobe zero or above.

CHAPTER 8 DEALING WITH FRAUDULENT SELLERS 91

eBay regards itsFeedback system as the

best protection against fraudulenttransactions. I certainly recom-mend that, whether a transactionwent swell or went south, youleave feedback about your part-ner in every transaction. I knowthat I check the feedback ratingof every seller I choose to dealwith; it really is a good way tojudge the quality of the otherparty in your eBay transactions.

Mike Sez“ ”

tipIn addition, you should

leave formal negative feed-back about any bad sellersyou encounter; it’s your dutyto warn other buyers before

they get suckered, too.

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■ All items that meet eBay’s user agreement are covered; items that violate theuser agreement aren’t covered.

■ You can get reimbursed if you send money to a seller and you don’t receivethe item. You can also get reimbursed if you receive the item, but it’s signifi-cantly different than described in the auction listing. However, you won’t bereimbursed if something happens to the item in transit; if the shipping com-pany loses or damages the item, that’s the company’s problem to fix.

■ You have to wait until 30 days after the auction to begin the complaintprocess—and have to file within 60 days of the auction end.

■ If you paid by credit card, you can only file a Buyer Protection claim if thecredit card company has denied your request for a refund—which means thatyou contact your credit card company first, and eBay second.

■ You can file a maximum of three claims in a six-month period.

Filing a ClaimHow do you get your money back if you’ve been burned? Here are the basic stepsto take:

1. Somewhere between 30 and 60 days after the end of the auction, go topages.ebay.com/help/confidence/isgw-fraud-protection.html to access the BuyerProtection Program page. Scroll down and click the File a Fraud Alert link;when the next page appears, click the Submit a New Complaint button andfollow the onscreen instructions.

2. eBay notifies the seller that a complaint has been filed, and suggests that theseller contact you to resolve the situation. The seller has 30 days to resolvethe situation.

3. At the end of 30 days, assuming that the seller doesn’t do anything to resolvethe situation, eBay will email you a link to the fraud reporting form. Followthe instructions there to access and print a copy of the claim form.

4. Gather the requested information and send it to the eBay ClaimsAdministrator, per the address supplied. The information you need toprovide includes the completed and signed claim form, a printed copy of theeBay item listing page, proof of payment (photocopy of the money order, per-sonal check, charge card statement, and so on), and any other supportingpaperwork.

5. Sometime in the next 45 days you will be contacted by the eBay ClaimsAdministrator. If your claim is approved, you’ll be sent a check for the dis-puted amount (less the $25 deductible).


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I hope you’ll never have to use eBay’s Buyer Protection Program. But if you are theunfortunate recipient of an unscrupulous seller, it’s good to know that eBay is look-ing out for you.

Resolving ConflictsSometimes a problem auction doesn’t have a clear-cut good guy and bad guy. If youever find yourself in an extreme finger-pointing situation, it might be time to engagein online dispute resolution.

To negotiate these sticky types of disputes, eBay offers mediation services throughSquareTrade (www.squaretrade.com) . This site settles disputes through a possible two-part process. You start out with what SquareTrade calls Online Dispute Resolution;this free service uses an automated negotiation tool to try to get you and the sellerto neutral ground. Communication is via email; the process helps to cool down bothparties and let you work out a solution between the two of you.

If the two of you can’t work it out in this manner, you have the option of engaginga SquareTrade mediator to examine the case and come to an impartial decision.This will cost you $20, and both parties agree to abide with the results. If theSquareTrade mediator says you’re owed a refund, the seller has to pay you. If therepresentative says there’s no basis for your claim, you have to stop complaining (atleast to the other person).

Beyond eBayBeyond eBay, you can contact other agencies if you’ve been disadvantaged in adeal. For example, if mail fraud is involved (which it is if any part of the transac-tion—either payment or shipping—was handled through the mail), you can file acomplaint with your local U.S. Post Office or state attorney general’s office. If you’vehad a large amount of money ripped off or if your credit card number was stolen,you should also contact your local police department.

You can also register a complaint with the National Fraud Information Center(www.fraud.org), which is a project of the National Consumers League. This site willtransmit the information you provide to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

Finally, you can file a complaint about any fraudulent auction transaction with theFederal Trade Commission (FTC). Although the FTC doesn’t resolve individual con-sumer problems, it can and will act if it sees a pattern of possible law violations. Youcan contact the FTC online (www.ftc.gov/ftc/consumer.htm) or via phone (202-382-4357 or toll-free at 877-FTC-HELP).


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Reporting Inappropriate BehaviorThere is a long list of activities that buyers and sellers can engage in that eBayexpressly prohibits. Most of these offenses—detailed in the list that follows—involveblatantly manipulating auction results, whether by the seller or by an overly interested bidder. If eBay catches a user doing any of these, that user will be eithertemporarily suspended (kind of a first warning) or permanently banned from theservice.

Of course, you have to be caught before you can be punished. The main way eBayfinds out about these activities is from other users—the real victims of these offensivebehaviors.

If you suspect any of these bidding offenses in any specific auction (even if youyourself are not participating in the auction), you should notify eBay atpages.ebay.com/help/community/investigates.html. Be sure to include all relevant infor-mation and copies of all email correspondence with the suspected offender.

What activities are we talking about? Here’s a short list:

■ Shill bidding, which involves bidding on your own item in a deliberateattempt to artificially drive up its price. A shill bid can involve the use of sec-ondary eBay registrations, user aliases, family members, friends, or associatesto pump up the price; other bidders then have to top a higher price to stay inthe game.

■ Bid shielding, which is the practice of using shill bidding (but not a shillassociated with the seller) to artificially increase the price of an item tem-porarily, in an attempt to protect the low bid level of a third bidder.Essentially, the artificially high bid scares off other bidders, and then the shillretracts the super-high bid at the last moment, leaving the bidding wide openfor the initial, lower bidder.

■ Bid siphoning, which happens when a third party (unrelated to the selleror bidder) emails bidders in a currently open auction, offering a similar oridentical item at a price below the current bid level. This siphons off potentialsales away from the registered seller and makes an end-run around eBay’s feesystem.

■ Bid discovery, which happens when the bidder places a very high bid onthe item (well over the current high bidder’s assumed maximum bid level)and then retracts the bid. This returns the high bid to the former high bidder,but at that bidder’s maximum bid level—which wasn’t previously public.

■ Unwanted bidding, which happens when a buyer is warned away from anauction (because of poor feedback, past experience, or other reasons) yet per-sists on placing a bid. If the seller reports you to eBay for this offense, youcan be indefinitely suspended from the service.


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■ Repeatedly backing out of transactions, which won’t win you anyfriends, or get you kicked off eBay. However, if you back out of a lot of trans-actions—as either a buyer or a seller—eBay will toss you off. It’s chronicincomplete transactions that eBay notices.

■ Auction interference, which happens when bidder sends threateningemails to other bidders to warn them away from a seller or an item. You’renot allowed to interfere with in-process auctions—and you’re definitely notallowed to threaten other users! eBay will bump you if they find out.

■ Transaction interception, which is out-and-out fraud. You represent your-self as another eBay seller, intercepting the ended auctions of that seller (gen-erally with forged email messages) and convincing buyers to send youpayment for the items. Getting caught at this one will cause you more trou-ble than just a simple eBay expulsion.

■ Spamming, which occurs when you send bulk email (spam) to masses ofother users. If eBay finds out, it’ll kick you off, simple as that.

Tips for Protecting Yourself on eBay

When all is said and done, eBay is a fairly safeenvironment to conduct person-to-person trans-actions. The vast majority of eBay users are hon-est individuals, and you’ll no doubt enjoyhundreds of good transactions before you hityour first bad one.

That said, here are some tips on how to betterprotect yourself when you’re dealing on eBay:

■ Remember that you’re dealing withhuman beings. Be nice, be polite, and,above all, communicate! Send emails con-firming receipt of payment or shipment ofmerchandise. Say “please” and “thankyou.” And don’t send short, snippy emailsin the heat of the moment. Be tolerantand friendly, and you’ll be a better eBaycitizen.

■ Realize that, in most cases, you’re dealingwith individuals, not businesses. Keep thatin mind if things don’t go quite as


Be wary of any emailsyou receive that purportto be from eBay and askyou to enter or updateyour personal informa-tion—especially those that include alink to some sort of informationupdate page. In almost everyinstance, these emails are scams(called spoofs) that direct you tosomeone else's site, where theinformation you provide is used forfraudulent purposes. eBay will neverask you for this type of informationvia email; if you need to updateyour information, you should alwaysdo so directly at the eBay site—notby using any link provided by email.

caution

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smoothly as they would if you ordered from Amazon.com or L.L.Bean. Mostfolks don’t have automated shipping systems installed in their living rooms!

■ Know that experienced eBay users take the feedback system very seriously—ifnot obsessively. Positive feedback is expected for every successful transaction,and negative feedback should be used in only the most dire of circumstances.When in doubt, just don’t leave any feedback at all.

■ If you have questions about an item for sale, or about any part of the trans-action, ask! email the seller if you’re not sure about payment or shippingterms. Good communication eliminates surprises and misinterpretations;don’t assume anything.

■ When the item you purchased arrives, inspect it thoroughly and confirm thatit’s as described. If you feel you were misled, contact the seller immediately,explain the situation, and see what you can work out. (You’d be surprisedhow many sellers will go out of their way to make their customers happy.)

■ If the merchandise doesn’t arrive in a timely fashion, contact the seller imme-diately. If the item appears to be lost in transit, track down the letter/packagevia the shipping service. If the item never arrives, it’s the seller’s responsibilityto file an insurance claim with the carrier (if the item was insured), and youshould receive a refund from the seller.


■ Buying an item on eBay is generally about as safe as buying something froma local garage sale—with the caveat of “buyer beware.”

■ That said, most eBay buyers and sellers are honest and trustworthy.

■ To protect you against those who aren’t, eBay offers its Buyer ProtectionProgram, which includes $200 worth of insurance per transaction foraggrieved buyers.

■ You’re better protected if you pay by credit card or use an escrow service.

■ If you do get ripped off, contact the auction site, your local authorities, andthe FTC.

■ You should always leave feedback about the people you deal with—whetherpositive or negative.

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In this chapter

• The Guaranteed Way to Win an Auction—Be Sneaky and Snipe

• Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Placing a WinningBid—and Getting the Most for Your Money

9

Secrets of

Successful Bidders

You want to be a player. You want to bid with the best of them. When

you bid, you want to win. When you win, you don’t want to overpay.

This is the chapter you’ve been waiting for. Discover the secrets and

strategies that will help you be a successful eBay bidder!

12 0789731053 F CH09.qxd 3/10/04 3:04 PM Page 97

The Guaranteed Way to Win an Auction—Be Sneaky and Snipe

If you have any experience with eBay auctions, you’ve seen the following phenome-non. On day one of the auction, there are a few initial bids. On day two, the num-ber of new bids trails off. On days three through six, few if any bids are placed.Then, on the seventh and last day of the auction, all hell breaks loose—with theheaviest bidding taking place in the auction’s final minutes.

What’s happening here? It’s simple: Interested bidders are employing a techniquecalled sniping and saving their best bids for last.

Sniping is a technique used to win auctions by not bidding at all over the course ofthe auction, but then swooping in at the very last minute with an insurmountablebid. The thinking behind this strategy is simple. By not disclosing your interest, youdon’t contribute to bidding up the price during the course of the auction. By biddingat the last minute, you don’t leave enough time for other bidders to respond to yourbid. The successful sniper makes one bid only—and makes it count.

Sniping happens on eBay because the end time of each auction is rigidly enforced. Ifyou know that an auction ends at 12:01:30, you can time your snipe to hit at12:01:29, leaving no time for any other bidders to trump your bid. Some other auc-tion sites, such as Yahoo! Auctions, have flexible end times; if there is bidding withinthe last five minutes of an auction, the auction is automatically extended byanother five minutes, giving extra time for other bidders to respond to a snipe.

Sniping: Pros and ConseBay management doesn’t have an official position on sniping, although it has thecompany’s tacit approval. Many experienced eBay users not only participate in snip-ing, but also regard it as a kind of game. (Sellers like sniping, of course, as long as ithelps to drive up the prices of their items.) It’s the community of less-experiencedusers—or those used to more traditional auctions—that is less likely to embrace snip-ing as a practice.

Most bidders who despise sniping say that it takes all the fun out of the auctionprocess. Experienced snipers say that sniping itself is fun, that it can be kind of agame to see just how late you can bid and still make it count before the auctioncloses.

Whether you like it or not, sniping works. After all, if you place a high enough bidat the last second, there’s no time for anyone to respond with a higher bid. The lasthigh bidder always wins, and a sniper stands a very good chance of being the lasthigh bidder.


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Can a sniper lose an auction? Yes, under these scenarios:

■ First, there might be another sniper in the queue who places a higher snipethan your maximum bid. A last-second bid of $35 will beat out a last-secondbid of $30 any day.

■ Second, your snipe might be too early, allowing time for the previous highbidder to receive an outbid notice and respond with a higher bid.

■ Third, your snipe might not be high enough to beat out an existing high bid.(That’s why I told you earlier to always bid the maximum amount you wantto pay—it can ward off some cheap snipers.) If the current bid is $25 but thehigh bid (not known to you) is $35, you’d be beat if you “only” bid $30.

If you’ve ever been outbid on an item at the very last moment, you know that snip-ing can win auctions. Even if you hate sniping, the only way to beat a sniper is tosnipe yourself.

Successful Sniping, Step-by-StepSuccessful sniping requires large amounts of patience and split-second timing—butwill reward you with a higher number of winning bids. Just follow these steps:

1. Identify the item you want to buy—and then don’t bid! Resist the temptationto place a bid when you first notice an item. Make a note of the auction (andits closing time), or even put the item on your watch list; but don’t let anyoneelse know your intentions.

2. Five minutes before the close of the auction, make sure you’re logged on tothe Internet, and access the auction in question.

3. Open a second browser window to the auction in question.

4. Display the Windows clock on your desktop, and configure it to display bothminutes and seconds. (Or just grab a watch with a second hand or a stop-watch.)

5. In your first browser window, enter yourmaximum bid and click the Submit buttonto display the confirmation screen. Don’tconfirm the bid yet! Wait for the confirmationscreen.

6. In your second browser window, click theRefresh or Reload button to update the offi-cial auction time. Keep doing this until thetime remaining until close is 60 seconds.

CHAPTER 9 SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL BIDDERS 99

It’s a good idea tosynch your Windows

clock with eBay’s official time. Toview the current eBay time, goto cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/

eBayISAPI.dll?TimeShow.

Mike Sez“ ”

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7. Now, using either the Windows clock or your watch or stopwatch, count down50 seconds, until there are only 10 seconds left in the auction. (You mightwant to confirm the synchronization midway through your countdown byrefreshing your second browser window again.)

8. When exactly 10 seconds are left in the auction, click the Confirm Bid buttonin your first browser window to send your bid.

9. Wait 10 seconds, and then click the Refresh or Reload button in your secondbrowser window. The auction should now be closed, and (if your sniping wassuccessful) you should be listed as the winning bidder.

Why bid 10 seconds before close? It takes about this long to transmit the bid fromyour computer to the online auction site and for the bid to be registered. If you bidany earlier than this, you leave time for the auction to send an outbid notice to theprevious high bidder—and you don’t want that per-son to know that until it’s too late to do anythingabout it.

Using Software to SnipeIf you can’t personally be present to snipe at theend of an auction, check out an automated snipingprogram or Web-based sniping service. These pro-grams and services let you enter the item numberof the auction and your maximum bid beforehand,and then go online at precisely the right time toplace a last-minute snipe—even if you’re not athome or you’re otherwise occupied.

The best of these auto-snipe tools are listed in Table 9.1.

Table 9.1 Automated Sniping Programs and Web SitesTool Type Pricing Web Site

Auction Sentry Software $14.95 www.auction-sentry.com

AuctionSniper Web service 1% of final price www.auctionsniper.com

AuctionStealer Web service $11.99/month www.auctionstealer.com

BidNapper Web service $5.95/month www.bidnapper.com

BidRobot Web service $19.95/6 months www.bidrobot.com

BidSlammer Web service $0.10/bid plus 1% www.bidslammer.com

of final price


For more details onthese and other third-party

auction programs and services, seeChapter 28, “Using AuctionSoftware and Services.”

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Cricket Jr. Software $19.99 www.cricketsniper.com

eSnipe Web service $0.25/winning bid www.esnipe.com

or 1% of final price

HammerSnipe Web service Free www.hammertap.com/HammerSnipe.html

Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Placing a Winning Bid—and Getting the Most for Your Money

Whether you snipe or not, you can do many other things to increase your chances ofwinning an auction without overpaying for the item in question. Here are my toptips that can help anyone be a more successful eBay bidder.

Tip #1: Bid in the Off SeasonYou already know that the final minute of the auction is the best time to place yourbid. But are there specific times of the year that offer better bargains for bidders?

The answer, of course, is yes. Although there is some category-specific seasonality,the best overall time of the year to pick up eBay bargains is during the summermonths. Summer is the slowest period on eBay, which means fewer people bidding—and lower prices for you.

Tip #2: Look for Off-Peak AuctionsBelieve it or not, some auctions are set to end in the wee hours of the morning—when there aren’t a lot of bidders awake to make last-minute snipes. Look for auc-tions ending between midnight and 5:00 a.m. Pacific Standard Time if you wantsome competition-free sniping.

Tip #3: Do Your ResearchDon’t bid blind; make sure you know the true value of an item before you offer abid. Look around at auctions of similar items; what prices are they going for? Anddon’t neglect researching outside of eBay; sometimes, you can find what you’re look-ing for at a discount store or in a catalog or at another online site—where you’llprobably get a real warranty and a better return policy. Shop around, and don’tassume that the price you see at an auction is always the best deal available.

Be informed, and you won’t bid too high—or too low.


Tool Type Pricing Web Site

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Tip #4: Don’t Bid on the First Item You SeeProbably several other items on the same auction site are similar to the first itemyou saw. Look at the entire list of items before you choose which one to bid on.Seldom is the first item you see the one you really want or the best deal.

Tip #5: Know When to Say NoBe disciplined. Set a maximum price you’re willing to pay for an item, and don’texceed it! It’s okay to lose an auction.

Don’t automatically rebid just because you’ve been outbid. It’s too easy to getcaught up in the excitement of a fast-paced auction. Learn how to keep your cool;know when to say no.

Tip #6: Don’t Let the Proxy Bid Things UpIf two or more people are bidding on the same item, eBay’s proxy bidding softwarecan automatically (and quickly) rocket up the price until the bidder with the lowermaximum bid maxes out. It’s kind of an automated bidding frenzy conducted bytwo mindless robots.

Some bidders refuse to participate in proxy bidding. If the price is to increase, theywant to do it manually. If you want to hold total control over the entire biddingprocess, how do you defeat the automatic bidding software? Simple: Make sure thatyour maximum bid is the same price as the next incremental bid and no higher. Itmight take a bit more work—and it’s not the way I like to do things, personally—butit does put you in total control of the bidding process.

Tip #7: There Are Other Fish in the SeaIn 99.9% of eBay’s auctions, that “one of a kind” item really isn’t one of a kind. Infact, some sellers (especially merchant sellers) will have multiple quantities of anitem, which they release to auction in dribs and drabs over time. In addition, somecollectibles are bought and sold and bought and sold by multiple buyers and sellersover time, continually changing hands via new auctions. If you don’t get this partic-ular item, there’s a good chance you’ll get to bid on something similar soon.

Tip #8: If It Sounds Too Good to Be True, It Probably IsA rare copy of Action Comics #1 for only $25? A brand-new laptop computer for only$100? There has to be a catch. That Action Comics is probably a facsimile reprint,and the brand-new laptop PC is actually a remanufactured unit missing some key


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parts. Be suspicious of improbable or impossible deals; always ask questions thatconfirm or reject your suspicions.

Tip #9: Ask QuestionsIf you’re unclear about any aspect of an item you’re interested in, ask the sellerquestions via email. In addition to answering your specific questions, some sellershave additional information or pictures they can send you one-on-one. There’s noexcuse for ignorance; if you’re not sure, ask!

Tip #10: Check the FeedbackCheck out the seller’s feedback rating. Make sure that the seller of the item you wanthas a good feedback rating—and avoid any sellers who don’t. You should also clickthe seller’s numerical feedback rating to display actual comments from other userswho have dealt with this user before. The best way to avoid bad sellers is to find outthat they’re bad sellers beforehand.

Tip #11: Check the Seller’s Past AuctionsWhile you’re checking up on the seller, use eBay’s search function to display all theseller’s completed auctions. See whether the seller has sold multiples of this particu-lar item in the past. There’s no need to get into a bidding war if the same item willcome up for auction again next week.

Tip #12: Check the Seller’s Other Current AuctionsYou’d be surprised how many times a seller has more than one item you’re inter-ested in. Click the View Seller’s Other Auctions link to see everything else the sellerhas for auction—and bid accordingly!

Tip #13: Search, Don’t BrowseIf you know what you’re looking for, don’t go through the time-consuming hassle ofclicking and loading and clicking and loading to access a particular item category.Using an auction’s search function will find what you want a lot quicker.

Tip #14: Search SmartSearching for an item on eBay is easy; finding what you really want is hard. You’remore likely to find what you’re looking for if you can use the auction site’s advancedsearch capabilities to fine-tune your query. Some specific search tips can help youperform more effective—and efficient—searches:


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■ Narrow your search. Some of the more popular categories on eBay will listthousands of items. If you do a search on nba, for example, you’ll be over-whelmed by the results; narrow your search within these large categories(to nba jerseys or nba tickets) to better describe the specific item you’re look-ing for.

■ Make your queries precise—but not too precise. When you’re decidingwhich keywords to use, pick words that are precise, but not overly restrictive.If you must use a very general word, modify it with a more specific word—oryou’re apt to generate a huge number of results that have little relevance tothe specific information you’re searching for. As an example, model is a prettygeneral keyword; Star Wars Death Star model is a much more precise query.On the other hand, if you search for an old Star Wars Death Star model par-tially assembled without instructions not painted, you probably won’t returnany matching results. If you get few if any results, take some of the parame-ters out of your query to broaden your search.

■ Get the right order. When constructing your query, put the important stuffup front. Put keywords or phrases that describe your main subject at the startof your query; put less important words and phrases last. Search enginessearch for the first words first and rank results according to how they matchthese more important keywords.

■ Use wildcards. If you’re not sure of spelling, use a wildcard to replace theletters in question. Also, wildcards help you find variations on a keyword. Forexample, if you want Superman, Supergirl, and Superdog, enter super* to findall “super” words.

■ Truncate. If you’re not sure whether you’re looking for plurals or singulars,truncate your words and use wildcards. For example, if you’re looking forbeanie babies, search for bab* to return either a single beanie baby or multi-ple beanie babies.

■ Vary your vocabulary—and your spelling. Don’t assume that everyonespells a given word the same way—or knows how to spell it properly. Also,don’t forget about synonyms. What you call pink, someone else might callmauve. What’s big to you might be large to someone else. Think of all theways the item you’re looking for can be described and include as many of thewords as possible in your query.

■ Fine-tune your results. Did eBay’s search engine return an overwhelmingnumber of matching items? If so, you need to fine-tune your search to bemore specific. Look at the results generated from your initial search. Thinkabout the good matches and the bad matches and why they ended up in the


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results list. Then, enter a new query that uses additional or different keywordsand modifiers. Your goal is to make the next list of results a higher qualitythan the last.

■ Different day, different results. Remember that new items are constantlyadded to any given auction site, and closed auctions are constantly removedfrom the listings. If you didn’t find anything that matched your query today,try again tomorrow; you’ll probably find a different list of items for sale.(Another good reason to save your favorite searches and use eBay’s emailnotification service.)

Tip #15: Search for MisspellingsHere’s a good way to take advantage of other users’ mistakes. Some eBay sellersaren’t great spellers—or are just prone to typing errors. This means you’ll find someitems listed for auction under misspelled titles. It’s not hard to find the occasionalDell personal commuter, Apple ipud, or jewel neklace.

The problem for these sellers—and the opportunity for you—is that when you’researching for an item (correctly), listings with misspellings won’t appear in thesearch results. If potential bidders can’t find the listings, they can’t bid on them,either—leaving these misspelled listings with few if any bidders. If you can locatethese misspelled listings, you can often snap up a real deal without competitionfrom other bidders.

The key, of course, is figuring out how an item might be misspelled. Let’s say you’relooking for a bargain on a toaster. Instead of searching for toaster, you might searchfor toster, toastter, toastor, and toester. Give it a try—you’ll be surprised what youfind!

Tip #16: Search for Last-Minute BargainsWhen you search the eBay listings, be sure to display the results with auctions end-ing today listed first. Scan the list for soon-to-end items with no bids or few bids, andpick off some bargains that have slipped others’ attention.

Tip #17: Don’t Show Your HandPart and parcel of the sniping strategy: Don’t place an early bid on an item. Thatjust signals your interest and attracts other bidders—which results in a higher price.


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Tip #18: Watch, Don’t BidExpanding on the previous tip, use eBay’s Watch This Item feature to watch auctionsin process without first placing a bid. (Just click the Watch This Item link on the itemlisting page, and then watch the items on your My eBay page.)

Tip #19: Use the eBay ToolbareBay offers a neat little add-on for your Web browser that makes it easy to track auc-tions you’ve bid on, or that are on your watch list. When you install the eBayToolbar, it appears as part of your Web browser, under all your normal toolbars.(Figure 9.1 shows the eBay Toolbar as it appears in Internet Explorer.)


FIGURE 9.1

Track your auc-

tions in your

Web browser

with the eBay

Toolbar.

The eBay Toolbar also includes some other useful features, including the capabilityto search auction listings from the toolbar, go directly to your My eBay page, andview the top picks in selected categories. The eBay Toolbar is free and available fordownloading at pages.ebay.com/ebay_toolbar/.

Tip #20: Watch the FinishDon’t forget the downside to sniping—that you can be sniped, too. Don’t get outbidat the last minute. Because most auction activity occurs at the very end of the auc-tion, track the last hour of your most important auctions, and be prepared to reactquickly to last-second snipers.

Tip #21: Get in SynchMake sure that you’re in synch with eBay’s official clock (cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?TimeShow). If you’re a few seconds slow, you could lose a snipingcontest!

Tip #22: Put Your Best Foot ForwardWhen you do bid, don’t weasel around. Make your bid the maximum amount theitem is worth to you, and be done with it.

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Tip #23: Bid in Odd NumbersWhen you bid, don’t bid an even amount. Instead,bid a few pennies more than an even buck; forexample, if you want to bid $10, bid $10.03instead. That way, your bid will beat any bids atthe same approximate amount—$10.03 beats $10any day—without your having to place a new bidat the next whole bid increment.

Tip #24: Don’t Be a DeadbeatDon’t bid unless you really intend to buy. Nobody likes a deadbeat—and if you do itoften enough, you’ll get kicked off the auction site permanently.

Tip #25: Use My eBay to Track Your AuctionsDon’t let your auction activity get away from you. Ifyou’re a regular eBay user, the best way to track allyour auction activity on a single page is by usingMy eBay. My eBay can also track your favoriteauction categories, as well as your account sta-tus—and let you access the pages you use mostoften, without having to click through uselessparts of the site. Personalize My eBay the way youlike and then bookmark it; it’s a great home pagefor the heavy auction trader.

Tip #26: Read the Fine PrintWhat methods of payment can you use? Whatabout shipping? Any other details that mightimpact your decision to bid? Read the entire item listing before you place your bid—so you aren’t surprised by the fine print in any auction.

Tip #27: Don’t Forget Shipping CostsWhen you’re placing your bid, remember that you’ll actually have to pay more thanyou bid; you have to pay shipping and handling to put the item in your hands. IfS&H costs aren’t detailed in the item listing, figure them out yourself, or email theseller to get a reasonable estimate. That ultra-cheap $2 item looks pretty expensive ifyou have to add $5 shipping and handling to the base price.


The “odd numberbid” tip is one of the

best tips in this book. I can’t tellyou how many auctions I’ve wonby just pennies!

Mike Sez“ ”

Learn more about MyeBay in Chapter 3,

“Creating a Home Base with MyeBay.”

12 0789731053 F CH09.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 107

Tip #28: Don’t Overpay for ShippingNot only should you not get taken by surprise by shipping costs, but you alsoshouldn’t be taken advantage of by unrealistic shipping and handling charges. Geta ballpark feel for shipping on a specific item from the seller’s location to where youlive. Expect a little overage on the seller’s part (she has to buy packing materials,labels, and such), but not too much. If you know that shipping should be in the $2range, accept a $3 charge—but question a $5 charge.

Tip #29: Pay QuicklyDon’t delay—pay! Look, the seller needs the money, and the sooner you pay, thesooner you’ll get what you paid for.

Tip #30: Pay by Credit CardNow that most auctions are credit card enabled (via PayPal), use that option. Payingvia credit card is relatively safe and leaves a good paper trail—and ensures that youritem will be shipped quickly.

Tip #31: Money Orders Cost MoneyThe seller says that money orders or cashier’s checks speed shipment. Depending onyour bank, it might cost a few dollars to cut a money order or cashier’s check. Besure to factor these costs into your total expenditure—and question whether youreally want to pay to cut a money order for a $5 item.

Tip #32: Provide All the Information NecessaryWhen you send your payment, be sure to include your name, shipping address,email address, and item name and description. Even better, enclose a copy of theitem’s Checkout or listing page, with additional information written on it. (I can’ttell you how many envelopes I’ve opened with only a check or money order inside;you gotta tell ‘em who the payment is from and what it’s for!)

Tip #33: Use a Middleman for Expensive ItemsIf you buy a high-priced item through a person-to-person auction, consider using anescrow service. Although you’ll pay for the service (in the neighborhood of 5%, typi-cally paid by you, the buyer), it’s a good safety net in case the seller doesn’t ship orthe item isn’t what was described. In addition, you can use escrow services to acceptcredit card payments when the seller doesn’t or can’t accept credit cards directly.


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Tip #34: Insure ItIf you bought a rare or high-priced item, ask the seller to insure the item for ship-ping. Pay the extra cost; it’s worth it in peace of mind alone.

Tip #35: Document EverythingIn case something goes south, it helps to have good records of all aspects of yourtransaction. Print copies of the confirmation email, plus all email between you andthe seller. Be sure to write down the seller’s user ID, email address, and physicaladdress. If the transaction is ever disputed, you’ll have all the backup you need toplead your case.

Tip #36: Keep a LogNot only should you document all the correspondence for an individual auction, butyou also should keep a log of all the auctions you’ve won. If you do a lot of bidding,it’s all too easy to lose track of which items you’ve paid for and which you’vereceived. You don’t want to let weeks (or months!) go by before you notice that youhaven’t received an item you paid for.

Tip #37: If You Win It, Inspect ItWhen you receive the item you paid for, open it up and inspect it—immediately!Don’t wait a month before you look at it and then expect the seller to rectify a situa-tion that was long considered closed. Okay the item, and then send the seller an email saying you got it and it’s okay. If you sit on it too long, it’s yours—no matterwhat.

Tip #38: If You Get Ripped Off, Tell eBay About ItIf you have a problem with a seller, first try working it out between the two of you.If things don’t get resolved, contact eBay with your grievance; you can use eBay’sBuyer Protection Program to register your complaint and (hopefully) get reimbursedfor your loss. (And don’t forget to leave negative feedback on the snake who did youwrong!)

Tip #39: Communicate!Don’t assume anything; communicate what you think you know. If you have ques-tions during an auction, ask them. When the auction is over, email the seller. Whenthe seller emails you, email him or her back to confirm. Email the seller when you


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send payment and again to confirm receipt of the item. The more everyone knows,the fewer surprises there are.

Also, remember that not everyone reads his email daily, so don’t expect immediateresponse. Still, if you don’t receive a response, send another email. If you’re at allconcerned at any point, get the seller’s phone number or physical address from theauction site and call or write her. A good phone conversation can clear up a wealthof misunderstandings.

Tip #40: Be NiceYou’re dealing with another human being, someone who has feelings that can behurt. A little bit of common courtesy goes a long way. Say please and thank you, beunderstanding and tolerant, and treat your trading partner in the same way you’dlike to be treated. Follow the golden rule; do unto other auction traders as you wouldhave them do unto you.


■ Sniping—a literal last-second bid—is the most successful tool for winningeBay auctions.

■ Keep track of items you haven’t yet bid for by using the Watch This Item andMy eBay features.

■ When you place your bid, make it the highest amount you’re willing topay—and then walk away if the bidding goes higher.

■ The best time of year to pick up good deals is during the summer.

■ You can sometimes win an auction by bidding in an odd amount—$20.03instead of $20.00, for example.

■ The faster you pay, the faster you’ll receive the item you won!

12 0789731053 F CH09.qxd 3/10/04 3:05 PM Page 110

eBay for Sellers

IIIPART

Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers . . . 117

Determine What to Sell—and for How Much . . 139

Deciding on Your Payment Methods—and Using PayPal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Choosing the Right Listing Options . . . . . . . . 155

Writing a Listing That Sells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

Using Pictures in Your Listings . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

Creating a Great-Looking Listing . . . . . . . . . . 191

Automating Item Listing with eBay Turbo Lister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203

Managing the Auction Process . . . . . . . . . . . 217

After the Auction: Concluding Your Business . . 225

Automating Auction Management with eBay Selling Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . 233

Shipping It Out—Cheaply and Safely . . . . . . . 243

Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Secrets of Successful Sellers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

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13 0789731053 F PT3.qxd 3/10/04 3:32 PM Page 112

In this chapter

• Getting Ready to List

• Getting Started: Creating an Item Listing

• Selling Commonly Sold Items with Pre-Filled Item Information

• Dealing with Different Types of Auctions

• Managing Your Item Listing

• Five Common Selling Mistakes

• The Auction’s Over! Now What?

10

Selling 101: A Tutorial

for Beginning Sellers

You’ve poked around eBay some. Maybe you’ve bid on an item or two;

maybe you’ve even been fortunate to be the high bidder in an auction

for something you really wanted. Now you’re looking at your collection

of…well, whatever it is you collect, and you’re thinking that maybe you

ought to be getting some of that online auction action.

In other words, you’re ready to put your first item up for bid on eBay.

14 0789731053 F CH10.qxd 3/10/04 3:30 PM Page 113

Getting Ready to ListBefore you list your first item, you need to get all your ducks in a row. That meansdetermining what you’re going to sell and for how much, as well as how you’regoing to describe and promote the item. If you try to list an item “cold,” you’ll findyourself stopping and starting as you move through the listing process; you’ll beconstantly running around trying to gather more information or make importantlisting decisions on-the-fly. Better to prepare for these decisions up front, as describedin the following checklist.

Checklist: Before You List an Item for Auction| Make sure that the item exists and is at hand, and has been cleaned up and

spruced up as much as possible. (This includes putting the item in the origi-nal box, if you have it.)

| Determine what you think the final selling price will be, and then choose anappropriate minimum bid price.

| Take a picture or a scan of the item and prepare a JPG-format file foruploading.

| If you’re selling a commonly sold item, such as a book, CD, or DVD, writedown the item’s UPC number or ISBN number—this is the product code typi-cally found on the back or bottom of the packaging.

| Determine what listing options you might want to purchase—such as bold-facing the title or placing the item in the Gallery.

| Think up a catchy yet descriptive headline for the item.

| Write out a detailed description of the item.

| Determine what payment options you’ll accept. (If you haven’t yet signed upwith PayPal, now is the time.)

| Determine how you want to ship the item.

| Weigh the item, and then try to determine the actual shipping costs. Use thatinformation to set an up-front shipping and handling charge, if you want.

| If you haven’t yet registered as an eBay user and entered your credit cardinformation, do that now.

| Determine what day of the week—and what time of the day—you want yourauction to end.

When all this is done, then you can create your listing!


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Getting Started: Creating an Item ListingRemember that before you can list an item for sale, you have to be a registered eBayuser. It also helps to have your credit card on file so that you can pay the fees youwill soon incur. (If you need to do either of these things, turn immediately toChapter 2, “Joining Up and Getting Started.”)

Assuming you’re registered and filed, now what do you do? Well, listing an item forsale on eBay is pretty simple; all you have to do is work through the following seriesof steps.

Step 1: Get Ready to SellThis is the easiest thing you’ll do in the whole process. All you have to do is click theSell link in the eBay Navigation Toolbar.

Step 2: Choose the Type of AuctioneBay now displays the Choose Selling Format page, shown in Figure 10.1. You canchoose from three types of selling formats:

■ Sell Item at Online Auction. This is eBay’s traditional auction format;you’ll probably choose this option.

■ Sell at a Fixed Price. Choose this optiononly if you want to sell your item at a fixedprice. (Items listed in eBay’s Fixed PriceFormat appear in all item listings andsearches, but users can’t bid on them; theycan only use the Buy It Now option.)

■ Advertise Your Real Estate. Choose thisoption if you want to create a real estatelisting, instead of a typical auction. (Learnmore about real estate auctions in Chapter27, “Buying and Selling Wheels and Walls:eBay Motors and Real Estate.”)

Most users will choose the Sell Item at OnlineAuction option. Click the Continue button toproceed.

CHAPTER 10 SELLING 101: A TUTORIAL FOR BEGINNING SELLERS 115

Items listed in the FixedPrice Format are charged

the same insertion and final valuefees as regular auction items.

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Step 3: Choose Your CategoryThe Select Category page, shown in Figure 10.2, appears next; you use this page tochoose the selling category and subcategory for your item.


FIGURE 10.1

Decide whether

you want a reg-

ular auction or

a fixed-price

sale.

FIGURE 10.2

Select the cate-

gory and subcat-

egory for your

item.

There are two ways to select a category. You can browse through all of eBay’s avail-able categories until you find the one you want, or you can let eBay suggest a cate-gory for you. We’ll examine the first method first.

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Browse CategoriesTo browse through all available categories, startby selecting a major category from the first cate-gory list, then select a subcategory from the nextlist, then a further subcategory from the nextlist, and so on. Continue selecting subcategoriesuntil there aren’t any more subcategories toselect.

Search for Suggested CategoriesIf you’re not sure which category you should listin, use eBay’s Category Search feature. All youhave to do is enter a few descriptive keywords intothe Enter Item Keywords to Find a Category box,and then click the Find button. eBay now displaysthe Find a Main Category page (in a separatewindow), as shown in Figure 10.3; select the bestcategory from this list and click the Save button to continue.


tipIf you’ve previously listed a

similar item, you can save alittle time by skipping thechoosing process. Just pulldown the Previously Used

Category list and make aselection. Or if you already

know the category number (eachcategory has one), enter thatnumber into the Category # box,below and to the right of thePreviously Used Category list.

FIGURE 10.3

Let eBay search

for the best cate-

gory for your

item.

List in More Than One CategoryIf you want to list your item in more than one category, scroll down to the SecondCategory section and click the List Your Item in a Second Category link. From thereyou see a new Select Category page; follow the same procedures to either browse orsearch for a category and subcategory. Know, however, that listing in two categorieswill cost you double your normal listing fee.

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Step 4: Choose a Listing Option Depending on the type of item you’re selling, you may now see the Choose a ListingOption page shown in Figure 10.4. This page is shown when you’re selling certaintypes of commonly sold products, such as books, CDs, DVDs, and video games.

This page provides two options: creating your listing the standard way, or creatingyour listing with pre-filled item information. We’ll discuss the pre-filled option in the“Selling Commonly Sold Items with Pre-Filled Item Information” section, later in thischapter. For now, let’s assume you’re listing the standard way—so click the Continuebutton in the List the Standard Way section.


FIGURE 10.4

Choose how you

want to enter

your item

listing.

Step 5: Describe Your ItemWhen the Describe Your Item page appears, asshown in Figure 10.5, enter a title for your item inthe Item Title box. (The title must be 55 or fewercharacters.) You can also enter a subtitle for youritem (in the Subtitle box), although it will cost youan extra $0.50.

Some categories prompt you to enter specific infor-mation in addition to your general description. Forexample, if you’re selling a DVD, you can enter theitem’s region code, genre, subgenre, condition, anddisplay format (full screen or widescreen). Enteringthese details is optional, but it provides useful infor-mation for potential buyers.

The Item Title field mustcontain standard numbers

and text, and cannot contain anyHTML code. The Item Descriptionfield, on the other hand, can con-tain HTML code; see Chapter 16,“Creating a Great-Looking Listing,”for more information.

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Step 6: Fill in the DetailsWhen the Provide Pictures & Item Details page appears, as shown in Figure 10.6,you have a lot of entering to do. You’ll need to provide the following details:

■ Duration. Choose from 1, 3, 5, 7, or (for $0.20 extra) 10 days.

■ Start Time. By default, your auction starts as soon as you finish creating thelisting. If you want your auction to start (and thus end) at a different time,select the Schedule to Start On option and select a date and time from thepull-down lists. (You’ll pay $0.10 to use this feature.)


FIGURE 10.5

Provide a title

and description

for your item.

Below this section is the Item Description box. This is where you enter adescription—of any length—of the item you’re selling. Provide as much informationas you feel appropriate.

You can use eBay's formatting controls (bold, italic, and so on) to spice up your itemdescription. (I particularly like adding colored text to my descriptions.) For evenmore formatting options, you can also add your own HTML code to the item descrip-tion. Just select the Enter Your Own HTML tab above the Description box, and insertthe codes manually. (See Chapter 16 for more information on using HTML in youritem descriptions.)

Click Continue to proceed.

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■ Quantity. In most cases you have a singleitem to sell, so you enter 1. If you have morethan one identical item to sell, enter thenumber you have—which means you’ll beholding a Dutch auction, as described laterin this chapter.

■ Starting Price. Enter the price you wantbidding to start at.

■ Reserve Price. If you want to hold areserve price auction (discussed later in thischapter), enter the minimum price you’llaccept for the item here. (You’ll pay an extra$1.00 for reserve prices up to $49.99, $2.00for reserve prices from $50.00 to $199.99, or1% of the reserve price of $200.00 or more.)

■ Buy It Now Price. If you want to add theBuy It Now option to your auction, enter thelowest price you’ll accept into this box. (Youpay an extra $0.05 to use the Buy It Now option.)


FIGURE 10.6

Select all man-

ner of listing

options.

The most commonduration for an eBay

auction is 7 days. Unless you’re ina rush for cash (or are up againstsome other deadline), there is noreason to go for any auction last-ing less than a week. On theother hand, 10 days is probablyoverkill, given that so much bid-ding takes place in the auction’sfinal minutes. The best option isthe 7-day auction, which exposesyour item to a week’s worth ofbidders.

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ Private Auction. If you’re selling a confidential or potentially embarrassingitem, choose to hide all bidders’ names by selecting this option.

■ City, State. Enter where you’ll be shipping the item from. (This helps poten-tial buyers determine approximate shipping costs to their location.)

■ Region. Pull down the list and select the nearest metropolitan area. (This letsyou list your item in eBay’s local auctions—great for large and hard-to-shipitems.)

■ Country. This is the United States by default; if you live elsewhere, click theEdit link to make changes.

■ Add Pictures. If you have a picture of your item and want eBay to host thepicture for you, select the eBay Picture Services option, click the Add Picturebutton in the First Picture–Free box, and, when prompted, locate the pictureon your hard drive. If you have additional pictures, click the Add Picture but-tons next to the picture 2 box, picture 3 box,and so forth. (You’ll pay an extra $0.15 foreach picture past the first one.) Next, select alayout for your pictures: Standard (one pic-ture, no charge), Slide Show (multiple pic-tures, $0.75), Supersize Pictures (one or morebigger pictures, $0.75), or Picture Pack (upto six pictures, Gallery, and SupersizePictures, for $1.00).

If you want to host your pictures on anotherWeb server (instead of via eBay PictureServices), select the Your Own Web Hostingtab and enter the file’s Web address in thePicture URL box. Or, if you’ve added picturesvia HTML code in your item description,select the option The Description AlreadyContains a Picture URL for My Item.

■ Listing Designer. eBay lets you create fancy listings without the need foradditional listing creation software—for a paltry $0.10 per listing. It’s a two-part process; you start by selecting a theme, and then choose what kind oflayout you want. The themes are pretty simple, with different borders andcolors. The layouts affect the placement of your pictures—on the left, right,top, or bottom. When you select a layout, it’s previewed in a thumbnail tothe right of the Theme list. You can also preview your full-size listing, com-plete with theme, by clicking the Preview Your Listing link.


Listings with picturesare more successful than

those without; turn to Chapter 15,“Using Pictures in Your Listings,”to learn more about creating andinserting pictures for your itemlistings.

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■ Gallery Picture. If you want to include a picture of your item in the Gallery(for $0.25 extra), select the Gallery option; if you want your item listed in theFeatured section of the Gallery (for a whopping $19.95 extra), select theGallery Featured option. If you don’t want to use the Gallery, make sure thatthe No Gallery Picture option is selected.

■ Listing upgrades. Select or deselect any of the following for-a-charge listingupgrades: Bold ($1.00), Highlight ($5.00), Featured Plus! ($19.95), or HomePage Featured ($39.95).

■ Gift Services. If you think your item would make a nice gift, select the Showas a Gift option. For an extra $0.25, you can then select any of the followinggift-related services that you offer: Gift Wrap/Gift Card, Express Shipping, orShip to Gift Recipient.

■ Free Page Counter. To display a hit counter (free from Ándale) at the bot-tom of your listing, scroll down to the Free Page Counter selection and selecteither Ándale Style, Green LED, or Hidden. (Hidden counters can be seen onlyby you—not other users.) If you don’t want to display a counter, select Do NotAdd a Counter.

These options are all discussed in more detail in Chapter 13, “Choosing the RightListing Options.” Click Continue when you’re ready to proceed.

Step 7: Enter Payment and Shipping InfoWhen the Enter Payment & Shipping Page appears,as shown in Figure 10.7, select which payment meth-ods you’ll accept. You can opt for payment byPayPal, Money Order or Cashier’s Check, PersonalCheck, C.O.D., or Other Online Payment Services.You can also leave all the other options uncheckedand select See Item Description instead; if youchoose this option, be sure to describe your pay-ment options in the Description section of youritem listing.

You can opt to accept payment via PayPal even ifyou don’t currently have a PayPal account. Justenter your email address in the PayPal–PaymentWill Go To box, and PayPal will contact you if thebuyer chooses to pay via PayPal. At that pointPayPal will walk you through creating a PayPalPremier account so that you can receive your funds.


If you accept creditcards directly (not

through PayPal), check theVisa/MasterCard, Discover, orAmerican Express options in theMerchant Credit Cards section.

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If you already have a PayPal account, enter the email address you use for thataccount into the PayPal–Payment Will Go To. (PayPal identifies members by theiremail addresses.) With this information entered, eBay can route any credit card pay-ments to the correct PayPal account—yours.

Next up on the page is the Shipping Costs section. Start by selecting who will payshipping costs (the Buyer, in most cases), and then choose whether to include ship-ping rates in your listing. If you choose to list shipping rates, you can then choose tocharge a flat rate or have eBay automatically calculate the rate based on the buyer’slocation.

To charge a flat rate, select the Flat Shipping Rates tab and enter the amount youwant to charge into the Shipping & Handling box. You can also specify the shippinginsurance for the item, and the sales tax (if you charge it; most nonprofessional sell-ers don’t).

If you don’t know the exact shipping charge for your item, have eBay insert aShipping Calculator into your listing. Select the Calculated Shipping Rates tab, andthen enter the package weight and size, which shipping service you’ll be using, andyour ZIP Code. You can also enter a Packaging & Handling Fee over and above the


FIGURE 10.7

Choose your

payment and

shipping

options.

14 0789731053 F CH10.qxd 3/10/04 3:30 PM Page 123

actual shipping costs, which will be automaticallyadded to the total. Finish this up by entering shippinginsurance and sales tax information.

Next you should enter any specific paymentinstructions into the Payment Instructions &Returns Policy box. You should then select whetheryou’ll ship to the U.S. only, worldwide, or to theU.S. and specific countries. Finally, select whetheryou’ll accept escrow payments for this item, andthen click Continue.

Step 8: Review and Submit Your ListingThe next page, shown in Figure 10.8, provides apreview of your listing page and the options you’veselected. If you see something that needs to bechanged, click the Edit link next to that item. (For example, to edit the item descrip-tion, you’d click the Edit Title & Description link.) If everything looks right, click theSubmit Listing button.


Learn more about using eBay’s Shipping

Calculator—and determining ship-ping costs—in Chapter 21,“Shipping It Out—Cheaply andSafely.”

FIGURE 10.8

Confirm your

listing before

you submit it.

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You’re Done!When you’re all done, eBay displays the Congratulations page. This page confirmsyour listing and presents you with important details about your auction—includingyour item listing’s URL, in case you want to publicize your auction elsewhere on theInternet.

After you see the Congratulations screen, your completed listing should appearimmediately on the eBay Web site—although it might take a few hours to be listedin the appropriate category listings.

Selling Commonly Sold Items with Pre-Filled ItemInformation

Back in step 4 we discussed the Choose a Listing Option page. If you recall, you hadtwo options to choose from: listing the standard way or listing with pre-filled iteminformation. Let’s discuss that pre-filled option now.

eBay has created a huge database of commonly sold products—books, audio books,audiocassettes, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, and video games. If you’re selling one ofthese items, you can have eBay create your item description for you, using the infor-mation stored in its database—and add a stock photo of the item, as well. All youhave to do is tell eBay what you’re selling, and eBay will do the hard work for you.(Figure 10.9 shows an item listing with eBay’s pre-filled information and productphoto.)


FIGURE 10.9

Let eBay provide

the item infor-

mation for you.

14 0789731053 F CH10.qxd 3/10/04 3:30 PM Page 125

Start on the Choose a Listing Option page.Depending on the type of item you’re selling,you can choose to search for that item by title,artist, director, author, UPC, or ISBN code. Makea selection from the Search By list, enter theappropriate information into the box, and thenclick the Continue button.

You now see a Select Your Item page. All itemsmatching your search are displayed here; findthe item you’re selling, and then click the SellOne Like This button.

eBay now moves to the standard Describe YourItem page, but with the item title entered for you.Above the Item Description box is a stock photo ofthe item (if available), and two options that youprobably want to check—Include Stock Photo andInclude Additional Information. If you’re not surewhat information is included, click the AdditionalInformation link to view the details that eBayprovides.

You’ll note that eBay adds its database informationoutside the standard item description area, whichmeans you can still enter your item description intothe Description box, if you want. In this instance,I typically use the item description box to provideany personal details about the particular item I’mselling—if it’s used, worn, damaged, or so on.

When you’re done with this page, click the Continue button to proceed with thenormal listing creation process.

Dealing with Different Types of AuctionsAs you’ve worked your way through eBay’s item listing process, you’ve discoveredthat there are four variations on the main auction theme—and that’s not countingthose high-priced real estate auctions! The four variations, which you first learnedabout in Chapter 4, “Bidding 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Bidders,” are ReservePrice, Dutch, Private, and Buy It Now auctions. We’ll look at each of these in turn.


tipThe most accurate way to

search is via the UPC code,which is typically located onthe back of the DVD box orCD case—or, if you’re selling

a book, via the ISBN, whichis typically found on the

back or inside cover.

I like using eBay’s pre-filled item information,

especially when I’m selling CDsand DVDs. eBay’s databaseincludes a lot more informationthan I’m willing to type byhand—and it saves me from cap-turing and uploading a productphoto. It’s a real time-saver!

Mike Sez“ ”

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Set a Higher Minimum with a Reserve Price AuctionA reserve price auction is one in which your initial bid price really isn’t the mini-mum price you’ll accept. Even though bids might exceed the initial bid price, if theydon’t hit your reserve price, you don’t have to sell.

Many buyers—especially those just getting started—don’t like reserve price auctions,and shy away from them. That’s probably because they appear more complicatedthan regular auctions (and they are, just a little), and also because the reserve priceis never disclosed to bidders. In this case, lack of familiarity definitely breeds con-tempt, at least from a certain class of bidders.

But there’s something to the confusion factor. Let’s say you set a minimum price of$5 for an item (really low, to get a buzz going and attract some early bidders) but areserve price of $50 (because that’s what youbelieve the item is really worth). If the high bid-der bids $25, that bid doesn’t win—because it’sless than the $50 reserve. Unfortunately, biddershave no idea how much more to bid to hit theundisclosed reserve price. Messy and confusing,eh?

Why, then, would you opt for a reserve priceauction? There are two possible scenarios:

■ When you’re unsure of the real value ofan item—and don’t want to appear to beasking too much for an item—you canreserve the right to refuse to sell the item ifthe market value is below a certain price.

■ When you want to use a low initial bidprice to get the bidding going more quicklythan if the true desired minimum price(now the reserve price) was listed; thereserve price still guarantees that youwon’t have to sell below a minimumacceptable price.

If you insist on running a reserve price auction,it’s easy enough to do. On the Provide Pictures &Item Details page, enter a price (higher than yourStarting Price) in the Reserve Price box. That’s all


tipIf your auction ends and

the high bid is below yourreserve price, you don’t haveto do anything—you are notobligated to sell the item.

However, you may want touse the Second Chance

link on the item listing page tocontact the high bidder and seewhether he or she is willing to paythe reserve price for the item, orperhaps you can negotiate a fairprice in between the high bid andyour reserve. If you don’t want todo this, you can always relist theitem in a new auction, in the hopethat a new round of bidders willpush the price up to what youexpect to receive. If you do relist,however, you might want to editthe item’s description to make itmore appealing, or even rethinkyour reserve price to make theitem more affordable.

14 0789731053 F CH10.qxd 3/10/04 3:30 PM Page 127

you have to do; after that, the auction runs asnormal—or as normal as a reserve price auctiongets.

Remember, if no one bids the reserve price orhigher, no one wins.

Sell Larger Quantities with a Dutch Auction

When should you place a Dutch auction? Simple:when you have more than one copy of an itemto sell.

Dutch auctions are those in which you have morethan one quantity of an identical item to sell. It’sgreat if you have a dozen Scooby Doo PEZ dispensers, 10 copies of Lord of the Ringson DVD, or a hundred units of bright orange extra-large boxer shorts to sell.

To set up a Dutch auction, all you have to do is enter a quantity greater than 1 inthe Quantity box on the Provide Pictures & Item Details page. When you do this,eBay automatically registers your auction as a Dutch auction.

The way Dutch auctions work is a little complicated, so I’ll refer you to the explana-tion in Chapter 4. Suffice to say that the highest bidder always wins something—butdoesn’t always have to pay the highest price. To be precise, all bidders pay the low-est winning price, even if they bid higher. (I told you it was complicated!)

In any case, eBay handles all the details automatically as long as you specify multi-ple quantities.

Keep It Anonymous with a Private AuctionThe next oddball auction type is relatively simple, compared to the others. If you’reauctioning something that is relatively high priced, or perhaps a little delicate, sensi-tive, or downright embarrassing, choose a Private auction andnone of the bidders’ names will ever be revealed publicly. It’s greatfor items in the Adult category, although some bid-ders on ultra-high-priced items might also wantto remain anonymous.

To activate a Private auction, all you have to dois check the box next to the Private Auctionoption on the Provide Pictures & Item Detailsform.


I personally don’t likereserve price auctions,

and I run them only on the rarestof occasions. My experience isthat you turn off a lot of potentialbidders by using a reserve price;it’s better to create a regular auc-tion with a higher minimum bidprice, and be up-front abouteverything.

Mike Sez“ ”

You can’t make a Dutchauction private.

caution

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End It Quickly with Buy It NoweBay’s Buy It Now (BIN) option lets you add a fixed-price option to your auction list-ings. The way BIN works is that you name a fixed price for your item; if a user bidsthat price, the auction is automatically closed and that user is named the high bid-der. Note, however, that the BIN price is active only until the first bid is placed. If thefirst bidder places a bid lower than the BIN price, the BIN price is removed and theauction proceeds normally.

Why would you add the BIN feature to your auc-tion? I find that most sellers who use BIN just hap-pen to be retailers with a lot of similar inventory.That is, they’re likely to place the same item up forauction week after week; in this scenario, the BINprice becomes the de facto retail price of the item.

You might also want to consider BIN around theChristmas holiday, when buyers don’t always wantto wait around seven days to see whether they’vewon an item; desperate Christmas shoppers willsometimes pay a premium to get something now,which is where BIN comes in.

You activate BIN on the Provide Pictures & ItemDetails page. Just enter your BIN price into the BuyIt Now Price box. And remember: Your BIN priceshould be higher than your Starting Price.

Managing Your Item ListingWhen your listing is complete, the auction itself begins. But what if, for whateverreason, you need to make a change to your listing—or cancel the auctionaltogether?

Editing Your ListingOne thing I heartily recommend doing is to look over your ad carefully after you’veposted it. Maybe you like it—great. Maybe you don’t—not so great. Fortunately, ifyou don’t like your listing, eBay lets you revise it.

If you haven’t received any bids yet (and there’s more than 12 hours left before theend of your auction), you can edit anything you want about your listing—the title,description, pictures, starting price, you name it. If the item has received a bid, youcan only add information to your description—you can’t change the existing


There’s no senseusing Buy It Now if

you’re not going to make anymore money from it than youwould a normal auction. If youwant to use Buy It Now, set a BINprice 20% or so above your mostwildly optimistic selling price. (Soif you think your item might pos-sibly, if all the stars align properly,sell for $10, set a BIN price of$12.) That way if an enthusiasticbuyer does end your auction pre-maturely, you’ll be well compen-sated for it.

Mike Sez“ ”

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description or other information. (And if there’s less than 12 hours left, you’restuck—you can’t change anything.)

To edit your listing, go to your item listing page and click the Revise Your Item link(located at the top of your listing, just below the item title). This leads you to an edit-ing screen where you can change whatever information you want.

Canceling an AuctionWhat if your auction starts and you decide you really don’t want to sell that item?You need a good excuse, but you can cancel eBay auctions.

Canceling an auction is a two-step process:

1. Cancel any existing bids on your item.Go to the Bid Cancellation page(cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?CancelBidShow—or go to the Site Mappage and click Cancel Bids on My Item) andcancel the first bid on your item. Thenreturn to this page as many times as neces-sary to cancel all the outstanding bids.

2. Officially end your auction. (You can’tend an auction that has open bids, which isthe reason you had to cancel all the bidsfirst.) Go to the End My Listing page(cgi3.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?EndingMyAuction—or go to the Site Mappage and click End My Auction Early) andenter the auction item number. Click theContinue button to proceed, and then clickthe End Auction button to officially cancelyour auction.

Blocking BuyersHere’s something else you’ll eventually run into. Not every member of eBay is worthdealing with. When you run into a deadbeat bidder or otherwise slimy customer inone of your auctions, you don’t want to have to deal with that person again. Thebest way to remove this person from your life is to block that bidder from all yourfuture auctions.


You can also use thebid canceling feature

to delete bids from undesirablebidders. Let’s say you stipulated inyour item listing that your auctionis for U.S. bidders only, and youdiscover that someone from Japanhas placed a bid. Just cancel thebid. (And maybe email the bidderand tell him why.…) Or maybeyou stated that you only wantedbidders with positive feedback,and a no-feedback newbie (orbelow-zero slime) places a bidanyway. Just cancel the bid. (Andno emails are necessary!)

Mike Sez“ ”

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To block a bidder, you have to add that user to your Blocked Bidder/Buyer List.Follow these steps:

1. From the Site Map page, click the Blocked Bidder/Buyer List link (or godirectly to pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/biddermanagement.html).

2. When the Bidder/Buyer Management page appears, scroll to the BlockedBidder/Buyer List section and click Continue.

3. When the Blocked Bidder/Buyer List page appears, add the buyer’s user nameto the list; separate multiple names with commas.


You can remove blocked buyers from your list at any time. Just return to the BlockedBidder/Buyer List page and delete the user name you want tounblock, and then click Submit.

Relisting an ItemThis is maybe getting a little ahead of things, butit’s a good place to talk about the subject. Whathappens if your auction ends and you don’t haveany bidders?

The answer is simple: If at first you don’t succeed,try, try again!

eBay lets you relist any unsold item, with noadditional insertion fee, if the following conditionsare met:

■ You didn’t receive any bids on a regular (no-reserve) auction.

■ For a reserve price auction, you didn’treceive any bids that met or exceeded yourreserve price.

■ You are relisting an item within 30 days ofthe closing date of the first auction.

■ If you’re relisting a reserve price auction,the new reserve price is the same as or lowerthan the original reserve price.

One last thing. If your item doesn’t sell the secondtime, eBay won’t waive the insertion fee. In otherwords, if you have a real loser item, eBay won’t


You can’t take advan-tage of the relisting offerif you tried to sell afixed-price item at youreBay Store.

caution

If your item didn’t sellthe first time around,

there was probably a good reasonfor it—maybe the starting pricewas too high, or the descriptionstank, or you didn’t include a pic-ture. When you relist an item,take the opportunity to spruce upthe listing, revisit the pricing, andso on, to try to make the itemmore attractive to potentialbidders.

Mike Sez“ ”

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give you a free ride!

To relist an item, follow these steps:

1. Go to the item listing page for your completed auction, and click the RelistYour Item link.

2. Proceed through the normal listing creation procedure. Your informationfrom the previous listing will already be entered, although you can make anychanges you want for this new listing.

eBay won’t charge you a listing fee for this item the second time, although you willbe charged a final value fee if it sells. If your item doesn’t sell the second timearound, there’s no third chance.

Five Common Selling MistakesYou’ll learn some tips for being a better seller in Chapter 23, “Secrets of SuccessfulSellers.” But let’s take a moment and examine some of the things you can dowrong—actions that can keep you either from selling your item or from gettingthe highest possible final price.

Mistake #1: List in the Wrong CategoryYou have to put your item where people will expect to see it. The problem is thateBay has all those categories—almost too many of them, especially if you’re not surejust what it is you’re selling.

If you list your item in the wrong category, many people looking for that type ofitem simply won’t see it. Take the time to search for similar items currently on auc-tion, and see what category they’re listed in. Go where the others go—and, if you’restill not sure, use the second category option to list in two different categories!

Mistake #2: Set Too High a Starting PriceI know that you want to get as high a price as possible for the item you’re selling.But if you try to start the bidding at too high a level, you’ll scare off potential bid-ders—especially if your idea of a fair price is higher than the going market price. It’sbetter to start with a lower starting price and let the bidding take the price to its nat-ural level. Or, if you honest-to-goodness don’t want to sell at too low a price, use thereserve price option to protect yourself if the bidding doesn’t go high enough.

Mistake #3: Don’t Adequately Describe the ItemLet’s face it. People shopping on eBay are bidding on items more or less sightunseen—so you have to help them feel comfortable about what they’re bidding on.


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That means describing the item in words, to the best of your abilities. The better youdescribe the item, the more comfortable potential bidders will feel about it—and themore likely you’ll be to sell the thing.

And describing the item also means describing its faults. If you’re selling a used ordistressed item, you better let potential bidders know about all the dings and dents.You most certainly don’t want to misrepresent what you’re selling—so be up-frontabout every little thing.

Mistake #4: Don’t Include a PictureIt’s a fact. Auction listings with pictures are more likely to sell than those without.Don’t include a picture, and you start the auction with two strikes against you.Don’t make this all-too-common mistake; get out your digital camera and startsnapping—before you create your item listing!

Mistake #5: Don’t Charge Enough Shipping and HandlingOh, how many times I’ve been burned by not charging enough shipping and han-dling! This is probably the most common seller mistake. You want to include a flatshipping and handling charge in your item listing, so you do a little homework,weigh the item, look up the shipping rate on the postal service site, and enter anumber. But when you take the item to the post office, you find your guestimate tobe off by a buck or two, and you end up eating that additional shipping cost.The difference might even be big enough that you end up losing money on thetransaction.

How do you avoid this problem? First, be sure to weigh the item ahead of time—don’t just guess at the weight. And don’t stop at weighing just the item; you alsohave to weight the box you’ll ship it in, and all the packing materials. (And thatincludes those Styrofoam peanuts or shredded newspapers you pack inside the box.)Then be sure to pick the appropriate shipping method (don’t change your mindafter you’ve placed the listing!), and the correct distance.

Ah, the correct distance—now there’s a problem! You know your ZIP Code, but youdon’t know the buyer’s ZIP Code—because you don’t know who the buyer will be.This is one very good reason to use eBay’s Shipping Calculator. As you’ll learn inChapter 21, the Shipping Calculator does the distance calculation for you, so youdon’t have to guess at a flat shipping and handling charge.

The lesson here? When it comes to shipping and handling charges, don’t guess! Or ifyou absolutely, positively have to guess, guess high. The best answer, though, is tofigure out the weight ahead of time, and then use the eBay Shipping Calculator.


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The Auction’s Over! Now What?The days go by, and finally your auction is over. If you’re fortunate, you’ve receiveda high bid that far exceeds your opening bid or reserve price—which means thatyou have a buyer.

The question is, now what do you do?

You’ve sat around watching the bidding for seven days or so, but now it’s time to goto work. You need to contact the high bidder, figure out the final selling price(including shipping and handling), deal with the payment process, pack the darnedthing up and ship it out, sit around for another couple of days hoping it gets towhere it’s going in one piece, and then leave feedback for the buyer. Whew! Thatsounds like a lot of hard work—and it is.

To learn about the post-auction process in more detail, turn to Chapter 19, “Afterthe Auction: Concluding Your Business.” And to learn more about how to ship itemsto buyers, turn to Chapter 21, “Shipping It Out—Cheaply and Safely.”


■ Before you sell an item, you have to be a registered eBay user and have acredit card on file.

■ To start an auction for an item, click the Sell link on the Navigation Bar, andwork your way through the Sell Your Item pages.

■ You can choose from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, or 10-day auctions—although the default7-day auction is the most popular.

■ You can opt for four major auction variations—reserve price, Dutch, private,or Buy It Now.

■ If you’re selling a commonly sold item, you can have eBay fill in the productdetails for you—all you have to do is enter the item’s UPC/ISBN number orname.

■ When the auction is over, you’ll be notified by eBay; you then should contactthe buyer and communicate payment and shipping terms and information.

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In this chapter

• Finding Items to Sell

• Picking the Right Category

• Setting the Right Price

11

Determining What

to Sell--- And for

How Much

Selling your first item on eBay can be a real rush—and a genuinely

stressful experience. What’s the right price to set? What category should

it go into? What do I do if it doesn’t sell—or if it does? As you gain more

experience selling, you still run into a lot of these same issues. Pricing is

always a guessing game, as is category placement. But as you sell more

and more items on eBay, you run into a new issue: Where do you get

more stuff to sell?

Now, to anyone with a garage full of junk, that might not seem like a

real issue. You want more stuff to sell? Just go out to the garage and

grab something! For those of you who want to make some big bucks,

however, you need to find a constant flow of merchandise to put up for

auction. The more you have to sell, the more money you can make.

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Finding Items to SellMost eBay users get started by selling items they find in their attics, garages, andbasements. (Makes you think of eBay as a giant garage sale, doesn’t it?) But whatdo you do when you’ve completely cleaned out the attic?

There are many places to find quantities of items to sell on eBay. We’ll discuss a fewof the more popular ones here—although it’s likely you have a few ideas of yourown. Just remember that you need to buy low and sell high—so be on the lookoutfor places where you can buy stuff cheap.

You should also be on the lookout for trends. Just because something’s hot todaydoesn’t mean it’s going to be hot tomorrow. You wouldn’t have wanted to be theproud owner of a garage-full of Pokemon cards just as the Poke-bubble burst, wouldyou? So when you’re hunting for merchandise you can auction on eBay, try to stayon top of the coming trends—and don’t buy in at the tail end of an old trend.

Of course, it’s difficult to stay on top of the trends in thousands of different cate-gories. For that reason, many eBay power sellers specialize in a half-dozen or fewertypes of merchandise. You can track the trends in a handful of categories (by watch-ing the current auctions—and the current selling prices); you can’t be as aware ofthe trends in a larger number of categories.

So specialize, stay on top of trends, and keep your eyes open!

Garage Sales and Yard SalesIf eBay is like a giant garage sale, you might as well start with the bona fide originalsource. Many eBay sellers scrounge around their local garage and yard sales, look-ing for any merchandise that they can sell for more money on eBay. It isn’t difficult;you can pick up a lot of stuff for a quarter or a dollar, and sell it for 5 or 10 timesthat amount online. Just be sure to get to the sale early, or all the good bargains willbe picked over already!

Flea MarketsFlea markets offer merchandise similar to what you find in garage sales. The bar-gains might be a little less easy to come by, however, but if you keep a sharp eyeyou can find some items particularly suited for eBay auction.

Estate SalesNot to be insensitive, but dead people provide some of the best deals you can find.It’s the equivalent of raiding somebody else’s garage or attic for old stuff to sell.


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Check out the weekly estate sales and auctions in your area, be prepared to buy inquantity, and see what turns up.

Live AuctionsAny live auction in your area is worth checking out, at least once. Just don’t letyourself get caught up in the bidding process—you want to be able to make a profitwhen you resell the merchandise on eBay!

Vintage and Used RetailersHead down to the funky side of town and take a gander at what the various“vintage” and used-merchandise retailers have to offer. These are particularly goodsources of collectibles, although you might have to haggle a little to get down to adecent price.

Thrift StoresThink Goodwill and similar stores here. You can typically find some decent mer-chandise at low cost—and help out a nonprofit organization, to boot.

Discount and Dollar StoresThese “big lot” retailers are surprisingly good sources of eBay-ready merchandise.Most of these retailers carry overruns and closeouts at attractive prices. You can pickup merchandise here cheap, and then make it sound very attractive in your eBaylisting. (“Brand new,” “last year’s model,” “sealed in box,” and so on.)

Closeout SalesYou don’t have to shop at a cheap retailer to find a good deal. Many mainline mer-chants offer terrific deals at the end of a season or when it’s time to get in nextyear’s merchandise. If you can get enough good stuff at a closeout price, you have agood starting inventory for your eBay sales.

Going Out of Business SalesEven better, look for a merchant flying the white flag of surrender. When a retailer isgoing out of business and says “everything must go,” that means that bargains areyours to be had—and don’t be afraid to try to make a lower-priced deal.

CHAPTER 11 DETERMINING WHAT TO SELL—AND FOR HOW MUCH 137

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Classified AdsThis isn’t as good a source as some of the others, but if you watch the classifieds ona regular basis, you might stumble over some collectibles being sold for less than thegoing price online. Just buy a daily newspaper and keep your eyes peeled.

Friends and FamilyYou can sell stuff you find in your garage—what about your neighbor’s garages?Think about cutting a deal as a “middleman” to sell your friends’ and family’s stuffon eBay, especially if they’re ignorant of the process themselves. (And remember tokeep a fair share of the profits for yourself; you’re doing all the work, right?)

Liquidators and WholesalersThere are several Web sites that specialize in selling liquidated merchandise, typi-cally in bulk lots. These items might be closeouts, factory seconds, customers returns,or overstocked items—products the manufacturer made too many of and wants to get rid of. If you’re interested in investing in some liquidated merchandise to sell, a good site to check out is Liquidation.com(www.liquidation.com), which offers various goodsfrom many manufacturers.

In addition, many wholesalers operate over theWeb, providing you the opportunity to buy largelots of new merchandise. The best way to searchfor a distributor is to use the directory providedby Wholesale411 (www.wholesale411.com).

eBay!This leads us to the final place to look for itemsto sell on eBay: eBay itself! Yes, it’s possible tomake money buying something on eBay and thenturning around and selling it to someone else on eBay later. The key is timing.Remember, you have to buy low and sell high, which means getting in at the startof a trend. It’s possible—although it takes a lot of hard work, and not a little skill.

Picking the Right CategoryThis one sounds simple. You have an item, you find the category that best describesthe item, and you’re done with it. To be fair, sometimes it is that simple. If you have


tipIf you’re looking for partic-

ular types of items to sell,check out Ándale Sourcing(www.andale.com). This is afree service that tries to

match merchandise suppli-ers with potential buyers—

like you!

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Singin’ in the Rain on DVD, you put it in the “Movies & Television: Video, Film: DVD:Musicals” category, no questions asked.

What if you have a model of an American Airlines jet? Does it go in the“Collectibles: Transportation: Aviation: Airlines: American” category, or the “Toys &Hobbies: Models: Air” category?

Where you put your item should be dictated by where the highest number of poten-tial bidders will look for it. In the American jet model example, if there are morebidders traipsing through the Collectibles cate-gory, put it there; if there are more potentialbuyers who think of this as a model toy thing,put it in that category. (In reality, you’ll proba-bly find listings for this sort of item in both cate-gories.) Think like your potential buyers, and putit where you would look for it if you were them.

If you really can’t decide—if your item reallydoes belong in more than one category—eBaylets you list your item in two categories. It coststwice the regular listing fee, but it potentiallydoubles your exposure. Just scroll down to theSecond Category section on the Category page,and enter a second category. Your item listing willshow up in both categories, just like that.

Setting the Right PriceHow should you price your item? If you set your minimum price too high, youmight scare off potential buyers. If you set your minimum price too low, you’ll prob-ably get more interested bidders, but you might end up selling your item for lessthan you want or than what it’s worth.

So what’s the right starting price?

Set It Low Enough to Be Attractive…I like setting a price that’s low enough to get some interested initial bidding going,but not so low that it won’t get up to the price I think the item can really sell for. Sohow do you know what the final selling price will be? You don’t. But you can get agood idea by searching eBay for completed auctions of similar items. eBay keepsmost auctions on file for 30 days, so if anything similar has sold in that period oftime, you can find it from eBay’s advanced search page.


tipIf you’re not sure how to

research eBay auctions, takea look at Ándale Research(www.andale.com). This serviceanalyzes all of eBay’s closed

auctions and tells you whatcategories have the highest

success rate—and what kind offinal price you can expect. (Cost is$2.95 per month.)

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At the least, you want to be sure you’re not setting the starting bidhigher than the similar items’ final selling price. If you do a searchfor completed auctions and find that Star WarsDVDs have been selling between $4 and $6, don’tput a $10 starting price on the Star Wars DVD youwant to sell. Ignore precedence and you won’t getany bids. Instead, gauge the previous final sellingprices and place your starting price at about aquarter of that level. (That would be a buck or sofor our Star Wars example.)

Of course, you can always go the reserve priceauction route—in which you get to set a low ini-tial price and a high selling floor. In our Star Warsexample, that might mean starting bidding at apenny (very attractive to potential bidders), butsetting a reserve price of $4 or so. But when yourun a reserve price auction, you run a very real risk of scaring away a lot of viablebidders. If you want to run that risk, fine; reserve auctions do let you get biddingstarted at a very attractive level, while protecting you if bids don’t rise to the priceyou’re looking for.

…But Don’t Set It So Low That It’s Not BelievableIn some instances you need to worry about setting the starting price too low. If youset too low a minimum bid for your item, some potential bidders might think thatsomething is wrong. (It’s the old “if it’s too good to be true, it probably is.”) Althoughyou might assume that bidding will take the price up into reasonable levels, too lowa starting price can make your item look too cheap or otherwise flawed. If you startgetting a lot of emails asking why you’ve set the price so low, you should have set ahigher price.

Make Sure You Recover Your Costs…Another factor in setting the starting price is what the item actually cost you. Now, ifyou’re just selling some junk you found in the attic, this isn’t a big concern. But ifyou’re selling a large volume of items for profit, you don’t want to sell too manyitems below what you paid for them. Many sellers like to set their starting price attheir item cost—so if the item cost you $5, you set the minimum bid (or reserveprice) at $5, and see what happens from there.


Don’t waste your timesearching auctions still inprogress. Because somuch bidding takes placein the last hour of theauction (that’s sniping, remember?),a mid-auction price is likely to bearno relation to the final price—whichyou can find by searching com-pleted auctions.

caution

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…But Not So High That You Pay Too High a Listing FeeOf course (and there’s always another “of course”), if you set a higher starting price,you’ll pay a higher insertion fee. Here’s where it helps to know the breaks—in eBay’sfee schedule, that is. Table 11.1 shows the fee breaks as of early 2004.

Table 11.1 eBay’s Insertion Fee BreaksPrice Point Fee

$0–$0.99 $0.30

$1.00–$9.99 $0.35

$10.00–$24.99 $0.60

$25.00–$49.99 $1.20

$50.00–$199.99 $2.40

$200.00–$499.99 $3.60

$500.00 and up $4.80

Let’s think about what this means. At the very least, you want to come in just belowthe fee break. Which means that you want to list at $9.99 (which incurs a $0.35 fee)and not at $10.00 (which incurs a $0.60 fee). That extra penny could cost you $0.25!

It’s in your best interest to minimize any and all fees you have to pay. If you’realmost positive (based on completed auction activity) that your item will sell in the$20 range no matter what you price it at, price it as low as is reasonable.

Make Sure You Can Live with a Single BidWhat happens if you set the starting price at $5 and you get only one bid—at $5? Even if you thought the item was worth twice that, you can’t back out now;you have to honor all bids in your auction, even if there’s only one of them. You can’t email the bidder and say, sorry, I really can’t affordto sell it for this price. If you listed it, you agreed tosell it for any price at or above your minimum. It’sa binding contract. So if the bidding is low, you’dbetter get comfortable with it—it’s too late tochange your mind now!


As a rule of thumb, Iset item pricing at

10% to 25% of what I think thefinal selling price will be. Whenfaced with a choice, I almostalways opt for a lower, ratherthan a higher, starting price.

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ You can find items to sell on eBay just about anywhere, from garage sales toestate auctions to dollar stores. Just remember to buy low and sell high!

■ When it comes time to pick the item category, think about where the mostpotential buyers would think to look for that item. If you can’t decidebetween two categories, list the item in two categories.

■ Setting the starting price for an auction is more of an art than a science. Ingeneral, lower prices are best—if you can live with an item actually sellingfor the minimum price.

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In this chapter

• Accepting Cash

• Accepting C.O.D. Payments

• Accepting Personal Checks

• Accepting Money Orders and Cashier’sChecks

• Accepting Credit Cards—via PayPal

• Which Way Is Best?

12

Deciding on Your

Payment Methods---And

Using PayPal

When you’re listing an item for auction on eBay, you can choose which

types of payment you’ll accept from the winning bidder. This may seem

like an easy decision, but each type of payment needs to be handled dif-

ferently on your end.

This chapter talks about the types of payment you can choose to use.

As any experienced eBay seller will tell you, not all dollars are worth the

same; a dollar paid by one method might actually be worth less (or be

more risky) than a dollar by another method. And you do want the

biggest dollar, don’t you?

Fortunately, you’re not forced to use any one payment method. For

example, you can limit your payments to credit cards only; there’s no

law that says you have to accept cash or checks. So read on to learn

which types of payment provide the biggest return for your efforts!

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Accepting CashAs a seller, there’s nothing better than opening up an envelope and finding a fewcrisp new bills inside. Unfortunately, sending cash through the mail is not one of thesmartest things a buyer can do; cash is too easily ripped off, and virtually untrace-able. You can ask for cash payment (not that you should, of course), but unless theselling price is extremely low (under $5), don’t expect buyers to comply.

Accepting C.O.D. PaymentsCash on delivery (C.O.D.) might sound good on paper. You ship the item, with thestipulation that the delivery man (or woman) collect payment when the item isdelivered.

There are problems with this method, however. What happens if the buyer isn’thome when the delivery is made? What if the buyer is at home, but doesn’t have thecash? What if the buyer refuses to pay—and rejects the shipment? I’ve heard storiesof up to 25% of all C.O.D. orders being refused, for one reason or another. And if theitem is refused, you (the seller) have to pay postage in both directions.

Even worse, C.O.D. service often comes with a high fee from the carrier—and it’s afee that you, the seller, have to pay. The additional fee alone rules out C.O.D. formany sellers.

All things considered, it’s easy to see why few eBay sellers offer C.O.D. payment. The problems with this payment method tend to outweigh the benefits, and I can’trecommend it.

Accepting Personal ChecksMany people still prefer to pay for their purchases via personal check. Buyers likepaying by check because it’s convenient, and because checks can be tracked (or evencanceled) if problems arise with the seller.

Sellers like personal checks a little less, because they’re not instant money. Whenyou deposit a check in your bank, you’re not depositing cash. That $100 checkdoesn’t turn into $100 cash until it tracks back through the financial system, fromyour bank back to the buyer’s bank, and the funds are both verified and transferred.That can take some time, typically 10 business days or so.

Because buyers prefer paying by check, you should probably be prepared to handlethis payment method. When you receive a check, deposit it as soon as possible—butdo not ship the item. Wait until the check clears the bank (two weeks if you want to


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be safe—longer for checks on non-U.S. banks)before you ship the item. If, after that period, thecheck hasn’t bounced, it’s okay to proceed withshipment.

If you are on the bad end of a bounced check, allhope is not lost. The first thing to do is get in touchwith your bank and ask them to resubmit the checkin question. Maybe the buyer was just temporarilyout of funds. Maybe the bank made a mistake.Whatever. In at least half the cases, bouncedchecks “unbounce” when they’re resubmitted.

Whether you resubmit the check or not, you shoulddefinitely email the buyer and let him know whathappened. At the very least, you’ll want the buyer toreimburse you for any bad check fees your bank charged you. The buyer might also be able to provide another form of payment to get things moving again.(Credit cards are nice—as are money orders.)

Accepting Money Ordersand Cashier’s Checks

Money orders and cashier’s checks are, to theseller, almost as good as cash. You can cash amoney order immediately, without waiting forfunds to clear, and have cash in your hand.When you receive a money order or cashier’scheck, deposit it and then ship the auction item.There’s no need to hold the item.

The only bad thing about money orders andcashier’s checks is that you have to wait for themto arrive. Even if the buyer puts payment in the mail the very next day, you’ll still wait anywhere from three to five days after theauction to receive payment. Still, there’s a lot to like about this method of pay-ment—it’s hard to get burned with either a money order or a cashier’s check.

CHAPTER 12 DECIDING ON YOUR PAYMENT METHODS—AND USING PAYPAL 145

If you ship an item onimmediate receipt of a

personal check and then a weeklater you get a notice from yourbank that the check has bounced,you deserve to lose every singlepenny of that transaction. Eagershippers and personal checks justdon’t mix—and you will learnfrom your mistake.

Mike Sez“ ”

If a check bounces, thedepositor (you) will likelybe assessed a fee fromyour bank. (The writer ofthe bad check will alsohave a fee to pay.) If the buyer whowrote the check offers to makegood on the payment, make surethat they reimburse you for yourbad check fee, over and above thefinal auction price.

caution

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Accepting Credit Cards—via PayPalUntil very recently, if you wanted to accept credit cardpayment for your auction items, you had to be a realretailer, complete with merchant account and bank-supplied charge card terminal. This limited thenumber of sellers who could accept credit card pay-ment, which probably cut down on potential bid-ders, because many buyers like the convenienceand relative safety of paying by credit card.

Today, however, just about any seller can acceptcredit card payments, by signing up to use anonline payment service, such as PayPal. When abuyer pays via PayPal, PayPal charges the buyer’scredit card and then notifies you (via email) thatyou’ve been paid. Upon this notification, you shipthe item and then access your account on thePayPal site and instruct PayPal to either cut you acheck or transfer the funds into your bank account.

Signing Up for PayPalBefore you can use PayPal as a seller, you must sign up for PayPal membership. Youdo this by going to the PayPal Web site (www.paypal.com) and clicking the Sign Up forYour Free PayPal Account link.

You can choose from three types of PayPal accounts:

■ A Personal account is great for eBay buyers, but not quite enough for sell-ers. You can send money free, but can receive only non–credit card payments.(For no charge, though.)

■ A Premier account is the best way to gofor most eBay sellers. You can still sendmoney free, and you can now accept bothcredit card and non–credit card payments(for a fee).

■ A Business account is necessary if you’rereceiving a high volume of payments. Withthis type of account, you can do businessunder a corporate or group name, and usemultiple logins.


PayPal accepts pay-ments by American Express,

Discover, MasterCard, and Visa.Although it’s primarily a U.S.-basedservice, it also accepts payments toor from 37 other countries.

I recommend yousign up initially for a

Premier account. If your sales vol-ume gets too high, PayPal willautomatically switch you to aBusiness membership.

Mike Sez“ ”

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There is no charge for becoming a PayPal member—although there are fees for actu-ally using the service. (The exception is the Personal account, which charges no feesfor anything—but doesn’t let you accept credit card payments.)

Paying for PayPalThe fee you pay to PayPal is separate from any other fees you pay to eBay. The wayPayPal works is that the buyer doesn’t pay any fees; it’s the seller who is assessed afee based on the amount of money transferred.

This last point is important. PayPal charges fees based on the total amount ofmoney paid, not on the selling price of the item. That means that if a $10 item hasa $5 shipping and handling cost, the buyer pays PayPal a total of $15—and PayPalbases its fee on that $15 payment.

PayPal’s fee (as of the beginning of 2004) is either 2.2% (the Merchant rate forBusiness sellers with an average of $1,000 per month in sales over the past threemonths) or 2.9% (the Standard rate for lower-volume Premier sellers) of the transac-tion amount, plus an additional $0.30 per transaction. These fees are deducted fromyour account with every transaction.

Choosing PayPal in Your New Auction ListingThe easiest way to accept PayPal payments in your eBay auctions is to choose thePayPal option when you’re creating an item listing. This is as simple as checking thePayPal box and entering your PayPal ID on the Enter Payment & Shipping page.

When you choose this option, a PayPal payments section is added to your item list-ing, as shown in Figure 12.1. PayPal will also appear as a payment option on yourpost-auction item listing page and in eBay’s end-of-auction email to the winningbidder.


FIGURE 12.1

The PayPal

payment section

added to an

eBay auction

listing.

Collecting PayPal PaymentsWhen a buyer makes a PayPal payment, those funds are immediately transferred tothe seller’s PayPal account, and an email notification of the payment is sent to the

16 0789731053 F CH12.qxd 3/10/04 3:15 PM Page 147

seller. In most cases, this email will include all the information the seller needs tolink it to a specific auction and ship the item to the seller.

When you sign into the PayPal site, you’re taken to the My Account tab, and theOverview tab within that. As you can see in Figure 12.2, this displays an overview ofyour recent PayPal activity, including payments made by buyers into your account.Click any item to view more detail about the activity.


FIGURE 12.2

An overview of

your PayPal

activity.

In most cases, the buyers’ payments come into your account free and clear, ready tobe withdrawn from your checking account. There are two primary exceptions to this,however:

■ eCheck payments, in which a buyer pays PayPal from his or her personalchecking account. Because PayPal has to wait until the “electronic check”clears to receive its funds, you can’t be paid until then, either. PayPal willsend you an email when an electronic payment clears.

■ Buyers with unconfirmed addresses. Every PayPal member is encouraged toenter his or her street address. This address is then confirmed by PayPal. Ifyou receive a payment from a buyer who has not entered an address (orwhose address has not yet been confirmed), PayPal won’t automaticallyauthorize the transaction. Instead, you’ll be asked whether you want toaccept the payment, unconfirmed address and all. Only after you manuallyaccept the payment will the funds be transferred to your PayPal account.

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Withdrawing PayPal FundsYou can let your funds build up in your PayPalaccount, or you can choose (at any time) to with-draw all or part of your funds. You have the optionof okaying an electronic withdrawal directly toyour checking account (no charge; takes three tofour business days) or requesting a check for therequested amount ($1.50 charge; takes one to twoweeks). Just click the Withdraw tab (from theOverview tab) and click the appropriate text link.

Which Way Is Best?The more payment options you offer, the morepotential bidders you’ll attract. Still, some methodsare better than others for different types of sellers;use Table 12.1 to determine which methods workbest for you.

Table 12.1 Payment Methods RatedPayment Method Pros Cons

Cash Fast payment, no hassles Unattractive to buyers

C.O.D. Cash payment High noncompletion rate;lots of paperwork

Personal check Convenient for buyers Slow, have to wait to clear

Money order/cashier’s check Fast payment, like cash Hassle for buyers

Credit cards (via PayPal) Fees involved Fast payment, buyers likeonline payment services


I prefer to empty myPayPal account at the

end of each day, via an electronictransfer to my checking account. Ifind this the fastest, no-hassleway to receive PayPal funds due.

Mike Sez“ ”

In all my auctions, Iaccept personal checks,

money orders, cashier’s checks,and credit cards (via PayPal). Mostbuyers these days end up usingPayPal, so I make sure to factorthose charges into my cost ofdoing business.

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ The fastest way to get your money is via credit card (using PayPal). You’ll payfor the privilege, however—2.9% of the total selling price, plus $0.30 pertransaction.

■ The slowest way to get your money is via personal check.

■ If you do accept payment by personal check, remember to wait at least 10business days for the check to clear before you ship the merchandise.

■ The best compromise between speed and hassle is payment via cashier’scheck or money order. (And there are no fees involved.)

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In this chapter

• Choosing the Right Length

• Choosing a Different Start Time

• To Reserve, Or Not to Reserve

• Sell It Now?

• Public or Private?

• Local Is Good

• A Pretty Picture

• Go for the Gallery?

• Grab Attention with Listing Upgrades

• Count ‘em Up

13

Choosing the Right

Listing Options

Back in Chapter 10, “Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers,” you

learned how to use the various forms on the eBay site to create an auc-

tion item listing. At the time, I told you about the various listing options

available on the Provide Pictures & Item Details page, but I didn’t go into

a lot of detail.

Well, now it’s time to fuss over all those particulars.

All the options I talk about in this chapter are found on the Provide

Pictures & Item Details page, in eBay’s Sell Your Item section. To be spe-

cific, this is the third page you encounter after you click the Sell link on

eBay’s home page.

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Choosing the Right LengthThe first listing option you encounter is one of Duration. eBay lets you choose fromfive lengths for your auctions: 1, 3, 5, 7, or 10 days. The first four options come atthe standard listing price; 10-day auctions cost you an additional $0.10.

When eBay first started out, it offered only a single length: 7 days. This is still thedefault length, and the length chosen by most sellers. What’s nice about a 7-dayauction is that it guarantees that your item is listed over a weekend; a 1-, 3-, or 5-day auction won’t necessarily hit the busy weekend days, depending on the day youstart the auction.

Thinking about heavy weekend traffic, someusers prefer a 10-day auction, starting on aFriday or Saturday, to get two weekends into thebidding schedule. There’s some logic in that; justone extra bid will probably offset the extra $0.20cost. However, a longer auction like this alsomeans that you have to wait longer before youcollect your money, so that needs to be figuredin, as well.

If you really need your money quickly, go with a3- or 5-day auction, but try to time the listing sothat you get in a bidding weekend. Also know thatsome buyers expect and plan on 7-day auctions, soyou might not get as much last-minute sniping ifyou opt for the shorter length.

And if you’re in a real hurry for your money—or ifyou list the same items over and over—then the 1-day auction might be worth considering. I don’t seethe sense in it personally—but eBay obviously hadsome call for it, so there it is.

Choosing a Different Start TimeeBay also lets you choose a specific start time for your auction—which, of course,also becomes your auction’s end time. By default, an eBay auction starts as soon asthe item listing is placed, so if you place your listing at 10:00 a.m., that’s when theauction starts and ends. However, you can pay an extra $0.10 and schedule yourauction to start (and stop) at a specified time different from when you created theitem listing.


tipMore bidders log on to

eBay on Saturday andSunday than on any otherdays of the week—probablybecause more users are

home from school andwork.

I opt for the 7-dayauction for all my

items. It’s what users expect, andit allows for bidding on each dayof the week—without taking toolong to get the process over with.

Mike Sez“ ”

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This is a good option if you have to create yourauction listings at what would otherwise be a badtime to end an auction—in the morning or earlyafternoon, for example. It’s better to end an auc-tion during the evening, when more users are athome. So if you can’t launch your auctions in theevening, spend the extra $0.10 so that eBay canautomatically schedule the start of your auctionfor you.

To Reserve or Not to ReserveAfter you decide on the duration of your auction,how many units you’re selling, and your startingprice, you run into the Reserve Price option. As youlearned in Chapter 10, a reserve price auction is one in which you set a low startingprice to get the bidding started, but keep a higher, hidden reserve price that serves asthe lowest price you’ll sell the item for. For example, you might start the bidding at$10 but have a reserve price of $50. You don’t actually sell the item until you get abid at $50 or above; a high bid of $49.99 wouldn’t be a winning bid.

On the upside, reserve price auctions let you set how-ever low a starting price you want—and low start-ing prices get a lot of buyer attention, and get thebids flowing. You’re not obligated to sell at that lowprice, of course; that’s why you have the reserve, asprotection in case the bids don’t go high enough.

On the downside, reserve auctions confuse a lot ofpotential bidders—newer users, in particular. Theyalso foster a bit of suspicion from bidders, becauseyou’re not telling them the whole truth. (Thereserve price is always hidden.) So you’re apt tohave fewer bidders on a reserve price auction, inspite of the lower starting price.

My advice is, in most cases, not to use the reserveprice option. If there’s an absolutely positively min-imum price you have to get out of a particularitem, set that price as your starting bid price.There’s no need—and little to be gained—by settinga hidden reserve.

CHAPTER 13 CHOOSING THE RIGHT LISTING OPTIONS 153

Using eBay to sched-ule a start time for

your auctions may be a necessaryevil if you’re not at home, at yourcomputer, at the time of day youwant your auctions to end. It maybe better, however, to use an auc-tion management program orservice that includes this type oflisting scheduling at a lower (orzero) additional cost.

Mike Sez“ ”

I hardly ever use thereserve price option;

my auction-of-choice is the stan-dard, nonreserve model. The onlyexception is when I have an itemthat should have a relatively highbasement price (above $100),even though similar auctions arestarting at much lower prices. Forexample, I might list an item thatwill probably sell in the $200range with a $20 starting price.It’s this kind of differential thatmakes you think about setting areserve price.

Mike Sez“ ”

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In case you’re wondering, you don’t save on eBay fees if you have a lower startingprice in a reserve price auction. That’s because if you’ve chosen the reserve priceoption, eBay bases your listing fee on the reserve price you set—not on the lowerstarting price. (Plus there are extra charges for using the reserve price auctions.) Sothere’s no getting around it; there’s no way to cheat eBay out of their fees!

Sell It Now?The next option on the Provide Pictures & Item Details page is the Buy It Now (BIN)price. Buy It Now is the option that lets you sell your item to the first bidder whooffers a specific fixed price. If the first bidder bids lower than the Buy It Now price,the Buy It Now option disappears and the auction continues as normal.

Should you use Buy It Now? The downside is that BIN adds to an auction’s confusionfactor, possibly scaring away some users. (The presence of a high BIN—relative tothe starting price, in any case—is apt to tell some buyers that you’re asking more foryour item than it’s worth, or that similar items are selling for.) The upside is that ifyou set a high enough BIN price and some chump ponies up, you get your moneysooner than if you’d allowed the auction to continue to its natural conclusion.

If you’re going to use Buy It Now, make sure that it’s worth your while. You defi-nitely don’t want to set a BIN price lower than what you think your item will eventu-ally sell for. For example, if you know that similar items have been selling for $20on eBay, the absolute lowest you want to set your BIN price is $20. If you set the BINprice at $15, for example, some sharp buyer is goingto swoop in and pay you $15 for an item that prob-ably would have sold for $20.

In fact, if you use the BIN option, you probablywant to set the BIN price at some point higher thanthe expected high bid price. Taking our $20 exam-ple, you might set the BIN at $25. If somebodywants to buy it now, they’ll pay you a $5 premiumfor the privilege. If not, bidding will proceed as nor-mal until a (presumably lower) high bid is realized.

Public or Private?Just below the Buy It Now option is the Private Auction option. When you choosethis option, the bidders’ names don’t show up on the item listing page; bidders’ identifications remain private.


I seldom use Buy ItNow in my auctions.

That’s because I typically sellunique items; if I were sellingmore-common items, I’d probablyuse the BIN option more often.

Mike Sez“ ”

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The worth of a private auction comes when youhave something controversial to sell—somethingthat others might be embarrassed to be found bid-ding on. Although most private auctions are foradult-only items, it’s easy to imagine an auction foran exclusive high-priced item for which biddersdon’t want (or need) the publicity. So if you’re sell-ing either dirty pictures or items that Donald Trumpmight be interested in, going private is worth consideration.

Local Is GoodYou should always fill in your city and state on the Provide Pictures & Item Detailspage, because this information helps bidders determine approximate shipping costsfrom your location to theirs. But there’s a second location option on the ProvidePictures & Item Details page, called Region. What exactly is this option, and howdoes it work?

The Region option is actually a list of eBay local auctions. When you select a region,you ensure that your listing will be visible to any users browsing or searching yourspecific local auction. (And, wonder of wonders, listing your item in a local auctionis that rare eBay phenomenon: a totally free option!)

Choosing to list in your local auction is as easy asmaking a selection from the Region list. If youdon’t make a selection, your item won’t be listedlocally—even if you fill in the city and state fields.

When users perform a search for an item, theyhave the option of searching by region. In addition,when users click the Browse link on the NavigationBar, they can then select the Regions link, whichdisplays the Go Local! page. (You can also accessthis page directly, by going to pages.ebay.com/regional/hub.html.) The Go Local! page containsdirect links to more than 60 regional listing pages.Users can then search for local listings in particularcategories.


I don’t think I’ve everlisted a private auction.

Of course, the stuff I sell isn’t thatexclusive—or arousing.

Mike Sez“ ”

Listing locally is a par-ticularly good idea if

you’re selling a large or hard-to-ship item—one that’s more easilycarted across town than shippedacross country. And because locallistings are free, there’s no reasonnot to select a region on theProvide Pictures & Item Detailspage.

Mike Sez“ ”

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A Pretty PictureI devote an entire chapter of this book (Chapter 15,“Using Pictures with Your Listings”) to includingpictures with your eBay listings, so I won’t go into alot of detail here. Suffice to say that listings withpictures are more successful than listings withoutpictures. Whether you use eBay’s picture hostingservices or your own Web hosting, you’ll increaseyour sell rate and your average final price whenyou add a picture to your text.

Go for the Gallery?The Gallery is a section of eBay that displays listingpictures, along with titles, as shown in Figure 13.1. It’sa great way to browse through the listings if your shopping style is particularlyvisual. Buyers access the Gallery by clicking the Gallery link on the Site Map page,selecting Gallery View in the Display section on any search results or category page,or going directly to pages.ebay.com/buy/gallery.html. Items listed with the Galleryoption are also displayed with the photo in any browsing or search results page.


Unless there’s a goodreason not to include a

picture (such as you don’t have acamera), I always recommendincluding at least one picture withyour item listings. You shouldknow, however, that using eBay’spicture hosting service can getexpensive; eBay charges for everypicture of yours (past the firstone) that it hosts on its servers.

Mike Sez“ ”

FIGURE 13.1

Browsing items

for auction in

the Gallery.

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eBay also offers a second Gallery option, calledGallery Featured. When you pay for this option,your item will periodically show up in the specialFeatured section above the general Gallery. Pricingfor the standard Gallery listing is just $0.25. Pricingfor the Gallery Featured option is $19.95.

Grab Attention with ListingUpgrades

Next we come to that list of nickel and dime (andhigher!) marketing devices that eBay calls “listingupgrades.” These options are designed to makeyour listing stand out from the hundreds or thou-sands of similar listings in any particular category.

SubtitleeBay recently added an option to insert a subtitle inyour item listing, just below the main title. Thecharge is $0.50 for this option, and it’s probablynot worth it. After all, you can put all the detailsyou want into the item description—what do youneed the subtitle for? It’s possible that an item witha subtitle may stand out on a search results page,but that’s about it. Probably not a good use of yourmoney.

BoldThis option, which costs $1.00, displays your itemtitle in bold in any category or search results listings. A boldfaced item listing is shown in Figure 13.2.

HighlightWhat’s more attention-getting than a bold title? How about a shaded item listing?

When you select the Highlight option, your listing (on any category or search resultspage) is displayed with a colored shade, as shown in Figure 13.3. This little bit ofcolor will cost you $5.00.


Even though a basicGallery listing is cheap

(just a quarter!), I tend not to uti-lize this option. My personal experience shows that few usersactually venture to the Gallery (it’s kind of hidden on eBay’s site),which makes this a good-sounding option that seldom paysfor itself. (And a quarter here anda quarter there can add up fast—especially on low-priced items.)

Mike Sez“ ”

In general, I find thatspending money on

any of these listing options isn’tmuch different from just throwingyour money away. Whetheryou’re spending a buck or a hun-dred, these options just don’tincrease traffic that much—so Itry to avoid them. (The exceptionis the Listing Designer templates,which I find are worth the extradime to add some visual interestto my listings.)

Mike Sez“ ”

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Featured Plus!The Featured Plus! option displays your item in the Featured Items section of its cate-gory, and in the Featured Items section of any search results page. This option willset you back a whopping $19.95.

Home Page FeaturedEver wonder how much it costs to have your item featured on the main eBay homepage? Here’s the answer: $39.95. (And that hefty price doesn’t even guarantee howoften your item will pop up. What a deal—not.) All you have to do is select theHome Page Featured option, and your item will periodically be displayed on thehome page. (And for the same low price, your item is also displayed in the FeaturedItems section of normal category and search results pages.)

Gift ServicesThink your item would make a great gift for a specific occasion? Then pony up$0.25 to add a gift icon to your listing, like the one shown in Figure 13.4. When youchoose this option, you can also promote specific gift services you might offer, suchas gift wrap or gift card, express shipping, and shipping to the gift recipient (insteadof the item buyer).


FIGURE 13.2

Two item

listings—the first

one in bold (and

with an optional

subtitle).

FIGURE 13.3

Two item

listings—the

second one

enhanced with

the Highlight

option.

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Listing DesignerThis is a great new feature that lets you spice upyour listing with fancy-looking templates. The costis just $0.10, and the results are much more attrac-tive than the typical plain-text listing. It’s worth thedime to give your listing some pizzazz!

Count ‘em UpThe final option you can select on the ProvidePictures & Item Details page is the free pagecounter, supplied (free of charge) by Ándale, athird-party service firm. When you opt to put acounter at the bottom of your listing page (like theone in Figure 13.5), you and (in most cases) poten-tial bidders can see how many other users have vis-ited the page. The more page visitors, the morelikely it is that you’ll receive a substantial numberof bids.


FIGURE 13.4

A listing that

offers special gift

services.

Learn more about theListing Designer templates

in Chapter 16, “Creating a Great-Looking Listing.”

FIGURE 13.5

An Ándale

counter at the

bottom of an

eBay listing

page.

If you think you’regoing to get a lot of

traffic to your item listing page,by all means display a counter. Ahigh number on a counter willmake bidders think they have tobid now to get in on the action.If, on the other hand, you don’twant to tip your hand as to howmany potential bidders you mighthave, go with the hidden counter.After all, it doesn’t matterwhether you have 2 or 200 visi-tors, as long as you have onereally good bid!

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ eBay offers various listing enhancements on the Provide Pictures & ItemDetails page.

■ Most of these listing enhancements cost money.

■ Few of these listing enhancements are worth the money—although theListing Designer is probably worth a dime.

■ Having an item that a lot of buyers want will produce many more biddersthan you’ll get by using expensive listing options.

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In this chapter

• Write a Title That SELLS!

• Write the Right Description

• Making the Grade

• Other Ways to Describe Your Item

14

Writing a Listing That

Sells

Did you know that only about half the items listed on eBay at any given

time actually sell during the current auction? That’s right; in about half

the current auctions, no one meets the minimum bid.

How do you increase the odds of your item selling? It’s all about creat-

ing a powerful, effective item listing—in both the title and the item

description.

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Write a Title That SELLS!Let’s start right at the top, with the title of your item listing. You can use up to 55 let-ters, numbers, characters, and spaces, and you need to accomplish two things:

■ Include the appropriate information so that anyone searching for a similaritem will find your item in his search results.

■ Make your title stand out from all the other titles on those long listing pages.

Do those two things, and you significantly increase your chances of getting youritem noticed and sold.

Include Key InformationLet’s tackle the first point first. You have to think like the people who will be lookingfor your item. Most users will be using eBay’s search feature to look for specificitems, so you want to put the right keywords into your item title, to make your itempop up on as many search results pages as possible.

As an example, let’s say you have an original 1964 Superman model kit, manufac-tured by Aurora, still in its shrink-wrapped box. How do you list this item?

You have to make sure you get all the right keywords in your title. For this example,it’s obvious that Superman should be a keyword, as should Aurora and maybe 1964.Then, it gets iffy-er. Should you call it a model kit or a plastic model kit or a plasticmodel? Should you call it unassembled or still in box or original condition?

When dealing with collectibles, you often can use accepted abbreviations andacronyms. (I’ll list some of these acronyms later in this chapter.) In this case, youcould use the abbreviation MISB, which stands formint in sealed box. True collectors will know whatthis means, and it saves precious “real estate” inyour title. (By the way, if this model wasn’t inthe box but was instead already assembled, youcould use the abbreviation BU, for built-up.)Continuing this example, a title that includedall the keywords users might search on would be1964 Superman Aurora Plastic Model Kit MISB.(And this comes in at well under 55 characters!)

Note the inclusion of the year in the title. That’sa good thing, because it helps to narrow down orbetter identify the item. Someone looking for a 1964 Superman model is not goingto be interested in the 1978 or 2001 reissues, so including the date helps to narrowdown your prospective customers.


tipIf you’re unsure how best

to word the title for youritem listing, check out auc-tions for similar items and“borrow” their wording.

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If your item has a model number or series name, that’s definitely something toinclude. As an example, you might be selling a 14” Pearl Export Select Snare Drumwith Case. In this case, Pearl is the manufacturer and Export Select is the series orline. Another example might be a listing for a 1956 Gibson ES-175 Red Jazz Guitar.This title gets in the year (1956), the manufacturer (Gibson), the model number (ES-175), the color (Red), and a brief description of what it is (a jazz guitar)—whichpretty much covers all the bases.

Make Your Title Stand OutBeyond including as many relevant facts as possible in your title, how do you makeyour title POP off the page and STAND OUT from all the other boring listings?Obviously, one technique is to employ the judicious use of CAPITAL LETTERS. Theoperative word here is judicious; titles with ALL capital letters step over the line intooverkill.

You can also try a lot of non-alphanumeric characters, such as !!! or ### or *** atthe beginning or end of your title, although I don’t recommend it. That’s becauseeBay’s search engine sometimes ignores titles that include too many of these non-sense characters—which is the exact opposite of what you want to accomplish. Plus,these nonsense characters waste valuable space that could be better used to tellmore about your item.

Instead, I advise you to think like an advertising copywriter. What words almostalways stop consumers in their tracks? Use attention-getting words such as FREE andNEW and BONUS and EXTRA and DELUXE and RARE—as long as these words truly describethe item you’re selling and don’t mislead the potential bidder.

Try this one on for size: Which would you rather bid on, a 1964 Superman Model Kit ora RARE 1964 Superman Model Kit? I’m betting you go for the second one—and mentallyprepare yourself to pay more for it, too!

In short, use your title to both inform and attract attention—and include as manypotential search keywords as possible.

What to AvoidYou already know that you should probably avoid nonsense characters—especially ifyou can use that space to better effect. You should also avoid using “hot” words thatdon’t have anything to do with your item—words designed to mislead eBay’s searchengine and potential bidders.

In our Superman example, some enterprising sellers might create a title like this:Superman Model NOT Batman Spider-Man.

CHAPTER 14 WRITING A LISTING THAT SELLS 163

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Okay, what’s wrong with this? It’s not a lie; the Superman model definitely is not aBatman or Spider-Man model. But that’s not why the seller put those words in thetitle. He put those words there so that anyone searching for a Batman or Spider-Manmodel would find his listing in their search results. He might think he’s increasingthe visibility of his listing, but what he’s really doing is ticking off potential buyers ofBatman and Spider-Man merchandise. What at first seems clever is annoying andmisleading, and should be avoided.

One other thing, which I touched on previously—DON’T TYPE IN ALL CAPS! It’sokay to capitalize a word or two in your title or description, but don’t type an all-caps title. (And definitely don’t capitalize your entire item description!) All capsmakes it look like you’re shouting, and although you might think that would begood for grabbing buyers’ attention, it actually has just the opposite effect: It turnsthem off.

Write the Right DescriptionIf the listing title is the headline of your ad, the listing description is your ad’s bodycopy. Which means it’s time to put on your copywriter’s hat and get down to thenitty-gritty details.

Take All the Space You NeedWhat makes for good copy? First, you have all the space you need, so say as muchas you need to say. Unlike with the title description, you don’t have to scrimp onwords or leave anything out. If you can describe your item adequately in a sentence,great; if it takes three paragraphs, that’s okay too.

When you’re writing the description for your ad, be sure to mention anything andeverything that a potential bidder might need to know. Note any defects or imperfec-tions of the item. Include your desired payment terms and your preferred shippingmethods. If the object is graded or evaluated in any way, include that assessment inyour description. In other words, include everything you can think of that will elimi-nate any surprises for the buyer.

First Things FirstYou should probably put the most important and motivating information in yourinitial paragraph because a lot of folks won’t read any farther than that. Think ofyour first paragraph like a lead paragraph in a newspaper story: Grab ‘em withsomething catchy, give them the gist of the story, and lead them into reading thenext paragraph and the one after that.


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The Bare NecessitiesThere are certain key data points that users expect to see in your item description.Here’s the bare minimum you should include:

■ Name (or title)

■ Condition

■ Age

■ Original use (what you used it for)

■ Value (if you know it)

■ Any included accessories (including the original instruction manual, if youhave it)

■ Any known defects or damage

If you don’t know any of this stuff, that’s okay—as long as you admit it. If you’renot that familiar with the type of merchandise you’re selling, just say so. Better toplead ignorance up-front than to have a more savvy buyer cause problems for youafter the sale.

Describe It—AccuratelyBecause other users will be bidding on your item sight unseen, you have to make theprocess as easy as possible for potential bidders. That means describing the item asaccurately as possible, and in as much detail as possible. If the item has a scratch orblemish, note it. If the paint is peeling, note it. If it includes a few non-originalparts, note it. Bidders don’t have the item to hold in their hands and examine inperson, so you have to be their eyes and ears.

That’s right; you need to describe the item in painful detail, and be completely hon-est about what you’re selling. If you’re not honest in your description, it will comeback to haunt you—in the form of an unhappy and complaining buyer.

Stress Benefits, Not FeaturesAlthough you need to be descriptive (and in some collectibles categories, you need tobe obsessively so), it doesn’t hurt to employ a little marketing savvy and salesman-ship. Yes, you should talk about the features of your item, but it’s even better if youcan talk about your product’s benefits to the potential buyer.

Let’s say you’re selling a used cordless phone, and the phone has a 50-number mem-ory. Saying “50-number memory” is stating a feature; saying instead that the phone“lets you recall your 50 most-called phone numbers at the press of a button” is


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describing a benefit. Remember, a feature is something your item has; a benefit issomething your item does for the user.

Break It UpYou should include as much descriptive copy asyou need in your listing, but you should alsomake sure that every sentence sells your item.

If your listing starts to get a little long, you canbreak it into more readable chunks by using alittle HTML. When you want to start a new para-graph, press the Enter key on your keyboard,type <P>, and then press Enter again. This insertsa paragraph break into your text, which shouldprovide a blank line between the first paragraphand the next.

Don’t Forget the Fine PrintBreaking up your description enables you to put alot more info into your description. When it comes toinforming potential buyers, it’s impossible to be too complete. (And if you don’tdefine a detail, the buyer will—in his or her mind.) Don’t assume that buyers knowanything; take the time to spell out all the details about payment and shipping andthe like.

Here is some of the “fine print” you might want to include at the bottom of youritem description:

■ Bidding restrictions, such as “No bidders with negative feedback,” “Bidderswith positive feedback of at least 10 only,” or “U.S. buyers only.”

■ Payment restrictions, such as “U.S. funds only,” “No personal checks,” or“Personal checks take two weeks to clear.”

■ Shipping/handling charges (if you know them) and restrictions, such as“Buyer pays shipping/handling” or “Shipping via USPS Priority Mail only.”

■ Information about the condition of the item, in painful detail.

■ The grade of your item, if your item has been graded (discussed later in thischapter).

■ Information about your other auctions.


tipWhen you enter plain text

into the Description box,eBay formats it as plain texton your item listing page.However, you can enter

HTML code as part of yourdescription, and make your

listing look as lively as a page onthe World Wide Web. To learnmore about using HTML to spiceup your otherwise-boring listings,turn to Chapter 16, “Creating aGreat-Looking Listing.”

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Include Alternate WordingThe very last things you can put into your listing, at the bottom, are some extrawords. Remember, not every person uses the same words to describe things. If you’reselling a plastic model kit, for example, some users will search for model, others forkit, still others for statue or figure or styrene. Although you can’t put all these varia-tions into the item title, you can throw them in somewhere in the description—or, ifall else fails, at the bottom of the item description. (Remember, they’ll be picked upby eBay’s search engine if they’re anywhere in the description area.)

While you’re at it, throw in any alternative spellings you can think of. For example,you might know that the correct spelling of Spider-Man includes the hyphen in themiddle, but other users might search for the unhyphenated Spiderman. Whichevervariation you use in your title, throw the other one in at the bottom of thedescription.

Making the GradeWhen you’re selling items on eBay, it helps to know what kind of shape youritems are in. For many categories of merchandise, that means grading the item’scondition—according to some very formal rules.

Grading is a way of noting the condition of an item, according to a predeterminedstandard. Collectors use these grading scales to help evaluate and price items withina category. If you know the grade of your item, you can include the grade in theitem’s title or description, and thus more accurately describe the item to potentialbidders.

Making a MintUnfortunately, there is no such thing as a “universal” grading system for all items;different types of collectibles have their own unique grading systems. For example,trading cards are graded from A1 to F1; stamps are graded from Poor to Superb.

That said, many collectible categories use a variation of the Mint grading system, asshown in Table 14.1.


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Table 14.1 Mint System GradingGrade Abbreviation Description

Mint MT, M, 10 An item in perfect condition, without any damage orimperfections.

Very Fine VF Similar to mint.

Near Mint NM, 9 An item with a very minor, hardly noticeable flaw.Sometimes described as “like new.”

Near Fine NF Similar to near mint.

Excellent EX, 8 An item considered above average, but with pronouncedsigns of wear.

Fine F Similar to excellent.

Very Good VG, 7 An item in average condition.

Good GD, G, 6 An item that has clear indications of age, wear, and use.

Fair F An item that is heavily worn.

Poor P, 5 An item that is damaged or somehow incomplete.

Degrees between grade levels are indicated with a + or –. (For example, an itembetween Fine and Very Fine would be designated as F+.) Naturally, the definition ofa Mint or Fair item differs by item type.

Getting GradedIf you’re not sure what grade an item is, you may want to utilize a professionalgrading and authentication service. These services will examine your item, authenti-cate it (confirm that it’s the real deal), and give it a professional grade. Some serv-ices will even encase your item in a sealed plastic container or bag.

Where can you get your items graded? Table 14.2 lists some popular Web sites forgrading and authenticating collectible items.

Table 14.2 Grading and Authentication ServicesCollectible Site URL

Autographs OnlineAuthentics.com www.onlineauthentics.com

PSA/DNA www.psadna.com

Beanie Babies Peter Gallagher Enterprises www.beaniephenomenon.com

Books PKBooks www.pkbooks.com


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Coins American Numismatic Association www.anacs.com

Certification Service

Numismatic Guaranty Corporation www.ngccoin.com

of America

Professional Coin Grading Service www.pcgs.com

Comic books Comics Guaranty www.cgccomics.com

Jewelry International Gemological Institute www.e-igi.com

Sports cards Professional Sports Authenticator www.psacard.com

Sportscard Guarantee Corporation www.sgccard.com

Stamps American Philatelic Society www.stamps.org

Professional Stamps Experts www.psestamp.com

The cost of these authentication services varieswildly, depending on what you’re authenticat-ing, the age or value of the item, and the extentof the service itself. For example, ProfessionalSports Authenticator rates range from $5 to $50per sports card; Professional Stamps Experts ratesrange from $15 to $85 per stamp. Make surethat the item you’re selling is worth it before yougo to this expense—and that you can recoup thisexpense in your auction.

Other Ways to Describe Your ItemThere are some other grading-related abbreviations you can use in your item list-ings. As you can see in Table 14.3, these abbreviations help you describe your item(especially in the title) without wasting a lot of valuable space.

Table 14.3 Grading-Related TermsAbbreviation Description Meaning

ARC Advanced readers A pre-publication version of a book manuscript, copy typically released to reviewers and bookstores for

publicity purposes

BU Built up For models and other to-be-assembled items; indi-cates that the item has already been assembled


Collectible Site URL

tipeBay provides a page of

links to “authorized” auth-entication services at pages.ebay.com/help/community/

auth-overview.html.

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CC Cut corner Some closeout items are marked by a notch onthe corner of the package

CO Cut out Closeout item

COA Certificate of Document that vouches for the authenticity of authenticity the item; often found with autographed or rare

collectible items

COC Cut out corner Same as CC (cut corner)

COH Cut out hole Some closeout items are marked by a small holepunched somewhere on the package

FS Factory sealed Still in the original manufacturer’s packaging

GP Gold plate Item is gold plated

HC Hard cover Used to indicate hardcover (as opposed to soft-cover, or paperback) books

HE Heavy gold Item has heavy gold platingelectroplated

HTF Hard to find Item isn’t in widespread circulation

LE Limited edition Item was produced in limited quantities

LSW Label shows wear Item’s label shows normal usage for its age

MCU Might clean up Might show a higher grade if cleaned or other-wise restored

MIB Mint in box Item in perfect condition, still in the original box

MIMB Mint in mint box Item in perfect condition, still in the originalbox—which itself is in perfect condition

MIP Mint in package Item in perfect condition, still in the originalpackage

MISB Mint in sealed box Item in perfect condition, still in the original boxwith the original seal

MNB Mint, no box Mint-condition item but without the originalpackaging

MOC Mint on card For action figures and similar items, an item inperfect condition still in its original carded pack-age

MOMC Mint on mint card Item in perfect condition, still on its originalcarded package—which is also in mint condition

MONMC Mint on near-mint Same as MOMC, but with the card in less-than-card perfect condition


Abbreviation Description Meaning

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MWBMT Mint with both For stuffed animals that typically have both a mint tags hang tag and a tush (sewn-on) tag, indicates

both tags are in perfect condition

MWBT Mint with both tags Same as MWBMT, but with the tags in less-than-mint condition

MWMT Mint with mint tag Mint-condition item with its original tag, whichis also in mint condition

NIB New in box Brand-new item, still in its original box

NOS New old stock Old, discontinued parts in original, unusedcondition

NR No reserve Indicates that you’re selling an item with noreserve price

NRFB Never removed An item bought but never used or played withfrom box

NWOT New without tags Item, unused, but without its original tags

NWT New with tags Item, unused, that still has its original hanging tags

OOAK One of a kind A truely unique item—the only one in existence!

OOP Out of print Item is no longer being manufactured

P/O Punched out Same as CC (cut corner)

RR Re-release Not the original issue, but rather a reissue (typi-cally done for the collector’s market)

SC Soft cover A paperback (non–hard cover) book

SS Still sealed As it says, still in the original sealed package

SW Slight wear Only minor wear commensurate with age

VHTF Very hard to find Self-descriptive

WOC Writing on cover Item has markings on front surface

The big problem with any grading system is that grading is subjective. Althoughthere may be guidelines for different grading levels, the line between very good andexcellent is often a fine one. You should be very careful about assigning your owngrading levels; even better, supplement the grade with a detailed description andphotographs so that bidders can make up their own minds as to your item’s truevalue.


Abbreviation Description Meaning

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■ Your item title must be no more than 55 characters long—and can includeletters, numbers, characters, and spaces.

■ Pack as much info into your title as possible, using common abbreviationsand grading levels.

■ The description of your item can be as long as you want—so take the spaceto include as much detailed information as is practical.

■ Include an accurate description of the item’s condition, including any flawsor damage.

■ Include all necessary fine print for your transaction at the bottom of the itemdescription.

■ Use grading (Fair, Good, Mint, and so on) to describe the condition of youritem.

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In this chapter

• Take a Picture—or Make a Scan

• Convert a Picture to a Digital Graphics File

• Edit the Image File

• Upload Your Image File to the Internet—or Use eBay Picture Services

15

Using Pictures

in Your Listings

A picture in your listing greatly increases the chances of actually selling

your item—and also increases the average price you will receive.

Knowing that, you’d think more eBay ads would include pictures. The

reason they don’t is that adding a picture to an eBay listing requires

more work than checking a check box. Basically, you have to go through

four steps to insert a picture into your item listing:

1. Take a picture of your item.

2. Convert that picture to a digital graphics file.

3. Edit the image file (so that it looks pretty).

4. Upload your image file to a server somewhere on the Internet—

or use eBay’s Picture Services.

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We’ll look at each of these steps individually, butfirst, here’s a checklist of what you need in order totake effective pictures for your eBay listings:

Checklist: eBay Pictures| Digital camera

| Lighting (built-in flash can work)

| Tripod (optional)

| Clean space with plain black or whitebackground

| Scanner (for flat items)

| Graphics editing software

| Web picture hosting service (optional)

Take a Picture—or Make a ScanIt all starts with a picture. But it had better be a darned good picture, or potentialbidders won’t find it much use.

Tips for Taking Great Product PhotosAlthough this really isn’t the place for a basic pho-tography lesson, I can give you a few tips on howto take the right kinds of pictures to use in youreBay listings.

■ Use a digital camera. Although youcan take pictures with a normal film cam-era, develop the film, and have your filmprocessor transfer your photos to graphicsfiles on a photo CD, it’s a lot easier if youstart with digital at the source—especiallyif you plan on listing a lot of items oneBay. You can pick up a good low-end dig-ital camera for $200 or less these days,and going direct from camera to computer(and then to eBay) is a lot easier than anyother method.


Is there any timewhen you don’t want

to include a picture of an item? Ifthe item is nothing more than ablack box—or a blank bookcover—there’s not a lot of pointin showing it. However, don’tthink that if an item is damagedyou shouldn’t show it—just theopposite! You want bidders toknow what they’re getting into,regarding damage and flaws, andshowing a picture is the best wayto do this.

Mike Sez“ ”

Whatever you do, resistthe temptation to simplycopy someone else’s pic-ture file to use in yourlisting. Not only is thisunethical, but it misrepresents theexact item you’re selling. You couldalso find yourself on the wrong sideof a copyright lawsuit if the ownerof the photo takes particularoffense.

caution

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■ Shoot in strong light. One of the worstphotographic offenses is to shoot understandard indoor room light. Although youcan touch up the photo somewhat afterward(see the “Edit the Image File” section, laterin this chapter), you can’t put in light thatwasn’t there to begin with. Open all thewindows, turn on all the room lights, use aflash (but judiciously—you want to avoidglare on your item), or just take the itemoutdoors to shoot—do whatever it takes tocreate a well-lighted photograph. (Figure15.1 and Figure 15.2 show the same itemshot in low light and with stronger lighting;Figure 15.2 definitely works best.)

CHAPTER 15 USING PICTURES IN YOUR LISTINGS 175

When you go shop-ping for a digital cam-

era, look for one with a macromode so that you can take close-ups of any small objects youmight be selling. Also, investanother dozen bucks in a tripodso that you can take steady pic-tures in low light.

Mike Sez“ ”

FIGURE 15.1

An item shot in

low lighting—

bad.

■ Avoid glare. If you’re shooting a glass or plastic item, or an item still inplastic wrap or packaging, or just an item that’s naturally shiny, you have towork hard to avoid glare from whatever lighting source you’re using—likethat shown in Figure 15.3. This is one reason why I typically don’t recom-mend using a single-point flash—without any fill lighting, it produces too

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much glare. You avoid glare by not using a flash, adding fill lighting (to thesides of the object), diffusing the lighting source (by bouncing the light off areflector of some sort), or just turning the item until the glare goes away. Asimpler solution is to shoot in an area with strong natural light—like outsideon a nice day.


FIGURE 15.2

An item shot

in stronger

lighting—good.

■ Shoot against a plain background. If you shoot your object against abusy background, it detracts from the main point of the photograph. Hang awhite or black sheet (or T-shirt) behind the item; it will make the main objectstand out a lot better.

■ Focus! Okay, this one sounds obvious, but I see a lot of blurry pictures oneBay—like the one shown in Figure 15.4. Make sure you know how to focusyour camera, or how to use the auto-focus function. Also—and this is particu-larly important if you’re shooting in low-light conditions—remember to holdthe camera steady. A little bit of camera shake makes for a blurry photo.Either learn how to steady the camera or buy a cheap tripod to hold the camera for you.

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FIGURE 15.3

A shrink-

wrapped item

with glare from

a flash—bad.

FIGURE 15.4

An out-of-focus

photo—bad.

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■ Frame. To take effective photographs,you have to learn proper composition.That means centering the item in the cen-ter of the photo, and getting close enoughto the object so that it fills up the entirepicture. Don’t stand halfway across theroom and shoot a very small object; getclose up and make it big! (Figures 15.5shows a poorly framed item—bad!)


tipIf you’re shooting a small

item, your camera may havedifficulty focusing if you gettoo close. Use your camera’smacro focus mode to enable

sharp focus closer to theobject.

FIGURE 15.5

An item framed

poorly—bad.

■ Take more than one. Don’t snap off a quick picture and assume you’vedone your job. Shoot your item from several different angles and distances—and remember to get a close-up of any important area of the item, such as aserial number or a damaged area. You may want to include multiple photosin your listing—or just have a good selection of photos to choose from forthat one best picture.

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Scan Instead of ShootOf course, if you’re selling relatively flat items(books, comics, CDs, and so on), you might bebetter off with a scanner than a camera. (Andremember that boxes have flat sides that can bescanned.) Just lay the object on a flatbed scannerand scan the item into a file on your computer.It’s actually easier to scan something like a bookor a DVD case than it is to take a good steadypicture of it!

Use eBay’s Stock PhotosIf you’re selling a book, an audio book, an audio cassette, a CD, a DVD, a VHS tape,or a video game, you might not need any photos at all. That’s because eBay auto-matically inserts a stock product photo when you use the pre-filled item descriptionoption to create your item listing. (You learned about this back in Chapter 10,“Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning Sellers.”) If the item you’re selling is listed ineBay’s product database—and you like the photo they provide—save yourself thetrouble and let eBay insert the picture for you.

Convert a Picture to a Digital Graphics FileIf you took your pictures with a digital camera, allyour pictures are in digital format, ready to transfer toyour computer for editing. You can now skip to thenext section.

If your pictures were shot on film, you have to getthose film images into digital format. This is doneby running your photograph through a scanner,which digitizes the image and stores it in a com-puter graphics file. You can buy your own flatbedscanner for $100 or so, you can ask a friend with ascanner to scan your photo for you, or you can payaround $10 to have Kinko’s or some similar estab-lishment do the job professionally.

When you have the scanned images on a disk orCD, you can then copy them to your computer, andget ready to edit them.


tipWhen you’re scanning

compact discs, take the CDbooklet out of the jewel caseto scan.

There are several fileformats you can use for

your graphics files. The preferredformat is the JPG format; mostcameras and scanners will savefiles in this format.

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Edit the Image FileAfter yourphotograph has been converted to a JPG file (the graphics file type ofchoice on the Internet), you can do a little editing to “clean it up” for eBay use.

Things to EditWhat kinds of editing are we talking about? Here’s a short list:

■ Lighten up photos shot in low light.

■ Correct the color and tint in poorly shot photos.

■ Crop the picture to focus on only the subject at hand (Figure 15.6 shows apicture being cropped in the Adobe Photoshop Elements program).

■ Resize the image to fit better in your eBay listings. (Too big a picture won’t fitwithin a normal Web browser window.)

■ Decrease the resolution or color count to produce a smaller-sized file. (Filesthat are too big will take longer to load onto a bidder’s PC—and may even berejected by eBay.)


FIGURE 15.6

Cropping a

photo in Adobe

Photoshop

Elements.

Graphics Editing SoftwareHow do you do all this? You need an image-editing program. Although hard-corepicture fanatics swear by the extremely full-featured (and very expensive) Adobe

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Photoshop, there are several lower-cost programsthat perform just as well for the type of editingyou’ll be doing. These programs include thefollowing:

■ Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com)

■ CorelDRAW Essentials (www.corel.com)

■ Paint Shop Pro (www.jasc.com/)

■ Microsoft Picture It! Photo(www.microsoft.com/products/imaging/)

■ Roxio PhotoSuite (www.roxio.com)

Most of these programs cost around $50 and havesimilar features. Or, if you’d rather not muckaround with this sort of picture editing, you canalways have somebody else do it for you; hereagain, Kinko’s is a good place to start.

Resizing Your PhotosWhile you’re editing, remember to resize yourphoto to best fit within your eBay listing. (Most pic-tures you take in a digital camera will come outtoo big to fit on a Web page without scrolling.)eBay recommends that you size your image to nomore than 300 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall.

Resizing Your FilesYou should also reduce the amount of detail in your picture to keep the file sizesmall—no more than 50KB for each picture. This keeps the loading time for eachphoto down to a reasonable level.

There are three ways to reduce the size of an image file. You can reduce the dots perinch (dpi); you can resize the width and height; or you can reduce the number ofcolors used. Depending on your pictures, you may need to use some or all of thesetechniques to get the file down to a workable size. Most image editing software letsyou perform all three of these operations.

For example, Adobe Photoshop Elements includes a Save for Web feature. (Pull downthe File menu and select Save for Web.) As you can see in Figure 15.7, you can resizethe picture both physically and in terms of resolution. I recommend pulling down


My favorite of theseprograms is Adobe

Photoshop Elements—not to beconfused with the much moreexpensive (and harder to use)Adobe Photoshop. The Elementsprogram is extremely easy to use,with one-button operation formost common photo editingtasks.

Mike Sez“ ”

Personally, I find300×300 pictures to be

a tad on the small side. I see noharm in going up to 500 or even600 pixels wide, especially if view-ing the detail of the object isimportant.

Mike Sez“ ”

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the Settings list and selecting JPEG Low, then entering something between 300 and400 pixels in the Width box. (Make sure you have the Constrain Proportions optionselected so that your photo maintains its correct dimensions.)


FIGURE 15.7

Resizing a

photograph

with Adobe

Photoshop

Elements.

Upload Your Image File to the Internet—or UseeBay Picture Services

When you have your photos ready, you need to do one of two things: Upload thephotos to your own personal Web site or picture hosting service, or get ready to addthese photos to your new eBay item listing.

You see, when it comes to photos, eBay gives you a choice. They can host your pho-tos for you, or you can have someone else host your photos. Which one is the rightsolution for you?

Using eBay Picture ServicesWhen you have eBay host your photos, you have some choices to make. If you wantto show only one picture, you’re okay with eBay. If you want to show more than onephoto, or if you want to show larger photos, you can still use eBay—you’ll just haveto pay for it.

Here’s how eBay Picture Services’ fee structure works:

■ First photo: free

■ Each additional picture (up to six, total): $0.15 each

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■ Slide show (multiple pictures in a flip for-mat): $0.75

■ Supersize pictures (allow users to click aphoto to display at a larger size): $0.75

■ Picture pack (up to six pictures, super-sized, with Gallery display) : $1.00

If you like to get fancy with your pictures, thosecosts can add up pretty fast. Let’s say you havetwo pictures of your item (front and back, per-haps) that you want to display in large format.You’ll pay $0.90 for this privilege—the first pic-ture is free, but you pay $0.15 for the second picture, plus $0.75 for supersizing.

If you frequently include multiple pictures in your auctions, it might be cheaper foryou to find another site to host your pictures, which we’ll talk about next. But if youtypically include only a single photo, eBay Picture Services is both affordable (free!)and easy to use, especially for beginners. Here’s how you do it:

1. Start the process to create a new item listing, and work your way to theProvide Pictures & Item Details page.

2. Scroll down to the Add Pictures section and select the eBay Picture Servicestab, shown in Figure 15.8.


FIGURE 15.8

Using eBay

Picture Services

to insert photos

into your item

listing.

tipAlthough I prefer to edit

my pictures in a stand-alone graphics editing pro-gram, eBay Picture Servicesoffers some basic photo

editing functions, such ascropping and rotating.

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3. Click the Add Picture button in the First Picture–Free box. An Open dialogbox now appears on your computer desktop; use this dialog box to locateand select the photo you want to use. Click the Open button when done; thephoto you selected now appears on the Provide Pictures & Item Details page.

4. To insert an additional picture (for $0.15 extra), click the Add Picture buttonin the second box and repeat the instructions in step 3.

5. To insert even more pictures, click the Add Picture button(s) in the nextbox(es) and repeat the instructions in step 3.

6. In the Picture Layout section, select whichoptions you want—Standard (single pic-ture), Slide Show, Supersize Pictures, orPicture Pack.

7. If you choose to use eBay’s ListingDesigner, scroll to the Listing Designersection and select a position for yourphoto from the Select a Layout list.

That’s it. eBay will automatically upload the pic-tures from your hard disk to its picture hostingserver, and automatically insert those picturesinto your item listing.

Using Another Web HostMany users are less than thrilled with eBay’s picture hosting service. They find thisservice somewhat expensive (if you want to show a lot of pictures) and somewhatlimited.

A better solution for some users is to use another Web hosting service to host theirfiles. Here you have a lot of options.

First, if you have your own personal page on the Web, you can probably uploadyour pictures to that Web server. For example, if you have a personal page onYahoo! GeoCities or Tripod, you should be able to upload your images to that site.

If you don’t have a personal page but could have a personal page (via AmericaOnline or your Internet service provider), that’s a potential place for you to uploadpicture files. If your company has a Web server, there’s a chance it will let you use alittle space there.

If you don’t have any other options, you can go to a site that specializes in storingimage files for eBay users. These sites include the following:


tipOne plus to using eBay

Picture Services is that youget a free picture of youritem in the title bar of youritem listing page—which you

don’t get if you host yourpictures on another

Web site.

19 0789731053 F CH15.qxd 3/10/04 3:13 PM Page 184

■ Ándale Images (www.andale.com)

■ Auction Pix Image Hosting (www.auctionpix.com)

■ ImageHosting.com (www.imagehosting.com)

■ MyItem.com (www.myitem.com)

■ PictureTrail (www.picturetrail.com)

■ Vendio Image Hosting (www.vendio.com)

Most of these sites charge some sort of fee for hosting your pictures, either on amonthly basis for a certain amount of storage space or on a per-picture basis.Compare the fees at these sites with what you’ll pay at eBay, andthen make the smart choice.

After you have your pictures uploaded, you canadd them to your new item listing. Just followthese steps:

1. Start the process to create a new item list-ing, and work your way to the ProvidePictures & Item Details page.

2. Scroll down to the Add Pictures sectionand select the Your Own Web Hosting tab,as shown in Figure 15.9.

3. Enter the full URL (including the http://)for the picture into the Picture URL box.

4. If you choose to use eBay’s ListingDesigner, scroll to the Listing Designer sec-tion and select a position for your photofrom the Select a Layout list.


The only problem withusing a third-party Webhosting service in thismanner is that eBay letsyou insert only one pictureinto your listing. If you want toinsert multiple photos, you eitherhave to use eBay Picture Services, orinsert your own picture links usingHTML, as discussed in the followingsection.

caution

FIGURE 15.9

Pointing to a

picture file

uploaded to

another hosting

service.

19 0789731053 F CH15.qxd 3/10/04 3:13 PM Page 185


Adding a Picture Within Your Item DescriptionAnother picture option is available for more advanced users—especially if you’recomfortable adding a little HTML code to your item descriptions. This option lets youinsert images directly within your item description. (And eBay won’t charge you forit, either!)

As you’ll learn in Chapter 16, “Creating a Great-Looking Listing,” you can includeHTML code in your item descriptions—and you can use this code to link to picturesyou’ve already uploaded to a picture hosting service. This process isn’t as hard as itsounds, assuming you’ve already found a hosting service, uploaded your picture file,and obtained the full URL for the uploaded picture. All you have to do is insert thefollowing HTML code into your item description, where you want the picture toappear:<img src=”http://www.webserver.com/picture.jpg”>

Just replace www.webserver.com/picture.jpg with the correct URL for your picture. Also,be sure to check the option The Description Already Contains a Picture URL for MyItem. Your item will now display with the picture(s) you’ve selected—and you canexpect the bids to start pouring in!


■ Adding a picture to your item listing will increase the number of bids youreceive—and the value of those bids.

■ The easiest way to take pictures of the items you want to sell is with a digitalcamera—unless you have a small, flat item, in which case scanning is proba-bly better.

■ Take the best picture possible, and then edit the picture (in a graphics editingprogram) to make it look even better.

■ Make sure that the picture will fit on your item listing page, and that the filesize of the picture isn’t too large.

■ You can choose to let eBay host your pictures (with some potential cost), oryou can find a third-party hosting service (that might also charge a fee).

■ You add photos to your listings when you’re creating the item listing, on theProvide Pictures & Item Details page.

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In this chapter

• Apply Cool Templates with eBay’s ListingDesigner

• Create Fancy Listings with Listing-CreationTools

• Insert Simple Formatting in Your ItemDescription

• Crack the Code: Entering HTML by Hand

16

Creating a Great-Looking Listing

Most of the item listings on eBay look the same: a paragraph or two of

plain text, maybe a picture unceremoniously dropped in below the text.

That’s how a listing looks when you enter a normal, plain-text descrip-

tion for your item listing.

But then there are those ads that shout at you with colored text and dif-

ferent font faces and sizes and multiple columns and sizzling graphics

and…well, you know the ones I’m talking about. How do you go about

creating a dynamic listing like that?

Those colorful, eye-catching listings are created with Hypertext Markup

Language (HTML). HTML is the engine behind every Web page you’ve

ever viewed, the coding language that lets you turn on and off all sorts

of text and graphic effects.

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Here’s a secret known to successful sellers: eBay lets you use HTML in your item list-ings! All you have to do is know which HTML codes to enter in the Description boxwhen you’re creating your item listing—or you can use eBay’s built-in HTML texteditor and skip the coding altogether. Even easier, you can use eBay’s ListingDesigner or any number of third-party programs to create HTML-based listings with-out ever seeing the HTML code.

As you’ll see, creating HTML-based listings isn’t that difficult. And it’s not just a toolfor power sellers; it’s a relatively common technique that any eBay seller can use tospruce up an eBay listing.

Apply Cool Templates with eBay’s ListingDesigner

The easiest way to create a listing that goes beyond plain text is with eBay’s ListingDesigner. This feature is available to all users, right from the Sell Your Item page—and it costs only $0.10 a listing.

As you can see in Figure 16.1, Listing Designer provides more than two dozen pre-designed templates, which eBay calls themes. You choose a theme from the Select aTheme list, and then choose a layout for your pictures from the Select a Layout list.This is without a doubt the easiest way to create HTML-based listings; eBay does allthe work for you, and you never have to see the HTML code itself. (Figure 16.2 showsa listing enhanced with a Listing Designer theme.)


FIGURE 16.1

Use eBay’s

Listing Designer

to choose a tem-

plate for your

item listing.

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Create Fancy Listings with Listing-Creation ToolsListing Designer isn’t the only option you have for creating fancy eBay item listings.There are many software programs and Web-based services that let you create great-looking listings without having to enter a line of HTML code. Most of these programsand services let you choose a design and fill in some blanks, and then they automat-ically write the HTML code necessary to create the listing. These programs and serv-ices are easy to use, even if they do come at a cost.

eBay Turbo ListerProbably the most popular listing-creation program is eBay’s Turbo Lister(pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/). Turbo Lister uses the same templates found in eBay’sListing Designer, but it lets you create your listings in bulk, offline. We’ll talk moreabout Turbo Lister in Chapter 17, “Automating Item Listing with eBay Turbo Lister,”so turn there for more details.

Third-Party Listing-Creation ToolsOf course, you’re not limited to eBay’s “official” listing creation tools. A plethora oflisting creation programs and services are available, all of which provide variouspredesigned templates you can use for your item listings.

Most of these tools work in a similar fashion. You go to a particular Web page orprogram screen, select a template from a list, choose available layout options, andthen enter your normal listing title and description. The result varies from tool totool, and depends on the choices you make; to give you an idea of what to expect,Figure 16.3 shows a listing created with Ándale Lister.

CHAPTER 16 CREATING A GREAT-LOOKING LISTING 189

FIGURE 16.2

An eBay item

listing enhanced

with a Listing

Designer

template.

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Here are some of the most popular of these third-party listing-creation tools:

■ Ándale Lister (www.andale.com)

■ Adomatic Professional (www.slconsultancy.co.uk/adomatic/)

■ Auction Hawk (www.auctionhawk.com)

■ Auction Lizard (www.auction-lizard.com)

■ AuctionWorks (www.auctionworks.com)

■ Auctiva Poster (www.auctiva.com)

■ Dominant Ad Creator (www.dac.volcanicsoft.com)

■ EZAd (www.etusa.com)

■ SpareDollar (www.sparedollar.com)

■ Vendio (www.vendio.com)

Unlike eBay’s Turbo Lister (which is free!), most of these third-party products andservices charge for their use. Make sure you can afford them before you sign up!


FIGURE 16.3

An eBay item

listing created

with Ándale

Lister.

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Insert Simple Formatting in Your Item Description

If all you want to do is add some bold or color text to your listing, you don’t have touse listing-creation software or fancy listing templates. You can easily change theappearance of text in your listing by using the formatting features on eBay's SellYour Item page. When you select the Standard tab above the Item Description box,as shown in Figure 16.4, you have a variety of text formatting available to you,including font name, size, color, bold, italic, and underline. You can also change thejustification (left, center, right) and line spacing of the selected text, or display thetext in numbered or bulleted lists. It's as easy as clicking a button—no HTML codingnecessary!


FIGURE 16.4

Add simple text

formatting in

the Item

Description box.

Crack the Code: Entering HTML by HandIf you want to add more complex text effects, you’ll need to insert the raw HTMLcodes by hand into your item description. You do this by selecting the Enter YourOwn HTML tab above the Item Description box. Fortunately, although HTML codingmight sound difficult, it’s really pretty easy—something you can do yourself. (It’s notnearly as complicated as a fancy computer programming language, such as BASICor C++—trust me.) HTML is really nothing more than a series of hidden codes. Thesecodes tell a Web browser how to display different types of text and graphics. Thecodes are embedded in a document, so you can’t see them; they’re visible only toyour Web browser.

20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 191

All Web pages are created with HTML—as are all eBay listingpages. Any listing you enhance with HTML can have all the fancyfeatures you find on the Web: different font sizes,hyperlinks to other Web pages, graphics, andeven sound and video.

The first thing you need to know is that HTML isnothing more than text surrounded by instruc-tions, in the form of simple codes. Codes are dis-tinguished from normal text by the fact thatthey’re enclosed within angle brackets. Each par-ticular code turns on or off a particular attribute,such as boldface or italic text. Most codes are insets of “on/off” pairs; you turn “on” the code before the text you want to affect andthen turn “off” the code after the text.

For example, the code <h1> turns specified type into alevel-one headline; the code </h1> turns off the head-line type. The code <i> is used to italicize text; </i>turns off the italics. (As you can see, an “off” codeis merely the “on” code with a slash before it.)

Any text not surrounded by code uses HTML’sdefault formatting: normal Times Roman text. It’sthe same with tables and other elements; if no codeis applied, they default to standard formatting.

To create state-of-the-art item listings, then, youneed to learn some of the basic HTML codes.Although I can’t teach you all there is to knowabout HTML in a single chapter, I can show youenough basic HTML to help you create some stun-ning eBay ads.

Codes for Text FormattingUsing HTML formatting codes is the fastest and eas-iest way to add spice to your item listings. If you donothing else, boldfacing important words in yourdescription will add selling power to your ad—andyou can do that with a pair of simple HTML codes.


eBay lets you insertHTML code into youritem’s description butforbids the use of HTMLin the item’s title.

caution

I present only a handfulof the huge number of

HTML codes available to you. Ifyou want to learn more aboutthese and other HTML codes, I rec-ommend that you go to the HTMLGoodies (www.htmlgoodies.com/tutors/) Web site. You can alsopick up a copy of Todd Stauffer’sAbsolute Beginner’s Guide toCreating Web Pages, 2nd Edition(Que, 2002), available wherevergood books are sold.

20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 192

Here are some of the common HTML codes that format the way selected text looksin your listing:<h1>formats text as the largest headline</h1>

<h2>formats text as the second-largest headline</h2>

<h3>formats text as the third-largest headline</h3>

<b>boldfaces text</b>

<i>italicizes text</i>

<u>underlines text</u>

<tt>creates monospaced, or typewriter-style text</tt>

<center>centers text</center>

<pre>displays “preformatted” text to preserve line breaks and such</pre>

Insert the “on” code right before the text you want formatted, and insert the “off”code right after the selected text. For example, if you want to boldface a single wordin a sentence, make it look just like this:This is the sentence with the <b>highlighted</b> word.

It’s really that simple; just add the <b> and </b> codes around the text you wantboldfaced. The rest of your item description looks as normal as it did before.

Codes for FontsYou don’t have to settle for the standard Times Roman font used in every other eBaylisting; you can make your ad stand out with your own choice of font.

To specify a different font for a piece of text, use the following code:<font face=”xxxx”>text</font>

Replace xxxx with the name of the font you want. For example, if you want tochange the font to Arial, enter this code:<font face=”Arial”>text</font>

If you want to change the size of your text, use this code:<font size=”xx”>text</font>


20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 193

Replace the xx with the size you want, from -6 to +6, with -6 being the smallest, +6being the biggest, and 0 (or no size specified) being “normal” size type.

That’s right—you don’t specify the exact point size, just the relative size displayedonscreen. For example, if you want really tiny type, go with size -1 and enterthis code:<font size=”-1”>text</font>

You can also string these font codes together. Let’ssay you want to change your text to the largestpossible Times Roman; enter this code:<font face=”Times Roman” size=6>text</font>

Be careful about changing fonts within yourdescription. Combining too many different fontslooks garish. This might be something you wantto set at the beginning of your description andleave the same throughout the entire listing. (Ifso, just remember to put the </font> code at thevery end of your description.)

Codes for ColorAdding color to your text works pretty much thesame as changing the font or size. The code youuse looks like this:<font color=”#xxxxxx”>text</font>

Replace the six xs with the code for a specificcolor. Table 16.1 lists some basic color codes.

Table 16.1 Common HTML Color CodesColor Code

White FFFFFF

Red FF0000

Green 00FF00

Blue 0000FF

Magenta FF00FF

Cyan 00FFFF

Yellow FFFF00

Black 000000

Light gray DDDDDD


Just because you have aspecific font installed onyour computer doesn’tnecessarily mean that allthe other Web users whowill be viewing your ad have thesame font installed on their PCs. Ifyou change fonts in your listing,change to a common font that islikely to be pre-installed on allWindows computers. Arial andTimes Roman are always safe bets;choosing something more obscurecould ensure an unpredictable dis-play for your listing on many com-puters around the world.

caution

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As an example, suppose you want to color some text red. You use this code:<font color=”#FF0000”>red text</font>

Color is a good way to highlight important parts of your listing. You can put head-ings or subheadings in a different color or highlight selected words or phrases in thesame manner. Don’t use too many colors, however; if your ad looks like a rainbow,the color loses its capability to impact.

Codes That Insert ThingsSo far, I’ve shown you codes that format text. Other codes insert items into your doc-ument. These codes don’t have “on/off” pairs; they’re freestanding. These types ofcodes include the following:

■ <p> inserts a paragraph break

■ <br> inserts a line break

■ <hr> inserts a horizontal rule, or line

If you want to separate two paragraphs, you insert a <p> between the two blocks oftext. If you want to put a line between the two paragraphs, you insert <hr>.Sometimes, it’s good to use horizontal rules between different sections of your listing.

Codes for GraphicsAs you learned in Chapter 15, “Using Pictures in Your Listings,” adding pictures andother graphics to your listings really brings some excitement to the normally plain-text world of eBay. You can add pictures the eBay way (described in Chapter 15),which puts all your pictures at the end of your text description—or you can put apicture anywhere in your text, using HTML.

Before you can insert a graphic into your listing, you need to know the address ofthat graphic (in the form of a Web page URL). Then you use the following code:<img src=”URL”>

No “off” code is required for inserted graphics. Note that the location is enclosed inquotation marks—and that you have to insert the http:// part of the URL.

As an example, if your graphic is the file graphic01.jpg located atwww.webserver.com/mydirectory/, you insert this code:<img src=”http://www.webserver.com/mydirectory/graphic01.jpg”>

The nice thing about inserting graphics this way is that you can include more thanjust pictures—you can add logos, starbursts, you name it. (And you can put the


20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 195

graphics anywhere in your text description.) You use the same technique to link toany graphic image anywhere in your item listing.

Codes for LinksWeb pages are all about hyperlinks to other Webpages. Why should your eBay item listing be anydifferent?

If you want to include a hyperlink to another Webpage, use the following code:<a href=”URL”>this is the link</a>

The text between the on and off codes will appearonscreen as a typical underlined hyperlink; whenusers click that text, they’ll be linked to the URLyou specified in the code. Note that the URL isenclosed in quotation marks and that you have toinclude the http:// part of the address.

Here’s what a representative hyperlink code lookslike:<ahref=”http://www.webserver.com/mydirectory/mypage.htm”>Click for

my Web page</a>

You can include links in your listing to your own personal Web pages (a great idea ifyou have additional images of this specific item) or to related sites, such as a manu-facturer’s Web page that provides a more in-depth description of what you’re selling.

Codes for ListsFinally, if you have a lot of features to list for your item, you might want to formatthem in a bulleted list. Using HTML codes, it’s easy to create a neatly bulleted list foryour ad.

First, you enclose your bulleted list with the <ul> and </ul> codes. Then, you encloseeach bulleted item with the <li> and </li> codes.


eBay allows links topages that provide addi-

tional information about the itemlisted, additional photos of theitem, and your other eBay auc-tions. eBay prohibits links to pagesthat attempt to sell merchandiseoutside of eBay. Link at yourown risk.

20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 196


The code for a typical bulleted list looks like this:<ul>

<li>item one</li>

<li>item two</li>

<li>item three</li>

</ul>

Bulleted lists are great ways to run through a listof attributes or specifications; it’s a lot cleanerthan just listing a bunch of stuff within a longtext paragraph.


■ The easiest way to create a great-looking item listing is to apply a templatevia eBay’s Listing Designer.

■ You can also use listing-creation programs and services—such as eBay’s TurboLister—to create template-based item listings.

■ eBay lets you use HTML code to customize the appearance of your item’sdescription (but not the item title!).

■ For simple text formatting, use the formatting controls above eBay’s ItemDescription box.

■ For more complex formatting, you can apply HTML by hand—which meanslearning some basic HTML codes.cally create HTML listing code.

tipWhen you’re dealing with

complex coding like this, it’seasier to understand what’sgoing on if you indent thedifferent levels of code.

20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 197

20 0789731053 F CH16.qxd 3/10/04 3:28 PM Page 198

In this chapter

• Downloading and Configuring the TurboLister Software

• Creating an Item Listing

• Creating Listings for Commonly Sold Items

• Uploading Your Listings

17

Automating Item Listing

with eBay Turbo Lister

As you learned in Chapter 10, “Selling 101: A Tutorial for Beginning

Sellers,” creating an item listing with eBay’s standard Sell Your Item

pages isn’t that hard. However, if you have a lot of items to list,

this page-by-page process can be time-consuming. Going through

that cumbersome procedure for a dozen or more items isn’t very

appealing—trust me.

A better solution if you have a lot of items to list is to use a bulk listing

program or service. These tools let you create a large number of item

listings in advance, and even reuse saved listings—great if you run mul-

tiple auctions for similar items. You then schedule your auctions to

launch at the time of your choosing, and you’re done with it.

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Several of these bulk listing tools are available, but the most popular one is avail-able from eBay free of charge. This program is called Turbo Lister, and it also letsyou create great-looking item listings through the use of predesigned templates.

Downloading and Configuring the Turbo Lister Software

Turbo Lister is a software program that you installon your own PC. When you run Turbo Lister, youcan create your eBay item listings offline, at yourleisure. Then, when you’re ready, it uploads allyour listings at once, with the click of a button.Creating multiple auctions couldn’t be easier.

Downloading Turbo ListerTo download the Turbo Lister software, go topages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/. The program is freeand there are no monthly subscription fees—whichmakes it the program of choice for cost-conscious sell-ers.

Configuring Turbo ListerBefore you use Turbo Lister, you need to configure it for your specific auction listings.You do this from the Options & Preferences dialog box, which you open by pullingdown the Tools menu and selecting Options.

As you can see in Figure 17.1, the Options & Preferences dialog box is divided intotwo parts. The left side contains a menu tree of options; the specifics for the selectedoption are displayed on the right.

You’ll want to go through each and every option to make sure that Turbo Lister is setup properly for your upcoming auctions. The options you set here determine theinformation used by default in your listings; you can always edit any piece of infor-mation when you create an individual auction.

Table 17.1 details the options available in the Options & Preferences dialog box.


I’m a big fan of TurboLister. I use it to create

all my item listings, even if I’mlisting just a single item. It makesthe listing creation processextremely fast and easy—and Ican do it on my own time,offline!

Mike Sez“ ”

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Table 17.1 Turbo Lister Options and PreferencesType of Information Options Specifics

Personal Information eBay Account User ID and password

Personal Address Street and email address

Payment Address Billing address (if different from regularaddress)

PayPal Account Email address used for your PayPalaccount

Seller Options eBay Sites Country sites where you list your items

eBay Store Use to create an eBay Store (for profes-sional sellers)

Default Site & Format Choose selling format: Auction, FixedPrice, or Ad Format (for real estatelistings)

Auction Defaults Format Specifics Duration, quantity, starting price, BuyIt Now price, reserve price, private auc-tion, who pays shipping costs

Item Location Location and region you’re shippingfrom

Listing Enter any default text you want toappear at the bottom of your listings(good for stating payment, shipping,and returns policies)

CHAPTER 17 AUTOMATING ITEM LISTING WITH EBAY TURBO LISTER 201

FIGURE 17.1

Configuring

Turbo Lister via

the Options &

Preferences

dialog box.

21 0789731053 F CH17.qxd 3/10/04 3:02 PM Page 201

Shipping Costs Information for either flat or calculatedshipping costs

Ship-To Locations Where you’ll ship your items

Payment Methods Payment methods you’ll accept (includ-ing PayPal)

Payment Instructions Enter any default payment instructionsyou want to appear in all your listings

Listing Upgrades Gallery, Gallery Featured, Bold,Highlight, Featured Plus!, HomepageFeatured, Show As Gift, Subtitle

Ad Defaults Format Specifics For eBay Store items; duration andprice

Item Location For eBay Store items; your location andregion

Fixed Price Defaults Format Specifics For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Item Location For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Listing For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Shipping Costs For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Ship-To Locations For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Payment Methods For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Payment Instructions For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Listing Upgrades For fixed-price items; same as AuctionDefaults

Advanced Options Advanced Options Automatically download programupdates, show reminder messages,other optional features


Type of Information Options Specifics

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Creating an Item ListingThe Turbo Lister software is quite easy to use. Ituses a series of forms to request informationabout your listings. It also includes predesignedtemplates and a WYSIWYG editor that lets youcreate great-looking listings. Here’s how it works:

1. From the main Turbo Lister screen, clickthe Create New button.

2. When the Create a New Item screenappears, as shown in Figure 17.2, selectthe eBay Site (country) you’re selling inand your preferred auction format—typi-cally the Auction option. Click Next toproceed.


FIGURE 17.2

Select your

country and

auction format.

3. When the next screen appears, as shown in Figure 17.3, enter your item titleand optional subtitle, and then select a category. Previously used categoriesare available from the pull-down list; if you don’t know the category, clickthe Find Category button to display the Select a Category dialog box andbrowse through the full list. While you’re on this page, enter any itemspecifics, if appropriate. Click Next to proceed.

tipIf you’re selling a book,

CD, DVD, or video game,you have the option of usingeBay’s pre-filled informationand stock photos. Click the

Try Now button to use thisfeature; read on to the

“Creating Listings for CommonlySold Items” section of this chapterto learn more.

21 0789731053 F CH17.qxd 3/10/04 3:02 PM Page 203


FIGURE 17.3

Creating a new

auction item

with Turbo

Lister.

FIGURE 17.4

Use Turbo

Lister’s Design

View to enter

and format your

item description.

4. When the Design Your Listing screen appears, as shown in Figure 17.4, startby selecting a theme from the Theme list on the left, and then select a picturelayout from the Layout list. (The Standard layout puts your pictures belowyour formatted description—but it also lets you use the Supersize option.)

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5. Still on the same screen, enter your itemdescription into the Description box. (That’sthe one with the broken border.) Format thetext by using the editing controls (bold,italic, and so forth) at the top of the window.If you prefer, select the HTML View tab toenter raw HTML codes; otherwise, stay withthe Design View tab.

6. Still on the same screen, it’s time to add pic-tures to your listing. Scroll down and clickthe Click Here to Insert a Picture box; thisopens the Insert Picture dialog box. Locateand select the picture you want to insert,and then click the Insert button. To insertadditional pictures, repeat this procedure. Ifyou have a lot of pictures, you might wantto select the Picture Pack option; if you’reusing the Standard layout, you can alsochoose to Supersize your pictures. Click Nextwhen you’re ready to move on.

7. When the Format Specifics screen appears, as shown in Figure 17.5, enter the following information: duration, quantity, startingprice, Buy It Now price (optional), reserveprice (optional), private auction(optional), and who pays shipping costs.

8. Still on the same screen, examine theshipping costs, payment methods, ship-tolocations, payment address, item loca-tion, and listing upgrades information. Ifyou don’t want to accept the default val-ues, click the appropriate Change buttonand enter new data.

9. Click the Save button to save this listing.

You’ve just created a new item listing—but you haven’t launched the auction yet.This new item is added to your item inventory, which is what Turbo Lister calls yourdatabase of item listings. To turn this inventory item into a live auction, you have toupload it to eBay—which you’ll learn how to do in the “Uploading Your Listings”section, later in this chapter.


Step 6 assumes thatyou’re using eBay’s Picture

Services. If your picture is hostedon another site, click the ChangePhoto Hosting link in the OtherTasks section; when the PhotoHosting dialog box appears, selectthe Your Own Web Hostingoption. Now when you click theClick Here to Insert a Picture box,you’ll be prompted for the URL ofthe picture you want to insert.

tipTo see how your listing will

look on the Web, select thePreview tab.

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Creating Listings for Commonly Sold ItemsAs you learned back in Chapter 10, if you’re sell-ing commonly sold items—books, audio books,audio cassettes, CDs, DVDs, VHS tapes, or videogames—you can use eBay’s pre-filled itemdescription feature to automatically create itemdescriptions, complete with stock product photos.Turbo Lister makes this feature even better byletting you create listings for multiple items atone time; all you have to do is enter the name ornumber of your items, and Turbo Lister will cre-ate multiple listings.

To create multiple listings of this type, followthese steps:

1. Click the down arrow next to the CreateNew button, and select Create Multiple Items.

2. When the opening screen appears, click Next.

3. When the Enter Multiple Items screen appears, as shown in Figure 17.6, pulldown the Select Product Type list and select which type of items you’re selling.


FIGURE 17.5

Enter listing

details on the

Format Specifics

page.

tipTo edit any listing you’ve

created, select the ItemInventory tab and then double-click the item listing.This opens the Edit Item

dialog box; make yourchanges and then click the

Save button.

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4. Still on the same page, pull down the Item 1Search By list and select how you want tosearch for the item (UPC or ISBN is mostaccurate), and then enter the keywords ornumber into the adjoining box. Repeat thisstep to enter multiple items.

5. Still on the same page, pull down the SelectSelling Format list and select Auction, andthen click Next.

6. Turbo Lister connects to the Internet andsearches for the items you entered. Theresults are displayed on a results page, likethe one shown in Figure 17.7. Select the itemsthat correctly match the items you’re selling, and then click Next.

7. Turbo Lister downloads the appropriate information for each of these items,and then displays the You’re Almost Done! screen. Click the Save button toproceed.

8. You’re now taken to the Item Inventory tab in the main Turbo Lister window.Each of your newly created items is listed, along with a corresponding Editbutton. You have to choose a listing category and enter auction details (suchas starting price) for each item. Click the Edit button for each item to displaythe Edit Item screen, as shown in Figure 17.8; enter the required informationand then click the Save button. Repeat this step for each item you’ve added.


FIGURE 17.6

Selling

commonly sold

items.

If you want to list morethan 10 items, click the

Add More Items button.

21 0789731053 F CH17.qxd 3/10/04 3:02 PM Page 207


FIGURE 17.7

Choosing the

items you’re

selling.

FIGURE 17.8

Editing an

inventory

item before

uploading.

When you’ve finished editing each of these new listings, they’re ready to upload—which is what we’ll do next.

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Uploading Your ListingsTurbo Lister keeps all your item listings—past and pending—in an inventory list. Toview the items in your inventory, click the Item Inventory tab on the main TurboLister screen. As you can see in Figure 17.9, this tab lists all the items you’ve created;from here you can edit, delete, or create duplicate items.


FIGURE 17.9

Viewing the

item listings in

your inventory.

When you have an auction that you’re ready to launch, followthese steps:

1. Select the Item Inventory tab.

2. Select the item(s) you want to launch.

3. Click the Add to Upload button; this copiesthe item(s) to your upload list. (The origi-nal items still appear in your inventorylisting, so you can reuse them for addi-tional auctions later.)

4. Turbo Lister displays the You’re AlmostFinished dialog box; click the Go UploadListings button.

Remember, just becausean item appears in yourinventory list doesn’tmean that it has beenlaunched as an eBay auc-tion. You have to manually selectwhich items you want to list, andthen upload those items to eBay.

caution

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5. This action displays the Listings Waiting to Upload tab, shown in Figure17.10. (You can also select this tab manually.) This tab shows all items wait-ing to be uploaded.


FIGURE 17.10

Items waiting to

be uploaded to

eBay.

6. To calculate your listing fees for these items, click the Calculate Listing Fee(s)button.

7. To change the starting time for an item, select the item and then click theChange Start Time button. When the ReSchedule dialog box appears, make anew selection and then click OK. (Remember, you’ll pay $0.10 per listing toschedule a later start time.)

8. When you’re ready to upload these items, click the Upload All to eBaybutton.

Turbo Lister now connects to the eBay site and uploads the selected item listings.Those listings that are set to start immediately do so, and items with a future starttime are sent to eBay’s Pending Listings section. These auctions will go live at thetime(s) you previously scheduled.

Pretty easy, huh? Just remember that you pay an extra $0.10 for every item you sub-mit with Turbo Lister, due to the use of eBay’s pay-per-use templates. (It’s the samewhen you use these templates with the standard Listing Designer feature.)

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■ Turbo Lister can create multiple listings—complete with fancy formatting andtemplates—offline, and then upload all these listings at one time.

■ The Turbo Lister software is available for downloading from eBay—and it’sfree!

■ Before you use Turbo Lister, you have to configure it to display variousdefault information for your auction listings.

■ The listings you create are added to Turbo Lister’s inventory list; you thenhave to upload these listings to eBay in order to start the auctions.

■ You can also use Turbo Lister to create multiple listings for commonly solditems, using eBay’s pre-filled item description feature.

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In this chapter

• Keeping Tabs on Your Current Auctions

• Editing In-Process Auctions

• Answering Bidder Questions

• Promoting Your Auctions

18

Managing the

Auction Process

After you’ve placed your item listing and your auction is underway, you

can just sit back and count the bids for the next seven (or so) days,

right?

Wrong.

There’s plenty for a motivated seller to do over the course of an eBay

auction. Not only can you keep track of the current bids, but you also

might have to answer questions from bidders, update your item listing,

cancel bids from questionable bidders, and—on rare occasions—cancel

the entire auction.

Auctioning an item on eBay is work!

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Keeping Tabs on Your Current AuctionsWhen you’re running only one or two auctions at a time, it’s relatively easy to godirectly to the item listing pages to check the status of those auctions. But what doyou do if you’re running a half-dozen, or a dozen, or several dozen auctionssimultaneously?

If you’re a busy seller, you need some way to consolidate all the information fromall your auctions-in-process—the number of bidders, the high bids, and the time leftuntil the auction ends. Fortunately, several tools are available to you for just thispurpose.

Receiving Daily Updates from eBayOne of the most convenient ways to keep track of your in-process auctions is to leteBay do it for you. You can configure eBay to send you an email message everymorning, containing key information about all your open auctions—as well as allthe auctions in which you’re currently bidding.

To automatically receive eBay’s Daily Status report, follow these steps:

1. Click the My eBay link above the Navigation Bar, select the Preferences tab,and click Change My Notification Preferences to display the Change YourNotification Preferences page.

2. Check those emails you want to receive, and uncheck those you don’t. (Inparticular, check the Bidding and Selling Daily Status option.)

3. Check whether you want to receive these messages as simple text-only emailor more appealing HTML email.

4. Scroll down and select which other items you do or don’t want to receive—including product surveys, special promotions (spam), direct (snail) mail, andtelemarketing calls(!).

5. Click the Save My Changes button.

As you can see on the Change Your Notification Preferences page, eBay has lots of email messages that you can choose to receive. These messages include the following:

■ Outbid notices (notification that you’ve just been outbid in a specific auction)

■ End of item notices (notification for unsuccessful bidders that an auction hasended)

■ Second-chance offer notices (offers from the seller on items you have bid onbut not won)


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■ Bid notices (confirmation that you’ve com-pleted a bid on an item)

■ Bidding and selling daily status (dailyupdate on all items you’re selling or biddingon)

■ Item watch reminder (daily notification ofall items on your watch list that end within36 hours)

■ Listing confirmation (confirmation thatyou’ve successfully listed an item for sale)

Using My eBayeBay’s Daily Status Report is a nice auction management tool—especially becauseeBay does all the work and emails you the results once a day. But what if you wantto check the current status of your auctions in the middle of the afternoon, or late atnight? If you want the latest auction information, you need a tool that accesses cur-rent auction information at any hour of the day.

One way to gather this live information is to perform a search on your user name.eBay will display all your open auctions as the results of this search.

But typing in your user information every time you want to check your auctions isunnecessarily time-consuming. Better to go to a single page that automatically dis-plays all your auction info.

You can find such a page in My eBay. As you discovered in Chapter 3, “Creating aHome Base with My eBay,” this page displays key information about all your eBayactivities—including items you’re selling, watching, and bidding on, as well asrecent feedback you’ve received.

When you click the My eBay link on eBay’s Navigation Bar, you’re taken to yourMy eBay page. If it’s not already selected, click the All Selling link to display the AllSelling page.

The Items I’m Selling section of this page dis-plays the item number, title, current price, num-ber of bids, and time left for each of your openauctions. By default, this page sorts your auc-tions by the time left, with the items ending firstshown first in the list. You can change the sortorder by clicking any item heading; for example,if you want to sort by current high bid, click theCurrent Price heading.

CHAPTER 18 MANAGING THE AUCTION PROCESS 215

You can’t opt not toreceive end-of-auction

notices.

tipDisplay the latest up-to-

the-second bid informationby clicking the Refresh orReload button in your Webbrowser.

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Using Auction Management Software and ServicesIf you’re a high-volume individual seller or a merchant selling a ton of items oneBay, it gets really tedious really fast handling each and every auction—the listing,the ad creation, the auction management, the email notifications—one auction at atime. Automating some of your auction-management tasks would make the processeasier.

Many users choose to outsource their auction management to an outside service, orutilize dedicated software programs to do the management for them. These pro-grams and services not only track the progress of in-process auctions, but also man-age all manner of post-auction activity.

One of the most popular of these auction-management services is eBay’s very own eBaySelling Manager (pages.ebay.com/selling_manager/).For just $4.99 per month, Selling Manager will letyou manage your pending listings, monitor buyeractivity for in-process auctions, track post-auctionactivity, send email to your buyers, print invoicesand shipping labels, and leave user feedback—allfrom a special tab on your My eBay page. It’s oneof eBay’s best new features, and definitely worthchecking out.

For higher-volume sellers, I like Ándale(www.andale.com). It’s a bit expensive ($0.20 for eachitem listed and another $0.20 for each buyer usingÁndale’s Checkout system), but the management andemail functions are both more sophisticated and eas-ier to use. Ándale, like many similar services, auto-matically sends high bidders an end-of-auctionemail directing them to a special checkout page onthe Ándale site. The buyer fills in all the informa-tion at Ándale, saving you the trouble of manuallymanaging the end-of-auction process. (The onlything you have to do manually is handle check ormoney order payments, and ship and pack theitem!) Similar services include Auctiva eBud(www.auctiva.com) and Vendio Sales Manager(www.vendio.com).


Learn more about eBaySelling Manager in Chapter

20, “Automating AuctionManagement with eBay SellingManager.”

For a more complete listof auction management

programs, see Chapter 28, “UsingAuction Software and Services.”

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Editing In-Process AuctionsSometimes you have to do more than just track your auctions. Sometimes you actu-ally have to change an item listing.

Updating Your Auction ListingMaybe you’ve received additional information about the item you’re selling. Maybea bidder has asked a question and you feel that question (and your answer) shouldbe part of your item listing. Maybe you flat out made a mistake in your original list-ing and want to offer a correction in the item listing.

Whatever your reason might be, eBay makes it relatively easy to update your itemlisting.

If your listing hasn’t received any bids yet, you can actually edit the original listing.eBay lets you edit your title, description, and pictures—as long as no one has yetplaced a bid. To edit your listing, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to the item listing page.

2. Click the Revise Item link (located at the top of your listing, just below theitem title).

3. Follow the onscreen instructions to access the listing editing screen.

4. Make the appropriate changes to your listing and then click the Submitbutton.

What do you do if you need to update your listing and you’ve already received a bidor two on the item? In this instance, eBay won’t let you revise your item descriptionor details; instead, when you go to revise your item, all you can do is add supple-mental text below your existing item description—which is better than nothing.

Deleting Unwelcome BiddersWhat do you do if a known deadbeat bidder makes a bid in one of your auctions?Although you could just sit back and pray that the deadbeat gets outbid, a betterapproach is to cancel that user’s bid—and block that user from ever bidding in oneof your auctions again.

Here’s what to do:

1. Start by canceling the bid in question. Go to the Site Map page and click theCancel Bids on My Item link. When the Bid Cancellation page appears, can-cel that user’s bid.


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2. Now you want to block the bidder from any ofyour future auctions. Go to the Site Map pageand click the Blocked Bidder/Buyer List link.When the Bidder/Buyer Management pageappears, scroll to the Blocked Bidder/BuyerList section and click Continue.

3. When the Blocked Bidder/Buyer List pageappears, add the buyer’s user name to thelist; separate multiple names with commas.


Now you don’t have to worry about that question-able bid, and the deadbeat bidder won’t be able tobother you again.

Canceling an AuctionOne last little bit of auction maintenance: What do you do if you need to cancel anauction completely?

It happens, you know. Maybe you have an unexpected trip come up, so you won’tbe home when your auction ends (and when the item will need to ship). Maybe youdiscover you really don’t have the item you thought you have. Maybe you drop theitem and break it into a zillion pieces. Or maybe someone comesalong with a better offer and you decide to sell the item outsideof eBay.

In any case, if you need to cancel an auction,eBay will accommodate you—as long as youhave a good excuse, and don’t make a habit of it.

Here’s how to cancel an auction in process:

1. Go to the Site Map page and click theCancel Bids on My Item link. When theBid Cancellation page appears, cancel thefirst bid on your item. Then return to thispage as many times as necessary to cancel all the outstanding bids.

2. After you’ve canceled all the bids, go to the Site Map page and click the EndMy Listing link. When the End My Listing Early page appears, enter the auc-tion item number. Click the Continue button to proceed, and then click theEnd Auction button to officially cancel your auction.


You can ferret outdeadbeat bidders by exam-

ining the feedback rating andcomments for the high bidders ineach of your auctions.

Frequent early cancella-tions may cause eBay torevoke your member-ship.

caution

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Answering Bidder QuestionsOver the course of a popular auction, chances arethat a few potential bidders will ask questionsabout your item or your auction. eBay lets biddersemail sellers during the course of an auction, sodon’t be surprised if you get a few emails fromstrangers asking unusual questions.

These questions will come to the email account youspecified when you became an eBay member.Bidders can send these emails by clicking the AskSeller a Question link on the item listing page.

When you receive a question from a potential bid-der, answer that question promptly, courteously,and accurately. It’s in your best interest to make thequestioner happy; after all, that person could turnout to be your high bidder.

Promoting Your AuctionsHere’s something else you can do after you’ve started your auction: Tell peopleabout it!

Yes, it’s allowable (and encouraged) to promote your auction outside of eBay. Youcan drop notes about the item you’re selling in newsgroups, message boards, andmailing lists; you can email your friends and family and colleagues and let themknow about your auction; you can even include links to your auctions on your ownpersonal Web page.

Linking to Specific Item ListingsWhen you mention your auction, be sure toinclude the URL for the specific item listing page.It should look like this:cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=xx

All you have to do is replace xx with the actualauction item number for your particular item,and you’ve created a direct link to your auctionpage.


You reply to the ques-tion by using the Reply fea-

ture of your email software. Thereply goes directly to the othermember, without looping backthrough eBay.

tipAn easier way to obtain

the link to your auction is tonavigate to the item listingpage and copy the URL fromthe address box in your Web

browser.

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Linking to All Your Auction ListingsTo create a permanent link to all your eBay auctions, go to the Link Your Site toeBay Page (pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/link-buttons.html) and follow theinstructions to add a My Listings with eBay button to your Web site.

Alternatively, you can add a link to your About Me page (discussed in Chapter 24,“Creating Your Personal About Me Page”). Just link to the following URL:members.ebay.com/aboutme/userid/. Be sure to replace userid with your own eBayuser ID.


■ Configure eBay so that you receive a daily status report for your open auc-tions in each morning’s email.

■ You can use My eBay for up-to-the-minute tracking of all your open auctions.

■ Some users prefer to use a third-party program or service to manage their in-process auctions and post-auction activity.

■ When a potential bidder asks you a question about your auction, answer it—promptly and accurately.

■ If you need to, you can update or append your item listing in the middle ofan auction, as well as cancel individual bids, block unwanted bidders, andcancel the entire auction.

■ Promote your auctions by linking to the URL of your item listing pages onyour personal Web page, in email correspondence, and in newsgroups,message boards, and mailing lists.

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In this chapter

• The Post-Auction Process

• Communicating with the Winning Bidder

• Accepting Payment

• Packing and Shipping

• Finishing Things Up and Leaving Feedback

• Handling Buyer Complaints and Problems

• What If You Don’t Sell Your Item?

• What If the Buyer Doesn’t Pay?

19

After the Auction:

Concluding Your

Business

You’ve waited the requisite 7 (or 1 or 3 or 5 or 10) days, and your

auction has finally ended. What comes next?

The post-auction process involves more work, in most cases, than the

listing process. You have to contact the buyer, arrange payment, receive

payment, pack the item, ship the item, and leave feedback. And that’s

if everything goes smoothly!

The post-auction process can also be a long one, depending on how the

buyer pays. If the buyer pays by PayPal (or other credit card method) as

soon as the auction ends, the post-auction process can be over that day

or the next—as soon as you pack and ship the item. If, on the other

hand, the buyer pays by check—and is a little slow in putting the check

in the mail—the post-auction process can last two or three weeks.

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That means, of course, that you need to remember this potential time lag whenyou’re planning your auction activity. For example, if you’re planning to go onvacation in two weeks, now is not the best time to list an item for auction. You needto allocate a full month, from beginning to end, when you’re planning your auctionlistings. If your buyers help you complete the process faster, that’s great. But therewill always be that one last buyer who hasn’t sent the check yet—and there goesyour schedule!

The Post-Auction ProcessWhat happens during the post-auction process is actually rather cut and dried. Putsimply, you contact the winning bidder with a final price; he or she sends paymentto you; you pocket the payment; you package and ship the item; the buyer receivesthe item; and you both leave feedback for each other.

In checklist form, here’s what you have to look forward to:

Checklist: After the Auction| Receive an end-of-auction email from eBay

| Send an email to the high bidder (containing final price and payment infor-mation)—or rely on eBay’s Checkout procedure for this entire process

| Receive payment from the buyer—and wait for payment to clear, if necessary

| Package the item

| Ship the item to the high bidder

| Leave feedback for the buyer

Communicating with the Winning BidderMinutes after the conclusion of your auction, eBay will notify you by email thatyour auction has ended. This email message, like the one shown in Figure 19.1, willinclude the user ID and email address of the item’s high bidder.

It is now your responsibility to contact that high bidder to arrange payment andshipping. What you need to do, as soon as possible, is to email the high bidder withthe following information:

■ Your name and address so that the buyer will know where to send thepayment


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■ Your email address so that the buyer cancontact you with any questions orproblems

■ The total amount the buyer owes you—which will be the final auction price plusa reasonable shipping and handling fee

■ Your preferred method of payment orpayment options (check, cashier’s check,money order, credit card, and so on)

One quick way to do this is to let eBay send apreformatted invoice to the buyer—which youcan do from that end-of-auction email. All youhave to do is click the Create and Send an Invoicelink; this launches your Web browser, which con-nects to the eBay site and loads the Send Invoice to Buyer page, shown in Figure 19.2. Edit the payment information and instructionsas necessary, and then click the Send Invoice button to email the thing.

CHAPTER 19 AFTER THE AUCTION: CONCLUDING YOUR BUSINESS 223

FIGURE 19.1

A typical eBay

email notifying

you of the end

of your auction.

tipYou can use various

auction-management toolsto handle all this post-auction messaging and pro-cessing for you. One of the

most popular tools is eBaySelling Manager; learn

more in Chapter 20, “AutomatingAuction Management with eBaySelling Manager.”

23 0789731053 F CH19.qxd 3/10/04 3:27 PM Page 223

The winning bidder should now respond to your end-of-auction email. This can bevia a return email message, or by using eBay’s Checkout system. If a buyer uses theeBay Checkout, eBay will send you an email notifying you that Checkout has beencompleted.

If you haven’t heard back from the buyer in a day or two, send another email. If,after three days, you still haven’t been able to contact the buyer, you can considerthat person a deadbeat bidder. See Chapter 22, “Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders,” tolearn how to deal with this situation.

Accepting PaymentNow it’s time to get paid. As recommended in Chapter 12, “Deciding on YourPayment Methods—and Using PayPal,” you’ve presumably determined how youwant to get paid, and indicated so in your item listing. You need to repeat your pre-ferred payment methods in your post-auction email to the high bidder, and thenwait for that user to make the payment.

Whatever you do, do not ship the item before you’ve received payment! Wait untilyou’ve received a cashier’s check or money order in the mail, or been notified byPayPal that a credit card payment has been made, and then prepare to ship theitem.


FIGURE 19.2

Sending an

invoice to the

winning bidder.

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When you receive payment, it’s good business practice to email thebuyer and let him or her know that the payment has beenreceived. If you know when you’ll be shipping theitem, include that information in the email, aswell.

And if the buyer never sends payment? Turn toChapter 22 for my detailed advice.

Packing and ShippingOne of the most crucial parts of the post-auctionprocess is packing the item you’ve just sold. Thisprocess is so important, and so complicated, thatI’ve devoted an entire chapter to it. So when you’re ready to pack, turn to Chapter21, “Shipping It Out—Cheaply and Safely,” for more information.

Finishing Things Up and Leaving FeedbackAs you ship the sold item, there are two more things you need to do:

■ First, send an email to the buyer, letting him or her know that the item is onits way. (You should note in your message when and by which method theitem was shipped—and if you have a tracking or confirmation number, passit along.)

■ Second, you need to leave feedback about the buyer. Whether it was a goodtransaction or a bad transaction, you need to let your fellow eBay membersknow how things turned out.

To leave feedback for the buyer, follow these instructions:

1. Go to the listing page for the item you just sold and click the Leave Feedbacklink.

2. When the Leave Feedback page appears, indicate whether you’re leavingPositive, Negative, or Neutral feedback, and then enter your comments (80characters, maximum) in the Comment box.

3. Make sure you really want to leave the comments you’ve written, and thenclick the Leave Feedback button. Your feedback will be registered and addedinto the buyer’s other feedback comments.

See Chapter 25, “Understanding and Using Feedback,” for more information aboutthe type of feedback to leave in different situations.


Remember, if you receivea payment via personalcheck, wait at least 10working days for thatpayment to clear beforeyou ship the item.

caution

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Handling Buyer Complaints and ProblemsNot all auctions go smoothly. Maybe the item arrived damaged. Maybe it didn’tarrive at all. Maybe it wasn’t exactly what the buyer thought he was getting. Maybethe buyer is a loud, complaining, major-league son of a rutabaga.

In any case, if you have a complaining customer, you need to do something aboutit. Here are some of your options:

■ Ignore them. If you specified “all sales are final” in your item listing, youdon’t technically have to do anything else at this point. Of course, complain-ing customers tend to leave negative feedback, and might even complain toeBay about you.

■ If the item never arrived, put a trace on theshipment, if you can.

■ If the item was insured, you can initiate aclaim for the lost or damaged item. (SeeChapter 21 for more information on filinginsurance claims.)

■ Negotiate a lower price for a damaged ordisappointing item, and refund the differ-ence to the buyer.

■ Offer to refund the purchase price if the itemis returned to you.

■ Offer a full refund on the item, no questionsasked, no further action necessary. (Withthis option, the buyer doesn’t have to botherwith shipping it back to you; this is the wayNordstrom would take care of it.)

What If You Don’t Sell Your Item?Not every item up for auction on eBay sells. (eBay’s “close rate” is right around50%—which means that half the items listed at any given time don’t sell.) If youreach the end of the auction and you haven’t received any bids—or you haven’treceived high-enough bids in a reserve auction—you need to drop back ten andpunt, and figure out what to do next.

Perhaps the easiest thing to do if your item didn’t sell is to try again—by relistingyour item. eBay makes this easy for you, by including a Relist Your Item link right


There are really nohard and fast rules for

handling post-auction problems.You have to play it by ear andresolve each complaint to the bestof your ability. Most eBay usersare easy to deal with and justwant to be treated fairly. Otherswon’t be satisfied no matter whatyou offer them. You have to useyour own best judgment on howto handle individual situations.

Mike Sez“ ”

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on the original item listing page. Click this link tocreate a new item listing, based on the old itemlisting.

When you relist an item that didn’t sell the firsttime, eBay still charges you a listing fee for the sec-ond listing. However, eBay will refund this secondlisting fee if your item sells the second time around.(But not if it doesn’t.) You will, of course, have topay the normal end-of-auction fee if the item sellsthe second time around.

What If the Buyer Doesn’t Pay?To an eBay seller, the worst thing in the world is ahigh bidder who disappears from the face of theearth. When you never receive payment for an auc-tion item, you’re dealing with a deadbeat bidder—and you’re pretty much hosed. Still, you can reportthe bum to eBay, ask for a refund of your finalvalue fee, and maybe offer the item in question tothe second-highest bidder.

To learn more about how to handle a nonpaying buyer situation, turn toChapter 22.


■ When the auction ends, eBay will contact you (and the high bidder) withend-of-auction information.

■ You should then contact the high bidder with your final price and paymentinformation.

■ After you receive payment, pack and ship the item—and leave feedback forthe high bidder.

■ If an item doesn’t sell, relist it—and if it sells the second time around, eBaywill refund the second listing fee.

■ If the high bidder is somehow dissatisfied, try to work out a mutually agree-able solution.

If you choose to relistyour item, realize that

there was probably somethingabout the first listing that keptthe item from selling. Maybe thestarting price was too high;maybe the headline stank; maybeyou didn’t include a picture;maybe the description was toobrief. (And maybe you just havean item that nobody wants tobuy!) You need to figure outwhat was wrong with the firstlisting and change it on therelist—otherwise, you’re probablydoomed to another unsuccessfulauction.

Mike Sez“ ”

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In this chapter

• Introducing eBay Selling Manager

• Sending Buyer Emails

• Receiving Payment

• Printing Invoices and Shipping Labels

• After the Item Is Shipped

20

Automating Auction

Management with eBay

Selling Manager

In the preceding chapter you learned how important it is to manage all

your post-auction activity—sending out emails to winning bidders,

keeping track of who has paid and who hasn’t, preparing items for

shipping, leaving feedback, and the like. If you run only a few auctions

at a time, you can probably manage this activity by hand. But if you’re

running a half-dozen or more auctions simultaneously, it gets tough to

keep track of everything you need to do.

When your number of active auctions increases, you should think about

using some sort of auction management tool to help you keep things in

control. Although various third-party auction management services are

available (which you’ll learn about in Chapter 28, “Using Auction

Software and Services”), for many users the best tool is available from

eBay itself. It’s called eBay Selling Manager, and it’s both easy to use and

affordable.

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Introducing eBay Selling ManagereBay Selling Manager is eBay’s official auction management tool. It lets you keeptrack of current and pending auctions, as well as all your closed auctions; you canuse Selling Manager to send emails to winning bidders, print invoices and shippinglabels, and even leave feedback. Everything you need to do is accessed over the Web,on the eBay site, through your normal Web browser. When you subscribe to SellingManager, the All Selling page of My eBay is transformed into a Selling Managerpage. From here, Selling Manager lets you manage all your post-auction activity.

To subscribe to eBay Selling Manager, go to pages.ebay.com/selling_manager/. The sub-scription cost is $4.99 per month.

How Selling Manager WorksTo use Selling Manager, all you have to do is go to your My eBay page and click thenew Selling Manager link. As you can see in Figure 20.1, the main Selling Managerpage provides an overview of all your active and closed auctions.

The Summary page divides your auctions into three major categories:


FIGURE 20.1

Access eBay

Selling Manager

from your My

eBay page.

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■ Pending Listings. These are auctions you’ve scheduled to launch later.Selling Manager lists separately those auctions starting within the next hourand those starting sometime today.

■ Active Listings. These are your current auctions—those that have alreadystarted but not yet ended. Selling Manager lists separately those auctionsclosing within the next hour and those closing sometime today. The totalvalue of current bids on these auctions is listed to the side of this section.

■ Sold Listings. These are auctions that have closed successfully.

The Manage Listings section in the left column also includes links to unsold listings(auctions that closed without any successful bids) and archived listings (auctionsyou’ve finished and stored in the Selling Manager archive). There are also links tovarious seller tools (including your sales historyand your PayPal account) and, at the bottom ofthe page, a number of selling-related links(revise item, cancel bids, end auction early, andso on).

The most useful aspect of Selling Manager comesafter the close of an auction. When you displayany of the Sold Listings pages, like the one inFigure 20.2, you see a list of closed auctions,with the customer status indicated by a series oficons. You can select an individual auction tomark it paid or shipped, or to send it to your per-sonal archive. You can also send various email messages to the winners of your auc-tions, and enter buyer shipping information to print invoices and shipping labels.

CHAPTER 20 AUTOMATING AUCTION MANAGEMENT 231

tipIf you'd rather display the

original My eBay All Sellingpage instead of SellingManager, click the OriginalMy eBay Selling link.

FIGURE 20.2

Displaying a list

of your closed

auctions.

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For Higher-Volume Sellers: eBay SellingManager Pro

Selling Manager isn’t perfect. One of its biggestproblems is that you pretty much have to manageone auction at a time—it lacks features that let youmanage multiple auctions in bulk. If you’re a high-volume seller, a better solution is eBay’s higher-endSelling Manager Pro, which offers bulk manage-ment features. For $15.99 per month, SellingManager Pro does everything the basic SellingManager does, plus more:

■ Sends email messages in bulk

■ Leaves feedback in bulk

■ Manages individual inventory items, andissues restock alerts

■ Generates a monthly profit and loss report,including all eBay fees and cost of goods sold

Selling Manager Pro also incorporates all the bulk listing features of Turbo Lister. Asyou can see, this is a more complete auction management tool meant to competedirectly with the offerings from Ándale, Vendio, and other third parties.

You can learn more about—and subscribe to—Selling Manager Pro atpages.ebay.com/selling_manager_pro/.

Sending Buyer EmailsProbably the most useful feature of Selling Manager is the capability to send variousend-of-auction email messages to winning bidders.

Selling Manager includes six boilerplate messages, all of which you can customize:

■ Winning buyer notification

■ Payment reminder

■ Request shipping address

■ Payment received

■ Item shipped

■ Feedback reminder


I find eBay SellingManager an extremely

useful tool if I have a moderatenumber of auctions runningsimultaneously. Running just afew auctions makes SellingManager cost-prohibitive on aper-auction basis—and if I’mmanaging several dozen auctions,I come to curse its lack of batchemail features. Still, for many sell-ers, Selling Manager does a finejob—and is a lot better than try-ing to manage post-auction activ-ity manually.

Mike Sez“ ”

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You typically send a winning buyer notification at the close of an auction, a pay-ment reminder if the buyer hasn’t paid within a week or so, a payment-receivedmessage when you get paid, and an item shipped message when you ship the item.The other messages are used only when necessary.

Sending a Standard Email MessageTo send an email to a winning bidder, followthese steps:

1. Go to any of Selling Manager’s SoldListings pages.

2. Click a specific Buyer Email link.

3. When the Email Buyer page (shown inFigure 20.3) appears, select the type ofmessage you want to send from theTemplate list.


tipYou can also send emails

from the Sales Record page.Just click the Record # link todisplay the Sales Recordpage, and then click the

Email Buyer button.

FIGURE 20.3

Sending a post-

auction email.

4. If you want, edit the subject of the message in the Subject box.

5. If you want, edit the text of the message in the Message box.

6. If you want to receive a copy of this message, select the Send a Copy of Emailto Me option.

7. Click Send Email to send the message.

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If you need to edit a customer’s email address,access the Sales Record page and click the Editthe Buyer’s Email Address link. To edit your emailaddress, click the Edit link on the Email Buyerpage.

Editing an Email TemplateDon’t like Selling Manager’s prepared email tem-plates? Then customize them! Here’s how:

1. From the Email Buyer page, click EditTemplate.

2. When the Edit Email Templates page(shown in Figure 20.4) appears, select thetemplate you want to edit from the Template list.


tipTo view a list of emails

you’ve sent to a specificbuyer, click the number linkin the email column next tothe record # on the Sold

Listings page. This opensan Email Log dialog box

that lists all messages sent to thatbuyer.

FIGURE 20.4

Customizing a

Selling Manager

email template.

3. Edit the text in the Subject and Message boxes, as desired.

4. Insert automated text (buyer name, buyer item number, and so on) into themessage by selecting text from the Autotext list, then clicking the Insert but-ton. The automated text (surrounded by curly brackets) now appears at the

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bottom of your message; cut and paste thistext into its correct position within themessage.

5. Click the Save Template button when done.

Receiving PaymentWhen you receive payment from a buyer, you wantto update Selling Manager to reflect the payment,and to enter the buyer’s shipping information. Youdo this from the individual Sales Record page, asdescribed here:

1. On the Sold Listings page, click the Record #link for this specific auction.

2. When the Sales Record page appears, as shown in Figure 20.5, enter thebuyer’s name and address into the appropriate blanks.


You can revert to theoriginal template at any

time by clicking the Reset toDefault button.

FIGURE 20.5

Working with

the buyer’s Sales

Record.

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3. Scroll to the bottom of this page andcheck the Paid On box. The current datewill be automatically inserted; you canedit the date if necessary.

4. Enter any other pertinent information,and then click the Save & Finish button.

At this time you should also send the buyer apayment-received message. You can access theEmail Buyer page by clicking the Email Buyerbutton on the Sales Record page.

Printing Invoices and ShippingLabels

When you’re ready to ship an item, you can useSelling Manager to print an invoice and ship-ping label. Follow these instructions:

1. On the Sold Listings page, click theRecord # link for this specific auction.

2. When the Sales Record page appears,click the Print Invoice button.

3. When the Print page appears, select toprint one of the following:

■ Shipping labels and invoice/packingslip combo

■ Invoice/packing slip

■ Invoice for your own records

4. Click the Continue button to initiate printing.

At this time you should mark the item as shipped, and send the buyer an item-shipped message. You can do both of these from the Sales Record page.

After the Item Is ShippedAfter you’ve shipped an item, you have some cleanup activities to do. In particular,you need to leave feedback about the buyer, and move the item listing into SellingManager’s archive.


tipIf the buyer has paid with

PayPal or used eBay’sCheckout system, this infor-mation will be automaticallyentered for you. You can also

cut and paste the buyer’saddress from an email

message into the Instantly Fill InBuyer Address box, and then clickthe Add button to add the datainto the Sales Record.

tipIf you want to edit the

information on the invoice,click the Edit InvoiceTemplate link. This lets youedit your address or add a

picture or additional text tothe invoice.

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Leaving FeedbackYou can use Selling Manager to leave semi-automatedfeedback about a buyer. Just follow these steps:

1. On the Sold Listings page, click the Record #link for this specific auction.

2. When the Sales Record page appears, clickthe Leave Feedback button.

3. When the Leave Feedback page appears, asshown in Figure 20.6, pull down the ratinglist and select positive, neutral, or negativeratings.

4. You now have the choice of using a storedcomment or writing a custom comment. Touse a stored comment, select the Use Stored Comments option and make achoice from the pull-down list. To enter a new comment, select the UseCustom Comment option and enter the comment into the adjacent box.

5. Click the Leave Feedback button to register your rating and comment.


Learn more about feed-back in Chapter 25,

“Understanding and UsingFeedback.”

FIGURE 20.6

Leaving feed-

back about a

buyer.

Archiving Completed ListingsAfter you’ve shipped the item and left feedback, you don’t want this old listing clut-tering up your Selling Manager page. Instead, you can store all completed auctionsin the Selling Manager archive, where they’re out of the way but you can still accessthem (if you ever need to). Just follow these steps:

1. On the Sold Listings page, select those auctions you want to archive.

2. Click the Archive button.

3. When prompted, confirm the archive action.

That’s it. You’re all done with this auction—thanks to eBay Selling Manager!

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■ eBay Selling Manager is a Web-based tool that helps you manage your in-process and closed auctions; it costs $4.99 per month.

■ When you subscribe to Selling Manager, My eBay’s All Selling page ischanged to a Selling Manager tab.

■ Selling Manager lets you send end-of-auction emails, print invoices and ship-ping labels, and leave feedback for winning bidders.

■ If Selling Manager won’t handle your auction volume, check out SellingManager Pro; for $15.99 per month, it offers automated bulk managementtools.

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In this chapter

• Packing 101

• Labeling 101

• Shipping 101

21

Shipping It Out---Cheaply and Safely

The auction’s over, you’ve received payment from the high bidder, and

now it’s time to pack your item and ship it off. If you don’t have much

experience in shipping items cross-country, this might seem a bit daunt-

ing at first. Don’t worry, though; if you’ve ever wrapped a Christmas

present or mailed a letter, you have all the skills you need to ship just

about anything anywhere in the world.

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Packing 101Before you ship, you have to pack—which doesn’t sound too terribly difficult.However, if you pick the wrong container, don’t cushion the contents properly, don’tseal it securely, or mislabel the whole thing, you could risk damaging the contentsduring shipping—or, even worse, sending it to the wrong recipient. Even if you thinkyou know how to pack and ship, you still probably want to read the following sec-tions. You never know; you might pick up a few useful tips!

Essential Packing SuppliesBefore you do any packing, you need to have some basic supplies on hand. I’m notjust talking boxes here; I’m talking about the stuff you stuff inside the boxes, andseal them up with.

Any halfway busy eBay seller needs to have these basic packing supplies on hand sothat they’re not constantly running off to the office supply store every time one oftheir auctions closes. These items should always be available and easily accessed.

Okay, so what supplies do you need to have at hand? Take a look at this checklist:

Checklist: Packing Supplies| Packing tape, clear

| Bubble wrap

| Styrofoam peanuts or old newspapers

| Scissors

| Box cutter or similar kind of knife

| Postal scale

| Black magic marker

| Large shipping labels

| Return address labels

| Other necessary labels: Fragile, This End Up, and so on

| Labels or forms provided by your shipping service of choice

Now for some explanations. I recommend clear tape over the normal brown becauseyou can use it not just to seal the box but also to tape over the address label andmake it somewhat waterproof. (That said, brown tape can be used to tape over


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labels and logos when you reuse an old box.) I also prefer peanuts to newspapersbecause peanuts don’t leave ink stains, and because of the weight factor; usingnewspapers as filler can substantially increase your package weight, and thus yourshipping costs. (Of course, newspapers are free andpeanuts aren’t—but peanuts are cheaper than theadded shipping costs you’ll incur with newspapers.And you can reuse all those peanuts that come inthe items you purchase online!)

The other materials are somewhat self-explanatory—although you might ask why youneed a knife when you’re packing. I find myselfusing the knife primarily to slice off old shippinglabels from boxes I reuse for my eBay shipping.Although some old labels tear off rather easily,most don’t; to remove them, you have to cut (shal-lowly) around the label and then lift off the outer-most layer of the cardboard box.

Where to Find Boxes and Packing MaterialsSo where do you find all these packing materials and shipping containers? Lotsof places.

First, some boxes are free. If you’re shipping via theU.S. Postal Service, you can get free Priority Mailand Express Mail boxes, envelopes, and tubes.(Figure 21.1 shows some of the free boxes availablefor Priority Mail shipping.) Some post offices carrythese free containers, or you can order in bulk (butstill free) from the United States Postal Service(USPS) Web site at shop.usps.com.

Most post-office locations also sell various types ofboxes, padded mailers, mailing tubes, and otherpacking materials, although their prices tend to bea little on the high side. (They must figure you’re acaptive customer at that point.) You can find betterprices and a much bigger selection at any majoroffice supply superstore (Office Depot, Office Max,Staples, and so on) or at specialty box and ship-ping stores.

CHAPTER 21 SHIPPING IT OUT—CHEAPLY AND SAFELY 241

I like to keep all mypacking materials in a

single, easy-to-access place—kindof like a ready-to-use packing sta-tion. For me, an otherwise-unused kitchen counter does thejob; other users clear out a por-tion of their garage or homeoffice for the same purpose.

Mike Sez“ ”

Other carriers might ormight not offer their own

free shipping containers. FedEx, forexample, offers certain sizes ofenvelopes and boxes for your(free) use. It’s best to ask first—before you go buying an expensivenew box.

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Another good source of shipping supplies is eBay itself—or, more accurately, retailerswho sell on the eBay service. There are several eBay Store sellers who specialize inpacking supplies for other eBay sellers; go towww.stores.ebay.com and do a search for “ship-ping supplies” or “boxes.”

Many eBay sellers also do a good job recyclingold boxes. That’s right, you can reuse boxes thatwere shipped to you, either from other eBayusers or from online or direct mail retailers. (I’ma big fan of Amazon.com’s boxes; they recyclequite nicely!)

You’d be amazed how many times a box can bereused. As long as the box is still structurallysound—and sturdy enough for whatever you’reshipping—it can be pressed back into service. Justbe sure to remove or cross out any old shippinglabels and confirm that the box is in good shape, with no weak spots or cracks—andreinforce the box with new tape, as necessary.

Finally, don’t forget your local merchants. These stores receive a lot of merchandisedaily, and all those goods are packed in something. All those shipping boxes comeinto the store, and end up in the trash or recycling bin.


FIGURE 21.1

Free shipping

containers for

USPS Priority

Mail.

tipMany of these eBay Stores

operate their own Web sitesas well; in particular, checkout BubbleFAST (www.bubblefast.com),

eSupplyStore.com(www.esupplystore.com),

and ShippingSupply.com(www.shippingsupply.com).

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What a retailer calls trash you might call reusable packing materials. Short ofdumpster diving (which many eBay sellers are masters of), try making a deal with alocal retailer to help dispose of those excess boxes and Styrofoam peanuts. You’ll getfree packing supplies, and the retailer gets a little less stuff to throw away.

Picking the Right Shipping ContainerAfter you have all your shipping supplies assembled, all you need to do is put youritem in a box and seal it up. Easy, right? Not really—and the consequences of choos-ing the wrong container can be both disastrous and unnecessarily expensive.

First, you have to decide whether to use a box or an envelope. If you have a verylarge item to ship, the choice is easy. But what if you have something smaller andflatter, such as a laser disc or a coin? Your choice should be determined by thefragility of your item. If the item can bend or break, choose a box; if not, an enve-lope is probably a safe choice.

Whichever you choose, pick a container that’s large enough to hold your item with-out the need to force it in or bend it in an inappropriate fashion. Also, make surethat the box has enough extra room to insert cushioning material.

On the other hand, the container shouldn’t be so big as to leave room for the itemto bounce around. Also, you pay for size and for weight; you don’t want to pay toship anything bigger or heavier than it needs to be.

If you’re shipping in an envelope, consider using a bubble-pack envelope or reinforc-ing the envelope with pieces of cardboard. This is especially vital if your itemshouldn’t be bent or folded.

If you’re shipping in a box, make sure that it’s made of heavy, corrugated cardboardand has its flaps intact. Thinner boxes—such as shoe boxes or gift boxes—simplyaren’t strong enough for shipping. When packing a box, never exceed the maxi-mum gross weight for the box, which is usually printed on the bottom flap.

Although a bunch of different-sized boxes are available, sometimes you need some-thing somewhere in between this size and that size box. When you face this situa-tion, you have two choices.

First, you can take a larger box and cut it down. That means cutting through eachcorner of the box to make it shorter, and then cutting off the ends of the flapsaccordingly. Sometimes it’s difficult to fold unscored flaps, so you may want to makeyour own scores by slicing a knife (shallowly) where you want to bend the boxclosed.

Second, you can combine two smaller boxes. If your box is 16 inches long and youritem is 20 inches, just take two boxes and insert the open end of one inside the open


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end of the other. You’ll need to use sufficient packing tape to keepthe boxes from sliding apart, but you’ll have createda box custom-sized for the item you’re shipping.

How to PackHere’s what you don’t do: Drop your item in anempty box and then seal it up. A loose item in abig box will bounce around and get damaged,guaranteed. (Imagine your box being tossedaround by a bunch of gorillas in a parking lot,and you get an accurate picture of what mostpackages endure in the shipping process.) No, youneed to carefully pack your item to minimize any potential damage from droppingand rough handling—and from various weather conditions, including rain, snow,and heat.

How do you pack your box? Professional shippers use Styrofoam peanuts, and lots ofthem; amateurs tend to use crumpled-up newspapers and other materials foundaround the house. Here’s where you can learn something from the pros—peanutsare much lighter than newspaper. Weight is a factor in how much you’ll pay forshipping, so anything you can do to lighten the weight of your package is impor-tant. Because peanuts cost…well, peanuts, they’ve become my preferred cushioningmaterial. (And I used to be a crumpled-up newspaper kind of guy, until the latestincrease in Priority Mail rates.)

As you might expect, packing needs vary for different types of items. You can usethese packing tips when it’s time to ship your next item:

■ If you have the item’s original box or packaging, use it! Nothing ships betterthan the original shipping container.

■ If you’re shipping a common item—DVDs, videotapes, books, and so on—look for item-specific shipping containers. For example, most office supplystores stock boxes and padded mailers specifically designed for CDs andDVDs. These containers typically do what they’re advertised to do.

■ Always cushion your package contents, using some combination of shreddedor crumpled newspapers, bubble wrap, or Styrofoam peanuts. (For example,when I ship a CD or DVD, I wrap it in bubble wrap and cushion it withpeanuts.)

■ Whatever cushioning material you use, don’t skimp on it. Pack your itemstightly to avoid shifting of contents during transit, and make sure that thecushioning material covers all sides of the item.


Use the combination boxtechnique judiciously,because it can signifi-cantly increase theweight of the package—and thus your shipping costs.

caution

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■ Position the item toward the center of thebox, away from the bottom, sides, andtop. (This means placing peanuts underthe item as well as on top of it.)

■ If you’re shipping several items in thesame box, wrap each one separately (inseparate smaller boxes, if you can), andprovide enough cushioning to preventmovement and to keep the items fromrubbing against each other.

■ Not only should items be separated fromeach other in the box, but they also shouldbe separated from the corners and sides of the box to prevent damage if thebox is bumped or dropped.

■ The preceding point argues for another technique: double-boxing items thatare especially fragile, such as glass or ceramic items. That means packing theitem tightly in a smaller, form-fitting box, and then placing that box inside aslightly larger, shock-absorbing box—with at least 3 inches of cushioningmaterial between the boxes.

■ If your item has any protruding parts, cover them with extra padding orcardboard.

■ Be careful with the bubble wrap. Although it’s great to wrap around objectswith flat sides, it can actually damage more fragile figurines or items withlots of little pieces and parts sticking out. If the bubble wrap is too tight, itcan snap off any appendages during rough handling.

■ Stuff glassware and other fragile hollow items, such as vases, with newspaperor other packing material. This provides an extra level of cushioning in caseof rough handling.

■ When shipping jars and other items with lids, either separate the lid from thebase with several layers of bubble wrap or tissue paper or (better still) packthe lid in a separate small box.

■ When shipping framed photographs or artwork, take the glass out of theframe and wrap it separately. Do not let artwork come in direct contact withpaper or cardboard.

■ Wrap paper items (photographs, books, magazines, and so on) in some sortof plastic bag or wrap, to protect against wetness in shipment.


tipYou can also use plain

(unbuttered!) air-poppedpopcorn for cushioning; it’sinexpensive and environmen-tally friendly—and tastes

good when you’re watch-ing a movie!

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■ When shipping electronic items (includingtoys and consumer electronics devices),remove the batteries before you ship. Wrapand place the batteries next to the items inthe shipping container.

■ When shipping computer parts—circuitboards, video cards, memory chips, and soon—pad the item well and pack it in anElectro Static Discharge (ESD) bag to preventdamaging static buildup. And don’t usepeanuts for filler—all that Styrofoam cancarry a damaging static charge.

After you think you’re done packing, gently shakethe box. If nothing moves, it’s ready to be sealed. Ifyou can hear or feel things rattling around inside,however, it’s time to add more cushioning material.(If you can shake it, they can break it!)

Packing for International CustomersPacking for international customers shouldn’t beany different from packing for domestic customers—as long as you do it right.Foreign shipments are likely to get even rougher treatment than usual, so make surethat the package is packed as securely as possible—with more than enough cushion-ing to survive the trip to Japan or Europe or wherever it happens to be going.

What is different about shipping internationally is the paperwork—and the shippingcosts. I cover all this in Chapter 29, “Going International,” so turn there if you havea non-U.S. buyer to deal with.

How to Seal the PackageAfter your box is packed, it’s time to seal it. A strong seal is essential, so always usetape that is designed for shipping. Be sure to securely seal the center seams at boththe top and the bottom of the box. Cover all other seams with tape, and be sure notto leave any open areas that could snag on machinery.


When you’re packingan item, watch the

weight. I make it a point to havea postal scale at my packing sta-tion, and to weigh the item—shipping container andall—during the packing process.When I’m using Priority Mail, thedifference between shipping aone-pound package and a one-pound, one-ounce package is asmuch as $1.90, depending onwhere it’s going. Finding someway to cut that extra ounce ofpacking material can save almosttwo bucks in shipping costs—which is why I want to know theweight before I seal the package.

Mike Sez“ ”

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What kind of sealing materials should you use?

■ Do use tape that is designed for shipping, such as pressure-sensitive tape,nylon-reinforced kraft paper tape, glass-reinforced pressure-sensitive tape, orwater-activated paper tape. Whichever tape you use, the wider and heavier,the better. Reinforced is always better than non-reinforced.

■ Don’t use wrapping paper, string, masking tape, or cellophane tape.

One last thing: If you plan to insure your package, leave an untaped area on thecardboard where your postal clerk can stamp “Insured.” (Ink doesn’t adhere wellto tape.)

Labeling 101You’ve packed the box. You’ve sealed the box. Now it’s time for the label.

Buying the Right Kinds of LabelsFor most purposes, you can’t beat the standard 4-inch×6-inch blank white label.Anything smaller is tough to work with, and anything larger just leaves a lot ofwasted space. Stick with 4-inch×6-inch and you’ll be happy. You can purchase theselabels at any office supply store, or even get free versions (for Priority Mail shipping)at your local post office.

If you want to splurge, you can even purchase labels with your name and returnaddress preprinted at the top. This is a good idea if you do a lot of shipping (a dozenor more items a week); otherwise, it’s probably not cost-efficient.

You can also purchase or create your own return address labels, to use in conjunc-tion with your main shipping labels. It’s easyenough to print a full page of smallish labels inMicrosoft Word; most printing firms (such asKinko’s) can also do up a roll of address labelsfor a nominal charge.

If you use computer-generated labels (discusseda little later), you can program your label-making program to include your return addresswhen it prints the label. This is a good (andlower-cost) alternative to using preprinted labels.

How to Create an Idiot-Proof LabelThe best-packed box won’t go anywhere if you get the label wrong. For fast and effi-cient delivery, keep these points in mind when addressing your package:


tipIf you’re unsure what label

to use, go with Avery; justabout every software pro-gram out there supportsAvery labels.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 247

■ Write, type, or print the complete addressneatly.

■ Always use complete address information,such as the suffixes Dr., Ave., St., and Blvd.

■ Include the recipient’s apartment or suitenumber, if applicable.

■ Always use correct directions, such as N, S,E, W, or SW.

■ Use the correct ZIP Code—and, when possi-ble, use the four-digit add-on, ZIP+4 (exam-ple: 46032-1434). Be sure to hyphenate theZIP+4.

■ Always use the proper two-letter stateabbreviation.

■ When addressing to a P.O. Box or rural routedestination, include the recipient’s tele-phone number on the label.

■ When shipping outside the U.S., include acontact name, telephone number, andpostal code on the label—and don’t forgetto include the country name!

■ Always include your return addressinformation.

■ If you’re using any special services of theU.S. Postal Service (Priority Mail, FirstClass Mail, insurance, and so on), notethis above the destination address andbelow and to the right of the return address.

■ Place the delivery label on the top (not the side) of the box. To avoid confu-sion, place only one address label on the box. If using a packing slip, place iton the same surface of the box as the address label.

■ Do not place the label over a seam or closure or on top of sealing tape.

■ To avoid ink smudges and rain smears, place a strip of clear packing tapeover the address label.

■ If you’re reusing a box for shipping, remove or cross out all old address labelsor markings on a used box.


If you don’t use apreprinted label, you’ll

want to hand-print your returnaddress on the shipping container,or use some sort of return addresslabel.

tipDon’t know the ZIP code

for the address you’re ship-ping to? Then look it up atthe U.S. Postal Service’s ZIPCode Lookup atwww.usps.com/zip4/.

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And here’s one last tip. Make a duplicate of your shipping label and stick it insidethe box, before you seal it. This way if the original shipping label gets torn off ordestroyed, anyone opening the box can read the duplicate label and figure outwhere the box is supposed to go.

Using Your Computer to Print Shipping LabelsIf your handwriting is like mine (borderline illegible), you can appreciate the valueof using your computer to print your shippinglabels.

There are several dedicated label-printing pro-grams on the market; you can also use MicrosoftWord for this task. These programs (includingWord) work with just about any standard-issuemajor-manufacturer blank labels.

The most popular label-making programsinclude these:

■ Avery Wizard and DesignPro(www.avery.com)

■ NiceLabel Express, Pro, and Suite (www.nicelabel.com)

■ PrimaSoft Label Printer (www.primasoft.com/lb.htm)

■ Visual Labels (www.rkssoftware.com/visuallabels/overview.html)

Printing Labels from Your eBay Item ListingEven easier, eBay lets you print labels—and postage!—directly from your closed itemlisting page. You can print labels and postage for both U.S. Postal Service and UPSshipping. There’s no software to download and you don’t have to use any fancylabels; the labels print on plain paper, which you then tape to the outside of yourpackage. You pay for the shipping charges via your PayPal account.

When you’re ready to create the label, follow these steps:

1. Go to your item listing page, or to the All Selling page in My eBay, and lookfor a Print Shipping Label button, like the one in 21.2.

2. Click the Print Shipping Label button to display a PayPal sign-in page.

3. After you’ve signed in, you’re asked to select which carrier you want to use;make your selection and click the Continue button.

4. When you see the Print Your Label page, enter information about whatyou’re shipping—the service you want to use, package size and weight,


tipSome auction manage-

ment programs and services,including eBay SellingManager, also have labelprinting functions.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 249


FIGURE 21.2

Click the Print

Shipping Label

button to print a

shipping label

and postage on

your own com-

puter printer.

FIGURE 21.3

A Priority Mail

mailing label

printed on your

own printer.

whether you want delivery confirmation,and so on. Click the Continue button toproceed.

5. When the Shipping Confirmation pageappears, verify the information then clickthe Pay and Continue button.

6. The shipping label now appears in a pop-up window, as shown in Figure 21.3. Clickthe Print Label button to print the labelon your printer.

tipYou can also print U.S.

Postal Service labels andpostage using the USPSClick-N-Ship service(www.usps.com/shipping/

label.htm).

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When you print a label using this method, thelabel itself is on the left side of the printed page;the right side of the page contains labeling andshipping instructions. Just cut the page in twoand tape the label to your package. (Be sure notto tape over the bar codes on the label; the ship-ping service can’t read the codes if they’re tapedover.)

After you’ve affixed the label, you can take it toyour post office or UPS office for shipping—orjust hand the package when your mail person orbrown shirt guy for pickup.

Shipping 101How often do you frequent your local post office? When was the last time you visiteda UPS shipping center? Do you even know where your local FedEx branch is located?

If these questions make you nervous, you’re not alone. For many users, the scariestpart of the entire auction process is shipping the item. Not packing, not labeling, butactually taking the box to the shipping center and sending it on its way.

That’s because when it comes to shipping, there are so many choices involved.Which carrier do you use? Which specific service offered by a carrier should youchoose—the fastest one or the cheapest one? And what about all those extras, suchas insurance and delivery confirmation? With all those choices, how do you avoidmaking the wrong decisions?

If shipping is somewhat foreign to you, don’t worry. It isn’t quite as difficult as itseems, and it will become old hat after just a few trips to the shipping center.

Examining the Major Shipping ServicesYou have several choices when it comes to shipping your package. You can use thevarious services offered by the U.S. Postal Service (regular mail, Priority Mail, ExpressMail, Media Mail, and so on) or any of the services offered by competing carriers,such as UPS or Federal Express. You can deal directly with any shipping service oruse a local shipping store to handle the shipping (and even the packing)—but ata cost.

As you’ve no doubt gathered, there are some significant differences in shipping costsfrom one shipping service to another. The cost differential is typically based on acombination of weight and distance; the heavier an item is and the farther it has togo (and the faster you need to get it to where it’s going), the more it costs. As anexample, the costs of shipping a two-pound box from New York to Los Angeles run


tipOne plus to printing your

own Priority Mail labels isthat you get DeliveryConfirmation included, at nocharge. A minus is that you

can’t add insurance withthis method.

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from under two bucks to over $30. For this reason,it’s a good idea to “shop” the major shipping serv-ices for the best shipping rates for the types of itemsyou normally sell on eBay.

Of course, cost isn’t the only factor you want toconsider. You also want to compare how long ittakes the package to arrive, what kind of trackrecord the shipping service has, and how conven-ient it is for you to use. If you have to drive 20miles to get to a UPS office, and you have a postoffice just down the street, that might offset aslightly higher cost for Priority Mail.

All that said, which shipping service should youuse? That’s a good question, but not always aneasy one to answer. Ultimately, you have to strike acompromise between cost, convenience, and speed.

Using the U.S. Postal ServiceThe USPS offers several shipping options:

■ Priority Mail. This is the preferred shipping method for many experiencedauction sellers, if only for its relative convenience. Although Priority Mailused to be predictably low-cost (with flat fees based on weight, not distance),recent price increases have left the service less competitive than before. (Youalso have to factor distance into the pricing equation, for packages over onepound.) There’s also the advantage of getting a flat rate on small packagesshipped in one of their flat-rate envelopes—just $3.85 to go anywhere in theU.S. Service is typically in the one-to-three–day range, and the postal servicehas lots of free Priority Mail boxes you can use.

■ Express Mail. This is the USPS’s fastest service, offering guaranteed next-daydelivery 365 days a year, including weekends and holidays. Merchandise isautomatically insured up to $100. Express Mail is considerably more expen-sive than Priority Mail.

■ First Class Mail. This is an option if your item fits into a standard-sizedenvelope. It also provides the benefit of shipping directly from your mailbox,without necessitating a trip to the post office—assuming that you can figureout the correct postage. Delivery is similar to Priority Mail, typically threedays or less.

■ Parcel Post. This used to be known as the “slow” USPS service for largerpackages, but it has gotten faster of late—and it’s priced lower than PriorityMail. Still, it might take seven to nine days to ship something Parcel Post


Which shipping serv-ices do I use? For small

items, I default to USPS PriorityMail; it’s inexpensive and relativelyfast, plus I get free packing mate-rials from my local post office. ForCDs, DVDs, and books, I use USPSMedia Mail, which is cheaper andalmost as fast. For really big items(over 10 pounds or so), I go withUPS. But I find that, 9 times outof 10, Priority Mail or Media Maildoes the job for me.

Mike Sez“ ”

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from coast to coast, as opposed to Priority Mail’s two (orthree) days.

■ Media Mail. This is what USPS used to call “book rate”; itcan be used to ship books, DVDs, video-tapes, compact discs, and other printedand prerecorded “media.” The rates aremuch cheaper than those for Priority Mail,although delivery is typically in the ParcelPost range—seven to nine days. Still, thisis a good, low-cost way to ship many pop-ular items; the cost for shipping a CDacross the country is less than two bucks,compared to $3.85 for Priority Mail.

You can find out more about USPS shipping at the USPS Web site, located atwww.usps.gov. This site includes a postage calculator (postcalc.usps.gov) for all levelsof service.

Using UPSUPS is a good option for shipping larger or heavier packages but can be a littlecostly for smaller items. UPS offers various shipping options, including standard UPSGround, Next Day Air, Next Day Air Saver, and 2ndDay Air.

You can find out more about UPS shipping—andaccess a rate calculator—at the UPS Web site,located at www.ups.com.

Using FedExFedEx is probably the most costly shipping service,but it’s also the fastest. Its most popular shippingoptions are Priority Overnight, Standard Overnight,2Day, and Ground.

You can find out more about FedEx shipping at itsWeb site, located at www.fedex.com. You can access itsrate finder directly at www.fedex.com/us/rates/.

Using Other Shipping CompaniesUSPS, UPS, and FedEx are the three most popular shipping services in the US; they’renot the only services available, however. Among the other services available arethese:


Media Mail is reservedfor publications withoutadvertising—so youcan’t use it to ship maga-zines, newspapers, orcomic books.

caution

Because FedEx tends totarget the business market

(which can afford its higher rates),it isn’t widely used for auctionshipments.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 253

■ Airborne Express (www.airborne.com)

■ DHL Worldwide Express (www.dhl.com), great for international shipments

■ Purolator Courier (www.purolator.com)

Using a Professional Packing andShipping ServiceDoes all this talk about services and rates getyour head spinning? You can always let some-body else worry about the details. Many localshipping stores (such as Mail Boxes Etc./The UPSStore, located on the Web at www.mbe.com) providepacking and shipping services—and do every-thing from sell boxes to pack your items to serveas a “middleman” between you and UPS orFedEx. You’ll pay for their services—some can bequite costly—but you don’t have to get yourhands dirty or concern yourself with any of thoseniggling details.

How to Reduce Shipping Weight—and Shipping CostsBecause weight is an important part of the shipping equation, here are a few tips forbringing down the weight of the items you ship:

■ Use peanuts instead of paper for cushioning; peanuts are much lighter—anddon’t leave ink stains on the merchandise.

■ Even better, use air instead of peanuts—in the form of those air-filled bagsthat Amazon.com uses to cushion their packages.

■ Use less heavy-duty boxes, if you can. (This is generally an option only whenyou’re shipping light objects.) You’d be surprised at the difference in weightbetween similarly sized boxes, based on the thickness of the cardboard.

■ Don’t use oversized boxes. If the box is too large, either trim down the unusedportion of the flaps or move to a smaller box.

Finally, be sure to include the weight of the box and the cushioning material whenyou weigh your item for shipment. A big box with lots of crumpled paper caneasily add a half-pound or more to your item’s weight—excess weight you’ll have topay for.


tipTo compare shipping costs

for various services on a sin-gle Web page, check outiShip (www.iship.com). Thissite not only lets you com-

pare shipping costs, butalso provides tracking serv-

ices for all major carriers.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 254

Shipping Large or Heavy ItemsSome items are just too big to ship via conven-tional means. Suppose you just sold an old pin-ball machine, or a roll-top desk, or a waterbed.How do you deal with items that big?

Assuming that the item is too big even for UPS,you have to turn to traditional trucking services.Some of these services will pack or crate the itemfor you (for a fee); others require you to do all thecrating. In addition, some of these firms requireyou to deliver the item to their shipping terminal,and for the buyer to pick it up from their dock.(Other firms offer door-to-door service—again,sometimes for a higher fee.) In any case, it helpsto make a few calls and ask for specifics before youdecide on a shipper.

For shipping oversized items, here are some of the trucking services that othereBay sellers have used. Check with each firm for information on fees and shippingpolicies.

■ AAA Cooper Transportation (www.aaacooper.com)

■ Forward Air (www.forwardair.com)

■ Vintage Transport Services (www.vintagetransport.com)

■ Yellow Freight (www.yellowfreight.com)

In addition, eBay itself offers a Freight Resource Center (ebay.freightquote.com) forshipping large items; you can obtain freight quotes and initiate shipping directlyfrom this page. You can also contact Freightquote.com via phone, at 888-875-7822.

How to Price Shipping and Handling for Your Item ListingsLet’s think back to the start of the auction process. You probably remember that Irecommended you include your shipping and handling charges up front so that bid-ders know what to expect.

But how do you figure shipping costs before you know where the item is going?

Working with Flat FeesThe solution is easy if you’re shipping something that weighs (packaging included)less than a pound. For these lightweight items, you can use USPS Priority Mail,


Most of the standardshipping services I men-tioned earlier in thischapter, such as the U.S.Postal Service, won’t han-dle packages that weigh more than150 pounds, or have a combinedlength and girth of more than 130inches.

caution

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 255

which ships one-pound packages anywhere in the U.S. for a single price ($3.85 atthe time of writing). Because you can also use free boxes (provided by the postalservice), you know that your cost to package and ship a one-pound item will be$3.85. Easy.

If you’re shipping books, CDs, or videos, you also have it easy—if you choose to shipvia USPS Media Mail. These rates are so cheap that you can do some creative round-ing of numbers and say that any item weighing two pounds or less can ship any-where in the U.S. for $2.00. The actual Media Mail rate might be $1.42 or $1.84 orwhatever, but $2.00 makes a convenient number to state up front; the gap betweenactual and projected shipping can go toward the purchase of an appropriate box orenvelope.

Working with Variable FeesWhen you’re shipping items that weigh more than a pound, the calculation getsmuch more complex. The fact is that if you’re selling an item that weighs, let’s say,four pounds, the actual shipping costs (via Priority Mail) can range from $5.30 to$10.35, depending on where you are and where the buyer is. That’s because PriorityMail rates—most shipping rates, actually—vary by distance. So there’s no way toquote an exact shipping cost until the auction is over and you get the buyer’s ZIPCode.

That said, there are three ways you can deal with this situation in your auctionlistings.

First, you can calculate an average shipping cost for your item, figuring a costhalfway between the minimum and the maximum possible costs. Using our four-pound example, the minimum cost for Priority Mail shipping is $5.30 and the maxi-mum is $10.35, so you would charge the buyer the average of these two numbers, or$7.83. (Or maybe you would round up to $8.00.) The theory here is that you losemoney on some shipments and make it back on others, so over the long term it’s awash. Of course, nearby buyers might complain that they’re paying too much(which they are, because they’re in fact subsidizing sellers who live farther away).You’ll have to decide whether you can live with the occasional complaint—or refundthe difference if it’s too large.

Next, you can simply state that buyers will pay actual shipping cost based on loca-tion, which will be calculated at the conclusion of the auction, and not include a flatshipping and handling charge in your listing. If you take this approach, you have torequest the buyer’s ZIP Code at the end of the auction, refer to various rate charts tofigure the shipping cost, and then relay that cost to your buyer. It’s a bit of work, butit gets the job done. (It’s also made easier by the fact that eBay is now including thebuyer’s ZIP Code—when available—in its end-of-auction notification emails.)


25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 256

Using eBay’s Shipping CalculatorFinally, and this is my new preferred method, you can choose to include eBay’sShipping Calculator in your item listings. The Shipping Calculator, shown in Figure21.4, is a great tool; it lets buyers enter their ZIP Code on the auction listing page,and then calculates the actual shipping cost, based on the shipping service youselected. (You can also choose to have the Shipping Calculator add a predeterminedhandling charge for each shipment, which we’ll discuss in a minute.) When buyersuse eBay Checkout at the end of an auction, or choose to pay via PayPal, they canalso use the Shipping Calculator to automatically add shipping and handling fees totheir total.


FIGURE 21.4

Add eBay’s

Shipping

Calculator to

your item list-

ings so that

buyers can auto-

matically deter-

mine shipping

and handling

fees.

You can activate the Shipping Calculator when you’re creating a new item listing onthe Sell Your Item page. Just follow these steps:

1. Select the Calculated Shipping Rates tab to open the Shipping Calculator sec-tion, shown in Figure 21.5.

2. Enter the package weight, in pounds and ounces. (Round up any fractionalounces.)

3. Select a package size from the pull-down list.

4. Select which shipping service you plan to use, from the pull-down list.

5. Enter your ZIP Code.

6. Enter any handling fee you want to charge (over and above the actual ship-ping rate) into the Packaging & Handling Fee box.

7. Select whether you want to offer shipping insurance.

8. Select whether you charge sales tax, and the sales tax rate.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 257

Because the Shipping Calculator can be added toyour item listings free of charge, there’s no rea-son not to use it—especially because it greatlysimplifies the task of calculating exact shippingcharges to your customers.

Determining the Handling ChargeAside from the pure shipping costs, you shouldconsider adding a handling charge to the ship-ping fees your customers pay. After all, you needto be sure that you’re compensated for any spe-cial materials you have to purchase to packagethe item. That doesn’t mean you charge onebuyer for an entire roll of tape, but maybe youadd a few pennies to your shipping charge forthese sorts of packaging consumables. And if youhave to purchase a special box or envelope toship an item, you should definitely include thatcost in your shipping charge. (This argues forplanning your shipping before placing your itemlisting—which is always a good idea.)


FIGURE 21.5

Activating

eBay’s Shipping

Calculator from

the Sell Your

Item page.

tipIf you have multiple items

for sale, there is every possi-bility that a single buyer willpurchase more than oneitem. If that happens, you

don’t need to pack two ormore separate boxes for

that buyer; you can easily pack allthe item purchased in a singlebox, which will reduce shippingcosts. You should pass on thatsavings to your customer, in theform of a combined shipping andhandling fee for all items pur-chased. If you’re inflexible inadjusting your shipping and han-dling for multiple purchases,you’re ripping people off—andwill lose customers for it.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 258

So you should have no compunction against“padding” your shipping fees with an additionalhandling charge. In fact, eBay’s ShippingCalculator lets you add a separate handling chargeto its calculations. It’s an accepted part of doingbusiness online.

How to Track Your ShipmentIf you think the package might be lost in transit(it’s taking too long to arrive), you can always availyourself of the tracking services provided by UPS,FedEx, and other major carriers. These services typically provide tracking numbersfor all packages shipped. In most cases, you can track your package by entering thepackage’s tracking number into the carrier’s Web site.

The one major shipping service that doesn’t offer tracking (by default) is the U.S.Postal Service. What you can get from the postal service (at a cost of from $0.45 to$0.55) is delivery confirmation. USPS confirmation, however, does not confirm thatan actual person received the package; it confirms only that the mail carrier deliv-ered it. (Stuck it in the mailbox, that is.)

If you want a signature confirmation on a USPS shipment, you need to send youritem with the certified mail option. Certified mail requires the recipient to sign ondelivery, and costs $2.30. This is a preferred option if you’re shipping somethingextremely valuable.

When to Recommend InsuranceIf you’re shipping a moderately expensive item (over $50, let’s say), it might beworth the expense to insure it. You can always give the buyer the option of buyinginsurance—or just do it yourself and include the costs in your normal shipping andhandling fee.

As to cost, the U.S. Postal Service charges $1.30 to insure items up to $50, or $2.20for items between $50 and $100. UPS includes $100 worth of insurance in its basicrates; additional insurance can be purchased for additional cost.

What to Do When Things Go WrongIf the package never arrives—or arrives damaged—you have some work to do. If youinsured the package, you have to file a claim with the carrier. Information for claimfiling appears on most of the shipping services’ Web sites, but you might have tovisit your carrier’s local office to obtain the proper claim forms.


When I’m supplyingquality packaging for a

shipment, I find that a handlingcharge of $1 meets with little orno objection from my customers.If I’m using free Priority Mail pack-aging, I charge less.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Note, however, that the procedure for filing aclaim can be long and involved. Take the exam-ple of the U.S. Postal Service. The process startswith the buyer, who must take the package(merchandise, box, peanuts, and all) to theirlocal post office to fill in half of a claim form (PS1000). After this form is processed, the post officesends you (the seller) the half-filled-out form, viathe mail. You then fill out the rest of the formand take it (along with your original insurancereceipt) to your local post office for processing.When enough time goes by the USPS will (orwon’t, if you filled in something wrong) send acheck for the insured amount directly to the buyer.

Other shipping services work differently, and some even send the insurance check toyou instead of to the buyer. However it works, you need to communicate with thebuyer while you’re waiting for the claim to be paid so that both of you are in theloop about what’s going on. If you receive the insurance check, you’ll then need torefund the buyer’s money; if the buyer receives the check, he should notify you whenhe’s been paid.

Tips for Less-Painful ShippingTo wrap things up, here are some additional tips you can use to take some of thehassle out of shipping your eBay items:

■ When you’re using the U.S. Postal Service for shipping, try to time your visitsto avoid long lines. That means avoiding lunch hour and the last half houror so before closing; avoiding Mondays; and avoiding peak shipping periodsaround major holidays, such as Christmas and Valentine’s Day. Early morn-ing and mid-afternoon are typically low-volume times.

■ Don’t feel obligated to ship every single day of the week. Save up your ship-ments and go to the post office just one or two days a week.

■ When you have a lot of packages to ship, don’t go to the post office by your-self. Take a helper—and, if large shipments are common, invest in a smallhand truck to help you cart all those boxes to the counter.

■ If you’re a heavy shipper, consider setting up an account with a single ship-per and arranging daily pickups from your home. Pickup service will cost youa little more but can be more than worth it in time savings. (Most carrierswill also pick up single items if you arrange so in advance—but at a muchhigher fee.)


tipYou can speed up this

process by obtaining theclaim form yourself, filling inyour part, and then sendingthe claim form and the origi-

nal insurance receipt to thebuyer—and let him deal

with the post office through therest of the process.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 260

■ You may need to factor weather conditions into which typeof shipping you choose. If it’s summertimeand you’re shipping something that mightmelt in extreme heat (like an old vinylLP), pick the fastest shipping method pos-sible.


If you didn’t insure yourpackage—or if the carrierdidn’t offer automaticinsurance—then youhave a situation. eBay pro-tocol has it that the seller is respon-sible for any losses in shipment, soyou might end up refunding thebuyer’s money out of your ownpocket.

caution


■ Pack your item so that it doesn’t rattle when you shake it.

■ Pack your item so that the package is as light as possible.

■ Calculate shipping costs based on the weight of the item being shipped andthe packaging—including the box and cushioning material.

■ Get free boxes for Priority Mail shipping from the post office, or from theUSPS Web site.

■ Don’t be afraid to reuse boxes you receive from other sources—as long asthey’re still in serviceable shape and you remove all previous labels.

■ Make sure that your label is neatly printed and includes a full address andZIP Code.

■ Place a layer of clear tape over the delivery label so that it doesn’t getsmeared in transit.

■ For most packages, the U.S. Postal Service is a good shipping option, eithervia Priority Mail, Media Mail, or Parcel Post.

■ Click the Print Shipping Label button on your closed item listing page to printUSPS and UPS shipping labels and postage on your own printer.

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 261

25 0789731053 F CH21.qxd 3/10/04 3:26 PM Page 262

In this chapter

• How to Handle Bum Bidders

• Contacting an Unresponsive Bidder

• Filing a Non-Paying Bidder Alert

• Asking eBay to Refund Your Fees

• Leaving Negative Feedback

• Giving Other Bidders a Second Chance

• Relisting Your Item

22

Dealing with

Deadbeat Bidders

A deadbeat bidder is someone who wins an auction but never follows

through with the transaction. Not only should you leave negative feed-

back about these deadbeats, but you also should request a credit from

eBay for your final value fee.

What do you do when you have a deadbeat bidder in one of your auc-

tions? Fortunately, you still have the merchandise, which you can relist

and (hopefully) sell again. You are out some eBay fees, however—

although you can probably get them refunded when you report the

deadbeat to eBay.

When eBay receives what it calls a Non-Paying Bidder Alert, the service

automatically sends a warning to the user in question. If the alleged

deadbeat receives three such warnings, he or she will be indefinitely

suspended from the eBay service.

So there!

26 0789731053 F CH22.qxd 3/10/04 3:01 PM Page 263

How to Handle Bum BiddersIf you are unfortunate enough to get stuck with a deadbeat bidder, there is a set pro-cedure to follow, as you can see in the following checklist:

Checklist: Dealing with Deadbeat Bidders| File a Non-Paying Bidder Alert

| Request a final value fee credit

| Leave negative feedback on the deadbeat bidder

| Offer the item in question to the second-highest bidder

or

| Relist the item

Contacting an Unresponsive BidderIt’s on your shoulders to go to whatever lengths possible to contact the high bidderin your eBay auctions. This should start with the standard post-auction email, ofcourse. If the buyer hasn’t responded within three days, resend your original emailwith an “URGENT” added to the subject line. You should also amend the message togive the buyer a deadline (two days is good) for his response.

If another two days go by without a response, send a new message informing thebuyer that if you don’t receive a response within two days, you’ll be forced to cancelhis high bid and report him to eBay as a deadbeat bidder.

If a full week goes by and you still haven’t heard from the buyer, you can assumethe worst. Which means it’s time to let eBay know about the bum.

Filing a Non-Paying Bidder AlertThe way you notify eBay about a deadbeat bidder is to file a Non-Paying BidderAlert form. You have to file this form (and wait the requisite amount of time) beforeyou can request a final value fee credit on the auction in question.

A Non-Paying Bidder Alert must be filed between 7 and 45 days after your auctionends. You file the Alert by going to the Site Map page and clicking the Request FinalValue Fee Credit link—or going directly to pages.ebay.com/help/community/npb.html.This page tells you all about how to deal with bad bidders; follow the instructionshere to file the Non-Paying Bidder Alert.


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If, by some quirk of fate, you end up working things out with the buyer after you’vefiled a Non-Paying Bidder Alert, you should file a Non-Paying Bidder WarningRemoval form. You can find this form on the same page you use to file a Non-Paying Bidder Alert.

By the way, if you’re a buyer and have a Non-PayingBidder Alert filed against you (unfairly, of course),you can appeal the Alert. Go to the Non-PayingBidder page mentioned a few paragraphs back,scroll down to the bottom, and click the Non-Paying Bidder Appeal Form link. Warnings willremain on your eBay record until they’re success-fully appealed.

Asking eBay to RefundYour Fees

After a Non-Paying Bidder Alert is filed, eBay sendsa message to the bidder requesting that the two ofyou work things out. (It’s not a very strong mes-sage, in my humble opinion.) You then have towait 10 days before you can request a refund ofyour final value fee. You have to make the requestno later than 60 days after the end of your auction,and your claim has to meet one of the following criteria:

■ The high bidder did not respond to your emails or backedout and did not buy the item.

■ The high bidder’s check bounced or a stoppayment was placed on it.

■ The high bidder returned the item and youissued a refund.

■ The high bidder backed out, but you soldthe item to another bidder at a lowerprice.

■ One or more of the bidders in a Dutchauction backed out of the sale.

If your situation fits, you’re entitled to a fullrefund of eBay’s final value fee—but you mustrequest it. To request a refund, go to eBay’s Site Map

CHAPTER 22 DEALING WITH DEADBEAT BIDDERS 265

If the item in questionwas sold in a Dutch

auction, this process gets a littletrickier. You can file only one Non-Paying Bidder Alert form per auc-tion—which means you have toinclude all the deadbeat bidders inthat auction in a single form; youcan’t file additional alerts after theinitial form has been filed.

eBay’s policy is to notrefund insertion fees—although if you have areally special circum-stance, there’s no harm inasking. (And, besides, if you relistthe item, eBay won’t charge you forthe relisting insertion fee.)

caution

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page and click the Request Final Value Fee link. (You can also get there by clickingthe Request Your Final Value Fee Credit link on the Non-Paying Bidder page men-tioned earlier.) Follow the instructions there to receive your credit; eBay generallyissues a credit to your account within 48 hours.

Leaving Negative FeedbackNaturally, you want to alert other eBay members tothe weasel among them. You do this by leavingnegative feedback, along with a description of justwhat went wrong (no contact, no payment, what-ever).

To leave negative feedback, go to the item listingpage, click the Leave Feedback to Bidder link, andwhen the Leave Feedback About an eBay User pageappears, check Negative and enter your comments.Click the Leave Feedback button when done.

Giving Other Bidders a Second ChanceWhen a bidder backs out of an auction, you’re stuck with the merchandise youthought you had sold. Assuming that you still want to sell the item, what doyou do?

eBay offers the opportunity for you to make what it calls a Second Chance Offer toother bidders in your failed auction. This lets you try to sell your item to someoneelse who was definitely interested in what you had to sell.

You can make a Second Chance Offer to any of the under-bidders in your originalauction. The offer can be made immediately at the end of the auction, and up to 60days afterward.

To make a Second Chance Offer, return to youroriginal item listing page and click the SecondChance Offer link. When the Second ChanceOffer page appears, follow the onscreen instruc-tions to fill out the form and make the offer.

Note that when a bidder accepts your SecondChance Offer, eBay charges you a final valuefee. You are not charged a listing fee. Buyersaccepting Second Chance Offers are eligible foreBay’s normal buyer protection services.


Learn more about feed-back in Chapter 25,

“Understanding and UsingFeedback.”

tipSecond Chance Offers can

also be used, in a successfulauction, to offer duplicateitems to nonwinning bidders.

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CHAPTER 22 DEALING WITH DEADBEAT BIDDERS 267

Relisting Your ItemIf you don’t have any takers on your Second Chance Offer, you can always try to sellthe item again by relisting the item. See Chapter 19, “After the Auction: ConcludingYour Business,” for more details.


■ If 7 days go by with no contact from the high bidder in your auction, youprobably have a deadbeat on your hands.

■ After you’ve made all reasonable effort to contact the buyer, file a Non-Paying Bidder Alert with eBay.

■ Wait another 10 days, and then request a final value fee credit from eBay.

■ You can try to sell the item in question by making a Second Chance Offer toother bidders, or by relisting the item in a new auction.

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26 0789731053 F CH22.qxd 3/10/04 3:01 PM Page 268

In this chapter

• Two Different Strategies for Success

• Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Closing MoreAuctions—and Increasing Your Revenues

23

Secrets of

Successful Sellers

You have things to sell. You want to make sure that you actually sell

them and that you get the highest price possible. But you’re also com-

peting with millions of other items up for auction at the same time.

How do you stand out from the crowd, attract a bunch of bidders, and

goose up the high bids?

If you’re looking for extra-special selling secrets, this chapter is for you.

Discover the secrets and strategies that will help you be a successful

online auction seller!

27 0789731053 F CH23.qxd 3/10/04 3:08 PM Page 269

Two Different Strategies for SuccessWhen you’re putting an item up for auction, you can adopt one of two major sellingstrategies:

■ The high road strategy. Supporters of the high road strategy go after bid-ders who don’t mind paying a little more for something good. Yours won’t bethe cheapest item on auction, but it will be the best—in terms of value to theultimate buyer. Whether it’s the rarity of your item, its superior condition, oryour superior service, you have to make it worth the bidders’ while to pay alittle bit more. Better stuff commands higher prices.

■ The low road strategy. Supporters of the low road strategy sell on price.They give buyers a lot for their money, in terms of quantity—but not neces-sarily quality. A low price grabs the bidders’ attention, even if the merchan-dise is a little ordinary. Lower prices move more merchandise.

Both strategies have their strengths and weaknesses, and which one you use dependson the type of item you have for sale, your competition, and your own way of doingthings.

The High Road: High Price, High Quality, High ValueUse the high road strategy when you have something truly unique to sell. Maybe it’san ultra-rare Hummel figurine, a mint-condition stamp, or a complete run of a cer-tain comic book or magazine. Whatever—position your item as one-of-a-kind andhigh quality, and set your initial price accordingly.

When you create your high road item listing, make it classy. Include a lot of details,and play up its rare and unique nature. Put “rare” in the title, and include at leastone good-quality picture of your item. Consider making your item a featured auc-tion. Try to attract the elite buyers with everything you do.

When you price your high road item, price it high enough to weed out the riff-raff.Price it high enough that serious buyers take you seriously. Price it high enough thatyou don’t get a lot of initial bids.

When you list your high road item, be sure to back up the quality with superior sup-port. Tell your bidders that you provide insurance with your shipping and that youoffer a 30-day money-back guarantee. Solicit their email questions—and thenanswer them promptly. And follow through on your promises; make sure that theend-of-auction communication is prompt, courteous, and complete. Ship the item ina new (that is, not reused) box as quickly as possible.


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When taking the high road, present at least the illusion of quality—and perceptionwill become reality. The result will be higher bids from higher-class online auctioncitizens.

The Low Road: Low Price and a Lot of ExcitementUse the low road strategy when you want to generate a lot of attention fast—orwhen you have an item that is more common than it is rare. You want to grab bid-ders’ attention with a low price and hope the resulting bidding frenzy will increasethe price to a more acceptable level.

When you set your low road price, think cheap. Think really cheap. Think so ridicu-lously cheap that bidders would be crazy not to go for it. You want to get the biddinggoing fast, so your initial price should be significantly lower than what you expectthe item to sell for. Ignore the normal 10% rule for setting the starting bid; go for a$0.99 starter, or something equally attention-getting.

When you create your low road item listing, be a sales-man. Scream the deal at your potential bidders,and use every trick at your disposal to grab theirattention. Use HTML to create an ad with brightcolors, large fonts, and sizzling graphics. Put a lotof sales buzzwords in your title, such as “new” and“free” and “deal.” Consider throwing in other itemsto create an irresistible value pack—“three for theprice of one” sort of stuff. Do everything in yourpower to attract the price shopper and the valuehunter.

When taking the low road, you want to generateexcitement—which will generate activity, whichwill generate bids.

Forty Sure-Fire Tips for Closing More Auctions—and Increasing Your Revenues

Whichever strategy you employ, you can do other things to increase your chances ofselling your item at the highest possible price. Here are 40 tips that can help anyonebe a more profitable seller at any online auction.

CHAPTER 23 SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL SELLERS 271

Of course, justbecause you price your

item to move doesn’t mean youshouldn’t also offer good service.No matter which selling strategyyou embrace, you should alwaystreat your buyers as you’d like tobe treated when you’re doing thebidding.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Tip #1: Research Your PriceDon’t sell without doing your homework first; make sure you know the true value ofan item before you put it up for auction. Before you price your item, search for simi-lar items in eBay’s closed auctions. What was the starting bid price? What was thefinal selling price? You should also research the price of similar items offline; some-times you can get a feel for relative value if you compare your item to a newer ver-sion of the same. Be informed, and you won’t set the price too high or too low; you’llset it just right.

Tip #2: Make Your Listing Stand OutDo everything in your power to make your itemlistings stand out from all the other listings cur-rently online. Work on both the title and thedescription, and consider using a listing-creationtool (or using HTML formatting) to create a moredynamic ad.

Tip #3: Use Turbo Lister to Create YourListings

If you list a lot of items for auction, take advantageof eBay’s free bulk-listing tool. Turbo Lister is greatfor listing multiple items at one time, but also makesit easier to create great-looking listings for just anitem or two. Besides, there’s no reason not to use it—it’s free!

Tip #4: Get All the Buzzwords in the TitleMake sure you have the right words and phrases inthe title of your item listing. If your audience looksfor “compact discs,” say compact disc; if they lookfor “CDs,” say CD. If they look for both, use both.Use all possible words (up to your auction’s charac-ter limit) to hit all possible keywords your potentialbidders might be searching for—even if some of thewords are redundant.


See Chapter 16,“Creating a Great-Looking

Listing,” for more ideas about cre-ating eye-catching item listings.

Learn more aboutTurbo Lister in Chapter 17,

“Automating Item Listing witheBay Turbo Lister.”

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Tip #5: A Picture Says a Thousand WordsNothing increases your chances of selling an itemlike including a picture of it in your listing. Take aphoto of your item, scan it in, upload it, andinclude it with your listing—even if it’s just a plaintext listing. (And when you take your picture, makesure that it’s a good one—there’s no point in post-ing a picture if the item is too small and out offocus.)

Tip #6: Be DescriptiveInclude as much descriptive text about your itemas you can. The better you describe your item, thefewer mid-auction emails you’ll get asking about it and the greater the chance thatyour ultimate buyer won’t get any unpleasant surprises. In addition, you neverknow when that single “unimportant” detail is just the thing a specific bidder islooking for—so don’t overlook any detail, no matter how small.

Tip #7: Reuse Text That SellsAfter you find a winning formula, reuse it! This is especially so if you sell a lot ofsimilar items. Cut and paste descriptive text from your successful listings into addi-tional listings. If nothing else, this gives you a head start when creating new itemlistings!

Tip #8: Include Shipping and Payment DetailsDon’t forget to include all the details about shipping and handling (how much andwho pays), payment methods, and the like. (That means estimating shipping andhandling up front, if you can.) Don’t leave anything open to interpretation.

Tip #9: Be HonestBe honest in your description of the item. If the item has a few flaws, mention them.If there’s damage or the item is otherwise imperfect, make note of it. Misleading abuyer will only cause you grief.


See Chapter 14,“Writing a Listing That

Sells,” for more ideas for effectivelisting descriptions.

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Tip #10: Promote Yourself with Your AboutMe Page

eBay’s About Me page is the perfect way to providemore background information about you as aseller, and to drive potential bidders to your otherlive auctions. Be sure to create an About Me page—and use it to help “sell” yourself and your otheritems.

Tip #11: Make the Buyer PayStipulate in your listing that the buyer pays allshipping and handling costs (and you might evenwant to detail these costs ahead of time in your list-ing). Also, make sure that the buyer pays for any “extras” that might be added afterthe sale. If the buyer wants insurance, the buyer pays for it. If the buyer wants to usean escrow service, the buyer pays for it. If the buyer wants expedited shipping, thebuyer pays for it. See the trend?

Tip #12: Go Long…When it comes time to choose the length for your auction, go for the 7- or 10-dayoption. The longer your item is up for auction, the more potential bidders who willsee it—and the more potential bidders, the better your chances of selling the item fora higher price. Don’t cheat yourself out of potential sales by choosing a shorterauction.

Tip #13:…or Create a Short-Term FrenzyOn the other hand, if you have something really hot, create a bidding frenzy bychoosing a very short auction length. If you do this, play it up in your item’s title: 3Days Only! works pretty well.

Tip #14: There’s No Reason to ReserveI don’t know of a single bidder who likes reserve price auctions. Why use somethingthat scares some bidders away? (Remember, many beginning users don’t understandreserve price auctions, and thus don’t bid in them.) Set a realistic minimum, and geton with it.


Learn more abouteBay’s About Me pages in

Chapter 24, “Creating Your OwnPersonal About Me Page.”

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Tip #15: Single Items Are Best…If you’re looking for the highest total dollar, don’t group items together. Multiple-item lots seldom bring as much money as multiple items sold individually.

Tip #16:…Although You Can Unload Some Dogs in a PackOn the other hand, if you have a lot of things to sell, selling in lots can reduce yourpersonal overhead, as well as help you unload some less attractive items that youprobably couldn’t sell individually. (Plus, you get hit for only a single insertion fee!)

Tip #17: Don’t Compete Against YourselfIf five people are looking to buy footstools today, don’t give them five choices allfrom one person (you). If you have five footstools to sell, don’t sell them all at once.Sell one this week, one next week, and one the week after that. Spread it out to create an illusion of scarcity, and you’ll generate more total revenue.

Tip #18: Start and End in Prime TimeWhen you start your auction is important—because that affects when your auctionends. If you start a seven-day auction at 6:00 p.m. on a Saturday, it will end exactlyseven days later, at 6:00 p.m. the following Saturday.

Why is it important when your auction ends? Because some of the most intense bid-ding takes place in the final few minutes of your auction, from snipers trying to stealthe high bid at the last possible moment. To take advantage of last-minute bidders,your auction needs to end when the most possible bidders are online.

If you end your auction at 3:00 in the morning, everyone will be asleep and you’lllose out on any last-minute bids. Instead, try to end your auction during earlyevening hours, when the most users are online.

Remember, though, that you’re dealing with a three-hour time-zone gap betweenthe East and the West coasts. So, if you time your auction to end at 7:00 p.m. EST,you’re ending at 4:00 p.m. PST—when most potential bidders are still at work.Conversely, if you choose to end at 9:00 p.m. PST, you just hit midnight in NewYork—and many potential bidders are already fast asleep.

The best times to end—and thus to start—your auction are between 9:00 p.m. and11:00 p.m. EST, or between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. PST. (Figure the in-between timezones yourself!) That way you’ll catch the most potential bidders online for the finalminutes of your auction—and possibly generate a bidding frenzy that will garner ahigher price for your merchandise!


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Note, however, that the best time to end an auctioncan be influenced by the type of item you’re selling.For example, if you’re selling an item that appealsto grade-school or high-school kids, try ending yourauction in the late afternoon, after the kids gethome from school and before they head off for din-ner. Items with appeal to housewives do well with alate morning or early afternoon end time. Andbusiness items sell best when they end during nor-mal business hours.

Tip #19: End on a SundayWhen you end your auction on a Sunday, you getone full Saturday and two Sundays (the startingSunday and the ending one) for a seven-day item list-ing. Sunday is a great day to end auctions because almost everybody is home—noone is out partying, or stuck at work or in school. End your auction on a Sundayevening, and you’re likely to get more bids—and higher prices.

There are exceptions, however.

As with the time you end your auction, your ending day might also be influenced bythe type of item you’re selling. If you’re selling an item of interest to college students,for example, you might be better ending on a night during the week, because a lotof students travel home for the weekend; you’ll catch them in the dorms on aWednesday or Thursday night. Items targeted at churchgoers might also be betterending during the week so that you don’t catch bidders when they’re at Sundayevening church services.

Tip #20: Don’t End on a Friday or Saturday NightIf Sunday is normally the best night of the week to end your auction, what’s theworst night?

Friday and Saturday are probably the worst nights to end most auctions, because alot of eBay users are out partying on these non-school nights. End an auction forany item (especially youth-oriented items) on a Friday or Saturday night, and youeliminate a large number of potential buyers.

You should also try not to end your auction right in the middle of a hit televisionseries—some potential bidders might find it difficult to tear themselves away fromthe old boob tube. That means avoiding “Must See TV” Thursdays, and any block-buster sporting events or award shows.


eBay operates on Pacific(West Coast) time. If you’re

in another time zone, be sure todo the math to determine theproper time for your area.

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Tip #21: Slow Down in the SummerFor whatever reason, eBay traffic slows way down in the summertime. (Lots ofpotential buyers are on vacation, and even more are outside enjoying the sunshine.)If you want to maximize your bids, you’ll get a higher price when fall and wintercome along.

Tip #22: Promote Your AuctionsLet people outside eBay know about your auction. Mention your auction in relevantnewsgroups and mailing lists, feature it on your personal Web site, and send emailsabout it to all your friends. Include your item listing’s URL in everything you do sothat anyone interested can click the link to view your auction. Do anything you canthink of to draw traffic to your listing—and thusincrease your chances of selling it.

Tip #23: Use My eBay to Track YourAuctions

Don’t let your auction activity get away from you.Use My eBay to look at all your auctions daily, oruse auction management software to track yourauctions automatically.

You can also use My eBay to track your favoriteauction categories, as well as your feedback ratingsand account status. Personalize your My eBay pagethe way you like and then bookmark it; it’s a greathome page for the heavy auction trader.

Tip #24: If You Sell a Lot, Use eBay Selling ManagerMy eBay is great for tracking your auctions, but when it comes to managing yourend-of-auction activities, consider subscribing to eBay Selling Manager. For just$4.99 per month you get assistance in sending emails, printing invoices and packingslips, and leaving feedback. It’s great if you run a lot of auctions simultaneously.

Tip #25: Avoid Premature CancellationKnow that many bidders wait until the very last minute to place a bid. (It’s calledsniping, and it really works.) If you cancel an auction early, you’ll miss out on thebulk of the potential bids. So don’t cancel!


Learn more about MyeBay in Chapter 3,

“Creating a Home Base with MyeBay.”

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Tip #26: Avoid DeadbeatsYou don’t have to sell to just anybody. You can stipulate that you won’t sell to bid-ders with negative feedback or with feedback ratings below a certain level. If youreceive bids from these potential deadbeats, cancel them. If the deadbeats continueto bid (after being warned off via email by you), block their bids. You want to sell tosomeone who will actually consummate the transaction and send you payment; bid-ders with negative feedback are more likely to leave you high and dry.

Tip #27: Include All Your Shipping CostsWhen figuring your shipping and handling costs, be sure to factor in all your costs—not just the shipping itself, but also the cost of the packaging, the labels, and thepacking tape. Don’t gouge your buyer (this isn’t meant to be a profit center), butdon’t cheat yourself, either. If actual shipping costs are $3.50, think about chargingthe buyer $4 to cover your additional costs.

And, when you’re figuring the item’s shipping weight, remember that you don’t justship the item—you also ship the box and all cushioning materials. These items haveweight and must be included when you’re weighing your item for shipment. (Thosefree Priority Mail boxes are especially heavy—and can easily increase your cost ofshipping.)

Tip #28: Use a Middleman for Expensive ItemsIf you’re selling a high-priced item, consider offering the buyer the option of usingan escrow service. It’s a good deal for you; the buyer pays for the service (in theneighborhood of 5%, typically), it provides a level of peace of mind for the buyer,and it lets you accept credit card payments that you might otherwise not accept.

Tip #29: Document EverythingIn case something goes south, it helps to have good records of all aspects of yourtransaction. Print copies of the confirmation email, plus all email between you andthe buyer. Be sure to write down the buyer’s user ID, email address, and physicaladdress. If the transaction is ever disputed, you’ll have all the backup you need toplead your case.

Tip #30: Communicate Quickly—and ClearlyWhen your auction ends, get in touch with the high bidder immediately. Don’t waituntil the next day; send your post-auction email within minutes of the auction close.Remember, the faster you notify the high bidder, the faster you’ll get paid.


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When you send that email to the high bidder, make sure that the message is clearand grammatically correct, and that you include all relevant information. Don’tleave anything hanging—send a letter that reads something like this:

Congratulations!

You are the winning bidder on auction item number 123456, “FrizzbotDiddly Things.” Please send $00.00 ($00.00 + $0.00 shipping andhandling) to

Your Name

Your Address

Your City, State, and Zip

Please include your address and a copy of this email with your payment.Money order or cashier’s check gets immediate shipment via PreferredShipping Method; payment by check holds shipment for 10 working days.

Please respond to this email (and include your address, please) to confirmyour winning bid.

Thanks again,

Your Name

email the buyer again when you receive payment and once more when you’re readyto ship the item. The more everyone knows, the fewer surprises there are.

Also, remember that not everyone reads his or her email daily, so don’t expect animmediate response. Still, if you don’t receive a response, send another email. Ifyou’re at all concerned at any point, get the buyer’s phone number or physicaladdress from the auction site and call or write him. A good phone conversation canclear up a wealth of misunderstandings.

Tip #31: Be NiceRemember that you’re dealing with another human being, someone who has feel-ings that can be hurt. A little bit of common courtesy goes a long way. Say pleaseand thank you, be understanding and tolerant, and treat your trading partner inthe same way you’d like to be treated. Follow the golden rule; do unto other auctiontraders as you would have them do unto you.

Tip #32: Ship PromptlyShip promptly after you’ve received payment (and after the check has cleared).Nobody likes to wait too long for something they’ve paid for—and you don’t want togain a reputation as a slow shipper.


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Tip #33: If Nobody Buys, Relist—With a Different DescriptionIf you didn’t sell your item the first time, try it again. eBay lets you relist unsolditems at no additional listing charge; even if you have to pay again, you still wantto sell the item, right? But remember that if it didn’t sell the first time, there wasprobably a reason why. Was your asking price too high? Was your description toovague? Was the title too boring? Should you have included a picture or used HTMLto spice up the listing? Whatever you change, change something to increase yourchances of selling your item the second time around.

Tip #34: If You Get Stiffed, Ask for a RefundWhen your high bidder does a vanishing act, file a Non-Paying Bidder Alert andrequest a refund of the auction’s final value fee. There’s no sense paying eBay forsomething you didn’t get paid for!

Tip #35: Don’t Forget About Number TwoIf you run up against a nonpaying bidder, you can try to sell the now-unsold item tothe next highest bidder, if he or she is still interested. It never hurts to ask, in anycase; just use eBay’s Second Chance Offer feature and see whether the bidder bites.

Tip #36: The Customer Is Always Right…Although many sellers take a hardball attitudeand refuse any discussion of refunds, I recom-mend a more customer-friendly approach. WhenI have a dissatisfied buyer, I offer a full refund.Yeah, some buyers might try to take advantage ofyou, but most are honest. So if you have a buyerwith a complaint, you can generally assume thatit’s a legitimate beef. You’ll get better feedback—and sleep easier at night—if you have the cus-tomer return the item and refund the purchaseprice. It’s the right thing to do!


If you do offer a refund,don’t send the moneyuntil you’ve receivedand examined the item indispute. Some smarmybuyers might try to dupe you bysending back a different item thanthe one you shipped!

caution

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Tip #37: …or All Sales Are FinalIf you choose not to offer a “satisfaction guaranteed” policy, be sure to state that “allsales are final” in your item listing. (Alternatively, you can say that your item is“sold as-is” or that there are “no returns.”)

Tip #38: Accept Credit Cards—Via PayPalOne of the easiest ways to increase the number of bids in your auction is to acceptpayment via credit card. Unless you’re a real business with a merchant bankaccount, this means signing up for PayPal—which is extremely easy to do.

Tip #39: Wait for the Check to ClearThe reality is that many buyers prefer to pay by check. That’s okay, as long as youwait a good 10 business days for the check to clear. Don’t be stupid and ship an itembefore the check proves good—you’re bound to get burned!

Tip #40: If It’s a Business, You Pay TaxesThis book isn’t meant to offer tax advice (andyou’d be foolish to consult me for such!), but largereBay sellers need to be aware of the tax issue. Ingeneral, if you’re an individual who classifies as acasual eBay seller, you probably don’t have toworry about collecting sales taxes or reporting tax-able income. However, if you’re a business or anindividual at the power seller level, the InternalRevenue Service will want their share. The bestadvice here is that no matter what level your eBaysales, you should consult your accountant or a sim-ilar tax expert—and never, never try to fool UncleSam.


Learn more about run-ning a full-fledged eBay

business (and paying taxes!) in mycompanion book, AbsoluteBeginner’s Guide to Launching aneBay Business (Que, 2003).

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■ Experienced online sellers follow one of two major strategies: the high road orthe low road.

■ With the high road strategy, you position your item as rare and unique, andprice it relatively high—but provide superior information and service.

■ With the low road strategy, you price your item low enough to generate aflurry of initial bidding activity—and do everything you can to fuel theflames and attract even more potential bidders.

■ Whichever strategy you employ, you should do everything possible to providethe right kind of information and post-auction services to make your itemattractive to the millions of users out there on eBay—all of them potentialbuyers!

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Using eBay’s

Advanced

Features

IVPART

Creating Your Own Personal About Me Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

Understanding and Using Feedback . . . . . . 295

Participating in the eBay Community . . . . . 301

Buying and Selling Wheels and Walls: eBay Motors and Real estate . . . . . . . . . 305

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In this chapter

• Introducing the About Me Page

• Creating Your Own About Me Page

• Publicizing Your eBay Auctions withAbout Me

24

Creating Your

Own Personal

About Me Page

If you buy or sell a lot of items on eBay, wouldn’t it be nice to have a

Web page you could show to other users? You know, a page that

would tell all those buyers and sellers you deal with all about yourself—

and the items you have for sale?

Well, eBay lets you create such a page. It’s called About Me.

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Introducing the About Me PageeBay’s About Me page is a personal Web page just for you. It’s easy to create (noHTML coding necessary), and it lets you tell other eBay users a little bit aboutyourself. It also lets you show other users your current auctions, most recent feed-back, and interesting items you’ve found online. (My About Me page is shown inFigure 24.1.)


FIGURE 24.1

About Me, your

author!

You can view any user’s About Me page by clicking the Me icon next to his or heruser name on any item listing page. (If no icon is displayed, that user doesn’t havean About Me page.) You can also search for other users’ About Me pages by clickingthe Search link on the Navigation Bar and then clicking Find Members to displaythe Find Members page; scroll down to the bottom of the page to search for AboutMe pages by user ID.

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Creating Your Own About Me PageAs I said, you don’t have to be a Web programmer to create your own About Mepage. All you have to do is click a few options and fill in some blanks, and you’reready to go.

Follow these steps:

1. On any eBay page, click the Services link (above the Navigation Bar), andthen click About Me.

2. When the About Me Login page appears, click the Create and Edit Your Pagebutton.

3. When the Step 1 page appears (shown in Figure 24.2), select a two-column,newspaper (three-column), or centered (single-column) layout.

CHAPTER 24 CREATING YOUR OWN PERSONAL ABOUT ME PAGE 287

FIGURE 24.2

Choose a layout

for your About

Me page.

4. When the Step 2 page appears, it’s time to fill in the blanks. In particular,you need to enter a title for your page, a short welcome message (withoptional heading), one or more other paragraphs (also with optional head),and a link to a picture (also optional). You can also opt to display your most

29 0789731053 F CH24.qxd 3/10/04 3:25 PM Page 287

recent feedback comments, the items youcurrently have for sale, links for up to threeof your favorite Web pages, and up to threeitems currently listed on eBay. (For the feed-back and items-for-sale options, you canalso select how many items to display onthe page.) Click the Preview Your Page but-ton when you’re done.

5. You now see a preview of your About Mepage. If you like what you see, click the SaveMy Page button. If you want to change afew items, click the Edit Some More buttonto return to the previous page. If you’d ratherfine-tune the page with your own HTML, click the Edit Using HTML button.

6. If you clicked the Save My Page button, you now see a confirmation page,which includes a link to your new About Me page. Click this link to view yournew page.

You can edit your About Me page at any time by repeating steps one and two, whichwill take you to your preview page; click the Edit Some More button to makechanges to your page.

Publicizing Your eBay Auctions with About MeThe great thing about the About Me page is that it’sa page with an unchanging URL that always listsyour current auctions. When you want to directother users to your eBay auctions, it’s easier todirect them to your About Me page than it is toenter the individual URLs for all your item listingpages.

The address for your About Me page is shown inthe address box of your Web browser. The addressis typically in the form of members.ebay.com/aboutme/userid/; just replace userid with your ownuser ID and you should have the URL. (As men-tioned previously, my eBay ID is trapperjohn2000,so my About Me address is members.ebay.com/aboutme/trapperjohn2000/.)


If you have a separatepersonal Web page

outside of eBay, list it in thefavorite links section. Also, youcan include multiple descriptiveparagraphs by entering a <p>paragraph break tag in either theWelcome Message or the AnotherParagraph text.

Mike Sez“ ”

The About Me pageis also a good way for

other eBay users to get to knowyou—especially those who arebidding in your auctions, or host-ing auctions in which you’re bid-ding. Be sure to include text thatpositions you as a reputable eBaycitizen—and not some goofballflake who’s likely to cause trouble.

Mike Sez“ ”

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CHAPTER 24 CREATING YOUR OWN PERSONAL ABOUT ME PAGE 289

You can then insert this URL into your personal Web page, your email signature, orany other item you can think of. It’s a great way to publicize your ongoing eBayactivity!


■ The About Me page is your personal page on the eBay site—you can create itin less than five minutes, no HTML coding necessary.

■ Your About Me page can include descriptive text, a photo, links to yourfavorite sites, a list of your current auctions, and a list of your most recentfeedback comments.

■ You can use your About Me page to publicize your eBay activities outside ofthe eBay site.

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In this chapter

• What Do All Those Stars and NumbersMean?

• Reading Feedback Comments—and Contacting Other Users

• How to Leave Feedback

• Figuring Out What Kind of Feedbackto Leave

• Dealing with Negative Feedback

25

Understanding and

Using Feedback

eBay regards its feedback function as the best protection against fraud-

ulent transactions. I certainly recommend that, whether a transaction

went swell or went south, you leave feedback about your partner in

every transaction. I know that I check the feedback rating of every seller

I choose to deal with; it really is a good way to judge the quality of the

other party in your eBay transactions.

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What Do All Those Stars and Numbers Mean?Next to every buyer and seller’s name on eBay are a number and (more often thannot) a colored star. (Figure 25.1 shows my personal star and feedback number.)These numbers and stars represent that user’s feedback rating. The larger thenumber, the better the feedback (and the more transactions that user has partici-pated in).


FIGURE 25.1

Check the feed-

back rating next

to a member’s

name.

How are feedback ratings calculated?

First, every new user starts with 0 points. (A clean slate!) For every positive feedbackreceived, eBay adds 1 point to your feedback rating. For every negative feedbackreceived, eBay subtracts 1 point. Neutral comments add 0 points to your rating.

Let’s say you’re a new user, starting with a 0 rating. On the first two items you buy,the sellers like the fact that you paid quickly and give you positive feedback. On thethird transaction, however, you forgot to mail the check for a few weeks, and theseller left you negative feedback. After these three transactions, your feedback ratingwould be 1. (That’s 0 + 1 + 1 – 1 = 1.)

If you build up a lot of positive feedback, you qualify for a star next to your name.Different colored stars represent different levels of positive feedback, as noted inTable 25.1.

Table 25.1 eBay Feedback RatingsColor/Type Points

Yellow star 10–49

Blue star 50–99

Turquoise star 100–499

Purple star 500–999

Red star 1,000–4,999

Green star 5,000–9,999

Yellow shooting star 10,000–24,999

Turquoise shooting star 25,000–49,999

Purple shooting star 50,000–99,999

Red shooting star 100,000 or more

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Obviously, heavy users can build up positive feedback faster than occasional users. Ifyou’re dealing with a shooting-star user (of any color), you know you’re dealingwith a trustworthy—and extremely busy—eBay pro.

Reading Feedback Comments—and ContactingOther Users

You can also read the individual comments left by other users by going to the user’sMember Profile page. To access this page, just click the user’s name or feedbacknumber.

The Member Profile page, like the one shown in Figure 25.2, includes a lot of infor-mation you can use to judge the trustworthiness of other users. At the top of thepage is the user’s Feedback Score, followed by the Positive Feedback percentage.You’ll also see the raw numbers—the number of members who left positive feedback,and the number who left negative feedback. Recent feedback ratings are summa-rized in the Recent Ratings table.

CHAPTER 25 UNDERSTANDING AND USING FEEDBACK 293

FIGURE 25.2

A typical

Member Profile

page; hey, peo-

ple like this guy!

To the right of the Recent Ratings Table are links you can use to find out even moreabout this user—his ID History, current Items for Sale, a link to his eBay Store (if hehas one), and a similar link to his About Me page (again, if he has one). Belowthese links is a Contact Member button; click this to send an email to this user.

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Below the summary information is a list of allthe feedback comments for this user. You canclick a tab to view All Feedback Received, justthose comments From Buyers or From Sellers, orcomments that this user Left for Others.

How to Leave FeedbackYou can leave feedback from any item listingpage; just click the Leave Feedback link. Whenyou see the Leave Feedback page, shown inFigure 25.3, you can choose to leave Positive,Negative, or Neutral feedback, along with a briefcomment (80 characters maximum).


tipYou can also use the

Member Profile page to readfeedback comments aboutyou—just click your ownmember name on any page.

(Even more convenient:Go to your My eBay

Feedback page.)

FIGURE 25.3

Leaving feed-

back comments

for a transaction

partner.

Make sure your feedback is accurate before you click the Leave Feedback button; youcan’t change your comments after they’ve been registered.

Figuring Out What Kind of Feedback to LeaveYou should leave feedback at the end of every auction—whether it was a positive ora negative experience for you. Don’t miss your chance to inform other eBay usersabout the quality of the person you just got done dealing with.

Table 25.2 offers some guidelines on when you should leave positive or negativefeedback—and the types of comments you might use to embellish your feedback.

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Table 25.2 Recommended eBay FeedbackTransaction Feedback Comments

Transaction transpires in a timely Positive “Great transaction. Fast payment/fashion. shipment. Recommended.”

Transaction goes through, but Positive “Item received as described” or buyer/seller is slow or you have to “Payment received,” accompanied pester the other user to complete the by “a little slow, but otherwise a transaction. good seller/buyer.”

Transaction is very slow (over a Neutral “Very slow payment/shipment;” month to completion). if you’re buying, follow by “item

received as described.”

Other user backs out of transaction, Neutral “Buyer/seller didn’t follow through but with a good excuse. on sale but had a reasonable

excuse.”

Other user backs out of transaction Negative “Buyer/seller didn’t complete without a good excuse, disappears transaction—avoid!” off the face of the earth before paying/shipping, or bounces a check.

Transaction goes through, but item Positive “Inaccurate description of item” isn’t what you expected or was or “Item was damaged in shipping,” damaged in transit; seller refunds followed by “seller refunded money.” your money.

Transaction goes through, but item Negative “Item not as described and seller isn’t what you expected; seller won’t ignored my complaint—avoid!” refund your money.

As you can see, there’s a proper feedback andresponse for every situation. Just be sure to thinktwice before leaving any feedback (particularlynegative feedback). After you submit your feed-back, you can’t retract it.

Dealing with NegativeFeedback

Many eBay users are zealous about their feed-back ratings. Although it’s a good thing to wantto build up a high rating, some users get quiteobsessive about it.

CHAPTER 25 UNDERSTANDING AND USING FEEDBACK 295

If you and the otheruser work out your issues,

you can agree to mutually with-draw any negative feedback.Complete the form atcgi2.ebay.com/aw-cgi/

eBayISAPI.dll?MFWRequest to initi-ate the removal process.

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For that reason, you want to be very sure of yourself before you leave negative feed-back about a user. Some overly zealous users might retaliate by leaving negativefeedback about you—even if it wasn’t warranted.

Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do if you receive negative feedback; feed-back comments cannot be retracted. (That’s one of eBay’s faults, if you ask me.)What you can do is offer a response to the feedback, which you do by going to yourMy eBay Feedback page and clicking the Review and Respond to Feedback About Melink. When the feedback comments list appears, click the Respond link next to aparticular comment and then enter your response. Your new comment is listed belowthe original feedback comment on the Feedback Profile page.


■ You can use feedback ratings and comments to judge the trustworthiness ofother eBay users.

■ For quick reference, different levels of feedback ratings are indicated by a dif-ferent color and type of star.

■ You can view other users’ feedback by clicking on the feedback rating num-bers next to their user names.

■ At the end of every auction, you should take the time to leave feedback aboutthe other user—although you should be cautious about leaving negativefeedback.

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In this chapter

• Using eBay’s Community Forums

• Communicating via Third-Party Forums

• Joining an Online Auction Organization

26

Participating in the

eBay Community

If you’re a heavy eBay user, you probably already know that eBay is

more than a marketplace—it’s a community. And with more than 95

million users, it’s a big community.

The eBay community can be a godsend for both new and experienced

buyers and sellers. Having trouble with a deadbeat bidder? Ask other

members for advice. Not sure how to ship an odd-sized package? No

need to reinvent the wheel; chances are some other member has

shipped something similar, and can tell you what to do. Got a gripe with

eBay itself? You’re not alone—as you’ll soon find out if you voice your

complaint on one of the many online forums devoted to online auctions

in general and eBay in particular.

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Using eBay’s Community ForumsWhen you want to talk with other eBay users, the first place to look is on the eBaysite itself. eBay hosts various message boards where you can ask questions, offercomments, or just hang out and socialize with other eBay members. Some of thesemessage boards are even frequented by eBay personnel, so you can use them as akind of real-life help system when you encounter difficulties.

eBay’s discussion boards are found on the eBay Community page located atpages.ebay.com/community/. You can also access this page by clicking the Communitylink on the Navigation Bar.

eBay offers various message boards, which are like giant electronic bulletin boardswhere you can read and respond to short messages about specific topics. There areseveral types of message boards on eBay, including these:

■ Community help chat and discussion boards, where you can ask questions(and offer advice) about specific auction features and processes. There areboards here for auction listings, bidding, Checkout, and other eBay-specifictopics. These boards are frequented by eBay support staff, so you’re likely toget your questions answered here.

■ Category-specific chat and discussion boards,where you can interact with others whoshare your hobbies and activities. There areboards here for animals, antiques, comics,photography, and more.

■ General chat and discussion boards, whichhost topics that don’t fit into narrow defini-tions (and encourage a certain amount ofbroad socializing). These boards and chatrooms have names like the Front Porch, theHomestead, the eBay Town Square (shownin Figure 26.1), and so on.

■ eBay Workshops, which are special-eventboards hosted by eBay staff.

If you’re a new user, the New to eBay Board is agood place to start. If you have specific questions,use the appropriate community help board.


eBay calls some of itsmessage boards “discussion

boards” and others “chat rooms.”That last phrase is just plainwrong; a real Internet chat room isa virtual gathering place whereyou participate in real-time textmessaging with other users whoare currently online. eBay offersnothing of the sort; all of its “chatrooms” are plain old messageboards.

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CHAPTER 26 PARTICIPATING IN THE EBAY COMMUNITY 299

FIGURE 26.1

The eBay Town

Square discus-

sion board.

Communicating via Third-Party ForumsYou don’t have to log on to eBay to talk about eBay. Some of the most popular mes-sage boards exist outside the eBay service, hosted by third-party Web sites andorganizations. These third-party message boards are particularly useful on those(increasingly rare) occasions when the eBay site itself is plagued by technical prob-lems and otherwise inaccessible; when you can’t get to eBay, you can get to thesemessage boards to gripe about it!

The most popular of these third-party message boards includes the following:

■ Ándale’s Online Traders Web Alliance (OTWA) Community(community.otwa.com)

■ AuctionBytes Forums (www.auctionbytes.com/forum/phpBB/)

■ e-Powersellers.com Message Board (www.e-powersellers.com/forum.htm)

■ Online Auction Users Association (OAUA) Discussion Board (www.auctionusers.org/forums/)

■ Vendio Community (www.vendio.com/mesg/)

Most of these forums offer various boards, organized around specific topics. Forexample, AuctionBytes offers an Online Fraud Forum, an Online Marketing Forum,and individual forums for book, porcelain, record, and toy collectors.

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Joining an Online Auction OrganizationMany of the sites that offer eBay-oriented message boards also offer other productsand services, and serve as auxiliary communities to the main eBay communities. Inparticular, AuctionBytes (www.auctionbytes.com) is a good site to check out; it providesnews and articles of interest to eBay buyers and sellers, in addition to messageboards.

Even more worthwhile is the Online Auction Users Association, located at www.auctionusers.org. The OAUA is an association formed to provide a collectivevoice for small buyers and sellers in the online auction community by identifyingshared issues; providing training, education, and support services; and lobbying topromote laws and regulations that benefit the online auction users.

I can’t tell you to join the OAUA, but I can tell you it’s a fine organization with yourneeds in mind. The OAUA gives individual auction users a voice in the industry, lob-bies for your benefit, and provides a wealth of information, education, and discus-sion. Best of all, membership is free—so there’s no excuse not to join!


■ To communicate with and ask advice of other eBay users, check out the mes-sage boards and chat rooms on the eBay site.

■ You can find other eBay-oriented message boards at various third-party sites,such as AuctionBytes and Vendio.

■ Another good source of online auction community can be found at theOnline Auction Users Association—which also provides information, educa-tion, and discussion.

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In this chapter

• Shopping for Cars and Other Vehicles oneBay Motors

• Using eBay Motors’ Buyer and SellerServices

• Selling Your Used Car on eBay Motors

• Shopping for a New House on eBay RealEstate

• Listing Your Property on eBay Real Estate

27

Buying and Selling

Wheels and Walls:

eBay Motors and

Real Estate

Most people think of eBay as a marketplace for small, easily shippable

items—collectibles, clothing, compact discs, and the like. It might come

as a surprise that eBay is increasingly becoming a viable marketplace for

much larger, more expensive items, such as cars and homes. Read on to

learn more about these big-ticket components of the eBay site—eBay

Motors and eBay Real Estate.

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Buying and Selling Vehicles on eBay MotorseBay Motors is a one-stop shop for anyone buying or selling used or collectible vehi-cles. And not just automobiles; eBay Motors offers categories for Cars, Luxury Cars,Minivans & Vans, SUVs, Trucks, Collector Cars, Motorcycles, and other vehicles—including ATVs, Aircraft, Boats & Watercraft, Buses and Motorcoaches, CommercialTrucks, RVs and Campers, Scooters & Minibikes, and Snowmobiles. eBay Motors alsohelps users buy and sell all manner of new and used automotive, aircraft, and boat-ing accessories.

You can access eBay Motors from the eBay home page, or by going directly topages.ebay.com/ebaymotors/.

Shopping for Cars and Other VehiclesThe eBay Motors home page is shown in Figure 27.1. From here you can shop forvehicles in three ways:

■ Browse by category, using the Categories links on the left side of the page

■ Shop by make of vehicle, using the Browse Cars by Make pull-down list at thetop of the page


FIGURE 27.1

Shopping for

cars, boats, and

planes at eBay

Motors.

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CHAPTER 27 BUYING AND SELLING WHEELS AND WALLS 303

FIGURE 27.2

A typical eBay

Motors vehicle

listing.

■ Search by make, model, or other criteria,using the Search box at the top of thepage

Figure 27.2 shows a typical vehicle listing. Asyou can see, an eBay Motors listing is a little dif-ferent from a regular eBay auction listing. First,almost all vehicle listings include photographs,which you might expect. Second, under thephoto (in the Description section) is a standard-ized features listing, which describes the car’smileage, engine, number of doors, type of trans-mission, used/new status, status of the vehicle’s title, exterior/interior colors, the car’svehicle inspection number (VIN), and the car’s included options (air conditioning,leather seats, and so on).

tipTo get a vehicle history

report (cost: $4.99) thatdetails the car’s maintenancerecord, click the VIN numberlink (when present).

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Under this section are three standardized text sections, for Vehicle Description,Vehicle Condition, and Terms of Sale. Next up is a Shipping and Payment Detailssection, along with a Monthly Payment Estimate calculator; use this to calculateyour auto loan payments for this vehicle.

Making a bid on a vehicle is similar to making a bid in a regular eBay auction. Justscroll to the bottom of the page, enter your Bid amount, and then click the Place Bidbutton.

If you win an eBay Motors auction, you have to arrange payment (which mightmean placing a down payment and then arranging an auto loan), as well as ship-ping or pickup. Assuming that you and the seller don’t live in the same city, you’llprobably want to avail yourself of eBay’s vehicle delivery service, discussed in thefollowing section.

Using eBay Motors ServiceseBay Motors offers various services (most provided by third parties) useful to bothbuyers and sellers. Links to these services are found in the Services Center part of theeBay Motors home page (or by clicking the Services link at the top of any eBayMotors page). These services include the following:

■ eBay Assurance Program. This program offers a set of separate servicesfor eBay buyers and sellers, including a limited warranty, purchase insurance,vehicle inspection, and secure payment (via PayPal).

■ Limited Warranty. eBay provides a free one-month/1,000-mile limited war-ranty (courtesy of 1SourceAutoWarranty.com) on eligible used cars under 10years old and with less than 125,000 miles on the odometer.

■ Purchase Insurance. eBay offers (via a third party) free protection againstfraud or material misrepresentation, up to $20,000 (with a $500 deductible).

■ Vehicle Inspection. eBay can arrange athird-party inspection of the vehicleyou’re buying.

■ Payment Protection. eBay offers securepayment and fast deposit, through eitherPayPal or Escrow.com.

■ Vehicle History Reports. eBay offersAutoCheck history reports that detail therepair, salvage, accident, and ownershiphistory of the vehicle you’re looking at.


tipBecause you’re probably

bidding on a vehicle sightunseen, arranging an inde-pendent inspection of thevehicle is a way to ensure

that you’re getting whatyou think you’re getting.

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■ Vehicle Shipping. To get your car from there to here, eBay can arrangewith Dependable Auto Shippers (DAS) for door-to-door shipment and deliveryof your vehicle, at additional charge. (Quotes are free.)

■ Auto Insurance. Because you’ll need insurance on your new vehicle, eBayoffers insurance quotes from several insurance companies.

■ Vehicle Financing. The eBay Financing Center enables you to shop for andapply for various auto loans.

■ Extended Warranty. If you want to purchase an extended warranty(beyond eBay’s one-month warranty) on your car, eBay can hook you upwith a policy from 1SourceAutoWarranty.com.

Selling Your Car OnlineTo sell a used vehicle on eBay Motors, you must create an item listing just as you doin a regular eBay auction. The big difference is the amount of detail you need toprovide; eBay Motors requires you to enter a fair amount of vehicle-specific informa-tion, as shown in the following checklist:

Checklist: Before You Sell Your Vehicle| Vehicle type

| Model year

| Vehicle Information Number (VIN)

| Mileage

| Exterior color

| Interior color

| Number of cylinders

| Transmission (automatic or manual)

| Number of doors

| Condition (new or used)

| Existing warranty?

| Type of vehicle title (clear, salvage, or other)

| Vehicle inspection?

| Other important options and safety features


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You should also check off any options and safetyfeatures included with the vehicle, such as sun-roof, CD player, and antilock brakes.

Pricing the vehicle in your listing is identical topricing a regular eBay auction, complete withstarting price, optional reserve price, andoptional Buy It Now price—except that the num-bers are probably a bit bigger than what you’reused to.

eBay Motor fees work a little differently thanthey do in other auctions. You’ll pay $40 to listmost vehicles ($30 for motorcycles), as well as a flat $40 (also $30 for motorcycles)Transaction Services Fee (TSF) accessed at the time of the first bid. No percentages,just the two flat fees.

When the auction is over, you’ll need to arrange delivery to the high bidder. Thebest option here, assuming that the two of you aren’t within driving distance, is touse a vehicle carrier service—accessible from the Vehicle Shipping link on the eBayMotors home page.

Buying and Selling Houses on eBay Real EstateIf a car is the second-largest expenditure you’ll make in your life, a home is thelargest. Through its eBay Real Estate site, eBay now offers listings and auctions forall types of real estate, including Residential, Timeshares, Office/Commercial, andLand. (The Residential listings include existing, new, foreclosed, and vacationhomes.)

Shopping for Houses and Other Real EstateYou access eBay Real Estate from the Categories list on the eBay home page or bygoing directly to pages.ebay.com/realestate/. As you can see in Figure 27.3, you canbrowse by category or search by title or description.

If you’re interested in a house, click the Residential Homes link. This takes you to theResidential Real Estate page, which offers a Home Finder search by state, city, num-ber of bedrooms, price, and so on.

The typical eBay Real Estate listing, like the one shown in Figure 27.4, includes vari-ous real estate–specific information, including square footage, number of bedrooms,and so on. Also included is the property’s ZIP Code, a link to a map of the property’simmediate neighborhood, and a link to a neighborhood profile.


tipWhen you enter the VIN

for a 1992 or newer vehicle,eBay will automatically sup-ply descriptive text for yourlisting.

32 0789731053 F CH27.qxd 3/10/04 3:24 PM Page 306


FIGURE 27.3

House hunting

at eBay Real

Estate.

FIGURE 27.4

A typical eBay

Real Estate prop-

erty listing.

32 0789731053 F CH27.qxd 3/10/04 3:24 PM Page 307


What’s different about eBay Real Estate is that many of the listings aren’t really auc-tions; sellers can choose to use eBay Real Estate as a traditional listing service, whichmeans you have to contact the seller (or the seller’s agent) to make a bid for theproperty. If there is no Ready to Bid? section in the listing, you’ll see a Ready toContact Seller/Agent? section instead. Enter your name and contact information andclick the Submit button, and your information will be forwarded to the seller/agent.

Listing Your House OnlineMany homeowners are choosing the “for sale by owner” option when it comes timeto sell their property. If you’re up to the extra work, you can eliminate realtor’s feeswhen you sell it yourself—and eBay Real Estate is the perfect place to list your homefor sale. (eBay Real Estate is also popular among the realtor crowd; it’s a great wayto gain exposure for any home for sale.)

When you click the Sell link at the top of the eBay Real Estate page, you’re offered achoice of three selling formats. You can choose to sell your property at a traditionalauction, sell at a fixed price, or simply use eBay to advertise your real estate. Fromthere, you enter the specifics of your property—number of bedrooms, number ofbathrooms, type of property, square footage, lot size, year built, and so on. Youcan also choose to run a 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, or 30-day auction, or a 30- or 90-day non-auction listing.

eBay Real Estate charges both listing and final value fees. The charge for a 1-, 3-, 5-,7-, or 10-day auction listing is $100; a 30-day auction listing costs $150. If youprefer to use a non-auction listing, you’ll pay $150 for a 30-day listing, or $300 fora 90-day listing. The final value fee for timeshares and land is $35; there is no finalvalue fee on residential and commercial real estate.


■ eBay Motors lets you buy or sell any type of new or used vehicle, includingcars, trucks, motor homes, boats, and aircraft.

■ When you purchase a vehicle via eBay Motors, eBay provides various usefulservices to help you complete your transaction—including limited warranty,purchase insurance, vehicle inspection, vehicle history reports, and vehicledelivery.

■ eBay Real Estate functions more like a traditional real estate listing service, inthat it allows traditional property listings in addition to auctions.

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Becoming a

Power Seller

VPART

Using Auction Software and Services . . . . . 315

Going International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

Making a Living from ebay . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

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33 0789731053 F PT5.qxd 3/10/04 3:24 PM Page 310

In this chapter

• Listing and Auction Management

• Sniping and Bidding Tools 28

Using Auction

Software and Services

Throughout this book I’ve mentioned several third-party software pro-

grams and services you can use to automate various parts of the online

auction process. This chapter is where you get the complete list of prod-

ucts and services, along with some personal comments and recommen-

dations about which are the best to use.

So if you want to make bidding and selling in eBay auctions a little

easier—particularly important if you’re a high-volume power seller—

this chapter is for you!

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Listing and Auction ManagementIf you’re running a lot of auctions at one time, you need some way to keep track ofwhich auctions are still open, which have closed, which need emails sent to highbidders, which need to be shipped out, and so on. It also helps if you can somehowautomate the listing process itself, and create great-looking HTML-based listings to boot.

Making life easier for eBay power sellers hasbecome somewhat of a cottage industry. There area large number of software programs and Web-based services that handle some or all of the eBayselling process—from ad creation to post-auctionmanagement.

The tools listed here are the most popular of what’scurrently available. Although many perform simi-lar functions, there are a lot of important differ-ences, so pay attention. And know that most ofthese programs and Web sites cost real money touse—in some cases, the kind of serious bucks thatonly big-volume sellers can afford.

All My AuctionsAll My Auctions (www.rajeware.com/auction/) is a basic auction management softwareprogram. It includes template-based listing creation, live auction management(including the capability to track competitors’ auctions), end-of-auction emailnotification, and report generation. The price is $39.95 with no monthlysubscription fees.

ÁndaleÁndale (www.andale.com) is a site that offers various services for eBay sellers. In fact,it’s the only site that offers the full range of tools from pre-auction research to post-auction management.

Ándale’s auction tools are first-rate, and they’re extremely easy to use. Here’s a shortlist of what’s available:

■ Ándale Checkout—Provides one-stop customer checkout, as well as automaticend-of-auction emails

■ Ándale Counters—Free traffic counters for your item listings


Remember to factorthe costs of these pro-

grams and services into your over-all auction costs. If a servicecharges $20 a month and you listonly 20 auctions, you’ve justadded a buck to the cost of eachof your auctions. Same thing if aservice charges on a per-listingbasis, or as a percentage of yourselling fee. Believe me, these costsadd up fast—especially if you’re arelatively small seller!

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ Ándale Counters Pro—More detailed counter-based traffic analysis, for a fee

■ Ándale Email Manager—Enables you tomine your customer list for additional sales

■ Ándale Feedback—Lets you automate bulkfeedback postings

■ Ándale Gallery—Displays other items youhave for sale

■ Ándale Images—Image hosting

■ Ándale Lister—Bulk listing creation withpredesigned templates

■ Ándale Lister Pro—Offline bulk listing creation

■ Ándale Refunds—Automates filing for nonpaying bidder refunds

■ Ándale Research—Detailed auction analysis

■ Ándale Sales Analyzer—Detailed analysis of your auction transactions

■ Ándale Sourcing—Identify and contact suppliers for specified types ofmerchandise

■ Ándale Store—Your own branded fixed-price online storefront

■ Ándale What’s Hot—Provides detailed reports on eBay’s hottest sellingcategories

You have the option of using—and paying for—each of these tools separately; you’renot locked into the complete toolkit, unless that’s what you want. Although some of these tools can be used free of charge, most carry either a per-month or a per-transaction charge. The individual fees might seem reasonable, but they can add upvery quickly. In fact, the thing I like least about Ándale is the cost; depending onwhich services you subscribe to, you could end up spending more money here thanat any other site.

As far as pricing plans go, Ándale bundles several of its services into what it calls“Quick Packs.” For example, the 40 Listings Quick Pack includes Ándale Research,3MB of Ándale Images, 40 listings with Ándale Lister, and Ándale Counters, for$10.95. Other Quick Packs offer more services and more listings, up to the $229.95per month 1,110 Listing Quick Pack. And, of course, you can pick and chooseÁndale’s individual services on an a la carte basis.

CHAPTER 28 USING AUCTION SOFTWARE AND SERVICES 313

In case you’re wonder-ing, Ándale is pronounced

on-de-lay, not an-dale.

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Auction HawkAuction Hawk (www.auctionhawk.com) is a Web-based service with affordable pricing.The site offers various tools in its main service, including image hosting, bulk listingcreation, end-of-auction checkout with automated winning-bidder email, bulk feed-back posting, and profit-and-loss reporting.

One nice aspect of Auction Hawk’s services is that it doesn’t charge any per-transac-tion or final value fees. In addition, all its services are included in a single price, soyou’re not nickel-and-dimed to death with a la carte pricing. The full-servicemonthly plans range in price from $12.99 (for 50 listings) to $44.99 (unlimited list-ings). At these prices, it’s worth checking out.

Auction LizardAuction Lizard (www.auction-lizard.com) is an easy-to-use listing-creation softwareprogram. It creates great-looking HTML-based listings using forms and templates.Auction Lizard is shareware, with a $29 registration fee.

Auction Wizard 2000Auction Wizard 2000 (www.auctionwizard2000.com)—not to be confused with AuctionLizard, previously—is an auction management software program that includes animage editor, a listing creator, a report generator, an FTP manager, and an auctiondatabase. Auction Wizard 2000 costs $75 for the first year (and $50 for each subse-quent year) with no monthly subscription fees.

AuctionHelperAuctionHelper (www.auctionhelper.com) offers various auction management tools,including image hosting, customer tracking and invoicing, and inventory manage-ment. The site also offers several auction reporting tools.

AuctionHelper charges no monthly fees. (It does, however, have a $10 monthly min-imum, which you’ll need to plan for.) Instead, the site charges 1.95% of gross mer-chandise sales, with a minimum $0.15 and a maximum $1.25 charge per auction. Italso adds a flat $0.02 fee to each transaction. In addition, you’ll pay for image host-ing above and beyond your first 9 items; the charge for up to 200 items is $4.95 permonth.


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AuctionSageAuctionSage (www.auctionsagesoftware.com) is a software program that lets you postand manage your eBay auction transactions. It also includes email and bulk feed-back functions. Cost is $24.95 for 3 months or $64.95 for a year.

AuctionTamerAuctionTamer (www.auctiontamer.com) is an all-in-one auction management softwareprogram for both sellers and bidders. For sellers, it lets you create auction listings,schedule delayed auction listings, manage your live auctions, send post-auction emails, and print shipping labels. Various pricing plans are available, including$39.75 for 3 months and $99.95 for a year.

AuctionworksAuctionworks (www.auctionworks.com) is one of the oldest and most established third-party auction management services. The site offers various professional auctiontools, including inventory management, the ClickLaunch Quick Lister bulk listingcreator, traffic counters, image hosting, automatic end-of-auction emails, the propri-etary Clickout checkout system, reciprocal feedback posting, Web-based storefronts,and customizable reports.

Auctionworks charges no monthly fees for its service, instead opting for a 2% fee oneach successful transaction, with a $0.10 minimum and $3.00 maximum fee pertransaction. Image hosting, however, does come with a monthly fee, as low as$14.95 for 100MB of hosting space.

AuctivaAuctiva (www.auctiva.com) offers two different services: Auctiva Basic and Auctiva Pro.Auctiva Basic includes Listing Tracker counters and the Mr. Poster bulk lister; theseservices are free. Auctiva Pro adds the following features:

■ Auctiva FastPix and Auctiva Pictures—Image-hosting services

■ Auctiva Manager (eBud)—Tracks and manages all your auction listings, andhandles post-auction management and email

■ Auctiva Poster—Listing creation with predesigned templates

■ Auctiva Showcase Pro—A photo gallery of all your auction listings

Auctiva Pro is available in several pricing plans. The Starter Seller Plan gives you 50listings for $9.95 per month; the most expensive plan, the Unlimited Plan, offersunlimited listings for $109.95 per month.


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ChannelAdvisorChannelAdvisor (www.channeladvisor.com) is the latest incarnation of GoTo.com andAuction Rover, two third-party sites from the early days of the online auction busi-ness. The site offers a fairly affordable suite of auction management tools—as wellas services for bigger online merchants. These are the three levels of service offered:

■ ChannelAdvisor Pro—Auction management tools for high-volume eBay sell-ers, including template-based listing creation, image hosting, post-auctionmanagement, and fixed-price storefront

■ ChannelAdvisor Merchant—Enterprise-level auction management, for mid-sized businesses and “super powersellers”

■ ChannelAdvisor Enterprise—Outsourced auction management for Fortune1000 businesses

The service you want to look at is ChannelAdvisor Pro. Not only is ChannelAdvisorPro a surprisingly easy-to-use collection of auction management tools, but it’s alsoquite reasonably priced, at a flat fee of just $29.95 per month. If you’re doing morethan 50 auctions a month, it’s definitely worth considering—even more so if you’re aheavier lister.

eBay Seller’s AssistantAlthough Turbo Lister is eBay’s recommended list-ing creation software, the site still offers an olderprogram called eBay Seller’s Assistant (pages.ebay.com/sellers_assistant/). Seller’s Assistant Basic isbest for casual users, offering HTML-based listingcreation (using forms and templates), auctiontracking, and basic post-auction management(including automatic email notification and feed-back generation). The software is available on aper-month subscription; you’ll pay $9.99 eachmonth, no matter how many listings you create.

eBay Selling ManagerAs you learned in Chapter 20, “Automating Auction Management with eBay SellingManager,” Selling Manager (pages.ebay.com/selling_manager/) lets you manage yourpending, in-process, and closed auctions right from within My eBay. It’s a fairly com-plete service, equal to that offered by many third-party providers. It includes prede-fined email templates and automatic feedback forms, automatically tracks buyer


eBay also offers a morefully featured version of this

program, called Seller’s AssistantPro, which costs $24.99 permonth.

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checkout and payment, and lets you print shipping labels, invoices, and reports. At$4.99 per month, it’s a pretty good deal—definitely worth checking out if you have alot of auctions to manage.

eBay Selling Manager ProThe more robust Selling Manager Pro (pages.ebay.com/selling_manager_pro/) adds fea-tures of value to power sellers, including bulk listing and relisting, bulk email, inven-tory management, report generation, and thecapability to create and print shipping labels. Thesubscription fee is $15.99 per month.

eBay Turbo ListereBay Turbo Lister (pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister/) iseBay’s official software program for the bulkuploading of multiple auctions. Although TurboLister doesn’t offer any auction tracking features, itexcels at bulk uploading—and it’s free! Many sell-ers use Turbo Lister to create their listings andSelling Manager to manage their auctions; it’s agood combination.

eListereLister (www.blackmagik.com/elister.html) is an easy-to-use listing creation program,complete with HTML formatting and predesigned templates. Pricing is $9.95 for 30days or $29.95 for 6 months.

HammerTapHammerTap (www.hammertap.com) offers various auc-tion management software and services, all pricedseparately. These tools include the following:

■ HammerTap Manager—Web-based auctionposting and management

■ Auction Informant—Software that sends youemail alerts when your items receive bids

■ BayCheck and BayCheck Pro—Software forbackground checks of eBay users


Learn more about eBayTurbo Lister in Chapter 17,

“Automating Item Listing witheBay Turbo Lister.”

HammerTap Manager isthe same service as

ChannelAdvisor Pro, just under adifferent name.

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■ BayMail and BayMail Pro—Software for sending emails to eBay users

■ BidderBlock—Software for managing blocked bidder lists

■ DeepAnalysis—Auction research tool

■ FeeFinder—Software for calculating eBay, PayPal, and shipping fees

inkFroginkFrog (www.inkfrog.com) is a cute name for some heavy-duty Web-based auctionmanagement services. inkFrog offers auction listing, tracking, and management,along with image hosting and listing creation and design. Various plans are offered,starting at $7.95 per month.

ManageAuctionsManageAuctions (www.manageauctions.com) offers Web-based listing creation, auctiontracking, email notification, shipping label printing, feedback generation, and otherpost-auction management. Pricing is on an a la carte basis; listings cost $0.05 eachand post-sale management is $0.05 per auction. There’s a minimum monthlycharge of $4.95, and a maximum of $24.95; image hosting is extra.

Shooting StarShooting Star (www.foodogsoftware.com) is a software program designed to manage theend-of-auction process. It uses what it calls a “workflow system” to move youthrough various post-auction operations, including email notification. Price is a one-time $49.95.

SpareDollarSpareDollar (www.sparedollar.com) is kind of a bargain-basement auction service,ideal for small or occasional sellers. It’s an extremely affordable service, with every-thing offered for a flat $4.95 per month price.

SpareDollar’s auction tools include the following:

■ sdCounter—Traffic counters for your item listings

■ sdGallery—Photo gallery of all your auction items

■ sdImage—50MB of image hosting

■ sdLister—Bulk listing creation with predesigned templates

■ sdTracker—Post-auction tracking and emails


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VendioVendio (www.vendio.com), formerly known as Auctionwatch, is number-two to Ándaleamong auction management services. Vendio claims 100,000 sellers use its services,which makes it a very popular site.

The site offers five vastly different services for auction sellers:

■ Vendio Sales Manager—A complete package of auction management tools,including bulk listing creation with templates, end-of-auction managementand notification, bulk feedback posting, and image hosting

■ Vendio Image Hosting—Image hosting

■ Vendio Store Manager—Your own branded fixed-price storefront

■ Vendio Customer Manager—Enables you to mine your customer list for addi-tional sales

■ Vendio Asset Remarketing—Targeted at businesses wanting to unload assetsin bulk

Of these services, Vendio Sales Manager is obviously the most targeted and the mostpopular among eBay sellers.

Vendio tries to appeal to different types of sellers by offering a mix of fixed- andvariable-priced monthly subscriptions. For example, the Sales Manager Pay as YouGo Plan carries no fixed fee, although you’ll pay $0.10 per transaction and a 1%final value fee. On the other hand, the Sales Manager Variable Rate Power Plancosts $29.95 a month, but with no listing fee and a 1.25% final value fee; and theFlat Rate Power Plan costs $39.95 a month, with a $0.10 per-transaction charge butno final value fee. Confusing? You bet—but it does let you choose the type of pay-ment (flat versus variable versus per-transaction) that best suits your needs.

I like Vendio’s tools almost as much as Ándale’s—although the range of tools isn’t quite as wide. (Noresearch, for example.) The variable-rate pricing isactually a little more attractive to me, especiallybecause my sales volume varies from month tomonth. And I like the fact that Vendio doesn’tnickel-and-dime me to death. All in all, a servicedefinitely worth your consideration.

Virtual Auction Ad ProVirtual Auction Ad Pro (www.firstdesign.com/vadpro/)is a software program that lets you easily create


Of all these auctionmanagement tools, I

still like the combination of eBayTurbo Lister/Selling Manager,especially for small sellers. Formore active eBay sellers, I likeeither Ándale or Vendio, both ofwhich offer a wide variety of veryprofessional tools.

Mike Sez“ ”

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HTML-based ad listings. It also offers templates for listing titles and descriptions, forthose without strong copywriting skills. Cost is $14.99.

Sniping and Bidding ToolsJust as there are a lot of third-party tools for eBay sellers, there also are various soft-ware and services designed for serious eBay buyers. Most of these programs and Websites help you track auctions you’re interested in, and then perform automated last-minute bidding—otherwise known as sniping. (If you don’t remember sniping, referto Chapter 9, “Secrets of Successful Bidders.”)

Auction SentryAuction Sentry (www.auction-sentry.com) is a software program for auction tracking,bidding, and sniping. You can use Auction Sentry just to watch auctions you’re inter-ested in, to alert you when someone else makes a bid on an item, to place instantbids, or to make scheduled snipes. The Auction Sentry program costs $14.95.

Auction SniperAuction Sniper (www.auctionsniper.com) is a Web-based sniping service with more than70,000 registered users. You’re charged 1% of the final value fee, with a minimumcharge of $0.25 and a maximum of $5.

AuctionStealerAuctionStealer (www.auctionstealer.com) is a Web-based service that lets you track anunlimited number of auctions and perform unattended auction sniping. The siteclaims to have sniped more than 2.5 million auctions to date, and to have morethan 85,000 active registered users. The site offers both a free service and a morefully featured priority service that costs $11.99 per month, $29.99 for 3 months, or$49.99 for 6 months.

AuctionTamerWe discussed AuctionTamer (www.auctiontamer.com) back in the “Listing and AuctionManagement” section, because it’s a tool for both bidders and sellers. For bidders, itlets you search and track auctions across multiple auction sites, save and repeatyour most popular item searches, automatically snipe auctions, and leave feedbackon items you’ve won. You pay $15.95 for 6 months (or $24.95 for a year) forAuctionTamer’s Buyer Access Plan; seller features are extra.


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BidNapperBidNapper (www.bidnapper.com) is a Web-based subscription sniping service that costs$15.95 for 3 months, $25.95 for 6 months, or $42.50 for 12 months. If you’re aninfrequent bidder, consider the “$19.95 for 12 winning snipes” package.

BidRobotBidRobot (www.bidrobot.com) is a Web-based sniping service with more than 70,000users. Pricing is $19.95 for 6 months or $34.95 for 12 months.

BidSlammerBidSlammer (www.bidslammer.com) is a Web-based sniping service. Cost is $0.10 perbid, and 1% of the winning bid price if you win—with a minimum charge of $0.25and a maximum charge of $5.00.

Cricket Jr.Cricket Jr. (www.cricketsniper.com) is a simple, easy-to-use eBay sniping program. Itcosts $19.99.

eSnipeeSnipe (www.esnipe.com) is a Web-based sniping toolthat claims more than 100,000 users. The sitecharges $0.25 or 1% of the final value fee for eachsuccessful snipe.

HammerSnipeHammerSnipe (www.hammertap.com) is a Web-basedsniping service that comes with its own customizedbrowser, called HammerSnipe PowerTool. ThePowerTool software is free, as is the basic ad-sup-ported service.


I don’t really have afavorite among these

sniping programs and services.However, I do prefer the snipingsites over the software, becauseyou don’t have to bother withhaving your computer on andconnected to the Internet for thesniping to take place. (It’s impor-tant to note that the sniping sitestypically charge a percentage ofyour winning bid—whereas thesniping programs have only aone-time purchase price.)

Mike Sez“ ”

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■ Many big Web sites offer news, education, community, and auction manage-ment services for online auction users—particularly for power sellers.

■ If you’re a power seller (listing dozens of auctions every week), check out siteslike Ándale or Vendio.

■ If you’re a smaller seller (listing a half-dozen or fewer auctions a week),eBay’s combination of Turbo Lister and Selling Manager does a good job atan affordable price.

■ If you’re a serious eBay buyer, consider using a sniping service or softwareprogram to automate your last-second bids.

■ Whichever programs or services you use, remember to factor the cost of thesoftware/service into your overall auction costs.

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In this chapter

• Pros and Cons of Selling Internationally

• Selling Outside the U.S.

• eBay’s International Marketplace

29

Going International

If you’re a seller doing any amount of volume on eBay, you will sooner

or later be faced with an interesting situation: someone from outside

the U.S. bidding on one of your items. Becoming an international seller

sounds exotic and glamorous, but the honor comes with an increase in

paperwork and effort on your part. Although you might be able to

increase the number of potential bidders by offering your merchandise

outside the U.S., you also increase your workload—and, more impor-

tant, your risk.

Should you sell internationally? And if so, how do you handle payment

and shipping and all those other niggling details? Read on to learn more

about international sales via eBay—as well as hear my own opinion on

the subject.

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Pros and Cons of Selling InternationallyLet’s start with the big question: Should you sell internationally? The answer to thisisn’t a simple one. It depends a lot on your tolerance for differences (in money, inlanguage, in routine), and your ability to deal with unusual post-auction activity—especially in regard to payment and shipping.

The pros of opening your auctions to non-U.S. bidders include the following:

■ You might be able to attract additional bidders—and thus sell more items at(presumably) higher prices.

■ You establish a reputation as a hard-working global trader.

■ It’s fun (sometimes) to interact with people from different countries andcultures.

The cons of selling outside the U.S. include the following:

■ You might run into difficulties communicating with bidders from outside theUnited States.

■ You might have to deal with payment in non-U.S. funds, on non-U.S. banks.

■ You’ll have to put extra effort into the packing of an item to be shipped overgreat distances.

■ You probably won’t be able to use your standard shipping services—whichmeans investigating new shipping services and options.

■ Shipping costs will be higher than what you’re used to—and will need to bepassed on to the buyer.

■ You’ll need to deal with the appropriate paperwork for shipping outside theU.S.—including those pesky customs forms.

■ If there are any problems or disputes with the item shipped, you have aninternational-sized incident on your hands.

Just looking at this list, it may appear that the cons outweigh the pros. That mightnot always be the case, however—especially if you’re a real “people person.” ManyeBay sellers get great joy from interacting with people from different cultures, some-times turning foreign buyers into lasting friends. I can vouch from my limited per-sonal experience that most non-U.S. buyers I’ve dealt with are exceedingly politeand tolerant of the extra effort required to complete an international transaction.

If you decide to sell outside the U.S., you’ll want to state this in your auctions, alongwith a line indicating that “shipping and handling outside the U.S. is higher,” orsomething to that effect. If, on the other hand, you decide not to sell internationally,state that in your ad also—with a “U.S. bidders only” type of notice.


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Selling Outside the U.S.If you decide to take the leap and open your auc-tions to an international audience, you need to beprepared for a new world of activities—no punintended. Selling outside the U.S.—especially theshipping part of the process—is much differentfrom selling to someone in New York or California.Although I can’t prepare you for all the issues youmight encounter, I will point out some of the biggerhassles to look out for.

Communicating with InternationalBidders

One of the joys—and challenges—of selling inter-nationally is communicating with non-U.S. bidders.Although citizens of many countries speak English,not all do—or do so well. This means you’re likelyto receive emails in fractured English, or in somelanguage that you might not be able to easilytranslate.

The solution to this problem isn’t always easy. It’sone thing to say you should send non-English-language emails back to the buyer, requesting com-munication in English. But if the buyer can’t reador write English, how is he supposed to read yourrequest? This problem is a tricky one.

I have found, however, that communication goesmore smoothly if you keep your written communi-cations short and simple. Use straightforward word-ing, and avoid slang terms and abbreviations.

In addition, you have to deal with the time difference between the U.S. and manyother countries. If you’re dealing with a buyer in the Far East, you’re sleeping whilehe’s sending emails, and vice versa. This introduces an unavoidable lag into thecommunication that can sometimes be problematic.

The only advice I can give you here is to be aware of the time differences, and planaccordingly. Don’t expect an immediate response from someone on a different conti-nent, and try to avoid the kind of back-and-forth communications that can go onfor days and days.

CHAPTER 29 GOING INTERNATIONAL 325

My personal opinionson international sales

are sure to invite argument. Nooffense to non-U.S. users, but Idon’t ship internationally, period.I’ve done it in the past, and thehassle factor simply isn’t worth it.Even if the transaction goessmoothly (and it often doesn’t, allthings considered), the big issue isthat the procedures involved arejust too different from what Ihave set up for my normal day-to-day auction activities. In otherwords, international auctions areunusual transactions that mess upmy normal domestic auction pro-duction line. My apologies to buy-ers outside the U.S.—most ofwhom I’ve found to be wonderfulpeople to deal with—but I can’tlet my normal activity be jeopard-ized by these high-maintenanceshipments. (I do, however, makethe occasional exception—prima-rily with small items shipping intoCanada that can be handled with-out much additional paperworkor hassle.)

Mike Sez“ ”

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Accepting Foreign PaymentsOne of the issues with selling outside the U.S. is in dealing with foreign currency.First, you have to convert it to U.S. dollars. (How many lira to the dollar today?)Then you have to receive it in a form that isboth secure and trusted. (Do you trust a personalcheck drawn on a small Spanish bank?) Thenyou have to find a way to deposit those funds—and convert them to U.S. dollars. (Does yourbank handle foreign deposits?)

The currency issue is simplified somewhat whenyou specify bidding and payment in U.S. fundsonly. This puts the onus of currency conversionon the buyer, which is a plus.

The payment process can be further simplifiedwhen the buyer pays by credit card—or, evenbetter, by PayPal. PayPal is now active in 38 countries (including the U.S.) and canhandle all the payment, conversion, and deposit functions for you.

Payment via international money order is also a good option. Be sure to specify thatyou need funds in U.S. dollars, and most U.S. banks (as well as your local post office)should be able to cash one of these money orders with little or no hassle.

Shipping Across Borders—and OceansThe biggest difficulty in selling to non-U.S. buyers is shipping the item. Not only arelonger distances involved (which necessitates more secure packaging—and longershipping times), but you also have to deal with different shipping options and allsorts of new paperwork.

Chances are your normal method of shipping won’t work for your internationalshipments. For example, you can’t use Priority Mail to ship outside the U.S.—noteven to Canada or Mexico. This means you’ll need to evaluate new shipping meth-ods, and possibly new shipping services.

If you want to stick with the U.S. Postal Service, you can check out Global ExpressMail (fast but expensive), Airmail (almost as fast, not quite as expensive), orSurface/Parcel Post (slow but less expensive). In addition, UPS offers its WorldwideExpress service, FedEx offers its FedEx Express service internationally, and DHL isalways a good option for shipping outside the U.S. Be sure to check out your optionsbeforehand, and charge the buyer the actual costs incurred.


tipeBay offers a real-time

currency converter atpages.gc.ebay.com/

included/

staticCurrConversion.html.

35 0789731053 F CH29.qxd 3/10/04 3:07 PM Page 326

You’ll also have to deal with a bit of paperworkwhile you’re preparing your shipment. All pack-ages shipping outside U.S. borders must clearcustoms to enter the destination country—andrequire the completion of specific customs formsto make the trip. Depending on the type of itemyou’re shipping and the weight of your package,you’ll need either Form 2976 (green) or Form2976-A (white). Both of these forms should beavailable at your local post office.

When you’re filling out these forms, describe theitem in terms that ordinary people can under-stand. That means using simple, generic terms. A “greatest hits CD compilation”becomes “compact disc.” A “SimCity extension pack” becomes “video game.” Andso on.

You should also be honest about what you’re shipping. Some buyers will try to talkyou into describing the item as a gift so that they can save on duties or tax on theirend. That’s lying, and you shouldn’t do it.

In addition, there are certain items you can’tship to foreign countries—firearms, live animalsand animal products, and so on. (There are alsosome technology items you can’t ship, for secu-rity reasons.) You need to check the govern-ment’s list of import and export restrictions tosee what items you’re prohibited from shippingoutside U.S. borders. (Go to www.export.gov formore information.)

eBay’s International MarketplacesTo better participate in marketplaces outside the U.S., eBay has established separatesites for 22 foreign countries. Each of these sites lists items in the country’s nativelanguage, using the local currency. (You can see this in Figure 29.1, which shows theeBay Germany site.)


tipGiven the increased

chances of loss or damagewhen shipping great dis-tances, you should purchaseinsurance for all items ship-

ping outside NorthAmerica.

tipeBay offers several pages

of advice for internationaltrading at pages.ebay.com/internationaltrading/.

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The list of eBay’s international sites includes the following:

■ Argentina (www.mercadolibre.com.ar)

■ Australia (www.ebay.com.au)

■ Austria (www.ebay.at)

■ Belgium (www.ebay.be)

■ Brazil (www.mercadolivre.com.br)

■ Canada (www.ebay.ca)

■ China (www.eachnet.com)

■ France (www.ebay.fr)

■ Germany (www.ebay.de)

■ Hong Kong (www.ebay.com.hk)

■ Ireland (pages.ebay.com/ie/)

■ Italy (www.ebay.it)

■ Korea (www.auction.co.kr)

■ Mexico (www.mercadolibre.com.mx)


FIGURE 29.1

One of eBay’s

many interna-

tional sites: eBay

Germany.

35 0789731053 F CH29.qxd 3/10/04 3:07 PM Page 328


■ Netherlands (www.ebay.nl)

■ New Zealand (pages.ebay.com/nz/)

■ Singapore (www.ebay.com.sg)

■ Spain (www.ebay.com/es/)

■ Sweden (www.ebaysweden.com/)

■ Switzerland (www.ebay.ch)

■ Taiwan (www.tw.ebay.com)

■ United Kingdom (www.ebay.co.uk)

Although these sites were designed for trading within a specific country, there’s noth-ing keeping you from searching them for items to buy—which will put you on theopposite side of the international buyer/seller argument!


■ When dealing with non-U.S. buyers, be sure to specify payment in U.S.funds—ideally via PayPal or an international money order.

■ Shipping outside the U.S. requires the completion of customs forms (availableat your local post office) and the use of special international shippingservices.

■ eBay offers 22 country-specific online auction sites (in addition to the mainU.S. site), for trading within each local region.

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35 0789731053 F CH29.qxd 3/10/04 3:07 PM Page 330

In this chapter

• Becoming an eBay PowerSeller

• Turning Your Online Auctions into a RealBusiness

• Maintaining Your Sales Inventory

• Automating Your Auction Activities

• Tracking Revenues and Costs

• Promoting Your Online Auctions

• Supplementing Your Auctions with an eBayStore

30

Making a Living

from eBay

Chances are you’re just starting out on your online auction adventures—

learning how to buy and sell and take advantage of everything eBay has

to offer. As you gain more experience, however, you may decide that

you’re pretty good at the whole thing, and start to wonder what it

might take to ramp up your eBay activities. You might even dream

about one day making your living from selling goods online.

For tens of thousands of eBay users, making a living from online auc-

tions isn’t a dream—it’s reality. It’s definitely possible to sell enough

items to generate a livable income from eBay auctions. It takes a lot of

hard work and it’s as complex as running any other business; but it can

be done.

Let me tell you how.

36 0789731053 F CH30.qxd 3/10/04 2:58 PM Page 331

Becoming an eBay PowerSellerOne of the steps to running your own eBay business—although not a requirement,by any means—is to become an eBay PowerSeller. eBay’s 90,000-plus PowerSellersgenerate enough business to warrant special attention from eBay, in the form ofdedicated customer support, premier tools, and the occasional special offer. Plus theyget to display that cool PowerSeller logo in all their auction listings.

To become a PowerSeller, you must meet the following qualifications:

■ Maintain a consistently high level of eBay sales (see Table 30.1)

■ Maintain a minimum of four average monthly total item listings for threestraight months

■ Have been an active eBay seller for at least 90 days

■ Achieve and maintain a minimum feedback rating of 100, 98% positive

■ Deliver post-auction messages to successful bidders within three business daysof each auction close

■ Be an eBay member in good standing and uphold eBay’s “communityvalues”—including honesty, timeliness, and mutual respect

The most important point is the first, because it’s the most quantifiable. There arefive levels in the PowerSeller program; qualification for each level is based on aver-age gross monthly sales, calculated over the past three months of selling activity.Table 30.1 shows the qualifying requirements for each level.

Table 30.1 PowerSeller Requirements by LevelLevel Requirement (average monthly sales)

Bronze $1,000

Silver $3,000

Gold $10,000

Platinum $25,000

Titanium $150,000

That’s right, there are some eBay sellers who average $150,000 or more a month.That’s more than a million dollars a year in revenues from eBay auctions—no slightaccomplishment!

Membership in eBay’s PowerSellers program is free. However, you can’t apply;PowerSeller status is by invitation only. Each month eBay sends out invitations to


36 0789731053 F CH30.qxd 3/10/04 2:58 PM Page 332

sellers who meet the PowerSeller criteria. You become a member by (1) meeting thecriteria; (2) receiving an invitation; and (3) responding positively to the invitation.

Want to see whether you qualify? Then go to the main PowerSeller’s page(pages.ebay.com/services/buyandsell/welcome.html) and click the Check Here link in theHow Do I Qualify? section. eBay will calculate your recent sales and tell you whetheryou qualify.

Turning Your Online Auctions into a RealBusiness

How easy is it to turn your online auction hobby into a profitable business? It’s all amatter of volume—and good business planning and management.

Let’s consider an example. Caitlin has found a source for iron-on transfers for T-shirts and sweatshirts. She can buy these transfers for $1 each and (based on herexperience and research) can sell them on eBay for an average price of $5. That’sfour dollars profit for every transfer she sells.

Caitlin has huddled over her copy of Quicken and determined that she needs to gen-erate $30,000 in profit (not in revenues!) to make her eBay business worthwhile.Assuming that she works 50 weeks a year (everyone needs a vacation), that meansshe needs to average $600 in profit each week. At $4 profit per item, she has to sellan average of 150 iron-on transfers a week—each and every week.

Because only about half of all eBay auctions end with a sale, Caitlin knows that tosell those 150 items she has to launch 300 auctions each week. That’s a lot of work,as you can imagine.

Can Caitlin make a go of it? It depends. Can she physically manage 300 auctions aweek? Can she pack and ship 150 items a week? And, more important, can she real-istically sell 150 items a week—is the market big enough to support that sort of salesvolume?

If Caitlin answers yes to all those questions, there’s still more planning to be done.To begin with, this example greatly simplifies the costs involved. Caitlin will need tofigure eBay’s costs for all those auctions—the listing fees for 300 auctions, and thefinal value fees for 150 completions. If she accepts PayPal payments, she’ll need todetermine what percentage of her buyers will use PayPal, and what her fees forthose transactions will amount to. Assuming that she uses a third-party Web site tohelp her launch and manage those auctions, she’ll also need to figure those fees intoher cost structure.

CHAPTER 30 MAKING A LIVING FROM EBAY 333

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All totaled, these auction listing and management costs can add up to 5%–10% ofher revenues. That means increasing her cost per item from $1.00 to $1.50 ormore—which reduces her profit per item to just $3.50. With this reduced profit mar-gin, she’ll need to sell even more items to hit her profit dollar targets—an extra 20or so successful auctions each week.

All this needs to be factored in—before Caitlinlaunches a single auction. And at these volume levelsshe’s definitely running a business, which meansreporting the income to the IRS and paying taxes.There’s also the matter of sales taxes, which she’llneed to collect on all sales made to buyers in herhome state.

The takeaway here is that making a living fromeBay sales is just like running a business, especiallyin its financial complexities. Anyone contemplat-ing this type of endeavor should do some seriousbusiness planning, which should include consultingan accountant or another financial planner.

If the numbers work out, you need to answer onemore question: Is this something you’ll enjoy doingevery day of the week, every week of the year? Evenif you can make money at it, managing hundredsof auctions a week can wear down even the best ofus. Make sure that you’re up to it, and that you’llenjoy it, before you take the leap.

Maintaining Your Sales InventoryIf you need to be launching several hundred auctions a week, where do you find allthose items to list? It’s a simple fact that you can’t become a power seller by listingonesies and twosies. Instead, you need to find an item you can buy in bulk, andthen list multiples of that item week after week.

Although beginning eBayers can find items to sell by haunting flea markets andestate auctions, power sellers most likely won’t find what they need in those venues.A better strategy is to approach local retailers or wholesalers and offer to buy 10 or20 (or more) of a particular item. Buy whatever quantity earns you the best pricebreak—as long as you think you can move them.


Turning your eBay salesinto a real business is a

major undertaking. If you’re seri-ous about making the leap fromoccasional seller to full-time mer-chant, check out my companionbook, Absolute Beginner’s Guideto Launching an eBay Business(Que, 2003), available whereverbusiness books are sold.

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You can also buy bulk lots of merchandise from online wholesalers and liquidators.We discussed some of these sites in Chapter 11, “Determining What to Sell—and forHow Much.” Check out Liquidation.com (www.liquidation.com) and Wholesale411(www.wholesale411.com) to see what’s available, or use Ándale Sourcing (www.andale.com)to hook up with suppliers of specific types of merchandise.

If you’re a serious collector, you might have your eBay business right there. Whenyour comics collection numbers in the tens of thousands, or you have thousands ofrare coins filed away in your basement, you’re ready for power selling—and powerbuying. Just remember to buy low and sell high, and you’ll be in business.

Finally, consider the selling price of the items you want to sell. You have to sell a lotmore of a $5 item than you do of a $50 item to make the same amount of profit—and the more items you sell, the more work you have to do. The most successfulpower sellers do it by selling higher-priced items, for which the revenues—and theprofits—add up a lot quicker.

Automating Your Auction ActivitiesManaging hundreds of simultaneous auctions is hard work. Most power sellers endup working more than a standard 8-hour day, and more than five days a week.(eBay reports that most of their PowerSellers work anywhere from 10 to 16 hours aday on their auctions!) The time it takes to find new items to sell, photograph them,write detailed item descriptions, post the auctions,send post-auction emails, and pack and ship all thoseitems quickly adds up.

The more auctions you list, the more it behoovesyou to automate as much of the auction process aspossible. For most power sellers, that means signingup with one of the big Web sites that offer bulk list-ing and post-auction management, such as Ándale(www.andale.com) or Vendio (www.vendio.com). Be sureto factor the site’s fees into your cost structure, andlet them help you manage all your auctions.

You should also try to automate your physical auc-tion activity. That means creating some sort of auc-tion “office” or workspace in your home. Thisworkspace should include everything you need inorder to create auction listings (including your digital camera and scanner) and topack and ship your finished auction items. In addition, you’ll need space to store allyour excess auction inventory; this may be your basement or garage, or even arented storage locker.


See Chapter 28, “UsingAuction Software and

Services,” to learn more about theservices offered by these auctionmanagement sites.

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Automating your processes also means establishing some sort of auction-relatedschedule. Pick one or two days a week to launch all your auctions; pick one or twodays to visit the post office. Stick to your schedule and you’ll avoid running aroundlike a chicken with your head cut off; after all, dead chickens aren’t known for theirbusiness efficiency.

On the subject of shipping, you should try to simplify your packing and shippingactivities as much as possible. This means limiting the types of items you sell to justa few so that you can standardize on packaging.It’s much easier to stock just one or two different-sized boxes than it is to store a dozen or moresizes. If you sell a limited variety of merchandise,you’ll also be able to better estimate your ship-ping costs ahead of time.

Using Caitlin’s iron-on transfer business as anexample, this is a great item to sell. She’s dealingwith a standard-size product that’s both flat andlight—ideal for shipping in an oversized envelope,at a flat rate. This means she can not only pur-chase shipping envelopes in bulk, but also pur-chase postage ahead of time—and eliminatethose regular trips to the post office.

Tracking Revenues and CostsEvery business should keep detailed records, and your online auction business is noexception. Whether you use an auction management service that offers report gen-eration, a financial-management program like Quicken, or your own homemadespreadsheet or database, you need to track what you’re doing.

In particular, you want to track unit cost and final selling price for every auctionyou list. You should also track all your ancillary costs—shipping, PayPal fees, eBaylisting and final value fees, and so on. By tracking all your costs and revenues, youcan generate an accurate profit and loss statement, and thus determine how muchmoney (if any) you’re generating from your online auction activities.

It also helps to track information about the buyers of your auction items—name,shipping address, email address, and so on. The name and shipping address are nec-essary in case an item gets lost in transit; the email address is necessary not only forauction-related communication but also for promotional purposes—which we’ll dis-cuss next.


tipWhen you reach this sales

volume, you should alsoinvestigate the pick-up serv-ices offered by many ship-ping services. Dragging

hundreds of items to thepost office every week is a

lot of work—which you want toeliminate, if you can.

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Promoting Your Online AuctionsIf you’re running a hundred or more auctions aweek, you want to draw attention to your auctions.That might mean splurging for some of eBay’s list-ing enhancements (boldface, gallery, and so on),although these extras typically aren’t worth theextra cost. Better to promote your auctions on yourpersonal Web site, via message board postings, andin all your emails.

Probably the most important type of promotion,however, is word of mouth—based on your goodreputation. You want to encourage repeat biddersand drive buyers into your online store (if you haveone) for additional sales. That means treating yourbuyers fairly and with respect, and going the extramile to ensure their satisfaction. It also meanssending previous buyers emails when you haveitems up for auction that they might be interestedin. (Which argues, of course, for keeping compre-hensive records of all your eBay auctions.)

Supplementing Your Auctionswith an eBay Store

The final step in your creation of a successful eBaybusiness is to set up your own online storefront to offer additional merchandise toyour auction customers. If you’re selling printer cartridges, direct your buyers to youronline store selling paper and other printer supplies. If you’re selling collectibles,direct your buyers to your online store selling non-auction collectibles. Or, inCaitlin’s example, she can direct buyers of her iron-on transfers to her store selling T-shirts and sweatshirts—as well as additional transfers.

Setting up your own online storefront is surprisingly easy to do, thanks to a servicecalled eBay Stores. As you learned back in Chapter 4, “Bidding 101: A Tutorial forBeginning Bidders,” an eBay Store (like the one shown in Figure 30.1) is an onlinestorefront where professional eBay merchants market fixed-price goods, in additionto their traditional auction items. If you’re a heavy seller thinking of making themove into real honest-to-goodness retailing, eBay Stores is a relatively painless wayto start.


Although it’s impor-tant to keep detailed

records regarding your eBay auc-tions, generating a few reports isno substitute for engaging anaccountant—especially whentaxes enter into the equation.Remember, any profits you makeon your auctions must bereported as income, and you mustpay taxes on your income. Unlikein a “real” job in which taxes arededucted from your weekly pay-check, the taxes you owe fromyour self-run business are paid tothe government as quarterly esti-mates. Trust me, you don’t wantto handle this tax stuff yourself.It’s definitely worth a few bucksto have an accountant handle allyour business taxes for you—andhe can probably help you find afew extra deductions, besides.

Mike Sez“ ”

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You access the eBay Stores home page atwww.stores.ebay.com.

Do You Qualify?Just about any seller can open an eBay Store. Allyou have to do is meet the following criteria:

■ Be a registered eBay seller, with a creditcard on file

■ Have a feedback rating of 20 or more, orbe ID verified

■ Accept credit cards for all fixed-price sales

■ Maintain at least 25 item listings in yourstore

Given that accepting credit cards can mean usingPayPal, you can see that you don’t actually haveto be a big traditional retailer to open an eBay Store.


tipAnother benefit of selling

merchandise in an eBayStore is that eBay will auto-matically advertise items fromyour store on the Bid

Confirmation andCheckout Confirmation

pages it displays to bidders in yourregular auctions. These “merchan-dising placements” help you cross-sell additional merchandise to yourauction customers.

FIGURE 30.1

A typical eBay

Store—Jan’s

Gifts and

Collectibles.

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Any individual meeting the requirements can also open an eBay Store, thus makingeBay Stores a great way for entrepreneurial types to get started in retailing.

Why would you want to open your own eBay Store? Well, it certainly isn’t for casualsellers; you do have to set up your own Web page, and keep the store filled withmerchandise. But if you’re a high-volume seller whospecializes in a single category (or even a handfulof categories), there are benefits to opening yourown store. These include being able to sell moremerchandise (through your store) than you canotherwise list in auctions; being able to display aspecial eBay Stores icon next to all of your auctionlists; and being able to generate repeat businessfrom future sales to current purchasers.

The Costs of Running an eBay StoreNaturally, it costs money to open an eBay Store. (eBay isn’t in this for the bettermentof mankind, after all.) You pay a monthly fee to be an eBay Store merchant, andthere are three subscription levels to choose from, as shown in Table 30.2.

Table 30.2 eBay Stores Subscription LevelsSubscription Price Description

Basic $9.95/month Store listed in every category directory where you haveitems listed; position based on number of items listed

Featured $49.95/month All features of Basic, plus store rotated through a specialfeatured section on the eBay Stores home page; storereceives priority placement in Related Stores section ofsearch and listings pages; store featured within the top-level category pages where you have items listed; andyou receive monthly sales and performance reports

Anchor $499.95/month All features of Featured, plus premium placement inRelated Stores section of search and listings pages; andyour store logo will rotate through category directorypages (1 million impressions)

You also have to pay eBay for each item you list and each item you sell—just as in anormal auction. The difference is you’re not listing for a (relatively short) auction;you’re listing for longer-term inventory.


eBay Stores are greatfor small merchants

who don’t otherwise have a Webpresence. They’re overkill for thecasual seller, however—and prob-ably not worth the effort forlarger retailers.

Mike Sez“ ”

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Table 30.3 details the insertion fees that eBay charges for eBay Stores listings. Notethat eBay allows listings of up to 120 days in length—although the longer listingscarry an insertion fee surcharge.

Table 30.3 eBay Stores Insertion FeesListing Length Insertion Fee (Plus Surcharge)

30 days $0.02

60 days $0.02 + $0.02

90 days $0.02 + $0.04

120 days $0.02 + $0.06

For every item you sell in your eBay Store, eBay charges a final value fee. Table 30.4lists the final value fees.

Table 30.4 eBay Stores Final Value FeesClosing Value Fee

$0.01–$25 5.25%

$25–$1,000 5.25% on first $25 plus 2.75% on remaining balance

$1,000 and up 5.25% on first $25 plus 2.75% on the part between $25 and $1,000plus 1.5% on the remaining balance

eBay Stores also offers a full assortment of listingupgrades, just like the ones you can use in regu-lar eBay auctions. These enhancements—gallery,bold, highlight, and so on—are priced accordingto the length of your listing. You can also offermultiples of the same item in Dutch auctionformat.

Setting Up Your eBay StoreOpening your own eBay store is as easy as click-ing through eBay’s setup pages. There’s nothingoverly complex involved; you’ll need to create your store, customize your pages (otherwise known as your virtual storefront), and list the items you want to sell. Justfollow the onscreen instructions, and you’ll have your own store up and running injust a few minutes.


tipeBay also offers a Good

‘Til Cancelled option, whichautomatically relists unsolditems every 30 days. The costis $0.02 for each 30-day

period.

36 0789731053 F CH30.qxd 3/10/04 2:59 PM Page 340


When you’re ready to set up your store, go to the eBay Stores home page and clickthe Open Your Store Now link. Follow the instructions there, and you’ll soon beready to start stocking your store with merchandise—and making even more moneyvia eBay!


■ If you’re selling more than $1,000 per month, you may be eligible for eBay’sPowerSeller program.

■ To turn your eBay hobby into a money-making profession, you need to startwith some detailed business and financial planning.

■ Most power sellers specialize in a specific type of item—and buy it in bulk.

■ Successful eBay businesses keep detailed records and perform regular analy-ses of their auction activities.

■ The more auctions you list, the more value you’ll get from third-party auc-tion management sites and services.

■ Opening an eBay Store is a good way to sell various fixed-price merchandisethrough the eBay system.

■ When you start making a living from your eBay auctions, be sure to engagethe services of a qualified accountant—to manage your tax liabilities, if noth-ing else.

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36 0789731053 F CH30.qxd 3/10/04 2:59 PM Page 342

NUMBERS10-day auction fees, 27

Aabbreviations

grading abbreviations, 173-175

search words (bidding tips),108

titling item listings, 166accessing

eBay Stores, 56Member Profile page, 94

accountschecking

auction payments, 90billing options, 25payment options, 24payments, 78-79

credit cardbilling options, 24payment options, 24payments, 80updating information, 24

debit cards, 24invoicing, 28managing, 32-34viewing information, 35

Accounts page (My eBay), 32-34

acronyms in titling item listings, 166

Active Listings section(Selling Manager Summarypage), 235

Add to My Favorite Searcheslink (All Items Matchingpage), 74

adding items to Favoritespage (My eBay), 32

Advanced Search page, 69-70

Airborne Express, 258airplanes

bidding, 308eBay Motors page

navigating, 306vehicle history reports,

307-308vehicle listings, 307-308

payment arrangements, 308All Items Matching page, 74All My Auctions auction

management software, 316All page (My eBay), 35alternate spelling (item

listings), 171alternate wording (item

listings), 171Amazon.com Auctions, 9Ándale auction management

software, 220archiving completed auctions

in Selling Manager, 241ask seller a question link

(seller information box), 47-49

Auction Details section (item listings), 46

Auction Lizard auction management software, 318

Auction Wizard 2000 auctionmanagement software, 318

AuctionBytes (messageboards), 304

auctionsÁndale auction management

software, 220bidding

Buy It Now! option, 56cancelling, 134

checklist, 50-51determining bid amounts,

42Dutch auctions, 51-53email bid notifications, 58feedback ratings, 50increasing bid amounts,

58increments, 43item condition, 49last minute bids, 60maximum bids, 10minimum bids, 10mistakes, 60-62outbid scenarios, 58-59patterns of, 102payment methods, 50proxy bidding, 42-44researching bids, 43reserve price auctions,

54-55retracting bad bids, 59seller questions, 49shipping and handling

charges, 50tips, 49-50tracking bids, 58winning bids, 10, 62

blocking bidders, 134-135browsing, 64-66Buy It Now option, 56categorizing, 11-12, 142-143Checkout service, 87Checkout system, 228Dutch auctions

bidding, 51-53deadbeat bidders, 269example of, 53

end-of-auction notifications,86, 226

example of, 10

Index

37 0789731053 Index-shorter 3/10/04 3:06 PM Page 343

344 AUCTIONS

feedback, 91, 229, 295Feedback page (My eBay),

34leaving comments,

298-299negative feedback, 299rating system, 296-297reading comments,

297-298fixed price auctions, 119fraud protection, 94-95Gallery listings, 66guidelines, 11-13insurance, 89item listings, 10

Auction Details section,46

categories, 11-12Description section, 47-48HTML, 191-192, 195-201item numbers, 45linking, 223-224Listing Designer, 192-193Payment Methods

Accepted section, 49personal information, 46prohibited items, 12-13reading, 45-49seller information box, 47Shipping and Payment

Details section, 48third-party listing-creation

tools, 193-194titles, 45Turbo Lister, 193, 203-214Watch This Item link, 46

local, 159payments, 10, 88-89

bidding tips, 112checking accounts, 90credit cards, 90, 112insurance, 89money orders, 112PayPal, 88shipping costs, 89

pictures, 65placing bids, 51post-auction checklist, 86,

138, 226private auctions, 124prohibited items, 12-13

real estate auctions, 119receiving items, 91reserve price auctions, 54-55,

144searches, 67

auction notifications, 75bidder searches, 71versus browsing, 64completed item searches,

69-70description searches, 68eBay Store searches,

70-71examples of, 73-74item number searches, 68location searches, 69notifications, 75price searches, 68-69repeating, 74saving, 74search commands, 72-73seller searches, 71title searches, 67-68

selling fees, 10Selling Manager, 220,

234-235archiving completed

auctions, 241buyer notifications,

236-238buyer sales records,

239-240invoices, 240leaving feedback, 241shipping labels, 240

Selling Manager Pro, 236shipping options, 90tracking

bidding tips, 111Bidding/Watching page

(My eBay), 30Selling page (My eBay),

31-32traditional auctions, 119vehicle listings

bidding, 308payment arrangements,

308pricing vehicles, 310sales checklist, 309-310vehicle history reports,

307-308

AuctionSage auction man-agement software, 319

AuctionTamer auction management software, 319,324

authentication services (collectables), 172-173

automatingitem listing construction,

203-204, 207-211postage (shipping and

handling), 263average shipping fees, 260

Bbackgrounds (item listing

pictures), 180bad bids, retracting, 59Basic Search page

description searches, 68item number searches, 68price searches, 68-69title searches, 67-68

benefits versus features (item listing descriptions),169

better luck tomorrow (bid-ding tips), 109

Bid Cancellation page, 134bidder interest counters

(item listings), 48bidders

Checkout system, 228deadbeat bidders in dutch

auctions, 269feedback, 295

leaving comments, 298-299

negative feedback, 299rating system, 296-297reading comments,

297-298international auctions, 329payment receipt notifications,

229searching by, 71shipping notifications, 229winning bidder notifications,

226-227


CHANGE YOUR NOTIFICATION PREFERENCES PAGE 345

bidding, 28, 41bidding frenzies, 61, 278bidding offenses, 98-99Buy It Now! option, 56cancelling bids, 134checklist, 50-51determining bid amounts, 42Dutch auctions, 51-53email bid notifications, 58increasing bid amounts, 58increments, 43last minute bids, 60maximum bids, 10minimum bids, 10mistakes

bidding frenzies, 61early bids, 60high bids, 61low bids, 60reading fine print, 61-62

outbid scenarios, 58-59patterns of, 102placing bids, 51proxy bidding, 42-44, 106researching bids, 43reserve price auctions, 54-55retracting bad bids, 59single bids, 145synchronizing (bidding tips),

110tips

don’t show your hand,109

item condition, 49payment methods, 50seller feedback ratings, 50seller questions, 49shipping and handling

charges , 50tracking bids, 58winning bids, 10, 62vehicle listings (eBay Motors),

308bidding frenzies, 61, 278bidding offenses, 98-99bidding section (item list-

ings), 49Bidding/Watching page (My

eBay), 30big items, shipping, 259

billing options, 24-25BIN (Buy It Now) option, 133,

158boats




payment arrangements, 308bold fees, 27bold text (listing upgrades),

126, 161boxes (shipping and

handling)eBay Store, 246FedEx, 245labeling

Click-N-Ship labels, 253computer-generated

labels, 251-253Priority Mail labels,

253-255return address labels, 251tips, 251-253

recycling, 246sealing, 250selecting, 247-248U.S. Postal Service, 245

browsing categories, 64-66,121

bubble wrap (packing supplies), 249

building About Me pages,291-292

bulk item listing creation,210-211

bulleted list codes (HTML),200-201

Business PayPal accounts, 150Buy It Now option, 56

fees, 26icons, 66prices, 124

Buyer Protection Program,95-96

buyersaccount information,

changing, 22bidding checklist, 50-51bidding offenses, 98-99eBay Stores, 56-57feedback, 91handling complaints, 230insurance, 89payment arrangements, 10registration, 13, 21

checklist, 22payment options, 24required information,

22-23user ID guidelines, 22

sales records, 239-240

Ccancelling

auctions, 134-135bids, 134

capital letters (titling itemlistings), 167-168

carsbidding, 308eBay Motors page



payment arrangements, 308categories, 14

browsing, 64-66selecting, 120, 136, 142-143

browsing, 121multiple category listings,

121-122suggested category

searches, 121subcategories, 64-66

category pages, 65-66, 143Category Search feature, 121category-specific chat and

discussion boards, 302Change Your Notification

Preferences page (My eBay),218

How can we make this index more useful? Email us at [email protected]


346 CHAT AND DISCUSSION BOARDS

chat and discussion boardsthird-party boards, 303-304types of, 302

checking seller’s other currentauctions (bidding tips), 107

checking accounts, 152auction payments, 90billing options, 25payment options, 24

Checkout service, 87Checkout system, 228Choose a Listing Option

page, 122, 129city/state information

(item listings), 125, 159claim forms (U.S. Postal

Service), 264Click-N-Ship labels, 253clock (synchronizing bids

bidding tips), 110closed auction lists (Selling

Manager), 235closeups. See macro mode

(digital cameras)collectables

authentication services, 172-173

grading abbreviations, 173-175services, 172-173systems, 171-172

color codes (HTML), 198-199communication

auction strategies, 282-283bidding tips, 113-114in international auctions, 329

community help chat and discussion boards, 302

competition (auction strategies), 279

complaints, 230completed item searches,

69-70composition framing (item

listing pictures), 182computer-generated labels,

251-253

Congratulations page, 129Contact Customer Support

page, 18converting pictures to Digital

Graphics Files, 183country information (item

listings), 125Create a New Item screen

(Turbo Lister), 207Create Password dialog box

(Registration page), 23Create Your eBay User ID

dialog box (Registrationpage), 23

credit cardsauction payments, 90billing options, 24bidding tips, 112information, updating, 24payment options, 24registration information, 22security, 90

cushioning materials (shipping and handling),248-250

customer satisfaction (auction strategies), 285

customer service, 18customizing

email templates in SellingManager, 238-239

My eBay, 35-36

DDAS (Dependable Auto

Shippers) vehicle shippingservice, 309

deadbeat bids (bidding tips),111, 269

debit cards, 24. See also credit cards

Delivery Confirmation (shipping and handling),255

description searches, 68Description section (item

listings), 47-48Design Your Listing screen

(Turbo Lister), 208

designingAbout Me pages, 291-292item listings

HTML, 191-192, 195-201Listing Designer, 192-193third-party listing-creation

tools, 193-194Turbo Lister, 193, 203-211

DHL Worldwide Express, 258direct service access Web

address list, 17-18displaying

completed items, 70item listings, 36lists, 35

disputes, handling, 97documentation

auction strategies, 282bidding tips, 113

double listing fees, 26duration (auctions), 156, 278Dutch auctions

bidding, 51-53deadbeat bidders, 269example of, 53

Eearly bids, 60, 109eBay

customer service, 18development of, 8Direct Access Web Addresses,

17direct service access Web

address list, 17-18fees, 25-27market statistics, 9mission statement, 11Review Your Purchase page,

88Send Information to the

Seller page, 88user agreements, 23

eBay Community page message boards, 302

eBay Direct Pay, 24eBay Financing Center, 309


FEES 347

eBay Selling Manager ProWeb site (auction management), 321

eBay Selling Manager Website (auction management),320

eBay Stores, 57, 341accessing, 56final value fees, 344insertion fees, 344opening, 344qualifications of, 342searches, 70-71subscription fees, 343

eBay Toolbar, 110eBay Town Square discussion

boards, 302eBay Turbo Lister auction

management software, 321eBay Workshops (message

boards), 302eCheck payments via PayPal,

152Edit Email Templates page

(Selling Manager), 238editing

About Me pages, 292Image files

graphics editing software,184

resizing files, 185-186resizing pictures, 185

invoices, 240item listings, 128, 133

bulleted lists, 200-201code insertion, 195-196colors, 198-199fonts, 197-198formatting, 196-197graphics, 199hyperlinks, 200insertion codes, 199Text Editor, 195

emailaddresses, registration verifi-

cation, 23auction strategies, 282-283bidding tips, 113-114Daily Status reports, 218-219

international auctions, 329item receipt notifications, 91notifications

auction search, 75bid, 58buyer, 236-238end-of-auction, 86, 226payment receipt, 229shipping, 229winning bidder, 226-227

templates (Selling Manager),238-239

unresponsive bidders, 268Email Buyer page

(Selling Manager), 237-238End My Listing Early page,

222End My Listing page, 134end-of-auction notifications,

86, 226ending auctions (auction

strategies), 279-280Enter Multiple Items screen

(Turbo Lister), 210envelopes (shipping and

handling), 247expensive items, 112, 282Express Mail, 256

Ffast payments (bidding tips),

112Favorites page (My eBay), 32Featured Plus! option, 27,

126, 162features versus benefits (item

listing descriptions), 169FedEx, 257feedback, 91, 295

bidding tips, 107comments, 297-299negative feedback, 299ratings, 50, 296-297Selling Manager, 241

Feedback page (My eBay), 34Feedback rating system,

94-95

Feedback scores (MemberProfile page), 297

fees10-day auction, 27Ándale item listing fees, 220authentication services, 173bold fees, 27Buy It Now, 26double listing fees, 26eBay fee structure, 25eBay Store

final value fees, 344insertion fees, 344subscription fees, 343

Featured Plus! fees, 27final value fees. See selling

feesfixed price auctions, 119flat fees (shipping and

handling), 259Gallery fees, 27, 161gift services, 27, 126handling fees (shipping and

handling), 262highlight fees, 27Home Page Featured fees, 27insertion fees, 25-26, 145,

269insurance fees, 264item subtitle fees, 27listing fees, 9, 25-27, 145listing upgrades, 126

bold text, 161Featured Plus! option, 162gift services, 162-163highlighted text, 161Home Page Featured

option, 162Listing Designer, 163subtitled text, 161

Media Mail, 260mediator fees (SquareTrade),

97Packaging and Handling fees,

127PayPal fees, 151pictures, 125-126, 187postage fees (shipping and

handling), 263Priority Mail, 260refunds, 269



348 FEES

reserve price auction fees, 26scheduled listings fees, 26selling fees, 10, 25-28Selling Manager Pro

subscription fees, 236Selling Manager subscription

fees, 220, 234signature confirmation fees,

264transaction fees, 9U.S. Postal Service tracking

fees, 263-264variable fees (shipping and

handling), 260File a Fraud Alert link (Buyer

Protection Program), 96files, resizing, 185-186filing fraud claims, 96-97final value fees. See selling

feesFind a Main Category page,

121fine print (item listings),

61-62, 111, 170fine-tuning searches

(bidding tips), 108First Class Mail, 256fixed price auctions, 119fixed-priced items (eBay

Stores), 56-57flat fees (shipping and

handling), 259flat shipping rates (item

listings), 127focus (item listing pictures),

180font codes (HTML), 197-198Format Specifics screen

(Turbo Lister), 209formatting item listings, 170,

196-197framing (item listing pic-

tures), 182fraud

bidding tips, 113protection, 94-95

Free Page Counter option(item listings), 126, 163

Freight Resource Center, 259Fridays (auction strategies),

280FTC (Federal Trade

Commission), 97

G - HGallery

fees, 27icons, 66listings, 66pictures, 126

general chat and discussionboards, 302

Gift icons, 66Gift Services fees, 27gift services option (item

listings), 126, 162-163glare (item listing pictures),

179-180graphics codes (HTML), 199graphics editing sofware, 184

HammerTap auction manage-ment software, 321-322

handling fees (shipping andhandling), 262

heavy items, shipping, 259hiding lists in My eBay, 35high bids (bidding mistakes),

61high pricing, 145high-volume sellers, 236highlighted text (listing

upgrades), 27, 161Home page, 13

category listings, 14navigating, 14-15Navigation bar, 14Search box, 15

Home Page Featured option(listing upgrades), 27, 126,162

HTML, 170HTML Text Editor, 195hyperlink codes (HTML), 200

Iicons

Buy It Now!, 66Gallery, 66Gift, 66New, 66Picture, 65-66

ID histories, 94illegal items, 12Image files, loading

to Listing Designer, 189to Picture Services, 186-188to third-party Web hosts,

188-189information, providing

(bidding tips), 112insertion codes (HTML), 199insertion fees, 25-26

breaks, 145fixed price auctions, 119refunds, 269

inspecting items (biddingtips), 113

insurance, 89, 113, 264international shipping, 250invoicing, 28, 240IRS, 285ISBNs, 130iShip, 258item listings

Auction Details section, 46auction strategies

About Me page, 278auction duration, 278competition, 279honesty, 277promotion, 281researching prices, 276reserve auctions, 278Selling Manager, 281


LABELS 349

shipping and handlingcosts, 282

single versus multiple itemauctions, 279

timing auctions, 279-281browsing, 64-66bulk listing creation, 210-211categorizing, 11-12, 136,

142-143creating, 10Description section, 47-48descriptions, common

mistakes, 136-137displaying in

My eBay, 36Gallery, 66

fees, 9, 25-27, 145fine print, 61-62, 111fixed-priced items (eBay

Stores), 56-57item condition, 49item numbers, 45, 68linking, 223-224List Your Item in a Second

Category link (SecondCategory section), 121

Listing Designer, 125, 192-193

fees, 27listing upgrades, 163loading Image files to,

189Listing page, 92managing

All My Auctions auctionmanagement software,316

Ándale Web site, 316-317Auction Hawk Web site,

318Auction Lizard auction

management software,318

Auction Wizard 2000 auction managementsoftware, 318

AuctionHelper Web site,318

AuctionSage auction management software,319

AuctionTamer auctionmanagement software,319, 324

Auctionworks Web site,319

Auctiva Web site, 319ChannelAdvisor Web site,

320eBay Seller’s Assistant

Web site, 320eLister Web site, 321HammerTap auction

management software,321-322

inkFrog Web site, 322ManageAuctions Web

site, 322Selling Manager Pro Web

site, 321Selling Manager Web site,

320Shooting Star auction


SpareDollar Web site, 322Turbo Lister auction


Vendio Web site, 323Virtual Auction Ad Pro

auction managementsoftware, 323

payment methods, 49-50personal information, 46pictures, 65, 130, 137prohibited items, 12-13reading, 45, 61-62relisting, 135searches

auction notifications, 75bidder searches, 71completed item searches,

69-70description searches, 68eBay Store searches,

70-71examples of, 73-74item number searches, 68location searches, 69price searches, 68-69repeating, 74saving, 74

search commands, 72-73seller searches, 71title searches, 67-68versus browsing, 64

seller feedback ratings, 50seller information box, 47seller questions, 49shipping and handling

charges, 50common mistakes, 137

Shipping and Payment Detailssection, 48

Shipping Calculator, 48titles, 45upgrades, 126

bold text, 161Featured Plus! option, 162free page counter, 163gift services, 162-163highlighted text, 161Home Page Featured

option , 162Listing Designer, 163subtitled text, 161

vehicle listingsbidding, 308payment arrangements,

308pricing vehicles , 310sales checklist, 309-310vehicle history reports,

307-308Watch This Item link, 46

item numbers (item listings),45, 68

item quantities (item list-ings), 123

item subtitle fees, 27Items I’m Selling section (My

eBay), 219

J - K - Ljournals (bidding tips), 113

labelsClick-N-Ship labels, 253computer-generated labels,

251-253Priority Mail labels, 253-255



350 LABELS

return address labels, 251tips, 251-253ZIP codes, 252

large items, shipping, 259last-minute bargains (bidding

tips), 109last-minute bids, 60, 110Leave Feedback page

(Selling Manager), 229, 241Leave Feedback to Seller link

(Listing page), 92linking item listings, 223-224List Your Item in a Second

Category link (SecondCategory section), 121

Listing Designer, 125, 192-193fees, 27listing upgrades, 163loading Image files to, 189

Listing page, 92listings. See item listingslists (My eBay)

hiding/displaying, 35sorting, 36

local auctions, 159location searches, 69logs (bidding tips), 113low bids (bidding mistakes),

60low pricing, 143-144

Mmacro mode (digital

cameras), 179, 182mail fraud, 97main bidding section

(item listings), 49Manage Listings section

(Selling Manager Summarypage), 235

managingaccounts, Accounts page

(My eBay), 32-34auctions

Ándale, 220Selling Manager, 220,

234-241Selling Manager Pro, 236

buyer sales records in SellingManager, 239-240

item listingsAll My Auctions auction


Ándale Web site, 316-317Auction Hawk Web site,

318Auction Lizard auction


Auction Wizard 2000 auction managementsoftware, 318

AuctionHelper Web site,318

AuctionSage auction management software,319

AuctionTamer auctionmanagement software,319, 324

Auctionworks Web site,319

Auctiva Web site, 319ChannelAdvisor Web site,

320eBay Seller’s Assistant

Web site, 320eLister Web site, 321HammerTap auction

management software,321-322

inkFrog Web site, 322ManageAuctions Web

site, 322Selling Manager Pro Web

site, 321Selling Manager Web site,

320Shooting Star auction


SpareDollar Web site, 322Turbo Lister auction man-

agement software, 321Vendio Web site, 323Virtual Auction Ad Pro

auction managementsoftware, 323

maximum amount bids 10,110

maximum bid prices (proxy bidding), 44

Media Mail, 256-257, 260mediator fees (SquareTrade),

97Member Profile page

accessing, 94Feedback scores, 297Recent Ratings table, 297

middlemenauction strategies, 282bidding tips, 112

minimum bids, 10model numbers, titling item

listings, 167money orders, bidding tips,

112monitoring auctions

Bidding/Watching page (My eBay), 30

Selling page (My eBay), 31-32

motorcyclesbidding, 308eBay Motors page



payment arrangements, 308multiple auctions

Ándale, 220auction strategies, 279Daily Status reports, 218-219My eBay, 219Selling Manager, 220,

234-235archiving completed

auctions, 241buyer notifications, 236buyer sales records,

239-240editing invoices, 240leaving feedback, 241printing invoices, 240printing shipping labels,

240sending buyer

notifications, 237-238


PICTURE ICONS 351

Selling Manager Pro, 236shipping and handling, 262tracking

Bidding/Watching page(My eBay), 30

Selling page (My eBay),31-32

multiple category item listings, 121-122

multiple picturesbenefits of, 182Picture Services fees, 187

My eBay, 29accessing, 30Accounts page, 32-34All page, 35bidding tips, 111Bidding/Watching page, 30Change Your Notification

Preferences page, 218custom settings, saving, 36Favorites page, 32Feedback page, 34item listings, displaying, 36Items I’m Selling section, 219lists

hiding/displaying, 35sorting, 36

personalizing, 35Preferences page, 34Save This Setting dialog box,

37Selling page, 31-32tracking auctions, 281universal settings, changing,

36My eBay Feedback page, 300My Favorite Searches link (All

Items Matching page), 74

N - O - Pnarrowing searches (bidding

tips), 108National Fraud Information

Center, 97Navigation bar (Home page),

14

navigatingcategory pages, 65-66Home page, 14-15Site Map page, 16-17

negative feedback, 299New icons, 66nonalphanumerical

characters, titling item listings, 167

OAUA (Online Auction UsersAssociation), 304

odd number bids (biddingtips), 111

online auctions, defining, 9Online Dispute Resolution

(SquareTrade), 97opening eBay Stores, 344Options & Preferences dialog

box (Turbo Lister), 204-206outbid scenarios, handling,

58-59oversized items, shipping,

259

packagesinsurance, 264tracking, 263

Packaging & Handling fees,127

packing, professional packingand shipping services, 258

page breaks (item listings),170

Parcel Post, 256passwords, 23payment arrangements, 78,

88-89Payment Methods Accepted

section (item listings), 49payment/shipping informa-

tion (item listings), 126-128payments

arrangements, 78, 88-89checking accounts, 24, 90

credit cards, 24, 90, 112debit cards, 24eBay Direct Pay, 24eBay Motors auctions, 308money orders, 112PayPal, 69, 80-81, 88,

150-152, 285winning bidder notifications,

226-227PayPal, 69, 80-81, 88

auction strategies, 285business accounts, 150eCheck payments, 152Personal accounts, 150Premier accounts, 150

peanuts (packing supplies),248-250, 258

Pending Listings section(Selling Manager Summarypage), 235

Personal PayPal accounts, 150personalizing My eBay, 35-36phone, contacting eBay, 18photos. See also pictures

auction strategies, 277backgrounds, 180common mistakes, 137converting to Digital Graphics

Files, 183digital cameras, 178-179,

182framing, 182Image files

editing, 184-186loading, 186-189

item listings, 125-126, 130,160

lightingfocus, 180glare, 179-180

multiple photos, benefits of,182

resizing, 185scanning, 183stock photos, 183

phrasing search queries (bidding tips), 108

Picture icons, 65-66



352 PICTURE SERVICES

Picture Servicesfees, 187loading Image files to,

186-188pictures, 177-178

backgrounds, 180common mistakes, 137digital cameras, 178-179,

182Digital Graphics Files,

converting to, 183Image files, 184

editing, 184-186loading, 186-189

equipment checklist, 178fees, 125focus, 180framing, 182Gallery pictures, 126item listings, 65, 123-126,

130, 160lighting, 179-180multiple pictures

benefits of, 182Picture Services fees, 187

Picture Servicesfees, 187loading Image files to,

186-188resizing, 185scanning, 183stock photos, 183Supersize Picture links, 48

placing bids, 51Buy It Now option, 56Dutch auctions, 51-53email bid notifications, 58increasing bid amounts, 58last minute bids, 60mistakes

bidding frenzies, 61early bids, 60high bids, 61low bids, 60reading fine print, 61-62

outbid scenarios, 58-59reserve price auctions, 54-55retracting bad bids, 59tracking bids, 58winning bids, 62

planesbidding, 308eBay Motors page



payment arrangements, 308Positive Feedback percent-

ages (Member Profile page),297

post-auction checklist, 86,226

post-auction processes, 138postage calculators, 257postage (shipping and

handling), 263PowerSellers, 336pre-filled item information

(item listings), 129-130precise wording (searches),

108Preferences page (My eBay),

34Premier PayPal accounts, 150preprinted labels, 251-253previewing

About Me pages, 292item listings, 128

price searches, 68-69pricing

auctionscommon mistakes, 136reserve price auctions,

144Buy It Now prices, 124reserve prices, 124starting prices, 124vehicles (eBay Motor auc-

tions), 310Print page (Selling Manager),

240printing

invoices in Selling Manager,240

labels, 253Priority Mail labels, 253-255shipping labels in Selling

Manager, 240

Priority Mail, 256flat fees, 260labels, printing, 253-255variable fees, 260

private auctions, 124professional packing and

shipping services, 258prohibited items, 12-13Provide Pictures & Item

Details pageBuy It Now (BIN) option, 133free page counter, 163

providing information (bidding tips), 112

proxy bidding, 42-44PS 1000 claim forms (U.S.

Postal Service), 264Purolator Courier, 258

Q - Rquantities (item listings), 123Questionable Items page, 13questioning sellers (bidding

tips), 107quick payments (bidding

tips), 112

ranking importance of information in item listingdescriptions, 168

rate finder (FedEx), 257read feedback comments link

(seller information box), 47,50

readingfine print, 61-62, 111item listings

Auction Details section,46

Description section, 47-48item numbers, 45Payment Methods

Accepted section, 49personal information, 46seller information box, 47


SECURITY 353

Shipping and PaymentDetails section, 48

titles, 45Watch This Item link, 46

real estate auctions, 119receiving items, 91Recent Ratings table

(Member Profile page), 297recovering costs (pricing

auctions), 144recycling

boxes (shipping and han-dling), 246

text (auction strategies), 277region information (item

listings), 125registration, 13, 21

account information, chang-ing, 22

checklist, 22credit card information, 22email address verification, 23passwords, 23required information, 22-23user agreements, 23user ID, 22-23

Registration page, 22-23relisting item listings, 135repeating searches, 74required registration

information, 22-23research (bidding tips), 105researching bids, 43reserve price auctions, 144

bidding, 54-55example of, 55fees, 26

reserve prices (item listings),124

resetting customizied emailtemplates (SellingManager), 239

resizing Image files, 185-186retracting bad bids, 59return address labels, 251

Review and Respond toFeedback About Me link(My eBay Feedback page),300

Review Your Purchase page,88

reviewing item listings, 128

SSales Record page (Selling

Manager), 237-241Saturdays (auction

strategies), 280Save This Setting dialog box

(My eBay), 37saving

About Me pages, 292searches, 74

scheduled listings fees, 26scheduling auctions (auction

strategies), 279-281Search box (Home page), 15Search page

Advanced Search page, 69-70

Basic Search page, 67-69searches

auction notifications, 75bidder searches, 71bidding tips, 107

communication, 113-114credit cards, 112deadbeat bids, 111documentation, 113don’t show your hand,

109eBay Toolbar, 110expensive items, 112fine-tuning searches, 108fraud, 113inspecting items, 113insurance, 113last-minute bargains, 109logs, 113maximum amount bids,

110money orders, 112My eBay, 111

narrowing searches, 108odd number bids, 111providing information,

112query phrasing, 108quick payments, 112reading the fine print, 111respect, 114shipping costs, 111sniping, 110spelling errors, 109synchronizing bids, 110tracking bids, 111truncating search words,

108try again tomorrow, 109varying search word

vocabulary/spelling, 108Watch This Item feature,

110wildcard searches, 108word selection, 108

commands, 72-73completed item searches,

69-70description searches, 68eBay Store searches, 70-71examples of, 73-74item number searches, 68location searches, 69price searches, 68-69repeating, 74saving, 74seller searches, 71suggested category searches

(item listings), 121title searches, 67-68versus browsing, 64

seasonal traffic (auctionstrategies), 281

Second Category section(Category page), 121, 143

Secret Answer dialog box(Registration page), 23

Secret Question list(Registration page), 23

securityauction interference, 99backing out of transactions,

99



354 SECURITY

bid discovery, 98bid shielding, 98bid siphoning, 98bidding offenses, 98-99credit card payments, 90fraud protection

bidding tips, 113Buyer Protection Program,

95-96disputes, 97eBay responsibility, 95external agencies, 97Feedback rating system,

94-95filing claims, 96-97ID histories, 94Member Profile page, 94SquareTrade, 97tips, 99-100

insurance, bidding tips, 113shill bidding, 98spamming, 99transaction interception, 99unwanted bidding, 99

selecting appropriate categories, 142-143

Sell Item at Online Auctionformat (item listings), 119

Sell Your Item page, 261seller information box (item

listings), 47-50sellers

accountschanging information, 22invoicing, 28managing, 32-34

auctionsÁndale, 220blocking bidders, 134-135Buy It Now (BIN) option,

133canceling, 134-135, 222checking other current

auctions (bidding tips),107

Checkout system, 228common mistakes,

136-137Daily Status reports,

218-219

dutch auctions, 132, 269end-of-auction notifica-

tions, 86, 226My eBay, 219post auction checklist,

226post-auction processes,

138pricing, 136, 143-145private auctions, 132promoting, 223relisting, 135reserve price auctions,

131-132Selling Manager, 220,

234-241Selling Manager Pro, 236updating item listings,

221Checkout service, 87eBay Stores, 56-57feedback, 91, 295

bidding tips, 107leaving comments,

298-299negative feedback, 299rating system, 50, 94-95,

296-297reading comments,

297-298fees, list of, 25-27high-volume sellers, Selling

Manager Pro, 236history (bidding tips), 107ID histories, 94international shipping, 250item listings, 119

Buy It Now prices, 124categories, 136checklist, 118city/state information, 125country information, 125descriptions, 122, 136-

137editing, 128, 133gift services option, 126Listing Designer, 125listing upgrades, 126, 161payment/shipping infor-

mation, 126-128pictures, 123-126, 137

pre-filled item information, 129-130

previewing, 128private auctions, 124quantities, 123region information, 125relisting, 135reserve prices, 124selecting categories,

120-122selling formats, 119setting auction durations,

123-124setting auction start times,

123shipping and handling,

137starting prices, 124submitting, 128-129

items, categorizing, 142-143Member Profile page, 94payment arrangements, 88-

89post-auction checklist, 86PowerSellers, 336questioning (bidding tips),

107registration, 13, 21

checklist, 22payment options, 24required information,

22-23user ID guidelines, 22

searching by, 71shipping

Airborne Express, 258auction strategies,

277-278calculating average fees,

260cost of, 255-256DHL Worldwide Express,

258Express Mail, 256FedEx, 257First Class Mail, 256flat fees, 259handling fees, 262insurance, 264iShip, 258lost packages, 264


SOFTWARE 355

Media Mail, 256-257, 260oversized items, 259Parcel Post, 256postage, 263Priority Mail, 256, 260professional packing and

shipping services, 258Purolator Courier, 258Shipping Calculator,

261-262shipping weight tips, 258tips, 265trucking services, 259UPS, 257variable fees, 260

shipping options, 90signature confirmations, 264tracking shipments, 263-264

selling fees, 25-28Selling Manager, 220, 234

archiving completed auctions,241

auction strategies, 281buyer notifications, 236buyer sales records, 239-240closed auction lists, 235Edit Email Templates page,

238Email Buyer page, 237-238email templates, customizing,

238-239invoices, editing, 240Leave Feedback page, 241Print page, 240printing

invoices, 240shipping labels, 240

Sales Record page, 237-241sending buyer notifications,

237-238Sold Listings page, 238-241subscription fees, 220, 234Summary page, 235viewing specific buyer emails,

238Selling Manager Pro, 236Selling page (My eBay), 31-32Send an Email to eBay forms,

18

Send Information to theSeller page, 88

shipments, tracking, 263-264shipping and handling

Airborne Express, 258auction strategies, 283average fees, calculating, 260common mistakes, 137costs of, 255-256

bidding tips, 111payment arrangements,

89cushioning material, 248-250Delivery Confirmation, 255DHL Worldwide Express, 258eBay Store, 246Express Mail, 256FedEx, 245, 257First Class Mail, 256flat fees, 259flat shipping rates, 127handling fees, 262insurance, 264international shipping, 250iShip, 258labels

Click-N-Ship labels, 253computer-generated

labels, 251-253Priority Mail labels,

253-255return address labels, 251tips, 251-253

lost packages, 264Media Mail, 256-257, 260multiple auctions, 262oversized items, 259Packaging & Handling fees,

127packing, 248-250packing supplies checklist,

244Parcel Post, 256postage, 263Priority Mail, 256, 260professional packing and

shipping services, 258Purolator Courier, 258Shipping Calculator, 127,

261-262

shipping containerssealing, 250selecting, 247-248

shipping labels, printing inSelling Manager, 240

shipping options, 90shipping weight, 250, 258signature confirmations, 264stamps, 263tips, 265tracking shipments, 263-264trucking services, 259U.S. Postal Service, 245UPS, 257variable fees, 260Web sites, 246winning bidder notifications,

226-227ZIP codes, 252

Shipping and PaymentDetails section (item list-ings), 48

Shipping Calculator, 48, 127,137, 261-262

shipping labels, printing inSelling Manager, 240

Shooting Star auction management software, 322

Show as a Gift option (item listings), 126

signature confirmations(shipping and handling),264

single bids (pricing auctions),145

Site Map pagenavigating, 16-17user IDs, changing account

information, 22snail mail contact address, 18sniping, 60software

Ándale, 220eBay proxy software, 43-44graphics editing software,

184proxy bidding, 106



356 SOFTWARE

Selling Manager, 220, 234archiving completed

auctions, 241auction strategies, 281buyer notifications, 236buyer sales records, 239-

240closed auction lists, 235customizing email

templates, 238-239Edit Email Templates page,

238editing invoices, 240Email Buyer page,

237-238Leave Feedback page, 241leaving feedback, 241Print page, 240printing invoices, 240printing shipping labels,

240Sales Record page,

237-241sending buyer

notifications, 237-238Sold Listings page,

238-241subscription fees, 220,

234Summary page, 235viewing specific buyer

emails, 238Selling Manager Pro, 236sniping tools, 104-105Turbo Lister, 203, 276

configuring, 204-206Create a New Item screen,

207creating item listings,

207-211Design Your Listing

screen, 208downloading, 204Enter Multiple Items

screen, 210Format Specifics screen,

209Options & Preferences

dialog box, 204-206uploading item listings,

213-214

Sold Listings page (Selling Manager), 238-241

Sold Listings section (Selling Manager Summarypage), 235

spacing, item listing descriptions, 168

specific buyer emails, viewing in Selling Manager,238

spelling errors (bidding tips),109

SquareTrade, 97stamps, shipping and han-

dling, 263stars (feedback rating sys-

tem), 296-297start times (auctions), 123,

156-157starting auctions (auction

strategies), 279-280starting prices (item listings),

124state information (item list-

ings), 125, 159stock photos (item listings),

130subcategories, browsing,

64-66Submit Your Bid page, 51submitting item listings,

128-129subtitled text (listing

upgrades), 161suggested category searches

(item listings), 121Summary page (Selling

Manager), 235Sundays (auction strategies),

280Supersize picture links, 48support

Contact Customer Supportpage, 18

mailing address, 18phone numbers, 18

symbols, titling item listings,167

synchronizing bids (biddingtips), 110

Ttemplates (Listing Designer),

192-193text

color codes (HTML), 198-199font codes (HTML), 197-198

Text Editor (HTML), 195third-party listing-creation

tools, 193-194third-party message boards,

303-304third-party Web hosts, l

oading Image files to, 188-189

timingauctions (auction strategies),

279-281bids (bidding tips), 110

title searches, 67-68tracking

auctionsbidding tips, 111Bidding/Watching page

(My eBay), 30Selling page (My eBay),

31-32bids, 58shipments, 263-264

traditional auctions, 119transaction fees, 9tripods (digital cameras), 179trucking services (shipping

and handling), 259trucks




payment arrangements, 308truncating search words

(bidding tips), 108


ZIP CODES 357

try again tomorrow (biddingtips), 109

Turbo Lister auction manage-ment software, 193, 203,276, 321

configuring, 204-206Create a New Item screen,

207Design Your Listing screen,

208downloading, 204Enter Multiple Items screen,

210Format Specifics screen, 209item listings

creating, 207-211uploading, 213-214

Options & Preferences dialogbox, 204-206

UU.S. Postal Service

Delivery Confirmation, 255Express Mail, 256First Class Mail, 256fraud protection, 97insurance fees, 264Media Mail, 256-257, 260Parcel Post, 256postage, automating, 263postage calculators, 257Priority Mail, 256

flat fees, 260labels, 253-255variable fees, 260

PS 1000 claim forms, 264signature confirmations, 264

UPC, pre-filled item information, 130

updating credit card informa-tion, 24

uploading item listings, TurboLister, 213-214

UPS, 257URL

About Me pages, 292direct service access list,

17-18

user agreements, 23user IDs

account information, changing, 22

creating, 23guidelines, 22passwords, 23

Vvariable fees (shipping and

handling), 260varying search word vocabu-

lary/spelling (bidding tips),108

vehicle history reports, 307-308

vehicle listings (eBay Motorspage)

bidding, 308payment arrangements, 308pricing vehicles, 310sales checklist, 309-310vehicle history reports,

307-308view seller’s other items link

(seller information box), 47viewing

account information, 35specific buyer emails in

Selling Manager, 238VIN numbers (vehicle

auctions), 307, 310Virtual Auction Ad Pro

auction management software, 323

WWatch This Item feature (item

listings), 46, 110Web addresses, direct service

access list, 17-18Web hosts, loading Image

files to, 188-189Web sites

About Me page links, 292Amazon.com Auctions, 9auction management

Ándale, 316-317Auction Hawk, 318AuctionHelper, 318Auctionworks, 319Auctiva, 319ChannelAdvisor, 320eBay Seller’s Assistant,

320eLister, 321inkFrog, 322ManagerAuctions, 322Selling Manager, 320Selling Manager Pro, 321SpareDollar, 322Vendio, 323

eBay, Direct Access WebAddresses, 17

sniping tools, 104-105Yahoo! Auctions, 9

Welcome to eBay page, 13,22

wildcard searches (biddingtips), 108

Windows clock, sniping, 104winning bids, 10, 62withdrawing PayPal funds,

153word selection (searches),

108

X - Y - ZYahoo! Auctions, 9Your Maximum Bid box (item

listings), 49

ZIP codes, 252



Documents

Absolute Beginner's Guide to eBay (2nd Edition)