Auction Power Guide

At the beginning of the year I started up a small home business purchasing and re-selling consumer electronics products. Business license and registered with the state (Georgia) as DBA. I am a sole proprietor and the only one involved in the business.

January and February have been kind of rocky. I was learning the best and cheapest ways to ship, the quickest ways to test my products (stuff like memory cards coming from wholesale suppliers that could unknowingly be selling fake/misrepresented cards to companies, etc.) I sell on Ebay only, and I only accept Paypal as a payment method. So every sale, sale date, product description, Ebay fees, Paypal fee, date sold, etc. are all there. When I was a little more naive, I unknowingly flipped some products before I knew of a solid way to test them, so I got some returns and had to refund. Long story short, January and the beginning of February turned into an accounting nightmare in regards to logging everything. I utilize the "Outright" program on Ebay, which pulls all of my Paypal data. So it basically organizes everything, tells me the final profit, the total fees/business expenses for each month and year, the product description, date sold, sale price, Paypal fees, Ebay fees…all of that. The only thing it doesn’t log is the original purchase price and purchase date. I’m pretty much screwed for January and February in regards to proper documentation in regards to bookkeeping, but I do have the final profit amount for both months, all of the expenses and fees, payments received, etc. and I will just have to eat the taxes on the purchase amount vs. re-sold price. So taxing the whole instead of only the profit.

Is there a better way to keep track of this? I did make a spreadsheet in January. It has the item description, purchase date, purchase price, purchase tax paid, purchase shipping fee (I buy all of my inventory online and get it shipped to me from wholesale companies using my tax id), resale date, resale price, shipping fee, Georgia sales tax charged (if they were in my state – I only had one sale to Georgia during January and February and I have logged and paid taxes to the state on that), Ebay Listing/Insertion Fee, Ebay Final Value Fee, Ebay Final Value Fee on Shipping, Paypal Fee and then Finally Profit/Loss at the end.

Yeah, that’s a lot of fields to log for each transaction. Outright seems to do a really good job with keeping up with everything and letting me just print out all fees and sales with proper dates and descriptions. The only thing it doesn’t keep up with is the purchase price. I try to print out the invoice each time I buy something to re-sell and staple that to the printed paypal transaction paper for each transaction, when I have sold it. Is there a good way to keep this from being too tedious? We’re talking probably…$4,000 a month in sales in February. January was rather slow.

At tax time, Outright supposedly makes it easy to just see the total profit, total fees/deductions and such. But it doesn’t have an option to compare my purchase price per item to the re-sale price. So I could print that stuff out…but I’d end up paying taxes on everything for the whole year as a $0 purchase price value.

Any advice from sellers? Apart from "Get a CPA to do it all for you"…I wouldn’t make anything if I did that.

I keep all my items, prices, descriptions, final payouts, etc listed in an excel workbook. It does my calculations for me once I put the formulas in and I have a nice setup now after using it for a while. I don’t have to pay any fees to use it and I’m just very organized and attentive to it. If your business is so large that you can not handle the books on your own, I suggest hiring an employee. It shouldn’t take much training to keep good records. Just discipline.

During my time as an eBay ® consultant , people have asked me many questions. Often, people ask questions that are contrary to the success of their business, and it’s my job to redirect their thoughts in a more appropriate direction.

Consider the following question: “I have all of my items listed and I’m not getting as many bids as I’d expected, should I lower my pricing?”

I cringe when I hear this question, yet I understand why people ask it. It’s logical that, if something isn’t selling, it must be too expensive, right? Wrong!

There are several answers to this question, none of which are to lower the price. Today, I’m going to address a key factor that anyone can implement to increase their sales––a call to action in their item description.

What is a call to action?

A call to action is a very simple word or phrase that tells your “browser” what they should do next. This may seem obvious, but one of the biggest mistakes you can make as an eBay seller is to sit back and “hope” that your browser will become a buyer.

It is important to put aside your need to be subtle in your ads. Instead, come right out and tell your potential customer what they should do next. You can use words or phrases such as the following:

*Bid Now and Save Money

*Bid Now, Don’t Miss Out on This Incredible Deal

*Buy Now, Before the Price Gets Too High

*Bid Now, Quantities Are Limited and Moving Fast

*This Is a Hard-to-Find Item, Bid While It’s Still Here

You get the idea. Your product may have a special element, which will make this part easy. But, even if your product isn’t unique, you can still come up with an effective call to action.

Increase your sales immediately.

Using a call to action is not something new and it is more than just an idea. This method of selling has been repeatedly tested over time. Experts report that you will increase your sales by 80% simply by telling your browsers what to do next.

Bonus Tip.

Remember, you also have the option of giving potential customers more than one call to action. For example, assume that you have an eBay ® business selling collectible trains and you get a visitor who is looking for one particular item. This browser comes to one of your listings and sees that it isn’t the one they’re seeking. Because your “buy now” call to action might not work here, you’ve lost this person as a customer, right? Wrong again.

You have two things you can do at this point. The first is pretty well known and practiced, which is to direct the potential customer to a complete list of related items. Provide a call to action, such as, “If this item isn’t what you’re looking for, please click here (link to your entire list of auctions on eBay ® ) to see all of my train-related listings.”

The second, and my favorite, is to invite potential customers to sign up for free information. Provide a call to action, such as, Click Here

to visit my About Me page and discover how to receive free, weekly tips about buying collectible trains on eBay without getting scammed.” Collecting names of those who are in the market for your type of product is absolutely priceless.

sebastian foss
http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-to-turn-ebay-browsers-into-buyers-a-call-to-action-97682.html

I was just wondering if it was possible to get scammed off eBay. Like you buy an item and never get it? I am clueless about eBay and don’t quite know how to system works. Can’t the seller just not ship the item over? Is there any protection against this? What can be done if such things happen? I’m under the impression that if the item is too cheap, PayPal would not bother about it.

Can anyone explain how it goes?

Absolutely! Here are some tips to avoid being scammed as a buyer:

Study the seller’s feedback page. To see this page, just click on the number in parenthesis beside the seller’s name.

Never, never, never buy from a seller with zero feedback. Although everyone has to start somewhere, a zero feedback rating is a huge red flag. Anyone selling on eBay should at least have some history even as a buyer. Find another seller offering the same item who at least has some history on eBay.

Look at how long the seller has been an eBay member. You will see a notation that says, "eBay member since XYZ." You will be safer to buy from a seller who has been on eBay for several months or years, as opposed to one who just started selling last week. Many scam artists sell legitimately on eBay for a short time to establish a history, then "pull the rug out from under" buyers after they have had a few sales. Look for established sellers with a long history on eBay – it is just the safest route.

Look at the seller’s feedback comments. Not only should you consider whether the comments are positive or negative, but actually read the comments. The comments themselves will provide valuable information about experiences of other buyers. You may see comments like, "Took a long time to arrive, poor communication, item was broken, seller won’t refund."

Look at the sellers DSR (Detailed Seller Rating). DSRs give in-depth ratings of the seller’s performance on shipping time, shipping costs, communication, and item description. For example, if the seller has a low rating on item descriptions, you will know that he is not being honest and forthright about what he is selling.

Read the item description completely. Understand the seller’s policies regarding returns, damages, and lost packages. Look for sellers who are willing to work out problems and accommodate customers. Avoid sellers who make statements like, "not my responsibility, we can’t, we won’t, all sales final." Those kinds of comments are a recipe for disaster.

Read the seller’s About Me page if they have one. The About Me page will give you more information about the seller and may help improve your comfort level in dealing with that person.

Ask questions. Always ask questions and wait for an answer before bidding or buying. If the seller doesn’t answer, don’t deal with him. If he isn’t going to acknowledge your email as a potential customer, he probably won’t follow up or help you later if needed.

Go with your gut. If something doesn’t seem right, trust your intuition. There are plenty of other sellers to buy from!

I want to sell an Wallabies Jersey on eBay with a reserve price of $20,000 but i dont want people to see that the reserve is this much. Is there any way i can do this?

Bidders will see that there is reserve pricem but will never see what that price is. Sometimes you will get an email from a potential buyer asking what the reserve price is. It is completely up to you if you want to reveal that info. I have been in this situation both as a buyer and seller.

As you are making your way through listing your item for sale, you will get to the pricing details about 2/3 of the way down the first page. You will be asked about what opening bid you want to set, whether you want to use Buy It Now or an open auction, etc.

Where you are asked set the opening bid, you will see an option to type in your Reserve Price. Just type $20,000 in that box.

I have never sold anything so expensive (unfortunately). Please have a great photo and item description with all info that applies, eg, brand new, excellent condition, etc.

It might be easier to follow the link that the other answerer gave you:
http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/reserve.html

All eBay sellers get a rating for their excellent of service to shoppers. The rating is calculated on the basis of feedback from shoppers who have bought from you previously. If you have a trusted seller feedback rating, many people will be way more probably to order from you. If you have a low rating, prospective shoppers will be much less keen to order from you and will prefer to deal with 1 of the thousands of other eBay sellers who have exhibited high quality client service levels. A high quality client service policy signifies keeping a high client service standards in all get in touch with with youe eBay shoppers.

The initially factor to do ahead of you program your client service techniques for selling goods on eBay is to read the rules. The regulations and policies that govern eBay transactions are clearly set out on the eBay webpage. There are a lot of them but it is worth spending time to get acquainted with any rules that will apply to your eBay sales. When you have a fair grasp of the rules, you can create your own client service policy.

Your client service techniques for eBay sales should certainly get started with item description: eBay is not the location to use hype or exaggeration. A clear photo of the item for sale is a marvelous aid. You have to be absolutely honest and accurate when describing items for sale. If applicable, incorporate the manufacturers name and model identification quantity. The provision of a full description is doubly valuable when you are selling made use of goods. If an item has a flaw, describe it completely. For instance: if you are selling an post that has sustained a minor scratch, do not describe the harm in words such as minute or insignificant. State the precise position and dimensions of the mark. Your shoppers will not get goods beneath their expectation and, if the merchandise exceeds what was expected, the shoppers will be satisfied and give you postive feedback. If you attempt to play down the extent of any defects when describing items for sale, many people will not trust you adequate to make a acquire if the goods are sold, you are way more probably to get complaints, requests for refunds and negative feedback.

You have to preserve up your eBay client service techniques through the time many people are bidding in the auction. Prospective buyers quite often want way more information and facts than you have supplied in your description of articles on sale. If a prospective client contacts you to ask for further particulars of goods you are selling, make confident you reply with no delay and give clear answers to any concerns. An enquiry that appears immaterial to you could possibly be the 1 factor that persuades a purchaser to order from you rather than a competitor providing an just about identical post.

High quality client service levels have to be kept up perfect by way of to the delivery stage. This signifies despatching the items as soon as attainable (this should certainly be the similar day unless it is a weekend or public holiday). To assure a high level of client satisfaction, make confident you never ever ask for an inflated sum to cover postage and packaging. Your shoppers will know how considerably the postage and packaging supplies expense you and they will not thoughts getting asked a fair cost to cover those expenditures. It is not unusual for the expense of postage to exceed the cost of the goods and many people do not thoughts this considering they nonetheless really feel they are receiving a bargain. 1 factor no one likes is the feeling that an individual is attempting to rip him/her off and that is the impression you will convey if you ask an excessive quantity for postage.

Client service policy on eBay should certainly be no numerous from high quality client service in any web based transaction. The crucial is to sustain honesty, deliver rapid service and make it clear you have absolutely nothing to hide.