Containing reviews of popular eBay websites such as my own AuctionCUT, Power Sellers Forum and JennyHow, this is generating a massive buzz for this publication. All reviews are to the point and fair, not to mention a massive ego boost to the people involved (me especially!).

However, there’s so much more than reviews in the book. I was pleasantly surprised at the excellent content, guides and case studies it features which add tremendous value to the book.

The 10 eBay Con Tricks to watch out for, is one such guide educating users on how to stay away from bidding on illegal imports, counterfeit goods and items simply too good to be true, as well as showing us how to watch out for more advanced frauds such as sellers who inflate their own feedback ratings by operating multiple accounts.

Auctioning4U is involved in a detailed case study about Trading Assistants, showing why using Trading Assistants can be easier and hassle free despite their additional fees.

Then there are simple How To Guides, such as How to Open an eBay Shop, How to add Custom Pages, How to setup a Paypal Account among others, which are aimed at those new to eBay or those looking to take their eBay selling activity to the next level.

Additionally, more detailed topics are included such as Payment Processors, eBay alternatives and ebay Express. All the chapters are easy to read and follow, regardless of your experience. It’s not merely aimed at the beginners since the advanced sellers will certainly be able to pick up a point or two. Available on Amazon (non affiliate link – click here) at £7.99, this is one publication worth keeping by my side, 24×7.

Obviously, there is no right or wrong answer and the answers vary enormously, here are what some of our experts say.

Robert Frechette: eBay is one of the biggest opportunities right now. If you want to start a business, you can start today. I’m not in any way affiliated with eBay, so I don’t have a bias reason to say that. Once you start selling, you’ll have more ideas than you will time to implement. But, those ideas won’t come until you get started.

Brian McGregor:

• Always invite email communication before a sale is made. Be very polite and professional – this is your opportunity to influence a potential buyer.

• Use multiple item sales, not single items.

• Consider opening an eBay store, particularly if you’re selling information products.

• Keep promoting your eBay auctions or eBay store, for example always include either in your email signature.

• Be professional and try not to let emotions overtake you. For example, it rarely pays to leave negative feedback first – no matter how awkward the customer. If you do give a negative, bear in mind that you will probably attract a negative. You can circumvent unhappy buyers via your “thanks for buying/delivery instructions email”. Always request your buyer to contact you if they are not completely satisfied with their purchase, before they leave feedback.

Jason James: Remember to do your research! Looking at what sold in the past, is so powerful. Be able to leverage that data to optimize your eBay auctions is so powerful. So do your research!

Bob Hamilton: It all starts with moving forward. There are many, many people who want to try selling on eBay. Every single successful seller made the decision to step up and actually start learning and making sales.

Once you have started stick with it. Always keep an eye out for new trends and great buys on merchandise. We have found the grandkids/nieces/nephews are a great source of information regarding what is up and coming.

Locating and purchasing the right products for resale on eBay is critical. Invest the time to find the right products at the right price. They are out there – it just takes time and effort to locate them.

Avril Harper: Just do it! If you regard eBay as a numbers game and accept that some things you do will be profitable and others will lose you money you will never go far wrong. The only important thing to do is to expand on the things that do work and learn from whatever you do that doesn’t work. Keep on listing the profitable products, remove those that don’t work. Then keep on doing that and you really can’t fail.

Lee McIntyre: The biggest piece of advice I can give is to use eBay as a marketing tool. If you develop an effective marketing funnel, and then use eBay to drive traffic into that funnel, you’re going to dramatically increase your profits.

I’d also advise people to automate everything they possibly can. I’m one of the only people in my niche to use digital delivery and this gives me an incredible competitive advantage. While the competition are sending products manually via email, I am creating new products to take my business forward.

Skip McGrath: I am a big fan of niche marketing. I think too many sellers want to sell the latest or hottest product. The problem is that the hottest products have lots of competitors that drive the price down and you can’t source them at really good prices unless you buy in very large volumes.

Finding a specialized niche that doesn’t attract the big boys is the way to make higher and more reliable profits. Also people like to buy from sellers who specialize. Lastly when looking for a niche look for something that interests you and that you enjoy. Getting paid to do something you like is far more rewarding than constantly bouncing around selling anything you can make money on.

People are often sitting on a great niche and don’t know it. A gentleman called me one day and said “Skip, I am going crazy. I just don’t know what to sell.” I asked him what his hobbies and interests were. He said he had been involved with Amateur (Ham) Radio for years. I asked if he realized that vintage Ham Radio equipment was a huge seller on eBay. He said he didn’t realize it and that he had tons of old radio stuff in his garage and had lots of friends who did also. He emailed me about a month or so later and said that in just 3 weeks he had sold over $7000 worth of Ham Radio gear and in addition to selling vintage equipment he was now talking to distributors who could supply new gear.

Now, opening the question to you, If you could give one piece of advice to someone who’s new to eBay what would it be?

Accept Offers

This may sound a bit unique, but eBay now has a feature that allows sellers to list their items in a way that allows potential buyers to make an offer on the listing. Also known as ˜Best Offer,’ this feature entices customers to make an offer for the seller’s consideration. If you are willing to accept offers on an item that you list, let it be known with this popular and unique auction
feature.

Require Immediate Payment

If you list an eBay auction with a ‘Buy it Now’ price, you will have the option of requiring immediate payment via PayPal. This feature will ensure that you are paid immediately upon the auction closing, which eliminates frivolous bidding without the intention of paying.

Make Second Chance Offers

If you have more than one of an item, you can make second chance offers to potential buyers who have placed bids on your auction. One of the many benefits of eBay’s second chance offer feature is the ability to sell multiple products without re-listing the same item repeatedly, which would require that you pay another listing fee.

Provide a Shipping Discount

As a seller, you have the option of providing your buyers with a shipping discount if they purchase more than one item from you. Combined shipping is a popular incentive for many who wish to buy multiple items from one seller, but prefer to save some money on shipping and handling costs in the process. If you can afford to ship some items together without compromising the careful packaging required to ensure a safe delivery, explain the details in your auction listing and invite bidders to check out your other items.

Know When to List Your Auction

If your listing is to be a success, it’s important that it be posted at a time when as many buyers will see it as possible. When you first list an auction on eBay, it is visible as a newly listed product. As it progresses through the duration of the auction, it moves down the list. As most seasoned auction veterans know, the majority of interest is expressed near the end of the auction, which ideally should be at a time when more buyers will see it. Research your category and make an informed decision as to when you believe the auction will garner the most attention.

These days, no one would ever think of John like this and he is known as a well respected eBay guru, author and powerseller. His ebooks have sold thousands of copies to date.

Mentorship Monthly offers an exclusive digital newsletter, audio and video training, recommendations and tools, personal help with your eBay auctions and the opportunity of question John on any eBay related subject. Content will be updated monthly & of course you can cancel at any time.

Payment is processed by Clickbank so if you try it and find it’s not for you it’s easy to cancel and get a refund within the first few weeks. You can find details at: http://www.mentorshipmonthly.com.

However, a script from Johan Terpstra – a moderator over at the digitalpoints forum has changed all this. This will soon change many forum launches. ICO-Content is a script provided for webmasters using Vbulletin or other forum software which automatically posts to forums, using Yahoo Answers as relevant content.

You can find out more details at: http://www.icomotion.com/ico-content/index.html -

Overall, Highly recommended. Even John Reese recently sent an email to his list about this ground breaking software saying the following:

Recently a guy from the UK created what I think
is one of the most powerful software tools ever
created for Internet Marketing purposes — and
I’m not joking!

He created a GENIUS TOOL that will automatically
populate a discussion forum with QUALITY targeted
content! It will actually automatically create user
accounts and then make posts from them.

It is seriously one of the most BRILLIANT tools
ever made for Internet Marketing.


http://ispyit.com/ is the site, and a quick whois check will confirm it’s owned by Mike? Let’s watch this space closely to see how the site progresses…

Over the next week, I’ll be highlighting some of these tools and explaining the advantages they can offer as a seller on eBay.

Firstly 2006 was the year that introduced us to eBay Reviews.

Ebay Reviews allows members to write reviews of products or services, sharing your expertise and comments. Readers get to rate your review after they have read it. Reviews can not yet be written on every category, but are limited to Binoculars, Camcorder Accessories, Car Amplifiers, Car Audio / Video, Car Seats, Cots and Cribs, Digital Cameras, DVD Players & Recorders, CDs and DVDs, and other electrical appliances including mobile phones.

If your selling in one of these categories, this is a great opportunity for you to show your knowledge and expertise to potential bidders. Keeping in mind the phrase, “people buy off those who they know or think they know”, eBay Reviews gives members the opportunity to get to know you.

Normal ebay rules apply in regards to outgoing links, so it’s not possible to filter away traffic to your own websites.

However picture this scenario. Two similar sellers are offering identical digital cameras in their listings. However, one of these sellers has written several guides on the pros and cons of each model they sell.

Which seller will seem more credible?

Obviously, its the seller who has taken the time to research the items they’re selling and compiled the reviews. More credibility represents will in time come to represent more bids, and more sales.

Any eBay member can compile a review by logging into My ebay and searching for the item they’re hoping to review. Ebays guidelines on writing a review are:

• Descriptive information. Explain your reasons for the rating you gave the product
• Pros and cons. Write about both the things you like and dislike about the product
• Correct punctuation, spelling and grammar. Write clearly and concisely.

Don’t be scared to include negative information about a product your reviewing – for example if a item doesn’t include a certain feature that you feel it should include it in your review. Readers will respect & trust you more than a complete positive review.

So, here are my top seven tips for allowing customers to find you on eBay.

1. Domain name

As Robs mentions, a redirected domain name is always the quickest way for friends, previous customers or new prospects to find you. Most domain name registrants allow for a redirect url so you do not even need to purchase hosting. You even have the option of including your eBay affiliate link within the redirect so if new users register with eBay you’ll earn commission as well a possible sale

2. Print Business Cards.

If your sending out physical stock, as oppose to digital items be sure to include your business card with a link to your auctions with every purchase. This will jog your buyers memory about who their dealing with and encourage them to revisit your store.

3. Christmas Cards

Make the additional commitment, at a small cost of choosing to send out a Christmas card to any previous buyers during the last 12 months. Regular eBayers will deal with hundreds of sellers over the year, but only a small portion of sellers will make the effort to turn the one off sale into repeated custom. Again, this is all about reminding and encouraging your customer to revisit your listings.

4. Ebay Newsletters

One of eBays most powerful, yet secret tools is eBays newsletter for sellers. Ebay allows all shop/store owners to send out newsletters using ebays own server. It is free for the first 1000 recipient to your list with a nominal fee for additional subscribers. If you run a featured or anchor store, your free allocation is 2500 or 5000 respectively. Sending out a newsletter monthly will increase the awareness of your business and improve your bottom line.

5 Link direct to your auctions

Many powersellers also run websites selling items as well as listing to eBay. Ebay offers users the chance to link to their products or stores with an official eBay image. Use it, and your listings are only one click away for your potential customers.

6. Complementary Products

The best way of tempting repeat custom is to offer complementary products. For instant, if your selling printers why not also offer refills for ink cartridges. Make sure your customers know you offer refills when you first sell the initial product.

7. Be instantly recognisable though your listings

I’ve been a big fan of branding your listings by using templates, creating a highly professional and instantly recognisable listing as soon as it’s viewed. By using the same template to describe all products, your listings and eBay store will seem like a more secure and comforting transaction.

As you’ll gather, it’s not just about helping friends & customers to find you initially, but to keep them coming again and again to your eBay listings. I’m sure you’ll be well aware – it’s easier to sell to an existing customer than to a new one. So make it more profitable and make it easy for them to find you when they need to.

Hand-painted Holiday Ornaments. If you have ever priced hand-painted ornaments, then you already know how expensive these can be.  As an eBay seller, you have the option of taking a simple package of ornaments and painting them yourself for a truly unique decoration. At a recent craft fair, crafters were displaying ornaments painted with snowflakes, snowmen, Christmas trees, Santa and other holiday-themed designs. If you are good with a paintbrush, try your hand at painting holiday ornaments and offering them for sale in sets.

Lighted Bottles & Glass Squares.  Another popular idea for the painter at heart is to decorate clear glass bottles or squares using decorative painting techniques taught by popular craft personalities.  Flowers, Christmas art and wildlife are all popular motifs and, once the paint is applied, a hole can be made into the bottom of the bottle or square for running Christmas lights up into the display.  When completed, you will have a beautifully painted glass bottle with an array of lights shimmering inside or a glass square with the same look in a different shape.  Always be sure to wear protective eye goggles and other necessary gear when working with glass.

Dog Neckerchiefs.  Many pet lovers around the world are always on the lookout for the next cute accent to make their precious pooch even prettier.  With a simple piece of fabric, you can create a dog neckerchief that is designed to slide over a dog’s collar.  For this type of product, it may be a good idea to accept custom orders with full payment upfront.  Once your eBay listing closes with a winning buyer, ask him/her for the neck measurements of the dog that will be wearing the neckerchief.  With this information, you can measure the perfect piece of fabric for sewing.  Your pattern for a dog neckerchief will be shaped like a ‘V’ at the bottom and straight across the top. To get the desired look, allow for extra fabric at the top, fold it over and sew to form a loop that will easily slide over a dog’s collar.  Sew every edge of the neckerchief for a finished look.  Dog lovers will find these cute little wearables to be tail wagging fun.

If these sound interesting, you can get even more ideas by stopping by a local holiday craft show at a nearby shopping mall or other outlet. Crafters are inspired by a variety of things and there’s no better inspiration for creating a beautiful project than the holidays.

“In addition, for the period of 7 weeks, you will have personal access to me via a private email address for advice on any of your own auctions. Millions of people place items for sale on eBay, and in reality hope for the best. By applying the principles I give you in the e-class, together with my personal guidance, you will increase the success rates of your
auctions to levels you never thought possible”, Brian tells me.

Brian has ran over 4500 auctions and his monthly newsletter has an audience of well over 10,000 readers so he’s very well positioned to teach others how to use eBay. You can check out more details about Brian McGregors eBay course here.