Vintage Little Golden Books

There are few vintage collectibles that capture the joy of a baby boomer era childhood better than Little Golden Books. Whether the books explore magic and imagination, holidays, pets, toys, or everyday life, the words and images are nostalgic and charming.

Little Golden Books are one of my favorite things to collect - and to sell - on eBay. I personally collect Little Golden Books about dogs and Christmas, as well as Eloise Wilkin illustrations. Two of my books are in the photo above. I have a special fondness for activity books, like Trim the Christmas Tree, which has little paper ornaments to cut out and assemble. I had a copy of this book in my childhood - which of course I used to make ornaments. I am delighted to have another copy now that is complete.

As a seller, there are several things a buyer will look for with Little Golden Books. These include:

* Title
* Author of Book (some authors are collectible)
* Illustrator of Book (there are some treasures here – i.e. Corinne Malvern, Eloise Wilkin, Richard Scarry, Garth Williams, etc.)
* Book Number (top right corner of front cover). It is important to note that numbers featuring a hyphen, i.e. 254-12, are newer editions, and not as collectible.
* Original Price of Book (top right corner of front cover). 25¢ and 29¢ books are the best sellers in the vintage market.
* Date of book publication - On copyright page, make sure you have included the last date of publication included. For instance, if you see 1950, 1962, 1976, then the date to include is 1976.
* Edition - For older books (i.e. 25¢ - 29¢ books) you will also find the book’s edition inside the back cover. Open the back cover and look at the bottom of last page of book in the book gutter at binding. With oldest editions, you will see a letter, i.e. A, B, C, etc. A is a First Edition, B is a Second Edition, etc.
* Condition, including any writing or marks in book, child’s name, gift inscription, etc.

Little Golden Books are a uniquely charming baby boomer vintage collectible, and great fun for buyers and sellers alike!

Trish
eBay name: birdhouse-in-your-soul
eBay Store: Birdhouse Books
Fan page for updates and vintage chat: Facebook.com/birdhousebooks
Trish's blog: Adventures on eBay


(Many thanks to Trish, proprietress of Birdhouse Books, for today's guest post.)

Product Sourcing With Close-Out Deals

I'm ready to reveal my sources. Well, one of my sources.

When I was actively selling products from my own inventory, one of my favorite places to find liquidation sales and close-out bargains for resale was Graveyard Mall, "Where high prices come to die!" (Gotta love their slogan.)

I've found great deals in their collegiate products department, health and beauty, home improvement, and more. I could name several items that I purchased in bulk then practically gave away on eBay but still doubled or tripled (at least) my investment.

The best tip I can offer about buying on Graveyard Mall is to research the items first, before you get carried away because of a low price. Remember, these are close-out type items and sometimes they're being closed out for a very good reason: nobody wants them. Nobody. And that means your customers won't want them either, so do your due diligence before you buy. You will find some bargains, though. For instance, I see one particular item priced at $1.99 that's selling for $9.98 right now at Amazon.com. Seems someone could turn that one around and make some money, wouldn't you think? (I'll give you a hint: It's in the Dollar Store category.)

Sign up for the newsletter to to keep up with their specials and visit the site daily to check their Deal of the Day. Hope you find some great bargains!

For more ideas for product sourcing, check out Where to Find Stuff to Sell on eBay.

How Your Friend's Blog Can Benefit Your Business

Here's a tip you can implement today.

To get more exposure for your online store/selling venue, trade blog posts with a friend. (You do have a blog, right??) Ask a friend with a blog if she'll write a guest post for you and offer to write one for her. At the end of the post include a brief bio, including a link to your own blog and, perhaps, to one of your online stores. (Leave it to one or two links; don't make it look tacky.)

Simply share a great tip or selling experience, something that will appeal to the audience of your friend's blog. You post hers, she posts yours and, voilà, you both have new readers and, hopefully, new customers.

It's a win-win situation!

P.S. I love Darren Rowse's blogging tips. Here's a book full of them: ProBlogger: Secrets for Blogging Your Way to a Six-Figure Income Read the reviews and consider buying the book if you want to learn how your blog can benefit your business.

How to Get Buyers to Read Your eBay Newsletters

Are you a store owner on eBay? Do you use your mailing list capability, the one that eBay provides along with your store? I hope that you do as it can be a very powerful tool. Speaking as a buyer, I enjoy receiving newsletters from eBay store owners - occasionally. The majority of the time, though, I simply delete them without opening because I know they're going to be a waste of my time. How do I know that?

When I see these subject lines, I don't ask questions, I just delete:

"eBay Seller Email: Check out my Newly Listed Items"
"eBay Seller Email: Sale! Shop my eBay Store for Big Savings"

Those are default subject lines, the ones that eBay supplies for you. They're the lazy seller's way of sending a newsletter. Inside, I can expect to see a list of items for sale and little else, sometimes not even a personalized message from the store owner. In fact, unless I scroll to the bottom of the page, 99 percent of the time I have no idea who sent the email. Why? Because eBay's default does not supply the store name at the top of the email. The only place I might find it is on the feedback section that is (by default) plugged in at the very bottom. Sorry, but I have too many other things to do than search an email to see who it's from. I'd rather shop with sellers who catch my attention with subject lines such as these:

"eBay Seller Email: Birdhouse Books - New Year's Sale"
"eBay Seller Email: 25% Off Selected Flat Wallets & More"
"eBay Seller Email: Happy Holidays from Handmade by Martha"
"eBay Seller Email: New 2 Day Sale Fun Stuff from Annie Star"

Aren't those subjects more appealing? Absolutely! Don't they make you want to see what's inside? Of course!

Note that the "eBay Seller Email" part is always provided by eBay, identifying that the mail is not s-p-a-m, so that's okay. However, it leaves you, the seller, a limited number of characters to work with, so be creative and use the space wisely.

If you've been taking the lazy way out by using the eBay default subjects, check your stats to see how many subscribers open your newsletters now, then try it my way a time or two and see if that opening rate increases dramatically. I truly believe it will. If I'm on your mailing list, I can guarantee it will. Then come back here, leave a comment and let me know if it worked for you.

Happy selling and prosperity to all in the new year!


P.S. It's tax prep time. Need advice? The eBay Seller's Tax and Legal Answer Book: Everything You Need to Know to Keep the Government Off Your Back and Out of Your Wallet

Are You Ready To Start An Importing Business?

Here are a few key questions to consider when thinking about
starting an importing business to help you learn if you are ready:

1. How well are the products selling that you are considering
importing?

2. Do you have a market already established for those
products?

3. If you do not have a market, i.e., buyers, how are you
going to get those buyers to first learn about your products,
then buy those products?

4. Do you have the expertise to deal with the foreign
languages of the countries you are thinking about importing
from?

5. How will you pay or finance for those products?

6. Are your trusting enough (or naive enough) to send your
funds to a company you found on the Internet simply because
they have a nice looking web site and best of all, the lowest
prices you have found yet?

7. Have you ever heard of the term "due diligence" and do
you know how to perform it on potential suppliers?

8. Have you ever sold anything? Products or services via
any method of marketing?

The above list are just a few of the questions you must
answer to yourself when considering the start of just about
any business, but especially one that requires you send
your hard earned funds to someone in another country.

Consider this post a reality check. If some of the things
in this post upset you, good. I would rather give you a
reality check before it costs you any serious money.

Most people have more dream than they have experience or
willpower. They want the fast track to guaranteed success
and do not want to face the realities of business that
do not match their dreams.

If you have ever considered starting an import business,
you better have solid answers to the above questions.

The primary one - who are you going to sell to? Second,
do you have "any" business experience??

When someone calls me on the phone asking about starting
their own importing business, the first questions I ask
are those listed above.

Most answer that they do not have any business experience
or if they do, it does not involve the actual sale of the
products they are thinking about importing.

The recommendation I give them in such instances is as
follows:

If you do not have any experience and/or you do but
you do not have an established market - then start selling
stuff on eBay.

By stuff I mean the excess things you have personally
accumulated, that same stuff owned by your relatives and
friends.

Selling "stuff" like this teaches you the "how to" of
the largest marketplace in the world - eBay.

It also gives you an opportunity to experience the "thrills"
of doing business, such as

Experiencing a sale or no sale

Researching how to price your products (based on previous
sales of the same or similar products)

Setting up a no cost merchant account with eBay's paypal
service and joyously paying fees to both paypal and eBay.

Dealing with shipping and handling.

Dealing with customers, communications - customer service
if they are not happy with the "stuff" because you did not
write a thorough description or provide a photo that did
not detail every nook and cranny of the stuff.

Dealing with non-paying customers.

Not trying to scare you away from your dreams but simply
giving you a path to learn from that does not cost you
a lot of out of pocket funds.

Now for some resources that my experience and research
over the past 7-8 years has discovered to be the BEST
I personally have found -

If after reading the above you realize that you are
"not ready for prime time" in starting your own importing
business, then this first resource is a place you should
visit and take advantage of "every FREE resource" they
offer to help you decide if their paid service would
help you launch your business.

This first link will take you to a search engine like
facility within their service where you can search for
suppliers of various items to see how many they have in
their database system:
http://www.importexporthelp.com/redir/odssd.htm

-- just enter the name of the product(s) in the search
engine space, submit and wait for the results - the
search results will bring up various listings, one
will say "Import Buys" that is the one to focus on -
see the number out to the right that is underlined,
that is the number of suppliers they have for the item
you searched for - click on that number to expand and
see further details.

If you see that their service would be beneficial to you,
then get it - if you are not finding enough suppliers to
make it worthwhile then two things - 1) do not get their
paid service or 2) realize that maybe there is a reason
for not finding the product(s) and change the name or
learn from this that maybe you cannot sell that product
because it has minimum requirements that you would not
be able to handle or there are exclusive distribution
rights that simply exclude others from selling it.

A bit of advice on products you are thinking about selling -
don't get so fixated on one or two products that you
spend all your time seeking to find a supplier for it.

Understand that MOST of the BIG BRAND NAME products
have "EXCLUSIVE" distribution agreements and you are
NOT going to the attention of a manufacturer since you
are just getting started. Once you have a market
base established, then you 'may' be able to get them
to answer your phone calls, but you better have a
huge market base.

Now once you have that market base established and you
feel financially successful enough to purchase a much
larger (maybe container load) of a product, then it is
time to beging considering Importing it yourself.

This is when you are ready for our Importing course
and should get it so you understand all the aspects
of importing before you even make your first foreign
inquiry. Here is a link to our course:
How To Start An Importing Business Course

Last, but certainly not least, getting back to selling
on eBay - I am going to give you the link to our web
page where you may download, for free, an ebook that
I purchased a few years ago and found to be extremely
helpful when I made my first foray onto eBay to sell
some of the "too much" stuff I had accumulated over
my lifetime. Go visit and download at:
Free Ebay Selling Auction Book

Now the most IMPORTANT thing that selling on eBay
provides you is learning how to take ACTION! Beyond
dreaming about starting a business, by actually selling
(or attempting to sell) your first "stuff" on eBay,
it causes you to take that ALL IMPORTANT FIRST STEP -
ACTION.

This brings me to close this post with something I
read recently that Walt Disney once said - it applies
to you feeling overwhelmed with all of the strategies
you want to try - some people (maybe you) get so
completely overwhelmed that they put off getting
started for far too long.

Walt Disney put it simply like this:

"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing."
Walter Disney

Hope this post will help you decide to "BEGIN DOING".

Ron Coble
International Trade Marketing Services
http://www.importexporthelp.com/

EBay Seller? Diversifying? You Need This!

If you're one of those savvy sellers who has been diversifying your selling venues beyond eBay, have I got some great news for you. It's called EveryPlaceISell.com and the name alone should give you a huge hint about its purpose.

Steiner Associates (as in AuctionBytes.com) has created EveryPlaceISell.com as a user-generated directory for online merchants to list and tie together every venue on which they sell. Do you sell on eBay? Amazon? Etsy? Your own site? List them all here - f r ee - and help your customers, as well as new shoppers, find you at all of those locations. Besides the obvious benefit of having all of your sites available in one place, the backlinks this will generate for your sites should make the search engines very happy.

The fact that this new site is owned by Steiner Associates should give you confidence in its future; the Steiners know their business and do it well. The site is beginning to boom, so don't delay in getting your registration process started. Policy states that every registration is verified within 24 hours though may take longer due to high traffic; my initial registration was confirmed within minutes.

By the way, you don't have to be an eBay seller to use this site. You are allowed to list 10 different sites and there's a long list, alphabetically from Abebooks to Wibix, of venues to select from. With EveryPlaceISell.com you have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so give it a try, then let me know how it works for you.

P.S. Here's my link.


My52cents-Susan52 Online

Selling on eBay? You Need All the Help You Can Get!

When eBay sellers think of eBay these days, the one word that comes to almost everyone's mind is "change." Change in policy, change in fees, change in rules, changes here, changes everywhere.

While it's simple enough to go to eBay's site and read the rules (well, maybe it isn't all that simple), perhaps it would be easier to have a team of people, experts, to help you understand and interpret all these changes and help you understand how they affect you and your business.

If you're not sure what to do about your eBay business, whether you should hang tight or jump ship, I can tell you that doing the same things you've been doing for years, working hard and having little to show for it, may not be the right choice. There are alternatives. There are changes you can make in order to succeed online and, specifically, on eBay.

Do you have about six and a half minutes? I'd like to suggest that if you can spare that small amount of time, click on the banner below and watch the video. Take a look and listen and evaluate if this membership site might be right for you. Maybe it will, maybe the monthly investment is more than you believe your future is worth. That's fine, but I love to see people succeed and I love to see people enjoy what they do, rather than working more than full-time hours and seeing little to no results, and I think this is something worth checking out. Really, you have so little to lose to just take a look. How about doing it now, while it's on your mind.

P.S. Remember, the busy holiday selling season is coming up. Check this out before you miss out on information that could make a huge difference in what happens to your eBay business the rest of this year.

Didn't Make it to eBay Live? No problem.

So, you didn't make it to eBay Live in Chicago this year. Neither did I. Sorry that you missed all the great teaching that went on there? So am I. Well, we're in luck! Now we can access many of the seminars and presentations that were made in Chicago at eBay Live 2008, online and all in one place.

The EBay Live Presentation Download Center contains 80 downloadable presentations (PDF downloads) in six different categories, including topics for buyers and sellers at every level. Want to learn how to pack the unpackable? They've got you covered. Want to find out how to market your eBay business? Of course you do and you'll find that topic covered as well.

While it doesn't include t-shirts, pins, and the party atmosphere of eBay Live, the topics that you need to help you succeed on eBay are all there. Dig in and help yourself!

Disaster For Most New Importers

This post will hopefully help anyone or any
business contemplating importing products avoid disaster.

The disaster that most new importers experience is they are
blinded by the "hype" of great wealth and riches from
importing cheap, low cost merchandise and after their money
is sent, the merchandise is on it's way or already sitting
in their garage or storage facility, they reach the stark
reality of not knowing how or who to market it to.

When I am able to talk with one of these budding importer
entrepreneurs, I highly recommend to them that they develop
their market, before they go and buy a containerload of
products that they may end up having to sell for a nickel
or dime on the dollar - enter the disaster many actually
experience.

My primary recommendation for developing your market it
by selling products on Ebay. Learning what sells, what
doesn't. Learning the basics of customer service, order
fulfillment, order processing and shipping costs.

During the process of selling these goods on Ebay, they
learn the lessons of doing business that are truly necessary
to avoid a disaster of major proportions.

Now Ebay has made some very major changes recently and
quite frankly I believe you should take advantage of
several new F*REE videos that are being made available
before moving into using this huge marketing powerhouse.

Now the remainder of this update is from the publisher of
these F*REE videos and a brand new updated course on
marketing and selling via Ebay.

If nothing else, watch the videos and even if you do not
get their course (which I recommend you do) but if you
do not, you will still learn a lot of valuable information
about marketing and selling on this huge marketplace.

By the way, Ebay is not just for stuff up in the attic
or in the garage, there are many multi-million dollar
businesses that are selling their goods in this huge,
most highly trafficed marketplace on the Internet.

Now here are the details on the new course and F*REE
videos - you can skip the rest of the description and
go there right now using the following link or continue
to read more details - your choice -

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-auctiontips.htm

You could be making literally thousands of dollars a year
online WITHOUT even getting your own website... and you
can learn how to do it for FREE!

Let me explain...

Derek Gehl and his in-house team of experts have been spending
the past few MONTHS analyzing all of the latest developments
and changes at eBay, the world's biggest online marketplace...

... and they've applied what they've learned to create a simple,
three-step system you can follow to rake in a healthy chunk
of the $60 BILLI0N that exchanges hands on eBay every YEAR!

And the best part?

Derek's laid out the entire profitable system in a set of
training videos that you can watch RIGHT NOW for FREE!

First, he's going to reveal the number one mistake that nearly
EVERY new "eBayer" makes when they're getting started
(it's a BIGGIE, and it can stop you COLD from ever making
a PENNY)!

After that, he'll explain his secret three-step formula
for evaluating ANY item to determine if it'll be a HOT
seller... teach you how to find hungry markets that are
BEGGING to buy what you're selling...

... and wrap up this three-video series by looking at what's
new and different at eBay, and explaining EXACTLY how to
take advantage of the recent changes to start profiting
RIGHT AWAY (while everyone else is scrambling to get
up-to-speed)!

This system is FULL of secret strategies that virtually
NOBODY else knows about!

It's also been tested and proven by his own elite group of
eBay mentors, so you KNOW it's gonna work for you, too.

So if you want to learn how to start making SERIOUS money
online in the fastest time possible, without having to create
your own website (or if you'd like to add an additional
stream of income to an existing website), I highly recommend
Derek's three FREE eBay training videos!

Start watching them RIGHT AWAY by following this link:

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-auctiontips.htm

That is all for this update. Take care until next time.

Ron Coble
Coble International
International Business Trade Center

P.S. The sooner you watch these FREE eBay videos, the sooner
you'll be able to swoop in and start making HUGE profits
while your competitors are still struggling to learn about
all the changes!

http://www.importexporthelp.com/recommends/imc-auctiontips.htm

EBay Store Seller Quick Tip of the Day

When you send out eBay store newsletters, be sure to personalize the Subject line rather than using the eBay default for the style of newsletter you've chosen.

I have received a dozen or more store newsletters this month with the same subject line: "Sale! Shop my eBay Store for big savings!" Knowing who sent the mail (the From field always says "store-newsletter" by default, so that doesn't tell me) goes a long way in my quick decision as to whether to take time to open and read that email or to trash it.

Don't know about you or your customers, but I would be much more likely to open a message with this subject line (for instance) "Hurry! All BIN On Sale Now at my52cents on eBay!" than one with the default. Remember, think like a customer!

EBay Plus Squidoo Equals . . .

. . some awesome lenses and a lot of traffic for some very smart eBay buyers and sellers.

In honor of eBay Live 2008, Squidoo and lensmaster Katiyana put together a challenge for those who "do" both eBay and Squidoo. The result? The 10 Day eBay Challenge 2008. Participants were to make 10 lenses in the days leading up to eBay Live, lenses that would highlight their eBay businesses or, not to leave out the buyers, special stories about items that they have bought on eBay. The result? Wow! A great bunch of new lenses, at least 104 at last count.

You can see the long list on the challenge lens. Pay special attention to the 14 finalists, in a separate list on the lens here. I haven't had a chance to check out all of the lenses yet, but one of my favorites so far is the Redneck Rings lens. Lensmaster titanium_knights involved a reality show on the lens, and we all know how popular reality shows are! Of course I enjoyed this lens by one of my favorite lensmasters, Chef Keem, whose lenses are always entertaining no matter what the subject.

If the challenge lenses don't convince you that all eBay sellers should have a Squidoo lens (or a few) to enhance and help advertise their businesses, then nothing will. I hope you'll check them out and then get started on Squidoo, too.

How to Write the Best Item Title on eBay

I'm not going to tell you, but I'll point you to someone who will.

I found a terrific 10-minute video on a Suzanne Wells' Power Seller King blog here. If you sell on eBay, whether full-time or casually, investing a small amount of time watching this video and putting what it teaches into practice will likely pay huge dividends. I have already heard from others how much the knowledge taught in the video has improved their eBay businesses.

If the information helps you, I'd love to know, so I hope you'll come back and leave me a comment here.

Squidoo Fanatic Teams Up With Power Seller King!

I hope you've seen my friend Suzanne Wells' Power Seller King blog. Suzanne provides her readers with awesome tips on a daily basis, tips that will help you improve your own eBay business. If you don't read Suzanne's blog regularly, you're really missing out on some great stuff.

Today's great Power Seller King tip is in a guest post written by, ahem, moi. The post is called How to Use Squidoo to Promote Your eBay Business. It's really good advice, if I do say so myself.

While you're there, be sure to subscribe to Power Seller King and read it every day. If you sell on eBay, you'll be glad you did.

Why the Advanced Search is Important to eBay Sellers

Easter's early this year. Have you done your shopping? Have you listed your Easter-related items on eBay?

I've been using eBay's advanced search feature a lot lately and this morning I decided to do one search for items from all categories with "Easter" in the title that are marked down and have Buy It Now available, including store items. I found 399 items that met all of those search options. Very cool search. You can try it here.

So, why am I telling you this? If you're an eBay shopper, remember to use that Advanced Search feature to help narrow down the items you're looking for more quickly. If you're a seller, remember to use words such as "Easter" in your item titles when you believe people will be looking for those items specifically. My search turned up items in 14 main categories from apparel to antiques to cell phones & PDAs. That last category included an Easter Lily charm for a cell phone. I never would have thought to search for that item, but what a great idea for an Easter basket stuffer.

Sellers, think like shoppers as you think about upcoming occasions and events (Mother's Day, graduation, even spring) as eBay shoppers will use those words in their searches. Those same shoppers may turn into buyers when they find your item, even if they did't know they were looking for it.

Hey, Monkeybrain. Did you join the boycott?

Now, don't take offense. I don't really think you're a monkeybrain. Actually, Squidoo has a new offspring called "Hey, MonkeyBrain!" which is designed for debate, and one of Squidoo's lensmasters has set up a MonkeyBrain debate about the eBay boycott.

Will you (or did you) join the boycott? Think it will do any good? Why not visit bdkz's MonkeyBrain page, vote in the polls, and post your opinions. It's fun, easy, and you may remain anonymous.

If you've never heard of Squidoo and have no idea what a lensmaster is, feel free to check out my lensmaster page on Squidoo or find answers at my Squidoo blog.

And if you've been meaning to get started on Squidoo but have just continued to put it off, don't wait any longer, Monkeybrain!

Why Now is the Best Time to Start Selling Books on eBay

Recently eBay announced pricing changes, including lower listing fees, effective February 20, 2008. Now the news is even better. Another announcement was made this week, this time regarding category-specific listing fee reductions for media categories.

Effective along with the previously announced changes, listing fees for books, music, movies, and video game software categories will be further reduced. Auctions listed at a starting price up to 99 cents will be reduced from 20 to 10 cents each, auction and fixed price listings in these categories with starting prices from $1 to $9.99 will be reduced from 40 to 25 cents, and similar listings with starting prices from $10 to $24.99 will be reduced from 60 to 35 cents.

What does this mean to you? If you're a bookseller (or music or movie or video game seller) this can mean a very nice increase to your bottom line!

Haven't started selling on eBay yet? Why not start with books? With eBay's listing fee reductions, now is the perfect time to get started. Books are a great product for a new seller to start with on eBay; most of us have too many and, if not, books are very easy to find at yard sales, church sales, and library sales. They're easy to handle, pack, and ship, and they're great sellers.

This bookwill teach you all you need to know about selling books on eBay or elsewhere online. The used book business is booming and eBay's fees are coming down, so why not find out how to get started selling books on eBay today!

Feedback Changes on eBay – My Turn to Vent

I blogged about the fee changes eBay announced last week but still have been digesting both sides of the feedback changes issue. I think I’ve finally formulated my opinion. Read on if you’re a seller with thick skin, curious to know what I think.

To review, eBay is changing its policy such that buyers may continue to rate sellers and leave positive, neutral, or negative feedback for them, but sellers will no longer be able to do the same for buyers. Instead, only a comment may be left by the seller regarding the buyer. The way I see it is this, and I've said this many, many times, if you’re a seller who provides excellent customer service, you won't have anything to worry about regarding feedback. Now, many eBay sellers will tell you that isn't true and can give examples of idiot buyers who leave stupid feedback. My friend Pat had a buyer recently who claimed he didn't buy her item and, even though she bent over backwards to take care of his situation (long story, but he was most definitely in the wrong), he ended up leaving negative feedback for her, saying that he didn't buy the item and that she needed to stop contacting him, blah, blah, blah. Well, how could he leave feedback if he didn't buy the item? This buyer was obviously wrong. My friend has documented evidence that he is wrong, and hopefully eBay will rectify the situation and remove the negative. So, it is true that there are unscrupulous (I wanted to say idiot again, but I won’t) buyers. And it’s also true that you can’t please all the people all the time no matter how close to perfect your customer service is. However, whether my friend could leave this buyer negative feedback or just a comment warning others about this man would have made no difference in his behavior.

Is there someplace online, besides eBay, where you can shop and have the business where you made a purchase leave feedback about you as a buyer, feedback for the world to see? If you know of a place, please tell me, but I certainly don’t know of even one. Everywhere I’ve ever shopped other than eBay, if there is an opportunity given to leave feedback it has only been for the buyer to rate the transaction. In fact, most online businesses don’t even offer that option for their customers. Amazon.com does encourage its shoppers to rate their buying experience, though most shoppers do not, but there is no public forum for sellers on Amazon to rate their customers.

I believe that eBay is trying to grow up and provide a good place for buyers to buy while encouraging sellers to provide the excellent customer service that far too many of them do not provide. EBay is trying to become a more professional and reliable marketplace for people to do business. As a buyer on eBay, I welcome that change. I’ve dealt with too many sellers who have been far less than professional and if those sellers drop off the eBay map, that’s fine with me. I believe that the cream of the crop of sellers will, indeed, rise to the top and the changes that eBay is implementing, including getting rid of the sellers’ opportunity to leave negative feedback for buyers, will encourage this positive growth.

Maybe the customer isn’t always right, but I think it’s time for eBay sellers to treat their businesses as businesses and act like professionals. If you’re a seller, I say adjust your attitude if it needs adjustment and move on to bigger and better things with eBay. If you’re a seller who would rather complain and boycott and focus on the past, the next time I go shopping on eBay I probably won’t see you at the top. EBay isn't going anywhere and if sellers leave in droves, so much the better for the professional sellers – and the buyers – who remain.

Why Bettye Had Record Sales Last Month on eBay

My friend, Bettye, from Dragonfly Vintage Clothing, just reported on her fabulous eBay sales from last month. January was her highest sales month ever after opening her eBay store 18 months ago. Here are Bettye's top three reasons, in her words, of why her sales have continued to grow and why she believes she had the big jump in January.

1. I'm buying better - more selectively...which I'm able to do only because I'm shopping MORE - I get to at LEAST one thrift store 6 days a week, and, many days, two. On average, I'm in 10 stores a week. This is on top of my full-time M-F, 8:30-4:30 day job. You have to get to a LOT of stores, and see a LOT of items, to allow yourself the luxury of only buying the BEST items. When I used to try and do all my shopping in one day, I had to lower the bar for what I would buy, as I knew there would be no other buying opportunities that week.

2. When ebay works right, it's using a system of exponential growth - which I think only REALLY works when you have a niche. I've done both. I've studied both. I know people who do both, and ON AVERAGE, there seems to be MORE GROWTH in stores that specialize in a certain type of product. Niche sellers have more repeat customers, there is probably more word-of-mouth referrals...and over time, a specialty store gets more and more and MORE regular watchers...as you have more people watching, you have more people likely to bid...and all it takes is two or more people who want the same item, and prices get driven up. When every one of your items is totally different - not even in the same style or genre - repeat customers are not as likely, repeat watchers the same. This exponential growth takes TIME. To Really Succeed on Ebay, I think you need to have/offer one of several things (you don't need all, but you need ONE): HIGHLY rare or desirable and well-recognized things (Coach bags, Apple ipods, etc); or EXTREME savings - if you're The Cheapest in any category, you will get the attention and the sales; or TIME. Time listing above average, well-priced items, in an attractive format, with good pictures, clear descriptions, reasonable shipping, in a specialty - and in TIME, you WILL build up a customer base. I think I'm finally hitting My Time :-)

3. To reiterate #2, I have really taken care to have clean, unfussy auction formats; clear, large pictures (I'm a firm believer in the PICTURE tells the story - the text is just an aside); low starting prices and reasonable shipping with no handling fee. I've held firm to my gut feeling that MY clothes are best shown on a live model, even though it would be easier and cheaper to use a mannequin.

Many thanks to Bettye for allowing me to publish her tips and observations. Bettye's goal for 2008 is to double her eBay sales from 2007. Looks like she's off to a fabulous start. (You go, girl!)

Bettye's store
Bettye's other store

Changes on eBay - Don't Panic 'Til You've Done the Math

Did you hear it, the rumbling going through the eBay seller community today? It's been building for a few days, since the news that today would be the Big Announcement with details regarding the restructuring of eBay's fees and feedback policies. If you heard the rumble change to a roar early this morning, that's when the details hit the news - and eBay sellers hit the ceiling.

Fortunately, now that it's afternoon the roar has subsided and even the rumbling has settled down since wise sellers have started doing the math and assessing how the fee changes might actually affect their businesses. Initially lost in the roar was the fact that, after being rumored for some time, the fee for gallery photos indeed will be eliminated. That in itself means a huge savings for sellers who use the gallery photo option and is great news for eBay buyers as hopefully this will make it easier for them to shop (which turns into good news for the seller, who is more likely to make a sale). It seems that most of the sellers who have done the math have figured out that the change in the fee structure will have little effect on their final, bottom line fee. In fact, many who have a low sell-through rate are thrilled that their overall listing fees will be significantly lower.

Of course, there is the feedback issue, the fact that sellers will no longer be allowed to leave neutral or negative feedback for buyers. On the surface that certainly stings but, as I've said before, practice excellent customer service and you should not have to worry about any but the very occasional negative buyer, and there's even a policy to handle and remove those negatives in certain cases. Read all the details about the feedback policy changes on this page.

There's a lot to learn about the policies that were announced today. Rather than getting caught up in the hysteria, savvy sellers should study the changes, do the math and then decide how much worse off - or better off - they might be in the long run. Here's an overview of the announcement with links to the details. Read and study, then decide for yourself what changes if any you will need to make in your eBay business to stay a step ahead of the crowd and take advantage of the void to be filled by those disgruntled sellers who jump the eBay ship. Fee changes take effect February 20, so that gives you plenty of time to make any pricing or policy changes of your own that you deem necessary to best serve your customers - and help your business grow.

How to Sell Other People's Stuff on eBay

Another idea when looking for products to sell on eBay is to sell other people's stuff for them. In fact, consignment selling on eBay can be very financially lucrative. Experienced sellers who sell items for other people on eBay are called Trading Assistants. EBay supports the idea and provides resources and a directory where you can list yourself as a Trading Assistant (TA) as well as provides training documents and a toolkit with research which you can study and use in order to build your TA business.

The first question most sellers ask when considering selling for other people is, "How much do I charge?" There is no set answer to that question as TA commission and fee structures vary widely. One suggestion is to research other TA's in your area, find out what they charge their clients and set your fees competitively. Another good piece of advice is to be careful and not under-charge your clients. Consider all the steps involved in selling an item, including taking possession of the item, researching the item (especially if it's in a category you are not familiar with), taking photographs, writing an excellent listing with a great title, packing and shipping the item, handling feedback or any problems, then paying the client his share of the profit. That's a lot of work and you deserve to be paid accordingly! A fee of 40 to 50 percent of the selling price with you paying the fees is not uncommon, with perhaps a sliding scale based on the value of the item.

Another question is, "Where will I find clients?" First, list yourself in the eBay TA directory. Then, begin to spread the word locally. Tell your friends and family members and ask them to spread the word, purchase business cards and distribute those to people that you meet, or place a notice on your local grocery store bulletin board with tear-off tags with your phone number. That should get you started. Provide excellent service for your clients and word will spread to the point that you may have more business than you can handle.

I recommend starting with this book, How to Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business, to answer all of your questions about how to get started selling on consignment, how to decide what kinds of items will be the most profitable, and how to set up your own eBay consignment business. You can find out from eBay about their Trading Assistant program here.