eBay up-to-date

Do you know?: Hammertap's latest release...
With Hammertap's latest release of Deep Analysis they now have the most powerful eBay research tool.
Just my opinion, it is better then Andale and Terapeak.
They are offering a one-month trial subscription for $1.00, YES just a buck! Give it a try! You'll decide after one month if you want to keep it or not.
I'll do the same, and let you know my opinion.

Do you know?: The most Frequent reasons why an eBay business fail:
1. Poor Feedback Rating
Building an eBay business is in many ways similar to building any business.
To be successful you need: Good Marketing, Sales, Products, Pricing, and Perfect Customer Service.
You must know that selling on eBay has some unique features that differ from traditional retail businesses.
On eBay, a seller's Feedback Rating represent the customer service reputation and is out in the open for everyone to see.
Negative feedback is the number one reason eBay sellers fail.
You have to work hard to aquire feedbacks and you have to work even harder to turn conflicts in positive Feedbacks. Sometimes you just have to be very diplomatic and remember, as the seller, you have the most to lose by negative feedback.
Poor communications between buyer and seller is the leading cause of negative feedback
2. Bad Price Strategy is a prescription for disaster
You must pay attention to the costs involved in selling. Before deciding whether to sell an item on eBay, and what to sell it for, you need to understand all the costs involved, and add them up!
Many businesses fail because they are either under financed, or because they do not understand their costs. A program such as Quick Books is your best investment. It will allow you to track every expense, and allocate the costs to different categories so you will fully understand where every dollar is going down to the penny, and if it was well spent.
3. Turns Away Bidders not Accepting Credit Cards
Setting up a merchant credit card account is expensive, it can cost between $195 to $425 in set-up fees and anywhere from 2.5% to 7.5% per transaction.
Paypal offers an elegant solution (http://www.paypal.com). There are no set-up fees and transaction costs are 2.2% or less. Make a note: some buyers don't know what Paypal is, or how it works. Place a PayPal logo on all your auctions and a link to PayPal in emails to your successful bidders.
In your auction, place a line of text above the PayPal logo that says: "To pay with a credit card, click on the PayPal logo below." Do the same in your email to winning bidders. Then place your PayPal referral link after your signature.
If you have a web site (most successful auction sellers do), instead of setting up a merchant credit card account, you can now use PayPal's WebAccept to take credit card orders on your web site. Connect to PayPal's "Web Tools" link, and type in the product, pricing and shipping info. Then copy/paste the html code onto your web page. You now have a credit card shopping cart for each individual product.
4. You are Loseing Bids with poor Headlines and Auction Descriptions
Over 80% of bidders find the item they are looking for by using the "Search" feature. Unless you use the key words bidders are looking for, you will miss many bids, those key words must be in your headlines!
Your headline should also include "emotional" words designed to attract a bidder's attention: new, rare, unique, secret, unbelievable, super-value, etc. There are other adjectives that work well in headlines such as: exquisite, charming, wonderful, mint, excellent, clean, superb, etc. Just be sure you are 100% accurate.
5. Poor Images Can Turn Off Sellers as well
"A picture is worth a thousand words" is never more true than with on-line auctions.
Not having a photo of your item will definitely reduce your bids, and lead to unsuccessful or unprofitable auctions.
It you have a photo, the photo must be accurate and revealing.
It is not really necessary to be a professional photographer.
I'll give you some tips for good photos:
5.1. If the size of an object is not obvious, use a reference, I offen keep the item on my hand in one of my pictures
5.2. Show any flaws or defects, Point them out in the description as well
5.3. Don't use a flash, it causes reflections
5.4. Take your photos in open shade or using indirect light, the majority of sellers improvize a photo lab. at home
5.5. Do not use "stock" photos from a brochure. Bidders want to see a picture of the actual item they are bidding on
5.6. Use a tripod to make sure your shot is sharp, especially for close ups of labels
5.7. Keep your photos to less than 400 pixels. Larger photos take too long to load. The "e-mail" setting on most digital cameras works just fine for most auctions
5.8. Don't use scanners use a digital camera
5.9. I use to take more then just one photo, but you have to find a way to avoid a lot of fees. My technique is: I use a picture with eBay pictures system ( the first picture is free), the rest of pictures I put them in my description, as part of the description. It works now!
6. ... and so on ...

Sincerely yours
Michaela
http://www.emrauction.com
http://www.emrci.com

EMR Welcome you to our Blog!

This is Michaela Cernescu, Education Specialist Trained by eBay, I have created this blog for my students and for the public at large:

• I shall try to continue to share my eBay knowledge, transmit new info., answer the frequent questions and have a good time doing it!
• As I promise long time ago, "I am willing to roll up my sleeves, learn from others and from my mistakes, continue to educate myself, and share my experience" - this is exactly what I am doing now!

I just have had my 2 years Anniversary with eBay, my accomplishments in 2 years are:

1. I am selling and buying on eBay, you can check: http://www.emrauction.com or http://www.emrci.com
2. I have an eBay Store called EMR General Store
3. I am an Education Specialist Trained by eBay, see my schedule
4. Since February 2006 I am a Power Seller!

I think, eBay offers an impressive business potential and it is a superb cyberspace market.

Be patient and expect at list 1 blog per week!

Talk to you soon! Mickey