Ebay and other online auction powerselling tips and information

eBay recently changed its default for results on Best Match. 80% of buyers NEVER change how search results are displayed. You want to be at the top of these search results to catch the "lazy" buyers who aren't going to change the search result order, and get the clicks.

Watch this 10-minute video about how to optimize your listing in eBay's Best Match Results. A summary:

1) Your listing's title is much more important than ever - certain words result in more clicks.

2) Learn how to use eBay Research Labs (FREE) to optimize key words in your title and strategically use all 55 characters in your item title.

3) Learn how to determine what words "buyers like" when they search for a particular product.

This video is well worth watching, and only takes 10 minutes.

I'll round out the month of May with some link love to Goofy Auctions. This site is hilarious. Dave, The Goofy Professor, who is also an eBay seller, takes charge of broadcasting the goofiest auctions he can find on eBay. Goofy uctions showcases all the weird, offbeat, and totally bizarre listings on eBay. Most of them are oddly shaped food products. Freaks of nature, if you will. Some listings include:

Mutant Twin Banana 

Piece of Wood Shaped Like New Jersey 

Cheeto Shaped Like a Boot

Cereal Nugget that Looks Like ET

And my personal favorite:

Fed Up Wife Selling Home Cooked Meals to Pay for Divorce 

I wonder if I should start looking more closely at Cheetos, popcorn, and rocks.

I was helping a fellow eBay seller with a Paypal issue this week, and learned about an actual contact person at Paypal who can help with disputes. The information was posted on a thread on the eBay Power Seller's Board. He is also a guest blogger on the eBay Chatter Blog. Also known as "The Dispute Resolution Guy," Colin Rule has helped sellers work through complicated and unfair Paypal disputes.  

eBay members involved in the discussion confirm that Colin has helped them and resolved sticky Paypal disputes. You may also want to read thru Colin's posts on the eBay Chatter Blog for some valuable insights into resolving Paypal disputes. And be sure to bookmark his blog, or save this information somewhere in the event you need some Paypal help in the future.

eBay has scheduled a member workshop on June 4 at 1 PM Pacific time. The workshop will provide information regarding techniques for making your shipping process more efficient and cost effective. I plan to attend this one. Sometimes I feel buried in my shipping and that there must be a better way!

Our host will be Rachael Zimberoff, an active eBay seller and ShipRush manager. The workshop is free for any eBay seller to attend,  will be held on the eBay Workshop Discussion Board and will last approximately one hour. 

Now if eBay can just figure out a way to keep the USPS rates from going up every six months....

Golf, or polo style shirts are a men's wardrobe staple. Men wear them to the office, as casual sportswear, around the house for every day wear, and of course, to play golf. Golf shirts have been the core product in my eBay store since 2003 and I've sold over 10,000 of them.

Check out my new eBook, "The Golf Shirt Bible - How to Profit Selling Golf Shirts on eBay." This 40-page eBook explains all the nuts and bolts of selling men's golf shirts including brand names;, top selling tournament logos, best selling fabrics, colors, and sizes. You'll also learn important details to include in the description and key words to drive more traffic to your auctions.

With summer right around the corner, now is the perfect time to experiment with selling golf shirts in your eBay store.

One question I see again and again on my eBay groups and forums is, "How can I get my inventory cheaper to increase my profit?" If you are buying new items to sell, one way to save significantly is to learn to use manufacturer's and store coupons, store discounts, rewards programs combined with clearance sales to get your inventory for practically nothing. Granted, this business model takes some time, effort, and planning, but if you're willing to spend the time crafting your strategy, you can make it work. 

Here are some excellent sites that explain the various rewards programs and techniques for mastering the Drugstore Game.

Money Saving Mom - Making CVS Work for You

Get Rich Slowly - Playing the Drugstore Game

Mommy Making Money - Why Buy Something You Don't Need?

Be Centsable - Lists current shopping deals and printable coupons 

Be Thrifty Like Us - Dedicated to helping you spend your money wisely

Bottom line: Increasing your profit on eBay isn't necessarily about increasing your sales or selling more. It can also be about paying less for what you are already selling.  

More problems with eBay sellers. Some are just wonderful, some are absolutely atrocious. Here is another story of an eBay seller I did business with this week. Notice the apathy, lack of professionalism, and outright rudeness of this eBay seller.

1) Purchased item on May 18. Paid immediately with Paypal.

2) Heard nothing from seller regarding receipt of payment, ship date, etc.

3) Emailed seller on May 22 inquiring status of order.

4) Received this response on May 23, "Item shipped May 21. Doesn't matter when you pay, we ship when we get around to it."

5) Waited. Waited. Waited. Nothing arrived.

6) Opened "item not received" dispute on May 28 - 7 days after the item was supposedly shipped via First Class Mail from less than 100 miles away.

7) My message on dispute, "According to seller, item shipped May 21. Have not received item and sufficient time has passed for item to have arrived."

8) Message from seller on dispute, "No comment."

9) Second message from seller (after asked to provide shipping information), "Again, no comment."

10) Received refund.

11) Left negative feedback.

The lazy bum never mailed it. I did get my refund, but what a hassle. Reordered the item from another seller and received it in 2 days. To quote the great Forrest Gump, "eBay is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get."

Little things bug me - like photos on eBay that aren't up to par. I've sold over 15,000 items on eBay, most of them clothing. I just think that if you are putting your item in front of millions of people around the world, you should take a few minutes to make your item, and your photo, look as neat, clean, and attractive as possible.

Here are my top 5 pet peeves when it comes to photos of clothing on eBay. (All photos taken from eBay listings.)

The sideways shot. I never understand this one. One click on "rotate" and the image is upright. You practically have to stand on your head to figure out what the item really looks like.

Clothes hanging in trees. I just don't get this one. Here is a listing for a "really cool hippie dress" (actual title). I guess so. It looks pretty free and easy blowing in the wind and hanging in a tree. I wonder if a guitar and a headband comes with it.

The wrinkled garment. These shorts look like they have lived under a child's bed for a year. 5 minutes with an iron would do wonders.

Clothing laid out on a bed. Call me a germaphobe, that's fine. All kinds of things go on in beds. I mean, we have all seen the Dateline special where they go around to motel rooms with the ultraviolet light and look at all the "stuff" left behind on beds. Enough said.

The "huge lot of clothing" thrown together where you can't tell what anything is. It may be more effective to photgraph each item individually and make a collage for your gallery photo.

Corrrect me if my interpretation is wrong. On eBay's Announcement Board on May 19, this statement (along with others not discussed here) was released by John McDonald, Sr. Director of eBay Trust and Safety:

Updated Links Policy

Starting in July, an updated Links Policy will take the place of links guidelines that were previously covered in several policy areas. Under the updated policy, only specific types of links are allowed in a seller's listing or other content on eBay, including eBay store pages, About Me pages, eBay Blogs, Reviews and Guides, and forums. Allowed under the new policy are links to:

1) Any page on eBay or an eBay property including Paypal, StubHub, and Half.com.

2) Photos of the item for sale, as long as the page displaying the photos does not offer, or link to a site that offers a product of service for sale off eBay.

3) Embedded videos within a listing, as long as the content and format comply with all eBay policies for videos.

So, does this mean no more affiliate links on About Me pages? No more links to eBay Membership groups, Big Crumbs, Silent Sales Machine newsletters, or other eBay systems? No more links to your website to try to recruit business directly from your site?

This one needs clarification. Granted, the About Me page was the one loophole still out there regarding outside links, and many sellers have a presence on eBay specifically for the purpose of directing traffic to their own website to capture the eBay segement of the consumer market. Is this over now, too?

eBay announced today some changes regarding its picture hosting service. The changes will make uploading pictures "easier and more reliable and improve the quality of images on your listings."

In a nutshell, here is what is new:

The standard uploader is now the default uploader. If you are using the basic uploader, and notice that your images won't upload, go ahead and switch to the standard uploader. (I encountered this issue yesterday when listing some items.)

The photo uploader in Turbo Lister is being upgraded to improve how images are compressed and resized.

Additional picture sizes will be offered.

A new feature is being added which allows for photos to be uploaded ahead of time from camera phones and other external devices. You can then add these photos to your listings when creating the full listing.

For all the details on the Picture Hosting upgrades, visit this eBay announcement thread.