WHATEVEReBay.com

Selling online requires that you develop a close relationship with your shipping company.  You will need to invest quite a bit of time finding the best carrier to handle your shipping needs.  

With so many options available; you can have the upper hand in negotiate discounts based on the volume and carriers you use.

Note: Most carriers will designate an Account Manager. The Account Managers are there to assist you and ultimately ensure that you remain a happy and loyal customer. Always, keep their email and number on hand; along with their Supervisor’s Info.

Everyone has their favorite carrier; for whatever reason.

These are the Key Points I look for when dealing with any Carrier or Freight Company

1)      Coverage Area

This is critical for your business. Understanding the limitations of your carrier will enable you to better service your customers.

For example: The Carrier may deliver to Capital of State but not the surrounding areas. When the carrier does not service the area; they usually do one of two things.

One: Subcontract it out to a local delivery company or

Two: send it back to you (most of the time they do not inform you of this)

You should always know if your carrier is NOT making the delivery. Getting to know the coverage area will determine your Choice of Carrier.

Some carriers offer you a delivery guarantee. If they do not delivery by the guarantee date you do not have to pay the full shipping fee.

2)      Account Manager

Your Account Manager is your liaison with all departments. This is the person that will negotiate the Discount percentage offered to you, communicate with the Billing department in the event of any errors and ultimately guide you through their Damage / Loss Claims Department when needed.

They are to provide you with instructions on how to use their website tools, how to order supplies and MOST IMPORTANT to understand the packaging guidelines and the difference between Ground and Freight.

If you send out a lot of Overnight or 2^nd Day Delivery, shop around and compare rates. Some carriers are known for offering you up to 75% off the standard fees.

3)      Transit times

This is the estimated time of delivery. The estimated time of delivery will guide you to determine the total amount of delivery time you provide your customer.

For example: The order is submitted, allow yourself time for packaging and to ship out. Keep in mind the Weekends and Holidays. So if the carrier informs you to allow 5 business days for a Ground shipment delivery, then you should allow yourself 3 business days to process an order and add some wiggle room for the carrier in the event of delay due to weather or transportation issues.

If order is picked up in Los Angeles, CA delivery to Manhattan, New York advise the buyer to allow 7-10 business days for delivery, from the date order is placed.

4)      International Shipping

Shipping international will require that you fill out and provide Customs Documents and can be subject to Brokerage and Duty fees. You must be very clear who will be responsible for these fees. UPS will not deliver unless the fees are paid at Border or you pay upfront.

However, FedEx will delivery even without collecting the Duty and Brokerage fees from the buyer. FedEx will bill you directly to your account and these fees can be costly. So make sure to contact your Account Manager for assistance.

5)      Customer Service

Important for every business to have professional and knowledgeable Customer Service Representatives. This would also be an extension of your business. In the event your buyers need to contact the carrier you want to have the assurance that they will be provided with accurate and timely information.

6)      Online tracking

Online tracking even in today’s High Tech World is NOT always reliable. UPS has a pretty accurate system. I would have to point out DHL’s tracking system is the worst. On many occasions DHL has indicate a Delivery made; only to be informed by the buyer the delivery never took place. This can easily eat up TWO days for them to locate and provide you with an answer.

If you are lucky it will only take two days.  These types of Errors can very costly for you. You ultimately can lose a sale due to the negligence of the carrier.

Note: Your company MUST provide Exceptional Customer Service to avoid complications with your Buyers due to carriers faults.

7)      Claims

This is such a tricky and stressful subject. From the disappointment in your buyers voice to the paperwork and denial letters of liability. Just like most Car Insurance companies, the carrier will always deny the claim. I have had claims denied; even when the carrier admitted to loosing the packages.

At this point, you will have to ask the buyer

I.        To hold on to the package and contents for inspection

II.      Buyer to email you images of the damage to the box and the contents.

You must file your claim on time as per the carriers conditions. Have the print out of the tracking, Invoice cost of the item and fill out the claim form and fax promptly. Failure to FILE per the carriers timeline can result in DENIAL of your claim and cannot be appealed.

Should they deny your claim after complying with all the conditions, do not worry, you have the right to appeal the decision.

      Billing Department

Examine all your invoices carefully. Any discrepancies report to your Account Manager or contact the Billing Department Directly. Have the package information including dimensions and weight ready.

Typical charges that may appear and NOT provided to you at the time you obtained a quote:

a)      Residential delivery

b)      Weight charge

c)      Measurements

d)      Address verification

 Shipping can be tricky and very costly. You should have several accounts opened in the event one carrier cannot delivery directly to an area. Having multiple accounts also allows you more flexibility in pricing. The more carriers you use the better off you are.   

A vision and Hard work pays-off for Bankaholic.com. Blogger Johns Wu of Bankaholic has just made a ground breaking deal. He has sold his blog Bankaholic for 15 MILLION to Bankrate. That’s right 15 Million. 

This is a great story. “Johns Wu, created his blog out of frustration. Wanting to find banks to offer credit to College students like himself”. 

For a blog to have a potential to sell for 15million is OUTSTANDING.

Johns Wu sale of this blog offers a lot of opportunity to other bloggers. So if you were considering giving up on blogging, STOP. STOP and reconsider.  The only other blogger I can imagine to get 15 or even 20 Million for his blog is Perez Hilton the creator of the blog named after himself at PerezHilton.com of course Perez Hilton’s blog is all about Celebrities and Gossip.

For details on the story BankRate acquires Bankaholic .

So get ready, Create a vision board, download your favorite music, find that special place in your home you can sit and surround yourself of beautiful and inspirational energy and BLOG away!!! You owe it to yourself to be Happy  J 

It has been said, if you are not up to date on the” Technology Trends” then you must live under a rock. Well, I feel the same is for today’s Economy.

Many friends and friends of friends etc…. are worried about money. Sure, I feel for them. But there is NO need to feel desperate at the time we are living in. Come on! Sure, you cannot find a job. Then CREATE a JOB for yourself!!  Well then get online and start working.

Sell something online. The market is good in Canada. I have many buyers in the UK and Canada. I get request daily from Australia for shipping rates.  Find something you are passionate about. Want to sell LIPGLOSS. Then sell it! Start in Alaska etc…..  J

Even Attorneys are feeling the punch and other professionals. All I can say is, teach others. Start a website offer your services. Start doc processing.  Or start making videos online and launch them. Got a funny bone????? Share it!!  J

Blogging start blogging about all you want to get off your chest. Blog about your favorite books, write a book. You can publish it yourself. à Blurb, Amazon or LuLu

Time is wasted when you go around feeling sorry for yourself. So come on! Research and start working for yourself today!! I have a handful of friends and family members that are skeptical of Blogging online and even selling. Though I have been selling online for over 8 years and have a good success record; they still doubt. Blogging is something you can start at minimal cost.

Here is a link for you MomsCashBlog offers you a great Tutorial for starting your own blog. For only $2.00 you can obtain a website name and hosting.

Do not have $2.00? NO WORRIES, Start blogging for free at www.wordpress.com www.blogger.com www.typepad.com

BTW – if you want to sell online start with www.wordpress.com  (if you have the $2.00 go with www.wordpress.org) There is an e-commerce plug in. You can sell right from your blog.

Accept payments with Google Checkout  

Start and ask questions if you need help. We all need to help each other. Take all that energy and do something POSITVE with it. Get out and Register to VOTE NOW. Don’t wait.

FYI – I have my 12 year old son blogging and he has a group of friends already blogging. How cool is that!

Live Open debate Senator John McCain and Senator Obama. Watch the debate live at www.CNN.com  Get your voice out there. Finally a TOPIC all bloggers have in common. We can all blog about it and express our thoughts and invite your comments. What are the HOT TOPIC you are most concerned with?  Voting? Decided? Why not?  What was missing from this debate?

On 9/24/08 eBay announced the eBay AdCommerce that will take place in a few months. According to their announcement by Caroline Malifaud with eBay’s Advertising Team they have found a new way to make more money off of us!

Ha… they have been making money from ads all along. They now have simply decided Listing Price and Final Value fees are not enough to collect from sellers. They will now allow sellers to bid for Ad Space on their site. Similar to AdSense.

You dictate how much you want to spend (budget) and the highest bidder for that “KeyWord” will get their Ad featured on the bottom of the search page of that Keyword. You pay only for the clicks to your listings on ebay or eBay Store. It is not clear if they will allow outside stores to place ads. If they do, this will defeat the purpose of listing on their site. You should save your money and place the deposit on Google, Yahoo, MSN or Shopzilla, Pricegrabber etc..

eBay AdCommerce tag is No UpFront Fees. As with most search engines/ shopping engines, you are required a deposit upfront. Well eBay is not.

Again, if you are selling on eBay this may help generate more traffic to your listings even your site. So work on those AboutMe pages.

For details go here

Ebay AdCommerce

eBay Advertising Announcement  

CrazeeNYdriver wants the old eBay back. Here in this video references the changes we talked about payments. Effective 10/15/2008 eBay will NOT allow you to accept Check or Money Orders. Which is fine, selling online is all about fast prompt payment. However, for those sellers that do not have a merchant account they are stuck accepting Paypal.

With all the recent changes eBay and Paypal will be the only ones to benefit from the interest they will earn on placing a hold on your funds.

Paypal has the new 21 Day Rule if you recall. They are really putting this into good use. To answer CrazeeNYdriver’s questions about “Where to sell” with eBay’s potential. No other site really. What you need to do, is have your own website and brand yourself. Get yourself out there to other selling venues.  I will be providing to you a list of all your alternatives and how to use eBay to gain traffic to your website and other site. 

Now watch CrazzeNYdriver

Here is a treat – John Chow is giving away a Free T-Shirt. As some of you may now, this weekend is Blog World Expo. The giants in the Blogging world are there and my favorite blogger is John Chow. He has a wacky sense of humor and a zest for life. His blog reflects his vibrant and funky energy. A great teacher and sport.

So this is the deal, if you are at Blog World Expo approach him say Hello and ask for a T-shirt. Only by asking will he hand out a t-shirt. If you are not at Blog World Expo then visit his website at www.JohnChow.com and enter a drawing. Do this quickly.

FYI – John Chow has a free Online Book on how to go from $0 to $30k from blogging. If that doesn’t get your attention; nothing will   J

http://www.johnchow.com/find-me-at-blog-world-and-get-a-t-shirt/

Online CEO CFO See it all Online Funnies get into the grove!

Just viewed this vid … its hilarious.  Watch and enjoy!!