Selling online | Make Money Online | WhateverSuccess

eBay Feedback Extortion

September 8, 2008 By whateverebay 4 Comments

Recently I received an email from a buyer that purchased from us a set of wall scones. All items no matter how small are shipped via UPS or FedEx with a request for adult signature. The issue what not receiving or liking the item. The buyer simply wanted it for Free. J

It reads:

“I lost my job and find myself with nothing to do all day. Its very easy for me to leave you negative ratings and report you to the Internet Fraud Division. If you want to avoid all this I DEMAND a FULL refund for my trubles and a gift card of my choosing. you aint got nothing to worry about . I know you kind a companies charge huge fees for profit. Make it easy and give me what I said”

Now, she did not bother to indicate what she would report us for or why. Simply to give in to her demands or else. Hmmm….Okay, Extortion sure! We handled it and informed her of what action can be taken etc…. Have not heard from her since or received any negative feedback.

Interesting…. I thought about the checking on eBay sellers. Considering this was a concern regarding the New Feedback Policy (or lack). My research brought some very scary scenarios. Currently sellers are having a large number of buyers demanding Refunds. That makes me wonder if our buyer is an eBayer.

This image is of a seller that posted the email received; of course that was taken down from eBay. You can find the video on YouTube and I have provide the link to the Full Image below.

Selling online keeps you on your toes. J Really…. Of course you can make a very good living, but you can also make a great living blogging or doing other online work. I am going to be sharing with you my Horror Story selling on eBay as a former Power Seller. Had I taken the time to install cameras in the office and taped all phone conversation I could had sold it to FOX. It was never a dull moment. The crowd you attract from selling on eBay, Amazon and other Shopping Sites varies as the Demographics vary in your neighborhood for your own Brick & Mortar store. So true…..

Of course Feedback Extortion can occur to you at anysite. Its always best to be prepared.

-This link is to an existing forum on eBay regarding feedback extortion. http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=2000617898&tstart=0&mod=1218619303746

-This is the actual link to the Discussion Group on eBay regarding the Extortion before it was taken down

http://www.giovanni666.info/Public.html/img/Scrncap/06012008/Sellers_I_just_got_the_following_email_google_CACHE_640.png

-eBay’s Page to Feedback Extortion – http://pages.ebay.in/sellercentral/ebaypolicies/listing_policies_feedback_extortion.html

Make it a great day!

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: ebay feedback extortion, how to protect yourself, Selling online, selling online is never dull

blogging for a living

September 7, 2008 By whateverebay 5 Comments

Blogging for a living requires dedication and focus. One of the many ways to earn a living online. I make a living online various ways. I have 10 years experience in ecommerce. So far, that is where 90% of my income is generated; the remaining 10% comes from various blogs and consulting.

Now, the story behind this blog www.whateverebay.com is due to my disagreements with the unfairness and changes eBay is making. Now it’s just plain ridiculous on the restrictions they impose on you.

Anyhow, most of us are good at something. No matter what it is; you will be surprised to find out how many others have the same interest.

For now, Checkout http://www.ryansorganizedlife.com/ for a Final Farewell. Ryan has decided to shut down his blog. To focus on another blog he currently has.

I will be posting a series of post on Blogging 101 and some videos from my new friend Crazzy NY Driver – See ya soon

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: blog that make money, blogging, blooging for a living, how to make a living online, how to start blogging, making money online

New merchant directory – Every place I sell

September 3, 2008 By whateverebay Leave a Comment

If you have not heard about www.EveryPlaceI Sell.com then its time. AuctionBytes has finally launched a Merchant Directory. You can now list all the sites you sell on in one website focused to get your store noticed by buyers. The best part its FREE.

This is great for links, exposure and for potential buyers to find you in various areas.

If you have not registered, do so today. I have already signed up, it only took 24 hours to hear back from them.

Visit www.AuctionBytes.com and register or go directly to www.EveryPlaceISell.com

Filed Under: Driving Traffic, Selling online Tagged With: auctionbytes.com, eBay, ecommerce, merchant directory, promoting your store, Selling online

Paypal & eBay’s 21 day Rule – lol =)

September 2, 2008 By whateverebay 5 Comments

How safe is it really making it? Who are they kidding???? NOT US….

With the new 21 day Rule – Paypal places a hold on your money. They will not release your money unless you can:

1) Provide Tracking numbers of DELIVERY

2) Buyers leaves you FEEDBACK or

3) During the 21 days of receipt the buyer has not filed a claim

1) Tracking – If you are using the Post Office Service you know that this will make a difference in the cost of shipping.

>I spoke to a CSR at Paypal; she informed me that Post Office Tracking Numbers are not valid. I asked: How about DHL. Her response was “Sorry” you must use FEDEX or UPS…. WHAT!

When selling on auction you want to provide the best price possible to your buyers. However; Paypal now dictates the carrier who can give business too.

I was not satisfied with her response I called again! ( I waited for 28 minutes!!!) Okay, Spoke to another CSR; he claims she misunderstood Paypal’s Policy and indeed you can use DHL. However, he did not recommend to use USPS.

>>So, if you have the tracking information with a signature of accepted delivery; this can be useless. All depends on the CSR at Paypal. One more thing about the tracking, Paypal will NOT automatically remove the hold they place on your account. The MUST verify. —Say it with me WHATEVER!

2) Feedback – I have done this as I am sure some of you have. We all lead very busy lives. Therefore, unless we feel that wrong was done to us, we usually do not Log On to leave a Great Review. This is now having a large impact on New and existing (small) sellers. If your money was frozen, then you have to put money from your pocket to pay for the shipping.

>>>Emailing the buyer for follow-up and encouraging them to leave feedback is great once. How many of you will leave great feedback; if the seller is emailing you daily? Hmmm……. Not likely

3) 21 days are up. Okay, so Paypal claims to remove the hold. WRONG! They will (of course if you call in helps) now contact the buyer and make sure all is alright. Submit your request to “The Powers Above” and can take an additional 7 days for the review, according to PayPal. Hmmm……

So, what are they doing with OUR Money. They are earning interest! Are they sharing that interest with us? NO!

Can the money be considered to be in an Escrow Account? My legal friends; your response would be greatly appreciated.

~~~Many buyers and sellers out there are Hardworking and Honest people. If you take the time to explain to them the Importance of feedback; they are likely to respond in a positive manner. ~~~~

Your transaction had no bumps and Paypal releases the money to you. Great! J We are now loving the “Precautions” Paypal is taking. Right………..?

Here is what can go wrong. I have experienced this recently.

I had a buyer recently purchase a set of outdoor fountains. All information was confirmed and I shipped to her via UPS. Three days later I get a call from a UPS Agent. The buyer is not responding to notice for delivery. They wanted to know if I authorized for them to return the item to us. I instructed them to allow me one day to get a hold of her. I then proceeded to Ring her, email her and fax to her (just happen to have the number). No response on that day. Finally, I am forward a voice mail she left indicating to have changed her mind and will not be accepting the order.

No problem….I had my assistant email her and acknowledge the request to cancel; along with our Policies.

Had this transaction taken place with Paypal…. I would have lost even more money. The shipping to and from, labor and packaging. I sell a large volume items; if this were to occur 3 or more times a week it can really start to eat up profit.

Paypal would not offer you any financial relief. I had a voice mail from the customer. Of course had our Merchant Account needed proof for the dispute I would not had a problem submitting it.

In the past dealing with Paypal has been a huge financial loss. I can potentially deal with buyers remorse, damages, buyers not understanding what is in the description, buyers trying to ship back to me items already in use for months…etc…. This all adds up. With Paypal you as the Seller are eating up all the loss. Yes, even when you have your policies on your Auction Site or Website.

Paypal is only watching their pocket NOT the Sellers or Buyers.

The merchant account depending on who you bank with usually stands behind the Seller. They place a value on you as well. Go to West Elm after 6 months and try to get a refund.

PayPal also points out Amazon and Merchant Banks have certain restrictions. Yes, they do. Amazon will restrict your account and they will walk you through the steps and it is not the entire funds. They will only Release funds upon receiving the tracking information. This is reasonable. Amazon is protecting you and the buyer. For whatever reason you cannot fill the order; they buyers card will not be charged.

Merchant Accounts can place certain restrictions on you. However, they will not tied up 100% of the sale for 21 days. They are known to hold 5-20% of a sale for certain amount of Months while you build your credit or history. Some banks may offer you an interest payment for the monies held.

Paypal’s 21 HOLD is self serving and useless.

PayPal will not hold payments for eBay items if sellers:

-Have been an eBay member for more than 6 months, and

-Have a total Feedback score greater than 100, and

-Have a buyer satisfaction percentage of 95% or better.

or:

-Have an average Detailed Seller Rating greater than 4.5, and

-Have received more than 20 Detailed Seller Ratings in the last 12 months.

-And for sellers who are new to eBay, all you have to do to minimize your chances of being impacted by eBay item holds is follow good selling practices like shipping quickly, using tracking, communicating openly with your customers and providing a good buying experience.

Whatever! Sellers can comply and Paypal will find another Issue to hold your funds.

If you are selling on eBay; be prepared to incur all the cost of selling and shipping.

eBay claims to accept www.Propay.com and Merchant Accounts (verified)

I have more on eBay!

Filed Under: Changes on eBay, Selling online Tagged With: accepting payment online, ebay changes, Merchant Account, Paypal, paypal 21 day rule, selling on ebay

what to sell and where to find it

August 22, 2008 By whateverebay 1 Comment

With the busiest shopping season of the year here; you have no time to waste.

What to sell is a very personal. Its just like an artist; you must have a passion for it and be willing to put in those long hours.

Where to find items:

New

Location, Location and Location. Are you willing to pay for Freight fees? Depending on what you want to sell; it may not be practical for you to have items shipped to you. The expense and the headaches with damages; whether concealed or damaged during transit.

For new product check your Local MarketPlace. I like to attend all sorts of shows, from Fashion to Electronics.

· Google your favorite brand and find out what Trade Shows they attend.

· Chamber of Commerce – ask for a link or fax of Manufacturers in your area

· Trade Magazines

· Convention Centers

· Alibaba – this site is a great source for importing anything from all over Asia, South America and other Eastern Countries – This will require a structure plan as you will have to deal with Customs

· Trade Shows – attend Bridal Shows, Car Shows, Home & Garden and so on. These are great places to obtain Free reading material and guides to the sources available to you

· Team up with a local store in your area. You can help each other out.

Used

· Start with your Garage - Always check there first.

· Garage sales are a good place to find rare items. You would be surprised how many items are being sold for pennies; when you can sell it for hundreds? I found a rare book once, I was so excited; No I did not sell it.

· Check the classifieds for Going Out of Business Sales – make them an offer

· Shop Craigslist for stuff people do not want and even the Free section

· Contact your local City – They usually get rid of old furniture and machinery; ask if they have a department that would handle the sale or donations of the items

· Demolition Companies – That’s right – They have the list of buildings that will need to be evacuated and the can supply to you the information. These projects usually have money set aside to have other companies haul out the furnishings etc…. You can pull-out, doors, windows etc…..

· Antique Stores – Now, they are in business (most) because they know the value of the items. Check in though, you may get lucky.

· Salvation Army – My suggestion for the Salvation Army or Goodwill stores is shop to the ones closer the higher income areas. You have a better chance of finding some designer names. Now, any of these stores you will have a good change of also finding those priceless items.

Seasonal

Now would be late to start shopping for those deals. However, you can start this season for next year. Shop the day after Christmas and New Years. The department stores will have all the left over décor on sale!! Yeah! Some for you and some for sale. Get the idea???

Next… we will talk about selling on other sites …. And provide you with the latest eBbay News. We will call it from now on eBay Funnies! J

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: ebay auctions, Selling online, what to sell on ebay, where to find items to sell

drive free traffic to your website using ebay!

August 10, 2008 By whateverebay 6 Comments

This is a very easy process if you are currently selling on eBay.

On eBay you are identified by your (Seller) User ID or Store Name. Most sellers have both. Make sure your eBay user ID and eBay store is the same. You want to be able to hint to all potential buyers to visit your website. Your About Me page on eBay can reference your email address.

Use your email address associated with your website. HINT Hint

Now; get involved in the eBay Community page. You can many other ways of making yourself searchable both on eBay and on the search engines.

· Write reviews or guides. Go to http://reviews.ebay.com/

· Create a Blog on ebay. Rave about your favorite or top seller. Do not list your website address. That is not allowed. Let others know that you are actively selling on eBay and offer a link to your eBay listings. Go to http://blogs.ebay.com/

· Join every forum eBay provides to gain more popularity. Now is the best time to get started. The shopping season is approaching and you want to be able to drive all this traffic on and off ebay.

Go to >>>

· http://myworld.ebay.com/

· http://neighborhoods.ebay.com/

· http://pages.ebay.com/community/boards/index.html

· http://groups.ebay.com/groups/Ebay-Groups/1

· http://pages.ebay.com/community/answercenter/index.html

· http://pages.ebay.com/community/chat/index.html

All you need to do is:

1) Talk about the items you want to feature.

2) Take a Poll or ask for the communities input and provide your EMAIL address for contact

3) Images are Great. Google picks up on them. Put some fun images all to reference your User ID name

4) All your ID’s on ebay should be your Website name

5) Offer internal links to your ebay listings

***Note: DO NOT OFFER ANY LINKS TO YOUR WEBSITE directly. AS EBAY WILL REMOVE YOUR LISTING OR SUSPEND YOU FROM EBAY.

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: drive traffic, get traffic to your website, marketing your website, Selling online

Creating a Listing and Title to drive traffic

August 10, 2008 By whateverebay 5 Comments

Heading - Increase your Chances to Appear on First Search Page

With eBay making changes you now must make each heading unique to get on the First Page of searches.

It does not benefit you to list the same or similar item more than 10 times on eBay. Instead add quantity to the listing. This will allow you to keep the listing up in the event of purchase. Of course, this does not apply to Auction only to Buy it Now (BIN).

You have only 55 Characters for the Heading (title)

· If you are listing more than one or similar item; you should prepare several options for your heading. Check what you competition is doing or go directly to the vendors site or catalog and get some ideas.

· You want each heading to differ in order to get more exposure on the searches.

Your listing Template should contain the following information:

Description – Now that you have grabbed the buyers attention you should not overwhelm them or provide information that may confuse them. Any buyer feeling misled will result in a charge back/bad review and a very unhappy experience for both. What is clear to you is NOT always clear to the buyer.

· Identify the item

· New or Old

· Features

· Included

· Measurements

Payment Method – Always provide options to your buyers and be very clear what methods you accept and where to send it to.

· Paypal address example: payme@mystore.com

· Accepting Money Orders – Provide Mailing address/Payable to / Request Print out of Wining Notification

· If you have your own merchant account – Get it approved through ebay 1^st. For your merchant account payment you can sign up at www.auctioncheckout.com for the Checkout buttons. This is good when you are not using any Auction Management Companies

Contact – All buyer feel better what they can communicate directly to the seller. It provides reassurance you are human and will be responsible to them for their order. Do not list hours of service if you have no intention to honor them. This is very frustrating to the buyers. Also, you may be able to convert this sale in an in-house sale vs. pay ebay any Final Value fees. This is where you benefit from the rewards of Excellent Customer Service / Positive Feedback and eBay’s exposure.

· Provide Toll Free Number (preferably) Dedicate a phone line just for your customers. Add additional lines as you grow.

· Provide them with Two email address to contact you

· If you have a website – provide them the option to Chat Live with you online

· Provide them with a Fax Number (optional)

· Always keep those lines of communication Open

Shipping – Always allow yourself time for shipping. Provide an estimate time-line. Offer NO guarantees on a delivery date. Outline the following:

· Method of Shipping

· Cost of shipping

· Set Fee or offer a Calculator for shipping

· Do you provide insurance / or is there additional cost for insurance

· Provide an Estimated time of delivery

· Ask for full mailing/delivery address

· Phone number in the event carrier must contact buyer

· Ask for signature at delivery. This is to protect you from any false claims

· Once shipped provide a Tracking Number

Terms & Conditions – Again, provide your Policy on Method of Payment, Shipping and Contact for both buyer & seller. You however, should include:

· Return Policy

· Cancellation Policy

· Restocking Fees

· Final Sales

· Chargeback Policy

· Damage Policy

Auction Checkout offers you a great service even without having a website. You would be surprised how many small business owners do not have a website but do have a Merchant Account. Auction Checkout offers you all the tools you need to accept Credit Card payments safely and securely online.

My Top 5 Listing Tips

1. Be very clear – Honesty is your best Policy. Only sell what you have at hand, in stock. If you drop ship; let your buyers know.

2. Do your homework – Offer a low start bid. You can always place a reserve on the auction to ensure you get what you want

3. Place plenty of pictures – If you are hand dandy with a Camera; upload a video of the item. Stock photos are nice, but offer the buyers actual images of the item.

4. Provide your Contact email address on all your listings. Respond to your sellers no later than 24 hours.

5. Take advantage of Second Chance offers. If you have more than one of the same item or if the original auction bidder fails to perform send it out.

Comedy Time Note: Do not Let this be you!

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: 5 tips to selling online, auction checkout, drive traffic to your lisitings, ebay templates, listing templates, Merchant Account, online auctions

A picture is worth a thousand words (Dollars)

July 31, 2008 By whateverebay Leave a Comment

Things that make you go Hmmm.....

Presentation is critical to a successful sale. I have seen many sellers be just plain lazy.

Do not inset any images that have been cut-out, small pixels or blurry. This will have a tremendous impact on the buyer. At auction time you will find the seller with a higher start bid have made the sale versus the other seller with lower start bid and a very bad image.

Another example of a No No is when an image is too larger. You need to always keep in mind; the consumer shops online for the convenience and images are what will catch their eye.

Offer them:

o Clear Image

o Larger Image around 800 pixels – this will allow you to reduce it on your description without losing any of the resolution

o Various angles

o Stock photo and

o Actual product photo

Now if you do not have the item you are selling on display. Contact the Vendor and ask them for images for marketing. Most Vendors will happily provide them to you. Usually they are around 1200+ pixels. Reduce the pixels anywhere from 600-800 pixels.

Most vendors now offer them to you on CD. I have found a few to only allow up to 25 free images per year. However, if you are purchasing a lot form them ask to speak the marketing director or to your account manager and ask that they supply you with images for the items you have purchased from them in the past.

Image Software:

Ø Gimp FREE works well

Ø LunaPic you can edit your images and create fun version

Ø Microsoft Picture Manager

Ø Microsoft Digital Suite

Ø Adobe Photo Shop

Tips:

-Minimum 800 pixels.

-Thumbnails 150-200pixels

-Watermark images – this is good to prevent others from taking credit for your product. Highly recommend for all handmade items.

Scanners: When it comes to scanners I do not recommend a multi-function machine. Its well worth investing on a Cannon Scanner my preference. It’s okay, if they can print for you; but that’s all. No phone/fax etc….

Ø Cannon (my favorite)

Ø HP

Ø Lennox

Must Haves:

Scanner
Digital Camera
FTP or Image hosting account
Image Editing Software

Places to host your images: First choice, is for you to host your images yourself. I will provide you later with some FTP site that you can use to upload to your site. Here are a few sites you can easily use mostly are Free.

www.photobucket.com FREE

www.flickr.com FREE

www.snapfish.com FREE

www.tinypic.com FREE

www.myphotoalbum.com FREE

www.imageshack.com

www.freepicturehosting.com

www.villagephotos.com

www.webshots.com

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: auction pictures, hosting images, online sales, sales, Selling online

What to Sell on eBay or your webstore?

July 24, 2008 By whateverebay 3 Comments

Its all about numbers; you need to cover your expense and make enough to pay yourself. However, selling anything just for the money is not going to make you rich. Seriously, you need to have a passion for it. If you decide to sell cookie cutters or electronics; you must know your product and love what you do.

Researching the history of the line you want to carry you can:

-Visit the eBay Pulse page http://pulse.ebay.com/

eBay Pulse Page offers you the Most Popular Terms Searched and the Largest Store in that Category

-Check the completed listings on eBay http://shop.ebay.com/advsearch

Completed listing will provide you with the:

Seller’s information

How much it sold for

most importantly the Key Words (title)

- Google it www.google.com

Check what’s the trends online and search other shopping search engines.

**Are you selling to just clear out the garage or do you have a supplier you are working with?

Working with a Supplier:

Ask for product details

Do they have a website

Do they offer a guarantee

What is the Return Policy

Do they attend any trade shows

Do they recommend any Associations or Websites

You will be surprised on how much you can learn from the supplier. After all it is in their best interest for you to know how to market them. Make time to attend any trade shows and join as many associations as you can.

5 Must Know

1-Know your competition

2-Know your product

3-Know your limitations

4-Know your cost

5-Know your suppliers

What it comes down to is sell only what interest you. A good example is DVD’s. Well all know how popular they are. You can find them starting at $.99 plus shipping on eBay. If you wanted to sell DVD’s sell whatever you have in your collection. Chances are the competition on eBay has sources that offer them huge discounts or they import them directly. Selling DVD’s would not be my first choice.

Starting off just sell what you have in your garage. This will allow you to learn the ins and outs; without risking to lose too much. Then you can decide what you want to pursue.

àYou can checkout this website www.alibaba.com They offer you the tools you need to get in touch with the manufacturers overseas. You can research and at anytime contact them and start talking about importing their product. Or ask if they have suppliers in the States they can refer you to.

Note: When you talk to any manufacturer overseas ask to purchase a Sample. Depending on the line; most manufacturers will send you One Free Sample; others can sell it to you for the wholesale price plus shipping. I was fortunate enough to get the manufacturers to pay for shipping. J

I can only suggest how you can find in yourself what to sell. If you know what you want to sell, but are not sure where to go…just email me. I will be more than happy to assist.

♥ Have a Vision, passion and believe that you will have the business you want and the financial independence to explore other revenues while running your online store. J

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: online store, selling on ebay, website, what to sell online

What are you selling on ebay?

July 21, 2008 By whateverebay 1 Comment

Say you need to clear out the garage and want to try to sell some of your items on eBay. This is great to getting your feet wet.

Selling something used:
Use the following to create your description of the item:
1) Is it New or Used
2) Any scuffs or Knicks?
3) Color
4) Size
5) Overall Condition
6) Manufacturer
7) Style
Offer several images of item – the more images you have of the item the better.

Terms & Conditions
What are your Terms & Conditions?
a) Do you offer a warranty
b) “As is” Sale
c) Returns
d) Who pays shipping
e) Is insurance offered
f) Order Cancellation

The Terms & Conditions should be a template and you can also upload them to your aboutMe page on eBay. You can modify them as you need to per item. Let’s say you are now selling electronics with warranty. You will want to disclose the information on the contact for details.

Start bid: .99 auction are appealing but will you really make any money. If you are selling a collectible you might. Start the bid at what truly is your bottom line. Keep in mind your cost for listing and accepting payment.

Shipping Price: This is important. No one likes to have the shipping price inflated. You can set your shipping price to be a flat fee or use eBay’s tools to allow the bidder to obtain a quote for shipping. The tools eBay offers allows you to also include a Handling fee.

Always check the marketplace for what others are offering the item you are. The easiest way, do a search on eBay. See who is selling; keep an eye on your competition.

You can also do a search on eBay and checkout what it may have in the past for.
Log into your account. www.ebay.com
Go to the top / next to the search bar / ADVANCE search )click
Check “Completed Listings”
type on the search box your Item Main Description
and Search
-This will give you a glimpse to Who Sold it and How much they sold it for.
Do this for several items and get a feel for the marketplace.

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: ebay auctions, ebay listings, listing on ebay, Selling online

Let’s Get Started

July 21, 2008 By whateverebay 9 Comments

Which way to go????

Many of you may have started or are selling on eBay. When eBay started it was a great venue for collectors, small business owners, stay at home Parents and retirees. It allowed you to have your Sale (garage sale for most) across the USA.

Its was a great time to sell. Yahoo and eBay where the only two sites where to auction off your stuff. Domain names selling like hotcakes. Remember the “Tickle me Elmo”. Yes, that made huge money on eBay and Yahoo.

Now you will find eBay dominates the auction market. Many other sites are up and running but none have managed to tip eBay from the number one on the list. I will provide you with a list for other sites you should list on.

Pros and Cons of eBay
Pros
1. They have a large consumer base
2. They pay huge money for Advertising
3. It has become a household name
4. Easy to list process
5. A great place to learn the e-commerce

Cons
1. Listing Fee
2. Billing system
3. Feedback
4. Lack of Customer Service
5. NO protection to Seller
6.You are obligate to their Terms and New Terms changing everyday
7. Will not open account if you cannot accept Paypal
8. You get lazy!

If you are already selling on eBay; then you would have already been exposed to the above. Once you start making money on eBay you get comfortable. You figure why bother to list elsewhere, the money is coming in and things are good… Hmmm…. are they, really?

I have sold on eBay for many years. I have sold as an individual and assisted existing companies, with techniques to get their sales up. I myself have generated sales on eBay of $100,000 a month. Now that is good money selling only on eBay. I have assisted others in making anywhere from 50,000 and up.

What I noticed was; once I had provided them with the tools to reach their goal they once believed was not possible, they got Lazy. Seriously, how is this to help any company prosper. Getting lazy and greedy can only lead you in one direction. My contract was done, I moved on, however, they did not.

I will provide you my techniques I have applied to assist others make money online. It is not the system failed anyone, its they failed themselves.

Quick example:
Company “A” reached their goal of $100,000 (GMS) in sales from eBay alone. They formed an eBay team, put money into better equipment and hired some additional support. Company “A” created the internal “In-house” sales team.

They sold directly from their website, drove traffic to make the sales. Making $75,000.00 a month in sales. A few months into their success, here comes eBay announcing changes. These changes affected their eBay sales figures. Sales from eBay dropped from 100k+ to around 25,000+/-. This lasted about 2 months. The company had to act fast.

They did, they put the teams together and drove traffic to their website. Within a month; sales from their website went from $75,000 to $250,000.00. WOW! The point of this is; they were not afraid to ask for help, they were not lazy nor were they willing to accept the decrease in sales from eBay and issue Pink slips. They are now selling close to 600,000 a MONTH. Yes, they are using eBay and other channels.

Company “B” – Well, they did not survive. They only sold on eBay, their sales were around $65,000 a month. They too had a website, but did nothing to drive traffic. They would occasional make a sale. When the sales dropped; the went into panic mode…..

Do we work on the website, do we drive traffic, how do we get the word out, what should we sell, what…when….where…..???????

My inbox and voice mail was full of requests to help. I at the time, was involved in a project in Hawaii . Not that I could not communicate, but I could not leave my client and jump to their rescue. I emailed them the again I once provided. They really were lost, with eBay fees due and some cancellation they needed something quick.

See, when I worked with them, I strongly advised them NOT to relay on eBay only. They had their own merchant account and website. No reason for them not to bring in sales directly. The management did not want to take those steps at that time. They were very comfortable with sales coming in from eBay. It was more money than they ever brought in a year from their store.

They closed down the original store they started with eBay and started from scratch. Now, they are doing well and have kept a steady growth.

You will get what you put into it. I am a firm believer in the “Law of Attraction”.
“Your thoughts will turn into things”. I have a vision board in my office. As I sit here today, I glance over at it and KNOW that I will reach each one of them. I am sitting here today doing what I want to do. To help others reach their goals.

Go….create your vision board, create a list of your goals. Let’s get you on the right track for success and happiness.

I am for taking advantage of the tools eBay offers you. I am against you limiting yourself to the possibilities available to you. I do not like to the limitations and power eBay and Paypal impose on you as a seller.

My next entry will be on working with your current eBay sellers account. I will be looking for a volunteer. So, if you just started and would like some help..just email me.

Have fun,

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: ebay auction, online payments, Selling online, start your own online business, work from home

Whatever to companies like eBay…

July 9, 2008 By whateverebay 3 Comments

My webiste name Whateverebay.com is the actual emotion felt by many. After so many friends complained of the difficulties they are experiencing with Paypal and eBay, I decided to Blog about it.

So when you say Whatever…. say it with attitude.

They have also wondered how I earn a living onlineand how succesful a Blog can really be.

I am going to share with you all the alternative methods to make money online. Specifically where else to sell your product and accept online payments.

I have sold online both auction sites and my own e-commerce for the last 10 years. I have made many mistakes and learned a LOT.

Started shopping online before the auction sites took off as they did. Started selling online my sons PokeMon cards. LOL (Remember those?) Hey, when you are a single Mom, you get creative and find other ways to earn money while working full time, going to night school and raising your son. Not completely alone, had my Moms’ support at the time (since she has passed on) but not the financial support needed at the time.

Okay, so back to the topic. This blog will also serve as proof that you can make money online while blogging. Just like auction site and Start up Internet Companies where the hits of the 90′s, well Blogging is the NOW must Do.

Come back soon, as I will provide you with the information you need to make a living online and have FUN

Laura

Filed Under: Selling online Tagged With: blogging online, eBay, ecommerce, marketing, Merchant Account, online auction, Paypal, promoting your business, SEO