eBay’s dropped the ball once again with the removal of yet another feature - sellers can’t leave negative feedback for buyers.

This is, by far, the most unintelligent change to eBay in recent months.

Picture this:

A buyer purchases an item from you but does not agree with the shipping price. The shipping cost is exactly what it really did cost you (as the seller) plus a small fee for packaging. The buyer is just one of those many people that think they know better than you or that think every country’s federal postal service costs the same as theirs (USPS is suprisingly affordable compared to many others). So the buyer leaves you negative feedback calling you a liar, a cheat, etc. You’ve tried every attempt to resolve the feedback, even contacted eBay’s Trust and Safety. No luck.

Here are your options:

1. Cry.
2. Make a deal with the buyer to send back some of their money in order for them to mutually remove the feedback.
3. Leave them positive feedback with a negative comment in it that will never get read.
4. Do nothing.

Since options 1, 3, and 4 are ridiculous all that’s left is the second option. This may seem like a good idea in most situations but here’s where it can get a little hairy - this is completely open to blackmail. Any buyer, at any time, can simply leave negative feedback and say the seller overcharged them and attempt to get a discount this way. I’m not saying that mutually exchanging negative feedback cancels out this possibility but it at least leaves the seller with the ability to communicate their side of the story to the community.

This new policy makes it so that buyers always have 100% positive feedback. It also eliminates the option that sellers once had to block bidders that have recently had more than a specific number of negatives set against them recently. What is the point of feedback anymore?

As a regular seller on eBay I am beginning to doubt that I will continue selling items through them anymore if such negative “improvements” continue into the future.

A few months ago eBay removed the ability to list digital items as Buy-It-Now items and Auctions. Their main reason for doing so was to remove the ability to manipulate feedback ( selling cheap items mainly for the purpose of exchanging feedback). I can totally understand their reasoning for doing this, but why not change the minimum starting bid for the digital item category?

For instance, if the minimum price for BIN and auction items in the category was $4.99 this would definitely eliminate the likelihood of feedback manipulation. No one would create a new eBay account and start buying multiple $5 items to get started would they?

So if that’s the most logical way to eliminate the possibility of feedback manipulation, then what’s the real reason eBay’s removed the ability to post digital items?

Intellectual Property Rights.

eBay doesn’t want to spend more time police-ing their listings for the possibility that a listing is violating Copyright laws. Again this is something that I can understand but does that mean that there will be an increase in customer service reliability or reaction time to complaints, etc? Of course not.

Having had my fair share of attempted resolutions through eBay’s Trust and Safety Network I can definitely say that, if anything, customer service is on a constant downward slope. Usually disputes end up getting resolved through PayPal’s complaint department.

So what happened to all those people that were making most of their living through selling their own digital products on eBay? Hopefully they’ve moved over to ClickBank or PayDotCom with some succes but it is totally negligent on eBay’s part to give these people who’s lives may very well have depended on that income only a month’s notice before pulling the plug completely.

I just found this awesome, fast-talkin’ video on How to Promote your Website. Check this out:

What Is Drop-Shipping?

Drop-shipping is when a company that you purchase items from packages and ships orders of items for you to destinations (customers addresses) that you specify. This service is usually performed for a set fee.

The advantage of this is that you waste no time with packaging or shipping orders and you do not need to have a physical inventory. All you need to do is get the pictures and descriptions of the items the wholesaler offers and create eBay listings from that information. You sell the items for more than the cost of buying them from the wholesaler (plus the dropshipping fee) and the profit is yours to keep. When the eBay listing ends send the customers shipping address to the wholesaler along with payment.

Most drop-shipping companies require that you sign-up for their services and pay a monthly fee. There are others however, that instead require a larger one-time fee.

Signing up with a drop-shipping wholesaler is relatively easy and many do not even require a Sales Tax ID. You could literally sign up and have items posted up on eBay for sale the same day.

Here are a few drop-shipping companies you may want to check out:

1. Doba - Pro: lowest price guarantee. Con: some products are older models.
2. DropShipDirect - Pro: large auto and home product selection. Con: low profit margins.
3. Simplx - Pro: very many name brand products. Con: low profit margins.

Customer Service - Before the Problems Arise:

Here are some tips for common customer service issues:

• When a customer contacts you: Always be polite and to the point. State what you mean as clearly as possible using language that is easily understood.
• When a customer contacts you regarding shipping delays: Provide them with a tracking number for the package. If it has been an extrodinary amount of time since the package was shipped and it has not been delivered, let them know that you will inquire with the shipping company and will get back to them as soon as possible.
• When a customer claims an item is not as described: If their claims are clear and frivalous matters of taste then offer them a refund for the purchase price of the item upon it’s return. Immediately offering a return will lead to the least possible problems with customers. This way you can always cut your loss by reselling the item.

Cutting your Losses:

Here are a few ways to minimize your losses while keeping customers happy:

• Always insure your packages when you ship them. This way you’ll never be at a loss when the shipping company fails to do their job.
• Have a disclaimer within every item description. For examples, check out current powerseller’s listings on eBay. This will help minimize the number of unsatisfied customers you have and limit your liability as the customer knows what they are agreeing to when buying your item.

Creating a Feedback Machine (Cheating):

With your store setup you can now list items as “Store Inventory” for very low listing fees that will last up to 30 days per fee charge. This also means that you can list multiple Buy-It-Now items and charge a cent for them.

Everyone on eBay knows how important feedback is but eBay prohibits purchasing feedback, so how do you get a lot of positive feedback as a seller in a hurry?

Get out your digital camera and take a picture of something (but not someone), ie the view of the city from your balcony or your favourite pet. If you have webhosting, upload the digital photo and keep track of the URL where it is stored. If you do not have webhosting, take a look at the section on “Top Web Hosting” or use a free service such as PhotoBucket.

Create a new Store Inventory listing in eBay for your item. Use a title that contains keywords such as “digital item, 1 cent, penny, .01, free shipping” etc. Make sure the item type is set to digital and input the URL where you stored the picture. Set the quantity to 10,000 and the Buy-It-Now price to 1 cent. Click “Private Listing” as well. In the item description state that you took the picture yourself and are the copyright holder and that it would make great wallpaper, etc. Make sure to emphasize that “positive feedback is quickly reciprocated“.

Do this for as many pictures as you like, the more you have the quicker you will gather feedback but be sure to mix it up with the keywords in the title so you’re targeting different searches.

What you should note about this method:

• It is CHEATING. I only describe how to do this method so that you can get started. Once you are established CLOSE THE LISTINGS and only have genuine feedback there-after. This technique undermines the value of feedback if overused (as most people do).
• Ebay may put limitations on your account for doing this or you may be shutdown! Use this technique at your own risk, I hold no responsibility for the consequences!
• Since you are selling the picture, not feedback, you are not doing anything wrong by eBay’s standards.
• Each time someone buys the item, it will cost YOU $0.001. Remember that eBay charges 10% for a final value fee on Store Inventory items, and that PayPal will subtract a fee of 1 cent on 1 cent that you receive in your account. So you pay 10% of 1 cent in fees to eBay.
• You may want to specify that feedback is reciprocated within X number of hours/days. This way you will minimize the number of emails you receive from people stating that they have just left you feedback and they want you to do the same.

Finding Products to Sell:

I would address this as a primary concern when it comes to becoming a seller. In fact I would say this is more important than advertising costs, seller fees, customer service or your feedback reputation. This is also why this section comes before the section on opening your store.

You may already have an idea in your head about what you want to sell on ebay, but take this into account: you have to handle, package and ship alot of it and you need a continuous, high-quality source of the product(s) to make a decent profit.

Shipping/Handling: Dealing with smaller products is far easier than large or heavy ones, plus it will save you money on packaging expenses and on shipping costs. If you are taking your items to the post office yourself, you will also want to avoid large products for ease of transportation.

Products: If you are set on selling products that you can hold in your hands, see the list at the end of this section for suppliers/sources we have checked over ourselves. If you’d rather sell products that you do not have to package or worry about shipping, you’ll want to check out “Drop Shipping 101” on the menu to the right to learn all about drop shipping products and suppliers.

Suppliers:

• DVDs/Video Games: www.ingramentertainment.com, www.btol.com
• Liquidation.com Please note: You’re going to need a Sales Tax ID and a registered business in order to buy products from Ingram and Btol at wholesale prices.

Typing wholesale suppliers into Google will yield dozens of pages of results. Just remember that the supplier may say that they are wholesale, but their prices may not reflect it! So check eBay as you find suppliers to see what price the items you find will sell for on eBay. You’ll need a decent profit margin in order to survive, especially in the beginning.

You can also try using a tool like Typo-Shark to find items on eBay for dirt-cheap and resell them!

Opening an eBay Store:

Once your feedback has reached at least 20, you are now ready to open your store. The three types of stores are Basic, Premium and Anchor. For now, start with a Basic store, it has the lowest monthly fee. Choose a name for your store that is professional and/or relevant to what you intend to sell.

So you’ve heard the stories, all sorts of people are making truckloads of money on eBay. How is it done? How can you get your own piece of the eBay action?

How eBay Works:

Listing items on eBay is a fairly simple process. You specify the details about your item, provide pictures, select a start price for the auction and/or a buy-it-now price, choose a duration for the auction and input shipping costs. EBay charges feels based on the start price, number of pictures you posted and any extras you chose to use such as listing your item in two categories rather than one.

When the auction ends eBay also charges you a fee based on a percentage of the price the auction closed on. You then receive your funds from the buyer through a method of your choosing (PayPal is safest and most direct method apart from cash) and ship the item.

In theory it sounds very easy to do and if you’re just selling off a few things you don’t need anymore lying around in the attic it may very well be, but if you want to make real money on eBay you’re going to need a steady source of stock, you’re going to have to find the best methods of creating your listings to maximize bidder interest and lower your fees and you’re going to have to create the most streamline method of packaging and shipping your products.

Getting Started:

First you’re going to have to create an account on eBay if you haven’t already. Click here to go to eBay in a new window so that you can keep this one handy.

Be sure to choose a username that is relevant to what you want to be selling and that sounds professional. All other information that eBay requests should be simple to fill out as it is just personal information.

Now you’re going to need a way to send and receive funds. PayPal is the best option for transactions as it is simple and secure and is used by the majority of buyers and sellers online. Click here to open PayPal in a new window and create an account. You will need a Premier (aka Merchant) account in order to receive an unlimited amount of funds. You will need to enter the information for a bank account and/or a credit card to be verified (against fraud) by PayPal and in order to receive or send funds. Paypal will never charge you to send money, but you will be charged when you receive funds. If you are signed up with a Premier account you will be charged 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction (at the time of this publication), a small price to pay for all the protection against fraud and identity theft that PayPal offers.

Now that you have your accounts setup, you’ll need to begin building your reputation within the eBay community. EBay uses a feedback system to provide buyers and sellers with a way of rating their experience with one-another. Every time an item is sold the buyer and seller can leave positive, neutral or negative feedback. The number of positive feedbacks received is displayed next to your username; neutral feedback does not effect this number while negative feedback subtracts from it.

Many potential buyers would be weary of bidding on an item being sold by an inexperienced seller with low feedback, so you’ll need to raise this number! In eBay’s search box, type “penny auction” and look for digital items with free shipping. It doesn’t matter what the item is, simply buy it, pay the cent, leave positive feedback for the seller right away and repeat. Do this at least 25 times (or as many times as you can before it drives you nuts), each time with a different seller. Hopefully within a day or two the sellers will reciprocate the feedback and your account will be established.

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