| Most Recent Posts Back to Work On EbayPosted Jun-02-07 14:05:58 PDT The Kitty's Ebay Vacation is over - I had to do urgent work on Web Stuff. And it can be really intense and terribly time-consuming. So I need to break out of that cycle for a while and work on other tasks, such as my Ebay world, AND sell some of the stuff that is piling up here!!! - LOL On the positive side I found Vox and Digg and have officially certified myself as a total geekhead. \:-) Educated Kitty - Ebay Univ. - My Top Things I Didn't Know, But Do Now...Posted Mar-01-07 16:50:38 PST Well, amazingly enough, we got up in time and Catseyes, TM and our friend Brad all made it to Ebay University. What a collection. Ebayers of every description. You know - Fat Ones, Tall Ones, Short Ones, Skinny Ones, Right-in-the-Middle Ones. And we 'larned a lot'. Lots of stuff you might not find out by surfing, or even the online tutorials. A bunch of the stuff was PayPal oriented. And when we had Q&A times, I'd say more than 1/2 the questions were for the PayPal rep that was there. My Top Things I Didn't Know, But Do Now... General Ebay Stuff - Uses of the Second Chance Offer - Its NOT just for UPI's If you have multiples of an item, consider offering some of them to the top bidders, if their bids were 'good enough'. A tip - the presenter noted it prolly wasn't the best idea to tell the winner you were doing this... LOL. Feedback Statistics Stuff - Informally noted that about 50% of items sold get FB. Sellers with high FB ratios average about 80%. Good Selling Practices - Include personalized notes with packed items, you can cross-sell items that 'go-with' the item, promote future sales, offer discounts on shipping etc. Ebay has their own Mailing List system you can use that allows up to 5 mail lists. On Sellers fees with PayPal. It really really is important (if feasible) to work on having a few strong months in a row. If you can get your volume up over $3,000 (you may have to build up to it) - for one month - you can get a Merchant rate reduction - you HAVE to apply for it. BUT as long as you keep your PayPal account clean you are 'grandfathered in' thereafter - no reviews. Its found on the PayPal My Account Pages - click on Fees at bottom - https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_fees-rate-about On using the PayPal Debit card on Ebay to buy things: According to my notes, you get a rebate on the seller's fees - I think its 3% of FV. So if you buy AND sell on ebay, this seems like a real good idea. Anyone may feel free to correct CatsEyes on that, its from a scribbled note. Mo PayPal stuff - PayPal has a sellers protection against chargebacks - up to $5,000 /year. BUT you must conform to certain standards of performance for it to work for you. ONE biggy on that discussion of 'proof of perfomance' ALWAYS include a packing list, with your name. address, EBAY ID, Item, and same info for buyer. Somtimes packages get mangled, torn etc. The buyer that reports an Undelivered Item is NOT always a BIG FAT LIAR. You may indeed have shipped it, but Things Happen, and sometimes no-one is to blame. Its one of the keys in fraud investigations. Ebay Stores Stuff - 1. One reason to get an Ebay Store - A Customer Service # to CALL - YES, contrary to all statements otherwise, Ebay has phones! Mirable Dictu! 2. Another Reason - Get Store, get Sellers Assistant basic Free - its a 4.99 month item, Basic Store is $15.95 3. Auction Listing CAN point to your store, so you can Auction one item - sell other colors, sizes, models in store. 4. Store Listings can sell up to 10,000 of same item on a single listing insertion, all the extra items pay is the FV fees. 5. The Cross-Promotion tool can point from an Auction Listing to the BIN item in your Store. (effectively all Store Items are BINS). 6. Also a biggy for me - (I know of someone I'll be sending an email to) - If you have a store, peeps can add your store to the Favorite Sellers (if you aren't buying an item and the seller doesn't have a store you can't 'add to favorite sellers' from the Auction listing.) Well I hope this is helpful to someone. I sure learned a lot. Good Luck all Eyes observe. Eyes fascinate. Eyes express. Eyes are the mirror of the soul See what I see. See the world through my eyes. <|> <|> Cat's Eyes goes to skoolPosted Feb-23-07 14:40:11 PST Updated Feb-23-07 14:43:39 PST Hello World [smirk] Well, tomorrow in the early AM, Catsyes and our collaborator 'TM' will be off to Ebay University in Tampa. We expect to come back transmutated to 'goggle-eyes' from all the new stuff we are going to try to retain. I see we are getting wrist bands as opposed to name-tags (one can only hope for a TAG too, ebay) . Its SO IMPOLITE to grab peeps by the wrist, peer earnestly and say "Don't I know you?" LOL If any of you perchance to be attending and would like to say HI!, look for a pony-tailed guy with perpetual sardonic grin and an attractive brunette nearby. OK, OK, thats all the hints you get... See you all tomorrow with some luck... And again as soon as we recuperate from our travel, LOL See the world through my eyes. <|> <|> Attention Sellers - This buyer is on strike - SMI - Hidden BidderPosted Feb-05-07 22:12:33 PST Updated Feb-05-07 22:14:32 PST I hope you like my feedback - Please Tell Ebay you don't need any buyers like me -
Yeppers - I'm BAD FOR BUSINESS - I ACTUALLY WANT TO KNOW WHOM I AM BIDDING AGAINST -
See the world through my eyes. <|> <|> CatsEyes Rant of the Day - Hidden Bidders - (SMI) - BOO HISSPosted Feb-05-07 17:46:22 PST Updated Feb-05-07 17:58:10 PST Ok, First - I'm sure some will disagree with this totally. (which I totally respect too) Recently Ebay instituted a new way to display bidder information on selective items, mostly (from what I have seen) hi-value cameras/electronics/computer gear. (of course that is what I trade in, LOL) . Its not terribly consistent AFAIK. I've been bidding on identical items from different sellers, and had the bid history presented both ways. So they have algorithm at work here somehow. "As the internet evolves, eBay continues to strike a balance between preserving transparency and protecting our Community of members. eBay has decided to change how bid history information is displayed so bad guys cannot target bidders with fake offers using this information. In certain cases, some bidders will no longer be able to view Bidder User IDs on the Bid History page. Your User ID will be shown only to you and the seller of the item you're bidding on. Other members will see an anonymous name, such as Bidder 1, applied consistently to the Bid History page" Yes, I did search the blogs a bit, and saw that some thought the system was only for items over $200*- * of course that's most of what I buy - There AREN"T any high-end cameras, lenses, PC's or Displays that DON'T FIT this. OH I GOT IT -, they only want you to purchase BUY-IT-NOWS? Or EBay Express - Ahh, OK - I know - its NOT an AUCTION Site, its BUY.COM for the masses. Nota Bene; SOME BIDDERS - the italics and bold are mine. - SO WHO ARE THE ''not some'? -
Here's a listing on which the new system is at work. (at least to ME, LOL) http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=220078631501&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:BIDN and another A Linksys 250 NAS (with zero bids ATM, but a reserve of $250.00) http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=120083726405 A Linksys NAS (old system) http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=260073854533 Another http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=150085673258 Sony Vaio PC's http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=320078275107&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:BIDN http://offer.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&item=140081601077&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:BIDN There's a pop-up window that gives a brief summary of each individual bidder's recent activity. And to be fair, there's a bidding detail report, too. But its all summary information.
So CatsEyes, WHAT"S YER POINT? Well, in specialized expensive gear, its mighty handy to know who you are bidding against. Particularly if you got skunked in a prior auction by the same bidder. You might abandon the chase and 'let them win' and chase one they AREN'T bidding on. Its also about timing (isn't it always). And, although they show you the time of the last bid, you don't know if they WON the item or not. Or the item, OR the dollar amount.... (I'm really NOT going to cuss now altho its tempting). Its really hard to make a market in expensive stuff if you don't know who the players are Ebay... I think this system works to the advantage of shill bidders and 'traders' only and disadvantages the average bidder. Transparency huh? A STEP BACKWARD in that direction, I think. HOW 'exactly' is LESS INFORMATION BETTER OR MORE TRANSPARENT? Milton Friedman would turn over in his grave. "The most important single central fact about a free market is that no exchange takes place unless both parties benefit. " I think I may pass on trading on this stuff... BOO HISS ON THIS - BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD IDEA - BAD EBAY -
I nearly got phished on a phantom auction in camcorders - how about fixing that? - OR fix 'fake feedback' selling, eh, eh, eh? I'll have a rant on feedback another day - BUT another constructive one...
Agree or Disagree with CatsEyes? Here's a Match Up to vote on this (Hidden Bidders, SMI) -
OK, I need to get a life, huh? Wait, WAIT! - this IS my life.... OK, OK I DID like the Match-ups!
See the world through my eyes. <|> <|> |
) 
 About eBay | Announcements | Security Center | eBay Toolbar | Policies | Government Relations | Site Map | Help | |
Copyright © 1995-2008 eBay Inc. All Rights Reserved. Designated trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of the eBay User Agreement and Privacy Policy.
| |