eBay Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-02-2021

Before you jump into buying and selling on eBay, learn a few terms, check out some helpful tips to be a successful seller and buyer, and understand the importance of feedback. The following offers helpful eBay information, tips, and selling strategies.

Article / Updated 04-23-2021

It's tempting to ignore your eBay costs as you list items for sale. As a seller, you can fall into the habit of listing and relisting without reevaluating the profitability of your final sales. But as a person in business for yourself, you must always take into account money going out costs as well as profits coming in. The cost of your initial listing is just the beginning of your outlay for that item; you have to factor in the cost of all the options and features you use as well. If you use a credit card payment service such as PayPal, that service also charges you a fee. Insertion (listing) fees Your insertion fee is based on the higher dollar amount of your minimum opening bid or your reserve price. If you start your auction at $0.99 and have no reserve, the listing fee is free (for the first 100 items per month), if you don't have an eBay Store. (If you start your listing at $1.00, your fee is $0.50.) But if you start your auction at $0.99 and set an undisclosed reserve price of $50.00, your auction costs $2.00 to post. When you place a reserve on your item, you're charged an insertion fee based on the amount of the reserve, plus the reserve price charge. Fixed-price listing fees are pretty clear-cut. If your Buy It Now price is $0.99 or higher, you pay eBay $0.50 per listing. Here's a summary of eBay insertion fees. eBay Auction Listing Fees Opening Bid or Reserve Price Insertion Fee Basic Store Subscriber Insertion Fee $0.01 to $0.99 Free* $0.10 $1.00 to $9.99 $0.25 $0.25 $10.00 to $24.99 $0.50 $0.50 $25.00 to $49.99 $0.75 $0.75 $50.00 to $199.99 $1.00 $1.00 $200.00 or more $2.00 $2.00 * If you do not have an eBay Store, you may list up to 100 auction listings in a month for free as long as your starting price is between $0.01 and $0.99, and you have no reserve price. If you exceed 100 listings with this starting price per month, you will be charged a $0.10 fee per listing. What if it doesn't sell? If your item doesn't sell, don't think you can get your insertion fees back. They aren't refundable. You do have the option of relisting your unsuccessful item without being charged a second listing fee, but only if your item sells with the second listing. If it doesn't sell the second time, the charge for the second listing will stand. Writing a better title, starting with a lower opening bid, and adding a snappier description can help in selling the item. Consider changing the category, too. eBay listing options are recapped here: Listing Option Fees Option Fee: Auction or Fixed Price 3, 5, 7, 10 days Fee: Fixed Price 30 days Subtitle $0.50 $1.50 Bold $2.00 $4.00 Listing Designer $0.10 $0.30 Gallery Plus $0.35 $1.00 Scheduled listing $0.10 $0.10 List in two categories Double fees Double fees Additional pictures $0.15 $0.15 Picture Pack 1–6 pictures $0.75 $0.75 Picture Pack 7–12 pictures $1.00 $1.00 eBay Final Value fees What if it does? eBay gets a cut when your auction sells. After your auction or fixed-price listing ends, eBay charges the Final Value fee to your account in a matter of minutes. Final Value fees on auctions are pretty easy to figure out. If your item sells, you pay eBay 9% of the selling price to a maximum of $50.00. Even a rocket scientist would have trouble figuring out exactly how much eBay receives at the end of fixed-price listings. Its Final Value fees are based on the category you listed your item in, as well as how much the item sold for. To help you calculate Final Value fees, see the following table: Fixed-Price Final Value Fees by Category If Your Item Sells for Electronics* Clothing, Shoes & Accessories; Motors, Parts & Accessories Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, Video Games All Other Categories Item not sold No fee No fee No fee No fee $0.99 – $50.00 8% of the final sale price 12% of the final sale price 15% of the final sale price 12% of the final sale price $50.01 – $1,000.00 8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) $1000.01 or more 8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) The Final Value fees for eBay Store subscribers are different when it comes to auctions. The fees are based on the final selling price: Auction Final Value Fees for eBay Store Subscribers Selling Price Final Value Fees Item not sold No fee $0.01 to $50.00 8.75% of the final selling price $50.01 to $1,000.00 8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the remaining final selling price ($50.01 to $1,000.00) Equal to or over $1,000.01 8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final selling price ($1,000.01 to final price) To avoid draining your brain, use an eBay fee calculator to check your fees before you set prices.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Now you can take eBay along! You can use the eBay mobile app when you're out looking for items to resell on eBay. It’s especially helpful at a garage sale to see how much you can sell an item for — and to find out how many people are selling an item. If you prefer a different view, you can also type http://m.ebay.com into your phone’s browser to see a mobile enhanced version of the site. The eBay mobile app is available for download on smartphones: iOS (for the iPhone and iPad) and Android. If you don’t have one of those operating systems on your smartphone, you can always type the previous address into your mobile browser (or, if you’re reading this as an e-book, tap the link in that sentence). Several categories of actions are featured at the top of the screen on mobile, just below the search box. Tapping the words show you different views: Categories: This functions similarly to your My eBay→Buy pages. Here you can see your recently viewed items, and by scrolling your Watched Items list, you can see both your buying overview and your Selling overview. There’s a link at the bottom of each section to “view all” in that category. Saved: Here you’ll find searches and sellers you’ve saved for future reference as well as an area to input products you’re interested in. Deals: Very much like the eBay home page, tapping Deals shows you special promotions and deals of the day — and points you to various items that (based on your search history) eBay suggests you might want to purchase. In the Deals view, you can swipe side-to-side to see different categories and featured specials within those interest areas. Selling: In traditional eBay fashion, Sell is where you click to list an item for sale. You also see your selling history and listing drafts you started and haven’t yet completed. The experience is exactly the same on a tablet, but a tablet’s screen gives you a lot more real estate to use. This is especially beneficial if you want to list an item for sale. When it comes to getting the most out of eBay on mobile, I personally prefer the tablet experience to using my smartphone. If you’re out and about and find an item you think might do well on eBay, you can easily search for the item by tapping the text box next to the magnifying glass on the app. Your mobile keyboard pops up and you can type in the keywords for the item you’re looking for. Inside secret: Once you tap in the text field on the mobile app, you also see a tiny microphone. Tap there to input your text from speech. There is also an icon that looks like the lines of a barcode. This is a scan option. Just tap there to scan a barcode on an item to see whether that item is being sold on eBay (as shown in the following figure). The mobile barcode scanner is very fast and accurate; you get the results immediately. Then you can further refine your search to Sold Items Only to see at what price that item is currently selling. When you’re starting out on eBay, I recommend listing your eBay items for sale from your laptop or desktop computer. The text-formatting features available on the website’s Sell an Item page (such as bulleted lists and boldface) are harder to use on the mobile app. The app does have an HTML description writer, so if you learn a little bit of HTML code, you can give your descriptions a little extra character. Because my tablet has a great camera, I do enjoy listing from mobile. My smartphone also has a great camera, but I prefer the bigger screen so I don’t miss a detail when I’m getting a shot of the item. I start some of my listings on my tablet by writing my title, adding some details, and uploading the photos; I often complete a good portion of the listing on mobile, but I tend to click Save and then reopen the listing as a saved template on my computer. Once I am on my computer, I can search eBay more efficiently for top-selling keywords and pricing ideas. When I do complete a full listing on the mobile app, I still go to the website on my computer and buff up the description and double-check the options for the listing. Never forget: The purpose of your listing is to sell the item. So, as with a lady’s makeup, dolling up plain text (tastefully, please!) goes a long way toward making your item more desirable to a buyer.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

On the bottom of almost every eBay page is a group of links: Click Community to connect to other eBay members, or click the Announcements link to check proposed changes to the site on the Announcements page. Keep in mind, when you see the tips and suggestions on these pages, they may come right from corporate spokespersons in disguise. Take a little time to explore this area for yourself and separate the important messages from the PR spin. News and chat, this and that It’s not quite The New York Times, but you can find announcements, groups, and discussion board links from the Community Overview page. The following figure shows you the important links on the page. (eBay is continually making changes to the community, so note that this page will change with regularity.) Although thousands of people used to discuss everything (including events of the day) on eBay’s boards, the online buzz is now a shadow of its former self, as most people have moved to social media for discussions. The most important place for you to visit in the community are the Seller Updates. eBay sends out information on all the important changes for the site here. Join in the social media conversation There are many places to connect with other eBay community members. Many are active on social media networks. You can find me (the author of eBay For Dummies) on Twitter (@MarshaCollier), http://twitter.com/MarshaCollier, or through Facebook. If you have a quick question, ping me, and I will try to answer ASAP. I also maintain a Twitter list of experienced eBay sellers who have a presence on Twitter. They are interested in helping others and are a valuable reference. More on them further on. Fill in your eBay profile Did you know that if you click your User ID on any eBay page, you arrive at your very own profile page? (You also have a link on your Feedback profile page.) Unlike the old About Me page, which you had to choose to set up yourself, every eBay member has an automatically generated profile page. Yours is ready and waiting for you to embellish. The following figure shows you aunt*patti’s simple profile. You can also add custom features to this page to share your other community moments. Your profile page can reflect your many varied interests. From here, eBay gives you other ways to express yourself: Items for sale: A few of your items you are selling will appear on the page. Reviews: Wondering what other eBay members think of a particular product, book, or movie? Selected items on eBay are reviewed by users, and you can contribute one of your own. Reviews you have posted show up when someone lands on an item for which eBay users have posted reviews. The following figure shows the review page for a previous edition of eBay For Dummies, written by eBay members. To add your own review, click the Write a review button. Following: A sample of which sellers and searches (Interests) you follow. Also, when you save a seller to follow, it shows up on that person’s profile page. Hear ye, hear ye! eBay’s Announcements Board If you were living in the 1700s, you’d see a strangely dressed guy in a funny hat ringing a bell and yelling, “Hear ye, hear ye!” every time you opened eBay’s Announcements Board. (Then again, if you were living in the 1700s, you’d have no electricity, Internet, fast food, or anything else you probably consider fun.) In any case, eBay’s Announcements Board is an important place to find out what’s going on (directly from the home office) on the website. And no one even needs to ring a bell. The Announcements Board is where eBay lists any news that affects buyers and sellers, new features, and policy changes. Visiting this page is like reading a morning eBay newspaper because eBay adds comments to this page almost every week. You find out about upcoming changes in categories, new promotions, and eBay goings-on. eBay also uses it to help users become aware of critical changes in policies and procedures. The following figure shows you eBay’s Announcements Board with information that could affect your sales. Help! I need somebody If you ever have specific eBay questions to which you need answers, click the Knowledge Base link in the Community. These boards work differently from eBay’s old chat rooms. Chat rooms are full of people who are hanging out and talking to each other all at the same time, whereas users of discussion boards tend to go in, leave a message or ask a question, and pop out again. Also, in a discussion board, you need to start a thread by asking a question. Title your thread with your question, and you’ll hopefully get a swift reply to your query. These boards cover almost any topic regarding selling and buying on eBay. Just post your question, and some kind eBay member will probably suggest an answer (but remember to double-check your answer, just as you would any advice from someone with unknown credentials). Keep in mind that the Knowledge Base is to answer questions; if someone tries to sell you something there, I’d say turn the other way. One of the best solutions is to find one of the eBay Social Media sellers on Twitter; many are very active on the site, and you’ll probably get an answer tout suite. User-to-user discussion boards eBay has some other boards that take a different tack on things. They’re discussion boards as opposed to chat boards, which basically means that the topics are deliberately open-ended — just as the topics of discussion in coffeehouses tend to vary depending on who happens to be in them at any given time. Check out these areas and read ongoing discussions about eBay’s latest buzz. Post your opinions to the category that suits you. You can find quite a few discussion boards on various topics relating to doing business on eBay. There’s one cardinal rule for eBay boards: Conduct no business. No advertising items for sale! Not now. Not ever. eBay bans any repeat offenders who break this rule from participating on these boards. Remember that you’re visiting eBay and that you’re a member. It’s not Speakers’ Corner — that spot in London’s Hyde Park where protesters are free to stand on a soapbox and scream about the rats in government. If you feel the need to viciously complain about eBay, take it outside, as the bar bouncers say. Category-specific groups Want to talk about Elvis, Louis XV, Justin Turner, or Mickey Mouse? Currently a bunch of category-specific discussion boards enable you to tell eBay members what’s on your mind about merchandise and auctions. You reach these boards going to the Community and then mousing over the word Groups. A drop-down menu appears where you can click Special Interest Groups. Of course, you can buy and sell without ever going on a discussion board or group, but you can certainly benefit from one. Discussions mainly focus on merchandise and the nuts and bolts of transactions. On eBay, you get all kinds of responses from all kinds of people. Take a portion of the help you get with a grain of salt; some of the folks who help you may be buyers, competitors, or have something to sell you down the line. Don’t be shy. As your second-grade teacher said, “No questions are dumb.” Most eBay members love to share their experiences.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Most of us have donated to charity in one form or another. But here on eBay, charities really rock. Do you need a Jurassic Park helmet signed by Steven Spielberg to round out your collection (and deflect the odd dino tooth)? Post a bid on one of the charity auctions. How about a signed original photograph of Jerry Seinfeld from People magazine? Yup, you can get that, too. All these and more have turned up in charity auctions. In short, having a big heart for charities has gotten a whole lot easier thanks to eBay. eBay for Charity November 2003 was a lucky time for this country’s charities. That’s the month that eBay launched the eBay Giving Works Charity auction platform. eBay originally teamed up with one of the first charity-giving sites on the Internet, MissionFish, which now runs the PayPal Giving Fund. After 9/11, as “9/11 Auction for America,” eBay’s giving program originally raised over $10 million through online charity auctions for organizations supporting the victims of the tragedy and their families. More than 911 million dollars have been raised since 2003 on eBay for Charity, supporting more than 66,000 organizations. If you’re involved with a charity, and are certified as a 501(c)(3), you can register your charity to get on the list of beneficiaries. You can also run your own fundraising events on eBay! Just go to the eBay for Charity hub (as shown in the following figure). The best part is that you can run an auction or fixed-price listing to benefit your favorite charity. Sellers can list items for sale and designate those items to benefit a charity from the eBay for Charity directory (which lists tens of thousands of charities). The seller can also specify what percentage (from as little as 10 percent up to 100 percent) of the sale’s proceeds go to the charity. You can browse to select the charity of your choice on the Giving Works page. When you list your item for sale, you can indicate — on the Sell form’s Create Your Listing section — to which charity you’d like to donate proceeds, and what percentage of the final sale price to donate. As you visit different areas of eBay, you can recognize the charity listings by the small blue-and-gold ribbon icon next to them in searches and the Category list. 9/11 Auction for America In late 2001, eBay took on one of its most ambitious attempts at fundraising: the Auction for America. In response to requests by New York Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, eBay called on the community to raise $100 million in 100 days. eBay and Billpoint (eBay’s payment service at the time) waived all fees, and community members gave their all, donating and buying all kinds of items to benefit the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund, the Twin Towers Fund, the American Red Cross, and the September 11 Fund. In early November, Patti Ruby and Marsha Collier worked with eBay to introduce non-eBay sellers to Auction for America at an event in Southern California. We brought hundreds of people to the site who participated in buying and selling to benefit the victims. There were many such events across the country. Community member Jay Leno sold his celebrity-autographed Harley Davidson for over $360,260; Tim Allen sold his 1956 Chevrolet Nomad for $46,000; and countless corporate sponsors joined in with the person-to-person community to raise funds. Over 100,000 sellers participated, and over 230,000 items were listed. The auction ended on December 25, after raising $10 million. This is an amazing tribute to the eBay members and their community spirit. Creative charity auctions New charities are popping up all the time on eBay. To see the sales that benefit nonprofits, go to the Giving Works page and click the Shop for Charity link. Here are some of the more creative charity auctions that have been held on eBay: The highest-grossing charity auctions tend to be the annual event from billionaire Warren Buffett. He donates a private power lunch to benefit the Glide Foundation. The 2019 auction grossed $4,567,888. Oprah Winfrey has jumped onto eBay with a bang! In 2003, to fund her charity, the Angel Network, Oprah auctioned two chairs from her set. These were not just any chairs. Aside from being luxurious leather chairs designed by Ralph Lauren, they had housed the behinds of famous names such as John F. Kennedy, Jr., Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Michael Jordan. The 7-day auction netted the charity an amazing $64,100. In 2010 through this year, the media mogul cleaned out her own closet for her Leadership Academy for Girls. To celebrate Chivas Regal’s 200th year, the company chose eBay for CHIVAS 200, the largest online charity auction in the world. From September 6 to October 31, 2001, the Chivas folks auctioned more than 200 of the world’s most-wanted items and experiences — such as an opportunity to become a Russian space-station cosmonaut — all for the benefit of charity partners around the world. Music producer and singer Pharrell Williams decided to put his famous Vivienne Westwood park ranger–style hat up for sale to benefit his non-profit organization, One Hand to AnOTHER. Pharrell wore the famous hat during his performance at the Grammy broadcast in 2014. Folks commented that the hat resembled the logo for the Arby’s restaurant chain, so he tweeted through his Twitter account @Pharrell, “Hey @Arbys, you want my hat?” He started the listing on eBay for $200 (what he paid for it), and it did eventually sell to Arby’s for $44,100. Arby’s thanked Pharrell for the return of their hat on Twitter; the Tweet is shown in the following figure. When I appeared on The View with Barbara Walters and Star Jones, all four stars of the show autographed a coffee cup that we auctioned off on eBay to benefit UNICEF. We raised over $1,000 on eBay for a single coffee cup! Now that a couple of the hosts have moved on, I wonder what that little cup’s worth.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Social media is no longer in its infancy; it’s long since made off with the car keys, so to speak. These days it has become the go-to destination for 69 percent of American adults. The burgeoning number of social media sites draws many eBay sellers and buyers because they are a tech-savvy group. All cultural changes began with words — as do many marketing campaigns — and the experts have decided that the dominant marketing tool today is social media. Social media is now the hub for “word of mouth” (WOM) recommendations and comments. Social media sites have grown well beyond their initial role as tools of social contact. Following and friending like-minded people on social media networks (and connecting with them) not only builds a sense of community but also gives you a built-in support group. When I say to connect, I mean to converse. You don’t have to sit on the sites regularly; you do need to drop by and respond to people who have commented to you. You also need to reach out and comment to others. Marketing can be a natural next step — if you handle it right. But keep this distinction in mind . . . Social media discussion is not the same as advertising. You will see many online sellers promoting their goods, one after the other, as their sole “conversation.” That’s actually more broadcasting — like commercials on TV in the old days. Everyone skipped over commercials then — and they skip over them now. Ads-as-faux-conversation is old school and not very interesting to anyone who’s following you online. Best practices on social media commerce require engagement with other community members. If you want to share the items you have listed on eBay on your social pages, use this strategy sparingly. Be sure shared listings are not the only (or last five) posts in your stream. Many small businesses on social media try to get hundreds of followers for their social media pages. A multitude of friends and followers does not equate to producing massive sales. The quality of your conversation and the people you connect with is what draws people to you. Finding friends and customers on Facebook You have a Facebook page, right? You share fun thoughts and ideas with your family and friends, right? Well, when you set up an eBay business, you can have a page for your small business. I’m not suggesting that you’ll be directly selling from your Facebook page (although you can), but having a page is an efficient way to meet people online and interest them in what you’re selling. Your initial base for building a business page comes from your friends. When you get more than 25 people to “like” your business page, you can get a custom URL from Facebook for the page. Mine is www.facebook.com/MarshaCollierFanPage (because it was established a long time ago — when they were called “fan” pages). The page is different from my personal page at www.facebook.com/marsha.collier. I try to treat each page differently, encouraging more intimate contact on my personal page, and posting business information and conversation on my business page. Even my pictures are selected for a different style. Unless your political and religious views reflect your core self and/or your business, it’s best to stay away from making public statements on these topics. Whatever you put on the Internet is indexed and recorded somewhere — and your prospective customers may be put off if they do not hold the same views as you. As a subtle touch on my business page, I use an application (see the following figure) called Auction Items (despite the name, the app also posts your fixed-price listings). Applications such as this can only be used on business pages. The application will be listed in the links on the left side of your business page. I find this app gives my items punch, and yet isn’t as “in-your-face” as other marketing programs. You can put it on your page (if Facebook qualifies your page). The publishers of the app also offer other free tools. They enable eBay sellers to embed their listings into their websites by inserting a short HTML code into the website or via a WordPress plug-in. You can learn more about these by visiting eSoftie.com and clicking Products. Another example is my friend (and fellow eBay seller — dnasupplies) Anita Nelson. She has two Facebook pages as well: one personal and one for her business, ModelSupplies. She is also @ModelSupplies on Twitter. For a more detailed explanation of how to best use Twitter and Facebook, you might like Facebook, Twitter & Instagram For Seniors For Dummies (even if you’re not a senior)! Connecting with other sellers on Twitter At this writing, Twitter has 500 million total users (more than 330 million active users) and serves up over 500 million tweets a day. What’s a tweet? Not just a sound effect from a parakeet anymore. Now it’s a short online comment from one Twitter user to another; tweets often flit back and forth between users who follow each other. Tweets are not only comments but also other quick notes that can be quotes, links to news stories, and the occasional self-promotion. If you like to chat, comment, and read news stories, I’ll bet you’ll like Twitter. You don’t have to be there all day, because when people “talk” to you there, you will see it in your “Notifications” column (you can see that on my Twitter page in the following figure). To answer, you just click the Reply link. You’ll find that your conversations on Twitter will engage you — but only if you engage with your followers. Those who are constantly broadcasting are just trying to build follower numbers — but it’s been proven that this practice will not increase sales. So, if you go to Twitter.com and sign up, you need to give your Twitter stream a name. I suggest that you use your real name — for several solid reasons: Friends will find you easier. If you change businesses down the line, you won’t have to start over with a new name. On the Internet, you are the face of your business — and everything you post is archived somewhere. Your tweets on Twitter are archived in the National Archive (no joke). If it’s good enough for @MichaelDell (founder of Dell), @SteveCase (founder of AOL), and @RichardBranson (founder of Virgin Group), I’d say it’s a good idea for you too. After you sign in, you need to put up a picture and fill out a short bio. The first thing you need to do is put up a picture — preferably yours. People like to see what you look like when they find you on Twitter. Do everyone a favor and describe yourself clearly, as best you can, in the allotted 160 characters. After you fill out all the cyber-paperwork, you’ll see your very own Twitter page. It will be a very blank page. Don’t be sad and lonely — you can begin by following me, @MarshaCollier. Say Hi, and I’ll follow you back. When you visit my Twitter page, you’ll see a tab that, when clicked, reveals Lists that I’ve made of people on Twitter. I’ve made one full of eBay Social Sellers that lists eBay sellers who participate in social media and are fun to follow. Just click on the link. On the list page, just click the link and you will automatically be following everyone on the list. When you see their tweets in your stream, click the Reply link to say hello — or share something interesting. No doubt they will follow you back. To find other people to follow, I suggest that you go to the search box on Twitter. Here you can type keywords that reflect your interests or the items you sell, and you will be presented with a list of accounts who have mentioned this word in their tweets. I put in a search for antiques, clicked the People tab in Results, and found a long list of people with similar interests, shown here. Type in your hobbies and your interests. You’ll find a bunch of people to follow, and your Twitter home page will become far more interesting.

Article / Updated 02-22-2018

Your eBay business requires the same meticulous care for data as any other business. Here are some tips for protecting all the right data and keeping your records safe. Keeping your records and data safe The hazard of not backing up your computer is a tired subject. Whenever you hear someone talking about their latest computer crash, all the person can do is stare blankly into the distance and say, “I lost everything!” You’ve probably heard this cry from others (if you’ve not uttered it yourself): “If only I’d backed up my files!” What about a natural disaster? It can happen, you know. Reasonably priced, secure backup can be accomplished in the cloud these days through Microsoft OneDrive, Google, Amazon, or any one of a group of providers for a reasonable cost. Consider these — along with a backup drive on premises — for your own peace of mind. Hopefully, you haven’t befallen a natural disaster or computer crash. It’s a horrible thing to go through. What’s another horrible thing? A tax audit: It can make you feel like jumping off a cliff if you’ve been filing your hard documentation with the shoebox method. (You know, one box for 2011, one for 2012, and so on.) Filing or scanning your receipts and PDF backup documentation in an organized, easy-to-find format can pay off in future savings of time (and nerves). (Again: Back up these PDFs to the cloud.) Backing up your data You don’t necessarily need to go out and buy backup software (though it’s a good idea). But, you do need to back up the eBay transaction records and other data on your computer somehow. Consider the following points when choosing how to back up the data you can’t afford to lose: Regularly back up at least your data folder onto an external hard drive. Backup software can make your backup chores less chorelike. Most packages enable you to run backups unattended and automatically, so you don’t have to remember anything. (External hard drives come with their own sync software to handle this for you.) Backup software doesn’t have to be expensive; System Image is included in Windows and will back up your entire hard drive. If you really need software, search Google with the term backup Windows. This query returned more results than you could ever need! Consider making monthly backups of the info from your PayPal account. You can download the data directly from the site and can archive several years’ worth on the drive. Saving your backup paperwork Some business records are still paper, and until such time as the entire world is electronic, you’ll have some paperwork to store unless you scan in every document. You can buy manila file folders almost anywhere. If you don’t have filing cabinets, office supply stores sell cardboard boxes that are the perfect size to hold file folders. An external hard drive is a must for backup documentation as well. And just what do you need to scan and file in your new organized office? Here are a few important suggestions: Equipment receipts and warranties: You never know when some important piece of your office hardware will go on the fritz, and you’ll need the receipt and warranty information so you can get it fixed. Also, the receipts are backup documentation for your bookkeeping program’s data. Automobile expenses: Gasoline receipts, parking receipts, repairs — anything and everything to do with your car. You use your car in your eBay business (for example, to deliver packages to the post office for shipping), don’t you? Postal receipts: Little slips of paper that you get from the post office. If you use an online postage service, print a postage report once a month and file it in your filing cabinets or boxes as well. Merchandise receipts: Merchandise purchased for resale on eBay. Documentation of all the money you spend. Licenses and legal stuff: Important! Keep an active file of anything legal; you will no doubt have to lay hands on this information at the oddest moment. It’s reassuring to know where it is. Insurance information: Policies and insurance proposals should all be kept close by. You can probably think of some more things that can benefit from a little bit of organization. When you need the information quickly, and you can find it without breaking a sweat, you’ll be glad you kept things organized.

Article / Updated 02-22-2018

QuickBooks can give you up-to-the-minute reports about the status of your eBay business and keep track of everything — including payroll and sales-tax liability — in the background. Here are a few things that are great about using QuickBooks to streamline an online business: Inventory reports: As you purchase inventory, aside from deducting the money from your checking account and expensing your merchandise account, QuickBooks adds the purchased merchandise to your inventory. Every time you sell an item, QuickBooks deducts the item from your inventory. This image shows you a part of an inventory report that was pulled out of the program. You can see how valuable the data is. With a click of the mouse, you can see how much is left in stock and the average number of items sold per week. Sales-tax tracking: Depending on how the program is set up (based on your own state sales tax laws), you can request a report that has all your taxable and nontaxable sales. The report calculates the amount of sales tax you owe. You can print this report for backup information of your sales-tax payments to the state. Payroll: Whether you use the Enhanced Payroll Service to prepare your payroll or input the deductions yourself, QuickBooks posts the appropriate withholdings to their own accounts. When it comes time to pay your employees’ withholding taxes, QuickBooks can generate the federal reporting form (all filled in) for submitting with your payment. Sales reports: QuickBooks gives you a plethora of reports with which you can analyze your sales professionally. One of the great reports is the Sales by Item Summary. This report gives you the following information for every inventoried item you sell, in whatever time period you choose: Quantity sold Total dollar amount sold Percentage of sales represented by each item The average price the item sold for COGS (cost of goods sold) by item Average cost of goods sold by total sales per item Gross profit margin in dollar amounts Gross profit margin expressed as percentage Depending on how you post your transactions, you can analyze your eBay sales, website sales, and brick-and-mortar sales (individually or together). You can also select any date range for your reports.

Article / Updated 02-22-2018

Consider this very important reason to be recognized on eBay: eBay’s Best Match search algorithm weighs every item and every seller. Attaining recognition as a seller who is in business seriously makes a difference in how prominently your listings are displayed on eBay. Joining PowerSeller ranks The ranks of PowerSellers have five levels of membership, depending on your monthly sales. Each PowerSeller tier gives the seller more privileges from eBay. One of the most valuable benefits is that when an issue needs to be addressed with eBay, PowerSellers can access priority customer-service support. PowerSeller Tier Sales Volume Requirements Tier Annual GMS ($) Transactions Bronze $1,000 or 100 Silver $3,000 or 300 Gold $10,000 or 1,000 Platinum $25,000 or 2,500 items Titanium $150,000 or 15,000 items To become a PowerSeller on eBay, you must fulfill the following requirements: Be an active eBay member for at least 90 days. Sell a minimum of $1000 in sales and 100 transactions, over the past 12 months. Buyer Protection cases must have no more than 0.30 percent of transactions result in the eBay Money Back Guarantee and PayPal Purchase Protection cases closed without seller resolution. Maintain at least a 98 feedback percentage in the past 12 months. Keep your eBay account current. Comply with all eBay policies. To obtain or keep PowerSeller status, you must not exceed the following: Bronze level: 4 violations in a 90-day period Silver/Gold levels: 5 violations in a 90-day period Platinum level: 6 violations in a 90-day period Titanium level: 7 violations in a 90-day period Maintain a minimum rating of 4.5 or higher for the past 12 months in all four Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs). Occurrences of 1s and 2s on DSRs with U.S. buyers may not exceed the following rates and counts: Items as described: 3 percent and a count of 3 Communication: 4 percent and a count of 4 Shipping time: 4 percent and a count of 4 Shipping & handling charges: 4 percent and a count of 4 Run your business by upholding eBay’s community values (see the earlier sidebar). PowerSeller eligibility is reviewed every three months. You can track your progress on your Seller Dashboard. Becoming a Top Rated Seller Becoming a PowerSeller is good, but Top Rated Seller status gives you better ranking in searches and more benefits (read on). Top Rated status is reviewed monthly. As a Top Rated Seller, your Feedback profile page will show your ranking. To become a Top Rated Seller on eBay, fulfill the following requirements: Be an active eBay member for at least 90 days. Complete 100 or more transactions with U.S. buyers within the past year. Sell a minimum of $3,000 in annual sales to U.S. buyers. Buyer Protection cases must be less than .5 percent of your total number of transactions with U.S. buyers. Maintain at least a 98 feedback percentage. Keep your eBay account current and comply with all eBay policies. You must have less than 3 percent of your transactions show late shipping. Your defect rate is the percentage of your transactions that close with some violation of the eBay Money Back Guarantee or the PayPal Purchase Protection. No more than .5 percent of your transactions may have one or more defects. Tracking numbers must be uploaded to eBay/PayPal for at least 95 percent of your transactions within your promised Handling Time. 1 Business Day Handling Time. Handling time is measured in business days (Monday through Friday). You must upload tracking information no later than 11:59:59 p.m. Pacific Time the next day. If purchases are made on weekends, tracking must be uploaded Monday before 11:59:29 p.m. Pacific Time. All the above shipping requirements are based on whether your carrier (USPS, FedEx, or UPS) has scanned the package into its system. Sometimes the USPS is lax in this regard. Be sure to ask the person receiving your package to scan it. You can stand there and watch them. Really, it matters. eBay receives this electronic information from the post office and bases your ratings on the scan times and dates. Top Rated Seller eligibility is reviewed every three months. You can track your progress on your Seller Dashboard. Getting highlighted on eBay: Top Rated Plus To align with evolving consumer expectations, eBay updated the Top Rated Seller status to “Plus.” These are the only sellers that receive a badge; the Top Rated Plus seal appears on all these seller’s listings. Also, on the Feedback profile page of all Top Rated Sellers, this recognition is displayed: “Top Rated: Seller with highest buyer ratings.” It isn’t a very big jump to attain “Plus” status after you’re a Top Rated Seller. After you meet the Top Rated Seller requirements, you have to meet only these two additional requirements: One-day handling: Include one-day handling in your listings (meaning you ship within one day of purchase) and post the tracking. Money-back return policy: Offer a money back, 30-day (or longer) return policy. Many sellers find these last two requirements too onerous and don’t even attempt Top Rated Plus status. That’s a bit short sighted. Read on to find out about a benefit that affects your bottom line.

Article / Updated 02-22-2018

Now that eBay has become a world marketplace, a single-page auction or item listing is becoming an increasingly valuable piece of real estate. Millions may view your sale, and the more auctions and fixed-price items that you can list, the better your chance to make a good living. Time is money: You need to post quickly and accurately. Posting auctions, keeping records, cataloging inventory, managing photos, and gathering statistics are all tasks that you can automate. The more your business grows, the more confusing details may become. Automated tools can help you keep it all straight. However, the more paid tools you use, the more expense you may be adding to your business. Always keep your bottom line in mind when evaluating whether to use fee-based software and services — eBay’s beginner Seller Hub is free. You’ll have to perform back office tasks, no matter how few (or how many) listings you’re running. Depending on your personal business style, you may want to automate any or all of the following tasks. You may choose to use a single program, a manual method, or use some features from one program and some from others. Setting up a link to your eBay listings Until you get an eBay Store, set up a link to your listings from your website or blog as a great alternative. That way, visitors to your site can browse your listings directly on eBay. You can produce your own listing gallery without any fancy programs or auction-management software, and at no additional cost. To make a link to your eBay listings without installing fancy scripts, you need to do two things: Test the following URL in your browser, substituting your own User ID in place of the bold italics: www.ebay.com/sch/merchant/yourUserID After checking your link, insert the following HTML into your site to include a link to your eBay sales: <a href="http:// www.ebay.com/sch/merchant/<em>yourUserID</em>"><b>Click <I>here</I> to view <em>YourUserID</em> Gallery</b></a> You can also use this in your emails to customers to show them just what’s for sale at any given moment. Automating end-of-auction email If you want to set up emails to be sent automatically after an auction ends, you must use a software application. The software should download your final auction results, generate the email, and let you preview the email before sending it out. Many online sites send out winner confirmation emails automatically when an auction is over. Keeping inventory Many eBay sellers depend on the notebook method — crossing off items as they’re sold. If that works for you, great. Others prefer to use an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of inventory. Most of the management packages handle inventory for you. They automatically deduct an item from inventory when you launch an auction or when the item ships. You have your choice of handling inventory directly on your computer or keeping your inventory online with a service that’s accessible from any computer, wherever you are. QuickBooks is also a good source for bookkeeping tasks. Composing HTML for listings Fancy descriptions are nice, but fancy doesn’t make the item sell any better. Competitive pricing and low (free?) shipping rates work in your favor — especially with Best Match search. Also, a clean listing with as many photos as necessary goes a long way toward selling your product. Some software and services offer a large selection of templates you can use to gussy up your descriptions. The use of simple HTML doesn’t slow the loading of your page, but the addition of miscellaneous images (decorative backgrounds and animations) can make viewing your item a distasteful chore. Don’t fret; you can make do by repeatedly incorporating two or three simple HTML templates, cutting and pasting new text as necessary. Most listing programs offer you several template choices. It’s a good idea to stick with a few that are similar, giving a standardized look to your listings — which is just the way major companies give a standardized look to their advertising and identity. Your customers will get used to the look of your auctions and feel comfortable each time they see one. SeaMonkey Composer (a free program from the people who brought the Firefox Internet browser) is a good program for generating for auction descriptions. An important line of code that everyone seems to forget is the one that inserts a picture into your auction description. You need (due to eBay policy) to embed any images that have text you inserted within your description. These types of images are no longer allowed as your main eBay pictures. On the Sell an Item page, click the tab to view in HTML mode, and insert the following line below where you’d like your image to appear in your description: <img src="http://www.<strong><em>yourwebsiteserver.com/imagename.jpg</em></strong>"> Be sure to substitute your own server and image name. If you want to put one picture above another, type and then repeat the HTML line with a different image name. Scheduling listings for bulk upload If you're a store owner and want to schedule a future automated launch of your listings without incurring eBay’s $.10 fee, you must use an online management service. Checking out When someone wins or buys an item, eBay’s checkout integrates directly with PayPal. If you’re closing less than 100 sales a day, that’s all you need. eBay and PayPal will also send an email to you and the buyer so that you can arrange for payment. A personalized winner’s notification email can easily contain a link to pay, making a checkout service unnecessary. Printing shipping labels Printing shipping labels without printing postage can be the beginning of a laborious two-step process. You could try out some alternatives: Endicia (for Mac and Windows), Stamps (Windows), and eBay for all operating systems — all of which can print your labels and postage in one step Generating customized reports Sales reports, ledgers, and tax information are all important reports that you should have in your business. Online services and software supply different flavors of these reports. PayPal allows you to download your sales data into a format compatible with QuickBooks. You can also choose to download your data in Excel spreadsheet format. PayPal reports are full of intensely detailed information about your sales and deposits. Putting this information in a standard accounting software program on a regular basis can make your year-end calculations easier to bear.