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"EBAY SELLING" EZINE

March 30 , 2006

In this issue:
* "Best Of eBay II" Begins Tomorrow
* Why Do We Send Out Two Emails?
* Would You Like eBay To Pay You $1,000?
* 20% Of Internet Users Fall For Spam Schemes
* Do You Use eBay Counters On Your Auctions?
* Help Stop eBay Junk Listings
* What's Selling On eBay?
* From Our Inspiration Department

"Best Of eBay II" Begins Tomorrow

On Tuesday, April 11, at 9AM Eastern time, "The Best Of eBay II" will go up for sale. It's unique because it will only be available for one week. The eBay expert list includes:

- Tim Knox
- Jim Cockrum
- Adam Ginsberg
- Skip McGrath
- Sydney Johnston
- Mike Enos
- Jason James
- Robbin Tungett
- Joel Peterson
- Terry Gibbs
- Lynn Dralle
- Barbara Ling

This is a "who's who" list of powerhouse experts and marketers who have been very successful in generating profits on eBay and how have they done it?

By combining the awesome power of:

(1) eBay auctions and
(2) smart marketing strategies

But you don't have long to check it out, because the doors will promptly close at midnight Monday, April 17th Eastern Daylight Time (that's 11pm Central / 10pm Mountain / 9pm
Pacific).

http://ebaybest.auctionknowhow.com

Why Do We Send Out Two Emails?

Recently a reader asked why we send two emails: this one and a follow up tomorrow, a "just in case spam filters stopped your copy ..." one. He reasoned that if he didn't get the first one, he wouldn't get the second one, either.

But, that's not necessarily true. Many folks today have spam filters on their email accounts and spam filters definitely don't like long emails. On the other hand, they're very willing to let smaller ones through unscathed.

Hence, two emails.

Would You Like eBay To Pay You $1,000?

Would you like for eBay to pay you $1,000 - in merchandise, not cash? Strictly a rhetorical question, of course. I already know you're smart - you're reading this ezine, aren't you? :-)

Seriously, eBay is giving away 10 prizes, each worth $1,000. What do you have to do to win? Write an eBay Guide.

Some of the topics are quite ... interesting:

Hand Dyed and/or Painted Yarn
How To Collect Hasbro Toys
Mazzer Coffee Grinders
Native American Bracelets
Displaying a Quilt as Artwork
An Introduction to American Crochet Patterns
How to Buy & Sell Roman Catholic Nun Items & Artifacts
Vintage and Antique Kitchen Collectibles
A Guide To The Game of Bingo
Casio Atomic Wave Ceptor Watches (Radio Controlled)
Tips for Collecting Two-Colored Ping Eye Golf Balls
What to consider when buying a rubber duckie?

A rubber duckie???

eBay has been seriously encouraging members to write reviews and guides, which is a good thing. I'm always more eager to buy based on the reviews of ordinary people - meaning those who have nothing to gain by writing glowing reviews - or not - of a product.

What is the difference between a review and a guide? As defined by eBay:

* Reviews enable eBay members to rate and share their opinions about products.
* Guides enable eBay members to share their expertise on any topic or category.

http://pages.ebay.com/learn_more.html

---------------------------
How to write a guide
---------------------------

According to eBay, here are the important parts of a Guide:

1. Title.
Obviously, you don't want to be cutesy here. Flatly state the topic of your guide.

1. Text.
Guides have a 20,000 character limit.

3. Add links to eBay searches and other eBay pages (optional).
For example, if you have written about vintage toys, you can add a link to an eBay search for vintage toys:

4. Add pictures (optional).

5. Enter "tags".
If you're wondering what tags are, (like I did), it seems to be eBayese for 'keywords'. What keywords would someone use to find a subject you choose to write about?

---------------------------
Contest rules
---------------------------

Contest time: 12:00:00 AM Pacific Time (PT) on April 1, 2006 and ends 11:59:59 PM PT on June 9, 2006 .

Who can enter: "legal residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia, 18 years of age or older, who are confirmed registered members of www.ebay.com". Sorry to all you folks who don't live in the US.

The winners will be chosen:

#1 4/01 - 4/07
#2 4/08 - 4/14
#3 4/15 - 4/21
#4 4/22 - 4/28
#5 4/29 - 5/05
#6 5/06 - 5/12
#7 5/13 - 5/19
#8 5/20 - 5/26
#9 5/27 - 6/02
#10 6/03 - 6/09

I don't know this, but I'm guessing that the earlier you enter, the better chance you have to win since most folks will put it off or take more time with their entries, in the hope of winning. So the competition might be a little less early on.

Check out guides that have already been written. In that way you:

* Don't submit repeat subject matter that has already been done

* Can see other guides and see how they're done, giving you a sort of template to go by

At this moment, there are 10,130 eBay guides. With this contest, that number is likely to increase substantially.

http://search.reviews.ebay.com/_W0QQuqtZg

20% Of Internet Users Fall For Spam Schemes

According to eWeek magazine, a shocking 20% of the honest folks that receive spam schemes fall for the despicable junk, in spite of all the warmings to the contrary. Here is an actual crooked email that pretends to be from eBay. Have you seen one like this?

heartnsoulauctions has informed us that they have not yet received your payment for the following item: Harley Davidson Aftermarket Silver Face Gauge Kit(#4604409636)

No action is being taken against your account at this time. However, it is important to remember that when you bid on or buy an item you are agreeing to a contract between you and the seller. If the situation isn't resolved within 7 days of this reminder, you may receive an Unpaid Item strike under eBay's Unpaid Item Policy. ("Unpaid Item Policy" = live link in original email.If you don't respond by Apr-12-2006 you may receive an Unpaid Item strike.Remember, repeated Unpaid Item strikes may result in your suspension from eBay.

Most Unpaid Item disputes can be resolved through direct communicatio! n between the buyer and seller, and we encourage you to work with your trading partner to reach a resolution.

Really disgusting stuff. There are inexperienced users who believe this garbage and fear for the safety of their eBay account and supply these crooks with their information. Also according to eWeek, the vast majority of this stinking stuff comes from the former Soviet Union, mostly authored by the Russian mafia. Apparently they kidnap the family of programmers and force them to create phony programs or the safety of their family is in jeopardy.

Do You Use eBay Counters On Your Auctions?

If you use eBay counters, you should know that a change might be taking place soon.

Since 2000, eBay has been offering free unique web hit counters to its customers via Andale. There have been two contracts with Andale and the second one will expire in June of this year. It seems pretty clear that Andale's access to eBay users is at an end because of developments on eBay Australia.

According to eBay:

"In the next few weeks, eBay will begin offering our own counter free of charge that sellers can add to their listings. This new optional eBay counter will replace Andale’s counter and will track the number of times a listing is viewed. Counters can be made visible to everyone, or sellers can use our new "Hidden Counter" option, which displays only to the seller.

You will be able to add the eBay counter to your new listings through any selling tool. Once the eBay counters are available, any listing already running with an Andale counter will keep the Andale version – you will not need to change it until you relist the item."

Often eBay experiments with changes on the sites of other countries before implementing them into eBay USA, which is its big money maker.

Is there any point in using counters?

Certainly. To maximize our eBay earnings we need to improve what we're doing and how can we do that if we don't have any information on which to base our listings? Counters are a valuable feedback tool and should be kept hidden, IMHO. It's nobody else's business how many people look at your auctions. In fact, such information can give valuable clues to your competitors.

So is this change 'good' or "bad' for us sellers? It might make it more convenient to log in to your results. I am presuming that you can access your traffic via your "My eBay" panel. That will save us an extra trip to Andale, so I suppose the effect will be positive.

Help Stop eBay Junk Listings

Every eBay user can directly help stop eBay scams with a new "Report This Item" option at the bottom of every eBay auction.

With all the millions of eBay auctions, it's impossible for eBay to police them all, even though they reportedly have hundreds of employees to do just that. So eBay relies on its users to help it with this garguantan job.

Naturally, it's always been possible to report an auction but now it's easier to help stop eBay scams with a report button at the bottom of every auction listing. The button is at the bottom of the page, directly after the "Ready to buy?" section.

Is this a 100% positive action? No. There are people on eBay who seem to spend their days roaming the site looking for any kind of infraction to report. And there are those who are envious of the competition who small-mindedly report them on a constant basis. Those folks must be rubbing their hands in glee.

Still, the positive benefits outweigh the negative ones and hopefully this will make auctions safer for everyone. That is the eBay intent, anyway.

What's Selling On eBay?

Recently, we've written a lot ot articles about what's selling at auction on eBay and some of the results have truly surprised me. Of course, no one can know everything about what's selling on eBay - even eBay!

Did you know ...

* That folks will buy shower curtains with pictures of goofy looking monkeys on them? Yes, not even monkeys that look real, but really silly looking ones - kind of like Alfred E. Newmann in fur.

* That the Fendi "spybag" was the purse-of-the-year (didn't even know there WAS such a thing!) in 2005 but demand apparently hasn't slowed down at all

* That Ugg and Nine West boots sell even in the summer? When it's 90+ degrees outside? What ARE those kids thinking? ('Comfort above all!' is my personal rallying cry. :-)

* That pet drinking fountains can command large prices on eBay. I love my cats but they're just going to have to tough it out with 'still' water.

From Our Inspiration Department