Learn From 15 Ebay PowerSellers How They Raked In Over $11,726,200 Last Year Alone

Thousands of people are scammed by Ebay sellers

… but there’s one thing they didn’t do: look at the feedback.

Feedback is critical when buying on Ebay.  Why?  It’s a review done by each customer that orders from the seller.  If the seller isn’t honest, the customer posts negative feedback.  Conversely, if the seller provides great customer service, the customer gives high marks.  A customer appreciates great customer service but hates being scammed — the first place to find that is in the feedback.

How To Use Feedback
The best way to find scams is by clicking the feedback button.  It doesn’t actually say feedback button — it’s a number by a star, next to the seller’s name.  You should find this by the seller’s name on a listing in parathesis.  Click on it to see their Feedback Profile.  You’ll need to look for three things:

- Positive Feedback percentage
- Recent Feedback Ratings
- A tab that says Feedback as a seller

Let’s use a fake store for an example.  Say you’re trying to order from Jenny’s Wedding Shoppe and want to evaluate her feedback.  You want to order from her but heard she’s not as truthful as she says.  Where to start?

First, look at her Positive Feedback percentage.  This is on her Feedback Profile, in bold font under her name.  It’s listed under Feedback Score.  Jenny’s positive score is 99.1%.  The highest percentage is 100%, equaling no negative ratings.  Jenny’s percentage isn’t 100%, so she’s had some negative feedback.

Now look at the Recent Feedback Ratings box.  It should be next to her Positive Feedback percentage.  Look at her ratings listed under 1 month.  These are the recent ratings from the last month.

Her positive ratings are 1,619.  Her neutral ratings are 29 and her negative ratings are 26.  So she’s had 55 non-positive feedbacks, which you need to investigate.  This is where you read the Feedback as a seller tab.  This should be below the Recent Feedback Ratings box.  Make sure the tab is on Feedback as a seller and not Feedback as a buyer.

Now look for the neutral and negative ratings from the past month.  If the seller sells a lot of products, this could take up to an hour to read.

Note what the neutral and negative feedback says.  In the case of Jenny, most of the negative complaints are about not receiving their item.  The neutral complaints are about no communication.  Doesn’t look good for Jenny, does it?

Now I want you to look at the positive feedback.  In Jenny’s case, they say they had great communication and fast shipping.

Should you buy or go somewhere else?  Here’s how you decide.

- Use google.  If the seller has a store or sells many products, google helps.  People might write about the seller on different forums.  If people write mostly positive things, go for it.  If it’s mostly about negative things, don’t.

- Don’t go for anything under 97%.  If their percentage is under that, you need to shop elsewhere.  It’s high for some shoppers, but this is how to safely avoid any scams.

Let’s say you googled Jenny’s Wedding Shoppe.  A group of people on various forums say they love Jenny’s shop, although she’s lazy.  One person says they received their item two weeks later than they should have.  You now know two things about Jenny: she’s lazy (hence why some people didn’t receive their product) and she doesn’t mail things on time.  According to the rules, it’s safe to order from Jenny, but don’t expect to receive it on time.

Tips For Avoiding Scams
Here are general tips for avoiding scams using a seller’s feedback profile:

- Positive ratings shouldn’t be lower than 97%.  If it’s lower than that, shop elsewhere.

- Pay attention to what the positive ratings say.  Is the seller a great communicator?  Does the seller offer great products?

- See what customers have said from the past month, paying attention to the negative and neutral ratings.  Do they receive their product on time?  Is the seller mean?  Are the products not as good as they look?

- Google the seller to see what pops up.  People are more honest outside of Ebay.

Remember, if it’s below 97%, shop elsewhere.  If there are too many comments about bad products or very lazy shipping — and that’s something you want — don’t give the seller your money.  You’ll avoid a lot of pain by not being scammed out of your money.

Learn From 15 Ebay PowerSellers How They Raked In Over $11,726,200 Last Year Alone

Ebay Beginners: New to EBay?

Getting started as a seller on eBay is really not very hard. Even old folks who are new to computers and the internet have little trouble understanding the process. So go ahead and register. I recommend a user name that is catchy. If you plan to sell in one general category, perhaps your user ID can include a reference to the product or products you plan to put up for auction.

Before you actually list an item for sale on the site, spend a little time browsing. That will allow you to be familiar with how to navigate around the site. Read a few listings within the category you plan to use. If a description is appealing to you, check the sellers feedback to see if he has a track record of success. If so, his or her wordings can become patterns for your future listings.

When you list an item, make sure that you are very clear about what you are offering. Describe the item as fully as possible. Include any information about the item you would want to know if you were considering a purchase instead of a sale. Also honesty is imperative. If you hide details or misrepresent information you may make a sale, but you will not have a repeat customer.

It is not necessary that your products be new merchandise. That is one of the beauties of eBay. People come to the site knowing that many of the offerings are used merchandise.

Your first attempts at selling on the auction site can be things around the house that you are no longer being used. Old sports memorabilia or equipment sells well. Old dolls or toys, or books or comics are good possible products to list for auction. If you have something novel, it may command a good price. But even if there a thousand identical items, yours may sell. People like to have a choice. Give them a reason to buy yours.

Make the price a nickel less than the competition. Or charge less for shipping and handling. Just be sure your costs of shipping are covered by the amount you charge your buyer.

Be sure you ship in a timely matter. Some people do not like to ship until checks they have received from the purchaser have cleared the bank. That is fine, as long as you let your plan be know in your listing. I have had over 1500 transactions without having received one bad check. Not everyone has had the same experience, so determine your shipping policy on what makes you comfortable. But make it your practice to ship as promptly as you advertise in your listing. You want to build a positive reputation, and you do that one transaction at a time. So make every transaction your utmost effort.

Free Site Promotion

Now that you have your website up and running, what next? The site is not going to do you any good if you can not get it out there for the world to see. If your financial resources are thin, you can begin advertising by using some of the many free advertising avenues available on the internet. The more exposure you can get, the more your website is likely to be successful. It is going to take some time and a lot of patience, but you can make it happen. It just will not happen overnight so don’t expect it to.

There are many online classified ad sites which offer free advertising with many different categories to choose from. If you have products or services to sell, this is a great place to do it. The classifieds can be covered in one area of the world or worldwide if that is what you want. Many good reports have come from satisfied webmasters who have used the classified advertising method. 

FFA advertising is also known as free For all emails. This option of advertising will blast your advertising email out to many people’s email boxes. One problem with this is that many of the emails go unread because when other people sign up for the FFA advertising, they give an email address that they hardly ever use or the emails go into the bulk mail box so is never read.

With the free exchange sites, you simply exchange your site link with other site’s link. In other words, each time you view another website, yours is shown to others. This takes time but it can be worth it in the long run. You can also put the exchange site as your homepage and every time you start the internet your site is shown to others and you will see one of theirs.
 
Many websites will offer free banner exchange and show your banner if you put theirs on your site. Also some of the exchange sites offer to let you place your banner on their site even if you
are just advertising the affiliate programs you are a member of and do not have a website of your own.

Surf exchange sites also offer a way to make some money. When you sign up and upgrade, your investment makes a daily interest on the amount you invested. You also advertise your website by surfing other websites, usually in about 20 second increments. You are required to surf a certain amount (varies by site) of sites before you earn your daily interest.

There are some free websites which will blast your ad out to a different number of search
engines and the ads will be there for a certain amount of time. This time limit varies with the website offering it, and in most cases, if you upgrade you will get even more exposure. Again, it depends on the site so the amount you receive will depend on the site..

There are other ways to advertise on the internet but this is a few to give you an idea and maybe get you started.

Learn From 15 Ebay PowerSellers How They Raked In Over $11,726,200 Last Year Alone

PayPal, an Absolute Must for eBayers

It does not matter whether you are buying or selling on eBay, having a PayPal account will make the experience much more pleasurable.  PayPal is an eBay owned company that provides for instant payment of auction items.  Many sellers now offer PayPal as the only form of payment they will accept.  Many buyers will overlook eBay auction ads that do not accept PayPal.  Why is this?

1. PayPal payments are fast and easy.  Once you have set up a PayPal account, a few clicks will allow you to pay for the item you have won within minutes after the auction closes. 

2. For the seller, it allows them to receive their money and ship faster.  Many times the buyer will have their item within days instead of weeks.

3. Buyers receive a sense of security using PayPal to pay for their item.  They do not have to divulge any financial information to the seller, only a shipping address.

4. Costs for a PayPal account are lower than a regular merchant account for sellers.  For buyers, sending a payment is free.

5. Each eBay transaction paid through PayPal is insured.  If the buyer doesn’t receive the item, or if it is not as advertised or damaged, getting their money back is a simple process.

6. Invoices to buyers are sent automatically, decreasing the workload for the seller.

7. PayPal has agreements with both UPS and the United States Post Office, which allows sellers to pay shipping costs directly from their PayPal account.  Labels for either shipping method can be printed straight from the received payment pages.

8. All eBay fees can be automatically deducting from your PayPal account.  This eliminates having to remember to pay an extra invoice monthly.

9. Sellers who do not offer PayPal as a form of payment often lose sales.  Many eBay buyers prefer to use this form of payment and will skip over auction ads, no matter how wonderful the product, and buy from a different seller even if the item costs a bit more.

10. PayPal is not limited to use on eBay alone.  Many online businesses use PayPal as their form of online payments.  By having a PayPal account, buyers can purchase items from vendors all across the World Wide Web.

Setting up a PayPal account is simple and easy.  It only requires an email address and either a bank account or credit card.  Once everything is confirmed, shopping at eBay or other online venue becomes simplified.  For buyers, there are no costs associated with the account.  Buyers can also receive limited amounts of cash into their account and not incur fees.

Heavy sellers on eBay will want to consider upgrading their personal PayPal accounts to either Premier or Business accounts.  While these do have fees associated with receiving funds, the costs are competitive and many times lower than regular online merchant accounts.  Upgrading also allows the user to receive a debit card that gives them instant access to their funds.

It is easy to see why eBay encourages the use of PayPal for all types of auctions on their site.  Once users begin to see the benefits of having a PayPal account, it quickly becomes a no-brainer to understand why.  PayPal makes buying and selling on eBay an efficient and enjoyable way to shop.

Pros & Cons of PPC or Pay Per Click Advertising

All business owners and webmasters would agree about the value of their web sites and the need to increase the number of site visitors.  When it comes to whether to use PPC, or pay per click marketing for their sites, there’s usually a great deal of disagreement.  Whether to use PPC or not is an individual business decision that should be based on accurate information.  Here’s what you need to know to make an informed choice.

Click fraud is real, but don’t let it stop you.  Too many people have decided against PPC because they fear “click fraud.”  This is a real problem with this type of marketing, but it doesn’t have any significant impact on the average advertiser.  The stories of competitors running up clicks to drive up an advertiser’s costs are mostly urban myths.  Few have the time or care enough to do it, and Google and Yahoo track the IP address of clicks and refund if multiple clicks from the same IP address follow each other too closely.  When you see comments about click fraud, check to see if they’re first-hand accounts or the much more likely “I heard about” rumors.

Don’t blame lack of sales on PPC.  You’ve seen it written in a forum somewhere.  The statement “PPC isn’t worth it.  I tried it and got lots of traffic but no sales.”  First, you must have a product or service that someone wants to buy.  Then you need to create content on your site that matches the information the searcher wanted in the first place.  Bring them to what they’re looking for quickly, in a click or two.  Give them the information they want and an easy way to order your product or service right on that page.  If your service or product has a longer sale cycle, then you’re likely looking for a lead to work with for a period of time.  The same practice applies.  Get them to the information they want quickly, and give them a reason to request more information or a free trial in order to capture their contact information for follow-up.

Pay per Click seems “way too expensive.”  PPC can be very expensive.  However, if your product or service is sellable on the internet, then there’s probably a way to market with PPC economically.  A lot of the expense is related to the competitive nature of your product and how many advertisers are using PPC.  But there’s a wild card in both Google and Yahoo’s systems that can stack the deck in your favor.  Both of these systems reward higher click-through ratios (CTR).  CTR is the percentage of people that click to your site after seeing your ad.  You’ll have to start out bidding high enough to get in the top five or so positions to get your ad exposed enough for clicks.  However, if your ad experiences a higher CTR than the one above it consistently, then you’ll start to see your position getting better while your cost goes down!  That’s right, better position at lower cost per click.  The search engine’s goal is relevant information to the searcher.  Your better CTR tells the engine that your ad must be saying something that searchers like.

When it comes to keywords, there’s more than meets the eye.  Too many new PPC advertisers immediately seize on the commonly used keywords and phrases for their product or service.  Well, that’s just what their competitors are doing too!  There’s a phrase coined for another method that works, and that’s “using the long tail.”  This refers to using key phrases that contain the more popular words, but expand on them.  A simplistic example might be using “single room humidifiers” instead of “humidifiers.”  This results in less competitive phrases that cost less.  True, there won’t be as many clicks on thes phrases, but they’ll be a lot less expensive.  You can also get so many of these “long tail” phrases going that you’ll get plenty of quality traffic at a lower cost.

If it seems like there are only pros and no cons when it comes to PPC, that’s not the whole truth.  However, it usually depends on the web site and the ability of the business person to implement pay per click effectively.  It’s definitely not for those who want to throw money at marketing to see what sticks.  There is a great deal more up-front planning required for PPC than for placing a newspaper or magazine ad.  And there are those that say those dont’ work either.

Should I Market my Site with SEO or PPC? –
It Depends on Your Web Site

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, is the design of a web site and the content on it in such a way that it will gain good positioning in web searches.  PPC, or Pay Per Click marketing, pays for good position in searches.  Both require that the web site owner determine the keywords and key phrases that searchers will likely use to find products or services related to those on the site.  So, which is better, SEO or PPC?  Many times it’s not an either/or decision.

SEO is definitely less expensive.  As you’re not paying for the clicks of the visitors that find you due to your success at search engine optimization, it is obviously a good long term solution.  That’s what it will be, a solution that develops over time.  It takes months to years to get the content of a web site developed properly, a good rating for your site as a whole, and the search engines making frequent visits to index your site content.  However, this should be the goal of every web site developer and owner.  It’s well worth the time and effort spent.  More dollars move to internet related purchases every day.  Implement good SEO practices now, and consistently apply them for excellent returns in the future.

PPC definitely brings faster results.  New web sites in particular stand to benefit greatly from pay per click advertising.  Once the account is set up, keywords and phrases entered and bids placed, traffic is usually immediate.  Whether it’s Google, Yahoo or one of the smaller players, they are set up to immediately display ads and traffic can begin to flow to a site within minutes.  Of course, getting a visitor to click to your site is only one piece of the web success puzzle.  Once they arrive, it’s absolutely critical that the landing page, or page on which the arrive, contain the information for which they were originally searching.  Otherwise, your paid-for visitor will be gone, sometimes in only a couple of seconds.

For many sites, they work great together.  As a site matures in its development and gets better at SEO, positions in searches will improve.  While this is going on, starting a well-designed PPC program can carry the site.  Business will be generated by the PPC while the SEO is developed and improved.  Doing it this way, your PPC budget can be lowered gradually to keep pace with the better SEO.  As you get more free clicks, you can cut what you’re spending in pay per click.

There’s also the human element at work.  While some people say that they won’t click on the paid links, just as many can be found that will say they use them first.  The thought process here is that, since the clicks are costing the advertiser, there is a greater chance of locating the product, service or information quickly through the paid ads.  Whatever your personal preference, just know that both types are out there, so an ongoing PPC/SEO combination might be the ticket to success.

Looking at PPC and SEO as different but possibly complimentary marketing methods for a web site is a good idea.  It is rarely a decision of one or the other.  Those who don’t do PPC just because it costs money may be losing huge amounts of business while they struggle to get their site properly positioned with SEO.