ARTICLE DISCUSSION: Ebay selling tricks

Savvy_Shopper_6

This is my first post so apologies if this is the wrong place to raise this. I've just read the (very useful) ebay selling tricks article and noticed that Martin advises creating an email address solely for use on Freecycle due to the vast amount of emails received. I'm a member of Freecycle and, yes you DO receive alot of emails, but it is possible to request to stop receiving the emails but remain a member. Its ideal. I definitely recommend the site - far better than several trips to the landfill!

devizes18193

Savvy_Shopper wrote: »

This is my first post so apologies if this is the wrong place to raise this. I've just read the (very useful) ebay selling tricks article and noticed that Martin advises creating an email address solely for use on Freecycle due to the vast amount of emails received. I'm a member of Freecycle and, yes you DO receive alot of emails, but it is possible to request to stop receiving the emails but remain a member. Its ideal. I definitely recommend the site - far better than several trips to the landfill!

i think you can do it via the yahoo groups page , or if you use outlook or outlook express you can set up rules to filter the mails so offerd and wanted could be in different folders and easier to sort

codger

I see that this latest eBay promotion by MSE -- and Gawd knows why: doesn't the money-grabbing, scammer-ridden eBay get enough free publicity as it is? -- now includes a promotion for Auctiva.

Again: why? Has the person who waxed lyrical about this bizarre American "service" actually used it in recent times? Evidently not. So here's the warning MSE should've run in the first place:

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go anywhere near Auctiva.

Why? Because you don't need it. And your prospective buyers don't really need it, either. . . unless they're looking to screw you over because you were daft enough to install all the default settings as a result of falling for Auctiva's soft-touch line "please don't uncheck this option because otherwise we may not be able to keep Auctiva free".

And the price of "keeping Auctiva free"?

Well, how about allowing any and every eBay user to click your listing to see how many times your item has been viewed. . . and how many eBayers are watching it. . . and therefore work out what the likely level of demand / likely final price is for your item.

I cannot, offhand, conceive of a single, more stupid idea than that. Yet Auctiva thinks otherwise. In fact, Auctiva thinks it's downright brilliant. Which tends to beg the question: if that's what Auctiva thinks is in the best interests of eBay sellers, then those sellers need Auctiva like Custer needed more Indians.

Way back when, Auctiva was fine. Nowadays it thinks it's in a branch of world entertainment and you're the clown on centre-stage. Your listings also run the risk of looking downright absurd to the wider world: Auctiva actually wants to incorporate some kind of online game within your listing, unless you uncheck the install option.

And unchecking all those options -- if you're a newbie -- will take Gawd knows how long: not only the defaults about P&P (non applicable in the UK), insurance (non applicable in the UK), The Game To Entertain Your Prospective Buyers (yeah, right, that'll really impress UK buyers), but also the Auctiva check-out (no, no, no, no.)

Auctiva's scrolling marquee of 'my other items' may still be OK but really, if you've half a brain, you'll incorporate text in all your listings to the effect that you have other similar and / or interesting listings also running on eBay.

An MSE unqualified recommendation of Auctiva really does make me wonder if MSE should be spending just a little more time on research and perhaps a little less time on reportage. . .

rwgray

Many eBay sellers start off with listings that are much too short, then with experience they add more detail, and usually with bitter experience they start to addtheir own little provisos about payment, item descriptions, communications, packaging, shipping and insurance - and negative feedback!

So they end up with every listing a mile long, using every colour of the rainbow in their text and backgrounds, too many fonts, etc...

When it gets to the stage that I simply will not waste my time reading the listing, I know it is time for the seller to de-clutter!

LESS IS MORE, as they say.

I find that 100% positive feedback and a no-quibble guarantee does most of the selling for me...

Rich.x

jamtart6

I bought Trainspotting for £4 on ebay, sold it for £15.50 - what a rush!! I was absolutely MADE UP!!

Just like to say I've sold lots of 'junk' on eBay, and most of it doesn't sell for more than £3 including p+p and it doesn't half add up. Yes its a hassle sometimes, time consuming sometimes, but ITS MONEY!!!

I've been flogging my junk in the hope of covering the cost of all my birthday and xmas gifts this year with ebay money/vouchers/survey money have a look on the Special Occasions board for our thread!

Up to now I have earnt back £230 more than I have spent on presents Jan-April

jacksons_mum

codger wrote: »

I see that this latest eBay promotion by MSE -- and Gawd knows why: doesn't the money-grabbing, scammer-ridden eBay get enough free publicity as it is? -- now includes a promotion for Auctiva.

Again: why? Has the person who waxed lyrical about this bizarre American "service" actually used it in recent times? Evidently not. So here's the warning MSE should've run in the first place:

Unless you know exactly what you're doing, don't go anywhere near Auctiva.

Why? Because you don't need it. And your prospective buyers don't really need it, either. . . unless they're looking to screw you over because you were daft enough to install all the default settings as a result of falling for Auctiva's soft-touch line "please don't uncheck this option because otherwise we may not be able to keep Auctiva free".

And the price of "keeping Auctiva free"?

Well, how about allowing any and every eBay user to click your listing to see how many times your item has been viewed. . . and how many eBayers are watching it. . . and therefore work out what the likely level of demand / likely final price is for your item.

I cannot, offhand, conceive of a single, more stupid idea than that. Yet Auctiva thinks otherwise. In fact, Auctiva thinks it's downright brilliant. Which tends to beg the question: if that's what Auctiva thinks is in the best interests of eBay sellers, then those sellers need Auctiva like Custer needed more Indians.

Way back when, Auctiva was fine. Nowadays it thinks it's in a branch of world entertainment and you're the clown on centre-stage. Your listings also run the risk of looking downright absurd to the wider world: Auctiva actually wants to incorporate some kind of online game within your listing, unless you uncheck the install option.

And unchecking all those options -- if you're a newbie -- will take Gawd knows how long: not only the defaults about P&P (non applicable in the UK), insurance (non applicable in the UK), The Game To Entertain Your Prospective Buyers (yeah, right, that'll really impress UK buyers), but also the Auctiva check-out (no, no, no, no.)

Auctiva's scrolling marquee of 'my other items' may still be OK but really, if you've half a brain, you'll incorporate text in all your listings to the effect that you have other similar and / or interesting listings also running on eBay.

An MSE unqualified recommendation of Auctiva really does make me wonder if MSE should be spending just a little more time on research and perhaps a little less time on reportage. . .

ive just used auctiva for the first time and although it was a bit complicated i found it ok, it was easy to disable the sellathon, auctiva explain step by step how to do it.

outercontrol

Have I found a loophole?

Does anyone think that this might work or be a good idea/bad idea?

I recently listed some stuff on ebay starting at 99p with a reserve but unfortunately my items did not sell and as a result I had to pay a fairly (in my opinion) hefty fee just to go through the motions.

How about if I put my starting price for my item at 99p and stated my reserve price 'IN MY DESCRIPTION' of my item rather than click on the ebay reserve box itself maybe also stating that if my reserve price is not reached within one hour of the auction ending then my item will be removed.

harryharp

outercontrol wrote: »

Have I found a loophole?

Does anyone think that this might work or be a good idea/bad idea?

I recently listed some stuff on ebay starting at 99p with a reserve but unfortunately my items did not sell and as a result I had to pay a fairly (in my opinion) hefty fee just to go through the motions.

How about if I put my starting price for my item at 99p and stated my reserve price 'IN MY DESCRIPTION' of my item rather than click on the ebay reserve box itself maybe also stating that if my reserve price is not reached within one hour of the auction ending then my item will be removed.

But surely one of the main points about a reserve price is that you don't actually make the amount of the reserve known?

StaffsSW

outercontrol wrote: »

Have I found a loophole?

Does anyone think that this might work or be a good idea/bad idea?

I recently listed some stuff on ebay starting at 99p with a reserve but unfortunately my items did not sell and as a result I had to pay a fairly (in my opinion) hefty fee just to go through the motions.

How about if I put my starting price for my item at 99p and stated my reserve price 'IN MY DESCRIPTION' of my item rather than click on the ebay reserve box itself maybe also stating that if my reserve price is not reached within one hour of the auction ending then my item will be removed.

What you're suggesting is a very quick way to earn seller-non performance ratings, and fall foul of the fee circumvention policy.

Time2Go_25

Just start the listing at somewhere near the price you want. I can see no good reason for using reserves and it only adds to your fees.