eBay retailers who want to minimize inventory and increase their product range opt for drop shipping. So what happens is you list a product that you don’t actually have on your eBay site. When a customer buys the item, you place an order to the product’s supplier and pay the wholesale price of the item. The supplier or drop shipper will then ship the item to your customer and you will earn profit from the difference between your listing and the wholesaler’s price.

This is a perfect set-up for eBay sellers with minimum capital and no storage space to keep inventories. If everything works well you will earn without worrying about shipping, inventory and other overhead cost.

So if you are en eBay seller who uses drop shipping it is very important that you avoid committing basic mistakes that might lead to failure not only on your drop shipping technique but also your eBay business as a whole. In order to be successful in your eBay drop shipping business you need to keep tabs on the following things:

Keep yourself up to date on the delivery fulfillment. Ask your buyers for feedback regarding deliveries. If orders are always being delivered late, discuss it with your drop shipper on how to avoid this issue. Let your customers know in advance in case of late deliveries so as not to give false expectations. You don’t want to receive negative feed backs so it is important that you keep track of deliveries.

Always ask your drop shipper for stocks availability. As an eBay seller, you are expected to deliver promptly what is sold or you might end up receiving a seller non-performance violation. Receiving this a few times may lead to cancellation of your account. So it is very important that you keep tabs of the product current inventory and ask your drop shipper to provide you this information.

Product quality is another important thing that you should overlook. eBay buyers expect to receive exactly the same item you list on your website. So it is important that your drop shipper delivers the same product you have on your list and not a mere substitute. So be careful in choosing your wholesaler. Make sure that they deliver what has been agreed upon.

Since you are the seller and buyers contact you directly, it is expected that you are ready for any customer returns, exchanges and complains. It is important that you deal with issues like this properly; otherwise you will receive negative feed backs that will affect your eBay business. Make sure that you have a clear policy regarding returns and ensure that you do as you promise.

Since eBay is an auction site, there will be a time when the closing price for a bid item is lower than the cost. If that is the case, you need to accept that payment from your customer even if it will mean a loss on your end. So it is safe to have a fixed price for your items if you are using drop shipping to fulfill orders.

Unclaimed treasures from abandoned safety deposit boxes and police property rooms are being auctioned to the highest bidder online! Find out how to bid on this unclaimed property and how to make sure none of your property ends up in the auction.

Safety deposit box contents

After a safety deposit box has been abandoned for 3 years (in most states) the contents are turned over to the State’s unclaimed property department. Safety deposit boxes are considered abandoned when the fees for the box are not paid and the owner cannot be reach through the contact information provided by for the box.

The state auctions the unclaimed property retrieved from the safety deposit boxes, since the owner of the box cannot be located. The funds received from the auction are available to the owner, if the owner ever tries to recover the property.

In the past the states held local auctions to sell the safety deposit box contents but now the states are utilizing the power of the internet to auction this unclaimed property.

The items that are found include diamond necklaces, wedding and engagement rings, ruby necklaces, rare coins and stamps and much more.

Ebay and State Unclaimed Property Auctions

The States have begun utilizing eBay to auction the unclaimed property. Often times the contents are valuables including family heirlooms and jewelry. The auctions are held at different intervals for different states, and there may be times there are no items for sale.

These auctions have received higher bids then the states could achieve with local auctions. In Massachusetts the most recent auction of 200 lots received $140,000 in sales!

The following states are offering online unclaimed property auctions through ebay:

At www.ebay.com, you can go to advanced search and enter the seller name into the section titled “From specific sellers (enter sellers’ user IDs)”:

State of California

eBay Seller Name: ucpauction

State of Colorado

eBay Seller Name: co.unclaimed.property

State of Indiana

eBay Seller Name: indiana_unclaimed

State of Maryland

eBay Seller Name: mdcompschaefer

State of Texas

eBay Seller Name: tx.unclaimed.property

Washington DC

eBay Seller Name: DistrictofColumbia

Police Department Property Rooms Utilize Online Auction Room

Law enforcement agencies nationwide have property rooms full of stolen or forfeited goods. The rightful owners are not easily identified, and once property is no longer needed as evidence, it must be disposed of properly. Propertyroom.com was founded and managed by former police officers. The about us page states it, “…harnesses the power of the Internet to quickly move items out of police property rooms, reduce personnel costs and generate revenue well beyond traditional police auction methods. And there is no cost to the participating police or sheriffs department.”

You can view items currently being auctioned at www.propertyroom.com. You can filter your search to include “police items only” by checking the box indicating “Show me police items only”.

How to Make Sure Your Property Doesn’t End Up in the Auction Room

There is over $25 Billion in unclaimed money and a large amount of unclaimed property in the US. This property and missing money goes unclaimed year after year.

o Keep record of your safety deposit box(es)

o List an heir to your safety deposit box(es)

o Maintain up to date contact information on all accounts and safety deposit boxes you own

o Search for Unclaimed Money and Property Owed to You

You can search databases to see if any unclaimed money or property is owed to you.

If you want to learn how to make more money selling on eBay, you should study what other successful sellers are doing. There are certain techniques that most successful sellers integrate into the business in order to make more money, sell more items, and maximize their bottom line.

One important technique used by successful eBay sellers is to pay attention to the supply and demand formula. Just like in the offline business world, products in high demand and short supply are the ideal products to sell online. Products that are less popular seem to be plentiful, and sellers who sell less popular products sometimes struggle just to make enough money to cover their expenses.

Sellers who want to know how to make more money selling on eBay should find out what products are currently being worn out by buyers. One way is to perform diligent research online and unforgettable the hot, popular products. This is not hard to do, but it takes a lot of time to do the research the right way. Since market trends are constantly changing, you must do research regularly to keep up with changes in the way buyers are spending their money online. Another way to keep up with what's popular with buyers is to pay someone who has done the research for you. This is the best way to find out the hot, popular products and stay apprised of market changes.

Before listing a specific item, you should take the time to research similar items that have sold on eBay. Notice how other sellers have priced the product and the format of their descriptions. Pay attention to the number of photographs. There are certain techniques used by eBay sellers to list and sell certain products. Pay close attention to these selling items so you can do the same.
Knowing how to make more money selling on eBay involves implementing the supply and demand formula, and it involves using profitable selling techniques used by other successful eBay sellers. By selling popular products in hot niches, you can maximize profits on the popular auction site and build a successful online business.

Terapeak, what is it?

Terapeak is eBay’s Certified Provider of market research. What this means is that they have access to eBay’s vast database of past auction transactions. Information that the average eBay seller is not granted access to. All the average user gets the completed item search which is only for very recent closed auctions. Terapeak’s information goes back years and includes the following: auction sales prices, item sell through rate, item titles, item categories. Most eBay sellers do not take advantage of this opportunity instead they rely on completed searches and their own knowledge to make choices about which items to buy and sell and when. With Market Research by Terapeak you have the advantage over the average seller because you have information they don’t, information that could prove very valuable. What do I mean? Well let’s take a look at what Terapeak can do.

What can Terapeak do for you?

There are four main categories of research that Terapeak provides: What’s Hot, Category Research, Seller Research & Product Research. With “What’s Hot” research you will be able to see which categories are the bestselling allowing you to place your item in the best category for it. It can also help you choose the type of items you would like to sell. For video game or media sellers it provides the top 100 selling items for games, books, DVDs and music. Hot Searches shows you what buyers are currently looking for on eBay so you know what keywords should be in your title. It also shows which categories the search results most often show up in. Hot Products search shows you which products are hot from within your selected category or subcategory helping you know what to buy and when. Hot Title search shows which titles are the best selling helping you know how you should word your own auction titles. The Value Tracker will allow to save your favorite searches and items. You can also receive email alerts with weekly search information.

Category Research allows you to research information with a category or subcategory of eBay. Category Trends will show you up to two years worth of data trends for you eBay niche. See what time of the year your category has the highest sell through rate. Know when to sell and when to load up on inventory. Top Sellers will show you which sellers are on top of your category with sell through rate, average sale price and total eBay sales. Learn from their listings and strategies to strengthen your own business.

Product Research gives you the ability to search the history of individual items. The Product Report will show you when an item is selling for the most profit broken down by day of the week and hour. It will also show you promotions used, categories it was listed in and the top sold listings. Product Trends can be used to research the yearly selling patterns for specific items. The International Report shows you how products are selling in the international markets. See what hidden markets there could be for your products.

No matter how many times I see it happening, I’m constantly amazed at the number of people who are literally throwing money away by making incredibly simple mistakes when they sell items in an online auction.

Over the last seven years, I’ve been making a great living buying and selling products on eBay and other online auction sites, and I’ve perfected a technique that pretty much guarantees anyone can start making a profit right away. That technique starts with avoiding mistakes like these — mistakes I’ve seen people make every day for those same seven years.

If you’re doing any of these four things, you’re leaving money on the table with every single item you sell.

* Listing an item at the wrong time. It’s a proven fact more buyers browse Internet auction sites on Sunday evenings than any other time during the week. If your auction is scheduled to end at any other time than Sunday evenings (specifically between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time), you’re not getting the maximum exposure for your auction at a time when people are most eager to buy.

* Not giving your photos the attention they deserve. There are two common mistakes people make with the photos they use to entice buyers on eBay. One is not having enough pictures to accompany your item’s description. Over the years, I’ve learned pictures of your item are one of the most important components of your sales page. (There are many reasons for this, but I don’t have the space to go into much detail here.) Multiple pictures from various angles will ALWAYS help you get higher bids for your products. The second mistake is not making sure the pictures are up and running on whatever server you’re using BEFORE you list your item. How many times have you been browsing an auction site and seen a blank box where a picture of the item should have been? That’s a seller who’s losing money because of a very simple, and very common, oversight.

* Using “Las Vegas style” listings. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about here. A Las Vegas listing is one that uses all kinds of flashing animation, multicolored text and other bells and whistles in an attempt to entice bidders. In fact, it does just the opposite. Listings like these are distracting, hard to read, and will always discourage people from bidding, resulting in a lower final sales price. The descriptions that you give of your item on your sales page ARE NOT designed to get a buyer’s attention (you already have that if they’ve clicked on your listing in the first place). They should be designed to get someone to actually place a bid.

* Using a reserve. Using a reserve to guarantee that you’ll get a minimum price for an item will absolutely kill your auction. Trust me, I’ve seen it happen too many times to not accept this as a given. In fact, I often use other seller’s auctions that have a reserve as a way to pick up items at ridiculously low prices that I can sell “the right way” for a huge profit a few days later — but that’s a different article altogether. For now, just realize that nothing scares away potential bidders better than seeing the “Reserve Not Yet Met” tag. If you’re truly concerned about a minimum price, simply set your starting price a little higher.

eBay Powersellers are successful sellers that achieve a certain level of consistent sales every month and have good business ethics.

Just by achieving the Powerseller status will skyrocket your sales tremendously. Most eBay Buyers feel very secure and confident buying from powersellers compare to normal sellers.

I am showing you now some simple and easy to follow strategies on how to transform yourself from a beginner to powerseller.

Do your research constantly. Powersellers always do their research on eBay about what is the current hot products, where to buy merchandise at lower cost, how to upgrade them eBay customer service, which products have higher profit margin, what is the best selling price and what their competitors are doing .

Working hard and smart is equally important to be a successful powerseller. If you want to become a power seller do the necessary research that they are doing.

Become an expert. Powersellers are expert in their field, they know their products inside out. When a potential buyer asks you some questions, you can not answer with confidence if your product knowledge is weak. Then most probably you will loss the sale.

Spend some time to study your product, use it yourself before selling it to your customers. Spend some time initially will pay off in the long run.

Run your eBay business seriously. If you treat your eBay business as a hobby, you will only generate hobby income. But if you run it like a serious business, it will generate serious income.

Powersellers run their eBay business seriously. That means learn the necessary business skills, example: sales and marketing techniques, customer service, setting up accounting system and so forth.

Be absolutely organized. Powersellers are running hundreds or thousands of auctions at any given point of time. You have to train yourself to be organized to keep track of all your digital images, organize your file, invoices, shipping tracking number, refunds and so forth.

Make money when you buy not when you sell. This is one of the secret that make your eBay business to be successful. The key here is to purchase your merchandise for as low price as possible. The market will determine the selling price, you job is to buy them at the lowest price possible to make a profit.

Always have more than one supplier to compare their price. And at the same time develop your negotiation skills.

I have just shared with you some strategies on how to become a eBay Powerseller. Study it carefully and start applying them today.

Looking for the best place to buy a laptop? Look no further! With so many laptop manufacturers and companies making and selling laptops nowadays it can be difficult to decide where to start looking. It seems that everyone is offering a special deal, which can be overwhelming at times, so today we will look at a really great place to start-eBay. eBay is an online auction site used every single day by thousands of people. eBay sells everything from laptops to fashion clothing to cars and everything in between. Before you begin to look on eBay for your laptop be sure to have your homework done in that you have researched which laptop you want to buy so when you log in to eBay you are ready to start shopping!

What is eBay?

eBay is an online auction site and can be a really efficient way in finding the laptop you want. You should first do a little research so you know exactly what laptop you are looking for. Then you can simply input your laptop choice into the search box, which will show you any listings that match your laptop description.

If I Find A Laptop I Like, Do I Have To Make A Bid?

eBay has what is called a watch list, which allows you to place any items you are interested in buying into an area where you can watch them. For instance, say you are watching a laptop with a starting bid of $100 and you are interested in buying but don’t want to make an actual bid yet. This way all the laptops you are interested in buying is available at a glance and can easily be watched.

Auction vs. Buy It Now Option

Many times sellers start their eBay auction off at a very low price. This way you are enticed into at the very least watching the item, which could very well sell for that low beginning auction price. This is a true auction in progress and can become quite exciting! But be careful, if you decide to bid on the laptop just be sure to read all the fine print first as bidding and winning on eBay puts you into a legal and binding contract. Additionally, a buy it now option is given when an eBay seller offers a price that they are willing to accept right then and there, without an auction.

Take Away Message

eBay is a fantastic way in which to shop for a laptop. You can trust eBay as it is a highly respected and well-known company that offers protection for both sellers and buyers so you can feel confident when completing a transaction on the eBay website.

TIP

Sellers ratings and reviews are available and should be used to help you decide whether you want to do business with this particular person and/or company.

Questions from bidders is a great eBay feature. It allows interested parties to make enquiries about your eBay listings. They just click on a link on the item page, type in their question & the question is automatically emailed to the seller of the item.

This is great for sellers also. Firstly it gives them an indication of how much interest is being shown in their item. The higher the interest, normally translates to more bids and a higher end price.

Also sellers can retain the details of interested parties, should they sell similar goods in the future. A quick friendly email normally will result in a future sale.

This is especially true of sellers of digital goods, such as ebooks, or special reports when they can sell more than one copy. However be sure not to solictiate any sales away from eBay initially. Also use eBays Contact Member feature, so you are not seen to be spamming them.

Once a buyer has made there first sale on eBay from you, they are your customer so you can then deal with them directly on and away from eBay. Until this time, tread carefully about emailing them.

Just one word of warning: Many scammers are now using the Question From Bidders, to try and obtain personal details about you. You may get an email, claiming to be from eBay with a question from a bidder. When you click on this link within the email to reply it will take you to a clone of eBays site, prompting you to enter personal details.

So, all genuine Questions From Bidders now appear in My eBay. Be sure to answer them directly from the My eBay control panel so you don’t get caught out.

Cashmere is one of the finest fibers in the world – a true luxury fabric. It is known as the warmest, softest, most comfortable fabric that money can buy. Victorian England discovered the luxury of this fabric and it was then that cashmere caught on with the elite.

So, what exactly is it? Cashmere is the wool or “fur” from the Kashmir goat. Originally raised in Mongolia, these goats are now raised in India, Tibet, China, other parts of Asia, and now in some parts of the USA. The wool has a silken feel, a feather light weight, and is not itchy like wool. The most luxurious cashmere is taken from the underbelly of the goat. Only a small amount of usable cashmere comes from each goat, and the harvesting process is long, costly, and complicated, which is what makes cashmere so expensive.

With this in mind, anything 100% cashmere is a good, steady, reliable seller on eBay. Sweaters, vests, coats, gloves, hats, scarves, baby wear, and blankets all do well on eBay, even used or vintage. In fact, the older vintage cashmere items are often 3 or 4 ply (thicker and more luxurious) than today’s 2-ply weave. The next time you are at the mall, feel and examine the cashmere sweaters. You’ll find they have a texture unlike any other fabric.

Now, you are thinking, but it is summer and no one buys sweaters in the summer. Not true. Keep in mind that we are operating in a global economy on eBay and the seasons across the globe are opposite from ours here in the USA. There are many places in the USA where cashmere is worn year-round, such as the Pacific Northwest. Canadians, Europeans, and Australians love and appreciate cashmere. In fact, I ship a large percentage of cashmere sweaters internationally. Furthermore, since cashmere is an expensive luxury fabric, many cashmere lovers shop for it year round.

So, when you are browsing thrift stores and garage sales, take a few minutes to look through the sweaters. Here is what to look for:

100% cashmere, 2-ply

Check for holes (you can easily repair holes yourself and the sweater will sell fine)

Large sizes are fantastic (men’s 2XL and Women’s plus)

Sweaters made in Scotland (a higher, thicker quality)

100% cashmere overcoats – these can be thousands of dollars new and many international
customers will take them even in fair condition

Now, you are not going to become a millionaire selling cashmere on eBay. However, it is a good item to add to your store if you can find it. It may not “fit” with your particular product line, however, it is something to be on the lookout for when you are out shopping, and you can make good money. Check on eBay for completed listings of cashmere items, and you will see that there is definitely good money in used cashmere.

On eBay you run your auction for a specific duration. Currently, the options are 1, 3, 5, 7 or 10 days.

But which duration is best for your auction?

In this article, I’ll give you some pointers designed to assist in answering the question.

You might wonder why you would ever wish to have less than the maximum exposure i.e. 10 days? Surely running your auction for the longest time would give bidders more opportunity, and therefore a higher sale price would result? Certainly eBay.com would appear to think so, as they currently charge a fee of $0.20 for the privilege of operating a 10 day auction.

However, if you have a very popular item or if you have many identical items to sell, it may pay you to have a shorter auction duration. Also, it pays to consider the end point of your auction very carefully. In addition, if you are running a Fixed Price auction, there’s a little trick you can employ to give you extra exposure.

So, let’s review the elements to consider in the setting of your auction duration.

a) Start/end day of auction

In my experience, for most categories, the weekend is by far the busiest viewing period on eBay. I would estimate that around 50% of views of my auctions take place on Saturday and Sunday. In setting auction duration, therefore, the weekend peak could be important to your success.

If you can arrange to end an auction on Sunday night, you get the benefit of those who wait until the end of the auction to bid, plus the enhanced viewing traffic numbers which appear during the weekend.

This means if you’re posting an auction on Tuesday night, a 5 day auction could be good.

Having said that the weekend is the busiest for most categories, some could benefit from a midweek closing date. Items in this category would include those in which goods are offered for business users.

If your item is targeted at businesses, you want people to bid for your item while they are at work. In these instances, make sure your auction covers working days, and concludes during work time. It has also been found that office equipment and supplies sell well in the morning.

Be conscious of the time when you post your auction, as this is the exact time it will finish a number of days ahead. There’s potentially a great deal of difference between an auction closing at 10 o’clock on Sunday night, and 10 o’clock on Sunday morning. If you can pitch your auction to be the former, you could benefit significantly from those extra weekend viewers. (Note the section on Time Zones later.)

b) Known popularity of the item

If you know your item is very popular, and your past experience shows that you will always sell at or more than the price you want, even outside of normal peak periods, then a 1 or 3 day auction could be appropriate. The benefit of a 1 or 3 day sale is that you can sell more items, more quickly.

c) Awareness of eBay sort facilities after searching

Whenever eBay’s search is used by an eBayer, the default is that it returns auction titles in the order of how long auctions have left to run. Auctions which have minutes, or seconds to run, will appear first in the returned list. Auctions which have 9+ days to run will be at the end. And the list may run to many, many pages.

Experience has shown that eBayers tend to look only at one or two pages in returned lists. This means it is important you get your auction onto these first two pages at some point in its life – another reason why a 1 or 3 day auction might be better than a 7 or 10 day duration.

Be aware too that a high proportion of bidding activity takes place towards the end of an auction. This is natural. Buyers are on the lookout for bargains. If they can nip in with a bid at the end of the auction, they might get the item at a good price and there may not be time for others to top their bid. (Buyers can also use “sniping” software, designed to place a bid at the latest possible time on auctions which are of interest to them.)

However, the searcher can easily re-order the returned titles list. A popular option is to re-order the list into “newly listed” sequence. The top of the list will now show auctions which have been newly added to eBay. This is why there is sometimes a blip of bidding activity at the beginning of an auction as well as at the end.

d) Time Zones

eBay’s default is to commence your auction from the time you submit it. As you know, this means it will terminate at that exact time, the number of days ahead that you select as the duration. However, if you’re offering your item internationally you should give consideration to the time zone you’re aiming for in terms of auction finish point.

For example, in the USA half of all eBay members reside in the Eastern Time Zone. So an auction ending at 10pm Pacific Time is fine for west coast eBay members, but over on the east coast this is 1am! So you’re effectively losing around 50% of potential bidders at a critical point in your auction.

eBay does provide an option whereby you can schedule your auction to commence at a specific time (and on another day). In fact you can set your auction to start at any time and day up to 21 days ahead. This means you can commence your auction according to the timing you believe will attract the most viewers. There is a small fee for using this feature.

This is a useful capability if you want to create your listings in advance, and then have them released onto eBay in a phased sequence.

e) Fixed Price auctions – Single Item

I mentioned a little trick earlier. Well, here it is. With a Fixed Price auction for a single item you could consider managing your auction duration dynamically. You need to be monitoring your auctions closely i.e. throughout the day, to undertake this technique.

When bidders do a search on eBay, you know the auctions with the least amount of time left appear at the top of the returned list. So it is advantageous to keep the remaining time on your auction as short as possible. This is a way in which you get four bites of that cherry for a single listing fee.

1. Start your Fixed Price single item auction off with 1 day duration. Wait for someone to buy.

2. When the auction has just over 12 hours left, go in to the auction and revise the auction duration to 3 days. Yes, you can do this – as long as there is at least 12 hours left. Wait for someone to buy.

3. When the auction has just over 12 hours left, go in to the auction and revise the auction duration to 5 days. Wait for someone to buy.

4. When the auction has just over 12 hours left, go in to the auction and revise the auction duration to 7 days. Wait for someone to buy.

5. When the auction has just over 12 hours left, go in to the auction and revise the auction duration to 10 days. (Don’t forget this will cost you a small fee on eBay.com) Wait for someone to buy.

6. The auction concludes naturally.

This might look complicated, but it isn’t really once you get the hang of it. Of course, at any point during the above process someone could buy your item and your auction closes automatically. If you have another of the same or similar item to sell, you can re-list it.

f) Fixed Price auctions – Multiple Items

With a Fixed Price auction for multiple items, I would recommend you set the auction duration to the maximum – 10 days, or 7 days if you’re not prepared to absorb the extra fee on eBay.com.

When you have multiple items it is not advisable to use the ploy described above for Fixed Price single item auctions. This is because as soon as you receive a bid (in this case it would be a Fixed Price sale), you are unable to modify the auction duration even though you may have many of the multiple items still to sell.

If you sell all your items within your chosen 7 or 10 days, then the auction closes automatically anyway.

g) Value Based Formula

If you are happier using a value based formula in setting your auction duration, here is my rule of thumb for items that I have not tried to sell before:

Min Bid amounts			Set auction duration to   

£5 - £25 ($10 - $50)			5 days  

£25 - £100 ($50 - $200)		    7 days   

Over £100 (Over $200)		       7 - 10 days

If you’re selling items which from experience you know will definitely be bought at acceptable prices, then you can reduce the duration.

I hope this outline of selecting the best auction duration proves useful to you.