Dealing With a Deadbeat Bidder

A great part of making money on eBay is getting paid. Selling on eBay can be good but there are sometimes a seller must be careful about bidders who will not buy your product. Usually these kind of bidders are really easy to spot after you were been taken. By knowing how to identify a deadbeat bidder you will be able to save some money and avoid any deadbeat bidder from causing you to lose money and time. Learn how to discover any person out there that will be a deadbeat bidder and cancelling their bids.

Identifying These Kind Of Bidders

Usually it’s very easy for a seller to discover all the different red flags on deadbeat bidders. Some of the red flags are very noticeable for any seller to avoid losing money. Beware of the following bidder that contains the following:

• Zero Feedback – Usually con-artist will create a fictitious user name which will bid on your product. Usually you can tell a dead beat bidder from the way they bid. Usually a good bidder will never over bid and simply cause the auction to go up. The bad bidders will only bid causing them to bid and not buy your product. This can cause you to lose money and time.

• Fictitious Name – Having a weird name such as ***2938, nkis938 and 294lsei are some example of phantom people. These are the deadbeat bidder that will only go around the eBay marketplace and cause chaos.

No matter what you are selling especially for a while you will run in to the same situation at some time. Knowing what to look for will give you an advantage of avoiding getting deadbeat bidders. A good way of telling bidders you will not tolerate any deadbeat bidders is to make it a statement in your product description. Communication is vital where people were will understand that they will get their bid denied if they bid without any feedback.

So making a great description on having bidder with a 90 to 100 percent good feedback to be allowed for bidding, you will find out that people will understand this method of protection your product. Not only will that sound professional but the eBay community loves sellers that are very clear in communication.

(Warning: This article is long and reading it may improve your ability to make money on eBay)

In Article One I discussed the opportunities for savvy eBay sellers in the growing investor market for antique and collectible silver. The many types of marks on these goods can be confusing, however, often resulting in poorly described listings. One can be assured that at least 30% of the 12-15,000 weekly listings in the ‘Antiques-Sterling’ category will have inaccurate or misleading descriptions. The resulting buyer confusion and uncertainty causes poor selling prices, lost sales and seller credibility issues.

In this article eBayers will learn how to identify and understand the many different marks and where to research them. With this background sellers can write professional descriptions in their eBay auctions, eBay stores and other selling venues. Properly identifying and listing silver items gives sellers credibility and an edge over the hundreds of uninformed sellers in this competitive market.

Think of it this way – if one were going to get into the car selling business he or she should know as much as possible about makes, models, engines, performance, etc. Right? The same thing applies to selling silver goods. The marks tell the story behind the piece i.e., the maker, age, origin, history, quality, pattern, etc. Understanding marks will increase the sellers’ ROI because they become better buyers as well as resellers.

Identifying and Deciphering Silver Marks – The list below provides the basics for learning the many marks and and metal types. For further research and education there are many excellent reference books available for both beginners and experts. I’ve provided a short list of suggested books at the end of the article. Understand that many reference books are narrow in their scope i.e., specific to certain time periods, countries, etc. For this reason one should purchase only one or two books which cover a wide array of marks from many makers and countries. As experience is gained by listing and selling silver one can build a good reference library. For online research there are several excellent websites that are contributed to and used by collectors and dealers worldwide. I’ve linked one of the best sites at the bottom of the article. Professional valuations and appraisals are also available for those who want a quality listing but don’t want to research marks.

Those who are just starting into silver sales need to be very careful not to misinterpret marks. As stated above, one-third of the eBay sellers incorrectly list and describe items because they’ve learned just enough information about marks to be dangerous. Often these erroneous sellers think because there is a lion, crown, or anchor mark on their item it is English sterling when, in fact, it is silverplate bearing a pseudo mark. Just today I saw a new seller’s auction of a creamer and sugar bowl set that she listed as English sterling made in 1903. In reality it was American silverplate circa 1877-1880. She thought the pattern number, 1903, was the date it was made and that the lion in the trademark meant English sterling. This is just one example of many that make sellers look bad and limit their chances for a profitable sale.

Use Knowledge As A Selling Point – After properly researching the marks on the merchandise one can accurately title and describe the listings. Items can be guaranteed to be as claimed because the seller has enough confidence to do so. This gives credibility to the seller and the merchandise which will draw smart investors and collectors to the auction. The result will be strong bidding action and higher sale prices.

Use Accurately Identified Marks for Search Optimization – For example, a seller identifies a piece as Danish and made by Georg Jensen circa 1909-1914. When used to keyword the auction title and description this information will be a magnet for high-end collectors . This translates into bigger profits. Which of these two titles works best? “Antique Silver Bowl with Hallmarks” or,“Beautiful Georg Jensen Art Nouveau Sterling Centerpiece c.1909-1914”. The second one of course. This is simply using strategic keywords in the title which gives life to the listing.

Okay, so what’s to learn? There’s plenty. The following is just the short list, but with this foundation a seller can build their road to success as an expert silver dealer on eBay and other venues.

Things You Must Know:

• Hallmarks – Just about every eBay seller misunderstands this. Specific to precious metals, a hallmark is defined as a mark or series of marks struck into the metal that officially authenticates the metal purity (fineness or content) and which is internationally recognized as a guarantee of purity. eBay sellers frequently confuse hallmarks with maker’s marks, logos, company trademarks, and simple number marks such as 925 or 835. While such number marks are used to indicate purity or content they are never to be considered as hallmarks unless they are accompanied by the official standard mark of the country of origin. Why? Because anyone can fraudulently strike these numbers into the metal without official assay. Hallmarks are the official marks of guaranteed metal purity in precious metal items. Trademarks and maker’s marks are simply the mark of the manufacturer of the item. Think of it like the karat marks on gold jewelry. If a ring says Cartier 18K, the hallmark is the 18K, not the maker’s name, Cartier. It guarantees the ring has a gold purity of 75% and it is recognized worldwide. Silver hallmarks work the same way, there’s just a lot more of them than there are for gold.
• Country Marks – Almost every country requires official nationalized marks or symbols to be used as the hallmarks for their precious metals standards. Probably the best known of all is the Lion Passant used by England to guarantee sterling since the 14th century. There are far too many country marks to list here but you can research them in the online reference sites listed at the end of this article.
• City Marks – A mark or symbol used in many countries to denote the city where the item was made. The leopard head representing London and the anchor representing Birmingham are two of the best known and most commonly seen on eBay. Again there’s too many to list but they can be researched in the reference guides listed below.
• Maker’s Marks – These are the registered names, initials, trademarks, logos, brands, symbols, or other marks used over several centuries by silversmiths and manufacturing companies to identify their wares. There are literally hundreds of these worldwide. You will usually find these struck or imprinted onto an inconspicuous place on the item along with the hallmark and other marks.
• Date Marks – Also called Date Codes, these are unique symbols, characters, letters, or numbers used by some well known manufacturers as a means of dating the production year of their merchandise. These are cataloged and are very useful in accurately dating many items. Unfortunately many companies didn’t use date marks which makes precise dating of their work impossible.
• Pseudo Marks – These marks were created by silversmiths to mimic the well known and long established British sterling hallmarks. These smiths typically made silverplate items and silver items of lesser purity than sterling. The marks were intentionally designed to give a perception of sterling quality about their work in order to profit on the reputation and renown of British sterling. This does not necessarily mean they were all practicing fakery, though some certainly were. In fact, many pseudo marks are legitimately registered trademarks of reputable firms which manufacture in sterling, coin and silverplate. For example Gorham, a highly respected American sterling and silverplate maker, incorporated the Birmingham anchor mark into their maker’s mark. Much of the 19th century Chinese export silver also bears pseudo marks on some very high quality 800 and 835 standard marked goods. Pseudo marks are often mistaken for British sterling hallmarks so buyers and sellers alike must be able to recognize them. This is one of the main reasons why research is so critical to successful selling.
• Pattern Numbers – These are proprietary numbers which are often found along with the hallmarks and maker’s marks. These are used by the manufacturer for patent registration, pattern identification and inventory control.
• Sterling – Sterling is defined by the U.K., the U.S. (refer below*) and most other nations as an alloy containing at least 92.5% pure silver. The other metal in the alloy is copper which strengthens the metal for fabrication into usable and decorative wares. The word sterling comes from 14th century England. The sterling standard in Great Britain and elsewhere has been 92.5% (925) fineness since that time.
• 925, 0.925 or 925/1000 – This number is often found stamped into silver items. It represents sterling when accompanied by the official standard hallmark of the country of origin. The presence of this number on an item does not guarantee it to be sterling unless the official country hallmark is also present.
• “Solid Silver” – This is defined by the U.S. government (refer below*) as an alloy containing at least 92.5% pure silver which means it has to be sterling. It is illegal in the U.S. to represent any product by this name that is not sterling silver.
• “Coin Silver” – This alloy gets its name from 18th and 19th century American silversmiths who melted down silver coins in order to fabricate items to sell. Typical items were silverware and other table service wares. The U.S. government defines this to be an alloy of 90% (900) purity (refer below*). Many items with less than 90% purity are frequently and illegally sold as “coin silver” in the U.S. on eBay and in other venues.
• Continental Sterling – This is a misleading term used by some who sell European made items which have purity standards less than 92.5%. Similar terms used are Russian Sterling, German Sterling, French Sterling, etc. all of which are marked with official national standards that are less than 925. Continental Silver is the correct way to describe European goods provided the official hallmark and assay mark are present to authenticate the actual purity.
• Silver Standards – In the U.S. the standards are pure (.9999%), sterling and coin (refer below*). In the U.K. the standards are britannia (95.8 % purity) and sterling. Britannia was used exclusively in Britain from 1697 to 1720 and has been optional since. Other countries have their own sets of official standards. Typically, but not without exception, these are 950, 935, 925, 900, 875, 850, 835, 812, 800, 750, and 675 purities as determined by official assay. These numbers represent the decimal fraction (percentage) of silver content in the manufactured item. For example, an item marked ‘800’ is 80% pure. 950 and 935 can be legally referred to in the U.S. as sterling, regardless of the country of origin, but the lesser standards cannot. 950 is sometimes referred to as Martelé Silver. Note: In the U.S. it is a federal crime to import, sell, label, advertise, or otherwise represent any item as “sterling” or “solid silver” which does not have a purity of 92.5% or greater (refer below*).
• Loth Numbers – This was a numerical system used in Austria-Hungary and Germany-Prussia in the 18th and 19th centuries for authenticating official assays. It is based on a purity of 16/16. So that 15/16 is 15 Loth equaling .937 purity, 14/16 is 14 Loth equaling .875 purity, 13/16 is 13 Loth equaling .812 purity, and so on. Most of the antique silver from these countries found listed on eBay is 13 Loth and, as noted above, it is often misrepresented as German Sterling. Austria-Hungary used this system until 1866 and Germany-Prussia until 1886.
• Zolotnik Numbers – These numbers are found on Russian silver items going back several centuries. The root of this system began in the 11th century with the Russian gold trade. A lot of antique Russian items are auctioned on eBay and other venues so it is important to know some basics. The numbers are based on 96/96 being pure. What is sold mostly on eBay is the more common 84 Zolotnik, or 84/96 which equals 875 (87.5%) purity. 88 Zolotnik is 88/96 or 916 purity and so on. A common problem with the 84 mark is mistaking certain types of French silverplate for Russian 84 Zolotnik. One way to tell the difference is the French silverplate mark will have either a ‘Gr’ or ‘G’ after the 84 which represents grams of silver used in the plating process. Also the Russian 84 Zolotnik will always be accompanied with one or more official marks and a maker’s mark in Russian Cyrillic letters. If an item is claimed to be Russian and it bears on the number 84, then consider it to be fake or plate.
• Silverplate – This is a very thin layering or coating of pure silver over a base metal. The most common base metals used are copper, brass, nickel-silver, white metal, and Britannia metal (see below). The two types of silverplate are Sheffield plate and electroplate. Sheffield derives its name from Sheffield, England where it originated. The technique used was a ‘sandwiching’ of a layer of base metal between a top and bottom layer of pure silver. The metals were wrought or rolled until the two metals were bonded. Thus the base metal was ‘plated’ and could then be used for manufacturing. Electroplating was invented in 1805 but didn’t come into popular use until 1840. This is an electrolytic process whereby molecules of silver are deposited onto the surfaces of a sheet of base metal until the desired coating or thickness is achieved. Because electroplating is quick and not labor intense almost all plating was done this way by 1860 which doomed the Sheffield plate method. Today Sheffield plate is prized by collectors due to its superior hand-wrought quality and antique value. There are several different quality grades of electroplate/silverplate. These are based on the thickness of the plating resulting from the amount of silver used. The two common types of Victorian Era silverplate are triple plate and quadruple plate. You will see a lot of these types auctioned on eBay. The key thing to know about silverplate is that it has no significant silver weight, thus there is no precious metal value associated with it. The market for silverplated items is based on rarity, uniqueness, antique qualities, craftsmanship, and design qualities only.
• Sterling Silverplate – There is no such thing! This description is often used by eBay sellers who don’t know anything about silver or who are keyword spamming to increase clicks on their listing. Because sterling is an alloy it is unsuitable to use as a silver source for plating.
• E.P.N.S. – You will see these letters marking the bottoms of many older American and British silverplated items. This stands for Electro Plated Nickel-Silver. Many novice eBay sellers and those who don’t bother to do any research mistakenly list E.P.N.S. items as sterling. Common variations on this are E.P., E.P.C. (Electro Plate on Copper), E.P.W.M. (Electro Plate on White Metal), E.P.B. or E.P.B.M. (Electro Plate on Britannia Metal). Just know that any item marked with E.P. is silverplate and as such has no precious metal value.
• Nickel-Silver – This is a common base metal alloy consisting of nickel, copper and zinc. There is no silver in it whatsoever. The name was coined because the metal is silvery in color and polishes to a shine. Other names used for the same metal are: Alpacca or Alpacca Silver; Brazil Silver; German Silver; Peru Silver; New York Silver; New Silver; Nevada Silver; Norwegian Silver; Silverite; Venetian Silver; Potosi Silver; and Sonora Silver to name just a few. Many people have been stung buying things like old German Silver ladies purses thinking they had something of real value. Nickel-silver is strong and durable but it doesn’t have any metal value.
• White Metal – This is a silvery colored alloy usually containing a mixture of antimony, tin, lead, zinc, and cadmium. In the U.K. the British fine arts trade uses the term ‘white metal’ to describe all foreign items which do not have official British Assay Office marks struck on them.
• Britannia Metal – Another non-silver base metal similar to pewter which is popular because it is durable and polishes to a silver-like luster. This is an alloy of 93% tin, 5% antimony and 2% copper. Not to be confused with 958 Britannia from Great Britain.

The hundreds of known marks and their meanings are complex and often confusing. The information you’ve received in this article should increase your understanding of what many of the marks represent. You can now build upon these basics to become an informed buyer and reseller with a substantial edge over your competition. Thanks for following this article series and please watch for Article Three: A Focus on British Sterling.

Suggested Reference Books:

1. Kovels’ American Silver Marks by Ralph and Terry Kovel; Random House Reference, 1st Ed., 1989. ISBN-13: 978-0517568828
2. Dealer’s Guides: English Silver Hall-Marks by Judith Banister; Foulsham Publishing, 2004. ISBN-13: 978-0572029999
3. Encyclopedia of American Silver Manufacturers by Dorothy T. Rainwater, Martin Fuller and Colette Fuller; Schiffer Publishing, 2003. ISBN-13: 978-0764318870
4. American Silversmiths and Their Marks: The Definitive (1948) Edition by Stephen G. C. Ensko; Dover Publications, 1983. ISBN-13: 978-0486244280
5. All About Antique Silver with International Hallmarks by Diana Sanders Cinamon; AAA Publishing; 1ST edition, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-0978516802
6. Discovering Hallmarks on English Silver by John Bly; Shire Publishing, 9th Ed., 2008. ISBN-13: 978-0747804505
7. English, Irish, & Scottish Silver: at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute by Beth Carver Wees; Hudson Hills Press, 1st Ed.,1997. ISBN-13: 978-1555951177

(These and other excellent reference books on this subject are available at Amazon.com and other fine booksellers.)

* U.S. Guide to Precious Metals & Jewels: Laws & Standards (See paragraph 23.6)

EBay gets millions of people searching it’s listings every week. And these people are not regular searches; these people have their credit card in their hand and are ready to buy. They are searching for something to buy; they desperately want to find something to buy. So it makes sense that if you want to make some money then you best go to where the buyers are. But what if you have nothing to sell? Then that is where eBay Classifieds come in.

Classified Ads on eBay are a little different to regular auctions. For one thing no buying or selling takes place on eBay itself so there is no feedback left (which is a good thing with all the new feedback rules!). They work very much like a classified listing in a newspaper, you place your ad and people contact you if they are interested in what you are selling. They cost a little more to place than regular auctions (eBay US fees are $9.95 for 30 days) but since they show up alongside the regular auctions and searches they get just as much traffic.

But the beauty of using a classified ad listing is that you are able to promote other people’s products so they are an affiliate marketer’s dream.

So how do they work? Ok, let’s say that you have found a product that you’d like to promote from Clickbank. It pays $30 commission for every sale that you make. That means that you only need to sell one of these products to make a small profit from your ad. You set up your ad and make sure you target some good keywords for your title and place your details in your ad on how they can purchase it.

Sounds simple right? Well it can be however eBay have placed some rules that you need to stick to, to make sure that your ads are in full compliance. That means no direct links or opt-in boxes allowed unfortunately, but there are still ways around this by having the user contact you so make sure you place your contact details on your ad listing.

What if you only made one sale per week? – That’s definitely possible. So 4 sales over one month would equal 4 x $30 = $120. Less the $10 to place your ad so you would make $110 in profit. Not huge money, but imagine if you had 10 different ads running or 50 even and now you can see just how profitable eBay classified ads can be.

If you have thought about affiliate marketing or are currently an affiliate marketer then I bet you have struggled with at least one aspect of your business. Two common things that affiliates struggle with are not getting enough website traffic, and suffering from low conversion rates. Sound familiar? It is well known through internet internet marketing that conversion rates are typically about 1%, with 2% being considered very good. In addition to this many affiliates struggle to get any traffic to their website or affiliate link.

Using the power of eBay classified ads however, all of this can change in a very short period of time. Affiliate marketing on eBay solves both of the problems that a addressed in the previous paragraph. Most ads on eBay will generate at least 100 views, and I have seen many that generate over 500 views. In addition to this your conversion rates will improve drastically on eBay because it is a buyers marketing; meaning people are not just searching for information, but are looking to buy a product that will solve their problem.

These are the two main reasons that affiliate marketing on eBay is so powerful. It increases conversion rates and website traffic! Now what is the exact blueprint to making $ 5,000 a month on eBay with affiliate marketing?

It is simple math actually. You can assume that each ad place on eBay will get 200 views. Conversion rates on eBay are excellent, so you can experience a 3% conversion rate which would result in 6 sales per ad. If you were advertising a product that made a $ 25 commission per sale, then you would make $ 150 a sale.

The key to $ 5,000 a month with eBay affiliate marketing is volume. If you post just 40 ads on eBay each month, and make $ 150 per ad, then you will have made $ 6,000 by the end of the month. As you can see this is a reliable business model that many affiliates are using to make a lot of money with eBay classified ads.

Do you want to know the exact process?

How to price your eBay products

Pricing your items on eBay can be quite tricky. Obviously they are your products to sell so you can sell them for whatever price you want but there’s a few things to bear in mind.

The main point to consider is that you MUST be competitive in your pricing. Sounds obvious but it’s a point worth making anyway. It’s no good giving your eBay items an unrealistic price because basically they won’t sell, or at least they won’t sell in the quantity you need them to. By this I mean, yes you might sell a few because you will get buyers that are prepared to pay a premium for a product they badly want or need, or some buyers may pay a premium price on eBay because you as the seller have a great reputation along with great feedback and dispatch your items quickly BUT if you over price your eBay products you are excluding potential eBay buyers of your product by over charging. Some buyers simply won’t pay the premium. What you need to do is appeal to as many potential customers as possible.

So, you know the price you have paid for your product. The next step would be to have a look on eBay at what competitors are charging for the same item. Chances are there will be a quite a varied price range and you need to research and see how fast these competitor items are selling and roughly the average price they are selling at.

Do NOT try and be the cheapest on eBay. If you can be the cheapest and still make a profit after fees then that’s great BUT do not try and purposely be the lowest priced seller of your item on eBay. I see a lot of people do this and I wonder why. All that happen is that it will drive the price DOWN, meaning less profit for you and everybody else.

It’s a race to the top not the bottom.

I’m going to tell you now about one simple method you can use to determine the price of your eBay products as a seller. What you can do is use gross profit to price your products.

To do this you take your sale price. Take your profit figure. Then divide your profit figure by your your sale price.

An example

You sell something for 3. You’re profit is 1. You then divide the small figure (profit) by the large figure (sale price).

So 1/3 = 0.33. That is 33% gross profit on that sale.

So lets say that you’ve done your research and these figures work for you, you now know that you can sell your eBay items at 33% gross profit. But how does that help me price my eBay products I hear you say? Let me explain.

Now all that you do is take your purchase price, in our example it would be 2 and the multiplier used to get a gross profit of 33% would be 1.5. Lets now say you use this figure across the board, or across you’re whole eBay shop pricing.

Remember 1.5 is our mulitplier so, we purchase products at:

1 x 1.5 = sale price needs to be 1.50

5 x 1.5 sale price needs to be 7.50

10 x 1.5 sale price needs to be 15

And so on… In short 1.5 times our purchase price gives us a gross profit of 33%.

But what if 33% doesn’t work for my products?

Good question. So here are some more multipliers you can use.

10% = 1.11

20% = 1.25

30% = 1.43

33% =1.5

40% = 1.67

50% = 2

60% = 2.5

Remember, all you need now do is take your purchase price, use the multiplier to make that amount of gross profit.

How does this help?

Gross profit is the figure on which most accountants, book keepers and tax officials will use. How much did you pay? How much did you sell it for? Pay tax on the difference. Not quite that simple as you can deduct expenses and costs to give you NET profit but gross profit are the basic figures that all other figures flow.

Let us say you download your monthly eBay sales figure for November and it was 5,000, $ or £ it makes no difference. You are working on a gross profit of 50%. You can work out your gross profit figure on eBay for that month then in a few seconds. It’s 2,500.

Let us say you download your yearly sales and it was 80,000, again $ or £ it makes no difference. Gross profit of 50%. So that’s 40,000 for the year then.

You can now work out your gross profit for ANY business on ANY figures, quickly and simply.

So next time somebody asks you how much money you’re making on eBay, you can tell them in about ten seconds. Or go and ask an eBay seller the same question with a pricing policy that’s all over the place and they won’t have a clue.

Hope that article was informative and you find it useful. As usual, feel free to comment.

Mark Davies

Do you want to achieve success on eBay and work from home? Just follow these ten simple rules.

Step 1: Research. Know your market. Research is the key to any successful online venture. What sells and, more importantly, what doesn’t sell. You will identify popular sellers quite quickly. File the information away it will pay dividends in the future.

Step 2: Competition. Of the items you’re selling who are your biggest competition. Look at how they set their sales pages and how long their sales last. Are they predominantly “Buy It Now” or Auctions? All sales copy can be improved in some way. Study carefully.

Step 3: Source your products carefully. Once you find a supplier you are happy with. . . negotiate! If you have used the same supplier for some time don’t be afraid to ask for more preferential rates. An astute supplier will see how this could benefit you both.

Step 4: Don’t just jump in feet first and start selling lots of items. Watch what is selling. Try different items and don’t be scared of trying to sell something different. You never know it might work. Think outside the box.

Step 5: Once you have found a successful format “rinse and repeat”. It is not rocket science. If something sells keep doing it!

Step 6: As in any offline (or online for that matter) have a plan. It doesn’t have to be detailed just an outline of your main strategies and areas you are going to concentrate on. Set aside a capital sum so as not to overspend on your business.

Step 7: Once you have started to see a regular income can be an exciting time. Don’t waste it! Re-invest in more stock and devote extra time to your business. Try and achieve a certain number of transactions every week. Aiming higher each time.

Step 8: There is a sad fact of life which we can’t avoid (legally). The taxman!If you are doing well put everything on an official footing. Take legal advice and register your company.

Step 9: Rather than rewriting the same response messages, emails and descriptions over and over again, keep a swipe file and just make minor adjustments to fit the occasion. Look around for business software that could improve your business. The savings on time and increase in profits will far outweigh the cost.

Step 10: Perseverance is the name of the game. Initially frustrations will set in that the time taken to achieve any worthwhile profits is going so slowly. Keep doing everything right and you will succeed.

I hope the above suggestions will help you in your quest to achieve independence and success online. But remember start slowly and don’t give up your regular paid work until you are 100% sure that your business will succeed.

Ebay offers the option of running an auction where bids can only be placed by pre-approved bidders. In order for bidders to qualify to bid, they must contact the seller and ask to be placed on the approved list. It is then upto the seller to allow allow this.

Normally, Pre-Approved auctions are used for high value items – or items which are normally targeted by scammers. Scammers looking to target eBay sellers nearly always go for high value items, by selling who use the Buy It Now format. By using a pre-approving format, bidders will not be able to use the Buy It Now button until they have been checked out & approved by the seller.

The disadvantage of using Pre-Approved auctions, is that a small majority of genuine members may be put out bidding, having to go to the extra effort of contacting you and asking to be approved.

However, the most enterprising sellers take advantage of pre-approved auctions to promote their enterprises away from ebay. This is not within eBay rules, but can be a very efficient way of marketing on ebay.

Basically, a seller will list for example a “Portable Playstation” at a low price. The Seller will not be selling a PlayStation or may not even own one, however eBay will hook them up with buyers looking to purchase such an item, who contact the seller though the contact form asking to be pre-approved.

The Seller in this instance will normally be able to direct buyers to alternative venues offering identical items – normally in an answer similar to “the one listed has been sold, but if you visit http://www.mysite.com you can see an similar model”. You should now see how efficient pre-approved auctions can be.

The website where the seller is driving traffic to, can be an affiliate website – where the seller earns a commission if a sale is made, or their own site where they will make a nice profit on any item sold. It really doesn’t matter – As long as buyers looking for the item continue to contact the seller they can continue to promote their website using the power & targeted audience of eBay.

Pre-approved auctions, allow you to list an item on eBay for the full length of an auction – whether 1,3,5,7 or 10 days knowing that you will not receive a single bid and will not be obliged to sell the item, but will continue to receive exposure for your item and website though eBay.

eBay is still the web’s largest marketplace where every day buyers and sellers connect to do business all across the globe. Selling on eBay can be a fun and lucrative way to make extra money or run your own home business. If you are considering eBay as a sales venue, here are some eBay selling tips that will have you auctioning like a pro!

eBay Selling Tip #1: Product Descriptions Must be Clear and Accurate

Let’s face it – no one is going to buy your stuff if they aren’t sure what it is. Auction descriptions should include important information like model numbers, condition of the item and any other relevant details – the more the better! You can also include sales copy to encourage the purchase, but don’t ever mislead buyers in your description as that is a sure way to get returns and negative feedback.

eBay Selling Tip #2: Don’t Forget The Pic

Pictures are worth a thousand words and nowhere is that more true than online sales. The buyer cant see or touch the item prior to purchase, so good photos of the item are essential in letting them know what they will get.

eBay Selling Tip #3: Clearly State Shipping Options & Costs

Buyers appreciate clear information on shipping costs and options in advance of their bid. If you offer options like insurance, this can set buyers minds at ease and encourage more bids on on high ticket or delicate items.

eBay Selling Tip #4: Mind Your End Times

The best times to start and end auctions vary from category to category, but one thing remains the same… If you time your auction to end when everyone is sleeping, you will get fewer bids. If you are selling to the US, don’t forget to consider all four main time zones and arrange for your items to end when everyone is awake and at their computer.

eBay Selling Tip #5: Customize your eBay Pages

Every seller has access to an about me page and a blog. These are great ways to give more information to perspective bidders about who you are and what you have for sale. If you run a site outside of eBay, this would be a good place to mention that as it can build traffic and credibility.

eBay Selling Tip #6: Keep Good Records

If you are operating your eBay sales as a business, at the end of the year you will need to file taxes on your earnings. Keeping track of income and expenses is very important so that you can easily have an accurate view of your finances. Small businesses are also eligible for write offs and tax benefits that you may be able to take advantage of to save you on taxes. Be sure to consult a tax adviser if you are confused about any of the tax aspects of running an eBay business.

eBay Selling Tip #7: Meet or Exceed Expectations

You success is in part determined by how well you maintain a trustworthy high feedback rating on eBay. In order to keep buyers happy, you must do what you say you will do and communicate with your buyer to keep them in the loop on the status of their item. If you ever have the chance to “go the extra mile” do so. Happy customers mean booming business.

Hopefully these eBay selling tips have given you some insight in to what to consider when building you very own profitable eBay business. Selling on eBay is not hard, and it can make for a fun and rewarding career.

Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on ebay. eBay is the #1 home-business opportunity in the world right now, so it’s natural that many are eager to find highly profitable items for re-sale on eBay. However, it’s important to know that there are certain items that can’t be sold. Here are a dozen of them …

Some items are copyright infringement and can actually land a seller in federal prison:

1. Knock offs of music, TV shows or movies. The “bootleg” movies, for example, are often made by guys who sneak a movie camera into a newly-released movie where presumably, they crouch behind a seat and make a crummy copy. There is a large production of these counterfeit items in Asia where US laws have no power.

2. Software and computer games can likewise be copied and their sale is illegal by all US laws.

Naturally, the items above may be sold if you have a copy that you purchased legitimately and no longer want.

3. The so-called “replica” market for handbags, designer sunglasses and clothing is definitely forbidden although these items are often sold in physical stores around the US. Ironically, when attending eBay Live In New Orleans in 2004, we found a store in one of their famous markets selling replica purses that were not allowed on eBay.

4. Lazy and less-than-honest sellers often steal copyrighted material from other sellers. This has happened to me many times and eBay has a program called VERO (Verified Rights Owner) that will remove offending auctions, although there seems to be no penalty attached to the seller, which is unfortunate.

5. Alcoholic beverage sales are not allowed although a beverage “container’, especially those of wine, may be sold for its value.

6. Cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco or coupons for such items are not permitted on eBay.com.

The eBay rules for collectible tobacco and alcohol containers are the same:

* The value of the item is in the collectible packaging, not in the wine/tobacco itself.

* The listing description should state that the package has not been opened, but that the twine/tobacco within is not for consumption.

* The collectible tobacco packaging must not be available at any retail outlet, and packaging must have a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of that wine/tobacco product in the package.

* Sellers must take steps to ensure that the buyer of these collectibles is at least 18 years of age

7. Firearms are strictly regulated by US law and may not be sold on eBay.

8. Satellite and cable TV descramblers are forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission.

9. Animals and wildlife products may not be sold, which includes stuffed birds and pelts from endangered species. There are limited sales of ivory, tortoise shell, marine products and other items relating to animals. This area is quite complex and any would-be seller needs to thoroughly understand the various laws before getting involved in these sales.

10. Event tickets have state-by-state laws that make their sale complex. Some states, for instance, forbid anyone to make more than a few dollars in profit (or no profit at all) on the resale of tickets. For instance, Florida law states that tickets can be resold at no more than face value plus $1. In such states, these regulations apply only to buyers and sellers located in the same state as the actual event, meaning if a seller lives in Florida, he can’t profit from ticket sales to Florida events. However, if he lives in any of the other 39 states, this restriction doesn’t apply.

11. Listing a catalog of items that a seller offers for sale is forbidden. The only catalogs legally sold on eBay are collectible kinds, such as an old Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Wards catalog that is memorabilia and doesn’t offer current merchandise for sale.

12. Raffles and prizes are 100% prohibited. According to eBay, such promotions are highly regulated and may be unlawful in many states.

There are other kinds of merchandise that a seller may not sell on eBay, so carefully check eBay rules before listing anything. It’s much better to know the rules in advance of spending money that can’t be recouped.

QuikDrop Says Goodbye…

In an article written by Ina Steiner of AuctionBytes.com this morning, it is reported that QuikDrop, one of America’s largest drop off eBay store franchises, is closing up franchise sales and support operations by the end of this month. The current franchisees (store owners) are free to continue store operations but will do so without corporate franchise support or software.

…at least one storeowner was worried over QuikDrop’s notice that it would cease offering the stores use of its proprietary software program on December 31. Bob Golub, owner of a Massachusetts QuikDrop franchise store, said he wasn’t surprised at news of the closure, but is worried about finding replacement software and learning a new program in such a short period of time. “We’re all scrambling,” Golub said. Excerpt by: Ina Steiner AuctionBytes.com

If you own a QuickDrop franchise what will you do?

Will you move on and continue with operations with newer and even better software provided by a third party like AuctionLogic (powered by AuctionSound)? Or will you try to run your consignment operations with eBay’s Turbo-Lister?

Services are available such as AccountingLogic which will help you convert your data from your existing software or bookkeeping software and import that data into your new listing software. Learning more modern web based consignment listing software suites is not nearly as difficult as QuickDrop store owners might imagine. Training is available through the software vendors or their consultants and in the end your costs will be much lower while your ease of use and efficiency will improve.

My advice would be to weigh the options and evaluate this change as an opportunity. QuickDrop may have given the entire franchise the best Christmas present possible. But shutting down the bleeding and operations they have given the franchises an opportunity to control their own destiny and run their business as they want to. The reduction in overhead will give each franchise owner breathing room to implement new advertising, website development, and eBay store upgrade options which were not available to them as a franchise owner.

Beyond highlighting the numerous valid reasons for avoiding the purchase of a eBay drop store franchise, as previously detailed in this publication… This development also brings to the forefront a business practice which I believe every small entrepreneur should avoid…

The dependence upon one company or entity to supply your business with all of its required software and branding and ultimately, income… is fool hearty. Throwing all of your proverbial eggs in one basket is unwise in any venture, to depend upon one company for software and branding is risky.

While this lesson is demonstrated very plainly by this latest QuickDrop development. The same lesson can be applied to the practice of placing all of your product sales in one channel such as eBay. It is unwise for any business owner to be so entirely dependent upon the stability, largess, or whims of another company. If you are only selling via eBay or if you have a franchise eBay drop store of any brand, you should take today’s news as a wake up call. Look at your operation and analyze where your income is developed. If your stream is one river then you should diversify. Find a way to sell elsewhere, look for other support options, review other software vendors…

Always look for ways to spread out your dependence upon other entities and your business will be more healthy and better able to survive when one vendor has a bad situation develop. Your business is not unlike an investment portfolio, investing all of your cash in one stock is never well advised…

Everyone in the QuickDrop family should thank the corporate offices for this decision. There are other software suites available which are more user friendly and have better support and they are available at less cost than the price of a franchise and royalty fee.

Congratulations to all of the QuickDrop franchise owners – you have been set free.