Nice Lil Earner!!! ha ha ha snappy (ebay.co.uk)

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Product:	ebay.co.uk
Date:	24/03/02 (3 review reads)
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You wanna make a fast Buck? Want to find that ultimate collectible you've always hankered after? Something Old, Something New and even something Blue - if you look in the right place - there is genuinely something for everyone to be found on EBAY.

But maybe more importantly there is money to be made from this Grandaddy of Online Auction - read on.

Unlike many other 'big' internet names that have hit hard times as the internet 'bubble' has well and truly burst, Online auction site EBAY has gone from strength to strength. Only last week I was reading an in depth article about the company, in the Financial Times (yes, honestly!). How it began, how it has progressed and how it has continued to flourish while other web enterprises have failed or at the very least, struggled to survive.

The one great thing about any of the auction sites, is that they actually do generate revenue. Think of them as either a cyber car boot sale or an online classified ads operation. Every time you - or I - as an eBay member, want to list an item for sale or auction, we pay a 'listing fee'. If the item sells, we pay eBay a 'final fee' too. There are other fees for 'sprucing up' your advert, such as adding a photo to your listing (the first photo is free, but if you want an extra one, it costs you another fee), highlighting your listing as a 'featured' auction in some way and so on.

No need to go into too much detail about the extra fees, because they would only affect you as a seller (no fees to pay if you are a buyer) - I mention them purely to indicate how Ebay makes it's money and continues to thrive.

The one thing that you must consider if you are entering any sphere of sales or commerce, is how many people want to buy my items? That's one thing - but letting all those people know you have that item to sell, is another. That's where advertising comes in. You may have the best
product around - but if no one knows about it, you won't sell it! Same principle with Auctions. There is no point in you putting you precious (or not as the case may be) item up for auction on a site that has very few visitors. Yes, you may be lucky and find someone just happens across your item, bids and wins the auction. Great - but if you advertise on a much busier site like eBay, you increase the amount of people who will see your auction and thus increase your chances of a sale. AND - more importantly - rather than just the one bidder, you may have several bidders who bid the price up and you make more money. See the idea, now?

When I first began listing a few items online, I kicked off with Amazon auctions. The UK site charges no fee - up front - for listing your items and if it does not sell in the specified time scale of 3/4/5/7/10 days, Amazon relist it for automatically - for free. They only charge you if and when your item sells. The same goes for Yahoo - another well known name that also operate Auctions on their site. The first two months that I was 'auctioning', I sold a few things and decided I'd try eBay - but I was a bit put off by the fact that I had to pay to list my items. What if it doesn't sell? List 20 items @ minimum of 15p fee each = £3. If none sell, I've wasted three quid. Oh Well, I'll give it a try, I thought.

That first time, back in February 2001, I listed around 20 items - 6 had received bids by the time they ended after 7 days. Similar items that I had listed on the other two sites received only 2 bids ! (and there was around 50 items listed altogether on those sites).

Every now and then Ebay advise members of a 'free listing day' whereby everything you list on the site during that 24 hours is listed for free - the only fee is if your items sells (a final fee of around 5%). I made full use of that day and had around 120 items up for auction at the end of the 24 hours.
"Might as welll", I thought, "see what sells and what does not".

Gradually as the week wore on, I got bids for all kinds of things that I'd never have considered listing if I had to pay. Around 40/50 items had bids on in that week and it was quite a busy time keeping up with the emails from buyers too.

So that proved the point of eBay to me - it was a busier site, with much more 'traffic', more sellers, but more importantly MORE POTENTIAL BUYERS.

I have used eBay as my primary Online auction site ever since and things have gone from strength to strength. My fees each month have risen from around £15, through to £25 and £40 to around £65 I will pay this month - BUT, for the past three months, my average sales have risen well into the hundreds. I have got a PAYPAL Account which is a godsend for dealing with US and foreign bidders - since the beginning of December, I have been transferring back to my UK Account and average of $300 per week from auction sales on eBay alone. What began as a 'toe in the water' and progressed to a 'hobby' of sorts, is now beginning to become very much a 'second income'.

And I am definitely only 'small fry' when it comes to Ebay. I never have many more items than 100-150 listed at any one time, yet the 'big hitters on the site may have 000s of items listed. But there is space on Ebay and each buyer or seller can find his way around and sell for decent prices, plus if you are a bidder, pick up some interesting items that you just could not find if it were not for the internet!

Right then - so that's my experience with Ebay - but what are the 'nuts and bolts' of buying and selling on the site?

First, you have to register. Go to www.ebay.co.uk and you complete the online membership form. You have to register a credit card (or debit card) with them
a) so that they can charge your sellers fees to it r>and
b) so that they can confirm who you are.
If you intend buying only, you do not have to pay for your items by credit card. Each seller has his own terms of business and usually will accept the usual forms of payment - cash, cheques, cards etc. If you are buying from an overseas seller you could find it very useful to investigate www.paypal.com - an online payment system, or www.bidpay.com - a very convenience way to buy US$ International money orders instantly.

Right then, you've signed up so you are now ready to auction. But are you going to be a seller or a bidder?

Let's examine the 'art' of bidding first of all.

~~~ BIDDING AND BUYING
You have two regular ways of looking for items you are interested in. Firstly, eBay has a search facility. You enter the words pertaining to the items you are after, say,'Harry Potter' for example. You can request listing of items 'available to' the UK, or items which are 'located in' the UK. You will then be faced with an absolute mountain of items with 'Harry Potter' in the title....that I can assure you. So maybe you'd better be more specific. 'Harry Potter T Shirt' will bring up just the items with that in the title and so on. You get the drift now.

~~ The other way - ideal if you are just browsing to see what is available - is to just click on the 'categories' available. Say, for instance you are interested in Film memorabilia - posters, photos, lobby cards, etc. Start off at the home page and you will see a list of categories on the left. Click on 'film and television'. It will lead you through to a page showing DVDs, Videos, Memorabilia etc.

So there you have it - you can navigate the site very easily and take it from me - there really is something for everyone to buy on eBay, from High performance cars, High quality electronic equipment, right through to pieces of pseudo 'junk&
#39; that you and I might throw out, but someone across the other side of the world is willing to pay good money for.

~~ When you have found something you want, you will see there is a current bid price shown. You must bid whatever the minimum says - or you can bid higher to cover yourself. If for example the item is £5 at present, you can bid say a maximum of £10. Your bid will be recorded at the £5 - but if someone else comes in later on and outbids you, you have already covered yourself with what is known as a 'proxy bid' (that limit you set of bidding 'up to £10). Just make sure that you don't try to chase the price up too high. Stick to what you believe is a bargain or fair price, depending on your usual instincts. You'll soon get the hang of it.

~~ Right then - you have won that auction, so what happens next? You will get an email from eBay giving you the seller's contact info. He will also probably contact you (after all I'm sure he'd like you to pay), giving you instructions on what kind of payment he prefers. Remember, as eBay is worldwide, you can enter through the www.ebay.co.uk portal, but you can be bidding on an item that is located in the USA, Australia or just 5 miles up the road from you!

Send off your cheque, pay for your item and wait for the prompt arrival of your first winning bid. Be warned it does not always go so smoothly. Think of any problems you may have had either buying by Mail order or even at a Car Boot sale. 'Buyer Beware'. Sometimes something that looks good and sounds good may not be all that good when it arrives.

~~~ FEEDBACK
If you are happy with your item and with the seller, eBay encourages you to leave 'feedback'. By each seller's ID there is a number in brackets. This is his (or her, of course, sorry ladies) 'rating'. For each auction he has completed, a seller and buyer can receive feedback on the transaction. If you click
on the number in brackets you can see how other members have rated the sellers transactions before. If he/she has a whole load of 'positives' the chances are you are buying with confidence from a reputable and trustworthy seller. Similarly, when the shoe is on the other foot and you are a seller, who has receive a bid from someone, you can click on their feedback rating to see if they are likely to be a good buyer.

It works both ways and is an excellent barometer to any potential bidder or seller as to whether the prospective transaction will be a good one.

So that takes us nicely on to the 'what to' and 'how to' of being a seller on eBay.

~~~ SELLING AN ITEM
Firstly you have to choose which category is the most suitable for the item you wish to sell. You will have some general idea as to what is best just by navigating around the site. Let's say you have an Autographed photo of Danny La Rue (like you'd really want one of those!). Probably best under one of the sub headings in 'Film and Television'. But, it's your choice.

Then, of course, you must decide on a Price. Remember, it's an auction, so it's not as if you are saying "I'm selling this for £10". If you do get the auction 'bug' you will realise that there are a few 'tricks' and ploys to setting a price. Some sellers choose a ridiculously low starting price - ONE PENNY, maybe. I'm sure that there is a reason behind this and personally would never risk doing it - BUT Plenty of people do and it works for them. If anyone can explain it to me, I'd be grateful. Of course, the item never sells for a penny, that's just the opening bid price and if it does the job and gets your auction noticed, fine. When you realise that at any one time on eBay there might be over 1 million items listed !! Set a reasonable price, maybe at the bottom end of what you are expecting. That way it's
not pitching it too high and you should stir up a little interest in your auction, without scaring off bidders because the price is too rich.

You can list your Auction for 3, 5, 7 and 10 days, with an extra fee for a 10 day auction. Seven days seems a reasonable length of time for an auction to run, but if you know you are listing something that is likely to be 'hot' maybe try a shorter time. Most auctions do get more bids nearer to the expiry time of the auction. You may find your item receives a bid early on then stays dormant until just before the 'off'. Suddenly it doubles in price - you get a real buzz and feel that it was all worthwhile and you can't wait to sell something else.

When you have sold an item, you will receive an email from Ebay confirming your auction has a winner and giving you their contact details. You can also access their details direct from the Ebay website. When you log in to eBay - you have to if you intend bidding and to access your own 'my eBay' page - you can pull up your current items listed for sale. If you have an auction that has just ended with a winning bid, just click on their name and it will show their email address.

... TIP > Clicking on a member's Ebay Feedback number will also show you which Country they come from. Extremely useful if you are a seller and you are about to write to a winning bidder.

Now you have the bidder's detail, compose an email along the lines of "Thanks for bidding.....your winning bid was....Please sent a cheque for....to me at ...etc". If the winning bidder is from overseas you will have to work out how you are going to accept payment - cash - Money order - Paypal (see above or do a search on this site for how Paypal operates) - or whatever.

It is entirely up to you whether you are happy to despatch your item upon receipt of his cheque or whether you wait till it clears. But once you have been paid the tr
ansaction is just like any other mail order transaction you may have had.

~~~ BUT WHAT IF THE BIDDER NEVER PAYS?

If you have received to response to your email after three or four days, you can send the bidder a reminder direct from the eBay site or by email. Give them a little time, because after all they may be away on holiday or just away from their PC. If after around two weeks you've had no reply - or you had a reply but no sign of a payment, you can send eBay a 'Non Paying Bidder' alert. This is the start of a process which will either give your bidder a 'kick up the jacksy' and he pays - or, at the very least, get eBay to refund your fees.

Fees - yes there are some and I'll cover those shortly.

Ebay are very good at replying to your emails. They also will give you several suggestions at how to proceed if something does go wrong with your deal - as a seller or buyer. This, in itself cuts down 'timewasters' - people who bid and have no intention of paying and fraudsters who sell items they don't have.

There are also a selection of Community boards that you can post on to contact other eBayers in the UK and beyond to ask for advice or just swap ideas and experiences.

~~~ FEES
As a Buyer you pay no charges to Ebay. Simple
As a seller, you must pay a 'listing fee' - minimum of 15p per item (up to a £4.99 threshhold) and the higher you set the minimum bid, the higher fee you are charged. But for an average small item of around £10 it will cost you 30p to list. If your item does not sell first time around, you can relist it and your fee is refunded if it then sells.

In addition to a standard listing fee, if your item sells you must pay a 'final fee'. This is 5% of the final price that the item sells for. So, say for instance you list an item for £3 - you pay a listing fee of 15p. The item proves popular and sells for £15 - so you also p
ay an additional 'final fee' of 75p.

There are also additional fees you can incur if you want a 'special service' . (No, Ebay do not operate Massage parlours too!). If you are auctioning something of great value you may wish to have your auction highlighted as a 'featured auction' (around £20). You may wish to sell your item, but with a 'Reserve' put on the price it sells at. There are other small fees that be charged for minor enhancements to your auction - like listing in bold type, adding an additional photograph and so on. But for general run of the mill auctions the basic package is fine.

The listing fee includes the provision of a photo of the item you are auctioning. When you are posting your auction on the site you are given the chance to add a photo. If you do not have one handy, you may be able to find a similar item already on Ebay which you could 'borrow' the photo from. Just click on the pic and 'save as' to put it onto your hard drive, then load it up with your auction. A bit naughty and some of the 'power sellers' undeniably frown on it, but it does no harm, in my eyes.

Well, I have certainly taken up plenty of your time if you have ploughed through all of this article. I have tried to cover the whole concept of the Auction and how it works as well as some of the facilities that eBay offer. As I seem to remember saying some 3000 words ago, the beauty of eBay is the fact that your Auction is seen by an awful lot of people, thus giving you a greater chance for it to sell at a good price. There are a few pitfalls and things to be wary of and I hope I have tipped you off about some.

I'd like to finish by wishing any of you who may try or are thinking of trying eBay, the very best of luck and good fortune. We were all newbies once upon a time and generally speaking you will find other eBay members helpful. Us Brits love to find a bargain, but also love to be
able to make a few bob too - on eBay both things are possible.