Know when to sell on eBay using research

How many times have you said I wish it could be possible to Know when to sell on eBay.

Well I have some news news, it is possible to Know when to sell on eBay. As with all things in life there is the hard way – You have to look at the different eBay sites out there, keep a close record in excel or other spreadsheet and believe me this can and will take you hours and hours but at the end of the day you will Know when to sell on eBay.

But there is another way to Know when to sell on eBay using research 
this way is a lot easier, takes very little time and as well as telling you the best times to sell on eBay, it also gives you some great information.

Things like, the best time to list and the best times to finish the sale. The best days to finish and the list goes on and on.  Of Course I am talking about TeraPeak.

TeraPeak is an eBay certified provider and eBay have even chosen TeraPeak as their choice of research companies and promote it to their users.

At the end of the day yes TeraPeak will cost you a montly fee, but it will save you time and money as you will not be buying and listing products that do not sell.

So now you can Know when to sell on eBay using research and get a better price.

Changes at eBay

For regular eBay sellers, most will have seen or heard the changes that will be taking place on the eBay platform.

Now as always with this type of thing you get the good, the bad , and the Ugly posting on forums, writing in newsletters etc.

I have started to look at each one of the changes eBay will be making, but I am not going to say my thoughts now. I am going to let the dust settle, read forums and newsletters that I respect and admire, and then give my thoughts.

The reason being at the moment there are tons of people giving their own thoughts which is good, but their is too much noise to make sense of it all.

Now I have said this is in the past and I shall say it again. eBay was the first of all auction sites and one of the first mass selling platforms, if it had not been for eBay most of the other sites we see would not be around.

eBay still drives massive traffic to it’s site and the stores – even today.

eBay is still making people money.

So a question to those people who bad mouth eBay (and hey I do not like some of the things they have done, and I guess there will be some more I do not like) why leave a place that drives traffic in massive doses to your sales?

Yes these new sites are good and I too have joined them, but they still do not drive traffic like eBay does.

eBay like any thing changes over time. And these other compnaies if and when they reach the size eBay is today will change, and I guess those who left eBay because of the changes will be leaving these others for newer ones.

Rant Over.

Have a great time and have fun selling on what ever platform you sell on

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

How To Take The Best eBay Pictures.

One of the leading questions I get from new people and those who have been selling on eBay is “How To take The Best eBay Pictures“  One way I guess is practice. People say practice make you perfect and I guess they are right.

But I know that answer does not help people who want to get their items up on eBay. But joking aside practice will get you there.

So lets get you started on How to take the Best eBay Pictures ever.

1) Try taking your pictures in as natural light as possible. If you can take them out doors even better, but if not as close to a window as possible. Modern day lighting has a nack of turning pictures yellow. And the best time of day to get the true colours out of your pictures is mid-day.

2) The next step in How To Take The Best eBay Pictures is to use a Digital Camera. The camera does not need to be an all singing and dancing digital camera. A basic one will do as long as it has a Macro setting , and a USB or Card so that you can transfer the pictures, you are well away.
The Macro setting lets you get up close on items.

3) The third stage in How to take the best eBay Pictures is to take the item standing or lying on a plain colour back ground.

4) When you are using back ground colours try and think what colours will bring out the features in the items you are taking pictures of.

5) A hint here, if you are taking pictures of silver or mirriors think what you are wearing before you take the pictures. Reason…………………….. well it has been known for some sellers to have taken pictures of silver while wearing very little clothing up loading it to eBay, and then getting emails saying I like the undies you are wearing etc. You see silver reflects and if you do not think or check your pictures then the world might get to see you as you would not like them to see.

6) If your item has some interesting features then take some close up pictures of it. Along the same lines if it has any flaws, cracks, chips etc, then take a picture of this too so the buyer can see it.

7) Another step I teach my clients in the How to take the best eBay picture stage is if you are selling cell phones, computers etc take a picture of the ID number of the item and display this as this action protects you and the buyer.

Another question that is often asked is how many pictures do I need. My answer is enough to sell the item. If you are selling a £5.00 then one picture will do. But if you are selling a £500.00 item then a few more will be needed. and if you are selling a £5,000 then a dozen may be needed.
Now when you start to list items with a few pictures you will need to host your pictures else where as eBay charge for extra pictures and they do allow you to host them else where. this will be talked about in another blog post.

Well I hope this has helped you get a better understanding on “How To take The Best eBay Pictures“  and very soon you will be taken pictures like an ebay pro.

Happy Selling and Picture Taking

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

What is an eBay Education Specialist ?

An eBay Education Specialist is someone who is approved by eBay to teach different levels of trading on eBay.

Here in the Uk an eBay Education Specialist is allowed to teach the basics courses.

An eBay Education Specialist has to pay a fee for a course and at the end of the course they take an exam and when all the questions have been answered correctly eBay allows them to teach the different courses. It also allows the eBay Education Specialists to display the logo on their websites and on all paperwork.

This logo is guarded by all eBay Education Specialists as it is something they can show off to clients and other people.

eBay Education Specialists tend to work in their local area as the eBay course has to be done on a personal basis and face to face.

For example I run my courses in the Lichfield and Rugeley areas of Staffordshire (This covers the WS13, WS14 and WS15  Postcodes).

Education Specialists run courses on a one on one basis right through to class-room style teaching.

So if you want to know more about eBay and how you too can earn money from this great site pop along to my Training Page or if you live outside the Lichfield area drop me an email at info@MyAuctionEmpires.com and I will put you in touch with someone more local.

I hope that has answered your questions as to “What Is An eBay Education Specialist”

Happy eBaying

Andrew Milburn and My auction Empires

For sometime now I have been thinking about the name of my blog………. My Auction Empires. When I started out blogging my main focus was Auctions…… I did not think about the future, this was a big mistake.

Today I have renamed this blog My Online Empires as this name covers all the areas of earning money from and on the internet.

So a word of advice to my readers out there, when you buy a name or are thinking about the name for your business, please think long term and not just short term.

Have a great day.

Andrew Milburn and My Online Empires

How To find Out What Is Hot On The Net

Have you ever looked at listings on eBay or read some new report and thought to yourself if only I knew that was hot news, or how did they know that product was going to be hot ?

I guess most of us have over time thought this, and then we miss out again and again……………….. Well folks I have good news for you, from today onwards you will be able “How to find out what is hot on the net” and the cost nothing, yes you heard me nothing. Well no money but it will take you some time but if you master these tips and sites below you will always be able to Find Out What Is Hot On The Net, and act on it.

Also once you have mastered this How To find Out What Is Hot On The Net, you will be able to use it to get out of a market before you lose money on it.

Today I am going to give you the list then over the coming weeks I will take each one and show you how to use these no cost online tools.

1)     Google Trends   http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

2)    Yahoo Buzz  http://buzz.yahoo.com

3)    Lycos 50  http://50.lycos.com

4) AOL Hot Searches  http://hotsearches.aol.com

5) Ask   http://about.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtm

6) Google News http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&topic=po

7)  eBay Pulse  http://pulse.ebay.com

8)  Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases

9) eBay what’s Hot   http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html

10) Google Zeitgeist    http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

If you use each of the above links you will soon be able to Find Out What Is Hot On The Net.

Hope you find the above useful and if you know of any other sites please leave them in the comments or send me an email.

Another Resource bought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires.

Watch Who You Knock

I am writing this post after listening to several different podcasts and reading several ezines and blog posts. Watch Who You Knock is a blog post giving my thoughts on the currant trend of pulling eBay apart…………… and I just say Watch Who You Knock as it may come back and bite you where it hurts.

Before eBay it was Amazon people were pulling apart and before then it was some other e-commerce platform, but if we do not Watch Who We Knock then one day we will wake up and have no where to sell.

For instance let us roll back the clocks to the mid 1990’s there was no big e-commerce sites, no eBay, No Google, Yahoo was just starting up. Then eBay hit the internet and as they say the rest is history. eBay was the start for the work at home person to have a place to sell items along side the big boys.

Now over time stuff happens in peoples lives, things change for the good and the bad, and yes eBay has changed and changed for the good and changed for the bad, but it is still here and it is making people money who are willing to put the effort in.

Since eBay there have been loads of other sites trying to copy what eBay did………. for instance Amazon started an Auction place………. it closed down. ……….. Yahoo started an auction site it closed down. Now when these stores opened people left eBay and said hey this is far better than eBay come on over. Some did, I did but still kept my place at eBay.

Today 2009 there are auction Sites and e-commerce sites opening up on a daily basis. A few people are saying bad things about eBay and some other platforms and saying get over and join us.

Now we all have choice and freedom to sell where we want and I do believe in using multiple channels as you can reach more people……………… But Watch Who You Knock.

For example you may be a big seller on eBay and are a bit fed up of some changes and you decide to go and join a new site………… You post some bad things about eBay on blogs and podcasts…………………….. You join the new site, and all is well for a few months, you say this is far better than eBay and far cheaper look at my bills etc. You public bad mouth eBay and praise the new company.

A few more months pass, bills are still cheap, but you think hey I am not selling as much stuff, and in fact you are losing money and traffic. For you see eBay has huge traffic to it’s site every minute. You can stop someone in the street and show them the colours of eBay and they will say that’s an eBay company. You can ask old or young what is eBay and they will tell you. eBay has the traffic use it to your advantage.

Then you wake up one morning, log into your new site and it is down, you try later still down, you email them no response………………………. they have shut up shop and left town.

Your business is in a mess for the passed months you have bad mouthed eBay, and people will laugh at you for going back. So you find another new site with less traffic, less marketing skills and try and make a living……………

At night you lie in bed and think, you know what eBay was not that bad a company to work with, maybe I should not have been so hard on them. And with the bad points I was making a good income, lets go back and start a fresh………………………………….. It will be hard, but eBay are there to help you.

So please Watch Who You Knock (eBay, Amazon, CJ, etc) for they may give us headaches at times and make us want to scream but they have been there from the start, they have taught us all we know about selling, and if it had not have been for eBay none of the others would be around today.

Now just to set the record staright I do use eBay, and I also use a load more sites to sell on. Each one is different and meets different needs for my use and my clients use.

And at the moment the traffic that I get from eBay far out stretches any of the other sites.

So a final warning “Watch Who You Knock” business or person for you never know you might need them one day.

A blog post bought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires.