As an eBay Consultant we await the Seller Updates they come rain or shine at regular points throughout the year. In the weeks before they are due to hit the eBay platforms around the world, people are guessing what they could be and often or not there are large threads on discussion boards how they will effect sellers………all this before eBay has said a word.

Then the second the press release is out the boards and forums are alive with people shouting and screaming and spitting their dummies out. Most saying now look what eBay has done to us, do they not care any more. Sorry to say this but grow up. Changes happen, and instead of moaning and complaining we need to embrace the changes and move on with our business. When you stand back and look at all the time and energy we spend complaining about a few changes that are going to take place no matter what we could have used the time to expand and grow.

eBay do not wake up one day and decide to make the changes, they take long and hard looks at where they have come from and where they are going…..and at the end of the day eBay is a business and has to make a profit, yes at times we might wonder why the changes happened, but we need to learn to embrace them and work with eBay and grow our businesses.

To help us understand the changes a bit more please watch the eBay video above and watch, listen, learn and take action. As I have said and as I have been saying to my eBay consulting clients today just embrace the changes, change what we need to change and grow your business.

Just a quick heads up to personal sellers on eBay. This weekend there is another free listing weekend on Saturday and Sunday (25th and 26th February)

The normal eBay rules will apply – personal sellers only (No Powersellers, Business sellers, etc)

The other rule is the item must be sold at auction with a starting price of £1.00 or more.

For further details please go on over to ebay.co.uk, but if you are a personal seller and have 100 items that you want to list at auction but they are worth more than the normal 0.99 starting price, get them out and start listing.

Here in the UK we have another free listing weekend here on eBay Uk. This time around it is for 100 items listed as auction items with a starting price of 0.99p or more.

The free listings are open to personal sellers only – (So no business sellers), and you have to use the eBay listing tool – no professional listing tools or bulk listing tools.

These free listing days and weekends are a good way for people to learn the ropes of listing higher value items on the site, but as with anything they do have their drawbacks and one of these is there is a large amount of items added to the site and then the following weekend large amounts finishing.

This can have negative impact on some listings but if you know what you are doing it gives people in the know a chance of picking up a bargain and them reselling it back on eBay or Amazon.

So if you have a lot of items you want to list, spend the next few days taking pictures and listing like mad.

Happy Listing.

One of the biggest costs that can hit an eBayer seller is Postage and Packing. This hidden costs can surprise not only the new seller but also the seasoned seller who has been selling online for many years. When I first started out selling on eBay there was only really the Royal Mail I could use to send my items out. But now there is a whole host of carriers and suppliers that you can use. You can either go direct to companies such as DHL, FedEx etc or go via a broker such as Parcel2go – More on this later.

The other hidden costs in Postage and Packing are things like envelopes, boxes, bubble wrap and parcel tape. Yes you can buy these items at places like the Post Office (here in the UK the postal service do not give them free to us, some carriers if you go direct will give you supplies). You can buy items from places like Viking Direct and even your Local Pound Shop sell items………but you get what you pay and also if you are sending out items on a regular basis you will pay loads more than you should.

So how and where do you buy your packing items for your eBay business ?…………….eBay of course. A quick example is Bubble Wrap if you buy from from your local shop you pay around £6.00 for a small roll. At present I pay £18.00 for a massive roll. If I bought the same size from my local shop the cost would be £120.00…….so a massive saving.

Again boxes, source these on eBay and you will save yourself a large amount of money, and the same goes for packing tape, void fill etc. Watch those pennies and will always make a profit.

In another article we covered how important it is to know the weight of the items you are selling and need to work out the postage costs before you list your item. If you get the postage cost wrong you could loose a large amount of money and it comes out of your pocket and not your customers pocket. You have been warned.

It is a good idea to have your own postage and packing area where you have all the items ready to pack your items so that you are not looking around for scissors and tape, as this soon adds up and you will be wasting time as you keep looking for missing items. If you are not able to have your own area always set up, get yourself a plastic box and have all your items in there ready to go.

As I mentioned at the start of the article back in the days when I started to sell online there was just the Royal Mail, but today there is a whole list of places where you can get your items taken all around the world. One of the best suppliers I have found is Parcel2go.com. This a broker company and they use companies such as DHL, UPS, FedEx, City Link, Parcel Force. Everything is the same as if you used the carriers direct, but you will make massive savings as the broker works on your behalf.

There are plenty of these brokers around you just need to use one that you feel happy with and they offer the best service for you, and of course deliver to the areas and countries where your customers are.

In closing postage and packing is a must for any mail order business, buy at the right price, keep those costs low, but do not buy too cheap as you want the item to arrive in one piece. And know those costs before you start to list your items.

Happy Selling.

For the past few days, there have been several blog posts and announcements on the eBay UK site that they are testing a new service called eBay Postage Labels where we can buy postage labels straight off the eBay Page without having to go through to PayPal., and will also be able to link your PayPal Account to allow automatic payments.

Also it has been said that they will be offering more carriers at present they only offer Royal Mail and Parcel Force. As yet there is no news who these other carriers are, but once the test period has been completed and everything works out, then the program will be rolled out to all of eBay Uk and we shall see who the other carriers are.

This is exciting news to both the small seller and the larger sellers out their as at times it can be a pain using the eBay Postage Labels service as each time you have to go to PayPal to use the service.

eBay around the world are always testing new programs and formats and hand pick across the sellers so that they can see if their new ideas work or not.

To see the full announcement about eBay Postage Labels please go along to their site by click the link eBay Postage Labels and there you can see a bit more information.

The other day I was just chatting with someone from my local town. This person has a presence on eBay and Amazon as well as their own website, and she was saying I just need more money. Now I know she knows the answer so I just said to her well list more. And her reply shocked me.

Yeah I know Andy……….but I have just started this new website,and doing this promotion for a nightclub, and starting up a radio show or two to promote clubs. You know when you feel like shaking someone. I said to her why now. I know she has endless supply of products to sell, and she is well connected and can get as much stock as she wants.

But she had lost her focus, yes she needed the money but her focus was on these new projects which were more a fun items. Yes she would earn bits of money from promotions and ticket sales, what with the party season about to start.

I tried to talk to her, and said spend several hours a day and list like mad. And the money would follow. but as yet she has not listed.

I know we all fall into the same trap from time to time, but if we have an

or Amazon business and we need some extra cash we just need to list more items and from this we will get more sales. It sounds very simple and if truth be known it is that simple, ask any of the eBay and Amazon sellers out there.

Set yourself a goal of how many items you want in your shop by the end of November and then divide the number by how many days you have until the end of November and that number will tell you how many items you will have to list.

Have fun and list, list, list and then list, and very soon you will see the money and sales coming into your account.

While out shopping today, I saw a product that could have been a good money earner if I was in the market for a new niche, but if you have been following me recently you will know I have a large amount of stock that I am selling over at Linford Direct Auctions.

I passed a shop that was selling liquidated stock, they were part of a chain and were one of the last shops to stay open and were selling off all the stock from the other shops and warehouse. So yes there would have been a load of no good items, with some hot items added in there.

Well there in the front of the store was a very large pallet of Helix Maths Sets, with a retail price of £4.99 and they were selling them for only 49p each. Yes these were all in their tins and boxes and on a closer look they seem in new condition, because they still brand new.

And if you hop on over to

they are selling for a price of £4.99, some with free shipping and some with postage costs on top.

Now before you go and source these items, you need to remember these items are basically for school kids, and schools and Universities are back in session and have been for some time. So while there is a demand for this product, the peak has really passed until the next start of term.

Now if I had seen this deal in the summer, I would have spend some money. For an example I could have spend £10.00 and bought 20 items, and flipped them on eBay for £4.99 each and after fees and postage would make around £2.99, times that by the 20 items and I would have made £60.00 profit. Not a bad return, well in my book it is not. Yes I know I did not buy today, but I might when I am back in town, just for a bit of fun and report my findings here.

So keep your eyes and ears open, and take advantage when you can.

A very common question I get asked is “How To Approach Suppliers”.  In simple terms you need to be professional in the way you approach them and ask sensible questions. I hope to cover the main ways to approach suppliers, but there are times when you just need to think on your feet……….and this will normally happen if you approach a supplier at a Trade Show or they cold call you.

How To Approach Suppliers By Email

We live in a modern world and nearly all your suppliers will use the internet and email to correspond with you, and even the third world countries will use email and in most cases expect you to use it. It is fast and both parties can get answers in a timely fashion.

When you approach a supplier use openings such as Dear Sir or if you know their name Dear……… the only exception is if you know these people having spoken to them on the phone or met them at a show and then it is ok to use opening such as Dear Jim or Dear Sarah, and at time a simple Hi and their name, but if it is the first time you have sent an email try and use the Dear………. opening.

Another big must do, use your business email address domains are so cheap now, and you can then use a webmail, outlook or link them up with gmail. For instance I use gmail but my email address in info@myauctionempires.com  In future articles I will show you how easy it is to turn a google account into a free business account.

Please do not use Hotmail or Yahoo as your business email suppliers will not like this. You can use @gmail.com as businesses see this Ok.

How To Approach Suppliers By Letter

If you decide to approach suppliers by letter, you need to have some form of a letterhead. Again we live in the modern world and you can set up a quick one in Word or Google Docs. Use you business name, address and phone number…………and it is Ok to use mobile numbers.

How To Approach Suppliers By Phone

There is nothing wrong about approaching a supplier by phone and a lot of suppliers expect this and have whole offices dedicated to opening accounts and managing accounts over the telephone but there are a few rules if you work from home you do need to remember.

• Do not have the radio or TV on in the background
• Do not have noisy Children or Adults in the background – this is not professional, and sometimes you are distracted and may not hear some figures right.
• Pick a quiet spot, and tell family and friends this is your phone time and not to interrupt you……………..unless of course there is an emergency.

Also when you approach suppliers have your questions written out as this will help you to remember things such as :

• Minimum Orders
• Opening an account or is it Cash with order
• How long is delivery time
• Is VAT included in the prices
• Do they have a catalogue or Trade site?

The task of approaching suppliers is a fun time, you get to speak to great people and you will build up lasting friendships and if you treat your suppliers well, they will phone you first when a new and hot item comes out. And you never know one day, they offer you a special deal and give the sole selling rights to you. But first you need to take that first step and approach a supplier.

Yes it is another free listing day here in the UK for personal sellers selling items on Auctions with a starting price of £1.00 +. The usual terms and conditions are the same.

First 100 items per personal account

Private sellers only

No Automatic Listing software

Items must have a starting price of over £1.00

For further information please go and take a look at eBay.co.uk by clicking here.

These free listing weekends are a great way to try out eBay if you have never sold on the platform and to also release some of the items you have wanted to sell, but never got round to it.

These listing weekends are a regular feature on eBay and allow the private seller to sell higher priced item and not worry about having to list them at the standard 0.99p. (But as we all know, there is a lot of fun starting a valuable item off at 0.99p and over the week seeing the price get higher and higher)

So if you are reading this blog post and are a private seller and have some items to list what are you waiting for?……………………..Get listing and make some cash by this time next week.