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Browsing Posts in eBay

eBay And The Postage Price Increase

April 14, 2012 Andrew Milburn 2 comments

eBay And The Postage Price Increase

All over the eBay boards and forums people are voicing their concerns and anger over the soon to be price increases on the Royal Mail network. Yes to the average person on the street 14p increase on 1st and 2nd class postage does seem a lot, but I tend to stand back and take a overall look at the increase and how it will effect my business and the businesses of my clients.

Royal Mail Price Increase, Royal Mail, Andrew Milburn, My Auction Empires, eBay, eBay consultant

While the UK gets cross and upset over the increase we need to look at what can be done.

We can stop using Royal Mail and close our business down – An idea but not good one

We can stop using Royal Mail and use a different carrier for our items – An idea that will work if the items are the right weight

We carry on using Royal Mail and adjust the increase into our costing - To me this is one of the better ideas.

As eBay sellers we need to look at the bigger picture. For example the other day on the news I heard someone say that come the end of the month he will have to stop selling and close his business down due to the postage price increase, they who were around him on the interview were agreeing and feeling sorry for him.

But was that the whole story, well it is very hard to say, the news did not say what he was selling or what quantities he was selling it in, but what he did say they were small items that fitted in jiffy bags. So let’s say his postage costs will go up by 20p an item n round terms. Yes this does add up if you are selling a lot of items a week, but if the profit margin is only that small the seller needs to either source his product from another supplier, find a new product line or increase his sales price by the 20p (or what ever the extra costs are)

Like I said at the start of the article the price increases are quite high, but it is how we react to them. If we have the right margins in our business or maybe tweak our prices a small bit then everything will work out fine. But remember Royal Mail are not the only company out there that deliver packages there are many others who often offer a better service than Royal Mail with full tracking on every item and their prices are very good.

For sometime now I have been using a broker called Parcel2go.com and they work with companies like DHL, Hermes, City Link but the prices are very good and much cheaper than if you went direct to one of the carriers due to the volume they do each day.

So in closing keep a cool head, know your figures, tweak prices where needed and all should be good.

Happy Selling

eBay Andrew Milburn, eBay, eBay Consultant, My Auction Empires, Royal Mail, Royal Mail Price Increase

eBay And Niches

April 13, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

eBay and Niches

As an eBay Consultant I have been asked by many people is it right to sell in a niche or not. As with a lot of things on eBay it all depends. As some one who has been selling on eBay for many years, and I have sold on just a niche based shop, a general shop selling many things and nothing the same and then I have sold in one shop which had a few big niches in it.

So what are the advantages and disadvantages of having a niche driven shop on eBay, again these depend but to me if I was going to be selling in a niche driven shop, I would go for a medium large niche and then break the categories down into the sub niches. For example you could go for cookware. And then you break the categories down into the sub-niches for example bakeware, saucepans, knives. And then break the sub-niches down into further smaller niches for example the bakeware could be cake tins, baking trays and with these you can have manufacturing niches on the categoires

This is a fantastic way to sell on eBay as you will be the go to person for say Cookware, and it would be a never ending niche with new products being introduced into the market place on a monthly basis. But also it is a niche that has a rabid following for vintage items and of course you can add these into your shop without any problem. And the vintage with the new would make a wonderful mix.

In closing this post on eBay and Niches I just want to talk about the downside on just having one niche on eBay and that is if you set out to do one broad niche and brand your shop and get a large following you will find it very difficult to introduce another main niche into your shop. If you feel you may want to do this then it might be better to go even broader when starting up your eBay shop, so for example instead of just having a cookware shop, you go for a home-ware shop. This will then allow you to sell anything to do with the home.

Just go and do some brainstorming, do some research and then just start, as they say nothing ventured nothing gained, but you just need to take the first step.

eBay ebay and niches

Life On EBay

April 12, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Life On EBay

As an eBay Consultant I am one of those people who walk the talk. Everyday I am working on my own business, or helping one of my clients with issues they may be having with their businesses. Selling on eBay is a fantastic way of life and to be part of one of the largest selling platforms is a real honour, but as with anything there are issues that happen, and it is how we deal with those issues that separates the leaders from the rest.

When you sit down with a client and go through the whole process of selling on eBay in the early days we work on getting the shop set up in the correct way and then work on keywords, pictures and categories etc, and for many sellers this is where it stops and to be honest that is all it needs, yes of course keeping up to date with the changes that are happening on the site and keep up to date with product sourcing, but the other day while doing some brainstorming for my own business it hit me like a bolt of lightening.

As eBay consultants we often talk about life on eBay and how we can mix and match so we can have a business that fits with our lifestyle and the lives of those around us. We talk about listing items, taking pictures, finding the best product sources and trying to offer the best customer service we can. It was then that I thought as sellers we should also keep up to date with life on eBay, but from a buyers point of view. Now I know we cannot buy from our own store, but we can buy items that we use in our homes and businesses from other sellers on eBay.

But why would we want to do this. Well it gives us a feel as to what our own customers are going through, the highs and the lows of using the site to buy items. How the feedback system works, the types of emails customers get when they buy something. (We can also learn about good sellers and bad sellers but that is another topic for another day.) Very often when I sit down with a client and they say you never guess what this customer did, or the email I had of that customer………………….ok it might not be our fault (but quite often it is) but sometimes it is the sales process that eBay put customers through. And once we understand that, we know how to deal with situations if they go bad.

As an eBay seller can I set you a challenge, that each month you buy something that you need off eBay – in an ideal world we should always be thinking of eBay when looking to buy items for our business or presents for a loved one. But if every month we buy at least one item then we will be kept up to date on how the buying process works, we will know when things change or if there is an issue with one of the process. And thinking long term if and when something does go wrong you will be able to talk your customer through the problem and explain the steps they need to take to complete the sales transaction.

Hope this has helped you.

eBay eBay, eBay Consultant, Ebay Education Specialist

Want It

April 11, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Want It

I guess we have at some time in our lives used the words Want It. From a young age to grown up’s we have or will at some stage in our lives say I want It or even want it now. Now depending on how forceful we are or how desperate we are will depend on whether or not we will get what ever it is.

http://pages.ebay.co.uk/wantitnow/

Now let’s translate that into our eBay business, we need to make our listings so that people want our product or items we are selling even though they do not know at the time that they want it. But the article today is not about that it is finding out what people want and then selling to them. And eBay has provided this for us sellers. There is not much research, no money to spend. eBay have a section on their site called Want It. Here people can list an item or product they are after, they can put as much detail as they like, they click post and there it goes up onto the want it section of the site.

As sellers we can go along and type in a product we are selling and if there are people wanting it, up the details will come and we just respond to them with an offer, and then if they like the offer they buy through the normal way. But what I find interesting is the fact that buyers will just post something they are looking for without search the main site, strange but true.

This want it page is a great resource for us sellers and can I encourage you to take a look and see if there are people wanting your product right now, if so respond with an offer and see what happens. Nothing ventured and nothing gained as they say. Give it ago and soon you will find you will become hooked and using the want it page as part of your monthly marketing package, after all it is free and takes as long as you want it to take.

eBay eBay, eBay Consultant, Want It

Don’t Keep Your Eggs All In One Basket

April 10, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Don’t Keep Your Eggs All In One Basket

I guess you will have heard the phrase don’t keep your eggs all in one basket, and it is so true in all areas of your life, even when selling on sites such as eBay. eBay is one of those companies who have stood the test of time and the seem to just go from strength to strength and no matter what state the economy is in items always sell. But as an eBay consultant I always teach clients to have an open mind.

eggs all in one basket, eBay, ebay consultant

Today there are many online platforms where you can sell your items both new and old. Some of the platforms have a large amount of traffic while others have a smaller amount but they are still work as they are niche driven, and then you have those sites which seem to just tick over, but today I want you to start to think outside the box and take a look at what else is there out there.

Apart from eBay there are sites such as Amazon and Etsy and for now I just want us to focus on these three, (and to be honest unless you are selling items that are over a certain age or are craft related it will just be eBay and Amazon). But why do I want you to look beyond the wonderful world of eBay ? A few thoughts straight off are, what would happen if you woke up one morning and found the eBay servers down, or you had been banned from the site, yes we know servers can get repaired and at times they can remove the ban from you, but this all takes time. Now if you had another string to your bow or a few eggs in another basket, you would already have a presence on the other sites and platforms and it would not take you long to be up and running on these.

Apart from making sure you back is covered another reason is sites like Amazon and Etsy give you more coverage and at times your buyers will only buy from a certain site and maybe you could be missing out on a large amount of footfall and in turn you could be missing out on a missed sales and no one wants to do this.

The sites I recomend you have a presence on when you can are ;

eBay

Amazon

Etsy

Each of the sites have there own sets of rules and regulations but once you have sold on one it does not take long to learn the rules and how to, to sell on the other sales platforms. Yes some people may feel safe by keeping their eggs all in one basket, but all it takes in one little accident and you will have a lot of cracked eggs and if you you are not prepared then you could loose a large amount of your online business. Be prepared and start looking around at the different sales platforms there are out there and remember that saying Don’t keep your eggs all in one basket.

Happy Selling

eBay eBay, eBay Consultant

Making Money With EBay

April 9, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Making Money With EBay

People all around the world are looking for ways to increase their household incomes. While for some people having an extra part-time job may be the answer, for a lot of people it is not practical to be out of the house any longer due to personal commitments within the home. Also each and everyday we are reading and seeing in the media that people are loosing their jobs so what can be done ? Well at times the answer is often right in front of us, and today I want to talk about making money with eBay. Yes it is still possible to do this, and now eBay is growing up it is becoming far more easier due to the site being more user friendly and a host of support programs out there.

making money on eBay, eBay, eBay Consultant, Lichfield, WS14, WS13, WS15, Andrew Milburn eBay Consultant

When I first started selling on eBay back in 1998 there was none of that, and I and others had to learn the hard way and learn by our mistakes it was fun but at the same time it was hard. Today in 2012 there are more people visiting the site and as we all know the more people that come to a site the more chances there are to get a sale. Now I am going to be the first to admit some niches do have a lot of sellers in them, but if you start out on the right foot and with the right mindset you can still be making money with eBay on a regular basis. But there are a few rules that you need to look at and we have talked about these before and will talk and show you about them in other posts, but the most important thing is that you take action.

You can read blogs and forums, buy books and go on courses and all of these are good and will help you in your journey of making money on eBay, but at that stage they are all head knowledge, you need to sit down write a plan of action and set yourself some goals and then take action. A vision / goal for your business in very important and for those who know their bible there is a verse in there that says “Without a vision the people perish” replace people for business, and this is so true.

Once you have set down your plans and goals on paper, you need to step out in faith and take action. Now I know we are all busy people but if you are serious about making money with eBay you will find the time. For example to start with if you got up a half hour earlier in the morning and did some work on your business and then at night stopped watching TV for an hour a night over the month you would have found an extra 45 hours a month that you can apply to your business. This is in effect an extra week a month you have found by doing two simple steps.

Of course I know each person is different, but if you take small action steps each day and do small steps each day in your eBay business then you will soon start to see your business grow. You need to be consistent in what you do and within a short space of time you too will be making money with eBay. Go on and give it a go what have you got to loose?

eBay eBay, eBay Consultant, making money with eBay

Help What Can I Sell On EBay

April 7, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Help What Can I Sell On EBay

I know through this blog I keep coming back to product sourcing, but as an eBay Consultant it is the one thing that people request the most. For example today while out in Lichfield someone who knows I sell on eBay asked me the famous question What can I sell on eBay ? Well she really said Help what can I sell. You she see knew eBay worked and she had a desire to make some extra money, and she had the required skills to make it happen, so what was holding her back ?

Product Sourcing, eBay, eBay Consultant, Andrew Milburn

Over the years that I have been selling online and helping others to do the same, I have come to the conclusion that people seem to have this block when it comes to sourcing products to sell online, and at times when am sitting in peoples homes, they very often have a large inventory of items that they can sell to start them off in their journey of making a living on eBay. But until we have broken the thought pattern and shown them what is possible, it will be hard.

So going back to the question………..Help what can I sell on eBay ? I want you to remember a few things, you can basically sell most things on eBay as long as they are legal and ethical, to help you take a look on eBay for the things that you are not allowed to sell and then go with what you can.

A tip I give new people about to start in the wonderful world of selling on eBay is start with items you have in your home and no longer have a need for. By doing this you can sell things without investing in any stock. It will also allow you to practise taking photos, writing titles and writing descriptions. You will also learn about pricing items and sending the items out in the post that you have sold. Also it will give you some capital to buy stock in the future.

When you start to sell on eBay and come up with the question Help what can I sell on eBay, I ask people what do you know, what hobbies do you have, what do you like doing. Then once people have come up with a list we can then take some time and do some product sourcing. Although I said at the start of this article almost anything can sell on sites such as eBay there is no point in you going out there and buying items you know nothing about and do not have a feeling for. Yes I know that should not come into product sourcing but I think in the early days to does help people. For example if there hobby is line dancing then they will know something about the niche, what the words the buyers will use and more important the things people will buy.

Then once they have learnt how to sell in a niche they know, they will be confident to break out and sell in areas they do not know about, but after a few days research they will feel confident and able to take on any product or niche that they like. But in closing help what can I sell on eBay, I would like people to start off small, build their profits and not get into any debt when buying stock in the early stages.

eBay eBay Consultant, Help what can I sel on eBay

Easter Bargains

April 6, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Easter Bargains

Here in the UK we are on a long weekend 4 day break. So what will you be doing on this Easter Break, I guess many will be taking advantage of the Easter Bargains that shops and stores are offering people over the Easter weekend. And for those who are not out there product sourcing eBay has kindly given private sellers a 4 day period in which to list items at auction with a starting price of £1.00 and we are allowed to list 100 items at no charge. But remember although we have 4 days we still need to remember the time we list an item is the time it finishes, so be-careful about listing items in the morning or afternoon, as people may not be around next week when they finish.

All over the UK you will find shops, stores and online shops running Easter Sales in a bid to bring in shoppers and have steep discount in a bid to encourage them to buy. Now while this is a great concept and these places will take money, I just want you to put your product sourcing hats on and see what Easter Bargains you can find to resell online.

Only today I had an email from a well know high street shop offering me a USB memory stick 16gb for only £8.99 normal price was around £22.00. By the time you had added VAT and Postage costs you saw a profit of around £8.00. This is only one example and as you go around the stores this Easter Time spend some time with your product sourcing eyes and ears open and try and source some products for you to buy to resell on sites such as eBay and Amazon.

Although this article is called Easter Bargains whenever you see a sale on, where possible try and take advantage of the offers and buy low and sell high.

Have a Happy Easter

eBay Easter Bargains

Know Your Margins

April 5, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Know Your Margins

As an eBay Consultant one of the things that concerns me the most is that people just do not know their margins. But more important at times people just do not seem to care, and do not worry. They just say do margins really matter. Yes they do, and if we do not get this into our heads we will be loosing money time after time, and very soon there will be no business to be had.

Knowing your margins is one of the main principals of business and it is up there with product sourcing and marketing, get it wrong and you have problems. You only have to watch programs such as Dragons Den or The Apprentice and from day one you hear them mention what are the margins. In fact on Dragons Den they are more concerned about margins than the marketing………..why, well because they know they can work on the marketing and make it work, but if the margins are wrong there is not much that can be done.

I have seen several Dragons Den where the people do a great pitch, the Dragons love the product, but in the end they just cannot invest, and it is all down to the fact that the people have not done the figures and do not know the basic margins and numbers. They will often say it is OK not to know all the numbers, but if you do not know basic percentages and cost prices and retail prices they just cannot invest.

This also goes for your eBay business, know the price you buy in at and then your retail price, but you also need to factor in eBay Fees, Paypal fees, postage, packing, time etc. And once you have calculated all these what is left is your profit. I have seen many people say I bought this for a £1.00 and sell it for £2.00 and I will make a £1.00………….erm no take out all the fees and you may make 60p, but that may be more like 40p.

Please when you go about product sourcing, get to know all your costings and I mean all and work them out, and if need be walk away from the product because there is no point in selling things and not making any money. So today’s lesson is Know you margins, and your business will make a profit.

eBay eBay, eBay Consultant, know you margin

Use Real Photo’s On eBay

April 4, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Use Real Photo’s On eBay

Over the years there has been a growing trend on not using real photo’s on eBay listings. Hands in the air I am guilty as charged and have used stock images. Yes even us eBay consultants get it wrong, but are we always to blame ? Recently eBay has been asking sellers in certain categories to add the ISBN or bar code number and if buy magic a photo of the book or CD etc will appear along with a full description of the item. And a lot of sellers both new and old just stay with that and if in the right mood will add a few lines of their own.

But this does cause issues as found out by a good friend of mine Chris Dawson over at Tamebay.com, please take a look at his blog post. Now the area Chris is talking about and also I am is in the area of secondhand items. The pictures eBay chooses for you are all brand new items, and this causes an upset with buyers as they are not seeing the real item and this in turn will cause an upset for the sellers out their. So to read more about this please pop on over to Tamebay.com and take a look

Now an area where I believe you can use stock items is in new items and where you are drop-shipping items. As a drop-shipper you use the photo’s you have been given, end of story. And I am talking with a new client where I will be acting as a TA for them and they sell in the business to business niche. All their items are new and they will provide me with stock images.

So if you are selling used items never use stock photo’s and this will keep you out of any problems. If you are selling brand new items and you are drop-shipping or as in the case of this new client you have to use stock photo’s, but where possible please take your own photo’s as this will give you brownie points all round.

eBay Andrew Milburn, Chris Dawson, eBay, eBay Consultant, Tamebay, Use Real Photo's On eBay

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