The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 225

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 225, 1 August 2011

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – Breathing space for TRS

2. Quidco

3. Spice up your listings

4. Ask Molly – How can they sell it so cheaply?


Hello and welcome to this week's edition of The eBay UK Bulletin.

All the Elves are refreshed after their short break and raring to go; it is just a pity that all the buyers have now gone on holiday.

Releasing my stock of toys early has certainly helped cash flow and enabled me to retain Gold Power Seller status which is usually lost during the summer months. The downside of course is that my stocks are depleted and Christmas is not far away.

Oh, one final thing before I start, I keep forgetting to tell you that the ‘eBay Business Handbook’ is now available in ‘Kindle’ format from Amazon – many thanks to Hh for looking after my interests [Ed – again].

In this bulletin there is good news for TRS and their discounts.

Also, sign up for online discounts, you know you want to. Details below.

[For details of this newsletter, please scroll down to the end.]

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1. EBAY NEWS – BREATHING SPACE FOR TRS

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This story is a little old now, delayed due to holiday, but brought to you now as it is of great interest to all ‘Top Rated Sellers’.


“Hi Molly,

I just thought I would write about the top-seller rated grace period. Brownie points for eBay on this one! If you are a top-rated seller and you have suddenly found yourself in the above standard category for no reason, this is a god send. You now have up to four months grace to get back on track.

Earlier this year it happened to me, and I am sure many other sellers when, because of the bad weather, items were not being delivered on time, or even got lost.

Unfortunately, this happened to me two weeks before Mother's Day. As I sell greetings cards I was not best pleased. This is one of my best times of the year for selling cards.

When I challenged eBay about this, they were not interested that we trudged through 15 foot of snow to reach the PO, even though the bags may not have been collected, we were doing out 'bit' to ensure that we still provided the best service possible to our customers.

So now eBay have listened to the sellers.”


greetingscards4you - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/greetingscards4you


The grace period is allocated based on your TRS evaluation period -

http://sellerupdate.ebay.co.uk/august2011/increased-stability-top-rated-sellers.html

As fee discounts are now only given to TRSs, dropping back to ‘above standard’ will be costly.


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2. QUIDCO

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I have mentioned this website in the bulletin before. It is great for all kinds of discounts, particularly when using eBay. Why mention it again then? Well I started using it myself last week as my normal affiliate links were playing up and the thought of losing revenue was just too much to bear.


My purchases included:

Holiday guide book for £3.77. Cash back 24p.

A new bed for Elf number 2 who is leaving home (again) for £65. Cash back £2.17.

A kitchen for £150. Cash back £3.91.

3 rolls of bubble wrap, delivered for £26.70!. Cash back 96p.

1,000 bubble bags [Ed – hopeful then?] for £63.50. Cash back £1.96.



All good stuff and the site is dead easy to use although you have to watch your cookies. The best thing is to bookmark the site, then clear all cookies (Firefox: Tools/Options/remove cookies) and then open the Quidco site. [Ed – I can clear a plate of cookies in no time.]

Now is the time to buy packing materials in advance of Christmas. Prices seem to be lower than last year as sellers compete for reduced trade and delivery is almost next-day as the shipping companies are also not very busy.

You can sign up directly at Quidco or if you use my personalised link and make savings then I will get a referral bonus equal to a medium Costa Latte. which is not to be sniffed at.

Enjoy!


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3. SPICE UP YOUR LISTINGS

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Bulletin 224 posed the question of how to spice up listings. Many thanks to all readers who sent in suggestions. I am not sure that eBay would allow some of the ideas, but the thoughts below might be worth investigating.



“With reference to the question of how to jazz up listings, they could try ‘seller sourcebook’ - http://www.sellersourcebook.com/. I have used this for eight years on eBay and find it invaluable. Yes, it does cost, but it is well worth it.

They also host your pictures so you can place them in the listings. Or use them on promotion pages.

See for yourself how is looks - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DR-AND-AMY-POND-GENERAL-OPEN-BIRTHDAY-CARD-/170650573776?


Also, for a one-off payment, you could try ‘Zara Extreme’. I bought this for around £70. It is similar to Photoshop but A LOT easier to use. You need to attract your buyers to your site on eBay, so having a good heading helps. If you are going full-time on eBay, it pays to invest a little first.”

Wise words indeed; if you have any experience of these products, please do let me know – mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk

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4. ASK MOLLY – HOW CAN THEY SELL IT SO CHEAPLY?
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“Hi Molly,

Whilst searching for some De-scaler for our kettle (which like yours gets a lot of use), I came across this site http://stores.ebay.co.uk/DREAMLAND-VALUE? and could not believe how cheap some of the items were, especially as they all came with free postage.

In fact some items (in particular I noticed a heavy duty padlock) I could not even post for what they are selling them for! I did ask politely what the secret was but not surprisingly they declined to comment.

Am I missing something here Molly, is there some way to post things really cheap that I do not know about?”

‘Tortchyboy’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Green-Light-International


I have checked the site and this is a (sort of) 99p store or end of line cheap shop, you know the kind of thing. They buy in large quantities that they can sell it below the purchase price for most of us. However if you read the feedback it seems the items are not of high quality - you get what you pay for.

I would think that they are using a postage account such as Royal Mail 'packet post' and probably 'packetsort'. You need to send 5000 parcels a year with a minimum of 250 per day to qualify for the highest discounts; this guy does 8000 per month. They may of course be using a similar service from another carrier, the savings are considerable.

This is a very difficult trading model to compete with, so it is best not to.



If you have a question about eBay or home working in general, please send it to: mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk - I will reply personally to every e-mail I receive and remember, there are FREE copies of my book available for the best questions, tips, or stories.


-- END NOTE --


That's all for this week. Check out www.ebaybulletin.co.uk for the latest news from Molly HQ.


The final word on the letter box story from last week is that the buyer didn’t like it in the end and cancelled the order. I have pulled the listing; selling letter boxes is just too much trouble.


Quick quote from listing 350479884801 ‘large tub of Lego’

“WEIGHS A TON, EASY 11KG PLUS”


Finally an Elf received the following request:

“Hi, i really like the dress, and was wondering if you could send a picture of it being worn, just to see how it would fit.”

Fair enough I thought, anything to make a sale. So I modelled the dress, took a picture and duly sent it. They never actually bought it though. [Ed – perhaps you should have shaved your legs first.]

Best wishes and happy eBaying


Mollybol



Author of the bestselling title, 'The eBay Business Handbook' - available direct from the publishers: www.harriman-house.com/ebaybusiness