The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 227

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 227, 25th August 2011

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – eBay catalogue expands

2. Multi-variation listings ongoing

3. Did you know?

4. Ask Molly – Should I change accounts?

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

I am so proud of the Elves, they have just become ‘Top Rated Sellers’ even though they overcharge for postage, are slow with dispatch and rude to customers; there is a lesson in there somewhere!

Inventory levels are going up in anticipation of the Christmas rush with active listing on the Mollybol site up to 360. The Elves are up to 500!

This week more news about the impending changes to the eBay catalogue and

A few facts about eBay you probably didn’t know – read on to find out more.

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


-------------------------------------
1. EBAY NEWS – EBAY CATALOGUE EXPANDS

-------------------------------------


The eBay catalogue is to be expanded again to include more electronic items which should make it easier for buyers to find specific items. Some items already need to be listed against a category entry and this is bound to gather momentum over the coming months.

Be wary though if you do use the catalogue for a listing and then ‘sell similar’ at a later date – be sure to remove or amend the catalogue reference. I refer to my recent experience listing ink cartridges.

The other observation I have in relation to using the catalogue is the use of stock pictures. When browsing through a list of items with the same ‘stock picture’ my eye is drawn to anything different. I suggest you take your own photos; it will be worth it.

The press release can be found online, but in summary:

- Sellers must, where possible, list an item against a matching product from the catalogue to ensure they avoid having their items removed.

- Items that need to be listed against a matching catalogue include Apple laptops, Apple desktops, printers, routers, hard drives, televisions and iPads.

- Cataloguing makes searching for specific items easier for buyers and helps sellers to save time when creating and adapting product listings.

- Sellers can now save time spent on listing items by taking advantage of the pre-filled product information and stock photos when matching to the eBay catalogue.

Full details: http://sellerupdate.ebay.co.uk/august2011/electronics-catalogues-more-categories.html


------------------------------------------------
2. MULTI-VARIATION LISTINGS ONGOING

-------------------------------------------------


I am still plodding ahead switching my listings into the multi-variation format and so far it does seem to be working. One of the most interesting things is the use of a main shared picture. eBay suggest that this includes all variations:

“For your shared pictures, you can show all the variations you're selling in a single picture (such as all the colours), a pair of your items, a close-up or other alternate views.”

In the example of a batch of ‘stickle bricks’ for example, the main picture could include a huge selection from which each batch is taken. The result is that the gallery picture shows a huge amount of product against the price of one lot, this is bound to get the attention of most browsers.

Guidelines on listing in MV format - http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/sell/listing-variations.html


-------------------------------------------------
3. DID YOU KNOW?

------------------------------------------------


Founded in 1999, eBay.co.uk is the UK’s number one e-commerce site, providing a platform for 17 million unique visitors per month (Nielsen/Netratings, August 2010) to buy and sell new, unique and used items in a fun and easy way.

Far from an online auction house, eBay offers 30 million items for sale in over 13,000 categories on the UK site, with fixed-price goods accounting for the majority (60%) of items sold globally.

Sellers of all sizes, including 160,000 registered businesses and 30 high-street retailers, use eBay.co.uk to reach the UK’s largest online shopping audience.


-------------------------------------------------
4. ASK MOLLY – SHOULD I CHANGE ACCOUNTS?
------------------------------------------------

“Hi Molly

I wondered if you could help me with the following:

I am just about to start taking the road of setting up a new eBay business. As you have suggested in your book (a very good and useful read by the way) and on your bulletin I plan to start small and work up.

To that end I am thinking about selling fairly low-cost items (mainly less than £10) to begin with. I understand that to cut down on the fees that I can choose to pay a smaller fixed cost with PayPal and a larger percentage (micro-payments).


In order to do this, does this mean it would make sense to have two eBay accounts with two PayPal accounts – one with micro-payments and one without?”



Yes, having both PayPal accounts is a good idea, you can still use one eBay account, just change the payment details so that funds are directed as you see fit. I use both – the small one for lipsticks, small toys and sections of train track, of all things. It does depend on your main account's rate, 3.4% being the standard rate. I have a merchant rate of 2.4% so my breakeven for using the Micro account is lower, just under £6.00.

If somebody buys two or more small items from different listings you do have the option to alter the PayPal ID when sending the combined invoice, it is just a numbers game.

Check out the Micro-payments account - https://micropayments.paypal-labs.com/


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.

On the subject of saving money several readers have suggested the site http://www.topcashback.co.uk much the same as ‘Quidco’ but with what appears to have slightly more generous terms. Again you can pick up 40% of the seller’s fee from eBay.

Have you noticed your sales to Australia are increasing? It’s all to do with the recent policy change which now displays UK listings in the default search results in Australia, USA and Canada. This used to be avaialable at a cost so few sellers opted for it. Molly’s sales to the land of kangaroos are way up, which is great news [Ed - have they bounced through the roof?]. Let’s hop it continues.


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