The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 241

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 241, 10th February 2012

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay 101 – SEO

2. eBay success story – case study

3. Reader’s rant – tracking numbers

4. Ask Molly – Do I have to use micro-payments?

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

All those readers who adopted the notice board tip last week had their first opportunity to use it to advise about slow deliveries due to snow. Although delivery may have been delayed, sales have been buoyant, with deals including a pair of ‘hi-hat’ symbols, a slide projector and the centre of a Porsche hubcap!

This week sees the inclusion of an eBay case study which may just rekindle your enthusiasm during these dark days.

Also this week a short overview on SEO; it's boring but essential folks.

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


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1. EBAY 101 – SEO

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Search engine optimisation. Anybody dropped off to sleep yet? It does sound a bit heavy but if you own an eBay shop it is something you should have a passing knowledge of.

The contents of your eBay shop can be seen by external search engines such as MSN, Google and Yahoo, and this can be a great source of new business.

The first thing to be aware of is exactly how much business you are doing with customers who visit from a non-eBay search engine.

Click on the ‘Manage my shop’ link from your ‘myeBay’ page. Towards the bottom of the page click on ‘Traffic reports’ - you will have to sign in and may have to subscribe although they are currently free. In the middle of the page select ‘Keyword information’ and then ‘Top keywords that drove traffic to your Store’.

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines. This is achieved by entering a number of ‘keywords' which best describe your web page contents or your shop items. eBay will use your keywords to create ‘titles' and 'meta tags'. There is no need to understand these technical terms but ensure the keywords associated with your shop are pertinent and relate to the items you sell.

Never use keywords that are not related to your page content or repeat the same keyword more than once. This is considered keyword spamming by search engines.

Examples of keyword spamming would be the inclusion of inappropriate brands such as Nintendo, Sony, X-Box when actually selling games in PC format.

Keyword spamming could affect your page ranking or even cause your eBay Shop page to be removed from search engines' indexes.

If you don’t enter your own keywords then the eBay systems will do this for you. Should you wish to enter your own it is very easy - just follow these easy steps:

a) click ‘Manage your shop’ from your ‘myeBay’ page

b) click ‘Search engine’ from the menu on the left of the screen

c) Edit the keywords that apply to each of your categories.


Wake up, all finished [Ed - and now on to the exciting content... I hope].



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2. EBAY SUCCESS STORY – CASE STUDY

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Can you still carve out a success on eBay in the current economic climate? It is a question I am asked quite often as many would-be sellers feel that they have missed the boat.

Well, the answer is of course you can just so long as you have the right product that you can offer at the right price and have the patience to stick with it.

If you are looking for a little inspiration during the bleak winter and are fed up with my cheerful witticisms, check out this case study of a serious eBay seller - there are even a few videos for coffee time.

These guys had an existing business and developed eBay as an additional route to market and have just clocked up 250,000 positive pieces of feedback, so probably around 400,000 eBay trades – no mean feat.


Bamford Trading - http://sellersphere.ebay.co.uk/post/139

As a postscript on this subject watch this space for my ‘top tips tome’ about making money from car-boot sales which may soon get the green light from Hh publishers.

I have been attending them for almost 24 years and can smell a bargain from 20 yards; in fact you can find most of them on sale in the new shop. I still think this is a great way to get started with little capital outlay. [Ed - one book at a time please!]


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3. READER’S RANT – TRACKING NUMBERS

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“Hi Mollybol,

I have been asking eBay to fix a problem I have encountered in eBay and their courier tracking system for many weeks now and they do not seem to have an answer!

I use "myHermes" for many of my parcels and add the tracking number for each order, however when I click on the link it does not go to the myHermes website but either "Australian Post" or "Deutsche Post" and obviously does not show any tracking details.

This is embarrassing for me when buyers try and check their parcel and quite often leads to buyers accusing me of not even sending their item. I also recently had an eBay case opened up against me for an item that had not arrived and eBay asked for the tracking details.

In this instance the tracking did not show and went to the Australian post!! It only works if you actually go to the myHermes website. This just adds to the confusion and is less than professional when trying to keep my customers advised of where their parcel is.

I wonder if you have experienced this problem. The eBay technical team did advise me last week they had fixed the problem but I can't see that they have.”


370smith - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Bobs-Bargain-Bits


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4. ASK MOLLY – DO I HAVE TO USE MICRO_PAYMENTS?
------------------------------------------------


“Hi Mollybol,

Thanks to your tip about changing to ‘micropayments’, I've been saving a lot of money on PayPal fees on lower value items. However, on the few higher value items I sell I end up paying more than I need to as they would be better on Macropayments.

Is there any way of applying micropayments to the lower value items, but macropayments to the higher value ones? I just use micropayments on everything at the moment.


piggyplanet2011 - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/The-Piggy-Planet-Shop



Yes, dead easy. I use two accounts just as you wish to, the main one for most sales and then micro for little lipsticks and lower value items.

When listing your item you will see your micro PayPal account entered in the payments section, just replace this with your macro payments account (you can open a second account if you don't already have one). The money will flow into either account as you see fit.

One thing to bear in mind is when a buyer buys two low value items (which would each go to micro) you can alter the PayPal address when send the combined invoice and direct payment to the macro account. You just need to work out the break-even value at which a switch becomes viable.

One further point as we are talking about PayPal is the facility to send money for personal reasons via PayPal free of charge! This is still available and great for sending money to poor Elves who can’t afford to eat much during the slow season. Just select the personal tab from the send money option within PayPal.



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.

I am loving my new shop - it is great to get back to basics and the sale of a £10 fluffy toy causes more excitement than a dozen tubes of hand cream – it’s the kid in me! The only trouble is that the Elves are spending more time playing with the toys than selling them!

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

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 240

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 240, 3rd February 2012

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay 101 – Another top tip

2. Help needed with discounts

4. Selling limits

4. Ask Molly – When do I have to pay my fees?

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

It has been another busy week at Molly Towers, not only are the Elves running flat out to load inventory on to the new toy shop, but I also decided it was time to rebrand the cosmetics shop. We should all be able to sleep again in March. There are almost 450 items in the toy shop and the first month’s sales were £2,500; so far so good.

It’s an ‘Ask Molly’ week with no less than three Q&As and, for once, no PayPal spoofs to report on.

There is also just enough room for another eBay tip. It's a bit tricky this one, but worth it in the long run.

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


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1. EBAY 101 – ANOTHER TOP TIP

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You may recall in last week’s bulletin I included a quick tip about cutting your PayPal fees, well the response was so good...

“I had no idea about the fee reduction for sellers who have sales in excess of £1500 per month and as a result of your email and five minutes on PayPal my fees have now gone down from 3.4% to 2.4%. I reckon I will save about £70 plus each month. Well done and thank you.”

‘CS-Marketplace’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/cs-marketplace


“Thank you very much for your info on PayPal fees. I was not aware of this. I have just applied for the discount and PayPal have given me a new 1.9% rate, saving me about £170 a month. I have never subscribed to a newsletter that has saved me so much money for nothing.”

‘Charcon Creations’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Charcon-Creations


“Thanks ever so much for pointing out the merchant fees info on PayPal in your bulletin. I think I know everything there is to know about selling on eBay and then your email pops up and I learn something new and genuinely useful.”

‘twomagpiesshop’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Two-Magpies-Shop



...that this week I have included another from my soon to be published ‘top tips’ guide.

This one relates to the creation of a hidden notice board within your item descriptions which can be used for special offers and general announcements. If you fancy having a crack at creating one using this quick guide please let me know how you got on and where I can improve the instructions. [Ed – so you are now asking readers to write your books for you?].


You will need a web hosting account (for some reason this process will not work with ‘Photobucket’) which you can get for free. I use ‘freewebspace’ (don’t pay for a domain name, no need). You also need some very basic knowledge of HTML and Microsoft Paint or a similar program.

1) Decide how big you want your notice board to be. It is measured in pixels and I use a size of 380 by 98 which is approximately 4.5 inches x 1 inch. Check one of my listings and see what you think of that size.

2) Open a new file within Paint and resize the page to the dimensions you want. Save it to your desktop. Essentially this is just a small white page.

3) Load your blank white picture into your web hosting account and call it something like ‘noticeboard.jpg’

4) Log into your eBay account and create a new listing.

5) In the item description switch to the ‘HTML’ view.

6) Copy this HTML code onto the page img src=”” it needs to be included within brackets <> Copy the address of your noticeboard (right click and copy link location) and paste it between the quotation marks of the text in Step 6.

8) Switch back to the standard view and you will not see anything – scary.

9) Return to your small blank white page in Paint and fill the box with a colour; yellow is pretty good. Now add in your message (trial & error is needed here to get the best font size and colour scheme). Save the finished image to your desktop.

10) Load this new image into your web hosting account and then use the copy function, renaming your new picture with ‘noticeboard.jpg’

11) Check back with your listing and the new message will be shown.

If you want to remove your message altogether just load in another blank white page. Each time you ‘sell similar’ the code will be copied on to the new listing.

Comments (clean ones please) – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk


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2. HELP NEEDED WITH DISCOUNTS

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It’s that time again when I ask you the learned reader for advice on an eBay conundrum, this time the provision of buyer discounts when free postage is employed.


“Hi Molly,

I have been selling stamps on eBay for five years now and wish to take my selling to a next level.

I will be selling identical mint British postage stamps on a multi buy it now listing, with free P&P, using different listings for different stamp values.

To gain an edge I would like to offer a band of discounts to buyers who buy more than one item. For example:

-- buy 1 item for the price listed
-- buy 2-10 items get 10% discount
-- buy 11-20 items get 15% discount

Can I set something up automatically within the eBay listing or if I state in my listing 'Wait for final bill before paying' then can I adjust the invoice?"


Molly says:

If you offer free postage as standard then providing a discount is a little trickier as it is not possible to reduce an eBay invoice below the value of the actual items.

You could ask your buyers to hold off from paying whilst you send a money request directly from PayPal.

If they do pay the full amount, you could send back some of your buyer’s payment. In its simplest form this could be a partial PayPal refund on a manual basis - a little labour intensive but it would work.

Remember that your eBay fees are based on the selling price; they do not take into account any partial refunds you may make.

If there is a possibility of buyers purchasing more than one of the same stamp then you could use a 'multi-variation listing' and offer one stamp for say £5 and then two for £9.50 and so on, I do this for larger volumes of hand cream.

If anybody out there knows of another way to provide discounts under these circumstances, please let me know at the usual address.


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3. SELLING LIMITS

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“Dear Molly,

My question/problem is: since eBay introduced selling limits or allowances are you aware of how long it may take for them to increase my selling allowance from 100 items a month?

I have 68 positive feedbacks and no neutral or negative, all my DSR ratings are above required and I am £150 and 16 days off being a power seller and top rated.

Do you happen to know what the likely increase in selling allowance will be as at the moment the 100 items is rather choking?”



I can understand why the selling limits were introduced, but they can get in the way of making some serious money.
It is certainly worth contacting eBay and asking for the limits to be raised; it is possible they will remove the limit altogether but you need to contact them.


The eBay word:

"When you list an item, you may see a message letting you know that you have met, or are close to, one of your monthly account allowances. If you can't wait until the next month to continue listing, you can click the link in the message to ‘request higher selling allowances’. Some sellers may also find this link in the 'All selling' section of My eBay in the 'Monthly allowances section'."


If you have another established seller account this can help - let eBay know about it.


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4. ASK MOLLY – WHEN DO I HAVE TO PAY MY FEES?
------------------------------------------------

“Hi Molly,

I'm considering importing goods into the UK for the first time. The value of the initial order will only be about £70 and so I understand from HMRC that I'll be liable for import VAT at 20% plus possibly import duty which will determined by the classification of the items.

My questions are really around the logistics of the importation process. The supplier will be sending the goods by China airmail. So when they arrive at an airport in the UK, how is the VAT and import duty paid?”


You are quite right about the VAT and possibly the import duty as well as the VAT-free limit is lower than your order value.

You will probably need to fill in a form, the C88. You can get a copy from this HMRC page - http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageImport_Forms

I would be tempted to give the revenue guys a quick call just to confirm what is required - 0845 010 9000.

This is the official checklist:

1) Check which import duty applies.

Import duty is based on the type of goods you are importing, the country they originate from and their value.

HMRC's Integrated Tariff sets out the classification of goods and the rates of duty in detail.

Your trade association or your import agent may be able to advise you.


2) Confirm what paperwork you require from the supplier for customs clearance.

This normally includes an invoice and a copy of the transport documents.

You may need proof of the origin of the goods to claim reduced import duty for goods from certain countries.

A valuation document is also normally required for imports above a set value.


3) Complete an import declaration.

You normally declare imports using the Single Administrative Document (SAD).


4) Pay VAT and duty to get the goods released.

You pay VAT at the normal UK rate for those goods when sold in the UK.

Regular importers can defer payment of VAT and duty by opening a deferment account with HMRC. You need to provide security and must agree to pay by direct debit.


5) Account for VAT.

HMRC will send you a C79 certificate showing the import VAT you have paid. You must keep this.

You can reclaim VAT on imports in the same way as you reclaim input tax on purchases of supplies within in the UK.

You cannot reclaim import duty.



If you can offer any practical advice or tips regarding importing into the UK, please let me know – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk


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 re-branding of the Mollybol shop is taking an age and it is so boring! Changing the background colour scheme to a more seductive pink was easy and even retaking all the gallery pictures is not too bad. The thing that caught me out was my hypertext links from listings into the shop.

Advertising your other items is a good idea and linking back into your shop is as good as any. Unfortunately I also decided to expand my shop categories. The existing links from my descriptions direct buyers to a particular shop category which has now gone - instead I need to link to a search within my shop. It is a subtle change but means amending 100+ listings. Another late night ahead for me.

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

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 239

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 239, 27th January 2012

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – Entertaining & Interesting

2. PayPal spoof

3. Heart warming

4. Ask Molly – When is a gift not a gift?

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

The new shop is well on the way as inventory is slowly loaded into it. I've still had no time to finish off the layout, but that will happen in due course.

It is proving very hard to climb up the search results list - I must wait until I achieve PowerSeller level and secure TRS before things really take off. It is just like stepping back in time, but I’ll get there.

This week we have a great tip if you are looking to cut costs and a heart-warming tale about DSRs. Yes, I really mean it!

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


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1. EBAY NEWS – ENTERTAINING & INTERESTING

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Here’s a quick and mildly entertaining snippet.

Sign into eBay.com and click on the ‘Account’ tab; almost at the bottom of the page click on the link ‘Go to your dashboard’.

Scroll down a little and you will see a box ‘Your lifetime transactions’.

Here you will find a total of all your sales on eBay and the date of your first eBay sale – scary!


This is the bit that might just save you a few pounds.

If your PayPal payment volume has averaged £1,500 per month for three months then you should consider applying for the ‘Merchant rate’. This can reduce your PayPal fees down to a potential 1.4%. It is a great saving, but you have to apply in order to receive the special rate.

Log onto your PayPal account (not via a link in an email)!

Types ‘fees’ into the search box at the top right of screen.

Click on ‘Transaction fees’.


You may see this message:

“Your account is set to the Standard Rate for receiving payments of 3.4%.

If you receive more than £1,500.00 GBP per month, you're eligible to apply for PayPal's Merchant Rate - which lowers your fees as your sales volume increases.”


Click on the link “Are you eligible for lower rates?”

If you qualify click the ‘apply now’ link.


One last thing - if you do have a merchant rate on your main account and a micro-account for low value items, watch which account you send money to as the break-even level may change.



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2. PAYPAL SPOOF

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“Hi Molly, this is a good one! I thought you would like to share this with your readers.

‘greatvalue111’ - http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/greatvalue111/m.html?


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

Subject: Account Review Team
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:41:05 -0600

Please take a minute to carefully read this notification sent by our Account Review Team.

As of the 22nd of January 2012, our security system has blocked unusual charges to a credit card linked to your account.

An intrusion into your account has been detected which shows that someone tried to access your PayPal account without your permission. we have limited access to your account due to this problem. Moreover, we have sent you an attachment which contains all the necessary steps in order to restore your account access. Please download and open it in your browser.

Thanks for your high attention. Please do understand that this is a security measure taken with intention to protect you and your account. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,

PayPal Account Review Team

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



There is an attachment which accompanies this email asking for everything from your social security number to credit card number.

Cheeky!


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3. HEART WARMING

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“Hi Molly. Just thought you and the readers may like to hear my experience with eBay concerning Detailed Seller Ratings.

As we all know Christmas and New Year can be a very stressful time, getting the parcels out on time and then hoping they get delivered to the satisfaction of the customer. Well I thought I had done quite well dispatching within 24 hours of payment received (excluding weekends & public holidays).

So to my dismay the other day I noticed I had picked up a low DSR for Dispatch time. So I did the usual, exploring my feedback to see if there were any clues of a disgruntled customer, but as expected nothing was obvious.

I left it a couple of days, thinking it would be a waste of time contacting eBay. But last Tuesday I rang and told the representative that I thought I had received a malicious rating and explained my reasons. I was put on hold as normal and left to ponder for a few minutes, thinking I was probably wasting my time.

Then the response came. They didn’t think it had been malicious, they just thought the person had been confused over the Public Holidays (clue there as to date of transaction). But as a courtesy because of the Christmas rush (their words) eBay would remove the offending rating! I was a bit gob-smacked, but remembered to say thank you.

I was then later able to do my bit of detective work and re-check my feedback and noticed that one had been removed in relation to a purchase on 31 December, the item not being dispatched until 3 January (you would think people would realise the Sunday and the Monday were Public Holidays).

So I have subsequently blocked him/her (the feedback was full of spelling mistakes, I did wonder If they were responsible for the many PayPal spoofs you receive!).



A happy ending for a change.


‘plmodels2’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/P-L-Models-DiecastSuperstore


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4. ASK MOLLY – WHEN IS A GIFT NOT A GIFT?
------------------------------------------------


“Hi Molly,

Just wondering if you could help please? Bought your book, receive your bulletin and love your Elves.

On the CN22 form, am I right in assuming I tick the 'Other' box when sending to non-EU countries (I sell childrens' clothes)?


‘Happyonions’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/happyonions


Please don’t feel sorry for the Elves, they do very well don’t you know.

The quick answer is yes, but this might be a little problematic at the other end - its all down to import taxes. There are two main options when sending overseas outside the EU, gifts and non-gifts. Import taxes in one form or another apply to most countries around the world and also for items brought into the UK.

Import VAT applies to items brought into the UK as described on the HMRC website.

"Import VAT is charged at the same rate that applies to similar goods sold in the UK and applies to commercial goods over £15 in value and to gifts that are over £40 in value. The value of the goods for import VAT is based on the:

* basic value of goods, plus
* postage, packing and insurance, plus
* any import (Customs or Excise) duties charged

Additionally, customs duty becomes payable if the goods are over £135 in value.

It can be a challenge to work out the VAT and customs levels for each country you ship to but they are likely to be around the same levels as for the UK. The levels also change depending upon the product sent.

This page might help - http://www.uscib.org/index.asp?documentID=1676


It is quite likely that some of your parcels will be over the £15 when you include postage costs so your buyer may have to fork out when they get the parcel. If they were sent as 'gifts' this limit would be higher, but of course you would be lying on the form.

The other thing to consider is the value of the item that you put down on the form, ensuring that this figure is correct and not inflated could well keep it under the tax limit.

You should inform any overseas buyers that import taxes may apply and that you cannot estimate how much this would be as it is bound to change periodically.

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 new book is well under way with the first draft propping up a table leg at Hh publishers. If you don’t have a copy of ‘The eBay Business Handbook’ yet, you can now pick up a Kindle copy from Amazon for just £2.69 – the price of a Big Mac - http://www.amazon.co.uk/eBay-Business-Handbook-eBay-co-uk-ebook/dp/B005AJQD7U

There should be a little cause for celebration this weekend as Molly’s feedback is hovering just under the 35,000 mark - could be coffees all round.

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

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 238

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 238, 20th January 2012

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – Please don’t tell us

2. Watch those item specifics

3. Quick PayPal spoof

4. Ask Molly – Cameras or cake craft?


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

I had a bit of a shock this morning whilst checking my daily stats - I noticed that my Power-seller colour had changed on my dashboard; it should be gold, now its silver! On closer inspection it is actually Platinum, what a relief. The Elves were pleased, had a quick cup of tea and went back to playing with their toys.

In the bulletin this week is a warning about item specifics that might just catch you out. And some advice on cake craft!

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


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1. EBAY NEWS – PLEASE DON’T TELL US

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I am a law-abiding eBay trader and try not to break any rules. OK so I might bend a few now and then, but nothing blatant. I was a bit upset a few weeks back when I inadvertently listed a duplicate item. I was even more upset when it was removed and a minor violation added to my account. My fault, I should have been more alert.

Anyway with the bit between my teeth I now report any duplicate listings I find. I am not a vindictive person, I only report those sellers who are competing with me and breaking the rules. This reply from eBay winged its way into HQ.


“Hello Molly,

I've looked into your report. Be assured, all sellers are required to follow the duplicate listings policy. However, because we have just started to enforce this update to the policy it will take us some time to remove all the duplicate listings on eBay. We ask that you be patient as we work to find all listings that breach our policy and make sure members understand our new guidelines.

Also, please note that currently, we do not take action on reports of listings for breach of this policy. However, you can report listings that you feel are in breach of other policies to us and we will take the appropriate action on them.”



What a waste of time, I don’t think I’ll bother anymore.


------------------------------------------------
2. WATCH THOSE ITEM SPECIFICS

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“Hi Molly,

Have you or any of your readers fallen foul of the changes to the way item specifics are implemented? If not, it may help to be aware of them.

First, eBay have removed the option of a blank entry for some categories, e.g. date. This item in particular defaults to pre-1840, so unless whoever is listing spots this the date could be wrong.

Now, the solution to this is if you want a blank date is to remove this option altogether. Sounds simple and is, until you want to either revise, re-list or sell similar.

When you do any these things, it then re-enters all the specifics you have removed!!

Not an issue if you only have a few listings, but a real time consumer if you have lots to do.

Whoever is listing has to check the item specifics and remove any items that had previously been added by eBay.

I have spoken to eBay and the agent I spoke to was escalating it to whoever deals with these things. I think she called it 'business needs'.

I’d be interested to hear anyone else's experience and if it is a problem I would urge them to contact eBay.”


Trevorntl - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wrington-Online-Shop



I have indeed noticed this. My listings for electric fuses, which now nestle nicely with toys in the new shop, includes an item specific stating that each fuse is ‘one Amp’. Every time I add a new variant, a real pain. Hopefully this is just a short-lived blip.



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3. QUICK PAYPAL SPOOF

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


This spoof is doing the rounds so watch out for it. There are no graphics in the email which is titled ‘Alert: Suspicious Payment’.

Note the incorrect spelling of process, the lack of the word ‘Dear’ and does anyone know what ‘Ł18.00 GBP’ means [Ed - even the HH editorial department would be disappointed to let this many mistakes slip through]?

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



PayPal Customer,
You Made A Payment to www.thetattooshop.co.uk .
Your Ł18.00 GBP payment is in pending proccess.
If you didn't make this payment please login as soon as you receive this message and request a refund.

http://www.paypal.co.uk


Thank you,
PayPal
Purchase Protection Department.

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



The link underneath the PayPal address is actually ‘http://200.x14x.37.67/vextra/index.html’ – looks like it could be somebody other than PayPal to me.


If you have seen a decent spoof lately, please let me know – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk



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4. ASK MOLLY – CAMERAS OR CAKE CRAFT?
------------------------------------------------


“Hi Molly,

I've been tinkering with eBay for around 12 years now and have been selling odds and ends for the last year or so, gradually getting reduced stock from different supermarkets, etc.

After joining eSources and being supplied with a copy of your book, I really want to take my eBay adventure to the next level.

The point of my mail is really to ask how did you find your wholesaler and how did you strike up a relationship with them?

FYI - my chosen stock is either digital cameras or cake craft items.”



This is a question that pops up quite often and it can be difficult to find the correct wholesaler especially when so many people are turning to eBay as a source of income.

eSources were great for me, I found and still have two good suppliers and although I do not spend a great deal of money with them at the moment, I do still get the phone when new stock arrives.

Having more than one source of stock has to be a good idea and it can be found in the most unlikely places. I have written much on this subject in past bulletins, all of which are now [Ed – finally] loaded onto the website www.ebaybulletin.co.uk - it might be worth making a large pot of coffee and wading through them.

One quick pointer for acquiring stock is to approach your local market traders who often get lines which they want to shift in one go. Here a full breakfast and several cups of tea usually breaks the ice.

I would be tempted to opt for cake craft items. It is a subject I know nothing about but I like the sound of it as opposed to digital cameras. I still believe that selling something you know all about is the way to go. The camera market is very competitive with currently 70,000 listings and could be ‘high risk’ to you as they are quite expensive and could be the target for scammers.


I would again check through all the competition in both areas and also consider that eBay does apply restrictions to new sellers in certain categories. Cameras may be one, I can't believe that cake craft would be.


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.


Good news for all readers who have been patiently waiting for the next literary work to emerge from HQ. I have finally been persuaded [Ed – bribed] to pen my 100 top eBay tips and the draft is at this moment being decimated by Craig (who also edits this newsletter and very well too).

It is likely to be available on Kindle in the near future; I’ll keep you informed. And in the meantime remember that the Kindle version of The eBay Business Handbook is available now for JUST £3.00! It has been flying off the virtual shelves - do you have your copy yet?

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

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 237

The eBay UK Bulletin: Issue 237, 13th January 2012

Topics in this issue:

1. eBay news – No thanks

2. Through the square window

3. Account hack - beware

4. Ask Molly – Will the Olympics make me money?


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

It is a brand new year with the same old problem: ‘where is my item?’. There must have been a massive delay for parcels to Australia during December as I still have 20 or so missing. Memo for November 2012: block all overseas shipping, it is just not worth the hassle.

January should be a quiet month especially as the cosmetic shop is shut for a few days, however I decided to open a new toy shop and am now spending all day adding inventory and moving items away from the main shop. More on this below.

Also this week; an introduction to the items prohibited by some countries - essential reading for all eBay sellers.

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


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1. EBAY NEWS – NO THANKS

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Several emails arrive at HQ each week asking which items would sell well on eBay and my standard reply is that almost anything will sell however there are a few exceptions if you are thinking of world domination.

Most countries frown on weapons, explosives and human remains, as you would expect. Here are just a few of the prohibited items from a selection of countries around the world; it can be a minefield, but thankfully toys seem to be OK in most places.


Bulgaria - “Musical” cards (cards that play a sound recording when opened).

Switzerland - Radar detectors.

Albania – used articles

Bahamas - Skimmed milk in tins.

Cyprus - Leeches and silkworms

Germany - Pulverized coca beans

Guatemala - Police whistles.

Ireland - Hay and straw, including articles made of straw.

Russia - Live animals except bees, leeches and silkworms.

Swaziland - Honey and preparations of honey

Tanzania - Japanese shaving brushes


At least you now know the best place to ship your leeches and silkworms.

For the full breakdown check this site - http://pe.usps.gov/text/Imm/ab_toc.htm

If you know of an unusual restriction, please let me know – Mollybol@ebaybulletin.co.uk


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2. THROUGH THE SQUARE WINDOW

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The new toy shop is up and running (sort of). There's still a long way to go but the basic structure is in place. My main concern was to start selling; tinkering with the design and layout is important but not urgent. Sales in the first few days were around £500.

You can follow progress if you wish - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Through-the-Square-Window

Starting from scratch is not easy; hopefully it should achieve Powerseller status within three months. In the meantime free postage should help promotion in the search results.

Breaking the toys away from the main shop will give me a lot more flexibility as I can keep one shop open and shut the other, or shut them both. This should be very handy during the coming months as a couple of new eBooks are on the radar [Ed - the Harriman House editorial team are sharpening their digital red pens as we speak].


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3. ACCOUNT HIJACK - BEWARE

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A timely warning to kick off the new year; watch out for those spoof emails. Never log on to to any of your accounts using a link in an email.


“Hi Molly,

I would like to share with your readers my experience of having my eBay account hacked just before Christmas.

On 19 December I received an email from a "customer" saying that they were trying to pay for an item but it was showing up as no longer available. Oddly enough, this had actually happened several times during December with people having genuine and unexplained issues with the "Pay it now" button not working, so I clicked on the link in the email to see which item was causing the issue but it took me to eBay saying that this item number was wrong or had been removed. I then became suspicious and wished I hadn't clicked through so I deleted the email and hoped I'd be OK.

Then on 20 December I received an email from eBay saying that someone had hacked into my eBay account and I needed to change my password. I was suspicious of this email too but I checked for all the usual things as recommended to ensure an email is genuine then got on and changed my password as instructed.

Later the same day eBay rang me (all the way from Salt Lake City!) to let me know that the same person as before had hacked back into my eBay account by hacking into my email account and reading the email about me changing my eBay password. So now I had to change my eBay password again, my email password and (as a precaution) my PayPal password too.


The guy who hacked me had listed iphones in my shop and I presume had no intention of ever sending out iphones and presumably was working towards some way of getting the payment for them for himself. I have to say that I was hugely impressed with eBay’s actions in this matter as they dealt with it even before I knew of the issues and patiently talked me through everything I had to do to restore my account.

They removed the fraudulent listing too, which was great. As a side effect, they also removed 3000 of my feedbacks and 35 of my genuine listings and it took me about a week of contacting eBay before all of this had been restored and in the process about 8 listing never did return and I had to reconstruct them from scratch.

So, lessons learnt - all common sense and things we should all be doing anyway. Make sure you have different passwords for eBay, email and PayPal. Make sure you have an up-to-date knowledge of how many listings you have on eBay and your approximate feedback score so you will notice if any go missing! If possible, have the text, etc. for your permanent listings stored somewhere so if you have to redo a listing you don't have to try to remember what it said.”

‘Hazels-Homegrown2’ - http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Hazels-Homegrown


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4. ASK MOLLY – WILL THE OLYMPICS MAKE ME MONEY?
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“Hi Molly,

I'm just starting out selling on eBay, like you I worked full time for a considerable number of years, and I no longer have the appetite to make money for somebody else!

Unfortunately, even though I'm an avid reader of your books, I'm still at the stage where I'm unsure of what to buy to sell - I just need to build a bit of confidence.

I would appreciate your thoughts on buying UK Olympic memorabilia - perhaps restricting myself to limited edition items?”


Major national events can certainly provide opportunity; in fact I think the UK government is pinning quite a lot on the success of the Games!

The Olympic idea could well fly if you can get the right items. I would be concerned about the post games potential and what could be done with any excess stock. I did notice that there are currently 4,500 items for the 2012 Olympics listed at the moment, things such as coats and clothing may have some value after the games, other items might become worthless. If you can get the right items at the right price and sell them quickly then you could do well, selling outside the UK could well increase sales.

General nationalistic items such as flags, towels, car stickers, etc., can be used for the next big event, but they need to be stored and the market does seem to be very competitive.

On a more general note I would suggest starting in a small way and then expanding as you gain more experience of eBay and selling in general.

As you know from the books I started by selling the kids’ toys from around the house and then buying used toys from boot-sales etc. The main business is now cosmetics which I would never have thought of in the early days and a small line in DIY products is developing nicely. What you start out selling may not be where you end up; the first step is the hardest. I have always said that if you understand the items you sell then it is easier.

General wholesalers will probably have Olympic stock, but again I would stress the importance of checking the competition and only buying what you can reasonably expect to sell.


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.

Christmas seems such a long way off now, but the nightmares of prolonged packing still linger. I did keep the shop open with a few sales on the big day and a very busy Boxing Day. The best sale I heard about was a Powerseller who took an order for an ironing board at 11.30 on Christmas Day - a last-minute gift for a loved one I guess.


The other main event of recent weeks is the end of Q3 so it’s time to get those accounts out and update the figures. If you had a good Christmas season keep an eye on your turnover, remember that VAT in the UK is calculated using a rolling 12-month period so it might be time for a short holiday!


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