How do I answer this question from a buyer?

March 10, 2010

It’s cold in the warehouse and cold fingers don’t make for accurate typing. In my defense I’d like to point out that “W” and “S” are very close together on the keyboard and that it’s a lovely White… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 20 Comments 

PayPal, graphs and the trouble with feedback

March 4, 2010

PayPal sent out a marketing email this week to UK-based eBay sellers, trying to encourage them to banish cheques and postal orders from their listings. The justification, they said, is that DSR scores left by buyers who’ve paid with PayPal are so… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Paypal, Selling Tips, Soapbox | 18 Comments 

Apple iPad pre-sales restrictions on eBay

February 24, 2010

Well ahead of the release of the Apple iPad, eBay have already announced selling restrictions on the site, designed to protect buyers. In the pre-sale period prior to the launch date of March 27th most sellers will be restricted to listing just one… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 6 Comments 

ChannelAdvisor from a user’s point of view

February 24, 2010

A few months back we were asked about ChannelAdvisor and what a ChannelAdvisor customer thought of their service – both the good points and the bad points. Jonny, from Global Technology Resource Ltd, runs a refurbishing computer business and uses… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 29 Comments 

How likely are you to be a Top Rated Seller in your category?

February 21, 2010

Across all categories on eBay 21.73% of listings are from Top Rated Sellers (TRS), but that’s not the whole story. The number of TRS listings varies enormously with categories such as Art (50.57%) at one end of the scale and Mobile and Home Phones… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured, Selling Tips | 27 Comments 

Amazon best practices & how to win the Buy Box

February 18, 2010

Everyone that I speak to about selling online are singing the praises of Amazon in comparison to eBay, and if you’re supplying new goods with barcodes in a relevant Amazon category you should be listing there as well as on eBay. Much of Amazon’s… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 2 Comments 

eBay roll ROI out to all AdCommerce users

February 16, 2010

Good news for eBay AdCommerce users – eBay are rolling out Return on Investment (ROI) data for all users as of today. ROI was released as a trial back in October with a limited number of users invited to join the program, but as of today everyone… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 10 Comments 

Book report: The Independent UK Guide to eBay 2010

February 6, 2010

I know it’s February already, but I’ve just got my hands on The Independent UK Guide to eBay 2010. The Guide has been around for a few years now – I was made aware of it when they first reviewed TameBay in the 2008 edition. It’s an odd sort of… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Selling Tips | 12 Comments 

Spoonfeeder shutting up shop?

February 5, 2010

If you’ve ever registered with eBay listing/management/hosting provider Spoonfeeder, you’ve probably received this email this morning: We regret to inform you that SpoonFeeder will cease business operations immediately. Although some parts of… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 61 Comments 

FAQs: How do you remove an unpaid item strike?

January 30, 2010

It used to be so simple. If you’d closed an unpaid item dispute and given the buyer a strike, and then they paid, you had a choice: refund or return the payment, or remove the strike and send them their goods. Unfortunately since the unpaid item… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Glitches, Selling Tips, eBay.co.uk | 5 Comments 

HDN Discount with Parcel2Go for January 2010

January 21, 2010

Parcel2Go have negotiated a discount with Home Delivery Network for their 1-3 day service. Normally priced at £6.49 through Parcel2Go it’s been reduced to £5.99 until the 31st January 2010. The service covers parcels up to 25kg in weight, up to… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 3 Comments 

Snow affects UK postal deliveries and collections

January 5, 2010

photo credit: Aa?onAs snow once again covers much of the UK, delays to postal deliveries and collections are being announced. Royal Mail breaks down service information by region: areas currently listed as affected by the weather include… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 16 Comments 

End all your good til cancelled listings

January 3, 2010

It’s almost the first Monday back at work and like many sellers I’ve been making some changes ready for the New Year. The lull between Christmas and New Year has been a great time for evaluating my business and getting organised for the future and… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured, Selling Tips | 16 Comments 

How to sell your Christmas presents on eBay (without offending your family and friends)

December 26, 2009

♫♪This Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, it was sold on eBay… ♫♪ Running out of real stories in the days before Christmas, the press has been full of advice on how to sell your Christmas presents on… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Selling Tips | 20 Comments 

Christmas Day shoppers hope to bag a bargain

December 22, 2009

Christmas Day is set to be one of the busiest shopping days of the year, according to new research by Kelkoo. Bargain hunters are likely to hit the sales earlier than usual this year as VAT is set to increase to 17.5% on January 1st. High street… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 5 Comments 

eBay Community raises a record $50m for charity in 2009

December 21, 2009

eBay’s charitable programs, eBay Giving Works in the US and eBay for Charity in the UK, raised a staggering $50million between them during 2009. This is a 17% increase on last year – meaning that every minute, $91 is raised for good causes via eBay…. Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under News, Selling Tips | 1 Comment 

PayPal reserves, holds : policy changes explained

December 21, 2009

We’ve heard from a number of sellers recently that PayPal seem to be stepping up the number of rolling reserves and 21 day holds they’re putting on accounts at the moment. There’s been some conflicting information going about – not least from PayPal… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Internet, Paypal, Selling Tips | 30 Comments 

Gumtree unveil new site with UK wide search

December 11, 2009

Gumtree are about to unveil a brand new look and feel to the site with improvements in everything from location, search to the introduction of saved and recently viewed ads.   Up until now it’s been difficult to browse multiple cities, and… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 7 Comments 

VAT changes for 1st January 2010

December 10, 2009

Following confirmation in yesterday’s pre-budget report that VAT will be returning to 17.5% as of the 1st January, . This will only affect you if you’re VAT registered. eBay’s help page confirms that listings can be edited in bulk and that fixed… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 9 Comments 

If you’re not a TRS here’s how to qualify in a month

December 4, 2009

Many sellers are struggling to meet the Top Rated Seller (TRS) criteria due to low volume sales combined with DSRs received prior to the progammes announcement. After careful consideration and reviewing the 12 month rating period (Links to… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Featured, News, Selling Tips | 56 Comments 

Best Match Secrets: Webinar replay

November 27, 2009

If you missed yesterday’s eBay / ChannelAdvisor webinar on Best Match the recording is available online to review. The Q&A after the official content is well worth listening too as there’s information on the likes of how best to work with Best… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 6 Comments 

eBay add tracking feature for selected carriers

November 25, 2009

eBay have enabled tracking numbers in Selling Manager Pro (SMP)which is great news for both buyers and sellers. Hopefully it’ll cut down on the “where’s my item” questions as buyers are able to track the item themselves. There’s a new button in SMP… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips, Site Changes, eBay.co.uk | 22 Comments 

10 Tips for maximising Christmas sales

November 23, 2009

If you want to take full advantage of Christmas sales then Thursday and Friday this week are the best days of the year to list auctions on eBay and the best time to launch them is between 1 and 2pm. That’s the prediction of Simon from ChannelAdvisor… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Selling Tips | 9 Comments 

9 ways to say “ja” to overseas buyers

November 21, 2009

With eBay adding 180 million potential new buyers to the site, there’s really never been a better time to think about selling outside your home market. But if you’re not already selling abroad, the thought of foreign buyers might seem daunting:… Read more

Written by Sue Bailey · Filed Under Ecommerce, Selling Tips | 8 Comments 

Best Match Secrets: Webinar

November 19, 2009

Following the Best Match Secrets series on TameBay there’s going to be a webinar on November 26 at 3pm (GMT) on how to make Best Match work for you. Billed as “Making Best Match Work For You”, the webinar will be hosted by ChannelAdvisor and eBay… Read more

Written by Chris Dawson · Filed Under Events, Selling Tips | 2 Comments