FAQs: I’ve had enough of eBay. Where else can I sell?

August 23, 2010

We get this a lot. The question goes something like: “I’ve had enough of buyers holding me to ransom over DSRs. eBay charge me too much money for the amount of grief. I’d like to quit selling, but I need the money. Where else can I sell?” The… Read more

Open Thread : Your craziest question from a buyer

August 21, 2010

Something about eBay brings out the silly questions in people. I don’t know if it’s eBay themselves encouraging buyers, as they used to do, to ask a question, any question, just to prove the seller is actually responsive – or if there’s something… Read more

Aimco Packing Partner upgrade required today

August 11, 2010

If you use Aimco Packing Partner you’ll need to upgrade today due to some changes that eBay have made. If you don’t upgrade collection of sales records will fail with the message “No total” for each invoice. Packing Partner collects sales… Read more

Check contents before signing (sorry too late)!

August 10, 2010

I made a purchase from a major high street retailer via eBay Outlet, and it duly arrived by courier and was signed for in the office. I don’t normally bother opening personal purchases until I get home, so it was only in the evening I opened the… Read more

ChannelAdvisor add Amazon.fr & Amazon.de

August 10, 2010

ChannelAdvisor have added full support for Amazon in France and Germany, including integration with Amazon FBA. I’ve been hearing for some time from UK sellers that sales to France and Germany are up and that the current exchange rate favours UK… Read more

How to take payments at trade fairs

August 3, 2010

I’ve had some cute printers come into stock and (although I don’t usually write about the products I sell on eBay) it prompted me to think about what sellers need if they’re going to be selling at local markets or other sales in the run up to… Read more

DOTD Watch : why set terms that put your buyers off?

August 1, 2010

Well, another day, another deal of the day with a questionable returns policy…. Read more

How to edit eBay item condition

August 1, 2010

Item condition is a required value in eBay listings . Some sellers – surprise – are having problems editing their listings. If that’s you, here are a couple of tips: 1. Make sure Turbo Lister is up to date Hit ctrl + alt + shift + R to make sure… Read more

eBay holiday settings are not up to scratch

July 19, 2010

It’s the holiday season again, and like every year since I started trading on eBay I’m hearing complaints about eBay Holiday settings. Holiday settings hid fixed price listings and should prevent buyers finding them and purchasing but they just… Read more

DOTD Watch : You ARE responsible for items lost in the post

July 18, 2010

This is just silly. Today’s DOTD’s return policy contains the frankly incredible sentence: “I can not be held responsible for postal problems. I will supply full proof of sending if a claim is to be made.” 1) The law says you’re responsible…. Read more

Automatic unpaid item strikes for buyers

July 18, 2010

eBay’s new Unpaid Item Assistant threw up an interesting situation this week. I received the following email from a buyer who hadn’t yet paid: I am so so sorry, I was called away due to family problems. Just got back this morning & have tried to… Read more

Royal Mail tips for selling overseas

July 10, 2010

Royal Mail have just launched a new microsite – Royal Mail International Business, aimed at helping businesses sell internationally, either from or to the UK. They highlight on main reasons for expanding a UK business internationally – The relative… Read more

Entering tracking numbers into eBay

July 8, 2010

I woke up to two emails this morning and it’s given me a bit of a buzz that eBay have got a relatively new site feature very nearly perfect. The first email read: Dear Sir/Madam Can you please confirm this item has been despatched? Thanking you… Read more

Protecting sellers from feedback abuse/misuse

June 29, 2010

eBay promised a while ago that they would start protecting sellers so that a small group of buyers cannot cause them to lose their status, such as eBay Top-rated status. We’ve now got a screen shot showing this in action, the seller has had a… Read more

If you’re reading this, don’t you think your customers could be too?

June 18, 2010

If you haven’t been paying attention,… Read more

Why I’ll never use eBay catalogue data again

June 16, 2010

I decided it was high time I made use of eBay’s catalogue data when listing products, after all if they’ve gone to the trouble of collating relevant information about the product it would save me time typing it in. This was a big mistake and… Read more

Royal Mail offer integrated warehouse solution for online merchants

June 16, 2010

Royal Mail have set up a warehousing and fulfillment solution called Warehousing and Royal Mail E-Commerce Engine , which is ideal for sellers who want to source stock but don’t want (or have) sufficient warehouse space. The solution is similar… Read more

Stamps.com integrate with open source Zen Cart

June 8, 2010

US based Stamps.com, a service which allows you to purchase and print out USPS stamps online has expanded to include open source ecommerce shopping cart Zen Cart. With Stamps.com you can now generate postage labels from eBay, Yahoo! Merchant, Google… Read more

Don’t be tempted to post your eBay items at work

May 27, 2010

So you’re in a full time job and work in a post room, but you sell in your spare time on eBay – How tempting must it be to post all of your eBay sales at work and save on the postage costs? That’s apparently what’s happened in the US over a two year… Read more

Automatic unpaid item process in action

May 25, 2010

I had an interesting email today which read “Sorry for the delay in payment and thanks for closing the case”. It’s great that my buyer paid, but the only slight issue I have is that the case was opened and closed by eBay and not by me. The new… Read more

How to minimise buyer protection cases

April 29, 2010

Understandably there’s a lot of concern from sellers regarding the new Seller Performance measurements which will go live from September 20th this year. eBay will monitor both “Opened” and “Unresolved” cases and too many will affect your seller… Read more

eSellerPro from a user’s point of view

April 25, 2010

Trevor Ginn formerly of Auctioning4U set up his online business Hello Baby in 2007, which trades on eBay, Amazon, Play.com as well as their own website. Having known the guys behind eSellerPro prior to starting his own business he chose to use them… Read more

eBay: Low cost vs Amazon: Premium service

April 15, 2010

That Royal Mail were one of the Platinum sponsors of ChannelAdvisor Catalyst was very apt. For me almost the whole two days of the conference revolved around postage discussions and presentations including the Royal Mail and Amazon presentations,… Read more

eBay launches new iphone apps for sellers, Classifieds

March 30, 2010

eBay have launched two new free apps for the iphone today: one for selling on the main eBay.com site, and one for both buying and selling on the new eBay Classifieds site. They’re both looking pretty slick: check out the videos below for a demo…. Read more

20% final value fee discounts extended – but to when?

March 26, 2010

eBay have announced that they’re extending the 20% discount of final value fees for offering free shipping in categories such as Clothing, Shoes, Accessories, Video Games, any Tech or DVDs sub-categories and Media categories for all shop users…. Read more