eBay Shopping Secrets

zmilliondollars asked:


Now, I am going to give you how to get started making money on eBay & boost your high income business opportunities. eBay online market is the largest marketplace on the internet right now. I am sure that you can make big money online from home on eBay. You just have to learn EXACTLY how to make money on eBay.

READ THIS: If you are looking for high income business opportunities and way to earn big money online from home.

Are you interested in using eBay to buy the products that you need or even sell items that you no longer want? Do you want to make money online on eBay? If you are, you will need to create an eBay account, if you haven’t already done so. Although many automatically assume that getting started with eBay is a complicated task, it doesn’t have to be. All you really need to do is follow a few simple steps and you should be good to go.

You’ll discover my recommended simple steps to get started on eBay and start earning money online at home below:

The first thing that you will want to do is visit eBay’s website, which is located at eBay.com. Once you are at eBay’s website, you can then click on the link that allows you to register a new account. At that stage, you will be brought to a signup form. That signup form will ask you a series of questions. For instance, you will need to enter in your full name, your address, your telephone number, as well as an e-mail address. You will also be required to come up with an eBay screen name or sign in name, as well as an eBay password, which will be used to access your eBay account. Once you have correctly filled out the form, you will be sent a verification email from eBay.

Once you have received eBay’s verification email and followed all of the instructions, which will help you validate your eBay account, you will be able to start using eBay right away. When you first get started, you may need to sign in to your eBay account. As previously stated, you will need to use your eBay sign in name or screen name and password to do so. For that reason, you may want to write down your sign in information and keep it in a safe place. Once you have signed in to your eBay account, you can then do whatever you want; buy or sell.

That’s a real simple step for your registration on eBay. Now, you are ready for earning money online on eBay. The key factor of making big money on eBay at home is to find great & cheap products and sell those products for profits. The big major task is how to find hot selling product online in the eBay marketplace.

If you are interested in using eBay to shop online, to buy, you will want to start searching for items to buy. This can be done a number of different ways. eBay allows you to browse through their large selection of items, by detailed categories. You can also perform a standard eBay search or an advanced one. Searches are more likely to give you accurate, tailored results. When browsing or searching for something in particular, you should be able to see a large number of auction listing all on one page. The information that you will be presented with at this time is the standard, bare minimum. If you would like more additional information on the item in question, such as how much shipping costs or too see additional pictures, you will want to click on the link to view the detailed sales page. Should you like what you see, follow the instructions to buy and you will have made your first purchase on eBay!

As it was previously stated, if you are interested in selling on eBay, to make a little bit of extra money, you can also do so. The only difference is that you are required to pay small fees to become an eBay seller, unlike eBay buyers who have completely free accounts. The amount of money that you are charged will all depend on your auctions, particularly how much you list each item for, as well as how well each item sells. To get started with selling, you will want to click on the “sell,” link at the top of the eBay webpage. What is nice about listing items for sale on eBay it is relatively easy to do. For example, you need to choose a category for your item, make a headline for your auction listing, write a description of your product, upload pictures of what you are selling, outline shipping costs, as well as accepted forms of payments, but everything is outlined for you, in a step-by-step matter.

Whether you are interested in becoming an eBay buyer or an eBay seller, you can do both, in as little as a few minutes. eBay, as previously mentioned, is considered one the most shopped at online marketplaces. For you, this means that if you are looking to make money on eBay from home, you should be able to do so and if you are interested in buying on eBay, you should be able to find millions of products to choose from. This is a real home based business opportunity you should NOT miss! You’ll discover a lot of golden high income business opportunities on eBay. It is a global marketplace in the world!

Finally, I am sure that making money on eBay is one of great ways to make big money on the internet at home. It is a real home based business opportunity. You’ll discover a TON of homeworker business opportunities to make EXTRA money online from home.

Learn more about how to make money over $8,000,000 selling products on eBay. You’ll discover step-by-step, tips, techniques and insider secrets of how to become a millionaire internet entrepreneur selling products on eBay.

anonymous asked:


Every day people search the internet looking for that mythical drop shipper that has products at “true” wholesale price. But what does true wholesale price even mean? And, can a drop shipping company ever offer you true wholesale price?

If you want to sell on eBay, the answer is a simple no… No, a drop shipper cannot offer you true wholesale price. It seems everyone has a different definition of what “true” wholesale price means.

Does it mean less than retail price? Does it mean the lowest possible price? Does it mean the price the manufacturer charges when selling the product direct?

The fact is, there is no literal definition of “true” wholesale price. But for simplicity we will consider the “true” wholesale price to be the price of a product direct from a manufacturer.

So, why is it not possible to get true wholesale price as an eBay seller looking to have products drop shipped?  Because wholesale is about quantity… Bulk.

When you have a company drop ship products for you, that means you are generally selling just one at a time. And, while this may equal many product sales over time, it is not viable for a manufacturer or wholesaler to operate their business this way. Sure, there are some exceptions (large items, super-expensive items) but, in general, this is the case.

Now, if you have a large established store that is another story.  Then many manufacturers will happily provide you with catalogs full of products that can be drop shipped directly to your store after a customer orders one. A store will often refer to this as a “special order”.  When you ask a store “do you carry xyz product” and they might respond “we do not have them in stock, but we can special order one”…  That is drop shipping working in all of it’s glory.

But, back to eBay…

When you are selling products on eBay you have no established customer base. Manufacturers who drop ship are not going to want to work with you directly because there are no guarantees to the quantities you can sell.

Manufacturers often have very little markup on their products and they make their money on bulk sales. Selling 10,000 widgets at a $0.50/profit each will mean $5000 for a manufacturer.  Drop shipping one for you means $0.50 for the manufacturer.  Nobody wants to bother with a $0.50 profit sale.  This is one reason most manufacturers will not sell to eBayers. There is another reason however…

eBay sellers expose their products to a low-ball marketplace.

On eBay everyone is looking for a deal. The market is flooded with small sellers, like yourself, who will constantly lower the price of goods in order to generate more sales. This drives the value of a product down and, as you might expect, manufacturers do not like this. Many manufacturers even have what is called MAP pricing. This means Minimum Advertised Price. When a manufacturer requires their retailers to follow MAP guidelines this means that no retailer can advertise the product for less than the price suggested by the manufacturer. Now you understand why every store seems to sell that Xbox 360 for the same price and why Wal*Mart doesn’t offer iPods for any less than KMart. It all has to do with MAP pricing.

On eBay, it is too difficult to enforce MAP guidelines. When a manufacturer sells to an eBay seller they cannot spend the time to monitor the sales price. Also, since eBay is a auction site, the ending sales price of a product often cannot be controlled.

So, don’t be mislead. You are NOT going to be able to buy a new Xbox 360 from a drop shipper, sell it for $10 less than everybody else and make a killing on eBay. In fact, the drop ship price on an Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, iPod Touch, or any other hot item is almost always MORE than the selling price on eBay. This is one way of assuring some eBayer doesn’t go and destroy the market value of a product.

Even true drop ship companies — that is companies who ONLY sell their products via drop shipping adhere to this rule. A good example is Mary Kay cosmetics. You are NOT allowed, as a Mary Kay rep, to sell your products on eBay. This includes free samples, rewards, and your base catalog products… Why? Because Mary Kay doesn’t want reps destroying the value of their products by selling them for less than their catalog price. Sure, you will find Mary Kay products on eBay. But they are either being sold IN BREACH of their contract or by a third party; resale.

So, where do you find a real drop shipper with “true” wholesale price that will fill your eBay orders? You don’t.  And don’t be mislead into thinking they’re out there of you only pay enough for the information.  They do not exist — not for the masses.

But if I don’t have a lot of money to invest in products how do I become a successful eBay seller? Is it still possible?… YES!!

It is still very possible to get started on your way to eBay PowerSeller success — without drop shipping. There are a couple of good options.

One option is to learn alternative sourcing methods like the ones taught in the Better Sources Guide.  Alternative sourcing methods is just a fancy way of saying — you can find products that are profitable and do not require a large investment (if any at all) — just like drop shipping but without the major problems. In fact, with the sourcing methods taught in “Better Sources” you can actually get much BETTER than “true” wholesale price. It is simply the best way to get started selling on eBay while avoiding drop shipping.

Another option is to join a sourcing company like WorldWide Brands. They offer some light-bulk wholesalers which means that you can buy only a small quantity of a product and get wholesale price.

But whatever you decide, please, do not fall for the drop shipping hype. Think of it this way, if you see a company offering access to tons of drop shipped products at the best prices — how many people do you think are using that exact company to compete with you?

To this day I have never, and I mean NEVER seen a drop shipping company that can help someone become successful on eBay. Good luck — don’t let this stop you from getting started selling on eBay. Just use it to help motivate yourself in the right direction. Away from drop shipping and towards real success.

Clint Herman asked:


to remember that eBay is a marketplace and there will always be slimy eBayers lurking around trying to rip other eBayers off. The trouble is that these people can be a hard to spot online. Below are ten tips to help you stay a step ahead of the rip-off merchants.

1. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is: This is very practical advice related to more than just what you do online, but it especially good advice for eBay. If you come across an item that seems too cheap then it’s probably priced this way for a reason. You might have just found a scam or the item might just be in bad shape. Thoroughly investigate the item before you buy it.

2. Know the value of what you are looking to purchase: This relates to the 1st tip. There are eBayers who regularly bid items up to a price that is so high that they might as well have gone out and bought the item brand new. Check completed eBay auctions to get a good idea of a good price to pay and check off eBay to find what a similar item is selling for new.

3. Limit your bidding to “real” things: eBay has plenty of sellers who are trying to pawn all sorts of schemes, scams and strange things. The chances of getting cheated on these types of auctions are so high that it’s not really worth it.

4. Don’t make a deal outside eBay: Occasionally people will ask you to send them money outside eBay, to avoid the eBay fees and/or PayPal fees charged sellers. If you send money this way then you are taking a risk because your transaction will be entirely insecure.

5. Be cautious where you send payment: People hack into others’ eBayer accounts, and when they do, they will ask you to send your payment to an address that is not eBay confirmed, which means is doesn’t belong to that account. If you send your payment under these circumstances then you might not receive what you paid for.

6. Look out for sellers who suddenly change what they sell: Sellers can look like they’ve made lots of transactions, when really they’ve never sold anything of worth. If they suddenly start selling $1,000 flat screen televisions, take note because there is a chance the eBay seller is planning to run off with the cash.

7. Shill bidding: If an eBayer who doesn’t seem to have bought anything before is constantly outbidding you on a certain item, be suspicious. This person might be a seller who is “shill bidding”, which means he is bidding on his own item to force up price.

8. Don’t use the seller’s escrow service: If an escrow service is recommended to you by a an eBay seller, it is possible that is owned and run by that person. If this is the case, the seller just might keep your cash and never send you what you bought.

9. Pay online: If you pay electronically, you greatly increase your chances of recovering any losses. Pay using a credit card via PayPal, for example, instead of sending out a check or a money order. These low-tech payment methods can not be easily tracked.

10. Buy from sellers who have a good reputation: Every eBay seller is rated via eBay’s feedback system. It’s very easy to check this, as the overall feedback appears next to the eBayers name. Clicking this link can give you more detail on the seller’s past transactions. The higher the seller rating, the more you can trust them.

Rajinder Kumar asked:


No one like it when they get no bids on there Ebay auction, but it happens.

Some auctions get hundreds of bids, but some go much more slowly, getting only a few bids or even none at all for days. Auctions are generally much slower during the summer months than they are in the winter - and sales on eBay are slowing each year, as more sellers than buyers sign up, hoping to get rich quick. There are a number of ways that you can take advantage of slower auctions to get the best price.

Wait to Bid.

If you bid, then everyone can see you’re interested - and that might make them interested too. Leaving the item alone for as long as you can bear will make it look less popular, and keep the price down so you can come in at the last minute and get a bargain.

Make an Offer.

If the seller is selling an item using ‘Buy it Now’ and it still hasn’t sold when the auction is about to end, use eBay’s ‘Best Offer’ service to make them an offer on it. The chances are they’ve listed the item two or three times before, and they’ll be so annoyed at the prospect of re-listing it yet again that they’ll accept your offer just to get rid of the thing.

Conspire with Other Buyers.

You might not have thought of this, but if there are two auctions for the same item and only you and one other buyer are bidding, why not get together and work out a ‘you take this one and I’ll take that one’ deal? This avoids you raising the price on both auctions just to get one each. If you make a few friends, you can even work together on auctions long-term, taking it in turns to bid.

Be Snobbish.

Send the seller emails asking questions about the condition of the item, and making it very clear that you are a discerning buyer and will only accept things of the highest quality. This will make them feel better about selling you their item for less.

Don’t Feel Guilty.

There really are too many sellers on eBay now, to the point where you can get common items at very low prices. Long-term, this will probably force those sellers out of business, but that’s the way a market works - it’s supply and demand.

Buy in Bulk.

When auctions are slow, many sellers will have had the same stock for a long time. If you offer to take ten things off their hands all at once then you can almost name your price - the chances are that they’ll fall over themselves to give you a good deal. If you come back again and buy another ten items then they’ll love you even more.

The longer you spend on eBay, the more experienced you’ll become - and the greater the chances are that you’ll stumble across an auction for something very odd, and quite unexpected. In the next email, you’ll hear all about the strangest eBay items ever sold.

In fact, there are all sorts of tricks you can use on eBay, if you want to get ahead of the game. Remember that most buyers on eBay are casual, and don’t know what they’re doing: a little knowledge can go a long way in getting you an advantage.

When your sellers aren’t in such good standing, though, you need to be careful to avoid being a victim of fraud. There are a few scams that you especially need to look out for - we’ll cover them in the next article.

Marian Krajcovic asked:


You’ve probably heard about how much money can be made on eBay. With dreams of quick riches and easy money, you are probably ready to jump in with both feet - right now! The best thing you can do if you are serious about making money with eBay, however, is to slow down. In fact, just stop for a minute. Don’t rush straight in. Take your time, and do it right.

eBay has over 100 million members and growing. Think about that number for just a minute or two. When you get your eBay business set up, that is how big your customer base will be - instantly. 100 million people - 100 million people who are just waiting for you to get set up and running so that they can throw money at you! Well, not quite. It is true that there are over 100 million members, but at this point, they don’t know that you exist. In fact, no matter how well you do on eBay, most of them will never know that you exist. 100 million is a very large number.

The most successful eBay sellers started out as buyers (now they’re powersellers) - and you should too. This will give you a sense of how everything works. It will also show you how things are from the buyer’s side of the fence.

Let’s call this period of time ‘consumer research.’ You are literally studying how eBay works, from a customer’s point of view. You may not realize this, but this eBay buyer experience will actually make you a much better seller - right from the very start.

Really pay attention to the customer service you receive from the buyer. Think about how you want to be treated as a buyer, and take notes. Take your time during this process. Interact with the sellers. Get involved in hot auctions to see what they are like. In your spare time, start making notes about the hot items that you see. These notes will come in handy later.

eBay works just like any other businesses. You have to determine what people want to buy before you can hope to be successful. There are very specific items that sell really well on eBay - you just have to figure out what those items are. There are many resources for finding out this information. Start with the lessons that eBay offers to their sellers. Strongly consider attending the eBay University as well. This is the next step in the process. After you have had the eBay buyer experience, it is time to learn how to be an eBay seller.

Read all of the information eBay provides for you at the site, it’s very useful.

The information is free and you will learn a great deal from it. Take full advantage of this - before you start setting up your first auction or your eBay store! By reading through all of the resources, you will avoid making numerous mistakes that so many before you have made. This is another step towards building a successful eBay business. Once you’ve made it through the learning process, you should know everything you need to know to get started with a money making eBay business of your very own.

Rajbir Singh asked:


Selling information products on the Internet has been one of the biggest boom markets in the last 3 years. You can see that in the number of people selling ebooks, videos, and membership sites and so on, the Internet. Back in 1996 there were under 50 people selling information products online, now in 2005, there are literally millions of sites selling all sorts of information to all sorts of people.

 

So why are all these people flocking to sell information products online? Because of the promise of quick money from scam artists. Most people who are selling any sort of information online are usually resellers (affiliates or people who brought reprint rights to a product) or they created an ebook themselves. For more details go to www.auction-o-matics.com .What these people don’t understand is that the market is nearly saturated with the same books they are trying to sell. This of course leads to a price war, and then no one makes any money because they are all trying to undercut themselves to be the cheapest in the market. This is not a viable business idea.

 

So why would you want to get into creating information products and sell them on Ebay?

 

That’s a good question.

 

The reason why I’ve been profiting from selling information products is because I make myself different. I don’t go out there selling the same information, I go out there and break new ground with great products at great prices that people actually want to buy, and the best part is I usually spend nothing on advertising.

 

It still really is possible to make your fortune online with information products; you just have to find 3 things.

 

1) A hungry market

 

2) A good product

 

3) An unrelenting sales machine

 

All of this will be covered in this guide.

 

So what exactly are you going to learn in this guide? Here’s a quick run down of what I’m going to teach you, then we will get into business…

 

Why Sell Information Products On Ebay?

 

Ebay is the Mecca of online shopping. If you can’t find the product or category you are after on Ebay, it’s probably because it doesn’t exist.

 

Ebay literally has millions of people with cash in, hand coming into it’s online store everyday looking to buy what ever takes their fancy, and this in my opinion makes Ebay the bee’s knee’s when it comes to advertising online. For more information logon to www.auctions-profits.com .So few people actually think of Ebay as a viable way to make money with their information products. The few who do understand its power are making their fortunes online.

 

Let me give you a few examples. Connect to the Internet if you have not already and have a look at the following Ebay sellers and make sure to look at their feedback and see what they have sold!

 

Jackson Bleu asked:


The irony of eBay is that as it grows to be ever more successful, it draws the unsavoury element of the internet towards it. I’m talking about people who make it their business to attempt to defraud you and I in our eBay and PayPal transactions.

Of course, not all dodgy dealings on eBay are fraudulent. Some are just mischievous. Others are by chancers, who perhaps reckon their victims won’t be bothered to pursue them.

Whoever causes it, it’s left to the targeted buyer or seller to try and sort out the problem. All that we as users can do is to be extremely vigilant and cautious in all our eBay and PayPal activities.

Here is a list of practical steps, in no particular order, which buyers and sellers can take to help avoid becoming the next victim.

Hopefully you are already aware of some of these. It doesn’t necessarily follow that if one of these applies the auction or person is fraudulent. But if you use your head, and build up a view of the overall transaction based based upon a number of these factors, you will reduce your chances of getting conned.

a) Stock photos and descriptions

Because they don’t have the item they are “selling”, some fraudsters use a stock photograph of the item. And they will probably use the manufacturer’s product description too. So, stock photos and no original description might be a sign. Search for other auctions by the same seller, and see if they are brazen enough to advertise the same item more than once.

b) A price too good to be true often isn’t true

A fraudster wants your money quickly, so you may find they offer to close their auction early with you as the “winner” having bid a price which you know to be somewhat of a bargain. Why would anyone close their auction early if the price hadn’t reached market levels? I’ll give you one guess.

c) High value or high volume, newly registered sellers

Although the vast majority of new sellers are genuine and honest, be cautious of buying from people selling high value items in bulk, very early on in their eBay career. This pattern isn’t quite normal. Think back to your own first sales. You would have been tentative, and probably have tried single, low value items initially. So, a new seller fitting this profile may be someone who has perhaps been previously suspended and has registered another ID.

d) 1 day listings

Although 1 day listing are used by genuine sellers who have more than one item or who want a quick sale, unfortunately this duration is attractive to fraudsters too. They sometimes use a 1 day auction duration to gain a quick sale before their actions can be reported and acted upon. So, be extra wary on auctions with 1 day listing.

e) Invitations to trade off-eBay

This is a classic ploy of fraudsters. Having made some kind of contact with you, or you with them, they will invite you to purchase or to sell off eBay i.e. without using eBay’s auction services. The attraction here to the fraudster is that they can drive the transaction along the lines they prefer, whether that be escrow, PayPal etc. Another reason why trading off eBay is not a good idea is that you have to keep your own formal records of the transaction, and you forfeit any cover from eBay buyer protection and PayPal buyer protection. Plus, and this might be a minor point, but you will not be able to leave feedback to let others know your experience with this seller/buyer.

f) Payment methods with no recourse

Fraudsters prefer to chose payment methods in which the buyer has no protection, like wire transfers where the buyer has no way of tracing where the money is going. Western Union Money Transfers and BidPay are favourites and should be totally avoided. Postal orders are similar although they are a popular payment method among the genuine sellers as they require no clearance time. Bank transfers and cheques can only provide the possibility of your bank investigating the details of the account the money was transferred into. For the best protection use Paypal and fund with a Credit Card. Note there are limits on eBay and PayPal protection, and you should make yourself aware of what these are.

g) Unusual sales pattern

If your seller’s feedback indicates that they normally deal in collectables, DVDs or other specific items, be suspicious that they are suddenly listing laptops, plasma TVs or other high value items. The change may indicate that this seller’s account has been hijacked.

h) Bad english gives you a pointer

Some fraudsters operate from abroad but pretend to be in UK or USA. As they aren’t particularly adept at the english language they might use a translation tool like Babelfish to create their emails to you. So, watch out for emails that are not good english. In itself, it doesn’t prove anything, there are plenty of genuine eBay sellers for whom english is not their first language. But it might add to further evidence you have.

i) Location Location Location

In the case of lazy fraudsters you might find their locations don’t match up. By that I mean the auction says the goods are in the UK, but the seller’s ID details show their location to be, say, Ukraine. This is not a good sign. Often in these cases if you contact these sellers you will receive an excuse as to why the item is not in the UK, and therefore can’t be collected in person. In short, if an auction says the item is in the UK and the seller says that it is not, I would avoid the auction. And don’t forget to cross check with their PayPal account, and see in which country this resides.

j) Ask questions

Always, always ask your seller a question. Any question. Their response, if you receive one, will help you judge how genuine the seller is. Beware auctions that carry a message asking you to contact the seller via a given email address as opposed to via the ‘Ask seller a question’ link. This could be an account hijacker trying to prevent buyers from ‘Asking the seller a question’. They want to stop this from happening because such questions could be routed to the real account owner.

k) “eBay can vouch for me” email

A warning about a relatively new tactic used by fraudsters. If you are proving hard to land as a buyer/seller, they may claim they can get eBay to email you proof of their validity so that you can trust them. eBay, of course, will NEVER do this. The email sent out, however authentic looking, is fake and is designed to get you to part with your money or your goods. This applies equally to Square Trade and PayPal. They will never email you certifying the genuineness of anyone.

l)A PayPal warning

There are fraudsters who use stolen PayPal accounts to accept payments. To lower the possibility of this, check your seller’s location as shown in eBay, and then see if it is one of PayPal’s permitted countries by clicking here: http://www.workwinners.com/nlr701.htm. If PayPal don’t offer their service in the country that the seller resides, be very wary.

m) Passwords

Never have the same password on your eBay and PayPal accounts. Or indeed on any other financial or personal site. Change your passwords every 30-60 days on both eBay and PayPal.

n) Escrow

If your seller asks you to use escrow, and proposes an escrow company they’ve used before, this is a clear indication they are fraudulent. There are many fake escrow sites which will take your money fraudulently. The only escrow site recommended by eBay is http://www.escrow.com. An alternative in the UK is http://www.auctionpix.co.uk Please don’t be tempted to use any other escrow company, however professional looking their websites might be. It is a fact that 99% of escrow companies on the internet are fraudulent. They are set up solely to defraud money out of unsuspecting buyers, and to get goods without paying for them from unsuspecting sellers.

o) Pointers in feedback

Try to read the positive feedback as well as the negative. Read the way your seller responds to negative feedback as this will often give you an idea of how the seller will react if something goes badly wrong. If the seller is offering high value goods, be wary if their feedback has been built up quickly from low value purchases. Also, if the overall rating is good, but there are a disproportionate number of negatives in recent days/weeks, this might indicate the account has been taken over. Finally, be aware that feedback is not the guarantee it once was. Feedback can easily be manufactured. Also, if the user ID has been hijacked, you’ll be reading the feedback of the original account owner, not the person with whom you’re currently dealing!

p) Credit Card payment

For high value items, or for amounts of money you can’t afford to lose, make sure you pay by credit card which has online fraud protection. This will give you some recourse if the seller is fraudulent. In this context, paying via PayPal is not the same. PayPal do have a buyer protection scheme, but there are criteria which the eBay auction has to satisfy in order to qualify. Even if the transaction qualifies, PayPal’s standard protection currently has a maximum value of $1,000. Note that payment by debit card provides zero protection.

q) Address and Telephone check

Use the Ask the seller a question link, and request they email you with their address and telephone number. Any reputable seller will give you their address and telephone number. When you get the number, call it, and see if you get through to the genuine seller.

r) Keystroke capturing virus

This is a computer virus which you inadvertently download onto your PC. It’s task is to capture the keystrokes you make, and to send them to the virus placer. The fraudster then uses pattern recognition software to identify and extract personal information, like username, password, credit card numbers etc. To avoid this happening to you, it is wise to have good, up-to-date virus, firewall and spyware checking software on your PC.

s) Shill bidding

Shill bidding is where people work in cahoots to inflate the bidding on an item. A seller has a “partner” who makes bids on the seller’s items with a view to bumping up the bid price. They have no intention of buying the item. Fortunately, shill bidders and their associated seller can be stupid. The shill bidder will usually makes bids on other items from the same seller. Here’s how to check to see if shill bidding is a feature of a particular seller. First, look at the seller’s closed auctions over the last 30 days. If most of the closed auctions have no bids, it is unlikely the seller has shill bidders working with them. If all of the closed auctions have bids, take a look at the bid history. See if the same bidder appears in the list of bidders, usually with aggressive bidding and normally at the start of the auction. If so, you may have uncovered a shill operation, so avoid that seller’s auctions.

t) Keep your transaction information

Keep your own record of the transaction when you’re buying. Don’t just rely on eBay. You want a record of the seller’s identification, the item description, emails sent and received, plus the time, date and price of your bid.

u) “I noticed your bid….”

Never deal with anyone who contacts you after seeing your bid on another auction. They will say something like, “I saw you bidding on that digital camera. I have the same model available for sale. I don’t have time to list it on eBay. It has more accessories than the one you lost out on. You can have it for xyz.” If you bite, they’ll probably take you down the fake escrow route. Also, if you entertain this proposition, you’re operating outside of eBay and therefore have no auction protection whatsoever.

v) Changed eBay ID

Never deal with anyone who has a changed ID icon next to their name. This icon menas they’ve changed their ID in the last 30 days. Few legitimate people change their eBay ID. When was the last time you changed yours? There’s a 1% chance that an ID change is genuine, but 99% that it is fraudulent. Why take the risk?

w) Changed email address mid-stream

If a seller or buyer changes their email address on you in the middle of a transaction, stop dealing with them. It is likely their previous email account was closed down due to some irregularity - such as a previous victim reported them. If you think about it, why would any genuine buyer or seller change their email address whilst corresponding on a transaction they wish to conclude expeditiously?

x) Complications

Never get involved in any transaction where the seller/buyer tries to introduce a third person into the financial arrangements. They might ask you to pay xyz, who will then pay the seller, and you will receive a discount or commission for your co-operation. Such proposals are always fraudulent. They prey on greed. Don’t be tempted.

y) Time is of the essence

This is a scam which is has more potential for success than traditional phishing attacks, as it is time sensitive. The fraudster searches for high value auctions that have just ended. The bid history for an auction contains hyperlinks to each bidder. The fraudster checks to see if the winning bidder is selling any items of their own. If so, they go to that auction and embed a request for payment from the first auction within a question for seller. This works because winning bidders are expecting request for payment shortly after an auction ends. A variation of this is to offer a bidder a “second chance”. This time the “Ask the seller a question” email pretends that the real winner has backed out, and offers the item at a lower price. The buyer, believing the story, is lured into paying to whom they believe is a genuine seller. Many eBayers have heard of the second chance system, but have no experience of it. This unfamiliarity coupled with the fact that a few weeks might have passed, makes this an effective method for fraudsters. The moral of this story is never get involved in any transaction which arrives in your inbox via the Ask the Seller a Question feature.

z) eBay IDs

Never us your email address as your eBay ID, or part of your eBay ID. Fraudsters have software which monitors internet traffic looking for information such as this. If your eBay ID and email address are the same, it is simple for a fraudster to plausibly communicate with other eBay members in your name.

That’s all in my list. If you have any further ideas on how to prevent fraudulent transactions on eBay, please let me know and I will promote these through future newsletters.

In the meantime, be aware, and be safe in your eBay buying and eBay selling.

BRUCE WILLIAMS asked:


              If Fred Sanford were alive today, Alex, I’m sure he’d he earning his ripple money by selling quality junk on eBay. While it’s also true that one man’s treasure (I have a garage full of treasure to prove this point), your chances of building a profitable business selling “junk” on eBay (or anywhere else, for that matter) are slim to none.

          While there is a lot of junk/treasure for sale on eBay, it is typical sold by individuals who have “I break for yard sales?” bumper stickers on their cars and not serious business people. For serious entrepreneurs, however, selling on eBay can be a good way to start a new business if you are willing to put in the time and energy required to make the business a success, eBay is also a good option for existing businesses to expand their reach by selling online.

                   Everyone from small used car dealers to giant companies like Dell Computers have discovered that eBay is an excellent place to hawk their wares simply due to the huge number of folks who visit the eBay site on a daily basis; nowhere else on earth will you find such a large pool of potential customers.

        Consider these numbers: There are nearly 69 million eBay users who spend $59 million every day. Most eBay sellers are home-based businesses that sell everything from porcelain dolls to $100,000 Mercedes convertibles to $5 million dollar vacation homes. Every minute of every day more than 150 new items are listed for sale, more than 500 bids are placed, and seven new people register to shop on eBay.

        At any given moment, eBay is conducting some 12 million auctions, divided into about different categories. About two million new items are offered for sale every day, and 62 million registered users scour the site to find them. One company is grossing more than $5 million dollars year selling brand new pool tables on eBay. Their eBay store is so profitable that they have closed their retail location and now sell solely online. That’s right. $5 million dollars from the sale of pool tables: proof that you can sell just about anything on eBay if you know how to do it. Be aware; however, that eBay is no magic bullet, that eBay Power Seller (a seller who sells a minimum of $1,000 in goods per month) will tell you, building a profitable eBay business takes hard work and requires long hours, and often the financial rewards do not make it worth the effort spent, when it comes down to the mechanics of it all, running an eBay business is no different than running a brick and mortar business. You still have the same considerations regarding product selection, inventory purchasing, product pricing, inventory management, order processing, fulfillment, customer service, etc. You must also consider the legal and accounting aspects of the business. Just because you’re selling online does not mean that Uncle Sam won’t expect his piece of the pie, revenue generated by an eBay business is just as report table and taxable as revenue generated from a brick and mortar store. And if you sell to customers within your state you may also be responsible for collecting city, country or state tax.

                    One of the biggest obstacles to building a successful eBay business maybe the stiffness of the competition. Many sellers sell identical items and the price wars often get ugly, but that’s to be expected in a free market place, which is exactly what eBay is.

                 You may be the only store in town that’s selling that one of a kind, custom made just for you, broke the mold after they made it, Dale Earnhart Memorial Bobble Head Action Figure (Earnhan fans would string me up if called it a Doll), but do a quick search find a hundred others just like it. So, can you build a profitable business selling on eBay? Certainly, thousands of people have done it and so can you; here are a few tips to help get you started.

        Sell Quality Products Don’t sell junk! Leave the knick-knacks and fake leather jackets to the less informed. You should offer only quality products at a fair price.

        Research The Competition Once you have your product in mind, don’t invest a dime in inventory until you have spent some time on eBay to see what the competition is doing. If you want to sell motorcycle helmets, for example, you should look at current auctions to see how many others are selling similar helmets and what prices that are charging. This step is vital! Since you may discover that you can’t compete with current sellers on price or there is simply on market for what you have to offer.

            Start Slowly Many people believe that the more items they have for sale on eBay the better. They will invest thousands in inventory and spent hundreds on listing fees (yes eBay charges you to list items for sale and collects a final fee if the item sells). Those are the folks that usually end up with ten thousand Ginsu knives forever in their test, test, Test a fair portion of eBay auctions result in no sales, so it’s best to test the waters before jumping in with both feet. List a few items and see how they sell. If an item doesn’t sell, test it at least twice more Some items might not sell the first lime, but may the second or third, then sell steadily from then on. If an item gets on bids the first time, consider adjusting your price or your terms, if an item sells well, keep it in stock and then experiment with another item.

        Do your homework, eBay is too broad a subject to be covered fully here, but then; there are a multitude of books available that can help you start an eBay business. In fact, 1 bet you’ll find most of them for sale at this very moment at eBay, what’s me bid… Here’s to your success.

     For easy access on how to find Solutions for your Business. E Bay, Info. & Registration! Visit www.marketonweb.net by typing ebay on the search engine.

 

Simon Fusco asked:


Why You Should at Least Explore eBay

Are you interested in doing more of your shopping online?  In the past, a large number of consumers were worried about doing so; however, as online security continues to improve, more consumers are finding themselves shopping online.  If you are interested in becoming one of those individuals, you will want to examine eBay.

When it comes to shopping on eBay, there are a number of first time eBay users who are worried about security, among other things.  Of course, there are always internet scams that can be found on eBay, but, for the most part, you should be able shop on eBay without any concerns.  If you are still wondering whether or not eBay is right for you, you may want to think about at least exploring the site.

When it comes to exploring the eBay site, you will want to examine it as a whole.  For instance, if you are wondering about eBay’s security, you may want to visit eBay’s help center.  There you can find information for first time eBay users, just like you.  You can review eBay’s policies, as well as information on how they handle eBay scams, should you end up falling victim to one.  eBay, like many other online websites, has a customer service department.  Should you have any questions that you can’t find answers to on the eBay website, you may want to think about contacting their customer service department.

In addition to safety and security, there are a number of potential eBay users who wonder about what they can buy on eBay. The good news is that you can easily find out what is for sale on eBay, without even having to create an eBay account.  If you are looking for something in particular, you can perform an eBay search with the item of your interest.  If you are just looking to explore the site, you can also browse through the unlimited number of eBay selling categories.  Just a few of these categories include home and garden, baby, clothing, entertainment, and much more. 

Another question commonly asked, by new eBay users, is the methods of accepted payments. As you likely already know, eBay is actually an online auction website.  This online auction website allows other internet users to post items that they have for sale.  For this reason, you will find that different methods of payment are accepted.  In all honesty, it depends on the seller and their own personal preference.  Despite a possible variance among many eBay sellers, PayPal, personal checks, and money orders are often acceptable forms of payment.  To get an idea of the payments available, you are urged to click on active auctions.  Towards the bottom of the auction listing page, you should see the accepted forms of payment outlined, from that particularly seller. 

As it was previously mentioned, you can easily explore eBay without having to register for an account.  If you like what you see and if you want to start shopping on eBay, you will need to register an account with them. As a buyer, your account is free.  Within a few minutes at the most, you could be bidding on the products that you want to own.  You may even be able to find listings that are known as “Buy It Now,” listings. These listings enable to you to make your purchase right at that moment, without competition from other eBay buyers.  To get started today, visit eBay.com.

Simon Fusco asked:


Tips on Making Money on eBay, Not Losing It

Are you interested in becoming an eBay seller or are you a relatively new eBay seller?  If so, you may still be learning the ins and outs of eBay. Selling on eBay is a great way to make money on the side or even enough to support yourself, but you have to be successful at what you do.  Unfortunately, it can take time to fully learn the ins and outs of eBay, particularly how to become a profitable eBay seller, until now.  Below some helpful tips are outlined; tips that you won’t necessarily find explained on eBay.

eBay sellers are all required to pay fees to list their items for sale on eBay.  You are charged two separate fees, a listing fee or insertion fee and a final value fee.  For the final value fee, you are charged a percentage of the price that your item sold for.  The insertion fee or listing fee is figured out a little bit differently.  Instead of being charged a percentage, you are charged a set amount. For instance, at the current moment, it costs .20 to list an item up to .99 cents and .40 to list an item for sale between $1.00 and $9.99, and the fee scale continues up in a similar fashion.  Please remember that this is just a sample.  eBay regularly changes their fees; therefore, you are urged not to rely on the aforementioned fee samples.

Although eBay sellers must pay the eBay fees mentioned above, many do not take the time to thoroughly understand those fees.  You are advised against doing that, as it may end up costing you money.  For instance, many of the price ranges for eBay’s insertion fee scale ends at .99 cents.  For you, this is a great opportunity to save money, but you must know how to do so.  As stated above, if you list one of your items at $9.99, the sample insertion fee would be only .40 cents.  Did you know that if you listed your item for $10.00, your insertion fee could jump up to around .60 cents!  An extra .20 cents just for a penny is pretty expensive, especially if you list a number of eBay auctions that way.  Before listing items for sale on eBay again, examine eBay insertion fee sale and see how you can easily save money, sometimes by just shaving a few cents off your asking price.

It has often been said that to be a successful eBay seller, you need to have good product descriptions and clear digital pictures of the item or items that you are selling.  Of course, having a number of pictures in your eBay listings is a great way to increase your chances of making a sale, but it can be expensive doing so.  eBay allows sellers to post one picture for free.  Additional pictures can be purchased for a small fee, but that small fee can add up overtime.  For that reason, many eBay sellers limit the number of pictures they put in their auctions; however, you do not want to do this. Instead, you will want to examine photo sharing sites.  Photo sharing websites, like PhotoBucket are a nice, fee way to add more pictures to your eBay auctions.  Register with a photo sharing site, like PhotoBucket, follow the instructions and you should be saving money in no time at all.

The above mentioned ways are just a few of the many ways that you can save money on eBay, not lose it.  In all honesty, you should do a little bit of research first.  Using the internet is a great way to research selling on eBay, as many other eBay users will share their money making secrets with you, free of charge.