- The Other Players on the Online Auction World -

A newcomer to the world of online auctions might get the impression that there is nothing but eBay. While eBay is massive and constantly advertises the fact that you can find "it" on eBay, there are other services available. Whether you are just setting out as an online seller, want to switch sites, or diversify your sales channel, it might be worthwhile to look at alternatives.

You should be aware, though, that using eBay has its advantages. It is much larger than its competitors (see http://www.powersellersunite.com/auctionsitewatch.php), which translates into an enormous amount of traffic. And it is a recognized brand that spends a lot on marketing.

However, eBay also has some disadvantages. The fees for sellers are relatively high, many categories have fierce price competition, and there are recurring technical glitches and dubious "improvements" (such as giving sellers overly optimistic arrival dates during the holiday shipping season).

Where can you find alternatives? Here are some URLs to get you started:

http://auctionbytes.com/cab/pages/sitepricing

http://theauctionboard.com/onlineauctions.html

http://www.powersellersunite.com/about7.html

As you can see, there are numerous other sites out there. Before signing up with one (or several) of them, you should ask a few questions:

How long has the auction site been in business? Who stands behind it?

What is its fee structure, both for listing and final value fees?

Which forms of payment can you accept on this site?

What tools are available for sellers (such as bulk upload, templates, etc.) ?

Can I advertise my own website from there?

How much activity is there in your product category?

The last question is particularly important. A low-cost or even free auction site will be useless for you, if there is little traffic in your category. Even a completely free listing costs you the time you need to create it!

Once you have answered these questions, you may decide to go with one of the established competitors (yahoo.com, overstock.com), choose a smaller site (bluejay.com, ecrater.com) or go for a niche site that specializes in such items as pinball machines (pinballmachines.com) or bead jewelry (justbeads.com). Of course there is always the option of building your own web store to sell your items.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com, where you can also download the free e-book "A Consumer's Guide to Buying Bead Jewelry Online".

- Is eBay Express IT? -

Well, eBay has gone ahead and announced another enhancement - eBay Express. This is what I have gathered from e-mails and the eBay website concerning the features of this upcoming service:

• Everything on eBay Express will have a fixed price and will be available for immediate purchase - no more waiting for auctions to end (of course the Buy-It Now feature has also been available on eBay.com for quite a while).
• There appear to be plans for some kind of shopping cart, making it easier for buyers to make multiple purchases from the same seller (nice, but why not offer that to regular eBay stores, too?).
• There are a number of seller requirements: a feedback score of 100 or more, 98% positive or better, public feedback (as opposed to private), PayPal Premier or Business account, setting PayPal account to ship to unconfirmed addresses or make sale-by-sale decisions (a point that has caused some stir among sellers), and being based in the US (it seems that eBay Express will be offered only in the USA at first). Sellers also must state shipping costs, either flat, calculated or free, rather than forcing buyers to look for them in the item description or having to e-mail the seller.

  eBay Express is supposed to be launched during the spring of 2006. Like the "IT" campaign, it seems to be another attempt by eBay to get away from the "cleaning out your garage and selling stuff on eBay" image and a challenge to conventional online rivals who have offered fixed prices and shopping carts for a long time. Also, let's first see, how well it works...

So much for today!
Cyberbeader
http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

- Online Shopping - How to Become an Online Bargain Hunter -

Admit it, it is much nicer to shop online than to drive to a crowded mall, where you might or might not find what you were looking for. More and more consumers have discovered how easy and conventient it is to do shop in the comfort of one's own home. Yet you may ask yourself what price you are paying - after all, many online stores charge shipping fees (or build them into the price). Are you paying too much for the convenience of online shopping?

The solution is to become a savvy online bargain hunter. Follow these rules to increase your chance of getting a great deal:

Stay informed of great deals These sites offer frequently updated information on online deals: http://www.techbargains.com, http://www.slickdeals.net, http://www.bensbargains.net, http://www.dealsofamerica.com, http://www.mybargainbuddy.com.

Always compare prices before you buy. Just because website "A" announces a sale doesn't mean that it offers the lowest price. Websites such as http://www.pricegrabber.com and http://www.pricescan.com will give you detailed pricing information.

Compare apples to apples. Price comparison sites sometimes lump used and new articles, retail and OEM versions together. Make sure you are actually comparing identical items.

Read store reviews. Sites such as pricegrabber.com and shopping.com also include reviews about the online store, so that you can avoid a store that might be cheaper but has lots of customer complaints.

Read the fine print before you order. What shipping fees does the store charge? Are there any "handling fees" (a rather sneaky trick when combined with "free" shipping)? What are the store's return policies?

Print out your order. After your confirmation page shows up, print out your order so that you have proof of what your ordered and at what price. Don't rely on finding the data later on the website - the site could change any moment.

Concentrate on larger items. Getting a pack of CD-RWs for $2 less than at your local computer store might be nice, but it is hardly worth your time. Spend your time looking for bargains on higher-priced items - computers, electronics, cameras, etc.

Be wary of rebates. It is great to get an article cheaply or free after rebate, but look carefully at the conditions (original receipts vs. copies, etc) and deadlines, and try to find out if the company in question has a good reputation about honoring rebates in a timely fashion.

Be patient. Frantic, last-minute shopping rarely leads to bargains. If you know that you will purchase an item in the near future, do some price comparisons, read revews, and wait for an online sale.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com, where you can also download the free e-book "A Consumer's Guide to Buying Bead Jewelry Online".

- When Disaster Strikes -

If you are self-employed and work from home, you wear several hats, so to speak: you may be the marketing manager, accountant, receptionist or PR person. You are also your own technical support department and therefore responsible for safeguarding your data.

You should be clear about two things:

1. Sooner or later, disaster will strike. It does not have to be anything as dramatic as storm, fire or flood - an overheated motherboard, a malfunctioning hard drive or a computer virus can be enough.

2. The cost of backup hardware and media is trivial compared to the value of your data. Imagine that you lost your customer list, your product database or other crucial business data. How would your business continue?

Here are some tips for implementing a disaster recover strategy:

Buy an external hard drive. These hard drives, which connect to your computer via the USB 2.0 or FireWire port (check which port your computer has) have fallen dramatically in price. Some of them are about the size of a paperback and can be easily transported. Most come with a backup program that lets you schedule automatic backups for your data.

Put all crucial computer-related information in a folder. This includes the customer support numbers of hardware and software manufacturers, serial numbers, warranty documents and configuration information. The last thing you want to do is to hunt for these items while you are desperately trying to get your computer working again.

Back up data and store the media offsite. Having an external hard drive is great, but what would happen in the case of theft, flood or fire? You should regularly (let your calendar program remind you) back up important data on CD-Rs or DVD-Rs and store these elsewhere, such as at a friend’s house or in a safe deposit box at your bank. Do not forget to re-record, as backup media do not last indefinitely.

Back up data online. There are numerous companies that will store your data online for a fee, but it might even be enough to use a web-based e-mail service such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo Mail, as these now offer very generous storage quotas. Just mail important files to yourself.

Have extra hardware. If your main computer fails, you can just move the external hard drive to your laptop and continue working. It might also be useful to keep an old computer around as a backup machine, as long as it still runs the programs you need to use. This way, you do not have to run out and buy a new computer right away, if your current one fails.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com, where you can also download the free e-book "A Consumer's Guide to Buying Bead Jewelry Online".

The Beader's Companion

The Beader's Companion (Loveland, CO: Interweave Press, ISBN 1-8883010-56-X) by Judith Durant and Jean Campbell is an indispensable tool for bead jewelry designers at the beginning and intermediate level. It is a small (7" x 5") paperback book with spiral binding that lies flat, so you can keep it on your work surface next to your beading projects. The pages flip upwards, so that the text is in landscape mode, leaving plenty of space for illustrations.

It is amazing what amount of useful information can be crammed into a mere 104 pages! The book starts out by describing various kinds of beads (with illustrations), as well as types of glass and finishes used for beads. This is followed by section on threads/cords and different types of needles. Particularly useful is a chart telling beaders what thread to use with which kind of bead. There are also extensive chapters on various stitches and crochet techniques (again illustrated with simple, but effective black-and-white drawings).

Further sections on finishings (clasps, hooks, ear wires, etc.), tools and basic wire techniques round out what almost amounts to a beading course in a book. Even after you mastered the different techniques described in this guide, you will be coming back to it for the various useful charts and tips, such as the bead-sizing chart.

Overall, The Beader's Companion is reasonably priced and represents one of the best investments a beginning beader can make. While it cannot substitute for an actual teacher, it offers a good general introduction. Other books and beading magazines will then take you further in teaching special techniques in greater depth.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She has been beading since her teens. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

Greg Holden How to Do Everything with your E-bay Business

I recently checked on amazon.com and found over 400 book titles devoted to buying and selling on eBay. These titles range from basic introductions (for "Dummies" or "Complete Idiots") to specialized books on selling antiques or collectibles. And of course there are numerous books promising huge profits without much effort.

Greg Holden's How to Do Everything with your E-bay Business (New York: McGrawHill/Osborne: 2003) occupies a special niche, as it is aimed at people who don't just occasionally sell a few things on eBay, but want to turn their eBay business into a steady, long-term venture.

Holden offers a basic introduction into signing up for eBay and creating listings, but goes beyond that. Chapters are interspersed with little stories of individuals who have been selling on eBay for years, which adds a nice personal touch.

The author also emphasizes that sellers should become extremely knowledgeable in their field (whatever it is) and do extensive research onthe items they usually sell. This is a healthy antidote to the frequent get-rich-quick schemes peddled by quite a few books on eBay.

Besides advice on opening an eBay store, Holden also provides information on how to use your own website for selling and/or promoting. All this is very useful, though the chapter on selling on sothebys.com is rather specialized and will not apply to many readers.

The layout of the book is clear and legible, with many relevant screenshots and photos, and the detailed index makes finding information easy.

Overall, How to Do Everything with your E-bay Business is a very useful introductory book for people who have more serious selling plans than just disposing of a few things lying around the house. I would recommend it it to prospective eBay store owners. While much of the same information can be found in eBay tutorials and particularly on the eBay discussion boards, reading this book will save you time and equip you with the basic knowledge you need to get started.

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She has been beading since her teens. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the sterling silver and Swarovski crystal bead jewelry she designs and creates both in her eBay store (http://stores.ebay.com/LOVE-BEADS-UNLIMITED) and on her website at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

- Back on the Blog -

Well, it has been a while, but I have not been idle during the hiatus. I have a web store now - please check it out at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com.

I also wrote a series of articles for ezinearticles.com that I am going to reprint here. Number 1 is one about all-too-common pitfalls for ebay sellers:

Seven Surefire Ways to Make Your eBay Auctions Fail

By Pamela Bruce

I don't know how many books there are by now that propose to tell you how to succeed on eBay, how to make lots of money on eBay, or how to become a millionaire through eBay. Here are a few of my tips on how not to make money with an eBay auction:

1. Use irrelevant titles. I have actually seen eBay auctions with titles such as "This is nice". I am sure that many people are going to look for such a title! It is inconceivable that something like "Vintage garden sundial, copper, 1930s" might lead more potential buyers to your auction.

2. Use ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME. Everyone likes the equivalent of being shouted at, and long texts in ALL CAPS are so easy to read, aren't they?

3. Show your educashion. Nothing attracts buyers like spelling errors and grammatical goofs. If you really want to impress customers, misspell the name of the item ("Dell latpop for sale").

4. Skimp on descriptions. Why should you tell the buyer the size, age or condition of the item? All those details would just confuse people...

5. Forget Feedback. I am certain that eBay buyers will just flock to your auction for a $3,000 diamond ring, even though you have zero feedback. Some people may slowly build up their feedback by buying and selling before offering expensive items, but who can be bothered?

6. Harsh words sell. Of course every buyer loves terms of sale that contain such phrases as "Absolutely no returns" or "Don't bother me with complaints"!

7. Oh, say can you see? Naturally, people love out-of-focus pictures of your items, particularly when photographed against the background of a dark shag carpet. Who cares about the details of that diamond ring - they are going to trust you, arent't they?

Pamela Bruce lives in Austin, TX. She is the owner of Love Beads Unlimited and sells the bead jewelry she creates at http://www.lovebeadsunlimited.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Pamela_Bruce