If you are going away for the holidays, vacation, or just want to take a break from eBay, did you know you can manage your vacation settings? Here is how.

1) Go to your eBay Store.

2) At the bottom of the page, click SELLER MANAGE STORE.

3) On the left column, near the bottom, you will see RELATED LINKS>VACATION SETTINGS.

4) You can do several things here. You can completely hide all of your listings. Or, you can allow your listings to remain visible and add a message to each store page explaining how long you will be gone, and when you will resume shipping.

5) It is also a good idea to temporarily change your automatic email notifications for the winning buyer email and payment received email. Just include the information about your absence and when the customer can expect his order.

Communication is the key. Most customers don’t mind waiting as long as they hear from the seller and understand the delay.

Click here for more information regarding vacation settings. And have a great time! eBay will be here when you get back.

[Image Source: Flickr, eBay Coach Photos. Wyoming, 2006]

Post from: EveryJoe

Going Away for the Holidays? How to Put Your eBay Store on Vacation

Counterfeit and replica handbags are everywhere – in small boutiques, at the airport, on street corners, and on eBay. Below are some tips on how to spot a fake or knock-off Coach bag before you buy it.

Counterfeit goods fund all kinds of illegal activity including prostitution, drug trafficking, gang activity, terrorism, and other types of organized crime. When you purchase a replica handbag (either intentionally or unintentionally), your money goes to support these types of activities.
Replica bags are not allowed on eBay. Yes, many are for sale, but if you are caught offering one, your listing will be removed and you may lose your status as a seller. Click here to read eBay’s policy on selling counterfeit items.

If you plan to sell one:

First, examine the signature “C” pattern of the fabric. The “Cs” will be crooked, tilted, off center, have jagged edges, or other wise just not look right. The pattern should start in the center of the front and back panels. The fabric should be symmetrical as if it was folded in half down the center seam. There should not be any breaks or gaps in the seams.

The workmanship will look shoddy. The stitching could be crooked, stitches will vary in length, and there could be overstitching. All of these are signs that the bag is a fake. Coach bags are immaculately made with all the stitches the same length, stitch lines perfectly straight, and no overstitching.

The zipper itself will be stamped with YKK.

Where was it made? Coach does not make bags in Korea or Thailand, although they do make some in China.

If you found one at a thrift store or garage sale, chances are it is fake. Don’t risk your eBay seller status by trying to sell it.

If you plan to buy one on eBay, investigate all of the above and also check out these criteria:

Proof of authenticity. Ask the seller to provide a copy of a receipt or some other form of proof. Read the listing carefully – is the word “authentic” mentioned in the listing? If not, don’t buy it.

Examine the seller’s photos. Make sure they are photos of the exact bag that is being sold, not stock photos from a website. Go to the official Coach website and examine photos of legitimate, authentic bags. Compare to the eBay seller’s photos.

Review the seller’s history, feedback numbers, the actual feedback, etc. Get an idea of who you are dealing with. Click here for more ways to check out the seller before buying from them.

[Image Source: Flickr, BagsOnly's PhotoStream]

Post from: EveryJoe

How to Spot a Fake Coach Bag on eBay

If you have been selling on eBay for any length of time, you will quickly become accustomed to fee changes and / or increases. Unfortunately, the price of your inventory won’t decrease, so you will need to take proactive steps to keep your profits from falling as fees increase. The answer isn’t always to raise your prices. Here are some suggestions for reducing other expenses that you may incur as you operate your eBay home business.

Pay close attention to eBay Insertion Fees and the tiered pricing. For example, pricing an auction item between $1 and $9.99 costs 35 cents. Pricing an item between $10 and $24.99 will cost 55 cents. Study the costs and decide if it is more cost effective to set your starting price in the lower tier to get the lower insertion fee. Assuming your item sells, pricing the item at $9.99 will cost less in fees than pricing it at $10.

Watch your packaging. Make sure you aren’t overpackaging your item and adding unnecessary weight by using too much packing material. One extra ounce and boost your shipping fee into the next tier, and add up $2 or more per package. If you ship 100 packages a month, and you are paying $2 for unnecessary packaging, that’s $200 in shipping fees you are paying for no reason! (Especially if you are shipping clothing, adding tissue and ribbon is going to add weight. Do you really need it?) Experiment with different packaging options and packing materials to determine the least expensive option without sacrificing quality. Click here for more ways to reduce shipping costs on your eBay orders. Click here for ways to get free shipping supplies!

Pay your eBay fees with a credit card that offers cash back. If your fees are $1,000 a month, and you pay them with a credit card that offers a 1% cash back program, that is $10 a month you can save – or $120 a year.

Use paper and clear tape instead of labels for shipping. Labels can get very expensive.

Reduce Paypal fees by applying for a merchant account. Furthermore, if you use a Paypal debit card as a credit card at POS terminals, you can earn 1% cash back.

Do whatever you can to increase your DSRs so that your items will be placed higher in Best Match, thus increasing your sales.

Click here to learn more ways to increase your profit margin on eBay without increasing the prices of your items.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Post from: EveryJoe

How to Squeeze More Profit From eBay Sales

If you are not selling on eBay UK, now is the time. Learn why US sellers are turning to eBay UK, and how you can make money selling there.

Post from: EveryJoe

US Dollar is Weak, British Pound is Strong: Sell on eBay UK

The holiday selling season on eBay is right around the corner. Will you be ready? Here is a quick and dirty checklist of tasks to complete before the holiday season gets into full swing.

Use Buy It Now on all auctions from November 1 until Christmas.

Add Best Offer to all inventory items. You don’t have to accept the offers, but you will give your customer more options.

Order packaging early. Go to the USPS website and order plenty of boxes and Tyvek envelopes. Check your supply of packing materials for your particular products. You don’t want to have to stop in the middle of a busy shipping day because you have run out of something.

Know the shipping date deadlines. Again, visit the USPS website for this information.

Stay focused on your business – complete your income producing tasks first.

Stay current with your shipping. You will be tempted to keep listing items when sales are in full swing. Take care of customers who have already paid before listing new items.

Find the balance. Don’t get so sucked into your eBay business that you can’t spend time with your own family and enjoy the holidays. Sometimes, you will have to walk away from eBay and take a break.

[Image Source: Flickr}

Post from: EveryJoe

eBay Holiday Selling Checklist

One of the biggest problem of selling used or vintage clothing on eBay is removing the smells the garments may have picked up from their previous owner, in storage, or next to something else in the thrift store. Moth ball odor is one of the toughest smells to remove. It can be done, but it takes some time and patience.

One thing you never want to do to remove mothball odor is put the garment in a hot clothes dryer, or iron it with a steam iron. This will basically trap and seal the ordor in the garment forever. Here is a list of techniques for removing moth ball odor from clothing.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Post from: EveryJoe

How to Remove Moth Ball Odor from Thrift Store Clothing

Creating a private listing on eBay is easy and serves several purposes. If you are offering items that may be embarrassing, personal, sensitive or offensive to some people, creating a private listing will encourage more bids. The bidder will not have to worry about the item appearing on his feedback page or history. You will often see private listings for adult products (games, toys, costumes), health items, intimate apparel, and other sensitive items.

Some eBay buyers want to keep their transactions private, regardless of the iitem. They feel that their purchases are their own private business, and they like to buy from sellers who respect their privacy. (Hint, imagine that the shoes above may NOT be bought by a woman.)

Click here to read the steps for creating a private listing.

[Image Source: Flickr]

Post from: EveryJoe

Creating a Private Listing on eBay

Did you know that you sell grocery coupons on eBay? Some sellers’ entire stores are nothing but grocery, food, and drug store coupons. These sellers obtain multiple Sunday newspapers for the sole purpose of clipping the coupons to offer them on eBay. Actually, coupon clipping is a fun family activity since everyone can get involved. Plus, it is something you can do from home to earn extra money.( If you are especially frugal, you can ask friends, neighbors, and coworkers to save the coupon inserts for you and you won’t even have to buy any Sunday papers.)

There are several ways to sell coupons on eBay. You can organize them into lots based on exact product, product type, or just a miscellaneous group. The biggest obstacle with selling coupons is managing your listings and purging the listings once the coupons have expired.

Selling grocery coupons on eBay won’t make you rich. But, you can make a few extra dollars a month without having to buy any inventory to sell. Check out this step by step guide, “How to Make Money on eBay Selling Grocery Coupons.” It is easier than you think.

(Disclaimer, according to eBay – you are not actually selling the coupons, you are collecting compensation for your time to cut, sort, and mail them.)

[Image Source: Flickr]

Post from: EveryJoe

How to Sell Grocery Coupons on eBay for Extra Cash

Post from: EveryJoe

Grow Your eBay Business – Use Your About Me Page to Generate Leads

I want to thank the ladies at Money Saving Mom, Sisterly Savings, and Northern Cheapskate for educating me over the last few months on how to get free products through drugstore rebate programs, give aways, couponing, and other frugal tactics. I’ve always been a coupon clipper, but haven’t taken the art to a higher level until lately. So here is a big shout out to my new best friends! Thanks for all your help.

If you want to learn more about how to get free items by using rebates, coupons, sales, and special promotions, read the following articles. Getting free inventory to sell on eBay just takes a few steps and we can all use extra money, right? And remember, not everyone has access to the same things you do. Some free shampoo or toothpaste might not sound like much, but when you put these items in a batch or lot and offer them for sale on eBay, you will make money.

Get Free Products Using the CVS Extra Bucks Program

Get Free Products Using the Rite Aid Single Check Rebate Program

Get Free Products Using Walgreens Rebates and Register Rewards

Get Free Products Using Craigslist

[Image Source:Flickr]

Post from: EveryJoe

Free Inventory to Sell on eBay for Profit