Longtime eBay sellers such as myself have seen numerous changes in the market.  We’ve watched eBay’s business model change and grow, we’ve seen major shifts in the way business is conducted, and even in whom is doing the buying and selling.

Now, for example, there is no shortage of shops that will sell your item on eBay for you, if you don’t have the time or inclination to do it yourself.  Generally they charge a fee – a percentage of the item’s selling price – and in my area that is about 30-40%.

Many of our members work as trading assistants (TA’s) who also take items in on consignment to sell, charging a portion of the sales price as a fee.  Each TA sets their own fees, but in my experience 20-30% (before fees) is standard.

In reading a few days ago, however, I found an interesting article about flat-rate fees.  ISoldIt4U.com is charging flat-rate fees for items they sell for you on eBay, starting as low as $9.95 for a $100-$250 item.

Interesting concept.  However, most of us sell items for under $100, and we take a higher percentage of the profit as our cut.  What does that mean for traditional consignment and TA’s?  Maybe nothing yet, but it’s definitely a trend worth watching.  If this takes off, it will require major changes in the way we do business.

And so I have to ask…WWYC?

What Would You Charge, if you were to implement a flat-rate pricing structure?  How would this affect the way you do business?  Would you continue to be a TA?  Would this make you want to start?  I can see it being frustrating for a TA’s ‘cut’ per item to go down, but I can also envision a huge increase in the number of people willing to consign their items with a lower fee structure.

Part of our business is being able to roll with change and find new ways to stay competitive, and this article gave me much food for thought.  I hope it will do the same for you, and I’d love to hear some of those thoughts in the comments!

Not a member yet?  Join HCTS today and get in on the action!

Filed under: Better Selling Techniques, Ebay Listings by Rebecca
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Today’s Ebay listing of the day comes from Sarah (her Ebay store is Adorable and Affordable Clothing). What can I say, I love loveys. They are so cute and fun to sell.

I don’t have much to say about this great listing, you really cover it all in your auction….terms are clear and concise….you’ve spelled out shipping for domestic and international buyers and addressed combined shipping rates. If I had one suggestion to make it would probably be to add the word “pink” to your title. I think anyone searching for this lovey would probably use the keywords “pink elephant” to search and it would be a shame to have your great listing not come up.

Once again, a great looking listing. Best of luck with your sales!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by jmk_akk
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NWT TRANSFORMERS Blue Boys Pajamas Top Pants 4 4T HCTS

Once again it’s been a while since we’ve featured a member’s listing on the blog.

Today’s listing of the day comes from ebay seller and HCTS member pooh4934. She’s got a great photo of her item and it shows up very well in the gallery photo on the search page. I like that the auction template is clean and simple. The auction description and terms are all there with the info. you need to know if you’re going to buy….nice and to the point.

One thing that would be nice to know is the combined shipping rate. The auction states “I combine shipping.” but not the cost….is it $1 or $2 extra for each additional item? Sometime spelling it out can encourage buyers to make multiple purchases on the spur of the moment since they don’t have to contact the seller and wait for an answer about combined shipping before making their purchase.

Overall a great listing, best of luck with it!

If you would like the opportunity to have one of your items featured, be sure to include ‘HCTS’ in your title when you list.  Not only could you be featured on the blog, you are also making your listings searchable by our entire membership!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by jmk_akk
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This week I have shared some things we can do to increase sales in our eBay stores.

Today’s topic:  Cross Promote

The idea of cross promoting is to get someone who is already looking at one of your listing to go and look at more of your listings.

How can you do that?  Make them want to and make it easy for them.

Make them Want to…

Offer them an incentive. An easy way to do this is to offer a shipping discount. You can have a very specific discount like “Buy 3 & Shipping is Free” or simply state something like “Discounted Shipping Offered for Multiple Purchases”.
A word of caution:  If you offer a specific discount like “Buy 3 & Shipping is Free”, you may want to state right below it “Shipping discount applies to clothing only” if you sell other things as well. You don’t want to eat up all your profits on a shipping mistake. (Ahem…speaking from experience here.)

Let’s take this a step further. We don’t want your customer to miss this! Here’s what it looks like on one of my listings:

Purchase 3 or More Clothing Items From My Store
and
SHIPPING IS FREE!

Plus, this is a clickable link directly to my eBay store! Which brings me to my next point…

Make It Easy for Them…

It is “eBay legal” for you to include a link in your listings to other eBay listings.  So, make it easy for your customer to find your other listings.  Again, here’s what it looks like in one of my listings:

Please check out my other listings!

But how do you make a clickable link? You need to put the html code in your description area of your eBay listing. Here’s the code for you:

<a href="YourStoreURLHere"><font size="6"><font color="#f3a7b6">
Your Clickable Words Here</font></font></a>

There should be no space between the top and bottom lines, I just couldn’t get it all on the same line.
You can make the font any size and/or color you want!

So there you go!  Enjoy customizing and driving more traffic to your listings!

I hope you have learned something new this week that will help increase your eBay sales.

There is so much to learn!  Want to learn more?
Consider a membership to

We are a community thousands strong of online selling success. Our members share tips and information daily as we grow together and help each other along the way.
Join us! We can never have too many friends!

Filed under: Better Selling Techniques, Ebay Listings, Tips and Tricks by Melisha
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Welcome back!
This week we are discussing things we can do to help increase sales in our eBay stores.
Today’s tip:

Rework those Titles

The words you use in your titles are VERY important!  Those words are what determines how high your item comes up in the search results. (There are other factors as well.  Some of them are out of your control.  So let’s focus on what we can control.)

How do you know what words are the best to choose?
There are lots of ways but here is something easy anyone can do…pretend you are shopping for your item.

I recently sold some of my kids’ used video games.  That’s what I will use for an example today.
Let’s say I’m selling the game “Mario Party 8″ for the Wii. Go to eBay and do a search for that game.
I typed in “Mario Party 8 Wii”.
Make sure “Best Match” is selected at the top of your search results here:

Now scroll down the page paying attention to the “Time Left” column all the way to the right. You are looking for anything that is out of order.  The list starts with a game that has 31 minutes left. However, the very next one has 23 days left. Also notice this listing has a “Top Rated Seller” badge beside it.  Top Rated Sellers get placed higher in search results (one of those things I mentioned earlier that you may or may not be able to control). Let’s skip this one for now.

Keep scrolling down the page. Remember you are looking for anything out of order that does not have a Top Rated Seller badge. A little further down I see this:

One day, one day…10 days! This one does not have a Top Rated Seller badge. Let’s look at the title they used.
It says MARIO PARTY 8 Wii Manual Guide Book 111 Pgs 2007

These are good words to include in your title!
Remember, you can only include words that apply to YOUR item. If your item does not have the manual, you cannot include that.

Here’s another title that was out of order.
Mario Party 8 (Nintendo Wii) MINT Complete w manual

These are more good words to consider for your title.

Get it?
So, go check out your listings. If something is just not selling, do a search and see if it’s getting the exposure you need.
Changing just one word can sometimes make a big difference!

There is so much more information on this subject!  Way too much to include in a blog entry.
If you would like to know more about this subject, one of our very own Storks, Cindy, has written an eBook about it.

Writing Listing Titles for eBay’s Best Match Sort eBook

is a great comprehensive guide to help you get your listings near the top of the Best Sort match.  Enter code HCTS and receive a $5.00 discount on the eBook. Thanks, Cindy!

Filed under: Ebay Listings, Tips and Tricks by Melisha
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Who doesn’t love a sale?
Did you know with your eBay store subscription you can create your own sale?
Your sale can happen at any time and can last for up to 45 days!
I’ll walk you through the steps to create your sale and get those customers shopping…

Go to your “My eBay” page and look for the section called “Manage My Store”. Mine is in the bottom right hand side.
Under “Manage My Store”, click on “Markdown Manager”. You should see this:

Click on the “Create Sale” button.
On the next page you can choose a title for your sale, a start/end date, the type of discount you want to offer, the listings to include in your sale and send out a newsletter to your subscribers…all on the same page!
Here’s what I like to do.
Title: $5 off
Dates: Varies, but I like to do at least 2 weeks. I also like to make sure 2 weekends are included in my sale because traffic on eBay is greater on the weekends (generally speaking).
Type of Discount: I prefer a dollar amount as opposed to a percentage off.  The prices in my store vary a lot. 10% off might be too much on some items.  I run a lot of $5.00 off sales.  I simply pick the listings I can afford to sell for $5 off and still make a nice little profit for myself.
Choose Your Listings: Under this option, I like to choose “Select Listings Individually”. It’s a blue link as seen below:

The next page allows you to see your store items complete with gallery photos, titles and quantity listed information displayed.
Simply check the box next to the items you wish to include in your sale. If you have more than one page of items, click the next page number to continue selecting items for your sale. Do NOT click continue until you are done selecting sale items.
(This part was a little confusing to me the first time I did it.)

When you are done selecting items for your sale, click “Continue”.
You now have the option to change any information you need to before officially starting your sale.
Once you are satisfied with your choices, simply click “Create Your Sale.”

That’s it! You will get an e-mail confirming your sale has begun.

Sales almost never fail to stimulate some selling. So give it a try!
Create your sale today!

Come back tomorrow for some more great selling tips.

There is so much to learn about selling on eBay!  Want to learn more?
Consider a membership to

We are a community thousands strong of online selling success. Our members share tips and information daily as we grow together and help each other along the way.  Your membership will start out as a business investment, but if you’re like me, it will quickly become a community of friends.
Come on in! We can never have too many friends!

Filed under: Ebay Listings, Tips and Tricks by Melisha
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NWT Baby Lulu Sunflower Kerchief Dress 4 4T New HCTS

It’s been a while since we’ve featured a member listing on the blog!

This listing comes to us courtesy of Chanda.  When I was looking for a great listing to feature, this one popped off the page.  The photo is great!  The black background really sets off the printed dress, and the picture is very clear with bright, clean colors.  I also appreciate the second picture which shows a close-up of the pattern detail.

The template is adorable!  I know it is not necessary, but I personally feel that a nice template lends a more professional appearance to your listings.  When you appear to have a logo and a theme, you appear to be a serious business.  I consider a design an investment.

The terms of this listing are spelled out clearly.  This is especially true for Canadian buyers, who are advised of possible customs fees up front.  There is also a fair and clearly stated return policy which would make me feel very confident purchasing from this seller.

I think this is a great listing all around and I wish you much success!

If you would like the opportunity to have one of your items featured, be sure to include ‘HCTS’ in your title when you list.  Not only could you be featured on the blog, you are also making your listings searchable by our entire membership!

If you are doing the FLY Lady challenge this month, today we are maintaining days 1-3, as well as writing down our ‘chores’ on post-it’s.  Visual cues make you more likely to stick with the program!

Have a great day!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by BellaBuggy
6 Comments »

VERA BRADLEY Black Microfiber Backpack Bag Purse HCTS

Thank you to Anna, ebay id lucy4girls (ebay store La Rambla de Anna) for today’s listing of the day.

Solid black is extremely hard to photograph, and while this picture doesn’t show the color perfectly, it does do a very good job.  The black-on-black detail is picked up nicely and the pictures are clean and uncluttered. 

The item description is detailed and gives a clear idea of what to expect.  I think a picture of the inside of the bag might help to illustrate the details you mention here.  I like that you include the dimensions of the bag.

I also like your template, which is attractive but uncluttered.  I think you did a very nice job of including pertinent information without overwhelming the buyer with details and terms.  I might suggest that you add a blurb about HCTS in your listings as well.  I see that you have an affiliate link on your About Me page, and if you direct buyers to look there you might get more clicks/sign-ups. 

Speaking of your About page, yours is great!  I like that you shared the story behind your store name, and the pictures that go with it are beautiful.  It really adds a personal touch and makes the buyer feel connected with you.

Thank you Anna, and best of luck with your sales!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by BellaBuggy
1 Comment »

Jesus Christ Fish Heart Charm Bracelet Lot of 4 HCTS

eBay seller sassy.mama (eBay store: What Now Boutique) brings us today’s featured listing. 

The pictures you are using are very professional.  I’m not sure if you took them yourself or if they came from your supplier, but they show the product very nicely and are a great asset to your listing. 

In the listing, you put some details/terms before your description.  I imagine this helps to get people to actually read what is written there, which certainly isn’t a bad idea.  I did find myself wishing there was more of a distinction between where the terms end and the description begins – maybe a line or something?  But that might be my own hang-up, because the font color does change.

I especially like your About Me page.  It is really excellent and you clearly spend time maintaining it regularly.  As such I think it deserves more mention in your listings, so people definitely do check it out.  I love the monthly newsletter update you included – it really made me want to buy from you.  I also think you did a great job of recommending some websites without seeming pushy, like you’re only in it for the referral money.  This is one of the best ‘About’ pages I have ever seen – very well done!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by BellaBuggy
1 Comment »

FROGGIE BATH FROGGY Kids Frog Custom Art HCTS

Check out this very talented stork in our midst!  Today’s listing of the day comes from ebay seller hobiekat88 and I am so happy to see it.  This is an excellent example of someone who needs to join us in Design Chat…cough, cough.

Your artwork is gorgeous.  Iwas not familiar with that line from Pottery Barn but seeing your pictures made me love it, and I believe it would definitely inspire a buyer to buy other matching pieces as well.  You did a great job with both the artwork and the numerous, detailed pictures.

One problem I did notice was that both the listing and your ‘About Me’ page state that insurance is not included but optional.  eBay has changed their policies and we are no longer allowed to offer insurance at an additional cost to buyers.  You are also required to have a return policy specified, which is not on this listing.  I recommend that you revise to include these ASAP or else you might find all of your listings ended by eBay.  (Ask me how I know this – ugh!)  You won’t be in trouble, but you will have to relist and pay those fees again, so best to do it now and save yourself the money and the headache!

Really great work, and I look forward to seeing more of your art in the future!

Filed under: Ebay Listings by BellaBuggy
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