Scotty's Ebay Travels Pt 4

With Christmas fast approaching, now is a good time to start listing as much as possible on Ebay because once buyers get a whiff of Christmas, their purse strings tighten and sales of secondhand items slump. Scotty's Ebay sales generally start slumping around late September early October so he doesn't bother listing after that. However, sales of new items are known to increase during this period.

On the other side of the fence, the pre and post christmas slump does not always deter sellers from listing on Ebay. This can be a good opportunity to grab a bargain or start acquring items for selling in the new year.

Off on his usual walkies this week, Scotty found a dazzling pair of gold Gucci heels with peep toes and diamonds. Looking brand new with a price tag of $48.00AU these shoes would be a lovely buy for personal use (for his owner of course!) but Scotty wasn't so sure about them for re-sale purposes. While peep toes are back in fashion this spring/summer Scotty was uncertain if they would fetch more than $48 on Ebay. Scotty knows that this store drops its prices daily on existing items so he has the option of returning tomorrow to buy the Gucci's at a cheaper price if someone else hasn't snapped them up first. Scotty thinks a fair price for these beauties would be in the $20-$35 price range.

Next up was a Burberry tote bag for $45.00 AU. For those of you who don't know, Burberry is a UK based designer brand often in a distinctive check pattern that has become one of its most widely copied style. At $45.00AU, this bag fell into the "too good to be true" category and was not worth the risk of jeopardising Scotty's good feedback rating for a few dollars profit. Scotty knows that the store selling this item has a well trained manager who can identify the originals from fakes and no doubt that knowledge was reflected in the bag's price tag.

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Shipping from U.S.A

How annoying is it when you find an item you really want but it's located in the U.S.A and the retailer won't ship internationally. You will find that some US Ebayers won't ship internationally either.

There is a way to overcome this. Access USA (www.myus.com) is a USA package and mail forwarding service that will ship items to you anywhere in the world. Access USA provides you with a genuine US street address that is unique to you. This is not a Post Office Box! This is your own street address that US retailers will accept as a valid shipping destination.

They also consolidate all your purchases and other mail into one shipment. This saves you the international shipping costs of having each package sent individually.

If you don't have a US credit card they will also purchase from US retailers on your behalf with their company credit card, cheque or PayPal account.

Access USA offers the ability to track your parcels and view your shipping invoices online and receive a notification email when parcels arrive for you.

But what about the costs involved I hear you say! Using U.S.A to Australia as an example (you can choose your destination country online), the parcel fees by Express are as follows:

1. 1 time setup fee is $35.00 US
2. $132.00 US annual membership fee
3. Each 100g over 1kg is $1.25 US per gram (minimum 600g)
4. $8.00 US for a commercial invoice
   

You could consider going halves with someone else to save on the above costs.

If you are purchasing from the US for re-sale don't forget to take into account what Access USA will charge you for forwarding the package. The item may not be a bargain after all.

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http://www.auctiva.com

Auctiva is a powerful Ebay auction tool that is totally FREE.

I stumbled across the Auctiva website a few months ago while I was searching for free shop templates. Lets face it, Ebays templates are a bit out of date and boring. Auctiva has 100's of templates that are professionally designed for many categories. When I became a member, Auctiva did not support Australian Ebayers but has recently introduced full online support for AU users.

Basically, Auctiva is an online listing program which procedure is similar to listing online with Ebay. All your auctions are entered into the Auctiva database online. You can upload your listings from Auctiva and Auctiva keeps a record of all your listings and images for future reference.

Auctiva's auction tool site has totally free image hosting. Up to 100's of images can be uploaded at a time and effectively managed, magnificent templates that can be customised to suit seller's needs, a one page listing tool and a scrolling store at the bottom of each listing so buyers get a snapshot of other items you have listed on Ebay (fantastic promotional tool). There is also access to sales tools and reports

Below is a comparison table between Ebay and Auctiva services:

If anything, you have to look at their free templates. My trick is to create a very basic listing in my Auctiva account, copy and paste the HTML code into Turbo Lister and save the template for any future Ebay listings.

If you get stuck on something, Auctiva also has an online message board and free interactive tutorials.

Well worth a visit.

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World 1st Bipolar Study

Researchers at the NSW based Black Dog Institute and the School of Psychiatry at the University of NSW, in partnership with Perth based health care provider, Sentiens, are currently recruiting people with Bipolar Disorder throughout Australia to participate in an world first online study. Participants of the study will use a secure Sentiens web based platform to access targeted online materials and track their mental health.

It is hoped that this research will help researchers understand if treatment programs and information provided over the internet can assist people to manage symptoms of bipolar disorder. By participating you will be making a major contribution to knowledge about how to effectively manage bipolar disorder. You benefit personally by learning more about this disorder and how to best manage symptoms when they occur.

Purpose of the study
The purpose of this study is to determine if programs designed for and delivered over the internet can help people with bipolar disorder stay well. Specifically if such programs can help reduce symptoms, reduce rates of relapse and admissions into hospital and assist people to remain on medication. This study is a randomised controlled trial, which means that all selected participants will be assigned to one of two specialised treatment groups.

Sufferers will be able to monitor their bipolar illness using state of the art technology in what is believed to be a world first in this type of research. Participants will have access to a large body of information which combines psycho education with specific therapeutic techniques based on cognitive behavioural and social rhythms therapy designed to help better manage bipolar disorder and keep well. The programs are based on established 'face to face' psychotherapy programs and have been written by psychiatrists, psychologists and pharmacists with special experience and expertise in the realm of mood disorders.

A selection process is required before being determined eligible for the study. Having been deemed a successful candidate for the study, I can disclose that interested persons are required to undergo a 25 minute online questionnaire based on their symptoms, current and past moods, family history and drug use (if any).

Successful participants can chose to have their medical practitioner notified should their condition deteriorate at any time during the study. They will also have access to online diaries, information on bipolar disorder, regular reminders to take medication, 10 sessions of cognitive behaviour therapy and access to weekly websites.

More information on the study or on Depression or Bipolar Disorder can be obtained from The Black Dog Institute website at www.blackdoginstitute.org.au.

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Ebay's Fee Hike

On Monday 21 August, 2006 Ebay will increase its fees. Fee increases will only affect sellers who use Featured Plus in certain categories, Basic Stores subscribers and sellers who list using Store Inventory Format.

Basic store subscriptions have risen from $9.95AU to $14.95. The reason for the increase in fees is that buyers have expressed concerns regarding the large quantity of Store Inventory Format listings and the overuse of Featured Plus listings which have led to searches producing too many confusing results and being less relevant. This has made it harder for buyers to find what they are looking for.

For those who use the Store Inventory Format, changes to the way these listings are displayed in search results will start to come into effect on Wednesday 2 August 2006. Basically, Ebay will now display only 10 related store inventory results when a buyer is searching for a particular item, thus limiting the exposure of other items in stores that have the same inventory for sale.

Final value fees in the $0-$75.00AU category have risen from 5.25% to 10% and in the $75.01-$1,000.00 category fees have risen from 2.75% to 5%.

Most likely Scotty's Boutique will close due to the fee hike and items will be listed in the auction format only. This will however affect the amount of traffic that visits Scotty's Blog but regular listings with a link through the "about me" page will have to suffice for now.

There is a UK based Ebay Fee Protest Group which has 475 members so far and can be found at

http://groups.ebay.co.uk/forum.jspa?forumID=1600003487

Who is "Gucas"

No doubt many of us are sick and tired of receiving spoof emails from Gucas (fig 1) about wanting to buy an item when they don't have anything for sale or asking if they have Paypal when it's apparent on their listing.

Spoof emails can be a major problem for unsuspecting Ebayers. These emails ask Ebayers to reply by clicking on links asking for their personal information, such as their user name and password (figs 7, 3, 5 & 6). Generally, once you click on a link a keystroke program is activated and the hacker can record your keystrokes thereby obtaining your Ebay username and password.

I don't think Gucas is very smart. Firstly, if I were going to send spam to an Ebayer purely to obtain their username and password, I certainly wouldn't "CC" other Ebayers into my spoof email (fig 4). Secondly I have noticed that Gucas is a very poor speller. I have actually hit the reply button once and told him so however it seems his learning curves look like Mount Everest.

Gucas seems to be becoming more creative lately by dropping the "F" word in his emails (fig 2 creatively blurred out so as not to offend fellow Bloggers). After receiving four of these emails in one day I was starting to get offended so I forwarded the email to the Ebay fraud email address "spoof@ebay.com".

"My Messages" is the legitimate source for any email from EBay that affects your account. If an email is legitimate, it's always in My Messages. If you get an email that looks like it's from EBay about a problem with your account, a query on an Ebay listing or requests personal information and it's not in My Messages, its spoof!

Spoof email most likely includes a forged email address in the "From" line. Some may actually be real Ebay email addresses that have been forged. In the instance above (fig 4), Gucas has used a fake user email address to make his email look as if it has come from a legitimate Ebayer.

By following the safety measures above and those on the Ebay website, we can eradicate worms like Gucas as an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

For more safe trading tips visit: http://pages.ebay.com.au/help/confidence/overview.html

To Buy or Not to Buy

Apologies to my loyal readers for not posting sooner. I have had a visit from another black dog this week so i've been rather pre-occupied.

I finally managed to get out and about to visit my favourite Melbourne charity store. Unfortunately, since the Manager of the store resigned over 5 months ago, the quality of the store's items have dropped dramatically. No longer do I find Scanlan and Theodore camisoles or fancy italian leather shoes. Instead, there's an influx of Target and Kmart brands. Don't get me wrong, these brands are great for wearing but not for selling on Ebay unless of course they are BNWT (brand new with tags) and you are content with making a couple of bucks profit.

New sellers will find that over time their taste in items for re-sale will change. For instance, I used to literally fight other shoppers to score a pair of leather or synthetic shoes all to make a profit of $10-20AU. Nowdays I wouldn't blink twice at such a low profit or some of the brands I used to buy let alone a pair of synthetics! Over time and with experience, sellers learn how to establish what's hot on Ebay and the market price their item is expected to fetch. Before choosing, experienced Sellers learn to take into consideration the time it will take to clean and list the item and whether all the work required is worth the expected profit.

Getting back to my visit at my favourite store, items of interest were a pair of Von Dutch pink runners hardly worn for $8.00. Von Dutch is a highly counterfeited brand so intuition told me to keep moving. Coming across a pair of stripey rattan sandal thingies (pictured above), I had a flashback of seeing that style of shoe in the latest Shop Till U Drop fashion magazine. Not really wanting to purchase them incase my memory was failing me, a quick trip around the CBD assured me that this style was the latest for spring. Not quite sure if they would be a hit on Ebay and never hearing of the brand "KD", I faced the decision serious shoppers regularly face, "to buy or not to buy". I left empty handed deciding to sleep on it but knowing from experience they will most likely be gone by the time I decide to buy them tomorrow. It's always the way!

Coming up: Who is "gucas" and if I met him i'd lift my hind leg in disgust!

The Best Day to List on Ebay

There are many opinions of the best time, day and period to list items on Ebay.

When I attended the Adam Ginsberg seminar last year, Adam preached it was best to list for a three day period in order to turn over inventory faster. His opinion was that most people look at the "time ending soonest" auctions on Ebay meaning the length of time the item spends on Ebay is really not important.

Each seller has their own method that works for them. My method has always been to list on a Thursday evening for a 10 day period. This means that my listing is viewable over two weekends and ends on a Sunday evening when most people are at home and able to place a bid. A 10 day listing will also generate a high watch list allowing the item to secure a place on Ebay Pulse which inturn offers greater exposure for the item.

My last few listings have ended mid week during the day. I have found midweek listings quite unsuccessful. For instance, my recent bulk jewellery lot finished on a Friday lunch time. This listing had 23 watchers but no competition on the final day. My theory is that most of the 23 watchers were at work, unable to place a bid and not thinking about that great item on Ebay that was about to end. A more appropriate finish time would have been Saturday or Sunday evening. Subsequently I lost a fair amount of money on this jewellery auction however good luck to the winning bidder "Kevin" as he scored a great deal.

Purchasing goods for re-sale

The most common question new Ebayers ask and which frustrates them for months on end is "where can I purchase goods for re-sale on Ebay". Successful Ebay sellers are very reluctant to disclose their secrets about successful selling and their regular haunts. You will see from previous posts about Scotty's Ebay Travels the names of some of the stores which Scotty frequents to acquire his items.

One of the aims of Scotty's Blogspot is to provide new Ebayers with ideas on how to select an item for re-sale and to loosen the current taboo on the venues successful Ebay sellers frequent to acquire their merchandise.

Recently a magainze called The Antique Collector published a list of worthwhile trash and treasure markets around Australia. Whilst I did not purchase the magazine I did speed read which places were recommended in Victoria and two places caught my eye.

Number 1 which was already known to me was Camberwell Market. Although I have never been, it is always recommended for its array of collectible items. The downside for Scotty is that in order to acquire a real bargain he would have to rise very early on a Sunday morning which is a bit ruff! Perhaps Ebay Chatters could make a day out of it? Let me know what you think.

The second recommendation was "The Junk Company" located at 583 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, Australia. I had never heard of this warehouse but will certainly visit it in the near future and give my fellow readers a full report.

If you would like to share a recommended place of interest where Ebayers can acquire goods for re-sale purposes please post a comment below with the details.