eBay has just rolled out some significant changes to the feedback system. Once again the reasoning behind the moves is to increase buyer confidence in the system, happy buyers are repeat buyers.

Under the old system, buyers and sellers rated each other on the transaction with either a positive, neutral or negative score and a comment. Under this system there were some buyers who felt that they could not rate a seller accurately (if their performance was poor) because they feared retaliatory feedback. Often a buyer who rates a seller with negative feedback will receive a negative in response. eBay fears that this practice was driving customers away from eBay. Continue Reading »

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The first thing everyone must do before they can buy and sell on eBay is to register. During the registration process you are asked to decide on what you want your eBay User Id to be. For many people who are just buying and perhaps selling some stuff from around the house, the User ID you choose isn’t that big a deal, as long as its not offensive. However, if you are planning on starting a business enterprise on eBay you may want to think a little more about how you want to portray yourself. Continue Reading »

eBay has just released a new competition aimed at sellers. The obvious aim of this promotion is to encourage sellers to start promoting PayPal now as the only payment option ahead of the proposed payment policy changes starting May 21st.

Just under $200,000.00 prizes are up for offer, and for your chance to win you must sell an item and have it paid for by PayPal between the dates of the 6th and 20th of May. Thus if you sell an item and your customer chooses to pay via one of your other payment options then that transaction will not be eligible. eBay wants to encourage you to start offering PayPal as the only payment option as of now.

For more information, terms and conditions and a look at the prizes on offer check the official competition page here: http://pages.ebay.com.au/sweepstakes/index.html

Are you looking to sell a used car? A new deal brokered between eBay Motors and Drive.com.au will give your listing a much wider audience. It looks as if both sites will be integrated and show listings from each source, which will give both buyers and sellers greater choice and coverage. eBay is obviously very excited about the deal and the enhanced features of the new site:

The new site is only in beta phase at the moment and is not yet replacing the current eBay Motors site but you can check it out at cars2.ebay.com.au. Give it a test drive now and let us know what you think. We’d really like to get your thoughts and suggestions on how to improve the site – in fact we’ll be giving away a Nokia 6110 Navigator mobile phone to the member providing the most helpful comments! Simply click the ‘send us your comments’ link on the homepage.

If you are considering selling your own used car on eBay, take a note of these photo tips:

• park the car somewhere nice, not where there are car parts lying around or garage clutter,
• try to take as many photos as possible from all different angles. For example:
  • all four sides with doors closed and with doors open,
  • sit inside the drivers seat and take photos of passenger seat and back seat,
  • take close ups of the dash and all controls,
  • open the boot and take a photo,
  • take photos of the engine,
  • of course, show in detail any damage or markings.

Did you know:

• a vehicle sells every 10 mins and 46 secs.
• that it only costs $5.00 to list your car and a $40 flat fee if it sells.
• you are allowed up to 12 photos for free.

Have you ever sold a used car on eBay before, or would you consider it? Feel free to leave a comment below.

If you have been keeping abreast of the announcements coming out of eBay recently, you will be aware that they are changing the payment option policy. In a nutshell you will only be able to offer PayPal as a payment option for all listings, bar cash for local pick-ups. If you haven’t heard, you can get up to speed by reading my post on it here.

If you are concerned about how this will affect your business, you now have the opportunity to ask questions of eBay staff via the Workshop forum on the eBay boards the Wednesday night. It is a live discussion and  to be able to participate you first have to log onto the Discussion Boards, which can be found under the “Community” tab at the top right hand corner of any eBay page. If you have not registered with the boards before do so before the workshop starts. You can use your eBay ID, many people do, but some people also create new user names just for posting on the boards, to protect their eBay identity.

Once you have registered you can post questions to any of the discussion boards along with the Workshop board which will host the forum on the recent changes to the payment policy. You will find the Workshop board here. You are free to just watch the discussion unfold or put your own questions/concerns to the eBay staff. If you do have questions or concerns this is a good opportunity to have them addressed directly by eBay. If you can’t make it, you will find that the discussion will be archived and you can read through the discussion any time it suits you, you just won’t be able to put your own points across.

Anyway, its on Wednesday night, 30th April, 9.30-10.30pm.