Using free eBay templates is another easy way to add photos to your listings. You can find these online at many helpful sites. If you are selling in a niche with thousands of the same items being offered on eBay, using a template is a good way to make your listings stand out. In most cases, all you need to do is enter your item description and add the image address. The templates are pretty easy to set up and you’ll be up and running in no time. Just do an online search for ‘free eBay templates’ and you’ll have lots to choose from. 

If you don’t have a way to host your own images, you can use an image hosting site such as Photobucket.com. There is a limit of around 10,000 images you can upload. That should be enough to keep most people busy.  All you have to do is link the picture into your auction. No fees!

Joining Photobucket is free of charge. Once you have your account, you will be able to create albums and slide shows. If you have any personal pictures on Photobucket, bear in mind that anyone clicking on the image in your auction listing will go right to your Photobucket account. Once there, they will be able to access ALL of your images. 

When uploading your auction images, you need to locate and copy the code to paste into your auction listing. The code can be found underneath the image you have on Photobucket. Highlight the code then copy and paste it into your listing. Nothing could be easier. There is also an image resizing option in Photobucket where you will be able to change your pictures to fit into your auction listing. You can make various sizes and play around with them until you find the right one. 

Just do a test run with your listing. If you aren’t happy with it, you can change the code, position, text etc. and then preview how your listing will appear when it’s live.  If you don’t like it, change it. Tweak it until you love it!

To get the desired results in any business, including eBay, you have to show your ability to deliver on your promises.  In particular with eBay, it’s vital that you receive positive customer feedback.  You will have no problem selling your products through auctions or your own eBay store when you have good feedback ratings.  Negative feedback could lower or even ruin your opportunity to successfully sell in the online marketplace, so this is the last thing you want to happen.

If you want to have a successful eBay business, building a reputation for how you conduct your buying and selling practises obviously plays an important part in that business.  It is just as important to use these strategies as you would in a brick and mortar store. 

As a new eBay member, get started by getting familiar with how eBay works.  In a short time, you will find the easiest way to start receiving good feedback.  Buying items shows you how other sellers handle their customers.  Treat this as a learning process on the different parts of selling online.  Watch how the sellers behave and how the auction itself works. 

Don’t be afraid about asking for feedback from sellers.  As a buyer, the more feedback you get, the more you will become a good seller.  When you do start selling, you should always list products that will guarantee that you get some feedback from your buyers.  Do not ignore your feedback, especially once it gets into the large numbers. 

When it comes to negative feedback, your main goal would be to make certain you just don’t get any.  If you’re new to eBay, it is already difficult to sell your products because people don’t know you.  Make certain you treat every successful bidder, no matter how much or little you earn, as your best customer. 

Some sellers have earned what is called “Power Seller” status and you will hear this quite often.  It simply means that those sellers have gained more positive feedback while selling a certain number of products over the course of recent months.  These people are very successful in what they do.  The best way to learn how to be successful is to watch those who already are. 

It’s easy enough to do research on these sellers.  Read their feedback and see what their customers have to say.  You’ll discover that they offer outstanding customer service and their products are exactly what is presented on the auctions or in their store. Buying from these sellers is also a good opportunity to get some feedback for you.  Most top sellers are appreciative enough of their buyers to leave good feedback for a smooth purchase. 

Each feedback comment is important.  Turn to your buyers and ask for their opinions.  Let them know about your products in your eBay Store or auctions.  Look after your customers and watch your feedback score grow.

One of the most popular items I have sold recently on eBay is The Spanish Language Speed Learning Course.

Here are some of the things that you will find inside The Spanish Language Speed Learning Course:

There are some easy tips and tricks to remember Spanish words easier.
How each of the letters in the Spanish alphabet are pronounced, and a few examples are given so they can be practiced.
Learn about the sounds that are not present or are very minimal in the English language but are common in Spanish language.
Techniques that you can use to recall a variety of Spanish words.
A training session to easily tackle the most complicated topics in Spanish.
Learn to form and structure different kinds of basic Spanish phrases and sentences.
Learn to pronounce Spanish words correctly.
Learn basic greetings and everyday expressions in Spanish.
Learn what to say when ordering food, shopping, hiring public vehicles, checking in at hotels using the Spanish language.

The whole ebook is geared to teaching the reader, in 12 days, how to to become an efficient Spanish speaker or conversationalist.
The ebook is available on CD-Rom through my eBay shop here Speed Spanish or through immediate digital delivery from my website here The Spanish Language Speed Learning Course .
Obviously, the digital delivery version is  much more reasonably priced at $1.99!

I try really hard to love ebay and just as I’m getting there, I get slap in the face with a wet fish! I do wish that they would look after their sellers a tiny bit instead of concentrating all their efforts on the buyers!
I have decided to leave a reply to the Feedback, then, if sales don’t improve, I will make Feedback comments private.
What do you think I should do?
Colin

Ebay was going to change the policy to allow you to only use links to:

1 Any page on eBay or an eBay property including PayPal, Half.com and StubHub.

2 Photos of the item for sale, as long as the page displaying the photos does not offer, or link to, a site that offers a product or service for sale off eBay

3 Embedded videos within a listing, as long as the content and format comply with all eBay policies for videos.

4 Third-party solutions and services directly related to the particular listing.

This meant that the biggest changes would be no linking to your websites and no inserting an auto responder sign up form on your About Me page. This, of course, did not go down too well with ebay sellers that  have their own websites or capture names and email addresses for the purpose of email marketing to potential customers through an auto responder series of emails.

Ebay have done the ‘about turn’ following feedback received from disgruntled ebay sellers at their recent Ebay Live event. They have announced that there will be no policy update at this time!

Click on the link below to see the announcement:

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200807.shtml#2008-07-31132029

Hats off and well done to Ebay again for not implementing the updated policies!

But, why don’t they ever admit to being wrong?

Colin (disgruntled ebay seller!)

Included with the manual are four more free reports about: fuel saving devices ,fuel efficient vehicles ,tips and tricks on recycling and reducing your carbon footprint,renewable energy, the types of renewable energy, solar power, wind power, hydropower, biofuel and the future of renewable energy.

The reports are available from this link: Hypermiling  and come at the special price of $1.99!

I only accept payment through PayPal at the moment and immediately after payment you will receive a link to the download page for the reports.

It is available on Cd-Rom only, due to Ebay’s digital download ban and it is bundled with 4 other guides/reports that are all to do with subject of ’Going Green’ and helping the environment as well as your bank balance!

The Hypermilimg Manual  explains what hypermiling is and shows how to drive more fuel efficiently with additional tips about how to go further with less gas.

The second guide reviews other fuel saving devices including, oil and gas additives, magnetic devices, air injection products and looks at the products that do work.

The third report examines the fuel efficient vehicles that are available on the market today and how you can choose one to suit your needs.

The fourth ebook gives tips and tricks on recycling and reducing your carbon footprint. This covers saving power, cutting back on paper products, organic garden and lawn care with additional tips to help you to live green.

The fifth and final guide explains renewable energy, the types of renewable energy, solar power, wind power, hydropower, biofuel and the future of renewable energy.

All in all a nice little collection of useful reports/ebooks at a very reasonable price!

Visit  JonniesIdea Ebay Store  for more details. I will, when time permits, add the guides to the JonniesIdea Website for those of you that prefer digital delivery. Why not bookmark the site and revisit to check for updates?

That’s all for today,

Colin

Quite a few sellers have voiced their concerns about the new way that ebay calculates feedback. At the moment,  neutral  feedback is counted as negative! This would, without a doubt, affect the Powerseller status of quite a few big sellers. Ebay are claiming that they are listening to the sellers concerns (yeah, right) and now say that, from August, they are going to recalculate feedback percentages/scores without neutrals and no one will lose Powerseller status due to neutral feedback (Hurrah!)

Another change that rankled with the majority of sellers was the taking away, from sellers, the option to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers! Ebay claims that some buyers were afraid to leave negative feedback for fear of receiving a retaliatory negative from the seller and some sellers were abusing the system by threatening to leave negatives for buyers (why couldn’t they just hunt the abusers down and ban them?). If you received a negative and felt, you didn’t deserve it or felt it was given in error, it could be resolved by communicating with the buyer/seller and agreeing to mutual feedback withdrawal. Now, seller’s have a choice of leaving a positive or leaving nothing at all.

Ebay will be trying out another new process in October which they claim will ”help you resolve issues with buyers, even after the buyer has left negative feedback” allowing buyers to change feedback if they make a mistake or the seller ‘put’s right’ the ‘wrong’ in a timely and efficient manner. 

The two changes I have covered here are steps in the right direction and for that I applaud ebay. I don’t believe, for one minute, that they are ’listening’ (they don’t want to!). I believe that the recent changes that have been implemented have lost ebay a lot of sellers and therefore a lot revenue from listing fees, final value fees, paypal fees etc.etc. So ebay are forced to try and encourage the lost sellers back.

Finally, I’ve heard and read  recently that ebay are aspiring to become an Amazon like platform for sellers, if they are not careful, that is where their present sellers and store owners will be going!

I feel better now!

Have a great day!

Colin

I have Blogger blogs but the Wordpress thing is a slightly different animal that you have more control over and I must say I’m very impressed so far! 

Well that’s it, my first post over (more of a test post really), I plan to post at least twice a week so please check back for updates, you never know, you may find something interesting!