If you’re doing business on eBay, you must know how to identify a scam, and how to evade them. If you are scammed, there are a number of actions you can take to correct the situation.

You can without doubt avoid many scams with the payment method that you use, whether you are a buyer or a seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases, Paypal is the payment method you should use.

As a buyer, if you are scammed or less than satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The seller must reply and show proof that the item was shipped, or Paypal will return your funds to your account.

As a seller, you can shield yourself by only accepting Paypal. This will remove the chances of receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the charge through PayPal, and you of course will be able to provide evidence that you shipped the product.

Another frequent scam that buyers use is the bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with two separate eBay accounts - with one person in control of both of them, or with two friends with separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed on your item, using one account. This is followed by a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid.

If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions page declaring that you have the right to back out of the sale if you suspect potential fraud.

Ebay secrets revealed, insider secrets on how to
become a powerseller.
www.lionel1.com/ebay1.htm

A great number of people who are trying to start an eBay
business spend a great deal of time and thinking trying to figure
out which items sell the best on eBay. Many of these
people have elaborate systems for determining this
information, and many others purchase expensive
courses that teach them how to find this information
as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you
need to know is right in front of you - on the eBay
website! Believe it or not.

Take a look at any category, and you will see the
word ‘hot’ beside some items. These items are not
marked as hot sellers randomly - there is a method
to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when
there have been more than thirty bids placed on
the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay
website for a while to find an item that will do well.

However, most power sellers will agree that there is
more to figuring out which items sell best than this.
In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way
to start your search for items that will result in a
successful auction in the future is to do research on
the auctions that were successful in the past. You
can view old listings that have completed at:
http://listings.ebay.com

A new way to determine what items sell best on
eBay is ‘eBay Marketplace Research.’ Marketplace
Research will allow you to view important statistical
information on the buying trends at eBay. This
product contains all of the data one could possibly
ever need to determine how well - or how poorly -
an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small
fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools,
however.

Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for
finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the
listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on
the site. This list can be found at:
http://popular.ebay.com/ This list is divided into
categories, which will make it easier to determine
how popular your potential item may be. And that’s gold
for any potentila eBay seller.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that an item will
do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your
homework on the item first.Do not assume anything. Some of the strangest
things sell for the highest prices, while items that
would sell quickly in any other environment just sit
there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you
that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you
hope to sell and make a good profit on eBay.

If you want to learn more bout Ebay and how to sell and buy like the pros.
You should visit:

http://www.ebay-auction-advice.com

I’ve bought over 100 items on eBay over three years and am ready to share my knowledge of how to win at eBay and buy from reputable sellers.

1. You can find anything on eBay. When searching on eBay I suggest first doing a general search such as “ionic breeze” and checking what the items are going for. I noticed the items by companies with eBay stores were selling much higher than those by individuals. This is true for all categories. So don’t be scared of buying from an individual as it could be much cheaper.

2. Before bidding look at the seller’s rating. I only buy from those with 99% or higher ratings.

3. Next check the shipping cost. Quite a lot of eBay sellers are willing to sell their high priced item at NR or no reserve but make the money back with outrageous shipping costs. How do you know a shipping cost is too high? When checking out the auctions for your item such as “ionic breeze” keep an eye on the shipping cost. The average cost for shipping quadra ionic breeze machines seems to be $20. If someone is charging $30 then you know you’re getting had on the shipping. I make my maximum bid less on those auctions where the seller is charging too much for shipping.

4. To have less search results to wade through limit the search by using the minimum and maximum amounts setting. Think of what you’d really like to get the item for and put it as the maximum amount. By combing the listings for “ionic breeze” I’ve found it is possible to get a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra for $50 if I buy it used from an individual or reconditioned from a business. That’s ok with me as I just want to pay less than what Sharper Image is charging!

5. One of the most important tips is to read every word in their auction page. People sell broken items on eBay. Some of the auctions for ionic breezes looked great but in between their text stating how great ionic breezes are, how much square feet it covers, was the sentence that the item was broken. Imagine how I’d feel if I had bid and won only to find out I didn’t read the auction carefully! Yes it’s a nasty way to do business selling items that are broke and tricking people into buying them. But if you bid you legally have to pay for it.

6. Ask questions before you bid. If the auction does not state how the item is being packaged then ask. I once bought a wall mounted barometer, temperature, humidity item that was shipping in a shoe box with no packaging! It was busted, glass shattered. So make sure you ask how they are going to ship it and what packaging they are going to use.

7. Also ask if the item works, do they have the manuals, does it still have a warranty if ownership is transferred, are items sanitized, does it come from a smoke free pet free home? You need to ask these questions as it’s “buyer beware” on eBay.

8. The cheapest prices on items is during the summer when people are on vacation and not stuck at home during the winter. The worst time to buy is before Christmas. Everyone is trying to outbid each other for a gift. The prices are unbelievable!

9. After spending time doing the legwork I mentioned above, you’ll find that a few eBay sellers seem to be ideal to buy from. Add them to your favorite seller’s list. Then it’s easy to go straight to their store, or items for sale page, and bid on what they have. You’ve already checked them out so don’t forget who they are!

More ebay tips at ebay tips

Closeouts offer resellers high profit margins along with high volume sales, when done right.

Resellers, whether flea market vendors, eBay sellers, or dollar stores, will be faced with competition from online and offline retailers who can buy wholesale closeouts at a lower price.

To outmaneuver this competition in the wholesale closeouts business, resellers need to have a strategic plan in place.

Part one of their plan deals with finding the best sources for wholesale closeouts at the lowest possible prices.

For this reason I would recommend resellers to stay away from drop shippers when looking for wholesale closeouts.

Since the drop shipper is set up to offer his products to thousands of other resellers, you will not be able to compete based on price. All the resellers are paying the same price to the wholesale closeouts drop shipper, so how can your prices be lower?

When looking to buy wholesale closeouts you want to get as close to the source as possible.

Since you will not be able to buy brand name wholesale closeouts for a lower price than major retailers can, you will want to look for lesser known wholesale closeouts sellers.

For instance, ABC Closeouts might not have the name recognition that Overstock enjoys, but you can show customers that the quality is the same, and as long as your prices are lower some customers should buy the wholesale closeouts manufactured by ABC Closeouts.

When you contact these companies looking for wholesale closeouts ask them for their overstock, overrun, and closeout deals. You would be surprised at the wholesale closeouts deals you can find from small manufacturers that are looking to move merchandise out.

You can find great wholesale closeouts deals but it will take some solid leg work.

Donny Lowy is the CEO of http://www.closeoutexplosion.com, an online wholesale and closeout business, and http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com, an educational site for the wholesale and closeout business.

More and more people try their luck at selling on eBay everyday. With all of that growing competition it is important that you do everything possible to make sure that you stand out from the crowd. By following a few simple steps you can greatly improve the odds of your auction being noticed, that browsers will convert to bidders, and that those bidders will become repeat customers. Begin practicing the follow seven tips and watch your eBay auction sales explode.

1. Inundate your potential buyers with details. It is much better to provide a lot rather than a little information and this will also be a great opportunity for you to pepper your listing description with keywords. Do be sure, however, that your auction listing is informative and not filled with hype. Those extra exclamation points really aren’t going to make the sale. Actually, they will only make you look unprofessional. Also, give your readers details as appropriate such as models number, item condition, color, size, etc.

2. The title may not seem like a vital part of the equation, but it really is of great importance. It is the first thing people see when browsing through the auctions, so it has to not only grab their attention, but also entice them to click. Do not enter you title in ALL CAPS. This will only make you look like an amateur. Include as applicable; keywords, model numbers, seating information, brand names, item size, color, etc.

3. A picture is worth a thousand bids. Okay, well maybe not a thousand, but it will certainly help your item sell. Think about it; would you buy something sight unseen? Of course not and neither will the majority of buyers on eBay. Be sure to take care when photographing your item. Lesser quality photos are just as bad as no pictures at all. Also, the more expensive the items; the more photos you should provide.

4. State all of your requirements upfront. Tell potential bidders how much you intend to charge for shipping, to which countries you are willing to ship, if you will accept returns, or anything else that you might wish to specify. You really can’t make things up as you go along. You have to get all requirements out there at the beginning.

5. If a potential buyer contacts you with a question then be sure to promptly respond. If you wait you may lose a much needed bidder. Also, be sure to be polite in your response as no question is too stupid to warrant anything other than but a courteous reply. Even if that person doesn’t bid on your item they will certainly remember your pleasant attitude and that could mean a future sale.

6. The majority of buyers on eBay prefer to pay for their purchase via PayPal. That is why it is vital for you to accept this method of payment. It is also beneficial to you as it eliminates the potential for bad checks or money orders.

7. After the sale most winning bidders will expect the seller to begin the completion of the transaction. Send an email, an invoice, alert the buyer when the item has shipped, and be sure to leave feedback after the transaction.

Copyright © 2005 Heather Wallace

Heather Wallace is a writer whose work has been published in national, regional, and online publications. To receive a FREE eBay Seller’s Resource Guide, send a blank email to mail to: eBay-Sellers-Resource-Guide@fetchingsites.com

If you’ve never played the ‘What If?’ game before, this is how it goes. You take a common item, say an empty bottle, and you ask yourself: What if it was bigger? What if it was smaller? What if it was packed with sand from Brighton Beach? What if it was painted red with white stripes?

It’s a strange pastime, this What If? game, but from it has emerged some of the most profitable products of all time, the most prominent being Coca-cola which allegedly started life as a cough syrup, rather thick, very gooey, and leaving a strong after-taste. Until someone said ‘What if we add water and drink it’. The rest, they say, is history.

Here are a few What If? questions, and products they must surely have spawned:

* What if we fill it with something silly?

Tins filled with holes from Polo mints, offered as competition prizes in the 1970s, are valuable collectors’ items today and like one I saw in a recent sale of advertising memorabilia they can fetch hundreds of pounds a time.

Tins filled with London Smog - a kind of dirty fog that hung across London and caused hundreds of deaths daily in the early 1950s - were offered as souvenirs to American tourists who sometimes sell them on eBay.

Bottles filled with Irish Turf sold like hot cakes to Irish-American families when they first appeared in the 1980s, before copycats moved in and killed the market.

* What if we broke it and sold the pieces?

Witness the former wooden Brooklyn Bridge, torn down and replaced by the current metal and concrete variety, which was sold piece by piece by Paul Hartunian and generated millions of dollars.

The same technique helps sell pieces of turf from well-known football grounds, pieces of meteorites (see www.themeteoritemarket.com - they sell lots of the stuff), even pieces of Plymouth Rock that sold on eBay last year at between $609 and $2165 apiece and none bigger than a walnut.

When the Berlin Wall fell a friend transported hundreds of fragments home, framed them, and sold them in pre-eBay times at £20 a time. Goodness knows what they’d be worth now with an international audience to target.

Demand and price can be inflated by linking items to specific events. So pieces of Plymouth Rock (from where originated America’s Pilgrim Fathers) sold well during Thanksgiving Week and strips of turf flew out of the turnstiles when Wembley’s historical football ground was closed for refitting!!

* What if we buy this stuff that doesn’t sell and add it to something else that does always sell?

One hundred plus Penny Black postage stamps offered at an auction in Yorkshire last month attracted no bids, not from stamp dealers unused to selling anything quite so torn and tattered as these pathetic specimens. My daughter bought them instead, made them into charms, and sold them as charm bracelets under her ‘Hobo’ vintage jewellery banner with stamp catalogue value of £100 and £200 a time highlighted in her eBay descriptions. Those stamps costing a few pounds each, added £50 and more to bracelets normally fetching ten or twenty pounds each.

Here are some questions for you to answer and turn ordinary items that nobody wants into products that sell like hot cakes on eBay.

* What if we paint it red with white stripes? (Bearing in mind England’s presence in the Football World Cup this year and a national flag of similar colours!)

* What if we look for anniversaries that might lend themselves to unique product ideas? This is one of the most profitable ways to play the What If? game so you’ll be happy to know that this year:

- May 24th marks 100 years since the The London Ritz was founded by hotelier Cesar Ritz.

- Marmite was created in Staffordshire one hundred years ago. The ‘Love It, Shove It’ relationship we all have with Marmite might be worth exploiting. I’ll be hunting through vintage magazines for cartoons and advertisements from Marmite’s early years to recreate as prints, postcards, key rings, place mats, or hundreds of other popular items. Be careful not to break trade mark and copyright laws if you decide to copy early designs, they won’t normally be public domain until 70 years after the artist’s death. But why bother with copies, I recommend you stick with original items, they’re prolific in early magazines.

- Poet Laureate John Betjeman was born 100 years ago, the same year that the British Labour Party was born. The perm is also one hundred years old, as is the first diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. And the Japanese are currently celebrating the centenary of The Book of Tea, written by art historian and curator Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913) and representing the first study in English to explain the philosophical and aesthetic background of the tea ceremony. Now I wonder if that book is still in copyright or could I reproduce it, maybe bundle it with some special tea bags, or use it to sell vintage tableware, use it as the basis of a book I want to write about healing teas …. OR WHAT IF?

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and editor of eBay Confidential and webmaster of http://www.publishingcircles.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and ebooks at http://www.toppco.com

Selling real estate over the internet may sound like an awkward idea. However, the exposure the real estate receives over such a widespread media like the internet is every realtor’s dream.

Can eBay be used to market real estate? The answer is a resounding ‘yes!’

eBay provides functionality that is clearly adaptable to the needs of most realtors. It provides a widespread medium of advertisement for the real estate. It is also a relatively inexpensive method of advertising.

One of the best things about selling real estate on eBay is that it “markets” to many areas around the world, not just a local area. Advertising on eBay makes the property available to more than 100 million potential buyers, including those from other countries. Visitors can browse through the property details 24 hours a day, 7 days a week – all without the realtor having to explain the details about the property to every single prospect wanting information.

Advertising Your Real Estate on eBay

When one has a house or other real estate to sell, he or she may list it for auction on the eBay Real Estate site. This is found at
http://www.pages.ebay.com/realestate/

There are many different ways to present the property for sale on eBay. If the realtor seeks to sell the estate at a fixed price instead of having the property go through an auction, he may request eBay to display a real estate listing in a format much like a local paper.

eBay’s Real Estate page has three selling formats. These are the auction, fixed price selling, and the traditional real estate listing.

For each of these selling formats, the “user” furnishes additional information regarding his or her property. Details may include lot size, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, type of property, year built, and other information. The auction listing period must also be specified, where the choices range from 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, 10-, or 30-days, or a 30- or 90-day non-auction listing.

The eBay Real Estate website charges two types of fees for listing a property. There is a simple fee for listing the property and also a fee is based on the final amount of the property sale. The charge for a 1-, 3-, 5-, 7-, or 10-day auction listing is typically around $100. A 30-day auction listings cost about $150. A non-auction listing costs $150 for 30-day listing, and about $300 for a 90-day listing.

Fees for Timeshare property and land are usually slightly lower. The final fee amount for Timeshares and land is generally about $35.

Selling real estate on eBay is growing in popularity as the internet stretches it’s outreach to more countries. Although nothing beats direct and personal inspection of property, the convenience of having eBay connect seller and potential buyer is definitely appreciated.

Copyright 2005 MHG Consulting

Would you like to get MLS listings before they hit the mob? For free? By email? Go to: http://www.realestatebyemail.net

Everything in E-bay seemed perfect: nice shopping portal, almost complete buyer’s list, and a convenient place to do shopping online. In fact, it’s too good to be true.

If this is the case, then it’s time for the buyer’s warning signal to go red alert because if things on E-bay seemed to good to be true, it probably is and may not even be worth the buyer’s time and money.

There are lots of frauds and scams’ going on in the Internet today and E-bay is not excused. So, it’s important for buyers to detect early signs of fraudulent activities before it gets them. Here’s how to do it:

1. Buyers should look for the seller’s feedback section. If a seller has many feedbacks and almost 50% of it is negative, chances are transaction with this seller will turn out a hoax, even if the seller has provided positive replies.

2. Online shoppers should be aware of emails contending it’s from E-bay and certifying some seller as a good one. It’s already anomalous in the first place because E-bay does not send emails. Plus, E-bay would definitely not certify a seller even if he or she has a remarkable selling history.

3. Buyer should be aware of sellers that insist on wire transfers like Western Union as mode of payment. In fact, E-bay does not recommend their buyers to use wire transfer services. If the seller insists on it, then, no doubt it’s a scam.

4. Buyer should also be aware of “too-good-to-be-true” prices. Chances are items that are priced way below their real prices are signs of imminent fraudulent activities.

5. Online shoppers should take note of phishing emails. These are emails that require subscribers to fill out forms provided in the email with warning statements saying the subscriber’s account will be closed if the person concerned will not provide the required pertinent information. Once given, anomalous activities are on their way like identity theft.

6. Buyers should also be aware of sellers that let them pay the bid amount to wire transfers directly from the buyer’s checking account. Worst, the seller contends that the given bank account is Escrow’s.

7. Online shoppers should be weary of institutions claiming they are escrow but ask payments be made to a person instead of a corporation. This is a clear case of scam.

So, to shun away from probable scam attacks, it’s a must for every E-bay buyer to keep these tips in mind. It’s better to be safe than dumb.

Tony Newton gives his unique and valuable tips on how to make lots of money from his website - http://www.exposedauctiontips.com

Ok, let me just say right up front that I am not against drop-shipping! I love the concept. If you are dealing with a particular wholesale drop-shipping distributor that is serving your Ebay ambitions well, then hold onto that company with bonds of steel, for truly good drop-shippers are hard to find!

Drop-Shipping sounds like the utopian business model. No up front
investment in inventory. You don’t have to carry packages to the Post Office, United Parcel, or Fedex. All you have to do is set up your own business, auction, or retail website and advertise the products that the company provides. Once the orders come in, you forward it to the drop-shipper and they send the product directly to your customer.

But, the devil is always in the details. Dropshipping is best suited for a stand alone E-Commerce website, mail order, or catalog advertising venue. If you are considering using a wholesale drop shipper for your Ebay auction, then you might want to take a step back and let me provide you with some “points to ponder.”

Back ordered products..The reality is that drop-shipping companies run out of product and will be back ordered. Ebay bidders purchase product in “real time.” They are under the impression that the item you auction, is the item they bought, not a product that is subject to shortages.

One or two customers might be understanding about the situation, but most will not. If you happen to run out of product on a regular basis then your negative feedback rating will go through the roof, and your reputation will suffer.

One way to combat shortages is to buy a pallet of product in advance, and have the drop-shipper store it in their warehouse so that you are assured of
an ample supply. This method sort of goes against the idea of Drop-Shipping (buying the product in advance) but if you are selling on Ebay, you would be best served by employing this method.

Also, if possible, find a drop-shipper in your area, or within a comfortable traveling distance. If you run into any supply or shipping problems, then you could be on hand to visit the facility, should any shipping or logistic concerns
arise.

Fees..Some dropshippers will charge you a sign up, or entry fee of about twenty five to fifty dollars just for the privilege of selling their product. You are also charged a “processing fee” for sending the product to your customer.

The “price for processing” can range anywhere from seven to twenty dollars per item, depending on the type of merchandise you are selling. These expenses, plus Ebay fees, can take a big chunk out of your bottom line. Finding a product that can bring you a profit, as well as offseting these types of expenses, can be a delicate balancing act.

Circumventing your customers..While I do not believe that this is a pervasive practice among drop-shipping companies, anecdotal evidence has suggested that some unscrupulous enterprises can cut you out of the sales loop. They could they easily substitute your return address for their company logo,
selling directly to your customers.

Market saturation..One of the largest wholesale drop-shippers in the county is the B&F System, BNFusa.com. A lot of Ebayer’s started selling their products, one in particular, called Giovanni Navarre leather jackets. At first, it was a profitable item. After a while, everyone started selling the same product. Too much of the same supply, creates market saturation, ultimately destroying profit potential for the seller.

The Giovanni Navarre leather jackets are still being sold on Ebay today, but I doubt that they still provide a very profitable return for the seller. Even though B&F carries over 500 products in 14 different categories, they are intimately familiar to the Ebay community. You could probably make a great profit from just about any B&F product if you were to sell
them off line, and out of the auction arena.

When a company becomes too well known to the general public it becomes almost impossible to make money from products that have flooded the marketplace. In addition to finding a drop-shipper who is close to home, it might be a good idea to find a DS company that is not well known to the Ebay market, or who’s products have not been scattered all over cyberspace.

These days however, it is hard to find drop-shippers that will cater to the smaller seller. Most will find it more profitable to sell in volume than by the piece. The larger wholesale dropshipping distributors are used by retail catalog operations. To get involved with the larger operations, you would have to be doing a tremendous sales volume.

If you still want to pursue drop-shipping as a source of supply for your Ebay auction, then I would suggest that you read other opinions, and become as educated as you can about the drop-shipping company you do business with.

A good and inexpensive start to finding drop-shipping companies is the Drop Shipping News: http://www.drop-shipping-news.com . Remember, when it comes to Ebay auction selling, “own what you sell.” Never leave customer service, or your feedback rating in the hands of other people!!

Robert C. Potter is a wholesale and retail surplus products specialist. He is the author of “The Ultimate Guide To Products For Resale!” Over 300 Wholesale & Surplus Supply Sources For Ebay Auction Sellers, E-Commerce Websites, Flea Market Vendors, and Retail Store Owners! You can find his 160 page ebook
at: http://www.productsforresale.com.

You Can Make a Fortune on ebay

There are a number of things you need to make money on the Internet, but the most important is finding the products. Think about it, having a good product will make you money if people sees it.

Just knowing that targeted visitors are the most important part of making money will do us no good unless we take action. How are we going to take action’ We get going, going to where the targeted traffic is, and the traffic is at ebay. Would you be amazed if I told you over million folks spend time at ebay a month.

Ok we have solved one of the main problems with making money, we now know where we can get targeted visitors, but don’t be fooled thinking it will be a piece of cake just because we overcame the main problem. You see we are not the only ones that know where the traffic is, so we are going to have a lot of competition.

What can we do about the competition’ I would just send them an email and ask them to stop selling so I could sell my products and make a lot of money. Now if that doesn’t work there are a few more ways we can beat the competition. It might be easier if I just list them below.

Since most visitors use the search tool to find a product on ebay we would want to be certain we were using the right keywords we could come up with that describes the goods we are selling.

We would also want to take our time and make sure we sort our product in the correct categories.

If we can find a distinct product with little opposition that would be great, but we will need to be careful with this,
because if no body is selling it, it could be because there is little request for it.

If we find a good that we can buy at a reduce price than our competition then we could distribute it at a lower price than the competition.

I think we have a nice idea how to sell on ebay, but we need a product to sell. If you are new to ebay you could get started by selling goods you have around the house. That is how I started, I did a research on ebay to see what products were selling and what they were selling for. If there was a high demand for it and I had one, I would take a picture of the product and offer it up for auction. You would be surprised at some of the objects people will buy.

Shola Rahman is the author and owner of Ebay Auction Websites www.revenuebusiness.com