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Books, by Kimbo, at the eBid auction site - some help for new sellers... I hope!Just starting selling and want some basic help? Try my Squidoo lens Beginner's Guide to Selling on eBid Kimbo's completely unofficial eBid FAQ
How do I get my eBid t-shirt?If you have upgraded to "seller lifetime plus" while their special promotion is running, you are entitled to an eBid t-shirt. However, this will not be sent automatically for the simple reason that the shirts come in various sizes and eBid don't know how many pies you've eaten. Send an email to the usual ebid support email address (I won't repeat it here, I'm sure they get enough spam already, but it involves the word support and an at sign, as you might expect, then the site name and either tv or net, as you prefer). Write with your ID, your request, and the size you would like. Occasionally they go out of stock and you have a longer wait, but usually they arrive in just a few days. Why do I keep getting billed?If you are finding regular weekly or monthly charges on your ebid account, and you're not selling or listing anything, don't scream... you've almost certainly not understood the subscription concept. When you sign up to sell and choose the weekly or monthly subscription, you are told this is a recurring payment. That means you've agreed to keep paying until you tell it to stop. It doesn't just end when your listings expire. It's simple to stop, just go to your subscriptions area in "my ebid" and downgrade your subscription to "buyer", which is free - no more charges. What sort of account do I have?You can check what sort of account you currently have, as well as compare account types and upgrade your subscription, by looking at "my eBid" then "my subscriptions". This link should take you there. If you want to know what fees are paid for different listing types, per account, this is documented in eBid's own help pages at this link. How do I contact eBid support?If you haven't been able to get an answer for your problem in the forums, or your issue is the sort of thing that only eBid themselves can fix, there is a contact form on the help pages that will put you in touch with the support team. Go to the "help" tab and click on the "contact us" grey tab under the search box. Click on the " click here to open a support ticket" link. Check that the answer is not already supplied on that page, and if you still need to go ahead fill in the form. Don't be put off by the dire warnings, they're just trying to keep the numbers down! When you place a support call in this way, you will receive an automatic response first. This contains your "ticket number" and simply confirms that your request has been received. If you don't get a ticket number - check your spam traps! You will then receive a an answer from a real human at some later time - how much later depends on the complexity of the problem, obviously. In most cases I receive answers the same day.
I do have some advice for anybody sending support emails that you might find helpful.
Help desks are frequently under-manned and over-worked (like so many of us!) and the easier you make it for them to help you, they more likely you are to get that help promptly. * I do have one help desk I have to use occasionally that drives me to spitting madness, hence the proviso. :o) How to buy safely? My 10 step planKimbo’s 10 step plan to safe buying on eBid
How do I see what auctions have bids?To view any active auctions with bids go to the front page for your site, scroll down to "popular auctions" and click on the heading. That will show you all auctions with bids. The categories are shown on the left as usual, so you can see numbers per cat', or drill down to lower levels. What are eBid's fees?There are two areas where fees are applicable: membership, and selling. Membership is free for buyers, and is available in a number of different account types for sellers. The full details of eBid's seller membership fees are given here: http://uk.ebid.net/help_money.php. The essential detail to remember is that subscriptions are recurring payments. This means that for any membership period less than "lifetime" the payment will be repeated each time the period goes around. So a weekly subscription, for example, will be charged every week until you manually go into your subscription area and tell it to stop. Listing fees depend upon the account type you have taken out, and can involve a number of extras (e.g. gallery, featured). The full schedule of selling fees is given here: http://uk.ebid.net/help_selling.php#2 - make sure you scroll down to see the extras too. This information is repeated on the listing form when you create your auction, and the total fees to be charged is given when you preview the listing and before you agree to submit the listing. Will my widget sell on eBid?There are a number of elements to this answer. Firstly, if your widget sells anywhere else, there's no reason why it shouldn't sell on eBid too - but if you've never sold one yet, there's no way of knowing how it will go! Secondly, selling on eBid is generally accepted to take more thought and effort than selling on more popular sites - the buyers won't necessarily just flood in, so you might want to think about upping your marketing efforts and letting people know where you are trading. Thirdly, eBid is a younger market than some other sites and doesn't necessarily have the same level of built-in trust as, for example, Amazon commands. So you might need to do a bit of groundwork to make yourself look like a trustworthy and reliable seller. There's nothing much anyone can do to help with the first point - it's up to you as a seller to know your product, know your market, work out your margins etc and get pricing, packaging, and posting right. There is, however, some help I can offer with the second and third points - these are merely suggestions, but if you want some ideas
read on... How much should I ask?
If you're using Buy Now, you know that one yourself. If you're creating an auction and want a start price... it's best to use the
minimum you are happy to accept. A low start price to "tempt people in" will probably produce a low finish price, as most items
only get one bid, due to the low "footfall" at eBid.
How can I market my eBid presence?eBid is a younger, less established market with fewer buyers, lower market share, and a tiny marketing budget in comparison to other well-known auction and sales sites. So it is generally accepted that doing a bit of marketing yourself will help boost customer awareness and bring in those all-important sales.
What can I do to improve my eBid trust-factorWhen a new buyer visits eBid, they're not going to start out with the same level of trust that they have for sites they've been using successfully for years. So in order to get them to part with their money, you're going to have to show them that you are a reliable, honest, trust-worthy soul who will not run off with the cash as soon as you have it! First of all, make sure you make good use of your "all about me" page. http://uk.nine.ebid.net/perl/account.cgi?mo=account-all-about-user. It's there to let you provide a bit of background information, and any standard terms and conditions, along with anything you think will prove interesting or useful to your potential buyers. A decent "all about me" page shows that you're here to do the job properly, haven't just dumped some old stock and run, and care about the face you show to the eBid customer base. You can use it to mention any established accounts elsewhere (no links to ecommerce sites though!) with an indication of feedback you've gathered, for example. Here's what mine looks like to give you an idea of the sort of thing - but don't just check mine, ideas vary and you might see some good suggestions elsewhere. Another widely accepted "fact" (read "opinion" :o)) is that zero feedback can be a turn off for nervous buyers. If you've got a little bit of feedback it shows that you're really here and trading, have completed a few deals successfully (from either side of the table) and know how to use the site properly. It means you've experienced the processes, dealt with any issues, and come out the other side with a successful sale or purchase... exactly what your buyer wants to achieve. There are a few ways of trying to get that elusive first few feedback points, but the two simplest and most popular are: 1. buy something! and 2. join in the YDC charity auction. Number one is obvious - find something useful and inexpensive being sold by an experienced ebidder (or it'll be the newbie leading the newbie!) and buy a few bits here and there - your feedback will get a kick start, you'll learn how the process works from the buyer's perspective and that will be invaluable when you're selling, and you'll probably get a bargain into the deal. Number two is less obvious - YDC is a monthly charity fund-raiser that involves ebidders buying and selling inexpensive items to raise funds for nominated charities. Those taking part are extremely reluctant to let any item go unsold and unloved, and will nearly always put in a bid of a few pence at least on something that's offered in the right spirit. So while no sale is ever guaranteed, a YDC auction stands a better chance than most. I'll be adding more about YDC here sometime or other, but for now check the forums - there's lots of useful information and helpful threads explaining all aspects of the concept. Where can I get more hints & tips on effective selling on eBid?There is a lot of excellent advice scattered about both on the eBid forums, and around the web. You really need to paddle about in the forums to find everything, but here's a useful place to start picking up ideas: Ideas thread. For a place to start on the web, there's always my eBid Widgets page on Facebook. That has hints & tips, as well as news updates and general observations. How do I get my stuff uploaded to Googlebase?Several times a month all listings with a "buy now" price and sufficient time to run are uploaded by eBid to Google's shopping database "Googlebase", so that searches for matching items will produce hits on their shopping search site. The description for items taken will be constructed from the auction title and will show the category in which it's listed. eBid has confirmed that uploading is done as follows: It's currently at 1 day remaining from the time we start the process at 5.45am (GMT) on 3, 8, 12, 18, 23, 28 of each month. This gathers as many listings as possible. This means that to ensure your item appears you should always have it run for at least a week, then even if you list just after one upload, it will be caught on the next and have a day or two to run. Obviously, running for a few more days beyond that will give greater exposure and increase your chances of picking up a bidder via Google. Remember to balance your need to reach Google against likley buyer patience though - four weeks will give you greatest exposure, for example, but who's going to bid and wait four weeks? However, if you've a sensible Buy Now price too, they can use that to make an immediate purchase. There's no right and wrong solution, you've got the facts, now make your choice. :o) How do I set up Google Checkout?An excellent guide to setting up Google Checkout and using it on eBid has been written by jeweleffects. So rather than reinvent a wheel that's already been brilliantly done, here is a link to take you to that guide. Is there a holiday setting for shops?Yes, and then no... ;o) If you are only going for a few days, eBid's usual advice
is to put a "seller's note" at the top of your listings (see "my ebid" right menu). You can use any wording in these notes - so use it
to advise your customers that you will be away, and when you will return. Can I import my ebay listings?There's no one-step simple solution, but you have the choice of copy and paste from either your listings or TL - or if there are sufficient numbers to justify the faff you can export from TL then chop the contents of that file to fit the format required by the bulk upload here (see my ebid > my bulk uploads). Don't forget to remove any feebay links from your listings! :) What is the Showroom & Slider?"Showroom" is a way of displaying found items such as when you've produced a list by searching. When you search for an item, or when you browse a section or shop, you have three ways of viewing the items returned. These options are chosen from a drop-down list that's at top right of the list. It's labelled "view" and offers you List, Gallery or Showroom. Experiment with all three to see which you prefer. If you display items using showroom, any with more than one photograph in the ebid hosted section will show a little camera under the gallery picture. If you slide this along to the right, the additional pictures will be displayed. Can I sell my Adult items on eBid?Yes, you can, but unsurprisingly there are a few things you need to be aware of. Adult items roughly fall into two types: sexy, and controlled. The sexy stuff is items such as sex-toys, barely-there undies etc. The controlled stuff is things like computer games with minimum buyer age limits. The first class of adult items must be listed in the adult categories. If it's not, it can be reported and will then be removed without warning. Even things that are themselves not particularly risque can be considered adult if the picture is too explicit or racy. You might not think that pair of knickers is very adult, but if the picture's looking straight up the crutch of some pouty bimbo... list it in adult and safe yourself the hassle. :o) Games with age-limits fall into a different class. They can be listed normally but it is up to the seller to comply with legal requirements about checking the buyer's age. In the UK if Trading Standards think that you have insufficient checks to ensure you're selling to the right audience, it's you they contact, not eBid. There are some Adult items that simply can't be listed - generally because they're actually illegal! The eBid statement on this as at 23 June 2009 is: # Adult listings must be placed in the WHATEVERS LEFT > ADULT section # Various legal statutes exist regulating the sale and distribution of pornography and adult material, and by listing any such item at eBid you indicate your intent and ability to abide by all applicable laws # In the UK any material which is in breach of the criminal law, including material judged to be obscene under the current interpretation of the Obscene Publications Act 1959 cannot be listed under any circumstances # R18’s or unclassified titles cannot be listed under any circumstances. See http://www.bbfc.co.uk/ for further information if in any doubt. R18’s can only be sold in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied in licensed sex shops, and to persons of not less than 18 years in the UK But this can change at any time, so remember to check the help pages on eBid, or contact support, for the latest word. How do I follow-up in Q&A when I've answered once?In the normal use of the Question and Answer system for auctions, once you've answered a question you can't get back to your potential bidder. So if you reply the first time saying "I'll get back to you about that..." you'll find out that you can't! eBidder Salus Labrorum has come up with the following clever solution: If you go to ask a question on your own auction, you get an error message which sends you to answering the last question you answered on that auction. It's really cack handed and a seriously stupid way of doing things, but it seems to work. What do I do about a non-paying buyer?Buyers on ebid can be a little slow to pay on rare occasions - often because they're new too and haven't yet worked out the technicalities. First of all, make sure you've invoiced your buyer and given them every chance to pay. If you don't have integrated payment methods on your listing, they'll need you to send a separate invoice from their/your chosen method of payment. If you haven't received payment, consider trying an alternative method of communication - again, newness can make immdediate comms go a little awry, so don't think the worst too quickly. If you've used direct email, try the Q&A message system. If you've tried Q&A, use email. Give them every chance to make contact, and payment. If you've given them every opportunity to pay, and regretfully been forced to assume no payment is coming, you'll want to kick-off the non-payment routine. To do this:
Once you've been through that process you are free to relist your item. You may wish to add your failed buyer to your "blackball" list. This is found on your "my eBid" menu (far right) and you can use it to prevent the same buyer returning to bother you again. If you have followed the correct procedure, you should have no worries about retaliatory negative feedback. If your NPB does leave an unwarranted feedback strike you can contact support again and they will deal with it. Why do people use nicknames instead of saying "ebay"?This isn't just a joke - although some funny versions certainly do get used! - it's all about preventing ebay google ad's being displayed on eBid's site, and preventing the references from being counted as "popularity" ratings for eBay. It's a matter of personal preference, but you will probably irritate some regulars if you don't avoid using the real name. I sell in both places, so feel less strongly than some, but do follow the convention for the sake of politeness... your choice! :o) Quoting in the forumsThe simplest way to quote a message to which you wish to reply is, obviously, to tick the "quote" box at the bottom of the message. However, this will quote the entire post, and might be rather excessive. If you just want to quote a small portion, but would like it to appear in the standard format that shows you are quoting another message, you can do either of the following:
Can I include my email address anywhere?No, you can't, sorry. Email addresses are not permitted on the site, I've checked. Ebid support replied to my question with: We do not allow the posting of your email address in your auctions, All about me information or forum postings. What is YDC?YDC originally stands for "Yorkie's Daft Charity" and is now a regular (monthly) charity effort to raise money by running auctions. eBidders list a selection of items at auction, running for a week. Each month the previous "winner" (person to raise the most cash) chooses a charity. This is suggested as the charity to benefit this month, but you may choose your own. The rules are posted each month in the annoucement thread in the forums. In brief, these are:
As of February 2009 there will be a US run YDC also (currently everybody mucks into the UK version) to target US charities. How do I get a PayPal micropayments account?A little known type of PayPal account is "micropayments", which has a lower range of fees for lower value transactions. You can change any existing account to micropayments using this link: https://micropayments.paypal-labs.com/, where you can also check the fees for your country. If you decide that, after all, you do not wish to keep your PayPal account as micropayments, PayPal provides the following information on sign-up, explaining how you can change back. If you would like, you may have your account returned to the standard payment processing rates. To opt out of micropayment pricing, you can contact customer service by taking the following steps: 1. Log into your PayPal account by accessing the PayPal website 2. Click on the 'Contact Us' link located at the bottom of the page 3. Next, click on the 'Contact Customer Service' link on the Help Center homepage 4. Select 'Sending/Receiving Money' as a topic, then 'PayPal Fees' as a subtopic 5. Summarize your request and click 'Continue' 6. Use the 'Additional Information' text box to submit your request and click 'Continue' Once your request has been processed, we’ll email you to confirm that your account was returned to the standard payment processing rates. Stuff to downloadIt's possible you might find the following useful (stranger things have happened!) eBid branded feedback notesSince it's impossible to opt-out of eBid sending feedback reminders on your behalf, you might want to inlcude one of these small slips in your packages to let your customers know it's not your choice! Just print and cut to size. Small enough to be economical to print, and effectively weightless for posting. PDF sheet to home-printeBid branded general purpose fliersThis fliers are A6 size (4 to a standard page) and promote eBid.net generally. There is a box to put your own shop address in for extra promotion of your own stuff. It is provided in Word 2007 (docx) format and earlier Word format (doc). Just save the version you want and make whatever changes you like. RNLI SOS charity auction template
Save the file to your computer or copy from the displayed page - if you need more help using it, please ask on the forums, thanks.
eBid branded FRAGILE / DO NOT BEND stickers
These stickers are in PDF file format for safe downloading. They are formatted to fit Avery Labels J8163/L8163 99.1 x 38.1 mm x 14 label sheets. Each label says: Holding picture for listingsIf you want to use a "holding" picture for your listings, so that you can use gallery listings before the real pictures are ready, or photos can be provided on request, you are welcome to save the following picture to your gallery (displayed smaller than life size to save space here).
Find out about brishada of Serenity's eBid fliers to download, with terms and conditions. If you're setting up your first eBid store and creating a shop logo / banner is just one more thing that you'd rather not have to
worry about, ruthiewildchild has a solution for you. You can use this default banner she has created, copyright free. Just right click
to save it to your computer.
Logos to save and use as you wish
(displayed smaller than life size to save space here) (old) Logos to save and use as you wish
(largest displayed smaller than life size to save space here) test spacetest link:none |
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