Posts Tagged ‘Ebay’

eBay Launches Series of Seller Events

eBay is starting a new series of events to help small businesses and part-time eBay sellers “accelerate their businesses” on eBay, which has 90 million active users. The series is called eBay: On Location, and has dates set for Atlanta, Dallas, Chicago, and San Jose.

“eBay sellers are creative entrepreneurs who understand that eBay’s global reach and dynamic marketplace offer the ideal setting to start and build a business online,” says eBay Marketplaces President Lorrie Norrington. “We invite our sellers to eBay: On Location to connect with each other and to take the next step in making their eBay businesses even more successful.”

The goal of the series of events appears to be to let sellers network with one another and share ideas for maintaining a successful eBay business. There are also courses on “top seller secrets”, productivity to boost sales and reduce costs, and utilizing social media to drive sales.

“eBay sellers have become savvier about how to use eBay in ingenious ways,” says Jim Griffith, eBay senior manager, Seller Strategy and Dean of Education. “eBay: On Location is a great way for the seller community to come together and share those strategies—and learn something new from experts.”

They are only letting in 500 people per event, and registration is offered on a first-come, first-served basis. It costs $45 to get in.

eBay Completes Skype Sale

It looks like the eBay-Skype spectacle has finally come to a close.  Despite all of the arguments (legal and otherwise) that cropped up at one point or another, representatives of both companies announced last night that the sale of Skype to an investor group is complete.

Josh Silverman, the president of Skype, adopted a rather enthusiastic approach when breaking the news.  He wrote on the Share Skype Blog, “Great news – we’ve closed the deal with the new investors. . . .  Our journey continues: say hello to the future!”

And that future appears to be a bright one, by the way.  As had been agreed earlier, the transaction valued Skype at an impressive $2.75 billion (impressive if you ignore the fact that eBay bought it for $2.6 billion in 2005, anyway), and $1.9 billion in cash actually changed hands as the investor group acquired a 70 percent stake.

What’s more, the investor group (which was led by Silver Lake) includes such interesting organizations and people as Andreessen Horowitz, the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Joltid Limited, and Skype’s original founders, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis.

This would appear to make it much more likely that SkypeIn service will expand into Canada, and there’s no telling how else the new owners will try to grow and improve the company.

Related Articles:

> eBay And Skype Settle Litigation

> Skype Founders Reportedly Close To Settlement With eBay

> eBay Sells Skype, Which Is Worth $2.75 Billion

Making Your eBiz Legal: Why and How

If you plan on buying from Wholesale Distributors for your own stock or you intend to dropship. This is a very Informative article and if you plan on going beyond ebay with your garage sale stuff this needs to be in your plans. If you are running a retail website or would like to and you want to buy wholesale ”get legit” There is a video at the bottom that is related. the article is from Worldwide Brands, by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

It’s not uncommon for new Internet retailers to be intimidated by the thought of acquiring reseller certificates, EINs, and DBAs. But if you sell physical goods on the ‘net, you can’t afford to let a little paperwork stop you from experiencing the benefits of being a legally recognized business. Because, if you want to buy your inventory from real wholesale suppliers, you must be an official, legal business. The Taxman Cometh According to eBiz attorney Cliff Ennico, of CliffEnnico.com, wholesalers require proof that you’re a legal business for a very good reason. They keep this proof on file, to protect themselves, should they ever be audited. In the U.S., wholesale transactions aren’t taxed. “Wholesalers don’t charge taxes to their retailer customers, because those retailers are going to charge taxes to their customers,” explains Ennico. “As long as someone is paying taxes on those goods at some point during their journey to market, the IRS is happy.” However, if the IRS were to catch a wholesaler selling tax-free goods to an end consumer, that wholesaler would wind up in a world of legal and financial trouble. So every business they sell to must demonstrate that they’re a legally authorized reseller, buying their goods for resale and not for personal enjoyment. I’ll Need to See Some ID, Please… As an online seller, you’re responsible to collect and pay sales tax on all sales to customers in your own state. Therefore, you’re required by law to register for a state sales tax ID (a.k.a. reseller certificate) when you set up your business. Registering is as easy as going to your state tax authority website, clicking on ‘Forms and Publications’, and filling out the registration form. (One helpful resource is TaxLinks.com, a website that provides links to the state tax authority websites for all fifty states.) Typically, you’ll use a copy of this document to verify your business’ legitimacy. Not every state imposes sales tax on retail items, however, and that complicates the issue. If you live in a tax-exempt state, you’re unable to acquire a reseller certificate. In that case, a wholesaler will need another form of identification proving your business’ validity. Some of the most common alternate forms of proof are as follows:

New auction sites challenge eBay

Move over eBay. A number of new Web sites have sprung up to provide another venue for auctioning items and scoring bargains:

Overstock.com: Great for designer labels. You’ll find Prada pumps and Gucci satchels as well as auction-only merchandise.

Sam’s Club Auctions: Best for big-ticket items such as vacuums, comforters, TVs, tents and more.

Shopgoodwill.com: A great place to find collectibles such as tea cups and decorative plates. You will also find inexpensive clothing on this site. However, everything is sold “as is” and cannot be returned.

Ubid.com: This is the place to go for electronics. The site sells excess inventory from manufacturers such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard. A lot of it is refurbished, which means that warranties vary.

Dropshipping or stocking and why is it important to you?

Along with good customer service, finding the right products to offer to the public is probably one of the most significant challenges for those wanting to sell on eBay, amazon or any other online business. The main goal is to buy at low prices and to sell high. Of course, the majority of people just starting out on eBay begin by selling their own personal goods, all of that generally surplus merchandise they have in the attic, garage or basement. This is a good route to take with eBay, as it will help you to become familiar with the basics of listing, shipping, pictures, description writing and general customer service but at some point you will have an empty home if you keep moving in this direction.

When the house is empty you will need to find more items to sell. Many sellers will spend Saturday and Sunday searching around garage sales and flea markets, looking for merchandise and it soon becomes apparent that this it taking up a lot of time and money although I have found a lot of great things that I decided to keep for myself. What you really need is to find a wholesaler where you can buy in bulk at inexpensive prices and make your mark up on eBay then box and ship yourself. Search the items you want to sell for sales numbers before purchasing for stock. You do not want to get stuck with this stuff. Buy wisely.

 When you have decided to start trading seriously on eBay, amazon or with any other online retailing business, there are some things to remember about the businesses where you are likely to be buying your stock.

·         Have a Business corporation, llc, partnership or sole proprietor set up.

·         Make sure your paperwork to purchase wholesale is in order, since this will be required by the supplier.

·         The wholesaler will provide you with all of the necessary information for you to buy from him with confidence.

·         Have your merchant account in place whether it is paypal or credit card processing center.

·         Search, Search and do more Searching, do as much research as possible. Be Confident in the items you choose.

After you have some of the basics covered you should have a great start on your online adventure. Good Luck!

Finding Merchandise to Sell Online is easier then you think.

Maybe you have found something everyone is talking about or all the kids are pestering their parents for. That’s great. Now, how do you get hold of it to sell? Well, that’s one of the biggest challenges you will face when building your online business.

 There are a few very simple ways to track down manufacturers details. It’s actually easier than you think. The most important thing to remember is that you just need a few pieces of information to get your search started, a name or website address is often all you need to track down the full details. Here are some methods that you can try out.

 Lets say there is a fashion label that you really like and would love to sell online, they sell it in your town but you have no idea where it comes from. The first way is simple. Just ask. It sounds silly, but quite often if you ask the person at the counter or get friendly with someone in the shop they might just tell you that most of the time the owner of the shop doesn’t work there all the time. It’s worthwhile sometimes to ask the Saturday clerk, “Do you know the name of the company on the invoices that you get for these clothes?” You will be surprised how many people will tell you if they have the information available. If they are the only one in the shop they might have to go out the back to look it up. It’s possible that the chances are slim, but it’s definitely worth asking.

Keep an eye open for when they receive their stock arrivals. Usually a truck will pull up first thing in the morning to bring in the stock. This is a good time to take a good look. It ’s not unusual for the driver to leave a large number of boxes on the sidewalk for a while. If you can get close enough, just glance at the labels on the boxes as you walk by and look for the suppliers name or website address, or anything you can use to look them up. Perhaps, if the driver is friendly, he might tell you who the supplier is. He might even as he delivers exclusively for them. You only have to ask. Both these methods have been used by prospective sellers when tracking down specific brands, and they do work. It takes some confidence and a little aggression, but it could make a real difference to your business.

Why not try it out this week as an exercise with something you would like to sell.

Thanks – R.W. Casandra

eBay Wants Its Sellers Back. A bit late?

If you are new to EBAY then the past has not affected you. I was an EBAY seller for years and I was slowly getting discouraged by management with every day that past. Last year EBAY changed direction and new visions came aboard which had effected sellers they made there empire from. Do some searches and you can find the history. Now I use ebay as an advertising platform rather than sole income. I set out to lose “x” amount of $ – dollars – $ every month but the traffic to my site gains it three times back, not always but most months it does. Dont get me wrong I am not telling you EBAY is completely no good but it works for everyone different.

Thanks R.W. Casandra

See this article from webpronews.com

eBay Wants Its Sellers Back

By Chris Crum – Mon, 01/26/2009 – 3:49pm.

Makes Feedback and Payment Policy Changes

Early last year, eBay inflicted some damaging policy changes that sent many sellers running for the hills. Now, they apparently are changing the rules to remove negative comments left by customers towards the sellers.

A couple months ago I talked to a number of eBay sellers, and all but one of them told me that eBay’s feedback policy was their biggest frustration. It now seems that eBay has decided to hear the howls of disgust from its users that have been going on for the majority of the past year. Ecommerce Journal reports:

The move to change the Feedback policy was prompted by numerous requests made by the cross-border sellers who received negative comments from customers while there wasn’t actual fault with the merchants. Now eBay will be removing feedback if: the listing meets the Customs Requirements and/or the seller receives a negative or neutral Feedback comment, which references customs delays or customs fees. Merchants in turn are obliged to advise the buyers that import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.

There was also a lot of frustration about eBay’s payment policy. Many were enraged by the favoritism showed to eBay-owned PayPal. eBay will reportedly now be adding Moneybookers and PayMate as acceptable methods of payment starting next month.

eBay users have been quite vocal in their displeasure with the famous auction site. It seems unlikely that many of them that have been so passionate will be willing to go back to eBay just because they finally acknowledged these issues. But the brand power that eBay carries does pull a lot of weight. Are you (or were you) an eBay seller? What do you think?