eBay-Basics-Course

eBay Launches Blackthorne, New Name for Seller's Assistant Software

eBay has released a new generation of its Seller's Assistant product line, eBay's desktop tools designed for medium-to-large volume sellers, under a new name - eBay Blackthorne. The new product line includes Blackthorne Basic and Blackthorne Pro (formerly known as Seller's Assistant Basic and Pro).

eBay said the new Blackthorne programs are easier to use, have improved listing features and advanced business features, such as better support for multiple eBay businesses and users and the ability to design highly customizable consignment plans.

Current subscribers can download Blackthorne for free, and users pay a monthly fee of $9.99 for Blackthorne Basic and $24.99 for Blackthorne Pro. To avoid disruption, the Blackthorne products will not replace existing Seller's Assistant products and both programs can be used on a computer at the same time.

eBay is no longer adding new features to Seller's Assistant, but said it will continue to support the product until May 2006. Subscribers who have not done so already will need to switch to Blackthorne at that time.

eBay originally acquired Blackthorne Software in December 1999 and changed its name. At the time, many users complained because they had purchased the Blackthorne software outright and objected to the monthly fees eBay instituted.


http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200510181315272.html
http://pages.ebay.com/blackthorne

eBay Toolbar is a free tool download that allows you to link quickly to your preferred eBay locations. You choose the settings and links - eBay Toolbar does all the rest.

Colorful icons let you click to the areas of interest or search for items you want on eBay:-

• Account Guard protection against fake web sites
  
• Timely desktop alerts
  
• Customizable features
  
• Handy search box
  
• Convenient buying and selling status
  
• One-click access to My eBay, Favorites, PayPal and more !

The latest version of eBay Toolbar now includes these helpful enhancements:-

• Item pictures in the desktop alerts
  
• A more convenient button for items you're selling
  
• New alerts for when you've won or didn't win
  
• New alerts for when a buyer has asked you a question
  
• New alerts for when you have sold or not sold an item

Take the eBay Toolbar tour for more details:-

eBay Toolbar

Best Offer is a feature which allows sellers to choose to receive price-based offers from buyers which may be accepted at the discretion of the seller. The feature is available for listings in the Fixed Price format and once accepted by the seller, effectively closes the listing immediately.

Each Best Offer is binding, just like a bid, and is good for 48 hours. Buyers may choose to offer more than the stated Fixed Price so that shipping is included in the final price.

Important: Sellers must choose the Best Offer option when creating a listing.

Once a buyer makes a Best Offer, you can choose one of the following:-

• Accept the Best Offer and close the listing
  
• Decline the Best Offer and tell the buyer why the offer was rejected
  
• Allow the offer to expire on its own in 48 hours (the offer will also expire when the listing ends)

Read more details at:-
Best Offer

eBay Puts Competing Listings on Sellers' Closed-Item Pages

eBay said it would display active listings on sellers' closed-item pages underneath the "See More Great Items From This Seller" section. The active listings will consist of similar items from other sellers.

eBay said this move will "increase the exposure of current listings and improve the finding experience for buyers,…This should be especially helpful for buyers who get to one of these closed item pages via a search engine."

Sellers will be defaulted into this program unless they have already opted out of having other sellers' items displayed on Watch Reminder and Non-Winning Bidder emails. Sellers will have the ability to opt out of the program entirely, which means their closed item pages will not display similar items from other sellers, nor will their active listings appear on other sellers' closed items.

Sellers can also choose to only allow the display of other sellers' items to any of the following types of buyers:-

A)Buyers who bid on, but didn’t win, the item.

B)Buyers who did not actually bid on the item.

C)Both of the above.

Sellers can change these settings from the "Promoting Similar Items on eBay Pages and Emails" section of their preferences in My eBay.

Full Details at:-
http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200510131526092.html

eBay's PayPal to Acquire VeriSign Payment Gateway for $370 Million

eBay's PayPal subsidiary will acquire VeriSign's payment gateway business, which allows merchants to authorize, process and manage online payments. PayPal plans to accelerate its merchant services business by expanding its customer base to tens of thousands of new small and medium-sized business customers online.

PayPal will pay approximately $370 million to purchase VeriSign's payment gateway business, payable in cash and/or eBay stock. The VeriSign gateway processed more than $40 billion in total payment volume in 2004. eBay said it expects the business to generate an incremental $100 million of revenue next year.

The companies said Monday the acquisition was part of a strategic alliance that calls for the two companies to collaborate on payment services and security initiatives for ecommerce. VeriSign will provide eBay and PayPal with a suite of security services that includes the deployment of two-factor authentication to help protect against online identity theft.

Receller Lets Consumers 'Get More' with eBay Listing Service

Receller launched a new service designed to help consumers sell items on eBay. Consumers can send Receller a picture of an item from a camera mobile-phone or computer, and a Receller Listing Coach will call them and guide them through the listing of the item using the consumer's own eBay account. Receller's Listing Service Center also assists customers with billing issues and technical questions.

Receller cofounder John Plummer said, "At Receller, our mission is to bring electronic marketplaces to the masses. By bringing the listing and selling process to the most ubiquitous computing device on the planet, the mobile phone, and providing expert assistance throughout the listing and sales process, we hope to become the preferred method of listing items for sale through online marketplaces worldwide."

The first 500 people who register by going to www.receller.com, clicking the "Join" tab and entering "simple" in the promotional field will be entered into the program. Until December 1, 2005, Charter members will be able to use the service without the normal per-item listing fee and will receive a lifetime 10 percent discount to the normal listing fees. Only U.S. members will be accepted.

eBay Enhances ProStores Ecommerce Offering

eBay announced it would make available an enhanced version of ProStores on October 10. eBay launched ProStores earlier this year at its annual eBay Live conference. The service allows eBay sellers and other small- to medium-sized businesses to create a customized ecommerce storefront independent of the eBay marketplace.

The new upgrades in ProStores 6.0 include increased integration with eBay, enhanced inventory-management capabilities, and expanded shopping-cart options. The upgrade includes extensive tips to help merchants improve their store's position in search-engine results. Every ProStores site will be upgraded automatically, without charge, when version 6.0 is released.

The new improvements apply to all four available tiers of ProStores, from the basic ten-item Express store to the Business, Advanced and Enterprise stores, with unlimited product inventory.

Inventory management is now available in all four available tiers of ProStores, including the Express and Business tiers. The ProStores solution, which launched in June 2005, initially offered inventory management for Advanced and Enterprise tiers only.

Remember that,as an eBay seller, you are in business. Part of business means that you cover your expenses. If you pay good money to purchase the following supplies, you should cover your expenses by adding a handling charge to your shipping charge :-

• Envelope:-This includes both padded bubble envelopes and regular, flat envelopes.
  
• Boxes:-Don't include this if you use the Postal Service's free Priority Mail boxes.
  
• Glue and packing tape:-Glue is useful if you are recycling envelopes; packing tape needs to be the extra-wide, extra sticky type that the post office and shippers prefer.
  
• Packing materials:-This includes bubble wrap and packing "peanuts"

Then there's your time and effort, not to mention the gasoline you use going back and forth from the shipping office.

If your shipping cost is $5.55 you are well within your rights to add $2 to $3 for the expenses listed above.

A combined shipment occurs when someone buys two or more items from you at the same time, and you agrees to ship the multiple items together .

If you are a seller and someone asks you to combine shipments, it's usually to your advantage to do so. You have fewer items to pack up, and you're more likely to increase your sales as well. But you are not under obligation to do so.

If you would rather use your standard shipping method, you can do so. It's just important to work arrangement out with the buyer beforehand.

Technically, if someone kaes multiple purchase from you and doesn't work out a multiple shipping arrangement beforehand, you can pack the itmes in a single box, but still charge separate shipping and handling fees. However, you are almost certain to alienate your buyer and get a negative or neutral feedback comment.

If you are using Paypal to receive payment, you need to encourage your buyers to follow a step that's often overlooked--confirming their shipping addresses.

It's part of Paypal's Seller Protection Policy. As a seller, you benefit by shipping to addresses that have been confirmed to the buyer's legitimate mailing addresses. People who use stolen credit card numbers to make payments have the merchandise shipped to their own address, which doesn't match the address associated with the card.

However,If Pypal buyers haven't confirmed their address, the sale will be delayed, and it's usually up to you, the seller, to remind buyers of this requirement.

Lots of buyers like to save on shipping by purchasing more than one items from you and having it shipped at one time. This options is called a Combined Payment.

As sellers you can offer combined payment options to your buyers in two different ways:-Calculated (Actual) Rate or Flated Rate.

1)Calculated (Actual ) Rate:- In an actual rate combined payment, you calculate the actual rate to ship the combined items using eBay's shipping calculator, which appears on the Sell Your Item form. You use the combined weight of the tiems to calculate the actual shipping cost. You can then subtract from this to offer your buyers a discount. Combining the shipping weight usually works when the items are small and can be packed together easily.

2)Flated Rate:-Some sellers prefer to make things easier by charging a flated rate for shipping rather than calculating the shipping to different parts of the country. Such sellers can still provide buyers with discounts for combined purchasers. They can try one of the following approaches:-

a)Suppose you charge a flat $6 for shipping and handling . You can tell your buyers that, if they buy two or three items from you,they can pay $6 shipping for the first item and perhaps $1 or $3 for each additional item.

b)You can charge a slightly higher $9 for first item and offer the other items for free shipping. This incentive is sure to attract more buyers

c).You can charge $6 for the first and take $2 or $3 off the shippiing cost for other items purchased.

You set up these shipping discounts up front, before you put up items for sale.

If a buyer or the winning bidder backs out of a transaction, first send the buyer another message asking to pay.

If buyer is still refuses, you can send a Second Chance Offer to another bidder.

If you have already sent the item and the buyer refuses to pay, you can have eBay contact buyer by filing out an Unpaid Item Dispute.