eBay Spin – Leak news of lower fees for sellers for weeks, then raise the fees
January 29, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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Much has been written in recent weeks about the coming fee reductions for eBay sellers.
Market analysts and eBay sellers themselves recommended the lower fee structure and it looked as though eBay was listening. We have all read in many industry magazines and blogs about the new lower listing fees in the future... It was all spin...
eBay has taken on the panache of a high powered political campaign. Leaking stories about fee reductions and changes in search while a changing of the guard at the CEO position is orchestrated. This was and is a very nifty piece of politicly styled spin. It worked for awhile, but now the truth is out.
While auctions listed with a starting price of less than $1 will cost 15 cents in Insertion fees (down from the current 20 cents), eBay will no longer allow sellers to list items in fixed-price format for under $1.
- Final Value Fees increases are larger than expected - more than offsetting the small reduction in listing fees.
- Items that sell for under $25 are currently charged 5.25% of the closing value - this will be increased to 8.75%.
- The FVF for items that sell for between $25.01 - $1,000 are currently 5.25% of the initial $24, plus 3.25% of the remaining closing value balance; this will change to 8.75% and 3.5%,
- Store Inventory listing Final Value Fees will rise from 10% to 12% for items that sell for $25 and less.
- For Store Inventory items that sell for between $25 and $1,000, the fees will be 12.00% of the initial $25.00, plus 8.00% of the remaining closing value balance.
- Reserve fees will no longer be refundable if the item sells.
- The Good News is.... Drumroll Please...Gallery Fees are no longer charged!
Will the reduction, small as it may be, of initial listing fees help your overall bottom line costs when the increase of almost 3.5% is added to your final value fees? Even with the removal of a gallery fee, a 3.5% hike in final value may be hard to swallow.
We all will benefit from the initial reductions, but the compensation on the back end seems a bit extreme.
eBay sellers should always be aware of the value they receive from listing items on eBay while at the same time being aware that eBay is a business, and they are in the business to make money. We still feel that even with these recent fee changes, there is no better place to advertise your products and your brand than in an eBay store. You may need to be even more diligent about how you go about doing this however. Make sure you have tight controls on your eBay listing habits and know your cost per unit sold before launching any new eBay inventory.
For your convenience we have included all of the details of the new fee changes below. Please refer to these graphics as released by eBay today as the real fee structure moving forward.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Trading Assistant Journal – 10 Reality Checks for eBay Drop Stores
January 27, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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If you're considering operating an eBay consignment store...or if you have a Drop store franchise already, you may want to read this...
Running an eBay consignment business can be complicated, time-consuming and nerve- wracking…
As a business, selling on eBay is not the easy get rich quick scheme some would have you believe. Initially setting up an eBay consignment business may sound like a ticket to easy street…
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What's better than selling other people's stuff and making a 40% commission from the sale?
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Having a retail store without owning inventory…
When one gets right down to the facts, its not that simple…
Read More on the Trading Assistant Journal
Popularity: 11% [?]
Blogging & Blog Contests – Weapons in Your Marketing Arsenal
January 25, 2008 by Scott Pooler · 2 Comments
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Writing a blog for your company is an outstanding method for disseminating your message to the world and to attract new loyal customers for your brand. 
Blogging efficiently and wisely creates a conduit of information for your audience (potential customers) and there are few methods available either on the Internet or in traditional media matching the speed or effectiveness of this outstanding method of advertising.
I could go on and on about the many reasons a blog for your firm is an initiative worthy of consideration, but this article is more about promotion of the blog after it is up and running.
When a blog is initially launched it is sometimes quite difficult to find readers for your message. Making regular posts on the blog is the best method to get your message out because ultimately, good relevant content is king in the eyes of the search engines and your potential viewers. Posting interesting and informative information with less of a sales pitch and more of a helpful and understanding tone is your best weapon in the blog arsenal for attracting and maintaining regular readership.
There are other weapons available in the blog promotion arsenal. Today we 
will discuss blog contests.
What is a blog contest?
A blog or blogger contest is a method used to attract other blog authors to post articles and links from your blog or about your blog, company or event - on other blogs.
These links and content ultimately add "authority" to your blog. In the eyes of Google, Technorati and other search engines such as Yahoo or MSN, the fact that your blog was mentioned - or a link to your blog was added to another blog or website with similar content - makes your blog more valuable, and therefore it becomes ranked higher in the search engines.
When your ranking is higher, your content gets noticed faster.
Another more immediate benefit is the almost instant increase in traffic from the blogging community. They place posts in their blogs about your site and you quickly see the increased traffic from the readers of these other blogs.
How do you get other blog authors to write about you or your blog?
With an incentive, a prize or an outright lotto... Cash is always good, but may be seen a payment for links and therefore considered somewhat of a taboo in Google's eyes.
An artful and creative contest can inspire other bloggers to write good material for your benefit, but only if your incentives are interesting and sincerely delivered.
How will you find these other bloggers to enter your contest?
When you first initiate a blog for your company, the first task after launch should be a systematic campaign to join and be accepted by social blog networks. These subscriptions will take time to develop, but once you are accepted in the communities like Mybloglog and BlogCatalog and others, you can begin to form relationships with the other members of the community.
Over time, a certain amount of these other bloggers will join your neighborhood in the community because they want you to join their neighborhood. Some bloggers do this for a sense of community, while others do it more to spam the other members with a daily barrage of linkbaiting. I suggest your goal is to remain far to the left of linkbaiting and somewhat to the right of the social butteryfly...
Save your messages to the community for attaboys and sincerity until your have a serious reason to use the collateral you may have built up in the interim. Do not start out your relationship with the embers of these communities with an instant "Hi - Nice to meet you - HERES MY PITCH"....
Be calm cool and casual until you have a contest to offer. This approach will be more effective because the other members of your community will have more interest in your contest if you do not band them over the head every day with a pitch for your blog, your latest article or your best product.
Blogging is a more social way to market your business goals and ideals. You can not apply the old tried and true mass-marketing tactic in a blogging environment. "Easy does it" is the way to attract readers (or hits) which increases your rank and then can ultimately lead to sales. Using a blog as the open end of your long tail sales funnel to direct your readers to links of your products - without selling them with an obvious pitch - is an art which can take time to develop.
Using blog contests to jump start the stream of readers into your funnel is a very good weapon in the blog promotion arsenal. Use it wisely and judiciously...
Sample Blog Contest: (Running now on our Trading Assistant Journal Blog)
Announcing a special blog contest... Write & Win!
Simple & Safe to enter!
If you own a blog, you may enter. If your blog topic is eBay or eCommerce related - even better!
What is it?
A simple contest with judging based upon the most original and entertaining yet clean post written.
What to Write About?
The contest is based upon new and original posts describing TAWC - The As Was Conference
Main Page Here: TAWC Registration Link Here: TAWC Registration
Write about why eBay sellers and/or small business people should attend this conference. Include links to the main page, the registration page and/or my post describing the conference.
There is a great deal of content available recently regarding all of the changes in the way eBay is doing business so you should have plenty to work with. TAWC conference attendees will get the best and most accurate information concerning these changes and how to adjust to them.
What Do You Get for your Words?
1st Prize Winner receives choice of:
- Auction Bytes.com 25k impression ad space ABAdvertising Link Donated by Debbie Levitt of As Was
- or Registration for 2 to attend The As Was Conference in Orlando (Travel and Accommodations Not Included)
- Plus 125x125 Advertising spot for your blog (restrictions apply) On this site for one month.
- Plus:1 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
- Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply - No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)
Second Prize:
- Full Site/Blog review with recommendations for SEO improvement and graphic design element improvement or adjustments if necessary.
- or ... One Free Registration to attend TAWC (Airfare & Accommodations not included)
- Plus 125 x 125 ad spot on the ABA blog for one month. (Will not run concurrent with first prize winner)
- or 1/2 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
- Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply - No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)
Third Prize:
- Reduced price registration to TAWC (1/2 price) - (Airfare & Accommodations not included)
- or 1/4 hour of eBay marketing consulting time from your choice of experts (Debbie Levitt or Scott Pooler)
- or 125 x 125 ad spot on ABA blog for 14 days.
- Plus a Link to your blog of choice on As Was and All Business Auctions Or The Trading Assistant Journal blogs. (Restrictions Apply - No Links provided for unacceptable format or negative content sites)
Details:
Posts should be a minimum of 250 words
Posts must be clean and original
No Copy and Paste of previous articles or other blog posts
Posts must include links to the main page, the registration page and/or my post describing the conference.
Posts may include graphics and or video
Posts must not be on a explicit or pornographic site
Contest is only for bloggers who post the most unique (and clean) post describing TAWC and promoting registration...
Post the TAWC review/write up/article in the next 5 days. Deadline Monday Jan 28, 2008 at Noon GMT
Send a link to your review/write up/post to: service@allbusinessauctions.com
Judging will be based upon originality, quality and uniqueness of each blog posting and will be reviewed/judged by three experts in Internet marketing and copywriting.
The winners will be notified via email. (So send in your email address please)
Get The Word Out!
Get the word out about the conference and we will reward the top three bloggers with the prizes listed above. Prizes will be awarded to three different people posting on three different URLs so make your post count!
We appreciate any participation and will be pleased to discuss the contest or prize package details with you.
Contact Scott Pooler 727-596-6900
Skype: allbusinessauctions Yahoo Messenger: allbusinessauctions email: service@allbusinessauctions.comeBay Stores Designed for Cross Selling and Conversion: eBay Store All Business Auctions
eBay "me" pages designed to drive traffic to your website - Custom eBay "me" Page
Popularity: 9% [?]
eBay Stores and e-Commerce Website Choices – Build it in-house or hire a professional?
January 23, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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When you've made the decision to get your products online via eBay and/or your own eCommerce website, what is the next step?
First Question: Build it in-house or hire a professional?
Yes, you can build your companies eBay store and website with talent already existing within your organization.
Website design is taught at most high schools or community colleges these days - chances are good that your employee pool may have budding web designer talent lurking deep within...
The next question is... are you ready to trust your company marketing and image to this untested talent?
eBay provides numerous tools and a great deal of information for anyone to accomplish the task of getting a store up and running. The quandary is… does eBay provide these tips and tricks to help your as a business to thrive or to help their business prosper? Obviously, if you are a seasoned business professional you will soon realize that a company such as eBay does nothing without a reason.
Most of eBay’s teaching tools and to a certain extent, eBay’s entire growth strategy is based upon making the process of setting up an eBay selling account and consequently an eBay store easy for home based businesses. eBay wants mom & pop to go garage sale shopping with an eye towards making a few extra bucks for the cookie jar. To that end they want to get mom & pop up and running with an eBay store as soon as possible (and funneling fees into eBay). Just because eBay has based a majority of their marketing focus on home based businesses does not mean that an eBay store is not a valuable asset for any established brick and mortar retailer or other “real” business concern. eBay is simply going after the largest number of potential users of their products.
Unfortunately this also leads to numerous eBay store failures... 
These home based eBay store owners do not have the prior background, sources or resources to take advantage of the world wide marketing giant and revenue producer now known as eBay. Therefore, while getting your company eBay store up and running may seem to be an easy in-house task for any intern, or kid just out of college with a great computer science degree... the real nuts & bolts set up and operation of an eBay store or e-commerce solution or both in tandem (the best option) is better left to professionals who work with eBay and e-commerce each and every day. If you are reading this because you are interested in moving your business more into an Internet sales based program you should consider the wisdom of hiring eBay and Internet marketing professionals to help you and your company get a head start toward those goals.
Still Thinking About Doing it yourself?
Building an online business requires ability in several completely different arenas: graphic design, programming, database development, Web design, copywriting, photography, and online marketing. This is just a short list of what is required to start from scratch or to add Internet marketing to your sales operation. If you have these skills in-house or if you plan on learning them yourself, please take this advice to heart.
Make a list of your employees’ available skills as well as which skills they can learn. When you have a choice between learning a skill that will directly translate into making more money for your company or learning a skill that will let you do cool stuff on the Web, make a careful choice. Decide how much time you really want to devote to learning and doing things that really don't help you sell more products. Do you want to be an online retailer, or do you want to be a Web developer? The highest and best use of your available time & resources probably isn't learning the ins and outs of XHTML, but taking care of customers, finding new products, and promoting your business.
Making it Happen
Anything you can do yourself on a website design or to a eBay Store can be delegated or outsourced. You can hire eBay Stores Certified design professionals to design your eBay store from the ground up, create a custom logo, develop a corporate identity with unique colors and fonts, build your store product database, take product photos, write sales copy, perform search engine optimization on your site, custom-build XHTML templates that do almost anything you want them to do, and even manage your orders and perform customer service. It all depends on your budget.
After you've decided that you need help, you have lots of choices to make. The first decision is the size of your budget, which determines who you can hire. You can find prices for "building a eBay Store" that range anywhere from $300 to $5,000 and up. You can get a bargain using offshore designers (working anywhere from eastern Europe to India), college kids, or even professional designers moonlighting out of their basement. If you want a more "professional" experience, expect to pay up to $15,000 for a complete branding, marketing, and design package from top-drawer eBay store and Internet marketing firm. Both your web e-commerce site and your eBay store should present your branding and image as you expect them to. Getting the eBay image and your website image to mesh almost seamlessly is your goal, this can be quite difficult for even experienced web designers.
Using a CMS or Content Management System type of website design can significantly reduce your web design costs. There are a huge amount of new and exciting options available for web development, do not think you must use a "hand coded" html site to get your branding and image in front of the public. Some companies are even using simple blogging platforms like Wordpress or Typepad as the basis for corporate websites. These blogging platforms are very inexpensive to set up and the software is free. These CMS or Blogging platforms may also be used in conjunction with an eBay store or a with an eCommerce plug in (or both) to craft a unique Internet marketing funnel for your company. 
You get what you pay for
eBay store designs from the good design companies run between $2,000 to $5,000. eCommerce website designs sometimes run in the tens of thousands of dollars with continual maintenance costs and webmaster fees. If your budget makes you choose between the two options, an eBay store is the more economical and faster route to success when managed correctly.
The best part of an eBay stores set up is that once it is installed as you want it, you have very few outside maintenance costs. Your company will have complete control of the products presentation (with the use of a template) and the inventory management is a simple to learn affair on eBay. Advanced tools are available to help with the management of large inventories and to help you create a listing just as you would within a word processing program or text editor.
When you get a quality eBay Stores design, sometimes the results are more than just superficial. Qualified designers improve the shopping experience, which can dramatically increase sales from your existing traffic by increasing your conversion rate. Also, many designs, when set up correctly improve the way your site looks to search-engine spiders, too! (This is the power of an eBay stores “me” page and other exclusive features and benefits of eBay stores packages).
After you determine what parts of the store building process you can do and what you can't do or would rather not do, you're ready to look for some help with the heavy lifting. First, you have to decide what type of vendor you want to work with because there's a big difference between working with a freelancer or independent consultant and working with a large design company or ad agency:
eBay Stores certified design specialists 
eBay Stores certified design specialists (certified eBay stores designers) provide the best overall experience. Your company will get the personalized attention it deserves and you will know that the design is based upon eBay marketing principles. Look at the portfolios of these certified eBay stores designers and decide which firm best represents your companies’ image. Stay away from home based eBay stores designers with frilly eBay templates and flashy bouncing mouse pointers. You should be looking more for a corporate image that sells product and more importantly, cross sells more products for your company.
Look at the online stores you frequent in your daily life, think about the type of image and features you would like to emulate for your eBay store. Look at the designer’s portfolios and or ask them if the features you think are most valuable are available in their design packages? Some eBay stores designers can deliver very advanced packages designed to promote more than one primary product at a time. If you are looking for growth in your Internet sales segment, these are the designers to contract with. Talk with several designers to find the one you are most comfortable with and the one who you think will represent the image of your company best with an online design. If the same designer can also develop your off eBay website e-commerce design, you should place that designer high on your list of candidates.
Having a web presence for your company which flows from eBay to your own website with the same “look and feel” is very important. Your goal should be to make your customers feel confident in your products and your company. If you (and your design company) have made an effort to create a nearly seamless shopping experience between eBay and your own e-commerce website, the confidence of the buyer will increase and your conversion rate will as well. Drawing eBay shoppers to your website from within eBay is not only possible, but very probable with a eBay store design done correctly.
Ask your prospective design firm the right questions and you will know immediately if you have made the best choice.
Example Questions:
- Are you a certified eBay Stores Designer?
- Do you have examples of cross marketing designs?
- Can you create an eBay stores design which matches my existing website or can you create an e-commerce design to match your eBay stores design?
- Is SEO important for eBay?
- How important is a eBay about me page?
- Do your templates appear correct on all of the major browsers?
- What kind of changes can be made to the design after your job is complete? (Can I offer a special sale item in my template?)
If your chosen designer is not informed in these questions you should look further. Not every eBay or Internet design firm has the necessary skills or background to help your company effectively cross-market your products. Find the right design firm which will give your firm a solid foundation from which to grow and prosper in the new world of Internet retailing.
Popularity: 14% [?]
EBay CEO Meg Whitman to Retire – Bye Bye, Miss Meg
January 22, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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Bye Bye Meg...
We all know Meg has had some critical press in these recent years but she has weathered the onslaught with grace and style. What do you suppose will be the result of Mr. John Donahue's ascension to the throne? I am enthusiastic about his background as head of the Auction business in eBay's vast empire... Things might be a bit more unsettled if it were looking like the head of Skype were set to take the reins... I think John Donahue will bring a more focused direction to the core business of eBay. (Selling Products and promoting Auctions)
For now let just wish Meg well. I am sure she will be just as busy as before, what with all of seats on all of those boards of directors to occupy...
The following content are excepts from other sources as Noted:
EBay CEO Meg Whitman to Retire
Martyn Williams, IDG News Service Tue Jan 22, 9:30 AM ET
EBay CEO Meg Whitman is planning to step down from the company she has led for the past 10 years, The Wall Street Journal said Tuesday.
Whitman has been delegating more tasks to deputies over the last few months and is expected to decide on her retirement in the coming weeks, the newspaper said quoting "people familiar with the matter." John Donahue, who leads the company's auction business, is the leading candidate to succeed her, according to the newspaper.
EBay, which also operates the PayPal payment system and Skype Internet telephony service, is due to report earnings for the fourth quarter Wednesday. The quarter includes the traditionally-strong year-end holiday period and estimates see eBay reporting earnings per share of US$0.38.
The company reported a net profit of US$1.1 billion in 2006 on the back of US$6 billion in revenue. For 2007 eBay expects revenue to jump to US$7.6 billion.
EBay CEO set to retire, report says
WHITMAN WORKING ON HER SUCCESSION PLAN
By the Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/21/2008 11:39:21 PM PSTMeg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay, is preparing to retire, according to an article the Wall Street Journal posted on its Web site late Monday.
In the past few months, Whitman, 51, who has led eBay since March 1998, has been delegating more daily responsibilities to her subordinates and is completing a succession plan, the Journal reported, attributing the information to "people familiar with the matter."
A decision about her departure could come within weeks, though the situation "remains fluid," the Journal reported.
John Donahoe, 47, whom Whitman recruited in 2005 to become the president of eBay's auction business unit, has emerged as the leading candidate to succeed her, the Journal reported.
EBay is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter earnings today.
As recently as 2004, she has denied rumors that she planned to step down. That year, she told a Goldman Sachs Technology Investment Symposium in Phoenix that she was having fun helping the company grow in the United States and internationally and had no plans to leave.
"I think it is one of the best jobs in America," she told investors gathered for the conference.
But, she said, her tenure might not last through 2008 because of her belief that one shouldn't stay in such jobs 10 years.
Whitman, who habitually appears at or near the top of lists of the most powerful women in the United States, has been the very public face of eBay since before the company went public. She also is one of the highest-paid executives in the valley, earning $11.1 million in 2006.
Recently, she has emerged as a supporter of Republican Mitt Romney's bid for the White House, hosting a fundraiser for the former Massachusetts governor in her Atherton home last year.Attempts to reach eBay Monday night for confirmation of the retirement report were unsuccessful.
Popularity: 7% [?]
eBay Changed the Trading Assistant policy for eBay Drop Off stores – Are you ready to be a REDOL?
January 21, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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eBay introduced huge changes to the Drop Store (Trading Post - a term almost no one used) and Trading Assistant requirements recently.
Read more about Trading Assistant and Trading Post - Drop Store topics on our sister site Trading Assistant Journal
eBay has changed their policy for eBay Drop Off stores, effective January 15, 2008. There are no longer “Trading Assistants” nor “Trading Posts”. Instead, the program is now called REDOL (Registered eBay Drop Off Locations). In order to maintain REDOL status (searchable for people in your area for those that want to sell items on eBay). Please see below.
Notable Changes to maintain REDOL status:
Must SELL, not just LIST, ten items per month.
(Here are the BIG changes)Unless you and your customer agree in writing, you must list items for your customers within 7 days when taking in items.
Unless you and your customer agree in writing, you must give your customer a check within 30 days from when the buyer pays for the item.
You must notify your customer via email when their item is listed. You must notify them within 3 days of listing their item.
You must have a retail location open at least 5 days a week. Home-based businesses will not be permitted to participate in the REDOL program
In addition - ebay no longer will allow "REDOLS" to list motor vehicle items on eBay Motors - Nor will "REDOLS" be allowed to list or advertise Real Estate. 
What are your thoughts? Will you continue with the program?
Read more about the changes here: Trading Assistant Journal
Popularity: 9% [?]
The As Was Conference in Orlando 2008 – Meet And Network with the Pros of eBay
January 19, 2008 by Scott Pooler · 8 Comments
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I have a small announcement:
Scott Pooler of All Business Auctions has accepted a gracious invitation from Debbie Levitt of the marketing and eBay design company -As Was - to speak at: The As Was Conference in Orlando 2008.
Debbie Levitt has asked me to speak about a subject she knows I am passionate about and I am grateful for the opportunity she has presented me. I will be more than pleased to share my enthusiasm on this particular subject with the attendees of The 2008 As Was Conference...
eBay sales and consignment - marketing opportunities for your present business model.
My pre-conference outline for this session is:
- Detail the honest and realistic pros and cons of leveraging eBay sales and consignment services to an existing retail or wholesale business.
- Reveal the secrets of leveraging an eBay consignment as a marketing tool to expand your brand and bring new customers through your door.
- Discuss the advantages of an eBay trade up program for new equipment sales to existing customers.
- Quickly outline the plentiful tools and solutions available to help any business get started with an eBay consignment and marketing plan.
I asked Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was and organizer of this impressive event, why she decided to hold her own advanced eBay conference?
"Lots of people read the Entrepreneur Magazine eBay Startup Guide and then call us wanted to know how to eBay. Or they've been reading books or blogs by Adam Ginsberg, Janelle Elms, Skip McGrath, Mike Enos, Jim Cockrum, and Phil Dunn, and wondering who to trust. How to sell on eBay, how to start an eBay business, what products to sell, how to make the money they hear you can make. Should they attend eBay seminars, eBay University, eBay Live, or other events with eBay experts. Those are good questions, and are better answered in a 2.5 day conference than a short blog post.
The reality is that selling on eBay is work... nobody makes heaps of money sitting on their pool rafts, doing nothing, and barely turning on the computer. Don't believe the scams. Like any business, an eBay business has to be taken seriously. Research, planning, and informed decision-making are part of the process. Don't just jump in, and don't just throw money at a system that claims it does most of the work for you, but your success is your responsibility. Anybody considering starting or growing any sort of business needs education, information, and networking".
So how about that 2.5-day conference with all the answers?
It's the 2008 As Was Conference. http://www.aswasconference.com/agenda.shtml details the speakers and schedule.
The conference will be held this year at Walt Disney World's Yacht Club Resort in Florida at the end of February, it's the only event (other than eBay Live) taking a look at how to grow your eBay business now. Packed with free networking lunches, networking dinners around Disney, free Business Clinics and expert speakers giving you techniques, tips, strategies, and tools you can use immediately to change and grow your business, The As Was Conference is different than everything else out there.
TAWC Will Teach You How to Make More Sales, Be More Profitable, and Attract More Customers Through:
- Software and systems that will make your eBay and off-eBay selling easier, automated, and more efficient.
- Blogging, shopping comparison websites, pay-per-click advertising, and your own email mailing list.
- Finding the right products to sell and the strategies for selling them successfully.
- Item presentation, listing design, and how to build the most effective eBay Store.
- Faster and cheaper shipping.
- Hiring part-time, full-time, or seasonal staff.
- Adding eBay Consignment to your existing retail or wholesale location.
Worldwide Brands
recently sent a notice to their mailing list about our upcoming conference. Here is some of what they said: How would you like to come to Disney's Yacht Club Resort in Orlando, FL for a few days and learn real 'insider secrets' to making money on eBay? Well, on February 28 through March 1st, 2008, you can come to one of Disney World's most popular resorts and get a huge unfair advantage over your eBay competitors. If you do any selling on eBay or plan to, you should definitely attend this event. You'll discover the newest techniques and strategies that can help you grow a huge eBay business for 2008.
Highlights of TAWC Include:
Informative sessions designed to teach you with the newest and best ideas, techniques, and strategies that will make you more profitable.
- Sessions presented by eBay staff, industry experts, and successful online sellers.
- FREE Business Clinics; get personalized advice from a team of industry experts.
- Plenty of time to meet speakers and exhibitors, and join roundtable discussions.
- A fun environment with three FREE networking lunches in our banquet room.
- Networking dinners around Walt Disney World.
- Learn what you're not going to hear at eBay Live! or any other conference.
Get Ready To Network 
Make sure you bring business cards because there will be plenty of time to connect and network with other sellers, speakers, exhibitors, and the experts on the Business Clinics panel.
Want to be a part of the incredible networking dinners? During the conference registration, you can check boxes to indicate that you want a seat at one or both dinners.
When you get to the conference, there will be convenient sign-up boards with different restaurants (and different high powered eBay experts). If you asked for a seat during registration, you'll then be allowed to choose which restaurant, and sign up.
Business Clinics sign ups will be handled the same way. And of course, each days lunch will be a networking and information exchange bonanza!
oPINions will be great ice breakers. Pins at TAWC are not for collecting or trading. Every sponsor/exhibitor at our event will have 1" round logo pins, called oPINions. At registration, you will get one lanyard oPINion for each product and service that you currently use or have used in the past. These are designed to be conversation-starters rather than for trading or collecting.
Are you thinking about using a certain product or service? Find someone wearing that oPINion, and ask for their oPINion on that company. Give your honest oPINion to anybody who asks. Nothing's better than getting feedback from real eBay sellers at our conference. 
Take It Home
The As Was Conference will not be recorded on video, so you need to be there! Attendees can pick up brochures from our speakers and exhibitors, and after the event, we will make the presentation slides from every session available for download. That means that you'll get everything the speakers put on the screen (that isn't live off the web) including their information, tips, examples, and resources.
Seminars and Events
Increase Sales with Unique Branding and Item Presentation
Learn how to present your item and your company in ways that will make shoppers trust you more and want to buy.
Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was
Scalable Sales Automation
Learn how Kyozou's online and sales management system can grow your business.
Custom Software Solutions
Learn how software can be customized to make your online selling life easier and more efficient.
Tobe Goldfinger, President of JDT Technologies
Growing Your Business With eBay Certified Providers
Learn which companies eBay recommends that eBay sellers work with.
Laura Della Torre, Senior Manager, Seller Tools at eBay
Growing Your Business Without Growing Old: Automating, Expanding, and Scaling Like the Pro's - Learn how ChannelAdvisor's online and sales management system can grow your business.
Max Leisten, Senior Product Manager at ChannelAdvisor
Make Shipping Cheaper and Easier
Learn how to get UPS, FedEx, and DHL to pay you when you ship with them, and how to make shipping faster and easier.
Brian Gibbs, President of Refund Retriever
Driving Repeat Business and Buyer Loyalty
Learn how to attract buyers, keep them thinking about you, and get them to tell friends.
Tim Woda, Director, Business Development & Enterprise Sales of buySAFE
Lisa Sparks, Regional Development Director - South Florida, Constant Contact
Cause Marketing and New Media to Grow Your Business
Learn how eBay Giving Works charitable listings can bring buzz and fierce customer loyalty.
David Yaskulka, President, Blueberry Consulting
eBay Research and Strategies for Maximum Profits
Learn about specific eBay listing strategies that will save on fees and attract more shoppers as well as how eBay-related research can be used to make better-informed decisions about how and when to list.
Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was presents eBay strategies and EverySeller Research
Steve Nye of HammerTap
Your Best eBay Store
Learn the best ways use your eBay Store and its many features as well as how pushing the limits on eBay Store design could pull shoppers in.
Rich Lee, eBay Stores Marketing
Iarla O'Halloran, Creative Director at As Was
How to Stop Breaking the eBay Rules You Didn't Know You Were Breaking
Learn how to stay out of trouble on eBay. Considering that some of your competitors might look through your listings to see what rules you're breaking and turn you in, it's important to be fully compliant.
The As Was Team
Hiring the Right Full-Time and Part-Time Staff
Learn what qualities and skills to look for in part-time, full-time, seasonal staff, and where to find these people.
Eric Winegardner, Monster.com
Sourcing Product and Being the Product Source
Learn how to find product lines from reliable sources. Are you a reliable product source? Learn how to get in front of online sellers.
Rob Cowie, President, Worldwide Brands
Overseas Product Sourcing & Manufacturing
Learn how to do business directly with the factories in Asia.
Charles Bell, Senior Project Manager of Siege Engineering, Inc.
Exciting Your Shoppers With Great Item Photos
Learn how to take better product photos, and how to give them that "floating" effect or make them unique.
Eric Majeran, Senior Sales Manager at Vertus presenting Bling! It
speakers, TBA
eBay sales and consignment - marketing opportunities for your present business model.
Learn the pros and cons eBay consignment sales, and how this may be an exciting and profitable addition to your present retail or wholesale business.
Scott Pooler, CEO of All Business Auctions
How to Grow and Manage Your Profitability
Learn how to get your accounting organized so you can measure and increase your profits.
JP O'Brien, CEO of Keepmore.net
Turn Traffic Into Cash
Learn how to grab shoppers and make money by leading them to your eBay items and/or ecommerce website. Learn the ins and outs of eBay's Affiliate Program, blogging, shopping comparison websites, and pay-per-click advertising.
eBay Affiliate Program staffer, TBA
Come create a dialogue with our team of experts, and get personalized advice!
(Pssst... These people will be available to network with during the free lunches and scheduled dinners , or you may just meet up and hob nob in the halls... enjoy!)
- Debbie Levitt, CEO of As Was
- Edward Sayers, eBay Consultant (former eBay TSAM)
- Dawn Sears, Account Manager at As Was (former eBay TSAM)
- Sarah Sosniak, Product Manager of Typepad at Six Apart
- Mary O'Brien, Partner and Chairperson at PPCSummit.com
- Michael Lambert, CEO and Co-Founder of Merchant Advantage
- Rich Lee, eBay Stores Marketing
- Rob Cowie, President of Worldwide Brands
- JP O'Brien, CEO of Keepmore.net
- Erika Barcott, Account Manager at As Was
- Iarla O'Halloran, Creative Director at As Was
- Edward Sayers, eBay Consultant (former eBay TSAM)
- Scott Pooler, CEO of All Business Auctions
- Marcia Cooper, Certified eBay Education Specialist, PowerSeller, and Trading Assistant
- Harvey Levine, eBay Education Specialist, PowerSeller, and Trading Assistant
- Sharon Ware, Business Consultant and Certified Education Specialist
- And many more
This is an opportunity to learn all the inside secrets and effective marketing strategies of established and recognized eBay and eCommerce experts you know and can trust. This conference is not a marketing pitch for some fly by night eBay solution in a box... This is a solid and respectable marketing and informational conference with speakers and presenters dedicated to helping you succeed in online marketing and eBay based sales programs. All of the tools, solutions, tips and experience one could hope to find will be available to attendees for an unbelievable price of only $299.00
Register NOW! - The information you will gain from just a single day of this conference is worth more than the price of admission for the entire 2.5 days of events.
See You There!
Scott Pooler CEO All Business AuctionsPopularity: 21% [?]
Scot Wingo Predicts eBay Listing Fees Reduction – What is your opinion?
January 17, 2008 by Scott Pooler · 8 Comments
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Scot Wingo President and CEO of Channel Advisor gives us a heads up regarding possible eBay fee structure changes...
Scot Wingo is a man in the know... and he has many sources for his information... I would look upon this report as being as close to accurate as is possible when dealing with the unpredictable animal that is eBay. If these changes to materialize, what are your thoughts about how fee changes will effect the bottom line of eBay and more importantly, your business?
We are in favor of providing more store items in the general search and we of course appreciate any fees reductions, especially when it comes to listing fee charges...
- But will it really allow more fraudsters to enter the market?
- Could these fee reductions be implemented on a tier basis? - Volume sellers (and non -fraudsters) receiving the biggest breaks...
- Finding - or the Search capabilities of the eBay system are a problem for any serious merchant and we agree with Scot that this must be addressed!
What are your thoughts?
Comment Below:
January 16, 2008
eBay fee change buzz...
As I've covered since mid-Q4, eBay has been telegraphing some big changes coming to the fee structure. The only thing we don't know is what and when.
It seems some top sellers are getting calls from TSAMs outlining in general the fee changes that are evidently going to be announced next week with eBay's earnings (eBay is set to announce 1/23 at 5pm EST). The tidbits I'm hearing:
- Certain categories will go to low listing, high FVF for fixed-price listings - based on who is being told this, I'd say we're looking at BMV, auto-parts and other 'high density/low conversion' categories.
- Bulk discounts - eBay is being vague here, but it looks like they are finally considering some kind of break for sellers that are doing a ton of listings.
None of this is surprising at this point. I was at a Wall St. event last week and spent lots of time with the folks answering a common question that went something like: "If eBay lowers fees and fixes finding, won't they stem the tide of GMV to amazon 3P?". My answer to this one is long-term, yes, short-term there's some risk there we should all keep an eye on.
Back in December, I introduced the "3F" program for fixing what ales eBay. The trick is each F has to be solved in the right order or else it could actually make things worse. I worry about this fee announcement next week for this very reason. Here's the exact wrong-way to do the 3Fs that could destabilize eBay's marketplace even further:
- Fees - Let's say that eBay significantly lowers listing fees. This is the right thing to do, but not first (actually it should come last - more on that in a second).
- Finding - after fees let's say they work on Finding.
- Fraud - Finally eBay addresses the fraud issues.
Here's the problem with this order:
- When you lower fees, listings shoot way up. Does anyone remember the Store in Search (SIS) "debacle" of Q106? I'm
- If you haven't FIRST fixed finding, the site is flooded with fixed-price items, thus your auction-listings are starved of traffic and get into a death-spiral.
- The fraudsters love low listing fees, this gives them the ability to just completely hammer the site with all kinds of wacky stuff.
IMO the correct order needs to be:
- Fraud - Get policies, higher registration bars (buyers and sellers!), etc. in place to keep the bad guys off (and keep them off once booted) the site.
- Finding - This probably means Finding 3.0, it's hard to go from 1.0 in 98 to 2.0 in 08 and nail it. I suspect it's going to take another big turn of the crank - what I call Finding 3.0 to get the finding experience on eBay 'right' and most importantly ready for a surge in listings from reduced fees.
- Fees - Once you have fraud and finding locked-down, you can then safely adjust the fee structure and sleep at night knowing you're not going to drive away the auction-loving-buyers nor the fixed-price-loving buyers when you 10X the number of listings on the site.
The current information points to Fees/Finding (no fraud) vs. the recommended fraud/finding/fees so it will be interesting to see what happens as the fee reductions roll out and listings surge.
Popularity: 8% [?]
eBay Changes Item Number System – Does this Affect Your Listings?
January 15, 2008 by Scott Pooler · Leave a Comment
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News Flash-
When eBay makes what it thinks are small changes in the way they do things, sometimes it can wreak havoc among eBay sellers. Fortunately for us, our AuctionLogic listing management solution has not been affected by this change. But for others, it could be a nightmare. Read On...
eBay Changes Item-Number System
By Ina Steiner
AuctionBytes.com
January 15, 2008
eBay has apparently changed the way it serves up Item numbers, and it is causing headaches for some sellers. Some use the item number to track inventory and listings. Sellers said eBay is serving up Item numbers out of sequence, wreaking havoc for those who implemented a numerical filing system based on the numbers. A similar problem occurred for sellers in 2006 when eBay expanded Item numbers from 10 to 12 digits without notifying sellers ahead of time.
Popularity: 6% [?]
eBay Increases Exposure for eBay Stores through Search and Stores Tab
January 15, 2008 by Scott Pooler · 3 Comments
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eBay has announced they are improving the search capability of the site to include eBay stores results... sorta...
We know it is sometimes difficult for eBay management to comprehend, but eBay stores are the main reason most smart marketers are paying eBay fees. Sure the fees in the stores are not as much of a sure thing for eBay as the listing fees for auction style listing is... But if eBay were to promote the stores sellers more consistently within eBay's main listings, (Google promotes eBay stores sellers just fine outside of eBay)... It is quite possible a higher percentage of stores listing will sell, resulting in final value fees for eBay.
Now what could be wrong with that?
Comments are gladly accepted...
Popularity: 7% [?]
