for dishwashers, couches, and other heavy furniture that wouldn’t ship well.Click the button labeled POST A FREE AD and scan the form that is provided to see ifthere are restrictions as to where the item that is being offered is actually located.You may well find that the form only works if the item is located, for instance, in thesuburbs of Liverpool, England, or Edinburgh, Scotland. You might also find thatbuyers don’t want to pay for shipping because the site is primarily oriented towardindividuals who expect to drive and pick up the merchandise from other individuals.When does it make sense to post an overseas ad on one of the Kijiji network sites? Ifyou have business equipment to sell overseas and you are willing to post in the Busi-ness Services section; if you already live in an area covered by one of the classifiedad network sites; or if you are planning to visit one of the areas covered by the adsfor an extended period and you are willing to have someone come to you to pick upyour merchandise—and pay you in the local currency.
No matter which sales venue you choose, and whether it is of local interest ororiented toward overseas sellers, the key is making personal connections. You needto not only match your merchandise to the types of items buyers want but also findthe right hosts for your sale listings. You can also benefit by striking up partnershipswith auction service providers, trading assistants, and even with your competitors.These connections can make you a smarter seller, and you can find out more abouthow to make those connections in Chapter 22.
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Partnering with Other Sellers
You might start out selling on eBay all by yourself. However, when you expand yoursales operations and move to other venues besides eBay, you will probably need help.Everyone needs a partner to call on for support. For some, it might be a familymember or coworker who helps to complete sales listings or shop for merchandiseto sell. For others, a partner might be a person or group of people they meet oneBay’s discussion boards and to whom they turn when they have a question or simplywant to complain about something and blow off steam.
I’ve been surprised by the number of prominent PowerSellers who are friendswith other PowerSellers, many of whom are their direct competitors. At first glance,you might think eBay is a place for lone-wolf sellers—people who want to keep theirsuppliers to themselves and not share information with others. Although it is truethat sources of supply are usually a closely guarded secret, it also seems to be truethat the more open you are with your knowledge and your experience, the more youget back in the form of contacts, information, and acquaintances who can make yourwork more enjoyable.
I’m not suggesting you collude with other sellers to drive up prices. I’m onlysuggesting that you don’t work in a vacuum—and that networking refers to more thanconnections between computers. If you work the discussion boards, join user groups,go to eBay Live and other events, you will learn just as much as you give. And you’llbe a better seller for it, whether on eBay or not.
Making Friends with Your Competition
One of the things that makes eBay special is the extent to which buyers and sellerscommunicate. I’m not saying they collaborate, because that would poison the market-place and seriously damage the level of trust. But on the discussion boards, chat
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rooms, and eBay Groups, and at gatherings like eBay Live, they help and supportone another.
Participating in Discussion GroupsYour first resource for striking up collaborative relationships with other sellers shouldbe eBay’s community area, which includes discussion forums, chat rooms, eBayGroups, and the Answer Center. The community area is a place you can always turnto when you encounter problems or questions or just want to learn to do businessbetter.
For example, suppose you buy and sell women’s vintage handbags. You are doingwell, and you want to expand to complementary items. You need to ask experiencedsellers for advice. Where can you turn? You can participate in any (or all) of thefollowing discussion forums:
•
•
•
•
The Antiques Discussion Board. This is one of eBay’s category-specific discus-sion areas, and it might provide you with tips on finding other vintage appareland accessories.The Clothing, Shoes, and Accessories Board. This board is specific to individu-als who sell clothing and accessories; you’re sure to find tips and ideas here.The Vintage Clothing and Accessories Board. This forum is even more specifi-cally focused on vintage apparel.The Clothing Chat Room. This is an informal forum for socializing, exchang-ing tips, and sharing common interests.
• Mentoring Groups. These are user-created forums within eBay groups that arespecifically devoted to helping other members. Many of the groups covertopics related to selling.Seller Center. You could post a question on this discussion board to cast awide net and hopefully attract answers from many different sellers.
•
• Workshops. Some of eBay’s user workshops cover topics related to sellingantiques and clothing. One workshop entitled ‘‘Outlet Malls-Catalog Returnsand Overstock’’ might help with sourcing, for instance.
You should visit several of these venues to find the one that best fits your needs.Workshops are held periodically as ‘‘live’’ events in which participants can exchangemessages with a moderator. But you can read archived transcripts of the proceedingslong after the event is over. Just be aware that the type of discussion held in a discus-sion board is more focused and task-oriented than in a chat room, where things are
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more informal. The place to start with shopping for a forum to fit your needs is atthe Community Overview page (http://hub.ebay.com/community).
Note: The eBay website isn’t the only auction marketplace that operatesits own discussion forums. I’m just citing eBay because it’s the best-knownexample of a marketplace that has an active user community. Venues suchas Alibaba.com (http://www.alibaba.com) and Trade Me (http://www.trademe.co.nz) also have their own discussion boards, while iOffer callsits discussion area ‘‘clubs’’ (you’ll find them at http://www.ioffer.com/club/browse.do). The general ideas expressed in this section apply to par-ticipation on those forums, too.
Joining a User GroupWhen eBay members meet in person, they end up having fun and learning from oneanother. One of the best things about eBay, in fact, is the culture of openness andcooperation—of community spirit—that members exhibit and that reigns supremewhen members meet in person. I saw this myself when I attended a conference ofPowerSellers. ‘‘She helped me get into the business,’’ one seller said of Angie Cash,who runs Cashco1000. ‘‘That guy is a really great seller,’’ many said of JonathanGarriss, one of the cofounders of the successful eBay business Gotham City Online.The sellers who attended enjoyed comparing notes about sales software, problemsthat occurred while dealing with buyers, and complaints about eBay itself. No onewould talk about who their suppliers are, of course; this is the trade secret that noone on eBay gives away openly. But aside from that, the people I talked to loved theopportunity to feel that they were not working on their own but were part of a largergroup.
The group that sponsors the gathering, the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance(http://www.gopesa.org), is only for the top-level PowerSellers. But when it comes tofinding other eBay sellers who are willing to provide help and advice, your best re-source is perhaps eBay Groups at http://groups.ebay.com/index.jspa?ssPageName(cid:4)comm:f:f:US&categoryID(cid:4)1&redirected(cid:4)1. The eBay Groups area was set up byeBay within its user community for users themselves to create and moderate groups.You might find groups based in particular U.S. states or metropolitan regions. Othergroups focus on a particular activity (being a trading assistant or using a seller tool,for instance). Others bring together members with common interests that have noth-ing to do with eBay, such as gardening, recipes, history, and book clubs.
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When it comes to finding fellow sellers who can help you further expand yourbusiness, I strongly recommend joining one of the user groups that are includedunder the heading Seller Groups. That’s an obvious choice. But you’ll also benefitfrom the regional groups. You’ll find that there is an eBay user group located inpractically every state in the United States, as well as in Canada, Malaysia, Russia,Portugal, and many other countries.
To find and join a group in your local area, follow these steps:
1. Go to the eBay Groups main page (http://groups.ebay.com/index.jspa?ssPage
Name(cid:4)omm.:f:f:US&categoryID(cid:4)1&red irected(cid:4)1).
2. Under the heading Regional, click your state name, or click VIEW ALL if you
don’t see your area listed.
3. Find a group that interests you. If you live in a big area like me, you maywell have multiple groups to choose from. I found one called ChicagoAreaPowerSellers that seemed just right.
4. Because this is a public group, anyone can join. I only had to click the JOINGROUP button that appears on the group’s home page to join up. (For privategroups, you need to approach the group’s leader and ask to join.)
Once you join, you can view existing discussion topics and contribute to them, oryou can start your own discussion. You might even get the chance to create a personalprofile and post photos that other members of the group can view, if your group’sleader has provided this option.
If you’re lucky, the group you join will hold face-to-face meetings periodically.User groups are great for socializing and sharing experiences with other sellers inperson, in a focused and intimate way that a huge gathering like eBay Live doesn’tprovide. But you can also use these meetings to gather suggestions about how to sellbetter, whether on eBay or other auction sites. Don’t be reluctant to ask questionssuch as:
• What kinds of things do you sell?• How do you find new items to sell?• How do you research what is in demand?• How do you research a wholesale supplier to make sure the company is repu-
table?
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The question on everyone’s mind—where do you find suppliers?—is not going toget you very far. You can, however, ask in general where other sellers find theiritems—whether they receive merchandise on consignment, whether they go to estatesales, or whether they shop through warehouse stores and ‘‘dollar stores’’ in yourarea.
Finding Complementary Merchandise
When you know people in the trade, you are a smarter buyer and seller and a moreinformed appraiser of merchandise. You see this sort of cooperation all the time onthe PBS television series Antiques Roadshow. When in doubt, an appraiser will consultwith a trusted colleague to get a second opinion. Smart businesspeople learn fromone another and cooperate rather than jealously guarding all their trade secrets.
When you have trusted colleagues with whom you can consult, you can gathersuggestions for items that complement your primary line of sales merchandise. If yousell pens, for instance, it’s natural to offer other items that the owners might need,such as carrying cases, ink, or display cases. For shoe sellers, polish is a natural add-on. If you sell sunglasses, look for a supplier of eyeglass cases. The point is to useyour imagination—think like your customers, and anticipate what they might needafter they make a purchase from you. Table 22-1 gives you some examples to helpstimulate your imagination. It presents merchandise offered by PowerSellers I have
Table 22-1. Primary and complementary lines of auction merchandise.
Business Name or User ID
Primary Merchandise
Complementary Products
GlobalMedia
DVDs, VHS tapes of TVshows
CDs
Blueberry Boutique
Luxury ties, shorts, suits
Sunglasses, jewelry
Bootywear
Aleegold’s Wholesale Shoppe
Dallas Golf
Abovethemall
Sexy lingerie and otherclothing
Italian, Disney, andother charms
Golf clubs
Women’s purses, wallets,checkbooks
Telephone calling cards
Charm bracelets
Golf balls, bags, club-making equipment
Pill boxes, card cases,cosmetic cases
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met or interviewed, and shows concrete examples of what constitutes complementaryproducts.
Hiring a Trading Assistant
Even if you already sell on eBay—and this book assumes you already have someselling experience—there are times when you need the help of an experienced personto move beyond eBay’s conventional auctions and fixed-price sales. One of thoseoccasions arises when you try to sell on eBay Live Auctions: when you attempt toregister, you discover that you either need to be a dealer in antiques, art, or collect-ibles or you need to consign your merchandise to a certified dealer who has alreadyregistered with the site. If you consign with a one of the licensed auctioneers whosells on eBay Live Auctions, you pay a relatively low consignment fee—typically, only5 percent if the item sells. Another situation occurs when you attempt to sell on aforeign auction site; rather than having to convert currency and deal with languagedifferences, you might be better off turning over a portion of your profits to a tradingassistant who is accustomed to dealing with local buyers.
Joining GoAntiquesA wide variety of dealers in art, antiques, jewelry, and other collectibles regularly sellon eBay Live Auctions. But GoAntiques (http://www.goantiques.com) is one of thesite’s most frequent sellers, typically holding several auctions each week. There isanother reason for singling out GoAntiques: they also give auction sellers a place toset up their own storefronts.
Because GoAntiques holds live auctions so frequently on eBay Live Auctions,you can be certain that they know the ins and outs of this auction format. Liveauction sales tend to be more complex than conventional auctions. First, buyers needto register online beforehand; this gives you a greater level of control over who canbid, but it also places the burden on the seller of having to review and verify all theregistrations as well. Second, bids can come in three ways: on the auction floor, onan absentee basis before the sale starts, and during the sale itself. The staff of theauction house needs to call out Internet bids during the sale (which, in eBay LiveAuctions, can begin and end in less than a minute) and compare them with absenteebids already received and auctions placed in the auction house itself.
Typically, catalogs describing all the items for sale in an auction are placed online(or published in book form) weeks or even months before the sale. On eBay Live
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Auctions, sellers not only need to be certified auction houses or professional dealersin antiques, art, or collectibles but they are required to pay a $1,500 insertion fee tolist their catalog of items. And there is a Final Value Fee of 5 percent charged towinning Internet bidders, plus a Buyer’s Premium that goes to the auction house(frequently, as much as 20 percent of the purchase price). With all those factors andrequirements, it’s just not practical for casual auction sellers to list a catalog full oflots on eBay Live Auctions. You have to partner with GoAntiques or another licensedauction house, but the advantage is that, because of the buyer’s premium, you onlyhave to pay a consignment fee of about 5 percent if you sell the item. You will alsobe able to list a reserve fee on the items you sell in order to protect your advantage.If you are an antiques dealer and join GoAntiques—in other words, if you registerto sell through the GoAntiques website—you gain space in which you can create yourown Web page; you get access to a merchant account that lets you process creditcard purchases made through your website; and you get advertising and marketingexposure. A subscription costs $39 per month, plus a 10 percent commission foreach item sold on your GoAntiques-hosted website.
Tip: If you’re looking for options for researching items you have forsale, and you want to go beyond eBay’s Completed Auctions feature,look at the PriceMiner service offered by GoAntiques (http://www.priceminer.com/login/home.jsp). This pricing tool costs $9.95 permonth, and contains data from eBay, GoAntiques, and the well-known online antique network TIAS. The searches aren’t always veryfocused—I did a search for the terms ‘‘Chinese Foo Dog’’ and had tolook through several pages of listings until I actually found a FooDog—but when you do ﬁnd what you want, you get a substantialamount of background information that can help you write good de-scriptions.
Using Specialized Trading AssistantsA specialized trading assistant is someone who is well versed in using a particularauction site or in selling a certain type of merchandise. For instance, the South Afri-can auction site listed in Chapter 21, bidorbuy.com, lists a small number of tradebrokers who can help owners of merchandise by conducting sales for them (http://www.bidorbuy.co.za/customjsp/tradebroker/tradeBroker.jsp).
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Joining an Online MallOne kind of partner you can add to your team is a business that operates an onlineshopping mall. The conventional reason for joining a mall has always been addedattention: by setting up shop in a place where other popular sellers exist, you stand agood chance of having the customers of those other stores pay attention to you andlook into what you have to sell. But some malls are so well known that joining themcan add credibility to your own business operation. There are dozens if not hundredsof online malls around the Web, so this is hardly a representative summary. Thefollowing three sites are well known, highly regarded, and specialize in antiques andcollectibles of the sort regularly sold on eBay and other auction sites:
Joining TIAS.comTIAS (http://www.tias.com) is one of oldest online antiques dealers; the site boaststhat it originally went on the Web in 1995. TIAS is an online antiques mall; if you’refamiliar with the concept of a brick-and-mortar antiques mall, you’ll understand howTIAS works. You pay a monthly fee to rent a storefront on TIAS. In return, when ashopper looks for something by either browsing or performing a search throughTIAS’s catalog of items for sale, your items will potentially be included in the searchresults. The search results tend to be extensive and the search utility is well focused,so shoppers tend to have a good experience on this site.
In addition to gaining customers who search the TIAS website, storefront ownerseach have their own website within the site. Your site can have its own look and feel,and you can set your own sales policies. Be aware, though, that both TIAS and RubyLane (described below) are discriminating about the businesses they host. They willreview your site for its look and for the quality of your merchandise so they maintaintheir desired standards of professionalism. Detailed plans and prices for setting upan antique mall are included in Appendix B, but a month-to-month plan of $39.95per month is available, which enables you to try out the site to see how well it worksfor you.
Note: If you don’t want to set up a full-fledged storefront on TIAS andjust have one or two items to sell, you can place classified ads for them.Ads can contain sixty to ninety words and up to four photos. Each adcosts $10; for additional exposure in TIAS’s Collectors Newsletter youpay $25.
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Joining Ruby LaneRuby Lane (http://www.rubylane.com) is another long-standing online antiques mallthat, like TIAS, contains a well-developed search system and an extensive sales inven-tory. The site operates an e-commerce mall for dealers in crafts, collectibles, andantiques that is very popular with those who deal in antiques and collectibles. Myrough count indicates that Ruby Lane has more than 1,500 member shops. The shopdirectory enables visitors to sort through shops to find the ones that have the mostexpensive or least expensive items, the ones that are closest to where they live, andthe ones that have been online the longest.
Like TIAS, Ruby Lane helps its store owners advertise and bring in customers.The site also encourages you to do what you can to promote your store yourself, andto provide a high level of service to your customers. The staff is there to advise youon the technical aspects of setting up or managing your shop.
One good thing about setting up shop on Ruby Lane (or on TIAS) is the abilityto sell on eBay. Both sites allow store owners to list their merchandise on the auctionsite as well as in the mall. You pay a $50 setup fee to set up shop, $12 a month as anadvertising fee; and a minimum of $15 per month to list items in the Ruby Lane‘‘mall.’’ See Appendix B for more details.
Exploring Just GlassJust Glass (http://www.justglass.com) opened in 1998 and is regarded as the mostpopular online portal for glass enthusiasts. The site offers auction and classified list-ings that are open to dealers in carnival glass, crackle glass, crystal, Depression glass,lamps and lighting, and many more categories. Visitors will also find a show calendar,an online magazine, book reviews, and a price guide. Just Glass has a UK-based site(http://www.justglass.co.uk) and a mall for dealers who sell glass (http://www.justglassmall.com). Three hosting plans are available, ranging from $35 to $80 permonth; for more information, see Appendix B.
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A P P E N D I X (cid:3)A
Online Auction Marketplaces
The good news is that you have numerous options for moving beyond eBay to sell innew ways and in new venues. The bad news is that you have numerous options tochoose from when you move beyond eBay. Not only that, but the ‘‘cast of characters’’is frequently changing in the field of online auctions and e-commerce.
Your time and resources are limited. If you already sell on eBay, and particularly,if you have a so-called day job, you can’t spend lots of time experimenting with four,five, six or more auction sites. You need to make the right choices for your businessas quickly as you can. In this appendix, I’ve attempted to gather together the variousauction marketplaces covered in this book, along with cost comparisons for each.Some brief comments on each marketplace follow. Finally, you’ll find a list of auctionservice providers and other resources that will help you find new sales venues.
Resources for Auction Sellers
•
•
AuctionBytes (http://www.auctionbytes.com). An excellent resource for newsand articles on online auction sites, including tips and reviews for sellers.Froogle (http://froogle.google.com). This is the Google comparison shopper,for researching prices and details about merchandise.
• Kovel’s (http://www.kovels.com). The best-known antique and collectible priceguide around, Kovels lets you research items online too obscure or specializedfor Froogle.
• Bluebook (http://www.kbb.com). The most convenient site for assessing thevalue of used vehicles, Bluebook values are standard for all types of cars.Including their price for your vehicle in your listing will help gain your buyer’sconfidence.
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Table A-1. Auction and other marketplaces.
Site
Auction?
Fixed-PriceSales?
Listing Fee
Amazon.com Auctions(http://auctions.amazon.com)
Yes
No
$.10
Bid4Assets(http://www.bid4assets.com)
Yes
Yes
$5 for basic,$25 for de-luxe
Bidville(http://www.bidville.com)
Yes
Yes
Free
Final Value Fee(FSF(cid:9)Final SalePrice)
5% for FSP of$.01–$.25, $1.25plus 2.5% ofamount over $25for FSP of $25.01–$1,000; $25.63plus 1.25% ofamount over than$1,000 for FSP of$1,000.01 orabove
10% for FSP of $0to $25,000; 9%for FSP of$25,000–$100,000; 8% forFSP of $100,001–$200,000
5% for $0.01–$25; 1.25% plus2.5% of amountover $25 for FSPof $25.01–$1,000$25.63% plus 1%of amount over$1,000 for FSP of$1,000.01 orabove
Bidz.com(http://www.bidz.com)
Yes (incl.three-minuteauctions)
Yes (‘‘CloseNow’’ pricesallow salesbefore auc-tion closes)
$1 per listing 10% of final sale
price
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eBay (http://www.ebay.com)
Yes
Yes
$.25 ($.01–$.99);$.35 ($1–$9.99);$.60 ($10–$24.99);$1.20 ($25–$49.99)
eBid (http://www.ebid.net)
ePier (http://www.epier.com)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Free
Free
FaithBid(http://www.faithbid.com)
Yes
iOffer (http://www.ioffer.com)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free
Free
IronPlanet(http://www.ironplanet.com)
Yes
No
$500 for in-spectedequipment,$75 for unin-spectedequipment
5.25% (FSP of$.01–$25); $1.31plus 2.75% ofamount over $25(FSP $25.01–$1,000); $28.12plus 1.5% ofamount over$1,000 (FSP of$1,000.01 andabove)
Free
2.5% (FSP of $0to $25); $.63 plus1.5% of amountover $25 (FSP of$25–$1,000);$15.25 plus .5%of amount over$1,000 (FSP over$1,000)
2% of FSP
Free for iOffer Lite(starting price$4.99 or less). OniOffer, FVF is $.50for final sale priceof $.99 or less,$.75 for $5 to$9.99, $1.25 for$10 to $24.99,5% of items withfinal price of $25to $99.99
6.4 to 12.5% offinal sales price
(continues)
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Table A-1. Continued.
Site
Just Beads!(http://www.justbeads.com)
Auction?
Fixed-PriceSales?
Yes
Yes
LabX (http://www.labx.com)
A PP EN DI X A
Final Value Fee(FSF(cid:9)Final SalePrice)
Listing Fee
$.30 ($0–9.99); $.55($10–24.99);$1.05 ($25–$49.99)
$3 (less than Free$50); $6 (lessthan $200);$18 ($200-$500)
Liquidation.com(http://www.liquidation.com)
Yes
No
N/A
15% of final saleprice, with mini-mum of $150(AuctionBytes.com)
LiveDeal.com(http://www.livedeal.com)
MightyBids.com(http://www.mightybids.com)
No
Yes
Overstock.com Auctions(http://auctions.overstock.com)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Free for local 10% of FSP orclassifieds
$100, whicheveris less.
Free
4.5% (FSP of$.01-$25); 2.5%(FSP of $25.01-$1,000); 1.5%(FSP of $1,000.01and above)
3.25% (FSP