eBay Stores

Amazon Creates Storefronts to Replace Zshops

2006-09-15T13:03:00.000-05:00

Amazon.com announced to sellers on Thursday that it would be changing zShops to a new Storefront format, and merchants with zShops listings must migrate to Amazon Marketplace. Beginning October 24, 2006, Amazon will replace all current zShops Storefronts with the new Storefront format that will display all of a seller's Marketplace listings exclusively. No other sellers' listings will be displayed on the seller's Storefront.

http://auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y06/m09/i15/s01

Premium eBay Store Owners Lose Major Benefit

2006-09-06T13:10:00.000-05:00

At least several eBay Store owners who pay a premium for "Featured" Stores are considering downgrading to Basic Stores after eBay announced it was discontinuing its Keyword advertising program. eBay had given Featured Store owners a credit of $90/quarter to be used toward the program so their ads would appear on relevant eBay search-results pages.

glitchBay's feeBay Anouncement to the store Community

2006-08-26T13:57:00.000-05:00

Since its debut in 1995, the glitchBay marketplace has continually tried not to meet the needs of the feeBay Community. For the most part, the behavior of buyers and sellers has naturally sucome to changing conditions – over time, we've learned to allow the marketplace to direct itself as little as possible. On some occasions, though – in the interest of the eBay marketplace's long-term repression – we've had to step in and implement harsh policies, introduce new glitches, or make changes to our vast fee structure to create the needed behavior for eBay members.

Put simply, we at feeBay have two basic roles: to deliver the worst overall value for buyers, and to minimize cash flow for sellers. As eBay has grown over the years, we've added various enhancements and glitches to the site – but in essence, our sellers “products” are in two types of listings:

Core listings (auction-style, auction-style with Buy It Now, and Fixed Price) deliver the classic eBay buying experience. For sellers, they're the slowest way to sell inventory on the Internet – the only place where items typically sell within about two months.

Store Inventory listings were introduced in 2001 and intended as a low-risk way for sellers to display large amounts of product in their eBay Store. This format employs low insertion fees and higher final value fees to encourage an abundance of inventory on the site.

Amid all this change, one thing has remained constant: auction-style listings are the fundation of eBay. Auction-style and other core listings made eBay more money – and they'll always be front and center on eBay.com. They account for about 91% of the gross merchandise value sold on eBay.com. But recently, we've been wrestling with some troubling facts:

Store Inventory listings now comprise about 83% of active eBay.com listings on average.

While eBay.com core listings typically sell in about two months, Store Inventory listings on average take just as longe to sell. In some media categories, Store Inventory listings take even less time to sell than core listings.

And, when you compare our operations costs for an average Store Inventory listing and an average core listing – factoring in the duration of each – our cost to host a Store Inventory listing is less than 50% than for a core listing. In fact, current Store Inventory insertion fees more than cover eBay's costs for hosting them. Throw in monthly subscription fees and Final Value Fees, and we are making a bundle, but it is not enough.

It's vitally important – to our business not yours – that we maintain a healthy balance for core formats on the eBay marketplace, and ensure that inventory conversion on the core site remains strong. So we're taking action. We just make more on core.

Today, I want to inform you of changes we're making to eBay.com – changes intended to put core listings up front in the eBay marketplace by further distinguishing the role of core listing format and Store wharehoused Inventory format. In short, we're improving the advantages of selling in core listing formats – and taking action to do away with Store Inventory listings – to ensure that the buying experience on eBay stays true to shopper's expectations for core items.

Core Listings

Core listing fees will remain unchanged. So for the vast majority of eBay sellers who use only these formats, their fees are not increasing.

And we'll be providing greater exposure for core listings on eBay Express. In late August, we'll begin displaying auction-style listings with Buy It Now on eBay Express for qualifying sellers. Also in late August, core fixed price and auction-style Buy It Now listings that qualify for eBay Express will be advantaged over Store Inventory listings.

Also, in response to the requests of many large sellers, we're raising the 10-item multiple listings limit to 15, effective Aug. 22.

Store Inventory Listings

For those of you who operate an eBay Store, we're making changes to Store Inventory listing fees, as well as to the on-site exposure we provide for this listing format.

We'll begin charging variable insertion fees for Store Inventory listings, as we do for core listings. Beginning Aug. 22, eBay.com Store Inventory format insertion fees will be tiered with an item's starting price.

These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:

For more detailed information on these fee changes, please see our fee changes overview.

For some time, we've been working to identify the best way to display Store Inventory listings on the site. In the spring, we pledged to sellers that we would test a variety of ways to mingle their Store Inventory listings with core listings on eBay.com. We've tested several alternatives and these tests showed the ideal approach is how we're doing it today – that is, when a buyer's search returns 30 or less core listings, we display up to 30 Store Inventory listings we can controle. This is what we'll stick with going forward.

However, starting in about a month, we'll also include an unlimited number of Store Inventory listings after all matching core listings, when the buyer clicks the Buy It Now listings tab at the top of every search results page. When the buyer hasn't selected this option, eBay.com will display Store Inventory listings along with core listings as described above for other sellers.

Half.com Listings Added to eBay.com Search ResultsI recognize that sellers in the Books, Movies, Music and Video Games categories will have unique challenges with the changes we're making. As many of our media sellers have requested, starting in late August we'll again provide visibility for Half.com listings in core search results, by bringing back the Half.com listings merchandising feature we used previously (click here for an example). Please don't forget to look at the high FVF we provided for Half.com . We're also exploring additional ways to promote Half.com listings in search results on both eBay.com and eBay Express.

How These Changes Affect You

I'm confident the actions we're taking are the right thing to do for eBay. We'll more effectively deliver core items on our buyer's needs and expectations. And for sellers, these changes will ensure that eBay remains a differentiated and distinct e-commerce channel free of store inventory in ebay.com's core.

I know there's a lot of discust here, and that you're probably most interested in quickly determining if feeBay is really the right place for your business.

A typical feeBay Stores seller who uses Store Inventory format – making no adjustments to his or her selling strategy following these changes – will experience an overall fee increase of five hundred percent, based on our analysis of all June selling activity. Of course, you need to clearly understand the impact on your business – which will be greater three hundred percent. To get started, please visit the seller resources page or consult the Frequently Asked Questions we've prepared to misguide you. Also, use your seller support resources in Customer Support. Our CS teams are fully prepared answeres we have given them to help you understand the effect on your business, and not discuss your options for adjusting your eBay selling strategy to maximize the impact to your bottom line.

In addition – to help feeBay Stores sellers make misinformed decisions about any changes to their selling strategies – we're making eBay Marketplace Research Basic available to them and will reimburse the cost for eight weeks, starting today. Through September 19, eBay Stores sellers can use this data to compare selling formats or determine how best to price inventory on eBay before all store listings have grandfathered out. You can access eBay Marketplace Research here.

Sincerely,

feeBay

2006-08-26T13:54:00.000-05:00

FeeBay charges by the glitch now

Hick computer terms

2006-08-23T10:37:00.000-05:00

Redneck computer terms

BACKUP - What you do when you run across a skunk in the woods

BAR CODE - Them's the fight'n rules down at the local tavern

BUG - The reason you give for calling in sick

BYTE - What your pit bull dun to cusin Jethro

CACHE - Needed when you run out of food stamps

CHIP - Pasture muffins that you try not to step in

TERMINAL - Time to call the undertaker

CRASH - When you go to Junior's party uninvited

DIGITAL - The art of counting on your fingers

DISKETTE - Female Disco dancer

FAX - What you lie about to the IRS

HACKER - Uncle Leroy after 32 years of smoking

HARDCOPY - Picture looked at when selecting tattoos

INTERNET - Where cafeteria workers put their hair

KEYBOARD - Where you hang the keys to the John Deere

MAC - Big Bubba's favorite fast food

MEGAHERTZ - How your head feels after 17 beers

MODEM - What ya did when the grass and weeds got too tall

MOUSE PAD - Where Mickey and Minnie live

NETWORK - Scoop'n up a big fish before it breaks the line

ONLINE - Where to stay when taking the sobriety test

ROM - Where the pope lives

SCREEN - Helps keep the skeeters off the porch

SERIAL PORT - A red wine you drink with breakfast

SUPERCONDUCTOR - Amtrak's Employee of the year

SCSI - What you call your week-old underwear

Your turn ...

eBay market place announces rate increase for eBay stores

2006-08-03T12:29:00.000-05:00

According to eBay. In the interest of the eBay marketplace's long-term vitality, eBay had to step in and implement new policies, introduce new formats, and make changes to their fee structure to create needed incentives for eBay members.

http://www2.ebay.com/aw/core/200607191343242.html

This led to a rate increase for the eBay stores platform.

These Store Inventory format insertion fees take effect Aug. 22, 2006:

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/announcement200607/overview/fees.html?ssPageName=CMDV:AB

This has led to a little uproar on the feeBay, sorry, eBay stores board. Bill Cobb even started his own thread to smoth the situation over.

http://forums.ebay.com/db2/thread.jspa?threadID=410468846&tstart=40&mod=1154586324250

Looks like the stores board is hopeing but not waitng for better days.

Online Benefits for Craft Businesses By Narelle Davison

2006-07-02T20:44:00.000-05:00

The internet has an endless number of benefits for craftspeople, not just as a medium for selling the end product but for each step that leads to sales. The fact that you are reading this shows that you already utilise the web for information but perhaps you have not yet considered some of the following points presented.
The ideas provided in this article have come from interviews with craftspeople, conducted for AussieCrafts.com, in the interest of sharing information with our peers. When boiled down to its bare essentials this is the true essence of the internet but it sometimes gets lost in all of the advertising and sales. The interviews spawned a host of ways in which the internet assists the crafters, both in their business and creatively, and provided much insight into untangling the web.

Inspiration
When asked about the sources they use for inspiration most craftspeople have said that the internet is a much used research tool. This is particularly useful with commission pieces, where a client gives a basic idea and there is a need to familiarise yourself with the subject. Browsing websites is also great for when you want to start a new piece but are not quite sure where to begin.
No matter what craft you do if you are stuck for ideas on what to create there are always plenty of places to get some quick inspiration online. The obvious way to get ideas is to search for your craft in the search engines but some other methods are:
-Type your craft name into Google image search
-Yahoo groups on your craft often have galleries
-Online stores that sell your craft
-Craft directories
-Historical sites related to your craft, most crafts did after all come from very ancient beginnings.
-Try searching for crafts that are similar to yours, if you do pottery, for example, search for glasswork. The colours and shapes are likely to spark new ideas.
It’s a more abstract inspiration that you need such as colour or texture then art, photography and nature sites are fantastic sources of ideas. Stock photography sites (such as www.dreamstime.com), for example, have thousands of images of almost everything imaginable. Let’s say you want to create a bead necklace that reflects the colour and movement of the ocean. If you browse the sea and ocean category of a stock photography site you can jot down ideas based on what you see as you view page after page of photographs that cover every aspect of the ocean.

Education: patterns and tutorials
There are very few crafters who believe they know everything there is about their craft. Who of us do not want to learn something new? The internet is the best source of tips, tricks, patterns and tutorials on every craft imaginable, so much so that many craftspeople no longer purchase books about their craft. Many sites offer this information for free, as a way to attract and keep surfers, much the same way as articles like this are utilised. Others charge a subscription or a cost per tutorial, often downloaded as an e-book or a pdf file. For many crafts there are also online classes or lessons via email, again some are free (and often include advertising) and others are subscription based.
To find these valuable resources consider using some of the following terms alongside your craft name: tutorial, pattern, learn to, ebook, lesson, techniques, instructions or projects. These keywords were tested using Google search and beading, for example ‘beading projects’, and the results were astonishing. If it a particular technique you are searching for then add that to your search query, for example ‘beading peyote technique’, where peyote is a type of beading stitch.

Purchasing tools and materials
The internet has brought about a convenient way to buy almost anything, from anywhere in the world, and to craftspeople this has been one the most important benefits of being online. Often there are supplies needed for craftwork that are not available locally and this can be the case no matter where you live. It may be because it is only manufactured in a small area of Europe or that there are few people working in the same craft as you and therefore there is little demand.
Apart from availability issues nothing is better than being able to browse many stores in a short space of time and not only get prices but also see things without having to leave home. Ebay is popular with many craftspeople due to the range of goods and their prices, you can find both new and secondhand tools and materials there. Shopping online means more time for doing what you enjoy or what brings in your income. The world is becoming smaller and shipping costs and delivery times are too.
Often the websites that sell crafts materials also have a range of useful resources such as guides to using their products. They also have convenient contact information, like email, and as they are often craftspeople themselves can give advice on craft specific problems.

Publicity and exhibition requests
Many of the sources that are traditionally used for publicity such as magazines, newspapers and event organizers are now using the internet as a way to find craftspeople. Not only is the internet often a faster way to find what they need but it is also a visual medium. Therefore having a website for your craft business is not just about gaining sales and commissions but it also provides a way for the media and galleries to see your work.
One example of this is an artist interviewed on Aussie Crafts who has in the last few months been contacted by a lifestyle magazine to do an article on her work, as well as another contact to request her involvement in an exhibition. Both of these publicity avenues have stemmed from her website, which contain galleries of her work.
This same artist is also a member of an organisation supporting her medium, which has a website that lists galleries showing members’ works at any given time. There are organisations such as this for many crafts, both global and local, that are worth having a membership with.

Sales and commissions
The most obvious way that craftspeople are using the internet is to sell their products to a wider market than previously possible, what is not so obvious is that there are many ways to do this. One artist interviewed extolled the virtues of the internet as, "It's been huge for us. We sell artwork and DIY kits all over the world and so put virtually all our marketing energy into our website. We get well over five thousand visitors every month at basically no cost and the whole world has become our target market."
Some of the reasons people decided to sell their crafts online include not having to deal with galleries, no commissions to pay, less overheads than a store and the fact that there is more time crafting and less selling.
Apart from setting up an often expensive e-commerce website there are other means to gaining online sales:
- A ‘brochure’ style site, which displays the products you make but does not sell them online. Instead it can be used to promote a market stall, shop front, commission enquiries etc.
- Many craftspeople are selling their work in auctions at Ebay; this can be a lucrative option for the right products.
- Online craft malls are a way to have an online presence without the hassle and overheads of building an e-commerce site. Search for craft malls in the search engines and you will find such sites as craftmall.com, aokcorral.com and lilysplace.com. These sites generally use Paypal as a payment option to take the headaches out of online payments and are similar to Ebay without being auction based.

Human contact
One of the common problems that people who craft for an income mention is loneliness. Oftentimes they work at home alone and this can be very isolating. The internet can provide avenues to have contact with others who craft. They could be in the same locality as you and allow for face-to-face meeting or they may be on the other side of the world.
There are many group and organisations for most craft genres, such as Yahoo groups or MSN chats. Often if it is a location-based group there are classes and retreats organised for people to come together and learn. These groups can become invaluable for technical advice, feedback and learning but also that human contact that is a necessary part of life.

Client contact
Email is a fantastic way to keep in touch with clients and industry contacts. It is so much cheaper than a phone call (i.e. free) and is much less time consuming. Email provides a simple means to show clients’ examples or progress on a work via photograph attachments. It also provides a record of all communication.
Online messaging systems, available for free from MSN and Yahoo, are also useful ways to keep in contact with customers. These can even be used to give online support by providing your identification name on your website. However these systems can become a time waster instead of saver if you are not careful.

About the author
Narelle Davison comes from a craft background but changed careers to marketing and web development. She has created the Australian arts and craft site, Aussie Crafts, to provide information and promotion for craftspeople through interviews, articles, forum and directory. The interviews provide great reading to both admirers of each craft and fellow crafters. If you are an Australian craftsperson and would like to be interviewed please visit http://www.aussiecrafts.com/interviews.html.

How to Promote your Web Site by Writing Articles By Oudam Em

2006-06-28T22:11:00.000-05:00

Sharing knowledge on the web can be a very powerful way to establish your online presence and credibility. First, you write a thoughtful and informative article on an topic in your area of expertise. Then you submit it to e-zines to be read by the general public and possibly re-published on other web sites.

Appended to the end of your article is a resource box containing a brief promotional message linking to your web site. Webmasters who wish to reprint your article on their sites are required to include your resource box along with any live links to your site.

For example, an article written by me might have the following resource box:

Article by Oudam Em. Oudam is the publisher of ArticleWorld.net, http://www.articleworld.net/, a free online article directory. Oudam is also the webmaster of many other web sites, including WebLaunch, www.nexcomp.com/weblaunch, and SiteSeek.net, www.siteseek.net.

The benefit that you get from your article is two-fold. First, your article will be read by visitors to the e-zine site. If they find it helpful and interesting, they will likely visit your web site to see what else you had to offer. Second, webmasters who find your article useful to their visitors may re-publish it on their sites, giving your article additional exposure.

Every time your article is re-published on a web site, you gain an additional one-way link to your site through the live link in your resource box. This adds to your link popularity and ultimately increases your search engine rankings. As you can see, the true potential of your article lies in its ability to propagate virally in cyberspace.

For your article to propagate virally, it should appeal to both readers and webmasters alike. Keep in mind that your goal is hold your readers' attention long enough for them to get to the resource box. If your article is boring and uninformative, few people will read it beyond the first or second paragraph.

Below are some pointers to consider when writing an article:

1. Give your article a catchy title.

Your title is the first and often the only thing that visitors see when they skim through a list of articles on an e-zine page. Put some thought into coming up with a title that grabs the reader's attention right away. Words like "Secrets", "Free", and "Successful" tend to attract more attention than others.

2. Your article should not read like an ad.

Most people read articles to find information they can use, not to see a pitch about your products or services. If they see your article as nothing more than a shameless act of self promotion, they'll get turned off and hit the "Back" button right away. Put yourself in the reader's shoes. What benefits do you want to get out of reading an article? Cater to your reader's interests rather than your own.

3. Offer lots of free, useful information.

Following on the last tip, keep in mind that your readers are looking for specific "how-to" instructions to help them achieve a certain goal. Offer lots of tangible information that is immediately useful to them. Do not lead them through hoops just to get to an order form for a $29.95 "Make $50,000 in 30 Days or Your Money Back!" e-book.

4) Avoid gimmicks.

While it may be true that a sucker is born every minute, most internet users are sophisticated enough to tell what's legitimate and what's not. Write with the intention of offering something substantial to the reader. Be honest and forthright. Your article should not cause the reader to think, "What is this guy trying to sell me?"

5) Be succinct.

Get to the point quickly, preferably in the first or second paragraph. Avoid lengthy paragraphs. Use lots of white space to separate your paragraphs to make them easier to read.

6) Your article should not be too short.

Certainly, it's possible to write a good article packed with useful information using just a couple hundred words. If your article is too short, however, some webmasters may feel hesitant to reprint it on their sites. They may, instead, borrow your ideas and write their own articles, gaining authorship without having to give you credit for your ideas.
How long should your article be? I suggest at least 500 words, preferably longer. Longer articles give webmasters the impression that you have put some time and effort into your work and, thus, are deserving of being reprinted on their sites.

7) Use live (clickable) links in your resource box.

Many e-zines permit clickable links in resource boxes. Yet, many authors forgo this privilege by simply spelling out their URLs. Whenever permitted, you should spell out your URL as well as make it clickable (e.g. http://www.nexcomp.com/weblaunch). The advantages of a clickable URL are, (1) readers can go to your site simply by clicking on it, and more importantly, (2) search engines will be able to record the ezine page containing your article as a link your web site, adding to your link popularity and search engine rankings.

8) Avoid hyping in your resource box.

Your resource box, while promotional in nature, should be brief and tasteful. The purpose of your resource box is not to sell your readers something, but to lead them to your website which does the actual selling. Your resource box should contain your name, your company name, a brief description of your products or services, your web site's URL, and a clickable link to your site.

9) Put some thought and effort into your writing.

E-zines have varying standards for accepting articles, and some accept and publish all submissions without any human review at all. However, this does not mean you should write an article just for sake of having it published somewhere. If your article comes off as half-baked, readers may make a similar assumption about you and your business practices.

10) Submit your article to as many e-zines as feasible.

There are dozens of e-zines on the web that welcome submissions from independent authors. Ideally, you'd want your article to be exposed on as many of them as you can. But it takes time to register and submit to each one of them. Therefore, I recommend that you submit to only a handful of the more popular ones.

Below is a list of e-zines along with their Google PageRanks (PR). The higher the PR of an e-zine, the greater its online visibility.

Amazines - http://www.amazines.com/ - PR4

Articles411 - http://www.articles411.com/ - PR0

Article Alley - http://www.articlealley.com/ - PR5

Article City - http://www.articlecity.com/ - PR6

Article Emporium - http://www.article-emporium.com/ - PR4

Articles Factory - http://www.articlesfactory.com/ - PR5

Article Finders - http://www.articlefinders.com/ - PR5

ArticleSubmissions.com - http://www.articlesubmissions.com/ - PR3

ArticleWarehouse - http://www.articlewarehouse.com/ - PR4

ArticleWorld.net - http://www.articleworld.net/ - PR4

AuthorConnection.com - http://www.authorconnection.com/ - PR5

Business Know-How - http://www.businessknowhow.com/ - pr6

BusinessToolchest.com - http://www.businesstoolchest.com/ - pr3

Buzzle.com - http://www.buzzle.com/ - PR6

Common Connections - http://www.commonconnections.com/ - PR3

Connectionteam.com - http://www.connectionteam.com/ - PR3

Constant Content - http://www.constant-content.com/ - PR6

Createonlinebusiness.com - http://www.createonlinebusiness.com/ - PR3

Digital Women.com - www.digital-women.com/submitarticle.htm - PR5

Ezine Articles - http://www.ezinearticles.com/ - PR7

Family-Content.com - www.family-content.com/articles - PR4

Free Content - www.certificate.net/wwio - PR5

FreeTrafficTip.com - http://www.freetraffictip.com/ - PR4

FreeZineSite.com - http://www.freezinesite.com/ - PR2

Fresh-Articles.com - http://www.fresh-articles.com/ - PR3

GoArticles.com - http://www.goarticles.com/ - PR6

Home-Business-Directory.com - http://www.home-business-directory.com/ - PR3

Home Based-business Opportunities - http://www.home-based/- business-opportunities.com - pr5

Home business Tips Newsletter - http://www.home-business-tips-newsletter.com/ - PR3

HowToAdvice.com - http://www.howtoadvice.com/ - PR4 I

deaMarketers.com - http://www.ideamarketers.com/ - PR5

isnare.com - http://www.isnare.com/ PR5

Jogena's - http://www.jogena.com/ - PR4

jorbins.com - http://www.jorbins.com/ - PR5

Li'l Engine - http://www.lilengine.com/ - PR7

LinkSnoop.com - http://www.linksnoop.com/ - PR3

Main Street Mom - http://www.mainstreetmom.com/ -

PR5 Marketing PitBull - http://www.marketingpitbull.com/ - PR2

NetterWeb.com - http://www.netterweb.com/ - PR4

OpportunityUpdate.com - OpportunityUpdate.com - PR3

Organic-Rankings.com - http://www.organic-rankings.com/ - PR3

PromoteNewz.com - http://www.promotenewz.com/ -PR4

PromotionWorld.com/articles.html - http://www.promotionworld.com/ -PR4

Sales Masters World - http://www.sales-masters-world.com/ - PR5

SearchWarp.com - http://www.searchwarp.com/ -PR4

SmartAds.info - www.smartads.info/articles - PR4

StoreBuilder.co.uk - http://www.storebuilder.co.uk/ - PR4

T & I Grafix - www.tigrafix.com/articles.htm - PR3

TheEzine.net - http://www.theezine.net/ - PR4

Top-Web-Marketing.com - www.top-web-marketing.com/article - PR3

Web Host Industry Review - www.thewhir.com/find/articlecentral - PR5

UniTerra.com - uniterra.com -PR3 upromote.com - http://www.upromote.com/ - PR3

The Warrior Forum - www.warriorforum.com/forum - PR4

Web Host Industry Review - www.thewhir.com/find/articlecentral - PR5

WebMomz.com - http://www.webmomz.com/ - PR3

WebProNews.com - http://www.webpronews.com/ - PR7

WebsiteFuel.com - http://www.websitefuel.com/ - PR3

website-promotion-ranking-services.com - www.website-promotion-ranking-services.com/article.htm - PR4

Web-Source.net - http://www.web-source.net/ -PR6

Womans-Net - womans-netnews.com - PR4

WorkAtHomeArticles.net - http://www.workathomearticles.net/ -PR3

Work-at-Home-Jobs-Iowa.com - http://www.work-at-home-jobs-iowa.com/ -PR3

Work911.com - http://www.work911.com/ - PR4

Xongoo.com - http://www.xongoo.com/ - PR6

zinos.com - http://www.zinos.com/ -PR6

eBay Store - Odds Ends: How to use RSS Feeds

2006-06-20T10:29:00.000-05:00

eBay Store - Odds Ends: How to use RSS Feeds

How do I use eBay store RSS feeds?

What is RSS?
RSS is an acronym for Really Simple Syndication. RSS feeds are an easy and efficient way to receive notification when new information is available in a specific area of interest.

eBay store RSS feeds are an easy way to receive notification when new items are available in specific stores. Our feed will let you know when new listings in our store are available for items like Tie-Dye T-shirts, or squirrel in a jar feeders.

How Can I Benefit From RSS?
RSS feeds save time, allowing users to receive notification only when new content is available. Web site visitors choose the information they wish to subscribe to and can unsubscribe from any feed at any point.

eBay store feeds will allow users to receive notification only when new items are available. You will be notified when new items are available in our store like novelty Tees, and trendy youth shirts.

How Do I Subscribe to RSS Feeds?
First you will need an RSS feed reader (also called a news aggregator) there are a number of RSS readers available. Popular RSS readers include AmphetaDesk, Radio UserL and NewzCrawler.

RSS readers are simply programs that display the contents of an RSS feed in an easy to read format. With eBay store RSS feed you can keep up with newly added items such as funny T shirts, and bird houses, and other woodwork for wildlife related items.

Once you have an RSS reader you simply click the icon or a link to the RSS feed and paste it into your RSS reader. Some readers will auto detect the presence of an RSS feed on a website and you can optionally choose to subscribe.

Subscribe to eBay store links whenever you see the RSS icon .

The RSS icon is located at the bottom of the page in all eBay stores that make a feed available. Click the icon and copy the link in the address bar and paste the link into your reader. Soon you will see newly added items for biker T's, rude T-shirts, and bird feeders.

Odds & Ends T-shirts and Woodwork for Wildlife RSS eBay store feed.

More information from eBay's help pages Subscribing to RSS Feeds

What Can RSS Do For ME? by Allen Hart

2006-06-20T10:24:00.000-05:00

If you have used the internet lately you have most likely heard of something called "RSS." If you are anything like me I am sure that you have wondered what this "RSS stuff" is all about. I am going to try and answer that question as well as explain a little bit about how RSS can be useful.

For the purpose of this article RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". I started my RSS research by going to wikipedia.org and simply looking up the term 'RSS'.

The information in the article I found, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_%28file_format%29), is informative, but if you are like me you don't want to have to read a huge document to understand what something like RSS is all about. You want a simple, concise definition and a few example of what RSS might mean in your life.

So, let me break the topic down in a way that we can all understand.

I have been using RSS for about a year. I discovered a use for RSS soon after I started using Firefox, which is a browser alternative for Internet Explorer. (If you would like to know more about Firefox, visit http://getfirefox.com.) Many people in the technology field use Firefox - I even have my wife using it.

One reason to use Firefox as your web browser is that it makes using RSS simple. Firefox makes it so that whenever you go to a webpage that uses RSS you will see a small orange symbol in the address bar.

When you see this symbol, you can click on it and it will bring up an option to add a bookmark. This adds a bookmark that links directly to either a RSS file or an XML file. These files are a condensed version of the website that you were visiting when you clicked on the RSS symbol (sometimes they are referred to as "feeds').

Another great thing about Firefox is that you can read RSS files without the need for any other software. The feed will look like a folder with a collection of links that are the articles from the RSS Feed you subscribed to.

But, to get some of the more advanced feed reading features you can get an 'RSS reader'. Firefox includes an RSS reader extension that you can install called Sage. You can download it at https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/77/. (Note: My next article will be about Firefox and extensions so don't worry if you don't understand them at this point.)

You can also use an online reader put out by Google here http://www.google.com/reader/things/intro. I prefer the browser interface and haven't used any of these on-line readers. You will to experiment with both types of RSS viewers a little bit and see which works best for you.

If you aren't using Firefox and you still want to subscribe to an RSS feed the link will be a small orange button that says "RSS" or "XML." These standard icons are usually used to make the RSS Feeds easier to find.

RSS feeds are also used for Podcasts and Videocasts. A Podcast and/or Videocast is an internet radio/TV program that can be listened to on an iPod or other MP3 device. You subscribe to the RSS feed using iTunes and it will automatically download the audio file and put it on your iPod (or another type of MP3 player). If you don't have an iPod you can still use these feeds with other audio programs like http://www.podfeeder.com/. You can also check out the CWAHD Podcast Directory at http://www.cwahd.com/podcasts.html. This directory is full of Christian Podcasts.

I have a Video iPod and I love to watch Videocasts when I have some free time. I have even gone as far as mounting my iPod in my car so I can listen to audio podcasts on the way to work.

I hope that you have been able to get at least a little bit of information about what RSS is and what it can do for you. I am really excited about RSS and have started a project to have CWAHM.com and CWAHD.com redesigned to incorporate RSS for all of the articles featured on both sites. I believe that RSS will change the way that you surf the internet in the near future. It is a quick way to get a lot of information from the internet in a simple, easy to read format.

About the Author
Allen Hart is the founder of CWAHD.com, Christian Work at Home Dads. CWAHD.com was designed to assist dads in their quest for a work at home job or business. For more information and additional articles, visit www.cwahd.com or contact Allen at info@cwahd.com.

Caring for Your T-shirts by Harriett Allen

2006-06-14T12:03:00.000-05:00

Adult T-shirts in our store are 100% Heavyweight preshrunk Cotton. All trendy Youth Tee's, are 50/50 blended poly/cotton heavyweight garments.

Tie Dye and shirts with novelty graphics can be machine washed and dried on normal settings. Keep in mind 100% preshrunk cotton will shrink slightly during first washings.

Wash Tie-Dyes and black Tees with funny graphics separately or with like colored items in cold water for the first washing. Turn T shirts inside out to reduce fading and the robust colors will last a long time. Remove garments from washing machine as soon as they are done and place in dryer. Dry your T-shirts according to instructions on tag for cotton and blended T's.

Use detergent that is gentle on colors. Do not use bleach or a detergent with bleach alternatives.

Do not wash Tie Dye or colored T-shirts with white cloths.

REALLY, REALLY Want to Sell Your Handmade Craft? by Debby McCandless

2006-06-14T12:02:00.000-05:00

You CAN sell your handmade crafts. Follow the five steps below and watch your craft sales soar.

Step #1 - PASSION. Passion drives a person. Passion shines through in your work. Passion keeps you keeping on when all others have given up. You don't just like making your craft. You have a fire-in-the-belly passion. You love making this craft so much that you can't stop making it no matter what. If you don't have passion for your handmade craft, don't make it for selling. Without passion you will give up too soon. You will produce an item of so-so quality and you will learn to hate this craft and be unhappy. And THAT will show in your work. Have PASSION for your craft or don't sell.

Step #2 - QUALITY. Not just good quality, but superb quality. Take your craft a step farther. Make it better than the rest. People recognize quality and will pay more. Sure they'll buy the cheap ones, but they will be disappointed and buy quality the next time. It may cost more to produce but what you gain in reputation is well worth the extra money. If you're in it for the long haul, reputation is EVERYTHING! Soon a craft with your name on it will command better prices than any others similar to it. Nothing beats QUALITY.

Step #3 - UNIQUENESS. You are a unique individual and your craft should have a little touch of your personality. Study the work of top artists in your craft to see their uniqueness and you will find a way to add your style. Never do exactly what others are doing. Don't make it so different that "bizarre" comes to mind when they see your craft because most people don't want weird. Just add your own curve here, or a different color there Make it brighter or darker, etc. Are you a happy person? Studious? Meticulous? What part of you goes into your work? Find a way to let people know it's your creation. Stand out with UNIQUENESS.

Step #4 - TARGETING. Research, research, research until you identify and understand your target market. This is the hardest step but once you know your customers, you will save yourself a lot of time and grief. People, who aren't interested in your craft, aren't going to buy. Millions of people search ebay and you can look there to see if your craft item sells. But don't get discouraged if you don't see it there. Lots of items sell well offline but not online. And bargain hunters abound on ebay. You probably won't get a fair price for your craft item. Use ebay as a marketing research tool. Search out that target market at every opportunity. Your local community probably has more opportunities than you could ever imagine. TARGETING makes selling so much easier.

Step #5 - PERSISTENCE. Be relentless. If you do the first four steps, persistence will pay off. Always keep moving forward. Learn more about your craft than anyone else (passion really keeps you going here) and keep searching for those targeted customers. Persevere through rejections. Learn from them, adjust, and make steady progress. This is why passion is step #1. If your passion wanes, your persistence will, too. Without PERSISTENCE, selling your handmade craft will be a very short-term endeavor.

Now that you have Passion, Quality, Uniqueness, Targeting, and Persistence, you can start counting the money from the sale of your craft. Good luck and happy crafting.

About the Author
Debby McCandless raises alpacas and sells handmade crafts from the fleece they produce. She has discovered what it takes to make handmade items sell. To learn more about her crafts and alpacas visit her site at http://www.owning-alpaca.com.

A little about Tie-Dye by Harriett Allen

2006-06-10T10:32:00.000-05:00

A Brief History of Tie-Dye

Tie-Dye was around long before the 60's and 70's. The inspiration for the hippie fashion of the 60's and 70's has been argued to be the Hausa techniques. From the Hausa region of West Africa, these tie-dyeing techniques, have been used for centuries.

Japan has also practiced a form of tie-dye called Shibori since at least the eighth century. Shibori is a term that covers a wide variety of resist-dyeing techniques which different cultures have used for over 6000 years.

Tie-dyed as we think of it today was popularized by members of the hippie subculture in the 60's and 70's.

Tie-dyeing is a method of dying clothing or fabric by folding or tieing them with a string or rubber bands into some sort of pattern. Cloths are dyed by submerging them or squirting dye solution on them. Patterns are formed because, the inner part of the folds, do not absorb dye as readily. Applying different colors on different sections of the fabric, will also form unique patterns.

Caring for your Tie-Dyes

Machine wash your tie dye T-shirt separately in cold water the first time. If you turn your shirts inside out, it will help to reduce fading, after the first wash. Do not hand wash the first washing, the machine will do a better job getting rid of any residual dye that might be present.

Do not use bleach, or detergents that contain bleach alternatives, when washing your tie-dyes.

If you see dye in the rinse water during the first washing, wash your T-shirts separately again. Remove shirts from washer as soon as wash is finished. This will prevent dye transfer that may occur if shirts are allowed to rest against each other.

Dry shirts according to instructions on tag. All of our Tee's are preshrunk heavyweight 100% cotton. You will see a slight amount of shrinkage, normal for 100% preshrunk cotton. If you need help finding the right size shirt to order check our T-shirt sizing charts.

http://stores.ebay.com/Odds-Ends/T-shirt-Sizing.html

Becoming An eBay Power Seller by Jeff Jackson

2006-06-10T10:11:00.000-05:00

Most people think of eBay as a place where they can change some of their old junk into cash, gaining some money from what otherwise might have ended up taking a trip to the dump. There are those, however, who have recognized the money making potential of eBay and brought it to a whole new level: the power seller.

Power sellers on eBay have various methods of going about turning a tidy profit. They may employ age old methods such as beachcombing and garage saling in order to gain a large stockpile of inventory that they can then turn around and sell at the world's largest auction at a handsome profit. Power sellers may also offer to sell other people's goods on the eBay market place for a percentage of the profit or an up front fee. Regardless of their method, power sellers often find themselves making quite a bit of money simply by using the potential of the site to its fullest.

The existence of the eBay professional is certainly no joke or figment of the imagination; there are over 700,000 individuals who make this their full time job, with another million supplementing their income through more casual eBay sales. These professionals have learned the ins and outs of the eBay system, and most understand the best ways to sell products for top dollar.

The fact that the professionals have been in the market for so long should not discourage any new entrepreneur from taking the same steps themselves. The fact is, eBay is so huge, with over 1.4 billion items listed in 2005 and three million auctions closing every day, that it could stand a lot more competition before the professional selling business became cut throat.

There are also ample resources to assist a prospective eBay power seller in starting up their new venture. Many books have been written already about successfully and strategically creating auctions, including where to list certain items, what is hot, what is not, and how to go about finding buyers.

As with any business, one of the keys to eBay is to keep your clients happy. EBay operates through feedback, and this feedback is essential both for buyers and sellers in order to retain and evaluate the legitimacy of the business or the offer. Unlike other bid sites, however, eBay also offers a regulated feedback system, in order that professionals do not take a hit to their bottom line because some disgruntled buyer ended up being unhappy with the final price they paid, or they felt that the seller was too pushy when it came to asking for payment.

An eBay power seller has hit upon a fun way to make some extra cash or even to earn a good full time income, without having to go out and invest in advertisements or finding a clientele. EBay brings clients from around the world to your product, and it is just a matter of getting the word to them that you have something that they will need.
About the Author

Jeff Jackson runs a website dedicated to helping people pursue an eBay career.

Care and mounting of your bird houses by Harriett Allen

2006-06-09T10:59:00.000-05:00

Your bird houses should be mounted in a reasonably open area with a few scattered trees. Open fields will work well as long as there are fences or other things for the birds to purch on. Mounting along a tree line works well when mounting in the yard or around the garden. Be carfull not to mount to close to a place where you will be using pesticides.

Mounting heigth should not be to low, because of the increased risk from preditors. Mounting to high will make it to difficult to clean the bird houses out when needed. As a general rule, the best height for most bird houses is 5 to 7 feet above the ground. If you are mounting more than one bird house, they should be placed about 20 ft. apart.

Try to face the bird houses away from the prevailing wind. Face the entrance hole slightly to the south east. Vegitation should be low around the area where the bird house is mounted, except for a perch about 4 to 6 feet away to help make the young birds first flight easy. This purch can be a small tree, bush, or fence.

To catch the first nesting of the season you should mount the bird houses in the fall, but no later than January or February. Some birds are scouting for future nesting places as early as January. If you get your birdhouses out after January, you will still have time for two or three more nestings.

Be sure to watch the bird houses closley, and clean out after each nesting is done. This will incurage the next nesting.

For more information on Woodwork for Wildlife visit http://stores.ebay.com/Odds-Ends/Woodwork-for-Wildlife.html

eBay Express Offers Exciting New Selling Options by Sydney Johnston

2006-06-09T10:56:00.000-05:00

Recently eBay launched its new "eBay Express" and it's almost certain to be a major profit center to eBay sellers.

As everyone knows, eBay began as an auction site. Catering to small, mom and pop sellers, eBay evolved into a more traditional online shopping channel with its stores and such features as Buy It Now (BIN) which allows buyers to purchase merchandise immediately, rather than waiting for an auction to end.

With eBay Express this transition to online store is complete, although eBay will certainly retain the auction format for which it is most famous.

In 2005 eBay bought shopping.com and the similarity in format between the two is apparent. The format is almost identical although there are far more items on eBay Express than shopping.com. For instance, this morning in 'women's apparel' there were "469,207 matches found" on Express and "79,000 items from 525 stores" on shopping.com.

One great difference: with the eBay Express system every purchase goes to the same shopping cart, even though there are thousands of merchants. The shopping site, on the other hand, leads directly to the individual store that owns the displayed merchandise.

eBay sellers cannot sign up for eBay Express, although they can opt out. Instead, the merchandise is automatically listed if it's in the BIN format or if it's listed in an eBay store. At this time, there is no charge for this dual listing on eBay and eBay Express, although I feel certain that this will change in the future and that eBay will charge for this service.

Sellers will receive not only more exposure for each item listed, but there are other benefits as well:

1. Buyers can choose to purchase multiple items all in one transaction, just like any traditional store. If the buyer wants eight different items, it can be handled in one transaction, with one payment and one shipping charge. This is so much simpler than dealing with eight different auctions, eight different sellers and eight different shipping fees that it's almost certain to encourage multiple sales.

2. This will, in turn, solve one of the biggest gripes of eBay sellers: the dreaded Non Paying Bidder! For reasons known only to themselves, there are multiple dead beats who deliberately win an auction - but never pay the seller. Usually they don't even respond to repeated emails. This is very costly to sellers - not only in the obvious sense of unpaid merchandise but also because of the loss of other buyers who were legitimately interested in the merchandise but have most likely gone elsewhere. With eBay Express, everything will be paid in advance so the buyer won't withdraw her merchandise from the market yet never be paid for it.

3. There is a shopping cart for eBay Express and it includes multiple ways to pay.

4. eBay has promised to aggressively promote eBay Express in the search engines and there is every reason to trust that promise. After all, it is in eBay's interest to use their considerable muscle to ensure the success of eBay Express. This is certain to mean more traffic to sellers.

Although the starting point of seller participation is either an eBay store or Buy It Now items, there are additional requirements:

* At this time, the Express is only available to American and Canadian sellers. If eBay Express is a success, this is very likely going to expand to other countries.
* The items for sale must physically be in the US
* There are PayPal conditions: the seller must be either a PayPal Business or a PayPal Premier participant
* Every item listed in eBay Express must include a picture
* If applicable, the "condition" field must indicate whether the merchandise is Used/New/Refurbished
* Such items as books, movies and DVDs have a "pre-filled item information" component to their listings and this must be used
* There are three choices for shipping on eBay and these must be clearly indicated in the 'shipping' field of each listing in order to be included in eBay Express
- Calculated
- A flat fee of "X" amount of dollars
- No cost for shipping
* Sellers feedback must be a minimum of 100 points
*

About the Author
The single biggest question from all would-be eBay sellers is: "What do I sell?" Learn what to look for in merchandise by seeing products that do - and don't - work. http://auction-genius-course.com/sell-things-ebay

Mounting and using your squirrel feeders by Harriett

2006-06-08T10:22:00.000-05:00

Squirrels prefer to feed in a place where they can easily escape, and as they spend most of their time in the trees, the most suitable position for feeders would be on a tree or near to a wall.

Placing feeders on or near the ground is strongly discouraged, as there is a high likelihood of the squirrels being attacked and killed by predators.

The exact placement of the feeder will depend on the garden or area that the squirrels visit. Try to work out the route that a squirrel will take to arrive at the feeder and place it to avoid crossing open ground where possible.

Secure the feeder on or near to a tree at a height of 5-6 feet. Ideally you should place the feeder as high as possible, while still allowing for easy access to add feed and clean it out.

For secure mounting, nails or screws should be used.

Click here For more information on Woodwork for Wildlife

EBay - How It Came About by David Nettey

2006-06-08T10:14:00.000-05:00

The internet is not all about eBay, but that will be very hard to prove to some people. The auction site is the main and sometimes only destination for online shoppers these days, and you tell me this is not staggering if i tell you the site is adding to its online customer base everyday.

EBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar a Paris native in his San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the beginning meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services to individuals, which to some extent, is still is today.

In 1998, Pierre Omidyar and co-founder Jeff Skoll brought in a woman called Meg Whitman to mastermind the auction site's continuing expansion. Meg Whitman who studied at the Harvard Business School had previously worked for the Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company, in various capacities.

Meg Whiteman was also employed by the Walt Disney Company, an entertainment company, most recently as senior vice president, marketing, Disney Consumer Products, she was also at Bain & Co, a consulting firm and other reputable firms, but we will not go into much detail.

Credit must be given to Meg Whitman for beating back three tough competitors, Amazon.com, Yahoo and Lycos who tried to knock the site from its perch. From its flea market - like roots, the site now host auctions for big-ticket items such as automobiles and real estate. The site has not just weathered the storm - it is steaming full speed ahead.

The online auction site has built a strong online presence, it has been through some though times since its inception, but that seems to make eBay even stronger. For those of you that have still not heard about eBay, it is an online auction website, and it is not just any auction site, but the biggest in the world. If you know how an offline auction works, then you already have an idea about how eBay works.

Most people are turning to eBay for their online shopping needs. The auction site has made it easy for shoppers with its user-friendly search facility. Just type the name of whatever product you are after and eBay searches through its various categories and comes up with various links relating to the product in that category. Click the link, and you are on your way to your very first purchase on eBay. It is that easy. And it is for this reason, most shoppers keep going back to eBay, not just for bargains, but because the auction site has a user friendly interface and it is easy to navigate, even for the novice Internet user.

EBay has built an online person - person trading community on the internet, using the World Wide Web. Buyers and Sellers are brought together in a manner where sellers are permitted to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest and all members to browse through listed items in a fully automated way. These items are arranged by topics, where each type of auction has its own category.

The site has spawned a whole industry of programs and websites catering to online auction buyers and sellers. You can find help to list, buy, pay or sell. These days, selling on the site has become a full time job for many people. Some sellers consistently make more than $150,000.00 in monthly sales and there are over 260,000 people selling on the auction site and this figure keeps growing by the day.

Copyright © David Nettey

About the Author
David Nettey is the webmaster of http://www.coollittlewebsite.biz and http://www.LyecryNet.com For Internet Business Ideas and Opportunities visit his website http://www.Profits-Web.com

Finding the Right Size T-shirt when ordering online by Harriett Allen

2006-06-07T10:27:00.000-05:00

Ordering the right size T-shirt

To find the size T shirt you need, compare our measurements to a shirt you already have.

Measure your T-shirt: Lay the shirt flat and then check these 2 measurements
Width: Width is measured from under arm to under arm across the chest.
Length: Length is measured from the neck line to the bottom hem.

Compare your measurements to these size charts.

http://stores.ebay.com/Odds-Ends/T-shirt-Sizing.html

All measurements are approximations. Length and Width vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer. Shirts may be within 1" or 2" of the dimensions listed.

All shirts are preshrunk, however, all garments will shrink slightly in the first wash. Length will loose about 1", and width will loose about ½". Wash according to manufacturer's recommendation on the neck tag.

These charts are meant as a guidline to help you select an appropriate size and are not a guarantee of a perfect fit.

How can RSS improve my Search Engine Rankings? by Devendra Jaiswal

2006-06-03T16:47:00.000-05:00

There are three powerful reasons why content from RSS Feeds is irresistible bait for search engine spiders.

1. RSS Feeds Provide Instant Themed Content?

There are several publishers of RSS feeds that are specific to a particular theme. Since the feed is highly targeted, it could contain several keywords that you want to rank highly for. Adding these keywords to your pages helps Google tag your site as one with relevant content.

2. RSS Feeds Provide Fresh, Updated Content

RSS feeds from large publishers are updated at specific intervals. When the publisher adds a new article to the feed, the oldest article is dropped.These changes are immediately effected on your pages with the RSS feed as well. So you have fresh relevant content for your visitors every hour or day.

3. RSS Feeds Result in More Frequent Spidering

One thing I never anticipated would happen as a result of adding an RSS feed to my site was that the Googlebot visited my site almost daily. To the Googlebot, my page that had the RSS feed incorporated into it was as good as a page that was being updated daily, and in its judgement, was a page that was worth visiting daily. What this means to you, is that you will have your site being indexed more frequently by the Googlebot and so any new pages that you add to your site will be picked up much faster than your competitors.

Better Search Engine Rankings with RSS

RSS is the latest craze in online publishing. But what exactly is RSS? RSS or Rich Site Syndication is a file format similar to XML, and is used by publishers to make their content available to others in a format that can be universally understood. RSS allows publishers to "Syndicate" their content through the distribution of lists of hyperlinks.

It has actually been around for a while, but with the advent of spam filters and online blogging, it is fast becoming the choice of ezine publishers who want to get their message across to their subscribers. However, not much attention has been given to the advantages RSS provides for search engine optimization.

Why Search Engines Love RSS?

Many SEO experts believe that sites optimized around themes, or niches, where all pages correspond to a particular subject or set of keywords, rank better in the search engines. For example, if your website is designed to sell tennis rackets, your entire site content would be focused around tennis and tennis rackets.

Search engines like Google seem to prefer tightly-themed pages.

But where does RSS figure in all this? RSS feeds, usually sourced from newsfeeds or blogs, often correspond to a particular theme or niche. By using highly targeted RSS feeds, you can enhance your site's content without having to write a single line on your own. It's like having your own content writer - writing theme-based articles for you - for free!

Visit us:
halfvalue.com
halfvalue.co.uk
lookbookstores.com

Why Do Some Ebay Members Have Private Feedback? by Dan Thompson

2006-05-27T14:17:00.000-05:00

Have you ever looked at an eBay members feedback profile and noticed they had a private profile? I bet you have, and I bet you also wondered just why that member has chosen to make their profile private. I asked myself the same question every time I saw an eBay member with a private feedback profile, so I did some research and here are my findings.

According to eBay, private feedback is designed for reputable buyers and sellers that have received an unfair or defamatory feedback comment. The trader can then choose to make the feedback private whilst eBay decides if they should remove the feedback comment or not. Whilst the feedback is private you cant see any of the feedback comments left for the eBay member, you can however view how many positives, neutrals and negatives the member has received.

The above reason for making feedback private seems reasonable enough, however how do you know the eBay member isn't making their feedback private for more sinister reasons?

The answer – You Don't!

A lot of members with private feedback may be trying to hide more than the odd bad comment, they may be hiding hundreds or maybe even thousands! These comments could be warning you about eBay scams or a very bad ebayer, without being able to see the feedback comments the only thing you have to go on are the feedback scores for the member.

No matter how good the feedback scores look, if an eBay member has private feedback then it should instantly ring an alarm bell in your head. I wouldn't recommend buying anything from an eBay member with a private feedback profile. If you are desperate for the item that the member is selling my advice would be to contact the seller before you purchase the item. Ask the seller why they have chosen to make their feedback profile private, you could even ask them to make the feedback public so you can view the comments and once you have seen the comments they can make them private again.

After all of my research I still cant find any good reasons as to why a member would choose to keep their feedback profile private. As soon as I see a member with a private feedback profile I always get the impression that they have something to hide.

In closing I would strongly recommend that you Don't buy anything from an eBay member wih a private score, you are likely to get stung by an eBay scam! Do yourself a favour and buy the item you are looking for from a more reputable eBay seller. Remember the old saying - “If it sounds too good to be true, then it usually is!”

Dan Thompson has been trading on eBay since 2001 and has seen a lot of ebay scams in his time. You can report scams and bad ebayers at Dan`s site - www.auction-arses.com.

All the Types of Packaging

2006-05-25T14:27:00.000-05:00

Packaging comes in all shapes and sizes and can be made to fit your every need. No matter what is that you have to package and mail away or maybe just to give as a gift to your friend, there is a perfect way of packing it.

When looking for quality packaging supplies, you can look no further than your local post office other mail shipping establishment. They offer packing peanuts, bubble wrap, tape, and boxes of all sizes and shapes. If you have a business that you run inside your home and a majority of that business requires shipping products to customers, you may consider purchasing packaging supplies in bulk at wholesale prices. There are many different industrial and retail packaging stores located on the World Wide Web that can offer you a wide variety of shipping supplies like boxes, packing peanuts, bubble wrap, and labels.

Now days it is even possible to weigh and ship your packages right from the comfort of your home. If you have a postal scale and a printer, this can be a major time saver for a lot of small home businesses such as an E-bay business or a crafts business. Once you package the item that you want to ship, simply weigh it on the postal scale, and go to www.usps.com to pay for the shipping cost of that item. The label will then be printed through your printer and you can stick it on the box and have it ready for the mailman when he delivers your regular daily mail. The payment for the shipping can be made from your credit card, debit card, or from your www.paypal.com account if you have one.

Packaging and shipping right from home has been a major time saver for a lot of small business owners. They no longer have to waste their time standing in long lines at the post office, but now can be doing business while they ship their merchandise, which in turn makes their business more productive.

James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest. Read more at www.packaging-central.info

Article Source: http://www.eArticlesOnline.com

Marketing with classified ads

2006-05-24T22:31:00.000-05:00

You have all read them, offline anyway, in papers, magazines and journals among other places. Well online classified ads work the same way. You write a headline, description and post some contact details for potential buyers to get in touch with you. Offline classifieds would direct people to a phone number while online classified ads would contain your URL and an email address.

Offline you'll have to pay for almost all classifieds you post, however online there are thousands of free sites which will allow you to post your ad and of course there are plenty of low-cost sites which will also except your ad.

Apart from the fact you can get free classifieds online, online ads have a few advantages compared to offline ones.

The Internet has a much much larger audience than your local or national newspaper has so more people can potentially see your ad and act upon it.

You can post your ads online and you could have feedback and sales within a very short time as usually people just have to click on your URL for more info rather than make a phone call or send a letter.

Ads that are placed online are much cheaper than their offline counterparts, this is because space is not tight on the Internet as it is in a magazine or newspaper.

A user looking for a particular product can usually perform a search for a particular word or phrase from the classified ad site whereas offline people have to manually scan through the different categories.

A disadvantage of online classified ads to the webmaster is that it can be quite time consuming to do especially if you want any sort of success with them, which you obviously do. However many good pieces of software are becoming available which can automatically submit your ad to lots of these sites, they aren't cheap but if you're interested try doing a search for 'classified ad software' or something similar on Google.com or Yahoo.com.

Let's get on to the good part, how to make the most out of posting to classified ads. Stay specific, always post to the most appropriate category or categories there are, this way you'll be posting to an area where people will actually be interested in your product, this is vital.

Remember especially with free classified sites that a lot of other webmasters will be trying to promote their products and websites with ads too so you'll have to repost your ad regularly to stay near the top of the bunch, nobody will even see your ad if it's at the bottom of another 50 ads, will they?

Now on to the actual copy of your ad, since few classified sites allow you to post graphics you'll have to rely on your headline to grab the attention of the people scanning the ads in front of them. You can do this by using words like 'free', 'secrets', 'how-to' and other words which will make them curious to find out more. If you can, include your keywords in your headline as some classified sites will use the headline as the link to your site this in turn will help you when the search engines examine your link popularity.

Always target your market, if you sell a product for webmasters mention 'webmasters' in the headline and body, next you should mention what your product will do for them (i.e. the benefits of it. - how will it make their life easier).

I have read this in numerous places and now you're going to read it too, the idea with classified ads is to generate interest and not to actually sell anything there and then, that's far to hard to do, you want to get the reader wanting more information and you should give this to them through your website or autoresponder. This is why your ad body should always be short, concise and to the point, a big long page sales letter will scare people off.

Follow the above few tips and you should see some results, before you go I want to put this to you. Which is better paid or free classifieds? Well for me paid classifieds have always produced much better results, I think this is because advertising in "Free Classified Sites" has now become an almost automated task which means not many people actually visit and respond to classified ads. Submission spiders are wonderful creatures but aren't often interested in clicking on your well-crafted classified ad.

Two of the best places where you can place fee based ads which do bring results are AOL.com and Yahoo.com. Good luck!

Article by David Callan. David is an Internet marketing professional and webmaster of AKA Marketing.com webmaster forums. Visit his webmaster forums for the latest discussions on search engines, website authoring and Internet marketing related issues and topics.

Promote Your Blog

2006-05-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

Promote Your Blog
Well, you've joined the others and have created a blog. It is time to tell the world about your online journal. Most blog services generate an RSS feed. If your blogging software does not create an RSS feed, consider using software like FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com to create an RSS feed. Like blogs, RSS is growing in popularity and is a great way to spread the word about a new blog.

Syndication is conceptually simple. It allows publishers to distribute content that can be displayed in another location or context. Using RSS, publishers are able to easily create and disseminate content feeds that include news headlines, blog summaries and related links. RSS is the defined syndication standard that has become mainstream. All types of information are now available in a syndicated format.

1. Blog Submissions / RSS Submissions
There are a number of blog directories and blog search engines where you can submit your blog. A large list of sites allowing blog submission and RSS feed submissions can be found in the left column at: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-submission.htm

Similarly, there are RSS feed directories and search engines like http://www.rss-network.com . Be sure to submit the URL of your RSS feeds to the RSS search engines listed on the RSS specifications website.

If you wish to automate your blog and RSS submissions consider using Dummy Software's Blog and RSS Submit Software http://www.dummysoftware.com .

Like a website, its important to select the appropriate category for your blog. Use a clear title that contains descriptive details but is not excessively long. The Blog description should further expand on the purpose and general theme of the blog. Incorporate important keywords related to the blog's theme in both the title and description. This will help bring targeted traffic that is genuinely interested in the contents of the blog.

2. Post Press Releases to Online Resources
Write a press release announcing your blog to the world. Keep it factual and submit the release to the free press release directories. This will provide incoming links to the new blog and get it started on its way to popularity. There are a number that allow for press release posting free of charge. The releases on these sites are occasionally picked up by publications looking for information or filler content. Another side-benefit to these listings is increased link popularity, which helps with search engine ranking. A list of sites that allow for press release posting can be found under 'press release posting' . A number are available at http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/pressreleases.html

3. Post Announcement on Usenet
A number of Usenet groups allow for posting of announcements or press releases. Most of the announce groups in Usenet contain 'ann.' in the domain address. If your blog is focused on a specific topic, search Usenet newsgroups. To locate topic-specific announce groups, consider searching http://www.newsguy.com to locate groups specific to related topics.

4. Post to Forums
Forums also contain sections in which you can post announcements. If the application is a niche product, consider searching for topic-specific forums in addition to the general software announce forums listed below. Be sure to post any announcements in the appropriately marked 'announce forum' . The following are related blog forums, some of which allow for posts.

Favorite Feeds - http://www.feedforall.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=3
Your Blog Announcements - http://www.forum4bloggers.com/viewforum.php?f=12
Got Blog - http://www.blogomania.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7
Announce Software, Blogs or Relationships - http://www.softwaremarketingresource.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=5

5. Promote & Auto Detect Blog Feeds
It has become a standard that nearly all websites that have RSS feeds available use colorful graphics to indicate the presence of an RSS feed. The graphics were initially bright orange rectangles, but as the popularity has grown, webmasters have bent the rules a bit. NotePage has made a free online RSS graphic tool available that allows users to quickly customize buttons by selecting the text on the button and the color scheme of the button. Once the color and text is entered, a custom graphic is instantly created. Webmasters can easily match the style of the RSS button to a website's theme.

Graphics experience is not required. Simply select alternative colors and insert text to personalize RSS feed graphics. The RSS graphics tool can be used by clicking the following URL http://www.feedforall.com/public/rss-graphic-tool.htm or choose ready made graphics from: http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-graphics.htm .

Include information in the HTML code of a website so that RSS Readers automatically detect that an RSS feed exists for the material contained on the site. Aggregators will automatically detect RSS on a website if you add a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page.

After publishing an RSS feed it is important to let visitors know that the feed exists. Aggregators will automatically detect RSS on a website if you add a small bit of code in the header field of an HTML page. [link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="RSS" href="http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml"]

Be sure to replace http://www.yourdomain.com/rss.xml with the URL to the RSS feed and replace the brackets with "<" (less than) and ">" (greater than) symbols.

About the Author:
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net a wireless text messaging software company.
Article Source: ArticleWorld.net

EBay: No Way…Yes Way (Ten Seller Themes) by Barbara Snyder M.A.

2006-05-11T12:47:00.000-05:00

Hearing that there are more than 1.2 million registered eBay users, that more than 25,000 members make five figure income as full time eBay entrepreneurs, and that more than 250,000 part timers make several thousand dollars a year of supplementary income from eBay enterprises would make anyone comment in disbelief with, “No Way”. But the correct response to this is, “Yes, way.” In fact, it has also been reported that the number one eBay entrepreneur makes over a million dollars a year. As Austin Powers would say, “Yeah, Baby.” Or should we say, “E-Baby.”

So what’s the deal with eBay, anyway? There is a lot more to it than one would think. It can be simple for an occasional buyer, but it gets increasing complex as users/sellers become more entrenched at deeper levels of use. Here are 10 key ideas or themes for sellers to consider about this phenomenon called “eBay”.

1. What ‘s for sale? While some sellers are out scavenging the garage sales and their own garages, others are purchasing quantities of items wholesale to put up for auction. One would think that the right product is of paramount consideration, and most sellers agree that the unusual or the hard to find is the best bet. However, this is not always true either. Timing, meaning the right person at the right time seeing your item, is where it is at. You have to be visible and be out there with a clear message or product that seems like a steal, or at least reasonably priced. With the thousands and thousands of items for sale, there is no shortage of competition. However, the good thing is that there are a lot of buyers out there which should enable the sale of just about anything.

2. Communication and descriptive details about your product is a key in getting noticed. The description of your item and the pictures to display it will get the buyer’s attention. If a person is a serious seller, having an adequate digital camera is a must. Again, photos are extremely important.

3. The well written detailed description to accompany the item is of great benefit. Being open and honest about the item will demonstrate integrity as a seller and will keep people coming back. Being available to answer questions for prospective buyers and remembering to be courteous and helpful follows along with the never-to-be forgotten premise of “the customer is always right.”

4. With customer feedback being a key element in the ratings statistics that will promote you or haunt you during your eBay career, it is important for a seller to be professional and kindly in all business dealings. People like and appreciate personal attention. Take the time to give it. Being positive, accommodating and helpful is a winning combination for good customer relations.

5. Shipping information and how you present it can win over a customer because they notice when a buyer is tying to take advantage and ask an unreasonable amount for shipping. Of course, a seller must take into account time spent, the handling charge, when pricing the shipping. Time is money, and a seller should be compensated for all aspects of the service that is provided.

6. Some advice about setting up your auction items would be to consider having your item run seven days with an end of bidding time somewhere between 7 PM and 9 PM on a Sunday night. That seems to be the consensus amongst the top sellers. There has been much dialog on just how to increase the amount and number of bids, but there are too many variables to consider. Suffice to say, it really comes down to the product itself. It depends on the condition of the item and on how much competition is out there.

7. Some of the most unique aspects of selling have to do with the seasonal items that permeate the auction block at certain times of the year. If a seller wants to work year-round, he or she will have to broaden the horizon by finding seasonal items for all seasons. Yes, you can sell Christmas items and move right into Valentines Day and Easter and so on. Why not? These are what people are looking for.

8. One controversial topic is drop shipping. If a seller is getting a product from a third party, drop shipping is a convenient way for the seller to deliver the product. It keeps them out of it entirely. However, that means that a back ordered item could result in a poor rating for the seller because the item was delayed. Most buyers picture the item in the hands of the seller and expect to receive it within a few days. The pros and cons of this arrangement need to be carefully considered.

9. Now to the fun part. How do you get the money? More and more people are using PayPal. It is quick, efficient and simple. A seller can make other arrangements and accept a check or money order, but the wave of the future is setting up an account with PayPal. In addition, setting up an online account with the United States Postal Service will also save you countless hours of waiting in lines at the post office. Work smarter, not harder, etc., etc.

10. A seller can look at other things to sell besides a physical product or item. Many are getting into self publishing or offering a service. Some expanding entrepreneurs are opening up a consignment shop situation, which helps those who want to sell but “don’t do computers.” The possibilities are unlimited.

Selling products and services from a home-based business can be an exciting, and hopefully profitable, situation. Go into it with a solid plan based on accurate information and with the knowledge that it is going to be hard work, just like any other job.

Barbara Snyder may be contacted at http://www.EducationResourcesNetwork.com barb@sbmag.org
About The Author:
Barbara Snyder is a retired California Distinguished School Principal and Coordinator For Human Resources. She has a master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction. She holds elementary education, secondary, community college, and administrative credentials. She is currently the publisher of http://EducationResourcesNetwork.com, co-publisher of Strictly Business Magazine, http://www.sbmag.org and Student Teacher Supervisor at Chapman University College.