Review:

As as new seller on eBay I try to be careful . After responding to the daily Phishing Scams [see definition here] . I try to answer everyone elses questions. One of the major obstacles is establishing your reputation on eBay.

The key is getting FEEDBACK and lots of it. Ebay gives people who buy from you or who sell to you the option of giving you a positive, negative or neutral feedback. The negative feedback when you just start out is pretty much a death nell. People see that an run the opposite direction.

It is your digital reputation and if you have a bad one you might as well close your account. If after say 700 transactions you have a bad one say 699 good ones and 1 bad feeback response  then I wouldn’t sweat it.

Your overal percentage is what counts..

Ebay has some tips to follow and when you start out make sure you do it. The key one is simply getting your item to the buy as soon as you can. Usually that means as soon as the payment clears. Honestly do not ship before it clears, no matter how much the buy pressures you. Chances are if the item is as advertised and better it will work out in the end..but getting scammed is not fun.

Communicate in a postive manner with your buyers or sellers. Be polite and answer their questions. I just started selling and I am careful to be professional and prompt in my replies after all no one knows me and they are sending me their hard earned money.

If someone sends you a negative feedback.. see if you can find out why  but don’t harrass them. Be honest, add an annotation and keep on moving.

Since I am selling high value items people are willing to risk it all in an attempt to gain items for little or nothing. One of the schemes I’ve gotten is someone opting to “Buy it now” and then asking for paypal information to buy it outside of eBay. The short on that one is DONT DO IT !

Honestly it’s bad enough that people are scamming you on eBay  but if you decide to venture outside the confines of the auction, unless the person is local and want to meet you in person, then you are setting yourself to be scammed.

I am learning quickly. The best way to avoid it is to make sure your motivations are in check. DON’T GET GREEDY ! If you are selling your item at a good price then the sales will come. IF someone is offering you more than you are selling your item for and going into great details like ” I am buying it for my grandson in sweden but need you to ship it to me in England”  Trust me… it’s a scam.

When you buy something at Walmart to do tell the cashier a story or do you just buy it ? There’s your answer right there

Send the email directly to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com Don’t respond.

Wow you can’t tell me that there isn’t a recession going on . I have brand new Elitebooks on eBay listed for $700.00. That’s right only $700.00 ! Wow that’s insane these computers are listed on HP’s website for $1200 . Search the net anywhere and see if you can beat that. I decided to match for this month only the lowest price I have seen on eBay for now which was $750. I actually figured I’d go below that price so that with Shipping it would even out.

 I think it’s going to be a good week. I have one computer ending today for $700.00 with a starting bid of $550 on eBay: See listing . This is a no reserve once in a lifetime deal ! If no one bites at this deal then I am convinced that the economy is still in trouble.lol I would buy this computer normally at this price and sell it on Craiglist without  a problem and walk away with an almost $200 profit margin. Let’s see what happens. I’ll keep you guys updated.

When I list my stockpile of Dell D630’s this week.. Watch out ! No one will beat my price on eBay…

I saw a nice reliable car online a 1995 Nissan Maxima se with leather interior , cd player and 196, 000 miles. I thought hmm why not. It had a starting price of $1500. The blue book value was $3500.

It was my first time really bidding on anything on eBay and here I was about to bid on a car. Crazy huh ? Well as luck would have it the car was local. So I communicated with the seller and they agreed that I could come and take a look.

The car was in incredible condition. I was psyched. I offered the seller $2000 cash on the spot. I really wanted the car . It was perfect for what I needed. I test drove it and it was amazing. It drove like  a brand new car.

The seller rejected my offer but did one thing.. told me the reserve price. It was $2500. I went home and prayed that the bid didn’t go beyond $2600. I put in an automatic bid for $2501. The last hour was frantic .. the bids were coming a mile a minute.  The bid before mine was somewhere around $2200.00

Long story short I bought that car for $2501.00 . I outbid the last bid by $300 and was happy about it.  It turns out getting that type of inside information is invaluable. Without it the opportunity might have been lost. A second chance offer would have been my only other option.

So do I think it’s a good idea to reveal the reserve price on items I sell ? I take it a case at a time.  I think a sale at the reserve is better than no sale at all. I will do what I can. It isn’t against the rules to my knowlege to let anyone know what the reserve price is.. so that’s a part of selling.

I knew this day would come. I was watching  a series on either PBS or Discover years ago about  the use of Cell phone in Singapore for buying products in stores etc. It was basically the same thing like sms technology. I thought wow here it was in the East they were using text messaging (sort of) to do commerce and here we were using it to download Britney Spears.

The truth was we needed a currency to make it all happen and security provided by the private sector was the key. Along comes  Paypal and scooped the market. I can’t even remember the other online payment provider players any more. Paypal is now the giant in this arena and the sponser was eBay. According to Paypal

 ”BlackBerry users can now send money to anyone in their contact list, so they don’t have to bother remembering addresses and phone numbers. Users can also easily stay on top of their finances by checking their recent history and account balance directly from their BlackBerry smartphone.”

This is big people trust me. There is an entire generation that has used paypal long before they’ve used Visa or Master Card andI suspect most of them  are either  in high school now or college . Can I just say wow ?

The PayPal application is free to use and download from the BlackBerry App World and is available in the U.S., Canada, U.K., France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Portugal and Australia.

The application aslo allows transactions on  Facebook, Android and the iPhone!  Read the Paypal Blog Here.

I’t a steal. Trust me used Dell D610’s are selling for $30o on eBay and Amazon. Yes I said used. I have these work horse computers on eBay right now for under $300 Factory Refurbished ! Visit this item at eBay or cut and paste the link below for item#330388049035

[ http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330388049035 ]

Refurbished Dell Latitude D610 Notebook PC

 
The great thing about computer technology over the last 3 or 4  years is that anything made in the that time  can pretty much all do the same thing that computers can do today. If you need a quick fast machine that can do all the stuff you like do like Wirelessly surf the Internet or  Download music, Burn CD’s , Watch DVD’s, Edit your pictures, do your presentation in Microsoft Powerpoint, Word and Excel, Then the Dell Latitude D610 is just right for you. It Isn’t heavy… and isn’t big. The fact is you can buy a computer that’s cost 10 times more that doesn’t do any of those tasks that you normally do or are even likely to do any better.So why pay more ? Look around and compare this laptop to any other. You’ll be happy if you choose the Dell D610Buy this computer if you are looking for the following.

• Economical, Reliable, sturdy computer from a brand that has a great reputation
• Something for the student or all your basic office needs.
• A computer that looks great with great performance and can do all the common tasks you need from a light weight lap top
• Great for surfing the net . It has built in Wi Fi so you can surf anywhere .It finds the best signal automatically.

• Tough: Tough Tri-Metal^TM  Chassis – the strength of magnesium, aluminum and steel in a lightweight package that delivers enhanced rigidity and protection for sensitive internal components
•  Decent Battery life with quick recharge ( Dell’s ExpressCharge^TM  technology optimizes battery charge time, allowing you to recharge batteries in about an hour )

• You can watch movies or design projects which require high image definition due to the video card included.
• Genuine Windows XP Professional Edition. (Note some refurbished models may come with Home Edition)  This system can certainly run  Windows 7

A great notebook PC for all around general use Student or Business
The great thing about the Dell Latitude D610 is that it already has an established reputation for being a work horse in business  and at home. You probably have them at your place of business or school already. The 600 line is and will continue to be one of the most popular  and trusted lines   

Here are the Specs:

Processors
Intel® Pentium®  M Processor  750 (1.86GHz, 2MB L2)
Operating Systems
Genuine Windows®  XP Professional Edition
Memory
Up to 2048MB using 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM2 user accessible memory sockets on system board
Graphics
Mobile Intel®  915PM Express Chipset w/ ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON®  X300 with 64MB DDR video memoryVideo type: 128-bit hardware accelerated
Displays
SXGA+ maximum resolution of 1400×1050 pixels, 16.7 million colors (The D610 graphics chipset supports up to 1600×1200 pixels with external monitor, 16.7 million colors) XGA maximum resolution of 1024×768 pixels, 16.7 million colors (The D610 graphics chipset supports up to 1600×1200 pixels with external monitor, 16.7 million colors)  Easy-to-see 14.1″ XGA and SXGA+ active matrix (TFT) displays
Hard Drives & Removable Storage
User-removable up to 80GB2 primary hard drive (standard)24X variable CD-ROM Drive (standard)
I/O Ports
Serial (DTE): (one) 9-pin connector; 16550-compatible,16-byte bufferParallel: (one) 25-hole connector (unidirectional, bidirectional, or ECP) Video: (one) 15-hole connector and S-video out connector Infrared: one port compatible with IrDA Standards 1.1 (Fast IR) and 1.0 (Slow IR) Audio: microphone-in-jack; stereo headphones/speakers jack 4 USB 2.0 compliant connectors Docking: 280-pin connector for the Latitude D/Port-Family, Advanced Port Replicator, or D/Dock-Family Expansion station Modem: RJ-11 port Ethernet LAN: RJ-45 port
Wireless Communications
Intel PRO Wireless 2200 WLAN (802.11b/g)Intel PRO Wireless 2915 WLAN (802.11a/b/g) Dell Wireless 1350 WLAN (802.11b/g) Dell Wireless 1450 WLAN (802.11a/b/g) Dell TrueMobile 350 Bluetooth module Dell TrueMobile 5100 GPRS PC Card (optional) Dell TrueMobile 1170 Access Point Dell TrueMobile 2350 Broadband Router
Wired Communications
Integrated: 56K7 V.92 modem  10/100/1000 Ethernet8 LAN
Power Supply
65-watt A/C Adapter (standard)
Batteries
6-cell 53WHr Smart Lithium Ion battery (standard)48WHr Li-Polymer modular battery for additional battery life Dell’s unique ExpressChargeTM  feature lets you charge your battery in about an hour Dual battery option to increase the battery life of your system
Battery Life   With Intel®  GMA 900 graphics 5   4-cell 6-cell 6-cell + media bay battery       Up to 2.7 hours Up to 4.7 hours Up to 9.4 hours   With ATI MOBILITYTM RADEON®  X300 graphics 5   4-cell 6-cell 6-cell + media bay battery       2.5 hours 4.3 hours 9.0 hours
Audio
Audio type/controller: AC97 (Soft Audio)Stereo: 20-bit stereo-digital to analog and 18-bit stereo analog to digital
Speakers
Dell A215 two piece stereo speakers 3W, 100Hz-20Khz
I/O Slots
One (Type I or Type II PC card) One Smart Card reader
Modular Bay
Modular bay supports CD-ROM drive, 8X DVD-ROM, 8X DVD+/-RW1, 24X CDRW/DVD, Floppy Disk Drive, Secondary 6-cell/48 WHr “Smart” Li-Polymer battery, 2nd hard drive, or Dell TravelLiteTM  module
Input Devices
87 key U.S. Layout Dell DualPoint pointing device (both Touch Pad & Track Stick)
Chassis
Starting at 4.67 lbs6 and 1.35″ thin 1.35″(h) x 12.3″(w) x 10.3″(d)
System & User Security
Passwords    – Primary system password    – Administrator password    – Hard disk drive password   Cable Lock Slot: Lock slot to secure system and docking solutions   Integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.1b: Integrated security device on the system board that will hold computer generated keys for encryption.   Integrated Smart Card reader: Provides strong industry standard two-factor user authentication (when used with a smart card and applicable software) -Cards supported: ISO 7816 1/2/3/4 microprocessor   cards (T=0, T=1), 3v & 5v, Java Card; -Reader certification: WHQL certified for Microsoft   PC/SC, EMV Level 1, 9600 to 115200 BPS Optional : Smart Card Security Software    – OtaniumSuiteTM  Pro    – OtaniumSuiteTM  PKI Optional : TPM Security Software    – Wave Systems Embassy Trust Suite

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I have three more and looking to find some more: Check this HP 6930p listed on Craigslist in Columbus , Ohio [click here].