eBay Gift Certificates – The Gift Solution Suitable for Everyone

We all know one. There is at least one in every family, and one in every circle of friends. There is even one in every office! There is always that one person that you know who is absolutely impossible to buy a gift for! These people either have everything, or want nothing. They don’t drop hints at all, and when asked, they simply say that they don’t know, they don’t care, or they don’t want anything.

Well, now you can buy a gift for that person. The solution lies in an eBay gift certificate! This will allow your loved one to essentially buy anything that they
want, in a very exciting way. eBay gift certificates can easily be purchased through paypal, in varying amounts.

There are things that you should point out to the gift recipient, however. For instance, eBay gift certificates do expire. eBay gift certificates will not be accepted for all auctions either – they can only be redeemed for those auctions that accept Paypal as a form of payment. Other than that, your loved one should not have any problems redeeming their eBay gift certificate!

eBay Data and Research – How Important Is It?

eBay is a business anyway you look at it. Sure, it is a great deal of fun for both the buyers and sellers, but when you look at it from another view point, you will see that it is a business from the seller’s point of view, the buyer’s point of view, and eBay’s point of view. 40 million dollars a day travels through eBay. Selling items on eBay successfully is an art, and eBay offers many different forms of Data and
Research to ensure that you are selling the right items, to the right people, in the right way.

Some of the data and research is not free, but much of it is. The available resources include hot items by category, eBay Pulse, merchandising calendar, sales reports, marketplace research, buyer behavioral report, and the eBay solutions directory.
These tools are quite easy to use, and the information that can be gleaned from them is extremely valuable.

The Data and Research tools are all accessible through your seller’s account, by clicking on the ‘Advance Selling’ link. Learn to use those tools, and get your piece of that $40 million eBay revenue each day.

eBay and Customer Service

If you are running an eBay business, you may not realize that the need for great customer service still exists – even for online auctions. When a buyer receives quality customer service from you, they will potentially do one of two things – or both. They will give you great feedback, and they may look for more of your auctions in the future. If you hope to make a living from eBay, you have to stop thinking of it as an ‘auction’ and start running it like a ‘business.’

If you owned a brick and mortar business, how would you treat your customer while they were standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish ringing up their order? You would be helpful and respectful of course! You would do everything that you could to guarantee that customers return to your establishment in the future. You would bend over backwards to make sure that their buying experience with you was both satisfactory and enjoyable. Why would you do any less at the close of one of your eBay auctions?

First, act quickly at the close of your auctions. Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe the item they have won and how the item will be shipped – even if this information is already part of the description for the auction. Remind them of their winning bid amount, and give them payment options and instructions. Let them know when the item will be shipped.

Close your email by thanking them for participating in your auction. You might even take this opportunity to tell them about other open auctions that you have as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a conversation that you are having with a customer who is standing at your counter in that imaginary brick and mortar store.

Once the payment and shipping details have been taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them know when the item was shipped – the exact date and time – and when it is expected to arrive on their end. During this contact, let them know that if they have any problems or questions, that they should contact you through the eBay site. If they do contact you in the future, make sure that you answer promptly, and that you do all that you can to make them happy with their purchase – even if it means issuing a refund.

Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds, depending on what the item is. furthermore, you should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to you, at your expense, before the refund is issued –
but once you receive the item, issue the refund promptly. This is just good business!

eBay Business Solutions

If starting an eBay business is your goal, as opposed to just auctioning a few items off for some extra cash, you need to use the eBay business solutions that are available to you. Because eBay’s success depends on the success of its sellers,
they strive to help you at every turn. eBay Business Solutions is the key to starting an eBay business.

eBay Stores is one of the better solutions for eBay business owners. An eBay store will allow you to list multiple quantities of the same item, and allow you to keep them listed for longer time periods. eBay Store owners also enjoy lower auction fees,
and have access to advanced merchandising tools. Eventually, you should consider upgrading to an eBay Pro Store, which will allow you to customize your storefront with your own brand and web address.

There are many other eBay Business Solutions, such as seller tools, the eBay solutions directory, and the merchant solution center, but you should definitely start with your very own eBay store, followed by an eBay Pro Store.

eBay and Drop shipping – Getting the Product to Your Customer

If you hope to own an eBay business, and make a full time living at it, you can easily make that dream come true – even if you don’t have a product of your own to sell. eBay provides many people who want to quit their corporate nine-to-five jobs with a way to make a good living, without having to put up a lot of start up capital. This is made possible with the help of drop shippers. Drop shippers send merchandise to the customers of business owners. If you have an eBay business, you are a business owner. This will allow you to offer a wide variety of stock in your eBay store, without having the need to warehouse all of those products!

All you have to do is set up your auction, and sell the product. You then pass the customer’s information on to the drop shipping company. The drop shipper does the rest, and they will even use your company information, as well as your company logo if you have provided it to them. When the product arrives at your customer’s home, they will have no idea that your company didn’t send it. The drop shipper will package, label, and ship the products that you sell, allowing you more time to set up even more auctions, for greater profits.

You must establish a relationship with several drop shipping companies in order to become successful.In the beginning, most companies will require you to pay for the items that your customers order before they are shipped. You need to fill orders in a
timely manner, so you should pay for the items with a credit card for speedy service. Eventually, you will be able to have the drop shipper fill your orders, and then bill you for them later.

When you set up your eBay auctions, make sure that your reserve price is set higher than the price that the drop shipper will be charging you for the item. The idea, of course, is to earn a profit! Depending on the item you are selling, a markup of about 10% should be about right, but you should do some research to see if the item is selling for a lower price in another eBay auction, or through other online sources.

By starting an eBay business using the drop shipping method, there is essentially no financial risk involved. The product will be sold before you pay the drop shipper for the item. This is one of the few businesses where you can actually turn a profit before you have expenditures!