I received this email from a US seller who sells items on eBay UK.
“Tell your readers to be careful listing items on the eBay UK. This week my listing for (an over the counter medicine) was ended as it is a prohibited prescription item on eBay UK. I didn’t realize that because about 25 other US sellers offer it, too. I am confused as to why so many other sellers can offer it and their listings aren’t removed. If you have ever read the eBay UK help section on Prohibited and Restricted Items, you will agree that the verbiage is rather vague and cryptic. So, I emailed eBay UK to get to the bottom of the issue. Here is their response:
‘Please note that our prohibited items policies cover tens of thousands of products and auctions are listed continuously. By the time we remove a prohibited item, a new prohibited item is listed. Therefore, at any given time, you may see prohibited items listed on eBay, but it does not mean they are allowed. You may ask eBay UK before you list an item. However, as a rule of thumb, if the drug comes in large quantities, it’s almost always pharmacy licensed in the UK and not allowed to be sold on eBay UK.’
In other words, the members have to police each other. But there is a little more to it. Competition is brutal on eBay UK. Rather than lowering their price to beat their competitors, some sellers play dirty and examine other sellers’ listings with a microscope to find something petty to report. Unfortunate that some sellers cannot exist on their own merits, they must attack other sellers in order to stay in business. Warn your readers that if they get involved on eBay UK, they will be in for a territorial fight. Don’t ever assume that because a seller has an item listed that is is allowed. The ones who have been there know what is not allowed, and they get a rush out of reporting the new sellers.
As for me, I will continue to mind my business and run my store as best I can. I don’t have time to be the eBay police, and frankly, have better things to do than to sit around reporting violations all day. I’d rather be listing new items, doing more research, and serving the customers who want to buy from me.
Scottsboro, Alabama is the home of the Unclaimed Baggage Center - a warehouse that stores and sells baggage and freight misdirected (lost?) by airlines, cruise ships, trains, and other modes of long distance transportation. This shopper’s haven has been featured on national television programs such as the Today Show, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN News.
More than 7,000 items are added to the store showroom every day. Items for sale include shoes, clothing, golf clubs, cameras, DVD players, iPods, cosmetics, books, luggage, and souveniers. Once a lost item has been in the airline’s possession for over 90 days, it is declared unclaimed and sent to Unclaimed Baggage.
For more information, visit the Unclaimed Baggage website, where you can take a tour of the warehouse. Prepare yourself - the center covers a full city block and contains millions of items. If you plan to visit Unclaimed Baggage, plan to stay a day or two.
If you are within driving distance, you may want to check out Unclaimed Baggage as a source for eBay inventory. With millions of items to choose from, you are bound to find a few things to sell on eBay for profit.
Stumble Upon is a bookmarking social networking site with over 5 million members (called stumblers). eBay acquired SU back in April, 2007.
In a nutshell, users download a toolbar that allows them to stumble, or rate web pages they find on the internet. When a site is stumbled, other members see it, visit it, and may also rate it. The site has a very high “hit rate” as new content is constantly being added.
More and more entrpreneurs are using SU for business purposes. eBay sellers can use Stumble Upon to promote their eBay stores and listings. You can stumble your store pages, About Me page, item listings, and so on. If you submit new items to SU on a regular basis, the traffic will come. Stumble Upon works over time. Check your store traffic reports to verify that SU is sending you traffic. Click here for the exact steps on how to use Stumble Upon for your eBay items.
When I first started selling on eBay, my primary source for inventory was garage sales and thrift stores. But every business has to evlove in order to grow. Big Lots is a closeout store with products that have either been discontinued, removed from store shelves because of packaging changes, or phased out all together. Small stores like CVS and Walgreens only have limited shelf space. As new items are constantly hitting store shelves, other products must be removed to allow space for newly released products. The pulled items are often sold to Big Lots and sold at clearance prices. You can find great things to sell on eBay for profit at Big Lots such as health and beauty items, toys, office supplies, pet products, cosmetics, and medicines.
You may be thinking, “Why would somebody buy a bunch of closeout drug store products on eBay?” The answer - not everyone has access to the same products. Some people just fall in love with a product and it becomes unavailable. Others live in remote areas where shopping isn’t available. Others live in big cities where the corner store doesn’t carry what they need or like. Some people may have transportation issues, physical limitations, or other issues that prohibit them from shopping in stores.
A few words of caution about buying from Big Lots to resell on eBay:
1) Do your research before you buy anything. Visit the store, make notes of the deals. Then check eBay’s completed listings and decide if you can make a profit on the item.
2) Determine if you will sell the item in a lot or as a single item. You want to get rid of it fast (before too many other people are selling it) and for the most profit available.
3) Check the store often, several times a week. Big Lots stock turns over very quickly as new deals appear daily or weekly. Pay attention to what is new in the store.
4) Don’t list an item unless you buy it first. Some eBay sellers will visit the store, go home and list the items, and wait for a sale before buying the items. A very bad strategy with Big Lots as your source of inventory. You could go back in a few days and the item is sold out. Then you’ve got to explain to the customer why you can’t fill the order.
5) Check the expiration dates. You don’t want your customer to email you after receiving the product to ask for a refund because the item has expired.
6) Don’t broadcast to the store that you are an eBay seller. Go about your business quietly. If anyone makes comments about why you are buying so much, you don’t have to answer them, or you can simply state that you are buying for “a lot of other people.” Which is true.
According to the eBay Announcement Board, the feedback recalculation without neutrals will take place the week of August 19. Past and future neutrals will no longer affect feedback scores.
Watch for your numbers to change and share in the comments section about how the recalculation affects your score! I’ll be watching mine.
Have you ever received an email from eBay stating, “We appreciate that you chose eBay to list your eBay Stores listing(s). However, we have removed your (s) because it breaches our (fill in the blank) policy. We notified members who placed bids on the item that the listing has been canceled.”
I noticed that quite a few other sellers have the same item up for sale. So I replied to eBay with this question,”Hello, my listing XYZ was removed as it is not allowed. I see that quite a few other sellers are offering the exact same product, and their listings have not been removed. Why is this?”
eBay’s response,”Please note that our prohibited items policies cover tens of thousands of products. Further, auctions are listed continuously. By the time we remove a prohibited item, a new prohibited item is listed. Therefore, at any given time, you will see prohibited items listed on eBay, but it does not mean they are allowed. We try our best to proactively monitor the site, but we know that is not nearly enough. Therefore, we encourage members to report prohibited items when they see them. The reporting process is very simple; all you have to do is choose the category and enter the item numbers. If you come across a listing that seems questionable, we ask that you report it to us. Lastly, it’s important that you do not treat the action taken on your listings personally, but rather as an informational alert to make you aware of our policies. Your account is still in good standing with us at eBay. Thank you for your patience and understanding.”
So, there you have it. Just because you see an item listed on eBay doesn’t mean it is technically allowed. If you are selling on an international eBay site, the rules are tricky and confusing, so be careful. Following the herd isn’t always a good idea.
This is a follow-up post to my June 28th post, “How to Use Video in eBay Listings.” Many of you have contacted me for more specific information about using video and exactly how to include a video in your listing.
I personally have only used YouTube videos in my listings, but all you really need is the code to embed in the HTML section. Using a video in an eBay listing is the same as using one in a blog or on any other website.
The cool thing here is that eBay ENCOURAGES sellers to use video in their listings. Why? Video helps sell your item so everybody wins.
If you are selling a new consumer item, you can use a TV commercial already uploaded to YouTube. This is perfectly eBay legal. Professionally made commercials will help sell your item. Hey, the advertisers have put big bucks into producing those commercials for use on TV. Why not take advantage of a huge corporate budget to help sell your item? Using a previously uploaded TV commercial will save you time. Let the commercial do the selling for you - why reinvent the wheel if you don’t have to? Read the exact steps involved in adding video to your eBay listing.
Be sure to read eBay’s Video Links Policy and understand all of the restrictions before posting a video on your listing.
Article writing is a technique used by bloggers to generate traffic to their blogs. eBay sellers can also this technique for increasing traffic to their stores. There are many sites where you can submit articles for publication on the internet such as eZine Articles, Articles Base, and Go Articles. You are not paid to submit articles, much like you are not paid to write your own blog, but there are several advantages to article writing.
First, these are quality links on quality sites. Article writing is much different than throwing up a bunch of your links on groups and forums. Take a look at my bio page on eZine Articles. I’ve only been submitting articles for about a year, and started as a way to direct traffic to my eBooks on eBay (when eBooks were still allowed). You can see that my articles have had over 15,000 page views in about 13 months. Not a bad return for submitting about 3 articles a month during that time.
Second, if you have a speciality niche, you can find potential customers looking for your product. Customers seeking what you sell may find your articles online when using search engines to find your product. For example, if you sell BMW collectibles, you can submit articles about BMWs. Some of your readers will end up in your eBay store for a look.
Third, article writing is free advertising. Just write some decent content that is related to what you sell online, and include your link at the end of the article.
Fourth, the purpose of these article sites is to serve as a source of content for eZines, newsletters, blogs, and websites. Article writing is viral marketing at its best - you want your articles to be picked up by other people and posted in as many places as possible on the internet. So, write your articles, put them out there, and let them take on a life of their own.
Learn more about how to write articles for the purpose of generating traffic for your eBay store.
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