Online Auction Fraud

Online Auction Fraud

by: Steven Woodward

As the ecommerce industry continues to grow, so does internet fraud. Most people aren’t aware that the fastest growing segment of internet fraud isn’t identity theft but rather online auction fraud and itกs not just buyers who are being ripped off but sellers as well.

eBay sales may have grown 51% last year over the previous year, but general online complaints jumped by 66.6% over the previous year to some 207,000+ complaints in 2004. The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), stated in its yearly report that 71.2% of all complaints received pertained to auctions.

Online fraud is a growing problem on the internet and the auction segment is far from immune. The IC3 reports that most complaints consist of late or no shipment of products, items that don’t match advertised condition and bogus payment or escrow services.

If you decide to offer กall items to be shipped within 24 hoursก, make sure you keep your word, and go to great lengths to honestly represent and describe the item in your auctions. Your bidders will appreciate your honesty and it will eventually show up in your feedback.

As consumer fears increase, there are a number of common sense ways to help protect you from fraud, as well as enhance your reputation as a trustworthy seller and set you apart from the crowd.

Watch Out for Bad Checks, Money Orders and Cashiers Checks

Years ago I had a buyer who complained rather loudly when I didn’t ship an item as soon as I received the check in the mail. In hind site it was a good decision to hold the shipment since the check ended up being fraudulent. Bad checks, money orders, and cashiers checks are rampant in ecommerce today. The simplest way to offset the danger of bad paper is not to ship the auction item until the check, money order or cashier check clears your bank for payment.

Overpayments

Never accept any overpayments for any item. One of the more popular scams today is for a buyer to send a cashiers check for an amount that is higher than the agreed upon final price. They then claim it was in error and ask the seller to kindly return the overage when the item is shipped. Off goes the item, the overage amount in good money, and the defrauded seller finds out too late the cashiers check was fake.

Use an Escrow Service for High Priced Items

The primary purpose of escrow services is to protect buyers and sellers from fraud. Basically what they do is to accept the money from the buyer and hold it until the buyer receives and approves the merchandise. Please note that fake escrow services are increasing on the internet. If a buyer contacts you after a sale and recommends an escrow service you are not familiar with BEWARE. At present eBay only recommends one escrow company: www.escrow.com. For information go to http://pages.ebay.com/help/confidence/paymentescrow.html

Records, Records, Records

Keeps a copy of every transaction detail from the original auction listing to the last email. You will need that kind of proof to validate your claims if you should find you need to file a complaint.

Protect Yourself by Being Educated

At the very least you need to be knowledgeable about your legal obligations as a seller and familiar with the fraud protections and policies for the auction sites and payment processing services you use. eBay and Paypal have extensive sections on their websites dedicated to fraud policies and protections. You should take the time to read through these or similar information pages for the sites and services you use on a regular basis and be very familiar with the material. A few of the key recommendations from Paypalกs Protection for Sellers section include:

Ship only to the address listed on the Transaction Details page

Use a shipping service with tracking

Check out the buyerกs reputation

Accept payment from only one Paypal account per buyer

Limit credit card payments

Enhancing Your Safe Seller Image

Here are a few tips that will help improve your image as a safe seller for your bidders.

Identify Yourself Make use of the about me pages to let your customers know who you are, how long youกve been in business and how much their business means to you. Be honest.

Feedback Ratings Auction buyers want to see 100% positive feedback.

Methods of Payment Make it easy for your customers to buy but consider convenience, cost and security in choosing any payment method you offer.

Full Disclosure Your auction listings should clearly state the condition of the item you’re auctioning, your shipping/insurance and return policies.

Bonding programs A number of bonding programs are available on the internet. One of the more popular is BuySafe (www.buysafe.com). In a bonding program the seller agrees to certain obligations such as shipping on time, representing the item correctly, and standing behind the transaction. In return the seller can display a seal on their auctions showing bidders they are honest sellers and providing transaction insurance in some cases up to $25,000.

Other programs you should be familiar with include:

IDVerify

SquareTrade

Truste

If You Become a Victim of Online Fraud

You need to know exactly what should be done in the event you are victimized. Make your plan now, before it happens. The most recommended steps to take if you are victimized are listed below but please keep in mind these are general recommendations and you should have you own plan based on your needs.

File a complaint with your auction site

File a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission

File a complaint with the IC3

File a complaint with the National Fraud Information Center

Contact your local and state law enforcement agencies

Contact the local and state law enforcement agencies in the perpetratorกs home area

File a complaint with the shipping company you used

If the perpetrator is a business and a member of the Better Business Bureau you should also file a complaint there.

Further reading

Paypal Seller Protection Policy (go to your Paypal account)

FTC recommendations http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/online/auctions.htm

To read the entire 2004 IC3 Internet Fraud Report http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/strategy/2004_IC3Report.pdf

More Important Fraud Links

Find Your Local Police http://www.usacops.com

FBI Internet Fraud Unit http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.com

FTC Internet Fraud Unit https://m.ftc.gov

USPS Mail Fraud http://www.usps.com/postalinstpectors/fraud/

About The Author

© Copyright 2005 Steven Woodward All Rights Reserved

Steven Woodward is the owner, editor and publisher of the Auction Sellers Network (ASN); a web site for individuals and companies who are serious about utilizing the online auction marketplace for their business. In addition to topical articles, ASN provides an extensive resource center, news feeds, member forums and classified ads. For more information or to become a member please visit http://www.AuctionSellersNetwork.com.

No permission is needed to reproduce an unedited copy of this article as long the About the Author tag is left intact and included. We do request that we be informed where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered.

This article was posted on April 04

by Steven Woodward

Remove These Objections and Watch Your eBay Auctio

Remove These Objections and Watch Your eBay Auctions Fly

by: Brian McGregor

กObjectionก is a term taken directly from sales and marketing training, and it is important you understand the significance of objections to your sales process.

Objections are those points, sometimes small issues, which make a bidder or a buyer think again about going for your offering.

In your auction description you need to remove as many of these objections as you can.

These are the kind of objections which your prospective buyers will have.

Objection 1

Is the seller trustworthy?

The buyer usually doesn’t know you. If they’re serious bidders they will check you out. How will they do this?

a) A good Feedback Rating will be one way they assess you. Be determined in getting your feedback up, and making it all positive.

b) They might also click through to your About Me page. This page gives you the opportunity to convey your personality and your honesty.

One of eBayกs standard About Me page formats lets you display your recent feedbacks always useful and also your other auctions, again useful. This is in addition to anything about yourself which helps to show what a sincere and genuine person you are.

And finally, if you have a web site from which you sell products or services, you are allowed to place a direct link to it from the About Me page. This is in marked contrast to your auction description page, where eBay does not allow direct links to web pages. So, create an About Me page and incorporate the points mentioned.

c) A prospective bidder may wish to ask you a question. As you will know, there is a standard eBay facility whereby a bidder can ask a seller a question. You should really welcome questions. Why do I say this?

Well, if a bidder asks you a question, first of all you know they are interested in your offering. They wouldn’t have wasted their time on typing out their question to you if they weren’t. So, by asking you a question they are qualifying themselves in as a real prospect. And you now have the chance to directly influence them in your reply to their question. Depending on the nature of their enquiry, you have the opportunity to convey your integrity, honesty, credibility, fair mindedness, helpfulness, expertise, knowledge, other appropriate products etc.

So, if questions are such good things, why not make it easy for the bidder to ask one? Always have some text in your auction description offering to answer any questions, with a link to your email address. If you have a little knowledge of HTML coding you will know how easy this is to do. It is far better than simply relying on buyers finding the standard กAsk the seller a questionก link provided by eBay.

d) You might consider a moneyback guarantee, if itกs appropriate and you can กaffordก it.

Why would you or should you do this?

Well, when you think about it, in online auctions, the buyer is normally asked to take all the risk. They usually pay the seller up front before the item is delivered to them. The risk is all theirs that the seller doesn’t perform.

To some buyers, particularly on higher value items, this risk is so high that it can cause them to have second thoughts about bidding. You know you are trustworthy, but they don’t. By offering a moneyback guarantee you are offering what is known as กrisk reversalก. You are taking the risk off your buyer. In effect you shoulder the risk.

I know this works, because I use it myself. In thousands of auctions Iกve run, I can count on one hand the number of people who have invoked my money back guarantee.

If you can practice กrisk reversalก, it will help your auction success rate, and it is vital on Dutch auctions.

Objection 2

How do I pay?

Always maximise the number of payment options you will accept.

You should provide different types of payment options for your buyers:

PayPal

Nochex

FastPay

Cheque

Postal Order

Bankerกs Draft

Bank Transfer

Cash

You can accept credit/debit cards on your auctions if you open accounts with relevant payment processors. These enable buyers to pay you with a credit/debit card even though you aren’t a business, and you don’t have what is known as a Merchant Account.

As you probably know, PayPal is owned by eBay. Therefore eBay make it really easy for you to take PayPal payments from your buyers. But don’t forget other payment processors, like Nochex and FastPay. It might just be that your interested buyer only has a Nochex account, or a Fast Pay account.

Opening accounts is free. Paying anyone via PayPal, Nochex or FastPay is also free which is why so many auction bidders and buyers use them. There are charges for you as a seller, however, and these are incurred when you receive money and/or when you transfer money from/to your PayPal, Nochex or FastPay accounts from/to your own bank account. Check out the respective fees via their web sites.

In my experience, the rates of charges are reasonable for giving you the significant advantage of being able to accept credit/debit card payments on your auctions.

If you are selling low value items, say less than £3, it may be prudent to add a small sum or percentage to the final sale value to cover this.

Speaking personally, I never ask the buyer to incur additional charges for using PayPal, Nochex or FastPay. (You will now realise why itกs called removing an objection!) I take the view that buyers who wish to pay by credit/debit card should not be discouraged in any way and a surcharge of this nature might just prevent them from bidding or buying.

If you don’t have PayPal account and youกd like to create one, click here.

If you don’t have Nochex account and youกd like to create one, click here.

If you don’t have a FastPay account and youกd like to create one, click here.

As I mentioned, they’re free to set up.

Objection 3

Is delivery expensive?

Always fully describe your delivery details within your auction description. Be up front about delivery costs.

If bidders or buyers aren’t given this detail within the auction description, they may become suspicious that the seller is hiding something, and therefore decide not to bid. There have been occasions where sellers have sold items at what appear to be cheap prices, but have inflated delivery costs to compensate, or even over compensate. Never do this!

There is no reason why you cannot say up front how much P&P will be. You can find out the real delivery costs of the company you plan to use. You can get these details from their website.

Once you have the postal costs you can add the appropriate handling and packaging costs, and there you have the figure to let your buyers know in advance that you’re not hiding anything.

You have just removed another doubt in your prospective buyerกs mind.

Objection 4

What happens if the item arrives damaged?

In your auction description you should cover your policy in relation to damages and insurance.

If you’re selling higher value items you may wish to consider using a delivery service which includes insurance. Remember, even though the buyer has paid for it, the item is your property until it is accepted by the buyer. So if it is damaged in transit, this is your responsibility. You will have to arrange a replacement or a refund, and claim your costs back via your insurance.

Don’t forget, if you do need to have enhanced insurance cover, it is perfectly reasonable to include this is in your delivery costs as shown in your auction description.

Objection 5

How professional is someone who has multiple spelling errors?

It is very unreasonable for any bidder to overlook your auction just because you have spelling errors. Isn’t it?

However, they may believe someone who won’t take the trouble to get their spelling correct might be equally unprofessional elsewhere.

You and I might consider that stance to be unreasonable. With spell checkers available, however, thereกs no reason to have any spelling errors creeping through on your auction page.

So, spell check your auction description page please.

Objection 6

What do I do now?

You should always กask for the orderก. In other words, suggest to your prospective buyer that they make a bid today for this valuable, rare, stunning, limited edition item!

And remind them that when they win the item they will be enriched by the strongest benefit you have already identified to them in your auction description.

Objections Summary

If you spend time removing these objections, you will be repaid handsomely. I can guarantee you will receive more genuine bids for each of your auctions than if you had left these points hanging for the bidder to ponder and make assumptions.

About The Author

Brian McGregor specializes in showing website owners how to make more money from their sites by applying inventive and original use of eBay. For a free copy of ‘The eBay Traffic Funnel’ which shows you how to use the power of eBay to make more money with your website, visit http://www.moreauctionsales.com/websites

[email protected]

This article was posted on January 19, 2005

by Brian McGregor

7 Steps to Easier eBay Shipping

7 Steps to Easier eBay Shipping

by: John Lenaghan

If you’re like me, you probably hate packing and shipping the things you sell on eBay.

Don’t get me wrong, I love selling on eBay. I just don’t like the shipping part. I find it monotonous to hunt for boxes, wrap the items, drive back and forth from the post office, and all the other steps involved in shipping.

Then thereกs the waiting for the buyer to receive the item. Has it arrived yet? Did it get damaged in shipping?

It took me a lot of trial and error to figure them out, but the following 7 steps will help make your job easier when it comes to shipping, as well as get rid of the stress of waiting for the item to be delivered to the buyer.

1. Professional Wrapping

When you wrap your item(s), wrap it professionally in nice, clean tissue paper. If breakable, be sure the item is wrapped with bubble wrap as well. Include a business card with your website information, name, address, or a printed statement showing the item(s) name, item(s) number, price paid, and a small handwritten note thanking the buyer for their purchase.

2. Insurance

Insurance is usually a good idea but in general, it should be an optional feature, with the decision left to the buyer. Remember two important things about insurance. First, insurance is VERY inexpensive. Therefore, in your description, you should state how much insurance would cost and recommend it. Second, you should also state in the description that if insurance is not purchased, you are not responsible for lost or damaged items.

3. Weighing

In order to provide accurate details and help in determining shipping costs, you need to know exact weights. The best option, which will save you many unnecessary trips to the post office, is to purchase a inexpensive quality scale for weighing your packages.

4. Postage

Instead of always running out of stamps or having to run to the post office to ship a smaller item, fill out the information located at stamps.com where you can print stamps directly from your home computer.

5. Post Office Freebies

If you use the Priority Mail option through your post office, they will provide all your supplies for free. This includes boxes, labels, and tape. Best of all, they deliver all these supplies directly to your door. Get them at your local post office or go to USPS.com request mailing supplies.

6. ShipTo Locations

Be sure to consider where you will ship to carefully. You will have buyers from around the world but you can limit where you will ship. Some people prefer to ship to the US, Canada, and European countries while others ship anywhere. The option is completely yours but keep in mind that there are some differences in how you wrap the package, the currency exchanges, and communication barriers between you and the buyer.

7. Delivery Confirmation

Unfortunately, some buyers will try to say they paid for an item but never received the auction item(s). When shipping, you should consider using delivery confirmation. This service is generally inexpensive and can end up saving you a ton, especially if the item(s) is higher priced.

Do yourself a favor and put these tips into action youกll save yourself both time and hassles. Use the time you save to get more listings up, and watch your eBay income grow.

About The Author

John Lenaghan offers success tips for eBay and other online auctions at the Online Auction Advisor website. Visit http://www.onlineauctionadvisor.com for more ways to improve your buying and selling on eBay.

This article was posted on September 08

by John Lenaghan

5 SureFire Ways to Make More Money on eBay

5 SureFire Ways to Make More Money on eBay

by: John Lenaghan

Have you ever dealt with a salesperson or a waiter who gave you unbelievably good service? How about someone who didn’t seem to care about you one bit?

Which of those people would you go back to the next time you needed to make another purchase or eat another meal?

Iกm willing to bet you would go back to the business or person who gave you great service. Have you ever considered that this same principle applies to your eBay sales?

One of the easiest ways to get more sales on eBay is to make every buyer think กWow, Iกve never had such a good experience buying on eBay!ก

Once someone has bought from you and had a good experience, they’re much more likely to buy from you again. They already know they can trust you, you ship quickly, your descriptions are clear and honest, and all the other things buyers wonder about when dealing with an unknown seller.

Use the following 5 tips and watch your repeat business go through the roof…

1. Quick Response

When you have an item listed on eBay and a potential buyer contacts you with a question, respond quickly. Itกs important, and actually critical to your success to check your email several times a day. Answering a question quickly could be the difference between you getting the sale or the buyer going elsewhere.

2. Accurate Listings

When you list your items on eBay, write an accurate description. You don’t have to write long paragraphs or rambling information, but provide exact measurements, colors, condition, etc. Be honest and precise when it comes to your description.

3. Buyer Contact

Once your items have sold, be responsive to the buyer. Contact them as quickly as possible after the auction has ended, thank them for their purchase and provide the required information for payment.

4. Sending Items

In your description, provide accurate details regarding shipment. Make sure the items are sent within the time you stated. In many cases, people purchase something for a specific purpose and if you don’t ship it when stated, not only do you mess up their schedule but you have probably lost a customer and opened the door for negative feedback.

5. Shipping & Handling

You should always charge actual shipping costs, or at most a little extra to cover the cost of your shipping materials. There are a number of shipping calculators that can be added to your description so people can calculate their own shipping. Another option is to state that you will provide actual shipping at the end of the auction, based on the destination. Overcharging your customers for shipping and handling is frowned upon and will often result in unhappy customers.

Itกs always a good idea to include a thankyou note with every item that you ship. It can be on a business card or something larger, whatever you prefer.

Of course your thankyou note will also include the address to your eBay listings and a friendly reminder for your customer to check back regularly for more of your great deals and exceptional customer service…

About The Author

John Lenaghan offers success tips for eBay and other online auctions at the Online Auction Advisor website. Visit http://www.onlineauctionadvisor.com for more ways to improve your buying or selling on eBay.

This article was posted on August 31

by John Lenaghan

5 Things More Important to Internet Buyers than WH

5 Things More Important to Internet Buyers than WHAT You’re Selling II

by: Dr. Lynella Grant

Web commerce is all about courtship, not salesmanship. In life, a suitor can’t go from first date to the engagement ring in one afternoon. Courtship is an intricate dance, where each party contributes to the relationship at a measured tempo. Trust grows through gradual exchanges and reassurances.

Yet, the typical salesoriented Web site urges the visitor to jump to commitment right away. Pushing for them to กBUY NOW!ก is not only premature, but a misapplication of the fact that visitors are in a hurry. Developing a relationship can’t be rushed or skippednot if you intend to lead them to the alter (sale). Buyers want and need to proceed at their own pace.

Each request you make of a visitor กcall, read, subscribe or buyก requires a higher level of commitment. So back off the hard sell, and instead weave the steps into a sensuous dance that respects them and invites a lasting relationship. Itกs possible, if you follow these five points that buyers care about.

1. How well they’re treated

The mood of the site should be welcoming, geared to assist the customer finding what they’re looking for. Trust grows as you minimize their sense of risk. And make no mistake, the buyerกs risks are greater online. Recognize them and reduce them as much as possible. Theyกve been conned, burned, or faced nondelivery of purchasesnot to mention abuse of their credit cards or privacy information.

The Internet works because people feel anonymous. People are understandably leery about revealing personal information. So every aspect of the site needs to say, กyou’re safe hereก along with, กlook at all the interesting things we have to show you.ก One fast move and that skittish deer will bolt.

Web commerce has several inherent disadvantagesshipping charges, delays until products arrive, lack of handson assessment, etc. When buyers encounter other disadvantages as well, whether itกs unacceptable policies, or added costs, they treat them as a deal breakereven if itกs just a little bit more.

2. How efficiently the buying process went

Assuming your site sells a tangible product, the buyer has to be able to assess its looks, materials, uses, and value without being able to touch it. This can be accomplished much better with some products than others by use of photographs and descriptive copy. But a buyer still takes a chance as to color, size, quality, and suitability. Sales sites need to know their customersก concerns so well that they anticipate what they need to know.

Design the site for ease of scanning and logical organization that presents information so it will guide and inform.

3. How much aggravation they had to endure

Hereกs where poor navigation or slow download times cost you sales. (Navigation problems are a main reason why site visitors leave.) They won’t stay at a site where they can’t easily find the answers they want. And if they have to wait too long for pages to load, forget it. Internet users are extremely time sensitive. The high percentage of abandoned shopping carts (as much as a quarter) proves that the payment process can defeat all efforts to motivate the buyer. These are กalmostก sales, where sloppiness got in the way.

Getting through some payment procedures confounds even experienced surfers. How many payment options do you provideanywhere from Paypal to fax your order? Credit cards are convenient, but not always the purchaserกs preferred choice. How intrusive are the questions (yes, we know about fraud avoidance)? When the goal is building trust (in both directions), how many กwe don’t trust youก signals does your site send?

4. How many mind games were played on them

The primary products sold on most web sites are hype and high pressure. Unfortunately, thatกs not what buyers are looking to buy, and why conversion rates online are so abysmally low. The quality of typical sales copy is aggressive, designed more to trick than inform. It seems like the sales letters were drafted from the same manual.

Aggressive tactics are so widespread that effective, customerfriendly copy can actually stand out. So get rid of the กgotchas.ก Customers dread them, and then relax once they don’t find them. Mind games don’t end after the saleกs complete. Be alert for delivery, security, and privacy lapses that could creep up after the sale.

5. How well the business has its act together overall

Behind the computer screen are untold elementsefficient links, quick loading, glitchfree credit card processing, the respect for the visitorกs time, etc., that reveal the companyกs priorities. Unless all the parts work with a consistent goal and degree of care the buyer experiences whiplash. Sour notes (small potatoes signals) are trivial in themselves, but break the momentum toward purchasing. They’re easily eliminatedonce you know to look for them. To learn how, read the helpful articles at my site, http://www.giantpotatoes.com

Give yourself extra points for postsale follow up. Hereกs where Internet sellers can shine because of autoresponders and customeroriented email. Don’t just use such tools for making the sale. Use them to build relationships and added value after you get their money.

Dance Your Way to Profits

Courtship is necessary to develop a lasting relationship.

The pace of the dance should reflect the giveandtake necessary to build trust. Don’t sell the buyer, court him with a wellpaced dance.

This is Part II of a twopart series. Part I can be read at: http://www.giantpotatoes.com/article201.htm

© 2004, Lynella Grant

About The Author

Dr. Lynella Grant is an expert on the signals that make up the กbody languageก of a business. Author of The Business Card Book and Stop Looking Like Small Potatoes Visit http://www.giantpotatoes.com Off the Page Press (719) 3959450 mailto:[email protected]

This article was posted on March 02, 2004

by Dr. Lynella Grant

eBay Tips

eBay Tips

by: Adrian Kennelly

For just a moment, try to comprehend the power of the Internet. Every day, there are millions of people from around the globe กsurfing the web.ก

People run their business from the Internet, search for love, research succulent recipes, plan vacations, and best of all they SHOP! People that shop are always looking for a bargain, not just any bargain, but something spectacular.

The most popular public auction site, eBay, is where people gather to find anything from dishes to jewelry to houses and just about everything in between. Last year there was even a mother sold on eBay!

You can purchase amazing original artwork from China, have it signed by the artist, and shipped directly to your home. Perhaps you are trying to find 12 yards of Toile to reupholster your couch. You might even be looking for a new lawnmower or different power tools. The great news is that eBay has it all!

The other side of buying is the selling. Anyone can sell anything on eBay. Open an account, list your product, and wait for the bids to start coming in. There are secrets to being a power seller on eBay. While it is true that anyone can sell, to be successful, you need to know the inside secrets. One woman made over $250,000 last year on items sold on eBay. She is just one out of thousands and thousands of people that make a ton of money just selling merchandise.

Are you ready to learn how to be an eBay seller? You will find it to be easy, fun, and exciting.

1. Collectibles

Hot sellers on eBay are collectibles such as coins, stamps, or dolls. You can check out the collectibles category to get a better idea of what people love to buy. Anything that will move up in value would fall in this category.

2. Consumables

This popular category would include anything that people use and then would need to buy again such as lotions, perfumes, camera film, candles, etc.

3. Information Products

In this category, you would sell anything that can be sent on a CD or floppy disc or downloaded from the Internet. This is another popular category.

4. Start at Home

When you first get started, it can be a little unnerving. The best option is to start by looking around your own home. Think of items that you would sell in a garage sale. However, instead of pricing each item and lugging it outside hoping for a nice sunny day, you can advertise them on the Internet.

5. Just eBay

Although there are several other quality auction websites, eBay is by far the most popular and most successful. Although you could start using all the other sites, by spreading yourself out too thin you take the risk of getting things mixed up. In reality, it is better to use eBay and focus your attention and efforts on this one site. You will not be disappointed.

6. Look Around

Navigate through each section to familiarize yourself with all the different pages. You will find a site map and help tab, which are very useful tools. It will take a little time to get used to the site but start by looking. As you start selling, navigating will become much easier.

7. Quick Response

When you have an item listed on eBay and a potential buyer contacts you with a question, respond quickly. It is important and actually critical to your success to check your account several times a day. Answering a question could be the difference between you getting the sale or the buyer going elsewhere.

8. Trustworthiness

It is extremely important that you handle your account with integrity. The number of positive comments and amount of stars earned are what will be the deciding factor for many buyers. Be professional, polite, and stand by what you sell.

9. Accuracy

When you list your item(s) on eBay, write an accurate description. You do not have to write long paragraphs of rambling information but provide exact measurements, colors, condition, etc. Be extremely precise when it comes to your description.

10. Buyer Contact

Once your item(s) have sold, be responsive to the buyer. Contact them in a quick manner, thank them for their purchase, and provide the required information for payment.

About The Author

Adrian Kennelly

This article may be freely redistributed and reprinted as long as this resource box remains intact.

To read the rest of this guide free, please vist http://www.onlineauctiontips.net.

This article was posted on September 14

by Adrian Kennelly

Why AutoResponders can be Legally Required

Why AutoResponders can be Legally Required

by: Brian Kindsvater

Do you market your products or services via the Internet to customers in California? Many businesses do, but hardly anyone is aware of a little known law in California that is intended to keep customers from being scammed by unknown website operators.

And one effect of the law is to make it more likely that you will need an autoresponder to comply with your disclosure requirements.

In a nutshell, before selling to California residents you must disclose your real name and address. California buyers are also entitled to receive that information by email, and it must be provided within five days of their request.

Here is what the law says. California Business and Professions Code section 17538(d) states in part:

กA vendor conducting business through the Internet or any other electronic means of communication shall do all of the following when the transaction involves a buyer located in this state:

(1) Before accepting any payment or processing any debit or credit charge or funds transfer, the vendor shall disclose to the buyer in writing or by electronic means of communication, such as email or an onscreen notice, the vendorกs return and refund policy, the legal name under which the business is conducted and, except as provided [ in other sections ] the complete street address from which the business is actually conducted.

(2) If the disclosure of the vendorกs legal name and address information required by this subdivision is made by onscreen notice, all of the following shall apply:

(A) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall appear on any of the following: (i) the first screen displayed when the vendorกs electronic site is accessed, (ii) on the screen on which goods or services are first offered, (iii) on the screen on which a buyer may place the order for goods or services, (iv) on the screen on which the buyer may enter payment information, such as a credit card account number, or (v) for nonbrowserbased technologies, in a manner that gives the user a reasonable opportunity to review that information. The communication of that disclosure shall not be structured to be smaller or less legible than the text of the offer of the goods or services.

(B) The disclosure of the legal name and address information shall be accompanied by an adjacent statement describing how the buyer may receive the information at the buyerกs email address. The vendor shall provide the disclosure information to the buyer at the buyerกs email address within five days of receiving the buyerกs request.ก

The best way to make sure that this disclosure information is provided, and provided in a timely manner, is to setup an autoresponder.

There are good resources available that will help you select the best autoresponder for your needs. One is located at http://affiliatemegaguide.com/autoresponderreview.shtml and the other is at http://autoresponderreview.com

One simple solution is to include an appropriately placed statement that customers can obtain the information about your company by emailing a request to a specified email address. That email address is setup with an autoresponder to automatically return the requested information.

Complying with the law can be easy. Knowing what laws need to be complied with can sometimes be the more difficult task.

Copyright 2004 Brian Kindsvater

About The Author

Brian Kindsvater has been marketing online since 1994 and Brian Kindsvaterกs legal articles can be found at http://lawzilla.com

This article was posted on September 23, 2004

by Brian Kindsvater

Selling Your Online Business Something To Think

Selling Your Online Business Something To Think About…..

by: Richard Grady

I was fortunate enough to spend a weekend in Monte Carlo recently and being surrounded by the luxury yachts and other symbols of extreme wealth got me thinking about retirement 🙂

Ok, I know, I am far too young to retire but one day I may well have had enough of working online (or indeed working!) and may want to sell my website businesses and of course, this is the case for any other business owner.

Which brings me to the subject of this article the ideal time to think about selling your business (and this applies to an online business as well as offline) is long before you actually want to sell it. Preparing a business for sale is not as straightforward as you may first think, especially if you want to get the best price possible. A business that has been set up in a formal and structured way, with specific operating procedures etc in place is always going to be more attractive to a potential buyer than one which is run on a more กinformalก basis.

Usually the easiest time to put these structures and procedures in place is when the business is first set up of course, you can always add to them as the business develops and grows but a bit of time spent on this area in the beginning will pay huge dividends later on.

One of the biggest problems that I see with online businesses (from the point of view of reselling them in the future) is that they are often so กpersonalก. By this I mean that the website owner has built a business based around his/her own experiences and knowledge and this means that throughout the site there are numerous personal references. I am guilty myself and several of my own sites are built entirely on my experiences and this is reflected heavily in the website content.

Now, this is certainly not a bad thing because the content that I have been able to develop with my experience and knowledge is valuable and earns me a good living BUT what if I wanted to sell my websites? It is unlikely that a buyer would want to purchase a site that had a reference to กRichard Gradyก and กhis experiencesก on the majority of pages, which would mean that every reference to me on the site in question would have to be amended in some way. Because of the way that much of my content is written, this would, at best, involve a major revamp of the site and at worst might actually affect the sales of the business (who knows if the กnewก copy would sell as well as the original?)

It is a tough call. In an ideal world, I would have set my website businesses up to be a bit more กcorporateก this would mean that the websites gave the impression of having a company rather than an individual behind them. However, if I had done this in the beginning, would my sites be as successful as they are today? My feeling is perhaps not I know that many of my customers have bought from me because they can relate to the situations that I found myself in as they are going through a similar situation themselves. Had my sites represented a faceless corporation, then perhaps my customers would never have become customers in the first place?

I am not sure I have the answer to which is a better approach personal or corporate there are advantages and disadvantages to both. However I can make a few suggestions as to simple things that you can do early on in your businesses life which will definitely help you when/if you eventually want to sell it:

Keep accurate financial records one of the first things a prospective buyer is going to want to know is how much money a business is making. It is no good just telling the buyer a figure and expecting him/her to believe you your claim will need to be supported with documentary evidence. Also, don’t fall into the trap of thinking that you will start keeping records once the business is making a decent income that could be a year away and if you wait until then, you will have effectively กlostก twelve months worth of your businesses history. A buyer will be far happier if they can see how a business has grown from day one rather than having accounts that start partway into the game and show an immediate turnover of $100,000. (The taxman will also be far happier with complete records!)

Open a business bank account so many people start off by running their business finances through their own personal account. This means that it can be very difficult to see which transactions relate to the business and which relate to the weekly household shopping bill. A business bank account is key to the business history and for the same reason as you should keep financial records from as early as possible, you should have a separate business bank account.

Ensure that tax returns and other formal requirements are submitted on time if you are keeping accurate records then there should be no reason why your business tax returns cannot be submitted (and paid!) on time. As well as saving you from being fined, it will also look good to a potential buyer who wants to buy a business that has filed late returns every year and is regularly fined for late payments?

Speak to a business broker at least one year before you want to sell a business broker will handle the sale of your business for you but it is important to get them involved in the sale process as early as possible. Doing this at least a year before you plan to sell is a good idea because it will give you time to put in place any suggestions that they may have as to how your business can be made more attractive to potential buyers.

Of course, the one thing you shouldn’t do is get hung up on making your business attractive to future buyers the first priority is to get it earning you some money 🙂

Copyright 2004 Richard Grady

About The Author

Richard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. Find out more about Richard at: http://www.thetraderonline.com Free wholesale search engines: UK http://www.wholesale118.co.uk and US http://www.thewholesaletrader.com.

This article was posted on October 07, 2004

by Richard Grady

Use Targeted Decorating To Get A Higher Price For

Use Targeted Decorating To Get A Higher Price For Your House

by: Neeraj Varma

This article will show you how to sell your home quicker, get a higher price for it by using smart decorating techniques.
The secret is to make your home feel like กmy homeก, for the buyer.
When a potential buyer walks into your house, she is wondering if this house will กfeelก like home after they are settled in.
The problem is that If you are going to decorate your house so it will กfeel like homeก for someone else, what kind of people will you aim to please? Arranging your house to create a specific feeling is a communication issue.
In order to communicate effectively, you have to know who you are talking to. Since you don’t know who is going to walk through the door to look at your house, you have to make some assumptions.
Think about what kind of family would be ideal for the house. Consider what their occupation would be. How big is their family? How old are the children? What kind of lifestyle would they lead?
People who live in an area often have a similar lifestyle. They have similar values, income, family circumstances etc., so they feel attracted to the area.
In your thinking process, consider what kind of lifestyle your neighbours have. Consider their income levels, shopping needs, schools, parks etc. Also, think about your own lifestyle, attitudes, likes, dislikes about the area and how much you enjoyed your time in your house.
Use all this thinking to create a clean, cosy feeling that makes you feel good. Write out a profile of the ideal family living in the house. Create กpocketsก of ‘themedก spaces to help them envision themselves living there. Do up a two to three page collage of yourself and your neighbours enjoying a barbecue, going bike riding, enjoying your back yard or other activity. Make a pictorial map of schools, parks, recreational centres, libraries etc. Give people a copy of your กlifestyle profileก when they come to see your house.
The stronger they กfeelก that they will really be at home here, the more they will want to buy. A strong desire to buy gives you more leverage in getting a higher price.
Your buyer would not be willing to lose กjust the right houseก over a difference in mortgage payments of less than $50 per month. You can calculate mortgage payments at http://www.mortgageratecanada.com/canadianmortgagecalculators.html
For a complete, stepbystep resource for creating beautiful and inspiring rooms, even if your time and budget are limited go to http://www.netmanecommerceguru.com/decorating
Warm regards, Neeraj Varma

http://www.mortgageratecanada.com

email: [email protected]

About The Author

For FREE info on selling your house for a higher price, email: [email protected] or go to: http://www.mortgageratecanada.com

[email protected]

This article was posted on June 11, 2004

by Neeraj Varma

Do your customers waste your time?

Do your customers waste your time?

by: Richard Grady

I saw a post on a marketing forum a few weeks ago and it was from a chap that had purchased a piece of software from a well known Internet marketer. After purchasing the product, the buyer had sent several emails to the seller with questions about how to install/use the software. These questions were answered and then followed up with several more emails all filled with further questions.

It turned out that the buyer was very new to computing and this lack of experience meant that he needed the seller to educate him in far more than how to use the software that he had purchased (ie. how to use Adobe Acrobat Reader, how to upload files by FTP etc). In the end, the seller refunded the payment that had been made for the software on the basis that he simply didn’t have the time to train the buyer on how to use his computer.

The forum post was basically a complaint from the buyer that this was an appalling way to treat customers and that it was outrageous that his money should have been refunded just because he didn’t know how to use his computer.

I have to say that I can see exactly where the seller was coming from. When someone buys your product (regardless of what it might be), then they are paying you for the product NOT for hours of consultation in how to use that product.

Of course, I am not saying that you shouldn’t offer some level of support with anything that you sell (online or offline) but there has to be a limit, otherwise you could end up spending your day training people to use their computers (or whatever).

I sell hundreds of eBooks every single month and the vast majority of buyers are fully capable of opening and reading .pdf files. If they are not, then most will take the time to read my instructions and within a matter of minutes will have educated themselves as to how to do it. Occasionally, I will get an email from someone who is having difficulties and I will do my best to resolve the issue. But what happens when one email becomes two, five or even fifteen? (yes, it can happen!) Suddenly, my $20 ebook sale is looking far less profitable because of the time that I have had to spend troubleshooting what is most likely a local issue on the users computer or simply that the user is doing something wrong. Both of these problems are very hard to resolve remotely and therefore, sometimes, it is necessary to take a step back and simply refund the payment. $20 buys an eBook, it doesn’t buy two hours of consultancy time.

Regardless of what you sell, you should give consideration to how you will deal with longwinded support issues that may end up costing you far more in time than you received in payment for your product. Many large companies charge for support for example, electrical products often have a กhelplineก that is charged at, say, 50p/$1 a minute.

Your customers are, obviously, responsible for your income but a very small number of them can be a huge drain on your resources. In my opinion, these are the customers that you can do without because you will never make a profit from them, you will simply end up being a personal consultant whenever something goes wrong.

Remember, I am not saying don’t offer support of course you should I do and wouldn’t dream of leaving paying customers without assistance if they had a problem. In fact, I help numerous people even when they have not purchased anything from me and it is this level of customer service that helps me turn subscribers/visitors into customers BUT there is a limit and at the end of the day, we all want to make a profit and you can’t do that if you are wasting your day training people for free 🙂

Copyright 2004 Richard Grady

About The Author

Richard Grady has been helping people earn online since 1998. Find out more about Richard at: http://www.thetraderonline.com

eBay sellers: http://www.theuktrader.co.uk & http://www.theustrader.com

This article was posted on August 26, 2004

by Richard Grady

The Benefits Of Having a Country Top Level Domain

The Benefits Of Having a Country Top Level Domain (TLD) Name

by: Steve Ashton

Most new websites tend to look for a domain name with a .com or .net tld (Top Level Domain). They feel this gives the site a more professional appearance and will appeal to a more international audience and in many cases this is true. However, it can also be beneficial to look at purchasing a domain name with a country specific tld.

There are a number of benefits that can be gained from choosing a domain name with a country specific tld, especially if you conduct your business primarily in one particular country.

Search Engine Benefits

Most of the large search engines will give you a higher search ranking for a site that has the tld of the searchers country. For example, if someone from the United Kingdom is performing a search for widgets, a search engine will often rank widgets.co.uk higher than other sites selling the same product but only have a .com tld.

Having a country specific tld will also allow you to be included in a lot of great country directories that stipulate that your domain name has a certain tld. Getting your site into these directories can be a great way of improving your search engine ranking as these are 1 way links from authority sites for your chosen subject. These kind of links are graded much higher than reciprocal linking.

Buyer Confidence

Having a domain tld will often give the buyer more confidence when making a purchase as they consider the site to be local, therefore governed under the same laws as the buyer. This makes it easier to follow up and sales and make complaints if any problems occur during the purchase of the product. It also helps to settle any nerves if the buyer is able to see a street address that they recognize, rather than a foreign address.

Sometimes the best policy is to purchase both a .com and a country tld. This allows you to appeal to both international and national customers. The potential sales that you can get with a country domain tld should not be overlooked as a small investment in an extra domain can bring big returns for you and your business.

Gather information about your customer before they start browsing

Another benefit of having a country domain name is that you already know where your customer is likely to be from. This means that you can display products for that particular customers region without having to ask the customer to select which geographic area they are in. When a customer types in their country domain, you can forward them to your main domain name but display only products that will be of interest to them and have all the prices in their own currency. This gives the site a local feel and will again bring that buying confidence that is so important when trying to make a sale.

Summary

I hope you’ve seen the importance of not overlooking this great opportunity to bring in extra customers, simply by choosing a country domain name or simply adding as an extra name that points to your main domain name.

About The Author

Steve Ashton is a programmer and web developer. He runs two popular websites, Web Hosting Guide and Domain Names Center.

This article was posted on January 13

by Steve Ashton

3 Elements to a DealSealing Classified Ad

3 Elements to a DealSealing Classified Ad

by: Donald Lee

Have you ever wondered why your perfectly fine classified ad fails to attract the attention you desire? There should be dozensno, hundredsof perspective buyers swamping your email inbox with offers. After all, you are offering a mint baseball card, a vintage coat, pristine used car, those wholesalepriced sporting goods, and whatever other attractive items are in your inventory. Instead, you only have a slow trickle of questions, a handful of sales. What gives? More than likely, your sales are slow because you have not mastered the three techniques of writing a classic classified ad.

Of course, give yourself credit for recognizing one important facet of todayกs selling world. You decided to sell your stuff at an online classified site. As anybody in the business knows, online classified ads get you more privacy, a broader selection of buyers, and a wealth of tools to help you keep tabs on your transactions. When compared to a newspaper, cyberspace is also a wee bit more spacious. There are billions of pages on the Web, and only a few dozen in your typical neighborhood rag. For you, that means a lot more space for your ad to say the least.

With that space, however, comes great responsibilityand great potential. The extra room gives you the freedom to include as much product description and sale copy as you want. You can’t just slap together a whole bunch of information, though. You need to use the three special ad writing techniques that will attract buyers and seal the deal: attention, interest, and action.

Attention. Make sure the buyer stops at your ad instead of the thousands upon thousands of others out there in cyberspace. Your adกs title is the first lure to grab his or her attention, and the first component of a catchy title is the itemกs best feature, whether itกs the price, the itemกs rarity, or its popularity. Next, be sure the title includes keywords or other synonyms for your item that a buyer might use in a search. For instance, a buyer could search for กautomobileก instead of กcar,ก กpulloverก instead of กsweater.ก

Interest. Once you have the buyerกs attention, hook them with details. There is a direct relationship between the amount of information you provide and the number of sales youกll make. So describe the item as completely as possiblesize, color, material, designer, modeland provide a clear, digital photo to finish the job where your words leave off. Even offer your prospective customer the itemกs history if possible.

Also, try to list as many possible benefits that your sales item could offer the buyer. Come up with some that the buyer probably wouldn’t think of on his or her own. And zone in on specific benefits. Use what you already know about your target. For instance, if you were selling a car, you know that whoever is looking at your ad is in need of a vehicle. If your car is compact, perhaps the buyer is in search of great gas mileage. Or perhaps itกs power he or she wants if your car is a sports model.

Action. Finish your ad strongly. Don’t just suggest to the buyer that you offer a great deal. Tell them itกs a fantastic offer that they can’t pass up. Use phrases like กCall me now before someone else doesก or กBuy now, this opportunity won’t last long.ก Be cordial while you’re pressing the issue, of course. Thank them for reading your ad and make sure they know you appreciate their business.

Most importantly, your customers will also value your honesty throughout the whole ad. So whether itกs the attention, interest, or action you’re shooting for, never lie or exaggerate. Go so far to include any defects if your product is not in mint shape. Your honesty will build trust, and trust above all else makes an ad work. Whatกs more, it makes for repeat customers.

Remember, if you use all three of these elementsor four if you include honesty. When you’re finished with it, it should read something like the two examples below.

Example 1:

Discover the beauty of a Forest Hill Home

2500 sq. ft. home, 4 bedroom, 3 baths, double garage, upgraded kitchen, 12 ft. ceilings

This open concept house is situated in a historical landmark district of Rhode Island. Itกs a wonderful neighborhood to raise your family, with nearby schools and amenities.

(Insert your image or photo here.)

Call for an onsite appointment. Thanks for looking!

Example 2:

Looking for an inexpensive used car that drives well? only $4,950.

2003 Honda Civic, Limited Edition, 65,000 miles, manual transmission, CD, AM/FM radio, power steering, low maintenance. Great on gas this car will save you $$$ on high gasoline prices.

(Insert your image or photo here.)

Send me a message now. Thanks for looking!

About The Author

Donald Lee is the public relations manager for Buysellcommunity.com. Buysellcommunity provides free classified listing services for individuals and businesses to market their products and services online. For global and localized classifieds, please visit http://www.buysellcommunity.com Free Buy and Sell Classifieds.

This article was posted on February 11

by Donald Lee