Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Verticals

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation: Verticals Wholesale Order Entry center – overview for consultant

by: Andrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has substantial market share and strong support by Microsoft on the US market. Currently we see the trend in the vertical markets when companies with custombuilt accounting application, usually written on legacy platform are switching to standard and proven ERP solution and customize or tailor it to fit their vertical market requirements. We’ll be publishing series of vertical articles: Logistics, Distribution Centers, Warehouse Management, Barcoding, Shipping/Receiving, eCommerce, EDI, Wholesale. Today we’ll give you Wholesale tailoring scenario

Sales Order Processing improvements to work with large number of wholesale order takers:

Sales Order Processing stand alone Great Plains Dexterity application, which works with Microsoft Great Plains SQL databases to feed in orders. This application, written as from scratch Dexterity application doesn’t requires hundreds of Great Plains user licenses and will work with SOP tables with improved functionality

Online Sales History by Customer. If you are order taker and this is wholesale business – each customer has certain level of negotiated price, which it is comfortable to pay. Also this customer is ordering known set of products from you. It is nice to have list of historical items he ordered in the past several months and their negotiated prices

Recommend Items to your customer. You can easily design items to recommend logic, when you link your new items or related items with the items your customer is usually ordered. This is how Amazon book sale works!

Sales People Competition. In addition to the above online sales tools you can have average profitability of the item per period and by sales person (assuming negotiation scenarios). Here you can have logic implemented allowing certain level of negotiation room and variable commission, related to strong negotiation and sales skills

Considering Microsoft Great Plains – majority of the logic above is implemented and could be implemented in Great Plains Dexterity. Alternative platform would be Microsoft C# or VB.Net ASPX web programming with Microsoft Great Plains at the back end. You can use such tools as eConnect to work with Great Plains object creation and retrieving or go ahead with direct SQL Stored Procedure. To certain level you could use legacy technologies, such as Great Plains Modifier with Continuum for VB, VBA scripting, etc.

Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 18665280577 or 16309615918, [email protected]

About The Author

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies – USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 25

by Andrew Karasev

A Simple Ebay Money Making Trick Revealed!

A Simple Ebay Money Making Trick Revealed!

by: Dayne Herren

Let me guess, you hear of all these people making thousands if not millions on eBay and you are just completely baffled as to how they do it. Well, most of these people either sell high ticket items or sell hundreds and hundreds of specific กhotก items.

As you may know, finding items to sell on eBay can be tough and most of all, it takes time. You have to search through junk at garage sales and even thrift stores.

But what Iกm about to reveal to you will be an easy way for you to make some extra cash on eBay. It may even be enough to pay your mortgage or car payment. And best of all, it is very simple. You don’t even have to search your local garage sale or flea market for that hidden treasure to sell on eBay.

So here is what you do. First of all, you have to find a market on eBay that is buying. Take a look at expired auctions or current hot auctions. Once you find a hot subject, write up a 35 page report that gives solid content on that subject. If it solves a type of problem or explains กhow toก do something, even better. Sell your report on eBay for something around $2.99 to $5.99. Be sure to make your listing keyword rich so it gets viewed but the right audience.

Now, here is the part that may earn you even MORE money AFTER the sale of your report. If you haven’t heard of กaffiliate marketingก, then you are missing out! In a nutshell, affiliate marketing means that you sell someone elses product, and you get a percentage of the sale. There are multiple places you can sign up to start promoting other peoples products. A couple big ones that come to mind are cj.com, Linkshare.com, Clickbank.com and even Amazon.com. When you sign up, you find a product you want to promote, and then you you can pick either text links or banner ads to promote the product. When someone buy from that link or ad, you get paid. Plain and simple.

If you really want to make SERIOUS money on affiliate products, I would highly recommend you pick up your own copy of Rosalind Gardnerกs Super Affiliate Handbook. She makes over $400,000 a year just by selling other peoples products! She will show you exactly what to do to make great money. Go to http://dayne.us/affiliatehandbook.html and grab your copy.

The key to making more money off your report is to make sure you put in affiliate links within your report. I wouldn’t use more than two. I would advise using text links, that way you can blend them within the report text. Once you create your text links, they will be long, so go to www.tinyurl.com. This is a great site that can shorten the link for you.

Once you have your affiliate links shortened, blend them in within your report and hype them up a bit to promote the sale. But don’t overdue it. If you push it too much, people will realize that you are just trying to make a sale.

Lastly, when your report is complete with content and links, make sure you put in PDF format. If you don’t want to write the report yourself, just go to Elance.com and find someone who will write it for you. For a small report, it should only cost you around $20$40. Remeber, you can sell this report over and over again on eBay and you have exclusive rights to it!

Thatกs it! Now, you have the opportunity to make $5.99 from one sale on eBay and maybe even MORE with your affiliate links…and you didn’t even have to go hunting for items to sell! Just think if you get 10 reports selling on eBay. The profit potential can be huge!

About The Author

Learn how you can make THOUSANDS of dollars a month by selling other peoples products at http://dayne.us/affiliatehandbook.html.

Dayne Herren is a freelance artist, writer, and online marketer.

This article was posted on April 20

by Dayne Herren

An Introduction To eBay Consignment

An Introduction To eBay Consignment

by: Terry Gibbs

After I started selling on eBay, I was approached by friends without computers who wanted me to sell their items for them. They had heard stories about the outrageous prices items some ebay auctions brought. They knew I could get more money for them on eBay than they could get selling the items themselves. An added incentive to them was I did all the work. All they had to do is say กI don’t want this anymore, sell it for me;ก and within a few weeks I converted their castoffs into cash.

I was already selling on eBay, and I had developed a system for listing and dealing with sales that allowed me to list lots of items in a short time. The chance to make a few dollars without any investment was too much to pass up. I made some good money doing this and because I didn’t have to tie up my money buying inventory I was able to use it to grow my train business.

Consignment Selling Is The Perfect Way To Start Your Own eBay Business.

There are no set up fees or investments. You won’t need to risk your own money buying items to resell. You don’t need a detailed knowledge of antiques and collectibles. You only need to know how to find the right category, write an adequate description and take some high quality photos.

Selling on consignment allows you to learn about antiques and collectibles without risking your own money. By selling other peopleกs items you learn the value of items in the most practical way. By handling them and selling them. No matter how many price guides you read, and antique shows you attend, you will never get the feel for items until you sell them.

Free eBay Sellerกs Guide

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When you sell on consignment, you provide a service that makes your clients additional money. When most people sell something, they sell to a dealer who needs to mark up the item to make a profit. This is not what happens on eBay.

On eBay the END USER is the buyer and will always pay more than a dealer would. Even after paying a consignment fee, the seller makes more money.

This is the true benefit of eBay consignment selling. Finding the END USER. Before eBay this was a difficult and daunting process. With eBay, a simple listing placed in the correct category, with a good description and some high quality photos, is enough to get a few END USERS to fight over the item.

Things You Need To Succeed With Consignment Sales:

1. You need to take possession of the items. When you sell items on consignment you risk your eBay name and reputation. You take these risks when you sell your own items, but you are in complete control of your actions. In order to lower your risks you need to get complete control of the items you are going to be selling. This prevents sellers from changing their minds, and allows you to ship the items as soon as you receive payment.

2. You should always have a written contract. One of my friends was sued by a consignor who felt the commission was too high. The consignor agreed to pay 20 percent of the selling price, then when the item sold for $8500, got upset about paying $1700 to someone for doing 30 minutes of work. While my friend won in court, it would never have gotten to court if he had a written contract.

3. Youกll also need to perfect ways to get items. At first your friends and coworkers will provide you with a good stream of salable items. After a while this stream will dwindle and you will need to go out and find consignors. This is not as difficult as it may seem. Remember, by consigning with you, the seller gets more money than they would otherwise.

Learn more about ebay consignment at: http://www.iwantcollectibles.com/consign5.html

About The Author

Terry Gibbs is a collector/dealer of old toys and trains, and teaches others how to buy and sell antiques and collectibles. Gibbs is the author of two best selling eBay books ‘the Auction Revolution,ก and ‘the Complete Guide To eBay Consignment Sales.ก He has also written numerous other books about buying and selling antiques and collectibles. Learn more at his website: http://www.news.iwantcollectibles.com.

This article was posted on March 22

by Terry Gibbs

Make Online Auctions a Home Business

Make Online Auctions a Home Business

by: John Lynch

Everyone is aware of online auctions nowadays. We all know someone who has bought or sold something on an Ebay online auction site. But how many people know that this hobby can be turned into a profitable business?

The fact is online auctions are a new kind of home based business created by the Internet with no capital investment and no risk.

An online auctions business has the following advantages:

No startup costs.

No financial risk.

Work whenever you choose.

Targeted customers brought to you by auction sites such as Ebay.

No technical skills required.

Startup in 5 minutes.

How do I start an online auctions business?

First, if you are not familiar with the process of buying and selling, you need to understand how auctions operate. By far the biggest online auction site is Ebay (http://www.ebay.com), boasting millions of users worldwide.

However, this is the tip of the iceberg. Other popular auction sites include:

Yahoo Auctions http://www.auctions.yahoo.com

uBid http://www.ubid.com

OnSale http://www.onsale.com

QXL http://www.qxl.com

Start off by buying an item yourself to get the feel of how it is done. This will give you an overall insight into the process of registering with the auction site, bidding, paying for your goods and the delivery arrangements.

Don’t Feel Forced to Buy

As a buyer you should not feel pressured into buying something that you know is overpriced because you think it is the last item. There are many online auctions and there is a good chance that you will come across the same item at another site.

Leave Your Bid Late

Experienced online buyers will leave their bids until the last few minutes before an auction closes to prevent the price being driven up too high.

Use Automated Bids

If you don’t want to spend a lot of time waiting for an auction to close, you can use an automated bidding service such as eSnipe (http://www.esnipe.com). You can open a free account and type in the auction number and the amount you want to bid. ESnipe can then place a lastminute bid for you just before the close of the auction. If you win the bid, you pay eSnipe a small fee and if you lose you pay nothing.

Search for Misspelt Items

Savvy buyers know that many items listed for sale at Ebay are misspelt. You can use this to your advantage by searching for wrongly spelt items. You will have far less competition as most people search for correctly spelt items.

Once you have bought something and paid for it, you will know how the auction process works from the buyerกs point of view. This is vital as it will give added insight into how you can provide good customer service when you set up your own business.

So now that you have bought and paid for an item on an online auction, you are ready to sell something yourself as a first step to setting up an online business.

At this point, most people look around their own homes to rid themselves of some unwanted items for which they have no use. This is a good way to get started. When you list your item on auction sites, make sure you provide a photograph. This will grab the attention of the buyers.

Description of Goods

A good description of your กfor saleก items is essential. Give all relevant details including technical specifications and dimensions where necessary.

Guaranteed Refund

Give a guaranteed refund to potential buyers to reassure them of your integrity. Most buyers and sellers on the Internet are honest but there are a few rogues, and buyers like to be reassured.

Positive Feedback

Getting positive feedback from your previous customers is the best way to prove you are trustworthy. Always request feedback politely after a successful sale.

Reserve Price

Set a reserve price to ensure that your goods do not sell for less than you want. Make it reasonable. If you set it too high, you will not receive any bids.

Payment Options

The more payment options you offer your buyers, the more likely you will be to make a sale. Ebay auctions offer the online payment transfer system Pay Pal (www.paypal.com) which is free to set up. Credit cards also offer security and are popular.

If you intend to set up an online auctions business, it is best to specialise in a niche which is a little out of the ordinary. Thereby facing less competition and guaranteeing your profitability.

Setting up an online auctions business can become a reality for anyone who is prepared to do the necessary research and put in the effort. The enormous interest in auction sites created by the success of Ebay has provided huge numbers of targeted visitors ready to part with their cash for a great variety of goods.

(C) John Lynch 2003

About The Author

(C) John Lynch 2003

Visit http://www.merchantaccountservice.com/auction_ebay.html for a Free auctions course on how to start a successful online auctions business from home.

This article was posted on October 24, 2003

by John Lynch

Game Theory, Nobel Prize & Auctions Auction Prim

Game Theory, Nobel Prize & Auctions Auction Primer Series – Part 1

by: Steven Woodward

The Auction Primer Series is a group of articles to help further educate sellers about auctions; their history, strategies for use, and provide a comparison of various auction sites and types. In Part 1, we look at the more common type of auctions in use today.

William Vickrey, highly regarded as the founder of auction theory, was an economics professor at Columbia University when he published two papers outlining his views on auctions:

กCounterspeculation, Auctions, and Competitive Sealed Tendersก, 1961, Journal of Finance

กAuction and Bidding Gamesก, 1962, Recent Advances in Game Theory

In 1996 he received a Nobel Prize ขfor fundamental contributions to the economic theory of incentives under asymmetric information.ข It’s important to understand that asymmetric information is an essential component of auctions, where potential buyers have varying levels of knowledge about the value of the item.

Although Vickrey considered his work on auctions as กone of my digressions into abstract economics, at best of minor significance in terms of human welfareข, to those of us who work with online auctions, much of what he outlined is useful to understanding our marketplace.

Vickrey identified 4 general types of auctions:

English

Dutch

Firstprice sealed bid

Secondprice sealed bid

English Auctions

The most common type of auction is the English Auction, although it may also be known as an ascending price auction. In ascending price auctions each subsequent bid is higher than the previous one. This is the most popular type of auction for single items.

Although traditional ascending price auctions use a ขsoft closeข format where bidding continues until a final bid is placed, the majority of today’s online auction sites use the ขhard closeข format also known as a ‘time intervalข auction having a set time limit, regardless of ongoing bidding. It’s important to note that in a ขsoft closeข format, bid snipping, that is bidding during the last few seconds or minutes on an item, is eliminated since the auction stays open as long as bids are being made.

In an attempt to minimize bid snipping and provide more of a ขsoft closeข characteristic to their ขhard closeข auctions, eBay allows bidders to use ขproxy biddingข. In proxy bidding, a bidder enters the highest price they are willing to pay for an item when they first bid. The bid begins at the lowest possible level and increases automatically only if their original lowest bid has been beaten. For more indepth information on the ขproxy bidding capability on eBay go here. http://pages.ebay.com/help/buy/proxybidding.html

Amazon.com currently offers a feature for their auctions called ขGoing, Going, Gone.ข The Going, Going, Goneข feature extends the end of an auction for 10 minutes if a bid is placed effectively creating a ขsoft closeข. For more information on the ขGoing, Going, Goneข feature on Amazon go here. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse//1161360/10316661898415007#goinggone

From the buyers standpoint a ขhard closeข format is preferable since they may be able to make a final bid before others can react, possibly winning the auction at a lower price.

For sellers, a ขsoft closeข format provides an opportunity to realize the maximum price for an item by removing the time restrictions for an auction. As long as bidders are bidding the auction remains open.

Dutch Auctions

As you may have guessed, the concept of the Dutch auction originates in the Netherlands. Unlike English auctions which utilize ascending price methods, Dutch auctions are descending price auctions and are commonly used when multiples of the same items are to be auctioned. In a Dutch auction the bidding starts at a relatively high price which is driven progressively downward by bids.

As an example of a Dutch auction let’s say you had 10 items you wanted to sell for $20 each.

Bidder A bids $18 for 6 items

Bidder B bids $17 for 5 items

The final result is:

Bidder A would receive 6 items for $17 each

Bidder B would receive 4 items for $17 each

Please note that most Dutch auctions allow bidders to refuse an order for a lesser number of items than what they bid on. A ขsoftข or ขhard closeข format may be used in Dutch auctions although the most common is the ขhard closeข.

Firstprice Sealed Bid Auctions

Sealed bid auctions differ from the English and Dutch in as much as the bids are not announced to other bidders. The individual bid is only know to the bidder and the seller. This type of auction may be either buyerbid, where the highest bidder wins the item and pays the amount of their bid, or sellerbid, where the lowest bidder sells the item and is paid the amount of the bid. This form of auction is common for construction contracting, military procurement, foreign exchanges, and other types of goods.

Secondprice Sealed Bid Auctions

Another common name for secondprice sealed bid auctions is Vickrey auctions (named after William Vickrey) There is a slight variation to the firstprice auction for Vickery auctions. In a buyerbid auction the highest bidder buys the item and pays the amount of the second highest bid. Or in a sellerbid auction, the lowest bidder sells the item and is paid the amount of the second lowest bid.

The above descriptions provide a general overview of the most popular auction types in use today. Depending on the auction website these general categories may include a number of variations and options such as reserve pricing, open or closed venue, multiple items, fixed price and lot listings to mention a few. Before entering any particular type of auctions make sure you study and understand the rules for that specific type of auction, as the rules may vary from website to website.

About The Author

Copyright © 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 and member forums. For more information, or to become a member, please visit us at 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 in tact and included. We do request that we be informed of where it is posted and reciprocal links will be considered.

[email protected]

This article was posted on August 26

by Steven Woodward

Astonish your Customers With These Customer Servic

Astonish your Customers With These Customer Service Tips

by: Catherine Franz

Customer service today is getting worse. Win customers over and you build your business for life. Proven by the leader in the industry Nordstromกs. Nordstromกs customer service keeps improving and they continue to drive others out of business because of it. Here are six ways you can thrill customers and snatch a larger market share from your competitors.

…Offer to do an extraordinary favor

Example: A customer of a moving firm wanted to ship a kitchen table and chairs set to his son in a city 300 miles away. But the moving firm had a hefty weight requirement and a high minimum fee. The firmกs manager said he made regular trips to that city. So he offeredat no costto load the set in his station wagon and deliver it on his next trip.

…Under promise, over deliver

A wellknown air freight company promises to deliver a package by 10 am the next morningbut often delivers by 9 or 9:30 am. A local printing company always finishes the job before the due date. These are companies customers can count on.

…Give them a benefit they don’t know exists

If your business offers coupons for certain items, discount those items for those purchases even if customers don’t have the coupons.

…Put concern above profit

Only offer customers items they can use. Don’t sell them higherpriced products just to make a big sale. Youกll win the loyalty of customers if you look out for their best interest.

…Follow up after the sale

The most successful salespeople follow up regularly at scheduled timesnot when they have a spare moment. Help yourself follow up by keeping a log of commitments made and when you promised to keep them.

…Comfort customers in time of need

Letกs discuss this with an example. If a customerกs air conditioning unit blinked out on the hottest Saturday of the year. Have a backup plan for these type of emergencies. People never forget it when you ease their comfort and will become your biggest raving fan. Return their call no matter how busy you are or have a plan on how to handle these calls. Work later than normal or have someone parttime and oncall. Talk with them on how you can ease their comfort until you can make it there. Ask if they would like to go to the mall or a movie where it is air conditioned and you will call them when you arrive. It doesn’t matter if you are in the air conditioning and heating business or you’re a consultant, think of ways you can ease customerกs comfort. And don’t forget to advertise that as well.

About The Author

Catherine Franz, writer, speaker, marketing master, specializes in infoproduct development. More at: http://www.MarketingStrategiesToGo.com and http://www.AbundanceCenter.com. Including articles and ezines.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 21

by Catherine Franz

How to Have Your Own Online Party

How to Have Your Own Online Party

by: Terri Seymour

Online parties can be a successful and fun way to build your home business. These parties are similar to home parties except that you do not have to pay a small fortune for refreshments and snacks! 😉

You can have your party in a free or low cost chat room or you can have your party via email. Be sure and create a relaxed and fun atmosphere for your guests. We would recommend a chat room.

You can either recruit someone to host the party for you or you can be the host. There is also something called กMystery Host Partyก. This is where you draw or randomly select a guest to be the กMystery Hostก and receive the host benefits.

You will need to schedule your party. We have found that during the week is best unless it is winter. Then weekends can be a good time also. Give yourself plenty of time to plan and send out invitations.

Plan your specials. You definitely want to have some items on special. Maybe some that tie in with your theme, if you have one. Give a 25% discount on certain items, but make sure you leave enough profit as well. You could also offer a small free gift with all orders over $25, for example.

When it is time to send out the invites, email groups and message boards can be a great place to start. Send out the invitations (follow guidelines on this). Also invite friends, neighbors, coworkers. Let everyone know they can bring a guest or two or however many you like.

Have each guest introduce themselves and tell (type) a little about themselves. This will help bring the guests together.

You also want to make sure you have some fun and interesting games to play. And of course, for each game you will need prizes. Below are some popular party games:

*Scavenger Hunt make a list of several items and instruct your guests to find them on your site.

*Word Scramble Pick about 10 words from your site and see who can get them all right in the least amount of time. Let your guests know the words come from your site/business.

*Trivia Questions Write up a list of questions about your site/business.

There are many more fun, exciting games to play at your party! Make up your own if you like as well.

You, of course, will also want to spend some time presenting your products. If you offer home decor items, share some tips and ideas on home decorating with your products. If you offer aromatherapy items, explain the benefits of your products. Make your presentation fun, informative and relaxed. Let the quests ask questions and always be clear and candid with your answers.

The idea here is to relax, have fun, show your items and make new contacts/customers. If your guests have a good time and enjoy themselves, they will sure to come back to your next party! 😉

© Terri Seymour of www.seymourproducts.com

About The Author

Terri Seymour and her husband Terry offer a nocost, nonMLM home business opportunity. They strive to help you build a successful home business. They also provide a website building service. Take advantage of the gifts, resources & more provided for your home and business at http://www.seymourproducts.com FREE ecourse at: [email protected]

[email protected]

This article was posted on September 29, 2004

by Terri Seymour

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

21 Success Strategies of eBay Powersellers

21 Success Strategies of eBay Powersellers

by: David Espino

The online auction giant eBay has exploded on the Internet scene. Currently boasting over 29 Million members, eBay is one of the most visible and farreaching Internet companies in existence, with a large segment of the population either using the service, or at the very least, aware of it. Among the eBay sellers, there is a designation given to approximately 4% of the people. These are eBayกs กPowersellersก, a group of sellers that is distinguished by the amount of volume they produce. The entrylevel Powerseller, the Bronze level, does at least $2,000 a month in eBay sales, maintains a 99% positive feedback level and maintains their eBay account current. Higher award levels are granted at the $10,000 level, (Silver level) and at the $25,000 level. (Gold level)

What are some of the strategies and techniques that these Powersellers use?

As someone who achieved Powerseller status a little over a year ago and continues to study other Powersellers, Iกve compiled a listing of the 21 Success Strategies of eBay Powersellers.

Powersellers are serious Powersellers treat their eBay business just like they would any other business. They are deadserious about it. Look at any Powerseller operation and youกll find organized systems and กassemblylineก techniques being used. While a Powerseller may not have invested thousands of dollars into her operation, she treats it as if she has.

Powersellers are focused A Powerseller is focused on listing, packing and shipping, often on different days of the week. Their focus is as intense as that of a Corporate Executive or an Olympic athlete, because they are juggling various activities at the same time.

Powersellers are organized The Powerseller is organized, otherwise they wouldn’t make it to the level of Powerseller. Since Powersellers do a huge volume of listing, packing and shipping each month, they must develop processes to ensure that the items sold are delivered within a reasonable period of time and that customer satisfaction is always at the forefront.

Powersellers delegate Powersellers delegate because they have to! Their volume dictates that they hire an assistant to do some of the more repetitive tasks that don’t require the Powersellerกs attention. This way the Powerseller can focus on the important moneymaking tasks of product acquisition and marketing.

Powersellers use assembly line techniques The Powerseller has developed smooth running systems to make sure that product fulfillment is accomplished as quickly and efficiently as possible. This may involve setting up a large 4ก by 8ก table with bubblewrap and packing materials at one end, products in the middle, and boxes, labels and packing tape at the far end.

Powersellers use Dutch auctions Many Powersellers have graduated from selling oneofakind knickknacks found at yard sales and are now selling a volume of the same item through Dutch auctions. In a Dutch auction, a seller can place a large number of the same item up for sale. The bidders can bid on one or more of the item, but the highest bidders will be first in line to actually get or กwinก the products they bid on. So there is a possibility that if someone bid too low, they might not get a product. A Powerseller uses Dutch auctions often because it is a huge timesaver. This is a true กassembly lineก auction from start to finish. The packing and shipping goes a lot faster when the same item is being packed and shipped over and over again.

Powersellers do efficient work Another trait of the Powerseller is that they are extremely efficient, knowing that time is money. A Dutch auction is a great example of this efficiency. In the same period of time that it takes to list one item, you are listing dozens, or even hundreds of items! This timeefficiency is a powerful way to leverage your time and profits.

Powersellers กBulk Listก their auctions Bulk listing your auctions using a bulk listing software or auction management service will dramatically organize your time and allow your eBay operation to run a lot more smoothly. There are various options in this area, from eBayกs own กMister Listerก to Blackthorne software to Andale, and Auction Watch auction management services, there are a lot of options for you to look into. These services allow you to list your auctions at your leisure and then schedule them to go live on a certain day and time. This saves you the hassle of having to list your auctions on the particular day that you want them to go up.

Powersellers use clearly focused photos Powersellers have acquired their status by using clear photos or scans of the items they are selling and making sure that the photos show all flaws. In effect, along with all of the other skills they have acquired, they have also become semipro photographers! Many have built a กministudioก with optimum lighting and background, that is available at their beck and call for those quick shots when they need to email an additional photo to a bidder. The Powerseller usually has both a Digital Camera for photographing 3dimensional items and large items and also has a scanner for the paper items and flat items.

Powersellers use headlines with key words and no fluff A Powerseller resists the temptation to use กfluffก words like กL@@Kก, กWOWก and กMUST SEEก. Instead, the Powerseller uses descriptive words in the headline, realizing that the headline is the กad for the adก. A Powerseller is also กsearch engine savvyก, realizing that keywords in the headline are picked up by the eBay search engine. They are sure to load the headline with descriptive, key words that help the bidder determine if the item is what they are looking for and keeps out the กfluffก.

Powersellers write thorough and detailed item descriptions A Powerseller has achieved their level by maintaining a high ratio of positive feedback. This is primarily accomplished by having clear and accurate descriptions of the items so that the bidder can clearly กimagineก the item as if it were sitting in front of her. The art of writing a great item description involves an interesting mix of using กselling wordsก (such as กbeautifulก, กfantasticก, กintricately designedก, กgorgeousก, กspectacularก, กpowerfulก, กcolorfulก, etc.) along with describing the flaws in the item. A great description should entice the bidder to bid while at the same time providing full and complete disclosure of the itemกs condition. Your test of whether you have a great description or not is if it answers the following two questions well:

A. If I were to compare the description to the item, while holding the item in my hand, would it be an extremely accurate description? or would I have good reason to return the item?

B. Does this description entice me to place a bid on the item?

Powersellers give กBenefit of the doubtก customer service Customer service is such a cliched catchphrase in American Business today. In the eBay auction world, it is mandatory that you implement a very meticulous level of customer service. Powersellers have a clear reflection of their level of customer service in their feedback profile. One glance at any eBay sellerกs feedback profile and you have an instant snapshot of that individualกs customer service rating. (Imagine if regular กbrick and mortarก stores had a feedback rating posted at the front door!) This public feedback rating is both your best advertisement (if you provide great customer service) and can also be your downfall. (if you don’t) A Powerseller is constantly aware of this กsign at the front doorก and places a high priority on giving stellar customer service. I call it กBenefit of the doubtก customer service because even in those instances where the customer is clearly wrong, the Powerseller doesn’t argue or get into an emotional กwar of wordsก, she simply refunds the money or reduces the shipping cost or sends an unexpected gift with the package. The Powerseller realizes that business and ego don’t mix, they leave their ego on the table they go on to build lifetime customer relationships.

Powersellers have their own websites A Powerseller realizes that business conditions change. On the Internet, business conditions can change literally from quarter to quarter! Because of the transient and highspeed nature of change in the Internet business, the Powerseller realizes the value of having their own storefront on the Web. They have either built a website themselves or have had someone build a site for them. They have developed a following and a customer base through their eBay auctions that can help sustain them even if dramatic changes come about on their main selling venue. As eBay continues to evolve and change applying restrictive and invasive policies this will become more of a priority for all eBay sellers, not just Powersellers.

Powersellers make it easy for bidders to pay By offering a variety of payment options, Powersellers make it easy for winning bidders to pay for their items. They offer to accept Checks, Money Orders, all types of credit and debit cards through PayPal, Billpoint, or their own Merchant Accounts. By offering a wide variety of payment options, they open up their market of available bidders and end up with higher ending bids as a result.

Powersellers offer discounts on multiple items Whether it is a discount on shipping multiple items or a discount on the actual price of multiple items, Powersellers realize the value of a good customer and treat that customer special. Unexpected discounts tell the customer กYouกre specialก and build a reciprocity that keeps customers coming back or searching the Powersellersก auctions.

Powersellers are always on the lookout for great deals The Powerseller is the consummate กdealmakerก. Whether itกs at an antique store or at a swap meet, the Powerseller is always thinking about things they can resell. They find that popculture collectible and buy it. List it the same day and see the bid amount grow and grow. Part of the thrill of selling on eBay is ‘taking a shotก and listing items that you are not familiar with. Seeing the items shoot up in price is a fun and enjoyable hobby!

Powersellers do not mind making money! A Powerseller has no กissuesก with making money. Many Americans have been brought up with the notion that the only กrespectable wayก of making money is by working at a job for thirty years. Sales and selling is looked down upon. The Powerseller is way beyond that. They have a healthy attitude towards making money and it becomes like a กhobbyก to them! As new and strange as it may appear to the more traditional types, selling on eBay is one of the easiest and most lucrative ways to make a parttime income. The alternatives to selling on eBay are either too time consuming or too unrealistic. This กnewก way of earning an income is powerful and realistic.

Powersellers enjoy their workathome lifestyle Powersellers love the fact that they get to work from home while the rest of America sits on the freeway, waiting for their fellow กworkerbeesก to move. The freedom of having a Home Based Business is something the Powerseller relishes and appreciates. This enjoyment of the lifestyle has many tangible benefits better health, freedom of time, being able to spend more quality time with kids, attending their school functions and field trips, better scheduling of time (around the rush hours) and an overall feeling of wellbeing. There is no doubt, working from home is the wave of the future.

Powersellers are willing to invest in their business Whether it means investing in a highspeed cable modem or DSL connection, highquality computer components, including digital cameras, monitors, keyboards, etc. or whether it means buying a กFeatured Auctionก listing which will drive further traffic to their other auctions, the Powerseller knows how to use their money wisely. There is a difference between wasting money and investing money in your business. An eBay Powerseller knows when to กinvestก money into their business. Basically, anything that saves you time or saves you money is an investment in your business. As an example: A digital camera is a huge timesaver over taking traditional 35 mm photos and then scanning them.

If you go the scanner route, here are the steps you must take:

Buy film. (this takes driving time and money)

Shoot the photos.

Get the film developed. (this takes driving time, waiting time and money)

Inspect the photos for clarity and reshoot, if necessary. (this takes additional time and additional money)

Scan the photos (additional time)

Crop and edit the images

Upload the images to your webhost

The same actions using a digital camera are much more efficient:

Shoot the photos. (film purchase not necessary)

Inspect the photos for clarity and immediately reshoot. (no additional cost)

Crop and edit the images.

Upload the images to webhost.

The investment in a digital camera is one of the best ways to become a more efficient eBay seller! I paid a little over $700 for my digital camera about two years ago, it was the best time and moneysavings investment Iกve made!

Powersellers stay uptodate on auction trends and changes Because Powersellers take their business seriously, they constantly keep themselves up to date on the latest industry trends and changes. They do this by buying books about online auctions, participating in eBay Message Boards / Forums, and staying tuned to the eBay Announcements Board. They don’t want to be caught off guard with a new change or new policy that might affect their business.

Powersellers are always looking for better ways to do things Whether itกs listing auctions, packing and shipping, getting organized, or expanding their business, Powersellers are always looking to improve their online business. This is the nature of all successful business people, they want to improve their business constantly.

As the 4% of eBay sellers known as Powersellers continue to improve their processes, here’s hoping that the above strategies will be helpful reminders in improving yours!

About The Author

David Espino is the Author of Beyond eBay and Life In The Dot Com Lane.

To receive a free excerpt from the book Beyond eBay, visit www.HomeBasedBusinessowner.com

Email: [email protected]

This article was posted on February 1, 2002

by David Espino

Screen Scraping Your Way Into RSS

Screen Scraping Your Way Into RSS

by: Dennis Pallett

Introduction
RSS is one the hottest technologies at the moment, and even big web publishers (such as the New York Times) are getting into RSS as well. However, there are still a lot of websites that do not have RSS feeds.
If you still want to be able to check those websites in your favourite aggregator, you need to create your own RSS feed for those websites. This can be done automatically with PHP, using a method called screen scrapping. Screen scrapping is usually frowned upon, as itกs mostly used to steal content from other websites.
I personally believe that in this case, to automatically generate a RSS feed, screen scrapping is not a bad thing. Now, on to the code!
Getting the content
For this article, weกll use PHPit as an example, despite the fact that PHPit already has RSS feeds (http://www.phpit.net/syndication/).
Weกll want to generate a RSS feed from the content listed on the frontpage (http://www.phpit.net). The first step in screen scraping is getting the complete page. In PHP this can be done very easily, by using implode(file(กก, ก[the url here]ก)); IF your web host allows it. If you can’t use file() youกll have to use a different method of getting the page, e.g. using the CURL library (http://www.php.net/curl).
Now that we have the content available, we can parse it for the content using some regular expressions. The key to screen scraping is looking for patterns that match the content, e.g. are all the content items wrapped in <div>กs or something else? If you can successfully discover a pattern, then you can use preg_match_all() to get all the content items.
For PHPit, the pattern that match the content is <div class="contentitem">[Content Here]<div>. You can verify this yourself by going to the main page of PHPit, and viewing the source.
Now that we have a match we can get all the content items. The next step is to retrieve the individual information, i.e. url, title, author, text. This can be done by using some more regular expression and str_replace() on the each content items.
By now we have the following code;

<?php

// Get page
$url = "http://www.phpit.net/";
$data = implode("", file($url));

// Get content items
preg_match_all ("/<div class=\"contentitem\">([^`]*?)<\/div>/", $data, $matches);

Like I said, the next step is to retrieve the individual information, but first letกs make a beginning on our feed, by setting the appropriate header (text/xml) and printing the channel information, etc.

// Begin feed
header ("ContentType: text/xml; charset=ISO88591");
echo "<?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"ISO88591\" ?>
";
?>
<rss version="2.0"
itle);

// Second, get url
preg_match ("/<a href=\"([^`]*?)\">/", $match, $temp);
$url = $temp[ก1ก];
$url = trim($url);

// Third, get text
preg_match ("/<p>([^`]*?)<span class=\"byline\">/", $match, $temp);
$text = $temp[ก1ก];
$text = trim($text);

// Fourth, and finally, get author
preg_match ("/<span class=\"byline\">By ([^`]*?)<\/span>/", $match, $temp);
$author = $temp[ก1ก];
$author = trim($author);

// Echo RSS XML
echo "<item>
";
echo "\t\t\t<title>" . strip_tags($title) . "</title>
";
echo "\t\t\t<link>http://www.phpit.net" . strip_tags($url) . "</link>
";
echo "\t\t\t<description>" . strip_tags($text) . "</description>
";
echo "\t\t\t<content:encoded><![CDATA[
";
echo $text . "
";
echo " ]]></content:encoded>
";
echo "\t\t\t<dc:creator>" . strip_tags($author) . "</dc:creator>
";
echo "\t\t</item>
";
}
?>

And finally, the RSS file is closed off.

</channel>
</rss>

Thatกs all. If you put all the code together, like in the demo script, then youกll have a perfect RSS feed.
Conclusion
In this tutorial I have shown you how to create a RSS feed from a website that does not have a RSS feed themselves yet. Though the regular expression is different for each website, the principle is exactly the same.
One thing I should mention is that you shouldn’t immediately screen scrape a websiteกs content. Email them first about a RSS feed. Who knows, they might set one up themselves, and that would be even better.
Download sample script at http://www.phpit.net/viewsource.php?url=/demo/screenscrape%20rss/example.php

About The Author

Dennis Pallett is a young tech writer, with much experience in ASP, PHP and other web technologies. He enjoys writing, and has written several articles and tutorials. To find more of his work, look at his websites at http://www.phpit.net, http://www.aspit.net and http://www.ezfaqs.com

This article was posted on December 11, 2004

by Dennis Pallett

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