Found on the GeekZu Blog posted on Aug 9, 2010.
I’m always learning so much about eBay! Take a look at theses video game sales stats!
Video Game Stats from videogamepricecharts.com
Archive for the ‘Dropship on eBay’ category
EBay Company and Video Game Sale Stats
April 22nd, 2011Ebay Fee Changes
March 16th, 2011
eBay
Have you heard about the newest changes to eBay fees? I think most people are naturally hesitant to accept change. But eBay needed to change, so I hope these changes will improve their reputation with sellers and buyers.
Amazon has been sneaking up on eBay for years. Many buyers began to lose trust in eBay after being scammed by dishonest sellers. Sellers on the other hand tired of extra fees and eBay’s seller policies. After the change in fees were announced, many sellers are angry about the changes. Blogs outlining the changes and even eBay forums have overflowed with comments.
To me, these changes seem to be targeted at building trust with buyers and rewarding long-time and successful eBay sellers and at giving bigger discounts to higher rated sellers. But they also take part of their profit from seller shipping costs. Take a look at the changes for yourselves and let me know what you think.
1.Insertion fees are now free!
Making these free is a step toward simplicity that I welcome. Just keep in mind that extras like bold and italics will still cost a bit extra.
2. The final value fee is now 9% and caps off at 100 dollars. This will benefit some sellers more than others, but is aimed at encouraging all eBay sellers to offer free shipping.
3. The buy it now feature is free for up to 50 listings. Now sellers can try it our for free and determine the value of this option. Something tells me it must be valuable if eBay will give it away for free to encourage sellers to try it. They must feel confident sellers will be hooked after 50 listings.
4. Top Rated Sellers get a 20% discount off of final value fees (on item price portion only) It makes sense to reward people who work hard to keep their customers happy.
5. Paypal can hold the profits of new and low rated sellers for longer. Auction Bytes explained that,
“Those affected by the new Payment Holds policy will see buyer payments as pending in their PayPal account. Funds will be available 3 days after eBay receives confirmation of delivery when the seller uploads tracking information, or 7 days after the seller’s latest estimated delivery date if they don’t upload tracking but mark the item as shipped. If no shipping information is provided to eBay, funds will be available 21 days after the buyer pays.”
While it makes sense that more caution should be used with new and poorly rated sellers, I see this as being a little frustrating to new sellers since their profits depends partially on the customers speed of payment and how fast something ships. It will discourage criminals, but also people wanting to begin selling that have little or no feedback. I have to wonder if it will encourage new sellers to start business on other selling sites. Only time will tell.
To see mathematically how the changes will affect your profits please visit Auction Byte’s breakdown article.
For more about selling online please find us on Twitter @gogodropship and visit our company blog. Thanks!
eBay Crash Course: Feedback Effects
January 20th, 2010Feedback has an effect on reputation, sure, but what does that mean to us? Why should it matter what my reputation is; I can get by regardless… can’t I?
The short answer is: no. The longer answer is also no. Feedback is going to effect us on eBay in a variety of very real ways. Let’s first talk about the positive effects of Feedback.
High Feedback helps us in the following ways:
- First, you need at least 10 Feedback to have access to many of the more advanced listing options.
- You need at least 100 Feedback to become an eBay Powerseller.
- Consumer confidence; high feedback means high sales. People can trust you, and they’re not going to be afraid that you’re an unknown seller, and will shop with confidence.
In addition to the Feedback requirements, a Powerseller needs to have near-perfect DSR, which means you need to score perfectly whenever a buyer of yours rates how well you did as a seller. The positive feedback will help confer the multitude of powerseller benefits, and is a key part of accomplishing your long-term eBay goals. You should always strive to reach powerseller status if you are working on eBay, and feedback is an integral piece of that game plan.
Bad Feedback can hurt us just as much as good Feedback can helps us. Bad Feedback:
- Can cause us to lose our Powerseller status. You need near-perfect DSR if you want to be a Powerseller, and once you start slip and getting back Feedback, you can lose it all.
- If you gain more Negative Feedback than Positive Feedback, you will actually be blocked from seeing a lot of listings!
- Buyers are not going to be interested in buying from us if we have a proven bad track record. They can see our Feedback history, and if it isn’t pretty, they’re not going to stick around and try to deal with us!
We are going to live and die based on Feedback on eBay. If we have positive Feedback, we will be rewarded. If we have negative Feedback, we will be punished. It is as simple as that. We should strive towards perfection as much as possible with eBay, as it will be to our benefit. Stay tuned next week, and we’ll continue our crash course on eBay!
Ebay Crash Course: Feedback Introduction
January 19th, 2010Dropshipping and eBay is a powerful combination, but many people do not know many of the basics involved with working on eBay. Feedback is a crazy esoteric term, and everything seems poised to overwhelm and undermine us even as we begin. However, with a little perspective, we can find eBay is actually pretty manageable, once you learn the ropes.
First and foremost, when you think of eBay, the savvy customers out there think feedback. We had talked about feedback before, but I wanted to go into a bit more detail on Feedback, and its significance to us as new eBay users.
eBay, as we know, is a behemoth on the internet these days. There are literally tens of thousands of transactions going on hourly, and eBay quickly came to realize that it was fast growing infeasible to try and track all this information on a case by case basis, if not outright impossible. In this position, you typically have one of two options available to you: let chaos reign, or try to keep some semblance of order. eBay opted for the latter.
The concept of Feedback is simple: you have a “pass/fail” metric by which you rank a transaction, and the buyer and the seller involved both get to have their say. By keeping things strictly as Positive or Negative, there is no guessing. There is the eBay DSR rankings that allow us to get more in-depth, but as far as the transaction itself goes, you either did your job, or you didn’t.
It was a great way to keep the buyers and sellers on eBay in line; you were at the mercy of whomever it was you were directly working with as far as Feedback was concerned. Your reputation itself was at stake with each and every transaction, so it was very important to uphold your end of the bargain, and ship promptly and as outlined, or pay promptly as promised. It helped impose some order onto an otherwise unwieldy environment, and it took off well.
Reputation is well and good, but what practical effect does that have on us as eBay sellers? Find out in our next article!
The China Problem
December 14th, 2009As we’ve worked within the wholesale and dropship sector, no doubt we’ve come across a lot of suppliers hailing from the far east… China, in particular. They offer us a glimmer of hope that the iPhone is not an unattainable dream, and maybe we can get those great Prada bags. However, as with all beautiful dreams, they do not typically stack up well when compared to the starkness of reality. When you find something that seems too good to be true, that is typically because it is.
When sourcing from Chinese suppliers, there are a few things that we need to be aware of. First and foremost, the copyright laws that we’re accustomed to in the United States do not apply to Chinese suppliers. They can market an in-house product as a name brand if they so desire, and there is nothing by their laws that has them at fault. This is what is called the “Grey Market”. It is not necessarily illegal in China, for instance, to market a non-name brand as a name brand, or to replicate an item exactly. However, we are still bound by the laws of our land, so if we’re unknowingly marketing the Chinese iPad as an iPod, it is we who will be in trouble for it. We will be flooded with returns almost immediately from our dropship website, but if we’re trying to source these counterfeit items on eBay, then we’re going to quickly find our accounts banned for it.
A second issue we run into is that the product that we’re purchasing may be coming from black market sources. Black market sales are strictly speaking illegal, and as such it will exist as an ephemeral thing. Since we are not receiving from our supplier a consistent source, when their stock is gone, it is gone, and even if we’ve placed the order, we have no assurance we’ll ever receive the order, or see the money again once its been sent.
Now, taking a huge leap of faith, if we find that the items we are receiving from our Chinese-based supplier are the real deal, we now have the logistic problem of getting it halfway across the world in a reasonable amount of time… and while still being able to maintain a profit. In recent years, tracking technology has made leaps and bounds when it comes to international orders, and we’re going to need to take full advantage of that. We will want to know where our item is exactly… because its going to be spending a fair span of time getting from the supplier to the customer. The shipping cost to allow for a more reasonable amount of time will typically be much higher than a buyer is willing to pay, and the increased cost of having to go overseas is going to eat into our profit.
The biggest thing to remember when sourcing from Chinese suppliers is that these problems lie directly on our shoulders; any instances that come up are our responsibility. eBay does not accept “I thought it was legitimate” as an acceptable excuse if we try and source counterfeit products from a Chinese supplier, and our buyers on our website also tend to be less than forgiving when their $300 iPad arrives at their door. It is our responsibility to ensure that our supplier is legitimate, but how will we do this?
Zen and the Art of Dropshipping and eBay
December 1st, 2009eBay and Dropshipping are two concepts that go hand in hand. To quote a great man, they’re like peas and carrots. Many people are afraid of eBay because it means we have learn how to weigh packages, stand in a line with the box at our local UPS Store, and generally spend a lot of time and undergo a lot of hassle once the listing ends just to get our money. Many others are concerned that if we try to build a dropshipping site, trying to work on eBay is just going to muck things up and cause everything to get complicated and confusing. While these concerns are not baseless, they are also often overinflated.
It is important to realize that even as we work to begin getting things set up with our dropship website and the business opportunities that presents, we can work with most of our suppliers on eBay. This is going to help eliminate ‘down time’ as we wait for things to get approved, and it also a great way to get a good insight into pricing and our market, as well as into the inner workings of our supplier. Not only that, by having a supplier to work with, we’re eliminating the dreaded post office line and shipping conundrum that scares so many people away initially. We get money rolling in, we get some hands-on experience with our supplier, and all from the convenience of our own home. A classic multiple birds, one-stone scenario if ever there was one.
But of course, as with all things it is not so simple a matter as to take no forethought. First and foremost, we have an exercise is proper dealer-supplier communication. We do not want to get our approval and account authorization completed only to jump right onto eBay and start selling; while many suppliers are glad to work with you on eBay, some have had bad experiences to sour them to the idea, and we want to find out quickly which camp our supplier lands in.
It would be very bad for us to start stepping on toes on our very first day with the supplier! We’ll need only communicate with them, be it with our account representative over the phone, or however our supplier likes us to reach them, and find out for certain. If we get the green light, excellent! If we’re told to put on the brakes, best we’re doing it now, rather than down the road and get in trouble.
As we do not carry the products we’re selling on eBay, we have to exercise an extra level of caution when utilizing a supplier for our eBay endeavors. We want to communicate with our supplier as much as possible, so we know where inventory levels stand, and if there are going to be any foreseeable delays. For instance, if the supplier says We’ll be down for two days for maintenance, we want to be aware of that, and plan our auction accordingly. Every bit of information we can get in regards to inventory, shipping times, and all of that fun stuff is going to be crucial in our success: remember, it is we who are responsible for the listing, good or bad, not the supplier.
The worst thing we can do is forget that simple fact, and start holding the supplier at fault for any snags that we run into with the listing on eBay; if we didn’t watch the inventory level, if we didn’t make sure that the lines of communication are open, it is we who are at fault, and it is we who will have to eat the negative feedback. However, with a little bit of planning, and a handy email plugged into our system or telephone number in our phone, we can avoid many of these problems, and reap the full rewards of eBay and dropshipping.
If at First You Don’t Succeed, You Should Have Contacted Your Dropship Companies
August 26th, 2009
Confucius once said, “success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”
In order to prevent such failure, always contact the dropship companies you intend to work with before assuming that they dropship the particular product you want to sell. When you contact wholesale dropship companies, make sure that you also ask about any fees associated with drop shipping with that supplier before you get in too deep.
Some of the fees associated with dropship companies are price mark-up, same price, and monthly fee. A price mark-up occurs when the wholesaler marks up the product after getting it from the manufacturer. A second way to charge a fee is by selling the product for the price they were able to get it from the wholesaler but then charging a fee for each time a product is drop shipped. A third way is to be charged a monthly fee and then you can sell the product as often as you wish that month at the price of the wholesaler, without any extra fee associated with it. The dropship companies you’re working with may use all or none of these fees. If they use all of them, the chances of making a profit off the products are very low.
I cannot stress enough, the importance of contacting the dropship companies in advance. You would never want to post something on eBay, for example, and make a sale only to find out that the dropship companies you are dealing with plan to charge you extra fees. For more information please visit GoGo Dropship.
What We Have Here is… a Failure To Communicate
August 19th, 2009As we’ve touched on before, communication is a key factor in developing a successful relationship with your dropship companies. This is of particular importance when you’re setting up your account with the dropship companies, but what many people seem to forget is that it remains just as important all throughout the tenure of your business!
One of the greatest disadvantages to dropshipping is that because you do not carry any inventory yourself, you are at the mercy of the dropship companies you use as far as shipping and stocking is concerned. In a particularly bad case, you could even find yourself with an order you have received, paid in full, but have no means of fulfilling it… the very definition of crisis!
However, that doesn’t need to happen. Most of the novice dropshippers’ problems come from simply forgetting to stay in contact with the dropship companies you are using. If they’re overloaded with orders, you want to know this! You need to know just how long they normally take to respond, or ship out an order before you start getting business flowing to them. You may not be able to control how they operate, but you can keep in communication with them and even try having a few sample items get shipped out your way in order to have a good understanding of just what your customers will need to expect when ordering items.
There’s a little extra cost involved, and a bit more work, but it is better to know all that you can about how your dropship companies operate, and keep in constant communication regarding inventory levels or just general levels of business, rather than remaining in the dark and possibly out of luck should an order fulfillment hit some bumps in the road. Plan in advance and keep the communication lines open and active, and you’ll do well in avoiding many sticky situations!
Dropship Companies: Your Road to Success
August 17th, 2009I would like to somehow debunk the myth that drop shipping on eBay is not a possibility. Throughout time, civilization has only grown through opposition and effort, this does not exclude drop shipping. Some would say that, when confronted with a little opposition, one should turn tail and run the other way. I would like to submit that nothing is gained without first putting forth effort.
There have always been times of vast opportunities. Perhaps the opportunities have changed a little over time but the number of them has not. Opportunity is created through effort so who is to say you cannot succeed by drop shipping on eBay using dropship companies. Give it a shot; we have proof at www.gogodropship.com that profit can be made through the use of eBay and good dropship companies.
Live your dream of being an entrepreneur by starting off selling on eBay and see what happens. You can’t lose anything by using dropship companies; you don’t even have any inventory to worry about. All you need to do is set up an eBay account, find a good dropship company to set up an account with, and start selling on eBay. Of course, as in all business, you are going to want to communicate with the companies you’re working with and keep that contact open. Always make sure the company has inventory in stock and that they can drop ship that inventory to your customers, before you list the product on eBay. Dropshipping on ebay is merely a way to put forth effort to get yourself on the road to success, your destination is up to you.
eBay Drop Ship and eBay Feedback Scores
July 31st, 2009What is eBay feedback?
Ebay members are asked to rate the people they are doing business with. Both the buyer and the seller have an opportunity to rate their counterpart with positive, neutral, or negative feedback scores. This feedback score appears on the users feedback profile as well as by the users name.
Positive feedback adds one point to the feedback score of the recipient. A positive feedback usually results from great customer service, shipping on time, quality products, and the quality of the experience in general.
Negative feedback takes away one point from the recipient. Too much negative feedback may result in a horribly negative score which would prevent anyone from wanting to do business with you. Too much negative feedback may result in the failure of your eBay drop ship business so be very careful and give great customer service.
Why is eBay feedback so important?
Your feedback score is so important because it gives your counterpart an impression of your business dealings. For example, I have a friend who started an eBay drop ship business with a good friend of his. My friend decided to sell his portion of the company to his business partner. Unfortunately, my friend was the one keeping up the good feedback score. Once he left the company, the feedback score plummeted and the company was in trouble. Eventually, nobody wanted to buy products from them.
Long story short, good standing is very important if you want to eBay drop ship. If you do not have a good standing, you may as well give up on drop shipping on ebay.
