The Ebook Cavern Newsletter

This article was originally released in August 2006 and outlines how you can be sure you have resell rights to the ebooks which you are selling.

—–

Identifying resell rights in an ebook may seem like a no brainer. However, when I started selling ebooks on eBay I did not know how to be truly sure that I possessed the resell rights to an item I was selling. It’s a topic I overlooked until a customer asked me “How do I know if an ebook has resell rights?” I felt that it was a good question which I haven’t adequately addressed previously so here goes.

To ascertain whether you have resell rights to an ebook the first thing you should do is check the first few pages of that ebook for a resell rights notice. If you do have resell rights then you should find a notice such as “You have Full Resell Rights to this Ebook. You may resell it for any price you wish.” If you do not find a resell rights notice in the ebook then DO NOT risk reselling it. The person who sold it to you could be reselling it illegally. On the other hand they could be selling it legally and the ebook simply doesn’t have a resell rights notice, but it’s not worth the risk. If you do find a resell rights notice then the chances are that you do in fact have resell rights to the ebook.

However, beware as this is not always the case. Sometimes ebooks that do have a resell rights notice are not actually resellable. I have been contacted by eBay’s Vero department on a small number of occasions stating that they have removed my auctions because I did not have the resell rights to the item in question. I was under the impression that I did have resell rights to these ebooks. An example of this is David Blaine’s Mega Magic Ebook. Inside this particular ebook there IS a resell rights notice. However, eBay’s Vero department informed me that a certain magic company (I can’t remember the name), had the rights to the use of David Blaine in printed media.

In situations like this there isn’t much you can do. I recommend you remove the listing immediately (if eBay has not already done it) and then send an apology to the copyright holder explaining that you were under the impression that you had resell rights to the ebook, and if you knew the material was copyright you wouldn’t have listed it for sale.

The purpose of this article is to inform you and not to scare you. eBay’s Vero department have contacted me very few times regarding ebook removal / copyright violation and I am sure it is a rare occurrence for all eBay ebook sellers. However, by following the information in this article you should minimise the chance of eBay’s Vero department contacting you, and also know how to respond if they do contact you. Just remember the simple rules:

- No Resell Rights Notice - Don’t list the item for sale.
- If eBay Vero contact you - Apologise and remove the listing from eBay.

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Here’s yet another one from the archives. This discusses promoting your eBay store using Reviews and Guides.

—–

In my last article I discussed how to effectively promote your eBay store using your About Me page. In that article I outlined that it was one of the most underutilised promotion opportunities on eBay. Ebay Reviews and Guides are a new introduction by eBay, but are just as underutilised by eBay sellers as the About Me page. In this article I will discuss how you can utilise this excellent feature to promote your eBay store:

1) What is an eBay Review or Guide?:- A review is simply your own personal review of any product on the eBay market, for example a CD, DVD, book etc. You give the product a rating out of five and then write a brief personal review about what you liked, didn’t like etc. A guide can be on absolutely anything you are qualified to give advice on. I convert these newsletter articles into “Ebook Success” guides on eBay which complement my eBay store. However, guides don’t necessarily have to relate to your eBay store. If for example, you enjoy fishing then you could write guides related to fishing.

2) Why should I write an eBay Review or Guide?:- I would personally recommend writing guides over reviews. The reason for this is that when you write a review the only credit you receive is a small link to your eBay feedback profile. When you write a guide you receive a link back to your eBay feedback profile, eBay store, eBay About Me page, and some of your active listings. Anyway, whether you choose to write a review or guide, the reason for doing so is promotion. People reading your review or guide will be made aware of your eBay presence, may click on a link to one of your pages, and this may even lead to a sale.

3) What should I write my eBay Review or Guide on?:- As I mentioned earlier I write “Ebook Success” guides which are basically converted copies of these newsletter articles. However, the possibilities are endless. Just think of your hobbies, your job, or anything else which you know enough about to write a series of guides on. Everyone can write about at least ONE THING. Once you have found your topic, break it down into small, relevant guides. If you’re really, really struggling to find a topic for a guide, then write a review on a product that you own. Although the promotion will not be as great as the promotion you would receive from a guide, it still provides you with free promotion.

That’s all there is to it. Keep writing regular guides and if they are good people will rate them positively. The more positive ratings you get, the higher your reviewer rank gets. Also, the more guides you write, the more pages you have on eBay promoting your listings, your store, and your feedback. Since reviews and guides are relatively new and haven’t fully taken off yet, it’s best to get in now, while the majority of eBayers are not writing reviews and guides. That way when it takes off on a larger scale, you will already have a solid foundation upon which to build. To write your own eBay review or guide go to http://reviews.ebay.co.uk/. This is a promotional opportunity that you should not pass up. For five minutes writing, you can have a free, long term, promotional tool at your disposal.

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

*****

If you enjoyed this article and want to know more about generating traffic on eBay I highly recommend John Thornhill’s Auction Traffic Explosion which contains over 30 methods of generating traffic using eBay.

***** 

This one’s from June 2006 and discusses promotion via your eBay About Me page.

—–

In my last article I discussed various promotion strategies for your eBay store one of which was using your eBay About Me Page. Your About Me Page is one of the best ways to promote yourself on eBay. It allows you much more freedom than other eBay pages and there is a link to it besides your eBay User ID so every time you buy an item, place a bid etc, people may click on it. Despite this it is one of the most underutilised pages for the majority of ebook sellers. In this article I will discuss how you should be using your eBay About Me Page to effectively promote your eBay store:

1) Describe yourself and your Ebook Business:- At the top of the page you should describe yourself and your ebook business. Say a little about yourself, how you got into selling on eBay, and what you sell. Also say why people should buy from you instead of the competition. Examples could be that your eBay store is updated every week, your prices are low etc.

2) Link to your Feedback:- To prove that you are a trusted seller you should link to your feedback rating from your About Me page. Just include a simple sentence like “Click Here to view my feedback.”

3) Provide a Contact Address:- Buyers viewing your About Me page may want to ask more questions so it is only logical that you provide a contact address. Make it clickable for maximum ease to the customer. For example “You can contact me at any time at: sales@theebookcavern.co.uk.”

4) Provide a direct link back to your eBay Store:- Not all the visitors to your About Me page will have found it through your eBay store. Some may not even be aware that you own an eBay store. The only way to make sure that everyone viewing your About Me page knows that you have an eBay store is to provide a clickable link to it. For example “Click Here to visit my eBay store.”

5) Other Links:- If you have a specific auction which you want to promote, or a specific page you want to link to then do it here. For example “You can visit my super duper auction by Clicking Here.

“If you follow the steps in this article then you should be well on your way to maximising the effectiveness of your eBay About Me page. Many customers will use your About Me page to assess whether to buy from you so it’s essential that yours is effective. Till next time good luck with your ebook sales and take care!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This ones from May 2006 and discusses the vital issue of promoting your eBay store.

—–

To really maximise your eBay ebook sales you need to be promoting your eBay store. eBay stores get less exposure than normal eBay listings and therefore will not yield great sales for you unless you promote them. There are many ways both on and off eBay that you can promote your eBay store. This article outlines some of them:

1) Ebay Auction Listings:- eBay Auction and Buy It Now listings get the main exposure on eBay. When someone does an eBay search for an item all the eBay Auction and Buy It Now listings are displayed first. Then after these the eBay Store listings are displayed. Since these Auction and Buy It Now listings are getting the most exposure it makes sense to run a few of these and insert a link to your eBay store inside the actual description. This works especially well with Auction listings as people often click the link so they can buy the item instantly from your eBay store rather than wait for the auction to end.

2) Ebay About Me Page:- The eBay About Me page is one of the best free opportunity’s eBay provides to promote yourself. Every time someone on eBay sees your eBay ID (whether you bid on something, leave feedback, or buy an item) there will be an About Me logo next to it and some people will click this logo. Despite this, it really is one of the most under utilised tools on eBay. If you do not yet have an eBay About Me page yet then get one NOW. Use it to write about your eBay store and tell people why they should buy from you.

3) Ebay Reviews and Guides:- These are a relatively new addition to eBay but they are still a great way to promote your eBay store for free. The reviews section allows you to write product reviews such as CDs and DVDs. The guides section is more relevant to eBay sellers as it allows you to write guides on just about anything. There has got to be some topic that you can write a guide on so get righting now. When people read your guide they are presented with a link to your eBay store which is again more free exposure.

4) Ebay Seller Cross Promotion:- I outlined in the last article that with an eBay store you can cross-promote your items. Recently eBay has also added the ability to cross-promote with other sellers. This is very easy to set up and eBay manages the whole process for you. All you have to do is go to the “Cross-Promotion Connections” area of My eBay and then use the request cross-promotions link in order to set them up. If the other seller agrees then a box promoting their products will appear on your listings and vice versa. This is a valuable way to increase your eBay sales and also generate more traffic to your eBay store.

5) Search Engines:- As I mentioned in my last article you get an actual URL with your eBay store. This URL gets listed in the eBay stores directory and search engines which means extra traffic for your eBay store. What’s more eBay allows you to pick your search engine keywords so you can be listed under the categories that you feel are most appropriate to your eBay store. Getting listed in the search engines is a great way to bring in customers from outside of eBay and maximise your sales potential.

6) Store RSS Feed:- When you access the home page of an eBay store you may notice a small RSS box in the bottom left corner. If you click on this RSS box then you will be shown your store’s RSS feed. Now I myself am not an expert in RSS but I do know that it is another way to promote your eBay store easily and effectively from outside of eBay. You can get some free software that submits your RSS feeds to the main RSS directories by doing a search on Google.

7) Blogging:- For those who don’t know a blog is a weblog. It’s basically like an online journal where you post your thoughts, comments, or whatever else you want. Blogging is an excellent way to get traffic to your eBay store. Quite a few websites offer free blogs which you can sign up for and then link back to your eBay store. Post in it regularly to gain exposure and your blog should soon become a great source of traffic.

Article Submission:- There are 100s of article directories out there that will you can submit your articles to, and if accepted you are allowed to have a live link back to your website or eBay store in the author resource box. This is a great way to generate traffic to your website in the long-term as not only do the search engines index your article, but people also reprint these articles on their websites complete with your author resource box (and live link back to your eBay store). The longer your article is online the more it will be reprinted and so the more traffic it will generate.

Hopefully this article has opened your eyes to some of the free and effective promotion methods for your eBay store. At first the fact that eBay Stores do not get as much exposure seems like a major problem but by putting a little effort into promoting it yourself, it can be much more successful than any eBay Auction listing. Till next time good luck with your ebook sales and take care!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Yet another article from the archives - this time on the benefits of having an eBay store

—–

I firmly believe that to be a success when selling ebooks on eBay you need to have an eBay store. They more than pay for the £6 monthly fee with the benefits they provide. These include cheaper fees, longer listing duration, and much more. Find out about all the benefits below:

1) Cheaper Fees:- The insertion fee for an auction listing on eBay is 15p. The insertion fee for a buy it now listing on eBay is 20p. However, the insertion fee for a store listing is only 3p. On top of this the gallery fee for auction and buy it now listings is 15p whilst the gallery fee for a store listing is only 5p. These are the only two listing features I use for my eBay ebook listings which gives me a total saving of between 12p-17p per ebook I list in my eBay store. Now this doesn’t seem like much of a saving, but since I list all my ebooks as store listings and only a small proportion as auction listings this actually equates to a significant saving. I would advise any other ebook sellers on eBay to also list their ebooks in this way as it will lead to huge cost savings for you. If you list your full inventory as eBay store listings, and then your most popular items on the main eBay site as either buy it now or auction style listings you can save money and promote your eBay store (I will discuss this promotion aspect further in the next edition of the newsletter).

2) Longer Listing Duration:- The maximum listing duration of a buy it now or auction style listing is ten days. With a store inventory listing you can list for 30 days, 90 days, or Good till Cancelled (the listing renews every 30 days till you cancel it). Not only does this provide the benefit of added value for money, but it also saves you a lot of time. Instead of relisting an ebook every ten days you can simply list it in your store as Good till Cancelled and not worry about it again.

3) Unlimited Inventory:- When you list an ebook as an auction or buy it now the insertion fee goes up depending how many items you want to list. When you list in your eBay store the insertion fee remains at 3p whether you list 1 item or 1000 items. This is a huge benefit to ebook sellers because as you already know, you can sell infinite copies of the same ebook, since it is digital. Therefore, if you list 1000 copies of your ebook (or even more if you wish) as a Good till Cancelled listing you will hardly every have to maintain it. This will not only save you time but also money.

4) Custom Store Pages:- With a basic eBay store you get 5 custom pages (and even more with anchor and featured stores). These custom pages are useful ways of conveying extra information to your customers. I use my custom pages for; a Disclaimer page, a Privacy Policy page, a SPAM Policy page, a Terms and Conditions page, and a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page. However, they can also be used to convey other important information to your customers or to promote one of your products or websites. Having these custom pages available in your eBay store makes you look more professional which in turn generates increased customer trust.

5) Store Categories:- With an eBay store you get 20 custom categories which you can assign your listings to. This is extremely useful because customers who are looking for a certain type of ebook will be able to browse by category. Some of the categories I use include; “Gambling Guides and Systems,” “Email and Autoresponder” and “Wholesale and Dropshipping.” If a customer visits my eBay store and only has a general idea of the ebook that they want, these categories should guide them in the right direction, and then hopefully lead to a sale. Since many people who buy ebooks will be merely browsing, these categories should increase sales and also make your store easier to navigate, meaning customers are more likely to return.

6) Store Cross Promotion:- With an eBay store you can cross-promote your items. This involves a small box appearing at the bottom of your listings promoting some of your other listings. You can do this manually, automatically, or via store category. I prefer to do it by category as then the most relevant listings appear and so there is more chance of a customer making a repeat purchase. For example, if a customer buys a Chilli Recipe ebook and at the bottom of the listing you are promoting 4 more recipe ebooks, it is likely that this is something the buyer will be interested in, and so may make another purchase from you. If however, 4 gambling guides appear, the customer is unlikely to be interested in this, and so is less likely to make a repeat purchase. Repeat business will not only increase your profits but also increase your long-term growth.

Recently eBay has also added the ability to cross-promote with other sellers. This is very easy to set up and eBay manages the whole process for you. All you have to do is go to the “Cross-Promotion Connections” area of My eBay and then use the request cross-promotions link in order to set them up. If the other seller agrees then a box promoting their products will appear on your listings and vice versa. This is again a valuable opportunity to increase sales.

7) Store Tools:- With an eBay store you get tools such as sales reports, traffic reports, and a basic newsletter tool. The first two tools are very useful for monitoring how your business is growing. The traffic reports show you your daily traffic for all of your eBay pages, and compare it to the traffic on those pages both 4 weeks prior and 1 year prior. This allows you to monitor both your short term and long-term growth.

The sales reports are particularly useful because they incorporate eBay fees and PayPal fees. This means you can see how much actual profit you are making after all fees have been accounted for. They also show sales growth so you can monitor this also.

The newsletter tool whilst basic is also useful. If people opt-in to recieve your newsletter then it can automatically be set to send out monthly updates of new items that have been added to your eBay store. This again increases the chance of repeat business. It is particularly useful for ebook sellers who are likely to be adding new products on a regular basis.

Store Customisation:- With an eBay store you can customise the look and feel of the store, making it unique. The ways you can do this include adding a store logo, adding a custom header to all your logos, choosing the layout of your categories and listings, changing the colours, using promotion boxes, and much more. The benefit that this provides is that when customers visit your store it is different and stands out from the rest. This will make them pay more attention to your store, spend more time browsing, and hopefully lead to increased sales and long-term business.

9) Store URL:- When you get an eBay store you get an actual URL (http://stores.ebay.co.uk/yourstore) which you can promote. Not only does this link look much more attractive and professional than the long and clunky View the Sellers Items link, but it also gets listed in the search engines and the eBay stores directory. This means that you will have traffic coming in from outside of eBay also, which is a benefit you do not get without eBay stores.

Hopefully this article has shown you that for the low monthly fee of £6 you can save time and money, look like a more professional business, and increase your traffic and sales. You even get your first month of having an eBay store free so there really is nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

This article I wrote in March 2006 details some places where you can find free ebooks which can then be sold on eBay.

—–

With the spiraling eBay fees and competitive pricing, the last thing eBay ebook sellers want to worry about is buying new resellable content. However, there are many sources that you may not have thought about which provide you with free resellable ebooks that you can successfully add to your inventory. This article details just a few of them:

1) Ebay:- That’s right eBay is a great source to pick up free ebooks (OK they’re not quite free but very cheap). Many ebook sellers run auctions that start at 1p to attract customers. If nobody bids on these auctions you can pick up a very cheap resellable ebook.

Furthermore, some sellers run 1p ebook listings in their eBay store. That means that you can actually purchase the item as a Buy It Now for 1p and in some cases receive it instantly. Again another way to pick up a very cheap resellable ebook, courtesy of eBay. Do a search on eBay for “ebooks, resell” or something similar, and then list them lowest priced first to see what you find.

2) Newsletters:- When you signed up for this newsletter I gave you two free ebooks. Some newsletters that I am currently a member of give me 5 free ebooks every week. I would recommend joining ebook related newsletters as not only do you receive valuable tips from that ebook seller, you also get free products to add to your eBay store. Have a browse through eBay for the top ebook sellers. If they have a newsletter join it. It costs nothing and you are likely to benefit greatly.

3) Ebooks:- Usually when you buy a new ebook it contains links to many bonus ebooks with resell rights. Although you may have to pay for the first ebook, this is another way to get a plentiful collection of free resellable ebooks.

4) Online Forums:- Many users at online forums will give away free resellable ebooks or give away links that allow you to access free ebooks with resell rights. Just have a browse through the posts and see what you can find.

5) Ebook Websites:- Many websites that sell ebooks have a free download page. From this you can download free ebooks which quite often come with resell rights. Type “resell ebooks” into Google or any other major search engines, and have a browse through these websites. I am sure you will find more than enough ebooks to keep you going for a while.

Although free ebooks with resell rights are likely to be outdated in relation to the ones you pay for they are still a good way to bulk up your inventory at relatively little cost. The larger your store inventory is as an ebook seller, the more chance that you will get a sale. If you bulk up your inventory with free resellable ebooks which you then sell alongside the more expensive, up to date, resellable ebooks you are sure to enjoy increased success. Good Luck with your Ebook Sales!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

*****

If you have read the above article and are serious about selling ebooks on eBay I recommend John Thornhill’s Auction Profit Streams. In this ebook, eBay expert and PowerSeller John Thornhill outlines how you can create multiple streams of income using eBay.

*****

Here’s another one from the archive with some useful tips on avoiding spoof emails.

—–

One of the things I have noticed as I have increased my sales volume on eBay is the increased volume of spoof emails I have received claiming to be eBay or PayPal. They do this to try and gain access to your eBay or PayPal account, and sometimes even to try and get your bank details. I therefore felt that my next article should be on spotting and avoiding spoof email as it will surely be a problem that all you ebook sellers are going to have to deal with too.

Spotting spoof email can initially be quite tricky. After all the address appears to be a PayPal or eBay one and the often use eBay and PayPal graphics to make the emails look even more authentic. However, once you have had a reasonable amount of spoof email come your way, you soon realise that they all generally stick to the same format. Below are some of the most common spoof emails.

1) Ebay / PayPal Account Suspension:- These claim that your account will be suspended by a certain date if you do not take action. Some look more genuine than others. They ask you to click a link which directs you to a false eBay login screen where the spoof company then tries to steal your eBay Username and Password. These are relatively easy to spot because you are unlikely to receive an email on this subject from eBay or PayPal unless you have committed a serious violation of policy. Even if you believe you have been suspended it’s always best to be safe and logon to eBay manually through your internet browser.

2) Ebay / PayPal Unauthorised Access:- These claim that someone has been making attempts to access your account from another IP address. Some even give false IP addresses and locations from where your eBay account was apparently accessed. These are obvious spoof emails because the fact that you have accessed your account from a different IP address does not constitute someone else trying to access your account. It could simply be you accessing your account from a different computer.

3) Unpaid Item Reminder:- These send you an unpaid item reminder for an item you haven’t even purchased. For example a few days ago I received one for a $2000 camera. Surely I wouldn’t forget if I had purchased an item like that. If you click on the links in this email you are directed to a false eBay page which tries to steal your eBay Username and Password.

4) Question about Ebay Item:- These are one of the trickier spoof emails as it is likely that you do receive questions about the item. Some even have an eBay ID link embedded in the email so that they look more authentic. However, most of the spoof emails do not state which eBay item the query concerns. Furthermore, the questions often do not make much sense and include phrases such as “How much is your last item?” The best way to make sure you do not get caught out is to log into eBay manually and then answer the question through my messages.

5) PayPal payment Sent:- These spoof emails again look a little more genuine. They claim that an unauthorised PayPal attempt has been sent. I received one today saying that I had sent $400 without my knowledge. They then have a link saying if you did not authorise this payment “Click Here” which then leads you to a spoof PayPal page where they try to get your User ID and Password. However, when you make a genuine PayPal payment they do not usually mention anything about it being unauthorised. If they did suspect it to be unauthorised they would probably just hold the payment.

6) Ebay PowerSeller Confirmation:- I received a couple of these before I actually was made a PowerSeller. They do look genuine but instead of directing you to eBay to enter your Username and Password you are directed to a spoof website. The best way to make sure the email is genuine is to go to the eBay PowerSeller page and login at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/services/buyandsell/powersellers.html. If the email is genuine you will be recognised as a PowerSeller here. If you are not then you know the email is spoof.

Beware that this is only some of the spoof email subjects you may receive. The people who write them will always be thinking of new ways to steal your ID and Password and as a result new spoof emails are surfacing all the time. Below is a list of the common things to look for in emails to identify them as spoof.

1) Ebay ID / PayPal Name:- If the email addresses your either by your eBay User ID or your actual name it is much more likely to be genuine. Most spoof emails simply address you as the email address to which the email has been sent. For example a genuine email from eBay is likely to say “Congratulations ebookcavern…” whereas a spoof email is likely to say “Congratulations sales@theebookcavern.co.uk…”

2) From Email Address:- Although this is not a dead certain way of identifying spoof email on some it is noticeable. The spoof emails will claim to be from eBay or PayPal and in a large majority of them when you check this out the email address looks genuine. However, some of the from email addresses do not look so genuine. For example I recently received a spoof email claiming to be from the PayPal address: service@paypal.comservicepaypal.com which made it pretty clear that this email was spoof.

3) Excessive use of eBay / PayPal images:- Many of the spoof emails in an attempt to look genuine use eBay or PayPal images in the email. However, some use excessive amounts of these and when compared to a normal email from eBay or PayPal and so can be easily identified by this.

4) The Hyperlink:- This is the link that the email is trying to get you to click on. It is also the best way of identifying whether the email is spoof or not. If you scroll over the link or right-click and view the properties you should find out what the actual link is. If this link is not part of a PayPal or eBay domain then you can be sure it is spoof.

If you identify an email as spoof using the above criteria then you must not click on any of the links inside it. If it is an eBay spoof email forward it to spoof@ebay.co.uk and if it is a PayPal spoof email forward it to spoof@paypal.com and then delete it. Remember it is always better to be safe then sorry so take precautions such as logging into eBay and PayPal manually through your internet browser and regularly changing your password. You can also read eBay’s guide to spoof email at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/help/confidence/isgw-account-theft-spoof.html. Stay safe and Good Luck!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Here’s another article from the archives. This one is from February 2006 and contains tips for your Auction Listing Design.

—–

This month I have encountered two small problems, which have affected my eBay business. If I had spent a little more time thinking about the design of my auction listings, these problems could have easily been avoided and I would have had more time to spend on other things instead of editing tiny mistakes in nearly 100 listings. There have been many similar occasions in the past where a little more forward planning would have avoided me redesigning all my eBay auction listings. Therefore, my advice to you in this issue is to think carefully about the design of your auction listings. More time spent on your listing now can mean MUCH less time spent redesigning them in the future.

Now the two actual problems I encountered this month were the down to my PayPal address and my eBay ID. The first problem was that for some reason the Pay Now button in eBay was not working for all customers. This led to me getting many emails from buyers saying the Pay Now button is not working, or worse many people sending payments to one of my email addresses that was not registered with PayPal. The end result was me having to explain and solve the problem via multiple emails to multiple customers. So how could I have avoided this problem? Well in my actual eBay listing and Payment Policy I made no reference to my PayPal email address but included all my other email addresses. I overlooked including my PayPal email address in the listings simply because I assumed that the Pay Now button would work at all times. Obviously not. I have now amended all listings to include my PayPal email address (payments@theebookcavern.co.uk if anyone is still unsure) and thankfully since then I have had no PayPal payments sent to the wrong email address.

So now all seems fine and dandy with my eBay listings when 2 days ago I received an email stating that I needed to change my User ID because the previous one (**www.theebookcavern.co.uk**) made reference to this website. Now on eBay you can get away with this type of User ID for a while but sooner or later eBay will catch you out and make you change it. I knew this so really I should have chose a more sensible User ID instead of trying to get a little extra traffic to my website. So how does this affect my listings? Well in every listing I include a link to my eBay feedback and eBay About Me page which now needs to be changed. So that means more fun for me as I will have edit all my eBay listings yet again.

So you may be wandering OK but what’s the point of this story. Well you (and hopefully me as well) can learn from my mistakes. These two examples illustrate how just a LITTLE forward planning would have saved a LOT of time for me and can do for you too. I will give you a few things to think about when designing your auction listings but you may think of more.

1) Ebay ID:- When choosing an eBay ID you need to think about using one that both reflects your line of business and also sticks to eBay policy. I know that it may be tempting to use **yourwebsitename** as a User ID but that is a violation of eBay policy and they will make you change it eventually. If you have to change your User ID then you have to change every Feedback and About Me link in all your listings. Choosing a User ID which is within eBay policy will save you a lot of time in the future.

2) About Me Page:- Do you have an About Me page? If not you should get one as it is one of the best promotion tools you have on eBay. If you do have one you really should link to it in your auctions as from the About Me page has much fewer restrictions than your other eBay pages (for example you can link to your own website). If you want to promote yourself on eBay the About Me page is the best way to do it and the best way to increase traffic to your About Me page is promote it fully.

3) Ebay Store:- If you have an eBay store then it is essential that you provide a link to it within your auction listings. Many customers who view your auctions will not know that you have an eBay store or if they do they may not know exactly what one is. If you want to maximise your sales potential you need to make as many customers aware of your eBay store as possible. Putting a simple sentence at the top of your auction listings such as “Can’t wait for this auction to end? Then Click Here to purchase it right now from my eBay store” will give your eBay store maximum exposure in your eBay auctions.

4) Email Addresses:- Make sure that all relevant email addresses are included in your auction listing. Your PayPal email address must be in here to avoid similar problems to the ones I experienced. All the email addresses you wish to be contacted on should also be included as well. For example I include my PayPal email payments@theebookcavern.co.uk, my delivery enquiries email delivery@theebookcavern.co.uk, and my general enquiries email sales@theebookcavern.co.uk. Even if you only have one email address which is the same as the one associated with your “Contact the Seller” you should still include an email link in your auction description simply because it makes it easier for the customer.

5) Ebay Store Custom Pages:- If you have an eBay store you are allowed to design custom pages for whatever purpose you see fit. If these custom pages are in any way relevant to the auction then you should include a link to them too.

6) Images:- Have you put in all the images you want to use to promote your auction. If not make sure they are all included. What about your eBay store? If you have one then a store logo is a great way to promote your store, make you look more professional, and hopefully increase traffic and sales.

These are just a few of the many things you should consider before listing an item on eBay. I am sure you can think of many more. These rules are especially applicable to ebook sellers on eBay because you will be constantly re-using the same auction listing to sell an ebook because you have an infinite supply. Getting the listing as close to perfect now will save you a LOT of time in the future. Good luck!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Hey everyone. Here’s a copy of my very first newsletter article, originally written in January 2006. Enjoy.

—–

I hope you all had a good break during the holidays and are now ready to get back to work. Now many of you may have set yourselves New Years Resolutions. If you haven’t I can think of a few good ones for potential ebook sellers:

1) Register as a seller on eBay:- If you have been putting it off for ages now is the ideal time to register. Why? Because now not only will you have the usually things that you have been meaning to get rid of for some time, but you may also have unwanted Christmas gifts. I really cannot emphasise enough, the need to register on eBay to sell as soon as possible. Selling on eBay takes a while to master, and like many other things, practice makes perfect. The sooner you register, the sooner you can get good at it, and you will also be one step closer to starting a business on eBay. If you really do not have any physical items around the house that you wish to sell then why not try selling an ebook? You can get resellable ebooks free or very cheap from a variety of websites and newsletter. Listings start at just 15p so you can experiment with selling for an incredibly small investment.

2) If you have been selling on eBay for some time, consider getting an eBay shop:- At only £6 a month the benefits really are worth it. The first major benefit is the cheaper listing fees (Buy It Now Store Listing Fees start at only 5p a month). Although Store Listings don’t get as much exposure as eBay Auction and Buy It Now listings, you can use a combination of the listing types to save money, and also increase sales. Other benefits include Sales Reports Plus (which incorporate eBay fees and PayPal fees to show how much you have actually made), Traffic Reports, an actual website address that you can direct your customers to: “http://stores.ebay.co.uk/yourstorename”, custom shop pages, and much more. If you are trying to grow your eBay business aggressively, then you really need to consider getting an eBay shop.

3) If you have an eBay shop and sell on eBay, try to improve your business in some way:- The improvements need only be small to be effective. For example, maybe you need to update your About Me page to reflect your business more appropriately. Perhaps you could redesign your listings so that they look more professional. Or maybe you could set yourself a goal to add a new product to your inventory every month. This last goal is a particularly good one for ebook sellers as once added to your inventory, you can have an ebook there as long as you wish without having to buy new stock.

I hope that these tips help you grow your business in the New Year. Good Luck for 2006!!!

———-
About the Author:
Tom Parker is an eBay Ebook PowerSeller who sells ebooks and software at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/theebookcavern. To receive free tips from Tom regarding selling ebooks on eBay and a free collection of ebooks sign up for his newsletter at http://newsletter.theebookcavern.co.uk/.

(You may reprint this article on your blog, ezine, newsletter or website providing the article remains unchanged and the ‘About the Author’ box is included and unchanged.)

Hello and welcome to the new look Ebook Cavern Newsletter. I’ve decided to move over from a webpage to a blog for a number of reasons. First, it’s easier for me to manage and update. Secondly, it’s more interactive for you - the readers. Now you can comment on my newsletters. Tell me what you think, say what you’d like me to cover in future newsletters and more. Over the next few days I’ll be updating the blog with all the previous editions of my newsletter and sprucing it up a bit. I’ll be back soon with the next update.