International visibility for UK sellers - for a price
March 31, 2008
eBay UK have just announced a brand new listing upgrade which will allow eBay UK sellers to buy international visibility for their listings. From May, British and Irish sellers will be able to purchase default visibility on eBay.com and eBay.ca for an additional fee based on the start price of their listings. UK sellers will pay between 5p and 15p, and Irish sellers 7c to 20c.
American and Canadian sellers are being offered a similar opportunity to appear by default on eBay.co.uk [edit: but not on .ie]. eBay say that they expect to add more international sites to this program in the near future.
If sellers need an incentive to pay for this upgrade, eBay have provided one: sales with paid-for international visibility will be eligible for FVF discounts. Conversely, if you choose to list on a site that isn’t your home one (e.g. UK sellers listing directly on .com), you are not eligible for FVF discounts on those sales. Tests in the Collectables’ categories on eBay UK, which have offered US visibility by default, will now be concluded.
No doubt eBay will be in for some criticism for charging for this, from those who want the return of the free visibility they once had. But at least sellers will now have the opportunity to choose to list internationally without having to split their listings between .co.uk and .com, and the extra bids and sales will hopefully more than cover the extra fees.
What do you think? If you’re one of the sellers who’s wanted US visibility back, does this give you what you wanted, or will you refuse to pay for something that was once there for free?
5p CLD on eBay UK this Thursday
March 31, 2008
As eBay UK’s free Gallery promotion ends today, a new cheap listing day has been announced for this Thursday. On 3rd April, insertion fees will be 5p for auctions and BIN listings, regardless of starting price. All other fees, including Gallery, will apply as normal. Multiple item listings in either format are not included. Items listed on eBay UK on 3rd April will not be automatically visible on eBay.com.
Bain consultant to head eBay Spain
March 31, 2008
Klaus Gottschlich is to succeed María Calvo as CEO of eBay Spain from April. This comes at a time when up to fifty percent of the eBay Spain employees are losing their jobs as part of the worldwide cuts revealed earlier this month.
Klaus joined eBay from Bain & Company, where both Meg Whitman and John Donahoe hail from - working for Bain almost seems a pre-requisite to hold a top eBay management position. Previously Klaus was employed by L’Oréal in Paris, who are now suing eBay for alleged trademark infringements by sellers. His latest role is Director of Category Management and Development Sellers until he officially steps up to CEO next month.
5 Top video tips for eBay videos
March 30, 2008
Smart Productions is the company ChannelAdvisor use for their Video Newsletters, and James from Smart Productions is in the US to film at the Catalyst conference. He’s been looking at how eBay users can use video to sell their product and these are his top tips to produce professional product videos
5 Top tips for eBay product videos
- Where to film
Don’t film in a darkened broom cupboard, unless you’re selling glow sticks. Make sure the product is well lit so that the whole object is visible at the same time. Natural light is great, but even a normal lamp will do. Don’t film towards sunlight or a window or the object will appear dark against the bright background. If indoors closing the curtains and using additional light can work well. Hanging a sheet or curtain as a backdrop and table cover can give a great neutral background to display your product against. - Use a Tripod
If you’re filming an object on a table there’s nothing worse than a shaky camera (unless it’s the Blair Witch Project). You can still have camera come in to turn the product, but keep the camera still. All cameras have a standard tripod mount so any tripod will fit - Composition
Start the video showing the entire product without clutter in the background. It’s fine to zoom in on detail to illustrate specific detail of the product but start showing the whole product to fill the screen. Make use of the space of the screen, don’t shoot the object from a distance, fill the shot with the product. - Sound
A picture tells a thousand words, especially a moving one, but it doesn’t tell you everything that a voice over could. So if you need to record a voice over to help sell your product try to record in a very quiet, small room. Don’t record in your living room, next to an open door or window, avoiding echoes can be achieved by recording in a room such as a broom cupboard is perfect. A good voice over really makes a difference but is best recorded separately to the film itself. - Presenting
If you want to do a voice over to present your product then rehearse! Know what you’re going to say about the product and try to do the entire recording in one piece without mistakes, speak clearly and slowly. If you want to present an item with yourself in the shot that same advice goes… rehearse so that you know what to say without a load of “emms” and “errrs”
If you’re shooting a thirty second video for your eBay products they don’t have to be television quality, but the tips above should enable you to product some great shots of your eBay products.
Blog 101 : getting started
March 30, 2008
Sometimes you get asked the same question over and over again. Starting blogging has been one of those questions for me recently, so I thought over the weekends, when there isn’t much eBay news, we’d take a look at getting started on a blog of your own.
One of the reasons blogging has taken the internet by storm is that it’s so easy to get started. All you need is a bit of software, plus something to say. I’ll assume for the moment you can supply the something to say yourself; if not, you might want to reconsider whether a blog is what you really want.
Today I’m going to consider two of the biggest blog management systems, Blogger’s Blogspot and Wordpress. Not because they’re the biggest, but because they represent the main choice you have to make: quick and easy and absolutely free, versus good.
Blogspot
Blogger is one of the longest established blogging services there is. They’re currently owned by Google, and Blogspot is their free hosting service. Getting started with Blogspot is incredibly simple: a few clicks, select the name of your blog, pick from one of a dozen or so free styles, and you can start posting. It costs nothing and you don’t need to sign up for any web hosting: you can literally have a blog up and running in a couple of minutes.
Blogspot is amazingly easy to use, but it has two huge disadvantages. Firstly, the commenting system is a nightmare. Click on the “leave a comment” system on any Blogger blog and you’re taken off the blog you’re on, and onto a Blogger branded page. The original post you’re commenting on has disappeared, and you have a tiny little window to type into. It’s not pretty, and you can’t *make* it pretty.
Perhaps even more importantly, with Blogspot, I’m always aware that my content is at the mercy of Google. I don’t know that they’ve ever lost content, but if I’ve put effort into writing the words, I want to know they’re safe. That means keeping them on my server, and backing them up on my PC, neither of which Blogger wants to let me do.
WordPress
WordPress, on the other hand, takes a little more effort to get started. You need to download the software from their website, and upload it to your own web host. Then you need to install it. If you’ve done this kind of thing before, perhaps with forum software, it’s not difficult, but for the resolutely non-techy, it can be daunting. (WordPress do offer a hosted service too, but I am assuming for most of our readers, this will of no use as you are not allowed to post any commercial content.)
Is it worth the effort? Absolutely. Blogspot does exactly what it says on the tin: it takes your posts, and it publishes them. But if you want to go beyond that, I cannot recommend WordPress highly enough. Want comments that live on your blog? WordPress does that. Want to back up your blog on your own computer? WP can do that. Want polls in your posts? Built-in “about me” or other static pages? built-in stats? clickable smilies? galleries of pictures in your posts? WordPress can do all of that, and much, much more.
So which to choose?
For me, the choice is pretty straightforward. If
- you’re new to this whole blogging malarky and don’t know if you’re really going to stick with it
- you’re terrified of anything technical
- you’re really, really skint and can’t afford even the cheapest web hosting
and your blog is only going to be about you talking - perhaps a “new products and special offers” section on your website, or just a personal diary where you don’t even want any interaction - then Blogspot will do.
But if
- you want real interaction with your readers by way of commenting and more
- you want more than just a list of posts
- you want to own and keep your own words
then for me, WordPress is the only way to go.
How about you? If you have a blog, what does it run on? Are you happy with that? Leave us a comment - and a link.
eBay UK goes European
March 30, 2008
I’m mighty confused! I’ve just flown to the US for the ChannelAdvisor Catalyst conference and faced with a four (about to become five) hour time difference, to be greeted by the eBay announcement that “clocks will be springing forward once again, going ahead one hour at 2:00 CET to 3:00 CEST“.
Now I was aware that Greenwich Mean Time was about to move to British Summer Time, but am totally unprepared to cope with Central European Time let alone Central European Summer Time.
The important point however is that any item that began before March 30th and ends after the time changes, the ending time will be changed to end one hour later.
Working with GMT/BST is simply so much more British though - when did eBay UK adopt European time zones?
Is this the band for the eBay Live Gala?
March 29, 2008
A sharp-eyed poster on the eBay Live Discussion Forum spotted this concert schedule, which is the night and place of the eBay Live Gala.
In a hasty attempt to look like I know what I’m talking about, I’ve discovered that Musiq Soulchild was nominated for three Grammies last year. He is labelled “a soul artist whose unique style blends R&B, Soul, Funk, Rock, Blues, Jazz, and Hip Hop, creating a sound unlike any other”. Something for everyone then?
If it’s correct, this is a big departure from previous years which have booked bands that middle-aged ladies like myself have heard of: Kool and the Gang, Huey Lewis and the News, the B52s, and so on. Perhaps Mr Soulchild is opening for another Eighties band?
Seller Dashboard launch delayed on eBay UK
March 28, 2008
If, like me, you read the announcement of the Seller Dashboard launch on eBay UK yesterday and ran to My eBay to see it, you’re probably wondering why it hasn’t appeared yet. A few sellers are able to access it via the link http://my.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SDLite, though most of us are still being told we’re not eligible to access the data there.
Richard the Pink has now said on the PowerSeller Board [PS login required] that it “may not” go live until Monday. Many sellers will think that a Tuesday launch would be more appropriate.
Updated to add: there is now an official announcement of the delay.
Expanded Seller Protection officially live for UK PowerSellers
March 27, 2008
eBay UK have just announced that Expanded Seller Protection is live for UK PowerSellers. Though some of us managed to sign up last week, it’s good to know that now, we are officially protected against against fraudulent payments and item not received claims with the following improvements to existing cover:
- any address: sellers are now protected whether or not their buyer has a confirmed address
- international coverage: posting is covered to any of the 190 countries supported by PayPal
- unlimited coverage: the previous limit of £3,250 is gone; sellers now have unlimited cover from PayPal.
Of course, there are some requirements of sellers too:
- for item not received claims, you’ll need to send within seven days of payment, with a proof of delivery viewable online (signature viewable online if the item is worth £150 or more), and
- for unauthorised payment claims, you will need to post to the address on the payment page, and be able to provide a proof of posting (PoP not proof of delivery seems rather nicely generous to me).
Most of all, you’ll need to register to be eligible, so get on over to PayPal and do it!
Five tips to get great feedback
March 27, 2008
Feedback is the hottest topic on eBay. It always has been and probably always will be although recent changes have made it a more emotional subject than ever.
The big question though is how you approach it and for sellers there are two approaches - either to focus on feedback which tends to mean agonising over every buyer, fretting whether they’ll give you a 4 or 5 star rating, or to simply ignore it in favour of simply giving great service and leaving customers to rank you at will.
Recent changes have made feedback more important than ever and it’s time to change your approach regardless of how you’ve handled things in the past.
Leave feedback first
There really is no reason for sellers not to bite the bullet and leave feedback on payment or despatch. The old argument that “the transaction isn’t complete until the buyer receives the product” is no longer valid. As sellers soon won’t be able to leave negative or neutral feedback for buyers your only choice is to leave a positive or not to leave feedback at all.
From talking to sellers anecdotal evidence suggests that sellers that leave feedback first are more likely to receive positive feedback and less likely to receive negatives. It appears by telling a buyer they were a good customer they’re more likely to rate you as good seller. Buyers appear more reluctant to leave poor feedback when they’ve already received a positive themselves.
Ask for good feedback in communications
Use communications as an opportunity to ask for good feedback. End of item emails, invoices, despatch notes, despatch email are all times when you can set buyer expectations for feedback.
Use phrases such as “We aim to receive 5/5 feedback, please contact us if we’ve not achieved this”. Let buyers know that you want five star ratings - the old adage if you don’t ask you don’t get definitely applies to feedback.
Turn off SMP feedback reminders
Many sellers have used feedback reminders asking buyers to leave feedback for transactions. I’ve always been a firm believer that this is counterproductive and can lead to worse feedback than if not used. I have known sellers send out reminders for all outstanding feedback who received negatives in return for the efforts. Sometimes it can be better to *not* receive feedback.
Feedback left within days of the item arriving will normally be better than feedback left several weeks later when the product is used, abused and possibly broken and disposed of. The excitement and pleasure of the transaction has gone, the later feedback is left the more likely it is to be pragmatic rather than effusive.
It should also be remembered that eBay have stepped up communications and send their own feedback reminders so there really is no need for sellers to do likewise.
Ship fast
I firmly believe that he single most important thing you can change, to receive better feedback, is to ship fast. The quicker you can get the product into the customers hands the more likely they are to leave great feedback, instant gratification goes a long way.
Give great service
Of course you already give fantastic service which you’re proud of, I know I do… but there will always be areas in which you can improve. Take an honest objective look at how you do business and look at your competitors, do test purchases from them and find out what they do better than you. Aim to incorporate the best practices you find from every seller you purchase from and of course avoid irking your customers with the aspects of their service which are not so good.
Giving great service is what buyers want, what eBay are encouraging, and what will ultimately determine how successful you are. There really is no secret - great service will result in great feedback, but the tips above could help along the way.
eBay increase online ad spend 400%
March 26, 2008
According to latest Nielson figures, eBay increased their online advertising spend 397% in 2007 spending almost £20m. This has makes them one of the biggest online spenders, second only to Personal Loan Express who spent £28m.
eBay’s online advertising accounts for 55.89% of their total media spend giving a total advertising budget in the region of £35m for 2007. It’s good to know they’re investing so much to attract buyers to the site. It also gives an indication of the budget competitors will need if they wish to compete for buyers in this marketplace.
In comparison Amazon was the ninth biggest spender with a £9.8m spend. This was an increase of 1977% from 2006 and represents almost 99% of Amazon’s total ad budget.
Mcdonalds, Sky, Capital One, Virgin and Dell are all ranked in the top 100 online advertisers and also advertise on ebay. It would be interesting to know just how much eBay recoup from advertising on eBay, from the top 100 spenders, to balance what they’re spending.
Via Brand Republic (log on required)
Does a Frooition shop design increase sales?
March 26, 2008
Yes.
Posted by Sue, 26th March…
Oh, you want details? 
Money is up approximately 33%: this is even better than the 20% that Frooition themselves suggested. Perhaps even more significantly, most of this increase has come from individual buyers spending more, rather than there being more orders overall, which suggests to me that buyers *like* shopping in the Frooition environment.
When we began this experiment, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to demonstrate what had caused any change in my sales. I was careful to have the same number of listings running as I had in previous months, and not to try any wacky new sales strategies. I wanted Frooition to be the only new thing. Then eBay introduced Best Match. It’s possible that BM has improved things for me, but I don’t think it’s that. If BM were advantaging me that much, I’d have seen an overall increase in the amount of traffic, and in number of buyers. Traffic is exactly the same as this time last year. The number of buyers is up very, very slightly, but that increase is nothing compared to the change in buying habits.
Prior to installing my Frooition shop front, the average buyer in my shop bought around three items. Now, they buy five. It seems that Frooition encourages buyers to take more of a look around, to add in a couple of extra cheaper items that before, they would have missed. Page views overall are down 20% on this time last year, so it seems that that Frooition shop front is making it easier and quicker for buyers to find things they want to buy.
Selling on eBay isn’t always an exact science. No doubt there are other interpretations that could be put on these changes. It might just be that a rash of spendy buyers have come along, in the way that sometimes happens on eBay for no good reason I can ever see. I might just have got lucky. But I don’t think so: I roundly blame Frooition for a lot of extra packing I’ve had to do recently. 
Have your say - Webware 100 voting
March 26, 2008
There are just a few days left to get your vote counted in the Webware 100 Awards 2008. Last year eBay companies did pretty well with eBay, PayPal, Craigslist, Skype and Stumbleupon all winning awards.
This year Stumbleupon has a little more competition having moved from the Browsing category to Social. eBay, PayPal and CraigsList are all found in the Commerce section, with Skype in the Communications category.
You can vote for your favourite websites and applications on the Webware website. If you spot any great applications that you like then vote for them and let us know why they’re great in comments below. I’ve just voted for Wordpress in Publishing… after all it is the software that powers TameBay 
eBay UK to mask bidder IDs
March 26, 2008
eBay UK have announced today that they are to mask all bidder IDs in auctions, following the change made in the US earlier this month. Sellers will be able to see the IDs of those bidding on their auctions, and the winning bidder will show once the auction is ended, but all other IDs will be hidden.
eBay say that their previous moves to protect buyers on higher priced auctions from fake second chance offers have been very successful. Extending the ‘Safeguarding Members’ IDs’ program should see the volume of fake SCOs drop even further. I’m sure that won’t pacify those who believe that safeguarding members’ IDs is a licence to shill, but eBay are firm that this is the right thing to do: “this is a necessary measure to protect all our members from email scams and fraud”.
Cancelled listings move to unsold items
March 26, 2008
Ever had an auction cancelled and received a notice to the effect but had the listing disappear from the site? Ever had several or even hundreds of auctions cancelled which support later decide were cancelled in error? If you have eBay have just announced that a major pain point has been removed.
In future if listings are cancelled for infringing eBay policy they will appear as unsold items in My eBay allowing them to be edited and relisted. Even better there will be a note explaining which policy was violated giving the seller a steer as to the edits required prior to relisting.
Items appearing in unsold items are accessible from listing tools such as TurboLister so editing in bulk will be possible if there are a number of items requiring edits.
There are a few exceptions where items won’t appear in unsold items - listings relating to narcotics or firearms and listings removed under the VeRO program. Apart from that it’s great news for sellers who find listing cancelled for minor policy violations allowing them a much swifter route to relaunching their listings.
The biggest pain point has been when multiple listings are ended (whether they are valid takedowns or arguably mistakes by support). Being able to retrieve listings will allow sellers to see what’s sold and what’s available to sell rather than having to rely on a stock check to determine what is available to relist.
Nudists stripped of PayPal account
March 25, 2008
The Federation of Canadian Naturists are threatening to sue PayPal for taking away their account. The group have been taking PayPal payments for their magazine, Going Natural, for four years now, but say that PayPal have now cancelled their account, saying that they were publishing pornography. They say that they have received emails from PayPal accusing them of selling “sexually oriented goods or services involving minors” or “services for which the purpose is to facilitate meetings for sexually oriented activities.”
A spokeswoman for the FCN said that PayPal’s actions were “born of ignorance”, and that naturism is a social movement unrelated to sexual activity. The Federation is now considering a class action lawsuit.
This is not the first time PayPal has made an apparently arbitrary decision on what is acceptable to sell: Canna Zine, who sell cannabis seeds in the UK, recently had their PayPal account taken away due to “company policy”. Before building a business that relies on PayPal, merchants need to check the Acceptable Use Policy, which prohibits using PayPal to pay for, amongst other things, weapons, lottery tickets and “get rich quick” schemes.
Cheap listing with feedback DSR criteria
March 25, 2008
eBay are ramping up the importance of DSRs by using them as a qualification for listing promotions. eBay.com has just launched a week long penny listing fee for auctions starting at $0.99 or less only for sellers with all DSRs score at 4.5 or above.
Many sellers will ignore this particular promotion in favour of listing with more realistic start prices, or using immediate purchase (BIN or SIF) formats in rather than auctions. The big question is will we see future listing promotions based on DSR scores and if so will the DSR qualification creep upwards excluding more sellers from future listing promotions?
No more feedback for ebook sellers
March 25, 2008
Brian Burke, Director of Global Feedback Policy has announced sales of digital goods will no longer be allowed to take place on the eBay platform.
From 31st March these goods will be restricted to the Classified Ad format and listed in the Information Products category.
Ebooks in particular have a reputation for being used to build feedback and give a false impression of a sellers reliability. Often sold for as little as a penny by listing them in Classified Ad format they’ll be taken out of the feedback system entirely. Classified Ads are listed on the eBay site for 30 days, but are effectively adverts for off-eBay sales.
It’ll be interesting to see how the digital download market changes, whilst many of these products are get rich quick schemes others have genuinely valuable information. Hopefully once they can’t be used for feedback padding it’ll clear the way for those offering useful content to prosper.
Currently it’s not clear if the policy will just apply on eBay.com, or if it will migrate across all eBay sites. If you find out please let us know.
Postage cost to be required on .com
March 24, 2008
eBay has announced that for eBay.com listings it will become a requirement for postage costs to be specified in all listings. For new sellers this will be an immediate requirement and roll out to all sellers in the near future.
Shipping costs will become part of the Best Match requirements, if a shipping cost is significantly higher than for other products in a particular sub-category the listing is could be disadvantaged in search.
This will have implications for how sellers list product, for instance if you’re offering a product which is heavier than competitors products you could be disadvantaged in search. Sellers offering products from abroad could also find their listings appearing lower down in search results due to international shipping costs.
One area this will impact is sellers offering multiple items - it’s not clear if Lots will be taken out of the average price shipping calculation, although arguably these products should be in the wholesale categories although many sellers will list in a second category for maximum exposure.
Sellers need to be aware that offering the cheapest shipping option may not be the best tactic to adopt. Whilst buyers may often select the default cheapest option they’re not likely to remember this when ranking sellers with Detailed Seller Ratings.
Offering fair postage options at realistic prices and most importantly communicating exactly how long transit times are will become more important than ever. If you do offer several different postage services ensure you set out clearly in your listing what they are along with the associated costs.
Gaming best match is going to be an interesting experiment and one that sellers are bound to attempt cracking. The chances are high however that the best sellers need to do little other than carry on giving great service, if you’re not gouging on shipping costs you’re unlikely to be disadvantaged in search based on postage costs.
PayPal made compulsory on all eBay UK listings
March 24, 2008
eBay UK have just announced that from the end of April, all sellers on eBay UK must offer PayPal as a payment method on their listings.
This change shouldn’t surprise anyone; it’s been edging slowly closer for months now, with all new sellers and those in some specific categories told in January they had to offer PayPal. No doubt some sellers will object vociferously, but largely, I’m in favour. Anything that makes buyers feel safer shopping on eBay is good by me.
Sellers (except those in the specified “PayPal only” categories) are of course free to offer other methods of payment, so long as those comply with the accepted payments policy.
The Motors category is exempt from this new rule, which is entirely reasonable; it’s a shame that other categories which normally involve collecting in person (vending machines spring to mind) are not being treated with the same flexibility. I would have liked to see an exemption in categories like Business, Wholesale or Furniture, that if collection in person were listed as the only shipping option, PayPal need not be offered.
eBay UK have also reannounced the possibilty of 21-day payment holds by PayPal. Reading through PayPal’s guidelines, it seems that very few sellers are going to suffer with this: only those who are new and selling more expensive items, or who already have a track record of buyer dissatisfaction, are likely to be targetted. I hope that PayPal are communicating this to new sellers though: it’s hardly a great beginning to your eBay selling career to have your first £51 payment put on hold.
Finally, “we look forward to announcing the details of expanded protection for Powersellers in the coming days”. That’ll be the expanded protection that astute TameBay readers are already signing up for, will it?
eBay India relaxes image guidelines
March 24, 2008
eBay India has relaxed it’s policy on acceptable images for lingerie to include the use of human models allowing it’s sellers to display more realistic pictures of products on offer.
For the first time human models can be used including product shots of packaging which carries images of people modeling the lingerie.
The policy still prohibits partial nudity including intimate images or the display of transparent lingerie on human models.
India has always had fairly stringent restrictions banning the use of human models in lingerie images but it appears that sellers have been requesting a loosening of the policy and eBay have listened. It will at least allow sellers to use photographs of manufactures packaging in their eBay listings giving buyers a clearer indication of how the garments will look when worn.
Join the dots to find what’s wrong with this picture
March 24, 2008
There are only three dots, it’s not going to be difficult:
- eBay UK can call clicking five times to get into each of your orders to see if there’s a note from a buyer, a “workaround”.
- eBay France think you can remember a complicated click pattern through the depths of My eBay, when they could have just provided a link to the correct page.
- Seth Godin owns the world’s worst toaster, which is a bit like trying to pay his eBay invoice.
There’s been a lot of talk about “finding” rather than “search”, and about “the buyer experience” - making eBay easier to use. How about we look at the URLs too? http://www.ebay.co.uk/myebay - there, doesn’t that look nice?
$60k winning bid refused by seller
March 24, 2008
When an eBayer, going by the online tag of dooma350, saw a brand new 2008 M3 BMW for sale on eBay at $60k no reserve he decided that although the colour wasn’t his first choice, that he “was willing to live with it at a 60K price point”. Having placed a $61k bid he ended up winning the auction at the start price as there were no other bidders.
That’s where his problems began, according to his own account on M3post.com the BMW dealership that listed the car welched on the deal saying it was a mistake even though the auction title read “08 M3 LOWEST PRICE ON EBAY“.
This opens the perennial question - is an eBay auction a binding contract? eBay insist that “each bid you place enters you into a binding contract” and it’s generally accepted that if you win an auction you should pay and the sellers should supply.
What happens when the seller refuses though? Well when it’s a BMW M3 worth more than the $60k winning bid the dealer appears to hide behind the excuse of an honest mistake. With reports of the story spreading across the Internet, whether they’re right or wrong, the bad publicity has to be doing more damage than swallowing the loss and supplying the car at the price the auction achieved.
eBay Elsewhere : links for 23rd March 2008
March 23, 2008
The Financial Times has sellers complaining about feedback and fees and threatening to strike indefinitely… I’m sure I’ve heard that story somewhere before.
Don Reisinger says that the only thing saving eBay is lack of competition. I had some sympathy for his argument until he started having a go at Buy It Now; nearly half of eBay’s sales are BIN these days. Auction sites are old hat, and eBay needs to move forward, not back.
John Jansch from Duct Tape Marketing recommends PayPal as “a serious ecommerce tool”. As indeed it is; what a long way its come since people used to say that offering PayPal on your website made you look like an amateur.
GeekCast talks to Will Martin-Gill, senior manager of internet marketing for eBay, about changes to the affiliate program. In particular, will there ever be an affiliate program for signing up new affiliates?
Craig Newmark, founder of Craig’s List, talks about eBay’s 25% stake, monetising online community, and US recession. [Warning: Sarah Lacy is possibly even more annoying here than she was talking to Mark Zuckerberg.]
Happy Easter to Barnados
March 22, 2008
Barnados have benefited from a series of Easter Egg auctions including Celebrity Egg Heads featuring David and Victoria Beckham, Prince Harry, Lilly Allen, Gordon Brown
Created in Thorntons chocolate other eggs offered for sale included a sculptured egg created by Eric Lanlard, former Chef Patissier for the Roux Brothers.
Whilst your Easter Egg tomorrow might not be as grand as these, Barnados is a great cause and hopefully the winners of these auctions will treasure their eggs rather than eat them!
Recent Comments
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