Updated: Make Serious Money on eBay UK
March 19, 2008
Dan Wilson has updated his book, “Make serious money on eBay UK” making it the first book on the market to cover the eBay changes announced this year in January.
The major changes are to fees, feedback and finding. This encompasses everything you need to know from the new listing and final value fees, which eBay categories have category specific fees and how Detailed Seller Ratings (DSRs) can qualify you for discounts, or poorer DSRs could disavantage you in search results.
New site features such as My World have appeared along with updates to the eBay shops section. eBay Express in the UK is being discontinued and has disappeared from Dan’s book a lot quicker than it’s disappearing from the Internet. Unsurprisingly as Dan works for vzaar there’s a section on the maximising your listings which now includes embeding video.
If you’re looking for a book that covers all the bases to get you started selling on eBay this is the one to read. For more experienced sellers it also covers branching out to your own website, Amazon, and using Google and Shopping Comparison Engines to gain business.
If you’re about to buy a copy make sure you buy the “Reprinted with updates 2008″ edition to get the very latest information on eBay trading.
An interview with Dan Wilson
June 4, 2007
Dan Wilson, ex-eBay Community Manager, TameBay guest blogger, and, of course, author, has a new book out this week. Make Serious Money on eBay UK is a brand new, completely up-to-date look look at ecommerce: how to get started and how to expand your business both on eBay and beyond. TameBay talks to its author.
So what have you been doing since leaving eBay?
Since I left eBay I’ve been doing all sorts of things and doing a bit of traveling. There are lots of people out there who want to know about online communities, eBay and ecommerce in general so I’ve been in demand as a consultant. I’m currently doing a stint with BT Tradespace, a new online community for small businesses. It’s definitely something that every eBay sellers should take a look at.
I’ve also, obviously, been writing the new book and I’ve also written a series of articles in the Daily Telegraph about eBay. I’m now working on a new book about internet marketing aimed at small businesses, due out next year.
Why did you want to write a new version of the book?
eBay has changed immeasurably since I first wrote Make Money on eBay UK
Equally, the changes that Google has precipitated are significant as is the ever-changing safety environment. The whole book needed to be brought up to date and extended: so that’s what I’ve done.
I also really wanted to look beyond eBay and how eBay sellers can use eBay as a springboard for other selling online. It strikes me that every serious eBay seller needs to be expanding off the platform and looking for other sales opportunities either with their own website or with other marketplaces. It represents too much of a business risk to have everything riding on eBay alone and truth be told if you’re selling on eBay you have all the skills to sell elsewhere.
Why are you still writing about eBay now you’ve left?
eBay fascinates me. I love the diversity of people that use the site and I am constantly amazed by the ingenuity of eBay sellers. I also love buying on eBay. It’s somewhere that you can genuinely find bargains as well sidestep the big chains and buy from individuals and small businesses. In the UK every high street looks the same and by using eBay I feel I am supporting small concerns and cottage industries which is preferable from further lining the pockets of Mr Tesco and the rest.
From a selling point of view eBay remains the easy way in to ecommerce and with internet shopping still on the up I firmly believe that taking a business online should be on every business’s list of priorities.
You were an eBay employee for eight years. Does your book not inevitably just tell people what eBay want them to know?
I’m not sure I was ever completely on message! eBay has had no editorial input into the book and has not censored or edited it in any way. But it is unabashedly pro-eBay. People can make up their own minds but the new content on safety and my views on taking your sales off eBay certainly benefit from me being ‘outside the tent.’
Your book talks about other marketplaces and having your own website; is eBay dying?
eBay is in rude good health but it has changed. Buyers too are becoming more sophisticated. Time was that eBay was one of only a few places where people would come straight to and shop but now they start with Google and the landscape is more fragmented. Sellers who want to keep on increasing their sales into 2008 and beyond need to look at other venues in addition their eBay selling.
Other marketplaces and a seller’s own website have advantages: lower costs, greater control, different rules to name a few.
Which other marketplaces would you advise sellers to seriously consider?
It depends what you’re selling but I’ve heard a lot of positive comment about Amazon. What is fairly obvious to me is that the ebay-a-likes (eBid or Tazbar for instance) aren’t getting cut through. I don’t think that eBay’s hegemony is going to be challenged by one single eBay-like venue: you can’t out-eBay eBay. But what we are seeing are small, niche marketplaces finding an audience and doing well such as abebooks, specialistauctions and petsmart. I suspect we’ll start hearing about more smaller marketplaces and I advise sellers to have a pop and examine the results.
But more significant than other marketplaces is the opportunity offered by a seller’s own website. Every seller who is making a living on eBay needs to start building their own website in addition to eBay. Of the many sellers I’ve spoken to none has ever said they regretted setting up their website. Most regret not having done it sooner.
For those who’ve read your book but still have questions, can you offer any more help?
I’m happy to answer any questions that your readers have. :O) Feel free to leave them in the comments.
Do you have a special price for your book for all TameBay readers? 
I’ll be selling it on eBay in the next few weeks: I’ll link from my blog. Til then, Amazon is probably the cheapest option.
Jamie Breese and eBay’s Guide to hidden treasures
May 2, 2007
eBay have today published ‘A Guide to Hidden Treasure’ which highlights the hidden gems many of us have stashed away in our lofts, old toy boxes or at the back of our wardrobes. Written by Jamie Breese, TV’s collectables expert, the Guide also predicts the top ten collectables of the future which includes early Mobile phones, Milenium Dome collectables, Starbucks cards, NatWest Piggy banks, TV and film memorabilia, iPods, iPhones, 1990 icons and of course the ever popular eBay branded goodies.
Our forgotten toys, dusty books, hidden away china or even early computers could be worth lots of money. The Guide offers advice on what to look out for when rummaging through your house for hidden treasures.
Jamie Breese has been the presenter and expert on numerous TV series from ITV1’s Everything Must Go! and This Morning to BBC2’s, The Life Laundry and The Antiques Show. You can download a free copy of Jamie Breese’ Guide to Hidden Treasures. It’ll open in Adobe Acrobat as a .pdf document.
J K Rowling does not have an injunction against eBay
February 28, 2007
Two days ago news broke that J K Rowling (author of the Harry Potter series) had won an injunction against eBay India. Now it appears the initial reports were incorrect and eBay has released a statement.
Although it is uncertain that a legal ruling in India would have any validity in the US or Europe, it’s certainly good news for eBay. It appears Rowling’s lawyers may have been a little over enthusiastic in their comments to the press.
Harry Potter’s J K Rowling sues eBay
February 26, 2007
J K Rowling, author of the Harry Potter book series, is to sue eBay India over sellers hawking unauthorised copies of her books on eBay. Copies of her work has been sold as e-books on eBay India and action has been filled at the High Court in Delhi, India. Akash Chittranshi is representing J K Rowling and points out that under Indian laws eBay are equally as liable as the sellers. There is no comment however on any legal action being taken against individuals who have listed the e-books.
Rowling’s lawyers have already won a unique victory against eBay, an injunction has been placed which prohibits eBay from listing illegal copies of her work. eBay are now in the invidious position of having to comply with the injunction which will doubtless encourage other companies to expect the same. If they fail to prevent illegal copies of Rowling’s work appearing on eBay then they will be in breach of the injunction which is in place until the next court hearing on 23rd May, 2007.
eBay have long claimed to be “just a venue” unable to verify the authenticity of sellers products. The VeRO program allows IP Rights owners to flag counterfeit items and other unauthorised material which eBay removes when notified. The Rowling injunction orders eBay to bypass this process and actively police the site themselves. Additionally eBay are currently under pressure from sellers to examine the VeRO program, due to misuse by companies illegally trying to control the marketplace.
Once eBay start to successfully police the marketplace there will be numerous other companies demanding the same for their goods, the ruling could also have an impact on court cases with Louis Vuitton & Christian Dior in Europe and Tiffany in the US.
e-books have always had a poor reputation on eBay, and this will do nothing to assist the cause of the very few genuine e-book sellers with their own original material. I for one wouldn’t shed a tear if eBay took the decision to ban e-books entirely as other similar sites such as Tazbar have.
[See update to story with eBay press release]
How to Buy, Sell and Profit on eBay
November 14, 2006
The subtitle of Adam Ginsberg’s book promises to tell you “how to kick start your home-based business in thirty days”. I’d argue with this: a more accurate title might be “how to stop selling off your own old tat and actually start running a business on eBay in probably about ninety days”. If you’ve sold a few things of your own and are really looking to turn that into a business, this book might be useful for you, but if you’re already running a business, online or otherwise, you probably know most of this very basic stuff without needing to read a book.
There’s very little here that you couldn’t figure out from the eBay help pages and your own common sense, but yet some of it manages to be downright dangerous. Mr Ginsberg’s comments on international postage, that you might like to “choose” whether to send goods as gifts or not, fail to mention that declaring merchandise as a gift is, in fact, illegal. This is smuggling, not just a matter of personal choice!
If you want to buy a book about eBay, I’d suggest you choose something else.
Recent Comments
- northumbrian: those in the know ,must need more time to unload their shares before the announcement is made
- northumbrian: selling internationally is essential given the state of things here we manage fine with DSRs we clearly...
- John: However, they are making it mandatory to have 4.3 DSR in all category? There is no point to sell...
- Whirly: #13 “FFS hurry up I have my fingernails chewed down to the elbow” Norf they have to run spell...
- John: The paint is dry. Send more paint.
- northumbrian: FFS hurry up I have my fingernails chewed down to the elbow
- Josordoni: #5 not always - the discount structure for PS is very different as an example. So the fee structure for...
- Board_Surfer: Well I doubt the changes will make much difference to me, I am a fan of auctions and rarely use...
- northumbrian: Someone had blunder’d: Their’s not to make reply, Their’s not to reason why,...
- Sean Mewse: It looks like the announcement for .com have been made http://www.auctionby tes.com/cab/abn/y...
- northumbrian: those in the know ,must need more time to unload their shares before the announcement is made
