The New ebay E-Book

Todd Alexander

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 343

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013

Beschreibung

The only comprehensive, official guide to buying and earning money on eBay Australia Written by an eBay insider with more than ten years of experience with the company, The New eBay guides you through the very basics to the more complicated--from a brief history of eBay itself to simple site navigation to every complexity of buying and selling. Whether you just want to earn a few dollars on the side or turn your hobby into a full-time business, this book explains it all. Written in clear, user-friendly language backed by simple step-by-step instructions and helpful screen grabs from the site, the book covers everything first-timers need to know and all the secrets experienced sellers wish they knew. * The first complete official guide for eBay Australia written by a company insider * Covers such topics as finding items and bidding on them, pricing and listing items for sale, accepting payments, tracking sales, logistics, customer service, and more Perfect for every eBay user, from part-timers to serious sellers who want to build a profitable business, The New eBay is the ideal guide for anyone who wants to get the most out of the world's most popular shopping and selling site.

Leseprobe

The New eBay

Table of Contents

About the author

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Part I: Getting started

1: eBay basics

Part II: Finding and buying products

2: Searching for products

3: The search results page

4: Browsing for products

5: The View item page

6: Bidding on and buying products

7: Paying for an item

8: Keeping track of purchases in My eBay

9: Troubleshooting purchases

Buying TOP 10

Part III: Selling a product (Basic selling)

10: An introduction to selling

11: Registering as an eBay seller

12: Listing an item for sale

13: Keeping track of listings using My eBay

14: Accepting payments

15: Postage and handling tips

16: Customer service

17: eBay’s selling fees

18: Troubleshooting for eBay sellers

Basic selling TOP 10

Part IV: Planning your profitable eBay business (Advanced selling part I)

19: The foundations of a profitable business

20: Researching products, competitors and customers

21: Sourcing products to sell

22: Budgeting for profit

23: Register as an eBay business

24: Your eBay brand

25: Listing your products and managing inventory

26: Best match — visibility in eBay search

27: Opening a store and marketing options

28: eBay and PayPal fees

Planning a business TOP 10

Part V: Running a successful eBay business (Advanced selling part II)

29: Managing sales and customers

30: Accepting and tracking payments

31: Shipping and packaging

32: Reporting

33: Troubleshooting for eBay businesses

10 things you need to know about running a successful eBay business

Conclusion

Appendix: Creating a complete business plan

First published in 2013 by Wrightbooks

an imprint of John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd

42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064

Office also in Melbourne

Typeset in ITC Berkeley Oldstyle Std Book 11/13.5

© Todd Alexander

The moral rights of the author have been asserted

National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:

Author: Alexander, Todd

Title: The New eBay: the official guide to buying; selling; running a profitable business/Todd Alexander.

ISBN: 9781118588536 (pbk.)

Notes: Includes index.

Subjects: eBay (Firm)

Internet auctions — Australia.

Finance, Personal — Australia.

Electronic commerce — Australia.

Dewey Number: 381.177

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the Australian Copyright Act 1968 (for example, a fair dealing for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review), no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, communicated or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission. All inquiries should be made to the publisher at the address above.

Cover design by Paul McCarthy

Printed in Singapore by C.O.S. Printers Pte Ltd

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Disclaimers

Todd Alexander is an employee of eBay but wrote this book independently of his employment. While recognising this as an ‘official guide’, eBay takes no responsibility for the advice and opinions expressed, and readers are advised that following the recommendations in the book will not guarantee them success in buying and selling on eBay. The contents of this book reflect the views of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the views of eBay.

Yates screenshots published with permission. Yates is a registered trade mark of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd and all copyright in the images of Yates products and branding belongs to Yates Australia, a division of DuluxGroup (Australia) Pty Ltd.

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

About the author

Todd Alexander has been working in retail and eCommerce for over 20 years. He is currently the Director of Onsite Search at eBay, where he has worked for the past 11 years. During his time at eBay Todd has helped thousands of Australians to buy and sell successfully on the site. This is his third eBay book. The previous titles, How to Use eBay and How to Make Money on eBay, between them have sold more than 40 000 copies.

Photograph by Andrew Lasky

Todd is also the author of the internet titles Why Pay Retail, Get Your Business Online Now and Everyday Internet at Any Age. Most of his books have become national bestsellers. He is also the author of the novel Pictures of Us.

A regular contributor to online magazines, blogs and webcasts, Todd is widely regarded as Australia’s leading eBay expert. He also has degrees in literature and law from Macquarie University.

In what spare time he can find, Todd runs a vineyard, olive grove and accommodation business in the Hunter Valley wine region of NSW, operates a successful eBay business selling garden supplies and continues to write fiction.

Follow Todd on Twitter: @Todd_Alexander

Like Todd’s Facebook page: Todd Alexander — author

Visit Todd’s website: www.toddalexander.net.au.

Acknowledgements

As I celebrate the eleventh anniversary of my employment with eBay, I think about a handful of people who were instrumental in getting me to where my career has taken me today. Some of them have never worked at eBay but without their support (and generally this meant they took a gamble on me) I would not have wound up at eBay, and this book would not exist. So I’d especially like to thank:

Peter Alexander — for showing me the ropes of the family business and teaching me an invaluable amount; I’m still learning from you today

John Shields — for allowing my foot in the retail door

Pauline Donald — for letting me step into the elevator and for never losing faith

Scot Hayman — for putting the eBay ad on my desk

Stephen Knowles — for allowing my foot in the virtual door

Lee McCabe — for suggesting I should write a book

Deborah Sharkey — for everything else

At Wiley, I’ve been overwhelmed by the support of the entire team. Lucy Raymond answered an unexpected knock on her door and has provided invaluable guidance, support and commitment ever since. Elizabeth Whiley and Jem Bates, you make a formidable editing team — thank you.

Thanks also to my unofficial team of ongoing mentors, professional and otherwise: Cheryl Akle, Melanie Dudgeon, Jeff Ross, Kirsti Wright, Andrew Marlton and Judy Alexander. Gavin Schwarcz is one of the most knowledgeable men in the publishing industry and I owe him for encouraging me to open my eyes to the obvious. Suz Mitchell — thanks for your expertise.

Last and most certainly not least, thank you to every eBay buyer and seller I’ve encountered. I consider myself incredibly fortunate to be a member of this community.

Introduction

Towards the end of 2001 I decided to take my career in a daring new, untested direction. I’d been working for a large, family-owned national book retailer whose future success, it felt at the time, was practically guaranteed. None of my colleagues or friends could believe I would turn my back on a sure-fire industry such as retail to dive headfirst into the uncharted world of eCommerce. I hadn’t even heard of eBay when a colleague showed me the job advertisement, but it sounded like an interesting opportunity, and if things didn’t work out I could always return to the safety and security of the retail industry.

Who could have predicted that a virtually unknown US online company would become one of Australia’s most recognised brands, a rare internet success story and phenomenon, and a way of life for hundreds of thousands of Australians? A year or so into my employment with the company I remember how exciting it was to celebrate the milestone of the first million Australian members. We threw a huge party, web-company style, and couldn’t believe the momentum we were experiencing. Today, around ten years later, eBay attracts 7 million Australians every single month — that means roughly one in every two adult Australians visits the site.

eBay has evolved astronomically over the past decade. When I first started working for the company it was known only as ‘that auction website’, although there were other websites in Australia offering the same kind of experience. Today eBay remains the most popular place to sell second-hand items, but few people are aware of the fact that in Australia more than 80 per cent of the items sold on the site are new, and most of these are sold at fixed price (not auction) by medium to large businesses.

In 2012 eBay reported that its top 2000 sellers experienced sales growth of 45 per cent over the previous year. This is in marked contrast to retail growth figures, which remain more or less flat. The retail industry (and in particular the book industry) is facing one of its toughest periods in history but eCommerce, or online purchasing, is booming. Each year Australians are spending up to $30 billion online and while this still represents a relatively small percentage of total retail, it’s hard to deny that Australians have embraced online shopping wholeheartedly.

eBay remains a powerhouse online but its mission is to connect commerce. According to eBay, ‘connected commerce is both local and global, online and offline. Big and small players can succeed with each other, not in spite of each other, creating competition that’s less “winner takes all” and more “takes all to win”’. The lines between online and offline transactions have blurred. eBay partners with businesses around the world to provide a global platform for trading and will never compete with the sellers on its platform. Most Australians will have visited the site in the past, but in late 2012 eBay’s global president, Devin Wenig, launched The New eBay — a fresh look and feel for the eBay brand and logo, an overhaul of the site’s design, and new functionality that takes the company from its origins as an auction website into the future of commerce. What’s even more exciting is eBay’s leap into mobile commerce. In 2012, $13 billion worth of eBay transactions were conducted via mobile devices such as the iPhone and the iPad. eBay has become the leading model for how all of us will buy and sell in the future.

In this book, for the first time I’ll take you through everything you need to know about buying and selling on eBay, today and into the future. I’ll teach you how to use the eBay website but will also cover how to use eBay from mobile devices. Whether you’re a casual shopper hoping to save a few dollars or find a rare item, a shopaholic who can’t get enough, a casual seller who needs to make some extra cash by disposing of some unwanted items, or an entrepreneur who seeks to start or expand your business and leverage eBay’s buyer base to increase your sales — this book has all the information you need.

Whatever your objective, my advice is that first you read the book from beginning to end, because if you want to develop a successful business on eBay you need to know how buyers use the site. If you currently have no intention of selling, I will show you how easy it is to do so and help you make the money you need to buy new products to replace the old. You can then continue to use the book as a handy reference guide; using the index at the back you can dive right in to the section that interests you most, look up specific topics or troubleshoot.

Eleven years into my employment with the company, I’ve never been more excited about eBay’s future and how many opportunities it presents for all Australians. I have my own business selling on eBay, and throughout this book I will use it as a real-life example of how you too can make money from home or expand your existing business. The book is packed with tips and tricks designed to save you money and time, and is illustrated throughout with colour images taken directly from the eBay website and mobile apps to help you follow along and learn how to get the most out of eBay. Look out for these helpful features throughout the book:

Follow a practical step-by-step guide to complete certain tasks (you may choose to check the box beside each step as you complete it).

These tips will help you stay safe when buying and selling online.

Link Whenever you’re directed to click on a link on the eBay site or a mobile app, the text in this book will be blue and underlined.

Click Whenever you’re directed to click on a button or tab on the eBay site or a mobile app, the text in this book will be bold, green and italicised.

This icon will appear whenever the iPad app is discussed.

This icon will appear whenever the iPhone app is discussed.

Whether, like me, you’ve been a member for more than 10 years or you’ve never used the site before, welcome to The New eBay.

PART I

Getting started

Questions answered in this part

Chapter 1: eBay basics

• What is the difference between the eBay website and eBay apps?

• How do I register on eBay?

• How can I create a good and safe user ID and password?

• How do I update my registration information?

• How do I contact eBay customer support?

Chapter 1

eBay basics

There are three ways you can access eBay: via the website, through your mobile phone (such as an iPhone) or via the Apple tablet, iPad. Each platform differs slightly from the others. Throughout this book the variations in the process between web and mobile will be explained.

Introducing eBay’s website addresses

To go to eBay’s Australian website, type www.ebay.com.au into your internet browser. The first page you see is known as the homepage (see figure 1.1). You can navigate your way to most areas of the site from the homepage. Click on the eBay logo at the top left of any page to return to the homepage at any time.

You can also conduct an internet search for the word ‘eBay’ using a search engine such as Google. Different eBay sites around the world have different website addresses, or URLs. In the UK, for example, the address is www.ebay.co.uk, and in the US it is www.ebay.com. A list of all eBay’s international sites is available at the bottom of the homepage. If you’re on the Australian eBay site, all listings will automatically be converted into Australian dollars, and you will see a comprehensive list of products from around the world that are available to you here in Australia. Going to an international eBay site will show you still more products; we’ll cover this later in part II.