New eBay Certified Provider, B-Stock Solutions, Brings Unique Product Sourcing Opportunities to eBay Sellers

New eBay Certified Provider, B-Stock Solutions

The eBay Certified Provider Program is excited to offer sellers more inventory and product sourcing opportunities with the addition of B-Stock Solutions to the program.


B-Stock Solutions opens supply sources for smaller resellers, like eBay sellers, who have previously been unable to buy directly from Fortune 2000 retailers and manufacturers. eBay sellers can purchase direct from the large retailers, manufacturers and liquidators. With B-Stock, sellers can bypass purchasing through middlemen that paying extra fees or markups.

B-Stock understands the challenges an eBay seller encounters when trying to develop new, reliable sources of quality inventory. They help answer this challenge by delivering private auction marketplaces allowing registered eBay sellers to bid on inventory in lots/palettes, pay securely and arrange safe shipment. B-Stock creates a predictable, dependable source of supply for eBay sellers.

Features:

Categories:

• Consumer Electronics
• Clothing, Shoes & Accessories
• Home, Bed & Bath
• Cosmetics
• Media
• New categories added frequently

Inventory conditions include:

• Brand new overstock
• Out of season
• Returns
• Refurbished

Benefits:

• Buy liquidation inventory directly from large retailers and manufacturers
• Peace of mind in purchasing authentic inventory
• Purchased inventory can be shipped to eBay seller’s location or arrange to pick-up
• Alerted to new inventory opportunities

Founded in 2008, B-Stock Solutions creates private marketplaces for large retailers, manufacturers and liquidators enabling them to offer their inventory direct to eBay sellers.

Increase Sales and Reduce Labor Costs with Custom Development by JDT Technologies

eBay Certified Provider Spotlight

JDT Technologies provides consulting services and custom eBay programming to help high-volume sellers achieve the next level of success. JDT can integrate eBay and other channels listing and post auction processes with your inventory, sales order/fulfillment, CRM or accounting solution.

Features:

• Custom eBay operation software operating in real-time
• Connect eBay listings to your product data
• Accurately tie and track inventory across multiple channels (online and retail)
• Create an order fulfillment and shipment system for your business
• Connect eBay sales to your accounting system/software

Benefits:

• Stick to the platform of your choice
• Implement your business rules
• Increase revenue
• Decrease costs and inefficiencies
• Integrate with your internal or partner systems
• Increase sales and get a custom shipping calculator with a custom built checkout solution
• Create a custom solution from the ground up
• Create a solution to work with current eBay tools
• Create a solution to integrate with current retail business operational solutions

eBay sellers interested in having a custom solution built for their eBay, ecommerce and retail business can look into contacting JDT.

How to contact JDT Technologies for a free consultation

• Phone - 800-252-5519
• Email - info@jdttech.com
• Webform - http://www.jdttech.com/contact.html

Check out JDT Technologies work with eBay sellers and the success of their custom solutions for each unique business.

Seller Sourcebook Launches Support of eBay Multi-Variation Fixed Price Format

eBay Certified Solution Provider, Seller Sourcebook, now supports eBay’s Multi-Variation Fixed Price Listing Format.

Multi-variation Fixed Price listings allow sellers to include multiple variations of one product (such as color and size) in one low-cost, multi-quantity Fixed Price listing, and price each variation differently.

“We wanted to respond quickly to requests for support of listings with variations,” - Kristen Rice, Founder and CEO of Seller Sourcebook. “We strive to deliver a great listing experience and seamless support for our members.”

eBay sellers using Seller Sourcebook for listing, design and photo hosting now have the added luxury of saving time and money by condensing applicable listings into a Multi-Variation Fixed Price Format.

The variation option is the perfect solution for sellers who are listing items with multiple variations, such as different sizes and colors. Listing time and fees are reduced as the seller is able to place their items in one listing that encompasses all variations. For example, an eBay seller could create a listing to combine all the colors and sizes of their inventory of Lands' End Women's Fine Gauge Cotton Cardigans and charge $29.95 for regular sizes and $39.95 for plus sizes.

eBay sellers can revise their active listings to include multi-variations with Seller Sourcebook’s listing tool per eBay’s policies.

Founded in 2003, Seller Sourcebook provides an affordable eBay listing tool, image hosting and a large selection of attractive templates to assist sellers in creating professional listings on eBay.

Should You End an eBay Auction Early? by Vendio

Post taken from the Vendio blog, Vendable

Ending eBay Auctions Early

It’s a seller dilemma. A buyer emails and asks you to end your auction early and sell to them outright or for the bid they have placed on your item.

This actually occurs more frequently since the best offer option was added to eBay. Countless times I have seen sellers ask the question: “Do I end the Item early and sell?”. Experienced sellers will typically answer “no” as they know that the price is likely to climb in the last few minutes of bidding.

It does appear that newer sellers get these requests most often.

So, what is the best practice?

If there is interest in your item, it is likely that there will be more bidding and a higher realized price if you let the auction run its course. The downside is that you may end up not selling the item or not getting the price offered. However, in most cases, you’ll end up with more bids (money) if you wait it out.

So, how do I answer the inquiry?

To make it easier on yourself, compose a standard message that you keep on hand, which lets a buyer know you appreciate their inquiry, you hope they bid, but there are other folks interested in the item and it would not be fair to them to end the item early (or its your policy), etc. Be kind, but don’t encourage back and forth communication unless you do plan on selling to the buyer at a higher price (I was really hoping to get $30).

Many sellers would not recommend that you end your item early, but there are occasions where you may wish to end the item early and sell it.

If you do end your item early, you are still obligated to sell to the highest bidder, so make sure that the person who inquired is the highest bidder.

Happy Selling!

By Vendio

An eBay Certified Solutions Provider since 2004, Vendio provides an ecommerce solution for eBay sellers of all sizes. Vendio offers a series of applications which can be installed on a standalone basis or used to extend the functionality of the Vendio's eBay listing and inventory management solution.

eBay Workshop Jan 26th - "5 Tips to Prepare for a Successful 2010"

Workshop: 5 Tips to Prepare for a Successful 2010

Host: Lisa Suttora, Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com

Date: Jan 26th, Tuesday

Time: 11AM - Noon PST

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: The holiday selling rush is over and the new selling season has just begun. It is a great time to look at your 2009 selling and plan for your 2010 selling strategy. NOW is the time to review, plan and refresh your eBay business for a successful new year.

Please join Lisa Suttora, ecommerce strategist and Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com, as she shares her advice and insight on what you can do to prepare for a successful year selling on eBay.

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help eBay sellers.

The Importance of Trial Order Shipments when Testing a new Supplier by Worldwide Brands

Article by Worldwide Brands - this is a series of 14 blog posts providing information on how to find inventory and products to sell on eBay from wholesalers with Worldwide Brands and their Product Sourcing Tool for eBay.

Article #10 - Importance of the Trial Shipment

As a Seller on eBay, whether you are selling in an eBay Auction or through an eBay Store, we strongly recommend you place a ‘Trial Order’ from your wholesale supplier or drop shipper for each product you plan to sell before you put them item up on eBay. This is especially important if you are going to rely on drop shipping. There are many reasons for doing this:

1. You need to check the quality of the product your customers will receive.
2. You need to check the quality of the packaging.
3. You need to check that the wholesaler correctly inserts any marketing materials you are paying them to include with each shipment.
4. You need to check the delivery time for a shipment. [Remember eBay rewards those eBay Sellers who provide the best buying experience. Avoid those low score DSRs buy testing an order first.]

Some sellers may be concerned about ordering a test order. Remember, once you have inspected it for quality, you can repackage it and ship it from your inventory (so long as it has not been used in any way.) You will still be able to recover the cost of the item. If there is ever an out of stock situation, you will also be able to quickly supply the product from your own personal inventory to the customer.

With eBay selling you need to be confident you will provide a great buying experience for your customers. Rather than wait for customer complaints that may affect your DSR ratings with eBay, you should put the wholesaler to the test first.

One of the applications now available in Selling Manager Applications or eBay's App Store (check out your “My eBay" and look for a new tab labeled "Applications") is the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool.

The Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool contains a wholesaler database, education modules and education series called: “The Whole $ale.” This series has many chapters to coach eBay Sellers on best practices in working with wholesalers. Sign up for either eBay Selling Manager or eBay Selling Manager Pro and you can then access the Selling Manager Applications directory and the Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool.

Check out Worldwide Brands Product Sourcing Tool for eBay today! A 7 Day Free Trial is available.

Worldwide Brands is an eBay Certified Service Provider, providing product sourcing access and information for eBay sellers. They are the publishers of an extensive directory of legitimate, fully-verified ecommerce wholesalers and manufacturers.

How to Write Great eBay Item Descriptions that Sell by Shopster

Blog post by Shopster

Writing eBay Item Descriptions that Sell
Buying online as a rule is an impersonal exercise. While very efficient, it’s essentially, a no-touch experience i.e. the consumer and the seller do not need to make contact for a sale to occur. Because online business owners don’t have any live salespeople to fall back on, they need to guarantee that their site answers any questions a customer might have - hence, why great product descriptions are so critical. A product description is your salesperson, your chance to engage a customer and get them to buy, buy, buy.

3 Tips for writing engaging product descriptions:
Know your audience and write to them
Ensure that your writing style aligns with the audience you’re writing to. If it’s a highly technical audience use the appropriate jargon. Likewise, if you’re writing for a group of grade 6 children – write at a grade 6 level. When writing product descriptions, imagine your target audience and let that guide your language.

Get your customer’s attention
Use attention-grabbing phrases to grab shoppers’ interest quickly and keep it. Don’t be afraid to use strong words, questions, and phrases to do so. Pierotucci does a great job with opening sentences like: “Walk into a room and make an impression”, “Looking hip and cool is easily achieved when you are wearing this fabulous short fitted jacket”.

Tell a story & appeal to emotions to encourage buying behaviour
Once you have a potential customer’s attention, appeal to their emotions to encourage buying behaviour. Then offer logical support to help them rationalize their desire to purchase. Use each product description to paint a picture in your shopper’s mind, tell them a story, and let them insert themselves in the lead role. Use descriptive language and specific examples to get the best results.

Back to our Pierotucci example “Walk into a room and make an impression. Buttery-soft leather adds distinctive class and undeniable comfort to this sleek blazer perfect for work, weekend, and travel." This product description lets me visualize myself wearing this jacket - I can almost feel the leather on my skin, hear the whispers as I walk into a room. This product description does not just make me want this jacket, it makes me feel like I need it.

The moral of the story: Write to your audience, grab their attention, and then engage their emotions to keep it. By keeping these three tips in the forefront of your mind when writing your product descriptions, you stand a much better chance of turning your site browsers into paying customers.

Shopster is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider providing additional product and inventory for eBay sellers through dropshipping. Shopster has customers in 22 countries and provides full service dropshipping to both the United States and Canada.

ShipRush v7 Allows for Faster Processing of eBay Shipping Orders

ShipRush v7 introduces the new online, web portal My.ShipRush. eBay sellers currently using ShipRush will find new features available in My.ShipRush.

What's new with My.ShipRush

• Share shipping history with users who do not have ShipRush such as customer service staff
• Network ShipRush history across multiple sites
• Serves as a backup of ShipRush history in case of PC loss
• ShipRush Endicia free for 30 days
• New, faster eBay downloading
• Print more international label types on 4x6 thermal printers

eBay sellers can also use ShipRush to speed up their shipping processes by -

• Print shipping labels with just a click or two
• Auto print packing lists
• Tracking numbers automatically uploaded to Buyer's My eBay
• Tracking numbers automatically uploaded to Seller's My eBay
• Automatic email to the buyer with tracking number
• Automatic buyer feedback posted

You can use ShipRush and My.ShipRush together at no cost. ShipRush is free! Check out ShipRush today.

Founded in 1992, Z-Firm has been making ShipRush since 1998. The ShipRush mission is to bring big-warehouse shipment automation to small businesses. ShipRush is "FedEx Compatible," "UPS Ready," "UPS OnLine Compatible," and DHL Certified.

GarageSale Releases Updates for their eBay Selling App for the iPhone and iPod Touch

GarageSale releases update for their eBay iPhone App

Mac, iPhone and eBay software developer iwascoding, released an update for their eBay selling app for the iPhone and iPod Touch known as GarageSale Touch .

eBay Sellers can create, list and manage their eBay listings with their iPhone or iPod Touch - wherever they are with GarageSale Touch.

The recent release of version 1.2 of GarageSale Touch, an eBay selling application for the iPhone, is now available in the Apple App Store.

What's new in GarageSale Touch

• New auction/template designs
• Support for text snippets through SmileOnMyMac’s TextExpander
• Specify up to three domestic shipping services for eBay listings
• Updated list of available shipping carriers for eBay US and Germany

Download GarageSale Touch today at the Apple App Store or through iTunes.

GarageSale is an eBay selling solution for Mac users. iwascoding is a German company founded in 2005. Frustrated by the absence of eBay listing utilities for the Mac OS X the company founders created a client application for the eBay online auction system. iwascoding is an experienced eBay developer and has created tools to make eBay selling and buying easier for Mac and iPhone users.

eBay Workshop Jan 19th - "Making Shipping Insurance Cheaper, Easier & Faster"

Workshop: Making Shipping Insurance Cheaper, Easier & Faster

Host: inkFrog

Date: Jan 19th, Tuesday

Time: 11AM - Noon PST

Location: eBay Workshop Board

Description: In this workshop, the inkFrog team will show/demo how you can use ShipSaver Insurance (by inkFrog) to insure your packages for less than you are paying to USPS and UPS.

ShipSaver Insurance, by inkFrog, is a discount shipping insurance application now available in “My eBay” as part of Selling Manager Applications, eBay’s App Store. ShipSaver allows eBay sellers to receive great shipping insurance coverage at a discount.

InkFrog is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider and one of the third party providers included in the new eBay Selling Manager Applications, also known as eBay’s App Store .

Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help eBay sellers.

eBay It Forward - Employees and Local Community Raise Items and Funds for Charity with eBay Giving Works

SLC employees kick-off the new year by selling items through eBay Giving Works with proceeds going toward helping the local community

After a year of making huge strides in community involvement, eBay SLC decided to end 2009 by engaging the employee population with the local community.

But the question stood: how could eBay help connect nearly 1,400 employees with the community; help the community connect with one another; give back to an amazing local charity; and, in typical eBay fashion, create something unique which had never been done before? Enter "eBay it Forward."

The eBay it Forward experience called for individuals to focus on what they want to share with others and bring forward to 2010 — the things which meant the most to them and for which they are most grateful. Participating individuals, families and groups were asked to look back through the year and identify an important personal item which improved their lives, created joy, provided comfort or maintained happiness during 2009. Then, using eBay Giving Works, the community could share their items with other community members who made need the same joy, comfort or happiness that these items provided their previous owners in 2009.

Calling on the community
Although the experience of sharing ones most precious items is fulfilling in and of itself, eBay SLC wanted to find a way to connect the community and bring these stories to life.

So, community members were asked to bring their items to the eBay it Forward pavilion in SLC to be put on display, along with handwritten notes telling each objects story.

Together, the objects and their heart-warming histories created a large-scale installation displaying the community’s most valuable possessions. Here the beginnings of eBay echoed, as the visual of people connecting with one another while exchanging items, interests and stories came to life. Not to mention it carried the sustainable aspect of giving pre-owned items a new life.

Community "art" display
eBay it Forward officially kicked off Dec. 28 with a sneak preview event for eBay employees and invited members of the SLC community. The goal was to prepare the community “art” display for the official opening and stock the shelves with items for the public to see when the door opened on Dec. 29.

After appearing in multiple news outlets, eBay was hopeful for a huge turnout. Despite harsh weather conditions, the community came and the shelves began to fill up with New Year’s treasures. One community member brought a collection of stuffed animals he and his wife had bought for the children they hoped to foster. However, his wife became sick and their dream of a home full of foster children was no longer a reality. So, they decided eBay it Forward was the perfect way to pass these items on to children who could love them and help out a great local charity in the process.

Most stories associated with the donated items pulled at the heart strings and required a tissue to read. One of eBay’s own employees, Jillene Prolo, a customer solutions agent, donated a necklace she bought from one of her favorite stores because all the proceeds were being donated to cancer research. Three members of her family had been affected by cancer: herself, her father and her grandfather (whom she lost several years prior). The necklace had three silver rings she felt represented these three people. She and her father beat the cancer and therefore wanted to pass on her “good luck charm” to someone else who may need it in 2010.

The start of a new tradition?
Nearly 200 items and amazing stories like these were collected to share with the community, with items ranging from stuffed animals to golf shoes to a Blue-Ray DVD player.

Even employee volunteers turned out in droves to help because they felt it was important to the community, with many of them bringing items and stories of their own to add to the project. “It was an amazing chance for employees to really get out and interact face-to-face with members of the community in which they work,” said J.D. Norton, senior specialist, events and awards. “And, they absolutely loved doing so. For three and a half days, they gave eBay and eBay Giving Works a smiling face in the Salt Lake community. Hopefully, this will become a New Year’s tradition.”

The fundraising goal for eBay it Forward 2009 is $10,000 for the designated charity. Items are currently in the process of being listed on eBay Giving Works, with the first batch of items being listed on Jan. 9, with a new batch going up weekly. All items are listed under the user ID: eBayitForwardSLC or can be found by doing a title search for “EIF”.

Latest Enhancements to Auctiva's Listing Solution for eBay Sellers

Auctiva, an eBay Certified Solution Provider, has added new features to their software for eBay. The new software enhancements allow eBay sellers to manage more of their eBay selling activities from the Auctiva solution.

Advanced Edit Mode
Edit most fields in your closed listings before relisting them, including title, duration, starting price, reserve price, subtitles, shipping costs, listing format and even category. Save time and preserve your relist credit.

Auto-save
No more losing long descriptions you've worked so hard on. Auctiva will automatically save your work to ensure you won't have to start from scratch if you encounter a problem when creating or editing your listings.

More Templates
Browse through Auctiva's new templates to find the design best suited to your listings and wows buyers at the same time. Auctiva has both holiday themes and others you can use year-round.

International Ship-to Exclusion
Specify the countries you will not ship to when creating a new listing.

Bulk Live-Listing Revision Tool
Revise your active eBay listings right from Auctiva.com. Easily edit the description (including your Seller Details), title, return policy, handling time and more.

New Help Documentation
Quickly find the information you need the most. Auctiva has added new FAQs about their newest features.

For more detailed information from Auctiva about their software update, please read their Auctiva EDU article. eBay sellers with any questions about these new features, or anything else related your Auctiva account, please contact Auctiva's Customer Support team.

Auctiva is an eBay Certified Solutions Provider offering listing management solutions and features for beginner -to mid-to high-volume eBay sellers.

New! Terapeak Collectibles Application Provides Extensive Research for Antiques and Collectibles

Have you ever cleaned out the attic and wondered what an old collectible is worth?

Have you been to a garage sale and wondered if there is money to be made in antiques?

Now eBay sellers can easily determine the value of antiques and other collectibles items with the new Terapeak Collectibles market research tool.

With just a few simple clicks, users can research multiple years of data to find out how much an item is worth and how best to sell it. The Terapeak Collectibles database accesses both online and live auction houses, and also allows users to view photographs, descriptions, and other antiques and collectibles data.

• Search and browse multiple years of antiques and collectibles data
• Price antiques and collectibles based on what they have sold for in the past
• View data, descriptions and photos from both online and live auction houses
• Access fast, reliable customer support and video tutorials
• Never have to leave your My eBay page!

Terapeak Collectibles is a brand new application allowing users to research antiques and collectibles data from eBay, other online marketplaces, and real-life auction houses. Terapeak has partnered with WorthPoint, whose "Worthopedia" database houses data from more than 10 years of live and online auctions. WorthPoint's database combined with eBay market data by Terapeak, creates an extensive and powerful research tool for antiques and collectibles sellers.

Available only in eBay's App Store, Selling Manager Applications.

To access Terapeak Collectibles (try it free for 7-days), sellers will need to subscribe or currently be subscribed to eBay Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro. Once subscribed to Selling Manager or Selling Manager Pro, sellers can add Terapeak Collectibles at this link.