eBay News FLASH!

If you’ve ever wanted to sell on eBay, here’s your chance! All during the month of September (until September 30, 2007) you can list any item with a starting price of $9.99 or under for FREE – as long as you purchase a 35 cent gallery picture. (I always recommend that you use this feature when selling an item on eBay). For thirty five cents you can throw caution to the wind and put up all the things you've been thinking of selling and empty out that closet! For items with a higher staring price, you can get 25 percent of your listing fees when buying a Gallery picture. This is a great promotion and will surely get more sellers (and more buyers – due to increased selection of merchandise) active on the site. It’s a win-win for everyone.

eBay Live 2007 - Great Fun!

My favorite event of the year is eBay live. This year it was in Boston, MA. I taught my Starting an eBay Business class for those who are just branching out into their own eBay enterprise and signed books and met many wonderful old and new friends. Check out my quick video below and see Meg Whitman (eBay's CEO) bowling on a Wii. The two gentlemen with me in the photo are Brian Burke (eBay Director of Global Feedback Policy), and John Donahoe (President, eBay Marketplace). We also celebrated my 1,000,000th book sold!

An eBay Seller's Conundrum - Boots No 7 Restore & Renew

Having family in London, I'm totally familiar with the "chemist" (pharmacy to us Yankees) Boots. They've always been a good solid company, and was pleased to find that I could purchase some of their products on the shelves at Target.

Then, the hype hits! A new beauty product (uh-huh, like one comes out every ten minutes). But this one is different! Women are lining up at Boots to purchase it as soon as it hits the store. (Note the excitement in my voice, that mob mentality can really win me over).

First its talked about on BBC, then CNN and finally Matt Lauer on the Today Show (hey, if Matt Lauer says its cool, it must be, right?) - they're all extolling the virtues and popularity of this revolutionary product. Stop here. When it comes to beauty products, I'm fairly cynical person. I get my heavy duty stuff from a person with an MD after his name - I feel it keeps me on the safe side. But all this hype sounds interesting, so I file the info away in the recesses of the beauty counter in my head.

This morning, while taking one of those girly trips to CVS (the kind of trip where women look and touch every bit of makeup in the store), I spy a whole area with beauty products from Boots! How very cool! Swerving my shopping cart with an acute flourish, I zoom over to the aisle, curious to see if they have the cherished beauty serum. *sigh* They do have a space to put it should they ever get it in stock, but the shelf was bare.

As I'm checking out, I ask the cashier when they will be getting some in and she replies that she has one bottle in the back. Seems some woman wanted to buy their entire stock. I ask for the remainling single bottle and my antennae go up.

Who would want a dozen bottles of the hottest beauty serum in the world? An eBay seller, of course. (you don't have to hit me on the head twice). I scurry home with my package and flip on my laptop. BINGO! My $21.99 (plus tax - eBay sellers always forget to factor in the tax they paid) purchase is selling for as high as $40 on eBay.

Hmmmmm. What to do? Possibly double my money and risk not becoming the 21st century version of Sophia Loren? This is an agonizing decision. It takes me about 15 minutes to think it through.

Vanity wins over greed and I'm actually going to keep and use the product. Maybe it really works? (After all the package says it "reveals younger looking skin in just 4 weeks").

In the meanwhile. I'll be checking that shelf at CVS and sending in confederates to buy for me should the product remain in demand.... heh heh

Marsha Collier visits eBay Singapore

Last fall I visited Singapore to expand the reach of eBay worldwide. I just found this super video, made by the folks in Singapore. I think you'll like it!

New Postal Rates! Change your store's listings!

With the upcoming USPS Rate Change just around the corner, May 14th, you need to change the shipping prices in your store items. Unfortunately, multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings aren't editable once at least one sale has been made. These listings have to be manually ended and relisted in order to change the shipping details.

eBay is offering a limited time relist credit to help us out. From Monday, May 7th through Sunday, May 13th, they'll be offering relist credits to Stores subscribers who cancel and relist these types of listings. If your listings meet the following criteria, you'll be credited for your Insertion Fees, Listing Upgrade Fees and eBay Picture Services Fees:

They must be active Multiple-quantity Good 'Til Cancelled Store Inventory listings with at least one sale.

They must have been listed on eBay.com or eBay Motors (Parts and Accessories Only).

They must have specified a shipping option that will be affected by the USPS Rate Change. For the full list of eligible shipping options, click here.

Listing must be cancelled and relisted during the offer period.

For complete details, please visit the information page.