| The Online Seller | Vol. 4, Issue 4 |
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No matter where you live, you can always find good items to resell online.
by Miriam Otto
I often meet people from rural areas who want to sell on eBay but think they can't. They say things like, "Where will I get merchandise? We don't have many thrift shops and yard sales in my area." My response is simple: No problem! Anyone can sell on eBay. In fact, eBay sellers living in rural areas have a wide variety of sourcing options. Read story.
The Diego Brown Project: A Success Story
Hip-hop artists find reliable custom-merchandise sources using Alibaba.com.
by Brad and Debra Schepp
Sourcing Undervalued Goods on eBay
Learn to mine for those diamonds in the rough and resell them for profit.
by Dennis L. Prince
When East Meets West
Tips to make getting to know your Chinese supplier a little easier
Building Trust in Your Overseas Supplier
Research and relationships are the keys to a good sourcing experience.
Free eBay Shipping Service from Stamps.com! Simplify your eBay shipping. Stamps.com imports order data from eBay, posts tracking information back to your store, and it's compatible with First Class Mail International, so you can ship worldwide without ever going to the post office. Best of all, you can print eBay shipping labels for free. Sign up today and get a $55 bonus!
News Stories
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2 key execs quit, blame themselves for not doing enough to prevent fraud.
Alibaba.com announced several key company executives, including CEO David Wei, have stepped down after an internal investigation uncovered fraud on its business-to-business marketplace. Read story.
eBay Australia Introduces Changes
New auction pricing, return policy requirement reflect policies on U.S. site.
eBay Talks Growth, Changes at Analyst Day
PayPal unit expected to contribute half of company revenue by 2013.
eBay Seller Sues Coach Over VeRO
Woman says handbag designer unfairly accused her of trademark infringement.
eBay Scores Pre-loaded App Deal in U.K.
Agreement paves the way to tap other European markets.
Auctiva Blog
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The spring-like weather here in California has made me want to begin my annual spring cleaning. Not a spring cleaning of my house—a spring cleaning of my eBay work area.
But in the middle of reorganizing my storage space here in our office, I started to wonder if I should re-think the way I've been organizing my eBay inventory and start fresh. Read more.
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Typically, when we develop a new feature at Auctiva, we beta test before we do a major release. This usually means a limited number of our users try out the feature and give us their input so our developers can consider suggested enhancements before we enable the feature for all users. It's a good process that has allowed us to create and refine very popular tools for more than 10 years.
However, as operators of more than a dozen different Web sites, we were able to play our own beta testers for an exciting product we recently unveiled called FeedbackForms. Read more.
Auctiva 101 Webinars. Get a close-up look at Auctiva's newest features, and an introduction to our comprehensive suite of eBay listing management tools with Auctiva 101 Webinars. Ideal for new and experienced users alike, these one-hour classes let sellers interact with Auctiva management and developers to get the story behind the software, and learn strategies for success on eBay. Webinars take place every week. To attend the next session, register here!
Weird and Wacky Listings
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Give your first meal of the day lasting impact. This appliance will help by imprinting the image of Jesus on your toast. It won't make the bread's carbs any less sinful, but 100-percent of the proceeds benefit St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, so you'll be helping out a good cause.
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Get tired of translating acronyms like IMHO or BRB? Now you can avoid them altogether with this "Long Hand" notepad that gives you plenty of room to write out whatever you want! That's right, no more confusion; just nice, easy-to-understand words! Ah, the good ol' days. Take that, texters!
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Ever wonder why people say not to stir up a hornet's nest? Find out! This hornet's nest measures more than 60 inches around, and will definitely stir up something when you display it in your yard. We just hope no little buzzers are still in there. It could turn into a prickly situation.
Ask Auctiva
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Got a burning question about Auctiva, eBay or e-commerce in general? Through our Ask Auctiva program, you can speak directly to Auctiva's top managers. All you have to do is send an e-mail to "AskAuctiva" at the Auctiva dot com domain. Selected questions will be answered by Auctiva managers and published in an article on the Auctiva Education tab. Read some recent Auctiva Q&A articles here.
Please do not submit inquiries requiring an immediate response. Instead, please file a support request for technical or account-related issues.
Auctiva User Profile
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Stephanie Frantz has been in education for more than 25 years. She began teaching in a second-grade classroom then moved on to junior high and then high school. Later, she became a librarian and helped run her school's annual benefit auction. As it turns out, the move sparked a new passion and gave her a new "subject matter," she says.
"I started going to local auctions and buying stuff for really cheap. I would buy stuff for myself, for my family, and eventually, I had so much stuff that I had to sell it somewhere," Frantz laughs. Read story.
Get Featured Here
Got a success story you want to share? What amazing garage sale finds have you turned into monster profits online? How has using Auctiva's templates and auction management tools improved your eBay business? Drop a line and tell us in 50 words or less about an outstanding e-sale experience, and perhaps we'll feature your story in an upcoming issue of The Online Seller newsletter. Submit your story.
Auctiva Commerce Store Spotlight
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Geri Smyth has plenty of experience with parties—and she knows what planning one can entail.
"I enjoy hosting an evening for my family and friends. It is good to share wonderful meals with laughter and great humor," she muses. "Sharing the good things in life with others is very important."
Her experiences with her children's weddings was the big push she needed to start her own online store, Geri's Wedding and Party Store, where shoppers can find everything they need for their events, from balloons, to cake toppers, to party favors, to decorative gift bags and more.
"I was the mother of the bride [once] and mother of the groom four times and discovered all that requires," she says.
So her store offers everything needed "to make a great wedding or party… even to turn a wedding into a great party," she notes, with many of the items invoking a sense of humor.
Buyers have been drawn to Smyth's wedding toppers—especially one featuring newlyweds riding off into the sunset on a green tractor—as well as her wedding favor boxes and diamante items.
Smyth augments the variety of inventory in her store with personalized customer service and "highly competitive prices." She also has a newsletter in the works to encourage repeat business, she says. She gets that same kind of customer care from Auctiva Commerce, one of the reasons why she chose the software as the platform for her store.
"Auctiva Commerce offered a well-designed site with the opportunity to make tweaks and changes," Smyth explains. "We started selling on eBay with Auctiva.com and progressed to Auctiva Commerce, attracted by the pricing. Auctiva's support is by far the best I have ever experienced. Excellent support staff."
And now she has a site where she can offer buyers everything they would need for their next event.
Visit Geri's Wedding and Party Store.
Set up your own Auctiva Commerce Store and get complete freedom over your shop.
Feedback Forum
In response to "eBay Seller Sues Coach Over VeRO," one reader writes: "eBay has long since given up on being an advocate for its sellers. They demonstrate overwhelmingly, in everything from their so-called [Seller] Protection Plan, to their faulty resolution process, to their gag-order on sellers' ability to leave feedback for problem buyers, that the buyer is the only valuable part of the sales transaction. If the seller can't sell then the buyer can't buy. eBay has forgotten the statement they always herald as the cornerstone of their philosophy: We believe that people are basically good." Read the entire thread, and post your response.
If you'd like to comment on this newsletter, any article contained within, or on topics you'd like to see us cover in the future, Auctiva editors would love to hear from you. Send us your feedback.
Sent by Auctiva Corp.
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