Book IX: Office and Legal
Chapter 4: Keeping Your Business Secure Online
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Buying an Item Outright
Strolling through an eBay store
When you finally arrive at the eBay store of your choice, you see a page that looks similar to the one in Figure 4-9. An eBay store displays not only the items that the seller has listed in the store, but also every active auction or Buy It Now item the seller has placed on the eBay site.
Figure 4-9:
The home page for one of my favorite stores, Shoetime.
Most eBay stores have a column on the left side of the home page that dis- plays the following:
✦ Store search: Below the store name banner is a column topped by a search box that allows you to search all the items this seller has for sale.
✦ Store Categories: eBay store owners may assign their own custom cat- egories to the items they sell to better organize things within the store.
You may click individual categories to see items in that classification from that seller.
✦ Display: You can decide how you’d like to view the items in the seller’s store. Figure 4-10 shows you the store in gallery view and the remaining time before the auction ends.
✦ Store policies: This area shows the terms and conditions of the seller’s auctions.
✦ About the seller: The last entry in this section is the seller’s About Me page.
72 Supercategories and Specialties
At the top and bottom of the store home page, you’ll see a variety of things:
✦ The store name: This is the name the store owner has chosen for the store. Each eBay store has its own address that ends in the eBay store’s name, like this: www.stores.ebay.com/insertstorename. For example, my store’s URL is
www.stores.ebay.com/marshacolliersfabulousfinds.com
Because www.ebaystores.com also gets you to the eBay Stores hub, an alternative URL for my store also works:
www.ebaystores.com/marshacolliersfabulousfinds
✦ Seller’s user ID and feedback rating: Some stores choose to put this on the home page; others replace it with graphics. Next to Maintained by are the seller’s user ID and the ubiquitous feedback rating.
✦ Add to My Favorite Stores: If you click this link, the store is added to the favorites page in your My eBay area.
✦ Sign up for Store newsletter. If you’d like to receive promotional e-mail from your favorite stores, click here and e-mails can be sent to you from the seller through eBay’s e-mail system. Your e-mail address will not be given to the seller, and you can discontinue the e-mails at any time.
✦ Store logo and description: In the middle of the page is the store’s graphic logo, and to the right of that is the seller’s description of the store. (This is the area that is searched when you search Stores by store name and description.)
Supercategories and Specialties
Aside from owning PayPal (the world’s largest online payment service), eBay runs some special categories that make up a good deal of the business on eBay.
Real estate
Since the founding of our country, land has been valued as a great commodity;
passed from generation to generation. As Gerald O’Hara so eloquently put it,
“it’s the only thing that lasts.” (Remember that scene from Gone with the Wind?) People buy land for investment, vacations, or retirement. It’s no longer common for a family to spend their entire life in one home. Real estate, although a major purchase, is becoming more and more an everyday transaction.
The smart people at eBay are sly trend-spotters, so they opened an official category for real estate transactions in the fall of 2000. You can access eBay’s Real Estate category through the category link on the left side of the home page or by going directly to
http://www.ebayrealestate.com
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Because substantial legal restrictions are involved in real estate transactions, sellers can choose to list their properties either as auctions or in the form of advertisements, depending on the laws in their areas.
When you participate in a listing that is in an ad format, you do not place bids. At the bottom of the item’s description page is a form for you to fill out that’s sent to the seller. After the seller receives this information, he or she can contact you, and the two of you may negotiate privately. When you browse the Residential Homes category, a small ad icon in the Bids column indicates items listed as advertisements. Most residential home sales are handled in this manner. Land and timeshares are typically sold in the auction format.
Because of a wide variety of laws governing the intricacies and legalities in real estate transactions, the auction format may be nonbinding. Before get- ting involved in any real estate transactions on eBay, I suggest you read the official rules, which you can find on the following page:
pages.ebay.com/help/policies/real-estate.html
Cruising eBay Motors
Buying a car — that’s one purchase I don’t enjoy making. Please don’t misunderstand. I love cars and have a personal attachment to every car I’ve owned. It’s just that each time I’m approached by a car salesperson, I get intimidated. The minute the salesperson says “I’ve got to check with my sales manager to see if I can do that,” I know I’m a goner. And when I’ve finally decided on the car model I want, I still have to face the deal, when the finance manager tries to sell me warranties, alarms, and extras that I never wanted or needed. I feel the need to run out of the dealership — and I usually do.
If this feeling is familiar to you, I would like to introduce you to the sweetest deal of the 21st century, eBay Motors (see Figure 4-10). eBay Motors is the largest auto mall in the universe and is consistently ranked the No. 1 automotive site on the Web by Nielsen//NetRatings.
For some of us, eBay Motors is a magnificent fantasy site. I have a friend who browses the Volkswagen bus category; his eyes glaze over with hope and awe as he reads each listing. I’m sure he’s reliving his hippie days of the late ‘60s. Another friend reads the Ferrari and Lamborghini listings; he pooh- poohs all the aftermarket changes to the classics. My best friend checks out the vintage Thunderbirds and pictures herself as Suzanne Somers flirting with the guys in American Graffiti. Then of course there’s my fantasy car;
the buttercup yellow Rolls-Royce Corniche convertible driven by Teensy in Ya-Ya Sisterhood. (I’ve yet to find one on eBay in that color — but then again, I couldn’t afford one if I did find it!)
74 Supercategories and Specialties
Figure 4-10:
eBay Motors home page.
Many of the cars on eBay Motors are private-party sales, bank cars (repos- sessions), and cars that have been cherry-picked by wholesalers and dealer overstocks. In addition, professional car dealers sell rare, hard-to-find cars to a marketplace that draws between 4 and 5 million visitors per month. You can’t get that many people through the door at a local dealership! Dealers put up the rare colors and limited-edition vehicles because this is an auction site — the rarer an item, the more likely bidders are to get excited. The more excited bidders are, the more they lose their heads — and the higher the price goes.
With an average of seven to eight bids per sale, eBay Motors is a competitive environment for the most desirable cars. Dealers can sell cars for less on eBay because it costs them less to sell. (They don’t have to pay the finance manager to twist your arm to buy the extras.)
You can enter the eBay Motors site in two ways. Click the eBay Motors link at the top left of any eBay page, or go to
www.ebaymotors.com
For more on eBay Motors bidding strategies, check out Chapter 6.
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Supercategories and Specialties
The truly amazing part about eBay Motors is that it has more than just the usual cars and vans. In fact, the rule seems to be that if it has an engine, you’ll find it here. Here’s a description of the Other Vehicles categories:
✓ ATVs: Within the ATV subcategory of Powersports, you’ll find a wide selection of new and used 4x4s and 2x4s, three-wheelers and four-wheelers. I even found a few six-wheel amphibious vehicles! Bidding in this category is active and the items move quickly.
✓ Aircraft: Anything that flies can be found here, from hot-air balloons to military trainer jets. Browsing this category is amazing. Who could imagine that with a click of your mouse (and enough money) you could own your own Bell helicopter or Gulfstream jet? If you’ve ever dreamt of taking up flying, this might be the category to get your hobby started!
✓ Boats: This category was so full that I got seasick just browsing! It has its own subcategories of Fishing Boats, Personal Watercraft (Sea-Doo, Yamaha, Kawasaki, and so on), Powerboats, Sailboats, and Other (kayaks, canoes, pontoons, tenders, and dinghies). I know boats, and I saw some great deals in this category. There were some beautiful Bass boats and Boston Whalers at incredible prices. A dozen or so Bayliners caught my eye, especially the 47-foot Pilot House Motoryacht with a starting bid of
$290,000.00 (sigh). It was also nice to see a wide selection of prices for sailboats. With some time spent shopping in this category, you can find just about anything you want within your price range.
✓ Buses: No kidding. You want to start your own bus line? Here’s the place to find the buses — and it seems that plenty of people are interested in them! There’s active bidding on old school buses in this category (and I thought the American family was getting smaller!).
✓ Commercial trucks: Since commercial trucks are something I know jack about, I went to some experts who browsed the site and examined the deals. Here’s their review for those in the know. The items are good quality and of the type they’d like to find at commercial truck auctions. They tell me the prices are bargains and that they’ll be visiting the site regularly from now on — sounds like a good recommendation to me!
✓ Scooters and minibikes: Aside from what you’d expect to find here, this is the home for beautiful vintage and new Vespa motor scooters.
✓ Snowmobiles: I’ve never lived in a snowy part of the country, so I can only imagine how much fun these bad boys are. You’ll see everything from top-of-the-line new ones to gently used private sales.
✓ Other: How about a 1947 Coca-Cola vending truck — complete with fountain, cotton- candy machine, and propane-powered hot-dog cooker! Sounds like a carnival on wheels! Well, okay, it doesn’t run, but hey — it’s only $3000! There’s also a Shelby Cobra kit, with no motor or tranny, but you need a hobby, don’t you? I also found a Think Neighbor electric vehicle; a sandrail dune buggy four-seater; go-karts, and car haul- ers. There’s nothing you can’t find on eBay!
Finding more than cars
76 Supercategories and Specialties
Supercategories
When it comes to unique shopping, the supercategories are the place to go.
On the eBay home page, take a look at the long list of links on the left. Below the major category-listing links are a few links to even more eBay special areas.
These specialized categories have been put together by the eBay gurus to encompass areas of interest that cover more than one category. On the eBay home page, you’ll currently find the following big three (eBay will no doubt add more in the future):
✦ Business & Industrial ✦ Collectibles
✦ Giving Works (Charity)
These supercategories come in handy when you’re looking for cross- category merchandise.
Business & Industrial
If you’re looking for anything to outfit a business, Business & Industrial category is the place to go. Shown in Figure 4-11, it covers everything from tractor parts to welding equipment to computers. You can browse the sub- category of your choice and see what’s available.
Figure 4-11:
The Business &
Industrial category covers a varied group of items.
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Supercategories and Specialties
However, if you need a particular brand name or item, you may find it easier through eBay’s search. For professional tips on eBay’s search, check out Chapter 6.
Giving Works: Giving back to nonprofits
Many charitable organizations are selling their wares on eBay to raise money for their fine work (see Figure 4-12). You can get some rare and unusual items here, such as the annual NBC Today Show Green Room autograph book. This one-of-a-kind book has signatures and notes from the famous guests of the Today Show. One of these Green Room books sold for
$87,500! The superhot auction was for lunch with Warren Buffet (the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway); it raised $250,000.
eBay has partnered with the leader in online charitable auctions,
MissionFish, which has been helping organizations turn donations into cash through online auctions since 2000. MissionFish works with regular eBay sellers to raise money for nonprofit organizations.
Figure 4-12:
Do a little shopping while doing some good.
When you list an item on eBay, you can choose a nonprofit from a certified list and designate a percentage of the proceeds (from 20 to 100%) to donate.
The item appears in the search results with a Charity Auction icon. When you go to the item page, you’ll see the name of the nonprofit, some informa- tion about it, and the percentage of the final bid that the seller is donating.
You can search eBay for your favorite nonprofits by name.
78 Book I: eBay Basics
Chapter 5: Checking Out the Seller and Leaving Feedback
In This Chapter
✓ Giving feedback
✓ Reading eBay’s DSR System
✓ Checking out the seller’s reputation
✓ Comparing items
✓ Playing it safe with buyer protection programs
W
hen you’re shopping on eBay, you’re faced with hundreds of items, perhaps even hundreds of listings for the same item. How do you decide where to place your order or your bid? In this chapter, I show you the tools on eBay that guide you to a safe and positive transaction.Understanding and Giving Feedback
One of eBay’s strong suits has been the formation of a sense of community through its use of message boards, chats, and feedback. Many experts say the reason eBay has succeeded where dozens of other dot-com auction sites have failed is that eBay has always paid close attention to the needs of its users.
Even in the early days, the concept was clear. Pierre and his employees figured that if users complained openly (for all other members to see), feed- back would be more genuine — not so much flaming as constructive. “Do unto others as you’d have them do” prevailed as a philosophy; above all else, Pierre encouraged buyers and sellers to give each other the benefit of the doubt and to conduct themselves professionally.
It soon became clear to eBay’s three employees that they did not have time to adjudicate member disputes. Thus the feedback system was born. But the pièce de résistance of feedback policy, the part that makes eBay work, is the fact that Pierre and his staff encouraged users to give positive feedback as often as they give negative or neutral feedback.
80 Understanding and Giving Feedback
The benefits of the feedback policy are immediately clear. Before even plac- ing a bid with a seller, a buyer (you) can check the experience other eBay buyers have had doing business with this seller. You can see whether items in a seller’s previous auctions shipped quickly, whether items were packed carefully, whether communication was clear and frequent, and so on. You now have more information about an eBay seller then you have when you walk into a new store in your neighborhood!
The types of feedback
Every eBay member has a feedback rating. Buyers rate sellers (more on that below), and sellers rate buyers — no one is immune. Although sellers can no longer leave negative or neutral feedback for a buyer, a seller still might comment on how quickly you paid for an item, how well you communicated, or how you reacted to a problem.
Leaving feedback for the seller comes in three exciting flavors:
✦ Positive feedback: Someone once said, “All you have is your reputa- tion.” Reputation is what makes eBay function. If the transaction works well, you get positive feedback — and whenever it’s warranted, you should give it right back.
✦ Negative feedback: If there’s a glitch (for instance, it takes six months to get your Charlie’s Angels lunchbox, or the seller substitutes a rusty Thermos for the one you bid on, or you never get the item), you have the right — some would say obligation — to leave the seller negative feedback.
✦ Neutral feedback: You can leave neutral feedback if you feel so-so about a specific transaction. It’s the middle-of-the-road comment that’s useful when, for example, you bought an item that has a little more wear and tear on it than the seller indicated, but you still like it and want to keep it.
Keep in mind that a Neutral feedback will affect the seller’s feedback per- centage (and reputation). The feedback percentage (next to the feedback number) is calculated based on the total number of feedback ratings received in the last 12 months. This does not include repeat feedback from the same buyer in the same week.
Leaving feedback for a buyer isn’t quite as colorful. A seller can leave only Positive feedback for a transaction — or none at all. If I’ve dealt with a particu- larly difficult buyer, there is a good chance that I won’t leave any feedback at all.
You’re not required to leave feedback, but because it’s the benchmark by which all eBay users are judged, you should always leave feedback comments whether you’re buying or selling. Every time you complete a transaction — the minute the package arrives safely and you’ve checked the contents, whether you’re a seller or a buyer — you should go to eBay and post your feedback.
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Understanding and Giving Feedback
The magic feedback number
You know how they say you are what you eat? At eBay, you are only as good as your feedback says you are. Your feedback is made up of comments — good, bad, or neutral — that people leave about you (and you leave about others). In effect, people are commenting on your overall professionalism. (Even if you’re an eBay hobbyist with no thought of using eBay professionally, a little business- like courtesy can ease your transactions with everyone.) These comments are the basis for your eBay reputation. You wouldn’t be caught dead in a store that has a lousy reputation, so why on Earth would you want to do business on the Internet with someone who has a lousy reputation?
When you get your first feedback, the number that appears next to your user ID is your feedback rating, which follows you everywhere you go on eBay, even if you change your user ID or e-mail address. It sticks to you like glue.
Click the number next to any user ID and get a complete look at the user’s feedback profile. When you do, here are some points to recognize about the user’s magic feedback number:
✦ This number is a net figure of the positive and negative comments that were left for that eBay user. For example, if you get 50 positive com- ments and 49 negative comments, your feedback rating is 1.
For every positive comment you receive, you get a plus 1. For every negative comment, you get a minus 1. Negative comments deduct from your total of positive comments, thereby lowering the number beside your user ID. Theoretically, if you play nice, your feedback rating grows as you spend more time using eBay.
Anyone with a –4 rating has his or her eBay membership terminated.
And don’t make automatic assumptions just because someone has a high feedback rating. You should always click the number after the name to double-check the person’s eBay ID card. Even if someone has a total of 1000 feedback messages, 250 of them could be negative.
✦ This number shows more than how good a customer or seller you are.
As it grows, the feedback number also tells how experienced you are at doing business on the site.
✦ This number ignores neutral comments. A neutral comment is neither negative nor positive; it doesn’t change the number that appears after your user ID. Neutral comments are used most often when someone is not completely happy with a transaction, but not so unhappy that they choose to destroy someone else’s reputation over the situation.
eBay riddle: When is more than 1 still 1? Gotcha, huh? The answer is, when you get more than one feedback message from the same person in the same week. Confused? This example should help: You can sell one person 100 different items, but even if the buyer gives you a glowing review 100 times,