REMEMBER WHEN eBay USED TO BE A GREAT PLACE FOR SMALL SELLERS TO BECOME BIG SELLERS?

Unfortunately, recent changes at eBay have made online auctions less reliable and profitable. So where can you sell when you can’t sell on eBay? Online auctions are the past; fixed-price selling is the future. It’s time to move beyond eBay and first-generation online selling and start Selling Online 2.0. Second generation online selling means migrating from eBay to other online marketplaces, including craigslist, Amazon, and your own e-commerce website. You’ll need to make some new plans, learn some new skills, and change some of the things you do--but you’ll find that there’s more money to be made on your own than relying on traditional eBay online auction sales.

• Put together a plan to maintain your sales level and profitability--to counteract eBay’s changes
• Discover how to shift from auction sales to fixed-priced listings on the eBay marketplace
• Find out if running an eBay Store or selling on Half.com makes sense for your business
• Learn out how to sell locally on craigslist and other online classifieds sites
• Discover how to sell fixed-price merchandise on the Amazon marketplace
• Find out how to launch your own e-commerce website--and promote your online store
• Learn how to sell products across multiple channels--and manage multichannel conflicts

 

Introduction     1

What’s in This Book     2

Who Can Use This Book     3

How to Use This Book     3

There’s More Online...     4

Making the Move     4

I BEYOND ONLINE AUCTIONS: CREATING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS     5

1 The Problem with Online Auctions     7

What eBay Used to Be Like...     7

Why Is eBay Abandoning Smaller Sellers?      10

Changes Are Afoot--and You Probably Won’t Like Them     12

Emphasizing Fixed-Price Sales over Auction Sales     12

Changes to the Fee Structure     12

Changes to the Payment System     14

Changes to the Feedback System     15

Changes to Search Results     15

eBay’s Deal with Buy.com     16

How Do eBay’s Changes Affect You?      16

2 Planning for Selling Success     19

Planning for Life Beyond eBay Auctions     19

Asking--and Answering--Key Questions     20

What Type of Merchandise Do You Want to Sell?      20

How Much Money Do You Want to Make?      21

How Do You Intend to Manage Your Business?      23

Where Do You Want to Sell?      25

Conceiving a Business Plan     26

Understanding the Components of a Useful Business Plan     28

Mission     29

Opportunity     30

Strategy     30

Organization and Operations     31

Strengths and Weaknesses     31

Financials     31

Writing Your Business Plan     32

Implementing Your Business Plan     33

II FIXED-PRICE SELLING ON EBAY     35

3 Migrating to Fixed-Price Listings     37

Why Fixed-Priced Sales Are the Way to Go     37

Comparing Fees     38

Comparing Listing Lengths     40

Factoring in Customer Demand     41

Different Ways to Sell at a Fixed Pric     42

Understanding eBay’s Fixed-Price Listings     43

Understanding eBay’s Buy It Now Auctions     44

Understanding eBay Stores     46

Understanding Half.com     47

Creating an eBay Fixed-Price Listing      50

Creating an Auction Listing with a Buy It Now Price     51

Managing Fixed-Price Sales     52

Before the Sale: Setting the Price     53

After the Sale: Payment and Shipping     53

4 Fixed-Price Selling in an eBay Store     57

What Is an eBay Store?      57

Benefits of Opening Your Own eBay Store     59

Challenges of eBay Store Selling     60

Understanding eBay Store Subscription Levels     61

Understanding Insertion Fees and FVFs     63

How to Open an eBay Store     63

Further Customizing Your eBay Store     67

Managing Your eBay Store     68

Listing Merchandise for Sale in Your eBay Store     70

Handling eBay Store Sales     71

Marking Down Your Merchandise     72

Viewing eBay Store Reports     73

5 Fixed-Price Selling on Half.com     77

Getting to Know Half.com     77

Understanding the Half.com Shopping Experience     79

Understanding Half.com Fees     80

Listing on Half.com     81

Pricing Your Half.com Items     83

Calculating Shipping and Handling Charges     84

Managing Half.com Sales     85

6 Promoting Your Fixed-Price eBay Sales     87

Promoting Your Fixed-Price Listings on the eBay Site     87

Optimizing Your Listings for eBay Search     88

Linking from Other Sites to Your eBay Listings     90

Promoting Your eBay Store     90

Seeding Listings into the Traditional eBay Marketplace     91

Enabling Cross-Promotions     91

Creating an Email Mailing List     92

Linking to Your eBay Store     94

Adding a Stores Widget to Your Blog or Website     95

Creating a Listing Feed     95

Exporting Your Listings to Search Engines and Shopping Sites     96

Advertising on the eBay Site with AdCommerce     97

Advertising Across the Web with Google AdWords     99

Promoting Your Store in the Real World     101

Promoting Your Half.com Listings     102

III SELLING VIA CRAIGSLIST ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS     105

7 Online Classifieds: Are They Right for Your Business?      107

Understanding Online Classifieds     107

Examining Major Online Classifieds Sites     110