by: Brad Eden

Copyright 2005 Brad Eden

It’s obvious that eBay provides internet users with an online flea market where buyers and sellers from around the world meet to conduct trade.

However, like most traders who are faced with an innovation of this sort, the first question will always be: It is safe?

The answer is yes, but devious scammers seem to be plotting daily to forward their dastardly schemes and take advantage of eBay’s power.

So, what is the user’s recourse? The users of eBay must learn to gather information and take meticulous care in dealing on eBay. Only then can they be less gullible to scammers.

A common consensus is that bidders are often scammed by sellers. But it is possible for things to be the other way around.

Here is a list of the common problems sellers encounter and the means to handle them.

Fake Escrow Services

A winning bidder may request that an escrow service be used to assure both parties of a fair transaction. Unfortunately, the seller is sometimes duped into using a fake escrow system.

To avoid this situation, the seller must always verify the authenticity of an escrow service. eBay recommends the use of escrow.com. If the bidder insists on his or her escrow service, chances are, that person is a scammer.

Victims of this fraud find it difficult to reclaim their items. They may, however, appeal to the legal system afforded by the state they live in. They must also contact eBay regarding the matter for any assistance they may be willing to offer.

Deadbeat Bidders

Deadbeat bidders (a winning bidder who doesn’t pay for an item at the auction’s close) are more common on eBay. If the winner of your auction does not pay, you may leave that person a negative feedback.

As for the listing fees the seller shells out, eBay lays out a…

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by: Anik Singal

The biggest problem that most are running into seems to do with getting INTO the search engines. Rankings aside, you need to first get them to index you. Here are the four main ways to assure yourself fast indexing:

Indexing Tip #1:
Never launch a new site with a lot of back links. Build natural links over weeks and months.

Let’s face it, there is no guaranteed method of getting indexed by Google fast, and buying links from high-ranking sites does not guarantees anything either.

The most immediate red flag you should watch out for is your number of incoming links. According to Google, it takes time to get link popularity and sites should not have more than 100 incoming links.

It’s okay to launch with a quality link or two. But beyond that, you are pushing it!

Here is the scoop! It takes 30-45 days for Google to deep index new sites. Instead of sitting around during “sandbox” time, use that period to build a strong set of natural back-links with a variety of sites.

Indexing Tip #2:
Register your domain name at least four months before you plan to launch the site.

No I am not kidding! Whether you agree with it or not, history shows that Google takes older URLs far more seriously than newer ones. So register your domain name as soon as you plan on developing a site.

Indexing Tip #3:
Blog and ping carefully.

Blogging & pinging is one of the fastest ways to get into the Yahoo index - it can literally get you into Yahoo overnight - helps with MSN as well.

Will blogging and pinging help get you into Google? Maybe. But over-pinging can set off red flags on the ping servers, and if you’re using automated blogging software, overdoing it can cause Blogger.com and other services to shut down your blog.

Blogging…

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by: Jason James

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

It doesn’t take a genius to make money on eBay, nor does it require you to have any specialized computer knowledge. You don’t even need to be a skilled entrepreneur, because eBay does most of the work for you. With over 1.5 billion page views per month and more than 1000 categories, they bring customers TO YOU and save you enormous advertising costs.

Your job, therefore, is to make a successful sales pitch to the customers who see your auctions, and doing that isn’t as easy as you might think. You will be competing with more than two million other eBay sellers, many of whom are veterans at online marketing and highly knowledgeable in the niche markets found on Ebay. So how do you compete with them? The answer is simple: INFORMATION!

This guide provides the information needed to get ahead on eBay and gives you an instant edge over your competitors. I will provide you with insider secrets on Ebay trading that I have learned from years of online auction sales. If you read this guide carefully, you will be armed with the knowledge necessary for an extremely lucrative home-based business selling virtually anything on eBay.

====eBay First Steps====

This link forwards you directy to eBay’s new user sign-up page: http://ebay-register.auctionresourcenetwork.net

Step one: Enter all the information that is requested on that form then click submit. You will then be forwarded to a page where you get to pick your eBay user ID.

Step Two: You will need a unique name when asked for a user ID. You might as well advertise your company name for your user ID. For example, Instead of “BobSellsoneBay99″ it’s best to use your company name, like, “Bobs-Metro-Camera” or something to that effect. I think you get the point. If you don’t have a…

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by: Matthew Noel

You probably know that a domain name is a name given to a website or email account. Because IP addresses mark individual computers, the domain name is usually much easier to remember as it can be a catchy phrase or an on target description of what the website has to offer. In this day and age, the game of domain name selection is heated and often times a demanding field.

What does an effective domain name get you, anyway?

You may ask yourself why is it so very important to have a good domain name for your website. Besides being the best way to attract your customers, it is one of the best ways to have customers remember you. The returning customer is after all the best one to have. Yet, many websites fail at this point simply because there are so many other, just as good if not better, websites out there. Having a good, on target domain name is necessary for name recognition.

Finding Your Domain Name

Just like writing a jingle for a commercial, having an effective domain name should be something that people will remember. Catchy phrases or very targeted phrases can be the best way to get the attention of the user. More than likely, the first time they find you will be through advertisements or through a web search. But, once they are there, getting that domain name into their heads for next time is necessary.

But, its not really that easy. There is huge competition of domain names and many times you will find that the ‘good ones’ are already taken. But, when you get creative and think outside of the box you can really find the right niche and make your domain name the next one to be remembered.

There are also many information portals now…

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by: Joe Clare

Are you looking for “Hot Items” to sell on your eBay Auction? Are you having trouble deciding on a category? Being an active eBayer, I am often asked about what products to sell. As explained in my book “eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak” finding the right product in the right category is cruical.

Many people ask me whether jewelry is a good item to sell on their eBay auction. My opinion is yes, it can be. For the most part jewelry is easy to package and easy to ship. And provided you have done your research first, you should be able to make a good profit selling it. One of the points you will need to research before adding any jewelry to your eBay auction is, what are eBay shoppers looking for in the jewelry niche? Knowing this will help you to decide just what type of jewelry you could include in your auctions. Below you will find Top Ten Buyer Searches for Fine Jewelry (at the time of this writing) as per eBay

10 - Earrings

9 - Turquoise

8 - Sterling Silver

7 - Cameo

6 - Italian Charms

5 - Vintage

4 - Gold

3 - Diamond Rings

2 - Designer Jewelry

And the number 1 jewelry search at the time of this writing is…

Italian Charm Watches.

By knowing what people are searching for you will have a better insight of what items are popular, and what items should sell well on your auctions. If you decide to sell jewelry on eBay, finding items that fit into one or more of the above categories will see your number of bids increase substantially. Always remember to do your research before listing any item for auction. Know what categories are “Hot!” Do a price analysis of your product. Know what the item costs you and what you can potentially sell…

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Many thousands of people making a living both buying & selling on eBay. Currently ranked as the 37 biggest site on the net (according to Alexa figures) eBay shows no signs of slowing down, even fortune 500 companies are opening eBay shops to sell surplus & unwanted stock. The following are five resources that I use personally & encourage you to use them to increase your eBay profits with ease.

Reports show that over 90% of searches on eBay are done using the search facility. What users do not know about eBays search factility is that by default it only searches the item titles - not the descriptions of the items. Remember this fact as it will show the significance of some of the resources listed below.

1) FatFingers

How professional a seller are you? Do you check your listings before submitting them or even does someone else proof read them for you? With millions of listings on eBays networks of sites at any one time, a small proportion of these listings contain errors - & a misspelt word is about the biggest error you can make.

Imagine your selling a Sony Television for example. What if you misspell the item as Sony Televisoin. Anyone who searches for the term “Sony Television” simply isn’t going to be presented with your item. Only those eBayers who search manually though the category will find your items. Needless to say that if people can’t find your item, they’re unable to bid on them.

FatFingers is a service you can use to find all misspelt variations of a term. Why would you need such a service?

Well obviously if an item has low visibility on eBay it’s also likely to have zero or few bids enabling you to snap yourself up a bargain. I’ve known people use this service to…

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