Auction Autopilot Blog

Skip McGrath made a post on his blog recently, recommending a couple of free eBay and PayPal fee calculators.  I thought I would pass them along to you and make one more recommendation.

Sometimes figuring out how much your eBay and PayPal auction fees will cost can be a little confusing.  Knowing the fees in advance is important, since it can help you decide the best (i.e. most profitable) price and format to list an item on eBay.

There are a number of free online auction fee calculators available, but many are out of date and don’t give you all the information you need.  One of the best ones available is the New Life Auctions free eBay and PayPal fee calculator.  The New Life Auctions tool will not only calculate your fees, but it will also show you how much profit you can expect to make on an item.  This handy fee calculator Includes the following features.

• Listing Format
• Auction Type
• Listing Upgrades
• eBay Picture Services
• PayPal
• Power Seller Discount

Michael Repzynski’s free eBay / PayPal Fee Calculator is another good tool.    It is a little faster than the New Life Auctions tool, but not quite as robust in its features.  However, it is still an excellent choice, if you are looking for something simple.

Doug Boudreau’s free eBay Fee Calculator is another good option.  There is also a free PayPal Fee Calculator you can use to calculate your PayPal fees.  When you check out Doug’s site, you will see that he also offers similar tools for Half.com and Amazon.com.

All of these tools have been updated to include eBay’s 2008 fee schedule.  No matter which tool you decide is best for your own needs, they can all help you get more control over your eBay and PayPal fees, ensuring you maximize your profitability.

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New eBay sellers often neglect to put enough effort into creating exciting and informative eBay listings.  They think all they need to do is throw up any old auction and visitors will not only come, but bid.  This is just not the case.  The look and feel of your eBay auctions has nearly as much to do with the amount of bids you get, as the item itself.

Even though most eBay sellers begin as eBay buyers, many forget what it is that attracts them to one auction more than another.  Just think about the last item you bought something on eBay.  Were you able to choose between several of the same item?  If so, think about what it was that persuaded you to bid on a particular auction.  Here are some of the most important elements that influence most eBay bidders.

• Title - This should be a mini description of the item up for auction.  It should include as much pertinent information as possible.
• Description - Make sure you provide as much detail as you can.  The more information you can provide, the better your auction will perform… brand name, model, size, color, condition, year, etc.  Make sure your visitors have all the information they need to make an immediate decision.
• Photos - The more photos you can provide the better your auction will perform.  eBay bidders want details and nothing a story better than pictures.  Even a darker, off center, somewhat out of focus photo is better than no photo at all.
• Guarantee - Can you provide some sort of guarantee to the winning bidder?  If so, do it.  You will definitely get more people bidding, which will likely result in a significantly higher price.  And, as long as you have been completely truthful in your description, the likelihood that someone will return the item is very low.
• HTML - This will allow you to perform basic text formatting, like bolding titles, separating paragraphs and inserting blank lines.  Even if you only use a little bit of HTML, it can make a big difference in the look and feel of your auctions.  There are a number of basic HTML tutorials online, which you can find by doing a search.

The bottom line is that the appearance of your eBay auctions and the text you include can have a big impact on the amount of money you will make.  Remember, your eBay auctions will often be competing against several other online auctions, selling nearly the exact same item.  Spending a little extra time to make sure you include all of the elements above, will pay big dividends.

How would you like to know, without any doubt, what sells on eBay?  What if eBay told you what they think will be the hottest sellers, in the coming season?  What if you could get a list of the items eBay was planning to feature on their front page?  Do you think you could make money on eBay, if you knew the eBay hot items, in advance?

Well, it isn’t really a question of ”if you could” make money, but rather a question of how much money you could make.  Once you know what sells on eBay, all you have to do is line up a reliable wholesale product source for the items, start selling them… and watch the balance of your PayPal account skyrocket.

Well, I’m going to let you in on a little known, but extremely valuable, eBay insider secret.  eBay actually maintains a page that tracks the market trends.  It is called “What’s Hot.”  The page lists the products eBay believes will be the hottest selling items on eBay, in numerous categories.  The list is based on eBay’s own market research, so you know it is going to be highly accurate.

Why, you might ask, would eBay publish such valuable information?  Well, the answer is really very simple.  The more eBay can help you sell, the more money eBay makes.  You see, eBay actually has a financial incentive to help you be successful.  This creates a true win-win arrangement.

Since eBay expects the eBay hot items to sell well, they feature them on the front page.  If you have items for sale in these categories, your auctions may also get featured on the front page.  If that happens, can you imagine the kind of traffic your auction could get?  Can you imagine the bidding frenzy this could create?

Let me put it in perspective for you.  According to TrafficEstimate.com, eBay receives somewhere in the neighborhood of 20,000,000+ visitors PER DAY!  Okay, so what if 1/2 of 1% of those visitors saw your auction on the front page?  That would be 100,000 visitors PER DAY!  What if 1/2 of 1% of those visitors decided to bid on your auction?  That would be 500 bidders PER DAY!  Pretty crazy, huh?  Now, can you see why it might be important know what eBay believes are the eBay hot items?

The eBay hot items list also makes it easy to decide how to price your auctions.  All you have to do is click on the links and you will taken directly to the auctions in that category.  You can simply do a little spying (check out other seller’s auctions) and get all the information you need.

So, check out the eBay Hot Items list, find the top selling items on eBay… and cash in big time!

I recently ran across David White’s website eBay & Beyond, Basics to Business.  David has been selling on eBay for many years and has also taught at eBay University.  David provides insightful eBay advice via a weekly podcast, which you can download for free.  He interviews other eBay insiders, reviews helpful online auction tools and discusses a variety of topics important to anyone seeking to make a full time income on eBay.  Some of the most recent podcast episodes include:

eBay & Beyond Podcast (0)

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Check it out.  You may be able to pick up a few useful tips to help you make more money on eBay.