LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER

A New Beginning...

I hope you enjoyed the holidays as much
as I was able to. I'm really looking forward
to kicking things off in 2009.

In this first issue of the year I’d like to
provide you with a few important
selling-related updates and reminders
you should be aware of as you prepare
your listings for the new year.

eBay has instituted some new policies
that older sellers will need to be aware
of and make changes accordingly.
This includes what types of payments
you can say you may or may not accept!

If the economy has you down with the
rest of the world, I've included some
great information with some new ideas to get
you going on making a few extra bucks in
these hard times.

Thank you for your support.

Here’s to a successful 2009!
Coach Danny

IN THE FEBRUARY ISSUE

- LETTER FROM THE PUBLISHER
- Record Keystrokes With Autohotkey
- Ways to Make Extra Money
- Free Local Classified Ads on Kijiji
- eBay Policy & Listing Updates
- Paperless Payments on eBay
- Seller Central Discussion Board

"We must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves
off, and begin again the work of
remaking America."
-Barack Obama

TOOL OF THE MONTH

This month's free tool is one that
allows you to record keystrokes and
mouse clicks and assign that to a hot key,
i.e. pressing a special key that leads to
the pressing of all the keys and all the
mouse clicks you were recording.

Function keys shouldn't be a problem
being used as hot keys, but there are
some function keys that can't be
"overwritten" on Windows, like the
F5-key and the combination of
ALT+F4 (that is closing the
current program).
www.autohotkey.com

Ways to Make Extra Money

by Kimberly Palmer
Yahoo! Buzz

With lay-offs and dropped benefits causing more workers to get nervous about the security of their next paycheck, some people are hustling up extra cash on the side. Through websites, handcrafted products, and other creative endeavors, anyone with a few spare hours a week can give their bank account a boost.

Here are seven ways to Generate Additional Dough:

Launch a brand.
When Kimberly Seals-Allers, former senior editor at Essence magazine, was expecting her first child, she discovered that black women face higher risks during childbirth and pregnancy. "I realized we were a special group, and I wanted to write a book about everything in black women's lives. Not just pregnancy, but money, men, and myths in our community? [I wanted] to create a new way forward."
Her first book, The Mocha Manual to a Fabulous Pregnancy, turned into a series (the next book, The Mocha Manual to Turning Your Passion Into Profit) as well as an online magazine, maternity line, and consultancy. Seals-Allers also licensed use of the Mocha Manual name to create an instructional DVD that's sold at a discount chain and supermarkets.
Seals-Allers, who started working on the Mocha Manual concept before leaving her full-time magazine job, says one of the hardest parts was giving up that regular paycheck. "I had a great job, but I wanted something more for my life," she says. One of the biggest misconceptions about going solo, she says, is that it provides more leisure time. "You will work harder than ever before, but it's more rewarding because it's for yourself," she says.

Start a blog.
Barbara Saylor, 37, started her blog, Capitol B, after working in communications to give herself another outlet for writing. "I always wanted to share things with my friends and the DC community," she says. She uses Wordpress.com, the free blogging site, so her costs are minimal, and she partners with local businesses and charities to give them publicity. While she's still in the beginning stages, she plans to eventually make money through those partnerships. While she doesn't want to run banner or pop-up ads on her site, companies may pay for the publicity of being listed as partners, for example.
The key, Saylor says, is to find a niche. "How are you going to do something that's different from the millions of blogs out there?"

Create a website.
Building up content and an audience are the two keys to making money from a website, says Paul McFedries, author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Website. Then, there are three ways to make money off of it: First, by running advertisements through a program such as Google AdSense, which matches up ads with the content on your site. A website about dogs, for example, might feature ads for shelters and dog food. Second, through affiliate programs such as Amazon.com, which share book sale profits with websites that refer customers. Third, by selling products related to the website, such as a T-shirt designs or arts and crafts. By using third-party sites including Amazon Marketplace or Etsy.com, you don't even have to run the e-commerce side of things yourself.

Write for another website.
Maria O'Brien, 27, earns about $1,500 a month by writing articles for eHow.com, a site that posts contributions and then shares revenues from online ads with the writers. O'Brien, who writes about personal finance, nutrition, and careers, says, "If you can string together coherent sentences, you can write for eHow." Building up enough traffic to earn as much as O'Brien can take time; some newcomers earn just a few dollars a month when they start out.

Candace Crockett, a 24-year-old stay at home mom in Seattle, started writing about parenting, health, beauty, and other topics for eHow.com after her daughter was born. She made $4 the first month and is learning how to earn more by writing articles that are more easily found through search engines. This month, she's made over $200, which covers her student loan and credit card payments. She estimates she spends about an hour a day working on the articles.
For O'Brien, who has been supporting her family more as her husband's construction business has suffered with the economy, it's been what she calls "a blessing for our family."

Design t-shirts.
Companies such as CafePress.com allow people to design and sell their T-shirts for a cut of the profits. According to the company's website, some users earn over $100,000 a year. But it's not always easy: Jen Goode, who earns enough through CafePress to pay her mortgage each month, found success after a year and a half of long, sometimes 16-hour days. Her time is spent creating designs and then uploading them. She has uploaded about 2,500 designs, many of which are cartoon oriented, including the popular penguin-series. For her, she says, the secret has been to make many different images that are steady sellers, as opposed to creating one or two megahits. Now, she says she doesn't need to put as much time into her shop because she has such a large inventory of designs.

Make films.
Glenn Pieper, 45, teamed up with DemandStudios.com (owned by Demand Media, along with eHow.com), to produce Spanish language videos. He earns $3,000 to $4,000 a month working around 40 hours a week. He says he didn't have a film background, but learned by practicing. "It's always a different subject, and I enjoy the freedom and creativity," he says. Plus, Piper adds, "There are no deadlines, no stress, and the pressure just comes from myself. You can't get laid off."

Sell other people's products.
Make-up companies such as Avon and Mary Kay are always looking for new sales representatives, as are other companies such as kitchen products seller Pampered Chef. "If you don't have to make a big investment to get into it, it's probably not a bad idea," says Marcia Brixey, author of The Money Therapist. But she warns people to stay away from businesses that require sellers to make significant up-front purchases that they might not be able to unload.

ONLINE RESOURCE OF THE MONTH

Found this link to a new site on eBay Pulse,
a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks,
and cool stuff on eBay.
pulse.ebay.com

It's Kijiji, a free local classified ad website.
You can use Kijiji to buy and sell new
and used goods, look for cars and pets,
find local real estate, and more. Just click
on your local area to begin searching
and posting.
www.kijiji.com

eBay Feedback Removal Policy, Payment Methods & Listing Updates

Update to Feedback Removal Policy
– Customs Fees

Many cross-border sellers have asked
for help when they receive a negative/
neutral Feedback rating because they
wouldn’t mark an item as “gift” in
order to sidestep customs fees. eBay
will now remove Feedback if a) the
listing meets the Customs
Requirements below and b) the seller
receives a negative or neutral Feedback
comment which references customs
delays or customs fees.

The following text, or very similar
wording, must be included in the
listing and be:

* In the format below
* In a font size no smaller
than the majority of the
other text in the description
* Prominently displayed (in the
upper half of the description,
free-standing, etc.)

“International Buyers –
Please Note:
* Import duties, taxes and charges
are not included in the item price
or shipping charges. These charges
are the buyer’s responsibility.
* Please check with your country’s
customs office to determine what
these additional costs will be
prior to bidding/buying.”

In addition, sellers may wish to
include additional helpful statements
for their buyers, such as:

* “These charges are normally
collected by the delivering
freight (shipping) company or
when you pick the item up –
do not confuse them for
additional shipping charges.”
* “We do not mark merchandise values
below value or mark items as
‘gifts’ - US and International
government regulations prohibit
such behavior.”

To learn more, please read
eBay’s Feedback Removal Policy.

New Approved Payment Methods
-- Moneybookers and Paymate

In February, eBay will be adding two
new electronic payment methods to
the permitted payments list in the
Accepted Payments Policy:
Moneybookers and Paymate.

These are established payment
methods that increase the safe
choices available to our buyers
and sellers, which currently
include PayPal, credit and debit
card payment to a seller’s merchant
account, Propay or Pay on Pick-up.

To learn more about these new
payment methods, visit
www.moneybookers.com/partners/us/ebay
and www.paymate.com/eBay.

Please note, Propay also plans to
open up its payment service to all
levels of Powersellers starting
January 22.
For more information about Propay,
go to www.Propay.com/eBay

Better integration for Internet
Merchant Accounts

For sellers who currently accept
payments to an Internet merchant
account, we‘re improving the
checkout experience to make
payments more convenient and
secure for you and your buyers.
Buyers will be able to pay sellers
directly to their Internet merchant
account by entering their credit
card information in eBay’s secure
checkout instead of sending information
via phone or email. You will need
to sign up for a Payflow Gateway
account in March to connect your
Internet merchant account to eBay.
This service will be available to
sellers with an Internet merchant
account at no additional cost.
For more details on these changes
and how to take advantage of this
new service, please read our
Frequently Asked Questions.

Seller Checklist
– Listing update reminders

Review Seller Checklist at
www.ebay.com/checklists for
details on these important updates
you’ll want to make to your listings:

1) Book, Music, DVDs & Movies and
Video Game listings with shipping
charges over the maximums in the
item descriptions should now
be removed.

2) References to checks and/or money
orders, or any other payment method
not permitted on eBay.com, should
be removed from item descriptions.

3) If you are shipping globally, add
customs “disclaimer” text to your
description to protect your Feedback.

4) A return policy and handling time
must be specified in your listings
by mid-March.

Selling with Paperless Payments on eBay

As of October 20, 2008, sellers will need
to offer credit card payments through
an internet merchant account, PayPal,
or ProPay, all of which will be
integrated into checkout in
early 2009.

As of October 20th, 2008 checks and
money orders are no longer allowed
on eBay. Learn the details of the actual
policy. Electronic payment methods
such as a credit card, PayPal, or
pre-paid cards are deemed acceptable.

Accepted Payments Policy

To make sure buyers on eBay are
offered safe, convenient online payment
options is one reason why sellers’ listings
can offer buyers only the payment
methods allowed on eBay.

Payment methods allowed on eBay:

Sellers must offer to accept one or
more of the following payment choices:

* PayPal
* Credit or debit card processed
through an Internet
merchant account
* ProPay

Payment methods not allowed on eBay:

Sellers can't ask buyers to:
* Mail them cash
* Send cash or money orders
through instant cash transfer
services (non-bank, point-to-point
cash transfers) like
Western Union or MoneyGram
* Mail checks or money orders (except
for items in categories specifically
permitted above)
* Pay through bank-to-bank transfers
(except for items in categories
specifically permitted above)
* Pay by "topping off" of a seller's
prepaid credit or debit card
* Payment using online payment methods
not specifically permitted
in this policy
* Payment using payment methods
not listed in this policy

Being clear about what payment
methods are accepted:

Sellers must clearly state the payment
methods they accept, and can’t make
generalized statements or ask buyers
to contact them for additional payment
methods. Sellers can’t offer a payment
method to some buyers and not to
others, discourage buyers from using
a certain payment method, or ask
buyers to pay using a method not
mentioned in the Payment Details
section of the original listing.
This applies not only to listings,
but to all transaction-related
correspondence between a
seller and buyer.

Violations of this policy could
result in a range of
actions including:

* Listing cancellation
* Forfeit of eBay fees
on cancelled listings
* Limits on account privileges
* Loss of PowerSeller status
* Account suspension

More details about this policy can be found here.

eBay Seller Central Discussion Board

Learn all the latest selling tips, tools and
resources to maximize sales and build a
thriving eBay business.

Find others who share common
interests - join an eBay Group

Get fast answers to questions in
the Answer Center.

Here, you can find eBay Sellers
share their experiences, feedback and
their most effective, time tested
strategies for success!

Ever have trouble with an eBay buyer?
A recent posting from the eBay Seller
Central Discussion Board reads:

AK buyer with an attitute -

Ebay tells us sellers to resolve
problems with buyers. How the h...
do you resolve something like this:

I am looking forward to a negative feedback
from a woman out ofAlaska. She paid for
an item, I shipped it same day (Nov.3rd)
4 days later she asked where it was.
I said, look, you paid for parcel post, you
have togive it a few days.Since I did not
hear back from her, I checked the
tracking number a few days later, parcel
is still in WA.So I figured I would be nice,
and send her the following:

Dear xxx
Good morning, I just checked with the Post
office because I noticed that your moose
head still has not arrived. They were very
apologetic, but told me they could do
nothing, since it showed to be IN WA
somewhere. They suggested to call your
Post office, give them the tracking number
and have them check for it? Or maybe it's
sitting there at their Post office, and someone
forgot to deliver it. Believe me, I had THAT
happen before.Here are the info's again:
Tracking number:420 99518 9102...
shipping date Nov.3
Hope it will show up today!
Cheers
Gabriele

So yesterday I received her answer:

I bought this item from you and paid
for it right away. It is not my
responsibility to track it down. I will
contact e-bay that I paid for this
item and never received it and will
leave that feedback.

I went into the USPS site and checked:
parcelpost to Alaska from the 48 states
takes between 3-6 weeks! The problem
is not the negative, but she will be sure
to give me one star on the star rating
all across. And I already know by all
your posts that there is not a darn
thing I can do about it.

Hexelmaedchen Replies:

Call your P.O. again and ask for a
supervisor. Tell him or her that
you have a package that hasn't been
scanned since the 9th and you want
to see if there are any other more
recent scans in their system (ones
that weren't uploaded).
My sister had this happen when a
buyer claimed non-receipt. Last scan
showed in the buyers city, she called
the P.O. and it HAD been delivered
days prior, but the info was never
uploaded. Funny enough once she
responded to the buyer with what the
P.O. had told her and that the information
on the USPS website had been updated
the buyer never emailed again.
(Not that this is what your buyer
has done)

I personally would email back with
"I'm sorry about the previous note,
I did not mean to imply you're responsible
for tracking the package down.
I went ahead and looked into it and have
been informed that it can take 3-6 weeks
for Parcel Post to AK (it's considered
"space available" mail, so if there's no
space on the truck it may sit in one
location for a little while longer). So
my worries regarding your package
were premature and hopefully
unfounded. I am also waiting to hear
back on if there are any internal
scans that aren't reflected yet on
the USPS website. This will let me
know if your package is in fact still in
WA or if it's again on it's way to you.
As soon as I get more information
I will let you know.
Thank you for your patience"

Instead of looking forward to a
negative with bad stars at least
try to salvage the situation.

Read more at the
eBay Seller Central Discussion Board