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						            <channel><title>Moneymagpie &gt; Blogs &gt; The eBay Blog </title>
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									 <description><![CDATA[ Nicky Peckham has been buying and selling successfully on eBay for years. In fact, she now sells for other people and she knows where the best bargains are to be had. Here she shares her tips on selling successfully, getting the best bargains, watching out for scams and having fun online. ]]></description>		<language>en-uk</language>
										<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:23:23 PDT</pubDate>
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										</image><item><title>Watch out for fakes!</title><description><![CDATA[  &#160;  Some of you may have read in the national press last week that  eBay  has been fined £30 million by a French court for allowing the sale of fake goods.&#160;eBay strive hard to eliminate fakes from the website and employ 2,000 people specifically to deal with this issue but, with more than 10 million goods for sale, it's hard to police effectively.   &#160;  If it's designer goods that you are after then I am afraid there is always a risk that you are purchasing a fake.&#160; However, there are certain steps you can take to make sure the article you are bidding for is the genuine thing. Here are a few ideas to consider next time you are looking for a big label name.  &#160;  1.&#160; Use your common sense.&#160; Is it likely that someone is selling a genuine designer item with a starting price of 99p and no reserve?&#160;Check the seller's other items - are they selling multiple articles from the same designer?&#160;Similarly, be very wary of any items which come from Hong Kong or China or]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Jul 2008 2:27:13 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/8325b052bdbc8bd51233</guid></item><item><title>Are you shopping neutral?</title><description><![CDATA[ Confused? Don't worry, it's just   eBay   speak for a new phenomenon which has been identified, namely consumers who offset up to 90% of their spending by reselling goods online. This is a clever way to shop during the credit crunch and any shopaholic is likely to feel less guilty about consuming if they are selling unwanted items at the same time. I know I do! Apparently this trend is strongest in Coalville in Leicestershire. Another interesting statistic for you ..... eBayers in Bradford made the most money selling on the site last year, equivalent to £138.37 per head.   This week my son is shopping neutral by selling some of his toys to finance the purchase of some new ones. He has developed a passion for Hornby train sets and we visited a local stockist to do some window shopping. It immediately became apparent that there was nothing that an 11-year-old's pocket money could stretch to, so we came home and logged on to   eBay  . There are 588 items listed under the search for Hornby trains]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 30 Jun 2008 1:51:26 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/b8dfb2df5bc498dfba30</guid></item><item><title>On your bike</title><description><![CDATA[ Now, here's a thing.&nbsp; How many times have you been tempted to buy yourself some expensive treatment for body or hair only to find, after a few applications, that it doesn't suit you? If you're anything like me you probably&nbsp;have&nbsp;several bottles or jars at the back of the bathroom cupboard which you don't use and can't bring yourself to chuck out (after all they did cost quite a lot of money). And every time you open that cupboard they are there to remind you of a very costly mistake.  Don't despair! There is in fact a way you can recoup some of your hard-earned cash by selling these partially used products on eBay and there are plenty of people out there who are willing to buy them. I am currently selling a bottle of Kerastase hair serum, which has lost its lid and has only three-quarters of its original 125ml&nbsp;left &nbsp;in the bottle. At the time of writing I have six bids and 16 watchers on this item, and already the bids have reached &pound;3.20. With a few days to]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:26:26 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/320a0a5557133e486241</guid></item><item><title>What's in a name?</title><description><![CDATA[  Are you still at the stage of thinking about opening an account with eBay?&nbsp;&nbsp; If so, you are going to have to give some consideration to your online persona, in other words, what are you going to call yourself for trading purposes?&nbsp; Many, many eBayers seem to go by their Christian name or by several names joined together.&nbsp; Perhaps they have added their partner's name to their own or they have used the names of their children.&nbsp; Me?&nbsp; I also used my own name and then added on that of&nbsp;the family&nbsp;cat who goes by the unlikely name of Sma (and yes, I know it's an odd thing to call a cat).&nbsp; Unbelievably there was already an account registered as nicolasma so I had to add something to differentiate it.&nbsp; Thus I have ended up as nicola1sma and, in retrospect, I wish I had given it all a bit more thought.    Whilst it may be fun to ditch the name you were given at birth and go for something completely frivolous there is also a serious side to it,]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 01 Jun 2008 14:52:40 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/6efa18273cb538001786</guid></item><item><title>Sex and the City</title><description><![CDATA[ Another dismal, wet and dreary Bank Holiday.&nbsp; Right now it seems that the only good thing to look forward to this summer is the release of the new Sex and the City movie.&nbsp; And it was in this spirit that I found myself this afternoon in the Harrods shoe department (yes I know it's an odd way to spend a Bank Holiday Monday but it's a long story.)&nbsp; I spent a very happy half an hour amongst the Manolo Blahniks and Jimmy Choos and, without the benefit of windows, was totally cocooned from the endless grey drizzle outside.  Did you know that the IT bag has had its day and that we're all supposed to be lusting after the latest designer shoes instead?&nbsp; It's true that a pair of shoes is considerably cheaper than a must have handbag but, judging by the price tags I saw in Harrods today, they are still way out of most people's price budget and that's without taking into consideration the credit crunch.  Still lusting after a pair of Carrie Bradshaw shoes but simply can't afford]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 26 May 2008 12:57:11 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/4107607d1be80401bdfd</guid></item><item><title>Rules and Regulations</title><description><![CDATA[ Last week I promised to talk about taking the perfect photograph. Since then eBay have announced some changes to online shopping and selling which are important for all eBayers so I am going to use this blog to outline some of the new measures for you. I'll get back to photography in the next blog.  Importantly, the changes which have been implemented will benefit buyers rather than sellers which is obviously great if you regularly shop on eBay. More people buy than sell on eBay so this will be reassuring for many of you as you now have a level of protection which simply didn't exist before.  From May 15th the Feedback System has changed so that buyers can leave honest feedback about a seller without fear of retaliation. Sellers can no longer leave neutral or negative feedback for a buyer so, as a seller, my only option is to leave positive feedback. Unfortunately, experience has taught me that buyers do not always deserve positive feedback but at least&nbsp;I can now block potential]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 19 May 2008 5:02:06 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/47f6f3392f85e1b2fdc1</guid></item><item><title>Going postal</title><description><![CDATA[   Along with everyone else, I have been lamenting the  closure of our local post offices. In my previous home I lost three of the  nearby post offices where I would regularly go to dispatch my eBay parcels.&nbsp;  When we moved to a new area about 18 months ago I was delighted to find  that we had a large, modern, well-staffed post office just five minutes stroll  from our front door. Apart from the fact that I am not allowed to take my dog  inside, it has made my life much easier. As for the dog, there is barely a  local establishment which welcomes her inside its doors &ndash; and we call ourselves  a nation of animal lovers!      However, back to matters postal. It&rsquo;s a really good  idea to schedule your auctions to end between six and nine o'clock in the evening as this is  the time of day when you find the largest number of eBayers online. And  auctions can go wild in the last few minutes with users trying desperately to  outbid each other. So it&rsquo;s really important that your]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 11 May 2008 8:17:50 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/11bda65af3b74e7f39c5</guid></item><item><title>Calais, Cornwall and Clarice Cliff</title><description><![CDATA[ A busy eBay week for me with plenty of sales and visits to the Post Office.&nbsp; Rather disappointingly, my lovely cache of designer clothing, all brand new and with those important tags still dangling, went for a song.&nbsp; Some lucky eBayer is now in possession of a &pound;345 Missoni dress for which they paid a mere &pound;50. &nbsp; &nbsp; Don't make the mistake of expecting your unwanted items to sell for a high price, in all likelihood they won't.&nbsp; And, just because you paid a fortune for those designer shoes, and you've never got round to wearing them, it doesn't mean that somebody will pay the original retail cost to buy them from you.&nbsp; Be realistic about the price you might achieve and you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.&nbsp; For example, this week, amongst all that gorgeous new designer wear, I listed my old denim jacket, bought about seven years ago from Harvey Nichols.&nbsp; I thought I would be lucky to make &pound;5 and it sold for &pound;23,]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 28 Apr 2008 7:33:38 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/28c206faaf4a465b457d</guid></item><item><title>Packing Points</title><description><![CDATA[  As promised, I am going to give you some  packaging tips this week. If you want to make a reasonable income out of  selling on eBay then you are going to be selling quite a lot of items. And that  means a lot of packaging too. I've already suggested that you save every bit of  bubble wrap that comes your way and reuse any padded envelopes you receive. I  always have a big roll of brown paper and parcel tape on the go but it can get a  bit tedious, not to mention time consuming, if you wrap everything in individual  parcels. So, at some stage, you are going to need to spend&nbsp;some money  on&nbsp;packaging materials to make your life easier,and believe me, your best bet  is to make those purchases on eBay. Whatever you do, don't even think about  going to the high street.    &nbsp;    One of my favourite mailing  products is the strong polythene self sealing envelope. If you've ever bought  clothes from an online retailer such as Boden you'll know exactly what I mean. These envelopes are]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 21 Apr 2008 10:15:55 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/028b3aed771a41fe142f</guid></item><item><title>Postal points</title><description><![CDATA[  Just in case you weren't aware, Royal Mail have  increased some of their postal prices as of Monday April 7th. You can see the  new tariffs on  the Royal Mail website  and download the PDF price  guide.&nbsp; &nbsp;For anyone considering selling on eBay  the Royal Mail  is a very useful  website. I know that lots of you find the idea of weighing items and  calculating postage costs off putting - don't let it stop you becoming an eBay  seller because it's really not that difficult and you don't need a pair of  weighing scales at your side.   &nbsp;   The first thing you should do when you have an item  to sell is to do some research. Have a quick trawl through the eBay site and  take a good look at identical items to the one you are planning to sell. You  will notice that there is quite a discrepancy in the postage costs and that some  people are charging outrageous sums. High postage costs definitely put off  potential buyers and, if they do buy from you, they will give you a poor star  rating]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:14:37 PDT</pubDate><guid>http://www.moneymagpie.com/blogpost/the-ebay-blog/6fae226a344b791c7a63</guid></item></channel></rss>