Congratulations on your purchase of Adam Ginsberg’s Secrets of an Auction Millionaire Complete eBay / Internet System. Your purchase includes these 28 Getting Started, Step-By-Step Video Tutorials that is designed to help get you off to a quick start.

Your system includes access to this private, Members Only website, incredible software and (2) tickets to attend a live workshop with Adam Ginsberg and his staff.

You can register by clicking on the "Register for Training" link.  As well, make sure to review the "Training Prep Guide" (see below) prior to attending the live workshop.  In the meantime, you can watch these videos at your convenience.  To view the videos, CLICK HERE (or by clicking the "Getting Started Videos" link on the left side of this page).

The 28 Getting Started, Step-By-Step Video Tutorials is definitely where you should start.  When you CLICK HERE you’ll get to see the list of topics covered and the length of each video.  Go Now and check them out!

One of the most important elements to your success on eBay is your feedback score.  And, for a new seller the best way to get feedback is to BUY on eBay.  Your goal should be have at least a minimum of 10 feedback prior to training…so, if you’re a new eBay seller you should make this your #1 focus.

If you want to get the best deals when buying, the best option is to "Snipe" your winning bid.  You can learn more about sniping at http://adamginsbergblog.com

I want to highly recommend that you use HotSniper.com to win bids on eBay.  Besides being incredibly fun (and slightly addicting) to use, it’s highly effective.

And for experience eBay sellers (or just those people who love to BUY on eBay), you must try HotSniper.com .  It’s free for 10 days and then only $2.99/month if you keep using it.  Just last week I "sniped" an item for $96 (with free shipping) on eBay that had a value of $175.  I received the item, put it back on eBay and just sold it for $165.50.  I made $71.50 from one transaction - which pays for two years of HotSniper.

So, go now and build your eBay feedback…It’s the first step in creating a Best Selling eBay business.

http://hotsniper.com

We’ve just added 18 new videos on how to effectively use Twitter for your online marketing efforts.  On the left side of this page there is a new "Twitter Videos" link - be sure to check the videos out today.

Note: Please be patient while the videos load!

After eBay introduced the Best Match criteria for search last year, sellers had to shift focus to pay attention to DSRs, shipping, competitiveness, accuracy, and buyer satisfaction in general. For the first time in eBay history, the time the listing ended was no longer the main criterion for where your product showed in the listings.

Since then, though, eBay has made a couple of changes to its search algorithm… but it’s kept these changes pretty quiet. Seeing they can affect how you do business, it’s important that you understand what eBay is looking for - and how they determine the order in which a buyer might see listing search results.

"Time Ending Soonest" is BACK for auctions!

Just recently Time Ending Soonest has recently become more of a factor in auction listings.

Your DSRs (Detailed Seller Ratings) still weigh heavily on how the listings will be displayed but, all else being equal, your product is pretty much guaranteed to show near the top of the listings for at least a few minutes right near the end of your auction… just like the old days!

It also means that you can go back to a favorite old auction trick — scheduling your auction to end a few minutes before your competitor’s auction for the same thing. Impatient bidders will choose yours instead.

"Recent Sales" is the new magic ingredient for Fixed Price listings

Time Ending Soonest doesn’t factor into the Fixed Price search. So if you’re listing this way, you’re going to need to boost your Recent Sales figures to creep up those searches. A good Recent Sales score is the thing that’s going to set you apart from your competition

You need to remember, though, that Recent Sales only count from the last 30 days , so you have to consistently sell for Fixed Price listings to do well.

How can you do this, then? eBay suggests you do the following to improve your Recent Sales:

• List your multi-quantity inventory in Fixed Price with 30-day duration so there’s time to build up recent sales.
• If you use the "Good ‘Til Cancelled" option your listing will automatically renew (for a fee) every 30 days. Recent Sales will be carried over.
• If your multi-quantity listing sells out or expires, don’t create a new listing — just add inventory and "relist." Recent Sales will be carried over.
• When you relist or revise a listing, don’t change the title, item condition, or category, or increase the price. Any of these actions will "reset" the item’s Recent Sales.

This is great advice for earning a higher Recent Sales score, but what if you’re just starting out and your score is zero?

Well, consider selling your products under an auction listing to begin with.

You’ll get the sales exposure you need from being at the top of the search through Time Ending Soonest. The Recent Sales points you’ll accumulate will transfer across when you switch over to a Fixed Price listing as long as you don’t change the title or main content of the listing .

To keep your new item near the top of the searches, use 3-day auction listings instead of the longer ones until you’ve build up some sales.

eBay also suggests paying for a Featured First listing upgrade to jumpstart your sales.

eBay continues to push sellers to offer free shipping.

Sellers who offer free shipping on their eBay.com listings (for a limited time) will get these benefits:

• All listings will get a boost in "Best Match" , so you can raise your rank in the default eBay search results, just by offering free shipping.
• All sellers get a free Subtitle upgrade on Auction-style and Fixed Price items listed .
• PowerSellers get double Final Value fee discounts on all Fixed Price and Auction-style items sold .

If you’re already participating in the free shipping reward program, now’s the time to make sure it’s worthwhile .

Also, take a look at just how much your ranking in the search results improved as compared to the months before you started offering free shipping. Do the numbers add up in your favor?

eBay likes free shipping because it doesn’t make money on separate shipping and handling charges. Sellers who offer free shipping tend to build the cost into the final price — which means eBay does get a cut of the shipping fee.

Buyers like free shipping, but a couple of recent studies show that they are actually more prone to bid on auction items that have a separate shipping charge than on items that have the cost of shipping included. Even more surprising, this holds true even if the total cost of the item + shipping is higher than the "free shipping" item . (On non-auction online transactions, free shipping really does seem to sway buyers. Another reason to watch your stats.)

Offering free shipping often benefits the buyer and eBay more than it does sellers, so it’s worth taking a careful look to see if it’s helping your business, or just costing you money!

You can read more about eBay search here .

As with all things eBay, it’s important to remain informed about what’s going on so you can be ahead of the curve (and your competition!) when it comes to making the most of this marketplace.

Early this year, eBay announced it would no longer be rolling out changes gradually throughout the year. Instead, it would implement changes semi-annually – one set in June and another in September. Two months prior to implementing these changes, eBay announces them, giving sellers like you 60 days to prepare.

On April 14, 2009 eBay announced its first bundle of changes, which will go into effect on June 15, 2009. How quickly and effectively you adjust to these changes can determine how successful you will be moving forward.

There are three groups of changes scheduled for June 15 mentioned along with suggestions on how to prepare for them in advance. eBay’s first set of changes is targeted to achieve the following three goals:

1. Improving the shopping experience
2. Meeting buyer expectations
3. Streamlining the selling process

1. Improving the shopping experience

To simplify the shopping experience, make it more visual, attract more shoppers, and improve customer loyalty, eBay is introducing several changes to the way products are listed and displayed and is offering buyers new incentives. These include the following:

• New item page: eBay is revamping the page that displays the item for sale to accommodate larger product photos. eBay encourages sellers to use photos 1,000 x 1,000 pixels and larger. This new format also separates item descriptions from seller-generated content, introduces a new “Stores” header that provides space for a custom marketing message, and allows for cross-merchandising from other retailers. (Although you can opt out of cross-marketing, don’t be in such a hurry to do so – it could boost sales for you.)
• New product pages: eBay’s new Product Pages are similar to Amazon.com’s Product Detail Page, displaying the product near the top followed by a list of sellers offering that product. Each Product Page contains a Value box that displays the seller who’s supposedly offering the best deal (based on price, shipping cost, seller rating, and so on).
• Multi-variation Fixed Price listings: The new listing format enables sellers to combine product variations in a single listing. For example, instead of having a separate listing for each of four different T-shirt sizes in six different colors, a single listing gives buyers access to all variations. This could affect everything from your exposure on eBay (fewer listings, less exposure), the cost of listings (fewer listings, less cost), time to post a listing (the more variations, the more time it takes), and even your inventory (you may start selling more or less of a particular size or color of an item than you had in the past).
• Buyer incentives and loyalty programs: eBay plans on increasing the use of coupons and other buyer incentive programs which should help sales all over the site.

To start preparing for these changes now, take the following steps:

• Biggie-size your product images. Start using images that are 1,000 x 1,000 or larger, preferably with a white background to blend in better with the item page.
• PLEASE NOTE: These changes will NOT impact Template Optimizer at all - and now, more than ever, the use of Template Optimizer to stand out from the crowd and make big money on eBay!
• Preview existing listings in the new format. At the top of any of your listings, click Switch to the new version of this page to see how it’s going to appear in the new format, and then make adjustments. You can go to Manage My Store to edit whatever appears in the Stores header.
• When describing item specifics , stick with the basics for maximum search exposure. Follow the manufacturer’s lead instead of trying to get clever about it.
• For any popular products you list, your goal should be to win the Value box on the Product Page. To be included on the Product Page, list the product using eBay’s product details, which include information such as the UPC, brand, or manufacturer. Select a stock image for the listing. Over time, play with various settings, such as product price and shipping cost, to see what it might take to win the Value box.
• To prepare for the new Multi-variation Fixed-Price listings, begin to consolidate your listings and plan for how these new listings are likely to affect your sales and inventory. Slower selling variations of products will now get a boost in rank from their faster selling counterparts, so be prepared for such shifts.

2. Meeting buyer expectations

Many of eBay’s most recent changes are directed at improving the buyer’s experience overall, and that means meeting or beating the buyer’s expectations. To achieve this goal, eBay is implementing the following:

• New Smart FAQ: Designed to cut down on buyer questions, Smart FAQ will draw information from item specifics you supply, your return policy, handling time, and your tracking information to automatically attempt to answer common customer inquiries.
• Package tracking in My eBay: Shipping will no longer be handled through PayPal as it is now. Buyers will be able to track their packages through eBay. Sellers will need to have a return policy and specify their handling time for the items they sell, so eBay can provide estimated delivery times to buyers.
• More liberal return policy: eBay plans on making it easier for buyers to return products and ask for and receive refunds, which is likely to boost product returns significantly. In addition, eBay is becoming more willing to deal directly with customers to the point of offering refunds at its own expense, which means eBay is likely to play a more central role in resolving disputes.
• Increased emphasis on specifics: To help ensure that buyers know what they’re getting into before they place an order, eBay is requiring that sellers provide more detailed information about the items they’re listing along with what will happen if there’s a problem, when the item is likely to arrive, and so on.

All of these changes are intended to improve buyer confidence and boost sales. However, Sellers will need to adapt. Following are some suggestions on how to best prepare for these coming changes:

• Make sure you have a return policy and procedures in place to process returns efficiently.
• Make sure your return policy is clearly communicated.
• Be prepared for an increase in returns of anywhere from 5 to 10 percent or even higher.
• Provide as much detail as possible in your listings and elsewhere to ensure that your customers have sufficient information to make well-educated purchase decisions.

3. Streamlining the selling process

While eBay has focused its latest round of changes primarily on improving the shopping experience for buyers and on building customer trust, it hasn’t forgotten about you — its sellers. In addition to automating the process of addressing questions from buyers, several upcoming changes are designed to make selling on eBay more efficient and less costly:

• Free Selling Manager with new applications: Selling Manager is a tool for managing listings from beginning to end. Several features allow you to perform actions in bulk and even automate some tasks.
• Pay shipping, print labels right on eBay: Instead of having to travel outside eBay to pay for shipping and print shipping labels, you can do it right from eBay.

The bottom line for sellers is that change is coming soon, so prepare now. These changes affect everything from the way you list items for sale to how you handle returns and other customer service issues to inventory planning and management. Remember, change is always a challenge in business. Those who successfully adapt survive and often thrive at the expense of those who don’t. Study the details carefully and consider how the June 15 changes will affect your eBay business.

eBay continues to move towards a marketplace where listing items will be free.  Of course, eBay still needs to make money so they’re going to compensate by raising the final value (or selling fees) of an item.  eBay just announced that starting June 16, 2009, you’ll get 5 free Insertion Fees every 30 days for Auction-style listings.

Here’s how it is going to work: Regardless of your start price, your first 5 Auction-style listings will have NO Insertion Fees when you list with eBay’s Sell Your Item form or Simple listing form.

The Final Value Fee for these 5 listings with $0.00 Insertion Fees will be 8.75% of the sales price or $20, whichever is lower. Any additional items sold during the same 30-day period will have the same Insertion Fees and Final Value Fees as they do today.

Depending on the final price of the item, this could result in a huge savings.  Of course, if the item doesn’t sell you’ll save the listing fees on that item.

As more information is announced from eBay it’ll get posted here.

Welcome to AdamGinsberg.com!

Thank you for making the decision to participate in this unique opportunity. You now are armed with the tools necessary to create total financial independence in your life. Everything you need to quickly get started is here for you.

The first step is to register for an upcoming training. If you don’t see a training in an area near you, check back as new cities for live events are being added on a regular basis - both in the US and abroad.

Next, begin to watch the training videos. There’s some great, step-by-step insider information thaty you can immediately use to begin making money!

Finally, be on the look out for a series of training videos from us regarding your new Template Optimizer Deluxe software (available to those students who joined Adam Ginsberg’s program after November 2008. This software is going to enhance your opportunity to make big money online!

Make sure to check back here on a regular basis as new articles, tutorials and videos are posted several times each week. Get the latest cutting edge insights so you can take your eBay and online business to the next level!

Thanks again for being a valued student - we welcome the opportunity to work with you. If you have any questions please open a support ticket at AdamGinsbergSupport.com OR call us directly at 888 355 7770 option 1.

Being Successful on eBay Means Avoiding THESE Mistakes!

Building an eBay business is not very different to building any other business. To be successful online you have to incorporate every aspect of successful business building including: Marketing, Quality, Pricing, and Customer Service and of course successful eBay listing strategies including the use of Template Optimizer.

On eBay, a seller’s customer service reputation (Feedback Rating) is public information for everyone to see - this includes both the good and bad responses from others. Negative feedback - and / or the lack of Positive Feedback - is the main reason eBay sellers aren’t successful. A negative feedback rating, however, usually has its roots in other problems.

So, let’s take a look at the reasons sellers fail and what you can do to insure you do what it takes to be successful.

1. Poor Feedback Rating

The first step in becoming successful on eBay is to get 10 feedback. This should be your main focus - not sourcing product, not using Template Optimizer Deluxe to sell from the warehouse and not watching video tutorials - heck, it’s not even attending a live training. Although all of this can speed up the learning curve, your MUST get 10 feedback before you can really go down the road to success. When someone buys on eBay - a hyper ompetitive environment - they will look at your feedback. Buyers will ask themselves how you could know anything about selling on eBay if your feedback score isn’t at least 10. Experienced eBay bidders are cautious of sellers with a feedback rating under 25 - 50 so 10 is just a starting place.

No, I understand that your first twenty-five feedback comments as a seller can be a long process. As a reminder, your feedback comments as a buyer count as well (although eBay does show the difference). So, one way to get your feedback high quickly is to buy some items. Pay for them quickly and request feedback from the seller to insure you’ll receive the positive comment. Sellers like to be paid quickly and will typically leave a positive feedback when you do so.

Buy items and sell everything from around the house until you hit that magic number of 10.

Remember, as you grow your eBay business, to emphasive and stress your commitment to customer service. When you have a positive feedback rating over "100" bidders will look at your rating number and then make their decision on whether or not they like your product. If your feedback rating is less than a 100, people tend to actually look back through your comments and read them. There is a big difference between "Nice transaction — good seller" and "FIVE ***** SELLER, EXCELLENT PRODUCT- FAST SHIPPING" Whether you are a new seller, or a veteran eBayer, building excellent feedback comments should be a daily goal.

Poor communications between buyer and seller is the leading cause of negative feedback. Make sure your first email to the successful bidder is clear, and complete. You should not only be polite, but be effusive in your congratulations. Remember: Some people shop on eBay for bargains, but most people shop on eBay for fun.

Make the transaction a fun experience. Be personal. Don’t sound like a bureaucrat or a big corporation. Make the buyer feel good and close the sale by complimenting them on the great deal they made.

Make sure your payment instructions are clear and your shipping methods and charges are clearly spelled out (this should have been in your auction, but many people can’t remember). If a buyer wants to pay by credit card, suggest PayPal, or explain how to access your secure credit card server. If they want to use a check, explain how they can speed up the payment and delivery by using PayPal’s electronic check service.

As the seller, you have the most to lose by negative feedback. It is only a question of time until you run into a difficult or irrational buyer. He or she may be rude, or unresponsive, or both. Once your feedback rating is secure in the high hundreds, you can afford to take a tough line and weather the negative feedback that inevitably follows.

But while you are building your feedback rating, sometimes you just have to swallow hard and be extra diplomatic. I always give people the benefit of the doubt and try and work something out. I would rather lose a sale than risk negative feedback from an irresponsible person. If a buyer won’t complete the transaction, its better to report them to eBay, than to get into a feedback war.

Remember, buyers can leave a seller negative feedback for any reason but sellers can’t leave a buyer a negative feedback for any reason.

To summarize, your focus is to get to 10 positive feedback as quickly as possible.

2. Not Accepting PayPal Turns Away Bidders

This section is short and to the point - accept PayPal. eBay owns PayPal. There are more than 200 million PayPal users. There are no set-up fees and transaction costs are 2.2% or less. You can no longer accept personal checks or money order’s on eBay. With PayPal you get paid quickly. If you are selling internationally - the currency is automatically converted. There are no monthly fees. If you want to be successful on eBay you must accept and embrace PayPal

3. Weak Headlines and Poor Auction Descriptions Lose Bids

There are over four million items listed on eBay every day. Your title must stand out above the competition to attract bidders. You only get 55 characters to you write your title so this title MUST include the relevant "key words" that a potential buyer would be searching for.

Over 90% of bidders find the item they are looking for by using the "Search" feature. Unless you use the key words bidders are looking for, you will miss many bids. For example, if someone collects Ferrari Formula 1 model cars, they will search "Ferrari" rather than "Formula 1" or "model cars." A search of Ferrari turns up 41 items, while "Formula 1" turns up a few thousand items. A search of "Blue & White" will turn up thousands of listing in the pottery section, but a search for "Liberty Blue" (a specific type of blue & white pottery) turns up only a few hundred items.

Once you catch the bidder’s attention with a great headline, you need to "sell" them with your item description. Too many bidders simply describe the item they are selling. Yes, it is important to completely and accurately describe the item, but too many sellers leave it at that.
Take the time to "romance" your item. Sell the benefits.

Before writing the auction description, ask yourself: "Why would someone want to own the item you are selling." If you are selling something you use, say so. Tell the potential bidder why you owned the item, how you used it, what benefits it brought you. Sell not just the features, but the benefits and the romance.

Here is an example:

"This Sterling Silver bracelet is five inches long set with zirconium stones that look just like diamonds."

Now lets add some romance:

"This exquisite Italian Sterling Silver bracelet is set with five glimmering zirconium stones that sparkle like diamonds. The silver is finished to a high polish. It’s so bright, it looks like white gold. Whenever I wear this bracelet my friends ask: "Wow, are those real diamonds? Where did you get that bracelet?"

Your auction descriptions must also be complete. A clear photo is critical to the success of the auction, but remember, photos don’t always show all the details a bidder needs. If you are selling an antique, collectible or any used item, be sure to describe any and all flaws. The fastest way to build negative feedback is to over-describe the item, or over-promise performance.

4. Poor Images Can Turn Off Sellers

The saying "A picture is worth a thousand words" is never more true than with on-line auctions. Perhaps it really should be "A picture is worth $1,000’s". Not having a photo of your item will greatly reduce your bids, and lead to unprofitable or unsuccessful auctions. Not only must you have a photograph of what you are selling,
the photo must be accurate and revealing.

It is not necessary to be a professional photographer. Ebay bidders understand that most sellers are taking snapshots of the products they sell. But, your photo should be clear, and show the product as completely as possible. Here are some tips for good photos:

• If the size of an object is not obvious, use a reference such as a ruler or a coin.
• Show any flaws or defects. Point them out in the caption if necessary.
• Don’t use a flash. It causes reflections. Take your photos in open shade or using indirect window light.
• Do not use "stock" photos. Bidders want to see a picture of the actual item they are bidding on, not a scanned photo from a brochure.
• Use a tripod to make sure your shot is sharp.
• Keep your photos to less than 300 pixels. Larger photos take too long to load and impatient bidders will click away from your auction. The "e-mail" setting on most digital cameras works just fine for most auctions.
• Make sure to watch the Photo 101 Tutorial as well - it’ll provide you with excellent photo tips
• eBay charges you for the 2nd - 12th picture. When using template optimizer you’ll never pay for pictures - and you can include unlimited pictures in your listing.

5. Not understanding your costs is a prescription for disaster

It is very easy for a new seller to get caught up in the excitement of selling and not pay attention to the costs involved in selling. Before deciding whether to sell an item on eBay, and what to sell it for (i.e. no reserve or Buy it Now), you need to understand all the costs involved.

First of all there is the "listing fee." There is also a "selling fee" that will be set by what price the item actually sells for. There will also be a PayPal or credit card fee. Don’t forget shipping, and the cost of the shipping materials.

If you are selling items using Template Optimizer Deluxe (and drop shipping) be sure to pass along any applicable drop ship fee to the buyer.

Many businesses fail because they are either under financed, or because they do not understand their costs. A program such as Quicken’s "Quick Books" could be one of your best investments. Quick Books will allow you to track every expense, down to the penny, and allocate the costs to different categories so you will fully understand where every dollar is going and if it was well spent.

Have you ever really wondered how the internet worked? Be sure to check out this great video that will explain the world wide web to you in plain English!

Have you ever been frustrated with your eBay performance for some items you have sold in the past? I know I have.

Many people, when they first start selling on eBay will begin by trying to sell some odds-and-ends
around the house, Some people, those that don’t have the proper tools, end up loosing money rather than making some extra cash. Why? they sell everything in the exact same way: same starting price, same duration, same listing type.

Generally speaking, as a student of ours, you know how to sell on eBay, but some students get stuck in a rut of listing their items the same way each time, without any variations.

This happens because they don’t know how to sell those items specifically. Many people list all their items the same way - they’ll list maternity clothes the same way they list childrens books, scrapbooking supplies and sports equipment.

Often it takes several sales of the same item before you learn how to sell it most profitably. Selling just the one item is just a shot in the dark unless you can get some quick insights on how to sell the item.

By Quick I mean Quick!

The clock is always ticking. I know you are pressed for time. You have large amounts of items to sell, which means taking pictures, listing, packaging and shipping. Your profits are really determined by sales price and the number of sales you make.

This means that the more you sell the product for and the less time you spend on an item, the more money you make for each item and for your time.

But what if spending one more minute on each item could increase your profit substantially; would you spend that extra minute? But how could just one minutes make that big of a difference?

Using what I like to call “quick-shot research,” you can get the information you need to sell an item successfully in less than a minute.

Remember my experience at the first? Although I knew how to sell on eBay, I didnÂ’t know how to sell a specific item. But what do I mean?

I didn’t know the ending day when more buyers were ready to make a purchase. I didn’t know which keywords to use in my listing title. I knew how to list , but I didn’t know how to sell .

With quick-shot research you can know more about selling a specific item. Think of it as your own crystal ball that you look inside to find out how to make the most money selling a particular item.

Crystal Ball Research in One Minute or Less

Enough talking about how quick it is, let me show you.

LetÂ’s say you picked up a Coleman camp stove from a yard sale. You know a little bit about camping equipment, so you pick it cheap with the intent of turning around and selling it on eBay.

The problem. You’ve never sold a Coleman camp stove before. How do you do it?

Using Auction Optimizer, you can do a Category Search for the eBay Category I would be listing in: Sporting Goods > Outdoor Sports > Camping and Hiking > Cooking Supplies > Stoves (Category #62117). See the figure below.

But how is this a crystal ball? What do these figures mean? Bare with me and I’ll show you.

With a quick glance, you know that you have a 64.3% chance of selling a stove (Listing Success Rate, LSR) listed in this category for an average sales price of $48.04 (Average Sales Price, ASP).

But now what? How does this help me sell this item for a higher price? Let’s move on to the next figure.

What am I Looking for Here?
Remember, we are using research to find out what the buyers want when looking for this product. For example, which listing type brings more attention to your listing? What end day and time are the most shoppers ready to make a purchase? Or what listing features do grab buyers attention and their pocketbooks?

The answers to these questions lie in the results above. This means that I need to know which listing options (listing type, end day, etc.) will increase my chances of selling, anything higher than 64% , and increase my selling price, anything higher than $48.04.

In the results above, IÂ’ve circled just a few examples of what we have been talking about. For example, ending your auction on Thursday already increases your sales price by $7.30. For you, that’s $7.30 in extra profit! Choosing a 10-day auction increases your sales price by $38.16, nearly DOUBLE the average sales price!

Are you getting my point? The extra minute spent looking into your crystal ball is really starting to pay off.

Information like this is vitally important to your success. Not only are you making more money for yourself, but it isn’t eating into your most precious asset, TIME.

Now you can SEE into your future sales through market research—your personal crystal ball—to increase your profits on every sale in less than a minute!

Make the most of your auctions with research!  If you have Template Optimizer DELUXE your Auction Optimizer software is INCLUDED in your software package at no additional cost. If you do not have Template Optimizer Deluxe you can sign up for Auction Optimizer here: AuctionOptimizer.com

It used to be that when a buyer searched for an item on the eBay, the search results were displayed, by default, based upon the ending time of the listing. In other words, items that ended the soonest were displayed on top. The result was that sellers were always guaranteed a top placing on eBay’s search results - just before their listings were about to end.

Today, you can still change your search options to display items "ending the soonest", however the default search results are shown in what’s known as "Best Match" .

Best Match is eBay’s sorting technology that displays search results based on various factors such as key words, listing end time, seller DSRs, shipping price, etc. The Best Match system is based on customer’s historical behavior for similar searches.

It’s important to understand how to maximize your listings to capitalize on the Best Match search criteria. The first thing to understand is that Best Match is not the same as Google Search, which is entirely based on matching words and phrases, uniqueness, arrangements of words and paragraphs, internal website links and external links. eBay Best Match draws on word matches to a much lesser extent and instead brings other criteria into play.

eBay gives advantages to sellers whose deliver a high level of customer satisfaction according the Detailed Seller Ratings , so that sellers with high seller ratings (calculated over the previous 30 days) receive more exposure in the listing. Usually about half of all sellers meet this criterion.

The flip side of this arrangement is that

1. sellers with more than 5% dissatisfied buyers in the 30 days preceding the search and

2. sellers who have low ratings according to the Shipping & Handling Charge Detailed Seller Ratings

get lesser exposure on eBay best match search result. Decreased seller ratings will mean decreased visibility.

Everything else being equal, including price, and time ending, the seller rated lower in either or both of these ratings will be sorted lower that of the other seller. Buyer satisfaction is not the only feature of eBay Best Match.

Keyword relevance is important (although not as important as it is for Google Search). Historical buyer behavior on eBay for similar searches may also affects your search result ranking.

If your listings are not ranking high in eBay search results, you should address all the following factors and try to improve them through competitive pricing and better service. The factors to address are:

• Keywords

• Item specifics

• Price and shipping costs

• Feedback

• Detailed seller ratings

• Shipping & handling detailed seller ratings

• Return policies

Also make sure that the form of listing, the auction end time and the all-round presentation of the listing is user-friendly and logical. Bear in mind that the philosophy underlying Best Match is “relevance”. Make each and every piece of information you key in regarding your product entirely relevant.

Nobody really knows exactly how eBay Best Match works. If your listing is not “working”, i.e. not attracting buyers, then before blaming Best Search you should “rethink” the details, descriptions and photos of your listings too.

If a product is searched for, found and bought then this will reflect in the rankings. If a product is rarely searched, sometimes found and rarely bought then this will be factored into relevance calculations and therefore might display higher on the page in subsequent searches.

Learn how you can make your listings appear higher in the Best Match sort order.

Step1

When a buyer performs a search on eBay, the results are returned in the order that eBay determines,namely, based on buyers’ historical behavior for similar searches. The sort order can be changed by the buyer (price high to low, ending time, etc.), but 80% of eBay users do not change the search order. Therefore, you must take proactive steps to make sure that your listing is near the top of the search results, or your listing will not be seen.

Step2

Be very specific with your key words in your title. eBay allows only 55 characters for the title. Use these characters wisely and don’t waste space with silly characters like @, WOW, L@@K, !!!!, etc. These characters are not considered in the search. You want to maximize your chances of the search finding your items and placing them at the top of the search results. Only use characters that buyers search with.

Step3

List your item in relevant categories. For example, let’s say you are selling a men’s tie with a fish theme. You can list the item in the clothing/mens/accessories category, and the collectibles/animals/fish category however eBay charges extra for listing in a 2nd category so make sure choose the category that best reflects the item you are selling.

Step4

Fill out all the item specifics and include relevant details. For example, include size, color, brand, condition, etc. If there is a space under Item Specifics, include the information. If the listing has no item specifics, you can’t add them later and you can’t use bulk editing to revise a listing without item specifics. You will have to end the listing and relist it, making for more work later. There is no extra cost to use the item specifics options on the eBay listing form.

Step5

Include shipping costs. Some buyers will sort by "Price + Shipping (lowest)" to determine their total cost for an item. Include your shipping fee so that your item will receive a higher priority than those without shipping information, and so that it will be returned in search results when a buyer searches by "Price + Shipping."

Step6

Offer free shipping if possible. Now, you aren’t really shipping the item for free. You will build the shipping cost into the price of your item. But for the sake of eBay Best Match and sort order, you want your item to be coded for "Free Shipping." Items with free shipping get a boost in Best Match search results. As a general rule, we discourage free shipping because you end up paying eBay fees on the total sale price of the item which would include shipping. When you actually charge for shipping, you would not pay eBay fees on the shipping costs. However, it’s an important reminder that eBay ranks your listings higher in the Best Match search results when you do offer shipping for free.

Here’s a great new video just filmed on how to get started with photography. Take notes and enjoy! (Please be patient while the video loads. It’s 37 minutes in length).

Template Optimizer is the ultimate tool for creating gorgeous eBay listings. It’s also a key element to Template Optimizer Deluxe (available only to students who enrolled for Adam Ginsberg’s program after November 2008), which includes your integrated product warehouse solution. As part of your membership to T.O., you pay a monthly subscription price of $19.99.

Recently we’ve had many students request the opportunity to pay for their monthly subscription on an annual basis. As such, we’ve created an annual subscription. We have also decided to offer a discount to those students who pre-pay for T.O. for the year. Instead of $19.99, the annual membership is only $199 - a savings of $39.98 . In essence, this gives you 2 months free each year.

To upgrade, please CLICK HERE.

Once you complete your details and submit the form you will automatically be removed from the monthly billing - so there’s nothing else you need to do. Your monthly billing will automatically end from that point forward.

If you have any questions, please let us know. Thanks for using Template Optimizer to take your eBay listings to the next level !