Get ready for new USPS rates in May
New U.S. Postal Service® rates will be effective May 12 for Express Mail, Priority Mail and other shipping services. Make sure to adjust your shipping rates on May listings. The easiest way is to include the eBay Shipping Calculator in your listings. It will automatically reflect the new fees and it's also the best way to specify accurate shipping costs and get good ratings from your buyers.
Good news: the price of USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes for domestic shipments stays the same--$8.95, and $12.95 for the large size. For items shipped closer to you, you may see better rates for Express Mail with a switch to zone-based pricing.
Plus, as an eBay seller, you'll be able to take advantage of new discounts for Express Mail and Priority Mail when you buy postage online. eBay makes it easy to pay postage online--and print a shipping label at no extra charge--right from your computer. You and your buyer even get an automatic tracking email.
Feedback changes to benefit sellers
eBay's making some important changes to Feedback in May to boost buyer confidence and improve the eBay marketplace. The changes include important protections for sellers against unfair negative Feedback. Negative or neutral Feedback will be removed when it appears a buyer is abusing the system. If you think this is happening to you, report to eBay by using the Contact Us link on any eBay Help page. We'll also remove Feedback when a buyer doesn't respond to an Unpaid Item (UPI) report, or if buyer responds but doesn't specifically call out seller performance, item condition or transaction problems.
Pick the winning Store
Forget American Idol. The presidential candidates can wait until fall. Now is the time to cast your vote in the 5th annual eBay Best in Stores Contest. Let your opinion count and get ideas from viewing top contenders when you select your pick for the best in these four categories:
-Best Shopping Experience
-Best Store Marketing
-Best Looking Store
-Best Simple Store
Found-money for summer vacation
Now's the time to turn last year's sporting equipment and outdoor gear into spending money for the latest upgrades. Earn some extra cash to gas up for the road trip. Check the garage, the storage shed and your closets for what's hot on eBay. Sell enough to outsmart the economists and have just what you want this summer anyway. Start funding your summer fun now.
Tips, Tools, Resources
Kick your listings up a notch
As long as you're taking your treasures from the closet to the eBay marketplace, make your listings work hard for you. Try these simple tweaks to get more exposure that could lead to more and higher bids.
Max out your title. Fill every one of the 55 allowed characters up with descriptive details. Make sure you include relevant keywords that buyers may search on.
Use listing subtitles. Get a whole line of extra words to grab buyer's attention and make your listing stand out from the crowd.
Zoom in on your item.Use Gallery Plus and buyers see an enlarged picture when they mouse over the magnifying glass icon.
Learn to sell from an eBay expert in your area
Take a class from an eBay Education Specialist and get tips the seasoned pros took years to discover. Or, if you prefer 1-to-1 advice, contact a Certified Business Consultant. Get help now.
Hurry, $45 savings ends April 30th
Register now for the eBay insider event June 19-21 in Chicago. Get tips to grow your business at classes for experienced and beginning members. Splurge on a Priority Pass to breeze through the lines, get special seating and lunch with eBay executives. There's even child care for kids 3-17. The lowest early bird discount is almost up. Register now to save $45.
Relist unsold items automatically
Save tons of time with the new automatic relisting feature in eBay's Selling Manager tool. Set it up so unsold items relist once or until they sell. Either way, you don't have to manually keep track and relist. It's easy to apply relisting preferences to a bunch of listings at once, or item-by-item from your Active Listings page in My eBay. If you already have Selling Manager, make sure you check out this new capability. If not, subscribe now for only $4.99 per month. Your time is worth it.
You may be getting a call from eBay--make sure your contact info is up-to-date
Sometime in June, eBay will begin to confirm the identity of sellers--usually by automated phone calls--when they list from computers that are not the ones they've listed from successfully in the past. Make sure your current phone numbers are registered with eBay. Read more about this important new security measure and how it works. GREEDY ASSHOLES
