Ebay Explained: Second Chance Offer


For Ebay Powersellers, Second Chance Offer is one of the most used and popular features of Ebay.There are a number of reasons for it’s soaring popularity, including the seller’s ability to sell an item to follow-up bidders without having to pay out additional listing fees. The second chance offer becomes applicable if the seller has more than one of the same item or if the original high bidder fails to send payment. Conceivably, a seller could send as many second chance offers as he/she had bids and identical items.

The second chance offer is immediately available upon the close of the auction. This link can be found near the top of the ‘closed auction’ page. After clicking the link, the seller will be prompted with a list of bidders who they may select to receive a second chance offer. This page will display the username and the bid amount so that the seller has a clear view of each bid amount before offering a second chance opportunity. Once selected, the bidder will receive a notification that they are being offered another chance to purchase the item at a ‘Buy Now’ price that is equal to the amount of their last bid. If interested, they will purchase the item immediately. Some buyers are excited to receive another chance to purchase an item they had shown a previous interest in while others may have already purchased something else after being outbid.

While second chance offers do not require that the seller pay a new listing fee, the seller is charged a final value fee is the offer is accepted. If the second chance offer is used regularly, the seller may end up earning a substantial profit with a minimal cost to him/her.

The eBay second chance offer is a valuable tool to both buyers and sellers, but may help sellers to realize a much larger profit margin and increase sales. With the click of a button, the seller has access to all previous bidders and can offer them another chance to own the item. When participating in the second chance offer in an effort to sell more than one identical item, sellers must only use this feature if they have quantity in the exact product as was shown in the auction. A clear understanding of what is being sold and what exactly is being purchased will keep the eBay buyers happy and, in turn, will keep the eBay sellers cashing in on big profits.

Make Your Ebay Business Succeed - Part One


Running your Ebay business has never been easier, or more rewarding. However many businesses trading online or on ebay do not succeed straight away. If you decide to start your own eBay business, there are several factors that will help to determine whether or not your venture is a successful one.

These basic factors, are often where errors are made so take care to ensure you don't put yourself at a disadvantage as soon as you start.

- Promotion, Promotion, Promotion! Do as much promotion as you can. Free publicity is always the best, especially for new businesses launches or those on a tight budget. Normally this include press release submission to websites, emailing existing customers, and informing friends and family.

- Always offer excellent customer support & service. Make it a policy to answer any emails within 24 hours.

- Communicate to your buyers, instructions about making payments, delivery and your refund policies. Buyers shouldn't have to go out the way to look for this information.

- Always offer tracking numbers for deliveries. This improves a buyers confidence & also gives them some indication of when they can expect to receive the item. Additionally, it protects you as a seller as you have proof of delivery in case the buyers claims the item never arrived.

- Do be polite to customers & potential customers at all times, whether in person, via telephone or by e-mail. If someone seems to have a legitimate concern or reason to complain, try to handle it with patience & professionalism. Some instances, which may require extreme patience, would include an item that has failed to arrive after shipment, a misunderstanding regarding a return/refund policy and/or a dispute over a damaged product. When you operate a business, there are a number of misunderstandings that can occur between the customer and yourself, but always be respectful and handle every situation professionally.

Growing Your Ebay Business Through Knowledge


Getting started buying and selling on eBay is simple and straightforward. Just about anyone can easily sign up, and put a few loose items up for sale. However, taking the next step to move from "cyber-garage sale" into a genuine business on eBay can be a little daunting and even a little scary at first. Successful eBay sellers know their business inside and out. They know what items they have in stock, what vendors they have bought from with the costs associated, and they keep in good contact with their customers to establish repeat business. In the next few minutes, I hope to give you a little insight as to what you need to build your business, without breaking your budget.

Most importantly, eBay is a business of numbers. Buying items at the right price, and selling them with the proper markup are absolutely essential to consistent profits. I have noticed that many new sellers resell items they have bought on eBay themselves, and I would encourage you to do so, especially in bulk. A very common mistake, and one that kills many eBay businesses, is a lack of inventory management. You need to keep track of each individual item you have, how much you paid for it, and who purchased it. This is something every brick-and-mortar store does, and your business should be no different. If you don't know your inventory and liabilities, you won't be able to gauge your businesses growth.

You can keep a simple inventory with pencil and paper, or in a spreadsheet. However, as your business grows, this becomes more and more of a pain. If you can start with a software or service while you are still small and agile, your business can grow to be flexible and structured. Nothing is more painful than trying to clean up and reconcile old inventory that wasn't organized well.

Repeat business is key. The best powersellers online know which products sell well, but also who bought them. If they have related items to get rid of, they can call or write their customers and offer it to them. I highly recommend you keep a computer file of your orders and customers contact information for easy reference. This will also help you stay organized with your payment and shipping processes. You can simply mark orders as pending, paid, shipped, canceled, etc...

There are a number of Point-of-Sale (POS) software available for managing inventory, orders, customers, promotions etc... Many great products exist. You should be forewarned that many of these products costs hundreds or thousands of dollars. They also tend to be overkill for a simple small business. Since they are forced to sell new versions of their product year after year to stay in business, they are constantly adding new features. In my opinion, this is a bad thing. It creates bloated and confusing software. Software full of features you'll never need or use.

Personally, I use a product called Barracuda Suite. It's a free service that runs in your web browser and manages the basics of your business beautifully, without complicating your business with unnecessary features. You can read more about Barracuda Suite, and sign up for your account at http://www.barracudasuite.com/Home/

I hope this article has given you some ideas for organizing and increasing your eBay sales. Running an eBay business is no different than running a retail business: Knowledge is power, the more you know about your business, the smarter you can be in building it.