Well, you can use Find and Replace to do those changes in bulk.

Let’s suppose you wanted to put all your red sweaters on sale. Just go to My Items, and select the Find and Replace button, Find “red sweaters”, and change the price either by % or dollar amount.

You’ll want to find the same items again and set a sale date, and again for sale end date.

Find and Replace is a method to replace fields that you used or did not use when you were creating your items so while it does take above three steps to put items on sale, find and replace allows so much flexibility that the possibilities are endless.

Below are step by step instructions for putting items on sale and after you do this once, it will be a snap and you’ll be having sales and attracting new business in no time!!

Find and Replace for Vendio Store Sale Items

Step One: Set the Sale Price

a.    Select the Items:  From Items > My Items, select items

by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale Price:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Price: Sale Price

c.    Select one of the following:

i.      Change to:  Sets a specific price

ii.    Increase by:  Increases the already specified sale price by a specified  amount

iii.   Decrease by:  Decreases the already specified sale price by a specified amount

d.     Set the sale price by doing one of the following:

i.      Defining the exact dollar amount of the sale price.

ii.    Defining the sale price based on a dollar or percentage amount over or below one of the item’s other prices (Default Item price, Item cost or Store price).

iii.   Defining the dollar or percentage amount by which to increase or decrease the sale price.

Example:

In the below example, we use Find and Replace to locate all items that have the word “sweater” in the title, then set the sale price on all items to be decreased by 10%.

Step Two – Set the Sale Start Date

a.    Re-select the same items:  From Items > My Items, select items by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale Start Date:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Sale: Start Date

c.    Select the sale Start Date from the calendar.

Step Three – Set the Sale End Date

a.    Re-select the same items:  From Items > My Items, select items by clicking the check-boxes next to them, or use the Find and Replace button to find a specific group of items.

b.    Set the Sale End Date:  Click the Find and Replace button, select Replace and select Sale: End Date

c.    Select the Sale End Date from the calendar.

So in case you procrastinated and are still looking for a costume, it’s good news. Laziness trumps zeal! Now make haste and buy that designer Mickey Mouse costume at half off; you will not be taken the cleaners – unless you really want to be a fire fighter (more on this later).
What if you are in the business of selling costumes? There obviously has to be something to it if all those “scary” costume stores keep on opening up temporarily every year. It doesn’t appear that there is much of a premium being created by the Halloween season. In fact, it almost looks as though merchants are going to get a lot less for their merchandise compared to months prior. That’s not really where the money is to be made. More people want costumes and more people are willing to satisfy that desire to be Edward Cullen or Jack Sparrow for one night – or even a few…

Buyers get their costumes at little to no mark up, and sellers make a ton of money off of volume. It’s win-win for all parties involved, except if you bought your costume months ago or want to be a fire fighter. In the case of the premature purchase, you are out some cash. However, in the case of the fire fighter, there is a silver lining. Reliable female sources agree that fire fighters are hot, and the trending shows that there has been limited fire fighter sales volume. Presume the trending applies to the general population and do the math:

Step 1
(Perceived Hotness) X (Low Expected Rate of Competition from Other Fire Fighters)) =
(Higher Expected Perceived Hotness!!!)

Step 2
(Higher Expected Perceived Hotness!!!) => (Increased Fair Market Value)

Looks like I will be accepting that Nobel Economics Prize decked out in full fire fighter gear. If you would like to learn more about eBay transaction data concerning Halloween or anything else, check out Vendio Research. It was used to populate the graphs above by analyzing millions of eBay transactions and can provide strategic eBay research recommendations on when and how to sell items most profitably on eBay.

$300 is significantly cheaper than the $600 people had to shell out for the 60 GB when Sony first released the PS3. The Slim also comes with a hard drive that is twice as big and will be lighter on your electric bill. However, there now is a very big secondary PS3 market. In particular, the 40 GB version of the PS3 is still sold actively on eBay. It will play all the same games, DVDs, and Blu-rays as the Slim, so no core functionality is missing.

More importantly, its price has been affected dramatically by the announcement and release of the new 120 GB version. On August 18, Sony announced the new version. Since that date, a 40 GB PS3 has been selling for $132 on average, which is down from $177 pre-announcement. That’s $168 less than the new 120 GB Slim. If those extra gigs aren’t needed, which for many people they won’t be, those saving can equate to quite a few extra games or controllers and then some. So is Slim really better? Based on the eBay market research, fatter is sometimes better.

If you would like to learn more about eBay transaction data concerning PS3s or anything else, check out Vendio Research. It was used to populate the graph above by analyzing millions of eBay transactions and can provide strategic recommendations on when and how selling on eBay can be profitable along with the saved time from Vendio’s auction listing software.

When selling online, the image is the most important piece of sales collateral that you can “hand” to your potential customer. It is the first thing that a potential buyer sees.

You do not need to be a professional to recognize a good image, and you don’t need to be a professional to take a good image.

Here’s some tips to improve you images:

1. Make sure your item and camera lens are clean. This might seem like a no-brainer, but if you use your camera often, you may forget to check the lens for dust.

2. Light your item. You can create your own inexpensive photography box (or even buy one). For inexpensive lighting, you can purchase clip on lights at any home improvement store. Shine the light onto the product and stand behind the lighting.

3. Unclutter the area. It is not good practice to take an image with other items in the photograph. If you are selling a vase and want to display it with flowers, take an additional photograph, but your main photograph should be of the product and the product only.

4. Take several photographs. Vendio image hosting is inexpensive and having multiple images help sell your product. You will want to take images from several angles. If you sell collectibles, take an image of any makers mark.

5. Resize and crop your image. Make sure that your product is what is seen, not the background.

7. Include a visual reference to size when appropriate. For example, use a ruler or a coin for visual reference to item size.

8. Try not to use a flash, but use lighting instead. If your item is reflective, don’t use a flash at all.

One other tidbit to note – the best way to determine if your images are up to par, is to view similar items and compare your items with your competitors. If you have Vendio Research, it will display the images of completed items, so you can see at a glance if your images are better (or worse) than your competitors.

Happy Selling!!

Found in this batch of templates, will be the fall holidays – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas.

The holidays are approaching fast, so go ahead and take a few minutes and spruce up your eBay listings!!

Happy Selling!!

On October 5, a hacker published a counterfeit secure socket layer certificate for PayPal.

Microsoft is holding an online webcast today at 11 am PST to provide an overview of this months security bulletin.

This month’s security bulletin addresses 33 vulnerabilities in Window, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office. This is the most bulletins Microsoft has ever released.

There is a lot of concern over the eBay Top-Rated Seller program, and today, I spoke with a Vendio Merchant/eBay Seller who liked the program and was benefiting from it, so with all the negatives being posted and discussed, I thought we should take a minute, look at the positives.

If you are a Top-Rated seller, congratulations!! In many cases this will mean that you have better exposure for your listings, fee discounts, a special top-rated seller search and an icon in your auctions.

If you are a Top-Rated Seller it probably means you offer exemplary customer service, have a great product at a great price and many repeat buyers.

I cringe at the discussions where it is suggested that folks who did not make the program harm these Top-Rated Sellers in any way. So I do hope THAT movement dies an early and quick death. I know that its hard NOT to be envious if you did not make the program, but I’m sure that harming other sellers is not action you should take to help yourself.

Now, if you are not a Top-Rated Seller, there are some things you can do. All is not lost! First, try to determine how you can improve your rating to become a Top-Rated Seller. Second, run auctions – Remember auctions still get a boost when they are ending. Another option is to NOT relist your items. Newly listed items with Fixed Price also get a boost. Free Shipping (if possible can still propel your listing upward) and make sure you comply with all eBay’s policies).

To qualify to be a Top-Rated seller, you’ll need 100 transactions and $3000 in sales in a 12 month period (which differs from the Tier based Power Seller Program as there is only one level). Additionally, you’ll need a low amount of 1s and 2s in your DSR ratings, comply with policy and maintain high DSRs.

We’ll probably see some changes to the program as wrinkles are worked out, but DSRs and Top Rated Sellers seem destined to be around for awhile, so take a deep breath and determine your strategy.

Happy Selling!

If you understood the above, read no further, you are an eBay maven!

I’m all for expediency by using acronym to cut down on the time it takes to type (or chat) something out. There are a few more acronyms that we’ll probably hear a lot about in the future and some new names for some new positioning.

Take Power Seller..That was a word we all “got”. It was easy and we didn’t feel the need to (for the most part) abbreviate with PS (which means something altogether different). Now we have TRS, which an acronym for Top-Rated Seller.

Here is a list of eBay (not general selling) acronyms, I’m sure there are more, so feel free to post yours

BO – Best Offer
FP – Fixed Price
BIN –Buy It Now
FVF – Final Value Fee
DSR – Detailed Seller Rating
TRS – Top Rated Seller
VERO – Verified registered owner
FB – Feedback
INR – Item Not Received
NARU – Not a Registered User
UID – Unpaid Item Dispute
NPS – Non Performing Seller
NPB – Non Paying Bidder
FP – Fixed Price OR FP30 Fixed Price 30

In closing, I will note that Best Match does not seem to have an acronym. Interesting…

Happy Selling!!

An enterprising group of eBay sellers have even started a campaign called “BlingMyBra” where custom decorated bras are up for auction with 100% of the proceeds going to the Susan G. Korman ~For the Cure.

Check out all the Great BlingMyBra Auctions!!!

And check out the entire list of item on eBay benefitting the Susan G. Korman for the Cure Charity.

Happy Bidding!!

In response, Vendio is excited to introduce a Special Edition of the Vendio Reviser. This special edition has a ONE PAGE option for revising handling time and return policy. Simply sign up, set you eBay token (so we know who you are), select your handling time and add a return policy and we will bulk revise all your eligible eBay items.

The special edition is a flat-rate of $20.00 a month for unlimited revisions!! And it works no matter how or with who you listed your items!

As an added bonus, this offer includes the Vendio Reviser which allows you to revise your items three ways:

1. Bulk Revise Individual Items – revise up to 100 of your items which are displayed on one page (either in list format, filtered or searched by keyword), and you can make common revisions (including descriptions) from this one page. For instance, you can search all items with “DVD” in the title – make description edits on one page and click revise to submit your changes. There are many options to filter and search your items to bring up the items you wish to revise

2. Find and Replace – Find specific criteria and replace it. For instance, you could “find” all the items that have “BLUE” in the title and revise them “PERIWINKLE BLUE”. There are many find and replace fields that you could use to make revisions to your items.

3. Set Auto Reviser Rules – Auto Reviser rules lets you set strategies. Think of these as automatic revisions. For instance, you could reduce the price of your item by $1.00 every day until it sells, or you could change the category of your item after 3 days and so on.

Reviser provides many methods for you to enhance and edit your existing eligible eBay listings (in addition to allowing you to create specific strategies you design for you specific business requirements) and now with the Vendio Revise Special Edition, you can bulk revise your handling time and return policy in one easy step.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use Vendio to list your items, good news! We are automatically updating your handling time and return policy!

Also, If you are already an existing Vendio customer who does not use Vendio to list your items, please contact customer service to have this special addition added to your account.

Sign Up for the Vendio Reviser Special Edition