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I've climbed a mountain!

publication date: Sep 27, 2006
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*******
 - Editorial
 - UK Sellers Say NO to Online Postage
*******
 
***
Editorial
***
Hi,
 
I feel like I've climbed a mountain
today, I've finally finished something
that's taken almost forty years to make.
Well, I haven't really been working
forty years on this new thing, but it did
take me forty years to get the ball
rolling.
 
It reminds me of actor BillyCrystal who
once declared himself an 'Overnight
Success', the trouble was the night was
a long time coming and lasted more
than twenty years.
 
That's pretty much how many people
feel about business in general: many of
us harbour some dream about a business
we'd like to start and only years later do
we take the plunge and actually get
started. Most of the time the business
we put off starting, sometimes for
decades, proves an almost instant
success. That certainly seems to be the
case for many new eBayer sellers I've
spoken to recently, including a vet
friend who has just opened a shop on
eBay selling non-prescription animal
medications. Having started on eBay
just a few months back, selling
unwanted household items, he decided
last week to begin selling pet medicines
and he's shocked at the number of sales
he's made already.
 
So it really does surprise me that so
many people swear they have no idea
what to sell on eBay when the answer is
usually staring them in the face and
often means approaching an employer
or business colleague and offering to
sell their products on eBay. For proof
of this being a great place to start
looking for product, click here
 
where you'll read:
 
"High street stores in the UK are
predicted to lose some £39bn to online
retailers this festive season, as more and
more shoppers shop online to avoid to
Christmas rush, according to new
research."
 
That new research by Motricity from a
poll of just over 2000 adults in the UK
says that more than 76 in every 100
people polled expect to do at least some
of their Christmas shopping online this
year. Even more disturbing, Metricity
says that offline only sellers can expect
to lose almost forty per cent of
Christmas business to major online
companies, including eBay.
 
Wow, that's a lot of lost business and
I'm willing to bet it's because few high
street sellers know much about selling
online and can't be bothered to get
started.
 
Do you see what I'm getting at?   Of
course you do, even if you do all of your
shopping online, make a point of
visiting the high street soon. Not to
buy, of course , just to offer your
services as an eBay professional and
earn ten, twenty, thirty per cent on
everything you sell belonging to other
people in the run up to Christmas.
Oops, almost forgot to say, my forty
years marathon has culminated in the
birth of my latest baby, NO NOT A
HUMAN BABY, this one's a book,
about how to MAKE £3100 - £3200 A
WEEK SELLING VINTAGE
TOPOGRAPHICAL POSTCARDS ON
EBAY. My publishers are working on
the package right now and they'll no
doubt be sending a special offer to my
readers very soon.
 
As they say WATCH THIS SPACE for
vital information coming soon.
 
Until then,
 
Avril
 
***
If you haven't been to my PowerSeller
website yet, take a look:
eBay Confidential Subscribers can upgrade
for just £315 with this promotion code: ec2408mem
***
 
***
UK sellers say NO to
online postage
By GaryMcHugh
***
You may or may not be aware that
Royal Mail yesterday launched an
online postage stamp service. The idea
is you can open an account online pre
fund it with your credit or debit card and
print postage labels with bar codes at
home for your packets.
 
PLEASE PLEASE take the time to read
this, this new service is not only bad for
your local post office it could be worse
for you!!!!
 
Before you go rushing off to use this
new Royal Mail service there are a few
things you may want to consider, that
you may not think about in the rush of
excitement.
 
First Reactions
 
I would imagine the reaction of most
eBayers on hearing of the new 'pay
your postage online service' would be
"Great I don't have to queue in the post
office" but let us just take a look at the
pros and cons of 'Do it yourself
postage'.
 
The Costs
 
Firstly, petty as this may sound consider
this:
 
Who will be paying for the adhesive
labels and ink to print all these trendy
new labels??
 
That is correct YOU will, while your
first reaction may be "but it's only
pennies" is it? Do you know how much
a4 sheets of adhesive computer
printable labels are?? You already know
that ink is expensive right?? And don't
forget you need to print a full sheet at a
time so you are not wasting labels. What
if you only have 4 packets to send
tomorrow. Yes you could print on
normal paper, but do you really want to
be trimming cutting and sellotaping and
hoping your label doesn't fall off and
your packet not be delivered to your
customer?
 
Let's say the labels and ink only cost
you £35 a month (and that's being VERY
conservative) well that's £360 per year
MORE than you are paying now, and
your costs probably already increased
with the pricing by size changes.
 
But this doesn't matter because you
don't pay the postage your buyers do! If
eBay traders are not careful the time
will VERY QUICKLY arrive where the
postage costs make buying a new item
cheaper, or from an online store who
offer free delivery. DON'T burst your
own bubble people!
 
But At Least I Won't Have To Queue At
The Post Office
 
Really? You have your bag of packages
at home with your Internet postage
labels all attached at your expense. That
doesn't alter the fact you STILL have to
take them to the post office. The staff
there are very nice people, however they
WILL NOT be allowing anyone to just
come in and dump a bag of mail in the
corner. That is a health and safety
hazard and post offices are public
buildings that BY LAW have to follow
health and safety practices. So you will
STILL have to wait your turn in the
queue to hand your bag of packages to
the staff.
 
Sure you can try cramming them in a
letter box if the items you sell are small
enough, but you may find if just one
other ebayer beats you to it, the box is
full.
 
ANOTHER ISSUE
 
I have a friend who does a lot of selling
on eBay. He purchased a set of 'Digital
eBay Scales' online, certified to be
accurate for the bargain price of £329.99.
 
He went to the post office all prepared
with his estimates written on his
packages, nearly all of them were wrong
because the scales weren't accurate.
Don't kid yourselves to buy a set of
scales sensitive enough to weigh letters
ACCURATELY will cost you in excess
of £3300.
 
The BIG issue
 
Do you use a nice local post office?????
Whether or not you are aware of it, most
local post offices are actually sub post
offices, they are private businesses they
are NOT owned by the Post Office
themselves they are agents or
franchises.
 
Like any business they have overheads,
staff to pay and profits to make to stay
open. If you turn up with your bag of
mail sure they HAVE to take it from
you but they have made no money at all
from your visit, how long do you think
that will last???
 
One thing I am almost sure you know is
how many small post offices have
closed down all over the country in
recent years. Why did they close down?
Because the post office lost out on many
pensions that are now paid directly into
the bank, that was a big chunk of their
business. Then as you also know the
government in its wisdom gave TV
licensing to another company. More of
the business gone. They are also trying
to promote that people tax their cars
online, more of the business gone. One
of the few things that has helped your
local post offices stay open is eBay
packets and post. Take that away and
you WILL see even more offices close.
 
What happens when more small post
offices close down because business is
being taken away??? Where do you take
your packages then??? To a main post
office which now has even larger
queues because the smaller local offices
closed.
 
Where are most the main offices??? In
town and city centres where you will be
paying £33 plus parking every time you
want to post your items????
 
If these offices go, what happens if the
website is down or wont take your
card???
 
Still think this service is a good idea and
will save you time??? Well it really is
up to you, like every other thing in life it
really is a case of use it or lose it. Please
think carefully which is more
inconvenient queuing for 10 minutes in
your local post office when it is busy, or
trecking all the way into a town or city
centre, parking up and lugging your
mail to a main office to send off .
 
We build websites for a living and are
all for online shopping and transactions,
however neither us or our clients want
to see the distribution network that
sends our goods get closed down.
 
In our humble opinion this new service
looks like a time saver, but in the long
run it will cost your business more
money and time.
 
Please feel free to send a link to this
page to any uk merchant you may know
who sells online
GaryMcHugh is owner of
had many articles published in his
speciality fields of link exchange and
ecommerce.
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