eBay Lifestyle Deals: Get your daily discounts and coupons

eBay have begun testing something called 'Lifestyle deals', similiar to what other daily deals and coupon sites offer -- Groupon style. You must be familiar with this if you use daily deal sites like Gruopon, even if you have signed-up for one of these services. You get daily deals in your email account, informing of what the best deals they have been able to source for you in your city. eBay Lifestyle Deals works on the same concept. if you go to the lifestyle dels eBay site - you see that San Francisco has been listed with a number of services being offered and their daily deals. There are also a lot of other metros listed in the US. Currently available only in the US.

Companies who are into the daily deals business employ a lot of sales people who meet and negotiate with local merchants to get the best possible deals. These deals are then uploaded to the site and passed on to customers. Getting into the daily deals market is easy but growing a sustainable and profitable business out of it is a whole different thing. eBay's lifestyle deals is their first foray into services - their daily deals on physical products have been available for two years already. if you visit the site you will see a lot of offers for gift certificates and acupuncture and foods. These deals have significantly reduced costs, something eBay will need to keep bringing into the daily deal market which is already packed with the likes of Amazon, Google and Groupon.

eBay Lifestyle Deals

The best time to post on eBay

This post is based on a recent article in the NYT, which goes on to say that there are certain times during which online retails make a lot of money. In fact these times might be their most profitable time. Even eBay has a certain time during which most of the items get sold. Some of this has to do with people coming back home, kicking back a few drinks and going shopping online. Thanks to the internet that time when people end up making some big purchases is available every day. So much so that eBay has confirmed that it is during this time that most auctions work most profitably. So, if you're wondering what is the best time to start and stop your auction to get best results. It is between 6:30 pm to 10:30 pm in any given time zone. If you thinking that drinking has something to do with it, you've guessed right.


So the next time you want to get your goods out and get them sold on eBay or any other shopping site you use this seems to be the best time of day when most retails get their goods sold. This is not fool-proof and might not work all the time but it seems that it is a good time and will bring you auction success. Also remember if you are short of cash then this is the time to avoid shopping online.
Online Merchants Home In on Imbibing Consumers

An original post by

Sociolatte

eBay Fashion App for the iPhone

eBay has a new fashion App for the iPhone. The App gives users access to new, designer, branded and vintage merchandise, with millions of listings to clothes shoes and accessories. 


Simply open the application to start window shopping right away. From the homescreen you can check out the virtual style gallery showcasing the latest trends. Once you see something you like you can then tap on the item and browse similar items. 


You can also assess eBay's exclusive fashion vault for limited time sales on converted designer ramps. If you have an idea of what your looking for you can browse through popular categories. Even shop vintage by decade. 


You can search for what your looking for and then try it on, on a picture of you or a picture you choose from your iPhone. And see how it looks. You can check out and try everything on on the virtual you. 


Another cool feature is the ability to browse though multiple listings and gallery view. You can also share these listings with your friends on email, Facebook or Twitter. Use this App to virtually build your outfits and try stuff on before you decide to buy.

An original post by

Sociolatte

How to end an ebay auction without selling the item

There are some basic guidelines laid down by ebay if you want to cancel an auction without selling the item. Sometimes there is a need an a seller would want to cancel the auction and not sell. Some of the reasons could be that the item is missing a part or has been stolen or the item is not working anymore. You need to be very careful as ending an auction early will leave your buyers disappointed and ebay being such a community based on feedback you don't really want to get bad feedback. 


Here are the basic requirements that would determine how to end your listing early.


1. If there are 12 hours or more remaining before you end your listing you can do so without any restrictions.
2. If there are less than 12 hours remaining before you end your listing. You would need to check if there are any bids on your item and if there is a reserve price on your item. If there are no bids including no cancelled bids then you can end you ebay item listing and cancel the auction. If there are any cancelled bids you cannot end it early. If there are one or more bids then you need to sell the item to the highest bidder and cancel the listing. If there are one or more bidders but the reserve price wasn't met then you cannot cancel the listing early. 


How to end a listing

1. 
   Type the item number into the End My Listing Early form. The item number is shown on your listing, confirmation email, and My eBay page.
   


2. 
   

   If there are bids on your item, choose how you want to end your listing.

   
   

   
   
   • If there are 12 hours or more before the end of the listing, choose “Cancel bids and end listing early” or “Sell item to high bidder.”
   
   
   • If there are 12 hours or less before the end of the listing, your only option is to “Sell item to high bidder.”
   
   

   
   


3. Select the reason you're ending your listing early.


4. 
   

   Your listing will end and will no longer be active on eBay. If you're canceling an auction-style listing with bids, bidders who didn’t win will receive an email explaining that their bid was canceled and that the listing ended early.

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   
   

   If you can’t end the listing

   
   

   If you don’t meet the requirements for ending your auction-style listing early, your best option is to communicate with the bidders.

   
   

   • 
     Before the listing ends: Contact the bidders, explain the situation, and encourage them to retract their bids. Alternatively, you can cancel their bids.
     

   
   

   • 
     If the listing ends and there is a winning bidder: Contact the bidder and explain the situation. If you and the bidder agree to not complete the sale, you can file an unpaid item and indicate that you and the buyer have agreed not to complete the transaction. The bidder will be notified and can confirm the agreement.
     

   
   

   The fine print

   
   

   
   
   • You'll still be charged listing fees (such as the insertion fee) if you end your listing early. If you want to change or improve your listing, consider revising your listing instead.
   
   
   • 
     Sellers are not permitted to cancel bids and end listings early in order to avoid selling an item that did not meet the desired sale price. This is considered to be a reserve price violation. Although there are legitimate reasons for ending a listing early, abuse of this option will be investigated.
     
   
   
   • eBay Motors allows sellers to end their listing early and cancel all bids by sending a Transaction Confirmation Request to the buyer.
   
   

   
   

[Source: ebay ]

An original post by

Sociolatte