Table of Contents

• Product Sample Spectacular: August's Winners
• Featured Article: "Taking Full Advantage of All that eBay has to Offer"
• Marketplace Spotlight: Why Sell Refurbished Products?
• Doba Award: Inc. 500 list
• September's Member Q&A: How can I compete on eBay with so many other sellers?
• Supplier News: 14 new suppliers added to the Doba Product Catalog

And the winner is…

In case you didn't hear, during the whole month of August, if you placed an order with any of Doba's new suppliers, you were automatically entered to win cash and prizes: $100.00 in cash (added to your Doba PrePay account) or one of several product samples from our feartured suppliers.

Winner: Oscar Ruiz Thetford Center, VT Green Cotton Hammock Supplier Ochre	Winner: Dawn Devine Twin Falls, ID Monster Rope Tie Supplier Nylon	Winner: Chose to Remain Anonymous Blue Cotton Hammock Supplier Ochre
Winner:  Chris Homer Westbrook, ME Water Bottle with Filter Supplier Water	Winner: Brian Green Winchester, VA White Gold Diamond Ring Supplier Britney	Winner: Kenneth Kosal Farmington Hills, MI Orange Cotton Hammock Supplier Ochre
Winner: Mark Dewoskin San Diego, CA Cell Phone Cover Supplier Tan

Partner Highlight:

LegalZoom
Save time and money on common legal matters! Created by top attorneys, LegalZoom helps you create reliable legal documents from your home or office. Simply answer a few questions online and your documents will be prepared within 48 hours. We even review your answers and guarantee your satisfaction. Doba customers can enter DOBA and receive $10 Off their LegalZoom order. 

Featured Article: Taking full advantage of your eBay account

Congratulations, you did it! You opened your eBay seller’s account! Now you can sell products on the busiest marketplace online. But where do you go from here? How do you take full advantage of all that eBay offers? Well, sit back, grab some lemonade, and I’ll tell you.

As an online retailer or business owner it is important for you to get involved, get connected, and get started. Through the eBay Community, you can do just that. Made up of eBay members (both buyers and sellers) as well as eBay staff, the eBay Community is built on a foundation of open and honest communication, encouraging all eBay members to adhere to the following fundamental Community Values:

• We believe people are basically good.

• We believe everyone has something to contribute.

• We believe that an honest, open environment can bring out the best in people.

• We recognize and respect everyone as a unique individual.

• We encourage you to treat others the way you want to be treated.

Discussion Boards and Chat Rooms

Boards and Chat Rooms allow you to discuss any eBay-related topic with other members of the eBay community.

• Category-specific boards: A great place to find information on everything from art to travel. Search for keywords if you know exactly what you're looking for or browse the discussion topics and see what you discover.

• Community help boards: eBay members answer questions and propose solutions to problems.

• General discussion boards: Share your opinions and suggestions or just chat with other eBay friends.

• Workshops: Get information on attending workshops hosted by eBay (and other third party businesses) as well as in-depth information on interesting topics covered in past workshops.

Through the workshops and boards, you will develop more business know-how; pushing your ability to succeed ever forward. And that is not the only benefit; you can also become a thought leader that others will look to for experience, ideas, and answers to questions they have.

Groups

Groups are similar to Discussion Boards but allow the online conversation to be focused around a particular topic or to take place with a specific group of users.

• Create an online dialogue about your favorite eBay topic in the Group discussion boards.

•  Create and display your own announcements on the Group’s Home page.

•  Upload and share images with fellow Group members by using photo albums.

• Schedule discussions, classes, parties, and other Group-related events with the events calendar.

• Participate in a poll where Group members can create their own polling questions and answers, vote, and view the overall results.

• Invite members to join your group

Answer Center

You can find quick and easy answers to any eBay-related questions in eBay’s Answer Center, a forum designed for you to ask questions, receive answers, and share information about eBay, products, or online retail strategies.

 eBay Blogs

• Thought Leadership: Blogging won’t establish you as an overnight expert, but it will significantly highlight your knowledge!

• Personality: With an eBay Blog, just as with an eBay listing, your personality becomes a part of the selling equation. Use pictures and content to showcase your personality.

• Promotion: Each and every Blog posting should either directly or indirectly promote your eBay listings.

• Brand Awareness: Your “brand” is more than a logo or tagline. Your brand should covey trust, convenience, and superior quality and service. Blogging can help promote your brand and values.

About Me Page

• Mention your About Me page in your eBay listing

• Link to your blog directly from your “About Me” page

• Link to your off-eBay website (as long as it’s not directly to a page selling products)

For further information on eBay’s “About Me” page, click here.

eBay is more than just a marketplace where you can buy and sell products. Unfortunately, most new eBayers overlook the tools and resources eBay provides. A further understanding of how to use what is available can put you on the path to a successful business experience by establishing personality, brand credibility and promotion through becoming a thought leader and getting involved with the eBay Community. 

About the Author:
Jake Sabey is an eBay Certified Consultant and an Education Specialist for Doba. Jake's educational strategies and methodologies help online retailers meet and exceed their business-related goals. Prior to working for Doba, Jake was a team leader, supervisor, and trainer for Toys R Us, Sinclair Oil, SBC, and AT&T.

Partner Highlight

ProStores
ProStores, an eBay company, enables small- and medium-sized businesses to sell products and services online through a completely customizable virtual storefront at their own internet domain, accelerating the growth and profitability of their overall business and extending their brand online. Use Doba's Push to MarketPlace tool to push Doba products directly in to your ProStores webstore. Free one month trial! 

Marketplace Spotlight: Why Sell Refurbished Products?

When deciding on a niche or what to sell, there is more to consider then just category.  As many of our articles and tutorials explain, as a retailer you should be considering a variety of things such as marketplace, personal expertise, category saturation, and competitive advantages versus established category leaders.  This list is far from complete but the point is – there are a lot of factors when picking a niche.  The purpose of this article is to suggest that you consider one more: Should you sell Refurbished products?

Why sell Refurbished?  The simplest answer: price.  However, the real question is: Why should a consumer buy refurbished versus new?  The best way to understand this is to answer a series of other questions.

What exactly does ‘refurbished’ mean? 

While there are exceptions to this explanation, Doba refurbished products have been returned to either a manufacturer or authorized third-party for a variety of reasons and then put through a rigorous re-manufacturing process before they can even be considered for being sold refurbished. 

Where do refurbished goods come from?

Refurbished products can originate from a variety of sources, including:

• Customer returns and cancelled orders - Fully-functional products that leave the manufactures warehouse and therefore can no longer be sold as new.
• Damaged products - Products returned because of cosmetic flaws or damage during shipping or a broken part.
• Overstocks - Items that are returned by the seller to make room for newer product lines.

Depending on the product line, most refurbished equipment starts to show up for resell about 6-18 months after its introduction date.   

When is refurbished better then new?

For a majority of technology products, they are ‘old’ and moving toward being obsolete from the moment they are launched.  Unless your customer is one of the privileged few who has an application that demands the latest, greatest technology or they have the financial freedom to afford buying cutting edge refurbished goods may be a good value option. Help the customer understand that they don't need to buy ahead of the technology curve, and they should always buy based on their current needs.  For example, in computer technology, the speed and power of computer roughly doubles every 12-18 months. However, for the average computer user, the tasks and applications they use have not changed all that much. 

What about warranties, service and support?

For refurbished products, warranties and service options are definitely more limited.  However, as we discussed in the previous point, the life of most technology is 6 -18 months.  The question for retailers to ask themselves is really, how long a do I want to support the purchase and more importantly, how long will the customer require support on their purchase?

Always check the product description and supplier specific policies for the exact restrictions and lengths of warranties but I think you will find that warranties are generally reasonable and within the consumer’s needs.

Check out these products:

Akai 37" LCD TV/DVD Player Combo @ $604.17

Averatec AV7160EC1 with AMD Turion 64 ML-32, 1GB, 100GB, DVD-RW/CDRW,  17.0" Wide Screen @ $582.29

Acer 2002WSD 20" Wide TFT Monitor @ $182.29

Partner Highlight:

Doba Awards: Doba named on Inc. 500!

In August, Inc. Magazine revealed its 26th Annual List of America’s 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies based on percent revenue growth.

Doba ranks No. 23 on the 2007 Inc. 500 with three-year sales growth of 3,202%. Inc. magazine, also ranks Doba 2nd in the category of fastest growing software companies, and 5th in growth among companies intending to go public.

Member Q&A: How can I compete on eBay with so many sellers?

In a world where change is one of the few things you can count on, one thing that will never change is competition. You may ask yourself as a retailer selling products on eBay, "How can I compete against other sellers?" I know what you’re probably thinking: lowest price wins. Not necessarily. Competing on price in a market such as eBay could lead to business death after fighting a price war with other sellers. Bouncing back and forth between being the lowest priced seller and being somewhere else on the totem pole will do nothing but hurt your business financially, and possibly damage the reputation you worked so hard to build.

In a crowded marketplace, there are many things you can compete on besides price. The following Doba articles offer tips, tricks, strategies, and warnings on competing in a crowded marketplace:

Competing on Trust Series:

• Competing on Trust—Part I: Conveying Trust with Your Webstore Design

• Competing on Trust—Part II: Earning Trust with Excellent Customer Service

• Competing on Trust—Part III: Building Customer Confidence with the Right Affiliations

Giving Away the Store Series:

• Giving Away the Store, Part I: Competing on price alone

• Giving Away the Store, Part II: Competing on something other than price

As suggested by this newsletter’s featured article, "Taking Full Advantage of All that eBay has to Offer", another way to compete is to let your individual personality and imagination show through in your business. The sky is the limit to use your creativity in offering something the other guy is not. Be creative in your listings. 

Below is an example of a listing in which the seller described an experience she had with the product she featured in the listing.

The unique factor of this listing isn't the product that was listed, but the story within the product description. The story of a mother going to the grocery store with her six kids, and leaving the store with all she meant to buy and more a pack of Pokemon cards she didn't know she bought. A normal pack of Pokemon cards retails anywhere from 5 to 10 dollars. This listing sold with the high bidder paying $142.51. There is no doubt the winning bidder knew they could purchase a pack of cards for cheaper than $142.51. In fact, for the amount paid you could purchase more than 10 packs of Pokemon cards, but the winning buyer paid more because of the personality, creativeness, and whole experience of being a part of something that is different, something that stands out. By the end of the auction, there was a total of 179,257 people that looked at the auction, and hundreds of eBayers commented on the uniqueness of the listing; most of them being mothers or fathers who could relate to such shopping experiences as the one described in the listing. Not only did the seller create traffic for this listing and other listing of hers, she created traffic to her blog; which could result in future customers! So be sure to relate to your customers, showcase your personality and stand out in a crowded marketplace.

We Want to Hear from You!

Want to see your question featured in the eNewsletter Member Q&A? Well we want to hear from you! Please email education@doba.com if you have any non-account related questions or topics you would like us to write about. If you have questions concerning your Doba account, such as billing, product or order questions, please search our knowledgebase site content or contact our Customer Support.

Supplier News: New suppliers added to the Product Catalog

Starting an online business is relatively easy. Making it a success takes hard work and the right mix of products. To help you achieve your business-related goals, in the month of August Doba added 14 new wholesale suppliers and manufacturers to the Doba Catalog (bringing the total number of Doba suppliers to 187), including:

• Supplier Boldo manufactures and distributes officially licensed college belts, tote bags, key chains and wallets.
• Supplier Curry offers a wide array of authentic handcrafted products that reflect and reinforce rich cultural traditions. Curry distributes fashionable garments, pure lokta papers, wool sweaters, bags, hats, and pashmina, all of which are made by skilled and environmentally sensitive adult artisans.
• Supplier Dana distributes motor vehicle parts and accessories, including automobile tires from a number of different manufacturers.
• Supplier Elbert is your source for fine bedding products, including sheets with extra deep pockets, "beds in a bag" sets, and Egyptian cotton sheets. Elbert's sheet sets range between the 200 and 800 thread count and fit most mattresses.
• Supplier Glacius manufactures state-of-the-art hard disk enclosures and removable storage kits. Examples of Glacius' line include removable hot-swap enclosures as well as eSATA and SATA connectivity products.
• Supplier Graphite designs, imports and distributes a product line of over 1,500 specialty hand tools, household items, automotive, air tools, wood working products, and general merchandise. Graphite prides themselves with supplying retail hardware clients with innovative products, timely fulfillment, and world class customer support.
• Supplier Kenai is the designer of fashionable handbags. Kenai scouts the globe for cool fabrics, materials, and accents in order to provide fashion conscious customers great fresh styles. Kenai's designs merge practical usability with fashion. The focus is always on comfort and providing a value to the retailer.
• Supplier Laramie distributes technology products from more than 100 world-leading Consumer Electronics, Computer and IT suppliers to more than 15,000 resellers throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. Product categories Laramie focuses on include PCs, Laptops, IT systems, peripherals, system components, software and networking products.
• Supplier Libra manufacturers portable interlocking floors for residential and commercial applications. Libra's "SoftFloors" come in a many colors and patterns and are ideal for game rooms, conference and trade show booths, and a variety of institutional settings.
• Supplier Monroe manufactures high-quality affordable furniture and decorative accessories for the home. Lifestyles are changing the way we live and Supplier Monroe's goal is to design colorful, tasteful products that reflect these times. Monroe offers a unique selection, with a commitment to create excitement and function in the products they design.
• Supplier Russell specializes in fine art prints, and canvas reproductions with a focus on canine, equestrian, feline, and impressionist images.
• Supplier Sandstone is a distributor of consumer electronics specializing in refurbished products and closeouts including XBOX 360 systems and iPod players. Sandstone focuses on providing value, selection and pricing on many of the hottest products currently selling.
• Supplier Squill is one of the nation's premier suppliers of high-end used golf balls. Squill is supported by 25 years of golf ball recovery, processing, and sales operations. Unlike other used golf ball distributors, Squill does not sell to large retail stores or big box sports chains.
• Supplier Vineyard has a mission is to create the still beauty of color and to capture the peace of the present moment where we connect with our pure potential. Said differently, color and authentic artistic quality are the hallmarks of Supplier Vineyard, which is one of the nation's premier producers of wine country prints. Vineyard's reputation for producing collectible prints that focus on the inherent beauty of California's wine country is legendary.