eBay US Store - To Open Or Not To Open

A lot of eBayers asked Chris and myself about 'when' is the right time to open an eBay Store.

Consider opening an eBay Store this way (so that you have an idea where to open one and when to start):

1. Which eBay site does majority of your sales come from? If 75% comes from the USA, then consider opening a US eBay Store to enjoy eBay USA Listing Fees.

2. What are your selling quantities like? If you have less than 50, no point having a store. But if you have more than 50, that's your cue to open up a basic store.

'Basic of Selling in eBay' Workshop - 24th Feb 2010

Chiica will be having its eBay 8-hr workshop about selling in eBay. It's a hands on workshop and will provide live demonstration as to how to jump start your eCommerce business.

More details can be found here. You can see the course layout and its objectives.

Course fees for early bird is at RM1,575.00

Register quick and learn from the experts like us!

Updates.. It's been such a long time

Hi all,

Whoa...been so busy day after day and hardly had the chance to come in here.

A lot of 'happy' online users are buzzing about the opportunity for them to utilise their PayPal funds, now that they can easily withdraw it to their local Malaysian Bank Account.

So thanks to PayPal for that. It took them years and years of hard work and determination to convince our national bank to let them 'in'.

Tomorrow (Friday 11th Dec), there'll be a PayPal power up party for active PayPal users. I'm hoping to see and mingle with other netpreneurs.

This is PayPal's first party ever and we hope to have more of it in the near future.

To those who weren't invited or got rejected, please don't get annoyed or angry. And yes, PayPal have made some minor mishaps on the emails and letters which they have deeply apologised, let it be their mistakes to learn. Let's hope for a better management in their next event.

Start using your PayPal to get 'noticed'... lol.

Women Entrepreneurs Conference 2009

Women Entrepreneurs Conference aims to provide female entrepreneur leaders with ideas and inspiration to fuel the future of their businesses.

Their focus is on “Risks & Rewards” (R2) is to ensure that female entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to discover the support channels available to overcome economic downturn and to position their businesses to excel when the economy recovers.

The conference seeks to help women obtain access to capital, improve their business
skills & strategies as well as leverage on technology to start up and grow their businesses.

Please visit www.gorgeousgeeks.org for the event itinerary and how to pariticipate. Because GorgeousGeek.Org is a non profit organisation, they have to seek funds for renting and organise this event. Therefore, a RM100 (non members) entrance fee for the 2-day event is chargeable. RM60 for members.

Chiica Consulations, an eBay Partner, will be giving a talk on eBay and how can we use eBay to supplement your income in times like these. Carol Fung will be the speaker of this event.

I'm calling all women, young and old to participate in this event.

I'm very excited to speaking to women and to tickle their fancy into starting their business online!!!

eBay USA Offering 5 FREE Listings for Sellers

Wow, I had a great time giving a hands-on workshop to a small group of people from Warisan Global (www.warisanglobal.com)

They are an Organisation that orginises a lot of entrepreneurship programme to the public.

Today when I was teaching them to list in eBay USA, they were all excited that they got FREE Insertion Fee for their listings.

eBay USA is offering free insertion fee for first 5 listing every month which is a great incentive for newbies.

Therefore it's a 'zero start up fee' for everyone to try out in eBay.


Keep it up guys and ladies. Wish you all the best of luck.

Below are some of the listings they have done:

- Collectible Wooden Cat Decoratives

- Belly Dancing Wrap

- Cellphone Strings

- Mini Stationery Set

- Vintage Embroided Mini Purse

- Batik Cotton Fabric Uncut

eBay Wicked Sick BMX

This is such a funny project created by 2 friends in Australia.

Watch it and hope you guys get a some inspiration from it. Well done guys!

Seller Protection on eBay

Good news from our PayPal South East Asis Team.

From June 15, 2009, PayPal’s Seller Protection can help reduce your losses due to buyer claims, chargebacks or reversals for unauthorised payments and items not received, so you can sell to more places with more confidence on eBay. All you need to do is follow a few simple guidelines, to make sure you’re covered.

To find out more, go to their direct link.

Be Your Own Boss With eBay

Hi guys,

Chris and I will be at Wisma MCA to promote eBay Opportunities to the Public.

We are giving away FREE Online eBay Workshops to teach the public how to use eBay to supplement their income.

Come visit us today from 9am till 5pm. It's a 1-day event, so hope to see you there.

Thanks to MIRC for inviting us.

(Officiate by Datuk Ong Tee Kiat)

(Chris - Education Specialist)

Come Join us at A:Fair Weekend 28 & 29 March at Mont Kiara Solaris

Venue: Mont Kiara Solaris

Date: 28 & 29 March, 2009

Time: 12pm till Midnight

Also supporting Earth Day. Bigger Events, more shows.

I will be there on behalf of eBay.

See you guys!!!

BarCamp JB 6.12.08

I was recently invited by Daniel Cerventus (founder of Malaysian Entrepreneurs) to join BarCamp JB on 6.12.08

I had an amazing time sharing my eBay knowledge with a crowd closed to 50ppl in the conference room.


Before the sessions began, Daniel will give a prep talk to the participants about the rules of BarCamp JB. One of them I found unique is that, if participants think the session is not for them, they are welcome to leave the room so that an empty seat can be given to other participants. Very clever. BarCamp also encourages participants to vote for their favourite speakers.

The Speakers and Participants can stand a chance winning attractive prices sponsored by many established organisation. Well Done Daniel!



This is the crown I presented by talk to. Very very interesting crowd. I predicted closed to 50 of them in the room. Majority of them are amazed at other eBayers from Malaysia succeed in making a living in eBay. They also asked many of the common and intelligent questions. Very active group. I was full of energy every time I start my talks about eBay. It gives me great satisfaction when ppl are amazed and inspired by other ppl's success.


I loved the view from here. This was taken on the 19th Floor of the MSC Cyberport (JB) who sponsored the venue for BarCamp JB.


Q&A session is always my favourite to network and to answer to all questions posted by the audience. Loved all the challenging questions.



This is the prize I've won (yippie!!!!). Wanna thank the participants who voted me. Thanks to Daniel from the Malaysian Entrepreneurs, http://www.entrepreneurs.my/

I don't usually write blogs cos it's not my nature... eBay is my expertise.. ehhehehehee... enjoy!

MIRC KL SME ICT Conference 2008

MIRC (MCA ICT Resource Centre) is organising this amazing ICT event at the Legend Hotel this 9th Dec.

It starts at 8:30am (registration).

Those who are keen to participate must pre-register at registration@mirc.org.my

MIRC has invited a lot of speakers to talk about the various internet marketing that's available for users to use.

Go to this link for the event itinerary, http://www.mirc.org.my/events.php

Come and join this informative event and master the world of internet marketing!!

Wireless@KL e-Commerce Training Workshop

P1 (Greenpacket Sdn Bhd) & eBay.com.my is giving the public a chance to attend a FREE eBay Workshop this month. There are a total of 8 workshops planned. So please go to this link to register and find out more, Wireless@KL. You can also find out more abt the time and venue on each 8 classes and choose which date u can come.

Chiica Consultations (that's us), will be the ones giving this workshop.

We will show you the opportunity of doing business in eBay and how other Malaysian Sellers succeed in eBay.

So, see you all there!!

eBay USA Major Changes - Good or Bad?

August 20th Changes.... was it good or bad?

My thoughts? I have a mixed reaction about these changes. But it will take a few good weeks for me to 'adapt' to it and see how. I hardly list my items to eBay USA cos I find that site is a little too 'far' and I can't earn a higher profit margin due to weak USD currency. So I focus my sale mainly in the UK and Europe.

The listing price for once is fixed now for Fixed Price Listings. So no matter at what price I start and its quantity, my listing fee stays af 35cents. Furthermore, the Fixed Price Listing is extended to a 30-day typed listing instead of the conventional 1, 3, 5, 7 & 10 days listing.

So sellers who list at a slightly higher price will find this new listing fee benefits them. But all good things come with a bad karma... lol. The Final Value Fees was revised from 10% to 12%!!!

Another downside to the changes is that, if Sellers obtained a DSR (Detailed Seller Ratings) of less than 4.3 at all category, will not be able to list in eBay USA for 30 days until the seller improve the effected DSR. No listings will be removed. Buyers can still buy from the seller but seller can't do any relisting... it's like being penalized for 30 days! I find that harsh.

The DSR rating system sucks big time. eBay still cannot 'invent' a creative way to educate its buyer when it comes to rating 'long distant sellers'.

Sellers here in Malaysia will be greatly affected by this 4.3 DSR requirement cos 95% of our foreign buyers do not understand the need to wait a little longer for their packages and the extra shipping cost when they buy from us.

So whoever 'passed the bill' to implement the same requirement to South East Asia (SEA) seller obviously never tried selling from SEA. Plain ignorant and idiotic 'law planners'.

eBay wants to 'create' a better buying experience but all these changes are so 'pro buyer' and doesn't help the sellers at all. Sellers are the ones paying hefty listing fees, final value fees & all the misc subscription fees (and not fogetting paypal fees) just to keep eBay in business. Look how they've utilise the money for (paying fines in millions of dollars in countless lawsuits!!). But who gets rewarded? BUYERS!!!

Sigh.... it will take some time for me to get use to these changes... soon (very soon), eBay UK will make some more huge and scary changes.

Will look into that later.

Adios!

Come Visit us at Asia Consumer Fair 2008

eBay will be participating a 10 day roadshow called 'Asia Consumer Fair 2008'.

The event starts from 23rd August till 1st September 2008... just about to start the Puasa Month.

Venue: South City Plaza Seri Kembangan

Time: 11am till 9pm

Date: 23rd Aug - 1st Sept 2008

Admission Fee: FREE

See map location here.

We will be introducing eBay to the public and tell them more about the opportunities and the conveniency if using eBay as a platform to sell globally.

There will be eBay premiums to give away for those who sign up for the FREE eBay Tutorial Program sponsored by eBay.

See you all there!!

eBay's Updates on Feedback Percentage

Finally, eBay has taken neutral feedback from their Percentage equation.

You can find the annoucements here.

eBay Takes Neutrals out of Feedback Percentages

WOW!!! This is indeed good news to all eBay Sellers.

After eBay Live 2008, so many sellers express their anger to eBay about counting Neutrals as Negative Feedbacks. When this took effect, it hurt our business dramatically.

eBay President of eBay Global Marketplace Operations Lorrie Norrington posted an announcement to the eBay board on Thursday afternoon. "When we get something wrong, we want to make it right. And when you have ideas that benefit the collective good, we want to make them happen. To that end, we are making the following changes based on your input."

Effective in late August, neutrals will no longer be counted as part of the Feedback percentage. This means we will be recalculating Feedback percentages retroactively for users worldwide. In the interim, no one will lose their PowerSeller status as a result of neutrals being included in their Feedback percentage.

We hope to have more positive changes for us as sellers. It's been a pain trading in eBay with all these silly changes.

eBay Malaysia Workshop

Workshop Next Date: 19 & 20 July

Time: 2pm till 6pm

Venue: The Outpost, Cineleisure, Damansara Mutiara (Near IKEA)

Topics: Basic of Selling (over 15 eBay Certified syllabus)

How much? RM1,980 (50% off for Early Bird Registration)

What's included: Manuals, eBay Seller Starter Kit, Certificate, Lifetime Support, Refresher Course (T&C Applied)

How to register? Click HERE!

Found a Free Tool For eBay Sellers

Check this out guys, if you have your own website and wish to tell people that you have an eBay store (or listings) and needed extra traffic, http://www.lotwatch.co.uk/ is offering a free 'display eBay Feedback'.

The aim for this tool is to aid in driving traffic & sales from your own website(s), newsletter or blogs to your eBay Listings.

So easy & free to register.

Note: Due to eBay's listing policy, we were advised against including this code in your eBay listings as it may result in them being removed.

eBay Developers Meeting in Singapore 25 June 2008

eBay SEA & Paypal Organizes its first eBay Developers Meeting in Singapore on 25th June.

The event started at around 7pm. Sadly to say, my outbounf flight (Tiger Airways) to SG was delayed from 4pm till 8:30pm and I missed the whole deal. I was so looking forward to it cos I have got so many ideas to tell the Developers what I want as an eBay Seller.

Thankfully, Chris (my business partner) was there. Photos of the event is available when u click the main title of this post.

Also, it was great meeting with Ryan Miller, President and Founder of Merchant Run. I am looking forward to learn more about Merchant Run when Ryan returned to the US. Stay tuned for more details later.

I managed to do a little sight seeing in SG. Visited eBay & Paypal's office, Underwater World in Sentosa, took picture with the dolphins, Singpore Flyer & The Merlion.

Had lunch with eBay Staff and further discuss about the future of eBay in Malaysia. I'm happy to say that eBayers in MY are more and more keen in selling globally and I'm glad Chiica Consultations are here to be of assistance.

eBay Visits Penang

Last weekend, I had the greatest talk of my life with Penangites.

MIRC Penang Organised this great networking sessions with its MIRC Members.

The respond was amazing. Everyone enjoyed my presentation and I hope I have inspired them.

I hope to visit them again 1 day.

My next stop is Johor Bahru! Johoreans, be prepared!!