Creating a Home Base with My eBay
- Accessing and Using My eBay
- Managing and Personalizing My eBay
- The Absolute Minimum
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
In this chapter
Accessing and Using My eBay
Personalizing My eBayManaging and Personalizing My eBay
Whether you're a buyer or a seller, if you're active at all on eBay, it's likely you'll have more than one auction going at any one time. Just how do you keep track of all this auction activity?
The best way to monitor all the auctions you're participating in is to use eBay's self-professed "best-kept secret": My eBay. My eBay is a page—actually, a set of pages—that you can personalize to track your bidding and selling activity in your own way. I highly recommend that you avail yourself of this useful feature.
Accessing and Using My eBay
You access My eBay from any eBay page by clicking the My eBay link on the Navigation Bar. This opens My eBay in the My Summary view, which (as we'll discuss in a moment) presents a general overview of all your current auction activity. My eBay actually offers several "views," which you access by clicking the appropriate links contained in the navigation panel along the left side of the page. We'll look at each of these views individually.
My Summary View
The My Summary view is the default view when you access My eBay. It consists of four major sections:
Buying Reminders, which includes summary information for items you need to pay for, items you're watching, items you're bidding on, item's you've been outbid on, items you've received a Second Chance Offer for, and items for which you still need to leave seller feedback. This section also includes a dollar total for all the items you've won within a specified period.
Selling Reminders, which includes summary information for items for which the buyer has requested a payment total, items you're awaiting payment for, items you need to ship, items you've cross-promoted with other items, items you're selling, and items for which you need to leave buyer feedback. This section also includes a dollar total for all the items you've sold within a specified period.
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One other nice thing about the My Summary view is that you can customize it to display as much—or as little—information as you wish. Just click the Customize Summary link near the top of the page to remove sections you don't use often.
eBay Announcements, which includes links to the most recent eBay system news.
Recent Feedback, which lists the most recent feedback comments left about you.
I use My Summary as my "home page" for all my eBay activities. It presents a great visual overview of all your important eBay activity, and lets you link directly to individual activities.
All Buying View
You use the All Buying view to keep track of all items you're either bidding on or watching—or have won or lost. The page contains four lists of use to bidders:
Items I'm Watching
Items I'm Bidding On
Items I've Won
Items I Didn't Win
The Items I've Won list is worth an extra glance. Not only does it list those auctions in which you're the winning bidder, but it also includes an Action column that lets you know what you need to do next for each item—leave feedback, view payment status, and so on. Click the link in the Action column to perform that action.
Also interesting is the Items I'm Bidding On list, which presents all your current bidding activity—even those auctions in which you've been outbid. All auctions you're currently winning are in green; all auctions you're currently losing are in red. And, at the bottom of the page, you'll find a set of links to various buying-related services on the eBay site.
All Selling View
You use the All Selling view to keep track of all the items you're currently selling or have recently sold. The page contains four lists of use to sellers:
Items I've Sold
Items I'm Selling
Unsold Items
Pending Items
NOTE
If you're using eBay's Selling Manager feature (discussed in Chapter 20, "Automating Auction Management with eBay Selling Manager"), the My eBay All Selling View tab is replaced by a Selling Manager page.
Like the Items I've Won list on the All Buying page, the Items I've Sold list is especially useful. The Action column lists the next action you need to take for every one of your closed auctions; click the link to perform the appropriate action.
Also useful is the Items I'm Selling list, which lets you see, in a single glance, the status of everything you're currently selling on eBay. All items that currently have a bid higher than your minimum or reserve price are listed in green; all items that haven't yet reached the minimum bid level are listed in red. And, at the bottom of the page, you'll find a set of links to various selling-related services on the eBay site.
All Favorites View
The All Favorites view is where you can access your most-used categories, searches, and sellers. There are three lists on this page:
My Favorite Searches
My Favorite Categories
My Favorite Sellers/Stores
You can add items to your favorites by clicking the Add links to the right of each list—Add/Change Categories, Add New Search, and Add New Seller/Store. From there, follow the onscreen instructions to add the items you want to appear on the All Favorites page in the future.
My Account View
The My Account view is where you can manage your eBay seller's account and leave feedback about specific transactions.
The My Account Summary list, at the top of the page, displays your last eBay invoice total, any payments and credits made since your last invoice, and any fees accessed since your last invoice. There's also a section that lets you pay your eBay fees via PayPal.
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The My Account page is particularly useful because it contains direct links to some of eBay's normally well-hidden customer service features, including fees and credits, payment terms, credit card setup, credit requests, and refunds. It's easier to click these services here than to hunt them down on eBay's Site Map page.
Below this section is the Items Awaiting Feedback section, which lists those completed auctions for which you need to leave feedback. Click the Leave Feedback link in the Action column to leave feedback comments.