Notable Websites Articles

Article / Updated 06-23-2022

If you have your own website, you can use the Google Translate extension to automatically have your website translated into more than 90 languages. So, there’s no need to have multiple versions of your website created. Google Translate requires code to be placed on every page of your site, so you need some website know-how to do this. If you have a small website, you may be able to add the code to every page. However, if it’s a large site, you’ll want to use some kind of template to place the code on every page, depending on the platform your website is on. Here’s how to add Google Translate to your site: In a web browser, go to translate.google.com. At the bottom of the page, click Website Translator. On your first time visiting the Website Translator, you see a page asking you to add your website. Click the blue Add to Your Website Now button. Type in the URL of your site. For example, www.dummies.com. Choose the language your site is in, such as English. Click Next. Choose whether you want your site translated into All Languages or Specific Languages. If you choose Specific Languages, you see a list in which you can check the languages you want. Under Display Mode, choose how you want the Website Translator banner to appear on your site. Clicking each radio button shows how the box will display. Under Advanced, decide whether to check these options: Automatically display translation banner: If your site is in English, and someone who has their browser set to display French, then the translation banner automatically appears. The banner won’t appear for people whose language is the same as your site’s. Your page has content in multiple languages: Check this box if your site contains different languages, so that the plugin knows to expect content in different languages. Track translation data using Google Analytics: If you use Google Analytics to monitor the traffic on your site, you can view data on the usage of the plugin on your site. When you check that box, you will need to provide your Google Analytics property ID number, such as UA-55555-55. Click Get Code. You’ll get two pieces of code that you need to place on your site. The first piece of code, which is the tag, goes in the header (that is, between the tags) of your HTML pages. The second piece of code, which is in and tags, goes where you want the translation banner to appear on your pages. This code determines what the translation banner looks like and how it behaves. <p class="Warning">How you place the code on your site depends largely on the platform you use. Some platforms, like WordPress, make it easy to place code on all pages of the site. However, if you’re not sure how to do this, you should seek out someone with website know-how to help you out. Otherwise, you could mess up the appearance of your pages.</p>

Article / Updated 01-25-2022

Google Translate doesn’t just translate words and phrases for you; it can also translate entire documents, such as plain text and rich-text documents, Microsoft Word documents, HTML, and even translate PDFs. (It also translates entire websites.) The file-size limit for translating documents (as stated in Google’s FAQs) is 1MB. However, you may have success with larger documents. After all, it doesn’t hurt to try. Keep in mind, the larger the document, the longer the translation will take. To use Google Translate to translate an entire document, follow these steps and see the figure below for reference: Open a Web browser and go to translate.google.com. You don’t need a Google account to access it, because it’s free to all. In the top left area of your screen, click the Documents button. Click Browse to navigate to a document on your hard drive that you want to translate. At the top left of the window in which your document appears, choose the language that the document is already in — for example, English. On the right, choose the language you want the document translated into — for example, French. Click Translate. The translation appears in a blank browser window. If you hover over each line, you can see the original English text that it was translated from. If you think the translation is incorrect, you can change it ― just hover your cursor over a line of the translation and click the Contribute a Better Translation link. Type your translation into the text box and click Contribute. Your translation is submitted to Google Translate. To use the translated text, simply copy and paste it from the browser window into a new document. Just like other online translation tools, Google Translate is far from perfect. It does have a good reputation for accuracy, but it does make mistakes. So use it with caution. It may work fine in casual situations — for example, if you’re translating a love poem into another language for Valentine’s Day. But if you rely on it for translating official business documents, be very careful. It’s probably better to pay for a reputable translation when business is on the line.

Article / Updated 01-24-2022

Want to translate a website to English or another foreign language? Google Translate can help you with that. And it’s not just single web pages, either. You can browse an entire website in the chosen language, and even change languages as you browse. You can also use Google Translate on your iOS or Android mobile device. Like other online translation tools, Google Translate isn’t perfect. It does have a good reputation for accuracy, but it does make mistakes. So use it with caution. It should work fine with casual browsing of websites — for example, if you want to read a website that is in Portuguese — but be very careful in relying on Google Translate for anything official. To translate an entire website using Google Translate, follow these steps and see Figure 1 for reference: Open a web browser and go to translate.google.com. You don’t need a Google account to access it, because it’s free to all. In the text box on the left, type in the entire URL (including the http://) of the website you want to view. On the right, choose the language you want to see the website in. Click on the highlighted URL. The translated website appears (see Figure 2). You can browse the entire website in that language by clicking links on the site — as long as you stay within the Google Translate user interface. The Translate toolbar at the top enables you to do a couple of other things: From the language drop-down menu at the top of the page, you can change the translation language on the fly. Using the drop-down menu at the top-right of the page, you can toggle back and forth between the translated website and the site in its original language. You may wonder why some words and phrases are not translated. Google Translate translates only the actual text on a page. Any text that appears in an image is not translated. That’s why, in Figure 2, the titles in the book cover images are not translated; they are images.

Article / Updated 09-13-2021

If you and your family want to start using a common calendar to keep your schedules in sync, view multiple calendars on the same screen, and use your mobile devices to view, create, and modify appointments on the go and have them sync with your main Google calendar, then Google makes this process fairly easy. It also uses some new features that make updating your calendar from anywhere quite simple. Credit: ©iStockphoto.com/BernardaSv The first step is getting and sharing Google calendars: Head to the Google Calendar page. Either sign in to your current calendar or create a new one. Once you're done, click the Settings menu (little gear icon) at the top of your screen and select the Calendar tab. Click the link under the Sharing head to see your sharing options. You can make the calendar public to everybody, but you don't have to — just enter the e-mail addresses of the people you do want to view the calendar. You can also give each person the ability to read or modify your calendar. Click Add Person when you're done. Add as many as you want. When you're done, click Save. Each person will get a link to the calendar. Once your Google calendar is set and shared, and you've got everybody's calendar links, you can set up a single view to view multiple calendars on the same screen, instead of switching from link to link. Sign in to your Google Calendar and look to the left side of the page. Under the heading of Other Calendars, if you don’t see the calendars you've been invited to share, then click the Add link to enter the e-mail addresses associated with those calendars you'd like to see. For the sake of convenience, make these calendars different colors so you can tell all of the appointments apart. Just click the down arrow next to the calendar to choose a color. Once you've shared all of the calendars, you can use your mobile devices to view, create, and modify appointments on the go and have them sync with your main Google calendar.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 09-02-2021

Before you jump into buying and selling on eBay, learn a few terms, check out some helpful tips to be a successful seller and buyer, and understand the importance of feedback. The following offers helpful eBay information, tips, and selling strategies.

Article / Updated 04-23-2021

It's tempting to ignore your eBay costs as you list items for sale. As a seller, you can fall into the habit of listing and relisting without reevaluating the profitability of your final sales. But as a person in business for yourself, you must always take into account money going out costs as well as profits coming in. The cost of your initial listing is just the beginning of your outlay for that item; you have to factor in the cost of all the options and features you use as well. If you use a credit card payment service such as PayPal, that service also charges you a fee. Insertion (listing) fees Your insertion fee is based on the higher dollar amount of your minimum opening bid or your reserve price. If you start your auction at $0.99 and have no reserve, the listing fee is free (for the first 100 items per month), if you don't have an eBay Store. (If you start your listing at $1.00, your fee is $0.50.) But if you start your auction at $0.99 and set an undisclosed reserve price of $50.00, your auction costs $2.00 to post. When you place a reserve on your item, you're charged an insertion fee based on the amount of the reserve, plus the reserve price charge. Fixed-price listing fees are pretty clear-cut. If your Buy It Now price is $0.99 or higher, you pay eBay $0.50 per listing. Here's a summary of eBay insertion fees. eBay Auction Listing Fees Opening Bid or Reserve Price Insertion Fee Basic Store Subscriber Insertion Fee $0.01 to $0.99 Free* $0.10 $1.00 to $9.99 $0.25 $0.25 $10.00 to $24.99 $0.50 $0.50 $25.00 to $49.99 $0.75 $0.75 $50.00 to $199.99 $1.00 $1.00 $200.00 or more $2.00 $2.00 * If you do not have an eBay Store, you may list up to 100 auction listings in a month for free as long as your starting price is between $0.01 and $0.99, and you have no reserve price. If you exceed 100 listings with this starting price per month, you will be charged a $0.10 fee per listing. What if it doesn't sell? If your item doesn't sell, don't think you can get your insertion fees back. They aren't refundable. You do have the option of relisting your unsuccessful item without being charged a second listing fee, but only if your item sells with the second listing. If it doesn't sell the second time, the charge for the second listing will stand. Writing a better title, starting with a lower opening bid, and adding a snappier description can help in selling the item. Consider changing the category, too. eBay listing options are recapped here: Listing Option Fees Option Fee: Auction or Fixed Price 3, 5, 7, 10 days Fee: Fixed Price 30 days Subtitle $0.50 $1.50 Bold $2.00 $4.00 Listing Designer $0.10 $0.30 Gallery Plus $0.35 $1.00 Scheduled listing $0.10 $0.10 List in two categories Double fees Double fees Additional pictures $0.15 $0.15 Picture Pack 1–6 pictures $0.75 $0.75 Picture Pack 7–12 pictures $1.00 $1.00 eBay Final Value fees What if it does? eBay gets a cut when your auction sells. After your auction or fixed-price listing ends, eBay charges the Final Value fee to your account in a matter of minutes. Final Value fees on auctions are pretty easy to figure out. If your item sells, you pay eBay 9% of the selling price to a maximum of $50.00. Even a rocket scientist would have trouble figuring out exactly how much eBay receives at the end of fixed-price listings. Its Final Value fees are based on the category you listed your item in, as well as how much the item sold for. To help you calculate Final Value fees, see the following table: Fixed-Price Final Value Fees by Category If Your Item Sells for Electronics* Clothing, Shoes & Accessories; Motors, Parts & Accessories Books, DVDs & Movies, Music, Video Games All Other Categories Item not sold No fee No fee No fee No fee $0.99 – $50.00 8% of the final sale price 12% of the final sale price 15% of the final sale price 12% of the final sale price $50.01 – $1,000.00 8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the remaining final sale price balance ($50.01 to $1,000.00) $1000.01 or more 8% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 9% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 15% of the initial $50.00, plus 5% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) 12% of the initial $50.00, plus 6% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final sale price balance ($1,000.01 to final sale price) The Final Value fees for eBay Store subscribers are different when it comes to auctions. The fees are based on the final selling price: Auction Final Value Fees for eBay Store Subscribers Selling Price Final Value Fees Item not sold No fee $0.01 to $50.00 8.75% of the final selling price $50.01 to $1,000.00 8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the remaining final selling price ($50.01 to $1,000.00) Equal to or over $1,000.01 8.75% of the initial $50.00, plus 4% of the next $50.01 to $1,000.00, plus 2% of the remaining final selling price ($1,000.01 to final price) To avoid draining your brain, use an eBay fee calculator to check your fees before you set prices.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Now you can take eBay along! You can use the eBay mobile app when you're out looking for items to resell on eBay. It’s especially helpful at a garage sale to see how much you can sell an item for — and to find out how many people are selling an item. If you prefer a different view, you can also type http://m.ebay.com into your phone’s browser to see a mobile enhanced version of the site. The eBay mobile app is available for download on smartphones: iOS (for the iPhone and iPad) and Android. If you don’t have one of those operating systems on your smartphone, you can always type the previous address into your mobile browser (or, if you’re reading this as an e-book, tap the link in that sentence). Several categories of actions are featured at the top of the screen on mobile, just below the search box. Tapping the words show you different views: Categories: This functions similarly to your My eBay→Buy pages. Here you can see your recently viewed items, and by scrolling your Watched Items list, you can see both your buying overview and your Selling overview. There’s a link at the bottom of each section to “view all” in that category. Saved: Here you’ll find searches and sellers you’ve saved for future reference as well as an area to input products you’re interested in. Deals: Very much like the eBay home page, tapping Deals shows you special promotions and deals of the day — and points you to various items that (based on your search history) eBay suggests you might want to purchase. In the Deals view, you can swipe side-to-side to see different categories and featured specials within those interest areas. Selling: In traditional eBay fashion, Sell is where you click to list an item for sale. You also see your selling history and listing drafts you started and haven’t yet completed. The experience is exactly the same on a tablet, but a tablet’s screen gives you a lot more real estate to use. This is especially beneficial if you want to list an item for sale. When it comes to getting the most out of eBay on mobile, I personally prefer the tablet experience to using my smartphone. If you’re out and about and find an item you think might do well on eBay, you can easily search for the item by tapping the text box next to the magnifying glass on the app. Your mobile keyboard pops up and you can type in the keywords for the item you’re looking for. Inside secret: Once you tap in the text field on the mobile app, you also see a tiny microphone. Tap there to input your text from speech. There is also an icon that looks like the lines of a barcode. This is a scan option. Just tap there to scan a barcode on an item to see whether that item is being sold on eBay (as shown in the following figure). The mobile barcode scanner is very fast and accurate; you get the results immediately. Then you can further refine your search to Sold Items Only to see at what price that item is currently selling. When you’re starting out on eBay, I recommend listing your eBay items for sale from your laptop or desktop computer. The text-formatting features available on the website’s Sell an Item page (such as bulleted lists and boldface) are harder to use on the mobile app. The app does have an HTML description writer, so if you learn a little bit of HTML code, you can give your descriptions a little extra character. Because my tablet has a great camera, I do enjoy listing from mobile. My smartphone also has a great camera, but I prefer the bigger screen so I don’t miss a detail when I’m getting a shot of the item. I start some of my listings on my tablet by writing my title, adding some details, and uploading the photos; I often complete a good portion of the listing on mobile, but I tend to click Save and then reopen the listing as a saved template on my computer. Once I am on my computer, I can search eBay more efficiently for top-selling keywords and pricing ideas. When I do complete a full listing on the mobile app, I still go to the website on my computer and buff up the description and double-check the options for the listing. Never forget: The purpose of your listing is to sell the item. So, as with a lady’s makeup, dolling up plain text (tastefully, please!) goes a long way toward making your item more desirable to a buyer.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

On the bottom of almost every eBay page is a group of links: Click Community to connect to other eBay members, or click the Announcements link to check proposed changes to the site on the Announcements page. Keep in mind, when you see the tips and suggestions on these pages, they may come right from corporate spokespersons in disguise. Take a little time to explore this area for yourself and separate the important messages from the PR spin. News and chat, this and that It’s not quite The New York Times, but you can find announcements, groups, and discussion board links from the Community Overview page. The following figure shows you the important links on the page. (eBay is continually making changes to the community, so note that this page will change with regularity.) Although thousands of people used to discuss everything (including events of the day) on eBay’s boards, the online buzz is now a shadow of its former self, as most people have moved to social media for discussions. The most important place for you to visit in the community are the Seller Updates. eBay sends out information on all the important changes for the site here. Join in the social media conversation There are many places to connect with other eBay community members. Many are active on social media networks. You can find me (the author of eBay For Dummies) on Twitter (@MarshaCollier), http://twitter.com/MarshaCollier, or through Facebook. If you have a quick question, ping me, and I will try to answer ASAP. I also maintain a Twitter list of experienced eBay sellers who have a presence on Twitter. They are interested in helping others and are a valuable reference. More on them further on. Fill in your eBay profile Did you know that if you click your User ID on any eBay page, you arrive at your very own profile page? (You also have a link on your Feedback profile page.) Unlike the old About Me page, which you had to choose to set up yourself, every eBay member has an automatically generated profile page. Yours is ready and waiting for you to embellish. The following figure shows you aunt*patti’s simple profile. You can also add custom features to this page to share your other community moments. Your profile page can reflect your many varied interests. From here, eBay gives you other ways to express yourself: Items for sale: A few of your items you are selling will appear on the page. Reviews: Wondering what other eBay members think of a particular product, book, or movie? Selected items on eBay are reviewed by users, and you can contribute one of your own. Reviews you have posted show up when someone lands on an item for which eBay users have posted reviews. The following figure shows the review page for a previous edition of eBay For Dummies, written by eBay members. To add your own review, click the Write a review button. Following: A sample of which sellers and searches (Interests) you follow. Also, when you save a seller to follow, it shows up on that person’s profile page. Hear ye, hear ye! eBay’s Announcements Board If you were living in the 1700s, you’d see a strangely dressed guy in a funny hat ringing a bell and yelling, “Hear ye, hear ye!” every time you opened eBay’s Announcements Board. (Then again, if you were living in the 1700s, you’d have no electricity, Internet, fast food, or anything else you probably consider fun.) In any case, eBay’s Announcements Board is an important place to find out what’s going on (directly from the home office) on the website. And no one even needs to ring a bell. The Announcements Board is where eBay lists any news that affects buyers and sellers, new features, and policy changes. Visiting this page is like reading a morning eBay newspaper because eBay adds comments to this page almost every week. You find out about upcoming changes in categories, new promotions, and eBay goings-on. eBay also uses it to help users become aware of critical changes in policies and procedures. The following figure shows you eBay’s Announcements Board with information that could affect your sales. Help! I need somebody If you ever have specific eBay questions to which you need answers, click the Knowledge Base link in the Community. These boards work differently from eBay’s old chat rooms. Chat rooms are full of people who are hanging out and talking to each other all at the same time, whereas users of discussion boards tend to go in, leave a message or ask a question, and pop out again. Also, in a discussion board, you need to start a thread by asking a question. Title your thread with your question, and you’ll hopefully get a swift reply to your query. These boards cover almost any topic regarding selling and buying on eBay. Just post your question, and some kind eBay member will probably suggest an answer (but remember to double-check your answer, just as you would any advice from someone with unknown credentials). Keep in mind that the Knowledge Base is to answer questions; if someone tries to sell you something there, I’d say turn the other way. One of the best solutions is to find one of the eBay Social Media sellers on Twitter; many are very active on the site, and you’ll probably get an answer tout suite. User-to-user discussion boards eBay has some other boards that take a different tack on things. They’re discussion boards as opposed to chat boards, which basically means that the topics are deliberately open-ended — just as the topics of discussion in coffeehouses tend to vary depending on who happens to be in them at any given time. Check out these areas and read ongoing discussions about eBay’s latest buzz. Post your opinions to the category that suits you. You can find quite a few discussion boards on various topics relating to doing business on eBay. There’s one cardinal rule for eBay boards: Conduct no business. No advertising items for sale! Not now. Not ever. eBay bans any repeat offenders who break this rule from participating on these boards. Remember that you’re visiting eBay and that you’re a member. It’s not Speakers’ Corner — that spot in London’s Hyde Park where protesters are free to stand on a soapbox and scream about the rats in government. If you feel the need to viciously complain about eBay, take it outside, as the bar bouncers say. Category-specific groups Want to talk about Elvis, Louis XV, Justin Turner, or Mickey Mouse? Currently a bunch of category-specific discussion boards enable you to tell eBay members what’s on your mind about merchandise and auctions. You reach these boards going to the Community and then mousing over the word Groups. A drop-down menu appears where you can click Special Interest Groups. Of course, you can buy and sell without ever going on a discussion board or group, but you can certainly benefit from one. Discussions mainly focus on merchandise and the nuts and bolts of transactions. On eBay, you get all kinds of responses from all kinds of people. Take a portion of the help you get with a grain of salt; some of the folks who help you may be buyers, competitors, or have something to sell you down the line. Don’t be shy. As your second-grade teacher said, “No questions are dumb.” Most eBay members love to share their experiences.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Most of us have donated to charity in one form or another. But here on eBay, charities really rock. Do you need a Jurassic Park helmet signed by Steven Spielberg to round out your collection (and deflect the odd dino tooth)? Post a bid on one of the charity auctions. How about a signed original photograph of Jerry Seinfeld from People magazine? Yup, you can get that, too. All these and more have turned up in charity auctions. In short, having a big heart for charities has gotten a whole lot easier thanks to eBay. eBay for Charity November 2003 was a lucky time for this country’s charities. That’s the month that eBay launched the eBay Giving Works Charity auction platform. eBay originally teamed up with one of the first charity-giving sites on the Internet, MissionFish, which now runs the PayPal Giving Fund. After 9/11, as “9/11 Auction for America,” eBay’s giving program originally raised over $10 million through online charity auctions for organizations supporting the victims of the tragedy and their families. More than 911 million dollars have been raised since 2003 on eBay for Charity, supporting more than 66,000 organizations. If you’re involved with a charity, and are certified as a 501(c)(3), you can register your charity to get on the list of beneficiaries. You can also run your own fundraising events on eBay! Just go to the eBay for Charity hub (as shown in the following figure). The best part is that you can run an auction or fixed-price listing to benefit your favorite charity. Sellers can list items for sale and designate those items to benefit a charity from the eBay for Charity directory (which lists tens of thousands of charities). The seller can also specify what percentage (from as little as 10 percent up to 100 percent) of the sale’s proceeds go to the charity. You can browse to select the charity of your choice on the Giving Works page. When you list your item for sale, you can indicate — on the Sell form’s Create Your Listing section — to which charity you’d like to donate proceeds, and what percentage of the final sale price to donate. As you visit different areas of eBay, you can recognize the charity listings by the small blue-and-gold ribbon icon next to them in searches and the Category list. 9/11 Auction for America In late 2001, eBay took on one of its most ambitious attempts at fundraising: the Auction for America. In response to requests by New York Governor George E. Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, eBay called on the community to raise $100 million in 100 days. eBay and Billpoint (eBay’s payment service at the time) waived all fees, and community members gave their all, donating and buying all kinds of items to benefit the New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund, the Twin Towers Fund, the American Red Cross, and the September 11 Fund. In early November, Patti Ruby and Marsha Collier worked with eBay to introduce non-eBay sellers to Auction for America at an event in Southern California. We brought hundreds of people to the site who participated in buying and selling to benefit the victims. There were many such events across the country. Community member Jay Leno sold his celebrity-autographed Harley Davidson for over $360,260; Tim Allen sold his 1956 Chevrolet Nomad for $46,000; and countless corporate sponsors joined in with the person-to-person community to raise funds. Over 100,000 sellers participated, and over 230,000 items were listed. The auction ended on December 25, after raising $10 million. This is an amazing tribute to the eBay members and their community spirit. Creative charity auctions New charities are popping up all the time on eBay. To see the sales that benefit nonprofits, go to the Giving Works page and click the Shop for Charity link. Here are some of the more creative charity auctions that have been held on eBay: The highest-grossing charity auctions tend to be the annual event from billionaire Warren Buffett. He donates a private power lunch to benefit the Glide Foundation. The 2019 auction grossed $4,567,888. Oprah Winfrey has jumped onto eBay with a bang! In 2003, to fund her charity, the Angel Network, Oprah auctioned two chairs from her set. These were not just any chairs. Aside from being luxurious leather chairs designed by Ralph Lauren, they had housed the behinds of famous names such as John F. Kennedy, Jr., Halle Berry, Tom Hanks, Jim Carrey, and Michael Jordan. The 7-day auction netted the charity an amazing $64,100. In 2010 through this year, the media mogul cleaned out her own closet for her Leadership Academy for Girls. To celebrate Chivas Regal’s 200th year, the company chose eBay for CHIVAS 200, the largest online charity auction in the world. From September 6 to October 31, 2001, the Chivas folks auctioned more than 200 of the world’s most-wanted items and experiences — such as an opportunity to become a Russian space-station cosmonaut — all for the benefit of charity partners around the world. Music producer and singer Pharrell Williams decided to put his famous Vivienne Westwood park ranger–style hat up for sale to benefit his non-profit organization, One Hand to AnOTHER. Pharrell wore the famous hat during his performance at the Grammy broadcast in 2014. Folks commented that the hat resembled the logo for the Arby’s restaurant chain, so he tweeted through his Twitter account @Pharrell, “Hey @Arbys, you want my hat?” He started the listing on eBay for $200 (what he paid for it), and it did eventually sell to Arby’s for $44,100. Arby’s thanked Pharrell for the return of their hat on Twitter; the Tweet is shown in the following figure. When I appeared on The View with Barbara Walters and Star Jones, all four stars of the show autographed a coffee cup that we auctioned off on eBay to benefit UNICEF. We raised over $1,000 on eBay for a single coffee cup! Now that a couple of the hosts have moved on, I wonder what that little cup’s worth.

Article / Updated 01-15-2020

Social media is no longer in its infancy; it’s long since made off with the car keys, so to speak. These days it has become the go-to destination for 69 percent of American adults. The burgeoning number of social media sites draws many eBay sellers and buyers because they are a tech-savvy group. All cultural changes began with words — as do many marketing campaigns — and the experts have decided that the dominant marketing tool today is social media. Social media is now the hub for “word of mouth” (WOM) recommendations and comments. Social media sites have grown well beyond their initial role as tools of social contact. Following and friending like-minded people on social media networks (and connecting with them) not only builds a sense of community but also gives you a built-in support group. When I say to connect, I mean to converse. You don’t have to sit on the sites regularly; you do need to drop by and respond to people who have commented to you. You also need to reach out and comment to others. Marketing can be a natural next step — if you handle it right. But keep this distinction in mind . . . Social media discussion is not the same as advertising. You will see many online sellers promoting their goods, one after the other, as their sole “conversation.” That’s actually more broadcasting — like commercials on TV in the old days. Everyone skipped over commercials then — and they skip over them now. Ads-as-faux-conversation is old school and not very interesting to anyone who’s following you online. Best practices on social media commerce require engagement with other community members. If you want to share the items you have listed on eBay on your social pages, use this strategy sparingly. Be sure shared listings are not the only (or last five) posts in your stream. Many small businesses on social media try to get hundreds of followers for their social media pages. A multitude of friends and followers does not equate to producing massive sales. The quality of your conversation and the people you connect with is what draws people to you. Finding friends and customers on Facebook You have a Facebook page, right? You share fun thoughts and ideas with your family and friends, right? Well, when you set up an eBay business, you can have a page for your small business. I’m not suggesting that you’ll be directly selling from your Facebook page (although you can), but having a page is an efficient way to meet people online and interest them in what you’re selling. Your initial base for building a business page comes from your friends. When you get more than 25 people to “like” your business page, you can get a custom URL from Facebook for the page. Mine is www.facebook.com/MarshaCollierFanPage (because it was established a long time ago — when they were called “fan” pages). The page is different from my personal page at www.facebook.com/marsha.collier. I try to treat each page differently, encouraging more intimate contact on my personal page, and posting business information and conversation on my business page. Even my pictures are selected for a different style. Unless your political and religious views reflect your core self and/or your business, it’s best to stay away from making public statements on these topics. Whatever you put on the Internet is indexed and recorded somewhere — and your prospective customers may be put off if they do not hold the same views as you. As a subtle touch on my business page, I use an application (see the following figure) called Auction Items (despite the name, the app also posts your fixed-price listings). Applications such as this can only be used on business pages. The application will be listed in the links on the left side of your business page. I find this app gives my items punch, and yet isn’t as “in-your-face” as other marketing programs. You can put it on your page (if Facebook qualifies your page). The publishers of the app also offer other free tools. They enable eBay sellers to embed their listings into their websites by inserting a short HTML code into the website or via a WordPress plug-in. You can learn more about these by visiting eSoftie.com and clicking Products. Another example is my friend (and fellow eBay seller — dnasupplies) Anita Nelson. She has two Facebook pages as well: one personal and one for her business, ModelSupplies. She is also @ModelSupplies on Twitter. For a more detailed explanation of how to best use Twitter and Facebook, you might like Facebook, Twitter & Instagram For Seniors For Dummies (even if you’re not a senior)! Connecting with other sellers on Twitter At this writing, Twitter has 500 million total users (more than 330 million active users) and serves up over 500 million tweets a day. What’s a tweet? Not just a sound effect from a parakeet anymore. Now it’s a short online comment from one Twitter user to another; tweets often flit back and forth between users who follow each other. Tweets are not only comments but also other quick notes that can be quotes, links to news stories, and the occasional self-promotion. If you like to chat, comment, and read news stories, I’ll bet you’ll like Twitter. You don’t have to be there all day, because when people “talk” to you there, you will see it in your “Notifications” column (you can see that on my Twitter page in the following figure). To answer, you just click the Reply link. You’ll find that your conversations on Twitter will engage you — but only if you engage with your followers. Those who are constantly broadcasting are just trying to build follower numbers — but it’s been proven that this practice will not increase sales. So, if you go to Twitter.com and sign up, you need to give your Twitter stream a name. I suggest that you use your real name — for several solid reasons: Friends will find you easier. If you change businesses down the line, you won’t have to start over with a new name. On the Internet, you are the face of your business — and everything you post is archived somewhere. Your tweets on Twitter are archived in the National Archive (no joke). If it’s good enough for @MichaelDell (founder of Dell), @SteveCase (founder of AOL), and @RichardBranson (founder of Virgin Group), I’d say it’s a good idea for you too. After you sign in, you need to put up a picture and fill out a short bio. The first thing you need to do is put up a picture — preferably yours. People like to see what you look like when they find you on Twitter. Do everyone a favor and describe yourself clearly, as best you can, in the allotted 160 characters. After you fill out all the cyber-paperwork, you’ll see your very own Twitter page. It will be a very blank page. Don’t be sad and lonely — you can begin by following me, @MarshaCollier. Say Hi, and I’ll follow you back. When you visit my Twitter page, you’ll see a tab that, when clicked, reveals Lists that I’ve made of people on Twitter. I’ve made one full of eBay Social Sellers that lists eBay sellers who participate in social media and are fun to follow. Just click on the link. On the list page, just click the link and you will automatically be following everyone on the list. When you see their tweets in your stream, click the Reply link to say hello — or share something interesting. No doubt they will follow you back. To find other people to follow, I suggest that you go to the search box on Twitter. Here you can type keywords that reflect your interests or the items you sell, and you will be presented with a list of accounts who have mentioned this word in their tweets. I put in a search for antiques, clicked the People tab in Results, and found a long list of people with similar interests, shown here. Type in your hobbies and your interests. You’ll find a bunch of people to follow, and your Twitter home page will become far more interesting.