Off The Ground is a Q&A business column in which a host of Irish business people share their knowledge, insights, experience and contacts.
Each week a selection of readers' questions are answered - from advertising to employment law, sales to web design and marketing.
Sample Off The Ground Column
BOOSTING EBAY INCOME
I have recently started a business on eBay and I am up against a fairly established competitor, which has a lot of traffic and a very slick layout. Our sales are good but there is potential for them to be about 20 times higher. How do we make that extra push to take the business to the next level?
Malcolm
A couple of our eBay experts have come up with a top ten of eBay tips.
1. A picture is worth a thousand words when selling an item on eBay. Spend time taking high-quality pictures to give all your products that professional look.
2. Tweak the layout of your auction page. Make sure shipping information and payment options are easy to find. Use plenty of white space and highlight key information.
3. Customer service is king on eBay. Be prompt and courteous in dealing with queries. Put a standard contact file in place for dealing with potential customers who have common queries about shipping etc. When a buyer wins an auction, contact them promptly and help them complete the transaction. When a sale has been completed, leave the buyer feedback.
4. Do some research. Find out what is selling using the competed auctions search (Advanced Search options). Here you can see how saleable items have been presented and find out at what price they have been listed. Scrutinise the most successful sales and see how the sellers have described and promoted their products.
5. Check out the eBay Turbo Lister feature to reduce your manual input and help automate listing and relisting products.
6. Keep an eye on your Detailed Seller Listing (DSR). By keeping each of your scores over 4.6, you improve your listing rankings. If you let this score slide to below 4.4, your items will be demoted by eBay.
7. Use an auction management service like Vendio.com which provides you with an auction template into which you can place your content.
8. Use shorter auctions – eBay places auctions ending soonest higher in the search results. By running shorter auctions, you will show up in the Time Ending Soonest and Best Match search results more often. Keep an eye on your increased listing fees to make sure your plan is paying off.
9. Promote – use and optimise Google Adwords to drive traffic to your auctions.
10. Start and end your auctions at peak traffic times. Try ending auctions on Monday or Tuesday evenings between 5 and 7 PM or Monday lunchtime is also a good bet.
STAYING SAFE
I run a small office and have been told I need a Safety Statement. Is this true?
Liam
Yes. SMEs need to know that they are far more likely to be inspected by the Health & Safety Authority now than at any time in the last five years. Because of the downturn in construction activity, HSA Inspectors are now turning their time and attention to SMEs, particularly dentist surgeries, offices, dry cleaners, small shops etc.
An inspector will want to see your Safety Statement and will want to know how you are managing health and safety.
If you don’t have a Safety Statement, you will probably be served with an Improvement Notice ordering you to have one prepared within three weeks. An inspector will return to inspect the document and your premises again.
Check out health and safety consultants such as www.darlington.ie or www.olivesafety.ie for more information or a risk assessment.
RISKY BUSINESS
Unfortunately, I’ve had to call a creditors’ meeting as my business has become insolvent. I owe quite a bit to creditors and some have accused me of trading recklessly. Could they have some grounds to bring a case against me?
James
Insolvency brings difficult times for everyone so you have our sympathies. Regarding reckless trading, it’s impossible to tell whether you might have any case to answer without access to more information about your company’s business activities in recent times.
Basically, if your company continued to trade beyond a point where there was any reasonable hope of improving its financial position, you could be accused of reckless trading.
There are a few common ways a director can run into problems around an insolvency:
• Accumulation of tax liabilities
• Failing to inform other directors, shareholders or markets of the company’s position
• Running up debt if there was no reasonable hope of payment
• Negligent management that damaged the company’s financial position.
• Negligent management that damaged creditors’ positions
• Failing to file the correct insolvency documents