Archive for October 14th, 2009

 

So You Won that eBay Auction! Now What Do You Do?

It’s a heady feeling when you win your first eBay auction: a mixture of happiness and perhaps just a little fear. After all, there seems to be so much to do before you can actually get your item. What do you do next?

The simple answer is: you send payment to the seller, as quickly as possible. The quicker you pay, the more your seller will like you, and the sooner your item will arrive. But how you go about it? That all depends on how you plan to pay.

PayPal.

PayPal is one of the most popular options for paying on eBay, to the point where eBay decided to buy the company. It allows instant electronic payment across the Internet. Money goes instantly from your credit or debit card to the seller’s PayPal account, where they can either use it for Internet purchases or transfer it out to their bank.

eBay offer incentives for using PayPal, and almost all sellers now accept it. Its instant nature makes sellers very happy, and means that they can have your item packed and sent and leave you some positive feedback within a few hours of the auction ending. When paying by PayPal, you will be covered by PayPal’s own insurances and guarantees, as well as any that your card might have.

Cheques and Money Orders.

This is payment the old-fashioned way, and will lead to a long wait to your item. You need to post the cheque or money order, then the seller has to take it to the bank and get it cleared, and only then do they send the item. The only reason to use this method is if either you or the seller distrusts electronic payment methods. If you’re willing to go to the trouble with these sellers, though, you might get an item very cheaply, as most buyers just can’t be bothered.

When you pay by cheque or money order, make sure to print the eBay order confirmation page (it will be emailed to you) and put it in the envelope with your payment. Underline or circle key information like your mailing address and the item number. Finally, remember to be patient: keep in contact with the seller, as it really can take a month or two before everything falls into place and your item turns up.

Money Transfers and Bank Deposits.

Some sellers may ask you to pay them using a wire service like Western Union, or simply give you a bank account number and ask you to pay money into it. Unless you really trust the seller, this is generally a bad idea - these methods are hard to trace and you’re unlikely to get any money back if anything goes wrong. Paying in cash, it hardly needs to be said, is an even worse idea.

It’s all a lot to take in, isn’t it? I’m sure by now you’ve got a few questions, which is why the next email will be a little eBay buyer’s FAQ. Let’s hope we can solve any problems you might have.

 
 
 

Big Advantages to Making Your Own Exclusive YouTube Videos

Are you a real fan of YouTube? If you enjoy watching cool free videos online, from a number of different genres, you may be a huge fan of YouTube. Although many internet users only watch videos on YouTube, there are many who also post their own YouTube videos. If you have never done so before, you may be wondering whether or not you really should. To determine whether or not you should make and upload your own videos to the YouTube website, you will want to examine the advantages or the plus sides to doing so.

Perhaps, the biggest advantage to making your own YouTube videos is that your videos can be just about whatever you want them to be. Popular videos on YouTube right now include comedy skits, video blogs, how-to videos, and music videos from up and coming artists. Whether you want to make a video blog of yourself or if you and your friends want to just have fun with a video camera, you can do so.

Of course, when making a YouTube video you will want to use your best judgment. Although YouTube accepts videos on a wide variety of different subjects, you will want to proceed with caution. You should always be cautious of online predators; therefore, you will want to be cautious about divulging too much information about yourself. You might not necessarily think about it, but you also want to make sure that you don???t record and post anything illegal on YouTube. It has been said that YouTube regularly works with law enforcement to help solve crimes. That just goes to show that you never really who is watching your videos or what the consequences for posting them might be.

Another one of the many advantages or pros to making your own YouTube videos is that it is relatively easy to do. Of course, you will need to have a video recording device. What is nice is that there are a number of different recording devices that you can use. For instance, many cell phones now come equipped with video recording capabilities. In addition to cell phones, you should also be able to use traditional camcorders or webcams. For the best quality YouTube video, you will want to have a movie editing software program. Movie editing software programs will not only give you the ability to preview your videos, before uploading them to YouTube, but you should also be able to edit them, if you would like to remove something and so on.

Once you made one of your videos and uploaded it onto your computer, you will find that getting your video uploaded to YouTube???s website is just as easy. In fact, that is another one of the many advantages to making your own YouTube videos. Just like actually making the video itself, uploading a YouTube video is as easy at it can be. If you have never uploaded a video to YouTube before, you should be able to do, with ease. The YouTube uploading learning curve is so easy that you if you continue to make videos for the YouTube website you will be uploading them and sharing them with the internet community in no time at all.

Another benefit of making your own videos and uploading them to YouTube comes after the fact. After you have uploaded your videos to YouTube and they are available for viewing, anyone with an internet connection can visit the YouTube website to view your videos. This means that just one of you videos may be seen by thousands of people! In fact, if those viewers are registered members of YouTube they can rate your YouTube videos or even leave comments for you. This feature is nice because it gives you positive and sometimes even negative feedback; feedback that can be taken into consideration if and when you choose to make any more YouTube videos.

As you can see, there are a number of pros or advantages to making your own videos to share on YouTube. As you likely know, there are also a number of disadvantages to doing so as well, including safety. However, as long as you display caution when making a YouTube video or when talking with other YouTube members, your YouTube video making experience should be a positive one.