This guide will focus on the needs of a person attempting to select and engage the services of an eBay Trading Assistant. 

Registered and Featured Trading Assistants.

Here is a simpified schema of the criteria eBay uses when choosing to include a fellow member in the eBay Trading Assistants Program:

The Registered TA. These are fellow eBayers who have met the necessary experience and trading prerequisites to join the program, comply with the eBay User Agreement and Privacy policy, keep their accounts in good standing, and have signed the eBay Trading Assistant Agreement.

They enjoy the privelege of being listed in the eBay Trading Assistant Directory.

The Featured TA. A Featured TA is everything a Registered TA is and more. A Featured TA is a registered TA who has also achieved eBay PowerSeller status.

They enjoy the privelege of higher placement in the eBay Trading Assistant Directory. 

Trading Assitant Directory.  To find a registered TA or to determine is a person actually is a TA just use the TA Hub.

TRADING ASSISTANTS, eBAY and YOU

On the face of it, anyone who is listed in the eBay Trading Assistants Directory seems to be a good candidate for hiring. But there is more to hiring the right TA for you than just randomly picking the closest one to you based on zip codes.

To understand why more investigation is necessary on your part as a consumer BEFORE you engage the services of a TA to sell your prized item, you need to consider the following points:

No Agency.  Trading Assistants are not employees, consultants, agents, independent contractors, or representatives of eBay. A TA is a completely separate entity from eBay. You need to fully understand this key concept before proceeding.

No Endorsement. Trading Assistants are neither endorsed nor approved by eBay. That is why it is very important for you as a consumer to follow a methodical selection and engagement process.

No Screening. eBay does not formally screen any TA’s professional credentials. As a matter of fact, eBay does not even ask for credentials other than checking Feedback Rating, Number of Sales in the Prior Month, and Sales Volume. Since eBay does not screen credentials, you should.

No Responsibility. eBay is NOT responsible for any acts, errors or omissions committed by any TA. eBay is not responsible for the content of any listings created by any TA. And eBay has no control over the quality, safety, or legality of the items advertised. eBay has no control over the truth or accuracy of the listings created by a TA and eBay has nothing to do with a seller’s ability to sell a given item. You need to be aware of this.

No Party. eBay is never party to any agreement entered into between you as a consumer and a TA. That means the eBay User agreement does not govern the relationship between you as a consumer and the TA you contracted. However, eBay does encourage all TA’s to use written contracts with their clients. 

No Compliance. eBay is not responsible for a TA’s compliance with any applicable domestic or international law, statutes, ordinances, or regulations regarding  proxy selling on eBay. eBay assumes the TA complies. Before you do business with a TA, it is up to you as the consumer to verify that your TA is in compliance. We will address this more in detail later on. 

No Enforcement. eBay does neither enforces, legislates, nor regulates the UCC or State law. eBay states that “wherever required by law, Trading Assistants will first become licensed…”.  

Here is a key point to remember:. Most states require that Trading Assistants are first licensed as Auctioneers BEFORE they list items for you for a fee, and if they collect payment from the ultimate purchaser of the auction lot on your behalf, that they maintain a regulated escrow account in which to place your auction lot proceeds.

However, since eBay does not check credentials and since eBay does not enforce compliance, it is up to you as a consumer to protect yourself. 

So now you should have a general idea of what criteria eBay uses to include a TA in their program and what criteria eBay does not use. As you can see, there is a lot more to hiring a TA besides just ensuring that they are listed in the Trading Assistant Directory.

COMPARING TA’S ON AN APPLES TO APPLES BASIS

So now we are coming to the crux of this guide which is the Selection and Engagement Process. But before we do this, we need to set a few parameters. Let’s face it. There are all sorts of registered TA’s out there.

On one end of the service spectrum, we have TA’s who offer you a completely turnkey, eBay item selling solution. You go to their physical store location and drop your items off. These TA’s handles every aspect of the process for you and when all is said and done, you receive a check in the mail for your auction item proceeds. We can consider these TA’s to be those offering the highest level of service. 

On the other end of the spectrum, we have TA’s who, for a fee, do nothing more than create an eBay auction listing for you under your already existing eBay Seller’s Account. You yourself personally handle all of the other key tasks relating to the completion of the transaction. Again, the TA, for a fee, only prepares your listing.  We consider this to be the lowest level of service available.

In between both ends of this very broad spectrum, there are myriad other variations of service levels available.  And because of these differences in services provided, some of the above key points we raise for your consideration may or may not be an issue for you.

With that said, in order to develop a useable and sound selection and engagement process, we next chose to first define the level of service provided by the TA that our methodology will address. In other words, we want you to be able to make an apples to apples comparison, rather than an apples to oranges comparison, before you hire your next TA.

For the purposes of this guide, we have chosen to use the stock eBay Definition of a Trading Assistant as published in the official eBay Trading Assistant Program pages.

TRADING ASSISTANTS DEFINED

eBay defines what a Trading Assistant is and what a Trading Assistant can do for you in their Trading Assistant Program Overview.

“Trading Assistants are experienced eBay sellers who will sell your items for you on eBay for a fee. By hiring a Trading Assistant, you can take advantage of their selling expertise, save time and effort, and still reap the rewards of selling your item on eBay.”

Next, according to eBay “Trading Assistants will do all of the work of selling an item on eBay for you, from listing an item and answering customer service inquiries, to collecting payment and shipping the item to the winning bidder”.

So based on what can be considered the official eBay definition of what a Trading Assistant is and what a Trading Assistant does, and based on the other pertinent issues we have raised, we have chosen to focus our selection and engagement guide on helping you choose the best full service eBay TA for you.

SELECTION AND ENGAGEMENT PROCESS

Identification. Using the eBay Trading Assistant Directory, type in your ZIP Code. This will give you the population of all TA’s near you. This list will include both Registered and Featured TA’s.

Organization. From the TA directory, we suggest that you use your browser to print out the entire list. This list will give you the eBay User ID of the TA, the TA’s Feedback Rating, the TA’s Location, and the TA’s distance from you in miles. Also you will see two icons on this page, the first icon lets you know that the TA has a staffed location with regular business hours, the second icon lets you know that the TA offers pick up services.

Next, for each of the Registered and Featured TA’s that you have identified, simply click on their respective eBay User ID. This will bring you to that TA’s Trading Assistant Profile. We suggest that you use your browser to print out the specific detail pages for each TA you are considering.

Next attach some blank paper to each of the TA profiles you have printed. You will need this for your notes as you go through this exercise.

What you have now created is a Master File of all TA’s near you and an individual file for each TA in your area. Now you can do this the old fashioned way with printed out paper and handwritten notes, you can use a program like OneNote to organize your information, or you can set up a database or use a spreadsheet. Regardless of what method you choose to gather and hold your data, the key here is that you are gathering the proper data that you need to make an informed decision as a consumer.

Now here are the things you should be collecting and comparing as you continue the process.

Entity Data. This is very important because you as a consumer need to know who and what you are dealing with. Some full service drop shops are very well operated concerns run by part-timers out of their homes and garage, others are franchised operations, some are family or independently owned operation with deep roots in their local community, and still others are nothing more than a drop off point in which your item is collected and sent to an out of state,  remote, centralized location for processing. These are all important questions to ask.

1. Is the TA a part-timer perhaps operating out of his home or is the TA engaged in this business full-time, with a staffed, business location?
2. Is the TA a franchisee, an independently or family owned operation, or nothing more than an intake point for a larger operation located elsewhere.
3. Is the TA a sole proprietorship, a partnership, an LLC or a bona-fide corporation.

Fees. The next consideration is fees. All TA’s charge a base commission for their services and nearly all pass the eBay and PayPal fees back the their consignors. Some also charge an upfront fee to list your item, and some rebate this fee upon successful sale and others do not. Some have multiple commission schedules, one for charities, one for businesses, one for consumers. So here is what you should be asking. 

1. Is there an upfront fee to list my item.
2. If so, is that fee rebated upon successful sale of the item?
3. What are the commission rates.
4. Are the commission rates tiered or graduated?
5. Are commission rates negotiable?
6. Does the TA “Mark Up” the eBay fee?
7. Does the TA “Mark Up” the PayPal Fee?
8. What happens if my item does not sell?

To properly create an apples-to-apples comparison of how much you are ultimately going to pay in fees, we suggest using the following matrix:

And remember, in this exercise you have to include ALL Fees including PayPal fees, eBay listing, reserve, and additional features fees, and the commission. Also, remember there are various fee breakpoints and you will want to take advantage of them.

Make a chart like this for each commission program offered by each TA you are considering. Now this is only an example.

My Item Sells For           I Realize Net $$         My Percentage

$10.00                                 $5.00                           50%

$25.00                                 $15.00                         60%

$100.00                               $70.00                         70%

Note. Due to the variety of breakpoints out there, we suggest using the following My Item Sells For Amounts: 10.00, 19.99, 20.00, 24.99, 25.00, 50.00, 75.00, 100.00,  150.00, 200.00, 249.99, 250.00, 300.00, 350.00, 400.00, 499.99, 500.00, 600.00, 700.00, 749.99, 750.00, 999.99, 1,000.00., etc. The key here is to generate values below and above the commission breakpoints and compare these net realizations across the board between all considered TA's to find the best one for you.

You might find that one TA’s pricing is great for items that sell for between $100.00 and $150.00 and another has better pricing for larger, big ticket items. You will also find that there are substantial variances in comparing TA Fee Schedules.

I have heard of people netting out a puny $25.00 check on an item that was sold through a TA for $100.00 on eBay, and I have seen other people netting out as much as $71.00 on the exact same item sold through a different TA.

If you are like most people, you want the best deal for your hard earned dollar. So carefully compare fees schedules.

And remember, the above comparison is generally used for small items weighing less than 50 lbs. If you are going to sell a car, a boat, business equipment or large items requiring a freight broker, there is probably a different schedule for you available from your TA.

Now is still only the tip of the iceberg. You still have a lot more work to do in choosing the right TA for you. .

eBay Feedback Ratings and Experience. After analyzing fees, you need to do some investigation into the TA’s feedback rating and experience. eBay is great because it gives the consumer all sorts of nifty data. From the Members Feedback Profile page you can see what the member’s feedback rating is and how long he has been a registered user. That might give you some idea of how much experience that person has. You can also do all sorts of surgery on the numbers.

Remember, besides getting the best net auction realization possible, you also want an experienced TA with a decent Feedback Rating.

Credentials. It would behoove you to also check out your potential TA’s credentials. What is the background of your TA?  Does he or she have a background or degree in Marketing, in Computer Programming, in Business? Trading? e-Commerce? What unique skills does this particular TA bring to the table? Is your TA ID Verified by eBay? Is your TA Square Trade endorsed? Is your TA a member of the Local Chamber of Commerce? Is your TA a member of any trade associations? Does your TA have any other eBay Certifications such as being a Certified Solutions Provider or an Educational Specialist?

Licensing. Most states require that eBay Trading Assistants are registered as Auctioneers. Does your state require this? And if so, is your TA in compliance?

This is important in Illinois and in many other states. In Illinois all eBay Trading Assistants need to first be licensed individually as Auctioneers. If they have a company, that company has to be licensed as an Auction House. This is a great consumer safeguard.

It means that your TA has gone through a formal education process addressing the UCC and Various State Laws. It means your TA has passed a state administered standardized test. It also means that the State has screened your TA for character, ability and fitness.  And finally it means you as a consumer are protected by the Illinois Auction Guarantee Fund. You are NOT protected by auction law or the Guarantee Fund if you engage the services of a non-Licensed Auctioneer. Remember that! .

As a consumer you will find that there are plenty of TA’s out there vying for your business. Do yourself a favor, choose a professionally licensed one.

Consumer Safeguards.  Here is a catch-all for all sorts of other questions you should be asking your potential TA. Is your stock ensured while it is in his possession? What if his shop burns down or is burglarized? What happens to your items? Does he or his firm carry Auctioneers Errors and Omissions Insurance? Is the Auctioneer bonded? (In other words is a third party out there guaranteeing his performance in the execution of your contract)? Does your TA have arrangements in place to ensure that your items are insured during shipping? What about a returns policy. Does your TA use an escrow account for the receipt of your funds. Does your TA give out advances?

Contracts. Does your TA give you a contract? Is it a clear and well written document? Is it accompanied by a disclosure document? What recourse do you have with your TA should there be a dispute? And most importantly, do you feel everything has been well communicated upfront and on a fully and fairly disclosed basis?

Accounting and Systems. Does your TA give you an easy to understand statement detailing all of your costs and fees? Does your TA have a system for tracking your inventory and managing it through the entire process? IS your TA using the industry’s best in breed practices?

Marketing Practices. Does your TA know how to write effective ad copy? Is your TA capable of photographing your item in the best light possible? Does you TA use the World Wide Web to its fullest in advertising your items. Can your TA show you which eBay listing features get results and which ones don’t based on your unique item? What is your TA’s overall eBay listing success rate? By this we mean, of 100 auctions listed by your TA, how many have successfully sold? What is the ratio?

Research. Does your TA have the expertise and tools to properly research your item?  Can your TA give you detailed web metrics? Can your TA give you detailed econometrics? Are research services provided for free or do they incur an additional charge. And if they are for free, what level of research can you expect?

Creativity and Personality. Can your TA develop creative solutions for you based on your unique situation and needs? Is your TA’s personality compatible with yours? Remember, hiring a TA is like entering into a partnership. Would you get into a partnership with someone you cannot get along with?

Well we are at our 20,000 Character maximum here folks. We sincerely hope this guide points you in the right direction in your efforts to select and retain a qualified TA.