Tip # 1: Using Email Signatures to Save Time

Here's a tip I borrowed from the AuctionBytes Forum. The person who thought it up is delighted to have me use it here. (If you aren't checking the forums regularly, you are missing some of the best information on the Web.)

To speed processing after auctions close and to respond easily and accurately to customers as the transaction moves along, use the signature function on your email. Usually signatures are used for tag lines on outgoing emails. But you can make as many as you like for different purposes. I use ten of them, and they save me many hours of time.

If you have been selling online for a while, you probably have a formula of your own. You can translate your standard letters into signatures easily. I use Outlook Express for my email, so that is the only one I can speak to. Here's how you get to signatures: On the menu click "Tools" then at the bottom of the drop down window click "Options" and then click the tab that says "Signatures" and create away.

Also, by using a series of messages that are standardized, you will have a good archive file on a transaction that you can check by going to "Find" on the email menu and putting in the customer's email. Everything you have sent them will come up if you browse the "sent" items.

Also, make the information generic so that it will fit any auction on any site. I use only the subject line for the particulars of an auction. I leave a space in the "you won" signature for the total amount. And I always include the name of the site in the subject. Lots of people bid on several sites, and it helps them to know where they won.

Tip # 2: Keeping Track of Payments Made by Mail

I receive about half of my payments by mail. To keep track of what I got and when, I mark on the back of the envelope the date I received it, the amount of the payment and how it was paid (check, money order, or cash), including check numbers. Most importantly, I check the payment for information like item number or title, and if that is not otherwise noted in the payment, I also note that on the back of the envelope.

Then, if there is any doubt about when, if or how an auction was paid, I have it. I use the stack of envelopes to pull from the items to be shipped, and I record the date I shipped it and how it was shipped.

I add these envelopes to my stack for leaving feedback so that I am sure that a transaction has ended. I save the envelopes in a basket for 90 days and then shred and use them for packing.

By the way, I use a letter opener to open the letters. This keeps the envelope flat and easy to handle.