Newbie's Startup Guide For Online Auction

What You Need To Know Before You Get Started On Ebay.

2007-12-29T02:52:00.000-08:00

So you’ve decided that you want to get started as a seller on eBay. There are a few things that you really need to know before you go and throw yourself in at the deep end.

What to Sell.

First off, you need to know what it is you’re going to sell: what’s your speciality? You’ll do far better on eBay if you become a great source for certain kind of products, as people who are interested in those products will come back to you again and again. You won’t get any loyalty or real reputation if you just sell rubbish at random.

When you think about what to sell, there are a few things to consider. The most important of these is to always sell what you know. If you try to sell something that you just don’t know anything about then you’ll never write a good description and sell it for a good price.

You might think you’re not especially interested in anything, but if you think about what kind of things you usually buy and which websites you go to most often, I’m sure you’ll discover some kind of interest. If all else fails mention it to your friends and family: they’ll almost certainly say “Oh, well why don’t you sell…”, and you’ll slap your forehead.

Out of the things you know enough about, you should then consider which things you could actually get for a good enough price to resell, and how suitable they would be for posting. If you can think of something of that you’re knowledgeable about and it’s small and light enough for postage to be relatively cheap, then that’s great!

Don’t worry if you think the thing you’re selling is too obscure – it isn’t. There’s a market for almost everything on eBay, even things that wouldn’t sell once in a year if you stocked them in a shop. You’ll probably do even better if you fill a niche than if you sell something common.

Tax and Legal Matters.

If you earn enough money, you should be aware that you’re going to have to start paying tax – this won’t be done for you. If you decide to sell on eBay on a full-time basis, you should probably register as a business.

Prepare Yourself.

There are going to be ups and downs when you sell on eBay. Don’t pack it in if something goes a little wrong in your first few sales: the sellers who are successful on eBay are the ones who enjoy it, and stick at it whatever happens.

Anyone can sell on eBay, if they believe in themselves – and if you do decide it’s not for you, then the start-up costs are so low that you won’t really have lost anything.

If you’re ready to start selling, then the next thing you need to know is the different auction types, so you can decide which ones you will use to sell your items. Our next email will give you a guide.

About The Author:
Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and internet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit http://www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

Making Money on EBay the Easy Way

2007-12-16T09:05:00.000-08:00

The trouble with making an income out of EBay is

1. The competition is fierce
2. Most of the good ideas have been exhausted
3. You may not have the finances to buy in stock

About 6 months ago my son decided to have a go at supplementing his pocket money by trying to make money on EBay. I have no idea how he managed it however he is now earning approx £200 per month with no hassle or risk, He simply used the small amount of brains he was blessed with, from his mother’s side no doubt.

Finding the right product

This was the most difficult thing, for weeks he looked at what other people were selling on EBay. It became apparent that many of the Power Sellers are simply selling items listed on Amazon, making their profit by marking up the prices slightly and then having them delivered straight to the winning bidders address. This idea was dismissed as the Power Sellers have this area well tied up.

I advised him to look for a product that would cost him very little to produce. He then spent the next week looking at all kinds of software, he had plenty of ideas, however I informed him he would not be allow to sell anything that would be illegal. I remember to this day he stomped off like Kevin the teenager.

The product

Eventually he exclaimed he had found the right product, software manuals, help manuals etc. I looked into the products he had chosen and found it was all legal.

He then went away and using his P2P software downloaded about 20 of these manuals.

The next day he listed the manuals on EBay, it took time to start with as his feedback rating was low, however eventually his orders started rolling in.

Over the past 6 months he has built himself up slowly and now earns around £200 per week. He expects his sales to grow at a slow rate in the future.

Conclusion

This has shown that there are still opportunities on EBay, getting young people involved not only gives them a little financial independence it also gives them the confidence to venture deeper into the business world.

Unfortunately EBay has become a haven for conmen and hoods, however there is money to be made by decent law binding people who are just looking to earn a few extra pounds, my son has shown that.

If you decide to give it a go, good luck.

About the author - Peter Arkwright recently retired from the military, he is now the Managing Director of http://www.bizseller4u.com A new portal that allows people to list their Business for Sale

EBay's Squeezing Store Owners

2007-12-16T02:30:00.000-08:00

In an effort to justify the price increases by 3% and taking the eBay stores selling fees from 7% to 10%, Bill Cobbs, in an open letter to eBay entrepreneurs, attempted to calm the outrage. He says eBay is "Resetting the Balance of the eBay Marketplace". This outraged eBay Store users, who are making a business from the online auction moving inventory with the "Buy Now" feature, since their margins are slipping away as their auctions costs are climbing.

So while the increases may appear small many store owners are complaining it's going to drive some of them out of business, because on top of eBay fees you have store fees, picture storage fees, listing fees, promotional fees, and when it sells, they get hit with this new selling fee, and then finally Pay Pal fees. With all the fees many sellers operating on a tighter margin are seeing themselves being squeezed out of the stores.

According to eBay, stores represent 83% of listing, while they only represent 9% of revenues. As eBay stock prices are falling, shareholders are looking for ways to increase stock value, and the quickest and easiest way is always increasing revenues and lowering costs. So it should come as no surprise the cost of selling on eBay increases as they look to increase revenues.

According to ComScore eBay holds an overwhelming share of the market, eBay reportedly received 66 of the estimated 68 million auction visitors in Feb, 2006, alone, and while overall the market of online auction user is climbing every year by 10%. Although there overall market is being nibbled away by other auction sites like Bidz.com and uBid.com overall eBay continues to grow and as bad as some portray this price structure change on stores, it will not have much bearing on eBay's success and growth.

The sellers most affected here are the ones moving cheap article or their selling popular items that buyers expect to pay less from eBay, then if they where purchased from a retail chain and where there is a lot of competition. These retailers are faced with major decisions like start increasing prices, find more profitable products or close down their stores and move to the regular auctions and deal with a more complex administration of their business.

Although Many would argue that eBay stores still offer great value for the money, at a base price of only 16$ per month the eBay stores offers many great features including a fully customizable store front, high visibility, analytics monitoring tools, and increase visibility, so you can move products to a very targeted audience more efficiently. This is bad news for the low margin eBay store sellers taking the squeeze.

I don't see eBay being dethroned any time soon, but it will be interesting to see this market segment itself as major players like Yahoo and Google move in. As eBay gets out of some of the less profitable niches this prove to be the fuel in the fire to get this market segmentation going for other smaller online auctions to move in. So as some less profitable entrepreneurs may get squeezed out of eBay stores, many shrewd ones will be looking to get in, but we may see the little online auction, finally get a break from the auction giant.

Author, Roy. Roxen is an auction enthusiast, seller and buyer as well as an online marketing consultant and internet consultant he can be reached here for quality online auction experience.

Selling through Auction Marketplaces

2007-12-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Consumers are increasingly feeling more comfortable in buying products through the Internet. According to a report released recently by the Department of Commerce first-quarter retail sales rose 23.8 percent to US$ 19.8 billion in the United States from US$ 16 billion a year ago. E-commerce sales during the first quarter of 2005 rose 6.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last year. Forrester Research estimated that 2005 online retail sales will increase at a pace of 22 percent. Today, a third of all households in US make at least one purchase online within a year, a figure which will grow to almost 40 percent by 2009, predicts Forrester. As a seller, this strong growth of online sales means that you have to put considerable stress on your Internet sales endeavor if you are not doing this as yet.

According to statistics compiled for the Internet Retailer Top 400 Guide, the top retailers in 2004 garnered combined online sales of more than US$ 51 billion, which accounts for 58.3 percent of all US Internet sales. The growth in online sales is quite impressive for large retailers. J.C. Penny Co. Inc., for example, reported a 35 percent year-over-year rise of online sales in May, 2005. Can new online ventures boast same type of significant growth? Unfortunately, not!

Each day, there are thousands of new companies are setting up shops on the Internet trying to sell every conceivable type of products and services. Most of these websites do not attract enough visitors to make them profitable. Competition on the Internet is fierce! Internet marketing campaigns are becoming increasing expensive. Many small companies can’t afford to spend money required to promote their sites. So, what are the options available for a small company with modest product range to thrive on the Internet? One of the best sales channels, in my opinion, on the Internet by far is auction marketplaces. Of course, no matter what, you will still need to promote your website with all the methods you can master. However, selling your products and services through established auction marketplaces has its own advantage.

eBay

With 63.8 million unique visitors hitting the auction site only in April of this year, eBay has established itself as the largest marketplace on earth. In 2004 alone US$ 34.2 billion worth of merchandize exchange hands on eBay. Presently, the site has around 135 million registered users in 32 markets worldwide.

With such a vast community of buyers and sellers, eBay should be your number one choice for selling your products or services online. On the eBay you can sell any kind of item. The varieties of stuffs people are selling through eBay are mind boggling! At any given time there are over 29 million items displayed on eBay. The number of new items added each day exceeds 3.5 million. However, still many offline sellers perceive eBay as an auction site for mainly collectible items. They can’t be more wrong! The largest selling category on the eBay is, believe it or not, automobile and accessories, which comprises of almost 22 percent of all sales. I have, personally, bought three luxury cars over the course of last two years through eBay and I have nothing to complain about.

As a seller on the eBay, the biggest advantage that you gain is the possibility of becoming from a local merchant to an international player over night. If you are already selling merchandize to consumers online or offline, eBay gives you an additional sales channel without any extra cost. If you are planning to begin selling goods or services through the Internet, eBay allows you to start your business online quickly and with minimum expenses.

Yahoo

You may have difficulty in imagining the biggest portal on our planet as a marketplace, in some countries, like Japan and Canada, Yahoo auction is, actually, doing better than eBay. In the US market Yahoo has just announced its intention to eliminate fees charged for using its auction site. This is a good news for even many eBay power sellers. Some of them will definitely move to Yahoo in a bid to save on high fees charged by eBay. The good thing about Yahoo is slowly it is becoming a major hub for many small business web stores. As a matter of fact, according to Yahoo, every eighth online store is now hosted by Yahoo.

Amazon

Amazon, may be is not as popular as eBay or Yahoo as far as auction marketplace is concerned, however, many auctioneers claim that some of the products sell better on Amazon than any other auction marketplace.

Why should you consider selling through auction marketplaces?

Here are some reasons, why auction marketplaces are viable sales channel for businesses:

• The auction marketplaces are very popular and each of them has huge community of buyers and sellers.

• There is virtually no start-up cost involved.

• No extra overhead is required.

• You really don’t have to set up a website to start selling.

• Easy to learn.

While determining what to sell through auction marketplaces, choose your products very carefully. Don’t try to sell products like DVD, cellular phones and similar common items. There are way too many people are trying to sell those products. Do your research before jumping into online auctions. Go through the categories of your choice. See how your competitors are doing. Check out the listings of sold items. For how much the products you intend to list are getting sold for? What keywords your prospective competitors are using to market these products? On which auction site these products are selling better?

Go with the trend! Travel, cosmetics and jewelry sales are expected to do better than other categories of e-commerce in coming years. In every category of goods and services you will find a niche, which is doing fairly well. All you have to do is find that niche by making extensive and thorough research!

Selling through auction marketplaces like any other business process requires sound judgment and careful planning. Be sure to use them before starting your online sales.

Nowshade Kabir, is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com – a Global B2B Exchange with solutions to create e-catalog, Web store, business process management and other features to run a business online. You can read various articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com.

eBay is the Greatest Opportunity YOU Have to Create a Career Online

2007-12-14T11:15:00.000-08:00

eBay's being spoken about everywhere these days. At work, school, down the pub... everyone's getting into eBay, looking for those bargains and trying to save themselves some money. Not a day goes by without eBay getting some kind of press publicity.

Although people are increasingly turning to eBay for bargains, the majority of users are only buying and do not open a selling account. Lets be honest, I expect you've used eBay in the past and I'm sure if your reading this that you've even sold items on it. It's not hard is it?

There are three specific reasons why I believe eBay is the greatest opportunity online to make extra cash or even build up your sales to make a full time online career.

Everyone's Equal.

On eBay everyone's equal. All users no matter what your status, bank balance or feedback is - everyone gets exactly the same opportunity to sell their item, starting with a blank description form.

It's your call how you describe your item and it stands the same chance of being seen as the next persons. If your selling an ebook, you could do it on eBay or though your own website. With eBay you pay exactly the same fee as your competitors. Selling though your own website your can use Pay-Per-Click campaigns to advertise your site & your competitors can outbid and out manoeuvre you easily. I know which one I'd choose to make the task easier.

Targeted Traffic

eBay lets users take away all the hard work by allowing customers to search for you. Normally online it's the other way around with you advertising your product, building links to your website, starting joint ventures, etc just to get the correct type of visitors to your site. I could go on but you hopefully you get the idea.

Getting visitors to your own website to purchase items isn't easy. It can also be costly & timely if your new to net marketing. But by selling on eBay you can forget about it all because users actually search for you. They simply type what their looking for and up springs a list of results including your item.

User friendly

eBay is easy to use and guides you though the selling process. With help at every point, it's hard to go wrong. And if you do it's easy to correct it your mistake. With communities and forums across the net, you don't have to look hard to find someone to help you. Plus there are hundreds of eBooks written on the subject.

So now you know why I rate eBay so highly. Start selling today and make the most of your experience online.

Mark Kenny is an online entrepreneur who specialises in developing turnkey websites including a new eBay Trading Assistants website.

You can see this at: http://www.Trading-Web-Solutions.com/taebay.htm

Behind Every Successful eBay seller, There’s a Blog!!

2007-12-14T02:34:00.000-08:00

If you are a serious eBay seller who wants to boost his eBay sales figures, let me tell you, the only way to do it is to increase the traffic to your auction listings.

Registered users and frequent visitors of eBay must be aware of the recent addition on their website popularly known as eBay blogs. But, how many of you have actually tired it to enhance your web traffic and subsequently your sale on the most visited eBay website. If you have been one of those who underestimate the potential of blogging on eBay, I think it's about time you wake up and take a hard look at what it is and the incredible ways in which it can help you. If you are an active member of eBay, you can sign up for your own free blog and open the doors for more traffic, more business, and naturally, more profits.

How to start blogging on eBay?

Blogging on eBay is easy, and providing great content to worldwide eBay users will keep them coming back for more. Through a platform as influential as eBay blogs, you can communicate with you loyal patrons and inform them about the latest developments pertaining to your forte. When you visit the following URL http://blogs.ebay.com/, you will see an option that says "Start Blogging" and all you need to do is click on it to begin your blogging expedition.

What are blogs?

For those who do not know what a blog is, let me explain… A blog is nothing but an online journal and through your blogs, you convey news and views about yourself and of course, your auction sales on a regular basis. Many people these days are taking up blogging to publish their opinions on the Internet and get closer to the outside world.

What should my blog contain?

Now that you have understood what blogging is all about, let me quickly tell you what you should include in your blogs to make it an absorbing reading material. Blogging can be very addictive and as you start blogging, it won't take you long to figure out what appeals to your customers. Enlighten your customers about the kind of products you sell, a bit about your auctions and some stuff that can throw light on the nature of your business. For instance, if you sell computers and that's your specialization, you can provide lot of info regarding computer maintenance, upgrading computers, price comparison, best deals, and so on. What's important here is that your customers must be satisfied with your information and guidance and should be eager to read your next blog.

Although its okay once in a while to write a blog to introduce a new item you have included in your auction, more emphasis should be laid on providing lots and lots of authentic information about your area of expertise. Commenting on other people's blogs and using blog tags (these are keywords to enable people find you easily) can also help you increase your web traffic.

About The Author

John Thornhill is an eBay powerseller and trades on eBay under the username planetsms. He earns $1000s every week selling info products on eBay. If you really want to succeed on eBay selling information products check out John's FREE newsletter at http://www.planetsmsnewsletter.com/

Easy Money on Ebay?

2007-12-11T11:47:00.000-08:00

By KL Bohn - Posted on: 2005-06-08 23:26:18

Ebay was only two years old when I discovered it.

A friend I worked with was also starting to sell on Ebay at about the same time, and we exchanged ideas and experiences constantly. Since we were already working together on our Ebay ventures, we decided to combine our resources into one company and grow it while we were still both working our regular job. We found our niche selling technical books and manuals as our little company began to grow and prosper. Our co-workers at the company we worked at during the day came to consider us the "Ebay Experts". We were answering questions about online auctions on a daily basis, but one coworker had the same comment every day.

"Hey, show me how to make easy money on Ebay!" he would ask. It became a standing joke between My partner and I that usually came up around two or three in the morning during a marathon packing or email answering session. One of us would look at the other and mutter in a disgusted tone "Yea, Easy money on Ebay.."

In January of 2002, we had more sales, and more auctions running than ever before. We were looking at 100 to 150 auctions a day closing, and enjoying a sell-through rate of close to 75%. Our shelves were piled high with books and manuals, the shipping area was well stocked with supplies, and we were ready for long hours of fulfilling our orders.

Then, as if fate stepped in to see just what we were made of, a huge ice storm hit our part of Oklahoma taking out large sections the electrical grid. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that online businesses can do without many things, but electricity is NOT on that list! On the third day of the blackout, we were able to learn from the radio (battery powered) that it wasn't just our area, but over HALF the state of Oklahoma. Worse yet, the damage was so extensive it was going to be at least TWO WEEKS before power was restored! A quick calculation and we almost panicked. We would have over two THOUSAND AUCTIONS END, and no way to contact the bidders! If we didn't keep up with the sales, payments, and shipping on a daily basis, we were in deep trouble... We couldn't imagine what a mess it would be in TWO WEEKS!

The fourth day into the blackout, I made an executive decision. I grabbed the company checkbook, and headed for our closest Lowe's Home Improvement center (about 70 miles away..). The little roadtrip turned into quite the adventure. Strange thing about a massive blackout is gas stations can't pump gas without electricity, and you are burning gas while you are driving around looking for a gas station that was open for business. I was running on luck and fumes before I finally found a station and filled up. With a full tank of gas, I made it to Lowe's and purchased a generator. We assembled the generator in record time, put oil in the engine and then realized... Uh Oh, we need gas for the generator. No local gas stations were open for business, and we didn't want to risk another road trip. Using an old trick I hadn't used since I was growing up on a farm, we were able to get enough gas out of my pickup truck to fuel up the generator.

The little generator fired up on the first pull, and with the help of a few extension cords and power strips, we had a computer network up and running at My partners house. It was then we made another interesting discovery. Cable internet connections do not work without electricity. I had a DSL internet connection at my house, so off we go with a partially charged battery in my laptop to test my internet connection. SUCCESS! DSL works off the phone line power so it was still functional. We made a quick drive back to back to My partnets house to tear down the computer network and load the generator, then back to my house to set it all up again. At 4:30 the next morning We had the network online and a couple of lamps for light. We were self-contained, and open for business. Now we could get to work, and so we did, for the next straight 48 hours. We had a pickup truck load of packages ready for the post office when it hit us, "Is the post office open?". A quick phone call ( by the way, cell phones and cordless phones are useless during a blackout. The simplest plug-it-in-the-wall phones work great.) found us with another problem. Our local post office was closed (no electricity there either.) They did tell us the regional USPS hub had power, and was open 24/7. The bad news is, the regional hub was 75 miles away in Oklahoma City!

Meanwhile, back at the fuel issue... We were relieved to discover that two local gas stations had rented generators and were open for business. We gassed up and headed for Oklahoma City. With the load of packages on the way to customers and most of the other urgent tasks completed, we took a much needed break. We shut down the network and use the generator to power an electric griddle and make a hot meal. The little generator wouldn't power both at the same time without throwing it's breaker.

For the next two weeks, that poor little generator ran constantly keeping the computers running and the shipments going out, the questions answered, and our customers happy. Every other day I would make the 150 mile round trip to the USPS hub in Oklahoma City, stopping on the way back to fill the gas containers for the generator, and fuel up the truck for the next trip.

One evening we took a short break, and stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. We noticed something different.... THE STREET LIGHTS WERE ON! I ran inside and tried the lights... ELECTRICITY!

I went next door and asked my neighbor how long the power had been back on. "Oh, about four or five hours..". We had been so wrapped up working in our self-contained office, we hadn't realized the power had come back on! With our ordeal behind us, we couldn't resist the temptation to elebrate with a cold beer and a toast...

"Here's to "easy money" on Ebay!"

KL Bohn is an Industrial Engineer with a passion for technology and especially Ebay.

Ebay was only two years old when I discovered it quite by accident. 7 1/2 years, and over 85,000 transactions later I'm still hooked on Ebay as a seller, buyer, and shareholder.

eBay Auction Home Business Tutorial: Start Low To Sell High!

2007-12-10T20:26:00.000-08:00

I sell items on eBay and enjoy teaching others how to make money with eBay auctions, but I admit to doing my fair share of buying, too. Recently I found a few items I wanted to add to my collection, and even though I knew the items would go for several hundred dollars, I noticed the seller began the auction price at 99 cents. Is this a good idea?

Turns out that it's an excellent idea. A recent study performed by the London Business School and two professors from Northwestern University proved that items that were posted with an opening price of one penny actually ended up selling at "significantly higher" prices than auctions for the same item that began at higher prices.

Why does this work so well? The biggest reason is the psychological impact on buyers. Everyone loves a bargain, and a price of one cent is going to get everyone's attention. Obviously the item won't end up selling for that price, but it does tend to get more attention. Let's say you do a search on Nikon cameras (one of the items included in the study). You see 20 of them, and one of them has a price of 99 cents. Even though you know you're not going to win the auction with that bid, you're very likely to click on the listing. And as an eBay seller, we know that the first battle is to get potential buyers to look at your listing!

There's always an exception to the rule, and according to the study, if you're selling a "niche item" - an item that is intended for a specialized audience that you're not expecting a great deal of bidding on - then you should start with a price closer to what you actually expect to get.

Even if you're concerned about getting less than you hoped for, don't try to lower the price on the item by making it up with shipping overcharges. I've seen sellers put a "Buy It Now" item up for a couple of dollars less than other sellers, but they were charging $7 to ship something that should have cost no more than $2. eBay is also starting to crack down on shipping overcharges, and even if that proves to be ineffective, I can tell you from personal experience as an eBay buyer that your customers will never forget being overcharged for shipping - and there's a good chance that these overcharges will stop them from becoming your customers to begin with!

Aim for a fair profit, price your items accordingly, and you'll be on your way to making money with eBay auctions.

Just as your item description and starting price affect the number of bids you get, so does the timing of your posting. We'll discuss that tomorrow in my next eBay home business tutorial!

Chris Bryant is an eight-year veteran of eBay, and he wants eBay to change your life for the better just as it’s done for him! Visit http://www.freeebayauctiontutorials.com for his latest FREE eBay and eBay auction tutorial! Learn how to make money on eBay. It’s easier than you think!

How eBay Took Over The World...

2007-12-09T11:23:00.000-08:00

On September 4th 1995, San Jose resident Pierre Omidyar created the foundation to what would soon become one of the most prominent figures on the Internet. The site was originally intended to be an online marketplace where individuals could sell goods or services, though was to become so much more in the decade that was to follow.

Omidyar’s creation was originally known as Auctionweb, and formed a small part of his personal site. The first item to be successfully sold was a broken laser pointer, which eventually sold for around $14 following a small bidding war. Astonished by the interest generated by this item, Omidyar realised that if he could sell a broken laser pointer, then it was quite possible he could sell anything.

In 1996, Pierre Omidyar hired Jeff Skoll as the company’s first president, who is now also attributed as the cofounder of eBay.

Two years after the creation of Auctionweb, the company officially changed its title to eBay. Originally, the site was owned by Omidyar’s consulting firm, Echo Bay Technology Group, and as such, Omidyar wished to use the name EchoBay.com. However, this domain was already taken by Echo Bay Mines, which led to the shortened version, eBay.com.

Already the site had over 200,000 members, and had also reached 1 million auctions earlier in the year. This was already phenomenal success, far beyond the early expectations of Omidyar, but unknown to him, the best was yet to come.

In May 1998, Meg Whitman joined eBay as CEO. Having studied at Harvard Business School, it was her role to maintain the success and growth eBay had so far experienced. Using her experience and business connections, Meg brought together a skilled management team, which went on to create a strong vision for the future of eBay. Later on in the same year, eBay enlisted on the stock market, giving investors the opportunity to share in eBay’s success.

Although eBay was already an established and reputable online business, their position was further enhanced by the acquisition of multiple companies over the following years. Since 1999, eBay has purchased and invested in several online auction websites and auction houses in order to gain a greater share of the market outside of the US. These included auction house Alando in 1999, Dutch competitor Marktplaats.nl in 2004 and Swedish online marketplace Tradera.com in 2006.

Other notable acquisitions included online payment system PayPal in July 2002 for $1.5 billion in stock and Voice Over IP company Skype in September 2005 for $2.6 billion in stock and cash. Not only have these purchases extended their reach outside of the online auction market, but have also illustrated the financial power held by eBay.

Currently, eBay has over 181 million registered users worldwide, and over $1,511 in goods are traded via eBay every second worldwide. These are impressive figures, especially when you look back 11 years to 1995 where it all started with one auction and few more than a handful of users.

However, eBay has had more than its fair share of controversies over the years, including several court cases that were highly publicised. eBay has also come under scrutiny over several of its auction practises, and a recent example is the process of ‘Bid sniping’, whereby buyers submit a high bid seconds before the close of an auction, thus giving other interested parties little or no time to counter the bid. Whilst eBay allow this practice, other auction sites such as Yahoo! extend the auction time should a last minute bid be placed.

A more common problem encountered by eBay, and more often its subsidiary PayPal, is fraud. In recent years, the number of Emails claiming to be from eBay and Paypal requesting personal information has increased dramatically. Whilst most Internet users are aware that these are fake, many still fall into the trap and give away personal details such as usernames and passwords, allowing those behind the scam to make purchases and steal money from PayPal and bank accounts.

It cannot be denied that eBay is one of the most successful ventures in the history of the Internet, and that its success is down to hard work, innovation and a highly motivated management team. The fact that eBay has not remained content with its status as the number one online auction site worldwide is credit to the hunger for success of those behind it.

With revenue topping $4 billion in 2005, it is clear that eBay continues to grow at an impressive rate. The growth from previous years is largely attributed to a massive increase in auctions, as the majority of revenue is generated from auction fees. This would suggest that the site will continue to grow and remain highly profitable for the foreseeable future.

Although it is hard to imagine what the future holds, there is no doubt that eBay is here to stay. From humble beginnings in Pierre Omidyar’s living room, eBay has risen become one of the largest and most successful websites in the history of the Internet.

http://www.auctionstyles.com

Why the 1 Cent Auction is Killing the eBay eBook Market

2007-12-09T10:25:00.000-08:00

In this article we expose the myths that many eBay sellers believe. They believe they can actually make money from 1 cent eBay auctions – but they won’t think that after reading this article.

*MYTH 1*
Selling 1p eBooks are ideal for backend sales and website sales.

Total utter rubbish! Do you honestly believe that people who pay 1p for an eBook will bother to read it? Maybe 5% will. But that means you have to sell 100 just to get 5 visitors to your website.

Not only that, but buyers of 1p eBooks are freebie seekers and not willing to loosen the purse strings so to speak. If you’re selling an eBook for just £5 on your website, can you really imagine them whipping out the plastic?

The main reason people buy 1p eBooks are to build feedback points, they’re not going to take a second glance at your eBook.

Instead, consider some SEO work on your site, write articles, submit to search engines, create a free viral eBook, participate in JV’s, participate in giveaway promotions, get reciprocal links, invest in an affiliate programme, sig files on forums, (do not spam) pay per click advertising, create a newsletter and the most important of them all – continue to add more content to your site.

*MYTH 2*
Selling 1p eBooks are ideal for building a strong, positive feedback.

Nope, wrong again! eBayers aren’t stupid. They’ll see you’re selling hundreds of items for 1p and they know the feedback comments you get mean diddly squat.

In addition to that, the majority of buyers aren’t going to bother leaving you feedback for a 1p purchase, especially if it’s of poor quality.

Instead, invest in a few resale rights products that you can sell for £2 - £3 - £4 and make a few CONSISTENT sales every day. If you just make 3 sales from one product per day and have 15 products that you’re selling, then that’s excellent profit potential and you’re building a solid, positive feedback that will be respected by eBay members.

*MYTH 3*
Selling 1p eBooks will make me an eBay power seller and earn me respect from the eBay community.

eBay have set out certain guidelines that entitle you to power seller status.

To qualify, members must:
• Uphold the eBay community values, including honesty, timeliness and mutual respect
• Average a minimum of £750 in sales per month, for three consecutive months
• Achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive
• Have been an active member for 90 days
• Have an account in good financial standing
• Not violate any severe policies in a 60-day period
• Not violate three or more of any eBay policies in a 60-day period
• Maintain a minimum of four average monthly listings for the past three months
Look at the second requirement.

Now, I’m no mathematician and I don’t have a calculator handy but I work that out to mean that you would have to make at least 75000 sales (give or take a 0) every month for the rest of your eBay career to retain your power seller status.

Firstly, selling 75000 items per month is impossible and secondly, can you imagine dealing with all the questions from buyers, re-sending eBooks that were failed by your automation (if you have automation) and leaving feedback comments. Dealing with these many customers would be impossible and your inability to answer e-mails quickly and re-send items could easily lead to negative feedbacks – therefore disqualifying you further from power seller status.
“Achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive”

James Penn is an experienced eBay seller who sells hundreds of eBooks per month. He also owns make money on eBay website http://www.auction-enterprise.com and he is in the process of attempting to become the biggest eBay eBook seller in the market. You can follow his success at http://www.powerseller-challenge.com You may also like a bunch of free eBay eBooks and you can grab them by visiting this link http://www.auction-enterprise.com/free-ebay-ebooks.html

Top Five Ways to Quickly Improve Your Descriptions When Selling on eBay

2007-12-08T10:16:00.000-08:00

Here are the top five ways to enhance your descriptions to increase your sales on eBay.

1. Take good pictures – Since buyers cannot touch or feel the items you are selling on eBay, your pictures need to be of the best quality in order for buyers to feel confident of the quality of your items. Your pictures need to be focused and excess area needs to be cropped out before you upload your photo. If you ever look at your pictures and think, “That’s good enough”, they aren’t. The quality of your pictures directly relates to your quality as a seller. A good picture can be worth a thousand dollars, a bad picture will cost you dollars.

2. Correct grammar and spelling – eBay buyers want to know that they are buying from someone that they can trust. You ruin that trust with poor grammar and spelling mistakes. Always double check your final version before posting it to eBay. Poor grammar hurts your credibility as a seller, which in turn will cost you sales and return customers.

3. Proper formatting – Keep buyers’ attention by keeping your description short, relevant and truthful. Use numbered lists or bullet points when describing the details of your items. Bullet points should be phrases and are usually not complete sentences. Do not make your bullet points into paragraphs as that will tend to draw attention away from your crucial selling points. Use bold and underlining only when necessary, and stay away from rainbow colored descriptions. Just get to the point of why your item is so great.

4. Be kind to all – Do not become the angry seller. We have all had bad experiences with deadbeat buyers on eBay, but that doesn’t mean that buyers are your enemy. If your description comes across as someone who is angry and is willing to leave negative feedback at the drop of a hat, then buyers will shy away from you. Always keep your tone positive and buyers will trust that their business with you will be positive.

5. Clearly state your terms and conditions – Don’t leave anything up to the buyers’ imagination. Always state your return policy, even if your policy is no returns. If you hold shipments for people that pay with personal checks, then put that in your payment terms and conditions. Buyers want to know the rules of the game before they play, and the more you hide from them, the less likely they will be willing to set foot in the stadium.

In conclusion, put yourself in the shoes of a buyer. If there is something that makes you feel uncomfortable about your listings, imagine what the buyer feels about doing business with someone whom they’ve never met. These five simple enhancements will help you become a better eBay seller and will help increase your sales.

Doug Luthringer is a certified eBay education specialist who has taught more than 200 students The Basics of eBay Selling course and The Advanced eBay Selling Techniques course. He has been selling on eBay for nearly six years and has completed over 3000 eBay transactions and has over 1800 unique positive comments with no negative feedback. Doug has also been invited to be a guest speaker to talk about how to sell on eBay and the use of Google AdWords to small and medium size business, as well as university students. You can get more information about Doug and his eBay selling book at http://www.Thefastmall.com

Setting-up Your eBay Business to Succeed

2007-12-06T07:36:00.000-08:00

Many people do make good money with their eBay businesses. You can be one of those people if you take the right steps at the beginning to set up your business. You should approach an eBay business like any other. Do the necessary research first. Don't rush into it with dreams of making a quick fortune.

Take your time and familiarize yourself with the eBay website. Take notes of the type of products you are thinking of selling - check out the competition, pricing and most of all take particular note of actual selling prices and whether the bidding was slow or fast and furious.

There are literally millions (somewhere in the region of 100 million) of eBay members, but this does not mean you are going to reach anywhere near that number. They won't even know you exist unless you prepare your strategy first.

You'll find that a large number of successful eBay sellers have started off as buyers. This is a good idea as you can get a feel for how the whole system works, plus you will know what buyers are looking for and what problems you are likely to encounter. Being a buyer will certainly help you become a proficient seller as you will understand the system from both sides of the fence.

A few things to take note of while you are learning from the buyer's point of view:

* the customer service you received

* the accuracy of the description of the selling item

* the ease and speed of finalizing the transaction

* whether communication was good or not

* was the sales page well set out

* were delivery costs fair and reasonable

If you approach an eBay business like any other online business you will have a much better chance of making a good income. The following points should give you an idea of what you should be thinking about.

1. Decide whether you will set up an eBay Store

Whilst checking out the eBay website, you would have noticed a number of sellers have their own eBay Store. The advantages of this are many and you would be wise to check out the details of setting up your own eBay Store. Information is readily available on the eBay site.

2. Setting up your own Website

For many reasons, it is advisable to have your own independent website. Look at it as your "Head Office" with your eBay store as a subsidiary. If at some time in the future you decide to discontinue your eBay store, you will still have your business website.

Another good reason for setting up a website is that it gives you the ability to diversify your business. This can mean the difference between success and failure. It will also give you the ability to build a subscriber list that will be beneficial for both your eBay business and your own website business.

3. What Products are in high demand?

Take particular note of products that sell well and what the competition is. Also check the availability of the products as well as the cost. Armed with this information you can determine whether or not a product is a viable proposition.

4. eBay Learning Center and University

Before you think of buying tutorials on eBay trading, check out the resources provided by eBay.

The Learning Center will provide you with tutorials and guides relative to the different areas of eBay. In addition, you will find many free resources on the internet in the form of reports, tutorials and e-books. So have a good look around before paying for this type of information. Of course if you do purchase training products they will more than likely be a taxable deduction.

The eBay University runs offline and online courses covering every aspect of an eBay business. This is where you can learn tried and true methods from the experts.

Running your own eBay business can be a rewarding experience. To ensure you succeed, research your market and your product before undertaking your first Auction.

Remember you will receive queries from prospective bidders, so you must be extremely knowledgeable about your product.

p.s. This article must be reprinted in whole only

Paulina Jenkins
http://www.coolsite1947.com

Seven Ways To Streamline Your eBay Business

2007-12-06T07:28:00.000-08:00

Building an work from home business on ebay can be fun, profitable, stress free and easy. It's little wonder that more and more people are turning to the internet and specifically ebay to build a new future for themselves. However, things can get a little overwhelming so it's essential to organise your business correctly from the start. Fortunately, there are many solutions & tips to cut down on the amount of eBay hours that you have to put in.

1) Clearly Specify Payment Terms

One of the most popular questions I receive is "How Can I Pay?", especially off newly registered members. Make it easy for buyers to pay you, by offering a large option of payment processors - not just Paypal. Also, make it policy or not whether you will be accepting cheques as payment, some sellers decide this is more hassle than it's worth. If your selling hundreds of items daily tracking cheques can be quite time consuming.

2) Organise Your Products

If your selling physical products on eBay, and you carry them in stock make sure they are already to be dispatched as you list your item. This will ensure there's no delay while you find suitable packaging materials, and you don't risk losing the item amongst the rest of your stock. When the auctions complete, all you need to do is attach the shipping label and the sale is as good as completed.

3) Use A Mass Lister

Advanced seller programs such as Marketworks can completely cut down the amount of work needed & the amount of hours your spend on eBay. Automatically listing & relisting, email notification to yourself and your buyers, payment notification and automatic feedback are just a few of the features that are offered to sellers. Almost all powersellers use a service such as Marketworks to manage their ebay businesses.

4) Keep Upto Date With Your Accounting

Make it a habit to print our your Paypal and ebay statements monthly, they'll be needed for any end of year accounting you need to do. File them somewhere safe, as Paypal statements are normally only available for upto three months.

5) Delivery Turnaround

Clarify, when any orders will be sent out. The last thing you want to be doing is running to the post office every time a sale is completed, so make it an established practice to send out your products as the last task of the day, or even only 2-3 times a week.

6) Automatic Delivery On ebooks & Special Reports

If your in the select group of sellers who offers digital goods for sale, then there's absolutely no reason to spend hours on ebay each day. Programs such as payloadz exist so you can automatically send out your products as soon as the winning bidders completes the transaction. This reduces the need for you to check your email religiously every hour to complete any new orders.

7) Automatic Feedback

Even if you choose not to use a mass listing program, others exist to automatically leave feedback as soon as the buyer pays. Ebays selling manager pro, or other third party products can do this for you with predetermined comments. This is one less job to worry about, allowing you to concentrate on the marketing of your eBay business.

Mark Kenny is an eBay expert who specialises in launching eBay related online businesses. You can see his blog at http://www.Trading-Web-Solutions.com/blog or join in Marks Auction & eBay Forum at http://www.AuctionCUT.com

11 Time Tested Principles For eBay Selling Success

2007-12-06T01:53:00.000-08:00

Without a doubt, something separates good sellers from the not-so-hot ones. It has nothing to do with magic either- it has everything to do with sound practice...

Here are 11 principles to live by when you start your auction business. They will work wonders for you...

1. Pick Your Niche and Define Your Market

This is ground zero for your success strategy. Find your own niche. Define your market. Then you can know the type of person you’re going to be selling to and the types of product you want to sell.

You're auction sales letters will be a hundred times better if you know the person who you are writing for.

Along with being in a superior position to take advantage of repeat business, the benefits from becoming specialized are endless-

We well be getting into this a little more later.

2. Your Vision

Know where you want to go with your business and why. Every business that thrives has a soul and a purpose. What is it that you want long term? Do you want to become financially independent?

What do you want short term? Do you want to make a steady income every week? If so, how much? Give yourself something to shoot for and try to surpass it.

Remember in the beginning to keep plugging away. The toughest time is at the start. Everyone has to serve as an apprentice before they can truly master what they do.

When you're starting out be willing to absorb every ounce of helpful information your brain can hold.

3. Order is the Foundation of Every Good Thing

One of your early foundations of success is order. Strive for efficiency in every aspect of what you do. If you’re lacking in a system of organization your whole business is going to be threatened.

This not only includes keeping things in their place but things like keeping income tax and business expenditures records.

4. Serve Your Customer With a Passion

In business your customer is the only thing. You customer is far more important than any product you sell. Strive to give them quality at every level of the transaction.

With online auctions most sellers have a hard time looking past the initial sell. As far as they are concerned after the initial bid the relationship is over. That is why most of them don’t do so swell when they try to make a business of this.

Look far beyond the first sell. It is only the beginning of a long mutually beneficial relationship.

5. Become An Expert In Your Field

Become an authority in what you do, wherever you choose to go with you online auction business. If you sell CD media supplies, you want to be thought of before anyone else.

When you become an authority in your field, a whole new universe of business and opportunity is opened up to you.

I buy certain types of things on eBay from the same sellers over and over. I wouldn't dare do business with anyone else, not when they have proven themselves and their product.

You want to earn that same type of position in the minds of eBayer’s for your niche.

6. Credibility- the Key Factor in Selling

Become trustworthy. Remove every doubt about your credibility any chance you get. You can do this through presenting yourself positively through your feedback, being passionately devoted to your business and by being an expert.

By making great complete ads and from answering emails quickly.

The X factor is the critical ingredient for online sales success.

7. Harness the Power of Technology

Use you existing software of the Internet to handle repetitive tasks. This will free you up to grow your business to a level...

One of my big sticking points is leverage. Leveraging means getting everything you can, out of all you got. When you use existing tools and methods for freeing yourself from repetitive tasks, you will compress time.

That means you will get more work done with less effort... and as a result you will make more money.

8. Get Everything You Can Out of All You Have

A wiser person than myself once said, "There are only two qualities in the world, efficiency and inefficiency, and only two sorts of people: the efficient and the inefficient."

Maximize results while minimizing your expenditures. This is the essence of what it takes.

Test ads ruthlessly to get more for your advertising dollar. Look for better ways to do business. So much can be do to get better and better returns. Set an ideal up for yourself and call it, "efficiency"- if you do this you will never become stagnant in what you do...

Always search for better and better returns for the amount of resources you put in.

9. Probably the Most Important Thing: Your Sales Letter

Your sales letter is your salesman. On the net, how you're potential buyer perceives you and your product is everything.

Copywriting is the art of showing you and what you sell to your buyer in the best possible light.

It’s the most important thing you have going for you. A carefully crafted sales letter can increase you results exponentially without having to spend an extra penny.

10. Shoulder The Risk in the Transaction

Risk reversal is on of the strongest free sales tools you have at your disposal.

When you offer your bidders a satisfaction guarantee, you are telling them that you are confident that your product can deliver, and if not you are willing shoulder the risk for them by giving them their money back…

Very rarely do they ask for one unless your product is poor.

This is one of the easiest ways to increase sales; if you have a good product to begin with, don’t neglect this technique. I see many sellers who don’t offer one when they could.

It’s a must to offer one with your Dutch auctions. A strong risk-reversing offer will clinch sales that pass others by.

11. Perseverance Will See You Through Anything

Perseverance is your greatest asset of all, especially when things get rough. To me, nothing is more fulfilling than meeting challenge head on and winning out.

Anytime you run into trouble or resistance in your business, accept it as a growth opportunity that you need in order to get to higher levels or success.

Can The Little Guy Still Make Money on eBay?

2007-12-05T19:39:00.000-08:00

I get this question a lot and it has three answers: "Yes," "no" and "maybe." Let's see which one applies to you.

There is no doubt that it is much harder for the individual operating out of their home to make money on eBay today than it was even a couple of years ago. When I started on eBay in 1999, eBay was a license to print money. A little guy (or gal) like your or me could sell almost anything and make money. As far as finding merchandise to sell you could source garage sales or buy surplus and overstocked products from hundreds of dealers. Today, however, many of those same dealers that use to sell to me, are now selling the same items on eBay at the same price they used to sell to me.

There are still some overstock dealers who can supply product, but they are fewer. There is also much more competition on eBay today than in past years. Today there are over 1000 large companies with employees, warehouses and sophisticated distrtibution systems competing for the eBay bidder. In addition to the independent large power sellers there are companies such as Disney, Lands End, Bloomingdales Department Store and many others who either list directly on eBay or have hired companies to sell their merchandise for them under another name.

Three Strategies to Make Money on eBay

So what is the little guy to do? There are three basic strategies to succeeding on eBay today. There may be more --but I know these three work, because I have done them and in fact still do them.

The first strategy is to sell used goods including antiques and collectibles. The market for any type of used goods on eBay will always be the purview of the smaller seller. The difficulty of sourcing merchandise makes this a difficult area for large companies. At the higher end of the used market are art, antiques, collectibles and rare books. If you have some knowledge and experience in this field, it is very easy to enter. My wife and I had a small antiques shop before we started selling on eBay, so we knew what was valuable, what the values of items were and where to find them. I can walk into any small town auction in America on any weekend and buy several items that I can turn around and sell on eBay the following week and double my money or more. In fact we still do this occasionally. About a month before I was writing this article, we attended a small town auction in Mt. Vernon, Washington. I bought a box of 1950s vintage advertising tins as a lot for $175.

I broke up the lot and sold the pieces individually on eBay over a 14-day period for over $400 total before eBay and PayPal fees. There were some other advertising pieces selling at the same auction that I did not bid on. They were very clever fakes --repros as they are known in the trade. The point of telling you this is that I could spot them but you might not be able to unless you had the knowledge and experience. The lesson here is that you don't want to go into an area you know nothing about. But if you do have experience in any specific area of art, antiques, collectibles, stamps, coins, or rare books, then this is a perfect --and fairly easy, way to build a profitable eBay business.

You don't have to work in antiques and collectibles. There are plenty of other used goods that sell on eBay. In my book, The Complete eBay Marketing System, I list all sorts of areas of used goods that sell on eBay. They vary from clothing to books, to small appliances, sporting goods and the list goes on. I won't take the time to go into it here --it would make this article too long, but the The Complete eBay Marketing System goes into great detail on how to select used items to sell, how and where to source them and how to sell them.

The next strategy is develop a small specialized niche market. This is in fact what most of the successful eBay sellers do. I often get emails from eBay newbies asking me where they can buy DVDs, plasma TVs, Digital Cameras, iPods and other popular consumer electronic products. I suggest you forget trying to sell any popular mass consumer product. These fields are very crowded, highly competitive and dominated by many large sellers with resources and access to sources that the average person cannot duplicate unless you have thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest. Do you really think you can compete on eBay with Best Buy or Circuit City?

A niche is a small specialized product category that a small seller can play in. I currently sell in several niches on eBay. One product I sell is a line of high-priced wood burning firepits. I do have some competitors, but not that many and I think I do a better job of selling them. The price point of $227 is a high average selling price, so I don't have to sell hundreds of items to make money. They are drop shipped direct from the manufacturer so I am not paying a middleman and the market for these products has been steady now for over two years. You can see my firepit auctions by clicking here. After looking at these you can link to my other auctions and see the other niche product categories we sell.

If you go to the Free Articles page on the Skip McGrath web site I have a couple of articles about niche marketing that are worth reading if this strategy interests you. In both The Complete eBay Marketing System and The Wholesale Buying System, I cover how and where to find wholesale sources for your niche products.

The last strategy I want to point out is Consignment Selling. I like to call this the perfect eBay business: No upfront investment in products, no inventory, high profits and minimal expenses. Once you qualify you can register as an eBay Trading Assistant and eBay will help you promote your business for free.

Once you know how to sell on eBay, it is pretty easy to find people who have goods to sell. My strategy uses low cost targeted advertising. I spend less than $40 a month and can end up some months with over $10,000 or more worth of merchandise to sell .

The trick to being successful in the eBay consignment business is in learning how to market your services, learning what type of merchandise to sell --and which to reject and how to control your fees. All of this is laid out in my best-selling book, How To Start & Run an eBay Consignment Business, published in early 2006 by McGraw Hill Publishing Co. The book includes all of the advertisements, forms, contracts and resources you need to start and run a profitable eeBay consignment business.

So back to the original question: Can the little guy still make money on eBay? The answer is "yes" if you apply some of the strategies and techniques I outlined here and if you take the time to learn the skills you will need. The answer is "maybe" if you try some other techniques or just stumble around trying to learn as you go. And the answer is probably "no" if you try and compete with the big boys unless you have the financial resources and business experience to actually build a large consumer products business.

Skip McGrath

With the digital age being so popular and the creation of eBooks becoming the norm, isn’t it nice to be able to flip through actual pages when you read something? Skip McGrath thinks so, which is why he has authored seven books on the subject of eBay and web marketing. McGrath, who operates ‘Skip McGrath’s Auction Seller’s Resource - The Website for Professional Auction Sellers,’ has created a website that introduces visitors to a variety of information on all things business-related. His website can be accessed at SkipMcGrath.com.

I Bootstrapped my Business with eBay Profits

2007-12-05T19:30:00.000-08:00

Deep down, I had always wanted to start my own business – come up with a great idea and be at least modestly successful. I’d always envied other women who had done it. The trouble was I had no bright ideas -- until a few years ago. It’s funny how it came about -- not from hours of brainstorming, or from reading piles of books – but from my own practical experience.

I had been a technical writer for 15 years, but when dot-com bubble burst, many of us tech writers fell into dire straits. I had made a great living doing part-time contracts from home. It allowed me to be with my kids after school. But then the work dried up and hourly rates were cut more than half. Even if you could find work, it didn’t pay very well, or it was only full-time, on-site. Little did I know that deciding to straighten my crooked teeth would lead me to my next career as an entrepreneur!

Five years ago at age 41, I got braces (I never had them as a child). The day I got my braces, my orthodontist handed me a little baggie with some supplies: a couple of toothbrushes, some dental wax, and other goodies. I stuffed it into my purse. The next time I ate at a restaurant, I scurried into the restroom with my little baggie. I came out with clean teeth and a wet shirt. I needed better supplies, especially a folding cup.

I searched the web for a dental kit and was surprised to find nothing. I asked my orthodontist, but he just shrugged. I realized that if I wanted a functional dental kit, I had to put one together myself.

After searching from store to store for a couple of weeks, I finally found all the items I needed, including a decent folding cup. Whenever I ran into a fellow metal mouth in a restroom, they’d delight at the kit I’d put together. That’s when the light bulb went on over my head: I bet other adults and kids could use something like this.

I scoured various dental supply catalogues and sent for product samples. I looked at every conceivable type of travel toothbrush, folding cup, and dental pick ever invented. I looked at bags and cases until I was bleary-eyed. It took three months, but when I finally came up for air, I had a really nice orthodontic travel kit. I plugged the numbers into Excel, with the help of my husband, who I affectionately call “Mr. Spreadsheet.” I could actually turn a profit on this baby! After some creative brainstorming, I decided to call my product DentaKit™.

But how was I going to raise the money to begin this fledgling business? I didn’t want to raid our savings, and I didn’t want to borrow money or try to raise venture capital. So I turned to eBay, and became an eBay seller. Ironically, I wound up selling artifacts from the high-tech bust.

One day, while shopping eBay for some toys, I came across a seller who was offering polo shirts with high-tech company logos. I had seen scads of these shirts in my local thrift stores – they were abundant in Silicon Valley because ex-employees were dumping them like yesterday’s newspapers.

I bought the shirts at “half price clothing day” for as little as $1.50 each, and then sold them for as much as $30 each. I also looked around my house and sold several items that we no longer wanted. Between the thrift store items and our own discards, we raised more than $2,000 – half of what I needed to bootstrap my DentaKit business. It was so easy that I continued doing it for almost a year after I got my business off the ground.

Creating my DentaKit business utilized all the skills I’ve developed in my past careers: writing, web design, PR, marketing, and data analysis – not to mention shopping, bargain hunting, and intuition! It all came together in one place, and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it!

Fast-forward to 2007: DentaKit.com has sold thousands of its Braces Survival Kits and has customers in more than 38 countries. The store now carries more than 50 helpful niche items and has become a thriving family business. Being an eBay seller helped me to develop efficient shipping and packing methods, and hone my customer service skills. It was a great training ground. I’m learning every day how to use personal and web resources, and I’m setting a great example for my kids. No matter what happens with DentaKit.com, they’ll always remember that mom had a bright idea, used all her know-how, and went for it. If that isn’t a lesson for these crazy times, I don’t know what is.

Lynn Schneider lives in Northern California with her husband, who already has straight teeth, and two kids, who don’t have braces (yet). You can visit Lynn’s online store at http://www.DentaKit.com, and also her orthodontic information website for adults and older teens, http://www.ArchWired.com.

How To Sell $20,000 Per Month on eBay Selling at Wholesale Prices

2007-12-05T08:15:00.000-08:00

First of all let me tell you selling on eBay is easy, but it takes time or money. eBay has fees that you have to pay and if you want to grow quickly you will spend a lot on fees while you are learning.

My wife had an eBay business and she was a Gold Power Seller selling more than $20,000 per month. She sold mostly watches, lots and lots of watches. She sold them wholesale, by the dozen or by the case, 30 to 60 at a time. They were inexpensive watches; we paid from $2.50 to $4.00 for each one and sold them from $3.50 to $12.00 depending on the quantity purchased.

All of the techniques and suppliers we used are included in my eBook or in my exclusive newsletters you get as a free bonus when you buy my eBook.

When selling on eBay there are several tricks. Let me tell you the 3 tricks I think are the most important.

Trick #1: Build your reviews. Your reviews are your lifeline on eBay. You need to build your reviews so people trust you and want to do business with you. If they don’t trust you, you won’t sell anything on eBay. When you start you will have to offer good deals, free shipping or great communication. I always encouraged people to call me on the phone and ask questions by posting my phone in every listing. I didn’t get a lot of calls but I did get a lot of reviews.

Trick #2: Make big margins. You need those margins. You can’t buy something for $10 and sell it at $12, not even at $15. The listing fees alone will eat you. Remember, you have to pay a listing fee, you have to pay a fee if you sell the product and on top of that you pay PayPal when you collect the money. You could easily pay up to 10% or more of your selling price. This could be your entire profit. If you use any special listings to showcase your product you could be looking at $20 extra per listing category. So again, don’t try to make it on volume, try to make it on big margins. The best things to sell are either unique items or collectibles, name brand items that people are looking for like iPods, or hard to find items or imports.

Trick #3: Make more money on shipping. When my wife sold on eBay about 80% of our profit was made from shipping charges. We kept our product prices low so they attract the buyer and charged a bit more on shipping. People understood and they always got a great deal. For us it was a no brainer. eBay does not charge you any fees on your shipping charges, just on the selling prices.

The funny thing is we only sold wholesale on eBay. And it seemed we were the only ones really selling wholesale. Most people selling at “wholesale prices” were selling at about 3 times what we could get any of their items.

Many of our customers had eBay stores, others had convenience stores or gift stores, many of them had other businesses and wanted giveaways for their customers.

This is only a small example of what you can do with Wholesale Distribution. And believe me, it’s not the most profitable one or the easiest to start. In my eBook you will find cheaper, faster ways of getting started in wholesale distribution and make even more money than what I made on eBay. I made much more from my other wholesale distribution businesses than what I made on eBay and I worked less too.

Jorge Olson is a consultant, speaker and entrepreneur and owns several Wholesale Distribution companies. His latest eBook teaches you step by step how to get started and make money in Wholesale Distribution. You can find it at http://www.DistributionBusiness.com

Online Auctions - How to Turn Online Auctions into Successful Home Based Business

2007-12-04T09:38:00.000-08:00

Nowadays most people are aware of what Online Auctions are all about. Most of us have, at some time or the other bought or sold something on Online Auctions. But very few people know that Online Auctions can be a very profitable home-based business. A lot of people worldwide have made a lot of money with their online auction sites.

To start a home-based Online Auction business is very easy. Unlike other home-based businesses, it requires no investment. All it requires is a few moments of your time to get started. The advantages of starting a Home-Based Auction Online are –

No investment is required; hence there are no financial risks like other businesses.

There are no fixed working hours. You can choose to work when it is convenient to you.

No technical skills required.

You can get your Online Auction Business started in less than 10 minutes.

Wow! That sounds real easy does not it? Well it is. No wonder that people all over the world are making thousands of dollars with their home based online Auctions.

Now let's get down to the details of how to get started with your home-based Online Auction, first and most important, you have to get an idea how Online Auction works. To get an idea you can visit various online auction sites like:

http://www.ebay.com
http://www.auctions.yahoo.com
http://www.ubid.com
http://www.onsale.com
http://www.qxl.com

It’s easier to understand how auctions work if you have first hand experience of buying an item on an online auction. You become familiar with how to register with an auction site, how to place your bids and how to make payments and receive delivery of your goods.

What You Buy is Up To You:

Even if you want some item very badly, do not buy it because it is the last item of its kind available on the auction site. It might be over priced. You can try to best to get what you want at other online auction sites.

Late is Best:

It is always best to leave your bid till the last few minutes before the closing of an auction. This prevents the price from being driven too high.

No Time? Then Automated bids are the Best:

If you are hurried for time then automated bids are the best way for you to place a bid online. You can use automated bidding sites like eSnipe http://www.esnipe.com.

You can open a free account on eSnipe. When you want to make a bid all you have to do is type your bid amount. eSnipe automatically places the bid for you before the closing of the auction. You pay eSnipe a small amount if you win your bid, otherwise you pay nothing.

Lookout for Wrongly Spelt Items

Many items on a home-based Online Auctions are wrongly spelt. You can use this to your advantage, as there will be less people searching for wrongly spelt items.

Buying and paying for an item online teaches you how things work from a buyer’s point of view. This gives you a good idea about what kinds of customer services you can offer buyers on your own online auction site.

List Unwanted Items

Now lets get into how to start setting up your own home based online auction. Look around your home. You’ll see many things that you have no use for. You can also ask your friends for unwanted items. Make a list of all these items on your site as well as their photographs. There is nothing like a photograph to instantly grab the attention of the buyers.

Description of Items On Sale

This is very important as it give your buyers a good idea of want they will get. Make sure that you give all the technical and detailed descriptions of items on sale.

Offer A Guaranteed Refund

To convince your buyers about your honest approach to business and your integrity, offer to refund money if the goods sold by you are less than satisfactory.

Feed Back Forms

Positive Feed Back forms are an absolute necessity to show your prospective buyers that you have satisfied customers. And to have satisfied customers your quality of service has to be very good. Positive feedback reassures your prospective customers of your integrity.

Set a Reserve Price

Always sell items on your home-based Online Auction site for what it’s worth. Never ever sell it for less than its value. To do this you need to set a reserve price, below which you will not sell. Make sure that your reserve price is not too high, as it will scare customers away.

Different Payment Modes

Make your site more customer friendly by offering a number of payment options, like credit cards, Pay Pal (www.paypal.com) etc. Make sure that all payments are secure.

Now that you have all the necessary details on how to start your home-based online auction business think of catering to a niche market. This will reduce the competition from other online auction sites.

Remember that it is within you to earn thousands of dollars with hardly any investment.

Good Luck

Pradeep Aggarwal is the creator of Auction Spectrum the online auction hub. This site is dedicated to helping people start and run a successful online auction business by providing Internet Marketing Tools to build profit making websites.

Success Is To Sell - Successful Is To Sell More.

2007-12-04T09:25:00.000-08:00

No doubt the reason you are doing a search for Free Ebay Secrets is because you have taken the first steps in running your own business and what is more you want it to be a success. Well you have taken the right route - because below are a few free tips on Ebay selling secrets. Success is to sell - Successful is to sell more.

What you must not do is let you yourself hold you back in gaining the success you deserve. Selling is not a complicated mission, so take some free Ebay secrets then start as you mean to go on in running your very own business venture.

Why pay out for help and guidance when easily to hand is free information on selling. Sale secrets is helping entrepreneurs just like your self to run their business`s successfully. By involving yourself with the world`s biggest online auction you have just secured yourself an extra income.

After finalizing your decision on becoming part of the internets biggest online auction site then you need to choose a user ID that represents your product or service. Remember it is your user ID that will portray your identity to customers. Have your ID confirmed by clicking on the verification option where you can check to see if your details were correctly entered. It is important to ensure you have made no mistakes - errors can hamper sales because potential customers may get a little confused. An Ebay secret is to get it right from the beginning.

If Potential buyers click on your ID icon they will be directed to your feedback profile. It is from here that your customers will build up confidence in whether to trade with you or not. This is a free Ebay secret that you need to follow through with and that is to keep the feedback to as many positives and less negatives.

As your business begins to grow so does all the data - it is wise to back up any information this will help you keep track of all business transactions. Believe me when I say Ebay is not exempt from becoming big business for you just like the thousands of other successful Ebay sellers. If you are serious enough you can make it happen.

A free Ebay secret is to draw up a check list fully mapped out with schedules logged with dates and times for conducting your business.

Storage space is important if dealing in bulk or large items - locate a good place to store your catalogue of accounts and any shipping materials. Organisation in your organization will help ease any pressure of losing valuable paperwork.

Remember to double check what charges are implemented by Ebay for the selling of your wares. This will give you an insight and guide when pricing up your products.

Finding the best category to list your items under should not be a problem Ebay free secrets state if you find yourself unsure which is appropriate for your product or service then go to the Ebay support centre for help on how to categorize. Try listing your item under two categories - you may pay an additional fee but certainly worthwhile if a sale is on the cards. When making the listing highlight specific benefits that the customer may gain from buying from you

Another piece of friendly advice in the way of a free Ebay secret is to attend trade shows it is from these you can learn so much while at the time converse with manufacturers where you can suggest selling their products. Who knows later down the line you may experience this yourself where you are approached in the same manner because of how big your empire has become.

Fraud on the internet is big and once again Ebay is not exempt from fraudsters so always be cautious.

About The Author:
To be successful in business you have to be in the know. Need time out to relax http://www.benidormbeaches.com http://www.airfarelive.com

Successful eBay Sellers - Sell Yourself 100% - Ignorance Wont Sell Products

2007-12-04T09:20:00.000-08:00

Ebay the biggest online auction offering everyone a piece of the action whether a seller or buyer you would like to be. Skill and techniques are needed in any business venture to be successful so why not learn how Ebay is giving people the opportunity to do just that.

A good way to start with trading in this manner is to sell items that you love being around or part of (this could be something to do with a hobby of yours) you will find it is much more rewarding while you make money. Once you have built up confidence in yourself then it is time to gain trust from your customers. Do not be afraid to share a little intimate detail about yourself. People you will find are apprehensive in sending money to a complete stranger so the more they know of you and what you are selling then they warm to you.

Expect to find that the people who share the same interest as you in what you are selling on Ebay are more willing to part with their money - all because they feel you will be the master of knowledge on any issues relating to the product.

Do your homework - this is very crucial to get your business off to a good start to become successful in your Ebay business. Scour the internet to find out what is the most favoured selling product that is hot property at the time. You can learn a lot from forums to gather information.

Locating the right product should not be an issue if your research was forensically done. Remember when choosing items to sell always check to see if it entails large quantities or special delivery. Matters on shipping - bulk buying and much more can be found at the ebay support centre. This is how others learned to become successful ebay sellers

Remember to be consistent and keep building up that reputation. Customers without doubt are likely to purchase from you when they know more of you personally and your wares. Ebay is a powerful force giving recognition to all loyal self made entrepreneurs. Bad business from others means bad business for ebay which is not tolerated. Therefore rules and regulations are enforced to help you uphold a regular ongoing business selling your services or product.

Promotion is the key factor behind a good volume of sales so be sure to advertise your self 100%. Tools are provided by ebay which unfortunately not many sellers are aware of or choose to ignore. Ignorance means no sales.

Build your own website to promote and by doing this your customers can get a bigger picture of your whole entity defined in more detail.

If this is the route in life you intend taking like trading over the internet then learn to become a Successful Ebay Seller. There is not the slightest doubt that the best way is this way. Check out the nuts and bolts behind any auction site. Never buy your products up front until you are fully geared up with knowledge. If and when you are ready then get bargain buys wholesale from other successful online sellers on ebay.

About The Author:
To be successful in business you have to be in the know. Need time out to relax http://www.benidormbeaches.com http://www.airfarelive.com

eBay Selling Secrets: eBay is much More Than a Marketplace

2007-12-04T09:14:00.000-08:00

You don't need to be a marketing genius to sell on eBay, but you should enter the marketplace with some knowledge and understanding of what helps drive sales. Even if you have never sold anything online, eBay can create a powerful opportunity for you to launch an online business. Getting started is much easier than you may think, once you understand the power of what eBay offers to the average, everyday Jane or Joe.

Secret #1: eBay is a search engine. eBay brings the traffic. It is up to you to capitalize on it. You don't need to build links, create content, or purchase keywords. (Although if you want to purchase keywords, they now have a venue for that, too…) eBay also has built-in keyword research tools. If you use their search engine, eBay offers up suggestions on other spellings and synonyms. You can easily use these keywords to create headlines in categories that are underserved. Another great trick is to use commonly misspelled words, alongside the correct spelling, to reach people that are looking for your products. Just because they can't spell right doesn't mean that they don't deserve to buy your products! You can also delve deeper into eBay's research tools to find out what, and when, people are buying specific products.

Secret #2: eBay is a community. In a community setting, it is important to build your credibility. As a buyer you get feedback for paying promptly. If you haven't ever sold on eBay, your buying patterns will establish trust with others to begin with. Make sure you have good feedback as a buyer. When you become a seller, be community-focused and friendly. Remember that the feedback that is left for you is based on answering emails, telling the truth, and quick shipping. Start out with good feedback and remember customer service and you will earn your rightful place as a community member.

Secret #3: eBay is a launch pad to bigger things. While it is true that eBay is huge, the fact is that most people start out on eBay selling things they don't want. Then they sell things they don't need. Then, they go out and look for things to sell. eBay has helped thousands of people launch successful internet businesses, before they ever had a website or an email list. If you already have a business, you can use eBay to generate new leads and find new list members. People who aren't ready to place a bid will join your lists because they aren't ready to buy, but they're willing to think about it. Even if you are selling exclusively on eBay, you'll likely want to expand enough to open an online store. Keep in mind the big picture - if you decide you're going to open a store or add new inventory, you'll want to be able to be notify past customers, and prospects, too. If you're using eBay, think about using it differently - what kinds of promotions can you launch with your everyday listings? What do you want to happen in six months down the line?

Once you're comfortable with selling on eBay, you'll probably want to look into new products and services to sell. Keep these eBay secrets in mind while you're working on your business plan or strategy, and you'll be able to maximize your success and focus on the big picture - especially as eBay, and your business, continue to grow.

Matt Bacak, Entrepreneur Magazine e-Biz radio show host became a "#1 Best Selling Author" in just a few short hours and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to Retire From Your Job This Year and Still Make More Money Than the Average Medical Doctor... You Can Do It Once You Know the Proven Steps Outlined here!
==> http://www.internetmillionairemind.com

You have 3 seconds to sell your eBook on eBay.

2007-12-04T07:37:00.000-08:00

They say you should never judge a book by its cover. While this maybe true in the book world in the eBook world it is a different story. Especially when selling your eBooks on eBay.

When you create your eBook it is important you make it the best you can, taking care to avoid spelling mistakes and grammar errors is extremely important. But what you may not realise is your eBook cover is almost as important as the eBook itself. This is because on eBay the 1st thing any potential customer sees is the free image eBay provides with every listing. And they will usually make a decision to keep reading your sales page within 3 seconds of viewing your eBook cover.

So always have an eBook cover created for each eBook you write. And always use this as the 1st image on your eBay listing. As this will be the 1st thing any potential buyer sees it is extremely important that your cover looks the part.

While there is software available that will enable you to create your own covers I would recommend if you can afford it to invest a few dollars and get your cover professionally created by someone else. There are many professional cover artists that will create a cover for you and a simple google search will bring up a ton of results. The cost can be anything from $10 onwards.

Here are a few tips to creating a quality cover that will help sell your eBook.

1. If you are getting your cover professionally created by someone else ask to see their work or when viewing their website look for a portfolio of their work. Almost all professional cover artists will provide this information. If you don't like what you see look elsewhere.

2. Use your own graphics or have them created from scratch. Don't steal your images from another website. This could land you in extremely hot water and you could find yourself getting your listings ended by eBay or even worse, legal action being taken against you. So make sure your images/graphics are original. If your cover is getting created for you by someone else make sure they understand this.

3. Include the title of your eBook on the cover. This sounds obvious but I have seen a ton of covers with no title. Your cover sells your eBook and in my opinion must include the title.

4. If your eBook has resale rights include as many different variations of your cover as possible. You should include different sizes, colours and angles. Give your re-sellers as much as they need to sell your eBook on. They may want to include images on their blogs, newsletters, websites and more and they may struggle if you only provide one image.

5. Include your cover at least once in your sales page. What I find works best is a large cover on the left of the page with text to the right explaining the benefits of your eBook.

Just remember, people do judge an eBook by its cover and if you don't have a cover for your eBook and are struggling with sales on eBay a professionally made cover could make all the difference.

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John Thornhill is an eBay powerseller and trades on eBay under the username planetsms. He earns $1000s every week selling info products on eBay. If you really want to succeed on eBay selling information products check out John's FREE newsletter at http://www.planetsmsnewsletter.com/

eBay Selling - How Good Customer Service Will Help Your eBay Seller Ratings

2007-12-04T07:33:00.000-08:00

Anyone hoping to make money selling goods on eBay should be aware of the eBay quality of service ranking system. Sellers are rated through feedback from customers who have bought goods from them previously. There are thousands of sellers competing on eBay and potential customers will naturally gravitate towards the sellers who have a positive feedback rating. Developing a good customer service policy and maintaining it in all your eBay dealings is vital to your success.

The first thing to do before you plan your customer service strategies for selling goods on eBay is to read the rules. The regulations and policies that govern eBay transactions are clearly set out on the eBay website. There are a lot of them but it is worth spending time to get acquainted with any rules that will apply to your eBay sales. Once you have a fair grasp of the rules, you can develop your own customer service policy.

Your customer service strategies for eBay sales should start with product description: eBay is not the place for advertising puff or hype of any description. A clear photo of the item for sale is a great aid. You must be completely honest and accurate when describing items for sale. If applicable, include the manufacturer's name and model identification number. The provision of a full description is doubly important when you are selling used goods. If an item has a flaw, describe it fully. For instance: if you are selling an article that has sustained a minor scratch, don't describe the damage in words such as "minute" or "insignificant". State the exact position and dimensions of the mark. Your customers will not receive goods below their expectation and, if the merchandise exceeds what was expected, the customers will be satisfied and give you postive feedback. If you try to play down the extent of any defects when describing items for sale, people will not trust you enough to make a purchase; if the goods are sold, you are more likely to receive complaints, requests for refunds and negative feedback.

You must keep up your eBay customer service strategies during the time people are bidding in the auction. Prospective buyers often want more information than you have provided in your description of articles on sale. If a potential customer contacts you to ask for further details of goods you are selling, make sure you reply without delay and give clear answers to any questions. An enquiry that seems immaterial to you might be the one factor that persuades a purchaser to buy from you rather than a competitor offering an almost identical article.

Maintain your good customer service levels through to delivery of the items you have sold. This means despatching the items as soon as possible (this should be the same day unless it is a weekend or public holiday). To ensure a high level of customer satisfaction, make sure you never ask for an inflated sum to cover postage and packaging. Your customers will know how much the postage and packaging materials cost you and they won't mind being asked a fair price to cover those expenses. It is not unusual for the cost of postage to exceed the price of the goods and people don't mind this because they still feel they are getting a bargain. One thing nobody likes is the feeling that someone is trying to rip him/her off and that is the impression you will convey if you ask an excessive amount for postage.

Customer service policy on eBay should be no different from good customer service in any online transaction. The key is to maintain honesty, provide fast service and make it clear you have nothing to hide.

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Want to work from home? There are countless ways to make money working from home, eBay selling is just one of them. To see a selection of the best work from home ideas visit Elaine Currie's Work At Home Directory

6 Easy Tips When Starting To Selling On Ebay

2007-12-04T02:46:00.000-08:00

Getting started

a. Set up a Ebay account. Set your preferences. Who you want to block, how you want them to pay, etc.
b. Set up a paypal account ( not a must)
c. Set up a web hosting service like auctiva ( also not a must).if you do use auctiva…DO NOT USE THIER CHECK OUT…MAKE SURE YOU CHANGE THAT
d. Order or find shipping supplies, just a little of everything. Boxes bags, labels, wrapping. Etc.
e. If you plan to have the post office pick up from your home, set up the post office account for faster service later.
f. Are you planning to ship with paypal, if so say so in terms and make sure you have ink in your printer as well as paper.

Deciding what to sell
a. look around your house, garage, and even asked friends or family. Get those Christmas presents that you don’t want, use, or like. When you do this, it gets your paypal account balance started. All you are paying for at first is fees, this way you are not hot too much if you don’t like it.
b. Once you start on ebay and are comfortable putting money in it, check out yard sales, thrift stores, clearance racks auctions in your town. etc
c. Sort all of it out. Look for things like size, name brand, imperfections, stains, markings of maker,
d. Research. look on ebay for the item the maker, see how they sell, look for information.
e. Look at the time of year it is, holiday or season, what is good to sell meaning don’t sell summer clothes in winter

Getting ready to Sell
a. wash, iron, hang up, all clothes and wipe down all the items you plan to sell. Also get a tape measure.
b. Get your “studio” ready. Find a nice simple place to take photos, make sure there is not “junk” in the background.
c. Start taking pix. Remember focus counts. Make sure that if there is anything wrong or a stamp or tag that says maker to photograph that.
d. Sort your pix, edit if need to. Edit out any spaces that are too big, zoom in on the item itself. Lighten if need to.
e. Get your auction terms together. Type them up. Look at others terms and get ideas. Make sure you understand and know that you have to follow them just like the buyer. If you are going to have a handling fee, decide now, and include it.
f. Get everything around you so you can write up descriptions & measure as you describe the items

Your first listing
a. type it up. Did you list the make, size, measurements
b. is it catching, is everything spelled correctly
c. pick a listing design( if you are doing so) make sure it is not over powering and takes away from your item.
d. Make sure to list your terms on the auction ..this is a must. If you don’t people will take advantage
e. Add color but keep it simple.
f. Remember you are selling a product and the product cant sell itself. Show people how they will use it, give examples.
g. If you know the retail price, try to include it.
h. Remember this one key point..your title does NOT have to make sense, it only has to have key words to be found by buyers.

Watching Waiting, & Ended
a. So now you are checking out the listing every hour
b. Maybe every 2, its ok. I did it too.
c. So lets say, you didn’t get a bid. Its ok, sometimes the items needs to be listed a few times. On average, I list everything at least 2 times.
d. Don’t worry , don’t get upset. That is part of ebay. Maybe ask someone to look it over, see what can be changed or added.
e. What happens if it does sell, well congrats to you.
f. First thing first, send an invoice.
g. Then wait for the payment.
h. Once you have the payment ship it.

Shipping & Feedback
i. If you are using paypal, click on “print shipping label” and you log into paypal it will walk you threw it.
j. Once you tape the label to the package either drop it off OR schedule a pick up for the post office.
k. If you are shipping yourself, make sure you write the correct address on the package as well as the WAY it is to be shipped, parcel, media, priority mail.
l. Once you get to the post office make sure you get a receipt I would recommend doing delivery confirmation so you get a tracking # for each box as proof you send it. Include this in shipping as a handling fee.
m. Now just wait for feedback from them. As a seller you are not done your job until the package is received and the customer is happy. Once they leave the feedback do the same.

10 Hot eBay Tips

2007-12-04T01:48:00.000-08:00

Think of eBay as the ultimate return policy. No matter where or when you bought an item (or from which crazy relative you received it as a gift), you can turn around and sell it, sometimes for more than what you paid. The eBay marketplace is no longer a phenomenon; it's a hobby, a livelihood, and even a way of life for millions of addicts around the globe. But no matter how much you sell on eBay, odds are you're missing a few opportunities to maximize your bottom line. Here are some tips that can help.

Look before you list. The most effective way to get the most money is to know your market. Before you list your item, perform a quick, title-only search on eBay for items similar to yours. Then, click on Completed items (under the Display heading) and sort the results by price (highest-priced first). Keep in mind that any given item on eBay is worth only what others are willing to pay for it, so ignore any listings that never received bids. Scrutinize the most successful sales and see how the sellers have described and promoted their items in order to earn top dollar.

Price to sell. When you're ready to list, set your Buy-It-Now price in the neighborhood of what you expect your item is worth; raise it a little for particularly in-demand or scarce objects, or take a few dollars off if you want to move your merchandise fast. Set the starting price (the opening bid) much lower, though, anywhere from a single dollar to no more than half your item's value; this will encourage healthy bidding, thus raising the perceived value and the final price. If you've done your research, you won't have to worry about your item selling for too little.

Reserve judgment. If you're considering a reserve price for your listings—don't. The reserve price is a secret dollar amount below which you're under no obligation to sell, and it is useful only if you don't know the value of your item. Reserves tend to scare away bidders and accomplish nothing more than lowering the closing price unnecessarily. Even worse is the use of a Buy-It-Now price alongside a reserve price, as bidders easily confuse the two and give up any hope of getting a bargain.

Spelling counts. The success of any auction item relies almost entirely on the likelihood of its being found in searches and—to a lesser extent—eBay's category listings. eBay searches are seeded by the words you place in your auction titles, so include as many relevant keywords as possible without wasting space with unnecessary punctuation, nonsense such as "@@ Look! @@," or any other terms for which your customers won't be searching. Since eBay uses exact-match (as opposed to fuzzy) searches, the words in your titles must be spelled correctly in order to show up in search results. But if you have the space, be sure to include some intentional misspellings (Delorean, Delorian, or Delorion, for example) to accommodate your more spelling-challenged customers; just make sure the correct spelling is also there.

With only a scant 45 characters in which to work, there's rarely room to spare in an auction title. If you're inclined to highlight the condition, scarcity, or other special aspects of your item, do so in the subtitle. Although subtitles are indexed only in title-and-description searches (not the more common title-only searches), they do appear in all search results and category listings and are effective in getting extra attention. A subtitle costs 50 cents, so don't bother for any item worth less than about $25.

Dress for success. A little color and spice in your auction will not only make it more inviting and more professional-looking, it will help emphasize important details in the auction description. Among the most vital are the payment and shipping details, both of which are unfortunately buried far beneath the photos in eBay's new auction page design. The clearer, simpler, and easier to find your terms are, the less likely you are to be hassled by confused or disappointed customers or deadbeat bidders.

HTML: Make it look good. A rudimentary WYSIWYG description editor is part of eBay's Sell Your Item form (Internet Explorer only), but it offers little more than basic control over the font size and appearance. For the best-looking and most feature-rich descriptions (including such niceties as in-line images, tables, and even JavaScript), you'll want to turn to your favorite Web page editor; Adobe GoLive, Netscape Composer, or even Microsoft Word will do. The problem with these applications is that they generate complete, standalone pages, not insertable HTML code that can be pasted into a Web form. Fortunately, Creative Element Power Tools (free trial, $18 registration fee, www.creativelement.com/powertools) comes with an Extract HTML Page Content tool, which bridges this gap. Type and format your auction description in your Web page editor and save it as an HTML file. Then, right-click on the file, select Extract Page Content, and paste the formatted text into the description field of eBay's Sell Your Item form. Finally, click on Preview Your Description to double-check your work.

Easy payment plan. The easier you make payment for customers, the more likely they'll be to give you their business. The most popular payment method these days is PayPal, which lets members send money to anyone with an e-mail address. The only cost is assessed to sellers, on the order of about 3 percent of the amount a seller receives. But don't be put off; the extra bids you'll get with that PayPal logo in your auction will more than make up for the measly 3 percent fee.

Although PayPal goes to some lengths to safeguard its members, you'll want to take a few extra steps to protect yourself. As a seller, refuse any payments from buyers who don't provide confirmed addresses (meaning that PayPal has verified them through their credit card records). Otherwise, you'll be forced to forfeit any money later found to be from a stolen credit card. And as a buyer, always fund your payments with a credit card for an extra layer of protection from your credit card company's charge-dispute department.

Worth a thousand bids. Nothing sells your auction better than a good photo, and you can improve your auction photo– taking skills with a few simple tricks. Shoot your item at an angle to exaggerate its depth and to make it look like it's about to jump out of the screen. Light your item from two different sources (including your camera's flash) to reduce shadows and enhance detail. Finally, make sure it's in focus! Move farther away from your item to help your camera focus on the whole thing, and crop out excess background later.

Open communication. Everyone hates junk e-mail, but your attempts to curb it may be costing you more than you realize. Overly aggressive spam filters are probably the biggest cause of negative feedback on eBay, as sellers' payment instructions often don't get to their customers' in-boxes. And bidders frequently retract bids after receiving no replies to questions sent to sellers, usually because of spam filters on both ends. Start by disabling any spam-blocking services you (or your ISP) may be employing and replacing them with a more passive spam scanner. PC Magazine recommends Norton AntiSpam 2004 (www.symantec.com/antispam) or SpamCatcher (www.mailshell.com), which mark suspected spam so that your e-mail program can trash the messages—but only after you've had a chance to inspect them.

If you suspect that your e-mail isn't reaching its destination, there are a number of back doors you can use. First, use eBay's Contact Member form whenever possible, as e-mail originating directly from eBay's servers is less likely to be trapped by an errant junk filter. If that doesn't work, send your message from an alternate account just in case your return address is what's causing the problem. If you're a seller, put a note in your auction and payment instructions that tells customers to disable their spam filters if they don't get e-mail from you. Finally, try to answer your bidders' questions right in the auction description to educate—as well as reassure—all your potential customers.

Tools to use. Creating new eBay listings can be cumbersome and time-consuming, especially if you're listing a dozen or more items at once. Automated listing software lets you create templates into which you can insert item-specific information. You can save the listings on your hard drive, which makes selling similar items or relisting the same item easy.

You can also use listing tools to schedule your listings without additional fees (a service for which eBay otherwise charges a dime per listing). You can also take your time to compose your listings at 1:00 A.M. and then upload them to eBay the next day at work. Auctions that begin and end during the daytime (by your customers' clocks) fetch higher prices than those that close while your customers are asleep.

eBay's own very capable Turbo Lister application for Windows is available for free from http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister (although normal listing fees still apply). Another worthy and free tool is Auction Submit (www.auctionsubmit.com), which adds post-auction record keeping, such as the final price and high bidder of each successful auction. Both tools help you list more items in less time and fund your own binge shopping at the world's largest flea market.