Ebay is the ultimate online garage sale. There are many things to consider before you take the leap to selling on Ebay. Many people are making a healthy living off Ebay, but will you be the next big Ebay star. Buying off Ebay is one thing, but selling is a whole different animal of its own. Should you take a chance or pass on the opportunity?
Never jump into something without knowing exactly what is required from you!!!
The first thing you should always do is familiarize with the rules and guidelines with Ebay. Make sure you read their terms of service thoroughly, before doing anything with them. The fine print is the part that always gets people. For example, when Ebay makes an offer for first time sellers to place their first few items free, make sure you read the fine print.
Yes, the first few items are free to place. However, when you add pictures, details, and any other detail they will charge you for the additional services. You want to have a solid familiarity with their rates and there are a lot of rates to learn. I highly recommend you print out their rate sheet, so you always have it right in front of you. This will greatly assist your every selling decision.
Second, know the products you are offering. This is an important decision when considering how much you want to charge or how much you want your starting bids set at. If you are offering an item without any significant value, then you will not want to place the product in any of their feature categories. Chances are, you end up spending more than you receive when doing so. Please remember, visibility is important to the success of your sale, however you have to work within your budget.
Third, you want to familiarize yourself with shipping rates of all the major shippers. Make sure you request shipping rates from each of the major shipping companies. Of course, this is critical when placing your product on Ebay. Ebay does offer help in determining the best shipping rates, however they tend to overcharge the rates a little bit. These rates are crucial to your success on Ebay, because people want to pay as little as possible for shipping.
Fourth, you want to think ahead. You do not want to get blind-sided by some unforeseen event. You have to expect the unexpected when dealing with a buyer. I highly recommend signing up for Paypal, which is free, and making sure you sell only to people with Paypal. There are too many bad things that happen regarding the sale of a product to someone without Paypal. For example, it is not uncommon to discover you have a customer who wrote you a bad check for their item. This leads me to another point. Never send your item without receiving payment first! You cannot assume a customer is a trustworthy person. If you ship the item, without payment, you increase the probability of someone taking advantage of your generosity.
With Paypal, if you do not receive payment, you can place a claim to retrieve up to $1,000 of your sale. Without Paypal you risk the loss of everything, without getting any of your money back.
Fifth, remember when I said visibility is crucial. You want to pay attention to the days you are placing your item on Ebay. The busiest sales day on Ebay is Saturday, so you want to make sure your item will close on Saturday. If you only want it to visible for three days, then you want to make sure you place the item on a Wednesday, with five days you would place it on Monday, et cetera.
Finally, pay attention to the details of your item. Make sure everything is correct the first time, because editing your item can effect the visibility and charges attained with your item. Make sure everything is correct the first time. You do not want to get burned. You will not be very happy when you are expecting $10 for your product and end up owing Ebay $20 instead.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Hot Tips on Prospecting for Ebay Goldmines
People are making a fortune on Ebay and Ebay is making a fortune off them. Where do people find all their items? How do they know what will sell and will not? There are many avenues a person can take to make a profit from their own home on Ebay. This article is designed to help you make an informed decision regarding the items you want to place on Ebay.
Starting out with Ebay is a fairly simple decision. You can find these items scattered throughout your home.
Closets~How many people wear everything they own on a regular basis? Most of us do not wear the same clothes repeatedly; we may wear them a couple of times after we bought them and usually that is about all we wear them. We have our favorite clothing, but there is a really good chance we have more clothing just taking up space in our closets. It would not be surprising to discover several hundred dollars worth of clothing ready to find a new owner. If you are dieting, you will want to get rid of the clothes that do not fit anymore. The same can be said about weight gain as well.
Kid's rooms~Your children are not getting any younger and, if your kids are like mine, fads come and go frequently. I know my children were into Barney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbie, Spiderman, Star Wars, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and numerous other things. Kid's items tend to market very well on Ebay, so you want to do a spot check of your kids rooms. Obviously, they will have clothing to get rid of. Ebay is a prime place to share these items with children, who will make use of these items.
Garages~Many men will view their tools like children view their toys. There is always some new gadget getting replaced, which means the garage will have a lot of items at your disposal for Ebay.
Electronics~At one point, Betamax players were hip. They were replaced by VHS players, which were replaced by Laserdisc players, and later DVD players. The same can be said about the changes from turnstiles to Ipods. People will have their favorites, which means there is always a market for your old electronic items.
Leave no stone unturned when looking for items around the house, because you never know who will be looking for something you have to offer.
You always want to keep an eye out for good deals. You can find them at garage sales, flea markets, local retail stores, and even online. Many people will buy cheap items on Ebay, knowing they can get a better price for the item they just purchased.
Garage sales are interesting places to look. I know a lot of people making money from the garbage they collect. This brings me to another point. One man's trash is another man's gold is as reasonable a thought as any. Certain areas are prime locations to watch. For example, you may want to keep an eye on an area with upper class homes, rather than looking for gold in a lower class community. I do not mean any disrespect to those of us living in the lower class, but it is a higher probability our trash is filled with items that have worn out their usefulness. I know a gentleman who spends his days working the upper class neighborhoods for items to put on Ebay. I have heard people say they are making thousands of dollars off of these neighborhoods.
Here is an important tip when prospecting these neighborhoods. Make sure you get the owners approval to use their trash or check with your local police department to find out whether or not it is legal to collect their trash. There are communities that do not allow people to rummage through people's trash. Do not assume it is okay to take their trash, it is always safest to ask first.
When searching for deal with local retailers, you want to know what the average retail price for a product is. This is critical to turn a purchase into a profit.
Watch your local papers for coupons and sales. These will play a pivotal role in your pocketbooks. Do not buy something just because it is on sale! This is important, because some stores have a higher markup than others. You could end up buying an item that was on sale at one place, only to later discover it was cheaper elsewhere. I do recommend wholesale clubs, because you can get several items at a lower price in bulk purchases. This leads me to another topic.
Research wholesale dealers well! Deciding to purchase items at a bulk price is not always the best way to turn a profit. However, the more items you sell makes it easier to find an actual manufacturer willing to do business with you rather than a distributor. The cheapest route to go is always through the manufacturers themselves. The only drawback with a manufacturer is that you have to have a certain amount of sales before they will even consider selling to you.
Dropshipping is another option available to new sellers on Ebay. These companies do not necessarily have a limitation set to deal with a new business owner. Dropshippers provide you with the photos and details of their products, which you can place on Ebay. You get the information from the buyer, where to ship their items, then you get that information to the dropshipper. The dropshipper then sends the item to the address you have stipulated. This means you do not have to have any products on hand to sell. All you are doing is accepting their payment and getting their shipping address. The dropshipper handles the rest. Once the item is shipped, you pay the dropshipper the wholesale price they gave you. The only major drawback to dropshipping is if the dropshipper's items are out of stock, then you could end up paying the customer back out of your own pocket. Then, you also have to pay for your advertising space on Ebay, as well. It could end up as a major loss for you.
Starting out with Ebay is a fairly simple decision. You can find these items scattered throughout your home.
Closets~How many people wear everything they own on a regular basis? Most of us do not wear the same clothes repeatedly; we may wear them a couple of times after we bought them and usually that is about all we wear them. We have our favorite clothing, but there is a really good chance we have more clothing just taking up space in our closets. It would not be surprising to discover several hundred dollars worth of clothing ready to find a new owner. If you are dieting, you will want to get rid of the clothes that do not fit anymore. The same can be said about weight gain as well.
Kid's rooms~Your children are not getting any younger and, if your kids are like mine, fads come and go frequently. I know my children were into Barney, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Barbie, Spiderman, Star Wars, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and numerous other things. Kid's items tend to market very well on Ebay, so you want to do a spot check of your kids rooms. Obviously, they will have clothing to get rid of. Ebay is a prime place to share these items with children, who will make use of these items.
Garages~Many men will view their tools like children view their toys. There is always some new gadget getting replaced, which means the garage will have a lot of items at your disposal for Ebay.
Electronics~At one point, Betamax players were hip. They were replaced by VHS players, which were replaced by Laserdisc players, and later DVD players. The same can be said about the changes from turnstiles to Ipods. People will have their favorites, which means there is always a market for your old electronic items.
Leave no stone unturned when looking for items around the house, because you never know who will be looking for something you have to offer.
You always want to keep an eye out for good deals. You can find them at garage sales, flea markets, local retail stores, and even online. Many people will buy cheap items on Ebay, knowing they can get a better price for the item they just purchased.
Garage sales are interesting places to look. I know a lot of people making money from the garbage they collect. This brings me to another point. One man's trash is another man's gold is as reasonable a thought as any. Certain areas are prime locations to watch. For example, you may want to keep an eye on an area with upper class homes, rather than looking for gold in a lower class community. I do not mean any disrespect to those of us living in the lower class, but it is a higher probability our trash is filled with items that have worn out their usefulness. I know a gentleman who spends his days working the upper class neighborhoods for items to put on Ebay. I have heard people say they are making thousands of dollars off of these neighborhoods.
Here is an important tip when prospecting these neighborhoods. Make sure you get the owners approval to use their trash or check with your local police department to find out whether or not it is legal to collect their trash. There are communities that do not allow people to rummage through people's trash. Do not assume it is okay to take their trash, it is always safest to ask first.
When searching for deal with local retailers, you want to know what the average retail price for a product is. This is critical to turn a purchase into a profit.
Watch your local papers for coupons and sales. These will play a pivotal role in your pocketbooks. Do not buy something just because it is on sale! This is important, because some stores have a higher markup than others. You could end up buying an item that was on sale at one place, only to later discover it was cheaper elsewhere. I do recommend wholesale clubs, because you can get several items at a lower price in bulk purchases. This leads me to another topic.
Research wholesale dealers well! Deciding to purchase items at a bulk price is not always the best way to turn a profit. However, the more items you sell makes it easier to find an actual manufacturer willing to do business with you rather than a distributor. The cheapest route to go is always through the manufacturers themselves. The only drawback with a manufacturer is that you have to have a certain amount of sales before they will even consider selling to you.
Dropshipping is another option available to new sellers on Ebay. These companies do not necessarily have a limitation set to deal with a new business owner. Dropshippers provide you with the photos and details of their products, which you can place on Ebay. You get the information from the buyer, where to ship their items, then you get that information to the dropshipper. The dropshipper then sends the item to the address you have stipulated. This means you do not have to have any products on hand to sell. All you are doing is accepting their payment and getting their shipping address. The dropshipper handles the rest. Once the item is shipped, you pay the dropshipper the wholesale price they gave you. The only major drawback to dropshipping is if the dropshipper's items are out of stock, then you could end up paying the customer back out of your own pocket. Then, you also have to pay for your advertising space on Ebay, as well. It could end up as a major loss for you.
Places to make money with our writing
People used to think they could never have a solid career as a writer. This has never been further from the truth than it is today. Everyone needs a solid writer in their life. I know, during my time in the military, several people that couldn't write a lick. I made some decent money writing letters home to the families, for the soldiers needing a little help.
A similar approach could be applied to good copywriting. A solid advertising motto, sound business plans, and many other writing techniques are needed within the business industry. A business owner with poor grammar and written abilities could be viewed as ignorant, even if they do know their product better than anyone else. It is all about the selling process. The more they make, the more we make. Simple math!
You still have screenwriters, poets, novelists, essay writers, journalists, cartoonists, advertisers, webwriters, and even greeting card companies are seeking out our professional assistance.
A similar approach could be applied to good copywriting. A solid advertising motto, sound business plans, and many other writing techniques are needed within the business industry. A business owner with poor grammar and written abilities could be viewed as ignorant, even if they do know their product better than anyone else. It is all about the selling process. The more they make, the more we make. Simple math!
You still have screenwriters, poets, novelists, essay writers, journalists, cartoonists, advertisers, webwriters, and even greeting card companies are seeking out our professional assistance.
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