Make money Selling on eBay

How to Profit from Your eBay Business

2006-02-21T11:55:00.000-05:00

How often do you get to hear this? -- "Sold! -- to the highest bidder!"

How much do you think eBay has changed the world does shopping?

So much! And from this peculiar way of doing shopping has made a lot of people do business in a more fun way -- auctions.

Auctioning off your service or products in eBay has become one of most profitable businesses discovered by the online world. Now if you're more than enticed by that here's your chance to get in on this retail hysteria-and it's not hard and inexpensive to get started. All you need is your and computer and a product/service people would need or simply want-and you are well on your way to doing business with eBay's $2 billion global marketplace.

Anything could almost be sold on eBay, from the common to the unusual. And any time of the day or night, your business could be ran, which makes this an excellent business to start part time.

Why should you run an eBay business?

a. It's way easy.

Only a little or no capital at all is needed to start an eBay business. If you start one you, as a seller, have relatively little to lose and could gain a lot. Within an hour you can start your eBay business. If you have no marketing skills, good news! You don't really need any. With only a few dollars, you could already get your product listed, and voila!

b. The world market is just a click away.

From anywhere in the world, you can operate your business. eBay has a $2 billion global marketplace and it's still growing.

c. eBay is an established business.

Unlike being a newbie Internet marketer, you don't need to fret on how you should drive traffic to your site since eBay already has all the traffic that you need.

d. You could support your hobby.

Oftentimes, it's the products the come from people's sheer interests that makes their eBay business really profitable.

e. Enjoy the comforts of your home.

With eBay, working from home has never been so easy and fun. More flexible hours and your family within your reach, what else could you ask for? It is one rewarding biz that allows you to have more time for other things that you'd like to do.

f. You're in control of your earnigs.

Depending on your products and services, you can take charge of how much you would like to earn.

g. Save on shipping.

Lots of drop shipping sources could ship the product for you.

h. You don't have to maintain an inventory.

You only have to take orders and of course, payment.

Those are just a few of the invaluable reasons why it is a smart move to start an eBay business. The list could go on and on. However, it is now more important to know the tricks of the trade. Read on to learn more.

Here are the things that you must know to start and do good in your eBay business:

1. Take time to understand all the kinds of online auctions.
2. Know what are the most profitable products/services to sell online
3. How to maximize eBay tools to improve your business
4. Learn the inside secrets from successful eBay entrepreneurs
5. Know how to fully-equip your eBay office
6. Grasp the essential key to eBay success

The top online auctions businessmen of eBay are earning as much as $500,000 annually. Surely, it won't hurt to want to reach that status, right? Just follow the bits of advice above and in no time you'd be raking in big bucks, too.

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Resources Box:

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by-step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions.

Claim Your Free eBook: "Top 10 eBay Secrets for Successful Selling" below:

http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com

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Want to Make Money on eBay This Holiday Season? New Resource Shows You How

2005-10-30T16:30:00.000-05:00

A previously unreleased cache of articles can teach virtually anybody how to make money by buying and selling goods on eBay.

Baltimore, MD (PRWEB) October 24, 2005 -- A newly free-to-access library of articles on The Auction Resource Network reveals insider tips to making a steady income by simply buying and selling on eBay.

“More than 724,000 people report that eBay is their primary or secondary source of income,” says Jason James, Founder of The Auction Resource Network. “My personal library of articles, now available free on Auction Resource Network, shares tips, strategies and success models to make thousands of dollars by buying and selling on eBay."

James is an eBay PowerSeller himself, one of a select group of eBay top sellers who sustain a consistent high volume of monthly sales and with 98% or better positive rating by other eBay users.

Selling on eBay, as James points out, is an instant home business, one that is easy to set up and inexpensive to run. eBay is now a global, vast marketplace where more than 30 million people buy and sell, and where more than $20 billion dollars worth of merchandise is sold every year. “That’s a lot of money, and there is no reason why anyone cannot get a share of that,” says James.

The free library of articles on Auction Resource Network (available at http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com/articles/) offers suggestions and tips on every facet of eBay trading – fighting marketplace fraud, selling car and car parts, drop shipping, auction sales techniques, traffic boosting techniques, Dutch auctions and selling ebooks. James also provides valuable advice on buying on eBay, helping readers navigate through PayPal, bidding strategies and the resolution of eBay disputes.

“The Internet is a bustling market today, and eBay is at the forefront of that commerce and trading,” says James. “With my articles as a resource, everybody can tap into that market and earn themselves a great income.”

See the entire collection of articles here: http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com/articles/

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The 10 Secrets to Make Money on eBay

2005-10-10T15:01:00.000-04:00

Some people think they can make money on eBay by setting a high price for something they perceive to have a high value. The problem is that their perception is skewed. Very often they assign an emotional value to the item and are disappointed when they can’t get their asking price.

You can avoid disappointment and even losing money by following these simple steps:

1) Don’t buy anything.
The object here is to make money on eBay. So don’t spend any. It often very tempting to surf eBay and buy something that you think you need.

Start out by having a "garage sale" or clean out the basement. In other words sell what you got. On eBay especially, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Old books, toys, tools, souvenirs, office supplies, electronics, etc. Anything you can find, you can sell. You will just have to set reasonable expectations on price.

2) Research pricing.
The biggest mistake made is setting an opening bid too high. It works against you in two ways. First, a prospective bidder may not even open your item. The opening price is listed on the summary. Second, it costs more to list it at a higher price.

3) Lose the sentimental value.
This is the toughest part. When we are selling mementos, memorabilia or other items, we tend to remember the circumstances upon which we got them. “Remember how long we had to stand in line for those concert tickets?” or “That was from my first car.”

If you can’t stand to part with it…don’t. Other people will not have the same attachment to it that you do. Price it as if you were going to go to the mall and buy it today.

Antiques and ephemera generate their own “sentimental value” by the provenance or history of the object. But it is unlikely that your ownership has added much to that.

4) Set a low starting price.
The best opening bid is one that is high enough to indicate some value. Bids starting at a penny or a dollar are often thought of as junk and a waste of time. But a hundred dollar item opening at ten dollars is a real bargain.

To determine the best starting bid. Surf eBay and the rest of the Internet for similar items. Look at both the new retail cost and the resale value. Then set your price low enough to get generate some excitement. It will rise to its proper value.

5) Place it for 7 days.
This is the standard listing. Listing it for a shorter period may seem to generate a bid sooner. In reality, it is missing out on a lot of potential buyers who will return when it’s close to closing time - not the best way to make money on eBay.

6) Make it pretty.
At the very least use a photo. No matter how well you describe you will ALWAYS benefit from the extra “thousand words”. It will result in more bids and higher bids (important to make money on eBay). Even if it looks like junk, the buyer knows exactly what they are getting.

Even better, use ad builder software to dress up your presentation.

7) Don’t buy any extras
BOLD listings, slide show, gift tags, etc. all add up to increase the fees associated with your listing. This only serves to reduce your profit.

8) Cover your costs
Do not estimate the shipping costs. Use actual costs. Be sure to include charges for the shipping materials, as well as postage. The best way is to use free materials supplied for Priority Mail. Using Stamps.com or a postage meter is convenient, but be sure your scale is accurate. More than once I’ve had to add postage at the post office.

9) Use Paypal.
The quicker you get paid, the quicker you make money on eBay. Paypal is instantaneous. No waiting for the “check is in the mail” and no waiting for the check to clear.

10) Do it often.
The more you sell, the more you make on eBay. Don’t worry that you only getting a few dollars at a time. Ten dollars a day, every day for a year will get you $3,650. Not a killing, but quite a nice vacation.

© Copyright 2003 Jim DeLillo
Reprint rights are granted if this entire resource box is included.

Jim DeLillo, is president of Pleiades Group, Inc. He has been an invited speaker for: American Management Association, Material Handling Society, APICS, and Independent Computer Consultants of America. Pleiades Group, Inc. implements improvements in efficiency by automating processes. Mr. DeLillo holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from NJIT.

The end of your make money on eBay auction

2005-10-10T14:53:00.001-04:00

==========The End of Your Auction===============

HOW ARE MY AUCTIONS DOING?

Just log-in to your eBay account and go to My eBay. Or visit: http://my.ebay.com On the left hand menu just click on "All Selling" and there you will have a snapshot of how your auctions are doing. This screen will list all of your auctions and tell you the numbers or bids you have for each item, the number of people who are "Watching" your items, and the time left before the bidding ends.

THE AUCTION'S OVER, NOW WHAT?

Well, you’ve sold your first items on eBay, and you are excited!! Now, you see that this stuff can really make you some money. The first thing you do is send an e-mail out to the winning bidder, letting them know where to send the money and any other special instruction that they may need.

Let them know that you will notify them when you receive their payment, and also that you will let them know when the item has been sent. This will accomplish two things, first it will help your money arrive more quickly, and second it will make the buyer feel more at ease. Everyone is a little cautious when dealing with someone new for the first time, so good communications are a must. If you are delayed in getting an item out for any reason, let the buyer know via e-mail.

Once you receive the buyer's payment, it is only fair to leave them some positive feedback on the system. After all, a lot of people use this factor to decide if they want to do business with someone. If they have been good to deal with, please let other people know, and perhaps they will do the same for you in return!

It does not hurt to mention where they can leave feedback for your auction and your service to them. You might leave a note in their package that you sent, or you might send a follow up email to them telling them when you shipped their product with a reminder that you would appreciate feedback.

Of course all of the tedious work I just mentioned above can be automatically done with a good auction management service. As I have mentioned in earlier parts of this guide I highly recommend Vendio for an auction management service.

WHAT IF THE HIGH BIDDER BACKS OUT?

There is not a lot you can do if a bidder backs out on you. What you can do first is contact eBay and let them know that the item did not sell for the high bid. Remember that eBay takes a percentage of the highest bid, so let them know that the highest bid backed out on you.

If the high bidder refuses to respond to e-mail inquiring about their reasons for backing out on the bid or is rude, then, by all means, leave negative feedback about the user on eBay. Most problems can be settled via e-mail, so be sure before you affect the online reputation of a buyer through negative feedback. The buyer's hard drive could have crashed or have been shorted out by lightening. Family emergencies can also cause users to be away from their computers. Also remember, that if you need to re-list your item on eBay, you can probably do it for free! Just look at the link that eBay points to in the e-mail it sends you after the auction is over if for any reason you need to re-list the item.

========Customer Service=============

Always answer a customer's email. Whether the customer is praising your product or complaining, whether he is offering his input or asking a question, he or she deserves an answer. Particularly on Ebay, where feedback really counts!

If you fail to answer emails, you may receive such comments as "unresponsive seller" or "ignored my repeated inquiries" in your feedback file. You will also earn yourself a poor reputation and lose respect in the online trading community.

My recommendation: Keep your answers short, courteous, and to the point. Provide all relevant information and be friendly, but don't get bogged down in long email conversations back and forth, and don't let the customer lead you on an irrelevant tangent. Your time is money. Also, you should create a classy signature file that inspires confidence in you as a seller and looks professional.

Finally, I strongly recommend creating a folder in your email program entitled "pre-written messages" in which you have template messages already created to answer common questions such as:

1) When has my item been shipped?

2) When did you receive payment?

3) How long does shipping take? Etc, etc.

Customize your pre-written messages to fit your particular product, as you will notice very similar questions and comments from customers as time passes. It is MUCH EASIER to send out a pre-written form email than write a specific answer to each inquiry. However, make sure that it doesn't sound like you are using a form email and make sure to add a personal touch when possible.

Once again, once you get going and selling items, you will definetely want to use an auction management service. The one I recommend is: Vendio

When considering email customer service, you must balance time, efficiency, and courteousness to maximize your working potential.

Congratulations! You made through my 14 day learn how to sell on eBay guide. As you can see there is a lot to learn when selling on eBay, but the fun you'll have and the payoff will be well worth it.

Now, its really up to you if you just want to make an extra $50 or $100 per week, or if you want to make this a full time venture. I know when I started it was with just selling household items, such as my old cell phone, and an old digital camera. After those 2 items sold, I was hooked! eBay is such an amazing website, and online auctions are such an amazing concept. The sky is truly the limit.

Good luck and I wish you the best of success!

Make money on eBay - eBay Feedback Secrets

2005-10-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

I've heard some Ebay users remark that feedback isn't all that important, that no one reads that stuff in the first place. Quite the contrary. While newbies and eBay novices will often overlook the feedback for lack of understanding and inexperience, almost ALL veteran buyers will view your feedback before buying your product. If they see comments such as "product not delivered," "this guy is a fraud," "terrible seller, would not trade with again." Then they will never purchase your merchandise. You need to have an outstanding feedback rating brimming with positive comments to really make huge profits on Ebay.

Also, you need a feedback rating of 50 or more to list Dutch auctions or to 10 more to feature an auction. The way to ensure quality feedback is simply to deliver a quality product quickly, efficiently, and honestly. If you are looking for a "quick fix" or a "hit and run" scheme then eBay is not the place for you.You can build a hugely profitable and legitimate online business using internet auctions without defrauding anyone!

There will always be a few rogue customers who claim they never received their product or you were too slow to deliver it, or else were unhappy with what they received.

We all know that the customer is NOT always right. My recommendation for dealing with such problem buyers is simply to offer a 30-day no-questions-asked refund on any physical product that you are selling (services, information, and software excluded for obvious reasons). If they persist in causing problems, just ignore them. One or two negative feedbacks won't destroy you, 10 or 20 will.

Make money on eBay - Get More People to See Your Ad

2005-10-10T14:52:00.000-04:00

What you can do is set up your own web site. It may not get as many hits as the auctions at eBay, but it’s a good place to list items that are harder to sell, or that you want a set price for! Your own web site will give you total control over the environment. And, although you probably will get only a fraction of the traffic that eBay does, you can leave the items up for as long as you want, and you can set your own price. If you want a higher price, and are willing to wait for it, you can be successful running your own web site.

We’ve talked about getting free web space before, from such companies as Geocities, and these can be fine to use for a small web site to list a few products with your e-mail address. If you decide to get a little more involved, you may want to go out and find a company that rents web space that you can use. Most offer a large site for about $15 to $25 per month. These sites will offer you the ability to use a custom domain name, i.e.. www.mycompany.com, and will offer things like e-mail, on-line support, shopping cart programs etc. You would do well to get your own domain name and then find a web host for your own domain. Two popular places to get your domain name are:
http://www.godaddy.com
http://www.directnic.com

An easier option is to create an online auction store with eBay. The costs to create this type of store are low, and the fees to list multiple products is generally much lower than listing individual items at auctions. I try to have a good mix of store items, and online auction items. To open your own eBay store simply visit the link below and click on "Open a Store" http://ebay-stores.auctionresourcenetwork.net

TIMING IS EVERYTHING!

An eBay ad generally gets the most attention on its first day posted, and in the hours before the auction ends. I have found there are certain really optimum times to begin and end an auction.

In my experience Saturday and Sunday afternoons have the heaviest viewer traffic on eBay. So, I suggest that you post your auction on Saturday or Sunday between the hours of noon and 3:00 p.m. (prime time viewing hits its peak between 3-4:00 p.m. Allow it to run a seven day course so that it ends during these same high exposure viewing hours.

10 things you can do to increase your eBay auction success

2005-10-10T14:50:00.000-04:00

As with any business, there are always paid bells and whistles
you can add to spice things up and to try and generate more
sales. I have compiled a list of 10 items that can really
help you increase your eBay bids and sales. Enjoy.

1) Use eBay research software. If theres just 1 thing you learn
from me, it's that market research is vitally important when you are
selling on eBay. By seeing what has sold, what it sold for, how many
bids its got, what category it was in, what made the listings unique,
etc you can virtually guarantee your success. There is a product that
does all this and more. It's called "Hot Item Finder" It's really
like having a secret weapon. I highly recommend this software and I
definetely recommend taking a look. You can get more information here:

http://hotitemfinder.auctionresourcenetwork.net

2) Add audio to your auctions. Believe it or not there are services
that allow you to add audio to your auction listings. Imagine how
powerful it would be if a potential bidder visits your auction and they
hear your voice describing the product in detail. This will really
help build trust, and increase your sales. I highly recommend a
service called "Sellers Voice" They specialize in adding audio to
online auctions. You can visit their website with this link:

http://sellersvoice.auctionresourcenetwork.net

3) Like I have mentioned many times in this guide, trust is a very
important aspect of selling items at online auctions. Thats why
you need a 3rd party service like "Square Trade" to help establish
this trust. They basically insert a logo into all of your auction
listings saying that you are a trusted seller, letting people know
about your company etc. Square Trade is eBay certified and is truly
one of the must have add-on services. A large percentage eBay sellers
are Square Trade certified. You can access their website with the
link below:

http://www.squaretrade.com

4) Add live chat to your auctions! Imagine if a potential buyer came
to one of your auction listings and they had a question. In the past
they would have to email you and wait several hours if not days for
a response. Not anymore, with a program called "Mighty Chat" your
potential bidders can click a link within your auctions and chat
with you instantly. I can speak enough about how powerful this is.
You can visit Mighty Chat here:

http://www.mightychat.com

5) Buy professionally designed auction templates. For just a few dollars
you can start posting beautiful, bid pulling auction listings. Using
templates is a cheap and easy to way increase your auction success.
A well known service called "Bid Boosters" provides these templates.
You can visit their website here:

http://www.bidboosters.com

6) Offer alternative payment methods to your bidders. A large percentage
of your winning bidders will pay for their winning bid with PayPal, but
not everybody will want to use this method. It's best to offer
alternative payment methods to your bidders. For example

http://www.bidpay.com is a very popular service that allows your
winning bidders to pay you via a Western Union type of money order.
Also there is http://auctionpayments.checkfree.com with this service
winning bidders can pay for their winning bid via a standard check.
People always like to have options and these are 2 great ones.

7) Check out eBay Pulse to take a look at eBays most searched words and
most watched items. As eBay puts it:
"A daily snapshot of The World's Online Marketplace"
Just click the following link to learn more:

http://pulse.ebay.com

8) Increase your auction sales by attracting new customers and
increasing your current customer loyalty. There is a great service
called "Auction Contact" that automatically lets your customers know
about your auctions and merchandise. Basically how it works is, every
week your customers receive your customized newsletter listing your
auctions and providing a direct link to each auction. Most importantly,
Auction Contact is affordable, easy to use, and fully automated.
You can visit their website here:

http://auctioncontact.auctionresourcenetwork.net

9) Along the lines of increasing customer loyalty, there is a new
service called "Pay Codes" that allows you to offer your customers
coupons to save them money on future PayPal payments to you. PayCodes
is an ideal way to reward your customers and attract new buyers.
A very powerful tool. You can visit their website with the link below:

http://paycodes.auctionresourcenetwork.net

10) It is vital to use an auction management service. This will
save you a lot of time which you can use to concentrate on
making more money. A good auction management service will
automate such things as emailing your winning bidders and leaving
feedback automatically. I highly recommend a product called Vendio.
You can visit their website with this link:

Vendio

Make money on eBay - Trial and Error - It Works

2005-10-10T14:49:00.000-04:00

As I have indicated, trial and error is one major tool for success. It works, pure and simple. Don't be afraid to try out new ideas or to feature dozens of your most popular products. Find out what sells and what doesn't - continually order new products from your supplier that you feel will become big hits on Ebay.

Do not get into a rut selling the same thing over and over again; you will saturate the market after a few months. The most important use for trial and error on Ebay is to use the regular auctions as a testing ground for your new merchandise to determine its sales percentage and corresponding marketability, as well as its profit margin.

You can then make an educated decision as to whether or not to feature the auction or choose the Dutch option, or both. Impulse selling is much like impulse buying - you regret it soon afterwards.

Don't use the fancy options on Ebay until you first use trial and error on all of your products.

Make money on eBay Market Analysis

2005-10-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

Market analysis is very important to determine what sells and what doesn't. When you're paying Ebay listing fees for featured auctions or listing fees for category featured Dutch auctions, you need to continually evaluate the profit potential, profit margin, and sales percentage of your products as relates to the length of auction, type of auction (featured, featured in category, bold face title, etc.), description & sales pitch, price, and a number of other factors.I'm not going to provide you with a complete plan for performing a market analysis because this isn't an economic manual, but I will give you a few tips. You'll have to do some pretty tiresome calculations by hand. In particular, you should evaluate the following points FOR EACH OF YOUR PRODUCTS:

·Sales percentage (number of listings for a certain item / number of sales)

·Profit margin (average profit of the item)

·Profit potential (largest profit from the sale of the item)

·Category sales percentage (sales percentage for a certain item listed in different categories. Which category does it sell best in?)

Featured auction profit margin vs. category featured profit margin (does your profit margin from featured auctions for a certain item exceed your profit margin for category featured auctions? If so, you should feature the item. If not, you should only category feature it)

Performing a market analysis is one of the most important ways to maximize your net revenue once you have listed enough auctions to collate plenty of raw data.

UPDATE: "Hot Item Finder" software program is an unbelievable product to conduct this eBay research. You can extract and analyze licensed eBay data and statistics to virtually ensure your auction success by seeing what has sold, for how much, how many bids it got, etc. Visit the website here: http://www.hotitemfinder.com

Dutch Auctions - Your Key to Making it Big on eBay!

2005-10-10T14:38:00.000-04:00

If you're a Low Volume Seller, you need to run multiple Dutch auctions to really make a killing on Ebay. Consider this example; you sell designer watches on Ebay for $150.00 each and you have 200 different types of watches. Therefore, you decide to run 200 separate featured in category auctions in the Jewelry and Jewelry > Watches categories.

If you don't make use of the Dutch option and list only one watch at a time, then your maximum potential for sales each week is 200 watches.If your profit margin is $75.00 and your average percentage sales equals 60%, then you're weekly income is $9,000. Not bad, but not $100,000 per month either!

Now let's modify that example. Instead of listing 200 auctions of one watch at a time, you should instead list 200 Dutch auctions selling 100 watches at a time for each style of watch you carry. You would still have 200 auctions online each week, but your sales potential jumps from 200 to TWENTY THOUSAND (200 auctions x 100 Dutch watches in each auction = 20,000). Obviously, you won't sell 20,000 watches each week.If your product is popular, you might sell 5-10 watches on average from each Dutch auction you feature. Now let's recalculate your weekly income after running the Dutch auctions:

10 watches x 200 auctions x profit margin $75.00 = $150,000. A little better than $9,000, isn't it? To be on the safe side, let's allow for a FIFTY PERCENT MARGIN OF ERROR in our calculations. Perhaps you only sell 5 watches per auction, or you only make $37.50 per watch, or you only list 100 instead of 200 different types of products.

You would still make $75,000 per week! Even if we allowed for ANOTHER fifty percent margin of error on the second calculation, you'd make $37,500 per week!

As you can see, Dutch auctions are the key to success on Ebay. When you combine the Dutch option with the featured or category-featured option, then you're playing a winning game. High Volume Sellers need not worry about Dutch Auctions in general, but Low Volume Sellers (the most common and often the wealthiest) must use this option to rake in the profits!

Please Note: An eBay member must have a feedback rating of 50 or more in order to place a Dutch Auction and have been with eBay for 60 days or be ID verified (See http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/id_verify.html for more information.)

To Feature or Not to Feature Your Make money on eBay Auction

2005-10-10T12:30:00.000-04:00

To Feature or Not to Feature. Featured auctions get more bids. They also cost more - a lot more. Before deciding whether or not to feature your item, you need to evaluate its popularity. You should perform a basic market analysis.

There are 3 types of featured auctions - those which that are Gallery Featured ($19.95), those of which that are Featured Plus! ($19.95), and those of which that are Home Page Featured ($39.95).

By choosing Gallery Featured, your item will periodically appear in the special Featured section above the general Gallery. Your picture will be almost double the size of non-featured Gallery pictures, and will also appear in the general Gallery.

Featured Plus! gives your listing prominent placement in the category list and search results. Your item will be featured prominently in the Featured Items section of the category list you choose for the item. It will also appear in the regular, non-featured item list.

With Home Page Featured, your listing has a chance to rotate into a special display on eBay's Home page. The Home Page featured fee is charged per listing, and is in addition to other fees such as insertion fees and Final Value Fees.

Note: An eBay member must have a feedback rating of 10 or more in order to place a Featured Auction or a Featured Plus Auction.

Your Make Money on eBay Strategy

2005-10-05T09:33:00.000-04:00

The key to making enormous profits on Ebay is to develop a detailed and efficient strategy long before you list your first item. First you need to know what type of product you want to sell, where to find your niche market on Ebay, and develop a profile of your average customer. In addition, you should already have determined which categories are appropriate for your product. Now you are ready to set your strategy for the business. Read this part of the guide very, very carefully. I'm going to present you with a strategy that you can apply to virtually any product you wish to sell on Ebay. I will generalize the outline so you can fill in the specifics related to your own particular niche market and merchandise.

There are two types of sellers on Ebay which I will call High Volume Listers and Low Volume Listers. High Volume Listers are those who list more and keep more than 10 auctions online at a time. Low Volume Listers keep fewer than 10 auctions online at a time.

The profit margin of the product you sell determines which category you will fit into.

For example, if you sell real estate and make $10,000 per sale, you may only need to list a few properties each week on Ebay to make a real killing with your internet business. The same applies for the sale of expensive jewelry, automobiles, and other items with a large profit margin. However, if you sell magazines or other inexpensive items you may only make $5-10 per sale. In this case, you would need to list hundreds of items at a time to make large profits, and thus you would become a High Volume Lister. I know what you're thinking - why would anyone go through the effort of listing so many items when it seems so easy to list a few large items and make a fortune? The answer cuts to the heart of internet sales itself: ONLINE BUYERS ARE MOST WILLING TO SPEND UNDER $50.00 FOR A PRODUCT. This makes sense - would you pay thousands for something you have never seen? Another reason that High Volume Listers are more common and often make more money on Ebay is that it is very easy to buy inexpensive items at wholesale prices, but very difficult to buy real estate or automobiles at wholesale prices.

Armed with this information, you must consider the product you're selling and make an intelligent, informed decision on whether to become a High Volume or a Low Volume Seller. If you have plenty of free time to devote to your new business, I recommend you opt for the High Volume option. But if you are an Ebay seller at nights and on weekends, you may wish to start off with the Low Volume option until your business really takes off. Again, only you know best which option to choose based on the amount of time you have available and the profit margin of your merchandise.

Once you determine what type of seller you will be, you are half-way to developing a sales strategy on Ebay. The next step is to integrate everything you have learned so far in this guide and project your selling strategy into the future. For example, let's assume you have decided to sell jewelry on Ebay. Here is a test case for consideration: You have identified your niche market and found the associated categories. You know that your buyers will probably spend $50.00-100.00 per purchase and you realize that the average profit of your auctions will be about $60.00.You have plenty of time and your profit margin is low, so you decide to become a High Volume Seller on Ebay and choose to list 100-200 auctions per week. You estimate that 70% of your auction will end with winning bids, which is the eBay average. Based on this prediction, you calculate your weekly income at $6,300. You have a wholesale account set up with your jewelry supplier and have already purchased enough inventory to cover your first week of Ebay sales. You plan to re-list every auction as soon as it ends and place one weekly order to fill your inventory along with one weekly outgoing mailing to your buyers. Your basic sales strategy is set and you are ready to begin listing your auctions!

In the example above, you will notice that the seller thought of EVERYTHING before listing a single item, making sure that he/she was prepared for the task ahead and establishing a solid game-plan. Before beginning, you should project your sales strategy into the future and run through all possible problems, resolving them in your mind. If it helps, write out a paragraph like the one above and analyze it for errors of logic. KNOW YOUR SALES STRATEGY BEFORE YOU BEGIN.

I strongly recommend listing all of your auctions as regular auctions before you begin. Do not feature them or use the Dutch Auction option at this time. Test out your sales strategy and evaluate the popularity of your product in its niche market for several weeks before continuing. The rest of this guide contains advanced tips designed for sellers who have mastered the concepts already set forth and who have performed a basic market analysis of their products based on the results of several weeks of auctions.

Please note, when and if you ever decide on Dutch Auctions (the selling of more of the same item at one time to the highest bidders) An eBay member must have a feedback rating of 50 or more in order to use the Dutch Auction Feature or be ID Verified. (See http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/id_verify.html for more information.

The Killer eBay Auction Ad

2005-10-02T22:51:00.000-04:00

This is what is all comes down to, you take everything that you have learned and you put it to good use. You know what you want to sell, you know how you want to describe it, you know what your starting bid will be, and you have a picture or two up on the Internet that you want to use in your ad. You are primed for action!

This next step can really make or break any ad that you have come up with. If you’ve looked around eBay or other auction web sites, you couldn’t tell one from another. You know what that means? You probably are not inclined to buy from those ads.

You did see a few ads through, that you thought "wow that's cool." You know the ones that used different fonts, in different sizes, with bold letters, or different colors that really caught your eye. And they used a great photo of the product, and even some cool graphics, right? And, those are not only the ads that people remember; they are the ads that people BUY FROM!

If you take the extra time to make your ad look good, the people who are bidding on the item will realize that they are dealing with someone who cares about what they are selling. They are dealing with someone who will go the extra mile to make sure that they are happy with their purchase!

Many sellers have decided to go the extra step and create personal Web pages, which can include information about them, their auctions, and the kind of items they specialize in. It's a good way for buyers to get a better understanding of whom they're dealing with. Many Internet Service Providers offer a small amount of free Web space on which to host a personal page. In addition, Web-building software, tutorials, and HTML books make it extremely easy for even the most technologically challenged to be the masters of their own domain space.

Ever wonder how the HTML pros do it? Well, it's very easy to discover the tricks of the trade whenever your browser is on a given Web page. If you're using Internet Explorer, click on View on the menu bar and then select Source. If you're a Netscape user, click on View on the menu bar and then select Page Source. This should bring up a Notepad file in which you'll be able to view all the HTML commands and codes that went into the creation of the page you're visiting. It's a good way to familiarize yourself with all the different elements that go into a Web page.

FREE COUNTER

We can see how many people have actually bid on our auctions, but how do we know how many people have stopped to look at our ad for the item we're selling? You can obtain a FREE counter for your eBay ad when you create a listing.

However, if you wish to have more details stats about your auction listings a program called "Sellathon" will tell you such things as: How users found your auction, what search terms were used, how much time people spend looking at your auctions, and more. Use the link below to get more information on Sellathon:
http://sellathon.auctionresourcenetwork.net

Using Photos to Increase Your eBay Auction Sales

2005-10-01T09:16:00.000-04:00

It may be a cliché that a picture is worth a thousand words, but it is one hundred percent true! A simple picture included with your ad can increase your sales by over two hundred percent! Like I’ve said before, people are not comfortable bidding on an item unless they are absolutely sure what they are bidding on. A picture gives the buyer a strong visual image of what they are buying.

Take a look at the items that have the most bids in almost any category on the auction web site, and I’ll bet you that the ads that have pictures have more bids, and also have higher bids than the ads that don’t include a picture! It’s the simple fact that seeing is believing! Ok, so you're sold on an idea that a picture will help your item sell. Now your asking yourself, how do I get a picture up on the Internet? Well, that’s a good question, and this next section is dedicated to showing you exactly how to take a picture of your item and post it to the Internet.

STEP 1- GET THE PICTURE INTO YOUR COMPUTER

Ok, so this may be a no brainer, even for the novice, but there are a few different ways that you can accomplish this. The first is the old fashioned way, and that is to use a normal camera, take a photo, and then take it to your local photo shop and get it developed. Once you get the photo developed, you need to get the photo scanned into your computer. You can either buy a scanner at you local computer shop for approximately $80.00 and up, or you can take your photos to many local copy shops like Kinko’s and they can scan your photos for you, and save them on floppy disk or CD. Or, you can search eBay and see if anyone has a scanner for a fantastic price. Getting feedback as a buyer, also gives you the credibility that you need as a seller.

The other alternative you can use is a digital camera, which will take a photo and download it immediately to your computer. These cameras are great to use, and the prices have gone way down. You can find them under $100.00 now. Of course, if you can afford a high quality one, then you will have sharper pictures. A company called Tiger Direct has a great selection of digital cameras as very low prices.

STEP 2-PROCESS THE PHOTO

Ok, you’ve got your photo saved on your computer in either a .gif or .jpeg file. Next thing you may need to do is process the photo in a graphic program. Programs like Paint Shop Pro (http://www.jasc.com/psp.html) or LView Pro (http://www.lview.com) are available as shareware on the Internet. You can use them to do things like crop the photo using only a portion of the photo with your item. You can use them to adjust thing like the brightness and contrast of the photo, or even add some cool text over the photo to create the perfect ad! Programs like Adobe’s PhotoShop is a full blown graphics program that will help automate tasks like processing photos and adding some cool effects to both your photos and your text. You dont have to process your photo at all if you don't want it. It will just look neater if you do.

Take a look at the photo of the item you want to sell. The first thing you need to do is crop the photo to only show the item that you are selling. Each program will do this fairly simply. You need to click on the tool that selects a rectangular area of your photo. You then need to draw a box only around the area you wish to keep, and then select crop command from the main toolbars image or edit menu.

Then you should go and adjust the brightness, contrast and sharpness of the image as needed. Try to get as much visible detail as possible. Remember that the better the picture is, the more bids you will get!

You can also add text directly over the picture of the item. This may or may not be useful for you, since you can type in as much text as you want before or after the image on web page. If you do want to add text, simply click on the text button, which is the "T" button in 99% of graphics programs, and select an area on your photo and type away!

STEP 3- POST THE PHOTO TO THE WEB

All right, the photo is taken, processed, and ready to be used in an advertisement on the auction web. The next step you have to do is to actually upload the picture to a web site. If you’re on AOL or a lot of other Internet Service Providers, you most likely have some web space allotted to you through them. You can check with your provider to find out how much space you have, and how to access it. There are also many auction friendly images hosting providers that provide image hosting for a small monthly fee.

You can get reliable image hosting for only $4.99 a month from a company called MyPhotoSpace.com. The link below will take you there: http://myphotospace.auctionresourcenetwork.net

Once you have someplace to put your picture, you have to upload the picture. Upload, for those of you who don’t know, simply means to send that picture file from your computer to your web space. There are a variety of programs, which are called FTP programs that you can use to transfer files over the Internet. You can easily find them for download on the Internet from places like http://www.tucows.comor http://www.download.com

The program called WS_FTP is very popular, and easy to use. You can download a copy directly from the manufacturer by going to their website at: http://www.ipswitch.com/Products/WS_FTP

Once you have your FTP program, you simply log onto your server and choose the files you want to send to the web site. For example, let’s say that your picture file is called "auction1.jpg" and it shows the item you want to sell. You would start up your FTP program, choose the directory on your computer that your picture file is in, select your file "auction1.jpg" and press the button to transfer it to your web space.

There is a great tutorial on how to get started using FTP at: http://www.ftpplanet.com/tutorial

Entering the following text to your auction's description can now access your photo: (This is just an example..) http://www.yourhost.com/images/imagename.jpg

Creating the Perfect eBay Auction Listing

2005-09-28T17:55:00.000-04:00

THE TITLE GETS YOU NOTICED

Ok, you’ve been to the auction web site, and you’ve taken a look around. It’s a lot like looking through the classified section of a newspaper, except for the fact that you have to click on the title to see the rest of the ad. It can be a very confusing task to find exactly what you are looking for. It is a virtual maze as you try to weed out just the items that you are looking for. There’s so many items that the information overload makes you want to scream! It’s your job as a seller to help your prospective bidder cut through the red tape and get your ad viewed by as many people as you can! There are a few ways to do this, so let’s get to it! Like I just said in the last paragraph, in order for someone to see your ad, they have to go through the trouble to take their mouse, put it over your title and click on it! If they do not do this one thing, I do not care how good your item is, and I do not care how good your ad is, the simply reality is you are not going to sell a darn thing to them! Therefore, one of the most important things that you will do is create a title for your ad.

USE RELEVANT WORDS IN YOUR TITLE

The thing that I feel is the MOST IMPORTANT when coming up with your title is to include relevant words. Ok, this sounds really stupid, but you would be surprised at the amount of titles that tell you ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. You must be extremely specific in your titles about exactly what you are selling. If you have an autographed Frank Sinatra photo, don’t use the title "Frank Sinatra." I don’t care if it is in the autograph section of the web site, this is not descriptive enough, and a lot of people may miss your ad. Use something more like "RARE Frank Sinatra AUTOGRAPHED LP" and you will be amazed at the difference in the amount of bids you will get. Remember that a lot of people will use the search feature to find the items that they are looking for, and make sure you include the words that they are most likely to search for in your title! I’m a big NASCAR racing fan and absolutely love to purchase die-cast model cars over the Internet. If I am searching for the different paint schemes used by a particular driver, they had better have the driver's name in the title, or I am going to miss it! So remember, think about what your buyer is searching for, and give it to them in the title! USE WORDS THAT WILL GRAB THE BUYERS ATTENTION

The other thing you want to do in the title is use words that will GRAB the attention of the buyer. After all, they have literally thousands and thousands of titles to look at, and you want them to take a closer look at yours. How do you get their attention?

First, you can pay an extra fee to get your title listed in a bold face font. This is an easy way to set your ad apart from the rest of the ads that are out there. And while the bold face is a quick and easy way to get more attention, I don’t believe that it is always the best way. The best thing, along with being descriptive, is using POWER WORDS.

What are power words? They’re things that you can use to add a sense of urgency to your items. Words such as RARE, LIMITED EDITION, UNIQUE, ONE-OF-A-KIND, BEAUTIFUL, will help you get attention. Other words like GREAT, UNBELIEVABLE, STUNNING, AWESOME will also help get your buyer to notice what you are selling.

Look at these two titles:

Bruce Springsteen Autograph

"RARE SPRINGSTEEN AUTOGRAPHED GUITAR-AWESOME!"

Ok which one grabs your attention? I’d say that 98% of you said that the second title did, the other 2% of you need to take another look! There are a few things going on in the second title, the most noticeable is that the whole thing is using capital letters. Now, this is a great way to make your items stand out, but sometimes it can be overdone. Occasionally it can take away from the emphasis on what you want the buyer to see. Take a look at this title:

"RARE SPRINGSTEEN Autographed GUITAR Awesome!"

This can also be a very effective title. The buyer will see what is the most important in the title first, which is "Springsteen Guitar." Remember no matter how you use capitals and lower case letters, you want your title to stand out from the rest.

Many sellers like to use characters in their title, things like @, #, $, %, etc. to draw extra attention. Sometimes they look cheesy, and sometimes they work. That all depends on the product, and the type of buyer that you are trying to attract. Try a few different things and see what is most effective. Keep records on how well each individual ad title is received, and use the style that is most successful! Remember, when it comes to the title: be descriptive, use exciting attention grabbing words, and set your ad apart from the rest!

WRITING DESCRIPTIONS THAT SELL

Once you’ve gotten someone to take a look at your ad; you want him or her to bid on the item you are offering! You need to make your product look as appealing as possible and you want to motivate the person to place a bid immediately. After all, if the person leaves without placing a bid, there’s a good chance that they will not be back.

BE SPECIFIC

There are a few things that are important in the ad itself. The first, is the overall description of what you are selling. BE SPECIFIC. This is the most important thing in your description. Do not leave any room for error on what is for sale. Get as graphic and specific as you can to describe your item. If there is anything special about the item, list it. List any special features of the item. People do not feel comfortable bidding on something of which they are not 100% sure.

LIST ANY IMPERFECTIONS THAT THE ITEM HAS

If there are any flaws in the item, like a dent or scratch, you have to list that when you are selling the item to protect yourself. As long as you are 100% specific on what you are selling, you will save yourself a lot of time and hassle if someone decides to return the product to you because they were not aware of a defect.

Even if you are using a picture in your ad, and we do highly recommend using one. Write your description for an ad without a picture. That way the picture can be there to totally reinforce what you are selling, but will not rely on the photo.

Once you have written an accurate and honest description of the item, add your own creative touch. Again, use wording that will motivate the buyer to bid on your item. If the item is difficult to find, use words like rare, one of a kind, and unique. If it’s brand new in a box, let the buyer know that. Include things that may seem obvious to you, because the potential buyer may not be aware. This helps the buyer feel more comfortable in dealing with you.

BE CREATIVE

When writing your ad you want to paint pictures with your words. Use adjectives like great, awesome, beautiful, etc. to describe your item. Paint a visual picture that makes your item irresistible! Tell a story with the item if you can. Explain what the item is, and what it can do for the buyer. If you are selling a cute little teddy bear, play it up. Put something in the ad about the bear looking for a good new home, and some new friends to play with. Not only will the buyer get a kick out of the ad, they will be more likely to bid on the item if it is something that they are looking for. Going along with the theory that people do not want to bid on something that they are not 100% sure of, people are much more likely to bid on an item if they like the person that is selling the item. While it certainly is not easy to convey your personality through an eBay ad, it does not hurt to try!

Deciding What to Sell to Make Money on eBay

2005-09-23T20:13:00.000-04:00

Buying and selling things is not new. As a matter of fact, people have been buying and selling things in one form or another ever since time began. It is part of life. We all need or want things that we can’t provide for ourselves, so we have to find someone who can supply us with the items, and we pay them to provide us with these items that we need or want.

Deciding what you want to sell is not as easy as it looks. There are two main types of items that you will be selling. The first and most obvious are those items that are lying around your house that you want to get rid of, you know, all of those CD’s that you don’t listen to anymore, that old toy you got when you were a kid, things like that. These items are great to sell to make some extra money, but they are a one time sale item, meaning once they are sold, they are gone and so is your chance at a recurring income!

The second category of items that you will be selling is a set of products that you create or buy in order to sell them. These can be a great source of income, things as simple as your mother’s recipe for chocolate chip cookies or an ebook about Stock Market Investing. These types of items are things you can sell over and over again. They may not bring in as much per item as other items, but you can sell them in a great quantity. Let’s look at each of these item types in a little more detail.

ONE OF A KIND ITEMS - ITEMS THAT YOU OWN

First, we'll take the one of a kind items. These are the items that are taking up space in your closet, the things that you bought and don’t have a use for anymore, or the things you’ve gotten as presents that have never been taken out of the box! These items can put some fast cash in your pocket, as well as open up some much-needed space in your closets!

There is really no limit to the type of things that you currently own that you can auction off. Just by taking a look at an auction web site like eBay of course, you will see people selling everything from toys, computer equipment, photo equipment, antiques, books, clothing, and even automobiles and homes! Your choices for what you can actually sell are unlimited!

ITEMS THAT YOU CAN SELL IN QUANTITY

Now, let’s take a look at the other type of items. These are the items that you can sell in quantity. These can be things that you purchase in quantity in order to sell. There are a lot of collectibles that are widely available in certain areas that aren’t available worldwide. These can be sports figures, dolls, trading cards, etc. Anything that you can buy and sell at a modest profit is fair game, remember people on eBay DEMAND low prices. Better to sell 100 books for $5 than 20 for $10. And of course you can buy products in bulk from wholesalers to re-sell on eBay. For example, computers, digital cameras, and these types of in demand items. But like I said, make sure you are getting a good deal when you buy, and your profits will be higher.

HOW TO DECIDE WHAT TO SELL

How do you decide what types of items that you want to sell? Well, there are a few different ways to do this. The first thing I would do is make up a list of the items that you are considering for sale. Look at the items carefully, and write down information such as a description of the item, what you paid for it, the condition it is in, etc. Being very specific here will help you greatly if you decide to list any of these items for auction. Sometimes the smallest details can mean much greater prices, and much greater profits for you!

Now, take your list; sit down at your computer and search eBay for the types of items that you have come up with. Now, this may not be effective for that one of a kind BABE RUTH autograph. For about 85% of the things you want to sell, however, it should give you a pretty good idea of the market value of the item, as well as consumer interest.

So, fire up your internet browser, get to www.ebay.com and enter your search terms and you're on your way.

In the search box type a relevant term. If you want to know what 'U2 GREATEST HITS' CD is worth type "U2 GREATEST HITS" If you’re looking into selling your VCR, simply type "VCR" into the search categories at eBay.

As you can see, with searching for the proper words, it is very simple to see if the types of items you want to sell are already being sold at auctions. When you find the listings, you can learn a few very important things. The first is, you can get a good idea on what the market price is. By seeing what other people have sold similar items for, you can decide whether or not you want to sell the item, as well as what you should expect to get for the item when it sells! When you search, you can look at auctions that have recently been completed, as well as current ones, to see what items similar to yours are bringing in for other people. After you find out all of this good information, you can now set out with an idea of what you should bring in for selling your items.

The other thing you will learn by searching the web site for other similar products is the amount of people that want the type of item that you are selling. The auction web site lists the amount of bids along with all of its items. This will tell you how many people are bidding on those items. Obviously, if you have fifty different people bidding on an item, it’s a lot more apt to bring in money than an item that is being bid on by only one or two people. This is not an iron-clad rule, though, since you only need one bidder/buyer to make money on your item!!

The best way to get started in the market of buying and selling is to decide how much money you can afford to invest right off the bat. I would recommend starting with at least two hundred dollars or so to begin your empire. It’s a small investment, and you should be able to double your money pretty quickly!

Then, you need to decide exactly what you want to buy and sell. Your choices here are virtually unlimited, as you have already seen. Here’s a good way to begin. If you have a hobby, or an expertise that gives you an edge in particular field, use it to your advantage! If you know computers, you might want to buy and sell computer equipment. If you’re a camera nut, then maybe photographic equipment would be your cup of tea! Remember, if you have an edge over 90% of the other people at the auction site, you will probably be able to spot the bargains that you can buy and then re-sell at a profit!

Another way to find out good items to buy and sell is to check out the auction web site to see what other people are buying and selling! Just because someone else is selling the product like yours does not mean that you should not try marketing your own version of it. As a matter of fact, just the opposite is true! After all, if someone is already successful selling something, you probably can be too! Imagine that everyone looked at HENRY FORD’S first car and said, "gee what a great idea… Too bad it’s been done, no need for me to try." We would all be driving Model A's if that was the case!

CREATE ITEMS THAT YOU CAN PRODUCE & SELL YOURSELF

Another type of item that can be extremely successful is something that you can produce on your own. Things like grandma’s recipes, a "how-to" manual on hooking up your VCR, etc. These are the items that can offer you immense profits! I know, you’re asking yourself "what kind of item can I produce?" It’s simple, look at what you are good at and use it. If you can make the best brownies in town, sell your recipe. If you’re the guy everyone calls when they can’t figure it out how to do something on their computer, write a how to manual on that! Look at all of the books that are available "for dummies" on the store shelves. They sell like crazy, because everybody needs help to tell them how to do something! So take what you are good at and MARKET IT! People will gladly pay $5.00 to $10.00 for the information that they really need. After all, it is a very small price to pay in order to understand something, or to better yourself. And, while $5.00 or $10.00 is a relatively small amount for a buyer, it can really add up quickly for the seller!

If you’ve ever watched the TV Food Network, and I know I watch it too much sometimes, you may have seen the show the Essence of Emeril. Chef Emeril Lagasse has a saying that I think is very relevant to what you want to do with selling you items on eBay. Emeril says, "We’re not building a rocket ship here!" And, we are not building a rocket ship, nor are we reinventing the wheel. What you want to do is take a simple idea and nurture it, build it into something that you can offer the buyer. What you want to do is look for items that go for people’s "hot buttons".

While it may be true that everybody is different, it is also just as true that everyone is the same in a few ways. Everyone wants to make more money! I don’t care if you are near broke or Mr. Microsoft, Bill Gates himself; everyone wants to make more money! Everyone wants to be smarter. These are universal things that you can use to make yourself money!

Reference materials, like what you are reading right now, are great items to sell! Trust me, they are not always easy to put together, and can challenging to get off of the ground! But, the payoff comes when you are finished! Not only can you sit back and feel you have accomplished something, you can now sell that one item over and over again and you can feel good making money by helping other people accomplish something that is important to them!

If you do decide to write a book, check your local print shops for a good deal on printing them up. When you are dealing with a lot of copies, and we certainly hope that they sell big, it is much easier to leave the copying, folding and stapling to the experts! Then, all you have to do is collect your checks and address the envelopes!

So, use your imagination. Examine your unique talents. Look at what products are in demand. It really is the simple ideas that can change your life forever!

SELL A QUALITY PRODUCT AT A FAIR PRICE

I want you to keep in mind, and never ever forget … People will buy virtually anything! That is, as long as you are providing a quality product at a fair price, you can be a huge success in buying and selling! Look for products that people use on a day to day basis. Look for a unique idea that you think is in demand; or take an existing idea and make it better. Use your imagination and think about what kind of a service you would like to see and if it is something that you can put together on your own, go for it! Also remember this, if people are happy with your product, they will become repeat customers!

Now that you know what you want to sell, it’s time to package it and market it for the auction process. Here is where it takes a little bit of planning and care to get your items noticed. Next you’ll learn the techniques that will get your items higher bids on average than similar items. The things I will show you are simple, but they are very effective. It’s amazing to see ads on eBay that are totally horrible. Ads that have misspellings are the kiss of death for me. If a seller cannot spell correctly in an ad, you can't completely trust their ability to address the package correctly! Maybe I should write a whole new book on the importance of the spell checker!

WHAT CATEGORY DO I SELL IN?

First visit eBay and see what categories are available then click on a category that you want to market your product in. Now you will see sub categories. Now click on that sub category and see how many auction Items are in that category.

Also, by using the search capability on each page, type in a keyword related to what you will be marketing. You will receive a listing of all the items being offered on eBay in various categories. Click on an item and it will come up and right below the Title and item # you will see a link which states the category the item is offered in as shown below. This is an quick and easy way to find out what a proper category for your product(s) would be.

STILL NEED HELP DECIDING WHAT TO SELL?

As I just mentioned, if you want to sell something on ebay you have to know what is selling and for how much it's selling for. With "Hot Item Finder" software you can search and collect all the Hot Items for current as well as past auctions with the click of a button!

Now, you can cut down research time, and find what real people are searching for with a program called Hot Item Finder.

With Hot Item Finder you can:

Find all the HOT ITEMS on eBay in minutes!!
Analyze EVERY eBay category for HOT ITEMS!
Generate the TOP 100 popular search terms!
Search eBay's online keyword database!
Gives sellers a great idea for what items to sell on eBay !
Use the popular search term generator to create very attractive auction descriptions !!
SAVE a HUGE amount of TIME at eBay
Analyze a particular category to see with one contains the most items!
Find out how much your competitors are selling their products
Increase your sales by adding popular search terms in your auction descriptions and titles !
Find products in your market that are selling !

Click here for a special discount on the Hot Item Finder Software

Your Introduction to eBay and eBay first steps

2005-09-23T19:14:00.000-04:00

It doesn't take a genius to make money on eBay, nor does it require you to have any specialized computer knowledge. You don't even need to be a skilled entrepreneur, because eBay does most of the work for you. With over 1.5 billion page views per month and more than 1000 categories, they bring customers TO YOU and save you enormous advertising costs.

Your job, therefore, is to make a successful sales pitch to the customers who see your auctions, and doing that isn't as easy as you might think. You will be competing with more than two million other eBay sellers, many of whom are veterans at online marketing and highly knowledgeable in the niche markets found on Ebay. So how do you compete with them? The answer is simple: INFORMATION!

This guide provides the information needed to get ahead on eBay and gives you an instant edge over your competitors. I will provide you with insider secrets on Ebay trading that I have learned from years of online auction sales. If you read this guide carefully, you will be armed with the knowledge necessary for an extremely lucrative home-based business selling virtually anything on eBay.

====eBay First Steps====

This link forwards you directy to eBay's new user sign-up page:

http://ebay-register.auctionresourcenetwork.net

Step one: Enter all the information that is requested on that form then click submit. You will then be forwarded to a page where you get to pick your eBay user ID.

Step Two: You will need a unique name when asked for a user ID. You might as well advertise your company name for your user ID. For example, Instead of "BobSellsoneBay99" it's best to use your company name, like, "Bobs-Metro-Camera" or something to that effect. I think you get the point. If you don't have a company name, just make one up!

Step Three: Once that is done, you simply have to confirm your new eBay account by checking your email. Simply click on the "Confirmation" link within the confirmation email to confirm your new account. This step confirms your request to sign up to buy and sell on eBay.

The next major step is to get set-up to send and receive payments. Becoming e-commerce enabled if you will. The good news is this is very easy with an eBay owned company called "PayPal." PayPal makes things very easy to send and/or receive money with a credit card, checking account, or your PayPal account balance. Sign-up is fast, free and easy. Just click the link below to be forwarded to PayPal's website:

http://paypal.auctionresourcenetwork.net

Congrats! You are now ready to begin buying and selling on eBay!

Now lets start selling. First you will need to set up your eBay sellers account. Please take the time to read all the tutorials and "how to" links eBay provides:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/basics/n-selling.html

Once you have these initial steps completed, you are on your way to becoming a very successful eBay Power Seller! The following will help you expand your business to its fullest...