eBay Shopping Secrets

Kevin Sinclair asked:


Along with customer service, finding the right products to offer to the pubic is probably one of the most significant subjects for those wanting to sell on eBay or any other on line retail business. The main aim is to buy in at low prices and sell high. Of course, the majority of people just starting out on eBay begin by selling their own personal goods, all of that surplus stuff they have in the attic or basement. This is a good route to take into eBay as it will help you become familiar with the basics of shipping and general customer service.

When the attic is empty, however, you will need to find more items to sell. Every Saturday and Sunday now involves searching around garage sales and flea markets, looking for merchandise and it soon becomes apparent that this it taking up a lot of your time and money. So, where to turn now? What you really need is to find a wholesaler where you can buy in bulk at cheap prices and make your mark up on eBay.

There are a few ways you can do this, but one of the methods you should avoid is to use search engines on line. This is not a good way to find legitimate and genuine suppliers of wholesale goods; in fact you are more likely to come across scams using search engines.

These scam artists set up a business with real wholesalers and then basically endorse themselves as the supplier. They put up the prices of the stock and simply pass on the orders received to the real wholesaler. By this point the prices are so high, it will be practically impossible for you to sell the goods and make any money. Many of these rip off merchants services will not be free of charge and they will ask you for a monthly fee to be able to utilize their facility. They will also inform you that it is not necessary for you to have a reseller’s license in order to open an account with them.

Evidence that you are an above board business will be required by any genuine wholesaler you approach and such proof is generally in the form of a license for business and a sale tax permit. Although the actual name of the documents required is different from state to state, whatever the name, these papers are vital to have in your possession if you wish to trade with real wholesalers. This should not put you off though! They are not so difficult to get your hands on and if you pop down to the county courthouse you will be guided through the process of exactly what is needed. In addition, if you don’t incorporate, you won’t need the services of a lawyer.

So, when you have decided to start trading seriously on eBay, or with any other on line retailing business, these are the main things to remember about the businesses where you are likely to be buying your stock from.

1. You will not find your supplier on the internet via a search engine

2. Make sure your paperwork to sell is in order as this will be required by the genuine supplier

3. The genuine wholesaler will not charge you to buy from him by way of a setting up fee or an amount to be paid on a monthly basis.

If you come across a wholesaler not fitting into these criteria, you will find he is most likely to be a con man, simply trying to look like a genuine wholesaler.

Marian Krajcovic asked:


You’ve probably heard about how much money can be made on eBay. With dreams of quick riches and easy money, you are probably ready to jump in with both feet - right now! The best thing you can do if you are serious about making money with eBay, however, is to slow down. In fact, just stop for a minute. Don’t rush straight in. Take your time, and do it right.

eBay has over 100 million members and growing. Think about that number for just a minute or two. When you get your eBay business set up, that is how big your customer base will be - instantly. 100 million people - 100 million people who are just waiting for you to get set up and running so that they can throw money at you! Well, not quite. It is true that there are over 100 million members, but at this point, they don’t know that you exist. In fact, no matter how well you do on eBay, most of them will never know that you exist. 100 million is a very large number.

The most successful eBay sellers started out as buyers (now they’re powersellers) - and you should too. This will give you a sense of how everything works. It will also show you how things are from the buyer’s side of the fence.

Let’s call this period of time ‘consumer research.’ You are literally studying how eBay works, from a customer’s point of view. You may not realize this, but this eBay buyer experience will actually make you a much better seller - right from the very start.

Really pay attention to the customer service you receive from the buyer. Think about how you want to be treated as a buyer, and take notes. Take your time during this process. Interact with the sellers. Get involved in hot auctions to see what they are like. In your spare time, start making notes about the hot items that you see. These notes will come in handy later.

eBay works just like any other businesses. You have to determine what people want to buy before you can hope to be successful. There are very specific items that sell really well on eBay - you just have to figure out what those items are. There are many resources for finding out this information. Start with the lessons that eBay offers to their sellers. Strongly consider attending the eBay University as well. This is the next step in the process. After you have had the eBay buyer experience, it is time to learn how to be an eBay seller.

Read all of the information eBay provides for you at the site, it’s very useful.

The information is free and you will learn a great deal from it. Take full advantage of this - before you start setting up your first auction or your eBay store! By reading through all of the resources, you will avoid making numerous mistakes that so many before you have made. This is another step towards building a successful eBay business. Once you’ve made it through the learning process, you should know everything you need to know to get started with a money making eBay business of your very own.

BRUCE WILLIAMS asked:


              If Fred Sanford were alive today, Alex, I’m sure he’d he earning his ripple money by selling quality junk on eBay. While it’s also true that one man’s treasure (I have a garage full of treasure to prove this point), your chances of building a profitable business selling “junk” on eBay (or anywhere else, for that matter) are slim to none.

          While there is a lot of junk/treasure for sale on eBay, it is typical sold by individuals who have “I break for yard sales?” bumper stickers on their cars and not serious business people. For serious entrepreneurs, however, selling on eBay can be a good way to start a new business if you are willing to put in the time and energy required to make the business a success, eBay is also a good option for existing businesses to expand their reach by selling online.

                   Everyone from small used car dealers to giant companies like Dell Computers have discovered that eBay is an excellent place to hawk their wares simply due to the huge number of folks who visit the eBay site on a daily basis; nowhere else on earth will you find such a large pool of potential customers.

        Consider these numbers: There are nearly 69 million eBay users who spend $59 million every day. Most eBay sellers are home-based businesses that sell everything from porcelain dolls to $100,000 Mercedes convertibles to $5 million dollar vacation homes. Every minute of every day more than 150 new items are listed for sale, more than 500 bids are placed, and seven new people register to shop on eBay.

        At any given moment, eBay is conducting some 12 million auctions, divided into about different categories. About two million new items are offered for sale every day, and 62 million registered users scour the site to find them. One company is grossing more than $5 million dollars year selling brand new pool tables on eBay. Their eBay store is so profitable that they have closed their retail location and now sell solely online. That’s right. $5 million dollars from the sale of pool tables: proof that you can sell just about anything on eBay if you know how to do it. Be aware; however, that eBay is no magic bullet, that eBay Power Seller (a seller who sells a minimum of $1,000 in goods per month) will tell you, building a profitable eBay business takes hard work and requires long hours, and often the financial rewards do not make it worth the effort spent, when it comes down to the mechanics of it all, running an eBay business is no different than running a brick and mortar business. You still have the same considerations regarding product selection, inventory purchasing, product pricing, inventory management, order processing, fulfillment, customer service, etc. You must also consider the legal and accounting aspects of the business. Just because you’re selling online does not mean that Uncle Sam won’t expect his piece of the pie, revenue generated by an eBay business is just as report table and taxable as revenue generated from a brick and mortar store. And if you sell to customers within your state you may also be responsible for collecting city, country or state tax.

                    One of the biggest obstacles to building a successful eBay business maybe the stiffness of the competition. Many sellers sell identical items and the price wars often get ugly, but that’s to be expected in a free market place, which is exactly what eBay is.

                 You may be the only store in town that’s selling that one of a kind, custom made just for you, broke the mold after they made it, Dale Earnhart Memorial Bobble Head Action Figure (Earnhan fans would string me up if called it a Doll), but do a quick search find a hundred others just like it. So, can you build a profitable business selling on eBay? Certainly, thousands of people have done it and so can you; here are a few tips to help get you started.

        Sell Quality Products Don’t sell junk! Leave the knick-knacks and fake leather jackets to the less informed. You should offer only quality products at a fair price.

        Research The Competition Once you have your product in mind, don’t invest a dime in inventory until you have spent some time on eBay to see what the competition is doing. If you want to sell motorcycle helmets, for example, you should look at current auctions to see how many others are selling similar helmets and what prices that are charging. This step is vital! Since you may discover that you can’t compete with current sellers on price or there is simply on market for what you have to offer.

            Start Slowly Many people believe that the more items they have for sale on eBay the better. They will invest thousands in inventory and spent hundreds on listing fees (yes eBay charges you to list items for sale and collects a final fee if the item sells). Those are the folks that usually end up with ten thousand Ginsu knives forever in their test, test, Test a fair portion of eBay auctions result in no sales, so it’s best to test the waters before jumping in with both feet. List a few items and see how they sell. If an item doesn’t sell, test it at least twice more Some items might not sell the first lime, but may the second or third, then sell steadily from then on. If an item gets on bids the first time, consider adjusting your price or your terms, if an item sells well, keep it in stock and then experiment with another item.

        Do your homework, eBay is too broad a subject to be covered fully here, but then; there are a multitude of books available that can help you start an eBay business. In fact, 1 bet you’ll find most of them for sale at this very moment at eBay, what’s me bid… Here’s to your success.

     For easy access on how to find Solutions for your Business. E Bay, Info. & Registration! Visit www.marketonweb.net by typing ebay on the search engine.

 

Vickie Sayce asked:


Scams are notorious all over the internet, and eBay is certainly no exclusion. Sellers can find themselves the victim of a scam, and not even know it until their money and their item is gone. Unfortunately, eBay’s methods of settling disputes between sellers and buyers can be time consuming, frustrating, and ultimately leave you with no conclusion. By the time the scam is even recognized, it may be too late to act.

eBay sellers who are stay at home mothers trying to make money on the side cannot afford to lose money or waste time dealing with these scams. However, the fact is that you may likely become the target of at least one or two scams throughout the life of your eBay home business. Protecting yourself and being knowledgeable about what could happen before the scammer hits you will help stop the situation from happening at all. Knowing about the common scams is the first step to protecting your business.

Item Never Received

A popular scam that some sellers deal with is the “item never received” scam. The buyer will pay for the item, receive it with no problem, and then contact you saying they never received it. The scammer then asks for a refund for the purchase price and the shipping. If you don’t comply, they may threaten to leave you negative feedback, or file a dispute through PayPal or eBay.

How To Protect Yourself

Always, always, always get a tracking number for your packages, and require that there be signature confirmation upon delivery. This may be frustrating for some of your buyers, since someone has to be home to sign for the package, or else pick it up from the post office at a later time, but it will protect you from being scammed, and protect your buyers from having their packages stolen. If a buyer tries to claim they did not receive their package, you merely have to forward the signature confirmation to PayPal or eBay to prove that the buyer did, in fact, receive the package.

Wrong Item Received

Another popular scam involves the buyer claiming they received the wrong item. They offer to ship the item back, but only after you either charge a full refund plus to cost of additional shipping, or ship the correct item. When you refund their money or ship a new item, they never send the original item back.

How To Protect Yourself

It’s not uncommon for sellers to accidentally put the wrong item in the package, especially when they have a house full of kids distracting them. You can’t protect yourself 100% against human error, but you can check and recheck your packages and addresses before sealing them up. In the even that a buyer claims that they received the wrong item, always require them to return the item first before you will process a refund or send a new item. This way, you have the original item in hand beforehand, effectively protecting yourself from being scammed.

There are many other scams that sellers can find themselves the victims of, as well. Remember to always be alert, especially when something sounds suspicious. Check your bidders’ feedback; if instances of scams pop up in their feedback, you have every right to cancel their bid and protect yourself from being the next victim. You can’t afford the time and money that goes into correcting the damage from a scam, so protect yourself before it happens!

Fidens Felix asked:


Once you start out as an eBay seller, the challenge is to have profitable products that are guaranteed to draw buyers on eBay. To achieve this, start considering the strategy of buy to sell on eBay.

Unless you just want to sell from time-to-time to earn extra bucks, you cannot forever come up with used items from your own attic, garage and closets. This strategy of risk-free and cost-free eBay selling is just your stepping stone to earn the needed funds and expand your online business. Buying products to sell on eBay is a good way to start getting more serious and responsible eBay seller.

If you choose to buy to sell on eBay, there is starting capital involved. Also, be aware that in doing buy to sell on eBay business, you accept that there are risks involved.

First of all, consider the cost of acquiring the products you will be putting up for sale. Regarding this, you need to know the best places where to merchandise is cheap enough to buy so that you would still get profit once you sell it on eBay.

Second, you have to prepare maintenance costs for transporting the products you bought, providing enough storage space for the items, and repairing damaged items.

Buy to sell on eBay have very tedious and time-consuming aspects. Here are a couple of important things to be considered as you venture in the buy to sell on eBay business: – Identify what products you should buy according to the type of costumer you wish to target. – Places where you can buy the products you want to sell on eBay and at the same time get good bargains for it.

Perhaps you might already aware of some places where you can start your buy to sell type of business.

Still I’d like to give you some pointers on the top places where you can find good sources of products to buy to sell on eBay.

Start your research here!

1. Garage sales and flea markets

Buying products to sell on eBay from these sources are perfect for those who are starting small in their venture. Most probably you will be able to buy cheaply, a wide range of used items you are targeting to sell. Still, before beginning your shopping, do some research first on the product categories you are interested in. Scour on several sales in order to get the best bargain.

2. eBay Guess what, eBay itself can be your source. Call it recycling, but eBay is a good source for products you can buy and then sell again on eBay. As long as you are careful in purchasing, buying wholesale items to sell on eBay through retail can be a very good bargain on your part.

3. Drop Shipper Directories These are wholesalers that ready to ship directly to your customers the items they bought from you. With this kind of set-up you no longer have to invest in doing inventory of your merchandise.

You also become free of the tedious responsibility to maintain a stockroom or warehouse for your products. Look up online for directories of drop shippers, which are for sale. You may run the risk of buying from a disreputable one, such that you need to confirm its record and reputation.

4. Local businesses There could be local businesses in your area that have the exact products you are targeting on for your buy to sell on eBay enterprise. Haggle for a low volume price for the products you wish to buy to sell on eBay for a considerable profit.

5. Crafters These are good sources of specialized products. Have an arrangement whether to buy a certain quantity or thru consignment. Just be sure to get a certain discount.

If you aspire for more types of product and better deals on products to buy to sell on eBay, try out these other sources: – Trade shows where there is a wide array of merchandise A perfect opportunity for those that buy to sell on eBay. – Permanent marts where you can meet up with product suppliers and get great bargains for retail or wholesale purchase. – Wholesaler directories online to point you to more places where you can buy to sell on eBay. – Importers/Exporters are the perfect sources if you want to buy to sell on eBay foreign and imported products, and; – Foreign trade offices in major US cities.

In order to become successful in buying to sell on eBay, be more resourceful, open to challenges and ready to take risks.

Bob B Hamilton asked:


To those who are into business it is an essential part of the business to have someone or hire someone to monitor the business for you. Online marketing is one business trend that is very popular today and one of the online companies that you can use to market a product or products is eBay. EBay is a very popular online auction site catering to thousands of small, medium or large scale businesses. If you are one of the many who auctions on this site and you are auctioning items as your main business, you may have experienced difficulty in monitoring and listing products.  IN this article I present make money selling on eBay with Turbo Lister – the small package that offers huge benefits to your eBay business.

EBay, with the aim of providing better services to its members has many services and tools that you can use to make your eBay auction transactions easy to manage. One of these tools is the Turbo Lister. This is a program that you can download for free on the eBay site. The benefits will help power you on the way to make money selling on eBay.  Turbo Lister, as its name suggests, is a listing tool that provides the following benefits:

1. Lets you do automatic or automated re-listing of your auctioned products.

2. Lets you monitor your products in a flash with the user friendly interface similar to windows explorer.  You will not have difficulty adjusting to this program.

3. The dilemma of hiring someone to just monitor your auction listings is resolved, saving you money.

4. You can use this eBay Turbo Lister even if you are offline or do not have an internet connection. You can work on your listings and upload them to eBay when you go online.

5. The best part is eBay Turbo Lister is free to download from eBay’s auction site.

Make money selling on eBay with Turbo Lister.  To acquire this tool you must be a member of eBay.  Turbo Lister will use your eBay details such as your eBay username and your eBay password to proceed with the downloading.  Once Turbo Lister is installed on your computer you are on your way to a hassle-free online marketing.  Essentially, you just need to follow these basic steps:

1. Login to the program using your eBay username and password.

2. Your first time you will select the “create new item” button to create the first listing.

3. Enter the description, title, category, etc. in the menu. It will also provide you with an option for bidding or auction format or the “Buy It Now” selection.

4. If you are auctioning digital items it should be listed under the category “Everything Else” because digital items need a confirmation for authority to sell. Then you can fill up or tick required boxes in the menu.

5. Finally, you have to ensure that “Payment Methods” are filled and the most preferred method is PayPal although you may enter other payment methods. Ensure to provide your PayPal details when you select this payment method.

See now the beauty of the eBay Turbo Lister?  Novice or professional online business persons will really benefit from this offer from eBay.  Actually, there are still other services offered in this on eBay.  You can explore them to see if they are useful for you.  So, if you are a serious eBayer or want to become a true blue eBay auctioneer you should get the eBay Turbo Lister and experience these benefits in action.  You’ll discover Turbo Lister is one of the tools that will help you make money selling on eBay.

To Your eBay Success!

optica00002 asked:


This month I have encountered two small problems, which have affected my eBay business. If I had spent a little more time thinking about the design of my auction listings, these problems could have easily been avoided and I would have had more time to spend on other things instead of editing tiny mistakes in nearly 100 listings. There have been many similar occasions in the past where a little more forward planning would have avoided me redesigning all my eBay auction listings. Therefore, my advice to you in this issue is to think carefully about the design of your auction listings. More time spent on your listing now can mean MUCH less time spent redesigning them in the future.

Now the two actual problems I encountered this month were the down to my PayPal address and my eBay ID. The first problem was that for some reason the Pay Now button in eBay was not working for all customers. This led to me getting many emails from buyers saying the Pay Now button is not working, or worse many people sending payments to one of my email addresses that was not registered with PayPal. The end result was me having to explain and solve the problem via multiple emails to multiple customers. So how could I have avoided this problem? Well in my actual eBay listing and Payment Policy I made no reference to my PayPal email address but included all my other email addresses. I overlooked including my PayPal email address in the listings simply because I assumed that the Pay Now button would work at all times. Obviously not. I have now amended all listings to include my PayPal email address (payments@theebookcavern.co.uk if anyone is still unsure) and thankfully since then I have had no PayPal payments sent to the wrong email address.

So now all seems fine and dandy with my eBay listings when 2 days ago I received an email stating that I needed to change my User ID because the previous one (**www.theebookcavern.co.uk**) made reference to this website. Now on eBay you can get away with this type of User ID for a while but sooner or later eBay will catch you out and make you change it. I knew this so really I should have chose a more sensible User ID instead of trying to get a little extra traffic to my website. So how does this affect my listings? Well in every listing I include a link to my eBay feedback and eBay About Me page which now needs to be changed. So that means more fun for me as I will have edit all my eBay listings yet again.

So you may be wandering OK but what’s the point of this story. Well you (and hopefully me as well) can learn from my mistakes. These two examples illustrate how just a LITTLE forward planning would have saved a LOT of time for me and can do for you too. I will give you a few things to think about when designing your auction listings but you may think of more.

1) Ebay ID:- When choosing an eBay ID you need to think about using one that both reflects your line of business and also sticks to eBay policy. I know that it may be tempting to use **yourwebsitename** as a User ID but that is a violation of eBay policy and they will make you change it eventually. If you have to change your User ID then you have to change every Feedback and About Me link in all your listings. Choosing a User ID which is within eBay policy will save you a lot of time in the future.

2) About Me Page:- Do you have an About Me page? If not you should get one as it is one of the best promotion tools you have on eBay. If you do have one you really should link to it in your auctions as from the About Me page has much fewer restrictions than your other eBay pages (for example you can link to your own website). If you want to promote yourself on eBay the About Me page is the best way to do it and the best way to increase traffic to your About Me page is promote it fully.

3) Ebay Store:- If you have an eBay store then it is essential that you provide a link to it within your auction listings. Many customers who view your auctions will not know that you have an eBay store or if they do they may not know exactly what one is. If you want to maximise your sales potential you need to make as many customers aware of your eBay store as possible. Putting a simple sentence at the top of your auction listings such as “Can’t wait for this auction to end? Then Click Here to purchase it right now from my eBay store” will give your eBay store maximum exposure in your eBay auctions.

4) Email Addresses:- Make sure that all relevant email addresses are included in your auction listing. Your PayPal email address must be in here to avoid similar problems to the ones I experienced. All the email addresses you wish to be contacted on should also be included as well. For example I include my PayPal email payments@theebookcavern.co.uk, my delivery enquiries email delivery@theebookcavern.co.uk, and my general enquiries email sales@theebookcavern.co.uk. Even if you only have one email address which is the same as the one associated with your “Contact the Seller” you should still include an email link in your auction description simply because it makes it easier for the customer.

5) Ebay Store Custom Pages:- If you have an eBay store you are allowed to design custom pages for whatever purpose you see fit. If these custom pages are in any way relevant to the auction then you should include a link to them too.

6) Images:- Have you put in all the images you want to use to promote your auction. If not make sure they are all included. What about your eBay store? If you have one then a store logo is a great way to promote your store, make you look more professional, and hopefully increase traffic and sales.

These are just a few of the many things you should consider before listing an item on eBay. I am sure you can think of many more. These rules are especially applicable to ebook sellers on eBay because you will be constantly re-using the same auction listing to sell an ebook because you have an infinite supply. Getting the listing as close to perfect now will save you a LOT of time in the future. Good luck!!!