eBay Shopping Secrets

Mark Allen asked:


Are you interested in using eBay to shop online? If you are, you are definitely not alone, as eBay is one of the most popular online marketplaces. As you likely already know, eBay is an online auction website; an online auction website that allows internet users to post items that they have in their possession, but not longer want or need, for sale. While this tends to give you a large number of products to choose from, it can make getting scammed on eBay relatively easy; however, there is a way that you cannot fall victim to some of the most common eBay scams. That way involves checking feedback.

If this is your first time using eBay, you may not necessarily know that buyers and sellers are able to leave each other feedback; in fact, they are encouraged to do so. Now, if another eBay buyer, just like you, were to have a positive experience, like they got their item in a timely matter and it was what they expected, they would be likely to leave a positive feedback. Positive feedbacks are marked with green circles with plus signs in them. On the other hand, if an eBay buyer has a negative experience, like they never received their item or it was in poor condition, a negative comment may be left. Negative comments are market by red circles with negative signs in them. In addition to positive or negative comments, eBay buyers are also able to leave neutral comments, which are commonly used when a problem arose, but the seller in question fixed it in a timely matter. Also, next to the positive, negative, or neutral markings, eBay buyers can also leave comments.

Although you might not necessarily think about it, the feedback that an eBay seller has can give you insight into the type of service that you may receive. As a way, this feedback serves as reputation for an eBay seller. When shopping at a traditional retail store, there is a good chance that you wouldn’t shop at a store that is known for selling poor quality products or a store that has poor customer service. The same thinking should be applied when using eBay. You don’t want to business with an eBay seller that has a number of poor feedback ratings, as it is a sign of what may come.

If you are interested in examining the feedback of an eBay seller, you can easily do so. When visiting an online auction listing page, say a listing for a new set of hair clippers, in the right hand corner there should be a “Meet the Seller,” section. That section has information on the seller’s eBay feedback, as well as a link that you can click to see each individual feedback rating. You are urged to click that link. When examining an eBay seller’s feedback, you need to remember that it is not uncommon for a seller to deal with disgruntled customers; customers that may leave negative feedback for no reason at all. That is why it is not uncommon to see a few negative feedback ratings; however, be on the lookout for any eBay seller who has an excessive number of them or a new eBay seller that has a large number of negative feedback ratings, as they are someone you should try and avoid.

In short, examining the feedback ratings or comments of an eBay seller will only take a few minutes of your time, but it may end up saving you a considerable amount of money. When shopping on eBay, it is advised that you use your best judgment. A number of negative feedback ratings may be a sure sign that an eBay seller may be out to scam you, in one way or another.

Dave Simpson asked:


 

Recently, I decided to buy a Coach purse for my wife she’s always had a hankering for one and I had some brownie points to earn – you know how it goes. The problem with designer purses is that I haven’t got a clue – I don’t know a Gucci from a Prada or a Wal-Mart special – so I was ripe for the taking. However, applying some sensible techniques kept me safe. First off, let me say, most sellers on EBay are genuine – I know because I built up a good business selling CD media there, became a Platinum Powerseller and made lots of genuine contacts along the way. But unfortunately, this doesn’t apply to everyone. It is not uncommon for sellers on EBay to try and scam people by selling them fake goods – especially items like designer Coach purses. Luckily, it is often quite easy, with a bit of care, to spot these fakes as I shall explain.

The first thing I did was, naturally, check the sellers feedback – this is always a good starting point when buying anything on EBay. I try and avoid anyone with a low or no feedback. This doesn’t mean that they are dishonest – they could be new to EBay – but they could also be a scammer who uses multiple accounts to rip people off, or even worse they could be someone previously banned starting up again. A good tip if you really want to buy an item from someone with low feedback is to e-mail them a specific question first, genuine sellers will always respond quickly – after all they want the sale – no answer – don’t buy! So, I chose a seller with lots of feedback – over 1100 in this case, and then went through this with a fine tooth comb. I specifically looked for negative feedback and mentions of fake Coach purses. It’s worth noting that hardly any seller has 100% positive feedback – there could be many reasons why this is the case - but in my experience anything over 95% should be ok.

The next thing I looked at was the listing itself. I’m always suspicious if the photo is lifted from the manufacturer’s website. You can tell by just visiting the website – in this case I headed over to the Coach purse website - and compared the images there, they weren’t the same ones so it showed me that the seller had probably taken the photos themselves – meaning that they at least had the item! Another trick is to check the larger image – if there isn’t one, and it’s just a thumbnail then the seller has almost definitely just lifted it off someone else’s site, and I immediately become suspicious. A good photograph will also show any imperfections, fake badges, poor quality material and so on, so if it is a fake, don’t expect the seller to be drawing your attention to these things!

Although this seller specialised in Coach purses, another thing I always look out for is anyone who lists multiple items of the same kind of thing. This is especially true for items like designer purses, since, by their very nature, they aren’t made in large quantities. There are websites out there that sell these items in large quantities, and I find quite often they are all fakes.

Satisfied with the feedback and images, the next thing I did was to closely read the sellers description of the item. I was especially looking for mentions that it was an authentic Coach purse. Quite often, the more devious fake sellers will try and wriggle out of any possible problems with EBay by being ‘creative’ with their descriptions. For example, they may use words like ‘genuine reproduction’, ‘manufacturers overstock’ and so on to basically hide the fact that it’s not the genuine article.

So, at last I picked my Coach purse, and decided to bid. After all that work, I was determined to win, and to be honest I probably paid a little over the odds – guess I don’t always get it right on EBay. My final safeguard was to pay using PayPal. Not only is it the simplest way to pay since EBay bought them over, but they also gave me around $2000 dollars in coverage if something went wrong with the purchase. I knew that if the purse did end up being fake then I could dispute the transaction and still get my money back.

The end result was that my wife’s new Coach purse arrived safe and sound 3 days later and she loved it! Another good EBay purchase.

Ed Brancheau asked:


As if you haven’t already heard, millions upon millions of people of people buy and sell on eBay every single day. Some only make a few sales here and there. Others have figured out what it takes to become “Powersellers.” Powersellers are the very small minority of eBay sellers that do at least $2,000 per month in sales on eBay and maintain a 99% positive feedback rating. Powersellers are the ones that really know what they’re doing and if you really want to be successful on eBay then follow the secrets they revealed to me.

So, what are the secrets, tips and tricks that will cause you to become a Powerseller as well?

Well, I’ll be completely honest with you… I may be well on my way but I’m not a Powerseller yet. However, one thing that I know from creating several successful businesses is that if you want to become the best at something, you need to copy those that are already successful, ask them to mentor you and ask questions and take notes. And now I am going to take what they taught me and pass it on to you.

This is part four of a four part article series. You will find links to the other parts of this article series at the end of this article.

SECRET STRATEGY #16 - OFFER DISCOUNTS

Every single Powerseller that I interviewed offers some type of discount. It could be something like buy one and receive a second at 50% off. Or it could be that you offer free shipping on another purchase. Just make sure that you offer some type of discount and also keep in mind that “free” always works much better than anything else. For example, rather than say “Buy two and receive 50% off” say “Buy one get one free”. “Free” is a trigger word that really hooks people.

Furthermore, I have found that for most items, that offering free shipping can actually make you more money than if you didn’t. For example, a few years back, I wanted to find out if this was actually true. I had two whole rows at a concert and for the front row, I had people pay for the actual shipping costs which was like $9 to send them via FedEx 2-day delivery. A set of two tickets sold for about $400. The row in the back had free shipping and they sold for about $490 a set.

I made $81 more by offering free shipping. And it had to be the shipping because everything else about the auction was the same. In fact the better tickets made me less money. Now, I am sure that there are some exceptions to this rule (like maybe you are selling bulk items for $.01 and really making your profit off the handling) but I can’t really think of many examples. In fact the only exception that I can think of is international shipping.

But my point is that “FREE Shipping” works because it is very noticeable on search pages. Remember that the word “free” is a trigger word that catches people’s attention. The only other words that catch people’s attention like “free” is “you” and “sex”. Hey, I’m scared to think of what might happen if you put all these words in the same sentence!

Finally, with regards to the word “free”, always include it in your title IN ALL CAPS by simply adding “FREE bonus”. And then give your customers something for free. You can tell them what it is or not but always be sure to put a dollar value on it. For example, when I sell my information products, my bonus is a subscription to my email newsletter which I always give away for free but I put a value on it of $9.95 per month because I really believe that it’s worth that much since I know that I always over deliver. So I always tell my buyers that they are going to get a “bonus worth almost $120 per year!”

But here’s the key: it’s doesn’t really matter what the bonus is… all you are trying to do is get eBay users to click on your auction because you can’t start selling your product to them until the open the listing! Remember this every time you create a new listing. Your first objective is to get them to click on the auction listing. Think of it this way, you can’t sell to someone unless you get them in the store!

SECRET STRATEGY #17 - KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN FOR GREAT DEALS!

Every single Powerseller that I spoke with told me several stories about one little deal or something that they found for free that made them a ton of money. One of them told me about how he goes to swap meets and watches the buyers all day looking for one item that a bunch of them seem to be buying. He then buys one for himself and tracks down the manufacturer so that he can sell the product on eBay. This is an awesome idea because really what he is doing is market research by watching the buyers at the swap meet. In addition, this same Powerseller oftentimes buys a large quantity off a swap meet seller at a really low price right before the seller is about ready to leave for the weekend because would the seller rather make a little money or haul everything back?

Another Powerseller went to Africa for his honeymoon and while he was there he found some fabulous African headdresses. He struck up a deal with the maker and bought 500 of the headdresses at $2 a piece for $1,000 total. When he and his bride returned home, he sold the headdresses on eBay for about $75 a piece, made over $36,000 and got to write off his $10,000 honeymoon as a “business expense”! He did so well selling the headdresses that he decided to “take a business trip… tax deductible of course… back to Africa” and order 2000 more. Also, to share the wealth, he “gave the maker a raise” and paid $5 each without the maker even asking for it! I bet he was pretty happy. But here’s the really funny thing… he got such ecstatic reviews for his previous buyers that the headdresses became much more in demand that his average sale increased to over $125! With these headdresses, he has made over $270,000!

So, keep your eyes open and snatch up those great deals. On thing to remember, if you see a bunch of people buying something, then you can be sure that you will be able to find others that will buy. At the county fair? Ask the popular vendors if they would like you to sell their products on eBay and split the profit. See a great deal at Wal-Mart for some killer product? Buy a bunch of them and sell them to people that don’t live near a Wal-Mart or other discount store (and always list your items internationally because international buyers will often pay you more and even pay the shipping for certain items because many times that item is much more expensive in their country… even if it’s made there!) Basically, make offers that you can profit from everywhere you go. Sure, you’ll get dozens of “no’s” but one “yes” can make you thousands of dollars.

SECRET STRATEGY #18 - INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS

Of course, you don’t want to waste money on your business but I constantly see people that don’t want to spend money on their business to make money. eBay, in particular, has some features that can make you more money when you use them and others that may not make a difference for your product.

For example, one of the biggest mistakes that sellers make on eBay is not spending $.35 to have the product’s photo show up in the gallery. This is the biggest listing mistake! Gallery photos draw considerably more clicks and bids and yet do a search for a specific product and you will see that about 1/3 don’t have gallery photos and always have lower highest bids. Without exception, all of my auctions have a gallery photo and are listed in bold as are just about every Powerseller listing.

And don’t be afraid to invest in your business by purchasing things like auction software, a digital camera (especially now that you can get them for under $100), a postage system (I use Stamps at http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/stamps.html) or a web authoring program like DreamWeaver. Definitely be sure to invest in a high-speed Internet connection like the ones below because they will save you an incredible amount of time and frustration.

Comcast High Speed Internet Cable - http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/comcast.html

Earthlink High Speed Internet DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/earthlink.html

Qwest High Speed Internet DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/qwest.html

Verizon Online DSL — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/verizon.html

Time Warner High Speed Internet — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/tw.html

Or my personal choice:

Time Warner Digital Cable High Speed Internet — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/tw-dig.html

Just do some research and determine how it will make you more money before you buy anything.

SECRET STRATEGY #19 - ALWAYS BE LEARNING… ALWAYS BE UP TO DATE

As a personal coach, I recommend that people reinvest 10% of their income in their personal education so that they constant grow. And I suggest something similar for your business. Constantly read books about eBay and the Internet all of the time and you will grow year after year after year. Here are a few titles that I suggest to get started on eBay:

The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay by Jim Cockrum

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/silent-sales.html

eBay Cash Machine by Sebastian Foss

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-cash.html

What to Sell on eBay and Where to Get It by Chris Malta

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/what-to-sell.html

eBay Powerseller Secrets: Insider Tips from eBay’s Most Successful Sellers by Debra & Peter Schepp

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/powerseller-secrets.html

eBay Timesaving Techniques for Dummies by Marsha Collier

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-timesaving.html

In addition to these titles above, the is one other great resource: EBAY!

Check out the following eBay pages:

Learning Center — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-learning.html

eBay University — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-university.html

Security & Resolution Center — http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-security.html

Well, that’s it! Armed with these secret eBay strategies, you too should be well on your way to making a very substantial income on eBay. However, should you wish to obtain even more information about how to make money on eBay and the rest of the Internet, please visit our eBay store for some fabulous informational products.

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

And be sure to check out the extremely powerful A2Z Web Building & Internet Marketing Platinum Package. It’s over $1,500 worth of the best web building and Internet marketing books and programs in the world for less than $50. Check out our eBay rating and you will see that people love this package!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/A2Z-platinum.html

Finally, if you missed any of the four parts of this article, you can read the other three at the following addresses:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

Ed Brancheau asked:


As if you haven’t already heard, millions upon millions of people of people buy and sell on eBay every single day. Some only make a few sales here and there. Others have figured out what it takes to become “Powersellers.” Powersellers are the very small minority of eBay sellers that do at least $2,000 per month in sales on eBay and maintain a 99% positive feedback rating. Powersellers are the ones that really know what they’re doing and if you really want to be successful on eBay then follow the secrets they revealed to me.

So, what are the secrets, tips and tricks that will cause you to become a Powerseller as well?

Well, I’ll be completely honest with you… I may be well on my way but I’m not a Powerseller yet. However, one thing that I know from creating several successful businesses is that if you want to become the best at something, you need to copy those that are already successful, ask them to mentor you and ask questions and take notes. And now I am going to take what they taught me and pass it on to you.

This is part two of a four part article series. You will find links to the other parts of this article series at the end of this article.

SECRET STRATEGY #6 - TAKE THE HENRY FORD APPROACH

Every single Powerseller that I spoke with had a systematic approach to dealing with everything from posting listings to packaging and shipping items. For example, with regards to packaging and shipping, more than a few Powersellers told me that have their computer set up on the far left of a workbench, then down the line to the right was a printer, then their products and then packing materials. They simply work their way down the line from left to right. The same thing goes with orders. Personally, most of the products that I sell are informational so I have my customers place an order and my autoresponder automatically sends them their product. Takes me nothing to do this. Basically, you want to set up a system that does not change and which you could practically do in your sleep.

SECRET STRATEGY #7 - USE THE RIGHT PHOTOS

One of the things that I love to do on eBay is search for things that I know that I want to buy for myself. However, what I do is that I look for the auction listings where the seller doesn’t really know what they are doing. A lot of sellers use the bad photos and post them in their listings. A bad photo can cost you bidders. Few bidders = less money. So, make sure that your photos look good and effectively represent your product and ask yourself if the photo would make you want to buy the product. If you don’t know anything about taking photos, ask a family member of friend to help you out.

Also, check out your competition and see how the sellers with the highest bids take their photos. Many Powersellers that I spoke to said that the best backdrop that they use for their photos is a light blue backdrop because it catches the buyer’s attention as they are browsing eBay without being distracting or repulsive. And be sure that the photo is well cropped. This is one of the biggest mistakes that sellers make for two reasons: 1) the buyer cannot easily see the product when they’re browsing because the photo is all “dead space” and 2) larger photos (large file size) take much longer to download. This is why it’s critical to use an image optimizer, use as few photos as possible and make them as small as possible while still forwarding your listing. Remember that most Internet users still use slow connections (although you should not worry about this if you are selling items to buyers that you are relatively sure have fast Internet connections like high-tech computer items or plasma screen TVs.)

SECRET STRATEGY #8 - DON’T SELL AN ITEM JUST ONCE, SELL IT A THOUSAND TIMES

It takes just as much time to post a listing for one item as it does to post a listing for 10,000 items. In fact, it takes much less time. For example, you could go to an auction and find one item to sell or you could take the same amount of time to find a product that you could sell a thousand times. A few years ago, I made really good money on eBay selling sporting tickets but they were a pain is the ass to post. Date. Location. Section number. Row number. Hell, some people even asked for seat numbers. It was ridiculous! Dutch auctions are the perfect solution to this problem because eBay will allow you to sell up to 10,000 items per auction listing (this also works for Fixed Price listings).

Dutch auctions also help with your “assembly line.” Think about it. Is it easier to package 100 items that are exactly the same size and weight or 100 items that are all different sizes and weights? Now, you might be thinking “We’ll then, all of my auctions are going to be Dutch auctions!” Not so fast! There are drawbacks to Dutch auctions. First, eBay listings fees are calculated as the sum total of all the items be sold in the listing. For example, let say that you are selling 1,000 $1 items. Then eBay will say that your listing has a $1,000 value and the original listing fee will reflect this value even if you only sell one item (although they only charge up to $4.20 per listing so there is not a ton of risk.)

Even more importantly though, in Dutch auctions, the final sales price is determined by the bid of the lowest winning bidder. For example, let’s say that you have ten items with winning bidders. The highest bidder bids $50 and the lowest bidder only bids $25. In this case, every winning bidder will receive the item for $25. So, as you can see, you need to be very careful when using Dutch auctions as you need to know the balance of supply and demand. For more information, be sure to check out eBay by going to the site below!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-dutch.html

SECRET STRATEGY #9 - “BULK LIST” YOUR AUCTIONS

Once you decide on which products you want to sell large quantities of, it’s best to bulk list them with auction management software. Auction management software makes it extremely easily to list your auctions at the right time so that you make the most money. They also make it simple to copy listings, make changes and manage everything including payments and feedback. They are an incredible timesaver and extraordinary powerful because they allow you to list your auctions at your leisure and schedule them to be posted on the day and at the time of your choice. Of course, the professional versions of these programs cost money but almost all of them have free versions that you should start with.

Andale: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/andale.html

Blackthorne: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/blackthorne.html

Mpire: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/mpire.html

SECRET STRATEGY #10 - KNOW HOW YOUR BUYERS WILL FIND YOU!

Every Powerseller I interviewed said that this is the most critical aspect of any auction listing. Why? Because the buyer must first be able to even come across your listing. Powersellers use titles with keywords and no fat. Many sellers don’t understand that while it is important for the title to be catchy, it is more important to be seen in the first place.

How do you get seen? Well, 93% of all eBay purchases begin with the buyer searching for a particular keyword in the title and the more specific you can be the better. For example, the most searched keyword on eBay as of this writing is “Xbox” and the second is “Xbox 360″. So if you are selling an Xbox 360 then include “Xbox 360″ in the title. This way, everyone that searches for “Xbox” or “Xbox 360″ will find your listing. If you only had “Xbox” in your title, then people searching for “Xbox 360″ would not even find your listing.

Furthermore, include as many valid keywords in the title as you can like “Brand New Xbox 360 Premium Sports Package Video Game System”. Use words that sell like “rare,” “antique,” “popular,” and “free” but use them sparingly. It is more important to have keywords in your listing. And resist the temptation to use words like “L@@K”, “WOW” and “MUST SEE” because they waste valuable title space. Instead, be “search engine savvy” and realize that keywords in the headline are found by the eBay search engine. As of this writing, over 59,000 listings included “L@@K” in their titles and, while I didn’t check them all, those that I did check were selling for about 10% less than their competition.

SECRET STRATEGY #11 - WRITE DETAILED AND ACCURATE “SALES PAGES” FOR YOUR DESCRIPTION

Let me ask you a question. Without reading a description and the items being identical, would you buy the item with the longer description or the shorter description? Of course you’re going to buy the one with the longer description because sellers that go into more detail are believed to be more honest. Therefore, you want to make sure that you give a detailed and accurate description that answers just about every conceivable question that a buyer could ask. Also, be sure to ask yourself (or better yet, ask someone else) whether you would bid on the item after reading the description.

It’s also critically important to have a description that acts more as a sales page when you have a product that people might not specifically be looking for. When a person is looking for a particular product like a video game then they will generally enter the particular video game into the search engine such as “Madden football”. For these items, you don’t really have to “sell” the product because people already want it. In this case, you simply have to describe the product… “for Sony Playstation” and “brand new”.

For other products, you have to be more descriptive such as “beautiful Icelandic helmet” and for informational products such as books and programs, you need to create more of a sales page as the buyer might only be looking for “how to make money on eBay”. In this case, you need to sell the person on the benefits of your product over your competition. If writing sales letters intimidates you, I suggest that you buy a book or creating sales letters or hire a copywriter. Personally, I use a wonderful program the Marlon Sanders created called Push Button Sales Letters. This program takes you step by step through creating powerful sales letters in no time. Check it out!

Marlon Sanders Push Button Sales Letters:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/push-button-sales-letter.html

Finally, always have a “call to action”. A “call to action” is a simple statement in the auction telling the buyer what you actually want them to do like “place a bid now!” You might be thinking that the buyer already knows what to do and that’s true. But just because someone knows what to do doesn’t mean that they will do it. People in the United States now know more than ever that they should eat healthy but obesity is at an all-time high. Having a simple “call to action” can increase bids by 40% or more.

Well, that’s it! Armed with these secret eBay strategies, you too should be well on your way to making a very substantial income on eBay. However, should you wish to obtain even more information about how to make money on eBay and the rest of the Internet, please visit our eBay store for some fabulous informational products.

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

And be sure to check out the extremely powerful A2Z Web Building & Internet Marketing Platinum Package. It’s over $1,500 worth of the best web building and Internet marketing books and programs in the world for less than $50. Check out our eBay rating and you will see that people love this package!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/A2Z-platinum.html

Finally, if you missed any of the four parts of this article, you can read the other three at the following addresses:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

Chris Slate asked:


In this article I will be showing you the best ways to avoid a scam on the internet. First I would like to share with you the definition of a scam. A scam is a fraudulent or deceptive act or operation. So in order to be a scam, the program would have to misrepresent and lie about what it is and what it can do.

Most articles, websites, and forums don’t give you enough information when trying to avoid being scammed. They talk about scams on the internet, but information is lacking when it comes to knowledge of how to actually recognize them.

There are a few websites that will investigate whether or not an opportunity presented to you is a scam. Unfortunately they have hundreds of people emailing such information in to be investigated so the backlog on them is massive.

EBay and online auction scams are easy to spot and avoid. Normally the individual will approach you outside of the auction site offering you a well priced item. Because it ’s such a well priced item, people are normally intrigued to learn more because they think it will be a steal, wrong ! The individual will then ask for a payment and it’s in your best interest to not give them any payment information. Do not pay them or anyone who has contacted you outside the auction site. When you’re thinking about purchasing something in an auction site, always choose safe payments methods so you can keep tract of your purchase and cancel it at any time; Paypal is a good example . User feedback is great and I personally look for someone who has over 200 comments and 99% positive feedback.

Email scams are so easy it’s unbelievable . Remember this one simple rule, in life NOTHING is free. Their motive behind offering you something free is to get you to opt-in to their site so that you will be enticed to purchase their products. There are many kinds of email scams such as people saying they want to give you money, I’m surprised at how many people actually believe this one. When someone asks you for money in order to help them complete a transaction, mark them as spam in your inbox and never fall for this scheme.

When searching for a legitimate home business do your research . I will offer you a few tips on how to find a legitimate home business opportunity.

1. Research the business opportunity through the search engines, such as google, yahoo and MSN.

2. Make sure it’s a legitimate company with a physical address and phone number.

3. Try to find anything negative about the company or the business. If nothing negative is being said, you’ve probably found a good online business opportunity.

4. Email an anti scam website and ask them for their advice or any information they have on the company. Sites such as (then given them some sites to go to).

5. Do your research on online forums to see if people have tried these opportunities before. No company can keep the public quite and this is why so many have to shut down and reopen under a different name or program.

I hope this information has been helpful. If I manage to stop one person from being scammed because of this article , I will see that as time well spent. I have been involved in my share of internet businesses that didn’t provide me with the support, product or compensation package that was promised. There are numerous online businesses that really do offer what is presented so do your research and you will be on your way to making a really good income online as well.

Reverse Funnel System.

A. Bravo asked:


How to start selling on ebay - AuctionBucket.com

Ebay has been around for almost 12 years now (9 years mainstream). Every day people sign up and expect to make a lot of money on ebay as beginners selling their items online. 90% fail, because they don’t have a startup plan. The biggest problem is not having enough positive feedback. Once a potential bidder sees that you do not have a high ebay feedback rating, they will immediately think that you are a beginner or even worse a scam artist. Here is a tip for you to make money as an eBay beginner :

“It is not necessary to have an ebay feedback of 50+ to start selling, even if you are a beginner in web auctions.

I would suggest that you buy 10 ebooks on ebay for around $2 each (from a DIFFERENT seller each time) and once they have emailed you the eBooks, you immediately leave a good feedback for them.

After that, you email every one of the ebay sellers and ask them to also exchange a positive feedback for you. That should give you a +10 Feedback within 2 days. Good for a beginner.

Then you start selling some low valued items for around $3 each … That way you are sure that ebay buyers will bid on your items, even though you have a low positive feedback and are a beginner. After selling the 10 smaller items, you should have a +20 feedback within 10 days, depending on shipping time. Again, not bad for a beginner

Now if a potential buyer checks your feedback, they will see a +20 feedback (100%) and they will also notice that NOT all of your feedback are from sellers. The potential buyer/bidder will read positive feedback comments from previous buyers and be more comfortable. They can trust you. Trust is the most important factor on ebay. Remember that the buyer is not able to see you or the item face-to-face, so reading positive reviews from other people will make them feel at ease and they won’t even care that you are an eBay beginner.

Now you can start increasing the quality of the items you are selling and be assured that there will be more bids on your items. When you started out a couple of weeks ago as a new ebay beginner, there was the same amount of potential buyers looking at your eBay auctions, but they were not comfortable enough to bid on your items. But now you have given them reason to like you as an eBay seller (remember the +20 100% feedback ?)”

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