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7 Reasons to Start an eBay Business

June 14th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

It’s amazing how the Internet has become such a great medium for making money. There are so many ways to start an online business and start making money.

But, as you know, Practical eBay Selling is all about eBay and how to make the most of it. So, we’ve compiled a list just to let you know why you should start an eBay business in the first place. It never hurts to get back to the fundamentals, especially when it comes to an online business.

1. You Don’t Have to Be Rich or Go into Debt

How much does it cost to start an eBay business? Zero Dollars! That’s enough to make anyone want to start an online business with eBay. Start spring cleaning early (or late) and use the money you make from unwanted items to put back into your business. Read more here…

2. Low to No Risk

Let’s say for some reason you don’t succeed at selling on eBay. It costs only .35 cents to list an item, then eBay takes a percentage. So, if you happen not to sell something, you’ve lost a dollar or two. You didn’t have to take out a business loan or borrow money from your rich uncle. The great thing about eBay is that you can test markets or even use software to help you find markets with low competition.

3. Set Up a Business Fast

It won’t take you long to start your new online business. Just sign up for eBay, sign up for PayPal (optional, but recommended) and you’re ready to go.

4. Easy Research

eBay is a research model in and of itself. You can use the enormous database of auctions and completed auctions to find just the right product to sell. To speed up this process, read about some great software that could help you find products to sell on eBay.

5. You Don’t Have to be a Marketing Genius

All you have to do is post a product and watch it sell. People go to eBay to buy, not for you to be a salesman and talk them into buying something. It’s always good to know how to write a good post and title, but that comes with time, and you’ll get better with experience.

6. You Don’t Have to Go to an Office

Think about how awesome it would be to be able to work wherever you want. When you start to make a full time income from eBay, you can take your laptop with you… to the beach, to the mountains… even to the bathroom(?). Ya know, wherever.

7. You Don’t Need a Website

eBay provides you with everything you need to start making money online without having to use a website. Now, I’m not saying it’s not a good idea to have one. When you start to make money with eBay, you’ll see that having a website will only increase that revenue. You can drive a lot of traffic to your site with eBay. You can read more about driving traffic to your site with eBay here.

The great thing about making money online with eBay is that it’s fun. You really don’t even feel like you’re working. So, the number one motivation for starting an eBay business is that you’ll love your work.

Who doesn’t want that?

Top 10 Tips for Selling on eBay

April 27th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Written by SaleHoo.com © All Rights Reserved

1. Start Small

If you’re anything like me, once you have a good idea you want to put it into action immediately! Although you probably know in theory that any business takes 12-18 months to become established, somehow you still hope that you can get there in 2!

But, one mistake entrepreneurs consistently make is to throw their life’s savings into buying case loads of stock - before they even know how eBay works. It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security on eBay after buying just one or two items. For buyers, eBay is meant to be user friendly. For sellers, things are a little more complicated. All powersellers agree that there are new things to be learned all the time and you’ll be surprised at how much more you know after several months selling small, inexpensive items.

Be prepared to spend the first couple of months buying and selling a variety of inexpensive items you can purchase with your loose change. Keep track of what sells best and work on narrowing down the possibilities to a few strong products. By this stage you will also have experienced the best and worst situations eBay has to offer, so you will be much better prepared to crank things up a notch.

2. Respond to questions as quickly as possible

Most people use the Internet because it provides what they need instantaneously: information, contacts, gifts, advice, and so on. Therefore I can’t emphasize enough the importance of checking your emails as often as you can and replying to queries as quickly as possible.

3. Organize your time and keep to a schedule

If you are holding down a full-time job and working after hours to get your ebay business in motion, then it’s vital to have a list of what you need to get done and stick to it so you make the most of the precious time available. Once you are working on eBay full-time, this becomes even more important! It’s all too easy to reach the end of another day and find that you have got hardly anything done. So keep a planner or diary and make a timetable of what needs to be done and when.

4. Do take professional photographs from the beginning

The old saying remains as true as ever: A picture speaks a thousand words. A bad picture can look unappealing and unprofessional. Plus, if the buyer can’t really see the item properly, they may be put off bidding because they can’t tell if it is what they really want. So right from the beginning, work on creating the most professional pictures you can, even if it means spending money on a photo tent and better lighting.

5. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket - use other ways of selling apart from eBay

Ebay is not the be all and end all of selling online - although it is one of the best ways to start. As soon as you can though, try thinking of other ways you can increase your web presence. Perhaps you could place a classified ad in Yahoo or write about your auctions in a MySpace blog. There are plenty of cheap and easy ways to build up your profile.

6. Do keep a constant look out for other products to sell, while also monitoring carefully what you are already selling.

Don’t become complacent! Even if your items appear to be stock standard, such as chairs for instance, make sure you keep looking at what other sellers are doing, emerging trends, magazine articles, home decor programs, and more. There may be another related product opportunity just waiting to happen that you completely overlook if you keep your blinkers on.

7. Do keep in contact with your wholesale supplier regularly to ensure you are aware of any stock issues.

A back-order can create a lot of extra work for you soothing customer’s ruffled feathers. And if they want their order refunded, it costs you money too. So make life easier for yourself by regularly touching base with your suppliers and ensuring communication lines stay open.

8. Do carry out regular keyword and market research

Keyword research is the way to ensure your potential customers find you successfully. Set aside some time each day for marketing and research to ensure that you’re keeping at the top of your game.

9. Do use software to help organize your sales

It’s hard to part with the initial investment when the business is still finding its feet, but the right software will make life so much easier. My eBay quickly becomes unwieldy when you are selling more than 15 items, and software ensures that you avoid making costly mistakes, such as under-ordering stock, forgetting to ship to a customer, and so on.

10. Don’t offer free shipping as a gimmick unless you can afford it

Free shipping is a very effective way of attracting more people to your listings. However, before you consider offering free shipping, think carefully about your profit margins, how much your item weighs, and the fact that shipping will vary depending on how far away you are sending it. Offering free shipping is a good move if you can absorb the cost in your profit margin, but it could easily become crippling if you apply it to a variety of items of different shapes and sizes.

About the Author: SaleHoo is one of the fastest growing wholesale directory websites on the internet. It contains a database of drop ship, wholesale and closeout suppliers offering thousands of products to consumers at prices considerably less than retail. Located at http://www.salehoo.com, visitors are allowed to sign up for unlimited and lifetime access to the completely searchable database of wholesale products and sources. The database is regularly updated, ensuring that the latest retail products are always available for purchase and SaleHoo carries the BBB Reliability Seal!

Join SaleHoo Today!

5 Things You Should Know as an eBay Seller

April 12th, 2007    Subscribe To Our Feed

Being an eBay seller can be overwhelming at times. There is so much you need to know, and eBay is such an enormous site with so many possibilities for success, you can find yourself roaming within it and taking no action.

Well, Practical eBay Selling only gives you the information you need to enhance your business, so here are 5 things you should know as an experience eBay seller that you may not know.

1. You Cannot Block a Member with Zero Feedback

Don’t you hate when you’ve sold an item and you can’t wait to get paid, but then, you eventually don’t get paid at all. You check out the member who bought from you and see a big fat 0 beside their username for feedback. Now, I know one shouldn’t throw all the 0 feedbackers into one group of no-payers, but it would be nice to be able to block them until they get some type of positive recognition on the eBay community. But, alas you cannot. You can however block someone with a feedback that is in the negative (-1,-2, etc.).

2. Know How to Respond to Negative Feedback from Customers

Speaking of feedback, there will come a day when you receive a negative one. I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but especially if you’re a high volume seller, you’re bound to run into someone who is dissatisfied.

You first need to calm down. Don’t respond immediately, because you’ll most likely type out of anger. Let things cool down, be professional and explain yourself the best you can. You may gain a repeat buyer nonetheless.

3. Know How to E-mail Buyers You Have a Problem With

This relates very much to number two. Don’t start some type of e-mail war with one of your buyers you’re having a problem with. Keep your e-mails short and to the point, and of course, professional.

4. You Are Responsible for Damaged Goods, Even if the Buyer did Not Buy Insurance

Sounds crazy, I know, but it is true. Under Federal Trade Commission Laws, and eBay and PayPal rules, the seller is responsible for getting the item to the customer in the condition in which it was advertised. I know some things are outside of your control, but you’ll have to trust your shipping agency on that one. Having this knowledge will prepare you to answer in a professional manner that shows you take your business seriously.

5. Can’t See Your Listing in a Search?

Well, that’s because it can take up to 12 hours to show up in a search results. So don’t fret if you type in a keyword 5 minutes after putting up an auction and you don’t see yours anywhere in sight. Thought I’d throw in a tip that might reduce the stress in your business.

Having knowledge about the platform you run your business on can give you the edge over your competition. So use these 5 tips and come back to Practical eBay Selling for more.

Copyright © 2007 How To Sell on eBay

Credits: eBay Selling