Ebay Your Way To Residual Income For Life

Author: Tommy Moore

Ok, so now the auction is over, your items have all been sold and now you're ready to package them up and send them off to the winners. Is that where it all ends? Or is that where it all just begins?

Up unto now that's probably where it all ends. You mail the packages off to the winners and start working on your next listings if you haven't already. Pretty routine right? Now, if you're industrious, you may include a business card displaying your website or maybe you even include a catalogue so that each winner may purchase from you again in the future.

Good thinking! But, how about taking it a step further and making an attempt to earn residual income for life from each winner! In case you weren't aware, the ""Work At Home"" market is exploding right now! Every day, more and more people are looking for ways to work from the comfort of their own homes, commute less and spend more time with their kids and families. Since you are an Ebay seller yourself, it should be easy for you to place yourself in their shoes.

There are numerous ""Work At Home"" opportunities out there that are legitimate, offer pre-made websites, have free training, provide many powerful sales tools like DVD's, brochures, flyers and business cards that do nearly all of the selling for you. All you would need to do is include a promotional business card or flyer in each package you send out and let these tools do the rest. What have you got to lose? You're sending the packages anyway!

The key to ""Ebaying Your Way To Residual Income For Life"" is choosing the right ""work at home"" opportunity, preferably one that has a nice commission structure, pays residual income for multiple levels, (meaning you get paid for anyone who signs up under anyone who is signed up directly under you), also known as ""tiers"". A ""Work At Home"" opportunity that provides a way to earn ""Multiple Streams of Residual Income"" is ideal because now instead of just receiving one check for each person you enlist, you are receiving many.

Now you're ready to make even more money from your auctions! Seek out work at home opportunities and start including the provided sales literature inside your packages and before you know it, you'll be receiving residual income checks in the mail like clockwork. My next article will go into detail on how to select the right ""residual building"" work at home opportunities for this type of promotion so stay tuned!

About the author: You can view my personal list of proven residual income programs at http://www.bricktowntom.com/ebayers , along with a free 154 page ebook, ""eBay Secrets Revealed"", my list of wholesalers and dropshippers, ebay research tools and more.

EBay - How It Came About

Author: David Nettey

The internet is not all about eBay, but that will be very hard to prove to some people. The auction site is the main and sometimes only destination for online shoppers these days, and you tell me this is not staggering if i tell you the site is adding to its online customer base everyday.

EBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar a Paris native in his San Jose living room back in September 1995. It was from the beginning meant to be a marketplace for the sale of goods and services to individuals, which to some extent, is still is today.

In 1998, Pierre Omidyar and co-founder Jeff Skoll brought in a woman called Meg Whitman to mastermind the auction site's continuing expansion. Meg Whitman who studied at the Harvard Business School had previously worked for the Stride Rite Corporation, a footwear company, in various capacities.

Meg Whiteman was also employed by the Walt Disney Company, an entertainment company, most recently as senior vice president, marketing, Disney Consumer Products, she was also at Bain & Co, a consulting firm and other reputable firms, but we will not go into much detail.

Credit must be given to Meg Whitman for beating back three tough competitors, Amazon.com, Yahoo and Lycos who tried to knock the site from its perch. From its flea market - like roots, the site now host auctions for big-ticket items such as automobiles and real estate. The site has not just weathered the storm - it is steaming full speed ahead.

The online auction site has built a strong online presence, it has been through some though times since its inception, but that seems to make eBay even stronger. For those of you that have still not heard about eBay, it is an online auction website, and it is not just any auction site, but the biggest in the world. If you know how an offline auction works, then you already have an idea about how eBay works.

Most people are turning to eBay for their online shopping needs. The auction site has made it easy for shoppers with its user-friendly search facility. Just type the name of whatever product you are after and eBay searches through its various categories and comes up with various links relating to the product in that category. Click the link, and you are on your way to your very first purchase on eBay. It is that easy. And it is for this reason, most shoppers keep going back to eBay, not just for bargains, but because the auction site has a user friendly interface and it is easy to navigate, even for the novice Internet user.

EBay has built an online person - person trading community on the internet, using the World Wide Web. Buyers and Sellers are brought together in a manner where sellers are permitted to list items for sale, buyers to bid on items of interest and all members to browse through listed items in a fully automated way. These items are arranged by topics, where each type of auction has its own category.

The site has spawned a whole industry of programs and websites catering to online auction buyers and sellers. You can find help to list, buy, pay or sell. These days, selling on the site has become a full time job for many people. Some sellers consistently make more than $150,000.00 in monthly sales and there are over 260,000 people selling on the auction site and this figure keeps growing by the day.

About the author: For the latest articles and online money making tips, visit

Ideas For Making Money

Online Copyright © David Nettey

Taxing eBay Part Deux

Author: Tim Knox

When my column on paying income tax on eBay profits ran it brought a wave of emails on whether you were required to report income earned from eBay sales to the IRS sparked a number of additional questions and comments from eBay sellers who were hoping that I could somehow validate that their eBay activities were mere hobbies instead of actual businesses and therefore not susceptible to IRS taxation.

Several folks argued that just because their little eBay hobby generated a little cash, that didn't make it a full blown business. It seems they consider the income from their little hobby to be financial manna from Heaven and thereby not taxable by earthly tax collectors. I've always been amused by folks who try to impress me with talk about their ""little side business"" but when the subject turns to taxes they suddenly refer to it as ""my little hobby.""

All arguments aside, the conclusion that I came to after reading each of the emails was always the same: while you may think selling on eBay is just a fun pastime and the money you're making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS would probably disagree with you.

It seems that everyone likes making money, but hates carving off a piece for good old Uncle Sam. Welcome to free enterprise, folks. If you're going to come to the dance you have to pay the fiddler.

The IRS rules are clear: you must pay taxes on all personal and business income and that includes money you make selling on Ebay.

In its most basic sense, the IRS rules can be interpreted to mean that if you buy an old vase at a garage sale for $10 and sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for $20 you made a $10 profit and therefore must report it as income and pay Uncle Sam his fair share.

In reality, if you are a casual seller who only sells a few items on eBay every now and then it's doubtful the IRS is going to let loose an army of agents to collect taxes on the few bucks you make. However, if you consistently sell on eBay the IRS may deem your activities to be business oriented and you will be required to file a Schedule C and claim the income.

As mentioned last week, the IRS uses a number of factors to determine if an eBay hobby that generates sales revenue is actually a business. These factors include:

· Do you carry on the hobby in a business-like manner?

· Do you spend considerable time working on the hobby?

· Do you depend on income from your hobby for your livelihood?

If the answer to any or all of these question is yes, you're running a business, not carrying on a hobby, and you are responsible for paying taxes on your income.

What's eBay's take on all this? Naturally eBay is vehemently opposed to anything that might rock the eBay boat. eBay does not issue 1099 tax forms to sellers, nor does it report seller's sales figures to the IRS.

Ebay considers itself merely to be a facilitator, meaning that they provide a marketplace in which buyers and sellers come together to do business.

Furthermore, under its current system it would be impossible for eBay to issue accurate 1099s to sellers. eBay does not track if a seller actually gets paid by the buyer, so eBay has no idea how much money - if any - actually changes hands at the end of each transaction.

On the bright side, if you do sell on eBay as a business you can deduct a number of business expenses, including the cost of inventory, listing fees, shipping, envelopes, packing materials, etc.

You might also be able to deduct things like the purchase of a computer for business use, office space (even if it's a home office), office supplies, and more.

Talk to your accountant if there's any doubt as to whether you should or should not be paying taxes on your eBay earnings.

About the author: Tim is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim Knox is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online

organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay

entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

Know What, You can be an eBay Powerseller

Author: Ralph Henderson

An eBay powerseller is an official designation bestowed by eBay upon those sellers who have reached a certain sales performance and have a high level of total feedback. To be named as an eBay powerseller, you have to achieve at least a 98% positive rating by other eBay users.

For a live example of an eBay powerseller, there's Ted Corriher, a home, garden and farm equipment dealer in Newton, North Carolina. When he started out four years ago, he didn't know much about computers or the internet. He didn't even have a personal e-mail account.

During that time, all of his friends were buying on eBay, and he didn't want to be left out. He asked one of his employees to research about eBay and find out how he could sell his equipment on eBay. Now, three years later, he sells about $100,000 worth of equipment on eBay every month. His predominantly tractor-sales business has grown from $4 million to $10 million according to his annual sales.

Since joining to become part of the 147 million registered users on eBay, Corriher says that being an eBay powerseller has been a rewarding and enlightening experience for him. It also helped in reviving his grandfather's business. He has also started on business expansions.

For those of you wanting to be inspired, and become an eBay powerseller like Corriher, know that it's not impossible for a startup seller to reach the eBay powerseller level of achievement in a short time of 3 years, like Corriher did.

So, as you aim for the recognition of being an eBay powerseller, start focusing your energies first on being a better eBay seller. Here are ten tips that can help you to transform into a better seller.

Once you got this far, you already got the basics of eBay. However, there are several little, but significant things left that you may not have thought of trying, yet.

Some of these tips may go against other advices being given for eBay selling. Some are a little risky and some are just odd. But, there's no harm in trying, though. And you can easily discard the things you don't agree with and apply those you want to keep using.

1. Keep more records - even if it sounds time consuming, it would probably keep your job of tracking down cheques, delivery and shipping receipts and other such paper work, easier in the long run.

2. Post without payment - this might sound a bit risky, but it means that the buyers get their items more quickly than the usual process of waiting for payments to clear and be received. Do this ideally for small items, you might find it worth the occasional loss to give such quick service. Buyers would remember you for it.

3. Post every day - if you have started shifting on high volume items, posting them every day might help you satisfy your customers. By posting your items everyday, your customers will them quickly enough and thereby make them very happy, indeed. If you have items that are small enough to drop in a postbox, you might consider doing this.

4. Encourage an auction mentality. Entertain bidders by boosting them to place a bid on the product and not just buy quickly. However, make it very clear when it's the last or only stock you'll be getting in. Boost the bid winners' confidence more by referring to them as 'winners.'

5. Mention every defect your item has. Or better yet, have a good, truthful & detailed description of your item in the search results listing. By doing this, you build credibility and have buyers trust you. People bid more when they trust the seller.

6. Say how you got the item. This should also be part the detailed description you need to prepare. Say all, like the fun details of how you got hold of what you're selling. Providing this bit of information gives your auction character and, again, builds trust.

7. Accept odd payment methods. Be flexible on whatever forms of payment your buyer would suggest.

8. Don't be afraid to sell low. By occasionally letting an item go for a really low price to a good buyer, chances are you might be getting even on it. But, you have secured a buyer who'll come back again and again.

9. Give free shipping for a certain number of orders, or orders over a certain amount. Sometimes people buy some item they don't want, just because of the free shipping. Try it, it is an Amazon.com tactic

10. Ship worldwide. Be nice to international customers and get more market by this. Take time to investigate the prices. Just imagine how much your market will expand once you do worldwide shipping.

Try to use some of the many eBay tools available. If you just be more open-minded and see the long term effect of several of the tips mentioned, then in no time at all, you might just be the next eBay powerseller.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's learn how to make money on ebay site.

5 eBay Selling Tips for Newbies

Author: Shari Hearn

I'm directing this article to those who are just starting their eBay Selling Venture. Whether you're selling books, DVDs, CDs, collectibles or clothing, all things (with the exception of eBooks and services) need to be mailed. And it's the postage, handling fees and mailing that seems to cause a great deal of angst among new sellers.

You've heard the advice - don't overcharge for shipping. That is very good advice, indeed, as nothing turns off potential buyers like sellers who gouge you on the shipping costs. It's also a practice that can rack up bad feedback.

However, I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here and suggest that you don't go overboard and give so much of a break on shipping that you're chipping away at your profits. It's good to remember the ""hidden costs"" of shipping: bubble wrap to secure your breakables, tape, shipping envelopes, boxes, etc. Then there's the gas you put in your car to take all those trips to the post office.

You might think I'm being cheap, but, if you added up all your eBay expenses for the year (as some did for their recent taxes) you might be shocked to see how all the packing materials and gas for your car added up and took a little chunk out of your eBay profits. And, believe me, they do add up.

Some people are even more surprised to find they underestimated the weight of their packages, causing their profits to shrink even further.

How can you be fair to both you and your buyers?

1. Buy a scale. It may sound simple, but purchasing a scale can save you a bundle in shipping. If you're just eyeballing the weight of the package, you can often times guess too low, and be in for quite a shock when you go to the post office and see the package is going to cost twice what you thought to ship.

2. Know the dimensions of your packaging before listing the item. Some packages cost more to ship because of their dimensions. Knowing the weight alone isn't enough.

3. Offer the buyer a variety of shipping methods. Some prefer speedy delivery with Express mailing, while some prefer to save money with parcel post even though the wait is longer. It's always a good idea when using parcel post or other slower ground shipping to alert the buyer by email that it can take anywhere from 8 to 10 days.

4. Save yourself money whenever possible by using boxes that have been used. Most stores are more than happy to let you rummage through their old boxes and take some home with you. But, do remember to choose boxes that are presentable, secure and strong enough for your items. And, if you have breakables, don't skimp on the bubble wrap.

5. Give yourself a small handling fee that will cover your expenses. Some sellers add on an additional $1 or $2 to the shipping fees for their handling fees (depending on the cost of the item and how much packaging you have to use). I really advocate doing this because your expenses will add up if you do a lot of selling on eBay. Be sure to be upfront with your buyers that you have a small handling fee so they can't complain about it later.

Being fair to both yourself and your buyer will keep you both happy, and keep more of your profit in your pocket.

About the author: Shari Hearn is a writer and owner of an eBay Selling Tips site where you can learn about such things as drop shipping on eBay

eBay Express

Author: Juhani Tontti

eBay has some 72 million active shoppers worldwide and 78 million daily listings. The company has found out that not everybody likes auction, which can take weeks to close. More and more customers would like everything happening quicker.

They have also noticed that very often e-commerce starts at search engines, mostly at Google, and not directly from eBay. Customers want first look at the wider market seeking new offers or lower prices. This change in consumer behavior gives search engines an edge over others, which they have also noticed, especially Google.

The nature of e-commerce is that it must be quick, as a matter of facts, it is becoming quicker all the time. eBay Express, starting in April 2006, is entirely new e-commerce site for busy consumers, who want just click and buy. The company already offers fixed priced items from individuals, small businesses and retailers.

A new service opens via link from eBay.com and has a site with picture - rich design. It is like Amazon.com or other online shops. A customer can pay with credit card or PayPal ( owned by eBay ).

The launch is not a simple issue. eBay means two things at the moment: auctions and second hand items. In order to be able to stretch the brand to fixed priced, new product marketing needs a massive launch of this new site. It can and must change also the brand image of the present brand, which will partly lose it´s uniqueness.

eBay has a real need for new customers and markets. It´s growth of new customers was in the fourth quarter of 2003 50% but two years later only 25 %. The business growth is slowing down, which also Wall Street has noticed. One reason is the present sales of the company, $ 4.1 billion last year. It is hard to grow aggressively, when the company already is that big. Another reason is a growing competition, the company has followers.

The launch-target must be twofold: to get the present customers buy more and especially to get new customers, who could then use also the present service. It will not be easy because the competition, especially Google, has taken new and more aggressive steps towards new market possibilities.

Google has it´s Google Bar, a free listing service, which lets anyone offer products for sale. After eBay Express launch, it is really interesting to see what other players will do.

eBay Express has a great fraud concern. They will list products only from merchants, who have 98 % - plus positive customer ratings on at least 100 transactions. Many things can be judged from this, concerning the present service and e-commerce in general.

However eBay Express could open a totally new audience to the company, which it has not reached earlier. The strength which a company has, is it´s wellknown brand and reputation. The launch can also start "" the brand stretch war "" among the big online companies: what shall Amazon.com, Google, Yahoo and the other big players do.

The online sales as a total will expand and net will take markets from offline shops. Also I think that online shops´offline advertising will increase a lot worldwide following partly the rapid increase in broadband connections and the growth of the number in computers, new mobile phones and other end-user devices.

The consumer will be delighted if new products would come into online sales. It would mean tougher competition, wider sortiments and lower prices. But would the delivery-times get much shorter?

The internet marketers can utilize the new market. It has a lot of interest right in the start in medias offline and online, which gives additional value to the campaigns.

About the author: Juhani Tontti, a NetBizMarketer, has a passion to co-operate with other internet marketers. Take a look at my site, which gives great chanca to you http://auctiontips.com/t.cgi/870542. Thanks!

eBay Scams - Steps to Take if You Have Been Defrauded

Author: J. Foley

eBay is a relatively safe marketplace. Unfortunately, like most online marketplaces, it is vulnerable to scams. eBay tries to keep instances of scams occurring, but with more than 100 million members, and approximately $40 million moving through the site on a daily basis, this can be a little difficult. Sometimes, scams occur.

If you have been scammed, there are certain steps you need to follow to report the incident, and to try to come to a resolution. If you paid for the item through Paypal, the first step is to login to your Paypal account and open up a dispute for the payment. If you did not pay through Paypal, contact your credit card company. In most cases, if you have used one of these two cases, you will recover your money.

The next step is to use eBay's dispute process to report the seller. This is specifically for items that were not received, or items that were significantly different than what was described in the auction. eBay also has a purchase protection program to further protect buyers. If a settlement cannot be reached with the buyer, the next step is to make an eBay buyer purchase protection claim.

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

How to Avoid eBay Scams and Fraud

Author: J. Foley

Countless people have been scammed and defrauded on eBay. eBay is a fun place to bid on items and to sell items - but you must know how to recognize a scam, and how to avoid them, them or you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost their money to eBay scams. Of course, if you are scammed, there are some actions you can take the correct the situation - but in many cases, the scammer does indeed get away! The best option is to avoid being scammed.

You can easily avoid many scams with the payment method that you use - whether you are a buyer or a seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases, Paypal is the payment method you should use. First, as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The seller must reply and show proof that the item was shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your account.

As a seller, you can protect yourself by only accepting Paypal. This will eliminate the chances of receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the charge through paypal, and you of course will be able to prove that you shipped the product. You cannot, however, prove that the product arrived in the condition that was expected. In this case, you should demand that the product be returned to you before the refund is issued.

Another common scam that buyers use is the bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with two separate eBay accounts - with one person in control of both of them, or with two friends with separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed on your item, using one account. This is followed by a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Right before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid. This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price - the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the reserve price that you set.

If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions page, declaring that you have the right to back out of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails. These emails appear to be from eBay. The email may claim that you need to verify your information, and ask you to login to your eBay account, using the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks exactly like eBay, but it is actually a scam to get your eBay login details, as well as your credit card details! eBay will never ask you to do this. If you suspect a spoofed email, report it to eBay immediately!

Don't let scammers ruin your eBay fun! Just use good common sense, and a reasonable amount of caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report suspicious activity to eBay, and if a deal doesn't feel right, simply back away from it and move on to the next auction.

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

Hot Selling Items for eBay Auctions

Author: J. Foley

Many people who are trying to start an eBay business spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which items sell the best on eBay. Many of these people have elaborate systems for determining this information, and many others purchase expensive courses that teach them how to find this information as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you need to know is right in front of you - on the eBay website!

Take a look at any category, and you will see the word 'hot' beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly - there is a method to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there have been more than thirty bids placed on the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well.

However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items sell best than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that will result in a successful auction in the future is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .

A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is 'eBay Marketplace Research.' Marketplace Research will allow you to view important statistical information on the buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well - or how poorly - an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools, however.

Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/ . This list is divided into categories, which will make it easier to determine how popular your potential item may be.

Don't make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your homework on the item first. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

eBay Success - How to Price Your Items

Author: J. Foley

eBay Success - How to Price Your Items

Many new sellers don't realize how important pricing is when it comes to eBay auctions. Many don't even realize that 'pricing' needs to be done. eBay is an auction site after all! But eBay auctions are not quite the same as the auctions you attend in the offline world. In fact, quite a bit of work goes into determining and setting prices.

Essentially, there are only three prices that can be set for an eBay auction: the 'buy it now' price, the reserve price, and the starting bid price. Of these three, the starting bid price is the only one that is required for an eBay auction. The reserve price and the 'buy it now' price are optional. The starting bid price is fairly simple - never set it higher than $50 or so - no matter what your item is really worth. This low opening price will get bidders to your auction.

Setting low starting bid prices creates the need for a reserve price. A reserve price is the absolute lowest price that you want to get for your item. You may sell the item below the reserve price, but you will not be required to. In other words, if you set your reserve price at $100, and your highest bid is only $50, you do not have to sell the item to the highest bidder. You can close the auction without any negative feedback or repercussions. Set your reserve price at the absolute lowest price you are willing to sell your item for. Keep what the item is worth, as well as what it cost you in mind.

The 'buy it now' option will allow you to set a price, and buyers can buy the item immediately, without bidding, for that set price. This option can be used for any type of item, and it should be set to match your reserve, give or take a few dollars. This option is great if you have multiple identical items to sell.

Shipping has a price, and potential buyers take this into consideration when they are looking at an auction. If you can see your way clear to offer free shipping, you will find that people are placing more bids. Make sure that your potential buyers realize that you are offering free shipping!

Before setting any prices, you need to determine what the item is really worth. The value of the item in different markets might be quite high. However, you are selling on eBay, and it is a different world altogether! Find out the price that similar items sold for on eBay before setting any prices. If it is a collectable, or a high ticket item, have the item evaluated to ensure that you aren't going to lose money!

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

You Can Sell Anything on eBay - Or Can You?

Author: J. Foley

Over 100 million people are members of eBay. Through eBay, you can buy items in almost any category that you can imagine - at great prices. You can also sell almost anything you can imagine on eBay - people often sell items that have absolutely no real value for very high prices. There are limits, however, to what can be bought and sold.

eBay does not allow certain items to be auctioned through their website. Services are one type of 'item' that cannot be auctioned - simply because it is not an item. Some seller's blatantly ignore this however. The sale of other items is illegal, even if it isn't being sold through eBay. eBay restricts the sale of any type of item that is considered 'illegal for sale' in any other selling format. Illegal items such as satellite descramblers are forbidden as well.

Anything that is copyrighted - such as copies of DVDs, CDs, or software - may not be sold through eBay auctions. You can, however, sell a DVD, CD, or any software that you bought legitimately...as long as you are not just selling a copy that you made of these types of items. eBay does not allow the sale of 'replicas.' A replica is a knockoff version of designer items, such as purses, dresses, shoes, or sunglasses that look identical to those that have designer labels.

Items that are regulated by the state or federal government are forbidden on eBay. These items include alcoholic beverages, weapons and firearms, all tobacco products, and both prescription and illegal drugs. There are small exceptions to this rule, however. If you have a collectable, such as a tin that contains tobacco, you may sell that item if the package has never been opened, and if you state the contents of the package are not meant for consumption. There are other conditions that must be met as well when selling these types of collectables.

Any type or breed of animal or reptile may not be sold through an eBay auction. This includes animals that were once living, and are now stuffed and mounted. This rule may also apply to items that are taken from endangered species, such as Ivory. When it comes to these types of items, when in doubt, don't.

Tickets may be sold, but it is illegal to sell tickets for a higher price than you originally paid for them. This is called ticket scalping, and it is illegal. Lottery tickets are also banned from eBay auctions, as well as raffle tickets. Again, if you are not sure if your item is eligible for an eBay auction, either don't put it up for auction, or contact eBay to get an answer one way or the other. Don't risk breaking the law!

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

eBay Strategy #5 -- Timing is Everything

Author: Stephanie McIntyre

The time of day that you list your auction items is crucial to your online success. When you consider that your auctions will end at the same time of day as you list them. So if you list your auctions at 3:00 in the morning, because you are a night owl and that's when you like to work, keep in mind they will also end at 3:00 in the morning when fewer people will be awake and bidding on your items,. Since most of the bidding on an auction occurs in the last few minutes of the auction this could really hurt the final price your auctions receive. So it's important to have your auctions start and end at the times when your buyers are likely to be awake and bidding.

Edning date and time are the most important times to control for. Starting time and date are the same as end date and times for seven day auctions. But if you use other duration, like 3 day or 5 day auction durations, both of which eBay allows, then start your auctions on a day that will cause them to end when most of your buyer are likely to be bidding.

For instance, I used to auction children's clothes in 25 piece lots and I found that most of the people who shopped with me were mothers. My best time to list was about 8:00pm, on Sunday evening. When running seven day auctions that meant that they would also end at that time the following Sunday. That gave me two opportunities to connect with my buyers, at the start and at the end of the auction.

Duration: Although seven day auction are the norm there are times that one of the other durations that eBay offers may be right for you. eBay offers you the option of 1 day, 3 day, 5 day, 7 day, and 10 day auction durations. eBay charges a small fee of 10 cents for auctions that are 10 day's duration.

With the 10 day duration you get the most time in front of your prospective buyer for a minimal extra cost. This may work well for an item that may be a slow mover. But some buyers may not want to wait 10 days to have the auction close and may look elsewhere ,on or off eBay, to get the item quicker.

You may think that a 3 day auction is too short a duration to get much action but I have had very good success with 3 day auctions that I started on Thursday and had end on Sunday in he evenings. In most cases I experienced no drop-off in price when I moved to the 3 day duration. And I was able to move a lot more of the items I was selling without flooding the market by running auctions for the same item, at the same time.

Buyers also get the feeling that there is some reason to move on the item quickly when the auction is of short duration.

Start & End Times: eBay says that 4:00pm - 7:00pm (pst) are the busiest times on the site. That is afternoon and evening hours for all of the time zones in the US. If you find that your customers are from other parts of the world then you needto adjust your times accordingly.

Keep in mind that if your auction starts at 1:27pm it will end at 1:27pm regardless of the duration of the auction in days.

Day of the Week:: As I already mentioned Sundays were the best day of the week for me to end my auctions on when I sold children's clothes. But that was not true when I sold gothic clothing. Mostly young people buy gothic clothing, I found, and the best times to end were on a Friday night. When they would be looking to get new clothes but the malls were closed.

So it is important to become familiar with your customer's buying habits. A lot of this comes with experience, but there are also tools that can help you do the research. Terapeak, http://www.terapeak.com/ has a suite of really good tools. Their packages cost between $7.95 and $16.95 but they do offer a14 day free trial. Andale, www.andale.com also offers tools that help you research best times, days and items to list.

Next:: Strategy #6 Get Maximum exposure for your auctions

About the author: Stephanie McIntyre became a Platinum eBay Powerseller (over $10,00 per month in sales) after only 6 months of selling. She now works with corporations and small business owners offering training in eBay As An added Revenue Stream, as well as Starting an eBay Business; and Advanced Auction Selling Techniques. http://www.ebaysellingbasics.com. She can be reached at steffmc@esalesunlimited.com

Free eBay Business Trainings: Learn In Minutes What you can Learn in Terms of Years!

Author: Ralph Henderson

eBay sellers need to be subjected from time-to-time with free eBay business training. By availing of free eBay business training, the eBay sellers, whether part time or full time will get new updates on important things that will determine their success in Selling on eBay, and Other Online Auctions.

There's the most remarkable free conference we learned about that focus on product acquisitions and selling online. The speaker, Craig Meyer, is the real deal.

If you have ever thought about running a business from your home, This free eBay business training conference by Meyer is a ""don't miss"" hour and 1/2 live presentation. There is also the option to take the recorded version of the presentation at your own pace. The auction secrets you'll learn will cut years off your eBay learning curve.

During the free eBay business training, Meyer took the time to distinguish the attendants of his conference and get them to share their personal experiences.

One of the students, Chris Twig, shared that he started only a year ago. Craig's team located a product, negotiated terms, and is now successfully marketing his website. He now only sells products by the wholesale truckload, and his product is featured on QVC. He doesn't even need to carry inventory anymore!

Thinking about how much people are earning on eBay? On free eBay business trainings, like the ones given by Craig Meyer. so I urge you to take the time to listen to Craig Meyer, a pro who walks-the-walk.

After Meeyer's free eBay business training, he gives you an auction toolkit of the latest auction tools that will help you succeed on eBay and avoid all the common auction traps. Once you come out of free eBay business training, your eyes will be opened up round for good sources and programs that's designed to bolster your online auction campaigns.

You will know how to accquire programs like Fotokiss. Fotokiss is a program which helps you upload your photos and blow them up to make them stand out to customers. You won't need expensive programs like photoshop. This software suite will help you blow your competition off the map.

And best yet, it's all free! You are granted this as token of appreciation in your attendance to the free eBay business training event that focuses on making big money with eBay and the Internet.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced seller, this free eBay business training is like a shoe, where one size fits all. In a span of 90-minutes online presentation your mind is filled with newer ideas, a lot more resources and selling secrets you have not encountered before. This free eBay business training is conducted from Mayer's office right in the comfort of your home or office on your personal computer. All you need is a phone and computer with an internet connection.

When you come out of this free eBay business training conference you begin to imagine being an eBay Online Auction power-seller earning $5,000 to $10,000 a month. The training will give you the proper boost to know that anyone can do it with the right product niche. Thousands of regular people just like you and I are doing this right now and so can you!

What you will learn in the free eBay business trainings: 1. Secrets of creating ads

2. Carving a product niche with high profit margins!

3. Why you should not work with product consolidators!

4. Dealing with manufacturers to drop-ship directly to your customers

5. Marketing only one or two products and sell multiples of such over and over 6. The reasons you need a website and where you can get a free one.

7. Knowing a systematic approach to making big money using eBay and the Internet.

Take advantage of free eBay business trainings whenever possible. Why take two or three years to learn what you can during free eBay business trainings online. It works if you make it work.

Most probabaly the first thing you'll ever learn in these free eBay business trainings is your willingness to put up five to ten more hours a week into your business. You'll also learn that in order to succeed to the heights of glory in the eBay business, you need to work smarter not harder!

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

What Is The Best Selling eBay Book Of All Time?

Author: Tim Knox

As a bonfide eBay expert and junkie, I read every eBay book that comes down the pike. Some, like Tim Mina's new book, ""The Online Auction Expert's Bible to Selling on eBay,"" are excellent and should be read by anyone interested in selling on eBay.

Others are not so excellent, and that's putting it kindly.

I really can't say which one is the best selling eBay book of all time, but I can tell you there is one book in particular that I have been recommending for over a year now and the reason is that it is, quite simply, packed full of useful information that will not only increase your eBay sales, but bring more customers to your website, as well.

That ebook is 'The Silent Sales Machine Hiding on eBay' written bymy good friend and eBay guru, Jim Cockrum. Jim has just completed a major update of the ebook and added almost 100 pages of new content.

If you sell on eBay or are thinking about doing so, I strongly recommend that you get yourself a copy of Jim's ebook. Despite the increase in content, Jim hasn't increased the price.... yet, but I am sure he will do so very soon like he always does. This is the fourth major update of this best seller and the price goes up every time!

Jim's ebook has been a top seller on Clickbank pretty much since he published the first edition back in 2002, so if it's not the best selling eBay book of all time it's certainly in the top 5.

Jim offers a 'no questions asked' money back guarantee so this really is a 'no risk' purchase.

For more information just click on over to:

-- http://hop.clickbank.net/?powerpak/silentsale

For Tim Mina's new book visit:

-- http://www.dropshipwholesale.net/powerseller-toolkit.php

About the author: Tim Knox is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online

organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay

entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

How to Avoid Failure on Your eBay Auctions

Author: J. Foley

Many first time sellers have one thing in common - they fail. Many of them fail time and time again, never understanding what is going wrong. They do hours of research looking for the perfect item to sell, get the auction set up, and wait for the bidding to begin. Hours go by and no bids are placed. Days go by, and there are still no bids - or there are very low bids. Finally the auction ends, and it turns out to be a total failure. Considering the huge number of sellers who run eBay auctions, there are specific things you must do, and specific things you must not do if you are to be successful.

There are many reasons why auctions fail. The most common reason is that the item is not in high demand. This problem can be avoided by doing the necessary research to determine which items sell well, and which items should be avoided. This research takes a great deal of time - but in the end, you will find that it is time well spent.

Another reason for eBay failure is pricing. No matter what your reserve price is, your opening bid price should never be more than $50 or so. This is how you will attract potential bidders to your auction. If you set that opening bid too high, most people won't even click the link to read the description for your item. Another pricing problem is lack of research. Before you set your reserve price, you must determine what the item is really worth, and the price similar items have sold for in past eBay auctions.

Poorly written descriptions are another cause of failed auctions. Poor grammar and misspelled words drive people away. Failing to post a picture of the item will also keep people from visiting your auction page. Make sure that your description is well written. This is essentially your 'sales copy.'

Shipping prices scare people away from auctions if they are too high. Find the lowest shipping prices that you can find, and consider paying for the shipping yourself if it won't cut into your profits too much. Do not charge handling fees.

Offer great 'customer service' for all of your auctions, and ask your buyers to give you feedback. If the items that you sell are everything that you said they would be, and you offer great customer service, you can expect wonderful feedback - and this feedback will help a great deal in your future auctions.

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

The eBay Trading Assistants Program

Author: J. Foley

If you excel at eBay auctions, you might want to consider an additional source of revenue as well. The eBay Trading Assistant Program will allow you to sell items for other eBay members on consignment. Being successful at your own auctions is the key to becoming a successful trading assistant for other people.

Often, newcomers simply don't know how to make their items sell. Many people who are auctioning off a one time big ticket item, such as cars or real estate, will often employ the services of an eBay Trading Assistant. Items such as these can add up to very big commissions for serious trading assistants! Usually, trading assistants are responsible for every aspect of the auction, including shipping the product to the customer and collecting payment. For high ticket items, the person who hires

Trading Assistants get access to trading assistant marketing materials which are quite helpful. In order to become an approved trading assistant, you must have sold at least ten items in the last ninety days, have a feedback score of at least 100 with 97% positive feedback or higher, and your eBay account must be in good standing.

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

How to Avoid Losing to eBay Snipers

Author: J. Foley

Sniping occurs when a bid is about to end. Some yahoo rushes in and bids a little higher than the highest bid as the clock runs out of time - winning the bid. Sniping is against the rules at eBay, but it doesn't slow the snipers down! In most cases, even if you report it, the sniper will get away with it, and you will have lost the item that you wanted to win so badly. Unfortunately, in order to avoid losing the items you want to snipers at eBay, you have to take on the sniper mentality. You also need to snipe in a way that will not violate eBay's rules.

Snipping can be done in one of two ways. The first way is the safest, but not necessarily the easiest. Simply keep up with the item you are bidding on. Make a note of the date and time that the auction will end, and make sure that you are in front of your computer and logged into the auction well before that specific time. The objective is to either bid higher than the highest bid during the last few seconds - which is what snipers do - or to simply make sure that you are not outbid by a sniper.

Remember that sniping is against the rules, so you should log in about thirty or forty five minutes before the bidding ends, and get your bid up until it is the highest bid. At that point, all you need to do is to keep an eye out to make sure that nobody else raises the bid. If you've been logged in for a while, this cannot be considered sniping.

Using this method, you must be aware of automatic bidders. It is very hard to bid against people who use bidding software. That software has been designed for the purpose of snipping, and your chances of outbidding the software manually are very slim - which leads us to the second method of snipping - Snipping services.

Snipping services are very easy to find online, and they are relatively inexpensive. You can also purchase your own snipping software. If you want to become a sniper, purchasing your own software is usually the best way to go if you bid on a lot of items. You just set up the software, tell it which auction to watch and what the highest price you are willing to bid is, and let it do the work - just remember that it is against the rules, and while eBay seldom enforces this rule, you will be running the risk of getting banned from eBay.

Sniping is bad if someone does it to you, but if you use it yourself to win bids, it can be a wonderful thing. On the other hand, it may not be very ethical. Outbidding someone is one thing, sniping is something altogether different!

Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

About the author: Article Written By J. Foley http://www.jjbargaindeals.com

Wouldn't you like to know the eBay secret to millions?

Author: Ralph Henderson

In January 2004, rumors has it that the top affiliate at eBay earned over a million dollars. Now supposing this is not supposition and he, by all likelihood did earned that $1 million? Aren't you just dying to know this top affiliate's eBay secrets?

It will indeed be a big deal if at least 75% of the people all over the world stop their daily routine of cursing in alarm clocks, commuting to work and boring themselves rotten on their underpaid jobs.Having a knowledge of eBay secrets that would generate extra income for at least half this percentage might surely turn the world around.

Do you think you can really make extra income by learning eBay secrets? Let me tell you, that as of now, over 25,000 people depend on their income from online auctions in eBay, Google, Yahoo and more. Meanwhile part timers would number at about 250,000! Just think, presently, a quarter of a million people make out their extra income through online auctions.

So, it's fairly a matter of decision really. Raise your hand if you'd like to join those who dare to unlock the eBay secrets and start their own the home-based business!

If you have already made your choice, give yourself a helping of several of the eBay secrets to sales success.

Products that are lying around your house or those that interest you aren't just for collectibles. Small business owners now have a solution for slow-moving and overstocked merchandise. Several small business owners have already discovered that they can turn up nice profits on auction Web Sites.

Now here's an ultimate eBay secret almost everyone is starting to be aware of recently. Try listing a few of your unwanted or excess inventory items on eBay - www.ebay.com. On eBay, many business owners have discovered that they can get full price, and sometimes fetch a higher price, by auctioning their wares.

Once you have registered in eBay as a seller, start learning the eBay secret on how to have a return on your time and investment.

Try these eBay secrets shared by experienced eBay sellers:

Write a descriptive title for your product Turn up with more noticeable and interesting descriptions for your product. Instead of ""Walk-in Cooler"" put in ""Excellent Walk-In Cooler"". ""2 Year-Old Compressor, 2-Year Warranty""is also much better than ""Used Compressor"". Having good titles is an eBay secret which will draw bidders' attention. By having these catchy titles, chances are they will view additional details about your products.

Includjng lots of pictures to go along with your description It is a popular eBay secret that a picture is worth a thousand words on eBay. By having clear, candid and all-angle photos of your product, you can a vote of trust from potential buyers. Whether your item is in ""excellent"" condition or ""fair"" condition, the extra pictures give buyers confidence in placing bids.

You can pay for the ""Gallery"" option in eBay. This allows you to include a picture with the title of your item. Having a thumbnail photo with your listing is a great eBay secret to be aware of. Most people don't click an item listing that have no picture.

Determine shipping costs before selling Its not only an eBay secret, it is better to be particular about shipping arrangements and expenses before selling your item. Buyers are wary of sellers who don't include their shipping arrangements and costs outright. If you failed to estimate shipping costs beforehand chances are you will be burdened with unexpected expenses.

Pack boxes after the auction. Perhaps you may not have heard of this eBay secret before but buyers sometimes ask unexpected questions about your items. Thus, make sure you have satisfied your customers first so don't touch the packing tape until your auction is over.

Use a seven- to 10-day auction and end it on a Sunday Don't you know that people seem to like to buy on Sundays? So this could be a well-shared eBay secret.

Do you think you have enough of eBay secrets for now? Start applying them in your eBay selling venture, then!

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

eBay Selling Tips Straight From a Power Buyer

Author: Ralph Henderson

Coming from the point of view of a buyer, eBay selling is a wish granted to those of us who wishes that we could be everywhere at once in order find the real bargain on the products we buy.

eBay.com is an electronic junk store that lets you be present on every garage sales and flea markets on every part of the nation all at once. Also, you just need the computer and an internet connetion to type a few words, then push a button and voila! You can print out a list of where you will likely find what you want.eBay selling is really such a fantastic opportunity for buyers.

eBay selling also presents a heavenly way of choosing and bidding. Good bye to days of having to drive for miles to get into auctions, shows, fleas, and sales. Now all you need to do is sit back and sort through endless piles of electronic trash available in eBay selling. More likely we have also have become an authority in knowing every aspect of eBay selling even if we do not become sellers.

Here, then are some guidelines on eBay selling that buyers have come to be aware of. These will help sellers improve and increase their online auction's profits.

1. Use your title line intelligently. Once you venture on eBay selling, project your title properly. Thi is critical because that's what eBay's search engine reads. Important keywords need not be neglected because it may mean throwing away money.

2. A good title should identify the particular items up for sale. Always mention a brand name or maker (or artist) if known. Identify the material it's made from if relevant.Your eBay selling success may just depend on how relevant are the words you come up with in your title.

3. Research similar eBay listings before finalizing and posting your title. Learn the basics of every hobby's vocabulary or the standard way of saying things.

4. Don't list items that other sellers have currently listed and aren't selling anymore.

5. eBay selling have formulated correct categories for each item. Be sure to list your items on the correct category. When in doubt, list them in multiple categories.

5. In writing the item description, give complete information in a logical order. As much as possible, put in [1] what the item is [2] its title [3] the maker or marketer or artist or author if known [4] marks or other identifiers [5] what it is made of [6] its dimensions [7] its condition, and [8] any other special features or history.

6. Face the responsibility in eBay selling,give all information to eliminate potential buyers' numerous questions.

7. Spell words correctly.Being into eBay selling doesn't excuse you from poor spelling.

8. eBay selling gives you opportunity to post numerous photos. However, put your most informative photo first.

9. In eBay selling, always make it easy for bidders to read about your offering and see your picture by keeping it simple, concise and direct to the point.

10. It's true that some suggest animation and other effects in order to put an edge in your eBay selling venture. But coming from buyers heed this: - Avoid animation.Serious bidders hate it! - Avoid large, slow loading graphics. - Avoid color backgrounds. Base your eBay selling list on the needs of your customer, not those of your interior decorator. - Avoid music.

10. Avoid describing your item as ""awesome"" or ""rare."" Claiming such things won't help your eBay selling.

11. Consider other avenues for eBay selling. There are some schemes in eBay selling that's likely to make your products more saleable and bring you great profit. 12. Try contacting your buyers personally. Chances are they will be thankful and will give your eBay selling a boost.

These eBay selling guidelines are based wholly from buyers' experiences. Knowing particularly how the buyers get interested or turned off with a particular item or whole auction is helpful information for eBay sellers.

If you are into the eBay selling scene,it's better to be open to buyer's suggestions and demands. Remember, the customer is always right.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

Tips On Buying aVehicle on eBay

Author: Ron Grant

Tips On Buying a Vehicle On eBay eBay Auto

There will be almost $3,000,000,000.00 (That's three BILLION dollars) worth of vehicles sold via eBay Motors this Year. Here are some buying tips if you are planing to purchase a vehicle through eBay Motors:

Don't be too impatient: Watch the auctions you are interested in for a while. Use your ""Watch this item"" and search ""Completed items"" to see what similar vehicles have sold for.

Narrow your search: Choose a make and model you are interested in. It's easier to make checks on the auction by using an exact make and model in the search field.

Check Feedback: Check the feedback from other buyers. Make sure the seller is rated as a seller and no a buyer.

Request more pictures : Request more photos by e-mail if necessary.

Call the seller : Develop a rapport with the seller, and sale terms may be more flexible than you think. Have an Out : Bid only on auctions where sellers allow you to cancel after you inspect the vehicle.

No-Reserve auctions : Bid on auctions that don't have a minimum winning bid amount, which is often as high as the car's retail value.

Have cash : Many banks will not finance out-of-state transactions.Check first.

Have mechanic inspect vehicle : The eBay site offers inspection in 50 major metro areas, as well as a free limited warranty for the drive home for many vehicles.

Use Carfax : They will do an on-line vehicle history report which will tell you where the vehicle has been, its accurate mileage and whether it has been damaged in a crash or flood.

Use an on-line pricing service : There are many free services which will tell you the realistic retail and wholesale value of the vehicle. Set your maximum bid : Decide on a fair price for a vehicle, then bid and walk away. Don't get caught in a bidding war and end up paying too much.

Remember travel or delivery costs : You have to either pick up the vehicle or have it delivered when you win the auction. Include gas, hotels, food, lost work time and plane tickets in the cost.

Buy round-trip plane tickets : A discount round-trip fare is often cheaper than a one-way ticket, and it gives you flexibility if you deide you don't want the car after you see it.

Keep these tips in mind when you bid on that vehicle, and Happy Bidding!

eBay Auto

About the author: Ron is a professional eBayer and a registered eBay Trading Assistant. He has set up several blogs dealing with eBay issues. This blog is set up at http://ebayauto.blogspot.com/.

WHOLESALE SELLING - THE SECRET TO MAKING HUGE PROFITS ON EBAY

Author: Ralph Henderson

""I want to have a source of income aside from my regular paying job"".

Encountered this thought often in your mind? Do not despair for you are in good company. Millions of people all over the world employ considerable measures to finding extra jobs that will serve as their supplemental income, not necessarily because they want to get rich but more on the inclination to have ready money whenever the need arises.

I'll let you in on a little secret. If you want to earn additional income without having to leave your house or work longer hours, bring your desires over to the dot.com business - particularly the ebay buying and selling venue.

EBay is currently the hottest trend in part-time or full-time money-making business. From finding the products you want to have down to the items you, yourself would like to sell to potential buyers - it is all out there on eBay. Different items such as cars, clothing and accessories, computers and saleable parts, electronic gadgets, home and office tools and equipment, products for health and beauty, jewelry and watches, hand-held games, bags and wallets, branded perfumes, software for personal and business uses, are just some of the items for sale on ebay websites. And they have hundreds of sites internationally that you can open up an account with, this way you will be able to market your items to a larger client base.

Beginner's Guide to Selling on EBay It is easy to start your business on ebay. All you have to do is register an account, choose your user ID and password, set up your own retail store (tools for this is provided in the site once you sign up), and sign up with PayPal or other courier and shipping services for your soon-to-be sold items.

Through experience and countless trial-and-error, you will device your own methods and solutions as to how to cope and adopt with your customers and make it work to your advantage. Eventually, that is. But if you want that right from the very start you will make huge profits with your products, then venture into wholesale selling on ebay.

Learn the Secrets of Professional EBay Sellers! Professional ebay sellers can attest to you that they are able to reach up to six-to-eight figures of profits in the first succeeding years of their selling practice. Some will attribute it to perseverance and determination... plus two little factors called luck and having the right connections.

1) Do your homework - this means research your resources baby!

Your enthusiasm to start your business immediately is great, but stop for a minute. Do you have all the items that you can sell?

* For this you can start by checking out bargains stores, garage sales and flea markets, clearance sales and discounts, thrift and specialty stores in your area, items from friends and family and even your own stuff that you want to dispose of yet are still in good condition. You can also locate wholesale sellers for brand new items that you can later on sell on retail prices - the higher the mark-up difference between wholesale and retail price of the item, the higher your profits will be.

2) Look for manufacturers and dealers who will be glad to do business with you.

* With their approval of course, you can sell their products on your own eBay outlets and get half of the profits. The trick here is that since the products are of factory price, you can up it just a little; once the item is bought you can give the exact amount to the manufacturer while you pocket the extra cash.

Unless of course they want a chunk of the profits too, then agree to an amount wherein both of you can have fair share of it. But remember to keep your price to a minimum because buyers will still judge whether the price stipulated for the item is affordable or not.

And last but not the least,

3) Use the internet to obtain more sources for possible eBay products that you can sell.

* You can go online and search for manufacturers and individual sellers who have their own websites, wherein they sell their own merchandise to interested buyers. You can set a bargain price for it and then put it up for sale as your own.

The internet has great deals to offer for wholesale selling on ebay if you only know where to look. Trust your gut and this small thing called 'search engine' on the net and you are well on your way to counting huge profits.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

Capture the Most Appropriate and Needed eBay selling software

Author: Ralph Henderson

For eBay sellers, selling on eBay was a great novelty and was really fun, for a while. However, once the administration and maintenance began to pile up, nothing is ever the same. The absence of eBay selling software that organizes such things seem so faraway, then. It seems that you'll be always be rushing, running and thinking.

Common questions to soar up in your head are, Have the checks cleared? Have I left feedback for everyone? Was my shipping charge the right amount? Sure there are Excel spreadsheet and even hard copies in stacks of folders or record books. Still it turns out to be a real headache. But, instead of nursing your headache and then plunging back into the rollercoaster, why not search for some eBay selling software that will help simplify things?

Now, the internet is a real fountain of information. If you click on in the internet and more likely, you'll get plenty of search results responding on eBay selling software.

Look for an eBay selling software that would help with your organizing troubles and foibles. Chances are that if you type eBay software, you get very relevant results. Just imagine, all of them are out them, ready to be applied. If you search in google, you are likely to find even more search results.

Once you have the results, prevent disappointments by concentrating on your top priority. This helps ensure you don't lose focus and get fancy auction graphics instead of the auction management system that you desperately need.

Three Types of eBay sellinb Software

There are three broad categories for eBay selling software. These three are market insight (to identify what and how to sell), auction management (to administer selling chores), and listing enhancements (to attract bids).

Market Insight products software help you decide what, when and how to sell by analyzing completed auctions and generating statistics on timing, enhancements, sell-through rates and more. If you are considering selling in a new, unfamiliar category or are struggling to move your inventory, then market insight could improve your selling strategy.

Auction Management eBay selling software keeps your sales administration under control. Do this by putting a framework around your eBay sales and automating repetitive tasks. Products vary in their breadth, but may include listing, payment, shipping and feedback features. If your products are selling well, but you are struggling to maintain a high level of service, an auction management system software is what you need.

Once you have decided which type of eBay selling software you need most, list out your requirements in detail. How much are you willing to pay? Do you require support for international eBay sites? Which features must you have? Which features would be nice to have? Take time to get all your requirements listed accurately because it is easy to lose sight of your goals later on.

Listing Enhancements cover a wide range of products and often appeal to sellers who already have a well-managed business. They include detailed bidder statistics (to fine-tune auction listing), interactive pictures or video (to showcase high-value products), and real-time chat (to provide instant customer service). If you sell expensive items or are looking for that extra edge over your competitors, then look into listing enhancements.

Software versus Hosted Services

The difference between software and hosted product is that, in software, you download a file to your computer (or buy a CD from a store), then run the installation program. You don't need to be stay connected to the Internet but software can be used if you are at your computer. Your auction data is stored away on hard drive.

Meanwhile, hosted or online products are accessed via the web, so you can use the service from many computer but need to stay connected in the internet. By using this your auction data is stored on the vendor's computers rather than your own, and improvements to the service are available immediately - there are no downloads.

Choosing between software and a hosted service is partly a matter of personal preference, but if you have a slow Internet connection, a software-based tool may be the only practical option.

In using eBay selling software, be aware that there are those that may not answer to your needs. So be specific as you search for the best eBay selling software or even hosted service products that you engage for your eBay busines.It may just be the key to your success...and relaxation, too.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

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eBay Selling Tips for Everyone

Author: Ralph Henderson

Ever wondered how to get the most out of eBay? First off here are some practical eBay selling tips:

You need an eBay account. Then, take note of this step-by-step guide for setting up an auction. This is the core of eBay selling tips that you need to know.

Before you sell anything on eBay you should be guided by the eBay selling tip of researching first to make sure that you are going to get the best possible result. There might be better ways to sell your items in the research what sells on EBay section of the eBay.

Auctions with pictures almost always sell for more than those without pictures. You'll eventually want to invest in a digital camera, but for just getting started, you can take pictures with a regular camera.

On eBay selling tips regarding listing of products, one of the big mistakes when it comes to selling on eBbay is not listing the item at the right time and not for a long enough duration.

Try to write a clear and concise description and title. This will help save you time by cutting down the number of questions from potential bidders. If you do get questions, you should try to answer them promptly.

Research closed auctions to get an idea of what you might expect your item to sell for, and to figure out what to set your starting bid at.

The eBay selling tip on the best time start your auction is during weekdays so that it will finish on the weekend. The main reason for this is that most people are home on the weekends and have the time to sit and wait to the last minute to make their. Try to have your auction end by Sunday evening. This eBay selling tip is very advisable and have been experienced successful by most sellers.

It's usually best to state in the auction what the shipping costs will be. The USPS usually has better shipping rates on smaller items. It's a good idea to also check the rates at UPS and Fed-Ex if you're shipping something heavy. UPS are better shipping transaction for heavier items, because they'll pick the package up from your house for no extra charge.

You can get free USPS Priority Mail boxes and tape here: Free Priority Mail Supplies. You can print a free shipping label with free delivery confirmation on Priority Mail by going here.

You should decide what types of payments you will accept. This is an important eBay selling tip. Make sure to include that information in your auction. There's Paypal, C2it, StormPay, PayingFast and Postal Money Orders only. Electronic payment services are likeable because they allow you to take credit card payments and receive payments extremely fast. It is a useful eBay tip not to take checks because risk is involved in this. As for money orders, take only the ones purchased from the post office. Recently we found out that banks treat all others the same as checks and people can put stop to payments on them. Also, Postal Money Orders can be cashed at the post office.

Here's a list of payment services you might want to check into: Paypal StormPay C2it PayingFast BidPay Western Union CCNow PaybyCheck

You should ship items out as promptly as you can, once your received the payment. Some people like to ship items out immediately after receiving the payment. But if you don't like running to the post office every day, especially if you have to take your kids along, then by all means, go about once a week.

State in your auctions that the item will be shipped within 7 days after payment is received, so that bidders know ahead of time that the item may not ship out right away.

There are other eBay selling tips which will be a great start in maximizing your profit potential. This can be achieved by giving your customers a professional look and feel to your auction listings. This presentation will entice more bids and hence more money for you.

There's also some Auction E-Books that include in it more worthwhile eBay selling tips which will help you make money on Ebay. A lot of this information is absolutely free.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

The Unearthed Secrets Of An eBay PowerSeller

Author: Seth Chong

Have you seen any sellers on eBay which shows a ""star"" and the word ""PowerSeller"" by the side of their names? PowerSellers are eBay's top sellers who have sustained a consistent high volume of monthly sales, a high level of total 98% positive feedback or better, and have met a threshold of compliance with all marketplace policies.

Sounds hard? Nope, not at all, in fact anyone can do it. Shortly, if you want to qualify for being an eBay seller you need:

*To be an active member for 90 days. *Average a minimum of $1000 in sales per month for three consecutive months. *Achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100, of which 98% or more is positive. *Have an account in good financial standing.

Now we'll learn about the methods used by our fellow eBay PowerSellers. A successful auction has three elements which are: the title, a description and pictures of your selling item.

When listing, always write a clear, attractive and concise title. The first thing any potential buyers see will be your title so you should grab their attention once they enter. It should tell what the buyers want, make them nod their heads when they read your title. Some descriptive words like old, vintage, runs, works or condition statements like ""New in Box"", anything that is appropriate can get you better results than a bold headline.

Many people left a lot of money on the table when they depended just on ""see photos"" instead of writing a good description. A large number of auctions are filled with paragraph after paragraph of information about where to send the payments, how to send the payments, when to send the payments, who can bid and who can't which sometimes clutters the auction.

It's really simple to include a good description which can make your potential buyers stay glued to what you say right until they make a bid or purchase your item and everyone in the world should do it!

By writing an accurate description you will make bidders more confident about your item. Not certain on what to describe? Search for similar items on eBay, and read the description, take down the catchy words then use it in your listing. The confidence can translate into higher prices.

As for your auction's pictures, use big clear photographs. The best way to get nice and clear photos is to take them using a digital camera. Other than that, it is also easier for you to upload the photos into your computer with a digital camera. Try and improve your pictures by adding suitable lightings as well, it can help produce better results in your picture's quality.

Now, all of us know that feedbacks are based on the seller's customer service. Whenever we go out somewhere for a meal, customer service is very important. Let's say DOME, people likes going there because the food has low calories, and of course, it tastes great. But what makes people feel comfortable eating there is the customer service. Good customer service is always defined by: a smile, fast service, and simple.

We'll need to always be pleasant to our customers. Don't be shy, be more humble than your customers and treat them as though they're your boss. When people know you have good customer service, they won't mind considering buying more items from you. Since you are a trusted person and easy to communicate with it, being your repeated customer in time to come will be great. If you have excellent customer service, it just hurts if I don't write you a good feedback and keep your items, right?

Selling the item to your customer doesn't mean he or she is done for good. There are a lot more ways to benefit from your current customers. After they've purchased your item, try to offer a bonus, like a free e-book or something that is useful. But first, they will need to sign up for your newsletter, or subscribe to your opt-in list. You can instead not only offer the bonus for the buyer, but all the other bidders. This way, you add up your opt-in list, make everyone happy, and all these current bidders can be potential buyers of your items in the future.

In your auctions, you can always put a link to your other auctions in your description and inform the surfers that you have more items for sale. By telling the viewers you have similar items for sale and can offer cheaper shipping & handling cost, it urges people to buy more items from you.

A guarantee is always part of the most important factor in your auctions. This can be a simple statement like if the item is not as represented you can return it for a refund. Using a strong guarantee can greatly increase your response. If you offer a guarantee you need to honor it, but if you're diligent, you will definitely not have many returns. If you want to know how a good guarantee statement sounds like, you can refer this one:

""100% SATISFACTION GUARANTEE - IF YOU ARE UNHAPPY FOR ANY REASON JUST RETURN YOUR ITEM FOR A COMPLETE REFUND INCLUDING SHIPPING BOTH WAYS.""

How does it sound? Safe enough to buy definitely! It doesn't matter if they refund your item in the future, you just need to sell your items to your customers and let them make their choices after receiving it. 863 words

At the end of your auction's description, always make it easier for surfers and maintain their urge of buying by listing the shipping & handling costs for your items. Refrain from letting them do the math or turn to other pages just because it's troublesome inquiring for the fees. A good example is:

""$5.00 shipping to US Destinations by Priority Mail. I will pack with care and ship with delivery confirmation for your protection. International shipping are sent by Airmail letter Post. I will combine items that end on the SAME day to lower your shipping cost.""

This is absolutely clear and to the point. When you include this information, surfers will not have to figure out anything extra or look at other pages to find out the shipping information, and it can help increasing your response in sales!

People have many different opinions when it comes to how long they should list an auction. There's no definite answer to it, but five to seven days are the peak ones. Search results are presented by newly listed items or those items which are ending on the same day, which means the first and the last 24 hours are when most people will see one's auction.

Pack well! By packing nicely you inflict the message of how valuable your item is, and it increases your customer's satisfaction for the product. Chocolates like Ferrero Rocher or Kit Kat have nice packing and that urges people to buy it as well, noticed it before?

To be an eBay seller isn't hard at all, it takes a little time and effort, but that's it. Slowly build your customer database, keep the opt-ins, add up your positive feedbacks, continue providing good customer support, and you're almost there.

About the author: Seth Chong is the owner of IMViral, one of the largest, greatest viral Internet Marketing Newsletter which is being spread around the world, you can sign up for the Newsletter(worths $297) for Free at http://www.imviral.com

eBay Selling Secrets Unveiled

Author: Ralph Henderson

If you want to take advantage of the eBay phenomenon and start your own eBay business, then the first bit of eBay selling secret is for you to start selling part time. It can be a great way to make extra cash while learning the tricks and familiarizing yourself with the eBay selling secrets you need to eventually expand your business.

It will take some time to learn the inside eBay selling secrets that the top sellers know. Understand that eBay will take some work. There are no eBay selling secrets that focus on get-rich-quick scheme.

For your Ebay business, all you need is internet access and a product to sell. Don't worry If you don't have a product. An eBay selling secret on what item to put up for sale is by starting off selling old or odd items from your home like most people do. Others go to garage sales and picking up great deals, then selling them on Ebay. Some purchase from companies that offer low prices and discount deals.

From among the many eBay Selling Secrets, here are among the top 10 you should know:

1. Research!

By doing research, you make sure that there is a need for the item that you are selling. Do this by running a search for your item and see how many items are turn up from the keyword search.

2. List your item in the right category!

There are categories for the items to be put up for sale on eBay. The purpose of this is to have an organized tracking system for the products for sale. It is an eBay selling secret to put your item in exactly the right category where it belongs.

3. Keywords and descriptions are critical!

It is an important eBay selling secret to use appropriate keywords to describe your product. Be specific in your descriptions. Your descriptions are critical to avoid any future problems or potential returns by buyers.

4. Photos in your auction is needed!

The eBay selling secret of using photos of the products during auctions with photos guarantee more sales than those that don't have photos.

By having a photo of the actual item, more buyers may take up interest. This eBay selling secret also helps to build more trust between you and the buyer.

5. Make the Buying process Easy! Sign up for PayPal!

Signing up for PayPal is another eBay selling secret that would gain you more buyers for your item. If you want to make your auction easy for the buyer, then PayPal it is.

6. List your items during ""Hot Time"" buying Periods!

It is an eBay selling secret to time your auction so that it ends during peak buying times. Here's a reference: Eastern Time Zone, list your auction between 9pm-11pm Central Time Zone list between 8-10pm Mountain Time Zone between 7-9pm Pacific Time Zone list between 6-8pm.

By knowing these Hot Time buying periods, your products will likely get great exposure.You'll see the glowing sales you'll gain after the auctions.

7. Make an ""About Me"" Page or better yet, create a Website from Free Hosting Sites!

Having an ""About Me"" page in eBay is an eBay selling secret which let potential buyers get to know you. Getting a free webpage from many companies is also a way to promote yourself

8. Positive Feedback is Important

Having positive feedback is a necessary eBay selling secret. eBay buyers looks at your feedback ratings before looking up your listings. To get positive feedback, make sure to keep a good customer service and customer relations.

9. Decrease Postage and Shipping Costs!

Don't underestimate or overestimate your shipping costs. It is an essential eBay selling secret to be prepared and to determine its costs beforehand.

10. Don't put any ad that would scare your potential buyers away!

Never put Reserve Prices and Buy-it-Now in your product listing. Instead of getting buyers, you'll more likely scare them away. These ads can cause you to lose money on an item. final auction price. It is an eBay selling secret to get buyers who'll keep bidding at your products.

These unveiled eBay selling secrets and those others you will learn eventually will help you become a successful eBay seller.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

eBay Selling Tools to Make Life in eBay Businees Easier

Author: Ralph Henderson

While eBay continuously upgrades and updates their eBay selling tools, there are various companies out there that are offering, third party eBay selling tools. Most of them are web-based instead of downloadable, getting you to pay a monthly fee instead of just buying the software.

First let's take an overview of the eBay selling tools: These are tools and links to help Ebay sellers get the most from eBbay. Most of these Ebay selling tools are free to download or have evaluation copies for you to try.

The eBay Turbo Lister - is an absolute godsend to anyone that sells a lot of Ebay items or regularly sells the same things on Ebay. This eBay selling tool is 100% free and allows you to create your Ebay auction listings offline. Once you have finished creating your eBay auction listings you simply upload it to Ebay and it's done

Hammer Tap Deep Analysis - Deep Analysis TM is an eBay selling tool that sifts through the masses of auctions to help you pinpoint the hottest-selling items up for bid in your niche. This tool help you find out how likely specific products are to sell. You can also narrow your search down to find the most successful brand or product feature in the eBay auctions.

Deep Analysis uncovers the market trends that will unlock the secrets to knowing to successfully close more auctions and higher auction success rates. Discover which day of the week to end your auction listing, find out whether or not to use a reserve, choose starting prices that attract more bids, and much more. Deep Analysis provides a well of data so deep that you can discover how to make even more money than the top sellers. click the link for more information from Hammer Tap's website.

So onwards to those third party eBay selling tools. Know what these third party eBay selling tools can do for you .

There are plenty of companies out there offering third party eBay selling tools. Most of them are web-based instead of downloadable, so you pay a monthly fee instead of just buying the software. Here's a quick rundown of the key players in third party eBay selling tools..

Andale (http://www.andale.com) - offer lots of small products instead of one solution that does everything: you can take your pick from a lister, image hosting, counters, analysers, a gallery, a checkout and an email manager.

Their price plans for these eBay selling tools can be quite a maze, but reasonable enough as long as you don't go and use everything.

Andale's real claim to fame is that they've been introducing these eBay selling tools for so long. You can be sure that they're not a fly-by-night organization. Many eBay sellers have been using their free counters for years, now. They also have a positive reputation for being very responsive to customers, and will often talk to you directly on their forums and implement any suggestions you might have for improving their software.

Vendio (http://www.vendio.com) - offer two editions of their software, Sales Manager: a Merchandising edition and an Inventory edition. The difference between this two eBay selling tool is that the Merchandising edition is designed to make it easier to list individual auctions, while the Inventory edition is for sellers who sell many of the same item. They offer a pay-as-you go price of 10c per auction.

They also offer software called Tickets Manager, special software for people who sell lots of tickets on eBay.

ChannelAdvisor (http://www.channeladvisor.com) offer their software in three versions: Enterprise, Merchant and Pro. Enterprise and Merchant are both designed for very big businesses, though, and the chances are that the Pro version does everything you'd want.

It offers all the standard bulk listing and inventory features, as well as the unique feature of being able to create auctions from an Excel spreadsheet of your inventory. The cost is high, though, at $29.95 per month.

... And Many, Many More...

eBay somehow maintains a comprehensive directory of all third-party eBay selling softwares. If you are that much interested, and have a few days to kill, you can browser through them anytime. You can look either for complete solutions or for each part of what you want individually.

The choices you have for these eBay selling tools are so wide and daunting that you'll surely find something that's applicable for you.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

eBay Training Courtesy of LearnKey

Author: Ralph Henderson

As we all know, eBay is the world's largest trading community. eBay has millions of transactions conducted daily. Knowing how to find your niche on eBay entails several eBay training so that you'll know how to make money on eBay and build a store on eBay

Making Money on eBay training and Build a store on eBay training are brought to us by Learnkey. We will have an overview here of these eBay training courses for us to know what's more applicable and bring us on the road to success for our own eBay selling business. In Making Money on eBay training course you'll learn the keys to online auction success. Adam Hersh, an expert instructorfor eBay trainings reveals bidding tips and pricing strategies. He also unveils how to title, describe, photograph and present your items which is guaranteed to fetch top bids.

Here in Making Money on eBay training, you'll also learn how to authenticate items and securely settle transactions to protect yourself from fraud. This course's conclusion let's you understand the concepts of confidently buying and selling on eBay.

In Building a Store on eBay training, the introduction delves and explains that many small business owners are reaching a marketplace of millions of potential customers by building online storefronts on eBay.

By building a storefront on eBay, you suddenly face the tremendous responsibility of inventory, pricing, packaging, auctioning, etc. In the Building a Store on eBay training course from LearnKey, you'll quickly learn the critical steps to set up and operate your own successful eBay store.

Erica Wadley, the expert instructor for this topic, has created an eBay store that has sold hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of products while generating more than 99% positive customer feedback. She takes you step-by-step through the process, such that at the conclusion of this eBay training course you have a clear understanding how to easily build and manage your own eBay store.

eBay SuccessKit Learnkey hands out this eBay Success Kit, as part of the two-part eBay training course. The eBay Success Kit includes everything you'll need to know about starting and operating a profitable eBay business.

This kit contains two complete LearnKey video courses on DVD - Making Money on eBay and Building a Store on eBay along with the workbooks you'll be needing. With this kit you'll learn step-by-step how to run a successful eBay business from experts who have done it!

eBay is the world's largest trading community with millions of transactions conducted daily, it is necessary that we go and have a piece of the eBay pie.

Want to have a complete overview of this eBay training courses?

eBay Training Course Outline Session 1 Section A: Online Auctioning Keys to Success Adam Hersh Online Auction Sites eBay Auctions Other Market Places Section B: eBay's Site Home Page Exploring Categories Searching Buying Auction Items Placing Bids Section C: Auction Items Event Auctions Charity Auctions Memorabilia Big Ticket Items Prohibited Items Section D: Listing Auctions Creating a Sell Item Advertising Real Estate Choose Category Suggested Categories Category Strategies Titling Items Abbreviation Create Title Section E: Auction Description Details Purchase Conditions Appearances Description Text HTML Text Controls Reuse Scheduling Section F: Pricing Price Options Fees Starting Price Reserves/Low Prices Buy It Now Section G: Auction Features Private Auctions Pictures Picture Layouts Listing Upgrades Counters Payment Methods Shipping Feature Statics Session 2 Section A: After the Auction Follow up Shipping Non-paying Bidders Bidder Management 2nd Chance Offer Relisting Payment Services Section B: Feedback Core of eBay Responding Getting Feedback Feedback Violations Section C: eBay Services Benefits Conveniences Promotions Services Tab Buying/Selling Tools Trade with Confidence Authenticate Items ID Verify Section D: eBay Stores Benefits Store Levels Featured Store Anchor Store Store Section Section E: Auction Management Marketplace Integration Inventory Management Image Management Sale Management Storefront/Checkout Tools Order Management Preferred Solution Provider Section F: Powersellers eBay Recognition Levels Benefits Maintaining Status Section G: Trading Assistants Requirements Finding Clients Fees Limits Section H: eBay Life eBay Community eBay Plans

Making money on eBay Training - eBay Training, Course 2 Sessions - 4 Hours of Training

eBay Training Instructor - Expert Adam Hersh has sold more than 50,000 items on eBay and other auction sites. He was the first named eBay trading assistant. He has sold more items, received more positive comments. He'd been an eBay member longer than any other trading assistant in New York City. His business has been featured already on several publications, including Smart Money, Readers Digest, and Business Week. He was selected as eBay's collectible seller of the month in September 2003, and featured in the Collectibles Sellers Newsflash.

Make eBay training through Learnkey count. It will also be a good opportunity for you to attend more eBay training and help you become successful in the eBay business.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

The Dynamics of Wholesale for EBay Sellers!

Author: Ralph Henderson

The success of the online market has been surging for years now; the demands for such marketplace is still increasing and many are now loving to utilize the online places for buying, selling and reselling goods and commodities. One example of these successful online markets is eBay.

If you are accustomed to browsing the Net, you must have come across eBay. It is an online site where you will find people buying and selling goods as well as services worldwide; eBay is known for managing online auctions and shopping websites to facilitate this. Everyday, millions of items and services are being listed, bought and sold daily in eBay; these includes collectibles, appliances, computers, furniture, equipments, vehicles, etc.

Aside few years back, wholesaling has found its way to eBay. It is believed that there are over 100 million registered users in eBay worldwide; hence, you can all conclude that millions of consumers are searching for merchandise on eBay. With these figures, you can assume that there is substantial market for any wholesaler, manufacturer, importer or distributor.

Thus, wholesale for eBay sellers has been quite popular among eBay users. One reason why wholesale for eBay sellers is good is that it has a very good turn over; some auctions last only for few days which mean seller will need more merchandise.

Now, if you're interested in offering wholesale for eBay sellers, here are some tips that you might want to consider:

* Investigate. Yes! You need to know which products are in demand on eBay; this way, you will know which items those eBay sellers are interested in buying wholesale and what you will wholesale for eBay sellers.

* Research Closing Prices. Next thing you should do for great wholesale to eBay sellers is to conduct a research regarding the closing prices of auctions on eBay. This is to know how much any merchandise is usually sold on eBay and in turn you'll know how much you should wholesale for eBay sellers your commodities.

* List Your Wholesale in Directories. Basically, you cannot contact an eBay seller directly; hence, for you to have a good outcome in wholesale for eBay sellers, you should get your wholesale business listed in directories and eBooks that most eBay users use.

Now, if you want to have a successful wholesale for eBay sellers business, you need to understand what the motivations of your target customers are so you can maximize your sales. You can base your analysis through your customer's needs.

On the other hand, if you're looking for good deals on wholesale for eBay sellers you should be at all times careful in your analysis of the wholesale products and the seller offering the commodities. Here are tips that an eBay seller should take when looking for wholesale for eBay sellers products. * You should determine the direction of the eBay business. Be sharp and analytic; when a seller started selling used clothing won't mean that the seller wants to build eBay business selling used clothing

* Next thing to do is to decide whether the eBay business or the wholesale for eBay sellers products will be based on volume or price. EBay sellers looking for wholesale for eBay seller products should know whether they'll be conducting lots of auctions for low-priced merchandise or instead sell fewer, but higher-priced items.

* You should investigate the eBay marketplace for best wholesale for eBay sellers products. You need to see whether the wholesale product you plan to sell is viable; used the number of similar ""wholesale for eBay sellers"" products being sold and listed on eBay.

* Test out your market. You may try your market by placing a small order and see the result.

There are lots of ways for you to find the best deals on wholesale for eBay sellers; every eBay sellers has their individual way of getting their products sold and also selling it. But the first and best thing to do if you want to be successful in wholesale for eBay sellers deals is market research and lots of it.

You can do your research in your own and manual ways; but using market research tools for wholesale for eBay sellers that are available on the Internet is proven to be more effective. In this process, you'll need moderate amount of investments but the information that is compiled and presented is indispensable to profitable wholesale for eBay sellers business. Having a clear understanding of how wholesaling works in an open market like eBay along with reliable research will give you the chance to multiply your chances of having a successful wholesale for eBay sellers business.

About the author: If you are looking for more information on becoming an eBay PowerSeller visit Ralph and Liz's web site and learn how to make money on ebay .

Slack Economy Fuels eBay Shopping

Author: Jim Edwards

With the current economic outlook appearing fairly bleak for many individuals and businesses, most feel the need to make every dollar count.

But, no matter how bad the economy does or doesn't get for every one of us, one fact remains a constant of human nature: People love a bargain!

This fact came home quite clearly to me last week when I used eBay to turn an expensive business purchase into an almost guilty buying pleasure.

I needed to purchase a very specialized piece of equipment for my home office called a ""Mimio Board."" It converts a standard ""white board"" you draw on with erasable markers into a digital board you use with your PC. In short, everything you draw on the board shows up in the computer.

I really wanted this equipment, much like a 5-year old child really wants a new bike! Unfortunately, a new ""Mimio Board"" cost $400 minimum. But, unlike the 5-year old who stamps his foot and screams ""no fair"", I did something about it. I went to eBay!

I did a quick search for ""mimio"" in hope of finding a used model at a reduced price. Much to my surprise I didn't find a used one, but I did find a brand new one still in the box and available at over 75% off!

It seemed such a great deal that I actually felt a bit skeptical and thought I smelled a ""scam."" But, like the 5- year old, I really wanted that bike, I mean ""mimio board!""

So I enlisted the aid of a professional ""eBay Power Buyer"" with many years' experience (my wife) to help me evaluate the deal and whether or not to go for it.

As a veteran of hundreds of successful transactions, she gave me this eBay buying advice, which I now pass to you, my new bargain hunting friend:

Check Feedback - Every seller receives public feedback from past buyers. Carefully check this feedback and pay special attention to any negative comments. Look for trends and volume of negative comments. You should avoid sellers with lots of negative feedback, especially recent bad behavior indicating a decline in service.

Check Descriptions - Carefully read the item description to make sure it's exactly what you expect to receive. Look for any guarantees and always ask the seller questions before bidding. You can email the seller for a particular auction right from the item page.

Shipping Charges & Insurance - Before bidding, find out exactly how much it costs to ship an item to ensure the seller doesn't inflate the shipping charges to add profit. Though you must pay for it, always insist on shipping insurance for one-of-a-kind, fragile or expensive items.

Payment - Make sure you know how the seller accepts payment and how it affects product delivery time. Some sellers won't ship your product until after your check clears.

Overall, eBay makes a great place to find bargains for both home and business if you shop carefully and use common sense to avoid any obvious pitfalls.

About the author: Jim Edwards is the co-author of an incredible new ebook that will teach you how to write and publish your own highly profitable ebook in a week or less... even if you failed high school English class mailto:7dayebook@getresponse.com

Drive FREE targeted traffic to your site using eBay

Author: Albert Z

In the world of SE optimization, the commonly used techniques have been heard thousand of times...PPC, higher search engine placement, newsletters etc

What I want to show you today is a legal technique which is completely FREE, and that I have been using for about a year with great success to sell ebooks with resell rights , to drive targeted traffic to your website using nothing more than eBay!!

Before you read on let me tell you a story: when i first wanted to start selling ebooks on the internet I didn't have a clue about how to do it, so I looked at the websites of people who were already doing it. There was one seller who had about 300 daily listings on eBay (for 300 different ebooks!!!): he had a link that pointed to his own website, in this website he did NOT sell products, he only had links to his ebay store: this is a key thing to understand in eBay policy!! You CAN link to your website if it has valuable information about the products you are selling, but you CAN NOT link to your website if you're selling products directly on it (because eBay won't get any commission that way)...

Back to the story: one day, eBay suspended this seller's account because of their "downloadable media policy" (basically, they suspected some of his ebooks of being copyrighted and sold illegally), so he transformed his own site in a real, stand-alone ecommerce store. The store was designed VERY poorly, with sloppy graphics, absolutely NO SEO, no descriptions for the products etc. Next thing i know: I visit his new website a month later and he has 200 thousands page views and hundreds of sales. How did this happen?? Simple: he had links registered in google,yahoo etc (coming directly from eBay, which has a high pagerank) which were pointing to his domain. These links alone gave him a pagerank of 2, he used the emails of the buyers from ebay to send them a message about his newly opened store...and he had success!!!

So what do you do if you want traffic from eBay?? The main methods are 2:

1. You set up an eBay store, a new domain with ONLY ebay listings on it, gather some buyer information from eBay, then turn your domain to an online store (maybe sacrificing your eBay account if you really want to keep the link and play dirty)

or

2. You set up an eBay store, then you write a custom ABOUT ME page (on eBay) with a subscription box for your store/site's newsletter (this is perfecly legal even if your store is stand-alone and sells its own products, since people are opting in). This is more honest in my opinion as it doesnt' break any ebay policy rule and gives good results on the long run. My advice is that you offer something free with your newsletter, then place a link in every ebay listing saying something like "

Visit my About Me page and download your free ebook now!! " (click this link, it's my About Me page!!)

That's guaranteed to get a lot of very targeted traffic to your website (since people searched the keywords through ebay's own search engine, they're already interested in your products) and it's free, legal, and in my opinion just i n t e l l i g e n t ;)

About the author:

Albert Z,

culturemedia@culture -books.com

http://www.culture-books.com

Albert Z has been successfully selling e-books on both eBay and http://www.culture-books.com since 2004, he has experience in web designing, marketing, promoting and copywriting.

Play the eBay Arbitrage Game

Author: Dave Bromley

In the heady financial world of Stock Markets and Currency Exchanges there is a technique known as Arbitrage. This is when you make a transaction in which you know you cannot lose. For example if the £ is selling in London at $1.82.5 but selling in New York at $1.87 They will buy at the lower price in London and immediately sell in New York for the higher price. Of course they are dealing in millions of pounds but you can use the same principle with your online auctions. You will need to apply the same two factors that a currency exchange dealer or International trader uses, namely, knowledge and timing. If you can source items that are proven sellers at a price that provides you with a profit then you cannot lose either. What you need to find are items that are under priced and a niche market that wants them. Now for the purposes of this article I am going to look at 3 sources to make your purchases. Off Line, Other online auctions and eBay itself. But before you do any buying you have to make sure that you have some knowledge of a specialised niche. This could be Toys cars, Zippo Lighters or any particular niche you have an interest in. You need knowledge both of the items you are interested in and of the current value of those items. For instance to most people a Zippo Lighter is a zippo lighter and one is very much the same as another, but not to a collector, whilst one with a run of the mill design may only be worth $10 another with a rarer design could be worth $200 or more for all we know. Obviously it can take years to gain a real in depth knowledge of a market. But just by reading a couple of books, getting some sellers price lists and visiting some specialist fairs and markets will set you above many in your field. Take every opportunity to actually handle the items you are dealing in and of course monitor the prices in your market. This alone will give you enough knowledge to set you apart from the average seller. Offline flea markets, thrift shops and garage sales can be good hunting grounds and you can often spot a real bargain. You could also advertise in your local paper or community board letting people know that you are interested in buying whatever your specialisation is. But there is no need to leave your computer unless you want to. By using your knowledge and timing it is quite possible to build up a good business just buying and selling online. You can use the arbitrage technique to buy and sell through eBay and the other online auctions. Generally it is a fact that the more people who view an auction the higher the final selling price will be. And for this reason alone it means that bargains can be found in the smaller auction sites. Quite often you can make a handsome profit by buying from one auction site, relisting on eBay and just watching the bids come in. It is also quite possible to buy items from eBay and relist them and make a nice profit. Now why should this be? Firstly you have recognised its true value You have described it correctly and added a photograph which shows off its best features.By giving a knowledgeable description you have displayed your expertise and thereby created confidence for your bidders. In other words you have added value. Most buyers start looking for items by using eBays search facility. If the seller does not included the words or phrases that a would be buyer will use when instigating a search his item will not be found. Therefore if you can find them it is a good bet that they will either attract only low or no bids at all and you can snap them up. I find that if you use the search tab at the top of the page next to the browse tab this is better than the normal search tool. This allows you to include the words in the description as well as the title in your search. Also it can pay to check misspellings, again for example if you were looking for zippo lighters try a search spelling zippo with just one p or with two o’s. As you become more experienced you will be able to build up your own list of words and phrase to search for. When you are developing this list of terms try and think of terms that a person who didn’t know a thing about what they have listed would use. Another error that inexperienced eBayers do is to place their items in the wrong categories and this can often lead to them being missed by would be bidders and again. With experience you will learn which categories to keep your eye on.

So having found an item that interests you should decide what is the highest price you are prepared to pay and submit you bid. And that is it, never go back or be tempted to submit another bid. You have decided on a price that you believe you can make a profit on so leave it at that. OK you are not going to win every item you bid on and if the item goes beyond you price just forget about. If you bid on 100 items and you win 20 or 30 you are doing pretty well and will make a good profit. This can be a particularly good way to build up an eBay business if for any reason you are unable to get out and about so well or have family commitments that keep you tied to the home. I have to admit that whenever I buy something at an online auction and then resell it at a profit it gives me quite a buzz. To summarise to make eBay arbitrage work for you need to know your subject , know your values and be able to list items to attract the maximum interest. Do this and you will be able to build yourself a really good business without ever leaving your computer.

About the author: .Dave Bromley is a writer and webmaster who specialises in subjects related to eBay and other online auctions. He edits and publishes a monthly newsletter and his web site is http://www.ukauctionline.co.uk"" where you can register for his Free 6 part mini course

Making $2000 on eBay, selling Silver Jewelry

Author: Apisith C.

Making money selling silver jewelry is simple. All you need is a computer with an

internet connection and some basic computer skills, and a suppplier that provides

you more than just jewelry.

You will be needing a supplier to caters to your specific needs. If you want to

succeed selling jewelry on ebay you need to have a large variety of items,

beautiful pictures, and new products consistently.

Since you would be starting a new business, it would not be easy for you to

purchase from suppliers with minimum orders, even a minimum order of $100 is too

high for newbies. Silver jewelry costs around $2 and above per piece; depending on

the design/make. A $100 minimum would end you up with 50 pieces; and what if the

items do not get sold? Most suppliers do guarantee their products, and will refund

you for incorrect merchandise. Is there any supplier that would allow you to

return products that are not sold within a certain period of time?

If your supplier provides pictures, it will save you a LOT of time, taking good

pictures of jewelry requires a good camera, the correct lighting, and a lot of

time.

Further more, if a supplier packages products individually; it would save you a lot

of time to package the products. You should be receiving a shipment with all the

products prepackged, in either plastic bags, or bubble wrap; so all you have to do

is sort them out, insert them into envelopes/boxes and mail them to your clients.

You can easily profit up to 200-300% of your buying cost, ie. buying a ring for

$3.00 and reselling it on ebay for $10. That is $7.00 profit, from just clicking

your mouse.

If you list 10 rings a day, it would be $70 In 30 days, for a total of 30 days,

that is $2100.00 ; minus 10% for ebay expenses and other costs; you would be left

with approximately $1900.00 This is only the minimum, by selling 10 rings / day.

You can list a lot more. There are other products too, such as earrings, bracelets,

pendants...and more. All of this; and more are profitable items.

A supplier that allows you to return items that are unsold, is your guarantee to

success. There is no real investment involved, if it does not work; just return the

items. However if it works, build on from there.

http://www.925silver4u.com

About the author: Mr. Apisith is founder/president of www.925silver4u.com, An excellent resource for home businesses looking to start a silver jewelry retail business.

Drop Ship your way to eBay profits

Author: Mike Ralph

One of the most difficult things to do when looking to start an online business is to find that elusive supplier that will supply you, put simply you need a source of real products to sell. Drop shipping is a perfect way to achieve this and lets you develop the perfect online business..

The perfect online business is one in which you are selling a product whereby you DO NOT HAVE ANY STOCK and you DO NOT PHYSICALLY HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE PRODUCT and all you do is COLLECT THE MONEY AND PASS THE CUSTOMERS DETAILS ON.

Sounds to good to be true! - well it definately is TRUE.

THIS IS DROP SHIPPING AND ANYONE CAN DO IT!

Read the following example :

You decide that you want to sell Mobile Phones, you then realise that to do this the traditional way you would have to hold a large amount of stock so that you have the range and product available for your customers. Without a massive amount of working capital you have no chance, also by the time you get your business noticed the lines you are carrying are out of date and not worth what you paid for them.

However, now consider this:

You sign up to a Mobile Phone drop shipper, they give you a list of products that they can supply. You now go away and advertise this list on your online store. You take an order from your website for a Motorola phone, you have this advertised at $200.. You then collect the customers details via your website, all good shopping cart software provide this feature, and then contact your drop shipper and buy the same phone for $150 and pass them your customers details. That is the end of the sales process for you, what happens next is :

The drop shipper SENDS THE PRODUCT TO YOUR CUSTOMER and usually it goes under plain packaging or some drop shippers can also put YOUR COMPANY DETAILS on the packaging when they send it to your customer.

Thats $50 PROFIT for VERY LITTLE WORK!

Just 10 orders a week will give you $500 profit.

Drop shipping is fast becoming the easiest way of starting your own online business because it offers a very simple formula for success :

The drop shipper sets the price that you pay, you then set the price that your customers pay and the difference between the two is your profit!

SIMPLE ISNT IT.

Because it is that simple a lot of people are jumping on the drop shipping band wagon and it is not unusual to see lots of different websites using the same pictures and sales copy to sell the same product, usually because they just simply publish the promotional materials that the drop shippers provide for them.

It is important at this stage to remember that the internet was based upon the ability to share information and content. It is this simple word, CONTENT, that will help you to distinguish yourself from the rest and will also ensure that your search engine rankings are developed to increase the traffic (ie. customers) to your website.

This is simply using information and content to ADD VALUE to your website, customers want to be able to learn about the product before they purchase and having content specific to your area will allow this distinction in the mind of the customer. In order to make a success of your online business you have to make your customers want to come back. Think of your favourite websites, why do you keep revisiting them? Simple, because they provide you with something that is of VALUE to you.

Drop shipping allows you to develop your business in this manner because instead of worrying about stock levels and shipping you get to focus on listening to the market and discovering the products your visitors want - and then being able to rapidly add them to your site.

Its CONTENT SPECIFIC TO A WANT.

Drop Shipping is EASY - Have I said that?

BUT, don't get carried away. When you see the products that the drop shippers offer you simply think I can sell that, that, that and that and before long your list of things that you want to sell is massive and this is counter productive. In order to make drop shipping successful for you I would suggest to

FOCUS ON ONE PRODUCT AT A TIME

Build this up, when this is established then it gives you the ability to go into other areas a lot easier and your current customer base will give you a good source of potential new customers straight away.

A great way is to focus onto a product that you like, know a lot about or use personally in a hobby etc. This gives you the opportunity to develop your website as an authority on the subject and as such ADD VALUE.

Like any business venture there are some points that should be raised before you build your online empire the easy drop shipping way :

Don't just use the first drop shipper you come across as they may not give you the best deal on this particular product. Like all things shop around a number of drop shippers to find the one most suitable to your needs.

Some drop shippers operate a handling fee over and above shipping costs, this is usually quite a resonable fee and needs to be factored into your pricing structure.

Some drop shippers try to charge you a monthly 'members' fee as another means to make money from you, in my opinion these should be avoided as the only time you should have to pay a dropshipper is in connection with a specific order. You will find that the majority that charge a members fee are the ones that offer no true value to your business anyway.

As with any developing business the question of credibility is key, unfortunately there are a number of con artists out there that are aiming to take your money for nothing in return. A key phrase to remember is :

IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE - IT IS!

Research is key, for example :

How long have the drop shippers been in business?

Do they respond to your information requests quickly and professionally?

Do they offer buying accounts?

What payments do they accept? (if just Western Union run a mile)

This list is endless, that is why I only recommend two sources of drop shippers information. Both these lists are maintained by professionals that constantly update thier lists and only recommend the best, most reliable and trustworthy dropshippers. These sources can be found from the link in my signature box at the bottom of the article.

As you can imagine the idea of drop shipping fits in with online auctions, in particular eBay, perfectly as eBay will provide you with the traffic and all you have to do is make that ad stand out from the rest (my FREE resources on my site will help you) and all the rest of the work is done for you.

You just concentrate on developing your business and using ebays traffic to make money and you cannot lose.

About the author: Mike - webmaster at Online Auction Traders Resource

Visit ebay information central to use the FREE resources to develop your online business.

Attract eBay Buyers Like CRAZY !

Author: Thomas Haselhorst

As an ebay(TM) seller it happens very often (too often) that listings close without any bids. Did this happen to you ? Many sellers are frustrated and quit their eBay(TM) business. Have you realised that these fees from unsold items can sum up quickly. We asked ourself: ""What are the reasons for so many items not being sold on eBay(TM)?""

We did some research on compared many listings on eBay and to see which sites get the most hits. Of course the item itself plays an important role. But we have also found that many ebay(TM) sellers try to sell their items with very unprofessional auction listings. There is just some plain black text with white background. Arrrgh!!! We have seen it many times. The answer is simple. Many listings are closing without any bids because they have a lousy design.

But auction sites with a professional design are more likely to receive bids. A recent online study has shown that attractive and professional designed internet sites convert better than badly designed sites. It's basically the same thing with eBay listings. If it is not in harmony with your eye, people click to another item. Remember, that they are on overage seeing your site for 10-20 seconds. If they like it, they may read it. If not, they'll leave.

But many eBay(TM) sellers don't know any thing about designing professional listings. Until now, these sellers had only the choice of hiring expensive third party auction services or to buy costly auction listing software. http://www.auction- design-for-free.com has changed that. Every serious eBay(TM) seller can create their own professional auction sites without any knowledge of HTML and without spending any extra money for expensive auction services or software. We from auction-design-for-free think that every auction seller should have the right to launch professional designed auction sites without spending any additional money. The listing fees for auctions on eBay are high enough. There is no need for additional costs which would decrease your profit. http://www.auction- design-for-free.com has set a new benchmark. This new released revolutionary step-by-step guide helps ebay sellers to get started and to get more bids on their items. This step-by-step guide has been written from ebay(TM) seller for ebay(TM) sellers in a non-technical easy to understand language.

Sit back and enjoy to be guided through every single step - supported by online video tutorials. With this new auction design secrets you can create your own professional looking listing with a breeze. If you are really serious about your eBay(TM) business and want to increase your profit you simply need this Step-by-Step guide. You will amazed how easy it is to make a nice looking auction sites on your own - For Free - without spending any additional cents and attract eBay buyers like CRAZY !!

About the author: Thomas - Webmaster of http://www.auction-design-for-free.com From eBay sellers - for eBay sellers!

Is The eBay Fee Increase Actually Good For Business?

Author: Tim Knox

Much of my email from readers this month concerned the recent announcement from eBay that it will increase many seller fees on February 18, 2005. Since many business people use eBay's online store system as their primary ecommerce point of sale, it's no surprise that most of the emails I received were of the angry variety.

One email in particular caught my attention because it urged me to visit a website to sign an online petition protesting the fee hike. The email directed me to http://www.petitiononline.com and upon further investigation I found that 22,548 digital signatures had already been collected (as of this writing).

Thank goodness not all of them had my email address.

This will be the fifth rate hike in as many years for the auction giant and should really come as no surprise. Price hikes are a normal course of business. It was the size of the hike that has many sellers upset.

The rate hike involved the following fees:

* A basic eBay Store will now cost sellers $15.95 a month, a 60% increase from the current $9.95 a month. * Closing commissions on most items sold through eBay Stores will increase by 50 percent. * Gallery photo fees will increase from 25 to 35 cents. * The Buy It Now fee will jump from a flat fee of 5 cents to 10 cents for items priced over $10 and 25 cents for items over $50. * Final value fees will rise from 5.25% to 8%.

Many of the emails I received pointed out that small sellers are making very little profit as it is so the increase in fees will only serve to drive these sellers completely out of the eBay business. Some sellers accuse eBay of purposefully trying to run them off, but I doubt that's the case. eBay has no reason to drive away the small sellers, but that realization never occurs to those who feel they are being priced out of the market.

Not everyone is too concerned over the fee increase. Jim Cockrum, eBay Powerseller, publisher of ""Creative eBay Selling News,"" the world's largest newsletter on creative eBay selling, and author of one of the best selling eBay books of all time ""The Silent Sales Machines Hiding On eBay"" has other opinions.

""I don't see the eBay fee increase as a bad thing,"" Cockrum said in a phone interview. ""I actually see it as just the opposite - it's a good thing because eBay is eliminating my competition for me. Who leaves eBay when eBay increases seller fees? It's not the customers (or shoppers). They don't go anywhere since they aren't affected. Only a handful of the weaker sellers leave eBay when fees go up.""

Cockrum recommends that sellers use eBay in non-traditional ways to build their online businesses so that future fee hikes will not have an affect on their e-business.

""Selling on eBay continues to be one of the more popular ways to make money online, though very few people are getting rich with an eBay business alone,"" Cockrum said. ""Many Powersellers don't make enough profit to cover their costs. The key to really making money with eBay is not in selling items at auction, but to use eBay to drive customers to your other online ventures. If you do that, the rate hikes do not affect your bottomline nearly as much.""

Not everyone shares Cockrum's enthusiasm. Many small sellers think the government or a regulatory board of some kind should get involved to help keep eBay fees in line. This probably won't come to pass anytime soon, but who knows. I can remember when a little company called Microsoft had free rein before they killed off all comers and came to monopolize their market. eBay seems to be headed in the same direction.

The threat of regulation may be the reason eBay is now attempting to smooth the ruffled feathers of the miffed masses. eBay announced this week that they would give a one-time $15.95 credit to eBay store owners and reduce minimum listing fees for inexpensive items from 30 cents to 25 cents, effective immediately.

Too little, too late? Could be. Many sellers believe that eBay may be writing its own obituary with such stringent price increases and such little thought for the smaller merchant. The online petition predicted the long term effects of the fee increase to be:

* Smaller sellers will stop selling on eBay and try to sell somewhere else online. They will never have the chance to expand themselves on eBay. * Larger sellers may consider starting their own online store or sell elsewhere. * Prices of auctions will increase. Buyers will turn back to retail stores. The idea of eBay is that you can find things cheaper there, even when adding shipping and handling together. * Discourage new sellers, decreasing competition (which is what the eBay market thrives on for pricing).

Only time will tell if the predictions come true, but for the short term many smaller sellers are closing down their eBay stores and moving up the street to Yahoo.com.

Here's to your success!

About the author: Tim is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist, Tim Knox. Tim Knox is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online

organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay

entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

How to Start an eBay Business

Author: John Evans

With the phenomenal success of online auction website eBay, there is no surprise when it is revealed a record number of individuals are flooding the popular website with upstart businesses. The ease of use and huge client base allows anyone interested in becoming an entrepreneur to start their own eBay business. Anyone who has ever wanted to become an entrepreneur and work for themselves has an excellent opportunity to do so on the World Wide Web. Instead of having phenomenally high start-up costs, you can develop a highly functional business for an extremely minimal cost. If you are wondering how to start an eBay business, look no further than the online auction’s website to help you with detailed step-by-step instructions for starting your own ebay auction business.

Regardless what you choose to sell on eBay, there is a buyer out there! It may be strange someone would want your 1970s harvest gold canister set, but fear not—there is an individual somewhere in the world who has been earnestly seeking your retro chic item for the perfect addition to their kitchen. If you have a particular passion or hobby, think of translating it into a business. Maybe you hand-knit cool caps or create jamming jewelry. Unique and one of a kind creations are quite popular with eBay buyers who are seeking that perfect item for themselves or a loved one. Undoubtedly the most popular genre of items on eBay is antiques. If your passion is collecting items from days gone by, consider turning it into a viable income by developing an eBay business. Instead of renting a space in an antique mall or renting a tradition brick and mortar storefront, you can save money by settling your business on eBay. Additionally, you can work around your responsibilities and life in general to create a specialized schedule that fits into your lifestyle using your home as a base. You will save a great deal of money by working from home as opposed to a traditional job when you factor in the commuting costs, including gas and car maintenance, costs for your business wardrobe, and other daily items, including childcare and food expenses.

When choosing what items to put up for auction on eBay, keep in mind all items must be shipped to the buyer. For this reason, you should elect to put easily-shipped items up for sale. Additionally, you will need to make sure you have the proper shipping materials available to ensure the items arrive in the same condition they left in. The United States Postal Service will ship Priority Mail boxes directly to individuals who order off their website. The Priority Mail system enables sellers to mail auction items in a special box that is included into the price of the shipping. The newest addition to this class of boxes include a flat rate box, which allows the contents to be shipped at one low fee regardless of weight. All items must fit easily into the box for this rate to apply. Whatever your choice for shipping agency, ensuring your items can be mailed cheaply and easily, will result in more of your items successfully selling at auction.

Finally, when you start your eBay business, take great care in deciding what type of items you wish to sell. Creating a special niche just for your items will encourage buyers to become repeat customers. Providing your website with a professional image that best displays your goods is essential to the lifespan of your eBay business. It has been proven people are most likely to purchase items from individuals with professional-looking websites, as they best promote competency and reliability. In this theme, your user rating will play a great part in the success of your eBay business. For each successful auction transaction, the buyer will provide feedback noting your services. Businesses with high amounts of positive feedback will gain the highest number of customers.

About the author: John Evans runs http://www.SuccessAlert.net , and has written the book Success Alert - Conversations with Successful Internet Entrepreneurs which has been widely acclaimed in a variety of online and print media. If you're interested in building a home internet business this book is an absolute must-read!

Make Money Online: Learn to Sell on eBay

Author: John Evans

The online auction site eBay is an excellent tool for making money online. Think of eBay as an online yard sale and shopping mall. Whether you want to start a business selling merchandise or sell the stuff that is cluttering your attic, eBay is the place. It is not difficult to learn to sell on ebay, in fact, the website has made the process downright simple. You will need access to a digital camera in order to upload images of your stuff onto your auction’s website. Items with images sell quicker and for a higher price than those without. Furthermore, you will find some auctions will be more successful than others. Many sellers choose to set their auctions to end on a weekend instead of a week day. These sellers have determined their auctions tend to elicit more bids during that time since more potential buyers are online. Also, consider the target audience for each of your auctions. You may want to set auctions of items with a younger audience to end later in the evening than others.

The most important aspect of selling things on eBay is the actual product. Keep in mind, whatever you sell must be shipped to the buyer, so choose items that can cheaply and easily be mailed. Even though the buyer covers all shipping costs, many eBay users will be hesitant to bid on goods with hefty shipping fees. It is a good idea to become well acquainted with the United States Postal Service or any other shipping agency so you know all of your shipping options upfront. Ensuring you send your buyers a correct shipping cost will ensure you do not end up paying for this cost, which cuts into your profit. In addition to the general size and weight of your items, choose products that have been selling well on other seller’s auctions. Keep a careful eye on all eBay auctions to see what things have been selling well with buyers. Just as with merchandise sold in traditional brick and mortar stores, popular buyer trends affect the online auction market. Whether you are selling things found around your home, handmade items, or retail goods, going along with public trends will benefit your auctions. If you have further questions about how do you sell stuff on ebay, there are a number of resources available to sort out the process and help you determine what items to sell.

Different items sell better during different times of the year. Holiday-themed things, including decorations or collectibles, tend to sell better before the specific holiday instead of at random times of the year. Additionally, certain items sell better at specific times of the year. For example, toys and gift items tend to sell better before Christmas and Easter, whereas wedding and bridal merchandise will sell better during the early spring for the May and June wedding season. Knowing when to begin and end your auctions will ensure your item sells for the highest bid possible.

Anyone can sell on eBay but knowing what you are doing will ensure your things will elicit the greatest profit possible. Learning how, when, and when to sell on eBay is an art, but luckily it is one you can easily master. The key to eBay success is carefully choosing your goods, knowing how long to run the auction, and deciding the right time to begin your auction. Once you become an eBay pro, you will be hooked! Selling on eBay is a quick and easy way to make money on the World Wide Web. Soon you will be hunting for all types of stuff to sell, as you will have caught the eBay bug.

About the author: John Evans runs http://www.SuccessAlert.net , and has written the book Success Alert - Conversations with Successful Internet Entrepreneurs which has been widely acclaimed in a variety of online and print media. If you're interested in building a home internet business this book is an absolute must-read!

From Ebay Zero to Power-Selling Hero: How To Learn New Tricks Without Spending

Author: Isaiah Hull

From Ebay Zero to Power-Selling Hero: How To Learn New Tricks Without Spending

The Internet is the fastest-changing marketplace on earth. Million-dollar ideas from one year ago might not generate a single penny today. And the best search engine optimization strategies from months ago may be completely invalid now.

But this doesn’t affect the best Internet entrepreneurs. It only hurts the one-hit wonders. In fact, it is what separates the top sellers from the struggling sellers.

Most of the struggling sellers rely entirely on the information they get from ebooks.

The best entrepreneurs know that you must be able to conduct your own analysis if you want to stay on the top. Books and courses can help you get there, but ultimately, you must learn how to conduct your own research.

Now, you can spend hundreds of hours and dollars researching this for yourself. Or you can purchase a service that does this for you.

Or, if you’re looking to start your business on a shoe-string budget like most sellers, you can simply use the top-sellers’ examples.

In today’s lesson, I am going to show you one way you can do this: reverse engineering.

Start by going to Ebay.com and searching for something you personally sell in your store. For example, if you sell stereos, search for stereo.

Take your list of results and use it to find successful sellers. Look for powersellers, sellers with stores, sellers with large inventories, and sellers with a lot of positive feedback.

Look at these sellers and try to determine the exact methods they use to make sales: Do they use templates? --If so, how are they constructed? Do they use a lot of pictures? Do they use ad copy?

What words did they use in the title? Is there a subtitle? Is it featured? Is it bold? What date and time did they list it? Is it part of a dutch auction?

Does the seller own an Ebay store?--If so, how is that store arranged?

Does the seller get the majority of her auction traffic from Ebay or does she advertise somewhere else?

How many items are in the seller's inventory? What price ranges do her auctions span? How do her prices compare to yours?

Does she purchase her inventory from another Ebay seller?--If so, can you also use that seller to stock your inventory?

There are dozens of questions you can ask and corresponding answers for all of them. You must determine what you need to ask--and then use the reverse engineering method to answer it.

About the author:

http://www.wor kathomerightnow.net/ebay.html - Written by Isaiah Hull, author of ""How to Profit on Ebay In Seven Days Without Spending A Single Penny."" For a limited time only you can get a pre-publication copy of his book for ONE-FOURTH the post-publication price!

How To Sell On Ebay & Keep Your Shirt

Author: Isaiah Hull

How To Sell On Ebay & Keep Your Shirt

Have you ever been delighted after a huge sale on Ebay. . .only to find out that your massive profit margin was whittled away by fee after fee after fee after fee?

Ebay charged you to list your item; they charged you to add pictures; they charged you to add upgrades; they charged you to use a template; they charged you to put your auction up at a certain time; and then, on top of everything else. . .they charged you AGAIN for closing the sale.

At this point, you would have been happy to walk away from your huge sale with the shirt on your back. But no. Paypal arrived on the scene to process your transaction for a small fee - your shirt.

. . .and there you sat at your computer, frustrated and shirtless. You were probably ready to just throw your hands up in dispair and quit selling on Ebay.

But you didn’t. You stuck with it. Maybe you haven’t had any success on Ebay since then, but what matters is that you stuck with it. And that is easily the most important part about selling on Ebay: sticking with it until you get that breakthrough.

And for that, I am going to reward you by showing you some simple tricks I have used to prevent the fee-mongers from extracting all of my profits. Hopefully this will help you to do the same and find your breakthrough.

The first method is using free hosting services for all of your auction pictures. If you sell a lot of small items on Ebay, this will save you a considerable amount of money in fees. If you only sell large items, this will allow you to cut back on unncessary fees on each auction.

I personally suggest using Geocities.com for this. All you have to do is upload the pictures you want in your auctions and then then reference them in the actual auctions.

The second fee-saving method I suggest is creating or purchasing a template for your auctions. I personally suggest learning HTML, which doesn’t take very long, and using it to create your own template.

In the long run, this will save you a lot of time and frustration, as you will be able to create the exact look and feel you want for your auctions.

However, if you don’t have the time to learn HTML, you can either purchase a template online for a dollar or less or you could have one professionally- created to fit your specifications at elance.com.

Not only will this save you additional auction fees on Ebay, but it will boost your credibility as a seller, potentially raising the amount of bids you receive--and subsequently increasing your profit-margin

The third and last method I will go over involves improving the mechanics of your auction, so you can pull just as many customers as a featured listing would, but without using one.

This is actually quite simple. All you have to do is carefully construct your title to accomplish the following two goals: 1) include as many targeted, high-traffic keywords as possible; and 2) form a coherent and compelling message that will entice these new streams of traffic to click through to your auction.

If you can achieve a better balance than what you have right now, you will notice an enormous boost in traffic. In fact, it can easily be the difference between 25 auction visitors and 250!

Some people make a full-time income buying from the auctions that get 25 visitors and then reselling with this tactic, which gets them 250.

By now, you know what you need to do to cut a serious chunk out of your Ebay seller’s fees. Put this to work in your auctions - and you could be seeing that breakthrough I talked about in a matter of weeks.

About the author:

http://www.wor kathomerightnow.net/ebay.html - Written by Isaiah Hull, author of ""How to Profit on Ebay In Seven Days Without Spending A Single Penny."" For a limited time only you can get a pre-publication copy of his book for ONE-FOURTH the post-publication price!

Before You Sell On Ebay, Take The Most Important Step

Author: Isaiah Hull

Before You Sell On Ebay, Take The Most Important Step

If you want to earn a full-time income selling on Ebay, you must take the first and most important step in all successful business ventures: you must accept that it is possible.

This probably sounds really trite--and maybe it is, but that doesn’t mean it’s any less true.

Talk to anyone who now earns a full-time income selling on Ebay and they will undoubtedly tell you two things: the first is that anyone can do it; and that is true. Over 430,000 people currently sell on Ebay to earn a part or full-time income. And the second is that the hardest part is getting started. This is also true.

As with any type of business, whether it be on the Internet or in the brick-and-mortar world, the mindsent that the entrepreneur brings into the venture is absolutely crucial to its success.

If you, the entrepreneur, give up in the face of challenges, assuming you aren’t skilled enough to persevere, you will never know what benefits overcoming those challenges could have yielded. Instead, you will slowly chip away at your options until you are powerless and without confidence.

As a network marketer and the owner of three Internet businesses, I have seen dozens of people struggle and give up because they doubt they can actually achieve what other people have. Many of them give up on the very presupice of a breakthrough because they lack the confidence to work through problems and overcome challenges.

I personally have struggled with this more than once selling on Ebay. I have been so frustrated at times by bad luck and seemingly insurmountable challenges that I was ready to give up. . .only to have a major breakthrough several minutes later.

So, unless you aren’t curious enough to wonder where you could have been if you had just persevered that extra few hours--or extra few minutes--I suggest that you factormotivation and attitude into your Ebay selling.

Whatever it takes, make sure you accept that you can reach your goal before you start selling on Ebay. If you don’t, you will find yourself putting all new ideas on the backburner or writing them off as impossible.

About the author:

http://www.wor kathomerightnow.net/ebay.html - Written by Isaiah Hull, author of ""How to Profit on Ebay In Seven Days Without Spending A Single Penny."" For a limited time only you can get a pre-publication copy of his book for ONE-FOURTH the post-publication price!

Choosing The Right eBay Auction Category

Author: Robbin K. Tungett

eBay is divided up into hundreds of categories and sub-categories and once you've decided on an item to list, you must decide what category you will list it in.

For example, let's assume you have a Tonka truck that you had as a child. Do you place it under toys, collectibles, or automotive? And, once you've decided on one of those three, you still need to decide what sub-category you will list it under.

Choosing the category and sub-category you list your item in is not a trivial decision. It can mean the difference between making a sale and no sale at all. It can mean the difference between multiple bidders and only one bidder.

Here are some tips to help you select the best category and sub-category for your item:

1. Begin by checking all the categories that your item might fit into. This may take some time, but it's time well spent. And, as you become more experienced you won't need to spend as much time on this in the future. Look at each category and ask yourself:

-> Are there other similar items for sale here? -> If there are, do they have bids? -> How do final prices in this category compare to those in other categories?

2. Look at completed auctions. Search completed auctions for Tonka trucks. In what category and sub-category have they sold well?

3. Don't make the mistake of thinking you should list your item in a category where there isn't much competition. The reason there aren't many similar items listed in that category is probably that there aren't many buyers there either.

4. Along the same lines, don't automatically list an item in a category just because it has lots of listings. You don't want to place your item in a dead category. Lots of listings are fine as long as most of them are resulting in sales.

5. Look at active auctions in the categories you're considering. Depending upon what the item you are selling is, if there are already a large number listed, at times it may be to your advantage to wait a week to list yours. One of the nice thing about eBay is that auctions don't last all that long.

6. Undecided between two categories? When you write your auction you have the option of listing your item in two different categories or sub-categories. There are times when this may be to your advantage.

7. If you have several of the same items, then try them one at a time in different categories so that you can test how they do in each one. This way you can inexpensively test which category works best for your.

About the author: Robbin K. Tungett is online marketing and eBay veteran of 8 years. She is most widely known for her eBay expertise and her website http://www.AuctionRiches.com. Please visit her blog at http://www.AuctionHerald.com.

The advantages of easily selling information products on eBay

Author: Marius van Dyk

Everyday more and more people are making a living out of selling information products on eBay. They set up an automated information products business, because it does not require much time nor money and it can bring great returns.

What is an information product? As its name indicates, is a product full of information, which is normally sold as an ebook. This information can be about anything (although you obviously want to sell an ebook in which people will be interested), from how to sell your used car to magic tricks; the scope is inmense.

Browse on eBay by searching for ""ebook"" and ticking ""search in both item title and description"". You will see what is being sold at the moment: ebooks about UFO phenomena, how to get traffic to your website, how to read music, body-building, even the Bible.

You can choose to do a bit of research on a topic that people would be interested in and put together an ebook, or you can sell public domain information, like the Grimm brothers fairy tales, Kafka's works, or Poe's poems.

Why information products? What is the added value on selling information products? It has many advantages both for you and for your customers. It avoids the three ""S"": stocking, selling, and shipping. You do not need to spend anything on production nor in shipping costs. Pretty much all you need is a computer and conexion to the Internet. You do not need to do much selling, other than writing your listing: you put it on eBay and the customers buy it without you having to say anything. It is advisable to keep account of the information products you sell.

Why automated? Setting up an autoresponder system allows you to have the sale completed without you having to ""be"" there. Once the payment received confirmation email comes into your email address, with the autoresponder system the customer immediatley gets their email with the downloadable ebook.

This is obviously very convenient for the customer and for you. They obtain instant gratification, it works like in a shop: they pay, and they get what they want immediately. You can be spending your time in any other thing in that time, as you know that they will get their product thanks to the autoresponder. In the listing, tell the customers to send you an email if they have problems downloading the ebook. The only thing that you need to do after the sale is check your email for possible enquiries. Not much of your time.

Creating (or finding) and selling information products is a very good investment. And I say investment because you spend your time and effort once putting down all that information you have researched, or the public domain content you have found. Then you do not need to do any other thing than listing the item over and over again, being that part of your catalogue of items to sell.

The little amount of time and money required is making many eBayers set up eBay shops and gain an income out if. It can be developed part-time, at your convenience, it does not depend on timetables and you are the boss. Why not start selling information products on eBay today?

About the author: Marius van Dyk is an eBay Silver Powerseller and editor of AuctionBuyingTips.com. His latest ebook ""Auction Information Empires"" shows you step by step how to create your own information products business on eBay. To find out more, go to http://www.auction-buying-tips.com/ebay-secret.html.

10 Benefits Of Opening An eBay Store

Author: Robbin K. Tungett

Whether you are just getting started or are an experienced eBay Power Seller, having an eBay Store is a wonderful way to reach potential customers you may not get through eBay auctions.

Here are some benefits having an eBay Store can provide your business:

1. More Profits - According to eBay, sellers with eBay Stores see an average of 25% increase in their total sales within three months of opening store. You will also save on listing fees since store fees are significantly lower than auction fees on eBay. EBay also offers storeowners promotional offers and free subscriptions to some of its services.

2. Regular Customers - People who buy from your eBay Store are more likely to turn into regular customers if you provide excellent customer service after the sale.

3. Professionalism and Credibility - A professional looking eBay Store makes you look more professional as an on-line seller. An image of professionalism adds to your credibility in customer's minds. As an added benefit, an eBay Store gives you access to eBay's Business Resource Center, where you can download templates for professional looking business cards and much more.

4. Save Time - eBay Store special features, such as longer listing periods and automatic re-listing, will save you time.

5. You Have Your Own Website - When you open an eBay Store you have a unique URL you can promote both on and off eBay. Your eBay Store will be picked up by search engines just like other websites are.

6. You Can Personalize Your eBay Store - With eBay store customization features you can control the look and feel of your store. You can create up to 20 categories to fit your individual inventory. Buyers will see what you want them to see, how you want them to see it.

7. Your eBay Store Has It's Own Search Engine - Include your own Search box in your store and buyers will be able to find exactly what they are looking for when they are in the buying mood.

8. Special Promotional Tools - With an eBay Store you can cross promote other items you choose to buyers and you can choose what items to cross promote. You also get access to eBay Stores Email Marketing Tool - a great way to keep in touch with your customers. Additionally, if your store qualifies, you receive free monthly eBay Keyword listings.

9. Free Monthly Reporting - All storeowners receive free monthly sales reports that recap your sales activity by category. You get information such as monthly gross sales, conversion rates, number of buyers, etc. Plus, if you have a Featured or Anchor Store, you receive overall eBay marketplace data to benchmark your sales against other eBay sellers. With Accounting Assistant, you can export date from your eBay and PayPal accounts directly into QuickBooks.

10. The First 30 Days Are Free - eBay offers a free 30-day trial.

About the author: Robbin K. Tungett is online marketing and eBay veteran of 8 years. She is most widely known for her eBay expertise and her website http://www.AuctionRiches.com. Please visit her blog at http://www.AuctionHerald.com.

15 Tips To Make Your eBay Business More Successful

Author: Robbin K. Tungett

1.Set your business up to accept as many forms of payment as you can. PayPal, personal checks, cashiers checks, both domestic and International money orders, International bank transfers, etc. Every additional payment option you add will increase your customer base.

2.Don't exclude buyers from foreign countries or with free email accounts like Hotmail or AOL. Ultimately, you are only hurting yourself. In some categories the best buyers are located in a different country than you are.

3.Keep your ads simple. If you confuse buyers, they will either by-pass your offerings, or leave you negative feedback because they read something into your ad that you never meant to be there.

4.Don't attempt to increase your profits by a few dollars by charging excessive postage. Buyers are not stupid. They realize what you are trying to do and most will avoid your auctions like the plague.

5.Give your customers all the facts to bid intelligently. Don't tell them you will figure out what the postage will be after the auction ends. Tell them in your ad what class postage you use and what the actual amount will be.

6.Don't discriminate against buyers who don't have a perfect feedback record. As long as you have good business procedures in place (such as waiting an appropriate period of time for checks to clear), there is no need to look downward at buyers whose reputation might have been damaged just because they got a bad deal. It happens to everyone and someday it will happen to you.

7.Don't discriminate against buyers who have little or no feedback. Remember, you were in the same position at one time. Once you have been in business for a while you'll learn that a buyer with little or no feedback is no more likely to screw you than one with a shooting star.

8.Don't make customers jump through hoops in order to buy from you. Just because you had a bad experience with one buyer, that doesn't mean you should threaten everyone else in advance. Doing so won't hurt your customers, but it will hurt your business.

9.If you are selling collectibles, antiques, or anything else that warrants it, show lots and lots of good sized, clear and crisp pictures. If you don't want to pay an online auction site for use of their web space then use the free web space provided by your Internet service provider. Buyers make critical buying decisions based upon what they see and pictures are the cheapest way possible to insure that you will have a happy buyer. The more pictures you include, the more your business will thrive.

10.Offer a money back guarantee. Be prepared to take an occasional loss on some items. You will encounter far more serious buyers who won't bid unless you have a guarantee than you will people who are intentionally trying to take advantage of you.

11.Be prepared to take a loss to make a buyer happy. If a buyer didn't receive his purchase, even if he chose not to purchase insurance, be prepared to return his money. You will get more repeat and honest buyers than you will cheaters.

12.Leave feedback in the correct sequence. When the buyer pays you and his payment is good, leave them positive feedback immediately. Don't become one of the angry sellers who practice feedback blackmail.

13.If you must leave negative feedback for a buyer, make it brief and to the point. Future buyers will read your comments regarding the sale and they perceive you as honest and mature. If you engage in name-calling, swearing, or derogatory remarks, you will be seen as immature and this will scare off potential bidders.

14.Always be friendly and answer any questions from potential bidders quickly. Remember, you were new once also.

15.Have an About Me page and include a picture of yourself. People will find it easier to trust you if they can see you and know a little bit about you.

About the author: Robbin K. Tungett is online marketing and eBay veteran of 8 years. She is most widely known for her eBay expertise and her website http://www.AuctionRiches.com. Please visit her blog at http://www.AuctionHerald.com.

Ebay, How I nearly got tricked out of£170

Author: Stephen Hill

I am not sure how many people have had bad experiences on Ebay, I hope not too many. I was having a great time on there until some man tried to defraud me out of £170.

I had been buying and selling on Ebay for a number of months without any problems at all. If I ever bought anything that cost over £100, I would offer to meet the seller somewhere, normally just off the motorway and this was working very well. I managed to pick up some real bargains and also managed to offload some of my unwanted items which I either had no interest in anymore or that I had no longer a need for.

Good things apparantly have to come to an end and unfortunately it did with Ebay.

I was looking to purchase a mobile phone and saw an advert for a buy it now phone with the asking price low but not extremely low.

There was a mobile number to phone if I had any questions. I therefore rang him, his name was Tony and asked him the general type questions. He sounded and seemed really nice, however stated that he was unable to meet me as he was unable to drive as he had not past his test.

His house was a long way from where I lived and reluctantly I agreed to pay via a bank transfer. He assured me he would post the phone, that very day via Royal Mail Special Delivery to arrive by 11am the next morning. He seemed very genuine, they always do your thinking and that was that.

Next morning have a guess what arrived, yes nothing at all, nor the next day, nor the next.

I tried e-mailing him, texting and ringing his mobile phone, guess what, there was no reply.

I realised what a fool I had been, however decided to go to the police. They were very helpful and half an hour later I had a crime number however was warned that it was very unlikely I would ever see a phone or recieve a refund of my money which was £170.

Outside the police station I sent Tony a text with the police crime number. To my shock he phoned me straight away swearing at me but eventually agreed to refund me the money, if I stopped the police action against him.

I was very lucky, I am sure many other people as the police stated, never get their money back.

Stephen Hill

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About the author: Stephen Hill runs a speech centre in Birmingham, England. He has a number of of websites at:

stuttering treatment

stammering information

stuttering cure

You Get To Ask The Questions For Upcoming eBay Teleseminar

Author: Tim Knox

Remember way back in November of last year when I invited you to go to my website and submit your most burning question about starting, running, and prospering from your own eBay or online business?

Within 5 days readers of this newsletter had submitted over 500 QUESTIONS...

I took many of those questions and did a 90 minute teleseminar that over 100 people attended by phone.

To be honest, I was amazed at the response and the variety of questions that came pouring in, including:

** What is the best product to sell on ebay or online? ** Where can I find products to sell? ** How do I build an eBay store or a website? ** How do I start or join an affiliate business? ** How can I market my website to get more traffic? ** And on and on and on...

Since many of you might have missed submitting your question the first time or may have new questions you'd like to ask now, I'd like to invite you to submit your questions to me at the new website I have set up specifically for this purpose.

My plan is to take the questions and create an agenda for my next eBay Super Sellers Teleseminar.

Natually you will be invited to attend the Teleseminar once I have the date finalized.

I will only have 150 spots available for the next teleseminar, so don't wait!

Go ask your question now.

http://www.prosperityandprofits.com/asktim.php

Here's to your success!

Tim Knox

About the author: Tim Knox is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net, an online

organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay

entrepreneurs. Related Links: http://www.prosperityandprofits.com

http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net

Getting Your Price On eBay While Keeping Your Fees Down

Author: Robbin K. Tungett

When you have the right item - something that has wide appeal and is in high demand - you can usually safely save on your eBay listing fees by simply using a low starting bid and letting multiple bidders run the price up. As long as there are five or six bidders, or more, you will more than likely get a final price that you are happy with.

Unfortunately, while this is the ideal scenario, for a large number of items in many categories, this just isn't always the case. Many items on eBay have less than intense demand or they appeal to a very narrow niche. When this is the case, different listing techniques are needed.

In the past, many sellers used a reserve to protect items. But, over the years reserve fees have significantly increased and using a reserve has lost it's appeal to many sellers. This means you must find different techniques to get the same results without paying exorbitant fees. Here are three different approaches you can take to accomplish this.

Use a high opening bid

This may seem like an obvious technique to replace a reserve bid, but actually it's not that appealing. If you have an item you feel you need to get $50 for, you can protect it with a $49.99 opening bid, but eBay is still going to charge you $1.20 for that protection.

High opening bids also have a way of discouraging bidding. The result will often be either the auction ends without any bids, or a bidder will snipe the auction in the last seconds and buy your item for it's starting bid. Neither of these is a desirable outcome.

Listing in two categories with a low opening bid

True, listing in two categories will double your listing fees. But, if you keep your opening bid at $9.99 or lower your listing fees will still be only $.70.

This technique can be especially successful when you have an item that a buyer isn't consciously looking for, but would be interested in buying. Let's say you've acquired a nice illustrated catalog of William Hoosier kitchen cabinets form 1917. The obvious place to list it is in Books>Catalogs where it will attract quite a bit of attention. But, by also listing it in Antiques>Furniture>Cabinets>Armoires, Cupboards>Post 1900 you are able to put it in front of many bidders who would have an interest in it, but wouldn't be actively looking for it.

This can be a very effective technique because it greatly increases the chances that your catalog will be found by more potential buyers. However, your catalog still won't be protected, and there are some items that don't have cross-category appeal.

Using a low opening bid with the option of a price revision

This technique keeps your listing fees low and also offers some price protection for your item. Here's how it works.

Start your auction at a low opening bid and be sure to monitor it daily. If it starts getting bids from several buyers you don't need to do anything. However, if several days go by and it just sits there without a bid, you simply revise the opening bid to an amount more in line with what you need for the item.

This effectively returns you to the first tactic we discussed, but you will have avoided giving the item away; while at the same time given it a chance to attract attention.

About the author: Robbin K. Tungett is online marketing and eBay veteran of 8 years. She is most widely known for her eBay expertise and her website http://www.AuctionRiches.com. Please visit her blog at http://www.AuctionHerald.com.

How Professional Ebay Auction Templates Can Boost Your Ebay Sales

Author: Thomas Haselhorst

Do you like to sell on eBay? It’s easy and fun, isn’t it? In fact, it’s one of the easiest online business you can start almost overnight, without any major investments. That’s the best thing about it. But do you also know that only the minority of the people selling on eBay are really successful and that most of them quit after a little while or run it only as a hobby. Yes, that’s true. Hard facts, but the truth. So, what are the secrets of those successful eBay sellers? Well, the most important thing to become successful is a unique product. That’s the first thing. In case you don’t have a unique product, you can sell products which are in high demand, eg. children clothing, designer clothing, digital cameras, etc. But you have to keep in mind that your item has to compete with 100 similar products – maybe even to a better price. So if you are selling products which are highly competitive, then your sales letter has to be DIFFERENT. No, not only different, it has to be UNIQUE. And not only unique!! Your listing has to be PROFESSIONAL.

Let me tell you about our experiment. We have tried various listings for the same item. And what do you think which listing got the most bids? Right, listings with a professional UNIQUE design end up with 30-40% more bids. Can you imagine that? It was exactly the same item. Just the design of the sales letter can make a massive difference in the end price you may get. It’s just amazing. We have saying in German: “Das Auge isst mit”. The translation is something like: “If it looks nice it has to taste better”. Well, as we know this is not always true though, but that’s the psychology of our human brain. If the overall impression of the food is good, an impulse is sent to the brain: This has to taste good – I want to try that. It’s the same thing with buying in a shop or on eBay. If the auction website of the item you are looking at looks nice, the product has to be good and it’s more likely that you click on the “Bid now” button. We have seen that many times and especially with our little experiment.

So, if you use professional looking eBay auction templates for your listings, you will be surprised how this may boost your eBay business. Try to modify your templates and see which perform better. You will notice that a tiny change can make a huge difference. Keep track which templates has generated what prices and compare after a month. You’ll see that some templates do really well and some don’t. Be creative and modify your templates. But be careful! Don’t overdo it though with bright colours an a dozen animated gifs. No, that’s not what the buyer wants to see. They want to have a clear and honest description and a good picture. If the overall design is professional, believe me – it’s more likely that they place a bid. And at the end of the day – that’s all it counts, doesn’t it?

About the author: Thomas Haselhorst is webmaster of http://www.auction-de sign-for-free.com and http://www.monster-ebook-s ale.com

An eBay Computer Purchase

Author: GEORGE W. CANNATA

An eBay purchase that turned sour.

A story of fraud, deceit, and broken promises.

Let me preface my statements by saying that I think eBay is great.

I’m a handicapped senior citizen and it’s been a boon to me to be able to shop the Internet and particularly eBay.

In nearly six years I’ve had two problems both to do with non-delivery. One incident was insignificant as it involved a $5.00 purchase and was quickly remedied.

It only deserves mention because it was my first purchase, and because I complained about non-delivery the vindictive seller gave me a negative feed back, which remains on my record to this day.

Some months ago I purchased a computer through eBay. It was a very good price, but not so low as to arouse suspicion.

I paid through Paypal using a credit card.

I had checked the seller's feedback record, which was perfect. Next day I received an acknowledgment and a promise to ship in a day or so.

I waited for a week or so, then followed up the shipment. The seller, Ann apologized and said that she was a government attorney, on call and had been called out of town unexpectedly. She said she was on the road and on her return home would advise me the status of the order.

About a week later I received an email with an email with a UPS tracking number and an expected delivery date. The date was somewhat extended, but I accepted it, as it was coming across country.

When the PC didn't arrive as expected I sent Ann another email. Her response was another apology and she said that her father had died and she was in another state for the funeral and would look into the matter upon her return, also that due to the inconvenience she was going to refund half my money.

More time elapsed and after several email inquiries I received an email from Ann's husband stating that on her way home from the funeral she had been in a car crash and was hospitalized. He said he was not involved in the transaction, but on her instructions was looking into the matter, and would see that I received not only my computer but also a full refund.

Naturally many weeks had elapsed by this time. I was beginning to become suspicious and checked their feedback record when suddenly there appeared six or seven bad reviews. On a subsequent check they made their feedback private so it couldn't be accessed.

By then it was too late, the next thing I knew their email was suspended. When I contacted eBay they gave me Ann's phone number. When I called the phone number their service had been disconnected.

I was unable to get an address from either eBay or Paypal. I reported this case of fraud, deceit and broken promises to eBay and Paypal. Both had time limits, which had expired, so they were unable to help me, so I turned the matter over to my credit card company.

Fortunately, I had used a protected credit card, and I was within the prescribed time limit.

I don't know what transpired but I subsequently received a notice from Paypal that they had credited my account. Eventually I received a full refund.

Lessons Learned:

* Always uses a consumer-protected credit card. Do not ever use your checking or savings account even though Paypal encourages you to do so.

* Make sure you have a consumer-protected card, some do not have this feature, and be aware of the time limits, and other restrictions.

* Do not accept stalling tactics even if they seem legitimate. Paypay has a 30-day limit. EBay's is 60 days, or 90 days in some cases. Put in a claim immediately, you can always retract it.

* Be careful when checking feed back, make sure you’re getting reports from buyers not sellers. eBay has made it easier to do this now.

These people had deliberately purchased a lot of small items to build up a positive feed back record.

I have seen a tutorial that advocates doing it for new sellers who have no feed back record .

* Follow tour instincts, I had ignored a lot of danger signals. ---DON'T DO THAT---use your common sense---If you suspect foul play, Take immediate action.

Remember that scam artists are very good psychologists. They know how to appeal to your sensibilities.

Beware---They're Pros they make their living that way. Fraud and deceit are their tools of trade.

About the author: By: George W. Cannata Owner and publisher of the web site:http://www.caveatemptorus.com You have permission to publish this aticle in its entirety without changes and it must contain all links and credits to the author.

How to Sell Your Crafts on eBay

Author: James Dillehay

Artists, craftspeople and photographers are successfully selling their wares everyday on the online auction site, eBay. According to a recent analysis of eBay sales, a crafts-related item is sold every nine seconds, a scrapbook item is sold every minute, and 40 cross-stitch items sell in an hour on eBay. Sales of craft items on eBay have grown almost 60 percent in the past year, according to TheBidFloor.com. But, at the same time, many would be sellers are listing their pieces for sale on auctions and getting no bids, concluding that eBay just doesn't work. Here are some tips from James Dillehay, craft artist, eBay seller and author of the new book, ""Sell Your Crafts on eBay"" (Warm Snow Publishers), on how to profitably sell your wares online: 1. A word's spelling impacts an item's profitability. For example, the word 'handmade,' spelled as one word, was part of 2,233 auction titles with an average closing price of $16.29. However, auction titles that included 'hand made' as two words were found in 1,358 listings, but with an average auction closing price higher, at $27.81, or $11.52 more profit per item. 2. Go to eBay.com and find the search box. Type in the word or phrase that describes your art or craft item. Then scroll down the links on the left side of the page and click on the link for ""completed items."" Here, you'll be able to see the demand for this type of product. Do searches for your items every two to three weeks to chart buying patterns. 3. Find out how much people are willing to pay for your wares. Click on the link that says ""highest price."" This will give you a list of completed auctions from highest priced items to lowest priced ones. You want to know what people are willing to pay for items like yours. If you can't make and sell your product for a profit, eBay might not be your marketplace. 4. Determine how much money you'll make on your product. To determine your profitability, use the cost of your materials plus the cost of your labor plus the cost of your selling price, which should be the minimum price to recover your expenses. If it takes you eight hours to make a piece of jewelry and the highest priced similar item sells on eBay for $26, you won't make a profit. 5. Look at the elements of successful sellers of products that are similar to yours. Examine their winning auction titles. Observe how much detail they use to describe their item. See if the seller used any of eBay's special features such as gallery photos or a bold, featured listing. Evaluate the starting price, starting day of the week, and duration of winning auctions. For more tips on how to sell your craft items on eBay, consult a resource book like ""Sell Your Crafts on eBay,"" by James Dillehay. It offers-more than 200 easy-to-learn tactics and tips that help sell art, craft and theme-related items for a profit on eBay and on other online auction Web sites.

About the author: James Dillehay is a 20 year crafts veteran and nationally recognized expert on craft business. Author of eight books, his articles have helped readers of Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Almanac, Working Mothers, The Crafts Report, Sunshine Artist, and many other magazines. For more information, see http://www.craftmarketer.com.

Why eBay is an UNLIMITED CASH COW

Author: Tom Gruber

The Unlimited Cash Cow Guru speaks

If you’ve been surfing the web for the ultimate moneymaking business opportunity, your problem is probably not, “Darn, I’ve searched thousands of websites and haven’t found even one business opportunity.” No, my guess is, you have found hundreds, perhaps thousands, and maybe even millions of internet ads promising you incredible fortunes, all telling you that their opportunity is the best. You are probably overwhelmed with an unlimited information overload.

Been there, done that.

My purpose now is not to knock any of my competitors. I’m sure many of them are honest people with fine products and wonderful opportunities. I also suspect, based on past experience, that the reverse is true of at least some of the get-rich-quick schemes that flood the marketplace.

It is beyond the scope of this article to evaluate the pros and cons of all these millions of business opportunities. And it would be rather arrogant of me to say that I’ve got the best business opportunity to ever come down the pike. As a prudent business-savvy entrepreneur searching for the best and easiest way to make a profitable income, it’s good to be skeptical and go into any business venture with your eyes wide open.

As I searched and searched for the best and easiest way to earn an honest income, I learned a lot from the school of hard knocks. I’ve made tons of mistakes; some were rather costly. But perhaps I can offer a few helpful tips that will keep you from repeating my misfortunes. I have come to the conclusion, through trial and error, that one of the best, if not the best, business opportunities right now today is: making money on eBay. It’s easy, there’s little risk or investment, and it can be highly-profitable for those who know what they are doing. That’s why I have entitled this article, “Why eBay is an UNLIMITED CASH COW.

So let me share briefly why I believe this to be true.

First according to PC Magazine, “eBay [is the] #1 rated work at home business opportunity!” That’s a pretty ringing endorsement from such a prestigious magazine, especially considering that they could have said this about thousands of other business opportunities and they didn’t.

Second, during treacherous times when many hopeful online companies have struggled and fallen by the wayside, eBay has weathered many economic storms. It now thrives and has become an unshakable Rock-of-Gibraltar in the e-commerce marketplace. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I have been involved in several moneymaking ventures that simply went out of business before I could turn a profit. It is highly unlikely that this will ever happen with eBay.

It’s estimated that over 50 million people use eBay. Many have become and are becoming wealthy using eBay as their tool. That’s because eBay truly is the World’s Biggest Garage sale. One man’s junk truly is another man’s treasure.

But it’s even more than just a garage sale because unlike garage sales, eBay allows potential buyers to bid on your products, thereby bringing you the best profits.

Nevertheless, there is more to making money on eBay than just buying low and selling high, although that is certainly a big part of it. In spite of the fact that many people are getting wealthy buying and selling on eBay, most people flounder because they make a lot of common mistakes. But there is good news! You can avoid those common pitfalls by simply learning what those mistakes are and avoiding them. To make money like the pros, known in eBay lingo as “Power Sellers”, one needs to learn and apply the powerful moneymaking strategies used by the pros. Things such as:

·How to choose the best time of the week to generate the strongest sales. ·How to pick the most profitable products to sell. ·How to create enticing ad copy that will attract the most bidders and therefore bring you the biggest profits. ·How to deal with irate customers. ·How to increase profits with better photos. ·And so much more!

These are just a few of the many things that every money-savvy eBay entrepreneur needs to learn. I encourage you to turn eBay into your own UNLIMITED CASH COW. But do yourself a favor; get as much comprehensive information as possible up front. If you decide to turn eBay into your next big moneymaking business venture, please do so with your eyes wide open.

Best wishes,

THE UNLIMITED CASH COW GURU.

About the author: Tom, better known as ”The Unlimited Cash Cow Guru,” is an entrepreneur, lecturer, free-lance author, and owner of several e-commerce business ventures, including THE UNLIMITED CASH COW COURSE.

Mistakes To Avoid In Your Ebay Auctions

Author: Evelyn Lim

Online auctions continue to grow in popularity as an easy and efficient way to make money on everything from unwanted household items to rare and expensive collectables and even to bulky items like cars.

Log on to eBay and you will see countless auctions on any item you can imagine. As eBay auctions grow in popularity, it becomes harder to make money with your auction because it often gets buried or overlooked with all the competing auctions in the same category. Therefore, to make money on your auction, it is important to set your auction apart and avoid common eBay auction mistakes. Here are 3 important areas that you must take note of:

1. Wrong product category or product category not specific enough. Not doing enough research. As it is relatively simple and inexpensive to auction an item, many sellers simply do not put in enough effort researching the market. The result is that the auctions are put up in the wrong category. This would be tantamount to pitching your deal to the wrong market.

However, if you are marketing your product in traditional channels and paying money for your promotions, you are likely to do a lot more research and legwork. If you want to earn a serious income, then you should not treat your eBay auctions any differently.

To research, find the best eBay category to put your product auction in. If you are selling coins, eBay shoppers do not have the time to search all 38,000 plus auctions put up under the category of coins. You need to define your product category as specific as possible. You will then target the true eBay shoppers that are likely to be interested in your auction.

2. A blurred or ugly looking image. Be sure your eBay auction has a clear professional looking image. Pay heed to the saying “A picture speaks a thousand words”. Also, don’t forget to ensure that your image file size is not too large. If the image takes minutes to download, the typical eBay shopper is bound to skip your auction.

3. Incomplete and unclear product description. Be sure to give a detailed and precise description for your eBay auction item. For instance, you can give exact dimensions of the product or give specific details about the condition of the second hand item. An incomplete or unclear description is not likely to attract bidders for your item.

All in all, the best exercise I can suggest is to visit your Ebay auction and honestly ask yourself if you would be even tempted to put in a bid for this product.

If the answer is no or even probably not, then change it. If you are passionate about your auction and take the time to make it professional, your auction is likely to stand out. Make the effort to do it right and you are likely to have successful auctions.

About the author: Evelyn Lim is an online publisher of a FREE newsletter aimed at helping aspiring home based business owners. She also hopes to educate her readers on skills to acquire multiple sources of online income. To subscribe to her newsletter, please visit http://www.e-BizMap.com or her blog at http://www.EvelynLim.com .

Taming the eBay SearchEngine

Author: Robbin K. Tungett

If you know what you’re doing, you can quickly find what you’re looking for on eBay – and the more you know about how buyers find you, the easier you’ll find it to be found. Here are a few golden searching rules. 

Be specific: If you’re searching for the first edition of the original Harry Potter book, you’ll get further searching for ‘harry potter rowling philosopher’s stone first edition’ than you will searching for ‘harry potter’. You’ll get fewer results, but the ones you do get will be far more relevant. 

Spell incorrectly: It’s a sad fact that many of the sellers on eBay just can’t spell. Whatever you’re looking for, try thinking of a few common misspellings – you might find a few items here that have slipped through the cracks. 

Get a thesaurus: You should try to search for all the different words that someone might use to describe an item, for example searching for both ‘TV’ and ‘television’, or for ‘phone’, ‘mobile’ and ‘cellphone’. Where you can, though, leave off the type of item altogether and search by things like brand and model. 

Use the categories: Whenever you search, you’ll notice a list of categories at the side of your search results. If you just searched for the name of a CD, you should click the ‘CDs’ category to look at results in that category only. Why bother looking through a load of results that you don’t care about? 

Don’t be afraid to browse: Once you’ve found the category that items you like seem to be in, why not click ‘Browse’ and take a look through the whole category? You might be surprised by what you find. 

Few people realize just how powerful eBay’s search engine is – a few symbols here and there and it’ll work wonders for you.  

Wildcard searches: You can put an asterisk (*) into a search phrase when you want to say ‘anything can go here’. For example, if you wanted to search for a 1950s car, you could search for ‘car 195*’. 195* will show results from any year in the 1950s. 

In this order: If you put words in quotes ("""") then the only results shown will be ones that have all of the words between the quote marks. For example, searching for “Lord of the Rings” won’t give you any results that say, for example “Lord Robert Rings”. 

Exclude words: Put a minus, and then put any words in brackets that you don’t want to appear in your search results. For example: “Pulp Fiction” –(poster, photo) will find items related to Pulp Fiction but not posters or photos. 

Either/or: If you want to search for lots of words at once, just put them in brackets: the TV example from earlier could become ‘(TV, television)’, which would find items with either word. 

I hope this little primer helps you with your eBay searches. Whether you're searching for an item you want to purchase or you're researching products and competitors, these little tips should help. Don’t get too tied up learning the ways of the search engine, though: a surprising number of eBay users don’t search at all, preferring to look through eBay’s category system and save their favourites in their browser.

About the author: Robbin K. Tungett is online marketing and eBay veteran of 8 years. She is most widely known for her eBay expertise and her website http://www.AuctionRiches.com. Please visit her blog at http://www.AuctionHerald.com.

The Powerful eBay Bidding Strategy That Claims A 99% Success Rate.

Author: Ian D. Major

Don't you just love it?

You've found that special item on eBay that you've just got to have!

No If's Ands or Buts, you've got to win that item.

You've checked and double checked the ""End Of Auction"" time and date and you're at your computer, signed in and raring to go at least 30 minutes before the auction ends.

You're happy to beat the latest bid and with nervous fingers you tap in the amount you're willing to pay.

Then you read those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

Now you remember, there are sneaky eBayers out there who use deviously cunning tricks, like placing high hidden bids and proxy bidding.

You heard somewhere that you should wait untill the closing minute of the auction before placing your bid.

Great, theres still 20 minutes to go, time to grab another cup of coffee.

Back at your computer you count down the final minutes, how can 5 minutes seem to last so long?

You constantly hit the refresh button so that you can check how long there's left to go.

At last the final minute of the auction arrives.

You tap in the next highest bid and hit ""Place Bid"". You're waiting for that page. The one that says'

!Congratulations! You Won The item!

But your heart sinks when yet again you see those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

This cant be right! They cant do this to you! It's just not fair!

But wait, theres still 15 seconds left to go.

You frantically type in a higher bid and you're greeted with-

!Listing ended!

No. No, It cant have ended.

But it has.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you?

I think every eBayer has experienced this at some time or other.

I know I have!

There has to be a simpler way. And there is.

Enter the Sniper.

SniperWare, as it has become known, is a program that will place a last second bid on your behalf.

Many of these types of Auto-Bid Programs claim a 95% to 99% success rate at placing the winning bid.

No more sitting staring at your computer counting down the minutes to try and place that winning bid because with Sniperware you simply enter the details of the auction you want to bid on, the maximum bid you are prepared to make and that's it.

You don't even have to be at your computer. You don't even have to be at home come to that.

SniperWare generally comes in two flavours.

1. Web Based With a Web based program you will usually pay a small fee per use (although you are not usually charged anything if you fail to win the auction). Most of the on-line programs will allow you to make the first few Snipes at no charge.

2. Downloaded Sniper Software. In this instance the Sniper Software Program is downloaded onto your own computer. The upfront cost is more but there are no ongoing fees and many of these programs can be downloaded on a trial basis for free.

There are many Sniper programs to choose from. Just go to your favourite Search Engine and type in ""Sniper Programs"".

My personal choice, having tried several, is PowerSnipe and I have won some great auction using this particular program.

You can try PowerSnipe for free for 30 days and more information on PowerSnipe can be found at the end of this article.

So if you don't want to see those dreaded words-

!You Have Been Outbid!

Get Sniping.

About the author: To get your free trial of PowerSnipe visit:-

http://www.powersnipe.com/?af=majorian

To subscribe for free to eBay-Articles and get Articles, Reports and Bonuses delivered to your inbox weekly, just send a blank email to:-

ebay-articles1@majorian.par32.com

CopyRight 2005 Ian D.Major

Four Reasons Why You Should NEVER Use Animations In Your eBay Auctions

Author: Sydney Johnston

Inexperienced auction sellers, or those lacking in confidence, often want to make their auction listings more dramatic and exciting. They dread the possibility that buyers will be bored by their auction and turn away with indifference.

Therefore, they reason, they will spice up their auctions with some ""animations"" - graphics that blink, change colors, spin, travel around the web page.

Or the seller may be a tech person who loves toys and is proud of his ability to create unusual effects.

Regardless of their reasons, animated elements on an auction page are almost never a good idea for the following four reasons:

1. Rather than attracting attention to the merchandise in your auction, your potential customer may watch a spinning ball or follow Santa and his reindeer through the sky. We want the customer's total attention on that all-important question: ""Do I want to buy this widget or not?"" Distractions are not good for your wallet.

2. Animations can make the load time of your auction listing much longer. I have been using DSL four years and have forgotten (happily!) how horrible it is to use dialup. However, for many places on this planet, high-speed connections simply are not available. For these folks, loading your page might take forever, and you can be sure they won't wait. Experts tell us that the average user spends only 7 seconds at a webpage before departing for greener pastures. If your sales page is still loading, no sale for you.

3. It takes time for you to figure out how and whether to use animations. This is time that would be better spent on writing more exciting and dynamic copy - copy that will turn a prospective customer into a real buyer. A smart business person will treat time as her most precious commodity and spend it on what is most likely to bring a sale.

4. Many of these animations are just downright annoying. I personally do not enjoy looking at screens that are twirling, whirling and blinking. Two particularly irritating animations are an inescapable message that follows up and down the left side of the page, regardless of where I'm looking, and ""trails"" that follow my mouse.

A huge majority of people feel the same, apparently. Sellers need to make it as easy as possible for people to buy, rather than throwing obstacles in the way.

Are there any occasions when animated pictures are of any value in an auction listing? Possibly. For example, if you are selling to graphic designers then animated elements might be appropriate. As always, testing, testing, testing is the only way to truly know.

But for the rest of us folks - forget the glitter and focus on your merchandise. That's what makes us buy.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

6 Reasons why an eBay Business is the Easiest and Safest Home Business to Start

Author: e-bizbay.com

Calling internet auctions an “Entrepreneur's Dream” isn't poetic license or part of the get-rich-quick rhetoric.

Net auctions are the simplest, easiest way on this planet for the little guy to make money.

1. NOT the typical business startup

First, the would-be entrepreneur decides on a product or service. He begs, borrows or steals the money to bring his dream into reality.

Then, he faces ""The Great Uncertainty"" - “Where are my customers going to come from?” With an Internet auction, your customers are already there and they will come to you! Someone else has very obligingly created an entire marketing structure for us. We need to do nothing to find, literally, MILLIONS of customers.

We don't have to go looking for musicians to buy our guitars, doll collectors for our Barbie's or collectors to buy our cars. They will come to us!

2. Start up costs? None. Zero. Zip. Nada.

Can you name any other business that has no start up costs? Entrepreneur magazine claims that the average franchise costs $70,000! Whoa! And when you buy your franchise, what do you get with it? Oh, employees, rent, government regulations, incredible paperwork, the constant threat of lawsuits, grinding responsibility and twelve hour days.

Auction sellers have no overhead, no utilities, no employees, no employee taxes and no rent.

3. Risk? What risk?

There is NO financial risk for start-up! It is cheap, cheap, cheap to start an auction business! You never have to worry about employees, rent, costly technology or any of the other expenses that suck up the money of an netrepreneur. Somebody else has already created the system and taken all the risk.

Having an eBay consignment business, you list other people's things. Therefore, you have no merchandise costs.

Or if you decide to list cars on eBay motors for car dealers and private parties, you simply are listing vehicles they already own. Still, no upfront costs that must come out of your pocket!

Compare the cost of traditional business expenses with that of your new eBay business and there is no comparison.

The two tools that you absolutely must have to sell on eBay are a computer and access to the Internet. A digital camera helps too.

Everyone has stuff to sell, your clients will be very easy to find and unlimited.

4. It is simple to learn! You can start your new business one day and the next, your first item can be already listed.

5. The amount of time you spend is entirely up to YOU.

You can spend an 3 hours a week... or ten hours a day... on your auction business. Your level of involvement is your decision.

Increase your level of involvement whenever you want to. Your choice. No desperation. No risk.

6. There is the FUN FACTOR (the best part)!

An eBay consignment business or eBay motors dealer assistant business lets you follow your passion, meet new people and be entertained -- all while you are ""working.""

About the author: Start your own ebay business today by visiting our website at http://www.e-bizbay.com

Earn Money on eBay Even Without Stuff to Sell

Author: James Dillehay

Although most people know eBay as the online marketplace for buying and selling all kinds of goods, eBay also provides a backdoor income opportunity for website owners ready to monetize their site traffic.

Even if you don't have an item or sources of products of your own to sell on eBay, you can earn money through eBay's affiliate program by serving pages with auction listings specifically organized around any eBay category, according to James Dillehay, author of Sell Your Crafts on eBay.

An affiliate is an independent contractor who agrees to send traffic to a merchant who sells a product or service and pays the affiliate a commission of each sale.

eBay developed a sophisticated affiliate tool called the eBay Editor Kit that allows you to build highly targeted interactive graphic banners which list specific types or categories of items for sale.

Which Categories to Target

Let's say you have a family oriented web site with an article page(s) on wedding-related topics. As an eBay affiliate, you can insert code they provide through an easy- to-use toolkit online that allows you to serve up current auctions on wedding dresses, wedding favors, wedding supplies, or any other category you choose.

Another example would be a site providing visitors with facts of interest on actor, John Wayne. At the bottom of a page about John Wayne's movies, the site owner/eBay affiliate can place code which serves up all current eBay listings for John Wayne movie DVDs or video tapes.

If this sounds too complex, relax. You don't have to be a programmer or a geek to get this to work. The eBay Editor Kit is an interactive form available to affiliates which allows for quickly entering in your affiliate ID code, product category(s) you want to serve listings for, and a few other details. Using the affiliate interface, I've created code to generate targeted eBay listings and placed it on my web pages, all in less than two minutes.

How Much Does It Pay

The program pays affiliates between 40% and 70% of eBay's revenue (not item sale price) on all winning bids or Buy-It- Nows within 7 days of an affiliate action and up to $20 for each new active registered user who arrives from your affiliate links. These rates may change at any time but were current as of this writing.

Why Would Anyone Click

The more targeted your site traffic, the more likely people will click-through to specific auctions. Studies show ads related to your page content get higher response rates.

Since using the eBay Editor Kit and placing graphics displaying targeted auctions, my recorded click-through rate has averaged between 50% and 70%. This compares to a typical click-through rate on my other affiliate links of between 2% to 15%.

The Ultimate Market Research Tool

The beauty and ease of the above system is you can serve your customers great deals on items they are specifically searching for and earn money in the process. But that could just be the beginning of profits for you.

With the sophisticated tracking statistics available to you as an affiliate, you can track which types of eBay listings get higher click-throughs, higher closing bids, and learn about items that sell best throughout the year.

You can then pick and choose best-selling items for your site's traffic, find inventory at wholesale or closeout sources, and then list your own eBay auctions which you already have evidence of sales history. You'll earn lots more than you would have just as an affiliate.

You should note that it is against eBay's affiliate policies for you to use eBay Editor Kit to link to your own eBay auctions.

To become an affiliate for eBay, your web site must be approved. Your site must get steady traffic, look good and all the links should function. Typically, eBay is interested in well designed, high traffic sites to partner with. To apply, go to www.cj.com, Commission Junction and search for eBay.

About the author: James Dillehay is author of eight books including Sell Your Crafts on eBay, Over 200 Tactics, Tips and Tricks to Profit with Your Arts and Crafts Items from eBay's Millions of Buyers. His books have been recommended in The Chicago Tribune, Family Circle, Better Homes & Gardens, Country Almanac, Working Mothers, The Crafts Report, Sunshine Artist, and many other magazines and on HGTV. For more information, see http://www.craftmarketer.com.

Artist Marketing - Selling Your Art on Ebay

Author: Kelli Swan

Artist Marketing - Selling Your Art on Ebay

As an artist, you've probably already realized that the ""creative"" end of your profession is handled. It's the ""marketing"" of your work that is the challenge! In a previous article, I covered some of the key points of traditional Artist Marketing through participating in Art Shows and Festivals. This article will cover one online approach to marketing your work -- Selling on Ebay.

As a venue for selling Art, ebay is a much debated issue. Some artists say that ebay devalues an artist's work and that one should never sell their work on ebay. This is certainly a valid opinion -- a large percentage of ebay buyers are looking for bargains. That being said, here is another way to look at it: selling work on ebay to obtain exposure and advertising of one's work, along with making sales. Let's face it, there is no way to get around the fact that MILLIONS of people visit ebay everyday with the express intent of SHOPPING. It is unlikely that any other online site for marketing artwork will generate that volume of traffic.

A few years ago, before many artists entered the ebay marketplace, competition was light and making money on ebay a bit easier. Presently, ebay has grown to the point where jumping in and making a living selling your art exclusively on ebay would be challenging at best. If you can approach ebay as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, as opposed to ""putting all of your eggs in one basket,"" the ebay experience can be quite valuable.

As far as selling prices go, yes, often times ebay prices are below other markets. If this bothers you, stop now -- ebay may be a waste of your time. However, if you don't mind having some pieces sell for less than average, the ebay experience can simply mean well spent Advertising Dollars in addition to income. And what about those customers who paid full price for your work? Business is business. Your response, should they ask, can be that you dedicate a limited number of pieces to auction for advertising purposes. (Countless artists have donated their work to fundraisers, with zero input on the final selling price.) If you are going to ""protect"" the value of your work, you have to market it...

The actual ""how to"" of listing items on ebay is quite simple, though time consuming. There is no need for a ""how to lesson"" here, as every aspect of the ebay selling process is explained through onsite links to additional information. Any questions you have about fees, guidleines, etc. can be found right on ebay with a little patience.

The ""philosophy"" of the approach is up to you. I will suggest some guidelines for making ebay part of your over all marketing plan:

If you already have your own website, or plan to start one, great. Ebay can be used as a method for getting people to your main site. While you can't advertise your website on an auction page, you can mention your site in the ""About Me"" section of your Seller Preferences. Also, you can mention your site in correspondence email to anyone who contacts you through ebay or wins one of your listed items. Ebay is quite particular about Sellers advertising other websites (ebay would of course prefer that all business transact through them!) so make sure to exercise care and only respond to those who contact you first. (See the ebay User Agreement for details.)

If you don't maintain your own website, or even if you do, you may want to consider opening an ebay store. It's relatively inexpensive, with basic stores starting at $15.95/month, you can list as many items as you like in the store. Listing fees for store items are far less than listing fees for auction items. Of course, there is a catch -- only auction items show up at the top of a search when folks go looking for items to buy. So, your store items will seldom be found by the average shopper. However, you can advertise your store on your ebay auction pages. So one approach is to continually keep several items up for auction, and loudly declare that you have many more available in your ebay store (active links to your store help!) Also, you will find that after items have been in your store for a period of time, they may be indexed on Google and Froogle! Given the intense competition for site ranking on Google, an ebay store is a great way to get your work out there to be seen.

It probably goes without saying that you will need to post a picture of your artwork, and that image quality is very important. Try to avoid sitting your painting or sculpture on the sofa and just snapping a picture. Well displayed and well lit images will help a great deal. Also, you will need to consider how you plan to ship the item before listing it. Ebay will require you to enter shipping options and pricing that you plan to offer to the winning bidder. You will also need to decide if you are willing to ship internationally or to US-only destinations.

A final note on listing your items, whether at auction or in an ebay store: remember to chose quality KEYWORDS! This is most important in the Title line of your item. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes. Few people are probably looking for ""Look at this very pretty view of flowers in a vase."" A much better title, littered with popular search words, might be: ""Floral Painting, Still Life, Art Print, Limited Edition."" Ebay provides a list of popular ""Keywords"" to assist in your homework.

One great way to prepare yourself for entering the ebay market is to BUY something on ebay! In this case, try buying a piece of art. This will give you experience from the Shoppers perspective on searching, bidding and winning an item. You can use your likes and dislikes of your experience to create a plan all your own!

About the author: Artist and Graphic Designer Kelli Swan specializes in Pencil Drawings and Graphic Design Services. Her artwork is available through http://www.PencilPlace.com. Kelli's Graphic Design Services are listed at http://www.CygnetGraphics.com and her new site with Animal Lover Gifts, including Horse Lover and Dog Lover Gifts, is http://AnimalLoverGiftPlace.com.

7 Ways To Promote Your eBay Store

Author: Roger Mayne

The recent fee increases for eBay Stores have resulted in a large number of eBay Storeowners closing their stores because they didn't feel they could absorb the increases and remain profitable.

The majority of eBay Storeowners, however, simply absorbed the increases and continued to run their stores in a highly profitable manner. The primary reason they were able to do this was because they didn't just throw up an eBay Store, put a few items in it, and let it sit there. They had been promoting their stores all along. Promoting your eBay Store is vital to ensure it maintains continued profitability.

Here are some ways you can go about promoting your eBay Store for continued maximum profits:

1. Link To Your eBay Store In All Your Auctions - Every auction you list should include a link to your eBay Store. While eBay automatically includes a link to your store in all your auctions, you should take a different approach. Make sure your store has similar items in it, and then link to that specific item with links such as ""Can't wait for this auction to end? Click here to Buy It Now!""

2. Link To Your eBay Store In All Your Invoices And Other Correspondence - Everything you send to your customers, or potential customers, should include a link to your store. You can do this in two ways:

- Include a link to your eBay store in your email signature block. For this to be most effective, don't just link to your store. Make them want to click on the link by linking to a specific item or items related to the content of the email.

- Include mentions of your eBay store within your email itself. When a customer writes you with a question about a specific item, don't just answer their question. If you have a similar item or items in your store tell them about it and include a direct link to it within the body of your email. Just be careful not to make the email look like an advertisement. Use a soft-sell approach and mention the item in a way that doesn't interfere with the flow of your response.

3. Submit Targeted Keyword To Pay-Per-Click Search Engines - Submit your site to pay-per-click search engines such as Overture.com. Select keywords that will attract narrowly targeted buyers. When doing this, your goal shouldn't be to attract as many clicks as possible, but rather, to attract as many tightly targeted clicks as possible. Write your pay-per-click description in such a manner that it draws people who want to buy your item to your store. You do not want to attract ""browsers"" as they will just eat up your PPC budget very quickly.

4. Use Your Store's Monthly Sales Report As A Promotional Tool - Study the information included in your monthly sales report for your store to determine what promotional methods are working and what ones aren't. Increase your efforts in the areas that are working best for you and either drop or revise those that aren't doing so well.

5. Let Your Store Promote Itself - eBay has a store search page that works very similar to a regular search engine that some eBay buyers will use. Others will use actual search engines such as Google, Yahoo, etc. Because of this, it's important that you let your store promote itself by targeted keywords in the appropriate places:

- Your eBay Store name should describe what you are selling

- You are allowed to have up to 20 customized categories within your store. Use the keywords that your potential buyers will search for as your category names.

- Use keywords in your eBay store description that accurately describe what you are selling. Just be sure to insert them into your description in a way that's user-friendly and doesn't appear as blatant advertising.

6. Use eBay's Cross Promotion Features - eBay provides storeowners with cross-promotion features but most sellers don't use them wisely. Make sure you are showing the right product to the right buyer at the right time. Ensure you are cross-promoting the proper items not only in your listings, but also in your Bid Confirmation and your Purchase Confirmation pages.

7. Make Use Of The Email Marketing Tool eBay Provides - eBay's Email Marketing feature allows you to build an opt-in customer list very cheaply. Encourage buyers to opt-in to your mailings by promoting your newsletters in your store and in all post transaction communications with buyers. Just ensure that you use the tool wisely and don't send messages to your subscribers so frequently that they view your newsletters as Spam. Optimally, you shouldn't send more than two or three newsletters a month.

About the author: Learn how to turn your hobby into a full time income with the power of eBay! eBay power sellers spill their guts for the first time ever in this easy to read ebook! http://www.ebayhotitems.com

Five Ways To Detect Shill Bidders On eBay So That You Don't Pay Absurd Prices

Author: Sydney Johnston

There is as a lot of buzz about shill bidders on the eBay forums. But in actuality, shrill bidding isn't that common and is rather easily detected.

A buyer will sometimes attempt to use shill building to raise the price of merchandise he is selling. The idea is that the shiller will bid increasingly high prices, in the hope that legitimate buyers like you will top the artificially high prices in an effort to win the goodies for sale.

Here are five ways you can recognize a shill bidder:

1. Few shill bidders will have any feedback. This is because they never follow through with transactions and therefore don't have anyone to leave feedback. If the shiller does have legitimate transactions on ebay, he is usually smart enough to use a separate ID, because he does not want to get caught shilling and lose all buying and selling privileges.

{It is important to note, however, that just because a bidder has no feedback that does not mean that he is necessarily a shrill bidder. This may simply be a new account that has not had time to build a feedback reputation.}

2. Generally, a shiller only bids on the auctions of a particular seller. When in doubt, you can check the current and completed options of a seller and see if this shiller has bid on other auctions by the same seller.

3. Shill bidders are most often newbies. You can check the feedback, and the date that the eBay account was created, for any ebay member. If the bidder's account was created two days ago and he is bidding on several auctions of the same seller, you can be pretty certain about what is going on.

4. eBay has ways of the tracking shillers. Of course we don't know everything they do (and if I did know I wouldn't tell!) but some clues all are dead giveaways. For example, if the seller and the bidder have the same IP address, eBay knows to take a closer look.

5. Shill bidders retract many more bids than normal buyers. eBay does allow any buyer to retract a bid, although this is only supposed to occur for specific reasons. But in actuality, a retraction is rarely challenged and ultimately what can eBay do? It cannot force a person to pay for a particular item.

It is wise not to use this option on a frequent basis. Remember that your eBay behavior deal is constantly tracked. A retraction is considered to be a ""black mark"" on your reputation so don't do it very often. Shillers, on the other hand, don't care because they're unconcerned about their reputation. If caught, they simply open a new account.

Sometimes a shiller is the high bidder at the end of an auction. In that that case, the seller and buyer can agree to cancel the bid, rather than retract it. However, all this takes a lot of work, planning and effort. In the end, shill bidding is rarely worth the trouble and time. Instead, smart sellers spend their time finding products and writing listings - the two basic moneymaking activities of an ebay business - instead of plotting how to raise profits on individual listings. Success in business is about efficiency.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

Bananas - Your Source of eBay Packing Materials!

Author: Mike Ralph

This is the most boring stage of the process and subsequently where some eBay sellers let themselves down. If the buyer receives thier purchase poorly packed and broken then they are not going to be happy and will want a refund and more importantly never buy off you again which will have negated all the hard work that you put into the previous stages of your professional auction listing.

Packing is not difficult but if you get carried away then it will impact greatly on your profit, all items fall into two categories:

Envelope Packages - always use padded envelopes as these will protect your items properly

and

Box Packages - always use a sturdy box and ideally wrap the item in bubble wrap

As I mentioned packaging costs can impact on your profit, however, if you carefully work out what is required when you are calculating the shipping charge then this cost is covered by the customer as they pay the shipping charge. This doesn't mean use the first supplier of packaging that you can find as the shipping charge will have an effect on the listing and the customers perception of you, the customer assumes that the shipping charge relates only to the postage cost and not to the packaging costs so when they see that they paid more than the actual cost of postage they assume that you are ripping them off and this will ruin anyone's professional image.

There are numerous suppliers of packaging available, with some very good suppliers available on eBay itself. However there are other alternatives, your items do not have to go out in box's that are plain or covered in your logo (if you have one). Customers will not mind as long as thier item arrives in one piece.

My advice would be to become a recycler, when you visit the store keep a look out for boxes that you can use to pack your items and also for packaging materials to secure the item with within the box. The stores are more than willing to let you take these(always ask first) as they only throw them away or recycle them themselves.

I am going to let you in on a big secret, there is a great source of FREE BUBBLE WRAP that anyone can get access to. All it takes is one word :

BANANA'S

Banana's are the single biggest selling fruit in superstores and every box of them comes packed with a sheet of bubble wrap within to protect the delicate fruit. All you do is ask your local produce department manager in your local store to save it for you and hey presto instant FREE packaging. Do not worry about the banana smell tainting the bubble wrap as the bananas are removed from the packaging before they are ripe (the stage they start to smell) as the stores like to ensure a customer life of the product and as such sell them just as they are ripening. Trust me, try it and see.

When you are packing the item, always put a thank you note in to ensure that the customer knows you are grateful for thier purchase and this will also raise your image within their mind. Always use a good strong tape on the box and ensure all flaps are taped down and that no one can gain entry to the box without cutting the tape. When you are putting the customers address on the box I would recommend that you type it out on the PC, firstly it looks more professional and also not everyone can read your writing and this will only cause delays in the mail.

It is also advisable to always get proof of postage from the mail or better still send it recorded, this acts in two ways... it provides a means of tracking the delivery so that you know the customer received it (helps against fraudulent 'not received' claims) and it also provides a insurance cover against loss and damage. The relative costs are minor compared to the piece of mind it gives you and the customer.

The next stage is to develop this after sales one stage further.. please read want money for nothing?

About the author: Visit ebay information central to use the FREE resources to develop your online business.

Buying e-Books on eBay

Author: Joseph Then

eBay is the world's online marketplace, that enables a diverse and passionate community of individuals and small businesses to trade on a local, national and international basis. Founded in September 1995, eBay provides a platform for the sale of goods and services to more than 135 million registered members from all around the world.

Globally, eBay has more than 44 million items listed for sale at any one time, and an additional 4 million items are added daily. There are more than 50,000 categories including collectibles, antiques, sports memorabilia, computers, IT and office, art, antiques, toys, dolls, stamps, comics, magazines, music, pottery, glass, photography, electronics, jewelry and e-books.

Electronic books or e-Books are texts designed to be read solely on a computer screen using proprietary hardware devices, or multipurpose fixed or portable PCs, or palmtops. They provide texts that take up no space beyond that on the hard-drive you store them on, and can be transmitted through a network. The greatest advantage of e-Books is that you can access the relevant information at the press of a button.

Buying e-Books on eBay is easy. However, you need to know some basic things about shopping on eBay. You can get help from e-Books like eBay Bargain Shopping for Dummies by Marsha Collier that offer help to those who want to cash in on the amazing bargains that eBay veterans have found for years. She shares the secrets on outwitting and outbidding the competition, allowing you to find mega-discounts on everyday items.

You can order e-Books online and they will be delivered electronically to your computer. So you save money with no shipping, no taxes, and the lowest prices. You could visit e-BookMall that has the world’s largest selection of quality e-Books. Or go to Gemstar e-Books that give a new meaning to the term light reading. They have powerful electronic features such as a built-in dictionary, word search, and touch screen for notes, highlighting and bookmarks. Instant e-Books install instantly and are ready to use with no additional software or eReaders needed. Plus, you can find many free articles and the most useful e-books written by the best eBay gurus. You can also learn the best tips, source your products and learn how to receive payments with PayPal.

Buying e-Books on eBay is a different ballgame altogether. You can order e-Books from the convenience of your home and have them delivered to you instantly. What could be happier news for book lovers anywhere in the world!

About the author: Joseph Then operates an ebookstore on eBay and has more than 300+ ebooks priced from $0.23 and above. You can visit us eBay store at: http://stores.ebay.com/NKTHEN-eBooks-Enterprises

Negating Negative Feedback on eBay

Author: J. Stephen Pope

Negating Negative Feedback on eBay by J. Stephen Pope

Taking some pride in my one hundred percent positive feedback score on eBay, I was horrified to see a negative feedback appear against me.

What had I done wrong? Had I overlooked an auction win and failed to deliver product as promised? Had I given poor, slow service? Was I rude to the auction winner?

Certainly, if I had been guilty of any of these things, the negative feedback may have been deserved. But, wait a second! The auction had just ended!

Within minutes (perhaps seconds) of the auction`s end, I was being awarded negative feedback. Not only did I not receive any chance to fulfill the order or to right any wrong that I may have committed, I also received an e-mail from the perpetrator threatening to have me suspended from eBay if I didn`t meet certain demands.

This wasn`t fair! Obviously, I had been victimized by an online bully. (You would honestly think that people had more productive things to do with their time.)

What could I do about it? I e-mailed eBay and told them my story. I mentioned how libel was a cause for civil action. I forwarded to them the e-mail extorting me. Extortion is a criminal offense.

Happily, eBay took action. The negative feedback that appeared on my member profile was almost immediately removed. eBay also took disciplinary action against the suspected abuser.

Yes, it took extra time and effort to deal with the problem, but isn`t your reputation worth it?

RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

About the author: RESOURCE BOX:

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/

8 Collectible Dolls That Sell Well on eBay

Author: Sydney Johnston

8 Dolls That Sell Well on eBay

From the beginning, eBay's primary growth came from the collectibles market. There are two basic models for eBay sales:

1. Currently available consumers goods. This is a price- driven model, and although smart sellers can earn above- average prices, buyers are there looking for a bargain and price is the #1 consideration.

2. Other buyers are collectors, looking for one-of-a-kind unique items that they can't locate elsewhere. Here, price isn't as important as it is with consumer goods. The power of this market is obvious because, before eBay and the Internet, most collectors were confined to a local market.

Dolls have always been big sellers as eBay collectibles and eight of them are especially strong sellers:

1. The Cabbage Patch Kids began in 1978 and are never ""sold"". They are 'born' at Babyland General Hospital in Cleveland, Georgia and proud parents pay an 'adoption fee'. The Cabbage Patch Kids were one of the greatest toy phenomenons of the later 20th century. At one time, it was a common sight to see grown women shopping and lunching with their babies in hand. In restaurants, the Kids had their own chairs and were always appropriately dressed for the weather.

2. Precious Moments began in the early 1970s when creator Sam Butcher began drawing the endearing teardrop-eye children as gifts for family and friends. Today Sam's Precious Moments artwork is among the most recognized in the world, and eBay prices reflect this popularity.

3. Madame Alexander dolls were created in 1923. These beloved dolls range from Charlie Brown to babies and children to elegant dressed women to glamorous and famous women like Greta Garbo and Judy Garland. With all the varieties of costumes, a single doll can be a 1920s flapper as easily as a member of the court of Louis XIV.

4. Lee Middleton dolls, according to legend, are so real in appearance that grown men sent for a rescue squad to save ""the baby"" from a locked car! Mistaken identity is supposedly a frequent occurrence and the dolls have been counted as ""passengers"" on airplanes and rescued from store countertops to prevent the 'baby' from falling. As one happy owner says, ""These dolls are so lifelike it's uncanny.""

5. American Girl dolls are loved by millions of little girls (and grown ups, too!) They are not only from different times and places, but are ethnically diverse: Felicity from colonial Virginia; Josephina from the 1830's in New Mexico; Kirsten is ""a pioneer girl of strength and spirit growing up in Minnesota in 1854""; Addy is alive in the 186o's, having escaped from slavery with her mother; Samantha is ""a bright Victorian girl living with her wealthy grandmother in 1904""; Kit is growing up in 193os, during America's Great Depression; Molly lives in the 1940's while her dad is away at war; Kaya is a Nez Perce Indian living in the northwest.

6. Hasbro dolls are one of the products of the gigantic Hasbro company, who claim to have been making toys for eight generations, including famous games like Monopoly, Scrabble and Clue.

7. Bratz dolls, unlike older dolls like Madame Alexander and Cabbage Patch Kids, have no long history as favorite toys or collectibles. Nevertheless, their price has astonished eBay sellers and the Bratz collection was one of the 'super hits' of the 2003 holiday season and sales have been strong ever since.

8. And, no surprise, Barbie is the best-selling doll on eBay. Since Mattel has recently announced that Ken and Barbie will no longer be an ""item"", dolls from the 'good old days' when the name ""Barbie"" was rarely heard without 'Ken', will inevitably become more valuable.

Anyone who loves and understands the doll market, can do very well selling dolls on eBay. They've been strong sellers for the 10 years eBay has been in existence and are almost certain to remain popular for years to come.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

Using Online Ebay Auctions to Promote Your Website - Confessions of a True Traffic Junkie

Author: Michael Turner

If you are looking for traffic to your e-commerce site, you should look no further than Ebay. The reason for this is Ebay is an online auction site that has a huge following and millions of hits on a daily basis. Because of this, if you have your products and services being auctioned off on Ebay, your storefront can be linked to the auction which increases your site's visibility. Here are a couple benefits Ebay auctions can provide:

1. You'll Have More Links

It is affordable to auction things off on Ebay and the price could come out of your advertising budget. Regardless of how you pay for it, you will have temporary web space where you can provide all the links you want to your website, photos, descriptions of products, or anything you like. These links will accomplish two things. The first thing they will accomplish is they will help you get higher rankings with the big search engines so other people will click on your site, increasing your traffic and ultimately sales. The second thing these links will accomplish is they take the visitor who is currently shopping and interested in your product right to the description, giving them the option to buy. Regardless of whether or not anyone buys your products online, you will have links to your site which will prove successful in driving traffic. You can re-list your Ebay auctions as often as you like and have as many auctions going at the same time, as well. This is a great way to sell products primarily, and secondarily a great way to promote your website.

2. Guaranteed Targeted Traffic

Most people work hard and long hours trying to develop links and joint ventures to their site to get better rankings. However, with Ebay you don’t have to ask permission or link back, you just pay a small fee and there you go. You have another link to your website, you have a website that is as popular as they get, targeted traffic interested in your products and services, and all for a very small fee. Actually, the small fee you pay to get your link and product on Ebay is probably less than the amount of money you lose trying to develop joint ventures. So, consider Ebay and other auction sites when trying to get more links to your website, not to mention selling products.

And above all, Ebay is easy. You can learn how to use the interface in no time at all and before you know it not only will you sell some of your products and services online, you will generate so many targeted leads for such a low cost you will wonder what took you so long to try it.

About the author: Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

The Top Ten eBay Buyer Personalities!

Author: Joe Clare

In my years of selling on eBay I have come across all sorts of people. For the most part these people have been very nice and easy to deal with. Having said that, there are always a small percentage, like in any business online or offline, who you'll have some degree of problem with. As explained in my book ""eBay Marketing Wholesale SourcePak"" you will need to be as polite as you possibly can and have a little patience when dealing with these people. Below you will find my Top Ten List of eBay Buyer Personalities and how to handle them.

10 - The Manipulator: There will be times when you have an auction end with no bids. When this happens watch out for the Manipulator. This is an individual who will email you once you auction ends wanting to purchase your item off eBay at a ridiculously low price. He/she will often try to manipulate you into believing the product will not sell but he/she will be glad to take it off your hands. Forget about them! Do Not sell the item to them. Instead relist the item for auction on eBay with a new headline. If he/she wants it bad enough, they will have to get the item through your auction. And trust me 99% of the time your item will sell.

9 - The Impatient Buyer: This is someone who has won your auction today and is wondering why it wasn't shipped yesterday. This individual wants what was purchased fast, real fast. Just have patience, be polite and explain your shipping policy to him/her. Getting the product out quickly with a thank you note for purchasing will give you a happy customer.

8 - The Disappointed Buyer: There are some people you just can not please, not even if you were to stand on your head. They will be disappointed no matter what you do. Sometimes these people can be down right rude and take up a lot of your time. Learn to recognize this type of person and don't get caught up in an on slot of emails. Remember that time is money, and once you have done all you can do to rectify their problem move on. If the emails continue simply ignore them.

7 - The Invisible Buyer: This is someone who has won your auction but you never hear from them. Ever! They pay you right on time without any problems. So you send the product they won off to them. And that's it! They do not leave feedback, and do not return any emails. They just disappear into thin air. If you send a couple of follow up emails asking if they received their item and requesting positive feedback and you get no response, just forget them and move on.

6 - The Interrogator: This individual could drive you crazy. It's not their fault, they just have questions. Lots of Questions! For these people even if every question imaginable is answered in your auction description, they'll still manage to find a reason to email you a question. Be weary of this type of individual they can, and will waste a lot of your time if you let them. On your first email to them be polite, answer their question then refer them back to your auction description telling them all the answers are there. Suggest they read it again. Don't get caught up in email after email. Always remember that time is money, and if you've done your auction description correctly there should be no questions left to ask. Your auction surfer should be ready to make a bid.

5 - The Late Payer: This customer has no clue about deadlines and they really don't seem to care about them either. Their attitude is you'll get paid when I am ready to pay you. You will need to set guidelines for when payment is due. If payment is not received you may choose to give your buyer one extension. Be specific giving him/her a date as to when the balance is due. Also tell them if payment is not received by that date you will have no other choice but to relist the item for auction. Sometimes a month or so down the road you'll end up getting a check in the mail from this person with a note as to why they were late. Simply return the payment with an explanation that the item was re-listed as he/she failed to meet the payment deadline and it has been sold to someone else.

4 - The Deadbeat: There is no buyer more irritating than the one who is always telling you the check is in the mail. Of course the check never arrives. Unfortunately there is not much you can do about this. Like above give them a deadline and if they don't make it relist the item for auction again.

3 - The ""I'm Sooo Confused"" Buyer: This customer does want to buy from you. Really, they do! If they could only figure out how! How to bid, how to pay, how to... All this high tech computer stuff is just way to confusing for them. Have patience and be polite. Explain what they should do next. If you find no matter how you explain things it just doesn't register with them, suggest they read over eBay's tutorials. Remember your time is money and you can only spend so much time with any potential customer before you must move on.

2 - The Spender: This individual can spend a lot of money with you. And often will return as a repeat buyer usually purchasing a little of everything you have up for auction. This person will also spend $100.00 in merchandise in order to save $10.00 on shipping. Bless him/her!

1 - The Perfect Customer: This individual is simply a Happy Person. He/she has won your auction and they are just ecstatic about it. The great thing about this type of buyer is if you run into a problem they are always understanding and easy to deal with. If looked after correctly, very often these people will become a customer for life. Now, don't we wish all customers were like this.

So, there you have it. The Top Ten eBay Buyer Personalities. If you already sell on eBay I'm sure you will recognize some of these personality traits in your own customers. If you're just getting started with your eBay Auction Business no doubt you'll be running into these people soon. Whatever personality your day brings you, always be patience, polite and just have fun with it.

Happy Selling! Joe Clare

About the author: Joe Clare is a successful eMarketer and Author. He has written numerous articles on how to make money on eBay. Check out his Articles, Hot Tips and Free Auction Mini Course and discover for yourself, how you can make a Serious Income with Online Auctions. http://www.ebooksnsoftware.com

Finding Products to sell on eBay

Author: Nowshade Kabir

Do you know how many people in US are earning their livelihood with the help of eBay? According to a new survey conducted on July 2005 by ACNielsen, a leading research firm, an astounding 724 thousand Americans respond that they rely on eBay for their main or supplemental income. Apart from these professional sellers, another 1.5 million people confirmed that they generate additional income by selling goods on eBay. Last year alone, around 150 million registered users have sold over US$ 34 billion worth of goods on eBay. Isn’t it amazing?

Why entrepreneurs are flocking into eBay? Some of the reasons are quite apparent.

• Starting a business on eBay is easy and quick

• You don’t require large investment

• Anybody can start an eBay business, no special skill is required

• You can sell virtually anything on eBay

• With your eBay business you can have flexible work time

• You have a ready-made market of over 150 million people and counting

• eBay get 1.5 billion page views each month. You get access to this massive traffic almost paying nothing.

So, there is no wonder that anybody with slightest penchant to have their own business will jump into this great opportunity. But, there are two major problems that many of the would-be eBay sellers encounter. The first is what to sell and the next is where to find it.

What to sell?

According to Forrester Research, a major research company, this year, categories with products purchased by women will have the most growth in online retailing. Some categories are already getting more than ten percent of their overall sales through the Internet, which include: computer hardware and software, tickets, travel, books, consumer electronics, cosmetics and fragrances, toys and video games, and flowers, cards and gifts. While choosing items to sell on eBay, you should also explore the features available on eBay and other places on the Internet that show items people search and items people actually buy. eBay has a complete section called “Seller Central” dedicated to delivering utmost information to help you succeed in selling products through eBay. Two links from this section should interest you. One is What’s Hot (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html) and the other one is Category Tips (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/sellbycategory.html).

When you go to the subsection ‘What’s Hot’, check out the following three areas:

Hot Items by Category

This is a comprehensive report of categories, and products within a category by the ratio of bid to listings growth rate in PDF format. The report gets updated monthly and shows which products have increased demand in comparison to last month. Super hot products, for example, have over 35 percentage point difference between bid growth rate and listing growth rate. According to the latest report, by the way, Sunglasses for men, in particular Prada sunglasses are super hot.

eBay Pulse

This is another area where you can see the top ten searched categories, ten most widely watched auctions, list of stores with most active listings, and other cool stuffs on daily basis.

eBay Summer Catalog This is a new subsection. It’s a real catalog with pictures and average price of products. In each category of products there is a list of top ten summer trends. You, definitely, should check this out if you are planning to start selling now.

In Demand On the page “Category Tips” under each category you will see a link under the name “In Demand”. This area will show you a list of ten most sold items of this category as well as most searched items for each subcategory.

You might also like to see what people buy on non-eBay part of the Internet. The Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index (CDI) (http://www.shopping.com/CDI/cdi.cmp) makes a weekly list of most sought after items. This list could give you the needed glimpse to the future market trend!

Where to find items to sell on eBay

Your own home

If you are just planning to start selling on eBay, your first option is to go through your attic, closets and garage. Find those long stashed items that you will probably never need. These may include: books that you will perhaps never read, CDs that you out grew, gifts that you received but did not like much, the list can go on! Take them out, brush them off and post them on eBay for sell.

Flea markets and garage sales

Every body knows that garage sales and flea markets can be real treasure troves! Well, now you can look at them from a business point of view. Your sales experience with own home items, hopefully, will help you understand what will sell well and what won’t. Don’t go for any costly items as yet.

Local liquidators and auctions

Classified sections of local Newspapers’ week-end editions are good place to look for estate auctions. While buying items from local auctions determine what are you going to buy and for what price beforehand and stick to them no matter what! At an auction there is always a risk of getting carried away!

Go visit some local business liquidators. These are excellent places to find items for bargain price.

Drop shippers (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/39)

When a manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor or importer, after receiving an order from their retailers, individually pack and deliver the product to the customer of the retailer with retailers address as shipper, this selling technique is called drop-shipping. This is an excellent way to find products to sell on eBay. Drop ship source directory (http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/?8188) is the place to go if you are looking for drop-shippers.

eBay

eBay itself can be a great sourcing place for you. Check out wholesale items and eBay business marketplace from your chosen fields. In order to find wholesale listing, while searching a product select “Items listed as lots”. You can buy goods in wholesale and then sell them piece by piece and make decent money. Of course, you have to develop good knowledge of the products before doing this.

If your business has grown and you are considering importing products to sell on eBay, read my article “Importing Products to sell on eBay” (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/52).

The bottom line is there was never a better time to start a business. If you feel this is really your cup of tea, just go for it!

About the author: Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com – a Global B2B Exchange with solutions to create e-catalog, Web store, business process management and other features to run a business online. You can read various articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com .

How to win on eBay

Author: Christine Breen

How to Win at eBay

I've bought over 100 items on eBay over three years and am ready to share my knowledge of how to win at eBay and buy from reputable sellers.

1. You can find anything on eBay. When searching on eBay I suggest first doing a general search such as ""ionic breeze"" and checking what the items are going for. I noticed the items by companies with eBay stores were selling much higher than those by individuals. This is true for all categories. So don't be scared of buying from an individual as it could be much cheaper.

2. Before bidding look at the seller's rating. I only buy from those with 99% or higher ratings.

3. Next check the shipping cost. Quite a lot of eBay sellers are willing to sell their high priced item at NR or no reserve but make the money back with outrageous shipping costs. How do you know a shipping cost is too high? When checking out the auctions for your item such as ""ionic breeze"" keep an eye on the shipping cost. The average cost for shipping quadra ionic breeze machines seems to be $20. If someone is charging $30 then you know you're getting had on the shipping. I make my maximum bid less on those auctions where the seller is charging too much for shipping.

4. To have less search results to wade through limit the search by using the minimum and maximum amounts setting. Think of what you'd really like to get the item for and put it as the maximum amount. By combing the listings for ""ionic breeze"" I've found it is possible to get a Sharper Image Ionic Breeze Quadra for $50 if I buy it used from an individual or reconditioned from a business. That's ok with me as I just want to pay less than what Sharper Image is charging!

5. One of the most important tips is to read every word in their auction page. People sell broken items on eBay. Some of the auctions for ionic breezes looked great but in between their text stating how great ionic breezes are, how much square feet it covers, was the sentence that the item was broken. Imagine how I'd feel if I had bid and won only to find out I didn't read the auction carefully! Yes it's a nasty way to do business selling items that are broke and tricking people into buying them. But if you bid you legally have to pay for it.

6. Ask questions before you bid. If the auction does not state how the item is being packaged then ask. I once bought a wall mounted barometer, temperature, humidity item that was shipping in a shoe box with no packaging! It was busted, glass shattered. So make sure you ask how they are going to ship it and what packaging they are going to use.

7. Also ask if the item works, do they have the manuals, does it still have a warranty if ownership is transferred, are items sanitized, does it come from a smoke free pet free home? You need to ask these questions as it's ""buyer beware"" on eBay.

8. The cheapest prices on items is during the summer when people are on vacation and not stuck at home during the winter. The worst time to buy is before Christmas. Everyone is trying to outbid each other for a gift. The prices are unbelievable!

9. After spending time doing the legwork I mentioned above, you'll find that a few eBay sellers seem to be ideal to buy from. Add them to your favorite seller's list. Then it's easy to go straight to their store, or items for sale page, and bid on what they have. You've already checked them out so don't forget who they are!

About the author: Learn more about eBay at ebay resources and this article at ebay info

How To Profit Using Ebay's Saved Search Feature

Author: Tim Knox

Did you know that eBay will help you locate products you can buy cheap, then flip for a quick profit? No? Then listen up, because I am about to let you in on a little known feature of eBay that can literally stuff wads of cash in your wallet in less than 24 hours.

This is an eBay tool that I use every day to locate products that I can buy and resell or buy cheap and keep for myself and my family. And the great news is you can use it, too.

What is it? It's eBay's Saved Search feature and you can use it to start making money tomorrow.The Saved Search feature that will let you set up a saved search criteria and eBay will let you know when an auction that matches your search criteria has been posted.

Let's say you're on the lookout for a Pete Rose card to complete your collection. You could troll eBay every day on your own and to see if anyone has listed such a card or you can set up a saved search and make your life a lot easier.

Here's how it works....

Got to http://eBay.com and sign into your account. If you do not have an eBay account all you need to do is set up a free buyer's account.

After you're logged in, type in your search criteria into a search window. For this example we will type in Pete Rose. Click submit and you will get a page of search results that match your search criteria.

At the top right of the search results listing you will see a link labeled ""Add To Favorites."" Click the link.

On the next page you will see ""Create a new search"" or ""Replace an existing search.""

If this is a new search select the ""Create a new search"" button, give this search a name (the search term you used will be in the Search Name box by default, in this case ""Pete Rose"").

You can select to receive a daily email if there are new items listed that match your search criteria.

Click ""Save Search.""

Now you will receive an email every morning with new items that have been listed that match your saved search criteria.

If the search term Pete Rose is too broad you will receive notifications for every auction that has the term ""Pete Rose"" in the title or description. You can always narrow the saved search by adding ""Pete Rose Card"" or something more specific. Just don't get too specific or you may miss items that you'd be interested in.

How can you use the saved feature to make money on eBay?

Easy, you set a saved search to let you know when something has been listed for sale that you might buy and sell for a higher profit. For example that Pete Rose card might have been listed by someone who is willing to sell it cheap or doesn't know its real value. You could buy the card, make them happy, then sell it for a higher price yourself. This is how commerce works, folks. You buy cheap, you sell high.

Let's look at another example. Let's say you have an eBay shop that sells designer shoes. Naturally you would want to know when someone else lists designer shoes for sale because they may be a competitor you need to monitor or just an individual who has a closet full of designer shoes to sell cheap.

You set up a saved search with the keyword ""designer shoes.""

Each time an auction is posted with the term ""designer shoes"" in the title or description, eBay will let you know.

You can immediately check out the auction and if the shoes can be scarfed up and sold for a higher profit, you made money.

I think you would be amazed at how many Powersellers are using this secret TODAY to find merchandise they can buy and flip on eBay.

You should do the same.

If you'd like to learn about other ways you can profit with eBay click here.

About the author: Tim Knox Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker http://www.prosperityandprofit.com http://www.dropshipwholesale.net http://www.smallbusinessqa.com http://www.timknox.com

Ebay Auction Selling Secrets - Using Ebay to Launch Your Very Own Highly Successful Website

Author: Michael Turner

Launching your very own successful website is the dream of many people worldwide because it is a new way to make money and be employed by oneself with little overhead. So, once you have your website you will need traffic to make it successful. The question is, how will you get the targeted traffic you need to support your website, sell your products, and realize your dream of a highly successful website? The answer is eBay. Yes, eBay is an auction site and regardless of whether or not you are interested in auctioning off your products, eBay is the perfect forum for generating that targeted traffic you are so interested in. You may be skeptical, but read the following reasons why eBay will get you the traffic you need.

First of all, eBay is affordable and you can run an auction for up to 10 days at a time. During this period you will have use of a small portion of the web and can advertise and describe your product or service for sale in any way you see fit. You can even add links. Ah, now you are starting to understand. These links on eBay will instantly begin to generate traffic to you site. You do not have to search out qualified websites, contact their webmaster, and grovel for a link. All you have to do is pay pocket change to auction off your product or service and add links to your site. This has several benefits.

One, you will be actually auctioning off a service or product so you might even sell it. And two, you will have the links you need to drive people to your website, and this is targeted traffic. Since eBay has billions of pages and millions of members worldwide, you will immediately realize many hits on your web pages from people who are interested in your particular products and services. Your sales will increase and you will have spent very little money to get those visitors to your site.

You certainly will save a lot of time by using eBay as part of your online marketing strategy. On eBay, you can list a lot of auctions in one day and continuously re-list them. That means you are in control of getting your company linked and noticed on the web. You won’t have to be so concerned about other companies not linking to you or waiting long periods of time for them to do so. Using eBay will reduce the pressure a little bit and make the job of promoting your site much easier. Go ahead and try it. You might be skeptical, but you'll be amazed with the results.

About the author: Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Save Time And Money Thanks To eBay

Author: Lori Osenbaugh

eBay is one of the world's largest market places with over 35 million visitors per day. That first sentence is worth repeating because I want you to realize that eBay gives you the ability to reach a customer base of millions and millions of people which is beneficial to you. Say Goodbye to garage sales and hello to eBay.

You don't have to become a major power-seller or wholesaler to take advantage of eBay and what this mega marketplace can do for you. All you need is a computer with Internet access so you can setup auctions for all that stuff laying around the house you've been wanting to get rid of by selling it or giving it away, so why not eBay it?

eBay auction VS garage sale

First lets talk about garage sales. Holding a garage sale consists of getting all of your items ready to sell and placing them on display in front of your house or on your driveway for neighbors and lookers to purchase. You or someone you know and trust needs to be physically present at all times to sell the items as your front yard has now become a small storefront. In other words you have to sit at home all day after getting everything together and promoting your garage sale which is a lot of work especially considering what you can accomplish with less time and effort on eBay.

Time & Money

Just about everybody is looking to save time and money which is exactly what eBay does for you. eBay is a much larger market and can attract many more potential buyers than a garage sale can. The very reason that there are more potential buyers creates more of a demand for your product, toy or whatever you are trying to sell. eBay commands more dollar for your product than a garage sale for this very reason.

eBay also saves you time because once you have setup your auction it does most of the work for you. You don't have to be present to sell the item, you don't have to be home to get paid electronically and you don't have to be there for somebody to see your auction because your potential buyers can look at your item for sale from the convenience of their own computer which saves you precious time.

eBay also gives you the ability to accept different payment methods such as PayPal, money order, check or cash it is up to you what payment methods you wish to accept. Garage sales simply do not offer this sort of flexibility with time and money.

Quick tips Shipping can be a hard one to get used to - so make sure that you either A. get a postal scale (about $20 at Office Depot) or B. have the post office weigh the packages before you list. Take it from me because I have lost so much money on shipping because I would just 'guesstimate' and that simply does not work. I would recommend always making the buyer purchase Insurance and tracking. I had an issue where a customer said she never got her package and I didn't insure it. We decided to wait a couple of weeks then figure it out, she actually wanted me to refund everything to her, which I didn't feel was fair but was willing to do it because I believe in customer satisfaction. Fortunately the package finally showed up after three and half weeks (and I sent it Priority Mail). You want to only send to the buyers address if it is registered with eBay. A couple of years ago a gentlemen contacted me to buy a $250 wireless antenna, he said he was traveling and asked me to send it to his satellite office. He paid me through PayPal, I always thought that was safe and would automatically include coverage. Two months went by and then all of the sudden Paypal took $250 out of our account without warning or explanation, when we called them they said that one of our eBay transactions was fraudulent! It turns out the man used a stolen credit card, PayPal told us we were out of luck since we did not send to his confirmed address. Lesson learned. Always state the terms of your auctions, it is good to come up with your terms to use at the end of every auction that states your policies, if you combine shipping, the payment methods you accept, etc. Also, think of a refund policy. I give a full refund, or for instance my sister-in-law gives purchase amount back but not shipping, those sort of policies are up to you as a seller. I use Turbo Lister, a free software program, that makes it so much easier to get multiple auctions setup simultaneously. If you do it directly from eBay it seems like it takes forever to enter each one. Turbo Lister is a free download and is available in Seller Tools at eBay. A way to save money; I always use the free template from eBay. It's not really anything fancy. You can choose to get those cute little borders and clipart on each auction but it costs more money. It's proven that ultimately it doesn't matter to people, they want what you are selling. Your first picture is free after that they are .15 cents for additional ones. So I always try, when possible, to use only one picture. Sometimes if it is a big clothing lot or a large dollar item I will only use more pictures. I also make sure to try and write a great description so potential buyers know what they are getting and are excited for their purchase. Something that works; I will sometimes utilize the 'Buy It Now' features (they cost extra) but I put the BIN price higher than I would normally expect to get and when somebody really wants an item, they would rather pay the higher price than risk missing the auction end without winning the item. There are many times where this has benefited both myself and the buy it now bidder. If you are doing a local pickup or have special instructions for your auction make sure you include those instructions ALL OVER your auctions. The mistake I made one time was only putting local pickup only on just the shipping description and the winning bidder did not notice that. Now I plaster special instructions like that everywhere. Remember that people love fast shipping so when you do sell try to ship the item out as soon as possible after auction ending. Your customers will love fast shipping. I also include a note thanking them and sometimes I include a bonus item. That's just some of the fun and benefits of selling on eBay.

About the author: Lori 'Cookie' Osenbaugh sells on eBay in addition to being a licensed Realtor® and Pampered Chef Consultant. You can custom search for Colorado homes at http://www.preferreddenverhomes.com or search Lori's Pampered Chef online at http://www.pamperedchef.biz/cookieo

3 Unusual Formats For Auctions on eBay

Author: Sydney Johnston

eBay users are accustomed to only two ""standard"" formats for sales on eBay: either the 'regular' auction which involves bidding and waiting; and the Buy It Now, which is an instant purchase.

But there are three other formats that are less well known.

1. Live Auctions

Before eBay, the traditional auction included live bodies in chairs and an auctioneer up front (talking so fast he was frequently unintelligible). Any buyer can still participate in these live auctions via eBay. Live auctions are a hybrid - a buyer is 'sort of' present in a live setting yet is at home using an Internet connection.

The products for sale are usually expensive and unusual. There are such items as expensive and unique coins, Asian art, native American artifacts, incredible jewelry, costly furniture, memorabilia from major sports stars and even history. Today, for instance, there are documents signed by John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Madison and Ulysses Grant (he confides that he was strenuously opposed to the ""wicked"" war with Mexico).

If you choose to participate in a live auction, be certain that you register first because you can't just drop in on a whim.

You can find all the details here: http://www.ebayliveauctions.com

2. Private Auctions

Private auctions are similar to the typical auction that we're all familiar with except for one detail - the identities of the bidders are kept secret. Only the seller has access to the names.

Why would anyone create a private auction? It's usually for one of three reasons:

* The item is quite expensive and buyers might be uncomfortable having others know they can afford such merchandise. Their concern about their financial status is most likely misplaced because it is quite possible to distance yourself from eBay contact information, but much of selling is about perception.

* The buyers might be embarrassed by the nature of the merchandise.

* Some sellers habitually use private auctions to make it harder for their competition to snoop on them.

3. Restricted Access Auctions

This is usually for sales of ""adult"" items. The main purpose is to prevent children from seeing this kind of merchandise, and is similar to having covers on racy magazines at store checkouts.

To bid on these items, the buyer must:

* Be 18 years old

* Must have supplied credit card information to eBay.The theory is that no one under 18 can get a credit card and therefore cannot get into these sections.

* Agree that he is voluntarily accessing restricted access auctions

In addition, restricted auctions are excluded from the Featured pages. So if you are a seller using this format, your listing will be harder to find.

Even though they are less well known, these three formats for auctions on eBay still account for tens of millions of dollars in sales each year. If they suit your business model, you might consider them.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

Weird Ebay sales: What are people trying to sell each other?

Author: Jesse S. Somer

Recently I wrote an article entitled, "" Future Internet: Collaboration without loss of individuality: Example 1: Ebay"". Since then it has come to my attention that like all other areas of life the comedians and jokers have invaded and put their mark on this incredible new phenomenon. I am by no means against humour as I am a firm believer in the idea that laughter is the greatest medicine of all. If humanity just learned to laugh at ourselves a little bit more instead of taking everything in life so seriously, I think we could achieve both individual and social harmony much more quickly. There are several websites on the Internet already dedicated to weird things that have been offered and even bought on www.ebay.com. A few that I've seen are found at: http://www.whowouldbuythat.com/, http://www.weird-websites.com/WeirdEbay.htm and www.whattheheck.com/ebay/.

Certain eccentric as well as just plainly silly people have tried to sell anything from their own virginity (had to be a hoax) to the now infamous 'ghost in a jar'. The 'ghost in a jar' sale was so popular that a whole slew of copycats have followed suit ranging from 'ghost droppings' to a 'ghost in a bra'. The 'What the heck' site seems to have the most comprehensive list with items being categorised into: Fan favourites, People, Body parts and fluids, Animal Kingdom, Metaphysical Stuff, Face it you're addicted to Ebay, Technology and accessories, Health and Beauty, Dirt, Water etc, Just plain evil, Gross, Weird inventions, and Stuff we've yet to categorise. One of my favourites is for the sale of Snow. Here's what the seller had to say about the product:

""So far, we've got over a foot, and it's still coming down. We really don't need more than a few inches here, so we're making the rest available to the highest bidder. Due to the perishable nature of snow, and because not even 4WD vehicles are having much luck on our local roads, the winning bidder must make arrangements for pickup. This snow doesn't pack very well, so you'll have to make your own packing arrangements as well. Note that I'm only offering the excess snow from our own property. If you need it, I may be able to arrange for you to get more. I'll accept cash or money order for payment. If you clear a path from Interstate 40 to my house, I'll discount your winning bid, charging only an amount equivalent to the Ebay fee for the closing bid. Take our snow, please...""

I also laughed when I saw that drug-free urine, raccoon's penis bones, the Internet (someone bid 1 billion dollars-it's real worth would be priceless), nine used toothbrushes, dirt from the US civil War, a UFO Finder, a Russian sub (a real one!) and Absolutely Nothing were on sale. Here's what the seller said about the latter:

""ABSOLUTELY NOTHING for sale, zero, zilch, nada. NO RESERVE on this vastly under appreciated commodity. Why suffer the disappointment of shelling out big bucks on junk you don't want, can't afford, and don't need, when, for a small fee, you can completely bypass the disappointment! You expect nothing, and that's precisely what you will get. I'm hoping I can build up a regular clientele for absolutely nothing, because finding nothing is much easier to acquire than most of the other items I sell. And shipping costs are minimal, because, well, nothing weighs nothing. And it's very cheap for me to buy, as it costs me nothing. So forget about those Beamers, those houses in the suburbs, those electronic gadgets, those fashionable clothes that are outdated before you leave the store; THEY won't bring you happiness, NOTHING will! The ancient Chinese Sage advised us that less is more. Therefore, NOTHING is most. Here is your chance to FINALLY get exactly what you've always deserved! Bid with confidence, because I guarantee NOTHING! Aren't you weary of everyone whining that they can't find NOTHING to buy? Well, here it is, ladies and gentlemen, step right up and mail me your dollars, I have an unlimited supply of what you really need most in your life, but were never quite sure how to acquire it. You could pay hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of dollars for the same thing from any one of a hundred political organizations, religious groups, or federally mandated taxing organizations, and not get one single thing that I'm not providing for a nominal fee of a $1.00 bid. And don't despair if you get sniped out at the last minute this week, I'll have a fresh supply available next week as well. Item is guaranteed to be exactly as described. California residents please add 8.25% sales tax.""

So, with every great step forward for humanity we have our tricksters helping us along with their great powers of humour. With Ebay a new way of collaborative consumerism has entered the so-called 'first world' psyche. The question is: Where do we draw the line between supply and demand for what we need to have a sustainable existence, and buying for the sake of addiction to shopping? I recently heard of a new term coined Affluenza. It is the disease of always wanting more money and material objects even if it means having a lesser quality of life. Hey, someone has even sold the 'Meaning of life' on Ebay for a mere $3.26!

By Jesse S. Somer www.m6.net Jesse S. Somer didn't like it when he saw that a girl was selling her 'booger' over the Web. However, in this girl he sees the power of creative imagination that is furthering our species' consciousness. Jesse S. Somer is a creative writer working at M6.Net: 'The web-hosting company for humans.' M6.Net is working hard to help humanity experience the power and freedom to develop their own part of the Internet, to share their information and connect with anyone, anywhere, anytime.

Abstract: Like all other areas of life the comedians and jokers have invaded and put their mark on this incredible new phenomenon that is eBay.

Keywords: ebay, Internet, web, online, sales, buy, weird, joke, interesting, bizarre, market, auction, society

About the author: Jesse S. Somer http://www.m6.net Jesse S. Somer didn't like it when he saw that a girl was selling her 'booger' over the Web. However, in this girl he sees the power of creative imagination that is furthering our species' consciousness.

7 Steps to Easier eBay Shipping

Author: John Lenaghan

If you're like me, you probably hate packing and shipping the things you sell on eBay.

Don't get me wrong, I love selling on eBay. I just don't like the shipping part. I find it monotonous to hunt for boxes, wrap the items, drive back and forth from the post office, and all the other steps involved in shipping.

Then there's the waiting for the buyer to receive the item. Has it arrived yet? Did it get damaged in shipping?

It took me a lot of trial and error to figure them out, but the following 7 steps will help make your job easier when it comes to shipping, as well as get rid of the stress of waiting for the item to be delivered to the buyer.

1. Professional Wrapping

When you wrap your item(s), wrap it professionally in nice, clean tissue paper. If breakable, be sure the item is wrapped with bubble wrap as well. Include a business card with your website information, name, address, or a printed statement showing the item(s) name, item(s) number, price paid, and a small hand-written note thanking the buyer for their purchase.

2. Insurance

Insurance is usually a good idea but in general, it should be an optional feature, with the decision left to the buyer. Remember two important things about insurance. First, insurance is VERY inexpensive. Therefore, in your description, you should state how much insurance would cost and recommend it. Second, you should also state in the description that if insurance is not purchased, you are not responsible for lost or damaged items.

3. Weighing

In order to provide accurate details and help in determining shipping costs, you need to know exact weights. The best option, which will save you many unnecessary trips to the post office, is to purchase a inexpensive quality scale for weighing your packages.

4. Postage

Instead of always running out of stamps or having to run to the post office to ship a smaller item, fill out the information located at stamps.com where you can print stamps directly from your home computer.

5. Post Office Freebies

If you use the Priority Mail option through your post office, they will provide all your supplies for free. This includes boxes, labels, and tape. Best of all, they deliver all these supplies directly to your door. Get them at your local post office or go to USPS.com request mailing supplies.

6. Ship-To Locations

Be sure to consider where you will ship to carefully. You will have buyers from around the world but you can limit where you will ship. Some people prefer to ship to the US, Canada, and European countries while others ship anywhere. The option is completely yours but keep in mind that there are some differences in how you wrap the package, the currency exchanges, and communication barriers between you and the buyer.

7. Delivery Confirmation

Unfortunately, some buyers will try to say they paid for an item but never received the auction item(s). When shipping, you should consider using delivery confirmation. This service is generally inexpensive and can end up saving you a ton, especially if the item(s) is higher priced.

Do yourself a favor and put these tips into action - you'll save yourself both time and hassles. Use the time you save to get more listings up, and watch your eBay income grow.

About the author: John Lenaghan offers success tips for eBay and other online auctions at the Online Auction Advisor website. Visit http://www.online-auction-advisor.com for more ways to improve your buying and selling on eBay.

4 Tips for Organizing Your eBay Inventory

Author: Kathleen Elias

Do you have eBay inventory sitting around the house? Maybe you are new to eBay and just have a few items on hand that you are waiting to sell. Or, maybe you have turned selling your eBay inventory into a part-time or full-time income-generating career! Whatever your case may be, you are more likely to make more money if you keep your eBay inventory organized. So before heading out to garage sales, auction sales, and secondhand stores searching for those unique products, make sure you have a plan in place for organizing.

Depending on the amount of you eBay inventory you currently have to sell—or plan on selling—will determine how much space you need. For the purposes of this article, we will assume that you plan on running this business at a rate where you can manage the inventory from your home. However, many of these same techniques can be used if you decide to upgrade to a small warehouse.

If you are new to selling on eBay, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the world’s largest e-commerce site and want to sell everything. However, I encourage you to start selling at a low number. This will help you become familiar with how the auction process works. Your goal is not only to sell items for profit, but to develop a good feedback rating. This rating is based on product quality and customer service, so the better service you can provide the higher rating you will receive — which is key for building a good reputation.

4 steps to organizing your eBay inventory:

1.Dedicate a spare room, basement, or garage to organize and manage your eBay inventory. Ideally, you will clear out this space before you bring your newfound treasures home. Within this room, keep a filing cabinet with plenty of files and folders with tabs. You will create a new file for each product you sell. By keeping your inventory in one confined area, you can keep better track of your inventory and reduce the chance of items getting misplaced or broken.

2.Categorize your merchandise. Think of your eBay room as your “store.” You know how convenient it is to walk into your local grocery store? You know just where to go for the milk, bread, and cheese. This is because items are laid out in a fashion that makes sense. Literally, set your eBay room as a store. Set up tables or shelves where you can display the products in a nice and organized manner. “Seeing” these products will help you know what is in your inventory and know where you have “empty shelves” to fill.

Let’s say you specialize in selling perfume, vintage t-shirts, golf clubs, antique teapots, unique dolls, and collector baseball cards. It would make sense to group all of your fragile items (perfume, teapots, and dolls) together. Perhaps keep these items on a higher shelf or table out of the reach of small children or pets. Then, organize these items within each category. You could organize by value, brand, etc.

If vintage t-shirts is a category that you anticipate selling on an ongoing basis, it would be wise to hang these in a closet or hanging rack, or fold nicely so you can easily see the graphics. Again, organize these within its category. You could organize by size, color, graphics, brand, etc.

The golf clubs are unique because they probably won’t sit up on a shelf or table. In this case, simply line them up along a wall in an organized manner.

And last, the baseball cards. You would want to keep these organized in a protective baseball card organizer. You could organize by player, team, year, value, etc. It would be wise to keep a print out of your card inventory right inside the organizer.

3.Organize merchandise information. Just as important as the merchandise itself, is organizing the information that supports it. For every product you bring home, create a file. This file should contain product information, photos, and a copy of the description you post on eBay.

Items to include in each product file: •Product information - For example, let’s say you just found a beautiful unique doll at a garage sale. Create a file where you will keep all of the information related to that product. If you don’t know much about this particular doll, research it. Find out about her origin, her history, her creator, etc. Keeping all of this information in one file will help you as you go to write your product description. •Product descriptions - When you write your product descriptions, be as visual as possible. Make your products sound exciting to draw the bidder in—just be sure to not over-exaggerate. It is essential to be honest in your descriptions. If you have an interesting story of how you found the product, include that too. •Product photos - To give your bidders a fair picture of your items, invest in a high-quality digital camera. Take clear pictures at different angles. It might be wise for you to set up a corner in your eBay room for a mini-photo studio. A well-lit corner with a nice backdrop would suffice. Setting up a permanent mini-studio will save you the hassle and time of doing this every time you sell a product.

4.Shipping center. In your eBay room, don’t forget to include an area or “station” for shipping supplies. A variety of padded envelopes, boxes, padding, packaging tape, and mailing labels should all be set up in an organized manner. This station will help you ship your products out quickly—which is an excellent customer service practice.

With this useful organizing system, you will feel like you have better control over your eBay inventory—enabling you to make more money, faster!

Copyright 2005 by Kathleen Elias - Editors are welcome to use this article for content as long as the article and author biography are reprinted in their entirety and an active weblink remains intact.

About the author: Kathleen Elias is the editor of www.Home-Organizing-Ideas.com, a website focused on organizing your home room by room. It offers original ideas, expert advice, and a monthly newsletter to help you reach your organizing goals. To contact the editor or find more information on organizing your home and life visit www.Home-Organizing-I deas.com.

Using Images in EBay Auction Listings

Author: FreeFotoFile.com

Think back to all the online purchases you’ve ever made. How many items have you bought purely off a text-only description? Chances are, not many. As the EBay website puts it:

“Take Photos The saying that 'a picture is worth a thousand words' really applies to eBay listings. No matter how well you describe your item, most buyers want to see a picture before they purchase. So before you sit down at the computer to list your item, the first step should be to take great photos and then transfer them onto your computer. With eBay Picture Services it's easy to add photos during the listing process.”

How do you incorporate pictures into a listing? Here are some quick instructions, again, from EBay itself:

“To add photos with eBay Picture Services, click in a box to select a picture (see Enhanced service below) or click on the 'browse' button and navigate to the folder on your computer containing your photos. (see Basic service below). A window will then open showing a directory of your computer. Find the location in which you saved the photo and select the one you would like to add. We recommend using the Enhanced version of eBay Picture Services because it allows you to preview your photos, crop or rotate them, and is much faster than the Basic service. In order to use the Enhanced version, you will be prompted to install software on your computer. If you would like to add additional photos to your listing, just click another box or browse button again. The first picture is free, and each additional picture is .15 cents .

If on the other hand you plan to use your own image hosting service, click on the 'Your Own Web Hosting' tab.

Once you have selected a photo hosting service, your photo image files can be added to your listing.”

Notice however that there is a charge of 15 cents, per additional picture! Not only that, “Your photos are stored on eBay's Picture Services only while your listing is available on eBay.”

Seller should take advantage of free image hosting services, such as FreeFotoFile.com, to upload and store additional images for free. Not only will you save $0.15 per picture, your images are stored as long as you want in your account so that you can avoid the hassle of constantly uploading pictures for future auctions.

About the author: FreeFotoFile.com is a free image hosting service that can be used to enhance your EBay auctions while saving on the picture hosting fees. Visit the site to learn about all the other features, including customizable photo albums and image hosting for forums and blogs.

3 Unusual Formats For Auctions on eBay

Author: Sydney Johnston

eBay users are accustomed to only two ""standard"" formats for sales on eBay: either the 'regular' auction which involves bidding and waiting; and the Buy It Now, which is an instant purchase.

But there are three other formats that are less well known.

1. Live Auctions

Before eBay, the traditional auction included live bodies in chairs and an auctioneer up front (talking so fast he was frequently unintelligible). Any buyer can still participate in these live auctions via eBay. Live auctions are a hybrid - a buyer is 'sort of' present in a live setting yet is at home using an Internet connection.

The products for sale are usually expensive and unusual. There are such items as expensive and unique coins, Asian art, native American artifacts, incredible jewelry, costly furniture, memorabilia from major sports stars and even history. Today, for instance, there are documents signed by John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, James Madison and Ulysses Grant (he confides that he was strenuously opposed to the ""wicked"" war with Mexico).

If you choose to participate in a live auction, be certain that you register first because you can't just drop in on a whim.

You can find all the details here: http://www.ebayliveauctions.com

2. Private Auctions

Private auctions are similar to the typical auction that we're all familiar with except for one detail - the identities of the bidders are kept secret. Only the seller has access to the names.

Why would anyone create a private auction? It's usually for one of three reasons:

* The item is quite expensive and buyers might be uncomfortable having others know they can afford such merchandise. Their concern about their financial status is most likely misplaced because it is quite possible to distance yourself from eBay contact information, but much of selling is about perception.

* The buyers might be embarrassed by the nature of the merchandise.

* Some sellers habitually use private auctions to make it harder for their competition to snoop on them.

3. Restricted Access Auctions

This is usually for sales of ""adult"" items. The main purpose is to prevent children from seeing this kind of merchandise, and is similar to having covers on racy magazines at store checkouts.

To bid on these items, the buyer must:

* Be 18 years old

* Must have supplied credit card information to eBay.The theory is that no one under 18 can get a credit card and therefore cannot get into these sections.

* Agree that he is voluntarily accessing restricted access auctions

In addition, restricted auctions are excluded from the Featured pages. So if you are a seller using this format, your listing will be harder to find.

Even though they are less well known, these three formats for auctions on eBay still account for tens of millions of dollars in sales each year. If they suit your business model, you might consider them.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

12 Items You CAN'T Sell On eBay

Author: Sydney Johnston

Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on ebay. eBay is the #1 home-business opportunity in the world right now, so it's natural that many are eager to find highly profitable items for re-sale on eBay. However, it's important to know that there are certain items that can't be sold. Here are a dozen of them ...

Some items are copyright infringement and can actually land a seller in federal prison:

1. Knock offs of music, TV shows or movies. The ""bootleg"" movies, for example, are often made by guys who sneak a movie camera into a newly-released movie where presumably, they crouch behind a seat and make a crummy copy. There is a large production of these counterfeit items in Asia where US laws have no power.

2. Software and computer games can likewise be copied and their sale is illegal by all US laws.

Naturally, the items above may be sold if you have a copy that you purchased legitimately and no longer want.

3, The so-called ""replica"" market for handbags, designer sunglasses and clothing is definitely forbidden although these items are often sold in physical stores around the US. Ironically, when attending eBay Live In New Orleans in 2004, we found a store in one of their famous markets selling replica purses that were not allowed on eBay.

4. Lazy and less-than-honest sellers often steal copyrighted material from other sellers. This has happened to me many times and eBay has a program called VERO (Verified Rights Owner) that will remove offending auctions, although there seems to be no penalty attached to the seller, which is unfortunate.

5. Alcoholic beverage sales are not allowed although a beverage ""container', especially those of wine, may be sold for its value.

6. Cigarettes, cigars, smokeless tobacco or coupons for such items are not permitted on eBay.com.

The Ebay rules for collectible tobacco and alcohol containers are the same:

* The value of the item is in the collectible packaging, not in the wine/tobacco itself.

* The listing description should state that the package has not been opened, but that the twine/tobacco within is not for consumption.

* The collectible tobacco packaging must not be available at any retail outlet, and packaging must have a value that substantially exceeds the current retail price of that wine/tobacco product in the package.

* Sellers must take steps to ensure that the buyer of these collectibles is at least 18 years of age

7. Firearms are strictly regulated by US law and may not be sold on eBay.

8. Satellite and cable TV descramblers are forbidden by the Federal Trade Commission.

9. Animals and wildlife products may not be sold, which includes stuffed birds and pelts from endangered species. There are limited sales of ivory, tortoise shell, marine products and other items relating to animals. This area is quite complex and any would-be seller needs to thoroughly understand the various laws before getting involved in these sales.

10. Event tickets have state-by-state laws that make their sale complex. Some states, for instance, forbid anyone to make more than a few dollars in profit (or no profit at all) on the resale of tickets. For instance, Florida law states that tickets can be resold at no more than face value plus $1. In such states, these regulations apply only to buyers and sellers located in the same state as the actual event, meaning if a seller lives in Florida, he can't profit from ticket sales to Florida events. However, if he lives in any of the other 39 states, this restriction doesn't apply.

11. Listing a catalog of items that a seller offers for sale is forbidden. The only catalogs legally sold on eBay are collectible kinds, such as an old Sears Roebuck or Montgomery Wards catalog that is memorabilia and doesn't offer current merchandise for sale.

12. Raffles and prizes are 100% prohibited. According to eBay, such promotions are highly regulated and may be unlawful in many states.

There are other kinds of merchandise that a seller may not sell on eBay, so carefully check eBay rules before listing anything. It's much better to know the rules in advance of spending money that can't be recouped.

About the author: Learn how to sell on eBay with 16 hours of online instruction taught by a 10 year eBay veteran. Own an eBay business instead of an eBay hobby. http://www.auction-genius-course.com

Can you own your own store on eBay, even though you do not own any products?!

Author: Karin Boode

You have sold a few items here and there on eBay and really enjoyed doing it. You got a great price for all your items. You would really like to sell more and, down the road, maybe quit your job. But you don’t have any products to sell, nor is your two-bedroom apartment big enough to keep a serious inventory. So, you wonder whether selling on eBay is realistic for you…………..

If the above is you, I would like to share my experiences with you. But first, let me assure you that not owning products and no space for storage should not stop you from setting up shop on eBay!

If you have a computer, an internet connection and the determination to make it happen, you, too, can be on your way to selling on eBay full time!

Here is how I did it: I started by writing down the areas I know (somewhat) and enjoy, thinking that it would be easier to sell products I know a little about. With this knowledge in mind, I looked for wholesalers that showed an interest in working with me. I also looked for the demand for these products. Based on this information I determined the price I wanted for the products and as a result the profit these products would generate. I picked the ones that seemed to give me the best prices and the biggest opportunity in terms of profit. At this point a lot of questions were answered. But there were still a lot more that needed answers. Questions like: what type of auction to use, and how long to have the auction for. I was not sure either, at what price to start the auction. What would be too much? And can you start too low or too high?

I was wondering how important it would be to have a broad range of products and what the impact would be of the layout of the auction. I decided to use the same layout that worked well for others. This way I figured I would take the least amount of risk. When I started selling more I started realizing that it would be nice to automate some of the tasks that I was still doing by hand. Like, automatically, sending a conformation e-mail to the person who won the auction. I did this myself for a while, but it does get very time consuming.

I also wondered whether other auction sites are available that are better suited for my products and/or would yield better sales.

Believe it or not, but I did find answers to my questions. Some by spending a lot of time surfing the internet, and some by using a course I found on the internet. The course was particularly effective. I could read the text at my leisure and then, at the end of each step, I would have homework, to practice the lesson learned. It helped me get over my initial hesitation to actually do what I knew had to be done. And after doing it once I could do it again and again and again. I found out how to get more people to come to my auctions and what it takes to make them want to buy my products. It is amazing to me how easy the process really is, once you know how it works.

There are many eBay courses out there and they will all be instrumental in getting you started. I do recommend that you find one that shows you step by step how the process works, and that makes you go through the motions by executing the steps yourself. This way you get over the initial hesitation to actually do what you just learnt. In case you are interested, I used the course from www.howtomakemoneyinauctions.com.

Good luck selling online!

About the author: None

Good Communication Promotes Positive Feedback On Ebay

Author: Stephen Pope

Good communication is the key to encouraging your auction buyers to leave you positive feedback. Such communication also helps avoid most negative feedback on eBay.

1. Good Communication Prevents Misunderstandings

Good communication helps to avoid misunderstandings. For example, if surface shipping takes six to eight weeks but the customer doesn't know this, he may expect almost immediate delivery. When such quick delivery doesn't materialize, he may feel that he has been cheated or that your service is slow and poor.

Thus, try to spell out delivery time frames and other details as much as possible. Is your refund policy clear? Is your product clearly and accurately described in your auction ad? Does your product's quality meet or exceed the expectations created by your auction ad?

2. Prompt E-mail Response

If, for whatever reason, your e-mail response is slow, the customer may assume that you aren't delivering on your promises. Prompt e-mail communication can help reassure the customer and gives evidence of good customer service.

3. Encourage Queries

Basically, state in your auctions: ""If you have any questions about this auction, please e-mail me."" If a person is expecting instant delivery of an e-book but instead you send him the information via the postal service, he might be disappointed. Nip all such problems in the bud by encouraging your prospective buyers to ask questions.

4. Ask for Positive Feedback

How can you encourage buyers to leave positive feedback for you? Simply state that you'll leave positive feedback for them after you've received theirs.

Since they are leaving the feedback first, they will hesitate to leave you negative feedback, knowing that you may respond in kind. If you leave positive feedback for the buyer first, they may never return the favour.

5. Reversing Negative Feedback

With good communication, you can often avoid receiving negative feedback. Try to do everything that is reasonable to make your customer happy.

However, what if you do receive negative feedback on one of your auctions? What can you do about it?

Under certain, very limited circumstances (such as an extortion attempt), eBay might reverse negative feedback unjustly given to you. In most cases, however, eBay will not reverse negative feedback.

You can use eBay's ""Mutual Feedback Withdrawal"" procedure. This is where both the buyer and seller agree to withdraw negative feedback from each other. Thus, the negative feedback will be removed from both of your total scores (thus improving both feedback ratings).

The negative comments themselves won't be removed by eBay. However, your comments left in response to a negative feedback will also stay to tell your side of the story.

Yes, good communication can lead to more positive feedback from your auctions. Such communication can also help you to avoid and even reverse negative feedback. So, by all means, promote positive feedback on eBay through good communication.

About the author: J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., has been helping clients to earn maximum business profits for over twenty-five years. To learn more about Internet auctions and other profitable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/auctions.html

Dropship Your Way To Ebay Success

Author: Tim Knox

Dropshipping is a topic that I first addressed in my column way back in April, 2003, which is decades ago in Internet years. But with the continuing growth of eBay and it's positioning of itself as a viable way for anyone looking to launch an ebusiness, the topic of dropshipping is now hotter than ever. It is also now more misunderstood than ever.

Dropshipping has been around since Sears first started selling goods from its mail order catalogs over a hundred years ago. However, the idea of dropshipping still confuses many people who don't understand exactly how the process works.

By definition, dropshipping is a method of selling and distributing goods wherein the distributor or supplier of the product (the dropshipper) ships the product directly to the end user (your customer) on the retailer's behalf (that's you).

The process of dropshipping involves three parties who take a product from manufacturing to market. They are a manufacturer, a distributor, and a reseller.

Let's use a blue widget as a sample product to demonstrate the process:

* Blue Widget Manufacturing (manufacturer): This is the company that manufactures blue widgets. Blue Widget Manufacturing does not sell directly to the public or supply the retailers who ultimately sell the blue widgets to the end user. They prefer to use distributors to handle the task of taking their blue widgets to market. Blue Widgets sells blue widgets by the truckload to distributors who pay $5 per blue widget.

* A1 Distributing (distributor/dropshipper): A1 Distributing is the company that purchases blue widgets in bulk from the manufacturer and supplies them to resellers at a cost of $7 each. The distributor does not ship blue widgets to the reseller, but ships orders directly to the reseller's customers as the widgets are sold.

* Big Bob's eBay Widget Store: Big Bob sells blue widgets to the public from his eBay store. Bob orders the blue widgets from A1 Distributing as he sells them (usually one at a time) and has A1 ship the blue widget directly to his customer. Bob sells blue widgets to the public for $10 each, which means that for every blue widget sold he nets $3.

How The Process of Dropshipping Works

Here are the seven steps involved in starting a dropship ebusiness:

* STEP 1: Choose A Product To Sell The very first step in any sales process is deciding what product to sell. There are many factors that should be considered before deciding on a product to sell, but for now let's say that you decide to sell CD players on eBay.

* STEP 2: Locate A Supplier Who Will Dropship For You Using a research tool like Google, Thomas Register, or an industry-specific resource like The Ultimate eBay Dropship Power Pak. You search for and find a company who will dropship CD players for you. The company offers you a 35% mark up over cost, which means that they will supply the CD players to you for $100 each and you should be able to retail them for $135. You make sure that the dropshipper has a good stock of CD players on hand so you don't end up selling a product that must be back-ordered.

* STEP 3: Set Up An Account With The Dropshipper You contact the company that can supply the CD players and set up a reseller account with them. This can often be done online or by phone, but some companies will require that you complete and return a reseller application to open an account. Some companies may also require a tax ID and business license.

* STEP 4: Advertise The Product For Sale On eBay Now that you have your supplier lined up and know that the product is in stock, it's time to make a sale. You advertise the product using an eBay auction. Since you know what you must pay the dropshipper for the product, you know what the minimum amount you will take for the product. In this case you start your auction at $100 since that is your cost. If you are confident that you can get more than $100 for the product you can start with a lower price, but remember that if the product goes for less than what it costs you to fill the order, you will lose money. Also remember that the dropshipper will charge shipping, so you should figure that into your sale.

* STEP 5: The Product Sells Great news: your CD player sells for $135 and your customer pays you with a PayPal instant payment. I highly recommend that if you are selling on eBay you use PayPal or some other online processor to accept instant payments. This allows the customer to pay you faster, which lets you place the order with the dropshipper faster, which gets the product to your customer faster.

* STEP 6: Place The Order With The Dropshipper After your customer pays you, you should contact the dropshipper immediately to order the product on your customer's behalf. The dropshipper then ships the order to your customer under your company name and address.

* STEP 7: Follow Up After The Sale This is where many new ebusiness people drop the ball. Just because your customer has paid you and you've placed the order with the dropshipper does not mean that you are out of the loop. Quite the contrary, if there are problems with the order you are the one that will be held responsible in the eyes of your customer.

Be proactive in your customer relations. Follow up with your customer to let them know that the item has been shipped. Offer yourself as the personal contact for any

Many people are afraid to use dropshipping as a method of sales due to the horror stories that fill the Internet about unscrupulous dropshippers who take the money and don't fill the orders, merchandise that is eternally back ordered, unscrupulous middle men posing as dropshippers, etc. Make no mistake, the dropshipping industry - like most other industries - does have its share of shady characters who would rob you blind given the chance, but there are also hundreds of honest dropshippers who can help you build a profitable eBay dropship business.

About the author: DropshipWholesale.net, an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs. http://www.dropshipwholesal e.net - http://www.30dayblueprint.com - http://www.prosperityand profits.com

Boosting Your eBay Auction Profits: Just Add Audio

Author: Mike Nalbone

Are You Getting The Highest Possible Profits From Your Ebay Auctions? Here's a tip: Add audio to your auctions.

According to a recent report, adding audio to your eBay auctions could increase bids by as much as 22% over auctions without audio.

A recent trend showing up on a lot of websites is the addition of an audio clip. The clip is a personal message by the author or the website owner encouraging you to take advantage of what they offer.

The psychology behind this technique is really Marketing 101. It's called personalization. An audio clip added to your eBay auction allows you to personally tell the potential bidder about the product. Using your own voice allows you to make contact with the bidder on a personal level that written words cannot. Because, that's what your eBay auction really is...It's just a long written classified ad asking the bidder to make an offer to purchase your item.

Prior to the advent of the telephone the only reliable way to communicate long distance was by writing letters. It was not unusual back then for lovers to write each other daily or weekly. The decline of letter writing is a well documented event that coincides with the advent of the telephone.

With audio you can describe the item, tell the bidder why you are selling it or even communicate with them about your refund policy or provide your contact information. The possibilities are almost unlimited as a way to establish a rapport with the bidder.

But, the most important reason to add audio clips is that it makes it easy to convey excitement and invoke emotion, giving you a really powerful selling-edge.

How to add audio to a web site:

The simplest way is to upload a .wav or Mp3 file to a website and provide a link to the file. When the bidder clicks on the link his or her computer will automatically recognize the file and play it with the audio player on the bidders computer.

There are some drawbacks to this method. If the bidder's computer doesn't recognize the file it won't play. The overall effect is not as professional as it could be and it distracts the bidder. If you are a reasonably tech savvy type you can easily deal with the drawbacks of this approach.

For the rest of us, there are a number of software solutions and websites that will simplify the task of adding audio to our eBay auctions.

Here are two:

Audio Maker Pro - http://audiomaker.thynke.com - (The one I use and recommend)

Sound Streamer - http://soundstreamer.thynke.com - (Less expensive)

Different programs and websites range from charging a one time fee to monthly fees for the use of the program. The good news is that many will let you test them for as little as $1 for a trial basis or let you download a demo version to see how well it will work for you.

Mike Nalbone is an author, editor, publisher and webmaster who earns a living full-time on the Net. For more, exclusive eBay profit tips like this one, visit: http://auction-tips.thynke.com

About the author: Mike Nalbone is an author, editor, publisher and webmaster who earns a living full-time on the Net. For more, exclusive eBay profit tips like this one, visit: http://auction-tips.thynke.com

Hurricane Katrina Donations Could be Many Millions More - eBay Sellers Try in Vain to Help

Author: Dennis Becker

Yesterday I saw a mention in someone’s email ezine about a kind person who had an eBay auction with the proceeds going 100% to help victims of the horrible Hurricane Katrina.

It struck a chord with me because I had wanted to set up something similar, but found that the “eBay Giving Works” charity program seems to be terribly flawed for us small sellers. I had researched it the day before, eBay goes through Mission Fish to handle the administrative tasks and distribution.

Here in a nutshell is how I understand it works. You set up an eBay auction and pledge a percentage of the proceeds to go to a charity. You pick the one you like. If the auction sells, the buyer pays you, and Mission Fish charges your credit card, taking out $3.00 per transaction for their fees, plus 3% to cover credit card fees. That’s reasonable, they need to cover their overhead and payroll expenses. Then Mission Fish sends the balance to the charity.

The minimum donation per item has to be $10.00. Again, so far so good, I can understand that.

Now, I noticed in the auction that I visited that the seller had set up a dutch auction, with 1000 “lots” available, each for $1.00 each, with the proceeds going 100% to her favorite charity that would get food to the Katrina victims. I was about to place a bid for several $1.00 lots (a dutch auction lets you “win” as many of the item as you like, all at the same price).

Then it hit me, why couldn’t I do the same kind of dutch auction, maybe she had found the way to get around the $10.00 per item restriction, and found that it was a minimum $10.00 per auction. It would only make sense that it would work that way, since Mission Fish charges the seller’s credit card, if all 1000 lots sold, that would be $1000 for the charity, Mission Fish would take $3.00 plus 3%, the seller would collect (hopefully) the $1000 from the buyers, and all she would be on the hook for would be the eBay fees. Those fees, plus her hard work, would be her personal contribution.

So I went back to eBay and Mission Fish and researched the deal again. I found out that sure enough, in a multiple item auction, Mission Fish requires a $10.00 donation from the seller for EVERY ITEM that sells in a multiple-item auction (dutch auction).

So, if the seller had 1000 lots at $1.00 each, and they all sold, Mission Fish would have charged her credit card on file for $10.00 for each lot, a total of $10,000.00! And they would have taken their $3.00 + 3% fee for each of those 1000 lots, more than $3,000.00 for their trouble!

At that point, I realized the seller either had deep pockets and was matching contributions 10 to 1, or she misunderstood what would happen to her. I sent her an email, and to end a long story, she indeed misunderstood, was obviously fairly upset at the prospect of paying $10,000, and ended the auction early.

Now, I’d like my readers to do one of two things. If you think that eBay and Mission Fish are mishandling the charity program, as I do, please contact one or both and point them to this blog entry, or just write your own letter with your thoughts.

You can contact Mission Fish here: http://www.missionfish.org/Help/contactus.jsp

eBay is always more difficult to contact, but you can try starting here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/contact_us/_base/index.html

The other thing you could do is support the eBay seller’s cause, she had to end the auction but she took the trouble to set up a web page for donations, you can access and support it here: http://www.flipidy.com/secondharvest.htm

Perhaps with enough pressure on Mission Fish, they’ll get together with eBay and allow dutch auctions to be counted as a single donation, instead of multiple individual items, and encourage more charity in the future.

For those with homes, families, relatives or friends in the devasted area, my hearts and prayers go out to you. I hope this information will in some small way help someone somewhere.

About the author: Dennis Becker is author of a regular blog about different ways of earning money on the Internet, titled appropriately enough Success On the Internet .

5 Ways to Drive Traffic Away from Your eBay Auction

Author: Jason James

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

eBay is a one-stop solution to any one who wants to make money online. Whether you just selling a few unwanted items from around your house or your want to develop a work from home business, eBay removes many of the obstacles for you. Not many other websites can help you drive targeted traffic towards your sales, process the order on your behalf and accept payment though paypal. All you need to do then is dispatch the item to your winning bidder.

And let's not forget the biggest advantage over selling on eBay. The majority of users have money in their hand just waiting to find the right item.

So if eBays so great why would you want to drive traffic AWAY from your auctions?

Well there are a few reasons why you'd be better off selling from your own website, rather than though eBay. Firstly & most importantly, think of all the listing fees & final value fees you could save if everything you sold on eBay you could sell on your own website. Personally it would save me thousands of dollars per year alone in listing fees.

Secondly, you'll be protecting yourself from eBay policy change. Imagine you were selling thousands of ebooks weekly and then suddenly eBay policy changed to prevent any ebook listings.

Overnight your business would simply disappear & your income would vanish. It's the same with listing fees - A sudden hike in fees could wipe out your business & profit overnight.

With any business, especially an online one you need to safeguard yourself against measures that are out of your control. So by driving traffic away from your auctions to your own website you'll slowly start building up an alternative source of revenue. The following methods can be used on eBay. Some are on the borderline of eBay policy & you should check out any policy violation before using them. Saying that, a huge proportion of sellers use these on a daily basis.

1) Image Hosting

All the best sellers have auction templates developed to maintain a professional listing. And of course those sellers ALWAYS use images or graphics to accurately show the condition of the items their offering.

eBay itself allows you to upload the images to their servers, other commercial & free services are available. However really you want to store any images on your own server. Not only will search engine robots follow the links from your listings to your site (helping in improved visibility in any search engines), but many browsers will show the address of where the images are loading from in the status bar - For instance ""Loading Image From http://www.visitmyshop.com"" or ""Waiting For http://www.visitmyshop.com"". This is a great way for your visitors to see to become familiar with your site.

2) Feedback

Many sellers include their own website in the feedback comments they use. Strictly it is against eBay policy but many Powersellers use comments like ""Thanks for your custom from http://www.Visitmyshop.com"" as standard. This is perhaps one of the widely violated policies on eBay. I've never known of anyone receive a warning for this policy, but use it with caution as you could be the first.

3) Email Address.

eBay allows your listings to contain one email link address, in addition to the ""Ask The Seller A Question Link"" they already provide. Use the opportunity to show the an email account associated with your domain name for example sales@visitmyshop.com. The only condition about showing your email address is the one shown must also be your registered email account with eBay. Before you list it, make sure they match up.

4) About Me Page

eBay actually allows you to link to your own website from your About Me page, as long as the actual page does not directly offer to sell items. Therefore make it an information or about us page that you link to, BUT one where visitors can easily navigate to your catalog of items for sale. Additionally drive traffic to your About Me Page by including a link on every listings, for example ""Click here to learn about me"". An average basic shop on eBay will get over 1500 item views within a month. If you can drive just a small proportion of these to your about me page & then to your site you'll certainly see a difference in your non-eBay sales.

5) User Id

While eBay does not allow your user id to be that of an website, you should have it as closely to resembling your site name as possible. You CAN NOT attach .com, -com or *com to the end of your user id - this is strictly against eBay policy. However nothing would stop your id being VisitMyShop. The idea is to get your eBay visitors comfortable with dealing with you away from eBay.

I hope these tips help you drive traffic away from your auctions towards your site & lessens eBays grip on your business. Remember, Ignorance is not an excuse eBay accept if you do violate their policy. While you initially get a warning for policy violation continuous offences may result in your account being suspended. Havin