Financial and Credit Blog

Ebay Selling Tips & Suggestions for Success

July 31st, 2009 at 05:49pm Under eBay Opportunity

If you are a successful eBay seller this article may not be too helpful, but if you are just starting our or are struggling then you should find a lot of help here. Done right eBay is where a person can make fairly easy money, but done wrong you’ll just spin your wheels. There are a number of common sense things you need to know about eBay selling that will help your business become successful. Learn and apply these to start making money, then you can begin to delve deeper into the way to becoming a Power Seller.

Almost every eBay buyer has heard about eBay scams. You must assure the buyer he or she is dealing with a legitimate eBay seller who isn’t trying to rip them off. Listed below are a number of ways to make the buyer feel comfortable doing business with you.

The first thing you need to be a success is to have good feedback. If you’re just starting out you may have to buy and sell a number of items to boost your feedback before you can get real serious about being a successful eBay seller. Another good way to make a good impression is to have an “About Me” page. Here’s where you will introduce yourself with some information about you and your eBay business. The more professional your “About Me” page is, the more your potential customers will want to do business with you.

Now that the eBay buyer feels you’re someone they want to buy from, you have to make sure your product is the one they buy. Often there will be dozens of the same product competing with you, so even though they would like to buy yours the price of your product has to be competitive or they may not buy. Before you price your product be sure it allows you to make a fair profit while still being reasonable. If you follow these tips you may be able to price your product a little higher and still make sales.

One of the most important parts of your sales listing is to post excellent pictures. You normally get one free picture and can put on extra ones for an additional fee. You should put on as many extra pictures as it takes to fully show your product in its best possible light for increased sales. Make sure you have close up pictures of the more important features of your product. One way you can beat the fees is to look into a free photo share site like PhotoBucket where you can put pictures on eBay for free. Good pictures are a must for maximum sales.

Equally important is an accurate description on your sales items. Make sure there are no spelling errors as this is probably one of the main reasons a product doesn’t sell. Fully describe the features and condition of each item. Tell a story about your eBay sales items. Any time you’re selling more than one item in a lot be sure you list and describe each item. Your eBay buyer needs to know exactly what they will be getting, but if you give them something extra, gift wrap the item or something similar the chances are greater that they will remember and want to do more business with you.

The way eBay buyers can pay for your item may have an important impact on how well your eBay items sell. While the most important one you use will be PayPal you should also accept any others you feel comfortable with. Many buyers like PayPal because they don’t have to give out their credit card number. You can also take money orders, cashier checks or personal checks, but make sure personal checks clear before you send the merchandise.

Another thing that many people don’t think about is having a return policy. Without one you will probably lose some sales so make sure whatever you decide is clearly spelled out in your ad so there won’t be a problem down the road.

Your ad should also be clear about shipping costs. You should try and keep these costs as low as possible. I’ve passed on purchases when I felt the seller was charging too much for shipping.

Email is an area where many sellers fail to do well. When you get an email requesting more information on your eBay sales item answer it as soon as possible. Many times a buyer will get tired of waiting for your reply and buy from someone who did reply right away. I’m always surprised when a seller either doesn’t answer my email or takes several days when time is usually important.

The most important tip for eBay sellers is to step into a buyer’s shoes and ask yourself whether you would buy the product you have listed. Be honest with your answer and if it’s not an emphatic yes, then you need to follow these tips and suggestions to the letter.

Start using all the above eBay seller tips and suggestions to see your sales start increasing immediately. If you’re just starting as an eBay seller use them to get started the right and most profitable way.

Ebay Selling Tips & Suggestions for Success

July 31st, 2009 at 05:49pm Under eBay Opportunity

If you are a successful eBay seller this article may not be too helpful, but if you are just starting our or are struggling then you should find a lot of help here. Done right eBay is where a person can make fairly easy money, but done wrong you’ll just spin your wheels. There are a number of common sense things you need to know about eBay selling that will help your business become successful. Learn and apply these to start making money, then you can begin to delve deeper into the way to becoming a Power Seller.

Almost every eBay buyer has heard about eBay scams. You must assure the buyer he or she is dealing with a legitimate eBay seller who isn’t trying to rip them off. Listed below are a number of ways to make the buyer feel comfortable doing business with you.

The first thing you need to be a success is to have good feedback. If you’re just starting out you may have to buy and sell a number of items to boost your feedback before you can get real serious about being a successful eBay seller. Another good way to make a good impression is to have an “About Me” page. Here’s where you will introduce yourself with some information about you and your eBay business. The more professional your “About Me” page is, the more your potential customers will want to do business with you.

Now that the eBay buyer feels you’re someone they want to buy from, you have to make sure your product is the one they buy. Often there will be dozens of the same product competing with you, so even though they would like to buy yours the price of your product has to be competitive or they may not buy. Before you price your product be sure it allows you to make a fair profit while still being reasonable. If you follow these tips you may be able to price your product a little higher and still make sales.

One of the most important parts of your sales listing is to post excellent pictures. You normally get one free picture and can put on extra ones for an additional fee. You should put on as many extra pictures as it takes to fully show your product in its best possible light for increased sales. Make sure you have close up pictures of the more important features of your product. One way you can beat the fees is to look into a free photo share site like PhotoBucket where you can put pictures on eBay for free. Good pictures are a must for maximum sales.

Equally important is an accurate description on your sales items. Make sure there are no spelling errors as this is probably one of the main reasons a product doesn’t sell. Fully describe the features and condition of each item. Tell a story about your eBay sales items. Any time you’re selling more than one item in a lot be sure you list and describe each item. Your eBay buyer needs to know exactly what they will be getting, but if you give them something extra, gift wrap the item or something similar the chances are greater that they will remember and want to do more business with you.

The way eBay buyers can pay for your item may have an important impact on how well your eBay items sell. While the most important one you use will be PayPal you should also accept any others you feel comfortable with. Many buyers like PayPal because they don’t have to give out their credit card number. You can also take money orders, cashier checks or personal checks, but make sure personal checks clear before you send the merchandise.

Another thing that many people don’t think about is having a return policy. Without one you will probably lose some sales so make sure whatever you decide is clearly spelled out in your ad so there won’t be a problem down the road.

Your ad should also be clear about shipping costs. You should try and keep these costs as low as possible. I’ve passed on purchases when I felt the seller was charging too much for shipping.

Email is an area where many sellers fail to do well. When you get an email requesting more information on your eBay sales item answer it as soon as possible. Many times a buyer will get tired of waiting for your reply and buy from someone who did reply right away. I’m always surprised when a seller either doesn’t answer my email or takes several days when time is usually important.

The most important tip for eBay sellers is to step into a buyer’s shoes and ask yourself whether you would buy the product you have listed. Be honest with your answer and if it’s not an emphatic yes, then you need to follow these tips and suggestions to the letter.

Start using all the above eBay seller tips and suggestions to see your sales start increasing immediately. If you’re just starting as an eBay seller use them to get started the right and most profitable way.

Ebay Selling Tips & Suggestions for Success

July 20th, 2009 at 11:53pm Under eBay Opportunity

If you are a successful eBay seller this article may not be too helpful, but if you are just starting our or are struggling then you should find a lot of help here. Done right eBay is where a person can make fairly easy money, but done wrong you’ll just spin your wheels. There are a number of common sense things you need to know about eBay selling that will help your business become successful. Learn and apply these to start making money, then you can begin to delve deeper into the way to becoming a Power Seller.

Almost every eBay buyer has heard about eBay scams. You must assure the buyer he or she is dealing with a legitimate eBay seller who isn’t trying to rip them off. Listed below are a number of ways to make the buyer feel comfortable doing business with you.

The first thing you need to be a success is to have good feedback. If you’re just starting out you may have to buy and sell a number of items to boost your feedback before you can get real serious about being a successful eBay seller. Another good way to make a good impression is to have an “About Me” page. Here’s where you will introduce yourself with some information about you and your eBay business. The more professional your “About Me” page is, the more your potential customers will want to do business with you.

Now that the eBay buyer feels you’re someone they want to buy from, you have to make sure your product is the one they buy. Often there will be dozens of the same product competing with you, so even though they would like to buy yours the price of your product has to be competitive or they may not buy. Before you price your product be sure it allows you to make a fair profit while still being reasonable. If you follow these tips you may be able to price your product a little higher and still make sales.

One of the most important parts of your sales listing is to post excellent pictures. You normally get one free picture and can put on extra ones for an additional fee. You should put on as many extra pictures as it takes to fully show your product in its best possible light for increased sales. Make sure you have close up pictures of the more important features of your product. One way you can beat the fees is to look into a free photo share site like PhotoBucket where you can put pictures on eBay for free. Good pictures are a must for maximum sales.

Equally important is an accurate description on your sales items. Make sure there are no spelling errors as this is probably one of the main reasons a product doesn’t sell. Fully describe the features and condition of each item. Tell a story about your eBay sales items. Any time you’re selling more than one item in a lot be sure you list and describe each item. Your eBay buyer needs to know exactly what they will be getting, but if you give them something extra, gift wrap the item or something similar the chances are greater that they will remember and want to do more business with you.

The way eBay buyers can pay for your item may have an important impact on how well your eBay items sell. While the most important one you use will be PayPal you should also accept any others you feel comfortable with. Many buyers like PayPal because they don’t have to give out their credit card number. You can also take money orders, cashier checks or personal checks, but make sure personal checks clear before you send the merchandise.

Another thing that many people don’t think about is having a return policy. Without one you will probably lose some sales so make sure whatever you decide is clearly spelled out in your ad so there won’t be a problem down the road.

Your ad should also be clear about shipping costs. You should try and keep these costs as low as possible. I’ve passed on purchases when I felt the seller was charging too much for shipping.

Email is an area where many sellers fail to do well. When you get an email requesting more information on your eBay sales item answer it as soon as possible. Many times a buyer will get tired of waiting for your reply and buy from someone who did reply right away. I’m always surprised when a seller either doesn’t answer my email or takes several days when time is usually important.

The most important tip for eBay sellers is to step into a buyer’s shoes and ask yourself whether you would buy the product you have listed. Be honest with your answer and if it’s not an emphatic yes, then you need to follow these tips and suggestions to the letter.

Start using all the above eBay seller tips and suggestions to see your sales start increasing immediately. If you’re just starting as an eBay seller use them to get started the right and most profitable way.

Are You a Newbie on eBay?

July 18th, 2009 at 11:51am Under eBay Opportunity

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 1

July 18th, 2009 at 05:49am Under eBay Opportunity

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

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

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

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

SECRET STRATEGY #1 – FIGURE OUT WHY YOU HAVEN’T DONE IT BEFORE!

Before, you rebuild a house, you need to tear down what doesn’t work and then rebuild. To just rebuild over the bad parts just doesn’t work. So, ask yourself this question: “Why haven’t I done it before?” And if you have done it before, ask yourself: “Why haven’t I succeeded before?” Now, before you say something like “I didn’t have the money” or “I don’t have enough time,” I want you to consider that the answer is really something that you can’t see. Let me draw an analogy.

Let’s say that you’re driving down the street and you see this house that is tilted. You walk up to the front door, the owner answers and you say, “Hello, did you know that your house is slanted and that there is probably something wrong with your foundation?” The owner replies, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. My house is perfectly straight!” How could they possible say that?! Well, it’s because they’ve been living there so long that they don’t even see the symptom let alone the real problem. So, consider that all the reasons that you haven’t done this before aren’t the real reasons. The real reason is the one that you can’t see… the foundation of the house.

Now, fill in this Bible saying: “_____ is the root of all evil.” You said “Money,” right? Well, would you be shocked if I told you that the Bible doesn’t say “Money”? You’re shocked aren’t you? Well, Timothy 6:10 actually says “The love of money is the root of all evil.” A few words makes world of difference don’t they? After all, if you heard “Money is the root of all evil” over and over again as a child then how could you ever have money around you and still remain good? The sad thing is that while the Bible’s actual saying, “The love of money is the root of all evil,” is true, the often misquoted version simply isn’t true. The Bible is talking about Greed not Money.

Another saying that I really hate is “Money doesn’t grow on trees” because it really does! OK, it may not physically grow on trees but it does grow like fruit on a tree. Investments are a prime example of this principle. If you invest and nurture your investments, they’ll grow and you can use some of the money to spend on yourself and replant the rest. Constantly feed the Goose and it will lay bigger and bigger golden eggs. Later in this article, I am going to tell you about a Powerseller that epitomizes this as he took $1,000 and turned it into $270,000!

My point with both of these sayings is that you need to get at the real reason that you haven’t succeeded rather than focus on the obvious symptoms.

SECRET STRATEGY #2 – GET SERIOUS ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS

According to the Powersellers that I interviewed, they believe that they number one reason that people fail on eBay is that they don’t treat it like a business. While the Powersellers that I talked to really love their work, the realize that it is a business. Even though it doesn’t cost millions of dollars to sell on eBay, they treat it like a business every day of the week and they have it organized like Microsoft or Ford or any other successful business. You know, even ballplayers who make their living playing a game treat their profession as a business. eBay Powersellers treat their business like a business worth $100 million.

SECRET STRATEGY #3 – ORGANIZE IT AND KEEP IT ORGANIZED

This is the absolute hardest thing for me because I am one of those people that likes to go with the flow. Although whenever I’m not organized, I always lose money because I can’t find the web address to that one special deal that I found out about. Or I forget about some meeting or to make a call to place an order. You’ve got to be organized to be successful. Successful businesses are highly organized and disorganized businesses are short-lived.

SECRET STRATEGY #4 – COMPARTMENTALIZE EVERYTHING THAT YOU ARE WORKING ON

This strategy is kind of similar to #3 but I want to make it specific anyways. I have used this strategy for a couple of my small businesses and I am told that it also works very well on eBay. You see, one thing that amateurs try to do is the try to do a little of everything everyday. Post a few listings, answer a few emails, go to the bank every morning, package a few items and mail them. The problem is that this just doesn’t work because you’ll be all over the place and unfocused. And when you’re unfocused, you make mistakes and mistakes cost money!

A better way to approach your business is to do one or two things per day. For example, make Wednesday your shipping day. Simply package all of the items that you sold and then drop them off with your shipper. Make Tuesday the day that you go to the bank. And make Thursday the day that you get all of your listings ready to be posted. The main point is to focus on one thing until you’re done with it and avoid getting scattered all over the place.

SECRET STRATEGY #5 – BUILD A WINNING TEAM

It takes a team of 55 players to win the Super Bowl and 25 players to win the World Series. How are you going to create a successful eBay business on your own? Now, you might be thinking “But I’m more of a tennis player type.” Well the best tennis players in the world have coaches, trainers, medical staff, agents, publicists and tons of other people that are there to help them succeed. Do you think that the President could have even become President without a campaign team?

Or maybe you’re saying something like “But I can’t afford to hire someone!” Look, you can’t afford not to. Take this article for example. I dictated it into a digital audio recorder, copied it onto my computer, had somebody transcribe it for a few bucks (probably in India for all I know), edited it myself and then hired another kid to submit it to over 300 article directories.

On top of that, while the kid submits the articles, I’ll be writing another article. All of this cost me about $30 and would have taken me at least five hours to do on my own. I’m worth more than $6 an hour and so are you. Always look at it this way and you’ll make more money and more money.

One of the best places to check for very reasonable and reliable outsourcing is Elance at:

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

And yet another consideration is to barter with people. I know a gentleman that is about 75 years old and doesn’t even own computer. And yet he makes over $100,000 per year online. How does he do this? Well, his grandson knows a ton of stuff about how to create a web site, how to market online and other things. So this gentleman makes fishing flies and lures and his grandson sells them on eBay. In addition, this gentleman dictates articles into an audio recorder for his fishing email newsletter for which he has over 5,000 subscribers. He takes care of the creative stuff and his grandson manages the business and they split the profits. There is not excuse… if you don’t know how to do something find someone that does!

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

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

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

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

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

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

Why You Should at Least Explore Ebay

July 13th, 2009 at 11:49am Under eBay Opportunity

Why You Should at Least Explore eBay

Are you interested in doing more of your shopping online?  In the past, a large number of consumers were worried about doing so; however, as online security continues to improve, more consumers are finding themselves shopping online.  If you are interested in becoming one of those individuals, you will want to examine eBay.

When it comes to shopping on eBay, there are a number of first time eBay users who are worried about security, among other things.  Of course, there are always internet scams that can be found on eBay, but, for the most part, you should be able shop on eBay without any concerns.  If you are still wondering whether or not eBay is right for you, you may want to think about at least exploring the site.

When it comes to exploring the eBay site, you will want to examine it as a whole.  For instance, if you are wondering about eBay’s security, you may want to visit eBay’s help center.  There you can find information for first time eBay users, just like you.  You can review eBay’s policies, as well as information on how they handle eBay scams, should you end up falling victim to one.  eBay, like many other online websites, has a customer service department.  Should you have any questions that you can’t find answers to on the eBay website, you may want to think about contacting their customer service department.

In addition to safety and security, there are a number of potential eBay users who wonder about what they can buy on eBay. The good news is that you can easily find out what is for sale on eBay, without even having to create an eBay account.  If you are looking for something in particular, you can perform an eBay search with the item of your interest.  If you are just looking to explore the site, you can also browse through the unlimited number of eBay selling categories.  Just a few of these categories include home and garden, baby, clothing, entertainment, and much more. 

Another question commonly asked, by new eBay users, is the methods of accepted payments. As you likely already know, eBay is actually an online auction website.  This online auction website allows other internet users to post items that they have for sale.  For this reason, you will find that different methods of payment are accepted.  In all honesty, it depends on the seller and their own personal preference.  Despite a possible variance among many eBay sellers, PayPal, personal checks, and money orders are often acceptable forms of payment.  To get an idea of the payments available, you are urged to click on active auctions.  Towards the bottom of the auction listing page, you should see the accepted forms of payment outlined, from that particularly seller. 

As it was previously mentioned, you can easily explore eBay without having to register for an account.  If you like what you see and if you want to start shopping on eBay, you will need to register an account with them. As a buyer, your account is free.  Within a few minutes at the most, you could be bidding on the products that you want to own.  You may even be able to find listings that are known as “Buy It Now,” listings. These listings enable to you to make your purchase right at that moment, without competition from other eBay buyers.  To get started today, visit eBay.com.

19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 2

July 12th, 2009 at 05:48am Under eBay Opportunity

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

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

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

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

SECRET STRATEGY #6 – TAKE THE HENRY FORD APPROACH

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

SECRET STRATEGY #7 – USE THE RIGHT PHOTOS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SECRET STRATEGY #9 – “BULK LIST” YOUR AUCTIONS

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

Andale: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/andale.html
Blackthorne: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/blackthorne.html
Mpire: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/mpire.html

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Marlon Sanders Push Button Sales Letters:
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/push-button-sales-letter.html

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

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

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

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html
http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html

How to Choose My Password for My Ebay Login

July 11th, 2009 at 05:50pm Under eBay Opportunity

A good ebay login password is essential since you are going to be using it often. Most people would breeze through the ebay registration process since ebay makes it so easy to register.

However, you may want to give some thought to your ebay username and password before clicking the sign up button.

Choosing a good ebay password

Let’s look at one of the two components of an ebay login process. An ebay password is utmost important as whoever has your password can take full control of your ebay account. They would be able to bid on any auctions, leave feedback and most dangerous of all, access your private data such as your credit card details, address, phone etc.

By observing a few common sense rules, you provide better protection for your ebay password.

· Do not use your particulars as your password such as such name, birthday etc. The basic idea is not to make your ebay password too easy to remember

· It’s a good idea to change your password every couple of months

· To not give your ebay password to anyone including your family members

· Try to use capital letters and numbers in your password. This makes it difficult for people to guess.

Your ebay User ID

Unfortunately, most of the common ebay usernames have already been taken. Most of the time, you will need to append numbers to your preferred user id. For example john79, charlie024 etc.

Instead of choosing user ID such as john79, you should choose an id that tells other ebayers about yourself, especially if you are selling. Say for example, you plan on selling watches on ebay, then it would be best if you can incorporate watch something in your user id.

I have seen some ebay usernames which are website url. For example **mywebsite.com**. I am not so sure if ebay allows that but it is definitely a good way to promote your own website

If you need to use two words or more in your username, you can use underscore or a hyphen to join them since ebay does not allow empty spaces in username.

You are allowed to change your ebay username once every thirty days so if you do not like your username, you can change it. However I do not advise against it especially for ebay sellers.

You can click the my ebay link. From the my ebay login page, go and click on the preferences tab and click on change my user id link.

The reason is quite simple. After you have been selling on ebay for a while, your customers would recognize you by your ebay id, if you change it, your customers may not trust you or may not know your ebay id has changed.

So you see, before clicking on the signup button, take a while to consider your ebay login password and ID.

Create a Excellent Way to Make Money With Ebay

July 10th, 2009 at 11:48am Under eBay Opportunity

Our introduction to creating a niche store on Ebay will include the basics, which will be followed by a more in depth look at making money on Ebay..

When you consider”eBay” and “money” in the same phrase you perhaps think of being a eBay seller.

You place product listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin.

There is, however, another way to create a business which still revolves around eBay but which doesn’t entail you selling a specific item in the eBay marketplace.

This “other way” opportunity is based on the eBay affiliate program and a great tool which makes entry into this opportunity not only likely but also super easy. This tool is called “Create A Niche Store “.

Now if you don’t know – an affiliate program permits you as an individual internet entrepreneur to promote the products of a company in exchange for a commission on all sales that you refer.

You are mostly working as an internet middleman and connecting internet browsers to particular products and companies through your own network of websites and marketing methods.

If we revisit to the eBay affiliate program, eBay actually invites you to promote all of the product listings in the eBay marketplace and in exchange for your efforts it will pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from each transaction you refer plus up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer.

What this means is that you can earn up to three quarters of eBay’s revenue plainly for connecting people to the products listed in the eBay marketplace.

Not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and monitor over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to keep inventory products, be involved with customers, manage shipping or handle refunds.

You are no longer regulated to selling only those products which you can buy and sell for a profit margin. You can select ANY niche market and promote those eBay products relevant to your selected niche outside of the eBay marketplace, directling targeted traffic through to eBay and into your own affiliate commissions.

Golf clubs, sewing kits, laptops, dog collars, diamond rings, Florida real estate…

If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO confines.

At this stage you might be wondering – well this sounds interesting but in reality is there any money in it? Well, here’s the bombshell – eBay’s top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. That’s right – 8 figures a year without stocking, selling or shipping a specific thing!

Now eBay does grant some necessary tools to help you thrive as an eBay affiliate and create an affiliate business BUT it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.

The tool, as I mentioned previous, is called “Build A Niche Store ” and what it permits you to do is create eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the avenue through which you direct targeted visitors to eBay.

Here are a pair of examples, one targeting Race Cars and the other Golf gear:

Race Car eBay Affiliate Website

Golf eBay Affiliate Website

As you can see, these are professional looking websites that includes all of those eBay products related to their target niche inside a searchable store front format, each of which automatically encloses your eBay affiliate id.

These stores then automatically revised as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace and the software has built in development features which permit you to produce new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, alter your template etc etc.

In the space of about 10 minutes (once you are acquainted with how the software operates) you can produce a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choosing.

Your store content is all search engine friendly which will allow the foundation for drawing targeted traffic from the search engines and you can then use the development features to draw more targeted visitors which will in time mean more eBay affiliate commissions.

It really is a brilliant model and I’ve been hearing great things about the guys behind the project and the member forum which you get time access to when you buy the product.

Create A Niche Store comes with a step by step manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website, 9 professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to attain your target niche, lifetime member forum access, comprehensive product support and perhaps most importantly – an INFINITE domain license which means you can create as many of these niche websites as you want.

A Comparison of Different Earning Strategies on eBay

July 8th, 2009 at 11:48pm Under eBay Opportunity

Generally there is only one earning strategy employed by eBay sellers. Buy low and sell for a profit. Sellers may be cruising yard sales on a weekend, op shops, or bargain bins in department stores, or they may have access to suppliers of wholesale goods (including dropshippers). But the strategy is still the same. This is the easiest and most direct method to make money on eBay as it involves listing an item for sale and then within days or weeks seeing a return on the investment.
Sellers may be able to repeat the sales that they have achieved, as in the case of goods obtained in bulk from a wholesale supplier or dropshipper, or they may have different items to sell in each listing. There are many people making excellent money on eBay from this strategy by all accounts and so it obviously works. I do it myself.
There is another strategy, hardly employed on eBay by sellers, which can also earn money for the account holder. That is using eBay as a vehicle for generating traffic to a seller’s other items, located off eBay, or for the seller to create affiliate sales of other peoples’ products. I will endeavour to explain the workings of these two strategies in more detail below.
Buy Low – Sell High
There’s definitely nothing new about this. It has been the backbone of trading since time began and essentially eBay is just an extension of any shopping mall or market place where trading goes on – the only difference is that a lot of eBay sales are conducted by auction, which is somewhat unconventional in a traditional commercial sense.
There are a number of ways that eBay sellers utilise this method of selling and trading on eBay. As mentioned, the auction format is perhaps the most used, or at least the most commonly noticed method of trading on eBay. This may be used predominantly for items that are personal possessions being sold off on eBay, such as old DVDs and clothes, where the seller would be happy to accept any value for the goods seeing they have already used up their value by using them themselves.
It is also used where an item is rare and this is where eBay has built its global reputation as being the place of choice for selling such items so that sellers can attract a global audience to fight over the product.
Sellers often also utilise a fixed price format, or include a buy-it-now price on their listing to encourage quick sales or to set a reserve price on an item in categories in which this option is not available using the auction format. Fixed price format sales are also used for eBay store owners where the listings are generally listed for a month at a time rather than for a week or 10 days or less.
There are advantages and disadvantages to owning a store for different sellers and different items, but as regards the benefits of a store for listings I’m not going to go into that here.
The costs of listing and selling items on eBay, apart from the purchase costs of the items that are being offered for sale are:
* the listing fees payable to eBay calculated as a small percentage of the listing price upfront and the sales price in arrears
* the cost of promoting your listing through use of pictures, highlighting and a premium for promoting your listing on search results or on eBay’s featured listings pages
* a percentage of the total sale amount (including postage) for buyers who use PayPal
* postage costs (although these costs are usually totally offset by the buyer)
* eBay store subscriptions and other eBay subscriptions such as Picture Manager and Selling Manager Pro
Another cost that too many eBay sellers don’t take into account when they start selling stuff, particularly low value (and hence low margin) items such as books and DVDs, is the value of their time. I don’t know about you, but my time is worth money during the day at least. I also put a value on the time that I have after working to spend with my family, or having fun, resting, exercising and eating amongst other things.
When valuing my time monetarily I put a higher value on the time that I spend out of work, just as I would expect to be paid extra for overtime. This time is an important part of any eBay seller’s strategy because it takes time to put up listing, pack and post products, respond to email queries and perform other administrative tasks. And this time is usually time spent after work, i.e. the most valuable time.
All up I allocate at least 30 minutes to a unique listing and 15 minutes to an item I can repeatedly re-list. That means that if I value my time at $20/hour then I wouldn’t list any unique item that doesn’t make me $10 profit or a $5 profit on items I list repeatedly.
If you can make some money selling on eBay with this strategy then there is no limit to what you can do with your business as all you have to do is multiply the number of items that you sell to increase your profits. There are even eBay sellers that employ people to do their postage and packing or other administrative tasks where they are selling more than they can handle on their own.
eBay as a Traffic Generator for Other Products
No doubt, affiliate marketing is a huge money maker on the internet. There are probably millions of products that can be sold as an affiliate and usually all you need is a website or some content, whether in the form of a regular newsletter or blog or articles, to get into the game. eBay is another great place to ply affiliate products, or even your own products, outside of the usual eBay sales channels of auctions and fixed price listings.
If you want to sell anything on the internet then you need some sort of product and some webspace on which to advertise and sell it. Duh. Well eBay is a free platform that you can use to do that – and I’m not just talking about your listings. Every eBay account comes with an opportunity to create an About Me page on which you can tell the world who you are and what you are about.
You can include text, graphics, video and even HTML on that page and unlike the very strict policies that eBay maintains and enforces in regards to the content and links that you include on your listings eBay is much more lenient on the stuff that you have on your about me. About the only restriction is that you don’t link to other auction sites or sites with a catalogue of products for sale (ie eBay’s competition).
You can link to your home page, your blog, your granny’s poker club – anything – including sites that sell certain products that you can refer people to and earn affiliate commissions. This is best done with information products in my opinion, or by inviting visitors to your about me to leave you their details through a web form so that you can send them newsletters (though which you can sell anything you want). This is a very poorly tapped opportunity on eBay.
I use my about me page to invite visitors to my online business website where I have a form to capture their name and email so that I can send them info about building a home business. I’ve worked out that for ever 100 people that view my listings about 15 go to my about me page and approximately 1 goes on to check out my business homepage. Small numbers at this level, sure, but seeing as I average about 1000 listing views per day, that’s 10 people visiting my online business and they convert to leads on my website at about the rate of 2%. So I get one lead from eBay each week.
It’s still a trickle, I’ll give you that, but it’s a FREE trickle that I wouldn’t otherwise get and each year I make about $3000 this way. I’ll take $3000 for free, wouldn’t you?
If you don’t have an online business then you can just promote someone else’s. Just go somewhere like Clickbank and sign up as an affiliate there. Easy money if you ask me.
You can also set up a link in your eBay store header that can take your store visitors to your online business or affiliate business (though I’m not entirely sure if eBay approves of that). I haven’t found anything that directly says it’s a no-no & I haven’t asked or had my store suspended (yet). Until then I’m getting another trickle of traffic there as well.
Conclusion
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think that the key to any successful business is optimising your opportunities. You only have so many and if you are not making the most of each one then you are not going to be in business very long. You should be using all that eBay offers to build your trading business and also adding additional streams of income that you can profit from where available as well.
Buying low and selling high is going to be your key weapon in your business strategy and part of this is going to be finding a good supply of items from which you can profit (though I haven’t gone into that here), but you should have an affiliate stream built in there as well – especially seeing that you don’t have to pay anything extra for the privilege and it’s so easy.