eBay Auction Success!
by Jonathan R Taylor
Everyone has heard incredible stories of people making big money
on eBay selling stuff from their attic or "junk" they pick up at
garage sales. While these stories make the most skeptical of us
tingle at the thought of easy money, hard work and determination
are the key words for selling on eBay. Sure, there is always the
"fly by the seat of your pants" approach, but if you are serious
about making money on eBay, my wife, Rachel, has learned what
doesn't work on eBay from countless hours of trial and error.
She has written the following advice for those of you who are
serious about making a profit with eBay:
1. FOCUS - Choose something to sell that you already know about;
preferably something that you love! When you are already
familiar with an item, you don't waste time wondering whether it
will sell or how much you should pay for it. My experience with
garage sale shopping and hoping that I picked things that people
wanted to buy was a total flop because I didn't know what I was
looking for. I ended up with piles of stuff that I couldn't sell
and wasted lots of time looking for garage sales. Those of you
who have done this, know the total frustration of a wasted
Saturday morning.
2. RESEARCH - The other option is to research on eBay Auction what is
already selling and then find a cheap source of that item.
Garage sales are a good way to find stuff if you already know
what you are looking for. Call ahead to garage sales that are
listed in the paper and ask if they have what you are looking
for. Don't waste your time and gas poking around town looking
for sales that don't have what you want! Garage sales work best
if you know a lot about antiques or collectibles. These items
sell well on eBay, but they only work for people who know what
they are looking for and how much antiques and collectibles are
worth. Other things that sell well on eBay are items that have a
model number or item number or an ISBN number (this is for
eBay's sister site Half.com which lists books by ISBN numbers -
this is great for selling old textbooks or out of print items!)
People go to eBay looking for deals on electronics, brand-name
clothes, video games, computers, and software. Things that can
be easily identified with words sell well on eBay. Things that
do NOT sell well on eBay are things that don't have a hard and
fast description; items that need to be touched or smelled or
rely on aesthetics to sell. Home interior items are examples of
things that DON'T sell well on eBay. People who shop eBay are
looking for something specific. If they don't already know about
what you are selling, they aren't going to just browse eBay's
categories looking for your items. Use this as a guide when
choosing what to sell. The best way to find cheap sources for
these items is to work out a deal with a wholesaler. This way
you get the best possible pricing and you can still make a
profit! Because, remember, people shopping eBay are looking for
a deal!
3. CONSIDER DROP SHIPPING - This is the best possible method
that I have found for making eBay a profitable enterprise.
(Unless you are going the route of antiques and collectibles)
Drop shipping eliminates the need for storing your items,
packaging, and shipping them. This ate most of the profit that I
would have made because it took so much time to do all of this.
And most of us don't have an empty room we can devote just for
storing stuff for eBay and even if we did, we have to come up
with a system for inventory. You end up with a lot of the
headaches that traditional businesses have to deal with. SO, the
BEST way that I have found to make eBay profitable for the
average person is this:
research what is selling on eBay go to the library and go
through a copy of the business directory and find WHOLESALERS
that sell the product that eBay goers are looking for contact
the wholesaler and work out a deal with them ask for great
pricing in exchange for you selling their product as part of the
deal, arrange for them to ship directly to your customers So,
basically, you are acting as a retailer for them. They benefit,
by getting sales with no overhead, and you benefit by being able
to be competitive on eBay and not having the headaches of
storing, packing, and shipping! It is a wonderful win-win
agreement!
If you do choose the antiques and collectibles route, there are
great resources out there to teach you how to do it as
profitably as possible. My favorite is Starting an eBay Business
for Dummies.
And, as a resource to market your eBay auctions for even better
profits, I would definitely recommend Seth Godin's book
Permission Marketing. It is a MUST for growing your eBay
business and keeping customers coming back to your auctions
again and again. The key is turning strangers into friends and
friends into customers!
About the author:
Jonathan R. Taylor, specializes in helping people in every stage
of their lives to find more meaning and purpose in their work.
He believes that to find that purpose and meaning, a person's
interests, skills, passions, and goals must integrate seamlessly
with their work. To get more great advice, subscribe to
Jonathan's newsletter atwww.careercalling.com!
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