I’ve been looking at eBay lately…
When I first got into online business, it was fun just browsing the numerous domains, or turnkey websites for sale. I had fun bidding on an old forum for sale that was claimed to make the previous owner $2K a month. How true that claim was, I wouldn’t know; but in the end, that website sold for under $5K. I still believe eBay is a good place to make money either buying stuff or selling stuff, scams and all. Just ask those who make a good living there.
Everyday, there are millions of items on eBay sold through auction or fixed-price trading. Ebay transactions amount to nearly $50 million every day around $80 million every day! So when is a good time to get into eBay? I think the present time is as good as any, even though many people say it’s being done in by cheap Asian resellers who dump products there. Ebay sells because it’s eBay.
It’s not rocket science. Anyone can sell on eBay once they get their account approved, and a working digital camera, plus some space to store your stuff for sale. You’ll also need shipping and packing supplies; but remember that priority mail boxes and envelopes are free through USPS; though if you start out by selling ebooks, you don’t have too many concerns as far as shipping or packaging are concerned.
The great part about selling ebooks on eBay is that it doesn’t incur high upfront costs, and a is a fast way to build your positive feedback rating. The downside is that this market is saturated (naturally) and therefore is more suitable for selling your OWN ebooks. Otherwise you could end up selling what a thousand other people are also selling on eBay for $0.99 a pop, and have to live with such a low profit margin.
For first timers, they’ll need to learn how to list their auctions. Just go here: http://pages.ebay.com/sell/tools/list/. This is the forum section of eBay that lots of eBay marketers use. More info can be had from the eBay university, a course by eBay that will teach you via training materials.
Listing items on eBay is quite simple – through the use of templates. There are some products that help creating a template a breeze. It’s a process of just practically filling in the blanks. There are some tips and tricks you can learn along the way about listing; but for starters, just follow the logistics of how to put a listing onto eBay. Don’t worry, eBay requires skills that CAN be learned.
It is a good idea to list several items for sale at the same time, in order to increase your chances. Just look around your basement or even inside your PC. It’s amazing what people buy at eBay. When you gain experience, only then do you branch out into your own niche. For starters, just focus on building your feedback.
It’s a good thing that eBay owns PayPal. This means almost all transactions will be done through PayPal. You may also want to accept money orders or personal checks. The more options you leave your buyers, the more likelihood you’ll get more bids; most people (that have the money to spend) are however, comfortable with PayPal.
Many people ship their items sold on eBay by using USPS service. You can print postage online and mail the items from your home. If you are located outside the US, FedEx, DHL and UPS are some of the other services that will provide shipping for you.
The Warrior Forum has some great resources and threads to help you get your eBay business started, mainly in the WSO section. In fact, there are quite a handful of Warriors doing a few grand a month on eBay alone, and these are the guys who know that eBay is profitable.
There are many people who assert eBay doesn’t work anymore these days, but I don’t think so. Ebay is a globally recognized name today for a reason, and for those who are willing to put in the work of learning how to “use the eBay system”, I don’t doubt they will reap the rewards.
Maybe its time to leverage the huge the huge potential of eBay.