Get eBay Research Tools

If you are semi serious or or full time seller on eBay there will come a time when you need to do eBay Research . Now there are several different ways in which this eBay research can be done.

The first way is the old fashioned way where you go through listings, see what is sold, then you get word on the street and from family and friends, and then you take a deep breath and buy your items. Now yes this has worked in the past and will still work in the years to come when you sell on sites such as eBay, but you are taking a great risk, and this risk could cost you everything.

The second and easier way of doing your eBay Research is by using research tools like the one from TeraPeak . This research tool gives you vast information – the best day and time to list your items, the best section to list the item in, and as well as all of this data it gives you what they call sell through information. Now this is worth your monthly fee on it’s own. This sell through data from eBay will tell you straight away if your item will sell or not. For instance if it has a sell through rate of 2% it has little chance of selling, but if it has a sell through rate of 95% then you stand a good chance of selling your stock.

But as with anything you do need to test this eBay Research Tool from Terapeak but over the years I have been using it, it has never let me down, or my clients down, go on and give it a go.

Where Do You Make Your Money ?

If you have been selling and marketing online for more than a few months, a serious question to ask is “Where Do You Make Your money ? ” It is a question that you need to ask yourself almost on a daily basis. But if not daily on a very regular basis. You need to keep your mind and eyes open to new opportunities as to where you can sell your items.

Yes you maybe selling solely on eBay at the moment, but is eBay the only place you can sell, there are many other places, such as : eBay, Amazon, etsy, Bonazle and several niche sites. What you must do is your homework and you must never dilute your time and resources. You need to stick to what works for you.

But there is another way to look at that question “Where do you make your money” ? Well how often have you sat down and looked at your figures and information from your business. Have you looked at the different income streams you have, if you do you may find a few that you did not know you had, but they are bringing you in a nice income.

Also once you starting looking at where your money comes from you can start to work out on how you can either increase some areas, or at times you may need to stop a part of the business as it is losing money. Over the next few weeks, spend some time and take a look at where you really make your money, it may surprise you.

Fun Facts About eBay

While doing some research online about eBay and e-commerce I found some great things and facts about many of the companies. So today for a change I thought I would share some of the Fun facts about eBay.

@ Did you know that eBay was once called “AuctionWeb” and the name change from AuctionWeb to eBay took place back in 1997.

@ The first item to be sold on eBay was a broken laser pen that was owned by Omidyar, and when the auction had finished to everyone’s suprise the pen sold for $14.95 – and as they say the rest is history.

@ There are seven main building at eBay HQ, and all of these are named have some of the main areas on eBay – Collectables, Motors, and toys to name a few of the seven buildings. And then in each building the conference rooms are named after for example in the Motors building the rooms are named after cars etc. and so on. And in the Community building the conference rooms take on names such as About Me, Buy It Now, Powerseller etc.

@ Jack Sheng was the first person to reach a feed back of One million.

@ The use of the mobile phone is always growing on eBay and since the introduction of the Mobile Phone App – One item every two seconds is bought using the phone app.And more recently someone bought a plane worth $265,000 using the phone app.

@ The most expensive item so far to be sold on eBay was a Jet that sold for $4.9 Million Back in 2001

I hope you enjoyed these fun facts about eBay, if you know of more fun facts please share them below.

Thanks

Do You Have A BackUp Plan

I was sitting at my computer ready to listen to one of my coaching calls from the great Janelle Elms (OSI Rock Stars) and while I was waiting I was jotting some notes down on a blog post I was working on for my site, and nothing was coming. I clicked through a few of my favourite sites to see if I could get some ideas, but sadly I had a block.

Anyway the call started and I was getting ready to take notes……………………….. Then it happened Janelle went quiet, for a second I thought she was just thinking and waiting as she had asked us a question, but the pause got longer and longer and it was then a small window popped up and said the call had stopped. Within minutes Facebook confirmed this, Janelle had lost all her power in her home.

It was then a light bulb went on in my head, and my article was starting to take shape………………. “Do You Have A Backup Plan“. If we run a business from home either part-time or full-time do we have a back up plan if things like the power goes down, we have a flood, we are taken ill, a loved one or we are in hospital, what would happen to our business?

So let me ask you “Do you have a backup plan” for your business, to help you out here are a few suggestions I came up with as I was writing this article -

@ The power goes down – You could use your battery on your laptop till it dies, but would you have internet connection ? Well to solve this here are a few ideas. Go to your local Library and use their computers and internet, you could put your laptop in your bag and head for starbucks, Costa Coffeee or any of the other places that have free wifi and work away, and if you ask nicely they may let you use some power too. Of course you need to find one that does have power.

@ Have a list of other Post Offices in your area in case your local one is shut one day.

@ Have a list of other delivery firms in case your normal one lets you down

@ Have all your passwords on an excel sheet or Google docs and give a business friend the link, just in case you are unable to access your computer for sometime. By doing this people will be able to help you out if need be.

@ Also keep extra stock of packing items and again have a few sources where you can get these in case your friendly normal one is unable to deliver or help you.

I hope these few tips will help you work out a Backup plan for your business.

Do You List In The Summer Holidays ?

One of the questions I am asked time over time by people both new sellers and those who have been selling on eBay for years, is “Do You List In The Summer Holidays ?” Now I know there are several schools of thoughts out there and neither one is right or wrong, but through this article I would like to layout some thoughts and ideas so that you can make up your own mind and what works best for you the seller. But before we get in to the main part of today’s article let me paint a picture.

The children have all broken up for their summer holidays, it wonderful weather outside, your planned holiday is a few weeks away, so today you decide it is picnic time. The children are got into the car and you drive to your favourite supermarket, as you approach the car park is empty and then you see a big sign saying “Due to summer holidays we are closed – see you in September”, You turn around and go the supermarket down the road, that is open and has some wonderful picnic food, that you buy. September comes and you never return to your favourite supermarket, because the second one you found sells all you need, and offers great customer service. Supermarkets do not shut, during summer holidays and other holiday periods, they are busy places, they run promotions, and their sales stay steady.

The same can apply to your eBay / Amazon business, if you are running a store and have a large amount of product within the store you might loose business if you close it for a few weeks. The human race are very funny people, say you sell clothing, and you have a large amount of repeat buyers who buy large amounts from you, and then one time one of these buyers would come along to buy a dress for a wedding, and you are closed for two weeks, will they wait ? Maybe some will, but most people need the dress for the weekend, so sadly they will go else where and find what they want often cheaper and with the same customer service that you offer, will they return when you come off your holidays ? Some will, the others you will have lost.

Ok people need holiday’s, so what can be done -

1. Well not go away – but that may not be a good answer

2. Another suggestion could be, ask a family member or friend to come in and run the business for you while you are away. This could be run the whole show, or if you wanted once a day you could check you eBay account and then email them over all the order details so they can ship and pack.

3. Use a fulfilment service such as Amazons FBA – (Yes even though you may not sell on Amazon you can use their FBA – and again when you sell on eBay, just email Amazon the shipping details and you never have to touch the stock – but you would need to make sure you have the right profit margins to do this as their prices for non Amazon items are a bit higher)

4. Use a drop-shipper

5. If the items are small and light, take them with you !!!!!! Works for some people.

At the end of the day it is up to you and your business, but if I was you, I would think very carefully about closing your shop when you go away on holiday as it could cost you a lot of business. Happy Listing and happy Selling

Please post your ideas and tips people – Thanks

Make Money By Teaching Others About EBay

When people think about making money on line with business models such as eBay, Amazon and the other e-commerce platforms out there, quite often they just think they need to buy low and sell high. Well that is very true and you can make a good income by doing that. But as with most things in life, you need to take a step back and think out side the box. Sit down, take a note pad and pen and start to make a list on all the different areas you could make an income from e-commerce, without selling any product.

To start you on your way, let me introduce you to “Make Money By Teaching Others About eBay” Yes you heard right you can make a very good full or part-time income by teaching other people and businesses how they can make money by selling on sites such as eBay. So how do you get started on the road to make money by teaching others about eBay ?

There are many different models that you can take hold and make your own, but one of the easiest to put into action is to offer a free one hour talk to local charity groups such as Lion Clubs, Rotary Clubs, Church Groups etc. When you give these talks you can either use the eBay Education Specialist teaching aids (To use these you need to go to the eBay Education Specialist program on eBay and pay a fee and take an exam), or if you feel at ease you can make your own PowerPoint slides or go live to the site and talk people through how to sign up for an account.

Now you may have spotted a weak link in this formula of make money by teaching others about eBay. How can you make money by giving free talks. Well when you give a free talk you will have those people who need some on to one teaching and for this you charge an hourly fee. You will have others ask you to sell items for them, for which you charge a commission.

As you feel more at home with giving these talks, you could run day long classes and charge people say $100.00 for a day to come and hear how they can make money on eBay. And again you will have people want you to sell items and have on to one teaching at the end of the day.

One last area you can make  money by teaching others about eBay, is set up a simple web page and handout and have web links to all the sites you talk about during your course, and of course all these web links will be your affiliate links and if people sign up to these services you will earn a commission.

Hope this short article on how to make money on eBay by teaching others has helped you learn that you can earn money. out side of selling items on sites such as eBay

Do Toys Still Sell On eBay

In the old days parents used to take their children to Toy shops, and these toy shops were filled with toys of all sizes, shapes and prices. You could buy Tin army figures, Action Men, Barbie Dolls, balls, spinning tops and the list would go and and on.Then you used to have shelves stacked with jokes and you also had those fantastic chemistry kits. As children got older, every Saturday you could find them spending their pocket money on the latest cards that they would stick in albums – those were the days.

Then over time the toy shops became a thing of the past as the supermarkets, and Woolworth’s took over, they had bigger buying powers and could sell hundreds of toys in a day as they were unable to cut prices down to almost cost price, well we know how this cutting costs hurt places like Woolworth’s, they are now long gone, and you are now seeing the come back of the Toy Shop on the high streets around the UK and the rest of the world.

But where does that leave us and the topic of this article “Do Toys Still Sell On eBay” Then answer to that question is a big YES, Toys do sell eBay and they sell hundreds an hour, but you do need to be careful. Toys come and go, and they can alter with the seasons and the weather, plus they can alter overnight. For example if you are selling a hot toy that is featured on a hit TV program and the program is pulled for some reason, you could be left with boxes of them, so just be careful.

@ Keep a lookout at what the top toys were over the past few years in shops and online do you see a pattern.

@ Make a note of movies that are coming out around top buying periods, and see if there are toys you can sell.

@ Read Trade magaizines, they will always tell you the hot selling toys.

With all this product sourcing you will always need to remember you need to source your products early,and get them ready to sell months in advance, never leave buying your toys till December for the holiday season, if you do you will be left without anything to sell. You need to plan and source early. Toys, games, puzzles sell big time all through the year on sites such as eBay, but when you hit the holiday buying periods they go through the roof.

Also you need to think and look outside the latest toys and games, take a trip down memory lane and lookout for the more traditional games. Board Games – that you used to play as a child for example still sell, and the games your parents and grand – parents played still sell. With these you have a very different market reach. You are selling to these people who want to re-live the games of their childhood, and also they want their children and their grand-children to expirience the thrill of these great games.

So “Do Toys Still Sell On eBay ? ” – Yes big time, give it a go and as long as you follow the simple guide lines, you will not go very wrong.

Selling online on sites such as eBay and other ecommerce sites does still work and allows people to earn just a bit of extra money, through to earning a good part-time income, right through to earning a full time income. The beauty of selling online allows people to work when it suits them – you can fit your new business around other jobs and around your family. But like anything, it does take work, and it does take time, but as you learn to list and source products the process does get easier and faster.

The fastest way to start selling is by selling items you have in your own home, and for private sellers as long as you start your auction at 0.99p or under there are no listing fees (you can list 100 items a month for free), but there is still a final fee, and Paypal fees when the items sell. The listing of 100 items at no costs lets you play on site, see what works and for you to get a feel of everything at no risk. You only need to pay when items sell. This is great news.

Now to take advantage of the 100 free listings there are a few rules -

@ Must be sold on an auction

@ Items must start at 0.99 or under.

@ You must have a private account (Not business account)

@ You need to check that the item you are selling is OK for a free listing – You can see these on the site. And those are really the only rules, apart from eBay’s normal rules.

To give you a very quick example let us say you are selling a CD and start the price at 0.99, and you only have one bidder and the item sells for 0.99, after all fees you will be left with around 0.62 in your pocket. But in most cases a lot more because you will have more bidders. A very important thing to remember is when selling at auction and you start at that price the item could just sell for 0.99 so you must be prepared for that.

The only other thing you need to be careful on is working out your postage costs, you need to get this part right as you will not have enough money from the sale of the item to cover any losses you could have on the postage. So weigh the item in the box you are posting it out in and check all the rates very carefully. If you do this, you will soon see money coming into your account on a regular basis.

As human beings we crave to be  loved and also love being told we have done a good job. But how can we apply this to our online business and to your customers. Well before I give you a few steps, I just want to tell you a story, which I hope will paint a better picture.

At our Church we have started a program which has got the whole Church involved. The idea is that when we go into a shop we compliment the shop owner or the person serving us, on what a good job they are doing. Now I know at times customer service is not what it should be, but there will also be something that we can say that will bring a smile to the persons face and make them feel special.

Well recently I was sitting in a reception area and was doing some work while waiting for someone to finish a meeting. The reception area and down stairs office was manned by a mixed age range of male and female, and I over heard a girl great an older lady with “Hi you gourgous girl”, then again I heard this same girl say the same thing to another girl, and as I worked, I listened and I noticed this was a greeting the girls made to each other no matter the age. When they saw a guy it was a similar greeting.
This was something that they did out of love for each other.

A little while passed and two older guys came off the street for some help. Now these were not smart well dressed men, but  from the way they walk, talked, and were dressed they lived rough. They came in and said they had a meeting. They stood around and had a drink of coffee. A little while later, this same girl I mentioned earlier walked through the door. She was guess early 20′s bubbly type, she saw these two guys and went up to them and gave them both a big hug and said hey great to see them and how they looked fantastic.

Now outwardly they looked far from fantastic, they looked sad, lonely, but as soon as she had said this, these guys smiled, looked alert – they were made to feel special, by just a few words.

Now how can we pass this on to our customers ?

1) Also be prompt with our emails, and always let them know what is happening with their order.

2) When we send the order out include a small gift as an extra.

3) Always include a thank you note with the order, people will remember this.

Just go that extra mile with your customer, treat them like you would like to be treated.

The whole purpose of running a business is to make a profit, even a non-profit / charity business needs to make a profit to keep it going. Making a profit in business is the goal for any business owner, and there are many ways to achieve this, but today I want to tell you about how to source wholesale products and how to buy them at the right price. By buying at the right price, and sourcing the correct stock you are putting a firm foundation to your business. This process works for both online and offline businesses.

One of the advantages of having your business online is the fact that you have removed some of the major overheads from your business. For example you do not need a shop – a shop adds to the overheads for you need insurance, lighting, heating extra wages, extra tax and the list goes on and on. Having an online business means you can work from home and cut out all these major expenses. But it does not matter if you work from home or a shop / office you still need to source the products at the right price and if you do not do this at the start of your business, then sadly your business will not last very long.

In simple terms buying at wholesale means you are buying at a lower rate. This often means you have to buy quite a few items from the wholesalers, but most wholesalers today have very low minimum orders, which means anyone who is series about having an online business in the retail sector can afford it. (And if you do not have the ready cash sell some items from around your home on sites such as eBay). You will need around $100-$200 to buy stock at the wholesale rates.

Another tip for you to consider is the fact that you need to know all your costings – eBay fees, PayPal fees, Postage Costs for each item, for you need to take these into account to see what profit you make. For example let us say you are selling a child’s hat. You buy it at wholesale for $2.00 and you sell it on eBay for $12.00. In your mind you make $10.00 profit and yes you do, but then you need to take away these “hidden” costs, once this has been done you are left with around $8.00 profit.

As you are trying to source products look in your local yellow pages, go to a local cash and carry, look in trade publications, and you can visit Trade Shows. When possible try and touch and feel the products to see the quality you are getting, ask the wholesaler questions, find the lowest order levels you can place.

Lastly be honest with them tell them this is a new venture for you, and although your orders may be low to start with, very soon you hope to be placing bigger orders and more often. Wholesalers will like this and over time they will give you bigger and better discounts.

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