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.

As you get to know eBay better, you will see people, who have an item up for sale at auction and you will notice at times their item does not sell. This can be for many reasons, from something very simple, such as they got the finishing time wrong right through to wrong keywords and everything else in between. Even long standing eBay traders get it wrong and will re-list.

Quite often you will see people who sell in a certain niche will add a load of products at auction, some will sell first time round and others do not sell. Very often these people will re-list straight away at the same price and again some will sell and others sit there. It is the where the seller will either just dump the products or if they have a shop you will find they add these items that have not sold at auction into their shop – often at a higher price, and guess what they will often sell them months down the line.

1) Why Do People Re-list On eBay ? – The common thing is people will sell at auction and the buyer never pays. eBay and the seller try everything in their power to get the buyer to pay, but at times this is impossible. eBay then allow the seller to relist.

2) Why Do People Re-list On eBay ? – The seller has to cancel the transaction, this can happen while the auction is running or at times when the auction has finished and the item won. This could be for a large number of reasons. Things like, you forgot you would be away when the item finished, the item you sold was not the item you thought you had, when the item was got ready to post you noticed to has a mark on it. The list can go on and on, but it is a common reason why people re-list.

If you are honest with eBay they will often refund you the listing fee next time you relist the item. When you get round to relisting it can be as easy as click on re-list and within seconds the item is re-listed. While other times you need to revise the listing before you relist.

When you revise a listing it can be as simple as change a word through to removing a photo and adding a new photo, but once you have done it a few times you will be able to do it with your eyes closed.

I hope this has helped you understand why people relist items on eBay.

Every year there are always the “IT” products. To me the IT products are the products that everyone has. They are the products parents get up at 3am in the morning to queue for hours in freezing conditions, to get the latest toy, for their children. These are the IT products, and they are the items you should be looking at to sell in your e-commerce stores.

When you are planning to do sourcing products for the holiday season, the sooner you start to do this the better. Please do not leave it to October or November, if you do, you will find you will loose out big time. Start as soon as you can, yes even during the summer holidays. It is never to early to go sourcing for the holiday season. Also please think outside the usual toys, DVDs etc, you need to think bigger.

Another thing you need to think of when is the holiday season, this will depend on a lot on where you are in the world, but for a lot of people the major holiday buying period starts in September and ends in December. During this period you have holiday’s such as Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas and other major holidays, you need to sit down and plan this out.

@ As soon as the schools break up for the holidays, you have the Back To School buying period. This is where parents by clothing, school books, pens, pencils etc. But you also need to think about the children about to start a new period of their life and starting at university. They too need the items above but they will also need items for their new home. This is big business and can provide you with a good income.

@ Halloween – Again this is a large spending area on e-commerce sites, and people are waiting and wanting to give you cash and lots of it, to dress up in clothes, and also dress their homes up. Also in the Halloween  buying season you have harvest etc.

@ Thanksgiving – Straight after Halloween you have the Thanksgiving holiday period, again people have money at the ready to spend on food, presents and cards.

@ Major Gift Giving Period – December is one of the biggest spending times of the year, if you have it right, you can just have a business who makes their money during this time and then take the rest of the time off sourcing new items. But I would always suggest you spread your selling out over the whole year. This way you will have money coming in every day of the year.

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.

While looking online I came across this video from an eBay Conference. The video is of Tim Chapman / aka Mr Customer Service Over the past few years I have got to know Tim through his regular appearances on OSI RockStars.

If you are looking for a role model to follow then Tim is a guy to follow, to see a small video of him, please watch below :

Offering good customer service should be hih on your agenda and if you fellow people like Tim Chapman then you will go along way in your eBay business. If you would love to learn more from him or have some high quality eBay Teaching by people such as Janelle Elms, then click on the banner below :

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.

To Find Out How We Can Help You Grow Your Business

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Well can you believe it we are at the end of another month and launching into the sixth month of the year. How time flies and this is both frightening and exciting at the same time. It does not seem that long ago that we we were talking about the start of another new year, and planning our goals and visions. Dare I ask how the goals and visions are going for your business and personal life ?

Well do not worry, your business plan (goals) are flexible, please do not beat yourself up, but if you are serious about them, please go over them and see what has been completed and what else needs to be done. As I right this article we are about to enter the month of June and that gives us seven months until the end of the year. Let us make the next seven months the best ever. Focus on those goals and dreams for your business and personal life. Work hard……………… No work very hard and if you do you will start to see some fantastic things happening in both your business and personal life.

Over the next few days take a close look at what you need to do to take your life and the life of your business to the next level. What needs to be changed ? For instance if you work your business part-time (or full-time) how can you add an extra 60 hours to your life a month. You might say 60 hours where on earth can I find that amount of time ? Well from today until onwards set yourself a goal of getting up an hour earlier and do some work on your business. If you get up at say 6am instead of 7am over a month that is around 30 extra hours. Now instead of watching three hours of TV in the evening only watch two hours. And over a month you gain another 30 hours, add the two together and there you have an extra 60 hours. Or an extra one and half weeks work time (based on a 40 hour week).

It sounds so simple and believe me it is simple and once you have done it for a few weeks it will feel just normal doing it. At the start of each day you will feel alive and fresh for you will have taken positive steps to build your business, and again at the end of the day you will sleep well because again you have taken big positive action to build your own business.

Of course there are many other ways to start a fresh but if you follow the simple process of getting up an hour earlier and watching less TV in the evening, you will achieve far more than most of the other people alive on the planet today.

Well can you believe it we are almost at the end of May, here in the UK it is another long weekend with the Monday being a bank holiday. Other the past few weeks I have been looking at different parts of my buisness, and am taking some bold steps in some areas and closing down parts of my business (do not worry, not my online or training side). By doing this has freed up some time that I want to put to use by offering my training / consulting services to my readers.

How Will This All Work

Well to start with I have freed up 12 hours a month, and want to use this time to help you in the world of online selling. These 12 hours will be broken down into 12 slots a month. Now You can buy just one slot, or you could buy a block of two or more. You can do this as a one off or every month it is up to you.

How Much Will It Cost

Now I would love to do this free of charge, but like you I am running a business, with overheads, bills to be paid, so there will be a charge per hour of $75.00. (Now of course if you do decide to buy multiple blocks of time a month, or want to have an hour a month spread over several months, we will see what can be done. But the basic fee is $75.00 per hour.

What Next

If you wish to go ahead please send me an email to info@MyAuctionEmpires.com with a list of dates and times that you can make. Also please email a list of questions that you need help with. (Please note if there is a subjuct I do not know anything about I will tell you and try and put you in touch with someone who knows about your subject – Hope that sounds fair.

I will then email you back with the time that suits us best from your choice. Along with that email will be a paypal invoice for the time you have booked.

The PayPal invoice needs to be paid before the calls can take place.

How Are The Calls Made

@ I will phone you at my expense that is only fair as you have paid money to me.

@ The Calls will be by phone, or skype.

Looking forward to working with you all over the next few weeks and months.

In today’s world most people are looking at different ways to earn some extra money to pay all those extra bills we seem to get each month. But most ways of earning some extra money mean long hours for low pay in bars, clubs, and other places, this is because we have to look for this type of a job as we need to fit in with our day jobs. But then what do we do with the children, or the pets. So for most people finding a job outside the home on paper looks good, but in the real world it does not work.

So where do we go form there, well we could ask the people we work for, for a pay rise or could we do a few hours extra over time each day, well they can only say no. But once again we need to think outside the box. As you are reading this online, I would guess you have a computer and also you may be looking for some extra cash so you can have a bit of extra income each week or month. So how does an extra job that you can work at when you want, and where you want, fit round your family and social life, believe it or not there is a job or business and there is more that one and today we are going to talk about three ways which you can start within days and these three ways will soon start to produce an income very soon.

Job One – Writing for a living.

Now please do not freek out with the phrase “Writing for a living”, as long as you can type and have a computer you can make money from writing. You can offer your services to people who need letters written, CV’s, Stories, if you like research you can write articles for people and businesses. The start up costs are very low, but also what you earn will be quite low to start with until you get known, but it will be some money coming into your bank account. Just before we leave this one, you are limited by how fast you can type and where you live and the number of hours you can work in a day or week.

Job Two – Sell for a Commission

For years people have been able to sell items via direct selling or going door to door, now this is a good money earner and is proven, but who wants to go out into the cold and wet to earn some extra money ? Yes you can sell online for thousands of companies and they are desperate to pay you a commission on everything you sell. This can go from a few pennies right up to thousands of dollars a time. It all depends on what you sell. Now on the internet it is not called commission selling, but it is called Affiliate Marketing, it is the same thing, just called by a different name. Some of the big names use affiliate marketing – eBay, Amazon, VistaPrint, most of the banks.

Now I am going to be honest with you it does take a bit of work and you will need a website or a blog, but the rewards are there, and the harder you work the more money there is to be made. Have a go, it is fun

Job Three – Buy Low and Sell High

Perhaps one of the fastest and most profitable ways of making some extra money is buy selling online in places such as eBay, Amazon and some of the other online ecommerce sites. You need to keep your eyes and ears open on where you can find items that cost next to nothing or even free. Once you have done this you need to bring them, list them on the site and when they sell, post them out.  And just repeat and repeat the process, very soon you will have a money making machine right in front of you. The first few items you sell you should invest the profits back into the venture, but once you have it working, you can fund buying new stock out of the profits and still have money left over for treats.

Again give it a go, have some fun, do not invest any money that you canot afford to lose in case it goes wrong, and very soon you will have that extra money. Now go and try one or all three of the ideas today.