As we approach the holiday season everyone’s mind turns to money. Now for some, they may be good savers and very good at budgeting, others you may have unlimited income due to being successful in business. But for the most, people always seem to struggle for money and have many sleepless nights wondering how they will be able to afford another Christmas, and holiday season. Lots will put it on credit cards or take out loans and over drafts but these will soon need paying back.

So what can one do ? Well it has been said by the experts that most people have around £5,000 in unwanted items in their homes, I mean you only have to watch those shows on TV such as Trash To Cash, Cash in your attic to name a few to see the money people have in items they no longer need or use.

Well the good news is that if you want or need to, you can also turn those items into cash. How?

Well we offer a Trading Assistant service to people who live in the Lichfield and Rugeley (WS12, WS13, WS14 and WS15) postcode area. As a trading assistant we sell your item or items for you, and deal with all the pictures and listings etc, and when the item sells we send you a cheque or paypal payment, it is that simple.

For further information click on Trading Assistant In Lichfield

For sometime now I have been thinking about the name of my blog………. My Auction Empires. When I started out blogging my main focus was Auctions…… I did not think about the future, this was a big mistake.

Today I have renamed this blog My Online Empires as this name covers all the areas of earning money from and on the internet.

So a word of advice to my readers out there, when you buy a name or are thinking about the name for your business, please think long term and not just short term.

Have a great day.

Andrew Milburn and My Online Empires

How To find Out What Is Hot On The Net

Have you ever looked at listings on eBay or read some new report and thought to yourself if only I knew that was hot news, or how did they know that product was going to be hot ?

I guess most of us have over time thought this, and then we miss out again and again……………….. Well folks I have good news for you, from today onwards you will be able “How to find out what is hot on the net” and the cost nothing, yes you heard me nothing. Well no money but it will take you some time but if you master these tips and sites below you will always be able to Find Out What Is Hot On The Net, and act on it.

Also once you have mastered this How To find Out What Is Hot On The Net, you will be able to use it to get out of a market before you lose money on it.

Today I am going to give you the list then over the coming weeks I will take each one and show you how to use these no cost online tools.

1)     Google Trends   http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

2)    Yahoo Buzz  http://buzz.yahoo.com

3)    Lycos 50  http://50.lycos.com

4) AOL Hot Searches  http://hotsearches.aol.com

5) Ask   http://about.ask.com/en/docs/iq/iq.shtm

6) Google News http://news.google.com/news?ned=us&topic=po

7)  eBay Pulse  http://pulse.ebay.com

8)  Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/new-releases

9) eBay what’s Hot   http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html

10) Google Zeitgeist    http://www.google.com/press/zeitgeist.html

If you use each of the above links you will soon be able to Find Out What Is Hot On The Net.

Hope you find the above useful and if you know of any other sites please leave them in the comments or send me an email.

Another Resource bought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires.

eBay Trading Assistant Lichfield

In a previous article in My Auction Empires I covered what a eBay Trading Assistant does and how they can save you time.

In this smaller article I want to cover, why it is important to use a local eBay Trading Assistant. Yes being honest you will have to travel at times if you have a very item you need to sell, but if it is rare then the travelling is well worth it.

So How Do You Find A Local eBay Trading Assistant ?

1) First of all most local eBay Trading Assistants do have small adverts in Post Offices and Newsagents and some even place adverts in newspapers or drop of leaflets.

2) Another way is to pop a long to ebay.co.uk and do a search for Trading Assistants. If you click on any of the links in this article you will be taken to the eBay.co.uk Trading Assistant site where you can do a search for your local one by entering in your own postcode.

3) When you have done a search ebay will list all your local eBay Trading Assistants and you can also see their feedback and what items they sell etc.

Now if you live in the Lichfield, Rugeley area of Staffordshire in the UK then I would be happy to talk with you about selling your items for you on eBay. To find out more about the services I can offer you please go to page on my site by either clicking here or clicking the link at the top of the page.

Please keep a lookout for further articles on how and why to use an eBay Trading Assistant.

Another resource bought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

ebay Trading Assistant

Do you want to sell your items on eBay, but just do not have time? Then you need an eBay Trading Assistant. An eBay Trading Assistant is someone who will take your items and list them for sale on eBay. eBay Trading Assistants will list your items, take the pictures, deal with all the emails, and when the item sells, send it out to the buyer, leave feedback and send you a PayPal or Cheque payment (less the agreed commissions).

eBay Trading Assistants are experienced eBay sellers who will sell your items on eBay for a commission, most do not charge upfront fees – But sometimes we have to if the item needs special listings etc. When you work with an eBay Trading Assistant and enjoy all of these great benefits

Your eBay Trading Assistant handles every aspect of selling your item on eBay, from listing the item to shipping it to the buyer.

All eBay Trading Assistants have experience selling on eBay and have to be in good standing in the eBay community.

When your item or items sells, the eBay Trading Assistant passes the profit on to you (after taking out the agreed fees).

How to make money using an eBay Trading Assistant

First of all you need to look around your home or office for items you’d like to sell. eBay has millions of buyers and people are always on the lookout for that item on eBay. Remember most things can be sold on eBay, but like anything else there are items that cannot be sold, and your eBay Trading Assistant will guide you through this process.
Also sometime some eBay Trading Assistants may not be able to help you, but in most cases they can and when they are not able will help you find another eBay Trading Assistant who is able and willing to help.

Most items listed on eBay have a good chance of selling either first of the eBay Sites they will tell you this at the first meeting, and yes sometimes it may take a few weeks or months for an item to sell and in rare times an item will not sell, but that is life.

To help you get the best price for your items, please only give your eBay Trading Assistant items valued over £30. If you do have items that fall below this amount your friendly eBay Trading Assistant will talk you through how to get the best price for your item.

Once you have agreed, on the above, your eBay Trading Assistant will get you to sign a simple contract this will cover the both you.

Once this has happened then your eBay Trading Assistant will get to work and all being well very soon your eBay Trading Assistant will be sending you some money.

Another idea bought to you by Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Hi,

Over the next few weeks, having taken advice from Janelle Elms of OSI RockStars I am changing parts of this blog.

For example I have bought a new domain name and will be using this for my Education Specialist Program, and  this will be a static site with just a few articles there, but the base will be the classes I teach. this will be on LinfordDirectTraining . com (This is NOT live yet).

And I have bought another name for my Trading Assistant business.  This is on Trading-Assistant-In-Staffordshire . com again as yet this is not live.

Then I shall use this blog, to post hints and tips, product sources etc, and as the two new ones will be more static I shall not have to spend loads of time on them, just updating when I add new classes etc.

Happy eBaying

Andrew Milburn

How To Become A Successful Trading Assistant

A Trading Assistant is someone who sells on behalf of other people who do not widh to or do not know how to sell on eBay. You can grow your Trading Assistant or as it is better known in Bay Circles as a TA Business. Now as your business grows you maybe selling for 10’s or even 100’s of clients, now this can be a major headache for people working out of their own home.

Now if this is a problem try doing this – find a client who has room to spare, i.e. space upstairs in a shop, an empty warehouse. Once you have found them and you have told them about your TA business and they say yeah we would like you to sell for us try this…………

Instead of asking your normal commission say I normally chrage 30% , but I am willing to do it for 10% if you would let me store my inventory in the spare space you have in your outlet.

Now they could sat sorry we need that space, you say fine it’s 30% then. But they may say yeah thats great.

So when you are out and about doing your ebay business and space at home is getting limited, look out for a client with room to spare.

Happy eBaying and to all of you going to eBay live have a great time.

Andrew Milburn (AndyUk)

News Flash – 1

As many of us who sell on eBay and this question is asked even more to those of use who are eBay Education Specailists. Where do I find that cool Hot product to sell on eBay.

So starting each Friday I will be listing one supplier here in the UK, with complete contact details where I have them. And I will continue to list one a week till I run out of suppliers. So come back each Friday and by 9pm you will see a New Supplier listed.

Now to all my friends over seas, I am sorry at the moment I am unbale to list suppliers as I do not have the resourses to do this. But hey there is a way out of this problem, If you could leave comments after each of my posts with a supplier from your country.

So if I list Baby Clothes one week, if people could leave a supplier from their own country in the comments section then that would build up a massive resource for ebayers all over the world.

Happy Ebaying

Andrew (AndyUk)

As an eBay Education Specialist one of the top questions that I am asked is “How can I reduce the fees I am paying” I normally answer them the fees that they pay are already cheap………… You should try owning a brick and mortor store.

So I have decided to do some short articles outlining some quick ways you can save money on your ebay listing fees, and by the time this series has finished I hope you will do, and believe me it will both suprise you and help your business go to the next level.

Now I am going to be honest here, unless you understand where your money is being spent in your eBay business you will never have a large successful and profitable business nor will you be able to make savings. For how can you make savings when you do not know what you are already spending?

eBay bless them have once again been ten steps ahead of us and have things in place to help us. If you go along to your seller account, and select your latest eBay invoice and save it to an excel type program.(Excel or Google Spreadsheets or any of the free ones out there Once it has been saved you will then need to sort it via the 4th column (The fourth Column is the fee type.) by sorting by this column you will see straight away what you are spending and if you are over or even under spending.  For example If you are spending extra on a bold listing you need to ask yourself, do I really need these listings? Or if you are not spending anything or very little on lets say featured listing and your niche needs featured listing you need to sit down and work on it.

As Education Specialists we can help you and give you advice, but only you know your business and what works in your business. And only you know your business stats.

Well thats it for today, look out for some money saving tips.

Andrew Milburn – AndyUk

Top Tips

Use These Top Tips and You Will Make Money.

Did you know there is a big void on eBay, between those who sell on eBay and those who make money on eBay? Sadly it is true and the gap grows bigger by the day. Below I have taken a look at the top sellers on eBay and made up the top Selling Tips list. I believe that if you use all these selling tips in your auctions and store you will have a successful eBay business.
1. Set A Low Starting Price – The first tip is that you should start all your auctions off with a low starting price. Either start at a price cheaper than you bought the item or at the cost price if you do not feel brave yet. Just think about real life auctions, the auction house starts off low and builds up. I myself have done this a few times with items I sell. For instance I sold a marketing course once. I started it off at $0.99 (now this course was worth money and a lot of money around $999.00) was I nervous, yes very, espically as it got to the last few hours and the auction was still very low, from what I can remember around $97.00. Then it went mad and finished off at around $1,000. So the motto is start low.

2. Why use Titles and Descriptions – Use all the words you can in your title and use describe words in your auction description. Although you use pictures, when you describe your item do it, as if the person cannot see the item. Use a bit of hype, but please do not lie to your customers.

3. Concise Information – When you describe your items just use enough words and sentences to sell. If your item is a cheaper item say $20.00 you do not need to go to town on the sales piece, but if you were selling a house or a $10,000 ring then yes you need to spend time on the sales letter.

4. Why You Should Use Good Pictures – Use a good camera. Place the object on a plain back ground. Use good lighting. (If possible take picture outside as this gives better pictures). Try and not use a flash. A picture is far better then words but still remember you need to use words as search engines cannot see pictures.

5. Always Sell Overseas.– If you wish to get more bidders and also a higher price for your item, also list your item as available for sales overseas. The only time you should not do this is if item is way to heavy to send or you are not allowed to export to that country.

6. Sell Your Items In the Right Place – Buyers always search for items by looking through the eBay categories, mainly because it is easy, but also because eBay makes it quicker for them to find what they what. So as a seller make sure you put your item in the right category. Another good tip here is to but your keyords not only in the title but also in the description. This gives you a better chance of being found and selling your item. Also list on more than category.

7.Keep away from mass markets – It is always a good idea not to sell where hundreds or thousands of other people are. Prices will always be low thus profits will always be low. Not good for you or your business. The only exception to this rule is if you can source the real product at a good price which means you can sell and make a good profit.