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Browsing Posts tagged Amazon

Selling On Amazon

May 8, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Selling On Amazon

Today I was on a consulting call with an eBay client and due to some issues he has having with his camera and need to list some items as fast as possible to start to bring some money in as soon as possible from the items he has been buying, but with a a broken camera and 150 miles between us there was an issue. It was then it struck me most of the items he had bought were books and Dvd’s and bar codes, so I got him him to go to Amazon and talked him through the process of opening an account to sell his items.

Then I talked him how to list an item on Amazon in a few clicks and entering a few words about condition. He was shocked to how easy it was list an item and loved the fact that he did not have to take a picture of anything and there was not listing fee. He was able to list items in a few minutes instead of 10 minutes.

Anyway on the call today he was so excited as he had sold one of the items and he had made a nice profit. This got me thinking big time , there must be loads of other people like my client, and due to this reason there will be regular items on Amazon appearing, and how to sell on the site.

And if you are not selling on Amazon yet, I would look at it as a serious platform along side eBay to sell your items.

Amazon Amazon

Beyond eBay

May 5, 2012 Andrew Milburn No comments

Beyond eBay

One question that keeps coming up time after time when I talk with people about selling on sites such as eBay is there other e-commerce platforms out there that they can sell on. Being truthful I tell them there are loads and new ones are being launched each day, but known of them stack up to the power of eBay and Amazon. But there is something else I go through with a client, is the items that they sell, as there are times when some of the smaller platforms do work better for some niches and product categories.

A good example of this is if you are selling in the craft niche and as well as selling on sites such as eBay I would suggest people have a look at a site called etsy.com Etsy is a selling platform for crafter’s, craft supplies and items over 20 years. The site is designed by and for people who like to make items by hand. The concept is the same as other eCommerce platforms but it caters for a whole niche of sellers. Yes you can sell just on this one place but I would suggest listing your items on eBay as well.

Another site which is very well known is Amazon, again same ideas but some of the rules are different and within the Amazon platform model there are several ways of selling your items on the Amazon platform. Again there are a few rules and some of the niches you have to be approved to sell on there, and I would suggest if you sell in one of those areas that you need approval for, you follow the rules they are asking for and then while you are waiting start to sell on good old eBay.

Each country also has it’s own unique e-commerce platforms all catering for separate niches and products, and the best way to find these is to go to Google and type the kind of item you are wanting to sell and then include worlds such e-commerce platform and see what comes up. Over time I am hoping to add a resource here, but this will take time. But if you know of any sites out there please let me know and we will get a list going.

Happy selling, and remember the saying “The grass always looks greener on the other side” now while it may look greener, better and more fun it may not be good for your business. Do your research and see if there is anything beyond eBay for your business model.

eBay Amazon, eBay, Etsy

List, List, List And Then List

October 24, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

Yes it is that time of year when we need to list, list, list and then list. It is not the time for working on new sales letters and themes, it is not time to join new groups and start new projects. We are entering the busy selling selling period.

The other day I was just chatting with someone from my local town. This person has a presence on eBay and Amazon as well as their own website, and she was saying I just need more money. Now I know she knows the answer so I just said to her well list more. And her reply shocked me.

Yeah I know Andy……….but I have just started this new website,and doing this promotion for a nightclub, and starting up a radio show or two to promote clubs. You know when you feel like shaking someone. I said to her why now. I know she has endless supply of products to sell, and she is well connected and can get as much stock as she wants.

But she had lost her focus, yes she needed the money but her focus was on these new projects which were more a fun items. Yes she would earn bits of money from promotions and ticket sales, what with the party season about to start.

I tried to talk to her, and said spend several hours a day and list like mad. And the money would follow. but as yet she has not listed.

I know we all fall into the same trap from time to time, but if we have an

or Amazon business and we need some extra cash we just need to list more items and from this we will get more sales. It sounds very simple and if truth be known it is that simple, ask any of the eBay and Amazon sellers out there.

Set yourself a goal of how many items you want in your shop by the end of November and then divide the number by how many days you have until the end of November and that number will tell you how many items you will have to list.

Have fun and list, list, list and then list, and very soon you will see the money and sales coming into your account.

eBay, eBay News Amazon, eBay, List

Important Diary Dates For Sellers

October 18, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

Important Dates

We are well into October, so please mark these very Important Diary Datesinto your calendars, mind’s and To-Do Lists. These dates could make or break your

and Amazon business, also if you miss out on the dates you will be leaving a lot of money on the table.

Before we get into the dates, just for the new people and those who have not gone through a Holiday selling period I want to cover why these are Important Diary Dates. As the Christmas / Holiday season gets closer we as online sellers need to look out for these dates, the reason being we need to be thinking ahead to get stock into our business, shipping supplies in store and make sure we have enough hours in the day to do all the extra listing and the extra shipping that this will bring you.

Important Diary Date One – October 31st (Halloween), – Ok you are not planning to sell Halloween goods on this day, that should have been planned back in the summer. But Halloween is the starting point where you will see sales start to climb for the Holiday and Christmas buying period. Are you ready ?

Important Diary Date Two – Black Friday (This year it is November 25th). Black Friday is traditional the first Friday after Thanksgiving. It is when the retail stores have their busiest sales period. This day also shows a marked increase in retail sales here in the UK.

Important Diary Date Three – Cyber Monday (This Year it is November 28th). As the name suggest cyber Monday is when there is a massive peak in online sales. This peak happens on the first Monday after Thanksgiving. As online sellers we need to watch this day and make sure we are well prepared for the sales that will come in.

Important Diary Date Four – Super Saturday, this is the last Saturday before Christmas, but this year 2011 it is expected to be Saturday 17th, as the 24th is Christmas Eve. This is the last Saturday for people to get their last minute shopping items in time for Christmas and the Holiday season.

Important Diary Date Five – Hanukkah, make a note of this date and send out emails and offer items for sale to this important Holiday festival.

Other Important Dates – Other dates you need to mark in your diary are Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and New Years Day. The main reason is while you might not make any sales in your own country on those days (but last few years I have done), we run an international business and while it maybe Christmas Day where you live, somewhere else in the world may have had Christmas Day and else where it is still Christmas Eve.

So make these Important Diary Dates down and see if you can apply them into your online business and make some extra money.

Affiliate, Amazon Amazon, eBay, Important Diary Dates

How Not To Sell Online

July 19, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

How Not To Sell Online

A very common question I get as an eBay and Amazon Consultant is “How Not To Sell Online“. Now a common train of thought with both new sellers and those who have been selling online a good number of years, is to cut prices. Now while having a sale is both fun and can help liquidate some of your stock that has been in your store rooms for sometime is a good idea and can bring you in money. But if you just cut prices because everyone else does, will lead you into big trouble and could cause you to go out of business.

As I mentioned earlier, if you cut and reduce your prices for all the right reasons and motives you will sell stock and make money (and in the case of some items just break even or sell at a slight loss – but you will still have money). What I am talking about in to days article is just cutting the price because everyone else is cutting their price.

Now to be fair to eBay, yes this does happen, but the site where we see it happen more often is on Amazon. New sellers come in and they see a price of $20.00 so they list their for $18.97, then the sellers who have been on the site for sometime cut their price to $15.00, and very soon everyone is cutting their prices right down t no profits and in the case of the big sellers, not making anything at all – they can do this because they are major retailers and sellers and can afford to take a loss. You see they know these new sellers will soon be gone, and out of businesses. Then when this happens they can put the price up to what it should be.

When you price your items and you see people always under cutting, please do not follow suit. Stick to the proper prices, be yourself and never sell yourself out, it is not worth it. You need to remember that some of the people selling on sites such as Amazon are major retailers and buy at huge discounts. For example we might be selling a widget at 10.00. This widget cost us 6.00. But another seller might be buying it at 2.00, just because of volume, and they can afford to knock prices down low and also they can afford to almost give the item away as they know the cost cutters will be long gone.

So next time you are in a niche that keep under cutting each other, stick to your guns, keep your price what you set it at. And when the price war is over, you will still be there and still selling. Also remember buyers do not just buy on price, they also buy on who the person is and their customer service.

Andrew Milburn Is An eBay and Amazon Consultant Based In Lichfield Staffordshire

Amazon, eBay Amazon, Andrew Milburm, Cost, eBay, Money, Price

Just Do Something

July 17, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

Just Do Something

Earlier this week I did a blog post about a book called The Final Summit. I am not going to tell what the book is about as you will need to go and buy it and I do not want to spoil what you will learn, but what I will tell you is that the main point of the book is Just Do Something. Now Ok there is far more to the book than Just do something, but you will find that when you read it.

So how can you apply the Just Do Something principal to you life and business, well the answer is simple it is Just Do Something, but I will give you some ideas and thoughts in this article to start you thinking and get the process into action in your life.

You are wanting to grow your eBay and Amazon sales, you have been selling a few items a week, but right now you need to be selling 5 a day. So the first thing to do is to list things on a daily basis where possible. be adding new items on a regular basis to your listings, this will make people come back time and time again. Also because people are coming back they will also buy on a regular basis. In online sales it is a well known fact that the more you list the more you will sell. So Just Do Something today.

You need to grow your business to the next level – each day do something, and it does not matter how small or big the something is as long as it is something practical and aimed at making your business grow, then guess what the simple action of doing something on a regular basis will take you and your business to the next level.

Each week you share with family and friends how fed up you are with all the povety in the world, you sit there saying this charity should do this and this govererment should do that, guess what I would say to you. Well why do you not do something. Yes each one of us could take some action and do something, and if every person took on the same idea the world would be a better place.

Sorry if this article sounds like I am getting at people, but honest I am not, I am also speaking to myself as well. Instead of us moaning and complaining that this is not happening or our business is not making us as much money as we would like, take some time out, do some thinking and then Just Do Something today, and if you take these steps each and every day you will find your online business and personal life will look totally different this time next year.

Please do not just sit back and talk and moan about things, take the action that is needed and Just Do Something

eBay, Education Amazon, Andrew Milburn, eBay, eBay Consultant, Just Do Something, Lichfield, mentor, My Auction Empires, Online, Online Selling, WS13, WS14, WS15

Life Beyond eBay

July 16, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

Life Beyond eBay

Yes there is Life beyond eBay. Before I get letters and emails, do not panic, I am not leaving eBay and will not stop writing about eBay and giving you tips and ideas on how to take your business and eBay store to the next level. And it is the next level that I want to talk about to you today about. So don’t panic, grab your self a cup of coffee, sit back and let’s see if there is life beyond eBay.

As you look around the internet there are more and more sales channels opening up, that allow you to sell your goods and services on. Some are hear today and gone tomorrow, while others have grown week by week. Ok these sites are not as big as eBay (or Amazon), but they are growing and some serve a niche such as Etsy – Craft, and Vintage market.

Now if you are new to eBay I would not suggest signing up for every site that you can find and see, you can do, but this will only lead to disaster. One thing the fees could kill your business and if you do not have a process in place you will sell an item on one site and forget to delete it off the other sites and so you could double sell an item and if you only have one of that item……………… there is trouble.

For an example, let us say you are selling books and Cd’s on eBay, once you have got the basics down and know how to list and ship items out after a few months start to list on Amazon and then when you have learnt the basics and feel happy, branch out to another site. Now although the basics seem the same, selling items, the way the sites work are all different.

Always be on the lookout for new sales avenues and see if they will work for your niche. Again if you are selling CD’s, a site like Etsy might not work as it is a craft site……………………but think out the box. You sell Cd’s, and you always have a btach that are scratched or do not play, normally you just skip these. Stop and re-think, your wife, daughter or yourself are good at craft, and you have a talent of turning a Cd into a clock or coaster.
In your spare time turn those scratched Cd’s that are worth zero money, and turn them into something you can sell for say $20.00 and sell it not on eBay but on Etsy.

The above was a silly example, but it is an example that can work and can make you money. But if eBay is your main earning channel, keep selling on there, fine tune what you ,do, tweak when needed, but always keep that eye and ear open for other selling methods and see if there is really Life Beyond eBay, and if there is add it to your sales channel.

Andrew Milburn is an eBay Consultant Based In Lichfield Staffordshire

eBay, Education Amazon, Andrew Milburn, eBay, Lichfield, life beyond eBay, Marketing, Selling

Listing Goals

July 4, 2011 Andrew Milburn No comments

Listing Goals

Can you believe that we are already well over half way through the year. For those of us who make a living selling online most of us have thought if not already ordered our Holiday and Christmas lines. Yes it sounds very frightening but Christmas is only a few short months away, and our customers will soon be buying Christmas items. In fact if you do some research you will find many people have already listed and sold Christmas / Holiday lines.

So what are Listing Goals? A listing goal is something that you commit to on a regular basis. For instance you might say I want to list 200 items a month. Now that may sound a lot, but what you need to do is to break that down into daily amounts. So we take the 200 lists and divide that by 30 days, and the amount we come out at is just under 7 items a day. Now what you need to think, can you manage that number each and everyday? As you write your listing goals, you need to think how many items have I listed in the past and if that number is only one a week, you may need to adjust the daily toltal.

Once you have hit the daily listing goal for a few weeks, you may feel like upping the amount you list. Something to remember notice I say listings not items. You can have as many items in each listing as you like, but I am talking about separate listings. eBay is no different from any other online or offline business, the more you list or stock the more you sell. You need to think like a buyer, how often would you go to a shop that only had a few items and the stock never changed? Now let us flip the coin, if the shop was full of items, and the stock was always changing you would keep going back time after time seeing what was new, and not only seeing but buying as well.

Well the same goes for eBay, and the old saying is still true today as it was all those years ago. “The more you list, the more you sell” So right now take a pen and paper and write down a listing goal, and then commit to it. Have Fun.

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires Are eBay Consultants Based In Lichfield Staffordshire.

Education Amazon, Andrew Milburn, eBay, eBay Consultant, eBay Training, Lichfield, Listing Goals, My Auction Empires

List And They Will Come

June 1, 2009 Andrew Milburn No comments

List and they will come.

Well as they say in the film and the book……………………………………… Built it and they will come, well it is really true in the e-commerce world. Spend the time listing and your buyers will come.

This is true for eBay, Amazon , Bonanzle, Etsy and the list goes on and on. If you spend the time sourcing for new products (by new I do mean new as from wholesalers, but also new stock, spend time asking friends, family, going around yard sales, car boots, thrift shops, and charity shops and build up your stock.

But the important thing is, once you have bought your stock, go home and list it. If the pictures need taking do it, but list, list and list some more. Then once you have listed it all, go buy some more and list and list.

Now a very strange thing happens as you list your lookers will come and out of the lookers your buyers will buy.

This weekend a friend from Church told me he had bought over 500 books mainly Christian study books from our local Christian book shop. His idea was to sell these at car boots to raise some money for a Charity he supported.

Now he had a problem, the books were very niche, they were study books, he went to a few car boots paid his money to sell ( here in the UK it is around £5.00 each time), and he was asking for donations. He did sell a few, but for the time it took etc it was not really worth it.

I suggested he sold on Amazon to start with then eBay, he did not seem keen as he did not know what he was doing and at the time did not want to spend time learning, I did offer my services as an Education Specialist.

So I put my other hat on as a Trading Assistant and offered to sell them for him. Now I have sold books in the past and as most people know they can be hit and miss. As I was listing on Amazon I knew all that would be wasted was some time on a Sunday Afternoon listing if it all failed.

I got him to bring two boxes to start with for me to see what was what and start the listing, well after 185 books only one was not found on Amazon and it was found under the title, and most were well over a £1.00, so I was happy

******** Now the important thing here is I did not pay for stock, so would not be out of pocket, but and a big but I found he had only paid 0.10p for each book, so it will be good profits all round and a good profit for the charity he is raising money for *******

Another lesson here is at 0.10p per item (it is items as there were a few cd’s and dvd’s in the boxes you can make large profits if they are sold at just a £1.00 but if you can get 1/2 of the RRP you will make very good profits.

I am writing this just under 20 hours from I listed the books and 12 have already sold and half those have already paid, so I think my friend will do OK.

Happy Selling and I hope this lesson not only helps you with eBay but all e-commerce platforms.

Andrew Milburn and My Auction Empires

Amazon, eBay, Education Amazon, Selling

Product Source 008

August 7, 2008 Andrew Milburn No comments

Well almost here at the weekend and I have decided to post this a day earlier this week as might not be able to get to my computer. Can you believe that we are on number 008 of my product source section of this blog ?

Anyway my product source for this week takes us into the computer accessories.

sda1

The company is called SDA Trading and they can supply all types of computer accessories and their prices are very good.

Also they have a low order amount, which is very handy for eBay and Amazon sellers, so that we do not have money tied up in stock.

It is quite straight forward to ask for a Trade Account and once accepted you can access their Trade Price List which is kept in a password protected part of the website.

The Price list comes in a excel format and is very easy to understand.

Well hope this Product Source helps you with your online selling.

Happy eBaying
Andrew Milburn

Product Sourcing Amazon, eBay, Product Source, Product Sourcing

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Browsing Posts tagged Amazon