Accounting is an essential part to any business

It is easy to get caught up in the fun of selling things on eBay.  Auctions are great entertainment and you will find yourself anticipating their outcome when you are selling as much as those who are anxious to purchase the product you are selling.  It is easy to get distracted but dedicate a little time every day to recording what you spend and how much money you have made.  This will do wonders for helping you prepare for doing your taxes but it will also help you to gauge how well your business is doing.  My favorite saying is, "What can be measured, can be improved upon!"

Feedback tip for sellers on eBay

Feedback is extremely important on eBay.  Because the buyer and seller do not actually interact the buyer needs to have some way to know how they will be treated when they purchase a product from a seller.  Feedback is the mechanism that allows buyers to see a seller's past customers and the level of satisfaction each had once the transaction was complete.  Great customer service and a quick response to inquiries are two things that can dramatically increase a seller's positive feedback.

It is important to note that once the buyer or seller leaves feedback they cannot modify their feedback for that particular transaction in any way.  Thus it is ideal to wait until the transaction is complete before leaving feedback for both the buyer and the seller.  This allows both the buyer and seller to work out any issues that might crop up during the transaction and get these resolved before feedback is given.  The goal of course is to get 100% positive feedback and to be able to give positive feedback as well.  Once the transaction is complete and both parties are satisfied then feedback can be more accurately given.

A great picture is worth a thousand words - especially on eBay!

eBay is not like the brick and mortar stores you see at the mall where you can see, feel, and touch the product you are thinking about buying.  It is all online and the only thing you can see is a picture of the product and the description given by the eBay seller.  Since the picture is the only way you have any kind of connection with the product you need to make sure that your picture is perfect!  I would also advise you to have several pictures in your listing because if one picture is like a thousand words then wouldn't it be better to have more than one?  It has been proven that eBay listings with more than a single picture sell better.

So how do you take the perfect picture?  The first recommendation I have is to make sure that you have a white background for your picture.  That way you make your product the focus of the picture and there aren't any other items distracting the customer from what they are buying.  Next I would also recommend you get some photo editing software to use to crop your picture so that is shows off your product in the best possible manner. Keep in mind you are not trying to edit out any blemishes your product might have or cover defects with the editing software.  You are simply removing anything else that might distract your potential customer from the product you are selling.

Get a good digital camera, use a white background, edit any distracting items out of the picture, and finally take more than one picture and include these in your listing.  Make your eBay listing great by having great pictures!

How to start your business today on eBay

Did you ever want a business that you could try immediately with no risk and very little cost?  You just described eBay.  Anyone can do it and the best thing is most people have a ton of stuff to sell right in their home.  You don't have to go out and buy a bunch of inventory because you already have it.  Next you'll need a digital camera and while those can be expensive most people own cell phones these days and almost every cell phone comes with a digital camera.  So you have inventory (i.e. stuff in your house that you aren't using any more or you just want to get rid of it), you have a digital camera to take pictures of your inventory, now all you need is a computer with Internet access and you're in business.  If you don't have one use a friend's computer until you make enough on eBay to buy one.  You could even bid on a computer on eBay and get it cheaper.

So here are the quick and easy steps to start your business on eBay today:

Step 1 - Create an eBay account
Step 2 - Buy a few things on eBay to get a feel for how everything works.
Step 3 - Take pictures of stuff in your house that you don't need any more.
Step 4 - List you items for sale using your eBay account.
Step 5 - Get paid.

Very simple and easy to do.  eBay is by far the best home based business around.

Work with wholesalers to sell on eBay

I have always known that eBay works as a business if you have something to sell but my problem was having something to sell that a lot of people want and that I can make a good profit on.  I started researching how to use wholesalers to sell on eBay and was finally able to solve this problem.  There are several different web sites you can find a wholesaler on but the one I like is www.Alibaba.com.

I researched what was selling on eBay and then went to Alibaba.com to find a wholesaler for that product.  It's a relatively simple idea but one that can make you a lot of money.  Once you find the product you wish to sell and then find the wholesale producer for that product you can purchase in bulk for the wholesale price and sell the item on eBay for the retail price.  And you can do this over and over again.

If you would like help in setting up your eBay business feel free to contact me at david.cheney@howtosetupyourebaybusiness.com.

Online Marketers - Check out eBay for traffic!

What is the hardest thing about being an online marketer?  Generating traffic!  You create blogs, you use social media such as Facebook and LinkedIn to connect to other online marketers.  You create YouTube videos and may even use Pay per Click campaigns to drive traffic to your web site or your squeeze page.  You may even use an emailing service to market your web site via email.  Your goal is to build a list of interested buyers.  These are definitely methods of generating traffic but would you like a method to generate traffic that people pay for?

Look at setting up an eBay account and finding products to sell that you can sell in mass quantities.  Then every time you make a sale direct that person to your website where they can purchase other similar products you are selling or drive give them a link to your squeeze page or your blog or whatever.  The point is you can use the sales on eBay to drive traffic where you want it to go and you are getting paid for the traffic as people buy your products on eBay.  No more expensive pay per click campaigns!

The top 5 things not to do on eBay

When you are starting your eBay business it is good to know not only what you should be doing but also the major mistakes that you should avoid.  Prevention is always better and easier than trying to fix a problem later on.  Here are some tips on what to avoid doing when creating your eBay listing:

1.  Avoid putting phrases like "All sales are final" or "No returns allowed" in your listing.  You want to focus on customer service which includes giving a refund for a returned product if the buyer is not happy.  Unhappy customers will usually give negative feedback so try to make their purchasing experience as good as you can.

2.  Avoid unrealistic shipping prices.  There is nothing worse than finding a great bargain price for an item that you want and then finding out that the seller is making up for the low price by charging an outrageous shipping and handling fee.  Be realistic with your shipping prices.  If you want to be safe then just indicate that you only charge actual shipping.  This is especially good when shipping internationally or even to Alaska where shipping prices are dramatically different than the rest of the United States.

3.  Avoid anything in your listing that is unclear or misleading.  Feedback on eBay is how buyers rate a particular seller.  If someone is buying a product on eBay they are more likely to buy from someone that has excellent feedback than someone who has had a lot of complaints.  Most complaints are caused by misunderstandings in the listing.  One of the biggest mistakes again relates to the shipping pricing.  Some eBay sellers offer a flat fee for their product and then when it comes time to ship the product they find out that the shipping fee is actually much more than what they put in their listing.  It is usually better to keep your original shipping pricing than to go back to the buyer and try to get more money out of them for the added shipping expense.  You may lose a little money on the item but that is usually better than receiving negative feedback from the buyer.

4.  Avoid pictures that are blurry or that do not allow the buyer a good look at your item.  Especially avoid creating a listing that has no picture at all!  Good pictures will sell your product.  Bad pictures will make everyone avoid your listing because they don't know what they are getting.  Use good lighting, good contrast, and make sure the picture isn't too busy.

5.  Avoid putting irrelevant or negative information in your listing.  You want your listing to be professional and easy to read.  Adding information that doesn't pertain to the product being listed or telling stories about a bad experience you had with other products is not going to help you sell your product.  When people are confused they do not purchase.