How To Find A Market Niche On Ebay

Writen by Douglas Hanna

The eBay experts I have read are all in agreement as to what it takes to build a successful business on eBay –which is that you must find a profitable market niche.

For those of you who are not familiar with niche marketing, here's an easy way to think about it: Women age 18-34 are a market. However, it's a difficult market to crack because it's huge and its members are very diverse. And it would be very, very expensive to advertise to it.

So, what a smart marketer would do is look for a market niche, or slice of this market, that's smaller and easier to define.

For example, one possible slice would be woman age 18-34 who spend a lot of time with their hands in water. You could then define your market niche as "women age 18-34 with dry, chapped hands." This gives you a smaller, market that would be easier to target, and your advertising message practically writes itself.

So, how do you find a profitable market niche on eBay?

You need first to pick a market, for example, "dog lovers." However, like women age 18-34, that's a pretty big and diverse market. So, the next step is to define a potential niche within that market. For example, one niche might be dog lovers with small dogs (10 lbs. or less). Another could be dog lovers who own a specific breed such as Beagles. You could narrow things down even further by defining your niche as dog lovers who own Beagles and want to protect them in cold weather.

Here's another example. Start with the market male golfers. Next, narrow it down to, say, left-handed male golfers. Finally, to get even "nichier," how about left-handed male golfers who are having trouble putting?

Next, comes the profitability part

How do you determine whether your market niche would be profitable? The answer is simple. You test, test, test.

Find products that you think should appeal to your market niche, put them up on eBay and see what happens. eBay is a great research tool because it costs so little to list items. You can list different items to see which attract the most attention. Or you can list the same items but with different sales messages (descriptions) to see which message does best. You can even test pricing by listing the same items at different "buy it now prices" or by starting the auctions at different levels.

It may take time and effort but, yes, you, too, can become a successful niche marketer on eBay.

Here's something that takes no effort. It's called HD Radio and its a new technology that enables AM and FM radio stations to broadcast their programs digitally, a tremendous technological leap from today's familiar analog broadcasts. These digital broadcasts provide listeners with radically improved audio quality, more radio channels through multicasting, and new data services. To learn more about this amazing new technology, just go my Web site, http://www.hd-radio-home.com, to get all the buzz. Douglas Hanna is a retired marketing executive and the author of numerous articles on HD radio and family finances.

Ebay Inquiring Minds Want To Know

Writen by Michele Meyer

Today, more and more people are gradually opting for eBay as an alternative market site for their items. And the more people try on selling their products on eBay, the more they conclude that eBay is the best market site to sell products online.

So, for people who want to know why eBay had fast become one of the best website for selling items, here are some reasons online shoppers need to know:

1. It is not just a marketing website; it acts like a "virtual" garage sale as well.

Usually, a marketing website caters to people who need to sell their products. But most of these marketing websites only allows people who are really into business and that the products they offer should be of high quality.

However, eBay does it differently. It acts like a virtual garage sale, in which, a seller can still sell items that are already old. And so, ordinary people who wanted to make profit out of some old item that still has value or those who want to simply get rid of it, eBay is the only site that can provide such service.

2. EBay builds the seller's character.

There are features on eBay that serves as ways for sellers to build integrity at the same time establish rapport.

The "seller's feedback" section and the "ask a seller question" tab create a solid foundation based on trust among the eBay members. In this way, the buyer gets the feeling of security while doing transactions with the seller. Just the same, the seller's reputation is solidly established.

3. It offers a low investment.

For those who really want to make a business out of selling on eBay, they are guaranteed of a low investment capital. Actually, there is no capital that has to be paid. It's the selling fees that only need to be accomplished by the seller. If compared to charges of other marketing websites, eBay's selling fees are relatively lower.

4. The selling process on eBay is a lot simpler.

EBay does not require sellers' additional requirements like trade name, domain name, or any other pertinent documents being asked by other marketing websites. The only thing eBay requires a seller to do before posting an item is to create an account, after which, he or she can already start the posting the items to be sold.

5. It has an "autoresponder" system.

This means that the seller do not have to stay online most of the times just to get hold of any response from the buyers. EBay eliminates the hard-selling type of sale.

What are some of the pros and cons of using eBay?

In today's fast changing world of e-commerce like EBay, people find shopping online the most convenient way of purchasing items. The fact that a person doesn't even have to drive to and from the store is exhilarating enough.

To date, EBay is the most celebrated and the most world-renowned online mall today.

However, there are advantages as well as disadvantages when buying on EBay. So, it's important for shoppers out there to take note of these facts before buying items on EBay.

THE PROS

1. It's relatively simple and within reach.

Why? Because eBay makes ones shopping spree just a click away.

2. Great access.

With EBay, buying items had never been this varied.

3. It's twice as fun.

With colorful graphics, unusual items, and weird but quirky listings, entertainment is just around the corner.

4. A viable online price indicator.

Buying on EBay can give a shopper an insight and update on the present price of certain commodities these days.

5. Money-back possibility.

Most often than not, there's a higher chance of getting back the buyer's money if things slipped up.

THE CONS

1. "In good condition" not guaranteed.

There may be a lot of sellers who use the words "in good condition," but because the buyer cannot visually and personally examine the item before purchasing it, most often than not, the items sold were definitely not scratch free.

2. Additional postal fees.

The common delivery method of items bought by the buyer is through mail; additional charges screw up thereby adding hefty charges just for the delivery alone, plus most transactions are on international basis, so international rates applies.

3. Lack of human touch.

There are people who still prefer to go to the mall not just because they want to go shopping but also they want to tag their friends along, have coffee breaks, and chat along the way.

Buying on eBay may provide an interactive mode of shopping but it's not a form of socialization.

4. Too risky.

If Internet is jungle, then there might be big bad wolves lurking on EBay ready to gobble probable victims. These refer to scams, frauds, and identity theft.

5. A form of enslavement.

Once hooked, shoppers will never get the hang of it. There were cases wherein people buy things on EBay almost everyday. After all, with the convenience online shopping and credit cards give, who wouldn't?

Just like any financial decisions, it still pays for shoppers to contemplate first on things before jumping into conclusions.

Michele Meyer provides EMF emitting devices for the whole family. You may contact her at bioharmonichealth@gmail.com Or visit her website at http://www.bioharmonichealth.com.

How To Write A Traffic Pulling Ebay Auction Title

Writen by Ben Catt

Selling an item on eBay should be simple but it is surprising how many people make some very silly mistakes.

As a buyer this is fantastic, you can pick up some absolute bargains by finding poorly listed items. However, if you are a seller you need to ensure that every item you put on eBay will be found and therefore have a better chance of commanding a high price.

Your auction title is really the most important part of your auction, after all, it is this feature which attracts buyers to view your description.

You have 55 characters to use to attract the bidders, try and use all of them - it is free and the more relevant keywords you can add, the more search results your auction will end up in.

For example:

A listing with the title: "Band of Brothers Region 2 – 6 DVDs – UK Version – Mint"

is likely to receive a great deal more interest than one with the following title:

"band of brothers dvd"

Also, try and avoid writing the entire title in capitals or using unrelated words like "L@@K" and "W@W". This simply annoys other eBay users and is not good netiquette.

Never keyword spam either. You see this all of the time on eBay, sellers add unrelated keywords to the title so their auction lands in more search results.

The problem is that these keywords won't attract more bids but simply attract users who are searching for something else entirely.

If you list an auction for a Playstation 2 but use the title "Playstation 2 not Xbox not Nintendo" it will attract people who are not looking for a Playstation 2. Quite simply, people who are not looking for a PS2 will not buy one.

Your time would be better served adding more relevant keywords to the title. "Sony Playstation 2 (PS2) – Mint in Box - No Reserve" is a much better title.

Where possible, try and include descriptive keywords to attract bidders. Some good examples are the following:

Rare, Mint, OOP (Out of Print), Low P&P, No Reserve or NR, Low Starting Price, 1p Starting Bid, Brand New etc

Ensure you spell check your title before you list it. This is easy to do if you write the title in Microsoft Word first. If you spell an important keyword incorrectly you will miss out on a lot of potential bidders.

To make the title look more attractive, add a capital to the front of every major keyword.

"Microsoft Xbox - Mint in Box with 4 Games - No Reserve"

looks more attractive and stands out more than

"microsoft xbox - mint in box with 4 games - no reserve"

If you are unsure of the best way to write your title, try searching for the same item under Completed Listings and see how others have done it before.

If their auctions have commanded high winning bids then their titles have worked.

Don't be afraid to copy them.

Ben Catt is an active eBay buyer and seller and runs an eBay Tips and Tricks website found at http://www.BenCatt.com. He also runs a business opportunity information site - http://www.BizOppsUK.com

Ebay Auction Selling Secrets Using Ebay To Launch Your Very Own Highly Successful Website

Writen by Michael Turner

Launching your very own successful website is the dream of many people worldwide because it is a new way to make money and be employed by oneself with little overhead. So, once you have your website you will need traffic to make it successful. The question is, how will you get the targeted traffic you need to support your website, sell your products, and realize your dream of a highly successful website? The answer is eBay. Yes, eBay is an auction site and regardless of whether or not you are interested in auctioning off your products, eBay is the perfect forum for generating that targeted traffic you are so interested in. You may be skeptical, but read the following reasons why eBay will get you the traffic you need.

First of all, eBay is affordable and you can run an auction for up to 10 days at a time. During this period you will have use of a small portion of the web and can advertise and describe your product or service for sale in any way you see fit. You can even add links. Ah, now you are starting to understand. These links on eBay will instantly begin to generate traffic to you site. You do not have to search out qualified websites, contact their webmaster, and grovel for a link. All you have to do is pay pocket change to auction off your product or service and add links to your site. This has several benefits.

One, you will be actually auctioning off a service or product so you might even sell it. And two, you will have the links you need to drive people to your website, and this is targeted traffic. Since eBay has billions of pages and millions of members worldwide, you will immediately realize many hits on your web pages from people who are interested in your particular products and services. Your sales will increase and you will have spent very little money to get those visitors to your site.

You certainly will save a lot of time by using eBay as part of your online marketing strategy. On eBay, you can list a lot of auctions in one day and continuously re-list them. That means you are in control of getting your company linked and noticed on the web. You won't have to be so concerned about other companies not linking to you or waiting long periods of time for them to do so. Using eBay will reduce the pressure a little bit and make the job of promoting your site much easier. Go ahead and try it. You might be skeptical, but you'll be amazed with the results.

Michael Turner reveals step-by-step how you can increase search engine traffic in his free 7 part mini-series. Grab it now at http://www.powertraffictactics.com/

Smart Ways Your Business Can Benefit From Online Auctions

Writen by Julia Tang

It seems as if everyone is talking about online auctions. And why not. There are thousands of online auctions on the internet with more popping up everyday. People love them because they can usually find great bargains. Businesses are now also seeing the benefits of online auctions. Below are five ways your business can benefit from online auctions.

1. Get Rid Of Excess Inventory

You could sell your excess or discontinued products at an online auction. Your unsold inventory is doing you no good sitting around, collecting dust. It's an effective way to make extra income and it won't be a total loss for your business. You could even get lucky and make a profit depending on how much people will bid for your excess inventory.

2. Test Pricing For New Products

An easy way to test new product prices is to see what people will bid for them at an online auction. First, sell your product at three different online auctions. Next, calculate the average selling bid from all three auctions and that will be your selling price for your new product.

3. Sell Your Products

You can get your product in front of a large audience by selling it at an online auction. Some of the bigger auction sites draw over millions of hits a year. The key to being successful is to sell your product at multiple online auctions at the same time. Let's say you sold one product a day from just one auction site. If you sell your product at one hundred online auction sites that would be one hundred sales a day!

4. Start Your Own Online Auction

Drive traffic to your web site by starting your own online auction. People will visit your web site to find bargains and to sell their own products. You will get plenty of repeat visitors from people rebidding on products and adding new products to sell. You could also charge other businesses to advertise on your web site.

5. Lower Your Business Costs

You can find lower prices on business supplies and equipment at online auctions. I'm not saying all the time, but before you go pay retail for a new printer try bidding on one first. A company may be selling them at a lower price at an online auction because they have excess inventory.

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Julia Tang publishes "Smart Online Business Tips", a fresh
and informative newsletter dedicated to supporting people
like you. To find out the best online business opportunities,
to discover hundreds more proven and practical internet
marketing secrets, plus FREE internet marketing products
worth over $200, visit: http://www.best-internet-businesses.com
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7 Tips For Selling Expensive Collectibles On Ebay

Writen by Sydney Johnston

Recently, a friend asked me to help her brother sell his collection on Lladro glass figurines on eBay. These are expensive glass collectibles and I knew nothing about them - but I don't have to. The principles for selling expensive collectibles on eBay are the same, regardless of what is being sold.

Obviously, like any eBay auction, the seller must have a powerful listing with great pictures. This is always true regardless of what the merchandise is. Expensive collectibles offer splendid opportunities, but also need special precautions.

1. Price: decide the lowest amount you will accept for each figurine and set that price as a reserve. Then make your opening bid absurdly low - yes, absurdly.

Example: if you will accept $1,000 - make your opening bid $25. There is no risk in this, because you don't have to sell unless the bidding reaches $1000, but the low price attracts buyers, (assuming there is demand, of course).

Looking at completed eBay auctions allows us to track prices, Again and again we learn that starting the price where the seller hopes it will end is not a wise tactic.

For instance, a seller wants to get $750 for his figurine. An opening bid of $750 won't attract nearly as many buyers as an opening bid of $25 and - surprisingly - the lower bid almost always gets higher prices. There is some psychology at work with the cheap price. It may not make logical sense, but it's the reality of life on eBay.

2. Devote space in your auction listing explaining how you will pack your item to ensure safe transit. This is critically important because in the back of every buyer's mind is the dread of receiving a package that rattles. A collectibles buyer will inevitably be thinking of the hassle she will have to go through - and the possible loss of purchase price - if her item is broken. She needs to know that the seller has carefully considered this issue and has a solution.

3. For the protection of both of you, insist that the buyer pay for appropriate insurance. Don't allow this to be an option. You definitely do not want the liability of a broken collectible that costs hundreds of dollars. In fact, if a customer objects to paying for insurance, this might possibly be a red flag. A genuine collector is very eager to add to her collection and wants her figurine to be protected.

4. We can safely assume that every Internet buyer has heard stories of fraud on eBay and elsewhere on the Net. Therefore, anything you can do to prove the authenticity of your collectible is well worth your time. Is there a marking on the bottom? Do you have the original box or other container? Does it have a label? Is there a certificate of authenticity or an appraisal by a respected organization? If the answer to any of these is "yes", then be certain to emphasize your authenticity in your auction. Taking pictures of your proof is especially effective.

5. I don't suggest offering a guarantee except in the most general way - that is, you, the seller, are telling the truth about the product. Anyone bidding on a collectible is knowledgeable and therefore they know what they're buying so there should be no reason for a return. If someone expresses dissatisfaction and mails your merchandise back, there is every likelihood of it being broken. You do not want the hassle of trying to collect on broken merchandise or putting yourself into a litigious situation with someone who refuses to believe that the collectible was broken via return shipping.

Also, you don't want to take a loss on your eBay fees, which might be substantial if the price is high.

6. With a really expensive item, always offer the option of an escrow service - at the buyer's expense, of course. They may not take want this service, but make certain they have the option. You, of course, know that your merchandise is legitimate, but the buyer isn't so certain. eBay recommends an escrow service that is available to all members.

7. If you're willing to ship worldwide, you need to take special steps to protect yourself. In the US we have AVS (Address Verification System) which offers some protection. A very large portion of the fraud suffered by buyers occurs outside the United States and you are justified in protecting yourself. Losing the purchase price on a $5 item isn't such a big deal - but a $1,000 collectible absolutely does matter.

Your bank can advise you on the time it will take to verify foreign funds. Be certain to let any prospective buyer know in your auction that there will be a delay if they are outside of your country. Do not let your merchandise out of your hands until you are sure!

If you follow these 'rules', the chances of selling your expensive collectibles at the highest possible prices will be greatly increased.

Sydney Johnston has been an eBay seller since 1996 and is the originator and teacher of the famous 'Auction Genius Course'. She is the author of the best-selling auction book on the Internet, 'Make Your Net Auction Sell' and offers an 11 Day Course that teaches how to sell on ebay: http://auction-genius-course.com/11days.shtml

Ebay Eighteen Profitbusting Listing Tips

Writen by Avril Harper

How you describe your goods is vitally important to your chances of making a little or a lot of money from every listing.

Your listing comprises not only words used in the title and body text; it includes layouts and colours, too, as well as fonts, size of text, even the length of sentences and paragraphs. These tips will help you list more products, create better listings and eventually make more money:

* Inside your listing, give viewers a reason to call back later if they are in a hurry now or not quite ready to bid. Ask them to visit your 'About Me' page for a free eBook or newsletter and be sure they give their email addresses for you to contact them later. You can also begin a mailing list for later sales outside of eBay. Remind them, too, to add you to their Favourite Sellers list.

* Choose keywords to describe your items and use them in the heading and body of your listings. People can choose to search according to heading (title) or by checking body text too, but few remember to check the box to include this second option. Most people will find your product by either going directly to category listings and clicking through to their appropriate sub-category or, most likely, by simply keying words to describe the item into eBay's search tool. This means if your title does not include those keywords your listing will be missed. Check what keywords are most common when people search for items like those you are listing by going to http://pulse.ebay.co.uk (or .com or other) and continue through the sub-categories until your product type appears. Now check the most commonly keyed search terms at the left of the screen. Alternatively, go to 'Advanced Search', top right of screen and on the next page use keywords to describe your item and tick the 'Completed Auctions' box. From the results choose 'Price: Highest First' to locate similar items, check the keywords used in the heading on which to model your own. Be careful not to breach eBay's stringent rules on 'Keyword Spamming'.

* Avoid using too many bells and whistles in your listings. One that is guaranteed to make me move away really fast is the wizard that flits about the screen thanking me for visiting and generally getting in the way of everything I am trying to see. Music, flashing lights, moving conveyor belt pictures of other products from which to choose a selection – if you're quick enough - have roughly the same effect, as do many other totally useless and generally hugely frustrating devices.

* Use colour, sparingly, in your listings, as well as experimenting with different fonts and font sizes. It all adds interest for the visitor while also creating a professional image for your business.

* Never write titles in full upper case – CAPITALS. IT LOOKS AWFUL, UNPROFESSIONAL, AND FAR FROM ATTRACTING ATTENTION IT MAKES YOUR TITLE MUCH HARDER TO READ. IT IS OKAY TO USE UPPER CASE ON ONE OR TWO WORDS IN YOUR TITLE.

* Try using html to create a more professional appearance especially in highly competitive product fields. For old postcards and other rare, sometimes one-off collectibles, basic text is fine. Where similar or identical items are available from numerous sellers, such as CDs, modern jewellery, make up, improving the appearance of your listing will help distinguish your business from others with hastily created listings packed with spelling mistakes, poor descriptions, and so on.

* Basic html is very easy to use and stunning auction templates can be created in Microsoft Word or FrontPage. Alternatively, choose from thousands of free and low-cost auction templates available online.

* Use templates where possible, it saves listing time later, and can create a more professional appearance. They can look especially good with subtle use of colours, different fonts, background designs; subtle meaning delicate, not garish or gaudy.

* Use light coloured backgrounds, not vivid red or dark blue with black text (Yes, I saw one like this only yesterday where the text was completely unreadable). If you must use patterns, use simple pastel patterns, not bold tartans or flashing backgrounds or dazzling stripes.

* Use fonts that make reading easy. Never make it too hard for visitors to read your listing or they will do the most intelligent thing. Click out and look somewhere else to buy! Most popular fonts are Times, Times Roman, Arial, New York, Verdana.

* When you find a font you like, stick with it, don't change fonts between templates. It isn't worth it and time wasted would be better spent on listing new items. Avoid using too much italic or other embellishing device such as embossing or shadowing in your listings.

* Do not use large fonts in your listings, except for headings and sub-headings, and even those do not need to be more than two or three sizes bigger than body text. Size 12 or 14 is adequate for body text, 18 for main headings, 16 for sub-headings.

* Very large text is a big put-off and is also difficult to read, while also absorbing more memory and taking longer to upload and download.

* Use a maximum two or three different colour fonts (including basic black or navy or other appropriate choice) and never use different colours within the same word. I know major companies like eBay do it but they are well-known, their logos are professionally created, anything less would look trashy and cheap. Not to mention hugely unprofessional.

* Keep text aligned to the left, sometimes to the right where the graphic is placed extreme left. Don't center or justify a column of text without good reason. And there are few if any goods reasons for doing so. Centre text is difficult to read and creates odd lengths that create a totally amateurish appearance. Justified text is even worse with lengthy gaps between words which themselves are longer than average.

* Keep listings fairly narrow especially when using html. Wide listings are okay on wide screen computers, but on narrow screen computers the entire right side will be missing and few people will scroll left and right every few seconds to get the gist of your listing. eBay's own listing boxes, that is where you type directly into eBay, and those created in Turbo Lister, are just the right size, never too long, never too short. When using html or creating your own designer template, practice using eBay's systems first to get the desired length.

* Keep paragraphs short and always with a gap between them. And actually USE PARAGRAPHS where text extends beyond two or three lines. Notice how some listings containing hundreds, sometimes thousands of words, are created in one L – O - N - G chunk which no one in their right mind would read. Others with long, long descriptions actually use paragraphs though the effect is hardly noticeable.

* Try to stagger listings even if you list just once a week. This helps people who are bidding on several of your items and might want to check last minute bidding against them on those items. Too many of their chosen items ending within seconds of each other is confusing and frustrating for them, and means you lose out on last minute impulse bids. Using Turbo Lister you can choose how many already listed items to upload at any time, say in units of 20, and you can also alter the order of items to hopefully prevent 'same item' products selling within seconds of each other.

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and editor of eBay Confidential and webmaster of http://www.publishingcircles.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and ebooks at http://www.toppco.com

10 Things You Should Know Before You Bid On A Business Product From An Online Auction

Writen by Rojo Sunsen

1. Know the value of the product before you bid. If the product is brand new, check to see what price retailers are charging for it. If the product is used or reconditioned, you will want to pay way less than the retail value.

2. If the product's description or picture isn't detailed enough for you, contact the merchant to get more information before you bid. You don't want to take a chance to waste your hard earned money.

3. Know the highest price you will bid for the product and stick with it. Don't get caught up in a bidding war; you may end up paying more than the product's worth. Don't forget to add in the shipping price with your bid.

4. Visit a few online auctions before bidding because some merchants auction the same product in many auctions. You usually can purchase the product for a lower price in a unpopular auction because there are less bidders.

5. Know the time the auction begins and ends. You also want to know how long it will take to ship. If you need the product by a certain date, you'll want to estimate the time it will take to receive it.

6. Know the payment options the merchant accepts before you bid on their product. If they only accept checks or money orders, it may take even longer to get the product because the payment has to clear. If they accept credit cards make sure they have a secure server.

7. Know if the merchant offers a warranty or money back guarantee or before bidding on a product. You don't want to get stuck with a product that does not work or you're not satisfied with.

8. Online auctions will, sometimes, allow you to check the merchants history with their auction. Check to see if people have complained about the their products or business practices before you decide to bid.

9. It's important to place a bid early in the auction to show other bidders you are interested in the product. If someone does out bid you, don't be afraid to out bid them. Remember not to go over your maximum bid price.

10. Another reason to know when the auction ends; you can place a last minute bid. The other bidders may not be keeping track of when the auction ends or may not have the time to bid again.

About the author:

Rojo Sunsen is a specialized bounty hunter who prefers to work quietly/confidentially for the benefit of her clients.

Ebay Can Help You Build Your Business

Writen by Donny Lowy

eBay is not only a great source for sales, but it can also be a great source for general business building.

Being on eBay can help an entrepreneur build their business in a much faster manner than through traditional business building methods.

eBay is a fantastic online market that matches up sellers and buyers through an auction process.

Sellers can put up products and services for auction, and then use an array of tools to make their auctions professional looking.

Instead of relying on a simple store front, or an small site, eBay sellers can latch on to the millions of customers who frequent the eBay site.

There are many stories of eBay sellers who once had brick and mortar businesses which they gave up to focus exclusively on eBay.

Stories of eBay sellers closing their stores to sell only through eBay auctions are common.

Here are some great ideas to building your business through eBay.

Idea #1

Focus on one line of products. By focusing on one line of products your customers will come to know you, and will follow your auctions for your type of merchandise.

Idea #2

Have great customer service. The better you can serve people, the more they will want to participate in your eBay auctions. And you will benefit from word of mouth referrals.

Idea #3

Use all of the eBay tools at your disposal. eBay offers many tools that can help your auctions look like they were prepared by thousand dollar an hour web designers.

Idea #4

Have a listing system in place. A listing system for your eBay auctions will save you plenty of time in starting and running auctions.

Donny Lowy operates the following wholesale sites:
http://www.closeoutexplosion.com
http://www.wholesalequest.com
http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com

How To Win Your Favorite Collectibles And Other Items At Auctions

Writen by Monique Hawkins

Some people are interested in obtaining more collectible items for their collection. Some are seeking music boxes and other mechanical music. Many others are looking for items such as cars, houses, jewelry, and household items for a cheap price. There is a very inexpensive way to get your favorite items. How? Auctions!

You can find auctions in your area. Most local towns and cities have an auction house. You can usually check your local newspaper, which should have a section in the classifieds for upcoming auctions. Another good source is the Internet when looking for auction houses. Sometimes, you might be driving down the road and see a sign for an upcoming auction as well. Your local library is also a resource.

Once you find the auction or auctions you are interested in, make sure you check the time it starts. You want to do this because it is important to view the collectibles, music boxes, mechanical music, or other items you are looking to bid on before things get rolling. You will want to carefully assess their condition. So give yourself plenty of time for this. Make sure you also take a notepad and pen to make notes of the items and the top dollar you are willing to bid. You also will be able to find out who the auctioneers and auction workers are. You will want to get to know them since they will have important information about the particular items you are interested in. This also helps them recognize you when you bid and maybe cause them to be more apt to look your way for a bid.

Next, you will want to find out where the auction will start and what direction it will likely go. This is necessary because sometimes there may be more than one auction ring if there are many items. Believe it or not, some auctions last for several days! Each auction ring will have an auctioneer, a recorder, and helpers. It is best to figure out how many rings and which auctioneer will be in which ring. Some auctions have multiple estates represented, so don't be surprised if some sections of items may look like they do not belong with particular items.

In addition to the auctioneers, recorders, and helpers at an auction, there will also be a payment table and registration table. At many auction these two tables are the same table. It will be necessary to stop at the registration table before the auction starts. You will need to register your name, address, phone number, picture ID, and tax number if you have one.

Keep in mind that the auction can be indoors or outdoors, so make sure you dress appropriately. Otherwise, you might be too hot or too cold! You might want to think about taking a snack or lunch since there might not be a vendor available near the auction. Getting a good parking spot is also important so that you can transfer your music box, mechanical music, collectibles, and other items to your vehicle easily.

When you are at the auction, you will notice that items will have lot number or description associated with it. This information may not be on the actual item, but the recorder will have it. It will be on the tickets for each of your winning items. It is always is a good idea to keep track of what are your winning bids and what the winning bid was. This way, you can match each up to your ticket when you check out.

The items up for auction are usually kept in boxes or flats. The items may be auctioned per box or per item. If need be, you should be able to request a certain item be pulled out of a box to auction separately. A lot of times, however, you can get a better deal and bargain if the item you want is grouped together in a box with other stuff that may not be as desirable.

The more expensive item are kept in locked cases with an attendant close by to open the case for inspection of the items. The auctioneers usually will determine beforehand how valuable pieces and will be which items should be auctioned individually. Get yourself positioned so that you can see the items as they are auctioned and so that the auctioneer will readily see you for your bids. Make sure you have your bidder numbered card ready to show the auctioneer when you bid and when you win an item.

Sometimes, prior to and during an auction, as people look at the items, some may get moved from box to box. Make sure you pay close attention to what is being auctioned as in some case some things are moved. Depending upon the auctioneer, bidding could start at what the auctioneer thinks the item will eventually sell for. That offer may not get any bids, so in order to get people bidding; the auctioneer will lower the starting bid. If you are really interested in a music box, mechanical music, a collectible piece, or other items, you may want to bid first thing. This quick bid may scare off other potential bidders and you will win the item. Toward the end of the auction, there may not be as many people still at the auction. This is a great time to get some good deals also.

If you win, take your things straight to your vehicle. Once you win the bid, the item or items are you possession and you are responsible for them.

At the end of the auction, or when you are ready to leave, make sure you take the payment or registration table to pay for your winning items. They will have a list of items or a ticket for each winning item. Make sure the item and price match what you have recorded. It will be much easier to resolve any conflicts immediately rather than later.

Follow the above tips and you will be sure to win that coveted music box, mechanical music, collectible, or other item you were looking for!

Copyright 2006 Monique Hawkins

Established in May of 2005, http://www.My-Music-Box.com is a music box gift store specializing in music box products such as inlaid ballerina music boxes for ballerina rooms décor, whimsical carousel music boxes, and musical jewelry boxes. The company provides interesting information for music lovers of all ages. Owner Monique Hawkins is also the author of the blog "What You Never Knew About Music" http://whatyouneverknewaboutmusic.blogspot.com , and owner of the eBay store "Monique's Music Box" at: http://stores.ebay.com/Moniques-Music-Box Monique can be contacted at (540) 858-2885.

How To Price What You Are Selling On Ebay

Writen by Stephen S Alison

One of the most crucial areas of decision making for sellers on eBay is "Pricing". How much should I sell my item (s) for? Consider the following questions. And when you address these questions always ask yourself the rationale behind your answers:

• Do you have an overall pricing philosophy?
• What is it? (high end, medium, or low end)
• What are the characteristics of the people who will buy at your eBay auctions?
• For what reasons will they buy at your auction? (for low prices, for convenience, for service, etc.)
• How will you compute prices?
• When setting prices, will you take all of your operating costs into account? (including your own salary)
• Will your prices be "fair" to the customers who will buy at your eBay Auction?
• What does the term "fair" mean to you?
• Will you visit similar auctions to check on your competitors prices
• Will you use odd prices ($4.95, $4.97, $9.95, $9.97 ) rather than even prices ($5.00, $10)?

Setting Your eBay Prices

Fair Prices - From your perspective fair should mean "your prices reflect your overhead operating structure" in a way that enables you to earn a satisfactory profit without profiteering i.e. overcharging the customer.

You should use selling price = 100% calculations, with selling price = cost of goods + desired profit = 100%.

Odd Prices - Although the impact of odd pricing on customer behaviour may be overrated, there is one significant reason to use this practice. Consumers are more likely to believe that you have planned your prices very carefully and have worked hard to keep the prices as low as possible.

Competitors Prices - When setting your prices you should look at similar auction items and check out competitors to be sure that your prices are consistent with your pricing philosophy and the market place. Review the notes you made when you reviewed the Going, Going, Gone pages and collected first hand information on what items are selling, the selling price and the number of bids;

Low Prices - Consider pricing your item(s) low to attract bidders especially if you have an item that you know or suspect will sell quickly. Start it off at $.01 to attract bidders.

Reserve Price - If the item is valuable and you know it will sell, you can place a Reserve Price on it. This way you can still start off your auction at $.01 to attract bidders but avoid making a loss on the transaction.

eBay Category - Consider placing your item in a non-conventional category to attract more bidders and a higher final price. But make sure you don't violate any eBay Category Listing Policies.

Factoring in eBay Fees And Merchant Providers Fees in your Prices

As a seller, you should learn and understand about the types of fees you'll pay to use eBay's tools. Also you must know what fees PayPal or your chosen merchant provider will charge to service your transactions. Fee types to know and to consider when pricing your item(s):

• Insertion Fees: There is a non-refundable Insertion Fee for listing your item on eBay. Insertion Fees vary by the type of listing;
• Picture Services: If you use eBay Picture Services, there are different features from which you can choose. The first picture is Free;
• Final Value Fees: When your listing ends, you will be charged a Final Value Fee based on the final sale price (or "final value") of the item(s) you have sold;
• Listing Upgrades Fees: As a seller, you can choose several optional features to help promote your listing. These fees are non-refundable;
• PayPal Fees: Sellers have the option of listing with PayPal. PayPal charges Premier and Business accounts to receive payments. Personal accounts are free, but may not receive credit card payments. Fees are assessed at the time of the transaction and will be deducted from your PayPal account;
• Other Merchants: Fees are similar to PayPal;

Reducing eBay Fees as an Input Cost

You can slightly reduce the eBay Insertion Fees and Final value fees by reducing the auction price of your item(s) and charging a handling fee especially if the product you are selling is being delivered via a zipped file or file transfer e.g. software download or eBook via email.

eBay Policy Guidelines do allow the charging of reasonable shipping & handling Fees. BUT be aware of the eBay Fee Avoidance Policy which clearly states that Sellers must refrain from activity that circumvents eBay fees – including the Listing of items in a manner that allows circumvention of eBay fees and low prices but unreasonably high shipping or handling costs.

Do not make a habit of overcharging your customers on shipping and handling costs as this could affect your credibility and possible repeat business. It is also unethical! You should charge what it normally costs you to pack and ship. This is a grey area so be careful.

Stephen S Alison is a retired "bean counter" who spent 26 years in middle management positions for major US financial institutions in Europe and a further 10 years as an adviser/consultant to a number of European financial institutions. He has traded successfully on eBay for over 2 years using the same strategies and tactics published in his websites: http://www.howtomakeyourfortuneonebay.com http://www.learntomakeyourlivingonebay.com

How Do You Find A Reliable Dropshipping Source

Writen by Lindsay Blades

A Dropshipper is someone who will anonymously send the goods you order to your customer! There are no markings on the box and no invoices enclosed! Finding a reliable dropshipper can prove to be a strenuous task. When selecting a Dropshipper you want to be sure to find someone that has a large inventory and quickly replenishes items that become sold out!

You also want to find someone that is helpful and knowledgeable about the products they are selling! Make sure to contact them before you consider reselling their items, see how quickly you get a response and how helpful the response is! Remember this is the same service you can expect once you are in business with them! If it is less than your standards consider using someone else!

How do you find a Dropshipper? There are several ways to find a Dropshipper perhaps the easiest is to purchase a list from an online auction! Thoroughly read the context of the ad and ask questions if need be. Make sure you are buying the list you need! Once you have made your purchase you will receive a list of contacts that you can easily view without having to find them one by one! I personally sell Dropship Lists on Ebay at www.stores.ebay.com/Dropship-Specialists , to give you an idea what to look for. For the most part they are already thoroughly checked out, and deemed to be good upstanding Dropshippers.

The second, more time consuming method is to do your research! Use the various search engines and type in keywords like "dropship" and specific keywords to the category you are thinking of selling for example "electronics"! This will take a lot more time. Make sure that when visiting the website you thoroughly read their policies! Do not commit to anything until you have done all of your research!

Once you have found a reliable Dropshipping source, you are ready to start selling. The research is gruelling but in the long run you will be rewarded! Statistics say that 9 out of 10 online businesses fail in the first 3 months. Being well prepared will optimize your chances for success!

Lindsay Blades
Dropship Specialists
lindsayblades@hotmail.com
http://www.stores.ebay.com/Dropship-Specialists

Finding Products To Sell On Ebay

Writen by Nowshade Kabir

Do you know how many people in US are earning their livelihood with the help of eBay? According to a new survey conducted on July 2005 by ACNielsen, a leading research firm, an astounding 724 thousand Americans respond that they rely on eBay for their main or supplemental income. Apart from these professional sellers, another 1.5 million people confirmed that they generate additional income by selling goods on eBay. Last year alone, around 150 million registered users have sold over US$ 34 billion worth of goods on eBay. Isn't it amazing?

Why entrepreneurs are flocking into eBay? Some of the reasons are quite apparent.

• Starting a business on eBay is easy and quick

• You don't require large investment

• Anybody can start an eBay business, no special skill is required

• You can sell virtually anything on eBay

• With your eBay business you can have flexible work time

• You have a ready-made market of over 150 million people and counting

• eBay get 1.5 billion page views each month. You get access to this massive traffic almost paying nothing.

So, there is no wonder that anybody with slightest penchant to have their own business will jump into this great opportunity. But, there are two major problems that many of the would-be eBay sellers encounter. The first is what to sell and the next is where to find it.

What to sell?

According to Forrester Research, a major research company, this year, categories with products purchased by women will have the most growth in online retailing. Some categories are already getting more than ten percent of their overall sales through the Internet, which include: computer hardware and software, tickets, travel, books, consumer electronics, cosmetics and fragrances, toys and video games, and flowers, cards and gifts. While choosing items to sell on eBay, you should also explore the features available on eBay and other places on the Internet that show items people search and items people actually buy.

eBay has a complete section called "Seller Central" dedicated to delivering utmost information to help you succeed in selling products through eBay. Two links from this section should interest you. One is What's Hot (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html) and the other one is Category Tips (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/sellbycategory.html).

When you go to the subsection 'What's Hot', check out the following three areas:

Hot Items by Category

This is a comprehensive report of categories, and products within a category by the ratio of bid to listings growth rate in PDF format. The report gets updated monthly and shows which products have increased demand in comparison to last month. Super hot products, for example, have over 35 percentage point difference between bid growth rate and listing growth rate. According to the latest report, by the way, Sunglasses for men, in particular Prada sunglasses are super hot.

eBay Pulse

This is another area where you can see the top ten searched categories, ten most widely watched auctions, list of stores with most active listings, and other cool stuffs on daily basis.

eBay Summer Catalog

This is a new subsection. It's a real catalog with pictures and average price of products. In each category of products there is a list of top ten summer trends. You, definitely, should check this out if you are planning to start selling now.

In Demand

On the page "Category Tips" under each category you will see a link under the name "In Demand". This area will show you a list of ten most sold items of this category as well as most searched items for each subcategory.

You might also like to see what people buy on non-eBay part of the Internet. The Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index (CDI) (http://www.shopping.com/CDI/cdi.cmp) makes a weekly list of most sought after items. This list could give you the needed glimpse to the future market trend!

Where to find items to sell on eBay

Your own home

If you are just planning to start selling on eBay, your first option is to go through your attic, closets and garage. Find those long stashed items that you will probably never need. These may include: books that you will perhaps never read, CDs that you out grew, gifts that you received but did not like much, the list can go on! Take them out, brush them off and post them on eBay for sell.

Flea markets and garage sales

Every body knows that garage sales and flea markets can be real treasure troves! Well, now you can look at them from a business point of view. Your sales experience with own home items, hopefully, will help you understand what will sell well and what won't. Don't go for any costly items as yet.

Local liquidators and auctions

Classified sections of local Newspapers' week-end editions are good place to look for estate auctions. While buying items from local auctions determine what are you going to buy and for what price beforehand and stick to them no matter what! At an auction there is always a risk of getting carried away!

Go visit some local business liquidators. These are excellent places to find items for bargain price.

Drop shippers (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/39)

When a manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor or importer, after receiving an order from their retailers, individually pack and deliver the product to the customer of the retailer with retailers address as shipper, this selling technique is called drop-shipping. This is an excellent way to find products to sell on eBay. Drop ship source directory (http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/?8188) is the place to go if you are looking for drop-shippers.

eBay

eBay itself can be a great sourcing place for you. Check out wholesale items and eBay business marketplace from your chosen fields. In order to find wholesale listing, while searching a product select "Items listed as lots". You can buy goods in wholesale and then sell them piece by piece and make decent money. Of course, you have to develop good knowledge of the products before doing this.

If your business has grown and you are considering importing products to sell on eBay, read my article "Importing Products to sell on eBay" (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/52).

The bottom line is there was never a better time to start a business. If you feel this is really your cup of tea, just go for it!

Nowshade Kabir is the founder, primary developer and present CEO of Rusbiz.com – a Global B2B Exchange with solutions to create e-catalog, Web store, business process management and other features to run a business online. You can read various articles written by Nowshade Kabir at http://ezine.rusbiz.com.

Search Search Search Your Way To Ebay Cash

Writen by Tim Gilberg

One of the most valuable things in life is the ability to learn a skill. One of my dad's favorite sayings was "You can give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, or you can teach a man to fish and he will never go hungry." This can be applied to searching on eBay.

The main things I search for when I am mining Internet gold is by Product Title or Listing as it is called; but you need to remember that we always want to view Completed Auctions. It doesn't matter if a computer is listed at $1, and there are 2 days left...that information doesn't help us. We need cold, hard facts of what that computer sold for, how much it sold for and who bought it; and this is available to you on Completed Auctions. Many times when I search by a product and see that it is a hot seller, I will then check for the top sellers of that product. Then I check the sellers other auctions.

Very Important - Successful eBay Sellers Are Just That For A Reason! They know the tricks and techniques that get those sales. View all the items and incorporate your own ideas to make your sales successful. Don't reinvent the wheel. Your goal is to Make Fast Cash! Clone what works, and integrate them with your own ideas. Use the following guidelines as an aid in your search:

1. When do the "hot sellers list?

2. What starting prices do they use?

3. What is the wording in their ads?

4. What is the duration of their auctions ( 3, 5 or 7 day auctions)

Eliminate trial and error. Concentrate on successful power sellers. With all of this information at your fingertips you need to realize that you don't need to be an expert in any product you want to sell. Focus on hot, selling products and the techniques the top eBay sellers use to sell them.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting and working with other Top ebay Power Seller's to give you real life in use insight, not theories.Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay

Sell Corkscrews On Ebay

Writen by Avril Harper

I knew I'd found something special when a colleague who normally sells vintage postcards turned to listing corkscrews instead. She's someone I check out often, use as a role model, she regularly achieves high prices for her postcards, I've learned a lot from her. But I stood to learn - and earn - a great deal more from this new-found interest of hers: vintage corkscrews.

The very first of her offerings, a corkscrew with handle shaped like a mermaid, made over £1,000. Others, also with novelty and ornate handles, have fetched double figures and, from my experience, they're commonly found at offline auctions and flea markets where price tags of two or three pounds are common.

Marvel at these recent eBay finishing prices: a rare 'flip out' (misspelled, should have been flip out) made from brass and resembling a flick knife made £2,051.61; an Italian stirrup shaped corkscrew went for £2750.00; a ratchet corkscrew from 1869 fetched $1812.77, not one of which were well described or blatantly unusual.

Tips to Help You Buy and Sell Corkscrews for Profit

* Corkscrews have been around since the mid-1600s but it's those from 1850 onwards that fetch the highest prices at auction. Before this, most household objects were made to be used, not looked at, so they were plain, functional, not ornate and grandiose such as some appearing in the late 1800s which now fetch fabulous prices on eBay. So, generally speaking, the more ornate and elaborate the corkscrew the higher its price is likely to be.

* That said, I've seen very plain corkscrews priced about £1 a time at flea market fetching a fiver or more on eBay so it's worth buying anything that's genuinely old and very cheap. 'Dirty' usually indicates old and because few plain corkscrews become auction best sellers you'll rarely find them faked or made to look older than they really are. They're always worth buying!

* The earliest designs comprised a steel spiral fixed to a wooden handle. Subsequently handles became precious works of art, made from silver or gold, encrusted with diamonds or inlaid with ivory or mother of pearl. In time the simple spiral was replaced by mechanical devices to make opening bottles easier still, some even had a small brush attached for cleaning dust from bottles removed after years of maturing in dusty cellars. More desirable and consequently more valuable are specimens with unusual attachments such as brush or bell cap (a metal piece to fit over the bottle neck), containing precious jewels or painstaking artwork.

* The Victorians' love of all things new-fangled, somewhat risqué, and heavily ornate, spawned some of the most beautiful and highly prized items. They include a multitude of corkscrews just sold on eBay, with 'Victorian' in the title, that fetched forty to eighty pounds each, and all looking rather ordinary, with simple wooden handles and commonplace screw. Similar vintage items not labelled 'Victorian' reached lower prices. That word 'Victorian' could double your corkscrew's value, as long as it's true!

* My research revealed antique French creations fetching two to three times their corresponding English manufactures.

* Add something a little unusual or with separate use and corkscrew prices rise, such as a folding antique corkscrew that fetched £158.00, a French creation depicting a champagne bottle with pocket knife in the handle that made £159.99, and a UK corkscrew shaped like ladies' legs that went for £185.00.

* The screw is sometimes called a 'worm' or 'helix' and was made from twisted wire or cast into shape. Because corkscrews were constantly used and in regular contact with water and alcohol, the worm on older corkscrews is frequently found broken, damaged or heavily rusted. Rust can be cleared or reduced with oil which also keeps moving parts in working order. Serious damage or sloppy repairs to screw or handle can render a common corkscrew almost worthless and will seriously reduce value of most highly prized specimens.

* The most collectible corkscrews are those with ornate handles, unusual mechanisms, popular maker's name. Precious metals add significantly to resale value. Popular makers include Merritt, Gaskell and Chambers, Lund Lever, Samuel Pemberton.

* A past famous owner increases value significantly, and there are collectors specializing solely in items once owned by the likes of Al Capone and other gangsters alongside more respected citizens such as U.S. Presidents, well known entertainers, writers, and so on. Study the long list of corkscrews with past famous owners at the Virtual Corkscrew Museum: http://www.bullworks.net/virtual/signat.htm

* As for virtually any collectible, the addition of a popular theme or subject, for instance a dog or frog depiction, a sport or hobby, leads to multiple bidders from several eBay categories and can fetch unexpectedly high prices. By far the best corkscrew-related web site I studied values a corkscrew with rare Swedish penknife attached at £150 and another with a boy's head made from a golf ball at £170. (http://www.corkscrewcentre.com - based in Brackley, Northants, UK).

USEFUL SITES

http://www.corkscrew.com
http://www.corkscrewcentre.com
http://www.bullworks.net/virtual/signat.htm (Virtual Corkscrew Museum)

Avril Harper offers Internet Marketing Articles to help new and experienced marketers and also offers a range of downloadable free reports including 103 EBAY POWERSELLER TIPS at http://www.toppco.com

Ebay Selling As A Business The Reality Of It All Part I

Writen by Karen Grant

As an eBay Powerseller, I have had a fair amount of experience selling on eBay. One thing I can tell you for certain- it can be quite a ride! Most of my customers (but unfortunately not all) have been extremely pleasant and honest to work with. That in and of itself makes the eBay experience well worth the time and effort you put in to it. I have met, virtually speaking, some very nice people and have had some wonderful conversations with an interesting variety of people from around the world. If you are looking for an opportunity to interact with some fascinating people, then selling on eBay may be well worth your time.

That being said, there have been many, many articles written about how to sell on eBay and how to make great amounts of money. The possibility does exist but it may not be as simple as some would suggest. You cannot just go to a wholesaler and buy a pallet load of dollar store or overstock items, resell them on eBay and expect to make a lot of money. It just won't happen. First of all, it is very difficult to locate wholesalers with quality, name brand items who will be willing to work with you. Secondly, if you purchase off brand or slightly defective items, you won't be able to sell them at a profit.

Now don't be completely discouraged because there are things you can do to make money on eBay. There definitely are people who do. I will let you in on a couple of selling secrets. One, you need to sell name brand items,. People often search for items on eBay by the name brand and that is what they are most willing to buy. Second, don't sell extremely low priced items. If you are selling an item that you can get $20 for and you paid $10 that may seem like a good profit. However, once you deduct eBay fees, PayPal fees, possible auction management fees, and your time, your profit is next to nothing. Then consider how many of these items you would have to sell and ship in order to make a decent amount of money. Yikes! The trick to solving this problem is to find a niche in higher cost items that you are able to purchase at lower prices and leave yourself a considerable profit margin. You will need to do a bit of research to determine what your niche should be but this is an important step in developing your eBay business. We will discuss some ways to do research in future articles, but for now consider the areas you have the greatest interest or knowledge in as a starting point.

Finally, if you are going to sell on eBay as a business, make it a true business. Take it seriously and set up your business structure and your bookkeeping as you would any other business. You can find more information on this topic on our website, Inc to Wealth. Come back and check our future articles in this series for more information on the eBay experience.

Happy selling!

Karen Grant is CEO of Divine Finds, Inc. and has written the book "Incorporate Your Way to Wealth" which is included as part of the company's business start-up package for eBay and internet entrepreneurs. This package is currently available at http://www.inctowealth.com She has also developed several websites, the latest being http://www.FindMoreFacts.com an informational website for home decorating, remodeling, and organization and small business resources.

Dropship Or Uship That Is The Question

Writen by Cari Haus

For small Internet retailers, drop-shipping is one of the best innovations since sliced bread. How else can a start-up offer a wide variety of products and convince customers that they have a fully-stocked warehouse—while investing virtually nothing in inventory or warehousing? Before you jump right onto the drop-shipping bandwagon, however, there are some pitfalls to avoid.

While a quality drop-shipper is truly a dream come true for the Internet retailer, there are plenty of painful pitfalls to avoid. Things can get embarrassing and costly in a hurry when a drop-shipper:

• sends products out late
• forgets to process your orders
• sends out poorly packaged products
• double-bills your credit card for orders on a regular basis
• provides cheaply made products and/or shoddy workmanship.

A Matter of Credibility

In addition to the above drawbacks, many customers are not very impressed when they find out you retail drop-shipped products. This is especially the case with the rustic log furniture I sell on the web. Many phone customers ask if we make the products ourselves, or are "merely" drop-shipping.

They are relieved and impressed when they find that we manufacturer, finish or pack most of the log furniture we sell at our warehouse. We sell to a lot of people with expensive vacation homes, and quality is of utmost importance. It's always easier to testify to the quality of furniture when you have seen it yourself, and we are able to offer a more unique line by going to Amish suppliers whose products aren't sold elsewhere on the Internet.

Advantages of Drop-Shipping

With this said, there are still some sizeable advantages to drop-shipping. As the volume of our orders grows, it becomes more and more difficult to package all of that furniture. Fortunately for us, our largest supplier is only two miles away and we have a pretty good deal going: we finish all the log furniture they want finished, and they drop-ship the unfinished furniture. So they make it, we finish it.

That means if somebody orders unfinished furniture, it can go directly from the factory. This might have made me nervous about quality control at one point, but I have developed a high degree of confidence in our log furniture manufacturer. In the five years I have been associated with them, they have never let me down. They fill orders with a high degree of quality and accuracy, which makes our job easy.

Choosing a Drop-Ship Partner

Unfortunately, not all drop-shipping companies are as reliable as the one I have found. This is why it pays to do your homework before choosing a drop-shipping company. If you align yourself with fly-by-night operations, your business will most likely suffer as a result. If you are wildly successful, which you no doubt hope to be, a small start-up may not be able to manufacturer or ship product fast enough to meet your needs. A drop-shipper that is unstable as a business may be happy to take your cash but fail to fill orders on a timely basis.

Any business who drop-ships your orders will affect your reputation as a company one way or another. As a result, it's important to make sure any drop-shipping companies you partner with meet the high level of customer service and quality control standards you set for your business.

Copyright 2005 Log Cabin Rustics

Cari Haus is webmaster for http://www.logcabinrustics.com, an online retailer of quality log furniture.

Find Bargain Items On Ebay Easily And Conveniently

Writen by Susan Dean

To find bargain items on ebay is certainly easy and convenient. You will find many different types of things being sold this way including computers, household accessories, autos, pictures, clothes, in fact just about everything and anything that your heart desires can be found this way, often at great discount prices.

All you need to do is take your time and have a look at what is on offer and if there is anything that takes your fancy then you just need to bid. That's right just bid. Most things advertised on ebay are up for auction. That is why it is easy to find bargain items on ebay.

Of course you do have to know your prices before you start to bid so you will know if you are getting an item for cheap or not. Bargains are only such if you get them at a reduced price. You will find that there are individuals who want to sell their used goods this way and then there are those who run businesses and sell their goods at below cost. Whatever you are after you will no doubt find it and at a great price to boot.

Then again you may not necessarily be looking for a bargain but looking for something that you may want as a collectors item and are willing to pay top dollar. If this is you then ebay is still a great option.

Of course not only can you find bargain items on ebay but you too can also make some money selling this way as well. You may have one item or many that you could sell. Think of how much easier and less time consuming this way of selling is. Why keep your home cluttered with things that you do not use anymore when you can sell them and use the money on something that is more worthwhile.

Susan Dean is the webmaster and publisher of http://www.hot-deal-finder.net Visit her site for insider information on buying and selling on ebay.

Rediscovering Ebay Amp Amazon

Writen by Richard Grady

It is some time (a couple of years at least) since I did any selling on eBay (although I have used it quite a bit as a buyer) but this week I decided to list a few items that have been lying around the house for months. Makes sense as I am never going to use them again so I might as well let someone else benefit and make a little money on the side ;-)

The one thing that I used to really hate about eBay was packing stuff up and taking it to the Post Office but I had forgotten the bit that I LOVED - watching people bid on the auctions and seeing your money going up! Now I should say that I only listed a few hundred pounds worth of stuff - certainly nothing that is going to make me rich but even seeing relatively small bids on your items for sale is exciting.

In fact, I was having such a ball that I started listing some of my old books and DVDs on Amazon's Marketplace. Now, if you have never heard of the Amazon Marketplace, let me tell you, this really is a very neat selling venue and a superb business concept on both sides. Quite simply, Amazon allow you to list books, CDs, computer games, DVDs, electronic goods etc for sale on their website (you don't even need to write out a listing - it is auto-generated via the ISBN/barcode number!). When someone is about to purchase a book (or whatever) via the main Amazon site, they are also given the option to buy a copy of the same item from 'Marketplace Sellers'. This means that they could get a second-hand (or new) copy of the same product cheaper from a different seller. If they opt to buy from you, Amazon takes the payment from the seller and sends you an email advising you of the sale and giving you the name/address to send the book/whatever to. Then every couple of weeks Amazon pays your money into your bank account.

Of course, Amazon takes a small commission for providing the above service but they also charge the buyer a standard amount to cover postage costs. It is a win-win situation and I think it is a very shrewd move on Amazon's part (in fact, they probably prefer it when someone buys from a Marketplace Seller since they get paid for doing absolutely nothing).

So I ended up listing 20 or so items on Amazon as well and in less than 2 days, I have already sold half of them and earned over £100! Remember this is in respect of a few books and DVDs that would have just sat on my shelves for the next 6 months/year/who knows? How often do you read the same book twice or watch the same DVD more than once?

eBay and Amazon offer two different ways of selling your second-hand possessions and both ways are quick and easy as well as being enjoyable. Having 're-discovered' both sites as a seller after several years, I am enjoying selling on both - eBay because of not knowing what the final sales price will be and Amazon because it is just SO easy (you don't even have to communicate with the buyers!).

I still can't stand the packing and shipping though! :-)

Copyright 2006 Richard Grady

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html

How To Create An Ebay Sales Page

Writen by Ian Major

Writing a sales page is one of the most important things you will do for your eBay auctions – especially if there are many different sellers selling similar items. You have to write a sales page that makes the buyers want to bid on your item, instead of your competitor's items!

There are many different elements to a winning sales page.

A winning sales page starts with an outstanding headline.

The headline must stand out so that it will be noticed when bidders search for particular items. The headline must mention the item that you are selling, but there needs to be more information than that. For eBay, this will be the title of your auction, and when a person looks for a specific item in your category, that title will appear in the search results. Make sure it catches their attention!

The rest of your sales page is written by filling out the form that sets up the auction for eBay.

Again, you want to encourage the bidder to place bids or to buy now. You should outline the features of the item that you are selling, using words that capture the attention of the bidder, and even words that pull them emotionally. For instance, if you are selling an heirloom item, you may want to give some history of the item – information that makes the item even more valuable to potential bidders.

It is important to tell the bidders how they will benefit from the item should they win the bid. Again, this serves to make the item more valuable and desirable to the bidder. What will the buyer get out of it?

The end of your sales page should ensure the bidder that if there is a problem with the item you will offer a money back guarantee.

If you do this, it is vitally important that you do indeed honor your guarantee. Guarantees are generally reserved for new items. Old items are usually sold 'as is' with no refunds offered. However, eBay requires you to accurately describe your item, and they require that the item arrive at the buyers address in the condition that you described. If it does not, you are obligated to refund the money that the buyer paid for the item.

Without putting down other sellers or their products specifically, you need to tell the potential bidders and buyers why they should bid on your item, as opposed to bidding on other auctions for similar items.

There is a fine line here that you cannot cross – putting down other sellers in a public way simply is not to be done! But at the same time, you must let the buyer know why they should choose your auction. Again, this is done by listing benefits and features, and by letting the buyer know that you will honor any money back guarantees you may have.

Adding a good picture of the item to the sales page is recommended.

People want to see what they are buying, and many bidders will by-pass auctions that do not include photographs of the items. Make sure your picture is clear and shows your item in its best light, and add a link to view other pictures of the item as well.

Remember, you are trying to sell something with your eBay sales page.

Use words that will draw the attention of the buyer and make them want your item more than anything else in life! Dress up your words in a way that makes your items more attractive. For instance, instead of saying that you have 'an old beat up record player' for sale, you might say that you have a 'well loved record player.

Successful eBay selling is all about choosing items that people want, and using the right words in the sales page to make the buyer want the item even more!

CopyRight Ian D. Major 2005

Ian D. Major makes it easy to understand and use eBay, quickly and easily. Learn all you need to know by visiting eBay Articles an entirely FREE source of information about eBay.

http://www.ebay-articles.com

An Introduction To Becoming A Bulk Reseller Part 1amp2

Writen by Jim Staley

The basic business model states that for an owner to make money, they must provide a product or service at a higher fee than their costs. Looking at it from a different perspective, if you are selling products, you are buying items at a reduced cost and reselling them at a higher price.

Many business owners buy small amounts or one-of-a-kind items to resell to their customers. But there is a whole other kind of product buying and selling going on - one that can net a significantly larger profit: buying bulk from closeouts, inventory sales or liquidators.

This type of buy-sell relationship is usually termed bulk reselling, and it's what we'll focus on for the next couple of entries. From finding wholesalers to storing the "stuff", to selling it and recouping your expenses, we'll get into the nitty gritty that is bulk reselling using the Internet as a vehicle.

COSTING OUT WHOLESALE BULK SUPPLIERS

Arguably the most important part of being a bulk reseller is locating (a) reliable wholesale supplier(s) that offers excellent customer service, support and prices. This usually means you'll spend weeks surfing the Internet, bookmarking interesting companies and doing a tremendous amount of research to determine if the bulk reseller(s) in question have the wholesale supplies you are looking for.

Since bulk reselling means dropping a tidy chunk of change in one fell swoop, examine your cost-saving options carefully. Some things to investigate are:

Payment Options
Can you pay in 30, 60 or 90 days? With a credit card? Although not common with bulk resellers, some do offer dropshipping direct to each of your end users/customers. This feature can save you a tremendous amount of time, energy and money if you plan on selling any more than 10 of the same item.

Shipping Charges
These can differ widely depending on what you are purchasing and who you are purchasing from. Some liquidators even offer free shipping if you take a large enough sum of items off their hands.

Receiving
When and where will you receive these items? If the bulk reseller shipment shows up while you are at work, how will you retrieve the items later? Also, where will you put it all when they are delivered? (This can also help you to decide what exactly you want to resell, but we'll get into that aspect in another entry, later). Cost out some local self storage companies just in case.

Profit Considerations
Research each item you are looking at purchasing from a bulk reseller. Check online and see what other companies are selling the same (or similar) items for, and compare those prices to what you'll be paying PER ITEM (including shipping charges and storage fees). If your per item cost is less than half of what everyone else is selling something similar for, you've got a winner.

After you've compared and constrasted bulk suppliers, you are ready to start creating a system to get the items you chose out the door and making you money.

Jim Staley is the is the CEO for WholesaleGopher (http://www.wholesalegopher.com/), one of the most trusted dealer and distributor directories on the Internet, offering visitors wholesale items, import and export goods, surplus and closeouts from true wholesale sources.

Ebay Secrets For A Successful Wholesale Empire

Writen by Joaquin Reveron

Have you seen those big star certified power seller identifications given to certain amount of eBay sellers on numerous auctions? They are everywhere on eBay. There are certain requirements you need in order to become a money making power seller giant on eBay, and ultimately own a wholesale empire through successful selling.

I'm going to discuss the most important start-up knowledge and tools you need for a successful power seller monthly experience and clarify many of the myths that have been around on the net for years.

Power seller Secret Number 1: In order to start in the right track for a successful eBay power selling experience you need to know learn how to do online research. It is truly vital that once you decide to start a business, you start with the vital step named "research".

How to do online eBay research? For the sake of the article I am going to discuss the manual free way of doing it immediately. There are many paid tools you can use to cut your research time, however, getting to know how to do research on your own is highly recommended.

First, you need to go to eBay's home page and on the left side of the main page you will see multiple categories. You will then search and locate a category, once you have located the appropriate category for your niche, you will do a search on eBay for main keywords relating to that niche category you have selected and see how much popularity and competition there is for that certain category.

If you did a search and found over 20,000 or more listings for that certain keyword and niche, you know that you find a profitable niche, however, the only draw to such niche is that competition is very high. If you are a seasoned starter on eBay, I will not recommend starting up a business in such high competitive category since you are most likely to stumble hard at the beginning and most likely will end up later on saying, that making an online business on eBay does not work and that the ultimate way to profit from it, is if you started from the beginning, big time myth. I have mad e$1,000's by selling in high competitive niches, you just need to do the right research and get some background experience to support possible flaws you will possibly encounter.

So my recommendation for your first step. Do a wide research relating your item that you feel passionate and try it only if you already have some selling experience on such auction portal. An experience seller is someone that has at least 200 feedback or more. If you are starting on such auction giant, start making your own garage sell and learn how selling process works by trying different selling angles, presentations and items. You will plenty of experience by then.

Power seller Secret Number 2: Selecting a real wholesaler or distributor. It is imperative to choose a correct wholesaler or distributor for your item(s). Today, there are hundreds if not thousands of middleman scams in the wholesale industry. It is vital that you know your potential wholesaler and distributor background. How do you search for such hidden gems?

Again, you can do it manually or you can pay for a list of potential distributors in your field. However, be warned that 98% of those wholesale list around the same eBay search are completely outdated and incorrect, just to confirm it in fancy words.

You need to know that a real wholesaler does not advertise on the search engines of the Internet. They don't need to. A real distributor as well a genuine wholesaler gets plenty of business already from offline corporations. It is imperative that you understand this fact.

So how do you find one for your eBay experiment? You search for a top dollar wholesale list that can support their claims or reach a top successful seller to advice you in exchange of compensation.

I have done both, and thanks to it I have been very much profitable for it. The simplest way to get a good list of a true distributor and wholesaler is to pay an authority wholesale company or guy for this. Many successful business entrepreneurs will be willing to give a list of phone numbers and website address to get more information and top sources for different kind of items. Make sure to offer top dollar for this and they will most likely give you such sources as most of the business starters that ask for such list, never take the business serious or make it because they don't follow the top step mentioned above.

The other way around is to send the eBay seller an email asking him for a distributor list. As long as your business does not conflict with him or is potential competition to him, you won't have a problem. Make sure to prepare a nice one hundred word letter with a simple inquiry.

Most people don't follow these primary steps and fail. The steps probably look simple or ridiculous, but they work and I as many others had made $1,000's on eBay thanks to following the right steps and correct diligence.

Joaquin Reveron is successful wholesale business consultant. Trainer and wholesale marketing agent for online and offline businesses. Wholesale Video Games is one of the topics discussed at http://www.videogamesmystery.com

Used Car Online Auction

Writen by Adrian Barrett

I am going to show you the ropes of just how easy it is, to purchase a car from a used car online auction. Just a few quick notes and you are done!

1. You need to know what kind of used car you are looking for. A lot of people spend too much time just searching around without any real concrete idea of what they want. If you have an idea of what you are looking for, you are off to a great start!

2. You need to find a suitable used car online auction service that provides tech support, an updated database of vehicles for you to choose from, and a service that is fast. The last thing you want is to sit around at a slow car auction site.

3. Upon entering the used car online auction site you will do the following. Simply choose your model, and make of the car you wish to find, and click go! It really is that easy.

4. The used car online auction service will go out to their updated database and find entries which match your query. The results will be displayed on screen and you can choose the used car of your dreams.

It really is that easy.

Adrian Barrett is an online writer who reviews used car online auction websites. To visit his review site, go to: Used Car Online Auction

Ebay Powerseller Profit Tips To Help You Make More Money On Ebay1 Of A Four Part Feature

Writen by Avril Harper

Sometimes just a few small tasks make all the difference between making a few dollars profit on eBay and generating a small fortune each month. These ideas will help you make more from your listings.

* Don't think if an item goes unsold first time round that nobody wants it. Many times I've had items that failed to attract even one visitor but achieved multiple bids and high profits on second or third appearance. eBay is a fast changing marketplace with new members appearing daily and many more categories to list previously unsold goods. See the next tip.

* A more appropriate listing category might increase sales. For example, I had some World War One stereoviews which eBay's suggestion tool considered most appropriate for listing under 'Antiques and Art > Art > Photographs > Pre-1940', where I sold some, but not many of my 200 photographs. I relisted unsold items under 'Collectables > Militaria > World War 1' and lowered the price from £4 to £3. Almost all sold, many at £3, others up to £40 each. Magic!

* Market your most likely best sellers outside of eBay. For example, I had a brass statue recently depicting a Greyhound, but not just any Greyhound. This one had won the revered Waterloo Cup in 1906. I listed it under Collectables > Animals > Dogs > Greyhound but visitors were few and the statue went unsold. I relisted it in the same category, but this time I wrote to editors of specialist Greyhound and Dog Racing magazines which I'm certain helped lift a simple 'Dog' statue into a much prized Racing collectible that sold for fifty pounds. (It cost me 10p at flea market).

* Look for anniversaries or other events which might inflate the price of your goods significantly, and list them close to the appropriate date. For example, an early autograph I had of Fay Wray, heroine of the film King Kong, had gone unsold over two listings, until she died recently, whereupon my third listing suddenly attracted dozens of bids and a cool £20 profit.

* Be aware that it's just as easy (some say easier) to sell to people who have money as to others on tiny budgets. So rather than offer cheap items with tiny profit margins, go for big ticket items. You'll probably achieve fewer sales, but you won't work so hard and there'll be fewer communications to handle. Consider: computers, fine jewellery, designer clothing, original art, cars, motorbikes. But be careful and check listing fees before pressing the submit button. Some items, like cars and motorbikes cost more to list and could eat extensively from your profits. Check carefully or do as I did and promote a pair of cufflinks shaped like motorbikes under Motorbikes > Accessories, and realise later you paid £6 in that category compared to the 35p you'd have paid under 'Jewellery'.

* Consider setting a reserve price on a low starting bid item. The low starting price can generate early interest, but be warned, some bidders feel cheated on encountering a high reserve price on that '99p' starting price item. Nevertheless, the low starting price / reserve price combination can result in furious bidding and high realisations and guarantees you get a good price or the item goes unsold. The reserve price is never disclosed but is always fifty pounds plus.

* Specialise! Become an expert in one area and make fewer costly buying and selling mistakes. Experience also saves you time researching and listing items for sale. You'll also generate repeat business from regular customers who'll come to trust you and your business.

* LIST, LIST, LIST!!! And when you think you've listed enough – LIST SOME MORE! Warning: This applies to items you've already tried and tested, and not to expensive new products about which you know little or nothing.

* Aim to have a web site outside of eBay from which to sell additional items to customers derived from eBay. This can be done by including a leaflet or other mention with the original fulfillment package, thanking the buyer and inviting him (or her) to visit your web site for other items of interest. Consider including a voucher for a small discount on anything ordered outside of eBay. See the next tip.

* When you have that web site, get it listed faster in Google's search engine by including the site url in your 'About Me' page on eBay. Someone told me that Google and other search engines index eBay related pages faster than most other sites. I wasn't convinced, so I tried, and found it worked. Start by creating an 'About Me', you'll see how in your eBay account, and say something like. 'Thank you for visiting. We are suppliers of XYZ and you can learn more about us at www.oursite.com'. Bear in mind it doesn't matter if no-one ever visits your 'About Me' page, Google and other search engine spiders will visit and index your site. I follow this technique for all new web sites and find them indexed in days or weeks, never months. Warning: eBay takes a dim view of anyone giving web site addresses in their listings, or as part of an eBay ID and active links are likely to get you barred. The rule does not apply to 'About Me' pages.

* Use counters in your eBay listings. These are provided by eBay, free of charge, during the listing process. Counters let you see how many visits each listing gets, from which you can plan and make changes (lots of visits but no bids is a sign something is wrong in your listing; few visits and several bids normally indicates a hot product). Few visits and plentiful bids could indicate a niche market, one with fewer members but one hundred per cent responsive buyers. But your competition can also check popularity of your listings, allowing them to capitalise on your expertise and possibly poach your ideas and products. The choice to use counters or not is up to you and you can always remove them once testing is complete and you know your product's a winner.

Avril Harper is a triple eBay PowerSeller and editor of eBay Confidential and webmaster of http://www.publishingcircles.com. She has produced a free guide - 103 POWERSELLER TIPS - which you can download with other freely distributable reports and ebooks at http://www.toppco.com

Ebay Selling How To Avoid Online Fraud

Writen by Tim Gilberg

Spoofing

Spoofing is a new online fraud scam. Viewers receive emails that look very official, seemingly from ebay, paypal, etc. with requests to update your password or credit card information. Never... Ever...Ever send personal information via email!

If you are in doubt, log onto the email sender's website to see if there are any notes or messages regarding the email you received. I have been dealing with the internet for years, and this one almost got past me!

Credit Card Scams

Criminals will often steal credit cards and use them to purchase products at ebay or other estores. They will then have the merchandise mailed to a post office box. After the products are picked up, the post office box is closed and another box will be rented in a different location. It is important that you only send products to the confirmed address listed with paypal.com. A confirmed address is the address that the credit card is issued to, and it is easy to verify this with either the credit card company or paypal.

Important - Ebay Fraud Protection

Many people don't know ebay will reimburse buyers up to $200.00 (less $25.00 to cover processing costs) in cases of non-shipment or significant misrepresentation of items purchased on ebay.

Payment Options

Paypal is a fantastic payment service. Ebay purchased this company in 2002. There is zero fraud risk if you follow their basic procedures. You can send and receive payments in seconds.

www.bidpay.com also provides a great service. This is a division of Western Union. I accept bidpay only for international purchases. You receive an email confirmation and a check in 3-5 days; only then do you ship your product.

Before submitting credit card numbers over the internet, ensure that you are using a secure server. The beginning of the web address in your browser window should be "https://" and not "http://" For secure server pages, you should also see a "lock" icon at the bottom of the browser.

COD stands for Cash on Delivery. I do not recommend this type of payment; however, there are occasions when a buyer will request a COD payment. This is how it works: Items can be sent via UPS, Fed Ex, or similar carriers. The sender fills out a form stating it is COD and the carrier collects the payment when the shipment is delivered. It usually takes several days for you to receive the payment.

The main reason I don't use this type of payment is simple. It is more expensive! Another reason is that as many as 50%-60% of the deliveries are refused when the shipment is delivered. Some buyers have even paid for shipments with fraudulent cashier's checks. As you can see, it is not a payment method that makes sense. When you run a business, you need to look at the big picture; and that is to eliminate any unnecessary expense or fraud.

I do not accept personal checks.....ever.

Money orders, United States Postal Service and others. I have never received a fraudulent money order.

Tim Gilberg is able to provide information and insight from a unique perspective - that of someone who is actually doing what others just talk about. Ebay Power Seller Platinum Status was Attained by Tim Gilberg, which is one of the highest sales levels attained selling on eBay. Tim is active on Ebay and liquidation.com as well as consulting and working with other Top ebay Power Seller's to give you real life in use insight, not theories.Visit Tim Gilberg at his website Make Money on eBay