THE TOTAL NEWBIE GUIDE TO SELLING ON EBAY:

10 THINGS YOU HAVE TO KNOW TO GET STARTED…

AND SURVIVE! BY Randy W.

www.specoptoys.com

My Ebay Store

Legal Stuff. “The Total Newbie Guide to Selling on eBay” is protected by copyright law. You may not alter, append, translate, quote from, or otherwise change any aspect of this e-book without express written consent of the author. For such consent, email me by clicking here.

Here’s what you MAY do:

• Sell this e-book (for whatever price you’d like)

• Give it to friends or families or strangers or anyone else on the planet

• Include it as a bonus gift or forward it to friends, co-workers, etc.

• Post it on your website or blog

• Sell it on eBay, or any other site. Spread the love.

• Give other people the same permission I just gave you.

Again, You May Not:

• Claim it as your own work

• Alter it in any way

• Rewrite it; this is copyrighted work.

You have “Master Reseller Rights.” That means that, so long as you do not alter this e-book, you can basically do whatever you want with it. Ideally, you will learn from it, but it is my hope that you will maybe sell it or give it away or forward it as an attachment to whomever you want.

Copyright 2009 © DF Withers & Associates, Inc.

This book has two parts to it.

The first part is obvious from the title.

The second part is a list of useful websites. Strongly consider visiting them. A lot of these sites offer money back guarantees. Some are free. Some offer items for you to sell. Others offer ways for you to sell more. Others are ways to make a few extra bucks with no risk and little, if any, work.

I will tell you from personal experience that you can get your money back easily if you are not satisfied. If anyone does not offer a “satisfaction guarantee,” don’t buy from them.

Because I don’t want to get sued, I’ll avoid using a name, but there is an “eBay certified” drop shipping company out of Canada that starts with an “s” that is totally worthless. Avoid them. Just because something is “eBay Certified” does not mean it is quality.

There are plenty of sites out there offering great stuff that couldn’t care less about eBay’s approval.

Part of success on eBay involves investigating stuff. Some leads will turn into dead ends. Other things may turn into gold.

Either way, you learn something.

Inspirational Quotes:

“Be bold and mighty forces will come to your aid.”

- Basil King, Canadian Pastor, on overcoming fear.

“Keep Thy Shop and Thy Shop Will Keep Thee.”

- Benjamin Franklin

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

- Yoda, Empire Strikes Back

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”

- Henry Ford

“They can because they think they can.”

- Virgil

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined.”

- Henry David Thoreau

Introduction:

All over the world right now, people are selling old baseball cards or e-books like this one, or computer supplies, or old movies, or Doritos that look like Jesus, or a host of other things, from the practical to the bizarre. They do it for a number of reasons. As a hobby. As a primary income stream. As a secondary income stream. As a tertiary income stream.

If you are new to SELLING on eBay, it is kind of like your first trip to a big city – New York or Paris or Berlin or Hong Kong. It can be overwhelming, disorienting, confusing. Sometimes you don’t even know which direction to go, where to start, and most importantly, how to keep from getting lost.

• If you are a veteran seller, this book isn’t for you.

• If you’re looking for a “Get Rich Quick” scheme, this book isn’t for you. When you find one that works, do me a favor and email me. I’d like to know about it. Also, let me know when you find Big Foot.

If, however, you are new to SELLING on eBay, and would like to get some practical advice, then you are in the right place.

Before we get started, it’s important to talk about intelligence versus wisdom. How many otherwise intelligent people do you know who are complete idiots? I know a lot. I bet you do, too. Now, how many wise people do you know who are idiots? Me neither. You can’t be both wise and an idiot. There’s a difference between intelligence and wisdom. Intelligence can be a natural gift; wisdom, on the other hand, is acquired. More accurately:

- Wisdom is what we gain from learning from our mistakes.

I have a great deal of wisdom as I have made a great deal of mistakes! Do yourself a favor and learn from them.

There are plenty of e-books out there on affiliate marketing, making money from other people’s auctions, becoming a PowerSellers, getting around eBay loopholes, etc. I won’t get into whether or not any of that stuff is even true or practical, as you are not there yet. This is for the person who’s just starting out, staring at the massive city before them and wondering what to do next.

This is for the person who is so new to eBay that they don’t yet have their password memorized. This is for noobs. And it is okay to be a noob. Embrace it. Only by admitting that we know nothing are we truly ready to learn. Someone really wise once said that, I think.

This book is relatively short. Don’t be fooled. Just because it’s not 70 pages does not mean it’s not useful. The Gettysburg Address was something like 250 words, give or take. The 10 Commandments were pretty brief as well. Length does not equal wisdom.

My Story

I figure I owe you this, so you know who’s giving you all this sage advice. My name is Randy, and I hail from a town called Jacksonville, Florida, but I haven’t lived there in quite some time. For ten years, I worked as a teacher, counselor, and administrator at a school in Tampa Bay. I got burnt out, as is often the case in education, and I got let go. After I got let go I got depressed. After I got depressed I got really, really depressed. After I got really, really depressed I ended up in the hospital. I had grown so stressed about finances and life that my brain just shut down. It was horrid.

You may have guessed that I’m better now. I did have a nervous breakdown, and as I now write, I’m sitting in a house that is being foreclosed, with nary a job prospect on the horizon. I have about 300 dollars in the bank and my unemployment runs out in a month.

But I have never been happier. Why? Because I’m doing something I thought I’d never do – I’m the boss of my own company. I’m the President, Founder, and CEO of a company! Right now, that company operates on eBay, but shortly it will expand into its own website. And it’s something that I created. Not all by myself, mind you, but it’s been hard work. I love it though, even though I have yet to really make some dough.

Right now, I’m more concerned with honing my customer service skills, building a client base, and learning the ropes. I’m not a Power Seller. I have a Basic Store. I sell toys. They make people happy. It makes me happy. What more could I ask for? Money, yes, but that will come. It’s already starting to, just three months into this.

If you’re reading this, you have a story, too. What made you try this endeavor? Whatever it is, I suggest you remember it. My store has practically given me a new life. I’m really quite glad I didn’t shoot myself.

But I digress. You have this book because you want some tips about how to start out as a seller on eBay. That’s what we’ll talk about. The advice your getting is from someone who has been a member of eBay for almost 10 years, but in the last three months has seen his feedback triple and his sales increase by a factor of 10. I’m not Donald Trump, but here’s how I see it: If you’re looking to get out of a hole, you ask a guy who was just in the hole how he got out. That’s me.

So, here it is, folks, 10 things every Newbie Seller on EBay needs to know to survive:

Part 1:

10 Things Every Noob Needs to Know About Selling on EBay.

Before I begin, you’ll notice I’m quite blunt. It’s part of my charm. Accept it and move on. Here’s tip one:

1. YOU’VE GOT TO EMBRACE YOUR INNER NOOB.

The term “noob” is used a great deal on the Internet, especially on gaming sites and forums. Noob is short for “newbie,” which is short for “new person” or “newcomer.” You’re a novice. You’re green. Green as grass. You don’t know anything. You’re a noob. Don’t be offended. Every one is a noob at one point in their life. I’ve been married for 12 years and I still feel like a noob when it comes to dealing with my beautiful wife. Can I get a shout out from the other married men reading this? You know what I’m talking about. A-hem. Moving on.

Why is this important? If you have kids, especially teenagers, or know people who have teenagers, or were once a teenager yourself, you know that one of their greatest downfalls is that they think they know everything. They are way smarter than their parents and teachers. As they grow, though, they find that their parents are not nearly as dumb as they first thought, and more importantly, they discover that they aren’t nearly as smart as they thought they were.

Such is the case with sellers on eBay. Here’s some easy bullet points for you to ponder:

• You have a lot to learn. Accept it. There is a help link on eBay, with a forum. You can also call, email, and/or chat with eBay representatives. Don’t be afraid to ask lots of questions. When I was a teacher, I had an expression – “There’s no such thing as a stupid question. Just stupid people.” I was popular with the kids. Selling on eBay is almost a type of lifestyle with its own unique traits, its own pros and cons. If you start to acquaint yourself with other sellers, you’ll soon find yourself exposed to a plethora of information, cool tips, and wonderful advice. You might also run into an idiot, but that is to be expected.

• Don’t reinvent the wheel. Make friends with veteran sellers on eBay. I suggest folks with a score between say 350 and 800, as the bigger sellers are often times companies, with a staff and auto-responders and the like. What you need is mentoring from someone similar to you. A person who has been doing this as a hobby, or the person who owns the eBay equivalent of a small business. If you are selling Roses, I wouldn’t try to get secret tips from other sellers of Roses, as they are your competition. People who sell vases, on the other hand, are more

likely to help, because what they sell compliments your item, and vice versa. Hopefully you understand I’m using a metaphor here.

• There are a lot of sharks swimming in eBay waters. There are more great people on eBay than there are bad, but eBay is a microcosm of life. You’ve got honest people and you have liars. You have rule followers and you have rule breakers. You have new people and you have veterans. And so on and so forth. Buyers are the worst type of con artists on eBay – I’ll get into that later, but don’t think it’s the other way around.

• If it seems too good to be true, it is. Period. Selling on eBay takes practice, trial and error, common sense, and hard work. Anyone who tells you differently is lying. I’ll give you an example of what I mean: Say you receive the following email from an eBay member, or perhaps read this in an eBay classified ad: “Send 2 dollars to me via PayPal at scammer@jerk.com and I’ll show you how to sell on eBay for FREE!” So you send your 2 dollars and you get an e-book with a title like “Selling on eBay 4 Free,” which offers some convoluted and outdated way to avoid paying eBay fees. Which is not possible, by the way. Why do people do that, you ask? What could be the point. Here’s the point: Let’s say 250 people buy this book. 100 of them actually get around to reading it, 25 realize the information is bogus, and of that 25, only 5 actually take the time to recover their 2 dollars. In that scenario, someone has just made about 450 dollars, once you take out the PayPal fees and the 15 cent listing fee they had to pay eBay. It’s not corruption like Tammany Hall, but it is a frequent occurrence on eBay. The end result is you are out 2 dollars, the scammer is 450.00 richer, and you’ve got a worthless e-book on your hard drive taking up valuable memory.

• If you’re thinking to yourself – hey, that’s a good idea, I should do that. You know, scam people on eBay - think again. eBay will bounce you like a rubber ball.

• Selling on eBay is a marathon, not a sprint, and ultimately, if you are honest, you’ll do just fine. On to point two:

2. YOU CAN’T OUTSMART EBAY.

A lot of books out there offer you clever ways to circumvent eBay policies, or offer you outdated and unrealistic ways to “outsmart” eBay. eBay is a multi-billion dollar company.

You are not. Their software is ridiculously good at sniffing out policy violations. Don’t even try. You may get away with what you’re doing for a week or so, and then out of the blue all your listings will be gone and eBay will have sent you an email saying you’ve violated policy such and such and as a result your account has been temporarily suspended.

People who try to cheat eBay are like those teenage kids you see smoking behind the 7/11, trying to act all nonchalant, like their the first teenagers in the history of civilization to smoke cigarettes. Trust me, whatever you think you can do has been tried by others, and eBay knows about it.

There’s one book out there that says that you should intentionally violate a policy, like posting a web link on your page, so that eBay will eventually take the listing down and refund your fees. The idea behind it is that you sell a bunch of stuff and profit, then they take the site down and you walk away not owing anything.

Sorry. Not really, no. They used to. Not anymore. See, eBay changes their policies all the time. They have to. So many people keep looking for loopholes, and they keep looking for ways to get rid of loopholes. They have more resources than you do. You lose. Now, if you violate a policy and they remove your listing, they keep the fees. Says so in their UPDATED policy, which was written after that e-book told you that screwing eBay was easy.

Play by the rules. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it is. There are so many would-be scammers on eBay (who quickly disappear, because eBay nails them) that many veteran buyers are quite wary and have incredible street smarts when it comes to buying on eBay. Because you are new, they know policy better than you do, and if you try to pull a fast one on the wrong customer, you will quickly find out that, in EBAY WORLD, the buyer has all the power, not the other way around. This brings me to my next point:

3. BUYERS HAVE ALL THE POWER

FACT:

• Sellers can’t leave negative feedback. • PayPal protects buyers and sellers, but they protect buyers more. • If you violate any eBay policy during a sale, and the buyer contests it, you will

lose. All a buyer has to do is file a complaint with PayPal, which is easy, and suddenly X number of dollars is gone from your account, on hold until PayPal resolves the dispute. Chances are, they will favor the buyer.

• Just because you say you’re not responsible for the mail doesn’t mean you aren’t responsible. If something gets lost in the mail, and you didn’t have it insured, or at least have delivery confirmation, or you did not send the item to a PayPal “confirmed” address, you lose. Unless you’re willing to eat the cost of an item, either require insurance or pay for insurance yourself.

• Selling internationally gives you 6 billion potential clients; limiting yourself to the U.S., for example, shaves that number down to 300 million. That is roughly 1/20 the number of potential sales. Consider the wisdom of ignoring 95% of potential buyers.

• However, selling internationally can be risky and time consuming. Seller beware. First, there’s customs. Second, there’s duties and tariffs and all that stuff, which in most cases you are not responsible for, but the buyer is, which will factor into their decision to purchase your item or not. Third, you have the issue of insurability. If you ship via FedEx or UPS, insurance is not really an issue. However, if you use the USPS, you can only insure items that are shipped priority or express (higher than first class). There is one way around this, and it’s totally legal. As of May, 2009 at least, if you use auctiva.com, you can purchase insurance through them at a discounted rate, and so far I have yet to be told that I can’t insure a first class parcel that is travelling internationally. This may change, but as it stands now, that is the only way I know to insure items shipped internationally and travelling first class.

There are many things about eBay that I like, and a few things I don’t. One of the things I like about eBay is that it seems to be the only place (in the USA at least) where you can actually haggle over prices. It is a mistake for sellers to look at this as a negative. You never know where a sale will go, and if someone emails you and asks if you’ll accept 11.50 for a 12 dollar item, and you say no, you’ve probably lost the customer, and repeat business, and almost certainly any ability to “upsell.”

For example, let’s go back to the Rose analogy I was using before. You sell Roses and you sell Daisies and you also sell Baby’s Breath and Plant Food. You list a Rose for 20 dollars. You get an email from a customer who offers you 18. You decline. Here’s a what if: what if that buyer was also looking to buy baby’s breath and plant food but did not know you sold it? What if they were thinking about buying 30 roses from you? What if you could have ended up selling 75 dollars worth of merchandise, but you declined a sale because of 2 dollars? That’s dumb. At the very least, a polite email to the buyer explaining why you can’t sell the item for less is a must. Any good seller inflates the price just a bit, for just such a situation. If you’re cost is 10 dollars for Roses and you sell them for 20, in the scenario above, you definitely missed out on a definite 8 dollars instead of a possible 10.

This isn’t poker. You’re not trying to call the buyer’s bluff. This is business. And you’re not the only Rose seller on eBay.

In EBAY WORLD, the seller holds most of the cards. That’s not entirely true in brick and mortar stores. I am not suggesting that you are at the mercy of the buyer, but you should be aware that, if a problem arises, you better have all your bases covered.

Furthermore, you should know that a great deal of issues exist with PayPal. There is a lawsuit brewing against them, and they are leaving themselves wide open to scammers and hackers. A lot of this is not their fault, but eBay practically insists you use PayPal, which, conveniently enough, they own. You should click on the banner below to visit a site that will open your eyes to the realities of PayPal:

Finally, any communications you have with the buyer must absolutely be professional and avoid personal insults or threats. You might as well be handing a win to the buyer if you threaten them. Remember, to a seller, feedback is extremely important. To a buyer, not so much.

4. BECOME AN EXPERT IN EBAY POLICY REGARDING:

• SHIPPING COSTS • LISTING VIOLATIONS • COMMUNICATION WITH BUYERS • THE RESOLUTION PROCESS • FEEDBACK • DESCRIBING YOUR ITEMS CORRECTLY • PAYPAL

There are many others, but these are some of the big ones. I’ll expand:

1) Charge reasonable shipping costs. It is okay to build into your shipping costs the price of handling, insurance, etc., but this must be clearly stated. Some sellers will charge 1.00 for a ten dollar item that costs 1 dollar to ship, and charge 10 dollars in shipping. Why do they do this? Because eBay’s Final Value Fees are a function of the selling price, not the shipping price. If you think you can get around this, you might for awhile, but sooner or later eBay will ding you for excessive shipping costs, and any smart buyer will call you on it, or report you. Either way, that gets you into trouble.

Have you ever taken food away from a hungry dog? That’s kind of like what happens when you inflate your shipping prices so eBay doesn’t get their cut. It’s a great way to get warned, or banned, or suspended. And your buyers will hate you for it, because they know you are gouging them. The end price may be totally reasonable, but that’s not the point. A seller wants a good price on an item and reasonable shipping costs. Period.

2) There are all sorts of items you can’t sell on eBay. Firearms, for example, and narcotics, and knives, and blueprints on how to make a nuclear bomb, and lots of other things. Most of it is common sense, but there are a few that are not. Selling certain pieces of memorabilia, like pins from the Third Reich, is verboten in certain countries. To collector’s, that stuff is a piece of history. To certain countries, it is vile and disgusting. When in doubt, ask eBay.

Another common listing violation is placing an item in the wrong category. You may do this by accident, but it does not matter. It will get your item pulled. Let’s say there was a “Pretty Flower” category on EBay, and that’s where you listed your Roses. But you

figure people who like knitting quilts would appreciate a good Rose, so you list in the “Knitting Quilts” section. That’s a listing violation. Your item will be removed.

3) Don’t ever write anything in an email that you wouldn’t want to be read in front of your mother (or priest, or Imam, or Rabbi, or whomever it is that you respect). Threats on paper are like boomerangs. They will most certainly come right back at you. No matter what the buyer says, always take the high road. Always. Keep your emails professional and to the point.

Here’s the thing that most people don’t realize about emails – it is impossible for the reader to discern irony, sarcasm, joking, playfulness, etc., from an email. It’s not like spoken language, where you have hand gestures and tone and body language. A perfectly friendly email can come off as sounding threatening. Follow the KISS method. Keep it Simple, Stupid. Write like ink is expensive.

4) I’ve only been on the resolution process as a plaintiff, so to speak, because I am a champion of customer service. But I know that every single time I have disputed something, as a buyer, I have won, because I’m familiar with the policies. It is not rocket science, but it is a science, and worthy of study.

5) Feedback is a unique invention, specific to eBay it seems, and if used correctly, very helpful. A person’s feedback score is a reflection of their character in most cases. However, like high school grades, feedback can be manipulated and inflated. As a result, I refrain from buying from anyone who has a feedback rating of less than 98%. Now that’s an A+ in high school, but to me it’s an indication of a lot of problems. Negative feedback can be removed. Things can be worked out. Unless the buyer is just a jerk, you can usually smooth things over with them. This is another area where communication is key.

For example, a couple of weeks ago I sent a package of GI Joes to a customer in Spain. A few days later, I got a really polite email from the buyer telling me that I had forgotten to ship one of his items. Did I deny this? Did I not answer his email? Did I call him a dirty liar? No. I apologized and asked that he give me the opportunity to make it right. I had, in fact, not sent him the correct number of figures. Did he give me negative feedback? Let me tell you something – I have received lots of nice feedback over the years, but his was just incredible. He was so happy that I fessed up to my mistake and took care of the problem that he ended up buying an additional 17 figures from me, over 150 dollars in merchandise. And I screwed up his first order. The first order was for five figures. He’s putting in a third order for a friend in about a month.

Along those lines, don’t assume your buyer knows, or cares, about feedback. Send a personalized message, even if it is automatically generated, explaining how feedback works, and that it is important that you receive five stars across the board if they are happy. EBay has an extremely low threshold for their star system. You have to have a more than satisfied rating in each category, or you risk account suspension. I personally find this ridiculous, but it is what it is.

5) As a seller, you are required to describe your items accurately. You can say all sales are final and not accept returns, but your description of your item better be perfect, or you lose. I recently made a purchase for some printable sticker paper, and I ended up getting what was essentially business cards, not stickers. I looked back at the description. Sure enough, the word sticker was in all caps. I got all my money back, plus shipping, for that one word. Otherwise, it would have been my fault.

6) PayPal is owned by eBay. They take a cut of your sales as well, by the way, not unlike Visa or MasterCard. It is to be expected. Don’t be afraid to call PayPal directly if you have any questions or concerns. Make sure you follow their rules, like shipping only to confirmed addresses (unless that option is not available).

Also, know that from time to time, PayPal will suspend purchases made to you from accounts that seem fraudulent. Often, it is because the buyer has not used the account for some time, but people do steal identities. Don’t be shocked if you get a notice saying you owe PayPal money because they’ve flagged a transaction as potentially fraudulent. If this happens, immediately contact both PayPal and the buyer. Let the buyer know what is happening and ask them to respond to PayPal’s inquiries. If you are not proactive, this can go on for days. There is an alternative to PayPal. Click here for more information.

More often than not, PayPal is quite convenient. But it is a hacker’s dream, so be diligent. Keep proper records and confirm deliveries and consider leaving a reserve amount of money in your account in case something like this happens. Okay, end of sermon. Moving on…

5. DON’T BE A JERK.

Some of the best advice I have ever received was this – offer a return policy of at least 60 days, and keep your instructions very simple. How many times have you seen a seller have an article listed that you want, and then you read under the product description a laundry list of things the seller does not want you to do. I don’ accept checks, so don’t ask. Payment is due in 36 hours or I’ll leave a buyer’s strike against you. No international bidders, so don’t even ask. One guy actually wrote: “all sales are final – this isn’t Wal-Mart, folks.” That’s a direct quote. Do you suppose that anyone on eBay was unaware of that? Do you really think the seller needed to be such a jerk? Let me show you some examples of rude language and then appropriate language that should have been used:

A) If you don’t agree to our terms, don’t bid!

Or: Please review our policies before making your bid. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at ….

B) All sales final.

Since this is really not true, I again suggest you offer a return policy. Why do I say 60? Because if it’s 14 or 30 or 60, it’ pretty much the same. I’ve had a few hundred

transactions, and only two times did I have to refund anyone’s money, and both were because I’m just a nice guy, and both were totally inconsequential items, like e-books. Some things are not worth fighting about. Electronics are an exception – 7-14 days is the standard, and require a restocking fee if they just get buyer’s remorse.

How about: Please familiarize yourself with our return policy before you bid.

C) No international bidders, so don’t ask!

How about: “For circumstances beyond my control, I am unable to ship internationally.” Previously I had mentioned that if you don’t ship internationally, you take away 19 of 20 potential customers? That seems like something an idiot would do. There are, however, plenty of good reasons to stick within the confines of your own country. A DVD, for example, is region specific. A British DVD player can’t play a DVD that is coded for the USA. So why would you ship a DVD to England that won’t play when it arrives?

But do you see how some statements make you look like an aggressive jerk and others make you sound professional? Who would YOU rather buy from?

6. FIND A NICHE, AND STICK TO IT.

What you will soon discover is that, if you’re selling 100 different items every week, that is awfully time consuming. Smart sellers sell the same X number of items and have their items automatically relisted. This literally saves dozens of hours. Unless you are a garage sale seller, then automation is the key to initial and long term success. The hope is that you can build up your site to where you have 50, then 100, then 200 or so staple items that are set on a continuous loop to resell. eBay essentially takes care of the rest. All you really need to do is make sure you have the items in stock, and then mail stuff.

If you are wondering where people get stuff to sell, be sure you check out Part 2. There is a ton of useful information there.

You know the expression, “Jack of All Trades, Master of None?” That’s very apt for eBay. If you’re going to sell computers, sell computers and computer related equipment. Avoid selling computers and, say, adult memorabilia, like 1970’s Era Playboys. It makes you look like an idiot, and you have lots of competition out there. Also, it’s just exhausting to sell a jillion different things.

Your objective as a seller should be to have your clients think about you for all of their “fill in the blank” needs. Whether it’s Roses, computers, action figures, movies or cameras, develop a reputation for selling within a certain category. For example, computers and needlework don’t really seem to go together. Computers and printers, on the other hand, do.

7. BECOME AN EXPERT ON SHIPPING.

If you are not careful, shipping costs will kill you. Ask for too much and buyers will go away. Ask for too little and you end up selling at a loss. Do the following:

1) Get a scale. A good, electronic scale. Ironically, you can get them on eBay on the cheap. I recommend this fellow:

I don’t get a kickback or anything. This is who I bought my scale from, and it’s great. And cheap, in terms of cost.

2) Do NOT estimate shipping. You’ll always be wrong.

3) Depending on what you are selling, consider opening a business account with FedEx or UPS. It may save you money, especially on big ticket items.

4) Make use of on-line shipping applications. You can pay for and print postage at www.usps.com, often at a discounted rate than you would pay of you went to the actual Post Office. You can also download a shipping helper from the Post Office, which generates labels, complete with delivery confirmation. It doesn’t sell postage, but it is a fantastic tool. If you ship internationally, you have to drop off the item in person at the PO anyway, but with the shipping assistant, you can fill out an international label that not only has the address, but the customs paperwork on it already, thereby saving you lots of time.

5) Familiarize yourself with Post Office rates and policies. Example: as long as an item is 13 ounces or under, you can ship it first class within the US, which is way less money than priority. However, with international shipping, you can send up to 4 lbs first class. It depends on the country, but the savings could be huge. If I’m able to send a three pound item first class to The Philippines, it is roughly 20 dollars less than sending it priority, and over 100 dollars less than shipping it UPS. It’s good to know these things.

6) Always combine shipping. You want to enrage a customer? Don’t combine shipping. You shouldn’t be gouging the price for shipping anyway, so this should not be that big of a deal.

1) One tactic that I’ve seen sellers use, in order to encourage bulk purchases (which means less cost for shipping), is they have a really high initial shipping price, and then a really low price for additional items. One site I know charges 7.99 to ship a 4.99 action figure, but if you buy 2, it’s only 1.99 for each additional figure. If you buy in bulk, which is what you want your buyers to do, this is a great way to encourage them to buy more stuff from you, as their per item cost goes down the more they buy.

2) Play around with these tactics. Ask advice from other sellers. What works for them may destroy you, and vice versa. But ask around. There is a ton of information you need to know, and the more help you have, the better!

The following is a new service that allows you to process bulk shipping using the USPS, DHL, FedEx, UPS, etc. It is eBay certified, and I believe it is free, so why not check it out:

There are four different versions of ShipRush to suit your needs. So stop wasting time re-keying shipping information and start shipping right from your accounting or CRM system! ShipRush is the easiest and most efficient way to ship — it can even automatically save and email tracking numbers!

8. MAKE CUSTOMER SERVICE A PRIORITY

I’ve danced around this topic, but it requires its own place on the list.

With some few exceptions, no one is selling anything truly unique on eBay. That means you have competition. It’s very simple. If you don’t make customer service a priority, people will not buy from you. Attention must always be paid to the following areas:

1) The price of your items

2) The cost of your shipping

3) Communication with buyers

4) The speed with which you ship items

5) Service after the sale; follow up emails and the like.

A few general suggestions I have:

1. Offer a return policy.

2. NEVER get hostile in an email with a buyer. Remember, they own you.

3. ALWAYS be courteous, no matter what. After the sale is completed, ban a customer from ever buying from you again, but until then, be polite.

4. Offer little freebies. Say you sell Roses. Throw in some plant food for free. My bet is you’ll get repeat business.

5. If an error occurs at any point in the sale, always own up to it and offer to make it right. Period.

6. Until the buyer gets your item, stay in touch with them. Let them know that you’ve received their payment. Let them know when the item has shipped. Ask them to leave you feedback when you receive it, so you know they got it. This makes buyers feel better. A lack of communication makes people nervous

9. IGNORE EBAY TOOLS AT YOUR PERIL

Assuming you want to sell enough stuff to make some form of an income stream, strongly consider purchasing a store. The basic store is inexpensive, and has a plethora of benefits. Here is a partial list of tools which eBay offers that you should definitely use, as they will increase your sales and cut down on your work load?

1) Turbolister. It is very time consuming listing items individually. Turbolister, and applications like it, simply rule. Time is money, and Turbolister saves you time. Therefore, Turbolister saves you money.

2) Print shipping labels either through eBay or PayPal. Not only can this save you money and time, but it adds a professional quality and feel to your shipments. You can buy label paper on eBay for about 10 dollars for 200 sheets. It’s worth it. The hope is that you get to the point where you have so many things you are mailing that your hand hurts from writing addresses. What if you could print out a batch of postage paid labels for all your orders? You can, and it generally saves you money and time.

3) Familiarize yourself with the toys with which a store comes. You can cross promote items, send out automated emails and feedback, email a newsletter, categorize your items, and my favorite – create sales! Which leads me to point 4:

4) Markdown Manager. People love to think they’re getting a bargain. I guarantee you if someone saw an item that was ten dollars and not on sale versus an item that was 10 dollars, on sale from 15, they would buy the sale item. Human nature. I can’t tell you how many of my sales have resulted from “sales.” I’m still making a nice profit margin,

but the buyer gets to think they’ve saved money, and you get to sell stuff. We call this a win-win. There is nothing devious about it at all. Stores do it all the time. It’s not shady, subversive, or misleading. If anything, it makes people feel good, because everyone loves a bargain, right?

4) Name recognition. Back to the Rose Analogy – the Rose sellers on eBay are plentiful, but it is a surprisingly small world. Assuming that you have earned the respect of some buyers, your store name, at the very least, gives them something to bookmark and return to. It’s also very, very cheap to list stuff in your store. As low as .03 cents in many cases for a 30 day period. That’s nothing. So you put some stuff on auction, and if a person likes some of the Roses you have on the auction, maybe they visit your store and suddenly they see you sell plant food and vases and Baby’s Breath. One stop shopping! Sale! Cha-ching!

10. PEOPLE DON’T LIKE TO BUY FROM IDIOTS.

Sorry to be blunt, but it’s true. Do you like dealing with idiots? How about morons? How about fools? I’m guessing you don’t. Before I get into this, let’s talk about “The Military Model” as an example of proper presentation. Hopefully you’ll see what I’m talking about here, though I’m going to use a rather weird example to illustrate my point:

What a successful seller can learn from National Socialism (I know, I know):

Despite the horrid things the Nazis did during the Second World War, there are a few things you can learn from them. I am not condoning fascism or anti-Semitism, and I am certainly not advocating Nazism. All I’m saying is that one of the reasons Hitler and his Propaganda Minister Goebbels were so effective at captivating an entire country was because they understood the power of presentation. Think about it – could you identify a Polish uniform? How about a Flemish uniform? French? Probably not, but I bet you know what German soldiers in the Second World War looked like. And I bet you know what a Swastika looks like. Yes, it’s evil, but you know what I’m talking about, and that’s the point.

Now that I have your attention…

Here’s the former teacher in me - the Swastika has actually been around for centuries. Seen in cultures from India to China and even in ancient Christianity, the swastika was a regularly used symbol. I’m not making this up. It was a symbol of the harvest, of new beginnings, of rebirth; that’s probably why Hitler used it. After all, that’s what he was trying to do in Germany.

He also borrowed from the Romans, as do most armed forces across the world. The Eagle, for example, so prominent in the US Military, comes from the Roman Empire. The Nazi “Heil Hitler” salute is the very salute Roman soldiers gave their leaders. Like the Swastika, Hitler ruined it for everybody. Once upon a time, the Swastika represented wonderful opportunity. Now we know it as a symbol of death and destruction. But the

point is, we know it. That is the only thing you need take away from this little detour into World History.

The second thing you need to know about the Military Model is that the military understands the importance of first appearances. As an establishment, it understands the power of flags and epaulets and shined shoes and combination covers and medals. Can you honestly tell me that you’ve stood next to a US Marine in his Class A’s (that would be dress greens), and not been impressed? It’s hard not to be. And there is a reason for this.

They certainly don’t look sloppy, do they? This is not an accident. For centuries, military leaders have understood that presentation is everything. It’s the reason why Native Americans wore war paint, why airmen in the Pacific drew shark mouths on their planes, why the British wore those bright red uniforms all throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, why the Cong wore black.

It did exactly what is was designed to do, and that was to elicit a response. Namely, that response was fear. It worked exceedingly well. Scare your enemy, and you have the advantage.

Let’s switch over to selling on eBay. If you go to all the trouble of finding products to sell – be they from flea markets or garage sales or wholesale sites or whatever – why on Earth would you create a eBay auction page that was anything less than mesmerizing?

People don’t want to buy from hacks. They want to buy from people who are professional. The product probably has nothing to do with the seller, but that doesn’t matter. It’s basic human nature. It’s the reason why all Targets look the same and why Saks has so much appeal. People go to college to study this crap.

Your advertisement is a reflection of the following:

1) The quality of your product

2) The professionalism of the seller

3) The ease of the transaction

4) The overall value of the purchase

Why would you spend 100 dollars on beautiful roses and then hide them in a poorly thought-out ad, filled with typos and irritating type fonts and other items that distract from the buyer’s interest?

Have you ever been in a mall and seen a shop you’ve never been in? You stick your head in to see what’s going on, and your first impression of the place will most likely determine whether or not you buy anything from them. Am I lying?

It’s the same thing with your ad page. Your ad is your buyer’s first impression. I don’t care if you’re selling the Mona Lisa – if your ad stinks, people will likely not buy from

you. Unless you’re the only one on eBay selling that specific product, and that’s just not likely.

I’m not going to tell you how to put together a solid ad. I’ll include some links in the second part of this book to sites that have pre-made templates. No need to reinvent the wheel. Steal from the best templates you can find. Or make your own. Just make sure it looks professional.

Here is a brief list of some very unprofessional aspects of a site. I’m also including email communications as part of your site, because they are.

• Your eBay user ID. If you are selling Roses, the username RoseSeller is probably a good fit. Mongooseskullhunter is not. You laugh, but people have stupid usernames like this one. I saw a username that was ilikeboobs421. Why would I want to buy from that idiot? From that I gather that if the person doesn’t have enough common sense to use a professional handle, then their product can’t be very good. That may not be true, but that’s how people think.

• Using poor English either in an email or in your ad. With the advent of text messaging, the world has seen a whole new language develop. It’s a language of acronyms like LOL, TTYL, LMFAO, AFK, etc., and it has its place in text messages, especially before phones came with typewriters and you had to hunt and peck for letters. However, that kind of garbage has no place in any sort of professional outlet. This includes eBay sales. For God’s sake, when you communicate with your clients, by email or in your ad, use the Queen’s English. This is not the time to cut corners when it comes to grammar, spelling, mechanics, and diction. Basically, if your ad or emails are full of misspelled words and incorrect usage of punctuation, you are going to look like an idiot. And do we buy from idiots? No, we do not. I’m sure there are some typos in this e-book. You probably saw them and it distracted from your reading? I did not do this intentionally, but it makes my point for me.

• Using ALL CAPS. Here’s an example. IF YOU’VE EVER READ A MESSAGE IN ALL CAPS, IT IS DISCONCERTING AND FEELS ADVERSARIAL. Why some people can’t bother to use the lower case simply escapes me. First, it is widely accepted that ALL CAPS equals SHOUTING, and you don’t ever want to shout at your customer, unless we’re talking about the title, which should grab someone’s attention anyway. Second, people who write in ALL CAPS LOOK LIKE IDIOTS. THEY ALSO SEEM AGGRESSIVE. PEOPLE DON’T BUY FROM AGGRESSIVE IDIOTS.

• Here’s a sample ad that violates the first three points above:

“12 ROSES 4 SALE! GET 1 FOR YOU’RE GIRL RIGHT NOW! SHE BE LIKE AWW YEAH AND YOU BE LIKE UH-HUH, AND ALL BE GOOD, RITE? LOL – THANKS, idiotspeaker2009.”

Okay, lest this is not totally obvious, let’s review. It’s in ALL CAPS, and it’s filled with mechanical and spelling errors. For example, it’s “your,” not “you’re.” Then you have the text message LOL, which stands for “laugh out loud.” Then, of course, you have the stupid

username. Also, my own personal pet peeve is when someone can’t bother to spell out the word “for.”

Would you buy roses from this fool?

How about this one?

“Dear veteranbuyer1, I am in receipt of your payment for 12 red roses and one clear vase. Thank you so very much for your order. Your roses will be shipped tomorrow via FedEx, and you will receive a tracking number via email as soon as one is generated. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact me. Thank you again! RoseSeller.”

If this seems obvious to you, then great – you are ahead of the curve. You would be shocked to know just how many people would look at that first example sand say “What? What’s the big deal?’ If you are one of these people, you really need to read this book a few more times, and perhaps take a class that eBay offers.

This is not junior high school. This is a business, and it is a multi-billion dollar international business where lots of folks make very good money. I assure you, though, the successful ones all share one common trait – professionalism.

*****

I hope you understand that this list is not all-inclusive. I need more stuff to write a sequel, don’t I? But they are some of the main areas I found needed my attention, so I’m offering you my caveats in hope that you will succeed.

Now, onto the really good part:

PART 2:

BOOKMARK THESE WEBSITES

(& USE THEM)!

Note: To skip past the next few paragraphs and get to the links, click here.

Many of these sites will be helpful to you. Some may be a waste of your time. Either way, know they’re out there. eBay has been around for years, and lots of companies stay in business helping you stay in business.

There’s a lot of junk out there. But there’s a lot of good stuff, too. Remember, successful selling takes hard work. It takes excellent customer service and effort. There is no get rich quick scheme out there. However, if you work hard, you can make a whole bunch of money doing something you love. It’s true. It’s hard to believe, but it is true. You might be asking

yourself – if it’s possible to do that, why doesn’t everyone do it? Here are some of my thoughts on the subject:

1) Most people don’t bother to try. Think about all the thousands of things you can do with your life. This is just one of them. Is it really that hard to believe that not everyone is doing this?

2) Was it Thoreau who said “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation?” I think it was. If you’re reading this, you want something more out of life. You’re not content. You’re hungry. This gives you an edge. This sets you apart from the masses.

3) Actually, not everybody can do this. Some people lack financial means. Some people are illiterate. Some people are just idiots. Some people are more interested in saving the world than making money. All of that is cool. But that’s why not everyone does this. Moving on:

One of the best sources of information for noobs is a site called dropshippingsucks.com. If you have considered drop shipping, you simply must check out this website and the Better Sources Guide it offers. I have found it to be invaluable.

Click on the advertisement below to learn more:

Websites That Can Help You Make Money:

EVERY EBAY SELLER NEEDS THIS PROGRAM. PERIOD.

Believe it or not, eBay is actually a really good way to buy products to resell, but there is a trick to it. Here are the two tricks:

1. First, you need to find a seller who has no ideas that what they are selling is valuable

2. Second, you need to snag the auction at the last second in order to get it cheap.

To do this, DO NOT place a bid. Instead, use an application like the one above - PowerSnipe. It will place a bid on an auction in the closing seconds. This is totally okay to do; sniping is part of the eBay tradition. You would be amazed at how much money you can save by doing this.

PowerSnipe is an eBay Auction Sniper software and service that bids for you automatically on eBay in the closing seconds of the auction. eBay auctions are often lost in the last few seconds of the auction because the majority of people wait until the last seconds to place their bids. PowerSnipe securely bids for you in the final moments. This gives you a better chance of winning and helps you to avoid getting into "bidding wars" with other users competing over an item. Set it and forget it. Your computer does not have to be turned on at the end of the auction.

Sky High Auctions (below) is another program worth looking into. Learn From 15 EBay PowerSellers How They Raked In Over $11,726,200 Last Year Alone And How You Can Explode Your Business Following Their Every Move Using Their Step By Step Course. It helped me a great deal. Let it help you!

A couple of sites that build stores for you:

Build A Niche Store (BANS) is a store / website development platform which enables you to create content based sites that generate income through the eBay affiliate programs.

I have done the free trial for CrownCart, and it really is impressive. It is very inexpensive to set up a store, and they even make a sample store for you so you can see what you’re getting yourself into. And they have a very generous affiliate program. Remember, this is a no-brainer way to make money. Sign up, for free, place a banner like this on your website, and if even one person buys a product from them, you make between 20-100 dollars. C’mon folks.

And you’d be crazy not to look into these two programs:

Like hosting ads on your site, affiliate programs can offer you residual income. It is practically 100% safe, and there is practically no risk. Take a minute out of your life to sign up with this program. Basically, a bunch of online stores like eBay and Newegg and tons of others offer you kickbacks if you go through their portal to purchase stuff on-line. If you refer other people, you get a piece of their residual income as well. It’s like a harmless pyramid scheme where nobody loses and everyone wins. I use these two:

Earn money when your friends shop online!

And this one:

Both of these websites are examples of easy ways to make additional income. With Big Crumbs, I made 82.00 dollars on just my purchases on eBay (in a 1 month period). That’s

not a lot of money to some, but it’s 82.00 I didn’t have before, and 82.00 I received for doing nothing but bookmarking a few of my favorite websites. Like when I go on eBay, I actually have a link on my browser that says “QuickCrumb eBay.” It sends me to eBay, but it gives me cash back things I buy. 82 dollars with zero effort. Imagine if I actually tried to make money!

Websites that Help You Sell on eBay: Auctiva.com is a free auction site that provides image hosting. I use it; a lot of seller’s do. It provides free templates and a secure checkout and you can even purchase insurance from them at a discounted rate. It schedules your ads and manages your photos for free. You can really ad some class to your ad by using Auctiva. Click on the banner and bookmark it, and when you have the time, investigate. As of May, 2009, it’s free. I don’t know if it will stay that way, but it is an excellent resources.

www.auctiva.com (currently free, will start a tier level pricing plan)

(about 8.95 a month, but worth it.)

If you need someone to design your storefront or eBay pages, this site is relatively inexpensive and very good.

On eBay, it’s all about volume. Most sellers don’t make a huge profit. Selling e-books, like this one, is a very inexpensive way to make extra money on-line and on eBay. I sell maybe 25-30 e-books a week. It costs me about .15 cents a week, and most sell for an average of .80-1.00. So, once you remove the .15 cent posting fees and the eBay Final Value Fee, I’m making something like .65 cents to .80 cents per purchase. For doing nothing. That’s not huge, but I tell you what – it pays for my eBay store and listing fees. I make roughly 25 dollars a week selling-books, and my time commitment is maybe 20 minutes a day.

I’m told, however, that the big money is in writing your own e-book. I’m not quite sure how, but I have a few sites to recommend if you are interested. By the way, you might be saying – who buys e-books? Didn’t you? One of the great things about e-books is that you can attach them to an email, and thus make them available to anyone on the planet. Just today I sold e-books to people in Lithuania, Hong Kong, and Finland. I have found it to be a great way to cover eBay costs.

If you are interested in learning more about e-books, check out these sites:

These guys are some of the best affiliate marketers out there. That’s where the money is, apparently. It’s not in Roses. It’s getting people to advertise your Roses for YOU.

Websites offering products and services at wholesale prices!

I’m not going to include a bunch of fancy banners, but don’t assume that means these sites are not worth a look. Depending on what you want to sell, these could be your lifeline. And they are totally legit and legal companies.

In no particular order:

For importing from overseas:

www.globalsources.com

Global Sources creates, manages and delivers information that trading partners need to meet and do business. They provide the right information, at the right time, in the right format.

www.alibaba.com

Alibaba.com is the world's largest online B2B marketplace. Partnership offers your company unrivalled business opportunities and access to millions of businesses worldwide.

www.TradeEasy.com

Trade Easy is an international trade enabler based in Hong Kong and China, providing free on-line and off-line sourcing services to a world-wide community of over 350,000 buyers. With over 200 customer service representative visiting and pre-qualifying over 15,000 suppliers in China every month, they supply comprehensive company information and over 350,000 product photos. You are welcome to join and be part of them!

www.freightquote.com

freightquote.com is a leading provider of web-based freight transportation management services for small businesses. Their carrier comparison and shipment management solutions help customers simplify freight shipping and manage their transportation spend.

For buying wholesale:

www.DollarDays.com

DollarDays is the premiere online wholesale distributor and closeout company that helps small businesses and entrepreneurs to compete against larger enterprises who buy bulk wholesale merchandise products. DollarDays offers 25,000 high quality goods at wholesale and bulk prices. Products are sold by the case and prices of our wholesale supplies are as cheap or in many cases cheaper than wholesale suppliers who buy in bulk. DollarDays prides itself on being a wholesale supplier who supplies existing businesses buying wholesale products as well as helping entrepreneurs open new stores and businesses.

http://www.worldwidebrands.com

Finding a dropshipper or wholesale distributor is a time consuming and frustrating process filled with wholesale scams. Discover how it all works and how we can help you avoid those scams especially if you want to dropship. Click the banner above.

If you are serious about buying wholesale, I cannot recommend wordlwidebrands.com enough. They are just fantastic!

And because I’m in the toy selling business, I have to include this one:

A great resource for just about every hot toy, game, puzzle, collectible, etc. on the planet.

And finally, some more recommendations:

Don’t have any idea what you should be selling? The program whatdoIsell, which is Certified by Ebay, can help you figure that out.

Productsforebay.com is a superb, free tool to help you determine which wholesale supplier is right for you, based on your experience, capital, and other areas of importance. It’s free.

This above website is what I have my main website on. It is inexpensive and the customer support is out of this world fantastic. Forget the eBay domain thing, whatever that one is called. And there are some others that are way more expensive. If you want to waste money, that’s your business. If not, go here.

And as for designing your website, no need to reinvent the wheel. www.templatemonster.com has thousands of pre-designed templates for you to use. They are quite inexpensive – as low as 20 dollars for many of them.

Check out some of these sites and see what’s available for you. Do your own research but listen to those who have come before you. Remember, yours is not to reinvent the wheel – your job is to make it roll faster!

Good Luck, have fun, and remember, it ain’t show friends. It’s show business!

To your success

Randy Withers