Question
I'm a newbie to internet auctions and I'm considering getting into this to get extra cash for the family. I'd appreciate any feedback to my quesitons.
I've watched two TV infocommercials "Auctions for Income" by Dave Espino and "epowerandprofits.com" - are these worth the price of $40 each to learn how to sell? Is there a better training guide?
Also are there any typical rules of thumb about sales per month and most importantly what kind of profits are usually made?
DennisH
Answer
Originally Posted by dennish
I'm a newbie to internet auctions and I'm considering getting into this to get extra cash for the family. I'd appreciate any feedback to my quesitons.
I've watched two TV infocommercials "Auctions for Income" by Dave Espino and "epowerandprofits.com" - are these worth the price of $40 each to learn how to sell? NO!
Is there a better training guide? Ebay offers all kinds of information for selling on site. You should be ale to find it without much difficulty.
Also are there any typical rules of thumb about sales per month No. You can do as little or as many as you'd like.
and most importantly what kind of profits are usually made? Depends on what you sell, your cost, what fees you pay and what the ending price was. There is no simple answer to this.
DennisH
Hope this helps.
Answer
Don't waste your money on those infomercial things. eBay has selling boards, groups and tips all for free.
The first thing to do is figure out what you are selling. Say you want to sell your Rocking Horse. Go to the eBay search and type in Rocking Horse, click on the Completed Items box and hit search. Review those listings and see if your rocking horse sells, at what price, what category they sold in. If you see a bunch of $200 listings don't get excited until you look to see if these $200 listings had bids or if they are the same thing you are selling. If you see a red rocking horse with a rope mane and yours is blue with a yarn mane then you can not expect it to sell for the same price.
If the first thing you research doesn't appear to sell on eBay then go on to the next item you are thinking of selling and do the same. Figure out what your threshold is as to price. (If you will be happy with $1, $10, $50.) I don't waste my time listing something that is labor intensive (describing, packing and shipping) for only a $5 sale.
List an item! It really is not hard. For your first few listings you can do it without any fancy templates, just use the basic HTML code of < p > for paragraph and do not type in all capitols. Describe the item, list the shipping costs then let the auction ride. After your first few sales you will have a feel of what you need to bone up on, maybe you are getting a lot of questions, so you know you are not adding enough information. Maybe you are not getting any hits (good thing to use counters) which usually means your title needs work (people won't open an auction if the title doesn't call them). That first auction is the hardest but then you wonder why you ever stressed about it.
Answer
spend a lot of time on ebay watching auctions looking at how diffrent sellers present goods
watch what sells and what dosnet see what attaracts you to auctions what turns you off
learn some HTML
read all the books on ebay you can get your hands on (no need to buy .check out your local library ours has most all of them) I've been on ebay since '98 and I still read every new book I can
start buying things on ebay that will do two things for you it will help build feedback and get you involved in the process.
IF your library dosen't have ebay books buy them on ebay read them and then re-sell them on ebay
ebay is NOT easy money like the infomercials imply but there is money to be made if you are willing to put a LOT of time and effort into it
Answer
save your money, the best book I bought was ebay auctions for dummies of half.com and the other easy one...don't recall the name but it was ebay auctions
has all the hints about key words so forth and so on
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You could buy one of those packages or go sit in a large bookstore and look though the "How to eBay" section until you find an author you like or read the eBay help section or .............
Anything that get you started is fine. There is no one way. You have taken a good early step by posting here.
I like the "Be a Customer First" approach.
Shop on eBay. Find products and presentations you like (you don't have to actually buy much but looking is an education and we don't discourage also buying). Why did you like it as a customer?
Find a role model. Then you have a goal of trying to present in that manner.
A good product at a fair price with a clear picture(s) and description.
Window shop, then buy a few things to experience the entire process, then post a listing and then come here and ask for a review and suggestions.
Do that over and over again and pretty soon you will know enough to be as total confused as the rest of us.
Don't bother looking for the perfect method. It doesn't exist.
We all just try, make mistakes, learn, try again, deal with change and keep going.
I would encourage you that when you have a choice to keep it simple. I think less is usually better and easier.
Give it a try and join our misery.
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Lots of great advice here already. I wish I could say that as you proceed and have some experience behind you, that you will have fewer questions. Actually, the opposite is true!
One thing I will stress: Find what you like, find what interests you, and then try to make a go of selling in those areas. Otherwise, it'll be hard to keep up the passion through the ups and downs of this business.
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Geez, I am really disappointed in you guys
Read ebay
and hang out on here
you'll be running with the big dogs in no time.
Welcome to here
and remember, if it ain't fun, quit doing it.
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What Beej said CANNOT be overemphasized.
The first lesson is that the only one who makes big money selling on eBay is eBay. The glory days are long gone, but one CAN eke a living using this venue.
In order to be any kind of success you have to KNOW the market you are selling in, and there are thousands of 'markets' on eBay.
You CANNOT use a shotgun approach and list everything in sight with the idea of making money. You can easily get eaten alive with listing fees.
List YOUR OWN stuff first. See how it sells. If you have any hobbies or interests persue THOSE areas first. Knowledge is everything in this business, and the better you can describe something through your personal knowledge, the better prices you are likely to get. Research everything. Pick a specialty, for about 70% of your items, and diversify and experiment with the other 30%.
DOnt fall victom to the 'Lottery Syndrome'. If you make a big score selling a Roseville urn, you will wind up losing money if you buy and list every Roseville urn you see afterwards. You must endeavor to find out why THAT particular urn did that well. It could have been a particularly rare style that is almost identical to similar items that are nearly worthless.
Though the eBay 'How to' books give basic tips and tricks, take them with a grain of salt. And keep your expenses to the bare minimum. No 'auction services' unless your sales are so plentiful that you need 'help'. No additional ebay 'features' unless you know damn well what you are doing. And if possible, try to get your packing materials for free.
Look at ebay as only a stepping stone if you are going to persue a career of online selling. Its a venue in decline, a wholesale market for the most part which is fine for making a few bucks when cleaning out grammas attic.
If you were to find a niche selling, say, Porsche heater hoses, and start to make real good money, then guaranteed some twits will find you and undercut you to the point where only pennies could be made per sale. So you must be flexible. Your goal at that point however, would be to create your own internet shop where you can sell all the Prosche heater hoses you want.
I originally started off on ebay selling art and antiques, and started selling books off my shelves when I was moving. I KNOW books, and did quite well sellling them. And though I sold quite a few in the $50-200 range, I was pricing them originally at $5-6 where most were selling without bidding wars. I increased my prices to $8-10 for my typical stock, and for the longest time I sold just as many, but with better profit.
Then sales started to plummet in the wake of the plague of penny sellers and nobody wanted to pay decent money for unusual but not totally rare books. At least not on eBay.
I took my books and moved them to the book sites, where my average sale price is $14, and listing is a breeze. I had outgrown eBay. And on the average I make more money than when I was selling on eBay.
I still sell on eBay now and then, but have basically quit for the spring and summer. I have alot of non-book merchandise to sell, but will wait for the Fall and Winter months when better prices can be achieved.