Making a Living On eBay – Learn How for Cheap
So you’re unemployed and you are considering making your living on eBay. Well, it can be done – I’m not going to tell you different, but to make a decent income ($2500 and higher) from just selling on eBay you will have to learn a lot, and sell a lot of product.
Many millions of people around the world have the same dream as you (wanting to make a living selling on eBay) and the competition is stiff. There was a day when you could find some good drop-shippers and let them ship out all the goods to your eBay buyers, but that profit avenue is drying up fast.
Why? Because the drop-shippers got smart and cut out the middle-man – that would be you and me…..the little guys. So have I discouraged you enough?
Like I said above – it can be done. If you are really serious about making a living on eBay you better start reading, reading, and reading. Then there is the Internet where you can find thousands of articles on how to make money on eBay, but there is one place that I think is the very best place to go to learn how to sell effectively – that’s at eBay itself. Click here to the eBay learning center and start by bookmarking that page. You can print some of their best learning materials off and create a binder. Then you can read anywhere and not just when you are online.
I highly suggest printing of the eBay learning center material before you buy any books. You can then go to the library and check out some books on eBay. Many of them are very basic so skim a little before jumping on one author’s take. Some books look like they have all the answers you need when you read the jacket, but when you dig into the book, it’s just very broad and basic.
There is that point where you will stop finding answers, tips, and tricks. That is when you realize the real pros at selling on eBay have got some master strokes they don’t give up. One of those master strokes is where to find the product that sell, and have a good margin. Some of these eBay masters make ALL their money from the shipping charges they tag on to every sale.
So have fun, read, dream, and then make a plan that makes sense to you and your situation. Oh – and look out for some of these eBooks promising to give you the “real goods on making a million dollars a year from selling on eBay”. You don’t need to spend $30-$50 dollars on some crap ebook when the information is out there for free on the eBay web site, and in the library.
Learning How to Use Ebay
Business people and anyone who is hoping to start a business using Ebay should be aware that Ebay is just a tool that can be used to manage the advertising, the sales process and the collection of funds for items sold. It is also a very powerful tool for customers who can indicate their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the seller.
Ebay has a very good set of instructions online available to everyone and as already mentioned, users should make themselves aware of all of the aspects of Ebay and how to use it to your best advantage. It is an excellent tool and as with all tools used in your business, business owners should make themselves fully conversant with the tools they use to make their business successful. There is much more to running a business aside from using tools like Ebay and business owners should pay attention to these areas as well.
Business Plan
For example, every business person should have a business plan which describes how they will run their business, their sales, their products that they will sell, how they will ship or deliver products and how they will support their customers. The business plan will also explain what tools they will use to enable their business, including tools like Ebay and other financial tracking tools, customer tracking tools and so on.
One of the most significant issues that gets many business owners into trouble is cash flow. Sometimes expenses get ahead of revenues and coming up with the cash to pay employees including yourself, purchase raw materials, manufacturing, packing shipping charges and so on can be challenging. Your business plan should address your financial plan as well which covers sales, expenses and bottom line profit as well as cash flow. Ebay is a great sales tool and customer management tool, however business owners should step back and consider the bigger picture as they develop their business.
Focus on Quality Products and Quality Service
Ebay emphasizes that business owners should offer quality products and services to their customers. In fact they provide a very strong customer assessment tool for customers to provide feedback about a seller that they have dealt with. A good rating for a business is worth its weight in gold since it tells everyone that deals with them that they provide quality products and they follow up with any issues and complaints that might arise. A key measure is also how fast the order is fulfilled and delivered to the customer.
At the same time if you are a frequent purchaser of services or products on Ebay, businesses can rate buyers as well. Prompt payment for products is a key measure.
Your approach to this area should be outlined in your business plan and adjusted from time to time as you gain more experience with Ebay, with the products that you are selling and the demand for your business products along with customer feedback. Failing at customer service on Ebay can paint a black mark against you which can effect sales significantly because customers will be afraid to deal with you.