Holiday Shipping Deadlines

Well the verdict is in, if you want your product to arrive on time the shippers are all providing the 17th as the last day you can ship an item using standard delivery and expect it to arrive in time for Christmas. There is a chance that something ordered later than that will arrive but I would not bet on it. So keep that in mind when either shopping or selling online this Christmas season.

For your convenience I have listed the links to the top U.S. shippers' holiday mailing schedules:

USPS

UPS

DHL

FEDEX

Happy Holidays!!!

Cynthia Ford
www.toriastreasure.com

Free Download - eBay Workshop Collection 2007

I have a valuable freebie for you today.

It's from Worldwide Brands, the creators
of OneSource.

They have the world's largest database
of genuine wholesale suppliers and every
year, they hold workshops for eBay sellers
on how to find wholesale products for their eBay
business.

They recently compiled all of their 2007
eBay workshops into one eBook.

The workshop titles included in the ebook are...

* From Hobby to Home Business

* How to Compete in a Crowded Market

* What is the difference between Liquidation,
Closeouts, and Surplus

* Understanding the Basics to Importing
Physical Products to Sell

* Building Supplier Relationships is Very
Important Especially for the Holiday Season

You can download it for free here:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/kh_freeebookWorkshops.asp?kbid=17080

It's a great book and I'm sure you'll get a lot of
value from it.

Also, if you sell on eBay or plan to in the future,
OneSource is a great place to find wholesalers
and drop shippers for your eBay auctions.

And there are 2 big reasons you should become a
member of OneSource today:

The first reason is right now, they are running
a $30 discount to a lifetime membership to OneSource.
The discount only lasts until the end of November.
It's the lowest price you'll be able to get a
lifetime membership to OneSource.

Click here to get the full details on OneSource and
get the discount:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com/?kbid=17080

The second reason why you should get OneSource is
wholesalers have begun offering steep discounts on
their products. They are trying to get inventory out
of their warehouses before the end of the year, so
they won't have to pay taxes on the inventory.

That rarely happens this time of year.

But, with the combination of the housing and mortgage
market, the low consumer confidence index and wholesalers
overestimating retail sales, wholesalers are looking
for a way to liquidate goods immediately.

It's a great opportunity to stock up on items to sell
right now and for the first quarter of 2008. But you
need to take advantage of this now.

This window of opportunity closes on December 31st,
2007.

Chris Malta, the founder of Worldwide Brands, explains
how you can take advantage of this rare opportunity
and buy low from wholesalers and sell high for nice
profits in a brief audio.

You can listen to his 8-minute audio here:

http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/2007_wholesale_opportunity.asp?kbid=17080

Enjoy the free eBook and the audio and I'll talk to
you soon.

Cynthia Ford
www.toriastreasure.com

Customer Troubles

I had the worst customer relations issue this week. It is the biggest problem I have had since I began my business. I had a customer buy an expensive item which I purchased through a drop-shipper. The said item did not arrive is satisfactory condition, which happens sometime. To make matters worse a third-party becomes involved through the customer and tells the customer that the item I sold them was in fact a fake! Well the item was not a fake and I had to end up contacting the manufacturer and having them verify that my distributor was an authorized distributor. This customer was about to ring me through the whole eBay, PayPal dispute system. It was a huge headache.

Honesty is such an important quality in business. You will never get far if you have dishonest business practices. Even though this week was stressful, in the end it worked out because I was honest with the customer. I can accept that an item arrived damaged and needs replaced. I am so willing to bend over backwards for customers in that instance. On the other hand, to be accused of selling fraud products hurts me because I am an honest person and the thought to buy cheap crap to resell on eBay has never crossed my mind.

When I decided to start my eBay business I went the legal route and obtained my tax id so I could work with real wholesalers and drop-shippers not those ones who say they are for real but don't require any special info from you. Those people are schemers and to sell the products listed you would have to mark them up way over retail and would be lucky if you made an occasional sale.

I am ranting today but my advice this week is, be honest. No matter what you think you can get if you aren't, it never works out in the end. Dishonesty in business will be the end of your business. If you are delayed in shipping be upfront with your customer. If you make a mistake, admit it. It may not be easy to do all the time but it is the best way to go.

Till next time...

HELPFUL RESOURCES

Helpful Resources

If you can't find products to sell you should check out World Wide Brands. They offer a legitimate list of wholesalers & dropshipers for a one-time membership fee. To check out this great resource, click here.

If you are a Mom like me and are starting an Ebay business, the absolute best site I have found for tips, tools, forums, and overall support is Here Comes the Stork. It is geared towards selling children's clothes but there are members who sell lots of different items. See for yourself, click here.

Before you invest in all that inventory, do some free research using Mpire Researcher. They will tell you what percentage of the items sold, what was the average price, and let you know the best way to list your products. This is great. I always use Mpire before I start an auction.

This is all I have for now but it is a great start.