Showing posts with label help. Show all posts
Showing posts with label help. Show all posts

Thursday, April 15

Inspiration Week- Benjamin Lang's Ebay business Young Entrepreneur

Image representing eBay as depicted in CrunchBaseImage via CrunchBase

This week I have decided to post some inspiring success stories I have seen lately. I need some extra inspiration to keep me going sometimes. These videos are also filled with some great tips and advice about how to become successful selling on eBay. Hope you enjoy!
Related articles by Zemanta
2 comments:

Wednesday, April 14

Selling Used Kids Clothing On eBay

If you have kids and they wear name brand clothes you should be selling their used clothes on eBay. There is a small fortune to made on eBay if you list correctly. Certain brands like Gymboree, Nike, and boutique brands sell for almost new prices. I sold my daughters clothes after she outgrew them on eBay for over a year and was making back almost all of what I paid for the clothes so I was practically dressing her for free. I have learned some techniques that helped me make money selling my kids used clothes:
  1. Start by searching closed eBay auctions for the type of clothing and sizes you have to sell. This gives you and idea of the price these items are selling for. Also you can see if a certain day or time is showing more profit. I found that auctions that closed on Thursday evenings were the most profitable for me to sell my daughters clothes on. I guess more moms with baby daughters shopped at that time. Not sure what human psychology is behind it, but it does mak a difference. Here is how to search for the closed auctions: 
    1. On any page of ebay you will now find a search input at the top right corner of the page. Just below this you will find "Advanced Search". Click this link. 
    2. Now, in order to get a listing of completed items you will first need to search the current open items. Fill in your search parameters and click the "Search" Button.
    3. Once the list comes up, scroll down the LEFT hand edge of the page and you will see more search categories and "SEARCH OPTIONS". In this area you will find a check box next to "Completed Listings". Click this box and an check mark appears in it. 
    4. Scroll down a bit further and click the "Show Items' Button. You will now get a listing of CLOSED items which are still on the system. Keep in mind that this search option only goes back 30 days. You will not see any auction older than 30 days.
  2. Once you figured out about how much to expect to make off your items, decide how you want to sell them. I suggest selling clothing in bulk or lots which is just selling groups of items together instead of one piece of clothing per auction. Unless you have a very high value item it is always better to sell your items in a lot in my opinion. The reason I say this is because of how expensive shipping is. A buyer doesn't want to pay $6 in shipping for a $10 shirt. By selling a large lot of clothing you are giving the buyer a better shipping value. They will pay the $14 shipping for 10 shirts more readily. This will increase your bids as well. I would offer priority shipping and size my lots by the amount of clothes I can fit in the flat rate priority box. There are three sizes so you can sell different amounts based on what shipping box you are using. 
  3. When selling in a lot, have a theme. Sell clothes that are the same size, gender, and style. Sell clothes that are for the same season. Don't mix winter clothes and summer clothes together. Also if you can put clothes into outfits and sell them, the buyers seem to bid more. Its less work for busy moms to buy complete outfits than have to bid on auctions for all the separate pieces of clothing. On the other hand if you have a bunch of the same type of clothing like shorts an auction of multiple pairs of the same type of item does well also as long as you aren't selling duplicate items. 
  4. Organization is key so give yourself a room to spread out and group the clothes you are going to sell. Once you have decided what clothing you are going to sell together, you move to inspection. Look over each piece of clothing in very good (natural preferred) light. 
To be continued...
    Related articles by Zemanta
    No comments:

    SELLING ON EBAY: Secrets To Success.

    I found this advice site and thought I would pass it along. It says a lot of the same things I have already said but says it different. Sometimes it takes hearing things in several different ways before it sinks in for me personally. Also, the more I hear something, the more likely I will be to try it. So here it is:

    SELLING ON EBAY: Secrets To Success.
    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    No comments:

    Inspiration Week - ebay success story from $800 to 3.3 Million in 3 years

    eBay Inc.Image via Wikipedia
    This week I have decided to post some inspiring success stories I have seen lately. I need some extra inspiration to keep me going sometimes. These videos are also filled with some great tips and advice about how to become successful selling on eBay. Hope you enjoy!
    YouTube - ebay success story from $800 to 3.3 Million in 3 years: ""
    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    No comments:

    Monday, March 29

    Are eBay Stores Really Worth the Money?

    So my boyfriend who is my sidekick in setting up my online store has been super busy with his own online projects for the past few months. Needless to say, I am still store-less and still considering my options. I decided to go and check out the eBay Store situation. I used to have an eBay store back in 2007 and it didn't seem to bring the traffic or sales I was looking for. They claim they have improved the exposure given to those selling in an eBay store. I almost fainted when I calculated how much it would cost for me to open a store up. I have been looking at the free shopping cart software programs before now because I don't need a host. My boyfriend has plenty of space on his server for my little site.

    So here is the cost of an eBay Store:

    Subscription fees
    Store level
    Fee
    Basic
    $15.95 / month
    Premium
    $49.95 / month 
    Anchor
    $299.95 / month
    This is to just have the store. Here is what you get for each one:

    http://pages.ebay.com/storefronts/Subscriptions.html

    But then...

    Insertion fees
    Price
    30-day duration
    Good 'Til Cancelled*
    $1.00 - $24.99**
    $0.03
    $0.03 / 30 days
    $25.00 - $199.99
    $0.05
    $0.05 / 30 days
    $200.00 and above
    $0.10
    $0.10 / 30 days
    You pay for each item every month. Yes it may not be much but what if you have a thousand items! Oh but that is not all. When you sell your product you then pay:

    Final value fees
    Price
    Final value fee
    Item not sold
    No fee
    $1.00 - $25.00
    12.00% of the closing price
    $25.01 - $100.00
    12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the remaining closing value balance
    $100.01 - $1,000.00
    12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the initial $25.01 – $100.00 ($6.00), plus 4.00% of the remaining closing value balance $100.01 – $1,000.00
    Over $1,000.01
    12.00% of the initial $25.00 ($3.00), plus 8.00% of the initial $25.01 – $100.00 ($6.00), plus 4.00% of the initial $100.01 – $1,000.00 ($36.00), plus 2.00% of the remaining closing value balance ($1,000.01-closing value)
    In conclusion, I feel that an eBay Store is kinda a rip-off unless you have an already established customer base and guaranteed sales or have a few items you sell and they have a large profit margin.

    If you don't you would be better off paying for a shopping cart software like 3-D Cart and getting automatic exposure all over the internet for your products.
    Related articles by Zemanta
    2 comments:

    Tuesday, March 2

    EBAYS LOWEST INSERTION FEES EVER COMING THIS SPRING


    eBay announced in January it was going to reduce its fees. Now with March 30th quickly approaching those promises will soon be making it more affordable to sell on eBay. Starting March 30 the upfront cost of selling on eBay will be dramatically reduced for sellers of all sizes with eBays lowest Insertion Fees ever. Whether you’re running a business or selling to earn extra cash, choose from a range of options designed to make your selling easier and more profitable. So all of you procrastinators, me included, get your stuff ready to sell.

    eBay may have finally figured out that sellers will just go find another venue if they keep raising prices. There is a ceiling to the profits you can make per seller. For eBay to make more money, they need to bring in more buyers and sellers, not make it more expensive to sell. Good job eBay, keep up the rational thinking.
    Related articles
    2 comments:

    Friday, January 15

    Prestashop Update

    FrustrationImage by music2work2 via Flickr
    Well I have both some good news and some bad news to report about Prestashop. I unfortunately will not be using Prestashop. We got the whole storefront set up, I had all my pages complete. Uploaded all my products and categories using csv files. It looked good, I mean really good. Prestashop has a nice looking store template. Really professional and easy to set up. Some of the set up is not very intuitive but it takes a quick search on Google to find an answer to any how to questions.

    So we have the site setup and ready to go. One last step till launch, shipping. That is where prestashop takes a nosedive for U.S. users. It is absolutely not UPS compatible and I have heard it is slightly USPS compatible but I didn't install that module. I tried installing a module that someone had created that was supposed to add UPS shipping to the shopping cart but it didn't work. My boyfriend is a computer programmer and he couldn't get it to work, so it really was a failure. I ship items that vary in weight greatly and I ship all over the world so I could not possibly make an accurate shipping chart myself. It would take me forever and everytime  prices changed I would have to redo the entire thing, no way.

    With that being said I will be saying fairwell to my Prestashop store and trying another shopping cart software. Zen Cart is also a free software but unlike Prestashop it caters to users in the United States and has UPS and USPS shipping modules that are supposed to be functional. I will keep you updated on my findings.

    I think I will try and do some eBay auctions in the near future just to make some money. I keep focusing on the longterm goal of having my own store but nothing can beat eBay for making some quick profits. I just wish the items I sold where more niche and then it could be quick and large profits. If you have a niche product, eBay is the best place to start developing your business. After you start getting a customer base and some regular profits, then branch out to a store, Amazon, or other auction sites.

    Here are some of the books I found about this subject for further reading if you are interested. In fact I think I may need to purchase one of these this time around.
    You can't beat a good euphonious

    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    3 comments:

    Sunday, January 3

    OnlineAuction.com

    eBid Ltd.Image via Wikipedia
    I was doing a little research on alternative auction sites tonight and came across a site started right here in Southern Oregon. OnlineAuction.com is a modestly popular auction site. It certainly doesn't have the business that eBay enjoys but, it is only one of many auction sites popping up on the internet trying to win a piece of the frustrated eBay sellers who are looking for a better alternative. Some other auction sites are:

    I don't receive anything for advertising these sites. Its just for your information. You should check out the other auction sites because you may find they offer more for the money and may fit your goals better than eBay can.

    Related articles by Zemanta
    Reblog this post [with Zemanta]
    No comments:

    Monday, November 30

    Using CSV Feeds

    Last time I did the online sales thing I loaded each and every item I sold one by one. It was very time consuming and not very efficient. This time I have learned about using CSV feeds. I actually had no clue that my wholesale distributor provided a feed that had every item listed on it with all the information I needed to list it on my store. I am lucky enough to have a boyfriend who knows how to write script but I think with a little research, even a novice could learn how to convert these feeds into a useful tool for their website. With the use of script to transform the data provided by the wholesaler to the data required by my web host, I am able to upload my csv file and add 500+ products in less than 30 minutes.

    Before it was taking me about 30 minutes to load one item!  More information can be found about CSV files at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values. More information can be found about scripts at: http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/interact/scripts.html. You can even use CSV files with eBay. They have a page with details of how to upload CSV data. This page can be found here: http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/import-csv.html.

    Well this is my knowledge sharing for today. I know some of the more experienced sellers will already know what I am saying but if you are as inexperienced as I was, I hope this comes as a helping hand to you. Good luck, tis the season for sales.
    1 comment:

    Friday, February 8

    Still Kickin

    It has been awhile since I have written anything. I still have my eBay store but I have cut out most of my products for the time because I started having some problems around Christmas. Since I am primarily a drop-shipper I was having many orders that were back-ordered or even discontinued when I went to order them. I changed my strategy quite a bit. I have cut my suppliers down to two who I know are better at keeping items in stock and communication. They are also super quick shippers. I will be auctioning off all of my remaining stock that I have at my house in a couple of weeks. I will start all of these auctions for .99.

    With the market slowing right now I am really trying to attract international orders as much as I can and PayPal just made it much easier to take international payments without putting yourself in danger of losing money. I will be posting more in the future but wanted anyone who follows my blog to know that I am still in business and while it has been tough the last couple of months, I am not planning on giving up, but instead I am rethinking my strategy.

    Till next time...
    2 comments:

    Thursday, November 29

    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
    1 comment:

    Sunday, November 4

    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.
    No comments:

    Wednesday, October 24

    International Shipping Hassles


    This week has been one of those weeks when nothing seems to be going right. I am sick with a major infection. I am behind in school from being sick and I have had three eBay sales go the way of the creek. Two are international orders that are two big to ship USPS and UPS wants over $300 dollars to ship them!!! There needs to be some compromise between the two services. I might be able to find another shipper myself but I am working with a drop shipper so my options are only what they offer.

    The other order gone bad was an order that was made and when I went to make the order from the drop shipper they had conveniently discontinued the item. The big problem was that the customer sent me a money order before I found out that the item was no longer available. Soooo I had to wait and get the money order, cash it and send a refund through my bank. Like I said, it has been one of those weeks.     Advice...
    • Join Ebates if you still have not. I have earned over $140 in rebates from just going to their site before I shop at the online stores I was already planning on going to. I use it a lot for Gap, Ink Cartridges, and drugstore.com. The link to use is http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?id=32696671. If you sign up you get $5 just for joining.
    • In the past 10 months I have learned quite a bit. The biggest realization I have come to is do not limit your possibilities. My business has not formed the way I would have imagined it. I am not selling the items I initially wanted to sell. You have to be open to opportunities that come knocking and realize when other ideas need to be put away. The item you want to sell won't always be a money maker or the wholesalers you find that sell the item may not be people you want to have a business relationship with. I always invest in small amounts of new items I am buying wholesale to make sure it is going to sell. I also give my drop shipment items about six months and if they are not selling I end the listings and move on to something new. In short, be flexible!
    Until next time...(Hopefully next month!)
    No comments:

    Friday, June 15

    Yay Finals are done!!!

    Well I am officially out of school for the summer! Now I can focus on my business and hopefully get my sales up. I have really not been doing to well for the past month. It seems that sales have slowed all around but I think with some work I can get my business going strong.

    My new find this week that can have a positive effect on traffic for your business is StumbleUpon. StumbleUpon is a web discovery service which integrates peer-to-peer and social networking principles with one-click blogging. The Toolbar system automates the collection, distribution and review of web content within an intuitive social framework, providing users with a browsing experience which resembles "channel-surfing" the web.

    You should check it out for its entertainment value alone. I will be writing much more in July. Be sure to check back in the coming weeks!
    No comments:

    Wednesday, April 11

    Slow Week

    At least business wise it has been a slow week, personally I had to supervise Easter festivities for my 3 little ones and I started a new term of classes at Southern Oregon University.

    I think going on vacation for a week did slow business a lot, mostly because my business is so new and relies on eBay auctions for most of my traffic. Hopefully, it will pick up in the next couple of weeks. Of course many people have also been on Spring Break and probably not shopping too much!

    My advice this week does not have so much to do with my business but is a really neat website I found to help save you money. It works for my business because I use it when I buy clothes from Gap or Old Navy to resell.

    The site I am talking about is Ebates.

    Ebates, a shopping site that gives you up to 25% Cash Back every time you shop online. You can shop at over 800 stores including Barnes & Noble.com, Gap, Target, Buy.com and Expedia. Plus you get additional savings with exclusive coupons, free shipping offers, and limited-time sales!

    It doesn't cost anything to sign up and they pay you a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase!

    This isn't one of those sites that you have to fill out surveys or do anything lame. You just go to their site first before you shop at your favorite online retailers.

    I am only sharing this information because I have been using it and loving it. I earned almost $20 when I bought replacement ink for my printers!!!

    Until Next Time...

    No comments:

    Tuesday, March 27

    On Spring Vacation

    The kids and I are on Spring Break Vacation but lucky for me, all the family has computers! Sales have been going well. I have sold almost $4000 in product in my first two months. My profits haven't been that high because of some initial costs I have had to pay but I am not in the red. I have weeded out two drop shippers who were not very good. I have acquired two new drop shippers and also bought some wholesale goods from two others. I don't have a very large home so I will keep my wholesale orders down but it is nice to handle what you are selling before you sell it.

    I really wanted to talk to you about International Shipping today. I have been having some issues with the swords and weapon related items and international shipping. I have to ship most of them UPS because of their size and it is expensive. I just had an order that was $160 for shipping! Well the biggest problem is convincing buyers you     are not trying to rob them. My point of this is, sometimes with large or heavy items, International Shipping is more of a hassle than it is worth.

    Now for items weighing less that 13ozs, like clothes, you can ship Internationally for a dollar or two more that you can ship it in the U.S.. This makes selling clothing great on eBay. The best shipping costs for International Orders I have found are through the USPS. Don't forget to tell your customers they are responsible for any customs or tariff fees related to their order or you could end up losing money.

    Well that is it for today!
    1 comment:

    Tuesday, March 6

    What to Sell

    When starting a new business in retail the first question you have to answer is, what do I sell? On Ebay this question is really a never ending question. You are constantly trying to figure out that product that will make you a profit. I started off with about 3 drop shippers that I listed items from. Only one of them, who carries swords & weaponry brought me sales.

    I will tell you, selling swords was not really my first choice. I am a mother of three children and not really the violent type. I do like the whole fantasy genre and my husband has a couple swords around the house so it wasn't to awkward. It does seem wierd that my primary auctions are children's clothes and swords!

    This seems to be a regular event on Ebay. There are many sellers out there who sell a variety of items and that is OK.

    So my advice for this week is to not go crazy and buy $1000 inventory on something that you don't know will sell. Buy a small amount of product and test the waters. In addition, do your research. I will list some sites that I found helpful in my next blog.

    Until then...
    No comments:
    Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)