Basic Ebay Information #1: Getting Started

Here's how I did it...

Ok. You just got a computer and you just learned how to plug the thing in. You just got internet access recently. For the past 17 years, give or take, you've been hearing people talk about ebay non-stop. "I found this sweater on ebay..." or "I sold my car on ebay...." 

You may be wondering, "just what on earth is ebay?" and "can I make any money at it???" Well, I'll answer the second question with a resounding "YES!!!!" That was the easy question to answer. Now, for the answer to the first question: Just what on earth is ebay? Well, ebay is.....   hold on just a minute. Excuse me for a minute as I answer a question posed to me by a potential ebay buyer....   OK, done. Yup. I take care of my customers. You will want to as well. I'll explain later. But back to the main question: Just what is ebay?

Ebay is a website, like the millions of other websites that you may visit day in and day out. Ebay, however, is the longest-running online person-to-person sales website around. As you can imagine, it's immense. Huge!

How huge? Well, you can live in a one-redlight town in the middle of Iowa. You can take a picture of an old Edison phonograph... you know, the ones that take those old ancient records that look like cardboard toilet paper tubes? You can log in to ebay, create a listing, upload a few pictures, write a description, and anyone (well, any registered user, anywhere in the world) can buy it. Someone in Ireland. Someone in Mozambique. Even someone in rural Mongolia. Yes, anyone with an internet connection, an ebay presence and cash can buy anything you put on ebay- even that old Edison phonograph that you found in your attic while doing spring cleaning.

Ever been doing some spring cleaning and come across some old thing that you hadn't a clue what it was or what it was worth? Some old electronic thing, or some old do-dad, maybe a widget, or an old door knob from the 1880's. Your first instinct might be to toss it. Or to donate it to Goodwill. Or give it away. Or yard-sale it for $3. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG. Your first instinct, every single time, from now on, anytime you run across anything in your home, is "I wonder what this will sell for on ebay?" Anytime you go yard-saling, the first question that should pop in to your head for every single item you pick up is, "I wonder what this will sell for on ebay?"

Get in to that habit. Stop wondering what it is or how you can get rid of it. Start wondering how much is it worth? I can almost guarantee that for every piece of "junk" cluttering up your kitchen cabinet, junk drawer, storage room, basement, attic or wherever else things seem to pile up, there is a buyer waiting for you to list it on ebay. 

So, stop throwing things out, and start listing them! Make some money on them! If you own a car (who doesn't nowadays!), that little widget you would ordinarily have tossed out might have sold for $5 on ebay, resulting in about a $3 profit for you. Now, $3 might not sound like much, but it can be the price of a gallon of gas...  if gas ever drops back down to $3 again. Now, what if that same object you were planning on tossing  instead sold for $15? $50? $100? $500? Sound crazy? Let me tell you, it happens ALL THE TIME on ebay. There are millions of things on ebay at any given moment. Certainly SOME of those things were things found lying around in someone's basement or garage. The owner polished them up a bit, took a few pictures, wrote up a listing, and put them on ebay. A week later, there was a nice hefty windfall in his paypal account...  a nice little windfall to help fill-up the tank, help with the next car tune-up, lawn care bill, car repair bill, dental bill, new pair of shoes you'd been needing, or any one of a million other things you need to spend your money on to make your world function.

OK. I know I tend to ramble on a bit. I also know you really want me to get to the meat and bones about how to make money on ebay. Well, I'll get to that. But first, I thought you'd like a little bit of background on myself. I mean, how on earth do you know that I know what I'm talking about?

Well, you don't. Do you? Not right now at least. But stick with me. I can be quite persuasive.

Ebay was begun back in the mid-90's. You can do some searching on google to find out more about it, so I won't bore you with a history lesson here. But I will begin with my entrance onto the ebay stage in September 1997. Much has changed in ebay-land since then. In fact, I don't think that even I would recognize a 1997 ebay screen shot if I saw it today. Much has changed, but much has remained the same, as well. The basic premise behind ebay remains the same: that individual buyers and sellers can meet and literally buy and sell things over the internet, quite easily.

My first transaction on ebay was a 1980's record album that I wanted. Long story short, the record album I received wasn't the one I'd bought and paid for. Back then, buyers had little recourse when trying to settle problems with sellers. Today, things are much different, but, back to the story. I received a different album than the one I'd bought. The seller was uncooperative. Not to be undone, I turned the tables. I re-listed the same album I'd just received in the mail. It was an album I'd never even heard of, and I'd never be able to remember the name or title now. But, that doesn't matter. What does matter is what happened next. The album sold for five times what I had paid for it. I think I paid $5 for it, and I think it sold for $27. This happened back in 1997, so I forget the exact amounts, but I know I paid close to $5 for it, and I know it sold for more than five times what I had paid.

I was hooked. Certainly it couldn't be this easy, could it? Selling on ebay? Making money? I'd just made about $20 for doing little more than a few minutes' worth of work. Could it really be this simple? My mind began to run the numbers. I'd just made $20 for a few minutes' worth of time. What if I just sold two things an hour? That'd equate to $960 profit PER DAY! Now, chances were that I wasn't going to make $20 profit on every item I sold, and also that I wasn't going to sell two things an hour. I didn't even have anything at the moment to sell, let alone selling two things an HOUR. More about that later. But the main question rolling through my mind was, "Could it really be this simple?"

Truth was, it could. And it was. Still is. And that's what we're going to talk about in this blog.

So, that's how I got started. Ebay's come a long way since those early days. It's now a 150,000,000+ member association of buyers and sellers all across the globe. Any one of those 150,000,000+ ebay users is a potential buyer for your basement widget, junk drawer gadget or yard sale find.

Since my 1997 beginning, I have grown from a ebay tinkerer- tinkering with selling a few things here and there- to an ebay powerseller as well as a top-rated seller. Each is a unique ebay qualifier that is reserved to the upper echelon of ebay sellers. After reading my blog, and what I've learned, my mistakes, my do's an don't's and other tricks of the trade, I think you'll see just how I turned a little vinyl album sale in to an easy work-from-home powerseller mini-ebay-empire.

So, let's begin, shall we?

The first thing you need to do, if you haven't already, is to actually register with ebay as well as paypal. Now, I can't tell you exactly how to do it, where to click, and so forth, because ebay is constantly evolving. I could easily go to the ebay website and see where the little 'register now' icon is, but what if they move the icon to the other side of the page next week? Ebay is constantly editing and re-editing and moving things around its site. So, it's just far easier if you simply log on to the website and do a little digging on your own to see just how to get started. 

But get started you must. Come on! Take the plunge! There's no point in reading further if you aren't going to take that first initial step! So, become a registered ebay user. You're going to select a unique ebay seller ID. Think about this for a moment. Your ebay user ID is going to be the identifier buyers associate with you, so make sure you select one that suits you. You may elect a business-like, professional sounding user ID (sarahsantiques, for example), or a combination of your initials and some random number. But choose something. Be creative. Don't be alarmed if ebay tells you to choose another ID; it simply means someone else has already chosen the one you just selected. Choose another. You can choose to alter your user ID later, but other users can find out that you've done so. Doing so isn't necessarily a bad thing- people switch their user IDs all the time. But doing so can potentially have negative connotations: "Did she switch her user id for something bad or questionable that she was involved in?" Don't switch your user id unless you absolutely have to.

Once you've gotten registered on ebay, next, you need to be registered on paypal. Paypal is an ebay company, but it's more-or-less spearate from ebay. Think of ebay and paypal as Siamese twins: conjoined, but separate. Each has its own separate operating rules, but more and more they are becoming as one entity.

Having a paypal account is almost essential nowadays. Checks are so last-century. Paypal is the way to go. Yes, paypal does take a cut of your profit in the form of a commission (about 4%- it varies on a number of factors), but, in this digital age, you don't want to be one of the few sellers who don't accept paypal. Yes, you can still accept checks and/or money orders. There are still people (buyers) on the planet who do not use paypal, and will be forced to buy your wares using a check or money order. But, checks and money orders are quickly becoming so much of a thing of the past. I rarely have a case where a buyer wishes to send me a check, but it can still potentially happen. Accepting checks offers up a whole new can of worms in and of itself, such that, the more you think about it, paypal really is the better deal all the way around, for so many reasons. Trust me on this one.

Paypal works by sending money to your paypal account. Your paypal account is linked to your email address. So, simply by giving someone your email address (whichever one you have linked to your paypal account), you can easily and immediately accept a paypal payment from anyone anywhere in the world. It doesn't matter if the buyer lives in Russia, Singapore or Tanzania. The funds are deposited in to your paypal account electronically, in whichever denomination you select. Here in the US, we use the dollar, of course, so all my payments are in the dollar.

So, set up an ebay account as well as a paypal account, steps #1 and #2, above. If you don't have a checking account, you'll likely want one of them, or a savings account. Why? Well, because one of the preferred ways of gaining access to the funds in your paypal account (the "funds" is the money from all the stuff you've sold!) is to link your paypal account to your checking or savings account. If you sell something on ebay for $500, the buyer will likely "paypal" you a payment for $500. Paypal will immediately take its percentage for handling the transaction- like I said, about 4%- and deposit the rest in to your paypal account. In this example here, you'd end up with about $480.

You want access to that $480, right? Well, you will have a number of options. Paypal offers a debit card that can be used at any ATM to access those funds. But why pay those ATM fees? I never do. One of the secrets to selling online is to cut your expenses (fees, costs, etc.) to the bone. Part of that means not paying for ATM fees if you don't have to. I have paypal automatically forward me my cash, directly to my checking account, in the form of an ACH (automatic clearing house) transaction. Yes, it does take a few days to get my money, but, there's NO FEE to do so. And, it's in my checking account, where I have easy access to it. I can go to any ATM associated with my bank and withdraw funds- remember, 'funds' is money I've received from the sale of my goods on ebay!- with no fees!

Someday soon you'll likely be making sales to the point where you can simply pay yourself weekly. By that, I mean, each week, pick a day. We'll use Friday, the day I use. Every Friday I transfer everything but $100 of my paypal funds from paypal to my bank checking account. Three or four days later, presto, just like magic, is the full amount I just transferred to my bank account just days prior. It's like getting a weekly check. You are effectively 'paying yourself'!.

You don't necessarily need to transfer ALL your paypal funds to your checking account. You can leave it all in your paypal account if you like. I leave about $100 in my paypal account so that I, too, can buy things on ebay, or from any other merchant that accepts paypal. And, that list is growing daily. I also keep some money in my paypal account because it's an easy way to pay your ebay fees. More about fees later.

Ok. So, we've covered getting registered on ebay, paypal, and opening up a checking or savings account. Again, I am just covering the basics. Whole chapters can be written on such topics.

Next, if you don't already have one, you'll need an inexpensive digital camera. I like the ones that use those typical SD storage cards that are about the size of a postage stamp. You can buy an inexpensive 7 megapixel digital camera for under $100 nowadays, and a 8 gb SD card for $10 at KMart. Throw in a few AA batteries, and you're set. Forget about using your cell phone camera function. Most cell phone cameras are inferior, and you want to have nice, detailed, high-quality images to post on ebay. So, go with an actual digital camera.

Next, if you haven't already, log in to youtube.com and create a YouTube account. More about that later, but, basically, you'll want to upload videos of your items as well as just plain old pictures. I'll tell you why later. Remember, you are reading MY tips.... not just some tips read in some random online post. I'm here to help you maximize your ebay earnings. Speaking of ebay earnings, I'll let it be known here that online selling is ALL I do. No 9 - 5 job. No boss. All I do all day long is buy and sell. If you continue reading, and use all my tips, you can be doing the same. No 9 - 5 job. No working a part time job at McDonald's. No settling for $7 - $12 an hour at a factory. No boss. Set your own schedule. Do your own thing. Sound good? Then keep reading.

No, let's talk about that a bit more. Yes, a 9 - 5 job does have its benefits. You do get out of the house for a bit. You aren't locked away at home at a computer all day. And, you can get health benefits as well as a 401(k). 

But let's look at the flip side, shall we? I, for example, have no boss. I don't need to fight the traffic to  get to/from work. I don't have to deal with the typical office/ workplace BS/ boss stupidity/ lazy co-workers / office staffing cut-backs  and all that other garbage. If I want to sleep in until noon, I do. If I want to work until midnight and get some listing done, I do. I set my own hours. I listen to whatever radio station I want, dress how I like, take breaks when I feel and am not a slave to a time clock.

If I want to take a couple days off to go visit mom or dad, I do. No asking the boss. No filling out a silly work "permission slip". If I want to take the laptop out and sit in the sunroom and work, I do. Or go outside and sit in the sun on the patio, picnic table, or anywhere else, I do. I can take my laptop and work out on the boat if I want, next to the pool, or in the RV.

I am not tied to my laptop, however. Cell phones are so integrated that I can head to the store, check my cell phone while in the produce department, see if I have any messages from potential buyers, actually read and answer those questions on the spot, then move on and grab a bunch of bananas and toss them in to the cart. 

I can take a lunch break whenever I want. I can hop in the car and go whenever I want. Try doing that at a regular job. I can take a few days off and go wherever, whenever. The best part about it all is, my work can go with me, if I so choose. Most hotels and motels nowadays have wifi. Any laptop today can easily log on to wifi, where I can easily see if I sold anything since my last ebay check-in, or if I have any questions. Many restaurants now have wifi. I can zip across town, stop in to a McDonald's for a healthy, fat-free quarter pounder with fries and a coke (LOL), check my messages, and then go. The whole point I am trying to make is, being your own boss- your own ebay boss- allows you to do everything I've just described. And I've just scratched the surface!

But I'm not done. Suppose I take a couple days off to go visit mom. Or dad. Or the sis. Or even take a week off and take a vacation down to Florida. I can easily take my laptop, my cell phone, and in my spare time, actually list things for sale, ANYWHERE I HAPPEN TO BE. With a computer, cell phone and digital camera, there are almost no limits to what you can do!

Remember I said that I can ramble a bit? Sorry. Back to the topic.

I have talked to hundreds of people about ebay and I keep hearing the same old thing. "I don't have anything to sell." Well, neither did I when I first began. Then, I realized that things to sell are ALL AROUND US! One just has to know where to look. But even that's an easy no-brainer, because even that list is quite extensive. Besides your basements and closets, where no doubt you have something you no longer need and can easily sell (old records, CD's, jewelry, old clothes, old toys, etc., etc.), let's brainstorm and try to think of some other easy opportunities to acquire ebay inventory: yard sales, swap meets, estate sales, moving sales, thrift stores, church rummage sales, Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc., etc. 

The list is endless. Believe me, after you hit just the ones I've just mentioned above, you won't WANT any more, because you'll have so much stuff to list that you will hope and pray for rain to keep you from going out and buying more stuff to list!

The next question is, 'Just what do I look for at yard sales to buy to list on ebay?' Well, this is a two-part answer. First, do you have any knowledge or expertise in any one area about the value of items? Do you know everything under the sun about clothing, labels, and how much clothing is worth? What do you find at every yard sale and every thrift store? Do you think you could rummage around and find the one article of clothing at the yard sale down the street that has a $2 price tag that you know is worth $25? Do you know a lot about jewelry? Old records? Model airplanes? You will find these all day long at yard sales, likely for a fraction of their ebay-value.

Part two of the answer is, can you think of anything- anything at all- that a collector might be looking for on ebay? Do you collect something? Mickey Mouse items? Is there one Mickey Mouse figure, one Mickey Mouse radio that you know exists, because you had one as a youngster, but haven't seen for decades, and would buy in an instant if you saw one at a flea market? Do you think you could walk in to a flea market and walk out with at least five old collectible things that some collector would likely be willing to PAY YOU FOR? I guarantee that given $200 and three hours, I could walk out of a flea market with about 75 items that I could spend the rest of the week listing. By the time I got done listing all 75 of those items, four or five will already have sold, and I will have made back most of the $200 I spent to begin with. Do you know what that means? That means that pretty much every dollar I make on every of the remaining items will practically be PURE PROFIT!!!

The key here is to buy used items. Forget new things. People can go to WalMart, KMart, Target as well as any of a thousand other brick-and-mortar stores for new items. What you want are used items, at least to start out with. You want to stick with a few inexpensive used items that you can throw on ebay to get your feet wet and learn the ropes. Collectible items is one prime example.

Used electronics is another. Do you have an ancient reel-to-reel movie projector in the basement, attic or buried in the back of the closet that Uncle Al gave you that you never used? Chances are, there's a collector on ebay, either logged in right now, or who has logged in within the past 2 - 3 days who is looking for that same exact item. And he's looking to buy. All he needs is someone who's looking to sell.

Let your mind wander here as I mention some of the everyday things I see at yard sales all day long that easily will sell on ebay for more than you paid: vintage clothing, old electronics, comic books, glassware, newer polo shirts, vintage record sets, vintage lamps, anything collectible, vintage toys from the 1980's and prior. Think back to your childhood. Think of some of your childhood toys. Barbie dolls, Lego, Lincoln Logs, vintage electronic games, old race car sets, Fisher Price toys, etc., etc., etc. The list is endless!!!!!!

Endless I say! 

Let me repeat: ENDLESS!!! If you hit six yard sales on a Saturday afternoon and begin with $100 cash, you are going to end up back home with 10 - 20 items you should be able to ebay easily, and make money on most if not ALL of them.

Again, you are looking for things that are older and collectible. That's a huge market on ebay. People go to WalMart for things like new cooking ware, new clothes and new DVDs. Where do you think they go for a neat, unusual, older, vintage collectible gift for mom or dad? They aren't going to go to WalMart where everything's likely cheaply made, imported, and where there are likely a dozen more identical items on the shelf next to the one you just grabbed. 

These buyers are going to ebay, where else? Older collectible items are so common at any yard sale, any thrift store and any rummage sale, and they're also so inexpensive!!!!

OK, so we've covered where to get items that you can easily sell on ebay for a profit. Now a few more pointers: 

You'll generally want to stay away from things that are easily broken (china, glassware, fragile clocks, fragile ceramic table lamps, etc.). Here's why: you, as a seller, will be responsible for actually getting the item to the buyer in the same condition as when you listed it. Notice I italicized the last nine words in that last sentence. They are extremely important. If you list an item on ebay- a vase, for example- ANY item- it doesn't matter what, but we'll go with a vase- and describe it as being in perfect condition, with no nicks, dings, chips, cracks or other obvious blemishes, it had better arrive in the buyers' possession as such. This is extremely important.

Now, this is not to say that you can't sell such fragile items on ebay, because you can. But it does mean that you, as the seller, are guaranteeing that you are going to wrap it and package it such that it survives the brutal postal system intact and arrives to the buyer in the same condition as when you shipped it. Now, granted, even the most securely-package items can get broken or lost in the mail, which is why you ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS add shipping insurance to items you ship. ALWAYS. 

Even for a shirt you sold, because, after all, what could possibly happen to a shirt? It can't break, obviously, but breakage isn't the only thing that can occur. The shirt can get lost in the mail and end up in Pakistan. A careless postal employee can drop the box out the back of his truck and back over it. The box can get soaked by rain, or someone can spill a soda on the box, ruining the contents.

You see, when you sell something, you, the seller are responsible for it until it arrives in the buyers' hands. Many sellers don't understand this, and it turns out to be a VERY costly mistake. Yes, things can go wrong after a package leaves your hands, but YOU, the seller, are ultimately responsible. That's why you always want to add insurance, and signature confirmation for sold items valued at over $250, to CYA! Part of that responsibility means adding the ever-necessary shipping insurance to cover lost, damaged or broken items.

Let me explain just what CAN potentially happen on ebay. Are you sitting down? I'll wait a moment while you grab a seat. Ready? OK. Let's assume you sold a vintage yard sale vase  for $375. It can happen. It's happened to me. Let's also assume, just for laughs, that you packed it up all fine and dandy, shipped it, and thought that, because you packed it so well, it couldn't possibly get broken. Well, do you think the postal carriers will give a crap about your vase? These are government employees we are talking about! They could not care less. Sure, your letter carrier, Linda, is all nice and sweet, but what about the 35 other people who handle your package between your house and your buyers'? Think they give a rats....  tail?
 
So your vase arrives in a hundred pieces. You had no insurance on the item. You originally listed the item as being in excellent condition. Did it arrive in excellent condition? It doesn't matter why it didn't arrive in excellent condition, it only matters that it didn't. The buyer is simply going to open up a 'not as described' claim against you. It happens. With proper packaging, you can minimize such cases, but you will never truly be able to eliminate damage or loss of items through the postal system (or by UPS or FedEx, for that matter). The buyer will tell ebay, "Hey, this vase arrived broken. The listing says it's in excellent condition." Technically, it did not arrive to the buyer 'as described', right? That is the way ebay is going to view it. Trust me on this. Ebay will FORCE you to refund the money to the buyer. Yes, force you. You can do it willingly, of course, but if you don't, ebay and paypal will literally force a reversal of funds from your paypal account to the buyer, whether or not you have the funds in your paypal account. 

See how I've italicized the last part of that last sentence? That's because it doesn't matter if you have the funds or not in your paypal account. Your paypal account will undoubtedly be linked to your checking account. Paypal will actually pull funds from your checking account, through your paypal account, and force a refund to the buyer that way. If you do not have those funds in your checking account, paypal will still do it anyway, resulting in a NSF fee from your bank on your checking account because the reversal will technically have caused a negative balance in your checking account.

On top of all that, you'll likely get a negative feedback from the buyer. Avoid negative feeback at all costs.

See how all this could have been avoided by simply adding shipping insurance? UPS automatically offers up to $100 in insurance on UPS Ground packages. Add insurance to all packages, unless you are feeling lucky. But, mark my words, you will get burned, and it'll be on some $500 item.

OK, I got off topic here for a few minutes. It happens. It happens because I have so much information that will save you a ton of headaches. Just read and listen, and learn. Got it? :-)

Another thing you want to look for are items at yard sales and thrift stores that are in excellent condition. Now, what exactly do I mean by excellent condition? Old collectible radios shouldn't have knobs missing. Games shouldn't be missing parts. If an item plugs in, ask to test them to see if it works before you buy. An old record set shouldn't be scratched up. An old toy car from the 1950's shouldn't be missing a tire. A nice shirt shouldn't have a spot, anywhere on the thing. Stuffed toys or battery-operated toys that are no longer currently available at stores should be clean, presentable, with no loose seams, odors or show signs of wear & tear.

I know this is asking a lot, but it really pays off. It also eliminates about 80% of the things you will see when you go yard-saling. Yardsalers are, in effect, trying to sell you stuff they no longer want. It's your job to pick the cream of the crop from their wares to offer your new potential buyers: the 150,000,000+ ebayers, some of whom are looking for that 1980's Tweety Bird stuffed toy in excellent condition you just found at the yard sale for 50 cents. 

Just how much is that Tweety Bird stuffed toy worth? Well, "worth" is relative. That means, while it may only be worth 50 cents to the yard sale seller, to that Tweety Bird collector, it may be worth $25. Maybe $35. Maybe more.

I know you think I am crazy. Stuffed toys are NEVER worth that much. I mean, after all, you'd never pay that much for one, would you? I doubt even I would. But were not talking about how much you or I would pay for one. We're talking about how much a collector, or someone who is looking for just the right Tweety Bird stuffed toy will pay on ebay. One that is in excellent shape. One with no rips or loose seams. No spots, no odors, and no signs of wear  tear, and no signs of use, misuse and abuse. 

Sounds like a lot of words to describe just one stuffed toy, huh? Believe me, one of my tricks that pays off handsomely is in the description. Every ebay listing has a title, a place for pictures and a place for a description.  More about that later.

Let's run with this example. A Tweety Bird stuffed toy. I've sold hundreds of stuffed toys over my ebay career. I do it all the same way. If you log on to ebay, do a simple search for Tweety Bird stuffed toys.  I just did a search just now and found them priced beginning at 99 cents for an auction, all the way up to $129 for a vintage collector's toy from 1971. About 80% of the listings are priced at $25 and less. Where do you think these sellers obtained their Tweety Bird stuffed toys from? Yard sales and thrift stores, most likely, although some could conceivably come from their own private collections.

What's one thing you notice about every single one of them? Yes! They are ALL spotless and in decent-looking condition. This is IMPORTANT! I cannot stress the importance of finding clean, spotless, un-broken items at yard sales and thrift stores to sell on ebay.

Why is that, you ask? Well, it's quite simple. Buyers- at least the buyers you want to attract- will PAY for something clean, something working...   basically something in excellent condition. Hence, you have to seek out those items, and ensure that every item you list is as clean and as perfect as possible. Of course, some things are expected to be dirty. Used car parts, for example, are expected to have a degree of dirt and crud on them. But, as a general rule, you will want to start out by seeking clean items in excellent shape.

Here's the best part about offering only clean respectable items: BUYERS WILL PAY TOP DOLLAR FOR SUCH ITEMS. This is a proven fact. I have tried it. It works. I have listed things as a test before. The same exact item. Two different listings. In one, I mentioned that "this is an ordinary stuffed toy.....", and priced it at $10. The same exact toy, with a much better-written description, better pictures and better presentation all the way around, with a $25 price tag. 

Which one do you think sold quicker? 

Mmmm hmmmm.... the more expensive one. Stick with items in excellent, or as close to excellent condition as possible. More below about describing items in listings.

OK. Thus far we've covered where to get items to start with, and how to go about selecting them.  One more point....   for now, you are going to want to start off with things that you can easily box up and ship. By that I mean anything smaller than a bread box. Really, use your own judgement here, but if you can't easily ship it, how on earth are you going to sell it on ebay, to a buyer who is going to expect it to be shipped? 

Now, there are ways around all these larger items, but, for now, we are just getting you started, remember? So, we are going to stick with smaller items that can easily ship.

So, you're now up to speed and have followed my instructions thus far. Don't worry if you are stuck. There will be opportunities for questions later. 

Let's assume that you have a digital camera, three or four items to sell, and all your accounts are ready to go (ebay seller account, paypal, checking, YouTube). Next, let's get ready to work on a first listing! 

Now, keep in mind that you, as a new seller, do have a few hurdles to get over before the ebay buying population accepts you as a trustworthy seller. Right now, as an un-tested, un-sold ebay seller, you are quite new. Sellers are right to be wary of you, right? I mean, you may be a nice, polite, God-fearing, church-going person, but that doesn't mean that the guy three states over is going to want to trust you with his $37.50 for your stuffed toy. At least not at first. You have to work up to that level of trust. 

But first there is the issue of feedback. Feedback is ebay's self-policing policy where buyers and sellers rate one another on how well the transaction went. Naturally, you want every transaction to go smoothly, without a hitch, so that every buyer who buys from you will be inclined to leave you "positive" feedback ( or +FB). Your feedback is essentially your ebay credit rating. It's how other buyers and sellers perceive you. Obviously, you want only positive feeback, and it's this continued cumulative addition of positive feedback that creates and instills more and more trust in you from other ebayers. 

Right now, as a new ebayer, you have 0 feedback, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means you haven't received any feedback from anyone in any transactions. Feedback on ebay is not mandatory.  It is strictly optional. Not every buyer who buys from you will leave you feedback. And, sadly, some buyers will leave you negative feedback, for any of a million reasons under the sun (including about 900,000 reasons that you have absolutely no control over). We'll cover that more, later.

Ebay makes you jump through some hoops before you can sell on ebay. They want to make sure you have somewhat of an idea of what's going on before they turn you loose as a seller. I think they have a minimum requirement of a 10 feedback score before they allow you as a seller to actually sell. This means that you actually have to buy a few things on ebay to get used to the process, since you can't sell immediately, so the only way to acquire feeback from the onset is to get involved and make a few miniscule purchases. This does not mean you need to spend hundreds of dollars on things you don't need. You can buy things as cheaply as $1. In doing so, you will be entering in to a contract with a seller to buy his item for $1- exactly as buyers will be doing with you when it's your turn to start selling. You'll pay for it through paypal. The seller ships it to you, and you give the seller a positive feedback comment, and he does the same. Any registered ebay user can see your feedback, and what other people have said about you with respect to that single transaction. About 99.9% of all feedback is something like "Five stars. Easy transaction!" or "Thanks! Love it!". You get the idea. 

So, you will need to make about 10 or 15 small purchases, in order to get your feedback up to the point where ebay will allow to to start selling. But, here's the best part about making those small purchases. Sure, you are building up your all-important feedback, but you're also acquiring items that you, too, can turn right around and sell on ebay. So, it's not really like you are losing a tremendous amount here... it's just one of the initiation rites ever seller has to go through. Selling on ebay can be quite complex- there are MANY things to learn. Many areas where problems can arise. They want you, as a seller, to at least have been a participant in at least 10 transactions, and have received at least 10 feedbacks from 10 different sellers before they give you the keys to the car, so to say, and allow you to sell. 

There's no reason you can't buy 10 things your first day. Ten small objects, trinkets, beaded wristbands, etc. Give them to the kids as toys. Use them as stocking stuffers. Sell them back on ebay. Keep them as ebay souvenirs as your first online transactions. Whatever. It's no tremendous loss.

Suppose you do buy 10 things and you are awaiting them to arrive in the mail. You can be using this downtime to explore the ebay website. Ebay's website is EXTREMELY expansive. You will want to be reading up on things you can and can't list, for example. Things you will be required to do as a seller. Upcoming changes and promotions. Ebay is constantly coming up with new promotions and what not. Ebay is constantly revising its seller guidelines, return policies, listing procedures, and things of that nature. My job is not to answer all your questions- especially questions that are easily found on ebay's site. My job here is to round off the edges and get you pointed in the right direction.

I don't know about you, but the right direction for me is one that leads straight to my bank, because that's where all the money ends up that originates from things sold on ebay! So, let's get back to reading, shall we?

Where were we...   OK. Let's assume you found a battery-operated, talking Tweety Bird stuffed toy at a yard sale for $2 and you bought it. Now what? Well, assuming you are still waiting for your feedback to top 10, you can't do much as far as listing is concerned, but don't worry. Your day is coming. What we can do in the meantime, is discuss HOW you will list your item.

Ebay's primary method for selling items is through the ordinary auction. The auction is simply where people can place bids on your items, and the user with the highest bid wins. But, like everything else, it is far more complex than that. Books have been written on how to sell on ebay. Those books are available at your local library and- where else?- on ebay itself! Some of your initial 10 ebay purchases could actually be buying books about selling on ebay! That can get expensive, at an average of $8 per book, but hey, it's still an option. You'd get feedback from sellers, books to read, as well as knowledge. Then, you could re-sell the books once you're done, and then get even more feedback as a seller, from other buyers. See how this all works?

As far as I am concerned, the easiest way I could make money was not through auctions, where people bid up your items, but, rather, as a "fixed price" listing. This means I dictate how much I am willing to sell my item for. Other buyers are forced to pay my price, or look elsewhere.

Yes, some buyers WILL look else where. Some people will not care about your talking Tweety Bird stuffed toy for $25 because the next seller has the exact same thing priced at $17.99.

You just lost a sale, right? Yes, but no. Yes, you did lose THIS one sale. The buyer went for the cheaper-priced toy. But, as the saying goes, there are plenty of other fish in the ocean.

Let's look at what you can do to MAKE buyers want to buy your talking stuffed Tweety Bird toy for $25. Heck... even $35. I know, 'cause I've done it!

Here are my secrets. Most of these will apply to almost anything you list, but, bear with me here. I can't list every single example. I need to keep this short and sweet, so you get my drift. You can be working on the wording for your listings while you're waiting on your first 10 ebay items to arrive in the mail, plus the accompanying feedback.

So, you have your talking Tweety Bird stuffed toy sitting in front of you on the coffee table. We'll worry about pictures later. For now, we are working on how you will describe your item to potential buyers.

Suppose there are two ebay listings, both for identical talking Tweety stuffed toys, one listing each from two completely different sellers. Following are the two listings' descriptions. Which listing description sounds more complete, more in-depth, and better overall?: "Nice talking Twety Bird stuffed toy. works. email with questions. (Price $17.99)"      or       "This battery-operated plush Tweety Bird stuffed toy is in excellent condition. No spots, stains, odors, loose seams or signs of use, misuse or abuse. Exceptionally clean all the way around. Obviously came from a well-cared for environment. Uses two AA batteries, and when you press Tweety's beak, he repeats three phrases. Stands about 12" tall. (Price $29.99)"

It's a no-brainer. The second listing description sounds much nicer. Your item could be 100% identical to the same thing another seller has listed for $17.99, but since your listing SOUNDS nicer, the perception is that the item is, too. Perception is EVERYTHING!!!! It doesn't matter that your toy is the exact same thing that the other seller is selling for $17.99. You have already mentioned that yours works, has no spots, no loose seams, and so on and so on. Did the other seller mention all that?

You see, even if your item is identical in every way, shape, and form to the lower priced item, just by you mentioning the positive features of yours makes yours stand out- even if the other lower-priced one ALSO works, has no loose seams and no spots and odors. The other seller didn't mention spots and odors. You did. Yours is perceived as better, even though it's likely identical to the one priced at $17.99.

Also, notice how I typed the first one compared to the second. In fact, pay attention to my typing throughout this blog. Why is that? Because language is important. Spelling is VERY important. Do you want to be perceived as a serious ebay seller, or perhapps one who dont get on ebay two much and aint to serious about selling stuff?

Get my drift? Punctuation is important. Spelling. Proper sentence structure. Chances are good that the buyer looking to buy a talking Tweety Bird stuffed toy for his or her child will be a professional (doctor, lawyer, etc.)- you know... the ones who have deeper pockets, and can afford a $25 or $35 stuffed toy over a $17.99 one? Know your audience, people, and CATER TO THEM!!!!

OK, my next secret is VIDEOS!!! Yes, people, videos. Videos sell stuff. Why else has TV been the most influential device ever created? The saying goes, 'seeing is believing'. Well, why not add video as another dimension to your listing? This concept is so easy, is completely legit, and best of all, 100% FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's use the above example. The same two sellers, the exact same item. One priced at $17.99. The other priced at $35. I, being the more robust, more go-getter seller that I am, will use any means at my disposal to make my item stand out. Here is where YouTube comes in to play- remember the YouTube account I made reference to earlier? 

The stuffed toy takes batteries, and it talks. I love selling battery-operated toys, but only if they work. Here's why: I know I can charge $10 - $15 more PER TOY just by PROVING that it works. How do I prove it? Simple: I record a short 30 - 60 second long video that shows Tweety saying those three recorded phrases, or whatever I claimed it could do in the listing. It's hard to argue with a video. Videos practically sell my items for me.

Sure, it takes a little extra time to record a video, upload a video, and incorporate a video within a listing, but, you have to have your camera out anyways to take pictures of your items, right? Well, you should be taking pictures. Most listing will allow you to upload up to 12 pictures of the item (up to 24 for vehicles). Why not take advantage of this and upload as many free pictures as ebay will allow, PLUS a video that buyers can click on in an actual listing and SEE the item actually working?

I can tell you that very few people actually do this. But I can also tell you that using videos will set you apart from other sellers, will make you seem more professional, prove that you took the extra time and effort to demonstrate that the item works as you described in your listing. The buyer will KNOW that your Tweety Bird talks...  he saw it in your video AND heard it! That's pretty hard to ignore. The seller with the $17.99 Tweety Bird didn't upload a video. He said it works in his listing, but does it really? Who knows? At least with your listing, people can see AND hear it. If a picture is worth a thousand words, how much is a video worth??? Use video to your advantage. Your $2 stuffed toy is now worth $35 on ebay because you've bent over backwards to prove that it's clean, spotless, in excellent shape AND works.

What more could a discerning buyer want? Sure, he might still buy the $17.99 one and take a chance, but at least you tried. No sale today, but who knows, next week another 38 people may look at your listing. Selling on ebay is a numbers game. It's like when you go out to look at cars to buy. Do you generally buy the first one? Or do you look at half a dozen, drive two or three, then decide?

I know this is a lot to digest in one reading, so I shall end here and resume at a later point. As I've said before, entire books have been written on selling on ebay. I couldn't possibly cover all the topics. It would take a year-long ebay seminar to cover all the topics and answer all the questions. And even then, about 1/10th of what was covered would then likely be obsolete as ebay changes would've rendered those points null anyways. Ebay is a constantly-changing beast. I am still learning about ebay every single day, but I think I know enough about it to at least help others get started.

If you have any questions up to this point, feel free to ask away. I'll answer when I can! :-)

Dennis