Saving Money When Selling on eBay

Everything in this article is perfectly legit and this article simply serves as a guide to avoid unnecessary fees on eBay when selling an item.

Image Hosting

With that out of the way I'll move onto my first money saving tip. First of all I'd suggest going with a free image hosting service such as Pict.com instead of using eBay's own image hosting. You can then add these pictures to your auction by selecting the Self Hosting tab when you go to add a picture to your auction. This might not save you much money in a single auction, but it will allow you to add as many pictures to your auction as you like, without having to keep one eye on the price of all these photos. The more a buyer knows about a particular item, the safer they feel buying that item, this is one reason why writing a detailed description, describing the item, boosts sales.

Auction or Fixed Price?

This next method involves a bit of effort on your part since you need to check the fees page on eBay. Load that page up and compare the differences in fees between fixed price listings (buy it now without the auction) and auctions.

You'll see that eBay charges different insertion fees (the amount it costs to list the item) for auctions and fixed price listings and also charges different amounts for the final value fee (the amount of money eBay gets from the price the buyer paid).

You'll also see that they even charge different amounts depending on what sort of item your listing. If you want to sell a computer in a fixed price listing, you'll be paying 6% of the final value for the first $50 ($6), 3.75% of the next $950 and 1% there after.

Compare this to selling a video game in a fixed price listing where you'll be charged 15% of the final value fee for the first $50 and 5% after that. In this case you'll be far better off to go with an auction where there's a fee of 8.75% for the first $25 and 3.5% for the next $950.

Avoid PayPal for local pickup items

For local pickup items, PayPal is both unnecessary and costly. PayPal charge 2.9% of the transaction amount for the first $3000 (3.4% in the UK) and if you can avoid this charge by getting customers to pay in cash on collection, then you can save yourself a lot of money.

Before you do this though you need to consider the buyer's preference for PayPal since PayPal offers protection for the buyer, so I would recommend you still keep PayPal as an option for your buyer but offer some sort of discount for paying in cash (obviously less than what PayPal would charge you).

Don't Place a Reserve Price Unless it is $200-$285

Put simply, reserve prices are almost useless and unnecessary. If you don't want to sell your item below a certain price then don't start the auction below that. That said, if your reserve price is between $200 and $285 then you can save money by starting the auction at a very low price and putting in a reserve price rather than starting an auction at that price.

Use Free Templates

This goes hand in hand with the first point: use a free alternative to eBay's own tools. Free templates look more professional than eBay's own and often allow you to break down your description into different sections easily. You can find a free eBay template site here.

Look at eBay's Fees page
Finally, if you're really serious about cost cutting, then it would be a good idea to take a look at eBay's fees page for yourself and decide what features you really need for your auction. For example, if your selling a lot of items in auctions do you really need them to last 10 days? Especially when most of the bidding comes in the last couple of hours.

You can find eBay's fees page here. I hope this article has been of some use to you, if it has don't forget to tell someone about it. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Steward

Adding eBay to Your Lifestyle

he subject of eBay comes up fairly often with my friends and family. I hear "I should get on eBay and find a better deal on..." or "I should go on eBay and sell my..." They sign up on eBay (and occasionally PayPal) and then do nothing. One relative has repeated this process about twice a year since about 2002.

I firmly believe that if eBay is not a regular part of your lifestyle, you're not saving as much money as you could, and you're not putting money additional money in your pocket. I don't mean you need to buy everything on eBay; that makes no sense. Likewise you don't need a "home business" to generate some extra money with eBay.

Look at products you purchase on a regular basis. If any of them strike you as expensive, or if they take a substantial part of your budget, chances are good you'll find a better deal on eBay, even factoring in shipping costs. A great example is cosmetics and healthcare products. Pharmacies and grocery stores, and even large retailers often apply huge markups to these products. Worse still, consumables for certain healthcare products can be difficult to find. The good news is you can find great prices and nearly endless supplies of these products on eBay. Buying in bulk with at a substantial discount on eBay will free your income for other purchases and leisure.

When I receive a free product or store credit I don't intend to use, I immediately think "can I sell this on eBay?" Credit card companies often offer gift cards and store credits as purchase incentives. These are great items to list on eBay. They generally have no cash value, but they're immensely popular on eBay. If you sell a $100 gift card for $50, the purchaser is happy because they're getting double value for their money with that retailer, and you're happy because you've pocketed $50 for something you didn't want. I've received DVD players, cookware, and other products as premiums for other purchases or services. These are great items to list on eBay, as you can price them to sell, they're "new in box" which is appealing to buyers, and they turn potential household clutter into cash.

As a matter of fact, sometimes I'm even motivated to purchase based on a premium's eBay value. A motorcycle dealer was giving away a very valuable helmet or a $50 store credit with every motorcycle purchase. I knew I could list the helmet on eBay and recoup a decent portion of my down payment. It's unwise to make all purchasing decisions based on a potential eBay transaction, but there are certainly cases where a potential windfall on a purchase is possible.

Making eBay part of your lifestyle will put additional money in your pocket, with savings on products you buy regularly and the ability to sell items you don't want or need.

Jake Sellers is an Internet Marketing professional with over 15 years of Information Technology experience. For the past 5 years, he has been developing software and solutions facilitating online marketing. Jake blogs at Jake Sellers Internet Marketing Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jake_Sellers

eBay Auction Home Business Tutorial: Start Low To Sell High!

I sell items on eBay and enjoy teaching others how to make money with eBay auctions, but I admit to doing my fair share of buying, too. Recently I found a few items I wanted to add to my collection, and even though I knew the items would go for several hundred dollars, I noticed the seller began the auction price at 99 cents. Is this a good idea?

Turns out that it's an excellent idea. A recent study performed by the London Business School and two professors from Northwestern University proved that items that were posted with an opening price of one penny actually ended up selling at "significantly higher" prices than auctions for the same item that began at higher prices.

Why does this work so well? The biggest reason is the psychological impact on buyers. Everyone loves a bargain, and a price of one cent is going to get everyone's attention. Obviously the item won't end up selling for that price, but it does tend to get more attention. Let's say you do a search on Nikon cameras (one of the items included in the study). You see 20 of them, and one of them has a price of 99 cents. Even though you know you're not going to win the auction with that bid, you're very likely to click on the listing. And as an eBay seller, we know that the first battle is to get potential buyers to look at your listing!

There's always an exception to the rule, and according to the study, if you're selling a "niche item" - an item that is intended for a specialized audience that you're not expecting a great deal of bidding on - then you should start with a price closer to what you actually expect to get.

Even if you're concerned about getting less than you hoped for, don't try to lower the price on the item by making it up with shipping overcharges. I've seen sellers put a "Buy It Now" item up for a couple of dollars less than other sellers, but they were charging $7 to ship something that should have cost no more than $2. eBay is also starting to crack down on shipping overcharges, and even if that proves to be ineffective, I can tell you from personal experience as an eBay buyer that your customers will never forget being overcharged for shipping - and there's a good chance that these overcharges will stop them from becoming your customers to begin with!

Aim for a fair profit, price your items accordingly, and you'll be on your way to making money with eBay auctions.

Just as your item description and starting price affect the number of bids you get, so does the timing of your posting. We'll discuss that tomorrow in my next eBay home business tutorial!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage, home of over 100 free certification exam tutorials, including Cisco CCNA certification test prep articles. His exclusiveCisco CCNA study guide and Cisco CCNA training is also available! Visit his blog and sign up for Cisco Certification Central, a daily newsletter packed with CCNA, Network+, Security+, A+, and CCNP certification exam practice questions! A free 7-part course, "How To Pass The CCNA", is also available, and you can attend an in-person or onlineCCNA boot camp with The Bryant Advantage! Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Chris_Bryant

Prevent Theft From Your eBay Home Business

Believe it or not, your eBay home business is susceptible to theft by dishonest buyers. It may sound crazy, if not utterly impossible, but it happens every day to unsuspecting buyers. Unfortunately, there can be little to no recourse if you don't take the proper steps to protect yourself, even with eBay's method of dealing with fraudulent buyers. Besides that, it can sometimes take months to resolve these situations, leaving you without the money, the item, and wasting your precious time.

For starters, check your bidders before allowing them to win an auction. You have every right to cancel the bids of bidders that seem untrustworthy or who have a low feedback rating. Simply click on their feedback profile, and see what their feedback says about them. If they have a lot of negative responses for not paying for an item, or for causing trouble, you should probably cancel the bid. If they have no feedback or a low rating, you may want to rethink whether or not you want them to bid, or contact the bidder to ask why their rating is so low. If you feel uncomfortable with the bidder's response, then you can cancel the bid.

Insure all of your packages by requiring your bidders to pay for insurance. Insurance is relatively low - only $1.00 for up to $100 of value - so there really isn't a reason not to have insurance. This way, if a buyer claims an item was lost in the mail, you can have them handle the matter through the post office's insurance claims office instead of having to refund the buyer yourself. If the buyer is trying to pull a scam, the post office will be able to tell right away, and handle the matter appropriately.

Requiring signature confirmation on all of your packages. This also costs a little extra, but it is definitely worth it to protect both you and your buyer. Packages that require signatures upon delivery have no chance of being stolen off the buyer's doorstep, and it gives you a written and signed confirmation that the package was received. Then, if a buyer tries to claim that you didn't send the item, you have a signature that proves that you did, in fact, ship the item, and that the buyer received it and signed for it.

Whenever a buyer contacts you claiming that they received the wrong item or a broken item, require them to return the item to you first before you offer a refund or replacement. Some buyers will claim they received the wrong item, or a broken item, and request a refund for the purchase price, and will promise to return the item once they receive a refund. Then, they never actually send the item. Since there is no way to prove that the item wasn't "lost in the mail," you are out the money and the item. By requiring the buyer to send the item back first, you can be sure that they aren't trying to scam you, and refund the money after you have the item in hand.

If you want to make money on eBay while still raising the kids, visithttp://AuctionPaydayKidsPlay.com to find out how. Vickie Sayce (dotcom) teaches others how to get started on eBay, and has been buying and selling on eBay since 2001. She has written a very informative book on starting an eBay business to make money from home while raising the kids. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Vickie_Sayce

Starting Your Own eBay Home Business

An eBay home business can be a really good way to start a new home-based online business. If you have never run a home-based online business before then there are many advantage to using eBay.

EBay already have a website which they promote a lot so it can save you a lot of money if you have an eBay home business.

You do not have to worry about getting your own website or paying for marketing as this is done for you. You may of course wish to supplement what eBay are providing but it does put you into a position where you can use your profits to pay for this sort of thing rather than relying on using startup capital.

There are many people who run an eBay home business and many of them post to the eBay forums and so you should be able to get a lot of help and advice, as well as from the eBay help pages. This means that setting up is extremely simple and the only things that you have to worry about are getting stock and packaging materials.

All you will need to pay out for when starting your eBay home business apart from these is a digital camera and computer with printer and the chances are that you may already have one anyway. This is partly why setting up an eBay home business is so attractive to many people. This of course means that there is a lot of competition and more and more people seem to be selling their items on eBay both as a way to make some extra cash and as a serious business venture.

The problem with these sellers who are just selling their second hand items is that they do not have to declare the income or register as a business and therefore they do not have to pay tax and can keep their prices lower as a result. This is something that you will need to consider when you are choosing the types of items that you want to sell.

It can be tricky knowing what type of products to sell as you can sell virtually anything on eBay. You need to consider whether you have room to store the stock that you want to sell and it is also a good idea to sell something that you know quite a lot about so that you can answer your customer's questions about the products that you are selling.

Daniel Dwase is the author of "The New Easy Way To eBay Profits : How To Start A Profitable eBay Business In Minimum Time And Start Living The Life Of Your Dreams". Visit his website to learn more about starting your own eBay Business today! This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Daniel_Dwase

3 Steps to Start eBay Selling

eBay selling is a huge phenomenon that has become popular all around the world! Somewhere in the world at any one time, profits are being made by those enterprising sellers who have started their own eBay businesses.

Every single day more and more people are trying to figure out the secrets to eBay selling so that they can actually make some real money. And with good reason too! There are thousands of people who make a full time living from eBay selling (and many who do it part time just for some extra cash). These people are proving that running an eBay business is extremely profitable, so long as it is done correctly right from the start.

But first things first! If you have not already done so, then you must create an eBay account right now so that you are ready to start your eBay selling career.

Opening an eBay account is pretty simple. In three easy steps you can be up and running as an eBay seller today!

First, go to the eBay home page, click register and follow the simple instructions. Choose a unique user name and a unique password. Read the Terms of Service agreement and click the box to agree. You will receive a confirmation email which you must respond to in order to activate your eBay account.

Next you must create a payment account. The most secure and easy option for accepting payments is to open a PayPal account. PayPal offers protection for eBay buyers and ebay sellers. It also offers free auction tools for sellers. Go to the Paypal home page and sign up.

Step three is to create an eBay selling account. When you post your first listing you will need a credit or debit card to verify your identity and at this time you can choose how you want to pay your eBay selling fees. Payment options include one-time payment of fees taken from your PayPal account or you let your selling fees build up and then pay automatically via credit card, direct debit or PayPal once a month.

Once you have done these three important things you are set up ready to go! You will now need to consider exactly what you are going to sell and where you are going to source it from at the best possible price. You must also consider storage options if you intend to stock bulky items.

Amanda O'Brien is a successful eBay Powerseller and author of The 2,500 Per Week eBay Powerseller Secrets. Want to learn more about starting an eBay business or simply want to improve your eBay sales? Claim your free report and free sample chapter from The 2,500 Per Week eBay Powersellers Secrets at Profit With eBay Check out Amanda's Blog at any time for tips, techniques and eBay updates. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Amanda_O'Brien

Create a Profitable eBay Home Business

My favorite thing about eBay is the simplicity of everything. To get started selling you just setup a free account, enter your title and description, click a few buttons and whatever you have to sell is up on one of the most trafficked sites online.

eBay puts the buyers infront of you. People who go to eBay are there to buy things, they are shopping, looking for a bargain especially in these economic times.

Most other online business startups would require you to invest lots of time or money into getting traffic to your website, were as eBay has already done this for you.

The biggest and really only hurdle there is when selling on eBay is making sure you're selling what people want to buy. It makes no sense to list things no one is paying for, and this is easily discovered with a simple search.

Let's say I see a certain cell phone on eBay that's really popular. I do a search for it, I scroll down and look on the left and see "Search: Completed Auctions" I click that, and I can instantly see what's selling, who's selling it and for how much!

I mean, it doesn't get much better than this. You already know within seconds how much profit there is if you can find a source for the product.

So, maybe you find something and it's selling like crazy but you don't know where to get it cheap, easy just do a search on eBay for "PRODUCT NAME wholesale" or "PRODUCT NAME wholesale lot."

Just like with any business or physical products there's the manufacturer, the distributors and the end user (buyer).

The distributors range from people buying 1 at a time to buying hundreds of the product, the amount they buy will depend on how much they resell for which would determine how much you pay and ultimately how much you profit. Creating a profitable eBay Business isn't difficult, but don't forget to always look at it as a business and you'll be as successful as you want to be!

Get Your Free Copy Of My eBay Selling Guide which includes Free Wholesale Sources, Selling Tips & Tricks and a whole lot more, all free at my website. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Kurch