eBay PowerSeller Secrets: Insider Tips from eBay's Most Successful Sellers (1st Edition)

410 Pages·2007·11.4 MB·English

by  Debra Schepp

eBay
®
™
PowerSeller Secrets:
InsiderTipsfromeBay’s
MostSuccessful
Sellers
Debra Schepp
Brad Schepp
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DOI: 10.1036/0072258691
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About the Authors
Debra and Brad Schepphave blended their interests in technology and pop culture throughout
their careers as journalists and authors. For more than 20 years they’ve written about cutting-
edge technologies and how those technologies are changing our lives. Their work has been
featured in publications such asNewsweek, The Chicago Tribune,andU.S. News and World
Report. Together Brad and Deb have written nine books fromThe Complete Guide to
CompuServe(McGraw-Hill, 1991) toKidnet: The Kid’s Guide to Surfing Through Cyberspace
(HarperCollins, 1995). They have been buying and selling on eBay since 1999.
Copyright © 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.
Contents at a Glance
CHAPTER 1 Know Your Business/Grow Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
CHAPTER 2 Power-Buy to Power-Sell: Building Your Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
CHAPTER 3 From Mom and Pop to PowerShop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
CHAPTER 4 Automate Your Auctions for Smooth Selling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
CHAPTER 5 Get Your Auctions Going! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
CHAPTER 6 Power-Charge Your eBay Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
CHAPTER 7 Close the Auction and Collect the Cash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
CHAPTER 8 You Sold It, Now Ship It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285
CHAPTER 9 Your Customer Is Always Right (Even When He’s Wrong) . . . . . . . 305
CHAPTER 10 KeepingRecords—orLet’sHaveaLookatThoseBooks,Buddy . . 341
CHAPTER 11 Is It Time to Open an eBay Store? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 359
APPENDIX eBay’s Top Sellers Ranked by Feedback Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 369
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375
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Contents
CHAPTER 1 Know Your Business/Grow Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Know Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
MakeSureYourPersonalityIsWell-SuitedtoSittingin
FrontofYourComputer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
»
Be a good time manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Selling on eBay Is As Much a Way to Live As It Is a
Way to Earn a Living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Know eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Know What You’re Aiming For . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
»
Know all of eBay’s rules and follow them . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
»
Use the site map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Keep Educating Yourself, Because eBay Changes Every Day . . . 10
»
Subscribe to AuctionBytes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
A Sample Article from AuctionBytes Newsletter . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
»
Tune in to eBay radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
»
Sign up for eBay’s Seller Newsflash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
»
Attend eBay University and stop by eBay’s learning center . . . . 14
Feedback Is Everything . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
»
Don’t use your e-mail address as your username . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Don’t Be a Stranger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
»
Get involved in the discussion boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
»
Get involved in groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Know Your Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
»
Start with what you know . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
»
Don’t sell things you don’t know about . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Research What You Sell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
»
Seek out marginalized niches for your product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
»
Research your own customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
»
Stay away from contentious items while you’re just
getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
»
Sell what you love, but don’t be blinded by your emotions . . . . . 25
»
Sell quality items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
vii
viii eBayPowerSellerSecrets
»
Don’t forget practical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Know What Not to Sell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Don’t Break Any Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
»
Don’t sell homemade food or body items . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
»
Include disclaimers and allergy warnings for all consumable
items you sell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Mind Your Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
»
Start small, start slowly, and don’t quit your job . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Every Time You Learn Something New, You Add Another
Brick to Your Invisible Store . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Don’t Be Discouraged If You Are Not a Business
Person Now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
»
Be Patient. Be aggressive. Be smart. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Don’t Be Surprised If Success Strikes Fast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
»
Your eBay business will not work if you don’t treat it
like a business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
»
The money you earn from eBay isn’t really yours . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
»
Pay yourself a salary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
»
Knowthevalueofeverysaleandgoafterit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Volunteer to Work and Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Know Where to Find Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Most eBay Help Is Seller to Seller . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
»
Get help from auction doctors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Don’t Forget to Help Others, Too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
»
Search for help outside of eBay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Work with a Friend . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
CHAPTER 2 Power-Buy to Power-Sell: Building Your Inventory . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
First Things First . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
»
Get a tax ID number, now . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
What Are You Thinking of Selling? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
»
Think of your products as a total product line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
»
Consider the needs of your products and your customers . . . . . . 44
»
Calculate your budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
»
Always shop with a calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Find Out What Sells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
»
Use eBay’s “Hot Items” by Category . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
»
Keep the Hot Items list in perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Use eBay’s Merchandise Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
»
Check out the numbers from Bid4Assets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
»
Use Price Finder and What’s Hot from Andale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Where Will You Get Your Inventory? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
»
Think locally, sell globally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
»
Turn to your local reference librarian . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54