Building your business can be hard work, very hard work, but do you know what is easy? Killing it stone dead is easy; all you will need to do is follow my 10 point plan to success.

• This is easy! Just lie about the product you are selling, if it doesn’t work just say it does, if it’s not in perfect condition say it is. How easy is that to start with? Incidentally your customers will hate you but hey you could even get banned from eBay so no need for the other 9 points.
• Don’t bother posting your items until you feel like, after all everyone knows the postal service is slow and patience is a virtue so don’t bother putting yourself out just let them buy from someone else.
• Don’t bother about planning the end time of your auctions, if anyone wants your item why can’t they stay up until 3 am just like you, even les work to do.
• Find some real rubbish to sell and try and squeeze every cent you can, after all it’s well know that people pay top prices for garbage on eBay.
• Any old listing will do make sure that you never spend more than 5 minutes on it. Don’t forget the gaudy colours and the “cool” fonts and ALWAYS USE CAPITALS. If you really want to impress, find some poor animations and some low quality audio. Make sure that people remember your listing.
• Never reply to e-mails, I mean its all in the listing isn’t it. Surely people can just read it.
• Don’t add a photo, too much work, if they want it they will buy it anyway. If you do add a photo make sure it is blurred and the lighting is poor (you may have to wait for exactly the right conditions for this).
• Write a short description like this. Saves loads of time.
• Never give a discount, the cheek of it! What’s the problem with paying for two lots of postage, discount for multiple purchases if they want that they can go elsewhere. They will.
• Don’t list your items for sale, just as easy as the first. You can them blame everyone else because the item did not sell first time.

Congratulations if you have followed the plan you have now destroyed your business. If for some strange reason you want to succeed in your eBaying then completely ignore this advice. Rob…

Most people are excited when first discovering this vast and vibrant marketplace, excited but confused!

“What do I sell?” is the most common question budding eBay entrepreneurs ask when faced with the thousands of eBay categories.

Stuart Turnbull faced the same challenge 4 years ago before he chanced upon the basis of his strategy. He spent the next 4 years researching, testing and refining his idea into a plan that ANYONE can follow to make incredible eBay profits. Stuart is now revealing the secret of his success in Prints Make Profits for less than $20 you can be running your own successful eBay business.

No special equipment is required, you can be up and running within days for a few dollars and an hour or 2 a day is all that is required to operate this business successfully. This must be one of the easiest business start ups ever.

So now you have the secret to the perfect eBay product there really is no excuse for not grabbing your slice of that pie!  You can even test out Prints Make Profits  for 60 days RISK FREE. Be the change you want to see in your life, start your own business today…… Rob

Myth: Put anything up for sale on eBay and it will sell.

Reality: Less than half the items for sale on eBay will sell on the first or even second attempt.

Myth: Look for the “HOTTEST” selling products on eBay and sell the same, you will make money.

Reality: Unless you are an established seller don’t try and compete in the areas of high competition, don’t try to run with the “big dogs”. Some categories and sub categories have dozens of competing pages and thousands of competing products. These big powersellers have huge powerseller discounts from eBay and can buy in there products in bulk at a much lower price than someone who is trying to muscle into the market. This makes your profit margins razor thin or even non existent.

Myth: You can only make money selling product that are well known brands.

Reality: There is a vast market for non branded products on eBay (and Amazon). Non branded products can be sourced cheaper, sold cheaper and yet make more money than the branded product.

 So how do I start making money on eBay? Find a niche area to trade in, now this may seem daunting at first so I am going to give you my FREE report “Successful Online Selling” This will show you step by step how you can easily find profitable niche markets 

Inside there is an example of how to research a niche, for it is in the niche areas that the profits are to be made. Download your FREE report “Successful Online Selling” now are find your own profitable niche areas.

Don’t follow the herd, make them follow you….Rob

 P.s. Find out more about successful selling on eBay sign up for my FREE 8 day mini course….Rob

Here are just two random examples:

Men’s Shavers: I have just completed a search and found 17 pages of listings with 811 items for sale, 486 of these are for non branded items.

Slimming Belt: 8 pages of listings ALL of these are non branded. Now maybe 8 pages of listings is too many but the use of the auction format will ensure that your item gets exposure on the first page for about a day or so.

 Ok Rob, where do we get hold of this Non Branded Stock?

 The first port of call should be your local wholesaler; this has the advantage that you can examine the goods before purchase. Most cities have there own wholesale districts so it is worth spending some time to visit a number of warehouses.

 The real bargains and therefore the real profits are to be made from importing from the Far East and particularly China. I have imported goods from China for many years without any problems, the price you will pay will depend on currency fluctuations as most Chinese companies trade in the US $.

 Remember as always “Caveat Emptor” or “Buyer Beware”, do not repeat do not send any money using wire transfer services you have been warned. Use a credit card or PayPal for the transaction as this will provide you with some measure of protection in case of problems. To cover all the basics will take several thousand words and I don’t have the space or the time to write them.

So here is the deal! You can get me complete guide to sourcing non branded product on a series of 3 videos for FREE. So here is your DOWNLOAD LINK.

DOWNLOAD YOUR VIDEOS HERE

Check back soon for Part 3…. Rob

As a result of this thinking many sellers attempt to “cash” in on popular items with a high volume of sales per week, BIG mistake! Selling branded goods for most eBayers is not the way to make big profits.

Here’s why, with branded goods there is always stiff competition. There will be major Powersellers who will be moving lots of these products on a weekly basis. High volume Powersellers will have a major advantage over any newcomer into the market. They will be able to buy in large quantities and so obtain cost savings due to economy of scale AND the fact that they will obtain massive Powerseller discounts.

Following the herd is not the way forward, your profit margins will be razor thin and you will not get the exposure on the site you would wish, most of the big Powersellers will be using fixed price listings which will have high exposure in the search results. Therefore they will sell more; therefore their listing will be promoted higher and higher. This is the massive anomaly in the eBay system; some sellers never get their fixed price listing seen.

 You can resort to using the auction system in which case you listing will eventually find its way on the first page of eBay search results. However you may be unable to compete on price remember economies of scale and discounts? Game over? I think not.

The way to make profits is to offer Private Label and Non Branded Products for sale. Amongst the many branded items there will be a huge number of non branded products. These sell at much lower prices that the equivalent branded item, but they are very much cheaper to buy in than the branded item.

Ok Rob that sounds great but what are non branded products?

To give an example of hair straighteners there are lots of well known brand names such as GHD, Nicky Clarke, BaByliss etc which command a very high price on eBay and Amazon etc. But there are literally thousands of manufacturers who produce similar products except that they do not have a “brand name”. Obviously these are our non branded products, they will never command the high prices that branded items will sell for on eBay or Amazon but they are very cheap to buy, therefore your selling price will be lower and you can still make a very healthy profit, far more than selling “branded” items.

See you soon……….Rob

 This must be the easiest way of making real money on Amazon there is, this well known 10 digit code can make the difference between failure and success.

 Amazon is a world wide brand, its core business is still books CD’s and DVD’s, the thought of even competing with them would send a shiver down most peoples spines. But you can compete and what’s more Amazon actually encourages you to do so, so why would they do that? Well Amazon deal with new stock so if you are selling the same article used (or even new if you can offer a competitive price) then you can compete.

 Amazon allows you to trade in its market place selling most of the things that are sold on eBay. Amazon allow you to set the price and you can also see how much other sellers are selling the same item for, it also has the great advantage that the postal charges are set so everyone is charging the same amount. When the item sells, Amazon takes a percentage of the sale, they do not charge a listing fee. No sale no fees!

 Here’s how it works, every book has an ISBN number (the 10 digit code) just try entering this number in a search and you will see all the sellers selling the same item and also the price they are selling it at. Now notice the prices, try a popular book, how about The Da Vinci Code? Selling for a few cents right, no good to us, so try this then. Academic, Hobby and Specialist books sell for much much more and the great news is they are cheaper to buy used.

 So where do you find these gems, try your local charity shops, garage sales, table sales, the free ads papers. Picture this in your local charity shop, on the shelf Dan Brown and “The Geology of Scotland” selling at the same price just a dollar or two, there is no big demand in the charity shop for The Geology of Scotland no one will be queuing around the corner for this! Resale value Dan Brown a dollar or two at best, The Geology of Scotland $60 resale value. It’s a no brainer, this is a real example of a sale I made recently and there are literally hundreds of these gems to be found. All you need to do is to search them out.

 Use the 10 digit code to unearth your own treasures to sell on Amazon.

Rob

1. Poor description: The length of your description will vary depending on the item you are selling. Look for similar items that have sold using the eBay completed listings function and adapt the description for successful for successful listings.
2. Expecting items to sell the first time: This is again part of the eBay mythos, put it up, it will sell. If you use the advanced search facility for your item you may well be shocked at how many similar items you are listing fail to sell. This could be down to a number of factors, such as the as the starting price, the time it was listed, the type of listing used and the category it was listed in. You may have to list it several times before it sells. Always use the relist facility on eBay.
3. Choosing the best time to list: This is a bit nebulous as it depends on what it is that is selling. If you are selling into a big market with lots of sellers, then listing several times a day with the auction ending at different times is probably the correct strategy. If you are working in much smaller niche areas (which I recommend) then having you listing finishing at 8-9 in the evening may well be the key to success. Choosing the best time to list is crucial to you auction success but it can only be gained by experience.
4. Research: If you want to make a business from eBay then the most important thing is to research what you intend to sell, this may seem obvious but its great to have a fantastic idea of what it is you want to sell and then go about trying to sell it. The three most important tasks are RESEARCH, RESEARCH and RESEACH. It is only through research that we can find out what is truly selling. From that we can work out if our idea is worth a punt, so research your ideas first, second and third.
5. Obtain your stock at the right price: If you wish to make a business of your eBaying then you will need to obtain stock on a consistent basis at the right price to make a profit. You need to sell the same stock at the right price in order to make a profit. Local wholesalers are a good start for finding stock to make a start, they are very good for sourcing non branded stock. You can also find stock that is similar to branded stock, your buy in should be quite modest but your margins should be excellent.
6. Lack of persistence: This is the biggest killer bar none. How often have your heard “I tried it once but it didn’t work”. It took me nearly a year for my business to kick in; it was 8 months before I gained Powerseller status and make real profits. Only 5% of eBayers obtain Powerseller status. The ones that have persistence will find the rewards.

To give an example a shop opened very close to me over a year ago, part of the eBay partner network; it was approved by eBay, and proudly displayed the eBay logo as the partners had gained sanction from eBay and had done the training and gained the accreditation required.

I dropped in to the shop incognito to suss out the competition so to speak. The way it works is this; the company list your item for you and take a percentage of the selling price. As a customer you agree not to sell the item in the interim. Does it work as a business model? Again it depends on what is being sold. If it is an auction, unless you have set a reserve price the item may well sell at the starting price no matter how low this may be.

The simple formula put it on eBay, sell it make, money, does not work unless you have a desirable item. I am sorry to report that the business did not succeed it closed within 3 months, due to the low quality of items presented for resale and the ability to sell the item on eBay yourself. This should be a warning about buying into the eBay mythos. So what are the 10 classic errors about eBay selling and how can we avoid them. Well they are:

1. Making money instantly: Not everything will sell remember that. Now that’s ok when you are selling your own possessions to make a few dollars here and there. We are often just recouping money we have already spent and would otherwise be money that would have remained dormant. My own eBay business took 8 month before it showed a clear profit. So do not expect instant results from each product you try to sell.
2. Thinking any old rubbish will sell: Think of the example earlier, or this example. I visited an open market recently; one of the stalls was selling old fashioned second hand watches at $40-$50. As I looked at them the seller told me that they sold on eBay at $75-$100 each. Now why was he selling these at the market?
3. Poor titles: The point of the title is to grab the attention of a prospective buyer. Have a look at on eBay in any category, how many of the titles fail to do this? Answer lots, use keywords in your title, look at the other seller’s titles who are selling the same or similar items to yourself. Use the same keywords, but do not, repeat do not copy the title. Rewrite the title of a particularly successful listing.
4. Poor picture: Your pictures are the second big opportunity to sell your item (some would say the first). So make the picture as good as it can be. Digital cameras are very affordable these days and most cell phone have an excellent camera as standard so getting a good picture should not be a problem. There are a number of free image manipulation packages to crop your photo and improve its presentation. Make sure that the item is in focus and that the lighting is good, the whole purpose of the picture is to show off the item for sale to its best advantage. Would you buy an item from a listing in which you could not see the item clearly?

More next time.

Rob

So how does this relate to your eBay or Amazon activities, well you will find that 20% of your product range will produce 80% of the sales. This is why it is so important to be on the lookout for new products all the time. As soon as you have found a hot selling product you will have the market place to yourself for a few weeks (months if you are lucky). So it is important to really hammer the sale of a new product before others catch on to it and the market gets saturated by competitors. This also means weeding out the products that produce a very poor return. You never know, you may prove Wilfrido wrong.

See you soon

Rob

You will notice that some listings appear very high up in the search results, despite the fact that they may have 20 or more days to go until the end of the listing. This indicates several things.

• The seller has used the correct keywords to fit the category
• They are selling a lot of products from the listing; this moves the sellers listing even higher in the search results. Relisting a successful item also helps push the listing higher in the results.
• They are maintaining excellent customer satisfaction and do not charge excessive postage costs.

I sell some products in a very hot and competitive market. I always did well with this product but not as well as the top sellers in the category. I had always sold on BINS (buy it now). BINS then ended in chronological order. Some of my other products were sold with a featured listing; this meant that they eventually appeared on the top of the search results making their way onto the top page as the listing progressed. The featured listing costs approx £10 so that you need to sell a lot of products off one listing to make it economical.

So what happened to my listings after 24/9/08? All of the above simple ways of listings changed, now the top sellers were doing very much better than me. This was due to higher visibility of my competitors listings, my listings never got on to the first page even with featured listings. I was recently researching a market which had 8 pages of listings in the category. At the bottom of page 8 was a listing for a product that was an excellent category fit, its title was good, the photo was also good and the description excellent. No sales and only 3 views!!

So how do you get your listing seen? The only way to guarantee visibility is the auction format. This will ensure your item gets on the first page; you can also offer it with a BIN option (at the usual small additional cost). Don’t use any of the other “small cost” additional items such bold, coloured band, subtitle etc. This will cost!!

Other advice, as always look at small niche areas for less competition, you can introduce a new product into the niche using the auction format to ensure it is seen. Then follow up with a BIN when you have made some sales.

Rob