11 Most Commonly Suggested ways to Make Money on eBay and why you should Avoid most of them

eBayPardon us for a moment while we play "Devils Advocate" to explain the reasons why some of these 11 most commonly suggested methods for making money on eBay, are impractical or more accurately, are methods destined for failure.

If your goal is to start an eBay based business you should read this article.

The best way(s) in our opinion, to make money on eBay as part of an well crafted eBay business plan, will be revealed after our review of these more "commonly" touted methods.

The text in this post edited in italics is a previously compiled list of 11 common methods for sourcing products to sell and make money with on eBay. The article was originally written by a self appointed drop ship guru by the name of Mike Makler AKA "The Coolest Guy in the Universe".

Last Year over 20 Billion Dollars worth of product was sold on Ebay. (Yes Billion with a "B"). Many people are earning $10,000 or more selling on Ebay. Many more would like to sell on Ebay but they face that big hurdle - Where Do I find Items to sell on Ebay. Here are the 11 Best Places to Find Items to sell on E-Bay.

Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

Original Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com
About The Original Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

1 - Garage Sales

The Strategy that works best with Garage Sales is stop by at the end of the day and offer to buy all the merchandise they have left. You can often spend $25 - $50 and then resell on Ebay for $500 or more.

  • Why is this a very difficult way to make money on eBay? - Because for every item you spend the time to find at a garage sale you must perform several time consuming steps before that single item can be sold on eBay. Each item must be evaluated, cleaned, tested, described, photographed, categorized, listed and stored. This is a lot of time invested in each item purchased at "Garage Sales", and that time is multiplied by a factor of however many items you purchase in that lot for $50. Therefore, for each 20 item lot you purchase for $50, you will spend approximately 20 hours of your time getting those items listed on eBay. How much is your time worth? Lets say you value your time at a very low $10 per hour, now your investment in these 20 items is worth in excess of $250, not including the time or gas money spent in finding the original "Garage Sale". Will each lot or haul from these "Garage Sales" net even one item which will return your investment in time and cash? Will all of the items sell on the first listing on eBay? How much more money will you invest in eBay fee's and charges to sell these used cast off "Garage Sale" items? - Garage Saleing is a fun pass-time for the retired and a possible business endeavor for people who work at Flea Markets, but for eBay it is a losing proposition. Suggesting that eBay sellers should source product using this method is similar to suggesting to gamblers that they can get rich by playing bingo.

Continue reading “11 Most Commonly Suggested ways to Make Money on eBay and why you should Avoid most of them” »

What eBay is… is… a revenue stream and an advertising venue with incredible SEO advantages for any business! Derek Gehl and the Internet Marketing Center Agree

Last weekend I attended a seminar put on by the Internet Marketing Center.  The seminar is geared towards selling a information product/course originally developed by Corey Rudl and now run by Derek Gehl.  The sales pitch was a bit long and overdone but the information gained while sitting in the audience was well worth the endless pitch. 

Most of what I learned was in the areas of SEO and keyword targeting for long sales letter websites. But there was a good explanation included about why businesses should look at involving themselves in eBay as a traffic generation technique.  Of course the "real" information is included in the course material (for sale at the unbelievable one time price of...)

The gist of what they say is correct even though I would not consider most of the Derek Gehl eBay course information up to date or even advanced (Most of what they teach is basic techniques which can be found on the eBay help pages).  They are on point with the concept that eBay is not a good avenue towards developing a primary source of income for anyone, not even a business...

What eBay is... is... a revenue stream and an advertising venue with incredible SEO advantages for any business! 

What Derek Gehl says about eBay should be read and understood by every business owner in America... Continue reading “What eBay is… is… a revenue stream and an advertising venue with incredible SEO advantages for any business! Derek Gehl and the Internet Marketing Center Agree” »

All Businesses Need Good Accounting Practices – Even eBay Sellers

As entrepreneurs, most of us (not all) dread the meticulous and repetitive tasks which are the basis of real accounting. There are many ways to handle the task and more reasons to do so in an efficient manner. My solution involved hiring my own accountant and keeping her safe and well cared for within the confines of my offices. Having a QuickBooks Pro Advisor as a part of my company is a very good thing for a sales and marketing type like myself.

I believe in the advantages of having these invaluable resources available so much that I have added an accounting services division to my iBusinessLogic group of businesses. This accounting services division is set up to help other small business owners and eBay sellers. AccountingLogic is a result of a realization and understanding of the challenges which face any small business start up or any business entering the e-commerce realm or eBay. The accounting tasks are challenging to say the least. AccountingLogic, headed up by my accountant Kathy Naranjo is designed as a service for just these types of businesses.

AccountingLogic helps any business set up the books and import data from eBay, Amazon, or your own shopping cart. Part of the service includes designing specific macros for most listing software packages, so the day to day accounting requirements of online sales joined with the normal brick and mortar accounts is done smoothly and with little effort. Kathy's team relies mostly on the power of Quickbooks to help her set up different businesses for online sales accounting but she has many tools at her disposal.

If you do not have this kind of resource in your office or home based business you should really start thinking about what you will do to make sure your business accounting is handled properly. Either you will "Do it Yourself" or will you hire an accountant? Finding an accountant to set up and do the day to day bookkeeping tasks of a small business is sometimes difficult and never inexpensive. This realization tends to lead most small business owners to either ignore the task or to try to do it themselves.

Should any true business person ignore accounting tasks? I believe we all know the answer to this question... Continue reading “All Businesses Need Good Accounting Practices – Even eBay Sellers” »

Why an eBay Sales Strategy including eBay Stores – Should be included in any marketing plan

Why an eBay Sales Strategy including eBay Stores - Should be included in any marketing plan

  • Key to a global and local eBay marketing strategy
  • Essential to take advantage of global branding & marketing opportunities
  • Greater exposure for brand & products
  • Increases ancillary sales

 EBay is an amazing venue for online sales and for online advertising.  If your business is looking for the highest return on an online advertising budget, you should consider using the power of eBay.

  Continue reading “Why an eBay Sales Strategy including eBay Stores – Should be included in any marketing plan” »

Greetings!

Welcome to All Business Auctions blog. We will attempt to update our current clients and future clients with any relevant information concerning the viability and wisdom of adding eBay and Internet sales channels to your existing business. Our goal here is to educate and inform all visitors about eBay sales, e-Commerce development, social networking and other "Hot Topics" connected to the business applications available to brick and mortar businesses who move into Internet Marketing.

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