How To - Make Money

You'll learn how to:

-- Register at eBay and PayPal
-- Start part-time and expand your income when you're ready
-- Find great inventory at low prices
-- Auction to the highest bidder or sell at fixed prices
-- Identify niche markets for big profits
-- Get tax deductions for your eBay home-based business
-- Guard against scammers and rip-off artists

Starting a business on eBay is perhaps your fastest route to the American Dream. The payoff can be high, and the barriers to entry are low.

The world's most popular online marketplace, eBay has millions of registered buyers waiting to do business with you. For less than $100 and very little risk, you can start an eBay venture with profit margins rivaling those of any business. Exactly how much money you earn depends mostly on how much effort you put into your new enterprise and how efficiently you operate it.

In this new eBay guide, you'll see:

How eBay works ... Register your business ... Sell your item ... Build your listing

Timing, planning your auction ... Make a picture worth $1,000 ... Use Pre-filled Item Information ... Price your item ... Reserve Pricing ... Multiple Item (Dutch) Auctions ... The auction alternative: fixed prices ... Best Offer listing option ... Upgrade your listings ... The best time to list

Profit with a niche ... Start with used merchandise ... Win with niche selling ... Cash in on collectibles ... Autographed items ... Trust, but authenticate ... How to recognize fake autographs

Get more great inventory ... Estate sales ... Bankruptcy sales ... Thrift shops ... Local artisans ... Close-out merchandise ... Library sales ... Overstock distributors ... Find overlooked gems at estate sales ... Live auctions ... Postal Service auctions ... Treasury Department auctions ... GSA Auctions ... Government Liquidation ... Law Enforcement Auctions ... Classified ads ... Get merchandise on eBay ... Get merchandise on consignment ... Become a trading assistant

Expand your business ... Create your `About Me' page ... Cross-promotions ... Open an eBay store ... Set up shop ... Promote your store ... eBay Express ... Using eBay's Half.com site ... Google Base ... Why many would-be PowerSellers fail

Prevent problem customers ... Set Buyer Requirements ... Be a feedback fanatic ... Completing sales ... Communicate with a packing slip ... Respond to feedback ... Mutual Feedback Withdrawal ... Feedback policies ... Handle customers right ... Unpaid item disputes ... Work with PayPal

Avoid scams and fraud ... Spot shady buyers ... Recognize predators ... Avoid phishing e-mails ... Beware of hoax e-mails ... Avoid drop-ship, wholesale scams ... Recognize crooks and middlemen ... Warning signs of bogus wholesalers ... Know a fake from the real McCoy

Ship efficiently ... Choose a shipping company ... Communicate when you ship ... Pare shipping costs to the bone ... Sell Get It Fast Items ... Handle delivery snafus ... Print online postage ... Organize your inventory ... Design your SKU system

Get efficient with fulfillment software ... TurboLister ... Selling Manager ... Software for media sellers ... Research prices wirelessly

More eBay rules ... Prohibited and restricted items ... Shill bidding ... Keyword spamming ... Fee Circumvention ... Sales taxes ... Income taxes ... Business use of your home ... Hiring employees

The bestsellng guide to successfully buying and selling on eBay, fully revised and updated

eBay is the world's #1 shopping and selling site, where millions find bargains and make money with their own sales. Marsha Collier is the #1 eBay expert and bestselling author, with more than a million copies of her books in print. And eBay For Dummies has been the bestselling book on eBay since the original edition in 1999.

Thoroughly updated to cover all the changes in the eBay site, eBay For Dummies, 6th Edition gets you started with information about signing up and navigating the site. It shows you how to find the best bargains, bid to win, and complete your purchase securely. Then it guides you into become a successful eBay seller, showing you how you can pick up extra money in a tight economy with eBay sales.

• Covers how to find bargains on eBay, bid successfully, and pay for your purchases safely
• Helps new users become comfortable with the site and shop with confidence
• Shows you how to set up a seller account, list items, offer customer service, ship merchandise, and receive payment securely
• Prepares you for other issues that may arise
• Explores eBay's special features, showing you how to work within the rules, use the community, and even set up a charity auction
• Includes insider tips on becoming a better buyer and seller

eBay For Dummies, 6th Edition prepares you to save money on your purchases and make money on your sales, all from the comfort of your home.

20 Questions To Ask Before Selling on eBay is designed to take anyone through the steps to sell successfully and profitably. Beginning with how to set up an eBay business and organizing it for success, the book proceeds through how to choose the best products, how to design an attractive and effective listing, getting paid, automating auctions, customer service, and more.

Both 20 Questions eBay books take readers step-by-step through the process, each chapter building on the information taught. The books are written as a fresh and lively narrative, with plenty of bullets, checklists and useful advice learned from the authors’ experiences. It’s all the information both buyers and sellers need to not only get started, but to do eBay their way!

Companion Volume 20 Questions to Ask Before Buying on eBay (ISBN 1-56414-847-5)

Lissa McGrath has worked as the assistant to Skip McGrath, for over four years and is involved in all aspects of the transaction. When Skip is on vacation, Lissa keeps the auctions going and runs the business in his absence. She is the copy editor for The eBay Power Seller’s Manual and How to Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business. Lissa also writes a bi-weekly column for AuctionBytes, the leading online auction news media company.

Skip McGrath (eBay screenname mcgrrrr) is an eBay Gold PowerSeller, hosting the store 'The Auction Seller’s Resource' who has received 100% positive feedback on over 3,000 reviews.

Are you a stay-at-home mom who wants to sell on eBay but aren’t sure how to get started? Do you want to earn extra cash selling your kids outgrown clothes and toys, but are unfamiliar with eBay?

Written by Suzanne Wells, a stay-at-home mom and eBay Silver Level Powerseller, this book will take you step by step through the selling process from start to finish. You’ll learn:

• How to make thousands of dollars a month using eBay
• What to sell
• Where to find items to sell
• How to use eBay to its fullest potential
• How to photograph your items
• How to fit eBay into your busy, stay at home mom schedule
• All about shipping
• How to get started today, with no financial investment

Whether you want to sell 10 or 1,000 items a month, this book will provide valuable information to help you become a successful eBay seller from the comfort of your home, and on a schedule that works for you and your family.

eBay has 220 million users worldwide and millions of dollars worth of merchandise is sold on eBay every day. There is room for you on eBay, too!

Join the ranks of top eBay sellers with even more insider tips!

Are you ready to take your eBay selling to the next level? This beyond-the-basics guide reveals the trade secrets that have propelled the savviest entrepreneurs into eBay PowerSellers. Now it's your turn to start earning up to $150,000 per month through your eBay business!

The Second Edition of eBay PowerSeller Secrets is packed with up-to-date guidance in effectively running a eBay store, selling and shipping internationally, finding little-known sources for products, advertising your wares, managing inventory, collecting payments, keeping records, and much more.

[Sidebar] NEW! Covers eBay Express, eBay's Marketplace Research reports, ProStores, Skype, eMail Marketing, and even selling through Amazon and your own website. Plus, checklists to help you stay on track!

Learn from hundreds of PowerSellers just what it takes to succeed on eBay:

• Determine what sells best on eBay, when it sells, and why
• Develop listings that create high traffic and product demand
• Handle end-of-sale payments and protect yourself from fraud and loss
• Manage listings, inventories, and communications
• Track incidentals, deductions, expenses, and other tax-related items
• Automate to ease processes such as creating and posting listings, managing feedback, e-mail, and shipping
• Use Blogs and eBay Guides and Reviews to drive traffic to your listings
• Make big money through eBay's Affiliates program

* descriptions and reviews of hot auction sites and marketplaces like uBid, iOffer, Yahoo!Auctions, Overstock Auctions, Bidville, Bid4Assets, ebid.tv, and Amazon * profiles of successful sellers using these sites in addition to (or instead of) eBay * step-by-step instructions for creating and managing online storefronts * options for combining online storefront sales with eBay auction sales * details on how to expand sourcing options in order to sell more merchandise

There's more than one way to sell online. It's time to start Selling Beyond eBay!

REMEMBER WHEN eBay USED TO BE A GREAT PLACE FOR SMALL SELLERS TO BECOME BIG SELLERS?

Unfortunately, recent changes at eBay have made online auctions less reliable and profitable. So where can you sell when you can’t sell on eBay? Online auctions are the past; fixed-price selling is the future. It’s time to move beyond eBay and first-generation online selling and start Selling Online 2.0. Second generation online selling means migrating from eBay to other online marketplaces, including craigslist, Amazon, and your own e-commerce website. You’ll need to make some new plans, learn some new skills, and change some of the things you do--but you’ll find that there’s more money to be made on your own than relying on traditional eBay online auction sales.

• Put together a plan to maintain your sales level and profitability--to counteract eBay’s changes
• Discover how to shift from auction sales to fixed-priced listings on the eBay marketplace
• Find out if running an eBay Store or selling on Half.com makes sense for your business
• Learn out how to sell locally on craigslist and other online classifieds sites
• Discover how to sell fixed-price merchandise on the Amazon marketplace
• Find out how to launch your own e-commerce website--and promote your online store
• Learn how to sell products across multiple channels--and manage multichannel conflicts

Introduction     1

What’s in This Book     2

Who Can Use This Book     3

How to Use This Book     3

There’s More Online...     4

Making the Move     4

I BEYOND ONLINE AUCTIONS: CREATING A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE BUSINESS     5

1 The Problem with Online Auctions     7

What eBay Used to Be Like...     7

Why Is eBay Abandoning Smaller Sellers?      10

Changes Are Afoot--and You Probably Won’t Like Them     12

Emphasizing Fixed-Price Sales over Auction Sales     12

Changes to the Fee Structure     12

Changes to the Payment System     14

Changes to the Feedback System     15

Changes to Search Results     15

eBay’s Deal with Buy.com     16

How Do eBay’s Changes Affect You?      16

2 Planning for Selling Success     19

Planning for Life Beyond eBay Auctions     19

Asking--and Answering--Key Questions     20

What Type of Merchandise Do You Want to Sell?      20

How Much Money Do You Want to Make?      21

How Do You Intend to Manage Your Business?      23

Where Do You Want to Sell?      25

Conceiving a Business Plan     26

Understanding the Components of a Useful Business Plan     28

Mission     29

Opportunity     30

Strategy     30

Organization and Operations     31

Strengths and Weaknesses     31

Financials     31

Writing Your Business Plan     32

Implementing Your Business Plan     33

II FIXED-PRICE SELLING ON EBAY     35

3 Migrating to Fixed-Price Listings     37

Why Fixed-Priced Sales Are the Way to Go     37

Comparing Fees     38

Comparing Listing Lengths     40

Factoring in Customer Demand     41

Different Ways to Sell at a Fixed Pric     42

Understanding eBay’s Fixed-Price Listings     43

Understanding eBay’s Buy It Now Auctions     44

Understanding eBay Stores     46

Understanding Half.com     47

Creating an eBay Fixed-Price Listing      50

Creating an Auction Listing with a Buy It Now Price     51

Managing Fixed-Price Sales     52

Before the Sale: Setting the Price     53

After the Sale: Payment and Shipping     53

4 Fixed-Price Selling in an eBay Store     57

What Is an eBay Store?      57

Benefits of Opening Your Own eBay Store     59

Challenges of eBay Store Selling     60

Understanding eBay Store Subscription Levels     61

Understanding Insertion Fees and FVFs     63

How to Open an eBay Store     63

Further Customizing Your eBay Store     67

Managing Your eBay Store     68

Listing Merchandise for Sale in Your eBay Store     70

Handling eBay Store Sales     71

Marking Down Your Merchandise     72

Viewing eBay Store Reports     73

5 Fixed-Price Selling on Half.com     77

Getting to Know Half.com     77

Understanding the Half.com Shopping Experience     79

Understanding Half.com Fees     80

Listing on Half.com     81

Pricing Your Half.com Items     83

Calculating Shipping and Handling Charges     84

Managing Half.com Sales     85

6 Promoting Your Fixed-Price eBay Sales     87

Promoting Your Fixed-Price Listings on the eBay Site     87

Optimizing Your Listings for eBay Search     88

Linking from Other Sites to Your eBay Listings     90

Promoting Your eBay Store     90

Seeding Listings into the Traditional eBay Marketplace     91

Enabling Cross-Promotions     91

Creating an Email Mailing List     92

Linking to Your eBay Store     94

Adding a Stores Widget to Your Blog or Website     95

Creating a Listing Feed     95

Exporting Your Listings to Search Engines and Shopping Sites     96

Advertising on the eBay Site with AdCommerce     97

Advertising Across the Web with Google AdWords     99

Promoting Your Store in the Real World     101

Promoting Your Half.com Listings     102

III SELLING VIA CRAIGSLIST ONLINE CLASSIFIEDS     105

7 Online Classifieds: Are They Right for Your Business?      107

Understanding Online Classifieds     107

Examining Major Online Classifieds Sites     110