Tuesday, May 24, 2005

How To Start A Online Auctions Home Business

How To Start A Online Auctions Home Business

Once you have joined ebay, you can start planning your business online. Decide what your goal is, full-time operation or part time. Do you want to work from your home or set up in a commercial location? Do you want to be a one-person show or have employees? Do you want to be an eBay PowerSeller or a Trading Assistant? And, of course, what will you sell?
What to sell is often the most overwhelming question for new eBay sellers because you can sell just about anything on eBay. Choose a product or service you know something about and enjoy working with. Consider Things such as how you will acquire the products you sell, where you will store them, and what will be involved in shipping.

Before starting your eBay business, you need to set up a Seller's Account. This is a simple process very similar to the registration process. There are fees and commissions for their ebay services. Seller fees vary, but considering the advertising and traffic ebay provides it is much cheaper than a brick-and-mortar retail store. Before you sell anything it is a great idea to purchase things first if you have not yet done so. The reason is that most buyers do not like buying from someone with zero feedback rating, so look around for something you need or could use and build a little trust, it will go along way. It is also a good idea to practice selling to gain some confidence and experience with the process. You can sell items you have around the house that you don't need. eBay is a great way to get rid of gifts that just aren't right for you, or those items you thought you couldn't live without but haven't used in a long time. The process will also help you figure out what equipment (computer, digital camera, scanner, packing materials, etc.) you're going to need to efficiently operate your business. You'll be able to practice taking pictures, writing headlines and product descriptions, and responding to buyer questions. If you make a mistake with one of your practice listings, it's all a part of your education.
You should also do some testing with the products you're going to sell as part of your business. Try to start doing a little market/product research to see if things you want to sell are in demand and what are they selling for, also testing various listing formats. You can do this in ebay with there FREE Advance Search tool. Some Top ebay sellers took a year to testing the concept to see what [listing] formats work best." You may not need to take that long, but build testing into your plan.
You can operate exclusively within auction-style listings, sell at a fixed price, or open an eBay Store. An eBay Store provides a consistent location for your listings and merchandise and is an excellent place to sell add-on merchandise. It's also an inexpensive and simple way to establish an e-commerce presence.
Another important part of getting started is setting up your "About Me" page, which is a free eBay feature that allows you to promote your business. Once you're up and running, don't get complacent. Pay attention to new eBay feature announcements, stay on top of your customer service, and keep an eye on your competition, as eBay is constantly changing, expanding and enhancing its services. Today's eBay business is far better than it was just a year ago, and the eBay of next year will be even more powerful.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home