ebay Pro Academy... 3 Section 1 Get Started Selling on ebay... 4 ebay Mobile Apps... 4 Biggest Thing Bought on ebay... 4 Links to Get Started...

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2 ebay Pro Academy... 3 Section 1 Get Started Selling on ebay... 4 ebay Mobile Apps... 4 Biggest Thing Bought on ebay... 4 Links to Get Started... 4 Special Deals... 5 Pricing Products... 6 Writing Titles and Descriptions... 7 Writing Your Description... 8 Start Your Product Listing... 8 Section 2 Secrets to High Profit Selling on ebay... 9 Fixed Price Selling... 9 Using Fixed Price Listings (FPL)... 9 ebay Store Auction Selling Auction Tips Setting Your Price Know Your Costs Set Your Shipping Costs Build Your Reputation Protect Yourself Dealing with People Who Don t Pay Section 3 Next Level Selling Techniques Promote Your Website on ebay Get Repeat Business Step

3 Step Step Step Step Step Sneaky Algorithm Trick Advanced Strategies Find Discounted Products Wholesalers and Drop Shippers Wholesale Warehouses Get Wholesale Products from ebay Buy Individual Products on ebay It s Time to Start Your ebay Business!

4 ebay Pro Academy There s a good chance that you ve bought an item or two on ebay. You might have even sold some old things from around your house on the popular website. This training will take you past the normal buying and selling and teach you how to become a power seller on ebay. The training consists of three sections. In Section 1, I ll provide you with the information you ll need to get started with selling on ebay. Section 2 goes over the secrets to high profit selling, and Section 3 will provide you with some techniques that will allow you to take your selling to the next level. Let s begin with Section 1. 3

5 Section 1 Get Started Selling on ebay In this course, I m going to show you how to pick and sell products on ebay. First, though, you need to understand how and why ebay works. Let s begin by looking at the growth ebay has experienced. It s no secret that the United States has been in a recession, but ebay has grown year after year, making it one of the most successful companies ever. It s estimated that 430,000 people in the US make a living by selling on ebay, so this is a great option for people who want to make money online. ebay Mobile Apps ebay isn t just popular for PC users. An item is purchased every two seconds using ebay mobile apps. In 2009, ebay users bought $600 million worth of merchandise using mobile phones, and ebay CEO John Donahoe predicts the number will nearly triple to $1.5 billion this year. Biggest Thing Bought on ebay A Gulfstream II Jet was sold for $4.9 million in 2001 on ebay. This shows that you can sell both big and small ticket items on ebay. Links to Get Started First, you need to sign up for an ebay account. You can do that at Once there, click Register." Fill out the form and click Submit. 4

6 At that point, you ll be able to get into ebay, where you can set up your account. Then, sign up for the ebay Partner Network. As an affiliate, you can earn a commission if you send someone to ebay and that person makes a purchase. Go to and click Apply Now. Then, fill out the application form. Finally, go to PayPal.com. You ll use this payment processor to process payments with ebay. Once you get to PayPal, sign up for a business account. Then, fill out the form and add your banking information. You ll have to confirm your account, and then, you ll be able to use PayPal. Now, let s look at ebay s special deals. Special Deals You ll have to pay a listing fee to sell items on ebay. Occasionally, ebay offers listings and listing upgrade discounts as a way to attract new sellers. For example, they may allow a free gallery, 10 cent listings, Category-Plus upgrades for 50% off and other deals. This is a great time for you to list items because you ll be able to 5

7 save a great deal on listing costs. You can get information about current deals at You can also look at other announcements at this link. I recommend that you visit the announcement page on a regular basis. You should also look at the ebay selling basics. You can find them at This link will provide you with the information you need for selling on ebay. I ll cover a lot of this information in this course, but I still recommend that you stop by and take a look. Now let s look at pricing products. Pricing Products When you re pricing products, you ll want to start by looking for similar products on ebay. Go to the home screen and click on Advanced next to the search bar. Type in the keyword. If you re going to sell a used item, you can type new in the box that says Exclude words from your search. Then, you can go down and check Completed Listings. That way, your search will return items that have been sold in the last ninety days. 6

8 Look through the listings to get an idea of how much your item is selling for. You can use this information when pricing your item. Now, it s time to look at writing your product titles and descriptions. Writing Titles and Descriptions You can only use 55 characters in your title. That means you need to be concise and use action words. Let s say you re selling a new Nikon Coolpix L15 camera. Some action words would be: New Condition of the item Nikon Brand of the camera Coolpix Make of the camera L15 Model of the camera 8MP Capacity of the camera Black Color of the item Digital camera What the item is w/3x Optical Zoom Important feature You need to be specific so your listing will show up in results for people who know exactly what they re looking for. Also, avoid using symbols and characters to make your title stand out. That will make your ad look unprofessional. 7

9 Writing Your Description When it comes to the description, include keywords that your sellers would use, along with the model number, make and other important features. Also, break down your shipping costs. Let people know the cost of materials, and the cost of tracking. You want to spell everything out. Additionally, you can include your policy on using escrow for expensive items, and your timeframe for posting feedback. Start Your Product Listing Now that you know how to write a title and description, I m going to show you how to post it on ebay. Start by logging into ebay. Then, go to the top menu and click Sell. Select Sell an Item. Then, you ll be prompted to enter a UPC, ISBN, VIN or title that describes your item. Enter the information you have. Then, ebay will search for the item for you. Go through the suggested products and click on your product. Select Go under Keep it Simple. Then, you ll be taken to a new screen. The first thing you ll notice is ebay will fill out all of your product details for you. Go through the pre-filled listing to make sure it is correct. Then, look at the stock photo. You can use it or add your own. Then, you can choose a gallery view photo if you want, or you can keep the photo as it is. Next, you ll have to choose the item s condition. 8

10 Continue filling out the form, and include an additional description if you want. You don t have to do this, but if the original description is lacking, you can add more text. Once you finish with your description, you ll be ready to move on to Section 2. Section 2 Secrets to High Profit Selling on ebay In this section, I m going to cover selling platforms and give you some extra tips and tricks for selling items on ebay. Let s begin by looking at fixed price selling. Fixed Price Selling Fixed price selling occurs when you use the Buy it Now feature with your listing. This is a good option if: You re a safe seller who wishes to make sure that each sale turns a specific profit You re selling a very niche-specific product that may not have many interested bidders to fight over it in a bidding competition The holidays are close and people are more desperate to get their items as soon as possible Using Fixed Price Listings (FPL) 9

11 If you are a low volume seller or if you sell products with a low dollar margin, you may need to run fixed price listings to make a good living on Ebay. Then, you can sell several of the same items with one listing. You set the minimum price you are willing to sell for, and specify the quantity for sale. ebay only charges one low listing fee no matter how many items you have for sale with that listing, so this is a great way to save money. Then, when someone buys one of the items, the balance of the items that remain are listed until they are all gone or until the listing ends. You can set your listings to run for 30 days with the Good Til Cancelled feature so they ll automatically renew. ebay Store If you sell more than 55 fixed price items per month, you will likely find that an ebay store is a more profitable option. The fees are lower, and you get perks like free photos. Additionally, the listings show up in search results just like any other fixed price listings. Now let s look at auction listings. Auction Selling Auction listings are good if: You don t wish to do any research on how much to sell your items for You re selling a unique item of good value that often benefits from a bidding process (i.e. a collectible) You have no idea how much your item is worth 10

12 Auction Tips Test the times of the day and days of the week to find optimal times to run an auction. Set the auction at three days if you re selling a hot product that was just released to the market. Set the auction at five days if you are selling products you obtained in bulk from a supplier. Set the auction at seven days if the item wasn t obtained in bulk and wasn t just released to the market. Set the auction at ten days if the item has a very high value and you don t have bulk quantities. On days when ebay is running specials or deals, wait until the last day to list your item. That will allow you to avoid a lot of the competition while still taking advantage of the cheaper listing prices. Listing prices that start at one cent will likely attract a lot of bidders and can result in a bidding war. Don t use the reserve price. If you have a minimum price, use it as the starting bid. Now let s look at setting your price. 11

13 Setting Your Price When you re listing your product to sell, you ll come across a section that says Set a price and shipping details. Then, you can choose to use the Buy it Now feature, or you can set a starting auction price. If you want to use Buy it Now, you ll check the box in front of the Buy it Now feature. Then, you ll need to set your price. I recommend setting the price a little high at first. For instance, if the item is selling for $20, you can set the Buy it Now price at $25. Then, if no one buys it, you can lower the price a bit. You can also choose to do an auction. Instead of checking the box for Buy it Now, you ll set the starting bid price and then choose the auction s duration. Know Your Costs It s very easy to sell a lot of goods at an auction and not have any money left at the end of the month. If you re going to be successful, you have to track your cost structure. That means you need to track the: Cost of the product Shipping you paid for the product Packing materials Listing and reserve fees Final value fee Cost of the auction management service (if you use one) Credit card or PayPal service fees Internet service or DSL fees 12

14 I recommend that you start out tracking costs with Quicken. It is a good program for tracking costs and has a subset for running a business in the home. You can use the low cost basic version. Not only will this help you track your money during the year, but you can use it during tax time in order to find out what expenses you can deduct. Set Your Shipping Costs Now, let s look at your shipping costs. Once you choose your bidding structure, you ll have to fill in your shipping method and cost. You can use ebay s shipping calculator to determine how much you ll charge for shipping. Just open up the calculator and fill in some information related to your package. Then, you ll get a shipping amount. You ll also have to choose your handling time. This is the amount of time that you ll need to get to package and mail the item. Fill out all of this information. Then, move on to the next step on the form, where you ll choose the method of payment. I recommend using PayPal. Then, check the box so you can block bids from buyers who may make transactions more difficult or expensive. Then, save and preview your listing. Now let s look at building your reputation. You want to build your reputation so you can make more sales. 13

15 Build Your Reputation When you first start out in ebay, you ll want to build your reputation quickly. In order to do that, you need to: Address customers concerns immediately. In order to do that, lower your spam settings so all of your customers s will go through. Add a phone number to your listings. Sell inexpensive items until you get lots of reviews. Then, you can move on to higher priced items Follow up on negative feedback. Have a return policy and honor it. Give refunds to customers if they ask. You ll need to check the box that says you re going to accept refunds when creating your product listing. Use Square Trade so you can offer warranties on electronics Protect Yourself You ll need to protect yourself from scams when selling on ebay. There are several things to keep in mind so you can avoid scams. 1. Never ship an expensive item to an international country unless the buyer is willing to pay for tracking and insurance. 2. If a buyer from an international country is paying for an expensive item through PayPal, wait two days before shipping the item. Sometimes, scammers use stolen PayPal accounts to pay for items. PayPal typically catches this within two days. 14

16 3. Always purchase delivery confirmation for expensive items. You can also purchase it for less valuable items. That depends on your personal preference, though. Just keep in mind that if someone says they didn t get an item and you didn t purchase delivery confirmation, you ll likely lose the dispute. 4. If you receive a payment of $250 or more through PayPal, be sure to ship to the confirmed PayPal address. Otherwise, you won t be covered through Seller s Protection. 5. Get a signature confirmation through USPS if the item sold for $250 or more. Dealing with People Who Don t Pay Occasionally, you might run across someone who doesn t pay. If that happens, you need to follow a few steps. 1. Send an requesting payment. Include a warning that you will file a nonpayment complaint with ebay if they don t pay within a specified time. 2. If they still don t pay, go to your My ebay page and find the link to the Resolution Center. 3. Follow the instructions to make a claim and file a final value fee credit to refund your fees. At that point, ebay will contact the buyer and give him a warming. In most cases, the buyer will pay at this point. Any bidder who receives a third warming will be indefinitely suspended from ebay. You can use the Unpaid Item Assistant to automate this process. You can begin this process four days after the listing ends. It will automatically open the dispute after the time you choose has lapsed and then it will complete the process for you. Now let s move on to Section 3. 15

17 Section 3 Next Level Selling Techniques In this section, I m going to provide you with some advanced selling techniques. You can use these techniques to take your ebay business to the next level. Promote Your Website on ebay You can use ebay to drive traffic to your website. This is simple to do. You can: Show your domain address in your listing. For instance, you could write If you have any questions about this item, please feel free to contact me at YourName@YourSite.com. Mention your website in your listing. For example, you can begin your auctions by saying My name is (Your Name) of YourSite.com and I want to give you a warm welcome to my auction. Answer service inquiries from your domain . Include your site s URL in your signature. Advertise your website on your About Me page. Include your website s name in any feedback that you leave for buyers. You can put something like Thanks for an excellent transaction, from (Your Name) of YourSite.com. Use ebay to host your images. Some users check where the images in auctions come from. By hosting the images on your own website, you ll get some free traffic from ebay. Mention your website if you speak to a buyer on the phone. Use your website name as your PayPal business name. That will give your site some additional exposure. Use your website in your return address. Include a note with your URL in all of your packages. 16

18 Now, I want to explain how you can get repeat business on ebay. Get Repeat Business You just need to follow six simple steps in order to get repeat business. Step 1 As soon as a buyer wins your auction, send out an to notify him of the good news. Include the total and payment details in the . At the bottom of the , encourage the buyer to check out the other items you have for sale on ebay. As an incentive, note any discounts on shipping that the buyer will receive if he purchases multiple items from you. Step 2 When the payment is received, send out an stating that you have received payment for the item. Push again for the buyer to check out the other items you have for sale on ebay. Step 3 When packing the item, include a note in your package. The note needs to thank the buyer for his business and encourage him to check out the other items you have for sale on ebay. Step 4 Send out an that notifies the buyer that you have shipped the item. Encourage the buyer to check out the other items you have for sale. Step 5 When leaving feedback, include this at the end: Also, don t hesitate to check out the other items I have for sale on ebay! 17

19 Step 6 Contact the buyer about ten days after the shipment to make sure that everything is okay. Leave one final reminder for the buyer to check out the other items you have for sale on ebay. You may want to include a discount if he buys within the next five days. Now, let s go over an algorithm trick you can use in your listings. Sneaky Algorithm Trick If you go to ebay and search for Computer Chess games, a list of results will come up. You ll notice that only a few, if any, of the listings have games in the title. That s because ebay treats many plural and singular words the same. This is much more important than you might think. It means you can use singular words in your title. This will save you some space that you can use to write other important features in your title. Advanced Strategies Now, let s go over some advanced strategies. Offer customers a discount if they don t use PayPal. Choose a discount amount that is equal to or less than the fees you would encounter if the buyer used PayPal. Create competition by interacting with bidders via . Send alerts to let bidders know that they have stiff competition. Buy stamps in bulk, since that will help you save money on shipping. You can get them at the post office or at a bulk postage website. Also, consider entering the FedEx Advantage Savings Program for ebay Selling. Use the Google Keyword Tool to find misspellings on items and brands. These items usually get fewer bids, so you can buy the item 18

20 for a low price. Once you receive it, you can put it on ebay and sell it for more that you purchased it for. Check buyers negative feedback so you can learn from it. Go to ToolHaus.org to search negative feedback. Find out what problems buyers have encountered so you can avoid those issues. Add a link to your listings that will allow buyers to save you as one of their favorite sellers. Add reference=0&sellerid=****** and replace the ***** with your account username. Then, put Click Here to add me as your favorite seller in your listings. Upsell and cross sell related items. Send out s with related items after you make a sale. You can do this yourself or you can get software that can automate the process for you. Now, let s look at finding products to sell on ebay. Find Discounted Products Right now, you might not have products that you can sell on ebay. Fortunately, there are lots of options for finding products to sell. Wholesalers and Drop Shippers Wholesalers and drop shippers are both great options. As you probably know, wholesalers offer discounted prices as long as you buy in bulk. 19

21 You can get wholesale prices at: You can also use a drop shipper. Drop shippers are great when you re first starting out, since you won t have to have any storage space or deal with shipping. The drop shipper will actually ship the item from their warehouse for you. If you want to use a drop shipper, you can go to: Wholesale Warehouses You can also stock up on items at wholesale warehouses like: Costco Sam s Club Big Lots Outlet Malls 20

22 Get Wholesale Products from ebay Check out the Wholesale Lots section on ebay. Often, the same people who are selling individual items at auction are selling the same things in wholesale lots for a lot less money each. You may have to buy several items to get the discount, but its well worth it. Buy Individual Products on ebay You can also buy individual products on ebay. If you choose this option: Place an odd bid amount. Never place an even dollar bid. Avoid auctions that offer an item for 99 cents but the listing says FIRST. Don t fall for the word RARE Avoid listings that don t accept PayPal Always check a users feedback rating Research the item before you buy it Be cautions of sellers from other countries Check out the seller s store, since you might find lower prices Try buying in bulk to lower shipping costs Buy from the nearest location to lower shipping costs 21

23 It s Time to Start Your ebay Business! Now you re ready to start your ebay business. Use this guide as a roadmap as you start selling on ebay. 22

24 Copyright 2012, IncomeEdu All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the information contained in this book, we assume no responsibility for errors, inaccuracies, omissions, or any inconsistency herein. Any slight of people, places, or organizations is unintentional. 23