kids-in-biz.com

Many people come to eBay to look for a bargain. If you are selling items from around the house, something is better than nothing, therefore profit margin isn’t as important. However if you are purchasing items with the specific intention to resell, your income expense ratio will be very important.

All sellers want to make money; else they would offer the item to Freecycle or a thrift store. But the truth is not every item sells. Those who have no regard for cost of goods sold and don’t factor in fees and time actually lose money by selling on eBay.

At the very minimum, you want to break even. Try to minimize those occurrences too, as it is a waste of your precious time. To ensure you do not go into the red, take the price you paid for an item and consider all other associated costs, i.e. listing fees, final value fees, and PayPal fees. To better illustrate, below is an actual example.

You purchase a toy  and list it with an opening bid of $9.99. The item sells, but only with one bid of $9.99.

-Cost of  toy from clearance at store, including tax: $6.35
-Listing fees, including multiple photos, and the gallery option: $1.05
-Final value fee: $.52
-PayPal fee on your premier account to receive money: $.60

It cost you $8.52 and it sold for $9.99 which means you made $1.47 profit. But wait what about the time and gas it took you to go to the  store? What about factoring in the cost of your internet service, ink and just simply for what your time is worth?

The above example is very real and happens every day. Some sellers think that because they make a purchase for about six bucks and sold it for ten, they made a profit. A good rule of thumb is: do not buy anything to resell unless you are reasonably confident you can make at least a $10 or more profit.

You can only know what will sell by doing your research ahead of time. One suggestion is to pick a category and know the top four brands that sell for big bucks. Then only purchase those select few. Or call a friend while you are at the store and have her look up the item on eBay to see selling prices.

Buying smart is the only way you will make a profit. It is that simple. We’ve all paid stupid tax when we first started. Don’t think it will make a profit; but rather know it will.

How Do You Know What’s Hot and What’s Not?

While eBay is a very user friendly place to sell your stuff, not everything sells. To avoid wasting your time and money, take some time to research what’s hot and what’s not.

There are a number of options available to find information on hot items. If you would like to pay for a service that is loaded with market research analyses, consider using eBay’s Market Research . You can pay for a one-time usage or subscribe by the month.

A free tool to use is called eBay Pulse. It contains several lists showing popular searches, stores, products, and more. These lists are a great way for you see what is hot in the eBay marketplace.

If you just want to get a feel what may sell, click on the BUY button at the top left of any eBay screen. The link will reveal a plethora of categories of items. Find some categories that interest you - example dolls or cameras.

From there you will be able to select a search criterion; choose Price – High to Low. The results will show the higher priced items first. You can also refine your search to show only completed auctions, which gives you a more accurate picture of what actually sold.

Finally if you merely want to see if the widget you have sitting in your basement is hot, type in the name of whatever it is in the search box and see what comes You may be surprised to find that it is selling for $100 or you may find that there are multiple listings for the same widget yet no one will enter an opening bid of $2.99.

It is one thing to see current auctions, however since much of the bidding doesn’t occur until the final few minutes, it is better to look at closed auctions. Then you’ll see if your Tommy Bahama shirt is really worth anything. Or you’ll see that your old baseball cards had 23 listings and not one of them sold. It’s important to go into “Advanced Search Option” and choose Completed Listings. Anything in green has sold, anything in red did not sell.

The bottom line is research. If you want to find out what’s hot and what’s not, do your homework first. It will pay off in the end.

Creating an eBay auction can be one of the easiest ways for a kid to learn about business. I will warn you up front that in order to comply with eBay terms of service, you must be 18 or older to sell on eBay. Consider this a joint venture! First, you must create a free account at eBay. To start an new account Click here for eBay! and choose the REGISTER button.

On any given day, there are millions of items on eBay available through auction-style and fixed-price trading. Chances are good you are already familiar with buying on eBay. Below is a very basic overview for the beginning seller.

It’s not rocket science – anyone can learn easily how to start selling on eBay. Essentials needed are few, including a computer, internet access, a digital camera and some space to put your stuff. That’s really all you’ll need to get started. You’ll also need shipping and packing supplies; Priority Mail boxes and envelopes are free through USPS. Just stop in any post office and pick some up! You can also order supplies online.

Next you’ll need to learn how to list auctions. You’ll need to write a description of what you are selling and have at least one picture of the item. Make sure you take a picture on a simple, uncluttered background. People want to see what they are buying! Rather than using this space to tell you all the mechanics, I recommend eBay’s very helpful page . Don’t be overwhelmed; just take it one step at a time. Listing is quite simple through the use of templates. You just fill in the blanks. There are some tips and tricks you can learn along the way about listing but for starters, just follow the logistics of how to put a listing onto eBay.

To start with, look around your own house for items to sell. Is there a duplicate gift you got for your birthday? A video game you don’t play? Books you read once and won’t read again? To make steady money, finding a niche to sell is a great idea, but for now you simply want to gain experience and build your feedback. You’d be amazed at what people buy. Don’t know what to charge? Do a search on eBay to see if others are selling the same thing or something similar. Click on “Advanced Search” and check the box for completed listings only. This will tell you what items actually sold. Anything in green sold. Items with red prices did not sell.

Online payments such as PayPal are very convenient. You may also want to accept money orders or personal checks. The more options you leave your buyers, the more likelihood you’ll get more bids; although most buyers prefer the ease of online payments.

Many people ship the items using USPS because of the free shipping supplies and inexpensive rates for small items. You can print postage online and mail the items from your home. There are of course other vendors – UPS, FedEx, DHL you can chose to use. The size and weight of the items may help you make a decision. Most will pick up at your home if you schedule a day in advance.

Remember this is a learning process. eBay, Yahoo and MSN have wonderful message boards and networks to help you along the way. In summary, if you want to just “start pushing buttons” and learn on your own, you can do it! If you do better chatting with others, those resources are available too.