5 Ways To Find Products To Sell On eBay

I was part of an eBay Roundtable discussion recently with six other experts and we all agreed that the number one question most new (and even old) eBay sellers ask is:

"Where do I find things to sell on eBay??"

To help answer that question I have compiled 10 ways that anyone can use to find products to sell on eBay. This is by no means a definitive list and depending on your situation, some of the ways may not apply to you. However, if you're a beginner and don't know where to start, this list should help you get on track.

1. Look Around The House:

We all have items lying around the house that we no longer use or need. Have you grown or shrunk in size? If so, you have clothes you can no longer wear and can sell. Did you get a gift for Christmas or your birthday that you will never use? If so, slap it on eBay (just don't let the person who gave you the gift find out). Do your kids have toys they no longer play with? Just looking around your house and garage should give you plenty of things to get your eBay ball rolling.

2. Garage Sales and Flea Markets:

When it comes to eBay, remember this old adage: One man's junk is another man's treasure. Now this is not to say that you should sell junk on eBay. You should only sell products in good condition. The point is you can find items in good condition at garage sales and flea markets that you can pick up cheap and resell for a profit. Remember, nobody wants to buy your old Beanie Babies that no longer have eyes and noses, but they may buy "gently used" items if they're in good shape and offered at a good price.

3. Talk To Your Friends and Relatives:

After you've gone through your own in-house inventory, contact your friends and relatives and tell them you have started an eBay business and will sell their items for a piece of the sales price. Chances are they have as much excess stuff lying around their house as you did. Offer to list the items for them and if they sell, take half the profits. You will probably have to pay the eBay fees out of your pocket up front, but you can then deduct the eBay fees from the sales price before slicing up the pie.

4. Consignment Sales:

Consignment sales are a great way to find a wide range of products to sell on eBay. Consignment selling means that you offer to sell an item that belongs to a company. In exchange for your trouble you get a percentage of the sales price. You can charge up to 50% plus fees for smaller items like clothing, lamps, jewelry, etc. and around 15% for larger items like cars, boats, and bulldozers (yes, I said bulldozers).

Contact every business in town and offer to list their excess goods on eBay for a piece of the action. Most businesses have returned items, liquidated products, used equipment, etc. that they would love to get rid of, but don't have the time to do so. Many will see you as their hero if you can help them get rid of this merchandise and you'll make a pretty profit for your efforts. For business customers you should have them pay the eBay fees on the front end, not you.

5. Thrift Stores:

Thrift stores are an excellent place to look for things to sell online. Stores maintained by the Salvation Army and non-profit%

eBay Income: How Anyone of Any Age, Location, and/or Background Can Build a Highly Profitable Online Business with eBay

Tim Knox - Entrepreneur, Author, Speaker
Tim Knox is a nationally-known small business expert who writes and speaks frequently on the topic.

For more information or to contact Tim please visit one of his sites below:
http://www.dropshipwholesale.net
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
http://www.timknox.com

Top 5 Ways to make eBay a Better Place!

As promised -- given my recent experiences on eBay, both the good, the bad, and the ugly, I am providing my top 5 list of ways to make eBay a better place. I have been on eBay since December 1995 when I started trading Baseball Cards, seeing a lot of changes take place on the site.

However, this Christmas holiday shopped season in particular has been a nasty one for both buyers and sellers alike on eBay – perhaps like never seen before. All one needs to do is to look at a number of auctions for the Sony Playstation 3 (PS3) and Nintendo Wii to see large quantities of Non-Paying Bidders, Shill Bidding, & Fraudulent sellers. The criminal community has found a way to really game the eBay system and now is time to stop it!

So, below you will find my “Top 5” ways that eBay can improve their systems to protect bother buyers and sellers in their auction marketplace.

1. Require Stronger User Validation. It is too easy to get an eBay account. They should require some sort of physical address, phone number, or other sort of verification that the person is who they say they are.

2. Require “authorization” of funds when bidding. A huge problem right now are people with zero or low feedback posting fake bids without an intention to actually make good on their purchase. By requiring a credit card authorization in the amount of their bid placed (whether or not they choose to pay via that method) is an option that may sellers would like to see as a requirement to insure the bidder “intends” to purchase the item rather than leaving the seller stranded with seller fees, frustration and lost time. This would also help prevent shill bidding as eBay could detect accounts using same name / credit card information to boost auction prices.

3. Create a more comprehensive scoring methodology. The current scoring system has become an outdated joke. Between 1-cent auctions, feedback rings, and other ways to “game” eBay’s feedback system – the system does not work anymore. However, it is not beyond repair. All eBay needs to do is come up with a score scheme that will incorporate important factors that contribute to the “authenticity and integrity” of the buyer and seller such as the dollar value of transactions, time it takes someone to pay, time to ship, and frequency of feedback left. That is just to name a few that could contribute to understanding more about the seller you purchase from.

4. Stop 1-cent ($.01) auctions. These are the biggest fraud on eBay right now. If you do a Google search, you will find hundreds of web pages that tell you how you can increase your feedback score in hours using 1-cent auctions. Their only purpose is to artificially increase feedback scores that give buyers/sellers unwarranted trust in a seller’s history and behavior.

5. Real, monetary penalties for failure to pay, ship, etc. If someone does not pay for an auction, charge then for the listing fees that the seller paid. Also, put a penalty of $5, $10, etc. that is partially paid to the seller and to eBay. This would put some real teeth into the non-paying bidder (NPB) policy.

These are some pretty simple ways that eBay could really improve on their already largely monopolistic website that they offer. While it may discourage a few people in signing up and using the service, the benefits to the entire community and with user retention would far outweigh that cost. I cannot tell you how many people have emailed me to say that they would not be using eBay after their experiences this holiday season.

Do you have other ideas? I would love to hear them. Next, you will be hearing from me on the Top 5 Ways to fix PayPal!

10 Ways to Promote Your eBay Store And Get More Bids

If you are serious about making money on eBay you need to have an eBay store. This gives you your own unique URL that you can use to promote your store.

Now it doesn't take a genius to work this formula out. More visitors = more sales.

Here are 10 easy ways to promote your eBay store and gain extra traffic that in turn will lead to more bids.

1. Make sure you provide a link to your eBay store from every auction you run. If someone is not interested in your auction they may be interested in something else you are selling in your eBay store.

Make sure you ask people to click on your link and they will. How many times have you seen the term 'please view my other auctions' or 'visit my eBay store for more bargains' I bet you've clicked on those links sometimes too? I know I have. It's all about encouraging the person to do what you want. After all, if they don't click on your link what have you lost? Nothing.

2. Include a simple email signature in all outgoing emails. Make sure you use a catchy headline to attract visitors. Again, ask people to click your link.

3. Include a link to your store in all winning bidder emails you send to your eBay customers. Just a simple line of text explaining you have many more quality items in your store will do.

4. If you use eBay to automatically invoice your customers make sure you mention your eBay store and provide a link.

5. If you take part in forum discussions and are allowed a signature make sure you provide a link to your eBay store in all forum posts you make.

6. Look for forums related to what you sell, offer advice and take part in discussions and make sure you mention your eBay store wherever possible.

7. If you can set up an auto responder for your customer emails have it say something like:- "Hi. Thanks for getting in touch, I have received your email and will respond soon" then include your signature.

8. Write at least one article per month related to your eBay business and include a link to your eBay store, just as I have done here.

9. Create an eBay about me page and make sure you mention your eBay store. Again, ask people to click your link and they will.

10. Consider upgrading your store to the featured level. If you are a high volume seller the extra cost will be worth it.

There you have it, 10 simple steps to ensure you gain more visitors to your auctions. If you implement these steps into your eBay business you will receive more visitors and in turn more bids.