I’ve also been off to Atlanta to an Internet marketers workshop and took a little video of an interview I did with Kevin Riley. Kevin is a marketer from Japan and an expert on creating how-to information products. Thanks to him, I’ve been able to start creating my own guides. I believe that every one of us has experiences and skills that others could benefit from, and creating an info product is the best way to share our knowledge.

Here’s the video. As you can see, standing beside Kevin looked like a scene from Land of the Giants.

Technorati Tags: creating info products, Kevin Riley

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eBay doesn’t allow you to advertise another site on your auctions, but on your About Me page, you can mention you have a blog and include a link to it. Then when people visit your site, have an opt-in form so that they can give you their first name and email address. That way you can keep in touch and let them know when you’re having a special auction.

You’ll have to give your readers a good reason to sign up with you. That could be a free report, some free tips you’ve gathered, or even just the promise that they will be the first to know the minute your auction is posted.You can also advertise current eBay auctions right from your blog.

An easy way to start a blog is with Blogger. It’s free, easy to use, and fun as well. I recently conducted a workshop at the local community center and talked about starting a Blogger Blog. I recorded it and am including it in this post so you can have a listen.

Blogger

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Instead of  clicking on ‘Sell’ and creating your listing, click ‘Sell’, then ‘Advanced Sell’. Then chose your category and move on to the ‘Create Listing’ page. On ‘Describe Your Item’ you want to click on the HTML tab and add the code for the video. To get that, you would copy the embed code that is listed beside your video.That’s it and you should get extra interest in your auction as a result.

Let us know how using video on your auction works out for you. And don’t forget to include a link to your auction in the Youtube description for your video.

Technorati Tags: video in eBay auction, Youtube and eBay, using video descriptions on eBay

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When you first get started, it can be a little unnerving.  The best option is to begin by looking around your own home.  Think of items that you would sell in a garage sale.  But instead of pricing each item and lugging it outside hoping for a nice sunny day, you can advertise them on eBay. By starting with items you no longer want, you can make mistakes and learn without spending a lot of money and with no regrets.

Although there are several other quality auction websites, eBay is by far the most popular and most successful.  You could use all the other sites as well,  but by spreading yourself too thin you risk getting things mixed up.  In reality, it’s better to use eBay and focus your attention and efforts on this one site.  You can always try the others once you know better what you’re doing.

First, navigate through each section of eBay to familiarize yourself with all the different pages.  You will find a site map and help files, which are very useful tools.  It will take a little time to get used to the site but before long you’ll get the hang of it.  As you start selling, navigating will become much easier.

Technorati Tags: eBay, selling on eBay, learning about eBay

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I am wondering if anyone would be interested in participating in a free teleseminar? I would choose a time and date and give you a phone number to call in. The call would also be recorded so anyone not available could listen in later on your computer. Note that long distance charges apply (that’s how the conference company makes their money).

We can talk about eBay, making money online, selling information products, blogging, whatever you like. Please comment and let me know if you’re interested.

Update: I’ll ask about this again in the fall.

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introforebayclass

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I found this excellent video about finding good niche markets to sell your eBay products.
Hope you find it helpful.

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Step 1: Identify your market.

Take a look at the completed listings and watch for what sells and what doesn’t from the items you’re interested in. Pay attention to photos, titles, descriptions, starting prices, and shipping rates. Any market research data you can collect will be very useful to you later on.

Step 2: Watch the competition.

Before you invest any money, see what the other sellers in your category are selling, and what their strategies are. Pay special attention to any flaws their auctions might have, because this is where you can improve. When reading their content, ask yourself “does this make me want to bid? Why or why not?”

Step 3: Find a product.

Once you’ve run out of things to sell around the house, find a supplier for whatever it is you want to sell, and get the best price you can find – don’t be afraid to check out quite a few to get the best deal. If the eBay prices you’ve seen are higher than the supplier’s, then it’s a promising product. Other options are to create your own products, including information cd’s (my favourite), or to sell things for other people.

Step 4: Start small.

Get started slowly, see what works and what doesn’t, and learn as you go. Remember that it’s very cheap to try out even the craziest ideas on eBay, and who knows, they might just work!

Step 5: Test and repeat.

Keep trying different strategies until you find something that works, and then keep doing it, again and again. The chances are that you’ve just found a good niche.

Step 6: Work out a business plan.

A business plan doesn’t need to be anything formal, just a few pages that outline what you intend to sell, your strategy, strengths and weaknesses of the plan, and a brief budget. This is more for you than it is for anyone else, but it will keep you on track with your new business.

Step 7: Invest and expand.

Buy inventory and start spending more time on your business. Set a goal number of sales each week, increasing it each time. You could even open an eBay store if you have enough inventory.

Step 8: Make it official.

Once you’ve made a few thousand dollars worth of sales, you should really register yourself as a business. Don’t worry, it’s not expensive or hard to do - many government agencies have been set up to help you through the process, or you can consult a lawyer.

Step 9: Automate.

You’ll probably find that you’re writing the same things again and again in emails or item descriptions. This is the time to give up on the manual method and turn to automated software that can create listings for you, and respond to completed auctions and payments with whatever message you provide. Many of these automated tools can be found by talking to other sellers on the eBay forum.

Step 10: Never give up.

Even when it looks like it’s all going wrong, don’t stop trying. Many times the only thing that keeps us from being successful is that we give up too easily. If one type of product doesn’t sell, try another one. Try ending your auctions on different days and at different times. If everyone else is listing a product a certain way, try listing yours the opposite so it will stand out in the crowd. The beauty of selling on eBay is that you can change your product line without it costing you too much. You could never have that flexibility with an offline store.

Technorati Tags: eBay, selling, eBay business

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Step 1: Open an eBay seller’s account. If you’ve bought things on eBay, then you already have an account – just log in with it and click ‘Sell’ in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click ‘Create a seller’s account’. If you’ve never used eBay before, then you’ll need to open an account first using the ‘register’ link underneath the toolbar, and then click ‘Sell’ and ‘Create a seller’s account’. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell. For your first little experiment with eBay, it doesn’t really matter what you sell. Take a look around the room you’re in - find something that you’re not all that attached to and could sell. Small books and CDs are ideal first items.

Step 3: Submit your item. Click ‘Sell’, and you’re on your way to listing your item. The first thing you need to do is choose a category – it’s best to just type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box.

Now set a starting price. Under $1 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise wouldn’t, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to set is the duration of the auction: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is up to you: longer sales will usually get more bids, but if you’re sure of the demand, choose a shorter time period.  If you’ve taken a picture, add it now – items with pictures always sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you’re done!

Step 4: Wait for it to sell. This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing – buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can.

** Remember that if your item doesn’t sell then you can list it again for free. If you do, try listing on a different day or a different time. **

Step 5: Collect payment and mail the item. eBay will sent your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything. Once you’ve got the payment, all you need to do is securly pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyer’s address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, mail it, and you’re done! Oh, one more thing, give your buyer positive feedback as soon as you receive payment and encourage them to do the same for you once the item is received.

Technorati Tags: selling on eBay, posting an auction, sell and ship

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When you think about what to sell, there are a few things to consider. The most important of these is to always sell what you know. If you try to sell something that you just don’t know anything about then you’ll never write a good description and sell it for a good price because you won’t really know how much it’s worth.

You might think you’re not especially interested in anything, but if you think about what kind of things you usually buy and which websites you go to most often, you’ll discover some kind of interest.

Out of the things you know enough about, you should then consider which things you could actually get cheaply enough to resell, and how suitable they would be for mailing. You want to sell items that are small and light enough for shipping to be relatively inexpensive,

On eBay, there’s a market for almost everything, even things that wouldn’t normally sell in a regular store. Start by selling things that you’ve got lying around in the house. Search through your cupboards and try listing some of the things you never use anymore. This is the power of eBay: there is always someone who wants what you’re selling, whatever it might be, and they’ve come looking to buy, they aren’t just doing research.

Once you’ve had a taste of eBay and its ease of use for a seller, I’ll tell you all about my favourite items to sell – information products on cd.

Technorati Tags: eBay, selling on eBay, what to sell

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