Next time you’re on eBay, take a look at how many PowerSellers there are: you’ll find quite a few. Now consider that every single one of one of them must be making at least $1,000 per month, as that’s eBay’s requirement for becoming a PowerSeller.

PowerSellers sell the same things again and again, every week – regular stock for regular customers. They  keep inventories and budgets. They know what they’re going to be selling, how much they buy it for and how much they expect to sell for. Just like a real store, they have slow periods, but their income is stable and their business slowly grows.

•  Silver PowerSellers make at least $3,000 each month
• Gold PowerSellers make more than $10,000
• Platinum Powersellers make more than $25,000
• Titanium PowerSellers make at least $150,000 in sales every month!

To achieve the minimum PowerSeller level, you must have a feedback rating of at least 100 (minimum 98% positive) and sell at least $1,000 worth of items every month for three months in a row. If PowerSellers fail to meet the required amount of sales, or their feedback falls below 98% positive, they can lose their PowerSeller status.

The fact that these people exist gives you come idea of the income possibilities here. Most of them never set out to even set up a business on eBay – they simply started selling a few things, and then kept going. There are plenty of people whose full-time job is selling things on eBay, and some of them have been doing it for years now.

Can you imagine that? Once they’ve bought the stock, everything else is pretty much pure profit for these people – they don’t need to pay for any business premises, staff, or anything else. There are multi-million dollar businesses making less in actual profit than many eBay PowerSellers do.

Even if you don’t want to quit your job, you can still use eBay to make a significant second income. What’s more, eBay doesn’t care who you are, where you live, or what you look like: some PowerSellers are very old, or very young. There’s no job interview and no commuting involved – if you can use a computer and mail out your items, then you can do it.

Learning the best ways to post an auction and gaining positive feedback will take a bit of time. Don’t give up if something goes a little wrong in your first few sales: the sellers who are successful on eBay are the ones who enjoy it, and stick at it whatever happens.

Once you become a successful eBay seller with a regular income, you’re going to have to start paying tax – this won’t be done for you. If you decide to sell on eBay on a full-time basis, you should probably register as a business. And check the tax requirements where you live, so that you know when paying the taxman should begin.

And one last tip – have fun.

Technorati Tags: power sellers, eBay, selling on eBay

To sell on eBay, you need three things: something people would want to buy (notice I didn’t just say “something to sell”), an eBay sellers account, and a Paypal account to collect money.

If you sell what you know about, you can spot bargains and will have a much better idea of the value and any other important information. You will also enjoy selling more if you really know your merchandise.

Start by researching some of the completed listings on eBay. You can find out which items sold and which didn’t, how much they sold for, how much the listing started at and when it was listed. Study the successful listings, looking at the keywords used in their titles, the descriptions and photos, even their payment and shipping details.

When you register on eBay, create a seller ID that relates to your products if possible. For example, if I were selling mainly small items, it could be carolscollectibles or something like that. And don’t be concerned that you will limit yourself that way. eBay allows you to have more than one account, as long as you have a different email address for each.

The final step is being able to collect your money. Although accepting cheques is an option, always wait until the cheque has cleared before you send the item. Since most eBay buyers want their purchases right away, Paypal is usually the preferred payment method. When signing up with Paypal, you will need a premier account so that you can also accept credit cards.

There you have it. A business of your own without the expenses that come with setting up your own shop. And if there isn’t much demand for a product, you can easily try selling something else without losing your investment. No wonder eBay is still popular with so many people.

Technorati Tags: eBay, selling, research, Paypal

I received my Momiji calendar today with the new course offerings for 2009. For anyone reading this blog who isn’t a past student, Momiji is a Japanese Cultural Centre and Seniors Housing complex in Toronto.

I was pleased to see that Frank, the older gentleman who teaches most of the computer classes there, is offering classes about Blogging. I taught that course a couple of years ago there and the demand wasn’t as high as I would have liked. I guess most people then didn’t even know what a blog was.

For those of you in the Momiji area, I encourage you to sign up for Frank’s Blogging course. I’ve heard he’s a very good teacher and creating a blog of your own is a lot of fun. If you do, be sure to let me know the web address of your new blog so I can go and check it out.

All the best to you and have a healthy and happy 2009.
Carol

>eBay scams

Thought you might enjoy watching this video about someone trying to scam people on eBay. Like they say, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

Hi everyone. Just to let you know, I’m not doing too much eBay these days. I have been doing a six week online course about creating information products. Lots of research and homework involved.

I was already doing some product creation, but this course focuses on producing a number of guides on a specific topic. Then I will burn them onto a cd and sell them on eBay as well as from my blogs. The topic I have chosen is long-distance grandparenting. There will be a number of ideas for using technology to keep a strong bond with your grandkids, even when they live a distance away.

Wish me luck as I take the many hours required to finish this. And please keep us all updated on your eBay progress.

Carol

Since shipping rates here in Canada seem to be so high compared to the United States, I decided to ask some Canadian Internet marketers whether that was really the case. Here are some of the responses I received:

1. Postage in Canada is way more than what it costs in the US… and a lot slower too. According to the news,  the cost for a small packet (200g – 500g) is more than doubling in January. You can get a small business discount card that saves 10% and has a few other perks – just ask them next time you’re in.  For larger packages, FedEx or USP is usually cheaper than Canada Post.

2. Twice as much cost doing Canada Post.

3. Canada Post is almost double if not more than the US. My company ships hundreds of products weekly and the only way we can offset this shipping a bit is to offer quantity or multi-pack purchases. Although one product still gets sales even though the shipping cost is more than the actual product.

So it looks like the verdict is don’t use Canada Post unless you make sure you charge a fair bit for shipping. Or you could go over the border, have a day’s outing, and mail your parcel from there. Although with the state of our dollar lately, maybe not.

If anyone tries UPS, let us know what you think as far as price.

a Shipping Calculator

Another option for deciding your shipping charges is to use the shipping calculator when you list an item. This will usually mean that your buyer may have to pay a fair bit to have the item shipped to them, but if you have a quality item they will probably be willing to pay it. The calculator was only offered in the US at one point, but I believe it’s now available to Canadians as well. This video I found will explain the process to you. Let me know if you try it.

I’ve come to the conclusion that Canada Post is more expensive than the American mail system. I re-listed the maternity top we worked with at the last Momiji workshop and this time it sold.

Since last Monday was a holiday, instead of ending the auction on the Sunday evening, I ended it on Monday night. The top was purchased by someone in Nova Scotia, at a price of 99 cents US plus $3 US for delivery.

One of the recent purchases made during a workshop was a similar size item of clothing that arrived at my home in a small bubble pak envelope. The cost of postage $1.90. Based on that shipment, I thought $3 for shipping within Canada was reasonable – charge much more and no one will want to buy the top.

The maternity top was light and easily fit inside a small bubble envelope. I took it to the post office and couldn’t believe it when the clerk charged me almost $9. Yes, I should have checked first and charged more. But the less you charge for shipping, the better your chances of selling your items. And I really didn’t think our postal charges would be so much more than the states.

Bottom line: I’ve learned my lesson. I’m going to stick with selling information products on eBay. Creating and shipping a cd isn’t hard to do and is much more cost effective. Any other products I sell will be limited to my local area so I don’t have to deal with Canada Post’s crazy prices.

My daughter Melanie seemed to think the background I had on this blog was boring, so she has changed it to this darker one. I like the way you can see what the posts say so clearly, but I find it hard to read any of the areas on the side because of the black background.

Please tell me what you think. Do you have trouble reading this blog the way it’s designed right now?

Update: I think I am sticking with this computer theme. Easy on the eyes and easy to find things.

For those of you who attended my last eBay workshop this past Saturday, we had some problems uploading our little Blue Mountain Duck to put it up for sale. I realized after that it was because I listed it on the new buyer identity that I created that day, but I hadn’t confirmed the account by email.

Bottom Line: None of that hard work we did on the title and description was saved, although I thought I kept it as a draft. I still have the photos and plan to list the item this Sunday night, since it will get more traffic then. Unless someone from the group still has the information you wrote for that cute little duck and wants to email it to me, I will have to create a new one. Sorry about that, but it was still a useful practice exercise. So keep your eye on this site and I will give you the auction link.

And speaking of past auctions, if anyone from the summer workshops wondered how our Simpsons’ toys fared on eBay - you naysayers were right. They didn’t sell. But at least we tried.