by Robert Leavitt
Greetings fellow workaholics! I am back in full swing on eBay and my store is about to burst at the seams! I am very close to reaching my max list limit (which is around 600 items) for the month. I have never actually reached it so I'm not sure what happens then. I know just as I get close to maxing it out, eBay raises my limit, so from experience I can deduce that will happen once again.
I opened a "consignment" shop of sorts. It's just a few friends and family that have me listing stuff for them under my account. There are advantages to doing this as I have established a history of sales within the eBay community and I have managed to maintain my 100% feedback rating. (Knock on wood!)
The feedback rating is huge, not only does it drive people to your listing, it also will allow you to charge a premium for your items. You can compete on price on certain things, especially used items, however if you are listing new in box items for sale, you are going to find that competing with "top-rated-plus" sellers is a very difficult task. They pay the monthly fees to have an eBay store and they also receive discounts on the final listings and are able to undercut you. Even if you have the same supplier and shipping costs.
eBay is addictive, it really is, both as a buyer and a seller. If you plan to sell on eBay, start as a buyer (buy things you need for your business, like tape, bubble wrap, tape guns, boxes, etc...) and learn how the process works first. The best thing is that you get ratings for being a buyer. If you have 10 buying transactions and 3 selling transactions you will have a rating of 13 total transactions. The buyers can see this in the "detailed seller ratings" but many don't know that they are combined, and what they don't know can benefit YOU!
I did say earlier in this post that I have a store, which is a stretch of the truth. I haven't not actually upgraded to a real "Store" yet because of the fees. I will shortly if things maintain this pace, but for now I will keep it the same. I have read that it is a mistake to upgrade to early, and I can see that for certain. If you are only selling a few hundred dollars per month on eBay, a store is not necessary and is in fact a waste of your hard earned money!
The consignment process is easy in principle. It is however a challenge to maintain your inventory (keep it separate, ideally with a catalog system of some sort allowing you to put item numbers on everything so you can remember who things belong to!). But at the very minimum at least keep your groups of boxes separate from each other. I have yet to find an "vendor Item number" in eBay but I'm sure that one exists. I plan to find an inventory solution, perhaps built into a management platform. I will keep you posted on this and let you know should I decide to use one. I'm looking for something that has inventory features and will allow me to "dump" the product to amazon, eBay and a shopping cart all at once. Maybe that's too much to ask!
I will keep you updated on my eBay progress. I really want to write an eBay eBook but I have yet to find the time. It really is a big project that requires a lot of thought and preparation. There are 1000's out there, but the demand is high. Everyone wants to do this, but not everyone can. It is intimidating and unlike other mistakes on a computer that can often be fixed, mistakes on eBay can often mean "losing money" which is a burden few people can bear.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Showing posts with label information. Show all posts
Monday, May 19, 2014
Sunday, March 30, 2014
The Information Age
by Robert Leavitt.
The World Wide Web is a real revolution isn't it? It's absolutely amazing how much can be done online these days. Some of you may remember the day when you had to make sure you phone line was free if you wanted to log on to the Internet, on one of those old fashioned "dial up" modems? I swear sometimes I can still hear that sound in my sleep.
We have entered the information age. Just about anything in the world you can imagine or think of, can be found on the Internet. Both good and bad. Better or Worse...probably until death due us part. Some of the information is relative and great. Some not so much. So what does this means for us as a society and as a whole?
It can be viewed in a number of ways. Some people say it's bad and that it's stolen our individuality or some other nonsense. Others say it's the best thing since sliced bread. I think I fall in the middle. I love the fact that you can google anything and find out about it. But I also hate the insane amount of time I spend sifting through horrible non-relative content and "going in circles". It is so easy to get side tracked on the Internet it's absolutely incredible.
I also think it's a fantastic opportunity. Never before in the the history of man-kind has it been possible to effectively communicate with such a huge number of people at any given time. This is marketers dream! So I started looking at marketing options many years ago and what I found was very disheartening.
Do you hate spam in your inbox? I do... do you hate pop-ups? I do... Do you have countless and endless offers to "do a survey for cash" or something similar that never pans out? Or pays you such a small amount of money it was hardly worth the time? I DO TOO!!!!
I hate marketing and I hate the way the Internet is a non-stop advertising mess. I remember the good old days when you would have to watch a show at the time it came on...and sit through the commercials. That is no longer the case. Now it's gotten far more ridiculous, more corrupt and scandalous than ever! There are probably 20 new scams in your inbox since you started reading this post!
But I wanted to make money on the Internet. I mean that's the goal and probably the dream of most people. To quit there job and work at home doing a 10 hour work week and make .. I dunno how about 10k a month?
Well I'm here to tell you that anyone selling you that program is FULL OF IT. That doesn't exist. I will tell you what does work though. Hard work, and determination. There is NO get rich plan, there is no MAKE MONEY WITH NO MONEY plan.. (there is but it's in no way, shape or form a NO WORK plan). If you really want to make money online from home it is 100% possible, but it is also just like any other business that you run yourself. You are going to work an insane amount of hours, for a long time before anything like actual "cash" comes in, and that's the bottom line.
I hope to share with you some of my experiences in the "get rich quick" in the next few months and see if I can't steer some people in the right path. There is no blueprint, or "road paved with gold" in this story. Many people are successful on the Internet in many different areas. I can share with you some of the things that have worked for me, and some that have not.
Have a great work week! I will be working too. Granted I will be wearing something comfortable, but I can assure you, it will be work.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
The World Wide Web is a real revolution isn't it? It's absolutely amazing how much can be done online these days. Some of you may remember the day when you had to make sure you phone line was free if you wanted to log on to the Internet, on one of those old fashioned "dial up" modems? I swear sometimes I can still hear that sound in my sleep.
We have entered the information age. Just about anything in the world you can imagine or think of, can be found on the Internet. Both good and bad. Better or Worse...probably until death due us part. Some of the information is relative and great. Some not so much. So what does this means for us as a society and as a whole?
It can be viewed in a number of ways. Some people say it's bad and that it's stolen our individuality or some other nonsense. Others say it's the best thing since sliced bread. I think I fall in the middle. I love the fact that you can google anything and find out about it. But I also hate the insane amount of time I spend sifting through horrible non-relative content and "going in circles". It is so easy to get side tracked on the Internet it's absolutely incredible.
I also think it's a fantastic opportunity. Never before in the the history of man-kind has it been possible to effectively communicate with such a huge number of people at any given time. This is marketers dream! So I started looking at marketing options many years ago and what I found was very disheartening.
Do you hate spam in your inbox? I do... do you hate pop-ups? I do... Do you have countless and endless offers to "do a survey for cash" or something similar that never pans out? Or pays you such a small amount of money it was hardly worth the time? I DO TOO!!!!
I hate marketing and I hate the way the Internet is a non-stop advertising mess. I remember the good old days when you would have to watch a show at the time it came on...and sit through the commercials. That is no longer the case. Now it's gotten far more ridiculous, more corrupt and scandalous than ever! There are probably 20 new scams in your inbox since you started reading this post!
But I wanted to make money on the Internet. I mean that's the goal and probably the dream of most people. To quit there job and work at home doing a 10 hour work week and make .. I dunno how about 10k a month?
Well I'm here to tell you that anyone selling you that program is FULL OF IT. That doesn't exist. I will tell you what does work though. Hard work, and determination. There is NO get rich plan, there is no MAKE MONEY WITH NO MONEY plan.. (there is but it's in no way, shape or form a NO WORK plan). If you really want to make money online from home it is 100% possible, but it is also just like any other business that you run yourself. You are going to work an insane amount of hours, for a long time before anything like actual "cash" comes in, and that's the bottom line.
I hope to share with you some of my experiences in the "get rich quick" in the next few months and see if I can't steer some people in the right path. There is no blueprint, or "road paved with gold" in this story. Many people are successful on the Internet in many different areas. I can share with you some of the things that have worked for me, and some that have not.
Have a great work week! I will be working too. Granted I will be wearing something comfortable, but I can assure you, it will be work.
You can learn more about Robert Leavitt on his Google Plus page.
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