10 Steps To Successful Sell On eBay

So you want to be a successful seller with your own eBay business, do you? Here's a simple 10 steps path to eBay enlightenment.

Step 1: Identify your market. Take a while to sit and watch for what sells and what doesn't out of the items you're interested in. 

Any market research data you can collect will be very useful to you later on. You'll probably see the 'sweet spots' quite quickly - those one or two items that always seem to sell for a good price.

Step 2: Watch the competition. Before you invest any money, see what the other sellers in your category are up to, and what their strategies are. 

Pay special attention to any flaws their auctions might have, because this is where you can move in and beat them at their own game.

Step 3: Find a product: Get hold of a supplier for whatever it is you want to sell, and see what the best rates you can get are - don't be afraid to ring round quite a few to get the best deal. 

If the eBay prices you've seen are higher than the supplier's, then you're set.

Step 4: Start small: Don't throw thousands at your idea straight away - 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 don't be ashamed to 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 the market opportunity you've spotted, your strategy, strengths and weaknesses of the plan and a brief budget. This is more for you than it is for anyone else.

Step 7: Invest and expand: This is the time to throw money at the problem. Buy inventory, and start spending more time on your business. Set a goal number of sales each week, increasing it each time.

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 - a lawyer is the best person to help you through the process.

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.

Step 10: Never give up: Even when it looks like it's all going wrong, don't stop trying until you succeed.
If you keep working at it then you'll almost always find that you make a real breakthrough just when things are starting to look desperate. 

Once you get into the swing of things, you might start thinking that you should quit your job and take up eBay selling part time. But it's not always as easy as that - there are all sorts of factors that you need to consider.

How To Plan, Prepare And Keep Personal Crisis In Control

A personal crisis doesn’t have to spell disaster for your business if you’re prepared. 

 Every business occasionally endures a crisis, Recessions or tough economic situations, but what happens when your dilemma isn’t falling profits but personal.

Because we have no idea what type of personal crisis may await us – an ugly divorce, debilitating disease, or ailing parent/child/spouse, we must be prepared. 

Just as you plan for advertising and promotions, you must always plan for life’s surprises.

A founder suggests finding somebody NOW who can take over your responsibility and carry on for at least 20 days.   

He/she needs to be someone who can communicate well with staff and command respect, and may or may not be the person you feel closest to in the company.

Once a personal crisis hits, professionals recommends “full disclosure” to your employees. 

This avoids the feeling of being hit by a bomb, and that business will go on as usual.   

In case you think this doesn’t work, let me give you a case history example.

A President Lady in a PR firm had only been in business 1 year when she tested “full disclosure” with her employees.   

She was diagnosed with an aneurysm which required a surgeon to drill through her skull.   

She had just landed her first major client and was publicizing a major hockey arena. 

 If all didn’t go well with the project, this client could turn out to be her last.

Before missing 7 days of work, She prepped her full-time employee, another agency she was working with, and her client by sharing the nitty-gritty details of her crisis.   

She assured them everything would run according to plans and smoothly in her absence, and found that everybody was willing to work around her crisis.   

And She found that, by nature, people are very sympathetic.

A word of caution though, you need to know when to talk.   

During and after a crisis – full disclosure is great. 

 If you’re “contingency” planning though, it might be prudent not to advertise that if your personal life goes in the tanker good old Gary or Lizzy will be in charge.   

Your employees may needlessly dwell on why they weren’t picked to run the show instead of them.  

 Above all, you don’t want to cause widespread distress or distract your staff from day-to-day operation.

Just as surely as you plan for financial allocations for your business, always have a crisis plan in place.  

This may need adjustments from year to year as staff leaves and are replaced, so when planning for each year’s business needs include your crisis plan.

Have a wonderful day.