Rating:

My personal recommendation…

Make a Living From Your Ebay Business

This guide is one of the most jam packed information rich guides I’ve found to eBay yet.  Raw beginners and experienced veterans are sure to find something of value.  I’m only in Chapter 3 and I already have several pages of valuable notes from it.  Very cool!

How Visual Bookshelf describes this book…

“The power of online auctions is attracting hundreds of thousands–if not millions–of users who want to turn their eBay hobbies into profitable businesses. While turning an eBay hobby into an eBay business might look easy, making that business profitable is much more difficult. Not enough sellers treat their eBay sales as a business, and subsequently are disappointed in the results. To launch a successful and profitable eBay business, the detailed instructions in this book will show you how to get started. It will help you determine what kind of business you want to run, write an action-oriented business plan, establish an effective accounting system, set up a home office, obtain starting inventory, arrange initial funding, establish an eBay presence, and arrange for automated post-auction management. This book is a step-by-step guide for anyone serious about making money from their eBay sales. Unlike other computer-oriented titles, this is a straight-ahead business book that shows how to set up and run different types of eBay businesses, and how to maximize sales and profits while doing so. This book includes a section titled “Choosing Your eBay Business” that details six different types of eBay businesses you can start. Included in this section is a chapter on eBay Trading Assistants (AKA drop-off stores or consignment stores), which is the newest form of an eBay business.”

My notes on what I found to be of particular interest…

eBay businesses sell merchandise with the intent to make a profit.
Items for sale can be purchased or made.
Insertion Fees – the fee for listing an item.
Final Value Fees – Like a selling fee or commission that eBay charges.
A good estimate is that 12-15% of the sale goes to eBay fees.
Budget for the actual cost of the item, packing materials, labels, Internet access, etc.
Different ways to sell on eBay: auction, fixed pric .
Dutch Auction – auctioning off more than one at a time.
Best Offer – allows people to make an offer that you can accept or decline.
“Buy It Now” – BIN
BIN is good for seasonal offers like Christmas buyers.
eBay Express – A marketplace for fixed-price items.
Half.com
eBay Store – online storefront.
A professional seller has a lot more activity to manage.
“…It takes planning to launch a successful business, organizational skills to grow the business, and business savvy to stay ahead of the competition and keep your business in the black.”
Planning activities:
1) Research sales across categories looking for product ideas
2) Develop a short business plan
3) Evaluate start-up cost
4) Determine business entity type
5) Setup a record keeping system, including inventory management and accounting
6) Determine physical space needed for inventory
7) Develop a sales projection and a budget for expenses
Determine available time and team development
Types of eBay Businesses
1) Second-Hand Reseller
2) Collector/Trader
3) Bulk Reseller
4) Retailer
5) Manufacturer/Craftsperson
6) Trading Assistant
Category Research:
1) How many items of this type are listed in a week, on average?
2) What is the sell-through percentage – the percent of all auctions that end with successful bids?
3) What is the average final selling price?
4) Are sales increasing or decreasing over time?
Data to extract:
1) Starting Price
2) Final selling price
3) Number of bids
Analyzing the data:
1) Total number of items
2) % successful auctions
3) Range of prices
4) Ration of final selling to starting price
5) Determine average sales price

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