Sarah_Jayne

My dad was recently laid off from the job he has had for about 20 years and at nearly 60 he doesn't see too many prospects. He mentioned to me that he is interested in learning about doing ebay for profit. He floated a couple ideas for his 'niches' by me and they actually sound like okay ideas. He is a smart person and is not at all afraid of hard work and I think if he was just pointed in the right direction he could do okay with it. The problem is that I have never really done any serious ebay selling and also I am on the other side of an ocean so I can't sit next to him and help teach him what I do know. Anybody know of any sites,etc that are legit and worth pointing him to to just learn a bit?

mikeyddddd

I've seen an ad about how to sell on eBay from the Video Professor guy several times recently.

It's supposed to be free, in the hope that you'll buy other educational CDs from them, but I don't know anything about the program.

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LilBro

ebay for dummies and the idiots guide to ebay books... dont laugh but i bet it will be nice and basic english for your dad to understand.... worth a shot

Sarah_Jayne

I have owned more than a few dummies/idiots books in my day to perhaps make people think twice about me. I wasn't sure how up to date they were but I think they may be basic enough.

He is like me (wonder why..lol) full of ideas but needs to focus on a few and really make them work.

96ukssob

my friend said he read "eBay for Dummies" but that teaches you more of HOW to sell such as setting up the listing pages, putting keywords in, etc. basically the psychological end of selling but it still comes down to you need a product to sell

i know of a few drop ship companies (you keep no stock, just sell the product and the company ships it), hit me up and ill point you in the right direction

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selena

I'm a powerseller on ebay, and his biggest issue will be sourcing a product at a low enough price that he can resell it, pay ebay fees, pay paypal fees, and still make a profit.

That's not mentioning a lot of the changes that have come down the road from ebay this year, and most of them geared toward "improving the buying experience."

Feel free to hit me up with any questions, Sarah.

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Sarah_Jayne

Yeah, I am doing my best to minimize his expectations. At the moment, he has two paper based products he is interested in starting out with. One of them is pretty specialized and pretty much a collectors item area where he happens to have expert knowledge. He has looked at what is on offer in that area of Ebay and thinks the people selling (and buying) don't have the knowledge he does (and for once he probably is right..it is connected to a hobby of his that has been a borderline obsession of his for most of his life).

I want him to try this and see if he can make it at the very least a bit of a paying hobby but on the other hand I don't want him swimming too deeply without knowledge at first. I am hoping I can help him a bit with what I know about the general marketing of stuff on the 'net and things like Paypal, etc.

Maybe I should learn together with him..I just hate going to the post office.

payd2purv

It is worth it for him to give it a shot.

Even if he doesn't make 40k a week it will keep him busy and entertained.

E-Bay is extremely simple tho even for an old'guy.. make sure he doesnt spend any money learning how to use E-Bay....

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selena

Ebay has recently made a great number of changes that really do not favor sellers, imho. That said, if he has knowledge of a product, and can source it, there is no reason why he shouldn't try.

It sounds like he's done a little research, which is good. You'd be surprised at the people who don't. Him having the knowledge you say he does will be a valuable asset.

My recommendation would be this...

for him to not spend any money on any type of course. There are several ebay books on the market, some geared to the absolute beginner. Perhaps you and he could both get the same book, so that you could easily follow along with his progress?

Also, Ebay itself is full of information...enough information that I cannot imagine paying for it.

I'd suggest that he start off doing listings of things he already has and would like to get rid of. That gives him practice without him risking losing money on paid inventory.

He should think ahead, right out of the gate. He needs to pick a username that will be tied in with his product, and he needs to get that registered. Once registered, he needs to buy a few things under this ID. Perhaps things that he would need for shipping, or something of that nature.

Point is, very few people will buy from a seller with zero feedback, and conversely, few people will look at 25 positive feedbacks to see if they were feedbacks as a seller, or feedbacks as a buyer. Not to mention the higher your feedback, the better prices you can command. So getting some numbers under his belt is essential.

Part of the changes recently made were that for some categories, Paypal now will hold funds for 21 days before releasing them to the seller. Doesn't sound like the categories your dad is interested in, but it's something you need to be aware of.

I don't see a reason why he shouldn't give it a try and see what happens. The reality is, selling on ebay and amazon has a lot of similaraties to building galleries or free sites. It's a lot of the same work, over and over and over again. It also requires the ability to take decent pics, write sales text, etc. Some people just aren't cut out to work all day, every day, on a computer, and they don't think about that when they think 'hey, I'm going to sell on ebay'.

Best of luck!

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Eriic

I am not 60 but I know how it is, it's a tough world when you lose your job past 40.

I have tried the ebay thing, the be your own boss, time after time thing. I pray for him to have better luck than I have had.

Sarah_Jayne

Yup, I have told him not to buy anything...if there is a book to be bought I will buy it for him and have it sent to his house. He is not 'old' in the mind but it is a learning curve thing.

True on the keeping him busy front too..my mom retired from teaching last week and if he is going to be home too he needs to have something to stop him driving her nuts.

Sarah_Jayne

Wow, thank you so much. I am going to print (and edit out any GFY pictures ..lol) and show him this when he is over for my wedding in a couple weeks.

Sarah_Jayne

Yeah, I feel bad that I am not a zillionaire to just take care of everything for them right now but even if I could he wouldn't take it and would want to find a way to work for himself. He is the casualty of a company that is driving related and therefore connected to fuel prices.

SweetT

I am actually trying to find out some information for my Father In Law who wants to get into the eBay thing, as well. He was wanting me to give him some feedback as to the best software to use for bidding. I hear there are a ton of them out there but he was hoping that someone with some knowledge would point him in the right direction.

Any references from you eBay pros?


--T

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selena

You are very welcome.

I believe I'm on your icq list, feel free to ask any questions that may arise in the future.

A couple of things...

I saw drop shipping mentioned in this thread. For some people, it works. But for others...not so well.

Sarah, liken it to building up your entire business on a free host. Your dad may well do his job perfectly, but if the drop shipper...drops the ball...it's your dad's business that is effected. Ebay now has a star rating system implemented (dsr's), and as a seller, you simply cannot afford to have low dsr's or low feedback.

Anyone can read the Seller Central discussion board. Have him start reading that every day. He may not understand some of the discussions that go on, but he'll get the gist of some of the things he needs to consider. That said, don't let the doom-and-gloom-the-sky-is-falling posters unnerve him. It's still a legitimate way to earn some cash, but it truly is much more like a business than days gone by.

Finally...congrats on your upcoming wedding! I've seen you mention it in a couple of places, and have been meaning to send you my best wishes. I truly hope you have many years filled with love and laughter!

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selena.delgado9

selena

Just to clarify, are you asking about sniping software?

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Sarah_Jayne

Thank you for the warm blessings

I will arm him with whatever options are mentioned here but I do think you are right that he needs to start on a smaller scale and I know his mentality and he is big on 'quality control' and would probably want to be the only one to blame if something went wrong in an order at first.

SweetT

I think so. I am sorry that I am an ebay-idiot...but from what I understand that is what he is looking for.


--T

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Phoenix

sarah when i did ebay

i had my own supply of goods...we imported roller shoes..and then sold them on ebay

so profits were easily had

it is like any business...get something cheaper then what you sell it for

and you make money on shipping as well.
find a product that is hot....buy it from china....and wollah

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Scott McD

I'm starting to hate Ebay now with the amount of time-wasters on it lately...

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Peaches

I was going to say the same thing. They'll give you the nuts and bolts of Ebay's operations w/o trying to upsell you something or showing you how to skirt some of the rules.

They have several levels too, IIRC. I just wanted one for home selling and realized it was more for how to start an Ebay Biz. Tonda was playing with that a little then, so I just sent it her

Hopefully Tonda will pop up - I know she has experience in shipping too.

I did the snipping thing 8+ years ago when I was building up my antique quilt collection (I'm such a redneck..........). It worked well but back then it was free. Now I just either try to "snipe" it manually or I just deal with not getting it.

I do LOVE THE EBAY

selena

No worries, just making sure I was following you correctly.

I've heard these mentioned, but have no personal knowledge of them, as I've never used a sniping program.

Gixen

JBidWatcher

Sporbits

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selena.delgado9

Azoy?

yah that's true. i actually got out of ebay selling cause they kept raising the fees on ebay and paypal transactions which cut into my profits to the point that i didn't make enough money to justify the time.
you need to find a really low priced item to make a money.
other then that play around the ebay system once you log in to see how it works.
buying all those books or videos is a waste of money if you ask me as you can find all that information on online tutorials from ebay and other sites.
oh and stay away from anything high end, the counterfeits are going to kill you price wise. trust me i know from experience with Serengeti sunglasses. Buyers think it's a great deal but they are getting fakes.
Stick to basics which everyone needs or items that sell but not huge in demand such as luxury items or electronics.

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Sarah_Jayne

My dad had a friend that was actually buying stuff in the USA and selling it to Taiwan...go figure! Turns out they were Asian things Americans didn't know that much about but had collector value there. Good if you can figure it out like that.

I am glad he is thinking of paper products at first so his shipping won't be high.

Sarah_Jayne

I am sure my dad would rather stay with totally legit stuff and I would rather he did too.

candyflip

Make sure he get's a Stamps.com account and uses their software to purchase postage. It makes selling on eBay much easier.

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Sarah_Jayne

Good tip..I remember looking at that in the past.

Ron Bennett

Depending on what he's selling and the dollar amounts involved, since many buyers pay using PayPal (Ebay owns PayPal), it's imporant he is aware of PayPal's Seller Protection Policy (SPP) and what it typically entails...

* Applicable to U.S., Canada, U.K. buyers / sellers only. There are exceptions to this, such as for some PowerSellers.

* Covers tangible items only - thus excludes software, services, etc.

* Must be shipped to confimed address on file at PayPal; this can get tricky if the buyer has a different address on file at Ebay or is foreign registered - again, the address to which one ships must be shown as confirmed.

* Customer pickup is not covered - best to only accept cash in such instances.

* Delivery Confirmation that can be viewed on-line.

* $250+, including shipping, requires signature confirmation that can be viewed on-line. Purchasing insurance, while a good idea, alone is not sufficient to meet this requirement.

* When listing an item, note the message indicating whether it's Seller Protection eligible - and note there are limits to the amount for what Ebay/PayPal will cover on both an item and annual basis.

* SNAD (signicantly not as described) are NOT covered. Increasingly a problem since the change in Ebay's feedback system (only buyers can leave FB now) - sellers are getting hit with more NPB (non-paying bidders) and SNADs than ever.

On a related topic, Ebay has switched it's default search to something they call "Best Match" ... the results shown for a particular search will vary primarily based primarily on the seller's DSR (Detailed Seller Rating; their stars) and also, though to a much lessor degree, on that of the buyer, though, from what I've read, that part of BM is still not fully implemented yet.

Bottom line is that selling on Ebay is more difficult and risky than ever. In particular for common consumer items, especially electronics.

I'd suggest he also register at ioffer.com - it's an ebay competitor, that while small and using a different selling model, is working good for some sellers.

And finally, regardless of whether he's planning on doing volume sales, he should also research selling on Amazon because Ebay is seeking to transform it's sale platform to be more like Amazon.

Ron

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GrouchyAdmin

Sell shit people want.

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themonk

all he needs is good ebooks

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woj

The hard part is finding a profitable product, the actual selling part you can learn in probably an hour, or even just improvise and dive right in.... sure there are some tricks of the trade you can use to squeeze extra few bucks profit, but the main thing is having a profitable product...

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Sarah_Jayne

Do those actually sell on ebay? I always get scam alarms going off when I see them.

Iron Fist

Good thread but eBay sucks.... glad to see it's tipped to the buyer side... been fucked over on feedback from sellers before and there wasn't a god damned thing I could do but eat neg feedback from them since eBay never "removes" it.

Emil

I've heard cookiestuffing works great with ebay. :P

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