Sunday, November 26, 2006

Selling on EBay - By David G. Baker

Selling on E-Bay is fun. Most people who own computers or who know someone who owns a computer know about selling or buying goods on E-Bay. E-Bay was one of the first online auction sites, but the concept caught on and soon there were dozens of sites for selling goods online. The software makes it easy to list items, to bid on items and to pay for successful bids.

No matter what the business model is—customers understand they can purchase the item on eBay. Because of its widespread name recognition and vast choice of products, information, and services, selling on EBay makes a good choice when determining a way to get in business for yourself. You don’t even have to own the item to be able to list and sell on EBay. There are many people who choose to use the concept of drop-shipping. The seller finds an item which he believes will be a good choice for selling on EBay. He can arrange to do the listing and sales management for another person or company who will be responsible for the packaging and shipping from another location. A prospective seller with no goods available can also work on a commission basis for a friend or neighbor who has the items for sale, but doesn’t have the time or the understanding of computers to actually begin selling on E-Bay.

Another way to begin selling of E-Bay is to obtain resale rights for an e-book and market the book. Of course, you will want to choose an e-book on a subject which bidders will be interested in.

Even if you want to only sell your own products, E-Bay makes it easy to start small and build your business with gradual steps. Within the informational part of E-Bay’s web pages is a wealth of instructional, informational and helpful information about ways to select, promote and sell your product. The software makes it possible to easily add one or more pictures to help describe and promote what you are selling. You have the capability to access descriptive information to assist in preparing the listing. Links to such things as full book descriptions based on the entry of the book’s ISBN are helpful to ensure accuracy in descriptions and to save data entry time as well.

When selling on E-Bay, it’s important to remember to conduct yourself with a professional attitude. Be honest about the items you are listing for sale, describe them completely, blemishes and all. Let bidders know how you expect to ship the item and who pays for extras such as insurance and delivery confirmation. Finally, treat the item with respect for the shipping process. You want it to arrive in as good a condition as it was when the bid was placed.

Creator of http://www.auctions-here.com, the ebay alternative to matching auction buyers with auction sellers.