Don’t Sell on eBay Until You Do This!

Far too many people rush to open an eBay account, fall over themselves to make their first sale, and in all the panic and confusion they suddenly realise they’re losing money fast! So they give up selling on eBay, and return to working for someone else! Very sad, especially when just a few simple steps are all that stand between failing on eBay and growing an income limited only by time and effort put into the business. Why fail, why not succeed beyond your wildest dreams, why not follow these few simple steps to guarantee your success on eBay?

These are three things you must do before you even open your eBay account:

* DECIDE WHAT TO SELL

You must have some definite product or service in mind, or you’ll be running round in circles, forever chasing new ideas and getting nowhere fast.

Counter this common problem as soon as you sign up at eBay by spending at least two or three days looking at what other people are selling, especially sellers with triple or quadruple or more monthly feedback and high profit margins.

Go to eBay’s Pulse pages, check out the biggest shop owners in each of the main and sub-category product sections featured top of the page. Make a list of products that interest you, check out local wholesalers or dropshippers, obtain just one or two samples of specific products to test market and assess profitability before buying in bulk.

* GROW A SECOND SKIN, A TOUGH SECOND SKIN

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a great devotee of eBay, I’ve been selling there for several years, but even after forty years in business I’ve encountered problems that left me shocked and confused, sometimes downright miserable. It’s sad to say the customer is not always right on eBay and although most customers are very genuine, there’s a tiny minority who exist purely to upset other people. These people leave negative feedback for any reason or even no reason at all, and they can be extremely hurtful to first time entrepreneurs.

Like many people I think eBay’s one-sided feedback system is seriously flawed and I can’t quite work out why sellers can only leave positive feedback or no feedback at all even for people whose payment has bounced or who insist they haven’t received your product even though you have their signature on the delivery form.

No one doubts that customers online can be much nastier than people you meet face-to-face in high street premises.

That’s because the Internet is largely anonymous and people who’d never create a scene in a high street shop can be extremely obnoxious in emails and feedback postings.

As the saying goes, ‘If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen’, and you must apply this principle to customer communications on eBay and elsewhere online.

* BE UP FRONT AND PROFESSIONAL RIGHT FROM DAY ONE

The most successful sellers are those who take their responsibilities very seriously, towards other sellers, towards customers, and especially to government and financial authorities. Most sellers are kind and considerate, honest and reliable, and only rarely are serious problems encountered on eBay.

However, way too many people take chances when it comes to handling matters like income tax and trading standards, these being the two most likely areas to land you in a whole heap of trouble and send your eBay business plummeting.

In short, you MUST determine your legal and financial obligations, well in advance of selling on eBay, and you must take steps to ensure you never fall foul of local, national and international trading rules and regulations.

That does not mean you need an accountant right from day one but you do have to tell the income tax authorities you are running a business within a specific period of time. That specific period varies between countries and you can learn more by visiting national income tax authority web sites. Find them by keying ‘income tax xxx’ into Google, where ‘xxx’ represents the country you live and work in.

You should also study eBay’s help pages to determine eBay’s own seller rules as well as local, national and international rules and regulations concerning sales made on eBay.

Last, but not least, contact your local town hall for advice about local and non-local trading laws.