Let's talk about fees...Baby???

So you found a product for $1 and it looks like it is selling for $5 on Ebay!!!! OMFG!!!!! $4 bucks easy money….next Ebay millionaire…maybe not.  Ebay in a surprise business move has decided to charge people fees to sell on it…I know that it sounds crazy but it is what it is.  What does this mean for you?  That $4 mad profit could become a negative profit item…This=not good for business.  The other side of it hits you when you collect your payment…no one is paying you in beads and trinkets,  and someone is going to charge you a fee for taking your credit card payment.  That someone, for me, is Paypal!  I personally love Paypal, it just simplifies everything and has great reports and functions if you end up registering a business account.  The downside to all of that is that they will hit your money for 2.9% + .30 cents.  How do we avoid selling items that actually lose us money?

You need to know what your fees are!  As I said in the last paragraph, both sides of the transaction are going to hit you for fees, and you need these numbers to factor your profitability.  The simple breakdown is: 

Paypal: Paypal charges 2.9% of the total collected, +.30 cents.  An example of this on a $5 sale is .445 cents (2.9% of 5=.145 cents+.30 cents)  Not too shabby!

Ebay:  I have an Ebay store, which does get you a discount on final value fees.  My average final value fee is 9%, which sounds like a lot, and in the grand scheme it is.  That said, you would spend far more in advertising than that 9% to hit the size audience that you get on these massive sites.  There are also categories that have even lower fees than 9%, but I wont be getting into that in this post.  A simple search will give you those answers.  A typical $5 sale for me on Ebay would have a fee of .45 cents.  Combine that with the Paypal example given above and your total fees would be about .90 cents.  Obviously there are shipping charges etc…but this at least give you the gist.  Now you just take your selling price, minus your fees and your product cost and there is your profit!  (This also does not take taxes into account,  but I am not an accountant)

I hope this helps!

Top 5 Ebay Blogs/Sites

A little round up of my personal top 5 Ebay blogs, Ebay sites!  That title is deceiving,  because I am going to have to throw a couple of Amazon related sites into the mix as well!

ScavengerLife

This site made my list because it is a solid, well written site.  They do Ebay/Amazon etc... and they are not afraid to share their knowledge.  Make sure to check out their "Archive of Knowledge"  and if you love the site make sure to subscribe!

Thrift Store Flipping

How can you not love people who have a cat named Chuck Norris?  Obviously these guys are into flipping thrift store items that they find, and this is a hobby that I am getting more interested in.  I like this site because they do break down their monthly numbers, but I have not seen a recent update :(

Ebaysellingcoach

From what is selling, to Success stories this blog has a lot of great information.  Their are some great coaching tutorials, as well as articles on where to find items!

Auction Nudge

This one is kept updated, and seems to be adding a fair amount of content on a regular basis.  There are plenty of articles/tutorials on running your Ebay store like a true business,  The writer of this blog currently makes some online auction tools that I am sure are worth a look!

The Ebay Experiment

A little bit of wishful thinking here!

Why follow up?

Why follow up?

I received a question today regarding Ebay.  The question was “why follow up after I have the sale?”

I think that this is a solid question, especially if you have never been in sales before.  I have been in sales for over 10 years now, and one of the major things that I swear by is follow up.  There are a few reasons why I feel that it is this important:

1.        It keeps you and your business fresh in your customers’ minds.  If you sell widgets, keep in touch, be “their” widget store!  I know that if you need my product today, odds are good that you will need more of my product later.  Keep in touch!

2.       New widgets/products and maybe even ask for referrals!  Having customers opt in to your newsletter, is a great start.  Explain the benefits of “being in the know” regarding your store, and keep them in the loop with what is coming soon.  You can also offer coupons, notify them of sales etc…

3.       Nip problems before they start!  I have found that solid follow up allows me to address and correct any issues that may arise, long before feedback is left.  This not only corrects any issues, but it tends to make people more inclined to leave you the positive feedback that you have earned!

4.       Constructive criticism.  I love feedback on my products as well as my customer service.  When I follow up I tend to ask if they were happy with their purchase, and if there was anything about the process that they would change.

Where do I find the products???

Ready to fire up your online empire???  Awesome, I’m happy for you and pumped that you are reading this!  Where do we start??  Start here:
Can I start online for $100??? And Create your product!

That gets some of the basics out of the way, but just like anything, a lot of this is going to be learned by doing.  There are tons of blog posts telling you how, why and when to do things, but it still comes down to you!  You need to find your rhythm, what works for you.  There is no boiler plate template that covers all.
Now that some of the basics are covered, where the heck do we find things to sell?  I threw together a quick list of ideas to get you started:

-Local retailers (Walmart, Rite aid, dollar stores)
-Garage sales
-Yard sales
-Thrift stores
-Amazon (plenty of posts and books about this, just Google “RETAIL ARBITRAGE”

Now you are thinking, geeeeeee thanks for the list asshole, what the hell do I do at these magical locations??  Easy, you search for opportunity!  Make sure that you have your smartphone with you, because you need to check what these items are selling for on the interweb.  Look for name brand items, clearance items and anything else that catches your eye.  If it catches your eye odds are good that it will catch someone else’s eye online (unless crushed velvet paintings and t shirts with panthers catch your eye….)

Can you start your Ebay business for under $100??

Can you start your Ebay business for under $100??

I received this question twice yesterday, and wanted to write a quick post to show that it is possible.  This is not even a super shoestring budget either, it really gives you all of the basics.  This list does assume that you either have a computer with internet access or a smartphone (at this point I would hope that you would have both, we put a man on the moon almost 50 years ago for crying out loud)
1. Product:
2. Packing tape
3. Scissors
4. Bubble wrap
5. Pens (now things are getting serious)
That is not the end all be all list.  A lot of those items you probably already have!  I pretty much figured you could spend $100, $75 of which would be product.  I am writing an article about sourcing product that I will post soon.  The last of the cash I would head over to Godaddy.Com and get a domain name and whatever else tickles your fancy (they offer website builders, hosting etc...)  this is great as then you have the website to match your online seller account and you can also use the site for sales!  This is relatively inexpensive, and make sure that you grab a coupon code for Godaddy from a site like Retailmenot (my personal favorite!)

Make sure to read my ongoing series about Low (or no) budget business startup!  You can read each post here:

Low (or no) budget business startup Part 1

Low (or no) budget business startup Part 2

Low (or no) budget business startup Part 3

Creating your own product (kind of)

Who is going to take my money?!?!?

One of the major tasks that I took on when I decided to jump on Ebay to make a living, was sourcing/coming up with my own products to sell.  You can read about some great spots to find stuff to sell here: Finding products!

 When I say this I don’t mean that you have to invent something new; this could be as simple as purchasing a tough to find item that you needed for yourself.  Solving a problem is the best product to sell!  It does not have to solve everyone’s problems, it just needs to solve somebody’s.  An example of this would be if you were looking for a specific bolt for your motorcycle.  You search all over google for it using what you would think would be standard terms.  You find nothing.  Eventually, you do find the size of the bolts, and order yourself a bunch wholesale.  Now you just need to create a compelling ad, list those bolts up and solve those peoples problem. 

Solve a problem!

This does not just go for manufactured products either!  This can be a written product that you create!  A D.I.Y., how to, or instructional E-book, course etc… If you deal with a common problem (such as learning guitar chords) once you have your solution, write a tutorial.  This does not just have to be to sell, it can also be used as a gift for your subscribers. 

This should be enough to start my empire...

When you find a problem should you just buy a million pallets of them and list them up?  Probably not!  Take a look on Ebay, Amazon and whatever site you are looking to work on and see what the competition is.  Make sure to search for Keywords that best describe your solution to see how many are out there (if any) and how many are selling.

Obviously, if you are looking for it, somebody else is as well.  In closing, I have tweaked my daily mindset to always be looking for a problem to solve.  This sounds simple, and once you make it a focus you will find that it is!  I have a few solutions up on my Ebay store currently, feel free to check them out and let me know what you think: EBAY!!  Also, once you are done purchasing every item that I offer in my store, please head over to my work in progress: TheEbayExperiment.com