Use the Power of e-Bay to Make Money Online

With millions of visitors each day,e-bay is a crowning success on the Internet and proof positive of its astounding potential for profit and opportunity to make money.

Of course, there are literally hundreds of detailed books out there promising to help one and all make big profits selling their ”gently used” household items and collectibles. This report will not pretend to go into the detail of any of these other resources but will provide the reader with an overview of the auction side of the e-Bay business along with tips and strategies to help optimize success and make money online.

Hard Facts About e-Bay

Make no mistake about it—the idea of making money from the comfort and privacy of your home is very alluring. So, when someone hears that they can take a picture of their old unwanted items and sell them to the highest bidder to the point of perhaps even quitting their job and doing so full-time—well, many of us leap before really thinking it through.

Inflated Profit Myth

If you post enough items or those with enough value, there is no doubt that you will make money in about a week—but is that really what you made? One of the biggest mistakes made by newbies to the e-Bay scene is to overestimate the amount of profit made from every sale. In truth, the profit would be the difference between what was originally paid for the auctioned item and what it sold for (not including any potential profit from shipping).However, because many believe that since they plan to never replace the item that all proceeds from the sale are thus profit, a self-destructive cycle begins. At the end of the day, a business must generate a product or perform some type of service. Unless there is a structured plan to continually obtain more products to sell for profit, your home will eventually be empty and your cash flow will come to a screeching halt.

Sustained and Successful e-Bay Auction Strategies

• Concentrate on niche market

• Writing Sales Copy for Web

• Reinvest consistent percentage of profits

• Build solid reputation

• Market your company and services using sources outside e-Bay

• Diversify

Niche Market

To raise capital for more merchandise and to make more money, you will most likely auction off clothes, sporting equipment, old doll collections…etc. But when you have sold your item, packaged and shipped it safely, and received your money—what do you invest in?

The Internet and the search engines that essentially guide people through the Information Superhighway are great at getting surfers to the products they want. However, to make more money on e-Bay or in any Internet Marketing venture—you need to concentrate on a specific niche. This will help you save money because you can lump lower end products together in a ”lot” sale. Plus, by consistently selling products from the same niche, it will be easier to standardize processes, vendors, and to become a true expert in your field.

Now there are really two ways to choose a niche market: with your heart or with your head. If you love antique furniture then it would be perfectly natural to want to sell items from this large niche. However, antiques and furniture are not the most popular categories and they can be big items in your inventory—failing to make a sale or two may cause a cash flow crunch or you to take a large loss. It can sometimes be more difficult to maintain objectivity and make sound business decisions when you develop a personal attachment to the merchandise.

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To help you find your niche, you may want to visit http://pulse.ebay.com. From this page, you can discover the most popular item searches that day to see what is hot. While you may not want or be able to sell those particular items, you should be able to see a trend or dominant category.

For instance, the most popular items searched on e-Bay when this report was written include:

1. PS3

2. wii

3. Playstation 3

4. Nintendo

5. Xbox360

6. TMX Elmo

7. iPod

8. PSP

9. iPod Nano

10. Apple iPod

As you can see, the entertainment electronics genre is a very, very popular category right now with some dominant sub-niches developing. However, if you wanted to follow your passion and sell antique furniture, you could also check on Pulse to find the most popular search terms relating to that category as well so it is a very useful tool in both finding your niche and learning the market better. The important thing to remember is that the Internet naturally favors the creation of niches so you need to specialize early on—no matter what!

Writing Sales Copy

If you have any hope of selling 0 worth of merchandise on e-Bay in a week or less—the good news is that you don’t have to write that “killer sales copy” in order to be successful. However, there is a distinctive difference between copy writing for print…and crafting copy for the Internet. To get the maximum number of people to view your product and potentially place a bid—you need to write descriptive copy that is accurate and keyword rich—especially the title. What you really need to understand about e-Bay in order to get the most people to view your object, increase the bidding pool, and ultimately drive up traffic—is the words those potential customers are using to find your product. Using the same Pulse feature, you can determine the best keywords to use when creating your ad for the product. It is especially important to use the keyword in the headline or title but don’t be afraid to look at other ads selling similar products for inspiration and to borrow some good ideas! The copy needs to be descriptive, accurate, and be keyword rich in order to be pull potential bidders in and possibly boost your profits.

Consistently Reinvest in Business

If you are only looking to raise 0 in a week or so while possibly cleaning out your attic or garage, then there is no need to reinvest profits. But if you are looking to start a revenue stream and grow it into larger, then you will need to invest a consistent percentage of your profits into the company. Just a few of the common necessities most Internet businesses, including e-Bay auctioneers, need in the first two years include:

• Accounting/Tax Software

• Server/Other Computer Hardware and Equipment

• Office Supplies

• Increased Office Space

If you were an e-Bay auctioneer who specialized in refinishing/repairing old antique furniture and then reselling it for a profit, then you would possibly invest in tools and equipment related to that activity. The point here is that for tax deductions and the possibility of building the business to a higher, more consistent level, you must reinvest a significant portion of your profits.Ultimately, your determination and consistent hard work will pay off and you will start building a solid reputation as an honest and dependable business. In time and to grow your business even further, you will want to market your products or services in venues outside of e-Bay. Ideally, diversification will become a priority as you look to grow the business through new revenue streams that help solidify your financial foundation.

Yes, you can make money with e-Bay (although it may take a little more time for the funds to transfer into your actual checking account) selling off collectibles, furniture, and other unneeded items that have accumulated over the years. Your initial cost (if selling merchandise that ultimately sold for 0) would include the Insertion Fees (.80) and another  or so in Final Value Fees (you are assessed 5.25% on the first of the final sale price and then 3.25% on the remaining amount which in this case is 5 X .0325%, or roughly ).

Other fees and/or costs that may eat into your bottom line include:

• Paypal or other merchant account fees

• Electronic transfer fees by your bank

• Buy It Now Fees

• Seller Tool Fees

• eBay Picture Service Fees

• Listing Upgrade Fees

• Reserve Fees

eBay does indeed offer a lot of bells that can really wreak havoc on your bottom line but the basic listing service, a compelling ad with relevant keywords, and a little hard work is all you should need to successfully sell 0 in 7 days and walk away with approximately 0 in actual money. Remember, this is not actual profit in the classic sense but you could use that money to secure more merchandise and begin establishing yourself as a legitimate force to reckon with….or, you could go out and splurge on something you don’t really need and return back to your job the following day no closer to financial independence.

Six million people visit eBay every day and you really can turn your old unwanted things, a computer, digital camera, and an Internet connection into a sustainable and growing home-based business. Most people, however, just use it to raise a little extra “mad money” and fail to realize the true potential…will you?

www.antiquesblogger.info antique furniture

Find More Antique Furniture Articles

Making money with antiques is fun because it allows collectors to sell and buy antiques. Make money with antiques with tips on going to yard sales, thrift stores and auctions from a certified estate specialist in this free video on antiques and collecting. Expert: Blake Kennedy Contact: KennedyBrothersAppraisers.com Bio: Blake Kennedy has been the owner of Kennedy Brothers Auctions and Appraisals since 1991. He is a certified estate specialist and a member of the Certified Appraisers Guild of America. Filmmaker: Christopher Rokosz

ChineseAntiqueFurnitureShop.com #8 in a series of video tutorials from the Chinese Antique Furniture Shop. John and YuQing talk about elm, one of the woods commonly used in Chinese antique furniture.

It sounds a bit ridiculous but I actually purchased most of the upholstered chairs in my house for $29.99 or less.

Most of them were purchased either at garage sales or junk stores. I would stop by the bank on Friday and get 30 $1.00 bills and go shopping LATE on Saturday afternoon when all the stuff got cheaper.

And I wouldn’t just buy any old piece of furniture. I would look for classic styles that were not too trendy.

When you need to stage your house, furniture that is 10 years out of date makes people think your house needs redecorating. People don’t want to buy your house just because your furniture is “dated”.

It’s just so ridiculous because antique reproductions can work just fine when upholstered in a nice solid color fabric.

The other thing I do is the upholstery. I can do a professional looking job and paying someone else to do it will often cost more than buying a new chair.

If you don’t want to reupholster, just look for things that are in acceptable fabrics.

Try to avoid garish or flower prints. There are some 1980s vintage sofas and chairs that are really awful and DEATH to resale.

The other thing you need to do is try to keep the scale of the furniture smaller.

Rooms that are too crowded with furniture and collectibles will hurt resale even when all the items in the room are beautiful. People get blinded by the stuff and can’t see the house.

So what do you buy?  Look for classic styles like wing chairs, antique reproductions, or great club chairs. I always sneak in a bit of modern if I like something.

Look for hardwood frames. They will feel heavier than cheaper furniture. They will also stand up to the wear and tear of daily life.

1940s to 1960s reproductions are nice because they are usually constructed of hardwood, but not old enough to be antiques yet. I never wanted to pay for antiques because my stuff was always going into a moving van.

In the 1960’s furniture companies started to use a lot of particleboard (MDF) in furniture. It feels heavy, but it falls to pieces if it gets damp or wet. In fact pieces made of it regularly fall apart. Lots of kitchens are constructed of it in spec houses and they fall apart, too.

And then think about how you can stage your rooms. A pair of chairs and a love seat or sofa can make a nice living room or den grouping. The styles can be different as long as the arms all line up close to the same height.

Buy pairs but not sets of furniture. A matched pair of chairs can work great, but a 3 or 4 or 10 piece “set” just looks unsophisticated.

A pair of club chairs can look great, too, placed around a round coffee table or ottoman.

A pair of chairs can make a quiet corner attractive for conversation. And that’s your goal.

If a prospective buyer sits down in your house, they are thinking of buying it.

But don’t buy sets of furniture and make payments until it wears out. Buy good used furniture for 10 cents on the dollar.

Then you can move to your next place and remix it all and see it in a new light. It’s SO much fun and it can make selling a house quick and inexpensive.

You can have a classy home on a modest budget. A beautifully modern home, tastefully done, is possible. Even on a prudent budget. Start your home makeover with simplicity. A crowded, cluttered up room full of decorations and furnishings and furniture looks tacky in comparison to a simple, almost spartan home.

The trick is to go minimalist.

The time for lavish spending on white elephants is over. Now is the time to learn from the Shakers and go simple. Form and function. Everything should have a reason to be in a room. Everything in the room should go with the decor and the color scheme. Pare down your furniture and furnishings to the bare minimum. Keep only the best items which go with your color scheme and with the style of your home.

To deal with a smaller budget, you can do two things:

1. Cut costs by buying only the best. The best meaning, what looks best in your home, which is the most useful and fits best with your lifestyle and home decor. If anything does not fit all these criteria, walk away. Spend only on the very best things — furniture and furnishings, for your home.

2. Bring in more money by selling off the clutter. Pare down your decor. Go simple. Get rid of clutter to reveal space. Your room will look more spacious and classier when the surfaces are bare. When the mismatched furniture and furnishing are gone. Better to have less in pared down room that looks simply chic, than to have more in a cluttered up room that feels crowded and makes everyone in it feel claustrophobic. The money from selling off the excess will come in handy during the recession.

Start by selling away the excess. Hold a garage sale to sell off all the white elephants as well as anything that does not fit in with your intended decor.

Join ebay and auction off all the clutter in your home. From the old rugs that just don’t match the decor, to the old sofa that looks like an eyesore. Hey, it is an antique right? So it should fetch some money on ebay.
All those white elephants– well meaning gifts from friends and family, impulse buys and all, sitting on the shelf or hidden in the store room can be sold for cash.

With the proceeds of all these sales, and having gotten rid of the clutter, you can now buy key items for your home, that actually go well with your decor and which you will actually use.

Take stock of your now less crowded home.

Choose your color scheme. Should it be warm and woody? White and spacious? Pink and girly? Floral and feminine? Green, brown and masculine?

Give the walls a fresh coat of paint that will go with your intended color scheme.

What else do you need?

What else does not go with your color scheme?

Conduct a second round of garage sales and ebay auctions to pare down your home even further.

Is your home strewn with books, magazines and newspapers?
Would a classy magazine rack be enough? Or would you need bookshelves and cupboards as well? Don’t settle for something third rate. Go for something you really love. Fewer items, but really good ones, will still cost less than lots and lots of cheap stuff you don’t like that much.

What kind of chairs and tables would you prefer?

A leather sofa and wooden tables?

A fabric sofa?

Rattan furniture?

Glass table tops?

Pick a theme that goes with your home and stick to it.

Even though our country is in a recession, you can still create a great looking home on a budget. In fact, it may even be a better time to redecorate because of all the great deals you can find. Many stores have significantly reduced prices in order to sell more furniture and decor. Homeowners are often selling things because they are looking to make some extra cash. Foreclosed homes are often full of furnishings which are then auctioned off at great prices. You never know where you will find the next great deal! Here are a few more tips to great decorating during a recession:

-Shop at garage sales and find great used furniture for cheap prices
-Look in the clearance section of regular furniture stores. They may have some great deals!
-Check out classifieds and craigslist.com for super deals.
-Use inexpensive ways to re-decorate your rooms, such as with paint, area rugs and ready-made draperies.

For more great budget decorating ideas, purchase Designing on a Budget! This no-nonsense budget decorating book will walk you through learning to design on a dime! Also get great tips on Personal Organizing, Kitchen Decorating on a Budget, and Secrets on How to Sell Your Home Fast.

Garage sale decorating, why not?

Summer is a great time to get outside and have some fun! One great way to save money and get some fresh air is to visit garage sales in your area. Garage sales can be a great way to save money on home decor. You may want to do some pre-screening in your newspaper or on Craigslist to check out the larger garage sales in your area. You can find great bargains on everything from furniture, draperies, accessories, dishware and more!

There are a few key points to remember when doing garage sale decorating:

1. Don’t buy things you don’t need. Have a plan before you go out, and know what specific items you are looking for. Don’t buy things just because they are cheap, otherwise you will just end up with a bunch of “junk”.
2. Look for quality. Many homeowners are just looking to clear out their basement or garage, and are selling items that are otherwise valuable. Others just have a bunch of miscellaneous items that could easily be thrown in the trash. Thy to find that diamond in the rough.
3. Everything is negotiable. Don’t just pay the marked price. Try bargaining with the seller, or try getting them to throw in something extra for the same price. You never know what kind of bargain you may get.

And most of all, have fun out there and stay cool!

For more great budget decorating ideas, check out Designing on a Budget!

You might end up joining an internet service provider or a big organisation which is located on multiple sites but needs regular secure data communications. This career path is very well paid and quite specialised.

Achieving CCNA is the right level to aim for; at this stage avoid being tempted to do the CCNP. With experience, you’ll know if it’s relevant for you to have this next level up. If you decide to become more qualified, your experience will serve as the background you need to tackle the CCNP – as it’s a very complex course – and shouldn’t be taken lightly.

A study programme really needs to work up to a widely recognised certification at the end – not some little ‘in-house’ diploma – fit only for filing away and forgetting.

Unless the accreditation comes from a company like Microsoft, CompTIA, Adobe or Cisco, then chances are it will be commercially useless – because no-one will recognise it.

Students hoping to begin a career in computers and technology normally aren’t sure what direction they should take, let alone which sector to obtain accreditation for.

Working through long lists of different and confusing job titles is a complete waste of time. The majority of us don’t even know what our own family members do for a living – so we’re in the dark as to the ins and outs of a specific IT job.

Usually, the way to come at this dilemma properly flows from a full chat, covering a variety of topics:

* Personality plays an important role – what gets you ‘up and running’, and what are the activities that really turn you off.

* Are you aiming to reach a specific dream – like being your own boss sometime soon?

* What scale of importance is the salary – is it of prime importance, or do you place job satisfaction higher up on the priority-scale?

* Many students don’t properly consider the level of commitment involved to attain their desired level.

* The level of commitment and effort you’re prepared to put into your training.

For most of us, considering all these ideas tends to require the help of an advisor who knows what they’re talking about. And not just the accreditations – but also the commercial requirements of the market as well.

Kick out the typical salesperson that offers any particular course without a decent chat to assess your abilities and level of experience. Always check they have access to a generous product range so they can solve your training issues.

With some real-world experience or qualifications, you could discover that your appropriate starting-point is not the same as someone new to the industry.

Consider starting with user-skills and software training first. It will usually make the slope up to the higher-levels a less steep.

Exam ‘guarantees’ are sometimes offered as part of a training package – this always means exams have to be paid for upfront, at the very beginning of your studies. Before you jump at guaranteed exams, be aware of the facts:

You’re paying for it somehow. One thing’s for sure – it isn’t free – it’s simply been shoe-horned into the price as a whole.

The honest truth is that if students pay for each progressive exam, one at a time, the chances are they’re going to pass every time – as they are conscious of what they’ve paid and their application will be greater.

Why should you pay the college early for examinations? Find the best deal you can at the appropriate time, rather than coughing up months or even a year or two in advance – and take it closer to home – rather than in some remote place.

Paying in advance for examination fees (which also includes interest if you’ve taken out a loan) is bad financial management. Why fill a company’s coffers with extra money of yours simply to help their cash-flow! There are those who hope that you won’t get round to taking them – so they get to keep the extra funds.

The majority of organisations will insist that you take mock exams first and prohibit you from re-taking an exam until you’ve completely proven that you’re likely to pass – so an ‘Exam Guarantee’ comes with many clauses in reality.

Due to typical VUE and Prometric tests costing in the region of 112 pounds in this country, the most cost-effective way to cover the cost is by paying when you need them. There’s no sense in throwing away maybe a thousand pounds extra at the start of your studies. Study, commitment and preparing with good quality mock and practice exams is what will really guarantee success.

(C) S. Edwards 2009. Hop over to www.AdultRetrainingCourses.co.uk or New Career Options.

There’s a big selection with these training programs – from Microsoft User Skills right up to training programs for web designers, networkers programmers etc. Take some counsel before you dive in – talk to an advisor with experience in commercial IT. Someone who can help you select the ideal job path for you – that’s both relevant to industry and will prepare you for a career you’ll enjoy.

By utilising modern training techniques and keeping costs to a minimum, there’s a new style of course provider offering a better quality of training and support for a fraction of the prices currently charged.

Authorised exam preparation and simulation materials are essential – and really must be supplied by your training company.

Steer clear of relying on non-accredited exam papers and questions. The type of questions asked is sometimes startlingly different – and this could lead to potential problems once in the actual exam.

Mock exams will prove very useful as a resource to you – so much so, that at the real thing, you don’t get phased.

With all the options available, does it really shock us that the majority of career changers get stuck choosing the job they will follow.

Consequently, if you’ve got no background in the IT market, how are you equipped to know what any qualified IT worker does each day? Let alone arrive at what certification program is the most likely for you to get there.

Generally, the way to deal with this dilemma in the best manner flows from an in-depth chat, covering some important points:

* Which type of individual you are – what tasks do you enjoy doing, and on the other side of the coin – what you definitely don’t enjoy.

* Do you hope to achieve a key goal – for instance, working for yourself someday?

* Where is the salary on a scale of importance – is it of prime importance, or does job satisfaction rate a little higher on your list of priorities?

* Considering all that Information Technology covers, you really need to be able to absorb what’s different.

* You need to understand the differences across all the training areas.

To cut through the barrage of jargon, and find the most viable option for your success, have a good talk with an advisor with years of experience; someone who appreciates and can explain the commercial realities and of course all the qualifications.

Kick out any salesperson that just tells you what course you should do without performing a ‘fact-find’ so as to understand your abilities and level of experience. Always check they have access to a wide-enough range of products so they’re actually equipped to solve your training issues.

If you’ve got any live experience or some accreditation, it may be that your starting point of study is not the same as someone new to the industry.

Working through a user skills module first is often the best way to get up and running on your IT programme, but depends on your skill level.

A fatal Faux-Pas that potential students often succumb to is to choose a career based on a course, instead of focusing on the desired end-result. Schools have thousands of students who took a course because it seemed fun – instead of the program that would surely get them the job they want.

Imagine training for just one year and then end up doing the actual job for 10-20 years. Don’t make the error of choosing what sounds like an ‘interesting’ course and then put 10-20 years into a job you hate!

It’s well worth a long chat to see what industry will expect from you. What particular qualifications you’ll need and how to gain experience. It’s also worth spending time considering how far you wish to build your skill-set as it will often present a very specific set of accreditations.

Talk to an experienced advisor who knows about the sector you’re looking at, and is able to give you detailed descriptions of the kind of things you’ll be doing on a daily basis. Getting to the bottom of all this before you start on any study programme makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

(C) Jason Kendall. Pop over to LearningLolly.com for quality information. www.learninglolly.com or A+ Course.