5 Handy Tips to help you start an eBay business
Jason James

If you want to start an eBay business then it is vital to keep in mind that it is no different than the responsibilities of embarking on any other type of business. Sure you may be able to work from home, in your underwear, and never leave the couch; but it takes a little more than hopping on your computer to start an eBay business.

In today's article we will go over 5 important tips that you can use to help get you moving to start an eBay business.

1. Create an office space or special room inside of your house or apartment for your eBay business. If you want to start an eBay business and make it successful then you are going to want to be able to focus and concentrate on your eBay goals. There is no better way to do this than to have your own office.

2. Write an eBay business plan. This is an important step when you start an eBay business and is most often overlooked by many new online eBay sellers. It is imperative that you put one together, even if your business plan is created on napkins! You will have to include a mission statement, a vision of your goals, your eBay profit and loss estimates, etc.

3. Create a checklist of which items you will need to set up your eBay campaign. Obviously, when you want to start an eBay business you will need to get your products listed and in view of others. Your checklist will include having a photo taken of your item, resizing and cropping your photo, creating your title and description of the eBay auction, and of course - answering your bidder questions when available.

4. Decide on what you are going to sell on eBay. You cannot start an eBay business without a product. This choice is personal. You can find eBay products to sell from a wide range of sources. There are a few books on the subject of finding products to sell when you start an eBay business. One of the most popular items to sell are Antiques.

5. Learn to budget your time as efficiently as possible. Start an eBay business with extreme time precision. In other words, if you have 5 hours a day to devote to making money on eBay then do not waste any time browsing through message groups, emailing your friends, or pondering an idea too much. Get out, find your product, and start your eBay campaigns NOW!

********************************
Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets, tips, and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 per month on eBay. His proven step-by- step system shows even users with little or no business experience how they too can make huge profits selling products at online auctions. Claim Your Free eBook: "Top 10 eBay Secrets for Successful Selling" below: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/top10ebaysecrets.html

Palyn Peterson

So, you want to start an Internet store do you? What is it you are going to sell? This really is the first thing to tackle, because without any products your store will fail, guaranteed. All jokes aside, let me share some insight on this broad topic.

First, do you have anything to offer that you can make? Crafts, exotic bird houses, jewelry, doll houses? Most people will answer "No" to this one, but that is ok! Lots of options are still available. In fact, most online stores do not create their own products.

Affiliate programs are another great choice. An affiliate program is when a company gives you commission to sell their products. You direct customers to their website, and that is it. You don't manage inventory, the sale or shipping. Some companies may provide web space and site creation support, but be careful about going that route -- they may want to charge you setup fees and maybe a membership fee. If the affiliate program is worth it, it will most likely be free. Here are other points to pay attention to:

• 1. How much commission you will receive with each sale. 5%-10% is on the low side. Try to stick with companies that will pay you 20%-35%. I've even come across some affiliate programs that pay as much as 50%.

• 2. Read the affiliate agreement. Some companies state you can only sell their products on your website, and no one else's. If this works for you, great. If not, be sure to read the agreement and make sure this is not the case.

• 3. What the pay out amounts are. Know how much you need to make before a check is cut and mailed to you.

• 4. Do you receive support? Many companies offer their affiliates marketing material to help sell products. This could include website content, pictures, banners, cut-and- paste emails, and classified ads.

Some people pull in many thousands of dollars a month with affiliate programs, they can work, but remember to be careful! There are many wolves in sheep clothing just waiting to take your setup fee and monthly payments just to leave you without support and no sales. If affiliate programs interest you, there are a number of good affiliate program directories. Here are a few:

1. http://www.affiliatesdirectory.com
2. http://www.associateprograms.com
3. http://www.affiliatematch.com

Next, a very popular and incredibly practical choice is drop shipping. Drop shipping is when a wholesale distributor maintains the product inventory, you create a store selling those products and take customer's orders at retail prices. You then turn around and send the customer's order to the wholesale distributor who ships the products to your customer, often with your company name on the package.

The customer receives their products not knowing that you are running the business with no inventory and from the comfort of your home. And no inventory means you only spend money when you are making money. In other words, you only spend money buying products at wholesale when you are just going to turn around and charge retail price to a customer. How great is that? This is one of the most popular methods of running a retail business on the internet, and for good reason!

The great majority of wholesale distributors will ask you for your TAX ID number when creating an account. Your TAX ID number can be found on your sales tax license if you have one, or usually your social security number will suffice if you do not have a license. For free information on getting a sales tax license, visit this page by clicking here!

When searching for wholesale distributors, be careful because there are a lot of companies out there that will drop ship products and claim to be wholesale distributors when they really aren't! They will take your order just to turn around and order from the real wholesaler. This should spell L-O-S-S to you. What's happening is that you are buying the product at a price marked up from the actual wholesale price, and then you'll need to mark it up even further when selling it to your customer. There is a big slice of the profit pie that you aren't getting!

Most distributors that offer thousands of different products in a number of different categories are usually that type of operation. Also, if the distributor wants to charge you a subscription fee, that should set an alarm off in your head. Occasionally the wholesale distributor will charge a per- drop-ship fee, and maybe have a minimum order requirement (either in quantity or dollar amount). A FEW (and I say few) legit wholesale distributors will charge a setup fee (one wholesale distributor I worked required that the first order be $200 or more), but I have NEVER come across a legit wholesale distributor that charges a subscription fee.

If you are having trouble deciding what products to sell, try this: go shopping! Don't actually buy anything (if you don't want to, at least), just look around and see what products interest you.

Do you see a site that you think you could do better? Are you a sports fan? Sell sports equipment or memorabilia! Do you enjoy pool? Sell billiard supplies! Enjoy gardening, or interior decorating? Sell products for those!

A word of advice though, the computer component market is crammed. You will have more competition there than with most other products.

Information products are a fabulous option as well. Not only can they easily be created by you, they are even easier to distribute because they can simply be emailed to your customers.

Can you fix cars? Write a maintenance tips manual. Write an eBook on saving money around the household. Write a manual on how to negotiate with car dealers. Maybe you know how to make the cue ball jump across a pool table over what would have been an obstacle. I sure don't, and I wouldn't mind finding out!

Basically, the question is "What do you know?" Don't underestimate yourself either! A great way to get started is to use the mind-map technique. This technique allows you to jot down ideas that relate to a core idea and build a skeleton of subjects that are all associated with each other. After only a short time doing this, you should have more than enough subjects to piece together a good eBook. For more information on mind-maps, visit these resources:

1. Pete Russell's MindMap 2. Shared Visions 3. Net Share

If you look long enough, or are just plain lucky, you will eventually come across someone selling the complete rights to a product. You can buy it from them and resell it for as much as you want, as often as you want, and retain 100% of the profits. These deals are few and far between, and can usually cost quite a bit. But do keep your eyes open for them, it may be just what you are looking for.

Hopefully a number of product ideas have sparked as you were reading this article. As you can see, there are a lot of very good options available to you. Review all of them and choose the best one, or ones, for your business situation.

****************************
Palyn Peterson publishes the acclaimed Advanced Internet Marketing News. A professional newsletter with a refreshing perspective and a strong focus on no-cost techniques. FREE Tips, Tricks, Tools, Resources, eBooks, and More!
http://www.FutureInternetMarketing.com

HOT! Get Your DREAM CAR at Insane Prices! Hundreds of thousands of cars are seized weekly be it by banks or the government for various reasons: outstanding parking tickets, registration’s not in order, outstanding debt in car loans... you name it. With so many cars seized and so little space to store them, they will charge ANYTHING to get these vehicles out of their hands and into YOURS: That means as much as 80-90% OFF RETAIL PRICE! Every model of all the major brands. Cars, trucks, SUV's and more! Learn How it Works here: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/CassiRecommends79.html

WSpecial For Pathway To Success Subscribers Only!

I managed to talk Norman Hallett into giving you free time- limited access to another of his superb mind controlling modules. If you are not fully satisfied with your sales (and who is?), you can improve your sales power using Norman's Sales Mind Software which has been purposely kept in the hands of trained corporate "killers". Don't miss out on this opportunity:
Click here, it's Free!

Today's Tip On the Book worth reading

The One Thing You Need to Know About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success.
Learn it from Marcus Buckingham!

The principal author of the extraordinary bestsellers First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths offers a dramatically new way to understand the art of success.

With over 1.6 million copies of his landmark books in print, Cambridge-educated Marcus Buckingham is considered one of the most respected authorities on the subject of management and leadership in the world. Now, with The One Thing You Need to Know, he gives readers an invaluable course in outstanding achievement- a guide to capturing the essence of the three areas fundamental to professional activity. Great managing, great leading, and career success. Buckingham draws on a wealth of examples to reveal the single controlling insight that lies at the heart of each. Lose sight of this "one thing" and even your best efforts will be diminished or compromised. ... Get more info and the book here: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/topbusinessbooks.html

Today's Tip On the Software worth using

Panda Titanium 2006 Antivirus + Antispyware
Maximum protection against viruses and spyware!

Titanium 2006 Antivirus+Antispyware protects you permanently and automatically against all types of viruses and spyware. It doubles your protection through the TruPrevent Technologies.

Key features:

• Automatically detects and eliminates all types of viruses

• ¡NEW! Keep your PC free from spyware

• ¡NEW! Blocks hackers and intruders, even through Wi-Fi connections.

• ¡NEW! Titanium 2006 also prevents intruders from entering your computer through Wi-Fi connections. Stop anyone from invading your PC without your permission!

• Double protection: TruPreventTM Technologies: The most intelligent technologies to combat unknown viruses and intruders.

• So simple to use: install it and forget

• Daily automatic updates

• Complete effectiveness Its innovative TruPreventTM Technologies, integrated in the latest generation anti-malware engine, ensure maximum effectiveness in detecting and eliminating all types of malware ( viruses, spyware, phishing,...)

• Maximum speed

• Preventive Alerts

• Tech Support 24 hours a day 365 days a year

• Minimum installation requirements: Pentium 150 MHz, 96 MB RAM, 110 MB hard disk space (200 MB during installation). Windows XP / Win 2000 Pro / Windows ME / Windows98. Internet Explorer 5.01 or later. No antivirus installed.

I myself use Panda since they started and can say that they're the absolute No 1 in this field. You will have no more problems with malware in your computer and related events. Get Panda Titanium 2006 here:
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/panda2006.html

Today's Tip On Learning

Unique Radio Event!

SBI! users flooded this local Montreal radio talk show, a unique "local-to-global" radio event.

"How Can the Web Help My Business?"
This Unique Global Radio Show Tells You!

If you missed the streaming show "live," don't miss it now. We're streaming the show again: Ken Evoy turns down $20,000 keynote speaker invitations. Here's your chance to hear him "live" and free. Once you've heard it, spread the word... http://www.thecassiopeia.com/radioevent.html

PLUS join SBI Community and Win!

SBIers are winners. They change their lives. They help and get help at the SBI!Forums. They thrive. Sometimes, pictures are worth a million words... More information on "the Special Prize Inside every SBI!" can be found here!
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/specialprize.html

Free Ad Code for Issue No 6: NHY256
Published at Ad Centre for 14 days:
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/Portal/AdCentre.html

Today's Promotional Tips

Ezine Advertising Works!
Why waste time hunting for the perfect ezine in which to advertise? Use the Directory of Ezines. Find the perfect ezines in minutes. Save time. Make money. Easy to use.
Free ads too! Start selling today!
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/ezineadvertising.html

Today's Useful Tip

Hot: Store Build It!

If you're a Site Build It! Owner, make full use of this excellent tool to monetize your site effectively: Create "The Perfect Store" East meets West. Ying meets Yang. C-T-P meets M. Perfect. Check it here:
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/storebuildit.html

Not a Site Build It Owner? Become One! PLUS Join SBI Community and Win!
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/specialprize.html

Today's Specials

1) Hot Home Business Opportunity of the Week: Buy and Sell Cars for Profit!

Unique opportunity to learn all you need to start at once and make the money you imagine. Get the information here: http://www.thecassiopeia.com/sellcars.html

Visit No 1 Car Auction Site: Cars at 90% off!
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/yourchoice.html

2) It pays to join Snap Dollars!

1. Get paid $5 for joining
2. Make lots of cash signing up for FREE offers!
3. Get paid to refer your friends
4. Get paid to read email
5. Get paid to join surveys
6. Get paid to play games
7. Get cash back on your online shopping.

Join Snapdollars Today!
http://www.thecassiopeia.com/snapdollars.html