The eBay guide to riches

8.1 Record keeping: be organized and keep it simple

Tax Purpose: Laws are currently relaxed for Internet business, which makes eBay all the more attractive; however, you are still liable to income tax on your net earnings from sales, whether those sales are made online or elsewhere. You certainly want to claim every single legitimate deduction. You need good records to do this, so that you will have a complete list of every transaction you have made.

Customer database: By maintaining records you are creating your own customer list, as well. You can notify people when you will have certain items going on sale, and so on, making certain they buy from you instead of someone else on eBay.

8.2 Shipping & Handling products

Shipping

All those millions of items need to get from one place to another!

Amazingly eBay claims that between 5% -10% of all the packages being shipped in the United States are their auction items. Most auction items are shipped through one of three primary carriers i.e. the United States Postal Service (USPS), United Parcel Service (UPS) and Federal Express (FedEx).  Which service is best for your needs will depend on many factors. For small packages Priority Mail is a safe, fast and cheap choice. For larger packages, you should get rate quotes from all three:

www.usps.gov
www.ups.com
www.fedex.com

Handling

Use good shipping materials – which are not that cheap depending, and of course, are all for sale on eBay also – and keep in mind you are allowed to charge a “handling” fee along with your auctions as long as this is stated up front.

8.3 When things go wrong…

There are the inevitable disputes that happen.

Your buyer does not respond: What if your auction is over but the buyer doesn’t respond? Try to re-establish contact. Don’t rush out and give negative feedback about the buyer right away until you have assessed the situation. Begin by sending a gentle reminder, and look into eBay’s non-paying bidder programs.

Receive a bad check: Payment method is crucial as we have discussed earlier. We don’t like checks, we like money orders, PayPal or other certified funds. If you get a bad check, there really isn’t much you can do except leave bad feedback.

Damage or condition on arrival: You should insure any item that is likely to get damaged. Without insurance you will either be stuck refunding the auction price and taking a loss, or not refunding it and taking negative feedback or both.

Merchandise may not be as expected: Sometimes buyers complain that the merchandise they received does not match auction description or it looks different from the picture that was posted or in fact is not even what you said it was.  Be specific in your “returns” policy in your auction listing. If you do not accept returns, say so, and instruct bidders to ask all questions before they bid. Also, do not misrepresent items. If you are not sure, say you are not sure.

Buyer’s remorse: For some reason, there are people who just like to bid, and who never plan on buying anything. Their participation is short-lived as their reputation gets around but they can be very annoying. Pay attention to feedback. You can also block bidders who have received above a certain number of non-payment notices.

Here are a few more things to think about as you start buying and selling on eBay:

• Feedback is designed as a protection for honest buyers and sellers, a way to solve problems and keep all the players honest. There are unscrupulous people who take advantage of the system – we won’t even explain the tricks. Avoiding people with very low or no feedback is a good way to steer clear of most feedback-related scams.

• Shill feedback is used by one person who runs multiple accounts to give positive feedback to his own accounts. If someone has a number of only very small transactions, and incredibly good ratings on them, be wary. It’s illegal but it happens.

• Feedback extortion: Buyers tend to force someone into a certain action by threatening negative feedback. If such a thing happens forward the threat to eBay immediately. If they leave you negative feedback you can get it erased.

• Auction interference occurs when someone e-mails the bidders in an open auction and warns them away from the seller or a particular item or offers the same item themselves. Recent advances in eBay’s contact system have made this much less likely.

In spite of these potential pitfalls, eBay remains an amazing way to make money, either as a side business for supplemental income, or, for more and more entrepreneurs, as their main job.

We think with a little strategy and thought, eBay remains your best bet for financial success on the Internet!

Review: eBay Secrets  |   Recommended Resources