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Selling Internationally on eBay

Janelle Elms:

Many sellers are looking outside the boundaries of the United States as a way to increase their customer base. eBay offers these five solutions for selling internationally:

1. Accept paypal as a payment option. PayPal is now available in 56 countries and territories and accepts multiple forms of currency, including euros, Canadian dollars and yen.

2. Offer international shipping. Maximize your global exposure by choosing which countries you're willing to ship to.

3. Include shipping costs. eBay's Shipping Calculator makes it easy for you to offer international shipping options and instant pricing to your buyers.

4. Use item specifics. A little-known eBay fact: When you fill out the item specifics for your item, such as the size of those shoes you are selling, that number will be translated on the eBay international site it is viewed on.

5. Download the International Selling Toolkit PDF. This in-depth report is the best place to start when targeting your international buyers.

Selling Wine On eBay

eBay does not permit the sale of alcoholic beverages on its U. S. website, except for certain pre-approved sales of wine (see Additional Information) and certain sales of collectible containers. Further, non-U.S. members may not conduct alcohol sales with any eBay member residing in the United States.

Violations of this policy may result in a range of actions, including

• Listing cancellation

• Limits on account privileges

• Account suspension

• Forfeit of eBay fees on cancelled listings

• Loss of PowerSeller status

Accept Payments With Pay Pal

PayPal is affordable for businesses of all sizes. Fees are applied only when you accept a payment—if you don't receive money, you don't pay a penny.

• No monthly fees
• No setup fees
• No gateway fees
• Free eBay and Merchant tools
• Antifraud systems at no extra cost

ebay Solutions Finder

eBay Developers Program:

On September 7th, eBay launched the new Solutions Finder.  It's a diagnostic tool for the Solutions Directory that asks sellers a few questions and gives them recommendations for tools and services that can grow their eBay businesses based on their answers.

Sellers can use the Solutions Finder in addition to searching the Solutions Directory to find the right solutions for their specific needs.

It's quick and easy, and you can check it out on the Solutions Directory today -- just look for Solutions Finder and the "Go" button at the top of the homepage.

Crazy eBay Auction

If you are the winner of this auction, you and a guest will be picked up by my crazy brother-in-law, Cody, in his huge hippie bus, and he will take you on what he calls, "The Ultimate Hippie Vacation!"

Old Hippies - Relive The Good Ol' Days!
New Hippies - Experience the USA Like You Never Have Before!
Crazy People - Hang Out With One of Your Own Kind!

The Rules of the Trip:

1. You will be required to sell Tie-dyed T-shirts for gas and food money.
2. There is no map on the bus and he WILL get lost.
3. Stuff Happens! (And you know what I mean!)
4. If the bus blows up, he has a tent.
5. You must provide your own bail money. (Please see rule 3)
6. He will provide "the most craziest vacation you will never forget!"

See The Hippie Vacation

10 - 15 of the 51 Secrets to eBay

Getting Set Up

10. Become a verified member of eBay through their ID verification process. Getting verified will help get you past a lot of the restrictions placed on new sellers. -C.S.

11. Choose your eBay User ID wisely. Pick a name that's descriptive, easy to remember and instantly identifiable with your niche. Your User ID will become your business identification--the name that people in the eBay universe will learn to search for when they want to buy your products. -D.E.

12. According to eBay, as long as all your user id names refer to the same e-mail address, you can have more than one. So if you want to sell cars in addition to Hummel figurines, you might choose another User ID that would be more pertinent to your new product line, such as "Mustangsrock" or "Supeduphotrods." -D.E.

13. Organize. If you're selling from home, set up a dedicated space with areas for inventory storage, packing materials, photographing and, of course, a desk for your computer and printer. The best businesses are orderly and organized. -J.G.

14. Set up a designated area within your business location used only for photography. You can use household lighting and inexpensive cloth or paper backdrops. -J.G.

15. When taking pictures of the items you're selling, choose a camera with good macro-lens and auto-focus features, and make sure it easily interfaces with your computer. Get great lighting tips from eBay community boards. -C.S.

The first 9 of 51 Secrets to eBay

Marsha Collier (eBay User ID: marsha_c), PowerSeller, eBay University instructor and author of eBay for Dummies, now in its fourth edition

David Early (eBay User ID: 66cvette), PowerSeller and creator of MarketPlacePro, software that enables individuals to sell products and manage their business online

Jim "Griff" Griffith, dean of eBay Education, author of The Official eBay Bible and host of eBay Radio

Steve Lindhorst (eBay User ID: listingrover), instructor at eBay University, owner of a small business on eBay, and dealer assistant who helps car dealerships list inventory on eBay

Christopher Spencer (eBay User ID: borntodeal), Gold Power-Seller and president of The Spencer Company, which has listed more than 80,000 items on eBay

Here are their secrets to eBay sales success:

Do Your Homework

1. Set aside a day to browse the entire ebay site. Use the eBay Navigation Bar as your anchor--it's located on the top of every eBay page. Make a note of the pages you'll need in the future, such as the "Services" page, which contains a treasure trove of tools and services. -J.G.

2. Get step-by-step guidance. Visit www.ebay.com/education. It teaches everything you need to know to sell on eBay and offers interactive audio tours that show you exactly how to create a listing. -C.S.

What to Sell?

3. Sell what you know first. If you're into fashion, sell that; if you're into golf, sell golf equipment, and so on. -M.C.

4. Be observant. Watch for opportunities to obtain items (in quantity if possible) at a low price for resale. Often, they're right under your nose, such as merchandise your local retailer would liquidate. Make an offer to clear out the re-tailer's old or damaged stock. -S.L.

5. Don't start out with just one product or product line. An effective way to build a customer base on eBay is to offer at least two separate types of items, between which you can cross promote and drive customers from one to the other. -J.G.

6. Spend time on ebay browsing outside your normal categories. Find out what's hot at www.ebay.com/sellercentral. -S.L.

7. Become a trading assistant and sell other people's items for a commission. As a Trading Assistant, you won't have the expense of building inventory, and you can build your business on eBay very quickly without having to spend a lot of capital. -C.S.

8. Take some calculated risks. Being too careful can cost you. Do a little research on eBay, and trust your gut when you find potentially salable items. -S.L.

9. If you're not familiar with the product you're trying to sell, educate yourself before you write the description. If you describe the item incorrectly, buyers may be leery of bidding. Even worse, buyers could decide not to bid on any of your future items if they're under the impression that you don't know what you're selling. The more correct information you have and use, the more credible you'll become in the buyers' eyes. -D.E.

You can read the article here.

Deciding What To Sell On eBay

A lot of eBay sellers start out selling odds and ends they have around the house—and for good reason. For items that are in good condition, you'll probably get more money for them on eBay than at a garage sale. You probably have plenty of stuff that you'll never miss and you really don't need to store or dust anymore. And it's a relatively risk-free way to test the waters of eBay selling.

If you can't bear to part with anything you already have, start with products you know and have experience with. Choose things that have demonstrable market demand (that is, you know people are buying them). Don't make the mistake of selling only things you like, or the trendiest, coolest things you can find. If your goal is to make a profit—and it should be!—then you need to be selling things people will buy.

If you are considering selling an item, do a search on eBay and see if that product or similar ones are being offered for sale. If the market is saturated, you may want to reconsider trying to sell that product. At the same time, if absolutely no one else is offering the product for sale, you need to figure out if that's because no one else has thought of it, or if it's because no one will buy the item.

Continue reading the article by By Jacquelyn Lynn.