Using eBay Classifieds

A relatively new feature to eBay is eBay classifieds. Formerly known as Kijiji, eBay decided to drop the Kijiji name back in 2010.

So what is eBay classifieds?

Well, by now you're probably more than familiar with Craigslist. Craigslist is a worldwide classified ads site where you can buy and sell practically anything. If you have the time to invest, Craigslist and any of the classified ads are a great place to source products. eBay has their own version of Craigslist. While nowhere near the size and scope of Craigslist, this eBay version is still a nice place to pick up items for sale or even sell items.

Since it is a free service, you can often find things which would otherwise not show up on eBay. Local sellers which are more comfortable dealing with buyers directly post their wares for sale on Craigslist and are now using the eBay version as well. This way they can get a lot more exposure for whatever they have for sale. There are often things listed that are either to large or fragile for conventional shipping methods.

How to use eBay Classifieds for sourcing products.

The ONE THING you have to have when sourcing products on eBay's version is a cell phone. That's because you need to sign up for their alert feature for new listings. It's called eBay classifieds alerts. With this feature, you can get an alert sent to your cell phone anytime a new item is posted. It's very simple to set up an alert. Just follow the following steps:

Search for your item on eBay classifieds Click the green and white icon at the top right of the page. It says "Subscribe To Alerts" Sign into your account Set up your alert

That's it! Now every time a new listing is posted, you will receive a text.

The key to using any of the classified ads sites for buying items it time. You're usually competing with other buyers which also sell on eBay so timing is key. The sooner you know about an item for sale, the sooner you can make an offer and purchase it.

How to use eBay Classifieds for selling products.

If you have things that are too troublesome to pack and ship or items which you feel better dealing with local buyers, eBay Classifieds is great for that. Increase your exposure and list the same items on Craiglist at the same time.

Finding Reliable Wholesale Drop Shippers

Wholesale drop shipping is profitable as you buy products at low price and sell them at high price. Drop shipping makes your job easier as wholesale supplier will be taking care of product creation, storage, shipment and in some cases customer service too. You can run an online business of selling products in any niche market very easily, if you have an access to reliable wholesale drop shippers.

Your first step is to make connection with suppliers, once you are ready to take advantage of the opportunities in wholesale drop shipping. There are several ways to connect with wholesale suppliers such as trade shows, by sourcing the internet or through private solicitations. However, with an increase number of scams, there are chances that company might be misrepresenting as a wholesale provider. It is hard to trust anyone nowadays.

The best way to find legitimate wholesale supplier is by contacting drop shipping directories as they verify the repute and legitimacy of every wholesale supplier before entering it to their database so that you have no fear of being scammed.

Here is an overview of top three directories which can help you to find reliable and legitimate suppliers:

1-Worldwide Brands:

Worldwide Brands is the largest, most complete and most trusted directory in which every supplier is tested for legitimacy and there are never any questions marks surrounding on their listed suppliers.Besides that, they offer top-notch education to clear up all confusions related to selling products online and dealing with suppliers. They offer professional video tutorials to provide complete drop ship and wholesale education.

2-SaleHoo:

SaleHoo is another good and reputable directory for both beginners and experienced drop shippers as they connect their members directly with wholesale and drop ship suppliers. This drop shipping directory works very well for people looking to dabble in the wholesale arena and need a gateway into the industry to prove themselves. It would not be wrong if we say, SaleHoo is a small version of Worldwide Brands.

3-Doba

Doba is a simple, legitimate and solid company that simplifies this business mode, although the profit margins are much smaller as compared to other directories. The best thing about Doba is; it allows you to sell wholesale items in single units and have them shipped directly to your buyer to reduce the most of hard work which is normally there in drop shipping.

I hope above-mentioned overview of different drop shipping directories will help to find reliable wholesale drop shippers easily and other tips will assist you to grow your online business.

Drop Shipping - Benefits and Risks

If you are looking to start an e-commerce business, finding a reliable drop shipping companies would be your primary concern. In order to find the right company, we should understand the this process and the risks it may involve. In this article, you will get to know the basics of it as it is very important for any e-commerce business along with the benefits and risks involved in it. This way you will not only understand this process but will be able to maximize the benefits involved in it and minimized the risks.

It is a process in which retailer's transfers customer orders and shipment details to either the wholesaler or a drop shipping company, who then ships the good directly to the customer. Retailers do not keep goods in stock and the difference between the retail price and wholesale price is a profit for retailers. However in some cases retailers earn an agreed percentage of sales in commission, paid by the wholesaler.

Some retailers provide only a catalog or a website of their customers to inspect an item similar to those that they can purchase. However in some cases retailers may keep display items to display in store to give the customer a confidence about the product they would be buying. In order to hide this fact that the product is delivered via wholesaler and to keep the wholesale source secret, some retailers that drop ship merchandise use "private label shipping" or "blind shipping"

Now let's talk about some benefits and risks involved in it:

Benefits:

As there would be only one warehouse pick, pack and ship the product, it eliminates some duplication of efforts. This approach can minimize the total shipping and inventory management cost which subsequently reduces the price to the customer.

It also helps to eliminate the upfront inventory and a positive cash flow cycle. Now you must be wondering how a positive cash flow cycle can occur here. It can take place as the seller is paid when the purchase is made using a credit card or credit terms and there is a time frame in which the seller has the customer's money but has not yet paid the drop shipping company to deliver the goods.

Risks:

As there are some benefits, some risks are involved in drop shipping too. For instance, it has featured prominently in home based business scams or internet-based scams. They normally promote it as a lucrative work from home opportunity, easy money-making opportunity or making money online opportunity to sell a directory of businesses from which they can order drop shipping products to be delivered to the customers. In most cases, these businesses are not wholesalers but middlemen between retailers and wholesalers, with no product of their own to sell. These middle men often charge higher prices that leave low profit for retailers

Back-ordering is another big risk involved in drop shipping business. It may take place when a product is sold out and seller places a shipment demand with a wholesaler. Back ordering may come with a long wait to deliver a product as wholesalers wait for new products to be manufactured or to get it into a stock, which may leave unsatisfied customers for retailers. It is the business owner's job to be aware of the quantities that the wholesalers has available but reputed wholesaler always keep retailers updated about the inventory.

If you will keep the above mentioned points in your mind, you will be able to find a reliable drop shipping company for your e-commerce business.

Things To Make And Sell On eBay

Are you handy at arts and crafts? Do you have a passion for making something? Do you like to work in your workshop building things? Guess what? Those are things to make and sell on eBay!

I wouldn't recommend getting involved in making huge things like furniture or sheds. Unless of course, you have a shipping method in place. Selling big items can be extremely profitable especially if you're the one making them.

However, it's probably best to stay with smaller items which you can make easily and ship easily.

You would be amazed at the creativity of people and the ideas they have on things to make and sell on eBay.

I've seen everything from handmade candles and country crafts, to jewel encrusted cell phone cases! eBay isn't just about selling used electronics or antiques. It's becoming a marketplace for amazing people with great minds creating useful things to make and sell on eBay for handsome profits.

What Are Some Things To Make And Sell On eBay?

Where to start? I'm not nearly as creative as most people but these are just a few you could start with:

Candles Wood crafts Pet accessories Tshirts Hats Jewelry Art works

You get the idea. Those are just a few of things to make and sell on eBay. Practically anything you find at a craft show, you can probably make yourself and sell on eBay.

Of course, some things will sell better than others. For example, a neat little house for hamster probably won't sell as well as a bird house. A candle that smells like cheese, won't sell as well as one that smells like cookies.

The most successful things to make and sell on eBay are things that compliment something which is already being sold. For example, golf clubs are very popular, consider club head covers. As I mentioned before, iPhones are popular, consider creative cell phone cases.

Jewelry is another popular item. You can create your own unique jewelry and sell it on eBay. It doesn't have to be gold or silver, it can just be inexpensive costume jewelry. People enjoy buying things which are unique. Be creative.

Whatever you come up with, do some homework. Check if there's anyone else selling similar items. How much are they selling them for? Are they selling them frequently or just once in awhile? Is your item an accessory to something being sold already such as cell phones?

Once you do some investigating, you may find out that you can make something and probably earn a nice profit on each one you make.

Guide to Selling Antiques Online

Selling antiques online is a great way to make some money without leaving your home. eBay, uBid, Amazon, and Craigslist are some great areas to showcase your items. It is important to keep a record of the items as an inventory and keep track of which ones have been sold and for how much.

Before you get started with this process, it is important to do some research about the antiques that you are selling. One great way of doing this is by looking around and finding the items that you are selling. Odds are, if you have a valuable antique you are looking to sell, it has most likely been sold before on one of the online marketplaces out there. Find a few auctions of your item on eBay and see how they ended up. Check out some of the key information that the most successful auctions provided in order to make it a successful one. Check out their listing procedures in general that made them successful.

A super important aspect of selling items on eBay is having perfect feedback. In order to make this happen, a seller needs to provide great service to anyone who purchases their product. Exceed the customer's expectations in the amount of time they expect it to take for their item to get to their home. Make sure the packaging is done in a very safe, professional manner. Make it to where it would be virtually impossible for the valuable antique to become damaged. If a seller wants to take it a step further they can take a look at the buyer's feedback and only allow certain buyers to be able to bid on the product. While this could limit the amount of potential customers if establishing perfect feedback is the most important goal, then this is an option.

If there are thousands of dollars to be made from an antique collection, then a strong camera needs to be used. Not only does the camera need to be of high quality, but the angles they photos are taken from need to be strong as well. These angles can be learned by looking at sites that sell antiques professionally.

With the popularity of the Internet, it is very difficult to ignore the amount of buyers that can be reached there. It is not like in the years past when people were hesitant to pull out their credit card and make a purchase online. Now people get online for that specific reason. It is time to take advantage of it.

Should You Give A Penny About Penny Auctions?

You see the ads on TV. You see stuff online about it. You hear co-workers, family members and friends talking about it. What is it? Penny Auctions. No doubt you, like most folks have asked questions like these: What in the world is a penny auction? How do they work? Are they legal? Are suckers just being scammed out of their hard-earned money or is it a legitimate enterprise?

Well, to start, auctions have been around since people have had stuff to sell away to other people. Rather than just selling something for a set price, an auction lets everyone who wants something determine how much it is really worth by individually bidding up the price. It's very competitive and a lot of fun to watch. Auctions are even used for some types of assets bought and sold on Wall Street!

The use of the internet has fueled the boom in penny auctions because it allows people all over the world to participate and remain anonymous. The other bidders could be your next door neighbor, someone in a neighboring state or completely on the other side of the world. With the click of a button they can be bidding on cash, jewelry, TV's, and even iPads. Just about anything legal is usually put up for bid..

Penny auctions function pretty much like any other type of auction. You have an item for sale and everyone bidding wants to get that item. Some more than others. Bids are usually purchased ahead of time so that the auction runs smoothly. People use up their bids by simply clicking on the bid button with their mouse. Each time someone bids, the price on the item goes up by, you guessed it, one penny. Thus the name, penny auctions. A timer is running on each auction and every time someone bids the timer resets another 15-20 seconds or so. The last person to bid before the timer hits zero wins the auction.

Now why would anyone want to bid online for something that they can simply drive down to their local retail store and get it with no fuss no muss? Two words: Price and Fun. Auction winners usually pay around 50% to 90% less than what they would pay at a retail store. Plus the competitive nature of it is a lot more fun than taking a drive down to your crowded local retail shop and standing in line for checkout. If what you wanted is even in stock when you get there.

Is it gambling? Some think so, but the government has ruled that it is not. The illegal ones are quickly shut down by Uncle Sam. Usually they have something else going on with theirs, totally unrelated to a real penny auction. Because a bidder's skill is usually a key factor in them winning and most penny auctions place limits on the number of times any one person can win in any one month, that's enough to keep the government happy.

So as you can see, penny auctions are here to stay. As Martha Stewart famously said: "And that's a good thing".