How to Start Selling on Ebay Business

Thinking About Creating a Product and Selling it on Ebay? Starting a Ebay Business is a great way to test the waters before starting a website.

Ebay has the reputation of being the world’s best online auction site, and for good reason: millions of items are bought and sold on eBay every single day, and many of those items come from small eBay businesses run by people just like you!

There’s no right or wrong way to start an eBay business, but since everything’s easier with a road map, here are a few steps to get you on your way. The first step of course is to create an account, but that’s very self-explanatory so I’m going to skip over that to get to the good stuff!

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Step 1: Sometimes You Just Need to Start!

As silly as it seems, the first thing to do is just jump into eBay and see how it works. If you’ve never sold anything before, do this: go around your home and find 10 items that you would like to sell. Set aside a couple of hours one day to list everything on eBay. This is a great way to start because:

a) It gives you an idea how to sell on eBay;

b) You’re already pretty familiar with the items, so you can answer questions and write a great description;

c) You already own the items, so you can get started right away and you won’t waste any money if the items don’t sell.

Step 2: Set a Daily Routine

Once you’re familiar with the process and the basic steps, it’s time to go to the next level. Plan to spend a certain amount of time each day or each week, whatever works with your schedule, to focus on building your business. Use this time to write descriptions, post listings, answer questions and manage your inventory.  Ebay has lots of tutorials on how to buy and sell – and even a forum – so talk to others in the same position all over the world and learn how to do the very best job you can!

When you start something new, it’s easy to ride the initial wave of excitement and then slowly trail off as it becomes commonplace. A rigid routine motivates you to keep going even if you don’t find it exciting anymore.

Step 3: Build Buyer Trust

In the online world, trust is the most important commodity you have. People don’t want to buy on faith from a new seller; they want a seasoned pro with a positive feedback rating who they know will deliver.

To get your feedback rating up, you can buy a few inexpensive items and pay immediately. Make them things that you would normally buy anyway. Experts on the subject usually agree that you should have at least 10 positive feedbacks before you launch your eBay business full time. Usually, by this time you’ll have a star beside your username, and that star makes all the difference when it comes to getting new buyers. The more feedback you get, the higher your sales will be.

Step 4: Specialize Your Business

After you’re used to everything involved in buying and selling on eBay, get into a specialized niche and stick with it. The more you work with that specific product or type of product, the more knowledgeable you’ll become. This is invaluable when it comes to buying inventory or finding wholesale warehouses because it lets you spot good deals in an instant.

It doesn’t matter what you specialize in Indian jewellery, model trains, tie-dye clothing just make sure it’s something you can stick with for a long time to come. In a pinch, stick with something you know.

Need a few ideas? Read about Consumer trends to take advantage of!

Other great Niches to look into include:

• Starting Your Own Subscription Box
• Buy Wholesale Teeth Whitening Kits to Resell at a Profit
• 25 Low Cost Products with High Profit Margins

Step 5: Get the Right Equipment

One of the drawcards of opening an eBay store is that you don’t need much equipment. All said and done, there are really only three things you need: a camera, a computer, and a package scale. The computer you probably already have, but the camera needs to be good enough to take quality pictures.

It should have a macro setting so that you can take close-ups. The postal scale allows you to weigh your packages and calculate shipping charges.

Have you got a great idea for something to sell?   Why not try your own Ebay store and see?