The No Regrets Method of Getting Started with eBay

If you think eBay might be a good place to make some extra cash, then you’re right.  With 157 million shoppers, and 100,000 new users each day, eBay is a hot market.  It is an excellent place for potential sellers of all experience levels to quickly and inexpensively set up shop.  The user-friendly environment makes it a great place for the budding entrepreneur to learn the ropes while taking very little financial risk.

This report will provide tips and warnings of potential pitfalls that will assist you in setting up your account, listing your first auctions, filling orders, and following up with your new customers so they come back and buy from you again.  Following these instructions will lay a solid foundation for the long-term success of your new eBay venture.

Setting up Your Seller Account

There are two important things you should consider prior to setting up your eBay seller account.  The first is what email address you will use, and the second is what your User ID will be.

You should avoid using a free email address for your account if at all possible.  The best solution is to use an email address on your own domain, the second best solution is one with your internet service provider (ISP), and the final and lest favorable solution is to use a free email address such as hotmail, yahoo mail, or gmail.  I recommend using separate email addresses on the same domain for your eBay and PayPal accounts (we’ll talk about PayPal later).  This will help you keep your auction and payment communications separate.

You should think carefully about your User ID prior to registering with eBay.  You are going to want to “brand” yourself in a way that your customers remember and recognize you.  Your eBay User ID is an important element of the branding process.  You are free to change your User ID later, however this is not advisable if you can avoid it.  Changing your User ID may result in your customers not being able to find your auctions later.

When selecting your brand or User ID, you should consider what you will be selling and what image you want to present to your customers.  If you already have another business that your eBay business will tie into, then you will want your eBay User ID to reflect that.  In that case your ID should probably be your existing business name, or an abbreviated version of it.

If you will be selling primarily collectibles, then your eBay User ID should reflect that in some way.  If your focus is cheap items in general, then your ID should emphasize cheap (my first eBay User ID was 99_cent_guy, and all of my auctions started at 99 cents).  If you’re going to specialize in college textbooks, then your ID should indicate that in some way.  Ensuring that your User ID reflects what you sell will assist greatly in ensuring that existing and potential customers are able to find you when they want to purchase what you are selling.

The use of website addresses (URLs) and email addresses in eBay User IDs is prohibited.  I have personally found a way around this by using an asterisk before and after the URL (*www.yourgreatestyear.com*), however doing this could result in eBay requiring a change to the User ID. 

Setting up a PayPal Account

The more payment options you offer potential customers, the more sales you will make.  PayPal is the standard method of electronic payment on eBay, and many eBay’ers use PayPal accounts as their “mad money” accounts.  If you don’t offer PayPal as a payment option, you will never make a sale to these people.  PayPal is also the easiest way for you to accept credit cards and electronic checks as payment for your auctions.  PayPal and eBay have tracking mechanisms that interact with each other in a way that makes managing sales, payments, and shipping a breeze.

You should set up a PayPal account as soon as possible, because the verification process may take a few days.  At a minimum you should offer check, money order, and PayPal as payment options on all of your auctions.  (However, you shouldn’t accept checks from foreign bidders.)  You can set up a PayPal account at www.PayPal.com.

Deciding What You’ll Sell

While the online garage sale approach can be profitable, you are likely to have more success on eBay if you specialize in a particular type of product.  Your customers will learn to associate your specialty with your User ID, and will remember you when they are shopping for those types of products again. 

You should start by exploring your areas of personal interest.  What are you an expert at, and what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?  Simply answering those two questions is often enough to identify a niche that could be a goldmine for you.  After answering those questions, conduct a search of both active and completed auctions to see what related products are in demand and bringing a price that will adequately pay for your time. 

It is important to note that if a lot of products in your chosen specialty are going unsold, or are selling at well below their value, then you need to find a different specialty.  Spend as much time on this as necessary.  Diving into a market blind could result in a big investment with little return and a lot of unsold items collecting dust in your garage.

If you’re having trouble identifying a niche, just take a look around your house.  Do you have lots of old books or record albums?  Look them up on eBay and see what they’re selling for.  Go ahead and auction some to test the waters.  Do you have old collectibles, Christmas ornaments, or china boxed up and in storage?  Dig it out and research it on eBay.  You may have thousands of dollars in your attic and not even know it.  And exploring what you have in your house could reveal a hot product that you might otherwise not have thought of.

Are there products manufactured in your area that you can buy wholesale and pick up locally?  By not having to pay freight, you may be able to undercut competing sellers.  Explore everything you can think of and research it fully against what is selling and what it’s selling for before diving in head first.  This will save you a lot of money and frustration later.