Ebay Part Time Or Full How To Decide

Going full-time as an eBay seller is living the dream: making a real income, working from home, being your own boss and all the rest of it. ItÂ's the promise of a million scams, and itÂ's finally come true – at least for some.

What they donÂ't tell you in the success stories, though, is that becoming a full-time eBay seller is by no means for everyone. You really, really ought to try it part-time before you even consider taking it up full-time, and even then, caution is advisable. Before you bu your suit, hereÂ's a list of questions you should ask yourself.

How Much Do I Ea From eBay Now?

Work out how many hours a week you spend doing eBay-related things (be honest here), and divide it by the average amount of profit you make in a week. If you were doing full-time hours, would you ea as much as you ea now?

Do I Have a Good Job?

Think about what you might lose if you give up your job to focus on eBay. If youÂ're in a well-paid job with good promotion prospects then itÂ's well worth reconsidering: you might get a few years down the line and wish youÂ'd stayed in your traditional job, as youÂ'd probably be the CEO by now.

Would I Really Make Much More Money?

Unless youÂ're selling a large quantity of small goods, most of what you do on eBay will be waiting for auctions to end – and you can wait at work just as easily as you can at home. This is why whether you would make more money on eBay really depends on what kinds of items youÂ're selling – for low value items, going full-time could be a good move. For high-value ones, the chances are youÂ'll hit the limits of how much money you have to invest in inventory long before you hit the limits on your time.

Is my Home a Good Place to Work?

Quite apart from anything else, you might find that the dream of home working is more of a nightmare in reality. People can start to depend on you to get things done that need to be done during the day. If you have a wife and children then they can resent the fact that youÂ're in the house but refuse to have anything to do with them for large parts of the day. Giving in to any of these things and stopping work for a while will cause your profits to fall.

Can I Survive if it All Goes Wrong?

In the end, would you be able to get by if you had a month or two where you sold literally nothing? Or would you be desperately looking around for a job and cursing the day you ever discovered eBay? ThatÂ's the real test.

If you made it through all these questions, then I guess youÂ're cut out for the eBay life – and even if you didnÂ't, youÂ'd be surprised just how far you can get part-time. In our next email, weÂ'll show you how to think like the eBay elite: the PowerSellers.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and inteet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

I m new to Ebay What Scams Are Out There

I have been looking at the possibility of doing some Ebay trading. And, since I have been on the Inteet for a while, I decided that I should see what Ebay scams, if any, was floating about. Why? It is always good to be aware of the good, the bad, and the ugly of any online venture. And since, IÂ've seen all sides – itÂ's wise to have cautious optimism.

Wholesale List Scam

With this scam, the wholesaler gives you a photo of say, a computer monitor or DVD – the buyer is under the assumption that they are buying a monitor or DVD, right? Wrong? You may only be buying a wholesale list. This is what they call a Â"bait and switchÂ". They are hoping that the individual is in a hurry or cannot read English well, and they blindly buy. Rule of thumb: read
everything before buying.

Note: Wholesale List scams are very common for monitors, laptops, camcorders, DVD players, flat screen televisions and mp3 players; cutting-edge electronic devices.

Fake Money Order

The buyer sends the seller a fake money order, a bad check – and the seller sends the item before the money order or check has been successfully cashed. Seller is out the item and the money.

Credit Card Chargebacks

The buyer pays with a credit card through Paypal. Once the buyer has received the item, the buyer initiates a chargeback. This is where the novice come in, if you do not have proof that the item was sent – you are out the money, the item, and you have to pay a chargeback fee. Rule of thumb:
Send your item through UPS, or certified mail to protect yourself.

Fake Escrow Scam

The scammer says that they want to buy your item, but they want to use an escrow service. The purpose of the escrow service is to add a layer of protection for the buyer. They will hold on to the money, and once the buyer has received the item from the seller, the escrow service will release the money to the seller. This is where the scam comes in – The buyer will request that you use the escrow service that they, so they say, have used with other transactions. The escrow service is a front – set up by the buyer.

Email Ebay Scam
The email Ebay scam – is an email that says it has come from Ebay. The email will state that it looks like your account has been compromised and they would like your to verify the information, for your protection, of course. Never click the link. Open a new Inteet session and manually type the information to get into your account.

Other email scams, include the fake payment received email. You will receive a payment-received notice, that looks authentic, but be aware, it could have been sent by the buyer. Never send anything, until you have verified that the payment has been received and the info received is valid.

To conclude, when you are looking at any new venture, it is always good to do the research and be aware of what you may be up against. It hard enough to start any business – and you definitely donÂ't want anyone running off with your hard eaed money. Being aware – can keep your business moving forward.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, affiliate oportunities, and how to info for the affiliate marketer.

A Look At Third Party Ebay Tools

There are plenty of companies out there offering third party eBay tools. Most of them are web-based instead of downloadable, so you pay a monthly fee instead of just buying the software. But do you know what these sites can do for you? It can be hard to get to grips with whatÂ's out there using a search engine, so hereÂ's a quick rundown of the key players.

Andale (http://www.andale.com).

Andale offer lots of small products instead of one solution that does everything: you can take your pick from a lister, image hosting, counters, analysers, a gallery, a checkout and an email manager. The price plans are a bit of a maze, but quite reasonable as long as you donÂ't go and use everything.

AndaleÂ's real claim to fame is that theyÂ've been doing it for so long – theyÂ're not some fly-by-night organisation, and many eBay sellers have been using their free counters for absolutely years. They also have a reputation for being very responsive to customers, and will often talk to you directly on their forums and implement any suggestions you might have for improving their software.

Vendio (http://www.vendio.com).

Vendio offer two editions of their software, Sales Manager: a Merchandising edition and an Inventory edition. The difference between the two is that the Merchandising edition is designed to make it easier to list individual auctions, while the Inventory edition is for sellers who sell many of the same item. They offer a pay-as-you go price of 10c per auction.

They also offer software called Tickets Manager, special software for people who sell lots of tickets on eBay – an odd product to have, but useful if you happen to sell tickets. Other services offered by Vendio include web and image hosting, fancy Flash galleries of your products for your listings, and stores.

ChannelAdvisor (http://www.channeladvisor.com).

ChannelAdvisor offer their software in three versions: Enterprise, Merchant and Pro. Enterprise and Merchant are both designed for very big businesses, though, and the chances are that the Pro version does everything youÂ'd want. ChannelAdvisor is popular among sellers who want a solution that they know is used and trusted on a very large scale by enterprise-level customers.

It offers all the standard bulk listing and inventory features, as well as the unique feature of being able to create auctions from an Excel spreadsheet of your inventory. The cost is high, though, at $29.95 per month.

And Many, Many MoreÂ…

eBay maintain a comprehensive directory of third-party software, which you can browse through anytime you have a few days to kill. You can look either for complete solutions or for each part of what you want individually – the choice is so daunting that thereÂ's bound to be something out there for you. You can look at their directory at http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?SolutionsDirectory.

Once your items have sold and youÂ're about to ship them, you might be a little nervous about whether you can trust your buyer. Our next email will give you a few tips for spotting problem buyers before you send them anything.

Article Source: http://www.articledashboard.com

Kirsten Hawkins is an Ebay and inteet auction enthusiast from Nashville, TN. Visit www.auctionseller411.com/ for more great tips on how to make the most from Ebay and other online auctions.

Discount Government Auctions Real Government Auction Reviews of Top Ranking Government Auctions

Are govement auctions real? Can you really buy cars, houses, jewelry, and all kinds of other expensive property for only pennies on the dollar? The answer to both of these questions is YES. Every year seized property worth billions of dollars are auctioned off at police and govement auctions. Govement auctions have been around for years and have gotten really popular lately, but many have outdated directories and make unrealistic claims. Most of these govement auctions boast that they sell cars and property at outrageously low prices and do not deliver on their claims. It is true that you can get cars and property for pennies on the dollar, but expecting to buy a "2004 Lexus SC430" for $100 is unrealistic.

WARNING! Do NOT trust other govement auction reviews... 99.9% of these so called "govement auction reviews" aren't reviews at all. The webmasters who create these fake reviews are only interested in the highest commissions, so they get you to click on their referral links by playing on your fear of being scammed and tell you that they have "reviewed them all" in order to gain your trust. They try to persuade you into thinking that they've reviewed all the govement auction websites by giving you the exact same information that you can find out yourself when you read what the websites advertise.

These webmasters who create these govement auction reviews do their best in portraying an image of being unbiased in hope of leading you to believe that they are "looking out for you" when they are in fact trying to get you to buy through their referral links so they can make a commission off of you. Some of these webmasters even go through the trouble of having their referral tags hidden in their referral links!

Do NOT join any govement auctions until you read our reviews...

Discount Govement Auctions is the ONLY review site of its kind that offers affiliate rebates!

We are the only govement auction review website that offers affiliate rebates this high! We offer affiliate rebates on all of the govement auctions that we review. Becoming a member of any of the govement auctions that we advertise through our links will save you money and is cheaper than paying for a membership by going straight to the source!

http://www.discount-govement-auctions.com/

Improve Your eBay Auction Success By Using All of the Free Product Sourcing Tools At Your Disposal

Selling in-demand items on eBay is by far the most profitable choice you can make when doing your product sourcing. With so much competition on eBay, there's simply not room for error or choosing to sell anything less than popular.

The problem eBay sellers face however is that the state of the market is constantly evolving. Last months best-seller may be this month's total flop.

No matter how difficult or competitive selling on this auction giant may become, eBay will always try to make the process as painless as possible. Fortunately, eBay itself provides a number of tools that can help you identify the latest selling trends. This article will briefly explain these tools to you, show you how to access them, and evaluate their usefulness.

The first tool that eBay provides is "The Hot Items Report" (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf) - In the words of eBay itself "Hot...Very Hot…Super Hot! Discover which categories and products are on fire—where bid to item ratios are high and demand is outpacing supply." This is certainly an invaluable resource that will help you keep a check on the current state of the eBay marketplace and stay on top!

Second up there is the "The eBay Pulse" (http://pulse.ebay.com) - This allows you to view the most popular searches, largest stores, most watched items and more. It's an extremely useful tool, but a word of waing – sometimes only the most unusual and intriguing items show up here, and not the ones that are in the highest demand. It may not always be a true reflection on what is really the most popular item(s) on eBay. To demonstrate this, on the day of writing several items featured in The Pulse were what you might call "get rich quick schemes," whilst another was someone offering to have your advert tattooed on their back for all to see!

Marketplace Research

(http://pages.ebay.com/marketplace_research/index.html) is a new service that allows you to analyze data on completed auction listings. Although the service does incur a monthly charge, it may be worth a look if you'd like in-depth data and statistics already collected for you. If you're familiar with eBay's advanced search features you may be able to accomplish something similar to Marketplace Research on your own.

The eBay Community (http://hub.ebay.com/community) is another useful section to the site if you're seeking out popular items. The chance to talk with other sellers, network, and discuss the latest trends may mean you can keep ahead of the pack. It's nice for a good old elbow-rubbing session with fellow eBay nuts too. eBay is such a humongous marketplace most sellers realize it's not a bad choice to share your success stories with potential competition, since you may pick up some tips for yourself.

Of course you can also simply keep an eye out yourself. Take a look at completed auction listings. Is the item you're thinking of selling doing well for other people? Is this a seasonal item? How many other sellers are in this niche?

With this wide range of tools at your disposal, you've got a ready-made resource to search for those hot items. I've got dollar signs in my eyes already!

Chris Vendilli Copyright © 2006

Chris Vendilli is the owner, founder, and CEO of The 3 Rivers Auctions Company. Chris has helped numerous people start successful online businesses mainly focusing on eBay and affiliate marketing. Chris is also an eBay Power Seller, indicating he has in depth knowledge of the way eBay works! If you're interested in getting more information regarding eBay tips, trends, strategies, & secrets please visit Chris's site using the link below:

http://www.3riversauctions.com

How to Store Preview or Stop Using Your Custom Logo

When your buyers go through eBay checkout, they can see your uploaded custom logo. You can even add it in the invoice mails to your buyers. The format of your logo file must be either of the types .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, .gif, or .png. Size of the logo should be 310 x 90 pixels. If you are a store seller then eBay uses your Store logo.

When you want to add your custom logo click 'my eBay' link at the top of any eBay page, click the 'preferences' link that you can find in the left side of navigation bar. On clicking the 'show' button for 'logos and branding' in the 'Seller Preferences' section, 'customizing checkout and invoice' page gets displayed. Now click on the 'browse' link to browse the image for your logo in the hard drive of your computer. There will be a dialogue box displayed for you to choose a file. If you click on your logo icon file twice it gets selected and in the browse box you can see the path to your logo file. Now click the 'upload' button to upload your logo to eBay. To include it on the checkout page and invoice select the check boxes for 'include it on the checkout page' or 'include it on the invoice mail'.

You can now preview your logo to see how it will look to your buyers. For this click the link 'preview checkout page'. Later, you can close the preview button by clicking the 'close' button for it. Similarly, you can preview for your invoice mail by clicking the link for 'preview invoice mail'. Later you may close it by clicking the 'close' button. Now you can save by clicking the 'save' button to save changes. If you clear the check boxes for 'include….' on the customizing checkout and invoice page and click on the save button you may stop using your custom logo.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.

He also manages http://www.wholesalecloseoutforum.com an online wholesale and closeout forum.

Donny can be reached at 718-389-5502

Negating Negative Feedback on eBay

Taking some pride in my one hundred percent positive feedback score on eBay, I was horrified to see a negative feedback appear against me.

What had I done wrong? Had I overlooked an auction win and failed to deliver product as promised? Had I given poor, slow service? Was I rude to the auction winner?

Certainly, if I had been guilty of any of these things, the negative feedback may have been deserved. But, wait a second! The auction had just ended!

Within minutes (perhaps seconds) of the auction`s end, I was being awarded negative feedback. Not only did I not receive any chance to fulfill the order or to right any wrong that I may have committed, I also received an e-mail from the perpetrator threatening to have me suspended from eBay if I didn`t meet certain demands.

This wasn`t fair! Obviously, I had been victimized by an online bully. (You would honestly think that people had more productive things to do with their time.)

What could I do about it? I e-mailed eBay and told them my story. I mentioned how libel was a cause for civil action. I forwarded to them the e-mail extorting me. Extortion is a criminal offense.

Happily, eBay took action. The negative feedback that appeared on my member profile was almost immediately removed. eBay also took disciplinary action against the suspected abuser.

Yes, it took extra time and effort to deal with the problem, but isn`t your reputation worth it?

J. Stephen Pope, President of Pope Consulting Inc., http://www.popeconsultinginc.com/ has been helping clients to ea maximum business profits for over twenty-five years.

For valuable Work at Home Small Business Ideas, visit: http://www.yenommarketinginc.com/