Monday, September 28, 2015

Learning From Other eBay Sellers

Suzanne A. Wells

I have been selling seriously on eBay for one year now. Before that I just dabbled here and there. But one thing I have learned for sure over the years is that you can learn a lot from other eBay sellers. I belong to a Facebook group called, "Stay at Home Moms Selling on eBay" and the founder of the group, Suzanne A. Wells, has been selling on eBay and making a living at it for quite some time now. She posts articles on the online website "The Examiner" and I always find them helpful. Last week I read an article she wrote about selling "ugly" shoes on eBay. The title interested me because I have been dabbling in selling shoes on eBay and my sales have been not too shabby!

My SAS Sandals Find

So I read her article, the basis of which was a lot of people have special needs regarding their feet and although there are some ugly shoes out there in the world, people will buy them for comfort, especially people who have diabetes and need special support shoes. I wrote some of the names down in my little notebook, and one of the names I wrote down was SAS shoes. They are designed for comfort. You can imagine my surprise and excitement when the very next day, I found a pair of SAS sandals (see above picture) in my local thrift store for $2.00! Personally I don't find them all that ugly, but I snapped them up and went home and researched how much they were selling for on eBay.

Although there were no shoes listed in the size 7N that I had found, I found a few of the exact same pair listed for between $26 and $40, some with shipping included and some without. I decided to list my SAS sandals for $35.00 with shipping included on Friday. They sold Sunday (that's in two days) for $35 and I expect that shipping will be $8.00 to $10, and after subtracting my initial $2.00 investment, I should make at least a $23.00 profit! Not bad in my opinion. I wish all of my items would sell that quickly.

Learning From Others

But the point of this post is that it can be quite helpful to learn from other eBay sellers, especially if you are just starting out. If you know anyone who is doing well selling on eBay, I suggest you talk to them and get some pointers. Also, you can go to the Facebook page for the Stay at Home Moms Selling on eBay group and join. Even though it says it's a closed group, they accept new people. That group has so much to offer and I have learned a lot from them.

Also, I would suggest that you check out YouTube videos for people who sell on eBay. They show you items they have bought and how much they have sold for, or how much they expect to get from each item. My favorite is a guy named Steve Raiken, but he puts his videos on YouTube under "Raiken Profits." The guy is a fountain of knowledge for how to earn on eBay, and he is from my old stomping grounds in Connecticut.

Do you know of any other good websites or people on YouTube that we can all learn from? If so, please leave the information in the comments below. Thanks, and happy selling!

Friday, September 25, 2015

Putting Your eBay Store on Vacation Really Works

Taking Break From eBay

I just got back from a fifteen day cruise with my husband. We were gone for 18 days all together. I have an eBay store and part of the reason I decided to get a store was so I could put my items on vacation as we travel frequently. After I got the store, I started hearing stories from other sellers about how putting their store on vacation caused a dip in sales for up to two weeks. That panicked me because I don't want to lose that kind of money. So, I did some research and asked people I knew that had a store. They told me that if possible, even when my store was on vacation, I should still get on daily and revise items and continue listing as much as possible. I had done this when we were on vacation within the United States. But it meant I couldn't actually get away and relax.

But for the cruise, I wasn't able to do this. We took a transatlantic cruise on the Royal Princess which started in England, then went to Holland, France, Spain, Portugal and the Azores. While we did have internet access, it takes so long to get online while on a cruise ship, and then longer to access websites, that it would really be wasting money to do anything on eBay while away. So I made the decision to put my eBay store on vacation, and not touch it till we got back, so I could actually take a vacation myself. I was feeling a bit burnt out anyway so really needed a break.The photo above is of me on the ship as we set sail from Southampton,England.

Whew, What a relief!

We were due back on Monday, September 21st, and I had a little extra time left on my shop internet account, so I went into my eBay account and took my store off vacation. I was surprised and thrilled the next day when we returned to see that I had a sale the same night I took my store of vacation mode, and two more sales on that day, the day we returned home. So in my situation, putting my store on vacation gave me a much needed break and it didn't seem to hurt my sales at all. I am thrilled and relieved that I will be able to do this in the future, and really get a true vacation. Do you have an eBay store? Have you put it on vacation and how did it work for you?