On eBay, make money when you BUY

One of the biggest questions eBay sellers often ask is, "where can I get stuff to sell?!?"

That is a whole topic on its own - but one thing that I've learned when looking for stuff to sell is: make money when you buy.

It sounds a little counter-intuitive, but its true. What I mean is, don't bank on making a profit by buying something at a reasonable price, and then hope to sell it for a good price. Rather, look for things that you can buy at a ridiculously low price - then plan to sell them for a reasonable price.

Why? First, your chances of flipping the item quickly are much greater if you can offer it at a reasonable price - which means you can then take the money you had invested and go out and get something else for your inventory. Second, you may still be able to sell that item for a good price, then you make that much more profit.

So, look to make the profit when you buy - it will make getting the money when you sell so much easier.

Back to the Future - eBay and Daylight Savings

So as most of us here in the U.S. hopefully remember - all clocks spring forward 1 hour this evening.

For those eBayers who are hyper sensitive about timing the end of their auctions, its important to realize that any listing that falls across the daylight savings time change gets shifted by an hour. So if an auction is supposed to end at 8 am tomorrow, it will actually end at 9 am.

I can't imagine a situation where a 1 hour change would make such a difference that one would actually worry a lot about it. But if you do worry about it, remember the tweak the timing of your auctions whenever daylight savings is involved.

Worried about not having the right box?

A lot of times I hear about eBayers who are reluctant to list an item because they're not sure how they will send it. Mostly, they seem to be worried about having the right sized box or envelope.

Like so many things - try coming at it backwards. Instead of trying to find a box for the things you list, why not list the things for which you have a box. In other words - if having the right box or envelope is your biggest worry - take the box you have and find out what in your sell pile will fit in that box.

Whatever fits best, that's what you list next.

Anti Clutter Kick + eBay = Powerful Combination

Not too long ago my moma let me borrow It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh (he's the clean sweep guy). I thought it was a pretty good book - Walsh gives some good advice about how to think about stuff. One of the best things in the book is on the very first page where he quotes Fight Club saying, "The things you own wind up owning you"

Walsh mentions eBay in the book as a good way to get rid of extra stuff....but he doesn't dwell on it too long. It occurs to me that an entire book could be written about this subject alone. If getting rid of stuff is all about the mental/emotional balance of: it'll hurt to get rid of this stuff but it'll feel good to have the space...then the extra $$$ that one can earn from eBaying extra stuff can really tip the balance in favor of less stuff.

Being Independent Is Overrated

Sometimes I see a trend among eBay sellers...

Let's say our eBay seller is named Bob. Bob has a job, but he hates his job. So he quits, and decides to sell on eBay because he can be his own boss and have tons of freedom. All is fine and well in the world...

...except, Bob still has a chip on his shoulder. Bob still has the chip on his shoulder that makes him suspicious and a little paranoid about anybody trying to be his boss, or take away his freedom.

So when eBay makes a change with its policies, which they absolutely have the right to do...Bob freaks out a little bit. Bob thinks, "well I don't need eBay - I'm INDEPENDENT!"

Here's the thing - people in the eBay world need to depend on each other even MORE than the real brick and motor world. In a "regular" job you have colleagues all around, there is interdependence. The average eBay seller like Bob may be a one person operation.

Being independent is fine in the face of true tyranny, but it's a last resort. Take our Founding Fathers, for example. All those guys tried and tried and tried to reconcile with King George - the Declaration of Independence was the last resort.

And then, once we did have Independence...the Founders found that things were a little TOO Independent - it took a couple of Constitutional Conventions before they got the balance right.

Selling on eBay is great and gives the Bobs of the world freedom and so many opportunities, but Bob should remember that following a path to complete independence leads to a desert isle.

Motor Oil and Tulip Seeds

I recently saw a question on a discussion board where the person asked: "I have one eBay store where I sell three completely different kinds of products. Does it make sense to switch to three different stores so my customers won't think it's weird that I sell unrelated items under one store site?"

I think this is a very good question. If this applies to you, let me ask you a question:

What do you think would be a better use of your time - the work it would take to keep three different stores separate (3 accounts, 3 sets of inventory, 3 everything) or instead, spend that extra time on one store, marketing one store, listing inventory into one store....

Just throwing this out there - Wal-Mart does pretty well selling everything under one roof.

I understand the counter argument about really defining a niche - but I wonder if it might not be possible to focus on a niche, or two, or three, from within one store.

Even if you have one store that sells motor oil and tulip seeds - it's a little weird - but if you spend the time on great marketing, great free content, great everything about motor oil and tulip seeds - I think buyers will be ok with it.

In other words - I think you're better off having one store that does multiple niches really well than you are having three stores that are weak. Of course, the simplest thing of all is to have one store that dominates one niche. But nothing wrong with having one store that dominates a couple, at least in my opinion.

If a Blog Falls in a Forest...

If a blog falls in a forest, but nobody is around to hear it, does it make a noise?

I've blogged plenty before - but this is a new blog! I'm starting from scratch. It's sort of hard to know where to start a blog from scratch - which leads me to one conclusion - I must just start it.

I start this new blog, the Evenger Blog - as the world's first cyber superhero - The Evenger!