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A lot of people ask me about how to get a business started by
selling on Ebay. My first response to them is that they get some
education before they get started. There are a lot of books and
course materials out there about selling on Ebay. But before you go
out and buy one of these packages, it is important that you do some
due diligence first. This article will give you some information
about things you should look for before you purchase a course
package about Ebay selling, and more importantly some warning signs
you should be looking out for.
When looking to purchase an Ebay
course package, the most important aspect to consider is whether or
not you are going to get an education or are you just going to be
paying an ongoing fee with no real support provided. Generally a
good educational package will give you a complete and well-rounded
Education. What I mean by that, is that it will address all aspects
of starting an Ebay business, even if you know nothing about Ebay
and are starting from square one. It should include Basics about
Ebay and how to properly set up your Ebay accounts. It should also
give you information about safe buying practices and how to protect
yourself if you are a purchaser. Currently about 95% of people using
Ebay only use it for purchasing items for their own use. So even if
you never sell an item on Ebay you will still learn how to buy
properly. This is also very important from a seller’s perspective,
in that you need to know the buyers concerns and how to address them
properly. A good course should also cover both basic and advanced
selling techniques. It should then move on to cover power selling
and then explain how to turn your hobby into a thriving Internet
business. It should cover all forms of selling on Ebay, specifically
auction format listing (with and without reserve prices), Dutch
auctions, fixed price auctions or buy-it-now listings, and finally
Ebay store listings. If you do not know what these types of listings
are right now, don’t worry, as they will be covered in a future
article.
Selling is only a small part of
an Ebay business, so a good course will also cover some of the other
aspects you need to know about, such as how to take good item photos
and how to write good item descriptions and titles. Other important
areas that need to be covered are how to properly package and ship
an item. Choosing the proper shipping service could make or break
your business, so that better be covered in the course. Another very
important topic that MUST be covered is the area of product
sourcing. For those of you not familiar with this term, all it means
is how to find items to sell. I consider this single topic to be one
of the single most important aspects of a profitable Ebay business,
and it could be the topic of an entire course by itself. Different
routes of product sourcing includes, distressed merchandise
auctions, garage sales, flea markets, and buying directly off the
shelf. Other important product sourcing techniques that MUST be
covered in a course are wholesaling, and drop shipping.
Another important aspect of a
good course is that it presents realistic goals and expectations. If
a course promoter tells you that you are going to get rich within 7
days, I would be a bit skeptical. But if they tell you that you will
probably pay for the course in a few months, then that is a little
more realistic. Don’t get me wrong here, you can make really big
profits really quickly, if you put your mind to it and do things
properly, but don’t count on it happening right off the start.
Another important consideration to look at is whom the course is
meant for. Is the course appropriate for Canadians or is it
specifically written for the US market and are we just an additional
cash cow for the US marketer? I consider this a very important point
as most of the current books and course packages are written and
produced for the American market and as such have little or no
Canadian content. Trust me, selling from Canada is very different
than selling from the US, and a good course will address those
differences.
Now for some of the warning
signs I think people should be on the lookout for before they buy an
Ebay course package. Firstly, are you paying a fixed specified price
for the course up front only, or are you being asked to subscribe to
a recurring fee structure. I believe a good introductory course
should be at a reasonable fixed price without any recurring fees for
additional services. Once you learn how to be a successful seller,
then you can decide if you want to subscribe to any additional
services. Also is the course actually teaching you how to sell items
or teaching you to use some 3rd party software to make
auction listings that sell items from drop shippers? In my opinion a
course that promotes drop shipping, as your major selling practice
should be very suspect. Remember if it sounds to good to be true it
probably is.
My next article will explain
exactly what drop shipping is, and why you should be very suspect of
it when presented in an Ebay course package. Good luck and good
selling!
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