Ebay Business

So you are looking to start an Ebay Business.  Having more than 430,000 people in the United States alone are working full or part time on Ebay.  It may be easier to start an Ebay business than you think.

If you feel Ebay is just a novelty item or low value trinket type outlet, you should take a look again.  An Ebay business can sell anything from trinkets to antiques and automobiles.  The five highest categories were automobiles and auto supplies, consumer electronics, computers, clothes and accessories, books, movies and music.

Ebay was started in 1995 and has become the worlds biggest online auction place selling all kinds of products and services.  There is about 1,000 dollars in sales every second.  There are 135 million registered users in 32 countries.  You can see your Ebay business will have a large exposure or audience.

Before you start with an Ebay business you should decide if you want to be a full time business or just a part time hobby.  Do you want to work from your home or set up an outside office to work from?  Do you want to work on your own or do you want to have employees?  Do you want to become a Power Seller or a Trade Assistant?

It is a good idea to practice some before officially becoming an Ebay business.  You can try different headlines and descriptions on a small scale.  Practice taking pictures and try different listing formats.  Just sell one or two items at a time at first to get comfortable and confident.   This all will make your chances of success much greater when you take your Ebay business to the next level.

Getting set up with an Ebay business just takes a few minutes.  You will need to supply them with your name, address, telephone number, a credit card and or a checking account.  This is used for identification and payment of fees purposes.  When setting up your Ebay business you may also want to open a PayPal account.  This service is owned by Ebay and allows people to use credit cards or their checking accounts to pay you.  It also eliminates the need to have a costly merchant account.

When you set up your Ebay business remember to set up your  "About Me" page, which is a free eBay feature that allows you to promote your business and yourself.

When you start your Ebay business you may want to register with Federal, State, and local tax authorities.  You also may want to form a corporation or LLC to protect yourself from any legal liability.

Your Ebay business now needs something to sell.  This can be the most difficult challenge you will face with your Ebay business.  You need to pick something that you know about, has a profit potential, and is  not hard to photograph or ship.  Before you put something up for sale look to see what similar items sold for and ask, can I make money with this?  A key point to remember what ever it is you offer it would need to fill a need.

If your Ebay business makes it convenient to buy you have much better chance of success.  This means your Ebay business should sell like items.  If you sell CD’s then having CD racks or players would be a good combination.  The more compatible items you have on sale the better your chances of success.  People would much rather purchase what is needed at one sd

After you have gotten comfortable with auction formats, and other aspects of your Ebay business remember not to get complacent.  You will want to read about any new features, keep in touch with your customers, and also be aware of what your competition is doing.  If you are not growing and changing your not taking your Ebay business to its full potential and maximizing you’re earning potential.  You will not only be more successful with your Ebay business but you will have more fun.

 

THE SELLING SECRETS OF MILLION DOLLAR SALES LETTERS

Regardless of what you're trying to sell, you really can't sell
it without "talking" with your prospective buyer. And in
attempting to sell anything by mail, the sales letter you send
out is when and how you talk to your prospect.

All winning sales letters "talk" to the prpspect by creating an
image in the mind of the reader. They "set the scence" by
appealing to a desire or need; and then thet flow smoothly into
the "visionary" part of the sales pitch by describing in detail
how wonderful life will be and, how "good" the prospect is going
to feel after he's purchased your product. This is the"body or
guts" of a sales letter.

Overall, a winning sales letter follows a time-tested and proven
formula: 1) Get his attention 2) Get him interested in what you
can do for him 3) Make him desire the benefits of your product so
badly his mouth begins to water 4) Demand action from him-tell
him to send for whatever it is you're selling without delay- any
procrastination on his part might cause him to lose out. This is
called the " AIDA' formula and it works.

Sales letters that pull in the most sales are almost always two
pages with 1 1/2 spaces between lines. For really big ticket
items, they'll run at least four pages- on an 11 by 17 inch sheet
of paper folded in half. If your sales letter is only two pages
in length, there's nothing wrong with running it on the front and
back of one sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 paper. However, your sales letter
should always be letterhead paper- your letterhead printed, and
including your logo and business motto if you have one.

Regardless of the length of your sales letter, it should do one
thing, and that's sell, and sell hard! If you intend to close the
sale, you've got to do it with your sales letter. You should
never be "wishy-washy" with your sales letter and expect to close
the sale with a color brochure or circular. You do the actual
selling and the closing of that sale with your sales letter- any
brochure or circular you send along with it will just reinforce
what you say in the sales letter.

Ther's been a great deal of discussion in the past few years
regarding just how long a sales letter should be. A lot of people
are asking: Will people really take the time to read a long sales
letter. The answer is a simple and time-tested yes indeed!
Surveys and tests over the years emphatically proven that longer
sales letter pull even better than the shorter ones, so don't
worry about the length of your sales letter- just make sure that
it sells your product for you!

The "inside secret" is to make your sales letter so interesting,
and "visionary" with the benefits you're offering to the reader,
and he can't resist reading it all the way through. You break up
the "work" of reading by using short, punchy sentences,
underlining important points you're trying to make, with the use
of subheadlines, indentations and even the use of a second color.

Relative to the brochure or circulars you may want to include
with your sales letter reinforce the sale- providing the
materials you're enclosing are the best quality, they will
generally reinforce the sale for you. But, if they are of poor
quality, look cheap and don't complement thing, it will
definitely classify you as an independent home-worker if you
hand-stamp you name/address on these brochures or advertising
circulars.

Whenever possible, and so long as you have really good brochures
to send out, have your printer run them thru his press and print
your name/address- even your telephone number and company logo-
on them before you send them out. The thing is, you want your
prospect to think of you as his supplier- the company- and not
just another mail order operator. Sure, you can get by with less
expense but you'll end up with a fewer orders and in the end,
less profits.

Another thing that's been bandied about and discussed from every
direction for years is whether to use a post office box number of
your street address. Generally, it's best to include both your
post office box number, AND, your street address of your sales
letter. This kind of open display of your honesty will give you
credibility and dispell the thought of you being just another
"fly-by-night" mail order company in the mind of the prospect.

Above all else, you've got to include some sort of ordering
coupon. This coupon has to be simple and easy for the prospect to
fill out and return to you as you can possibly make it. A great
many sales are lost because this order coupon is just to
complicated for the would-be buyer to follow. Don't get fancy!
Keep it simple, and you'll find  you prospects responding with
glee.

Should you or shouldn't you include a self-addressed reply
envelope? There are a lot of variables as well as pro's and con's
to this question, but overall, when you send out a "winning"
sales letter to a good mailing list, a return reply envelope will
increase your response tremendously.

Tests of the late seem to indicate that it isn't that big of a
deal or difference in responses relative to whether you or don't
pre-stamp the return envelope. Again, the decision here will rest
primarily on the product you're selling and the mailing list
you're using. Our recommendation is that you experiment- try it
boh ways- with different mailings, and decide for yourslf from
there.