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Selling on Ebay by Maximizing your Ebay Store

Learning How to Make Money on ebay (the right way!).

This lens is about selling on eBay to make money by using an eBay store and considering all eBay has to offer you in terms of opportunities to make money and promote yourself. We operate our ebay store located at http://Onceuponabid.com . As sellers involved in almost every aspect of eBay we felt we can provide valuable information to those just starting or looking to take their ebay business to the next level of success. We will be discussion selling on auctions, selling in fixed price format. Selling by using an eBay store and ebay store selling format. We will be discussing selling for others on commission which is called being a Trading Assistant. And we will be talking about my wifes Educational Classes where she teaches eBay in a school and adult ed setting.

If you really would like to open an Ebay account, Paypal account and or an eBay store you can do so right here from the LENS! Scroll down and look for the banners for opening the accounts and just click! Easy easy! :)

If you want to learn more about eBay read on....

So What are the different ways to make money on Ebay that we will be reviewing here? Here they are..

1-Selling your own Items on Ebay from around your home

2-Buying items to resell on Ebay for Profit

3-Selling items for other people on a commission basis for profit. This is called being a "trading assistant"

4-Teaching others how to sell on eBay in an educational environment or through private in person or telephone conversations.

5- Developing your own products to sell at your classes and or to others regarding how to make money on eBay.

6- Using Squidoo to make extra money selling more of your items or earn money selling other's items as well!

7. What is Ebay Local and Why is Local the next BIG thing for your business?

We have done all these things and we believe that while there are no get rich schemes here , with hard work you can make a decent living or at least make a nice additional income to help with your family budget. If you you have stopped by your visit is timely! Ebay just announced Ebay Local Trading and while it has not been implimented across the ebay site yet it is going to provide for an unprecedented increase in the possibilities you have to make some extra money on eBay.

We offer personal consultations and help to get started. Just read through this lens and some of our content sites like our blog and then email us. Once you read all we have to offer you will know we are the right people to help you get started.

You can email us at clhct1@aol.com

Marty & Cheryl

OnceUponabid.com

Lets Get Started...
Welcome to our first posting on our new Squidoo lens! We might be new to Squidoo but we already have a ton of information ready for you to help with your eBay business! If you slide down to the links section you will find links to our blog on Google which has been going on 2 years strong now with tons of info on our eBay selling experience as well as our much newer myspace page complete with a filmloops slideshow of some of our items for sale set to some music! A great place to start! You can learn more about who were are on these links and on the link to our store also in that section. Take a peek at those and get ready to make some money on eBay!! Yeah it takes work , and no you wont be a millionaire this month, but If you found this lens I am sure you know this already! Talk soon ! -Marty

HERE IS WHAT WE PLAN TO COVER

1 ) Selling your own items on eBay
2 ) Why you should have an eBay store
3 ) What is a Trading Assistant? Why be one?
4 ) How do I market my items and my Ebay Store?
5 ) What is an Educational Specialist? Why be one?
6 ) Info on Paypal, Skype, and much more!
7 ) What is EBAY LOCAL? How can it help your sales?
8 ) What is San Dimas? How Ebays new desktop application can enhance buying and selling.

There is a lot to know so a lot for us to tell you about. Keep in mind that if you need training to open a store or grow your ebay business we offer consultations. You can contact us at clhct1@aol.com . But keep reading here for some great help!

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New Table of Contents

Exciting New STUFF coming to this Ebay Stores Lens!
EBAY GIFT CARDS
HOT TOPIC - International Exposure Explained
HOT OFF THE PRESS TIPS/NEWS
Links to our Ebay Selling Content sites
More about us....
THE BEST EBAY USER TOOLS
Top Ten Reasons To Open an Ebay Store
Books to Help You With Opening an Ebay Store
The Basics of Starting as an eBay Affiliate
What is an Ebay Trading Assistant and Why should you be one?
Books to Help you Become a Trading Assistant on eBay
So Who is Meg Whitman? What is she like?
Ebay Tips from My Blog
Ebay News Stories Through Google News..
News from Inside the Belly of the Beast...
What do I sell on Ebay? Collectors Guides. Flea Market, Garage Sale ideas.
Some More Helpful Ebay books
Easy Access to Open All your Ebay Accounts!
Paypal News From the Wires...
SKYPE NEWS
Skype Prime - Selling your Service - Over Skype 2 way video
Blogs about Ebay by Ebayers from all over!
The Ebay Stores Board Feed
The Disabled Online Users Association - A great resource!
What is Half.com and Why should you check it out as a buyer?
Ebay Opens Free Classified Site called KIJIJI.com
What is Skype all about and Why do you need to know about it?
Ebay and Second Life - Thoughts? -
Introduction to Second Life- Some videos for you
Reader Feedback/Suggestions
Ebay's GivingWorks - Buy Something Cool for Charity
Our Brief Video About Ebay's Givingworks
Increasing International Sales With a New Ebay Feature
Search Only EBAY ITEMS ON SALE!!!! - New Special....
Scan Huge LOTS of stuff for Resale on Ebay or Off
New Doll Price Guide - Written by an eBayer that is a Doll Expert!
Books on the Bigger Picture -Social Marketing, Blogging on the Web
Review these Sites for Ideas on What is HOT, What people are talking about.
Yahoo Search Leaders - Most Searches to these terms...
YAHOO BUZZ - What people are searching for...
Yahoo- Search Buzz leaders Biggest Increase in Search by %
New Featured Lenses
GET HELP GETTING STARTED ON EBAY & SQUIDOO
What is new in Social Marketing and how to Apply it to your Ebay Business
How to collect Todays Items for Tomorrows Hot collectibles!
Make Friends and have them help you with Products!
Ebay Gear - Buying stuff to showcase your "Ebay Habit"
Ebay's Active Artist Discussion Board
Favorite Ebay Search of the Week
Receiving the Ebay 2007 Community Hall of Fame Award in Boston at Ebay Live
HOW YOU CAN GET STARTED

Exciting New STUFF coming to this Ebay Stores Lens!

Get ready for some awesome tools and help!

GREAT NEWS!

We have a ton of new ideas for the lens. Now that we have the basics of this grow your eBay lens started we are going to start reviewing and showing you ways to start or grow your business using tools that others have used successfully. You have already seen some easy to use software and a hit program above but I have tons more things to show you that can aid you in starting or growing your business. And better yet I have been the guinea pig for so many "tests" that I can show you what might work best!

We will continue on the themes we started with and provide tools and products for each section.

For example.. We will go over being a Trading assistant in Depth then provide links to books, tools and software that will be useful to you, and add a blurb section for Trading Assistants.

We will show you how to maximize social networking sites to get more views to your items and provide you with products and or books of interest for further reading.

Basically each section will become a resource center for you. We feel this is the best way to guide you (and keep ourselves on track). I am really excited as I look over the list of things we are going to cover here!

Keep in mind if you trying to get things organized for taxes the tax program banner below for Auction Seller solutions is the place to take a look!

More solutions, more ideas more thoughts all coming up! Thanks for checking out this lens!

So hope aboard the SELLING TRAIN! (picture from one of the books im selling)

EBAY GIFT CARDS

Give the Gift Of Anything in the World!

Gift cards make up almost 20% of the holiday spending budget these days and represent BILLIONS of dollars in spending. Ebay has been slow to develop this market for themselves but now its time to take advantage of the huge eBay community and
work these cards into the mix for added sales, especially for the post holiday periods!

It is a great gift because one can give a gift of almost anything with this card and not be limited to one store gift card as many cards are today. Ebay has a broad range of items from many stores as well as homemade items and one of kind special items!

I am VERY excited Ebay Gift cards! They are an important part of the shopping puzzle!

We have spotted Ebay Gift cards at Stop n Shop a local Supermarket chain.

HOT TOPIC - International Exposure Explained

Why Pay for more exposure internationally?

If you are an active seller you need to pay attention to this info. Recently Ebay added International Exposure as an additional fee on the Sell your item form. This would be for the UK site.

For 10-40 cents, depending on the price of the item you can promote your item on the CORE of the UK site.

This means it will be seen by UK shoppers just like you would see it on the Ebay.com site.

At first, I thought this was a good idea, but it actually turned out to be a great idea for reasons that were not apparent until I started looking into our traffic reports.

Apparently the following is taking place.

1- As expected we are getting hits from the Ebay UK site.

2- We are getting sales from the Ebay UK site

3- Regional search engine expousre (google.uk etc) is picking up and filling up the traffic reports.

4- Buyers seeing our items in the UK can go to a clone of our store eBay has on the UK site. This is true for every ebay site I checked.

5- People from the UK currently staying other places stop by the UK site to shop..

6- Buyers across Europe stop in to shop the UK site.

It is my feeling that if this program is expanded it will lead to a huge increase in the ping ponging of buyers across Ebays properties.

You need to sample this out with a large amount of items and review your traffic reports. This is probably the most current, recent and useful info for experienced sellers on this lens. So go do it! LOL - Marty

HOT OFF THE PRESS TIPS/NEWS

view all 88 links

More about us....

This is a video Ebay did of our family. It was used for an investors conference. Just a brief intro to our business and thoughts about Ebay, Paypal, Skype etc.

Selling On Ebay - A little about Us - Paypal Skype also..

Promo video eBay did about us. If you are interested in learning to sell on eBay take a look at the video and contact us, we train people in classroom settings, and also provide private help. We also have HOT LISTS and software to help you!

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2 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

THE BEST EBAY USER TOOLS

Record Keeping for Taxes and Sales and Promotional Tools for your eBay Business

***GET READY FOR THE IRS AND KEEP GOOD RECORDS WITH THIS SOFTWARE TO HELP YOU GET THINGS IN ORDER FOR YOUR EBAY BUSINESS!***

As many of you know the IRS is looking to make sure eBayers are paying their fair share of taxes on their profits. Ebay of course, does not make it easy to figure our all the info you need! But there are some great tools out there!

Check out this Ebay Software! Many Ebayers struggle with record keeping and getting ready for their tax return. This software is quick and easy to use. Click on the banner to take a peek at the software and screenshots.This is the program we use for our work here on eBay. The good news its cheap, the better news, its great! Please ask questions if you need to as we use this every day!

Top Ten Reasons To Open an Ebay Store

In case you were wondering why you should have one...

Top Reasons To Open An Ebay Store

Provides you a fixed URL (website address that you can put on a business card and promote for repeat business
Allows you to list items at lower listing cost that might sell slower than items on auction.
Allows you a source of traffic because store items stay up long enough to get indexed in search engines whereas auction items do not.
Allow you to categorize your listings for easy shopping by your customers.
Provides you special marketing tools to bring in repeat business like email marketing,fliers etc.
Gives you access to the Stores Traffic Reports through Omniture which are loaded with useful info on how people got to your store, where they went, what they looked at bought what keywords they used..Very helpful info!
Allows you to list multiples of items at no additional listing cost. 100 of your Harry Potter book costs 10 cents to list , same as 10 Harry Potter books!
Allows you to do your own off site marketing and earn Store referral credits that reduce your final value fees to ebay. Go to HELP on ebay and type in store referral credit for more info
Allows you to get a domain name such as MycoolToys.com and forward it to the URL eBay has for the store . You then have a name and site that provides a customer with and easy way to remember you and come back. Ours is Onceuponabid. So people can remember Onceuponabid.com
Gives your auction buyers a place to add things to their orders with you. You now have aisles of merchandise ready to pluck out. Effective strategies could be used to cross promote your items!
Allows you to have FREE mirror stores on each Ebay country site!

Books to Help You With Opening an Ebay Store

Opening an eBay store is easy. Here are a few book recommendations. Soon you will be able to open your store from right here in my lens! :)

Launching a Successful eBay Store

by: Ron Mansfield

The best existing resource for you as a potential new store owner!

Amazon Price: $26.99 (as of 11/30/2009)

eBay's Secrets Revealed: The Insider's Guide to Advertising, Marketing, and Promoting Your eBay Store - With Little or No Money

by: Dan W. Blacharski

Released soon, this one is supposed to be great!

Amazon Price: $16.47 (as of 11/30/2009)

Starting an Online Business All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

by: Shannon Belew, Joel Elad

One of the best reference guides out there for all you need to know about opening any webstore! From formation and record keeping to more advanced concepts like affiliate marketing and developing a niche, customer service issues etc. One of the best books out there. 800+ pages a real bargain for the price!

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

The Basics of Starting as an eBay Affiliate

Making Extra money selling your items and those of others!

** See Below for the basics of getting started with an Affiliate plan for eBay by using your Squidoo Lens. Here is an important update however! *** Some Squidoobayers (Squidoo peeps that are Ebayers) have had really good luck keeping a narrow focus to each lense and then affiliate linking that lens. So if you have more than one product line, consider a different lens for each. SOme have done this very well and I needed to update you! - SO now read on...
**********************************

Ebay has instructions which make the process easy. In case you have not joined the ebay partner network and signed in yet and wanted to see how easy it is
here is the 4 step process as described by Ebay..

How to start earning money on the eBay Partner Network in 4 easy steps!
April 3rd, 2008

Getting started on the eBay Partner Network is quick and easy - within 30 minutes you could be driving traffic and earning commission! All it takes is 4 simple steps:

1. Register

To join the eBay Partner Network, you need to register at www.ebaypartnernetwork.com. When you sign up, we'll ask you for some basic information, including what type of website you have. Choose the description that best fits your website, for example, if you have a blog or a hobby website, choose website. But don't worry if you don't yet have a website - you can still join the eBay Partner Network. After you have signed up, you'll then receive an e-mail with your login details and you're free to enter the site!

2. Go to the Programs tab

When you first sign in, click on the Programs tab. There you will see a list of all the country's programs to which you have applied. This tab is important, because although eBay Partner Network is a global platform, different countries have slightly different rules and payment structures, so you should definitely look at the terms and conditions and the payment structure. You can also see the status of your application to each country's program.

3. Go to the Tools tab

Now you need to put links or banners on your site that point to eBay or Half.com. The easiest ways to do this are using the Link Generator or the Creative Generator and to find them you need to go to the Tools tab.

Link Generator

First of all, select the advertiser. Secondly, select a link type from a choice of Home Page, Keyword Search, Item ID or Custom URL. You will then have to enter your chosen keyword, item id or custom URL, but remember to make it as relevant to your visitors as possible. Some of the options can be geo-targeted, which means that we can detect where the visitor to your site is from and redirect them to the most appropriate site for their geographical location. However, you will still need to select a default program, just in case we can't detect where the visitor is from - we suggest selecting the US program. Choose what you want the link text to be and try to make it a call to action, for example "Find a Bargain on eBay." Finally, click on the Generate Link button and copy and paste the code into your site. Easy!

Use the dropdown boxes on the left to filter which creatives you can see. You can filter by advertiser, size, type and whether the creative is geo-targeted. If you select geo-targeted creatives, the language will change depending on your visitor's location and it will link to the most geographically appropriate site. You then need to click on the creative you want to use and select a default program, in case we can't detect which country your visitor is from. Finally, click on the Generate Code button and copy and paste it into your site.

4. Fill in your payment details

Go to the Account tab and select Payment Information. eBay Partner Network currently offers 2 payment methods depending on your location: Paypal and direct deposit. Select your payment method and fill in the required details. If you are based in the US, you also need to ensure you inputted your tax details.

Further Help

If you'd like more information on how to get started on the eBay Partner Network, you can watch the video tutorial, which takes you through the process step by step. Alternatively, you can visit our FAQ and help section, which has lots of information about how to use the site, and has links in each topic to ask questions to our dedicated customer service team.

What is an Ebay Trading Assistant and Why should you be one?

Learn how to make money selling items for others !

Through eBay you can register to become what they call a "Trading Assistant". Trading Assistants help other eBayers sell their items and earn a commission doing so. There are many advantages to working this money making angle. First, you do not have to buy "stock or inventory" to sell. The customers have items they want to sell so you earn off their items. This strategy is especially useful when you have an eBay store and are auctioning off items for others. As the customer will pay the fees on those items, you are promoting your store items! Selling for commission for others can be tricky though as you want to be able to post the better items and not be stuck trying to list a bunch of junk that will not make either of you rich! I highly recommend being a "TA" as its one of the many sources of eBay income you can develop, and the key is to diversify your income flow. I will be writing more about this soon. People ask how to keep track of what they sell for others and how much to pay out and you will find a link to accounting software on this Squidoo lens that you should look at . Its called Auction Accounting Pro. Click there then on consignment companion once you get there. You will see software that helps you do all this! Ill post back more about being a TA including tips and a TA section for other TAs shortly! Stay tuned!

NEWSFLASH 12/26/07 *** - TA PROGRAM CHANGES - found this posted by an ebay moderator on the discussion boards. Looks like great stuff to me!

The changes also will allow us to bring some good benefits to those that sign up again.

Among them will be new eBay marketing campaigns, a new and improved Trading Assistant Directory which will eliminate directory spam; allowable links to your own Trading Assistant web site from your Trading Assistant profile and updated, customizable collateral, mailers and business cards.

The best is a new lead management system where you can opt-in during the registration process to receive leads via email from potential clients.

If you are an Education Specialist, you can link from your TA profile to your Education Specialist profile and classes.

Please note that there will be changes that could effect your collateral and marketing materials should be noted:

- New Logo
- New Name for Trading Post: Registered eBay Drop Off Location
- Use of the term "Auction" or "Auctioneer" in your Trading Assistant business name, signage and marketing materials is not permitted (you will have until April 08 to change materials and Dec 08 to change signage if you are already enrolled in the program)

I believe some of these changes were announced at eBay Live last year.

You will all get an email with specifics. Keep in mind we are still in development, so there could be changes before launch.

Merry Christmas
- Newton

**Please check out our next text module on Ebay Local Trading this could be the next big thing for TAs*****

I am a Trading Assistant - I can sell items for you!

(Picture above right is an actual trading assistant item - A Paint by Number painting. It one of two related scenes that were just wonderful and sold well)

Books to Help you Become a Trading Assistant on eBay

These books represent the best resources for reading more about being a trading assistant on eBay. If you are hesitant to spend money, keep in mind that once you get started you can alway resell these books on ebay! :)

How to Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business

by: Skip McGrath

A great book, by a great eBay seller with an excellent reputation. I cannot say enough about these people or their books. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Amazon Price: $25.60 (as of 11/30/2009)

The eBay Entrepreneur: The Definitive Guide for Starting Your Own eBay Trading Assistant Business

by: Christopher Matthew Spencer

The author of this book owned a very successful trading assistant shop (store). Very smart individual and you will really benefit from his advice.

Amazon Price: $20.65 (as of 11/30/2009)

The Trading Assistant's Assistant: How to start a part-time job or full-time consignment drop-off business on eBay

by: Hillary DePiano

All the necessary "what comes next" stuff. The one to get once you have decided to make a go of this. Well worth the price in saved time alone!

Amazon Price: $9.99 (as of 11/30/2009)

Helping people sell their stuff on eBay.(merchandise consignment operation): An article from: Fairfield County Business Journal

by: David Glenn

It never hurts to read articles!

Amazon Price: $5.95 (as of 11/30/2009)

So Who is Meg Whitman? What is she like?

Meeting someone that worked on Mr Potato Head!

Ebay's Woman (now former CEO)
I have never seen a person get so much negative publicity and be totally the opposite of the public image. I had the chance to meet Meg Whitman as part of a focus group eBay puts together. I actually was seated right next to her at dinner in San Jose at a wonderful italian restaurant! During her talk that night I realized she is much of a big picture thinker. She thinks in terms of the overall site and goals and the framework which she envisions. She often makes points by using stories much as former President Clinton did. She is warm and personable to talk to. I admit I was very nervous and these days Id probably be a much better person to talk to but she was just that super nice person you could picture working on the Mr Potato Head division over at Hasbro (her former job). Before that I believe she worked at Stride Rite shoes? . In any case I wish I could have that dinner meeting back and do a better job talking but I was an unseasoned eBayer at the time and didnt have as much to offer. I cannot mention anything in particular about our conversation but it was like speaking to a peer, a co-worker or someone with a shared passion for Ebay. I think she serves as a nice example of what woman can bring to a CEO position -Marty

PS in the picture that is me on the right..Meg center of course.

UPDATE - I just found out 5-8-07 that Meg is on the cover of Forbes Magazine! Fantastic article about her and her concern for a fellow CEO who had taken ill on a flight. Hats off to Meg, move over Britney, young girls have someone REAL to look up to as a role model. Good job Meg! Hope to talk to you at eBay Live Boston!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ebay Tips from My Blog

Over 2 years worth of valuable posts here to search through..

The Latest from our Ebay Blog

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Ebay News Stories Through Google News..

Usually a lot of the same , stories on fraud, problems etc, but every once in a while a juicy tidbit on eBay's direction or deals with companies will appear! Stay posted and current on this Lens!

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News from Inside the Belly of the Beast...

Ebay Chatter Blog - News About Ebay By Ebay!

This blog is published by eBay and posted on the eBay site so it is good to keep on top of what they are saying!

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What do I sell on Ebay? Collectors Guides. Flea Market, Garage Sale ideas.

A selection of some of my favorite resources on what to look for

Many people want to start selling on eBay but do not know where to begin. Other than learning how the sales process works, people need to find items to sell. Here is a list of my favorite resources to help you in your flea market or garage sale searches. Ill comment on each one for you!

Retro-Electro: Collecting Technology from Atari to Walkman

by: Pepe Tozzo

I have made more money with this book than with any other book. This one is a must have. If Amazon does not have it in stock find it somewhere! From old calculators to old video games and old LCD watches this guide helps you pick up the items everyone else overlooks as they go for more traditional collectibles. SUPER BOOK , TONS of product pictures glossy pages. A+++++ honest buy this one!

Amazon Price: $29.95 (as of 11/30/2009)

Garage Sale & Flea Market Annual: Cashing in on Today's Lucrative Collectibles Market (Garage Sale and Flea Market Annual)

by: Bob Huxford

A great general guide and must have for flea market awareness. Not as many pictures as I would have liked but as you become more aware of general areas this one can be a reference as there are tons of listings here. Use more as a guide to what is worth more than a strict pricing guide as eBay prices are all over the place. For example if you see a toy that says value $50 and you can get it for 1 dollar pick it up but dont assume it is worth $50 it could be worth $100 or $20!!

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

Tomart's Price Guide to Garage Sale Gold

I really like this one. Direct on point. Great info and any book with "Garage Sale" in the title is good reading!

Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 11/30/2009)

Selling Used Books Online: The Complete Guide to Bookselling at Amazon's Marketplace and Other Online Sites

by: Stephen Windwalker

Superb book! If you plan to sell books online you need this book. Very well done. We only sell some books but I got so much out of this one. It tells you what to look for and will have you be an expert within a few days! Common sense approach, easy to read and packed with info!

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

Just Can't Get Enough: Toys, Games, and Other Stuff from the 80s that Rocked

by: Matthew Robinson, Jensen Karp

The 1980s are starting to heat up and this is a MUST HAVE book! Great info and pictures. I will be posting more book recommendations on this era shortly. Start with this one!

Amazon Price: $12.89 (as of 11/30/2009)

Some More Helpful Ebay books

Starting your Biz, Taking Good Pictures, Selling your crafts, Selling for Charities

Books are valuable resources to aid in the development of your eBay business. Just picking up a tip or two can provide you with thousands of extra earning potential!

Making a Living from Your eBay Business

by: Michael Miller

Amazon Price: $22.79 (as of 11/30/2009)

eBay Photos That Sell: Taking Great Product Shots for eBay and Beyond

by: Dan Gookin, Robert Birnbach

Amazon Price: $19.79 (as of 11/30/2009)

Sell Your Crafts on eBay

by: James Dillehay

Amazon Price: $12.71 (as of 11/30/2009)

How to Start and Run an eBay Consignment Business

by: Skip McGrath

Amazon Price: $25.60 (as of 11/30/2009)

Fundraising on eBay

by: Greg Holden, Jill K. Finlayson

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

Easy Access to Open All your Ebay Accounts!

Just click on what you want to do below and get started!

To Open an Ebay Account

To Open an Ebay Store

To Open a ProStore on eBay!

Paypal News From the Wires...

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SKYPE NEWS

Ebay owns Skype - Skype could help your future eBay Business!

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Skype Prime - Selling your Service - Over Skype 2 way video

Almost too good to be true..

Vote Up

Vote Down

Blog : Ebiz Tax Tips

Tax saving tips for eBay sellers1 point

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The Ebay Stores Board Feed

See what Store sellers are talking about! Get the Stores Community pulse here..

This is one of the best boards on eBay. It is the Ebay stores discussion board. You will see both the positive and negative here.

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The Disabled Online Users Association - A great resource!

The real question is who is helping who here?

The Disabled Online User Association found here at : http://doua.org

is a valuable resource for those looking for some extra help and assistance. After being asked to be a mentor there I have a problem figuring out who is helping who! Apparently the forums here are a great resource for EVERYONE regardless of differing abilities. I went to help others but so far have not finding anyone needing help LOL. Nonetheless those with special needs concerns should check it out to make some new friends.

I will give you one example. One member has done extensive work with Voice over presentations for Ebay stores. I have never seen nor read of the type of work she has done and its top notch and sounds very professional. Its not an item description voice, but one talking about the store, what it sells etc.

There are tons of resources and special projects going on there and I highly recommend people check it out.

My sister in law , Tina, has mosaic down syndrome yet can put together a puzzle 10x quicker than I can, a 1000 piece puzzle in a day or two! I have found in general that certain limitations lead to excellence in other areas and I have found that Ebay has allowed people to excel in becoming focused on business matters in ways that have allowed people to transcend any perceived physical limitations.

I do not want to give specific examples but must say in general I have personally been inspired by people facing hardships who have achieved far more than I have without them. It has led me on a path to want to do more for others and learn more myself in the process :)

So do check out this site ! Also keep in mind if you believe in these type organizations you can use Givingworks to have a percentage of an ebay items sales price donated to the charity!

Thanks to Connie of the DOUA for inviting me and setting me on a course to learn more about eBay and about what is important and should be important to me. I owe you one Connie!

(picture is of a Rosamond print I am selling)

What is Half.com and Why should you check it out as a buyer?

Finding the hidden sister , forgotten sons of Ebay

Many people look at eBay as just that EBAY. However Ebay purchased paypal which was once a separate company. They also purchased Skype (communications company), and a long time ago they purchased Half.com which was once its own little internet world. Well Half.com almost got closed down a year ago by eBay but provides a great spot to buy low cost books and other media items. Often times the prices are BELOW what the normally low eBay prices are! Half has its loyal followers and a long time ago a town changed its name to Half.com after being paid by the company! Check out the site here and look for items you need cheap!

Ebay Opens Free Classified Site called KIJIJI.com

Ebay continues to grow its new classifieds site called Kijiji located at
http://Kijiji.com

The design looks great, and while its been operating in Canada and other countries for a few years its just starting here in the US and has limited ads placed so far. There are over 29,000 for sale items placed in Halifax, Nova Scotia now though so this could catch on quick and its worth taking a look at.

As of now it appears you can not link your eBay store or promote eBay store products. You can sell items there and offer a link to more info on the product though. Maybe the items that dont work on eBay can be sold here at a lower cost.

What is Skype all about and Why do you need to know about it?

Saving on phone bills is just the beginning ..............

Skype was purchased by eBay for a figure in the few billions of dollars so believe me they plan to get some use out of it. It was one of the fastest growing services in the history of the internet with downloads of its web based telecommunications service totalling in the hundred million plus range.
Skype enables you to call any phone from your computer and to to call from your computer to another computer using Skype for free. You can effectively make your international phone bills disappear! More than that Skype has some amazing services developing including conference calling ,voicemail and other business services. You need to at least check this out and be familiar with it. Integration with ebay has been slow but continues to move along and its the wave of the future of e-commerce. Look for some tie ins to Paypal Mobile which I will be mentiong on this lens soon.

To check out Skype just click below

Ebay and Second Life - Thoughts? -

People real or virtual spend money , that is a known fact

Recently I have come up with a few ideas relating to Second Life (the virtual world found at secondlife.com and wanted to brainstorm some. Second life, while slow to take off has taken on a new life itself as companies have rushed to get a presence in this new world. From product placement and testing to studying interaction and getting feedback on virtual creations soon to be made in the real world, major corporations feel its the place to be. Based on my review , there is a lot of potential for small businesses to be creative in how they market their items either through soft sell approaches, development of new "friends" in this other world or through eventual development of commercial applications that might work to earn "Linden dollars" (the currency of this second world) for which there is an exchange into US dollars. Fascinating stuff huh? Well, it is until you realize that most people (like myself) are not graphic programmers nor experts at development of visually rich environments. If you are so inclined this is an opportunity for you and if you are an expert please contact me to brainstorm LOL :)

I see Second Life as the infancy of Star Trek's holodeck type environment. I believe many of the applications in such an environment might not even be things people can envision today.

Before we go much further into this area I will post a few Youtube videos that you can watch to introduce you to what I am talking about here if you have not already seen it. Please let me know what you think! The youtube section will follow this one.

Introduction to Second Life- Some videos for you

Anotther World for ebay sellers?

These are just a few youtube videos to introduce you to Second Life which I was talking about in a prior section. This will give you an oveview and might spur some ideas on how you can think of this new world as a place to market your eBay store. The first video is an overview. The second is an interview with Kurt Vonnegut that took place in Second Life and fans of Kurt will enjoy this (just to give you an idea of an event in Second Life.

Introduction to Second Life (historical view)

3.6086118

Runtime: 253
1311936 views
3009 Comments:

The Infinite Mind in Second Life with Kurt Vonnegut

4.5190477

Runtime: 2279
106016 views
105 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Reader Feedback/Suggestions

Tell me what you need to know, what you want to learn? What we are doing right or wrong here..

This is your section, post your thoughts! For those checking out my blurbs there are pages of them. Look these over, many great lenses, many great people with great stuff to sell!

submit

Reply

Bradshaw Bradshaw Nov 29, 2008 @ 7:37 pm

First-rate Squidoo lens. I've saved it as one of my favorites. I'm considering making a foray into the world of eBay and I think I'll be coming back to your lens time and again because of the info you've provided. Great job.

Reply

cannedguds cannedguds Oct 12, 2008 @ 10:30 pm

So, you're into e-Bay, too, huh? Yes, it's a great way to make money online and I'm very fortunate to have come across this lens of yours! By the way, have you heard about a Worldwide Brands scam ? Worldwide Brands is the best drop shopper for e-Bay patrons like us but some say it's nothing but a scam. Hope you can shed a light on this..Anyway, thanks again for sharing this 5-star lens of yours!

Reply

Junyuan Junyuan Sep 24, 2008 @ 11:10 pm

I must say that eBay is one of the fastest proven source for anyone to start generating a good income online. You have a very good lens that contains really good tips on how one can use eBay to generate good money online. I've given you 5-stars for your lens. I have a lens on how to sell digital products on eBay using eBay classified ads. Perhaps you may want to drop by and let me have your comments. :) You may also want to add your lens to my Internet Marketing Directory to get more traffic to your lens... :)

Reply

rose08 rose08 Sep 18, 2008 @ 7:32 pm

Tons of great informations. You're no doubt an ebay expert. My friend is wondering if gree tea direct from farmer can be sold in Ebay? They're fresh and free of pulltion.

Reply

ashleymia ashleymia Sep 10, 2008 @ 4:31 am

Online shopping is the latest buzzword and is here at Best Buy with Discount Coupons to stay. Here this lens stands ahead of times and has been part of the revolutionizing trend that has captured the imaginations of many. Great work
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Ebay's GivingWorks - Buy Something Cool for Charity

These items give back something to Charity !

One of the best areas of eBay is Givingworks. This is where each seller can designate a portion (or all) of the items final sales price to be donated to a charity they choose from a long list! Millions of dollars have been donated in this fashion AND it brings great customers to your items!

If you are a seller you absolutely have to go check out Givingworks not only to donate but because it is good for your business!

Take a peek at these givingworks auctions. To get to giving works go to givingworks.ebay.com

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Our Brief Video About Ebay's Givingworks

This is a short video I did for a Givingworks promo on Ebay. Ebay's Givingworks allows you to set aside a percentage of your sales for charities!

Ebay Givingworks Short Video for Contest

Just a short video for a promotion for Givingworks for Ebay

Runtime: 44
103 views
0 Comments:

curated content from YouTube

Increasing International Sales With a New Ebay Feature

Ebay's Pay per country announcement ....

I am revisiting this topic in hopes of building on a new Ebay feature to be released in May 2008 allowing us (for a fee) to promote on the UK (and probably soon other sites) our items.

My thoughts would be to combine the following...

1- The low fee media items can be listed at

2- The fact that each country site has a clone of your store

3- Some basic free search engine submission/content for clone stores.

So what the heck am I talking about? LOL

Ok on each country site there exists a country specific version of your Ebay store. Here are some examples...

Like our UK version of the store here.. (you can see your own by taking our our store name and inserting your own if you like)

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Once-Upon-A-Bid

our Australian store..

http://stores.ebay.com.au/Once-Upon-A-Bid

In Italy you can see the 3 gallery item across version of our store..

http://stores.ebay.it/Once-Upon-A-Bid

My idea is to toss up media (books, videos, CDs, DVds) each listing cycle that sell in the under 10 dollar range and promote the foreign versions of our stores by doing so. This idea will become way more useful (if or when) Ebay expands this to other sites as UK sellers mirror a lot of our items at times.

In any case 10 items would cost 1.00 per cycle.

Buyers who come across those listings would be able to click into your store on their site with all the items converted into their currencies.

With the current default on other sites being their local or regional view, this would put your items right in the core searches on each selected site (For now just the UK for US sellers until the program is expanded).

Some other thoughts would be to find small or light items you might be able to offer free or low cost shipping on as the goal would be to drag interested foreigners into your clone stores.

Somewhat relatedly I looked into these URLs and they are basically deadened links. I had some success submitting them to search engines and directories (these are the URLs I have posted above for the foreign versions of stores).

It is not so much Google , or yahoo that is important but submissions that get picked up in regional directories for those areas or smaller sites.

Overall I am hopeful that this program will expand to all Ebay sites and where for 10.00 an auction cyle I can post 10 items to each of 10 different country sites and get some extra exposure.

We all have items which tend to sell more internationally so those might be a good place to start. Also doing this with an interesting low start bid auction item might make sense as well.

Just some initial thoughts for now that I hope to expand on.

Search Only EBAY ITEMS ON SALE!!!! - New Special....

Yeah I thought of this, but someone else did it really well... take a look!

You need to check out this link! It is a special search set up by a former eBay employee in Germany which searches ONLY items that eBay store sellers put on sale! How cool is that! Lots of bargains. I thought of this a while back but you need to know how to use Ebays developer's kits to impliment it and this guy did a super job! Hats off to him! What do you think? Please comment in my blurb section! :)

Check out the site here!
http://http://www.x-percent.com/

Scan Huge LOTS of stuff for Resale on Ebay or Off

Looking for stuff to resell online or at Flea Markets?

Here are some things on Ebay selling in Huge lots you might want to poke through! Ebay is great place to look for things to sell back on Ebay or even in flea markets.
Especially with the economy in a funk and many online retailers selling things in bulk , a careful shopper can find some excellent deals. One night, in the wee hours I found a listing for the entire contents of a store on the Isle of Wight very cheaply. I am still selling stuff from that lot a year later! So take a look below and also remember to search ebay for "LOT" or "HUGE LOT" or "BIG LOT" to get some deals!

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New Doll Price Guide - Written by an eBayer that is a Doll Expert!

Denise Van Patten is a well known doll expert on Ebay. This is a link to her new book which is a great place to start when getting pricing information for dolls.

The Official Price Guide to Dolls

by: Denise Van Patten

Amazon Price: $15.00 (as of 11/30/2009)

Books on the Bigger Picture -Social Marketing, Blogging on the Web

Broader tools and thinking strategies to help you!

I love books like these so I will recommend them to you. They help you frame the bigger picture of what is going on on the web so that you might participate and understand how new things like blogging, social networking, new worlds like Second Life will start to change the way business is done. Some excellent choices below and Ill be adding more for your shortly!

Sell Your Book on Amazon: The Book Marketing COACH Reveals Top-Secret "How-to" Tips Guaranteed to Increase Sales for Print-on-Demand and Self-Publishing Writers

by: Brent Sampson

Amazon Price: $13.45 (as of 11/30/2009)

Plug Your Book! Online Book Marketing for Authors, Book Publicity through Social Networking

by: Steve Weber

Amazon Price: $17.05 (as of 11/30/2009)

Community Building on the Web : Secret Strategies for Successful Online Communities

by: Amy Jo Kim

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them

by: Bob Walsh

Amazon Price: $18.24 (as of 11/30/2009)

Second Life: The Official Guide

by: Michael Rymaszewski, Wagner James Au, Mark Wallace, Catherine Winters, Cory Ondrejka, Benjamin Batstone-Cunningham

Amazon Price: $10.85 (as of 11/30/2009)

Review these Sites for Ideas on What is HOT, What people are talking about.

Another Great Resource for you...

Below you will find sections related to what is HOT in internet searches. By looking at what people are actively searching for , you can sometimes find ideas on items to sell or what types of things are getting peoples attention. You can also spot trends. It is a "big picture" type tool but one you should look at from time to time. I hope you find this info useful! -Marty

Yahoo Search Leaders - Most Searches to these terms...

See what people are looking for all over the Web !

This feed is for popular searches on the Yahoo search engine. It helps you keep in touch with what is popular out there and might help your eBay business!

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YAHOO BUZZ - What people are searching for...

This BUZZ search pull is much the same as the others above but with some description and is more theme based.

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Yahoo- Search Buzz leaders Biggest Increase in Search by %

Another great tool for your business !

This list shows you things that are up and coming in terms of searches that have increased the most in % terms recently. This usually means something made the news and people are curious about it!

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New Featured Lenses

Introducing our new lens on Alternative currencies

I found this subject interesting!

Norfed - The Liberty Dollar, the FBI. The Amero and Alternative Currency efforts

This lens is about a fascinating story. The short version is that a former mint worker developed what he believed was a silver and gold backed currency as an alternative to the US dollar. It started to catch on and some stores were actually accepting...

GET HELP GETTING STARTED ON EBAY & SQUIDOO

Need Help with a Squidoo Lens? Opening an Ebay Store? Your Ebay taxes?

Dont DUCK your Squidoo responsibilities! Get a lens up and running! Or get help setting up your Ebay store or maybe with figuring out what to do with ebay and your taxes!

We have received many requests to help people with all aspects of Ebay. We now offer a service where we can take what you started just email us at:

clhct1@aol.com

and we can work something out! :) Thanks! -Marty/Cheryl

(Duck picture is of an actual item we sold. Wood and Ceramic ducks are great sellers on eBay)

What is new in Social Marketing and how to Apply it to your Ebay Business

This is a brand news lens module that I am starting to open up discussion of social marketing web 2.0 and even web 3.0 (speculation) discussions. Most eBayers are currently working with Myspace, blogs, Squidoo and other sites like Stumbleupon. If you are new to this, dont worry we are going to review each one but also introduce some new ideas. Each week I will try to present another idea that will enhance your businesses web 2.0 presence.

************************************************

Section 1- Getting Started.

If you are new to the concept of creating content to help you get indexed in search engines this part is for you. These days you cannot just open a store and hope people come by to shop. You need to think of developing ways people can find you. On Ebay there are a few quick things you can do. This would be step 1..

A- Develop and About ME page and talk about yourself, your business etc. This is one of the best indexed pages on Ebay, and you HAVE TO HAVE ONE!

B- Ebay has a new Myworld Section- You should develop that section.

These two steps might take you a few hours to get started. So please get going on them! LOL

C- Start a Blog - Whether using an Ebay blog or a Google blog, a blog is a logical next step to talking more about your business and helping people find you.

Please note you can see my content sites in a module above to see how I have used them!

More soon so get rolling with steps A, B, C.

In my next segment we will be discussing social networking sites. Good luck :)

Segment 2- Linked In

You need to check out Linkedin.com . The site is growing rapidly and its the word is that Google is indexing people with linked in info very well! So get on over there ~ ~

Segment 3 - Tying in your interests by finding a social marketing aggregation site! These are sites that take all your content sites and put them on one easy to access page!

(picture is of an actual icelandic lava plate I sold on ebay)

How to collect Todays Items for Tomorrows Hot collectibles!

I love these books, you will also!

Tomorrow's Heirlooms: Fashions of the 60s & 70s (Schiffer Book for Collectors)

by: Trina Robbins

For the fashion minded collectors of the future!

Amazon Price: $25.60 (as of 11/30/2009)

Antiques of the Future

by: Lisa S. Roberts

Absolutely amazing book! I wanted almost every product in this book. An excellent read , loaded with pictures!

Amazon Price: $22.76 (as of 11/30/2009)

Future Toys: Robots, Astronauts, Spaceships, Ray Guns (Antique Collectors Club)

by: Antoni Emchowicz, Paul Nunneley, Chris Shelley

What toys will become collectible? Buy it for your kids now, then secretly hide it away ;) LOL

Amazon Price: (as of 11/30/2009)

Make Friends and have them help you with Products!

From my Jewelry designer friend a Pan's Labyrinth Necklace!

After seeing the movie Pan's Labyrinth I had an idea for a product based on a scene in the end of the movie. However I am not all that creative and certainly do not know how to make jewelry. One great thing about Ebay is the ability to make friends within the community and pay them to help you bring your idea to life! Below is one such example..

What do you think of this product we designed which came to life with the help of our jewelry designer friend Maggie!

The Pan's Labyrinth movie was incredible! I loved it! Things you see and love yourself can lead to products and ideas for eBay. In this case the key shown was actually given out at comic conventions for the promotion of the movie!

The design represents a scene in the movie as well.

We listed and sold our prototype within 1 day! :)

Ebay Gear - Buying stuff to showcase your "Ebay Habit"

From:

Price: 0.00

From:

Price: 0.00

I Sold My Soul Large Mug

From: Sold My Soul T-Shirts

Price: 14.99

T-Shirt Bidder

From: THE ORIGINAL! GENUINE TEXTTEES.COM

Price: 16.00

eBay Shirts and Gifts Sweatshirt (dark)

From: Real Slogans Occupational Shirts and Gifts

Price: 39.99

Ebay's Active Artist Discussion Board

Can you paint? Draw? Sculpt?

I love this board! I am not creative at all but like to check out the new works by Ebay artists. This discussion board is always loaded with good topics and threads full of pictures of new works!

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Favorite Ebay Search of the Week

Every once in a while I like to do a search on an area that looks really interesting but that I do not know that much about. I always find something worth buying. Below is this weeks search..

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Receiving the Ebay 2007 Community Hall of Fame Award in Boston at Ebay Live

HOW YOU CAN GET STARTED

Need Help? Want to run your idea by someone? Help building a lens? We offer inexpensive consultations to help you get started. Whether its selling on Ebay, using Ebay to source items, test marketing your product or idea or getting you started with Squidoo we can help Email MARTY/Cheryl at clhct1@aol.com