How to be Successful on Ebay ~ My Ebay Store Bela's Boutique

I had first heard of Janelle when I took some virtual Ebay classes. She taught the classes and I believe that she was the Dean of Ebay University! Anyway, I had gotten some emails because I had taken these courses saying that "99% of Ebay Stores are set up WRONG" I started wondering if maybe MY store was set up wrong. I was doing well, but not as well as I would like to do. I was hesitant on purchasing this program because I had wasted so much money on other programs that were supposed to help me increase my sales, make me more successful, show me new wholesalers, the whole nine yards!

So I thought about it for a while. I was having a really great holiday season, so I put some money aside and decided that I was going to purchase the program and was going to try it out for SIX months, and if it didn't work then I was going to write a screaming email to Ms. Elms demanding my money back!

Well here is the thing. I noticed a difference right away. By June, I was ready to share my numbers, I was impatient about waiting for the sixth month to go by because when I compared my sales from 2007 January thru June to 2008 January thru June, my sales were up 170%! Yup that's right, ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY PERCENT!

I had also taken her newsletter class that was included with the program and when I started I had only a handful of people on my newsletter list in Ebay, in those five months over 200 people subscribed to my newsletter! It was just crazy!

Since I noticed a difference right away in my sales after implementing only a few things from the videos, I decided to also join Janelle's OSI Rockstars. I figured I would give that six months as well! Well it has been longer than six months and I wouldn't cancel my subscription for all the money in the world!

OSI Rockstars is a place where you can meet other people just like you that are on the path to being successful and they want all the knowledge that they can possibly find. I have learned so much thru the online webinars, that I can't even explain it all. You just have to go and become a member yourself!

Thru the classes on Rockstars I have learned out to search out the keywords that my customers are using, how to take advantage of all the fee changes and policy changes that Ebay throws at us and make them work for me, how to blog, use Twitter to my advantage, Squidoo, sourcing, wholesalers, and so much much more! There are great forums full of people that are happy to help with any question that you may have. There is just so much information on this site that I can't possibly explain it all!!! Click on the link and you can go and get a ten minute back stage pass to check it out for yourself!

Don't forget about the 1% Club ~ you know 99% of all Ebay Stores are set up wrong! It is a big investment but it is so worth it!! This was finally an educational video series that is put together for easy understanding, it walks you thru the steps you need to take and best of all you can play it over and over again until you get all you need to get out of it!! I am actually in the process of opening two more stores on Ebay and I am going thru these videos yet again to ensure that my new stores are set up correctly.

To find this great program just click on the banner and it will take you right too it!!!

You need to do the same thing here. EBay used to have their Market Research but that is no more, which personally I say good riddance!!! I didn't like that tool, it never seemed to work half the time and wasn't very user friendly with the information that it put out either. When I joined OSI Rockstars, I learned about this GREAT tool called Terapeak. Terapeak gives you up to 90 days worth of closed listing information. Not only do they show you the closed listings but they show you what format worked the best, Know when to sell on eBay using research
, which day the items sold for the highest price, what key words and even what time they sold!!! Terapeak is subscription based so the price you pay each month depends on what you subscribe too. They have their hot package which shows you the hot searches, (what the buyers are looking for) Hot Titles (which titles caught their eyes), and the Hot Categories (which categories the buyers are looking in). You can subscribe for just the US based EBay or you can subscribe for all their sites. It all depends on how much you want to spend.

I couldn't do without this tool. I use it every single time I am listing items, when my suppliers offer me new items, and when I am trying to figure out what other items I want to add to my store! You won't find this information anywhere else!!!

Terapeak is pretty user friendly, but if you are a Rockstar member then you would have access to their hours and hours of webinars that are presented by the specialists at Terapeak to help you take advantage of all of its features!!! Yet another great reason to become a Rockstar!!

I highly recommend this tool!! If you don't go with any other suggestion that I have made on this lens, this is the one that you definitely can't go without!!!

With my Bela's Boutique I already had suppliers in place that I have used for a couple of years now. With cosmetics and skincare the process is completely different. But when I went to open my two new stores The Happy Earth Emporium and Bela's Christian Gifts it was a totally different ball game!!

Of course I turned to my OSI Rockstars forums and webinars to figure out where to go to be able to source products with credible wholesalers and they suggested World Wide Brands.

World Wide Brands is more than just a place to find great sources, they also have great educational videos, newsletter and blogs that help to teach you about selling online. They have thousands of wholesalers listed that they have screened to ensure that they are really wholesalers and drop shippers so that you know you have a true wholesaler, not some middleman that has already raised the prices on you and may be gone tomorrow! This isn't some gimmick e-book that gives you a list of wholesale sources that you could find yourself by doing an online search. They give you complete contact details of the wholesalers, what they sell, what their specifications are and you can contact the wholesaler right thru the World Wide Brands website. You can also keep track of wholesalers you are looking at, ones that you have applied too along with stats regarding whether or not people are looking for the item you want to sell, how successful they are at selling it and who your competition is!!!

I have used this program to find great wholesalers for my two new stores. All of the wholesalers that I have worked with so far have been very professional and have gone out of their way to provide me with the information that I requested or need to be successful with them!!!

Check World Wide Brands out by clicking on the banner!!

We all know that EBay fees are probably the worst part about selling on EBay!! But I guess if you compare it to the overhead that you would pay in a brick and mortar store, then I will take the EBay fees!!! So why not let them pay YOU for directing people into your store from other places you are on the net?

This is why I love Godaddy!! I buy a ton of domains and forward them all to my store. It is very easy to do. All you have to do is type ?refid=store on the end of the url , forward the url thru Godadday and whallllllaa! You are all set up to get your referral credit!!

Godaddy isn't just for domains, you can host a website there, I have all my pictures hosted for my ebay store at Godaddy. You can also get personalized email addresses that match your domains plus a ton more things.

One thing I really like about Godaddy too is their customer service. I have called them at all hours of the night when I can't figure something out and there is always someone there to help me! I don't usually have to wait very long and they then help me step by step and are very friendly. There is a lot to be said for good customer service!!!

So if you don't have your own domain, then you need to head right over to Godaddy and get one!!! Just click on the banner! Come on, you know you wanna save that 75%!!!

Personally I use the United States Postal System the most. I find it easy and convenient to use. Since we are no longer going to be able to take money orders, cashier's checks or personal checks, Paypal is really the only way for our customers to pay. If you don't take Paypal then you are loosing a TON of customers!

Paypal is integrated with EBay so if you use their multi shipping tool it will save you a ton of time. This tool pulls in all of your paid listings into one list where all you have to do is go thru and put in how they want it shipped and what the weight is! It already has the customer's address along with your address, plus it will use the funds from your Paypal account. The only draw back is that it only lets you do domestic shipping. You have to do your international separately.

I recently bought a Dymo label Printer. I LOVE this thing! First of all it doesn't use ink at all. Big plus! Next is it prints up to 40 labels per minute!!! This is such a time saver for me!!! I buy the labels on EBay for pretty cheap too!!! This works great with the Paypal Multi Shipping tool!! The Paypal multi shipping tool also prints you out a scan sheet that the post office scans so that all your packages can be tracked!! Cool huh?

Many people are nervous about shipping internationally. I think that if you DON"T ship internationally then you are defeating the entire purpose of EBay! Where else can you reach the entire world and sell goods to them?? Your international customers can pay with Paypal, so you don't have to worry about converting currency or even speaking their language!

Of course you need to make sure that your item isn't restricted or prohibited by that country, but shipping internationally is relatively easy.

I always print any International Priority thru Paypal. That way there is a record with Paypal. Paypal doesn't allow you to print shipping for 1st Class Inernational and if you do it thru the Post Office's Click and Ship you can't offer your customers insurance. This is why I use Endicia I buy the sticky labels for my inkjet printer and it works perfectly with the program! I can also offer my international customers shipping insurance thru Endicia *TIP about international shipping ~ Make sure that when you take your international packages to the post office that they scan them in to the system so that it says that the package was accepted by the post office or else if someone says that they didn't get the package you won't have proof that you actually sent it and Paypal will always side with the customer in that instance!*

When shipping internationally never put that the item is a "Gift" on the customs form. You don't know that person and it isn't a gift. Putting that it is a gift can be considered mail fraud and is punishable by a large fine and even jail time!! Many buyers will ask you to mark it as a gift, to me it just isn't worth the risk. I also never lower the purchase price on the customs form. All of the international packages are insured so if one ended up missing then you would be out the money that it actually cost when you filed the insurance claim.

Whenever they are offering a free promotion I usually go thru to stock up on my favorite items!!! The best part about it is that it brands my store on a huge assortment of items!!! I always get the note pads, sticky pads, pens, hats, t-stirts when they are FREE. I keep them to send out to customers, give away at events in our area or just use so that others can see them!!!

I keep a huge stock of postcards, address labels, and business cards that I get for FREE. I put news of promotions and sales on the post cards, I use the address labels to hold the corners of the bubble wrap on my packages since I put my logo and little messages on them and business cards I give out to everyone!!!

I have also ordered other items such as their large size window vinyl clings! These are GREAT!! I have them on my Jeep's back windows to advertise my business, and I just bought another set to stick on the windows of my RV! I like to advertise everywhere I go!! **Tip ~ Always keep a good supply of business cards handy. I catch a lot of people looking at my window signs and when I do I run over and give them a card so they don't have to try to remember my website!! Most times I give them a few cards, just incase they want to give one to their friends!!!

I have little ways that I get my website out there, such as with the FREE pens, I like to "forget" them at the bank, the post office or even after I sign my credit card receipt at Denny's front cashier!! I figure tons of people will see my web address that way!!! I also buy the FREE business card magnets. I like to put those in my packages, or stick them on the outside of my mail box or even if I am out somewhere and there is a metal surface I might leave one there!! The possibilities are endless!!

Not one package goes out of my store without promotional items tucked inside!! When EBay first changed its policies regarding DSR's, I wanted that 20% off discount BAD! I had above 4.8 on everything but the shipping costs!! I was determined to get that one up!! So after taking the class at OSI Rockstars on the new policies, I headed over to Vista Print and made up FREE post cards with our 5 Gold Star Guarantee, FREE address labels with gold stars on them too and believe it or not but my after a month of putting this material in my packages I was getting the 20% off discount!! No kidding!!!

Check out Vista Print for all of your marketing needs!!!! If you sign up for their newsletter then you will get tons of great offers for FREE things!! I have a hard time passing up those newsletters!! I told you I am addicted!