The Smallest and Most Damaging Mistakes Made by Sellers on eBay - Part 1 - Russell Darden

Most people don't come to eBay looking to start selling things. They usually come to check the site out to see what the fuss is all about. Then they see something that would like to buy. After they buy a few things, they get hooked on the idea and start learning about what it takes to sell on eBay. All of a sudden, "junk" starts to disappear from their homes, and is being replaced by money. Eventually the goal of clearing out their homes of their unwanted belongings, lead to the natural progression of staring an eBay business and making money.

eBay is a 70 billion dollar a year industry giant. So do you think that they need any help from someone like you or myself? Well the fact of the matter is that they depend on entrepreneurs, like us, to make that business figure grow. In 2005, the number of people making money from working on eBay increased by 68%. Over 724,000 million people either make a full time or a supplemental income from working eBay. Then there's another 1.5 million say that eBay gives them additional income throughout the year. That's not me coming up with these numbers... EBay, Inc., themselves offered up these figures in 2005.

But don't let those numbers scare you. If you think for a moment that you can't be a part of this huge moneymaker... you are grossly mistaken. There are many ways that you can get started working eBay for an extra income. All you have to do is to get a plan and work the plan!. Keep in mind that this can be just like a normal business instead of just a hobby. With a normal business, you would start off with a business plan. This shouldn't be any different. Treat this opportunity like a business, and you'll make money like a business. Treat it like a hobby, and you'll make money as if this were only a hobby.

I'm not going to get into the structure of how to write a business plan. All of that isn't part of what I want to talk about. I just want to give you some ideas and things to think about when you do decide to sit down and plan this venture out. There is nothing difficult or tedious about working eBay. It's just that sometimes a lot of people forget to think about the little things that keep them from making any real profits.

For instance, a lot of sellers are too lazy to do any kind of research. They rush into this with the ideas and dreams of making a lot of money real fast. They'll put a lot of auctions up and then get frustrated when their items don't sell. Then there are those that just can't seem to make any money. All they seem to be able to do is keep losing money. For example they don't realize that they have to plan and take into account eBay's and Paypal's fees. Also there are those that just put up auction listings and they make a lot of rookie mistakes. Even those that have tried selling for several months make the same mistakes. There are a lot of experienced sellers just sitting back and waiting for these kind of listings. That way they can swoop in at the last minute and buy your item for a steal. They can then turn around and resell your item CORRECTLY, and make 2-3 times more money than what they purchased it for. Your mistake is their gain!

In Part 2 of this report, I will go into some of the smallest mistakes that can cause the most damage, all because the seller didn't plan ahead.

Russell Darden has been an eBay seller and buyer since 2002. He has long been an advocate of helping new entrepreneurs get started making money online... especially on eBay. You can see more of his work at http://howdoyouebay.blogspot.com/

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