My EBay Experience as a Seller and a EBay Teacher

At this point, eBay is a phenomenon of our generation, and I am not going to introduce eBay to you. However, I will try to explain why eBay became a phenomenon.

It is simpler than you think of, because:

the Founders of eBay from the start had a couple of excellent ideas.

the hard work of the eBay team.

the hard work of the eBay community: sellers, buyers.

First Idea:
eBay facilitates a direct conversation between Sellers and Buyers, eliminating the middlemen. eBay does not position itself as a middleman between Sellers and Buyers. eBay is nothing more than an online application which facilitates the direct conversation between people who have something to sell and people who need a specific item and are willing to buy it! You will pay a fee for eBay services, but eBay will never interfere between Sellers and Buyers decisions. We are humans; and in a case of a wrong doing, a third company will analyze the case and come up with a conclusion.
eBay used to treat Sellers and Buyers equally (at list the founders did). Now there is a slight tendency to favor the buyers, which I personally don't like. I think eBay will only continue to be prosperous with Happy Sellers and Happy Buyers.

Second Idea:
The Founders have created a powerful element of trust, much needed in the on-line environment. This is the feedback system. The feedback you have is your reputation, and it is very effective and necessary. I used to tell my eBay students, do not sell your grandmother jewelry until you have a minimum of 100 positive feedbacks.

Third Idea:
The eBay Application was created with specific rules that we have to follow. Some people might consider the rules too restrictive, others argue that rules mean discipline and principles; there is nothing wrong with them. The years 2007 and 2008 will remain in history as the years of changes on the eBay Market. Now eBay has the tendency to be more flexible and we will see soon if this is a good or bad idea.

Fourth Idea:
eBay is a Company that listens to its base of Sellers and Buyers (for me, this is a sign of respect for the base). It looks trivial but it is not. 90% of the changes/enhancements eBay implemented over the years were done because they listened to our concerns, needs, and ideas. eBay filtered them with an open mind and made things happen. I worked for many years as Programmer, System Analyst, and IT Consultant. I worked for a lot of Companies, and if I have to make a list of most receptive Companies, eBay will be on the top of my list.

All these ideas plus the hard work of the eBay Community have made eBay what it is today, a revolutionary new way to buy and sell, the World's On-Line Marketplace.

My success on eBay is based on the creation of multiple streams if income.
The first idea of diversification of your portfolio is to have the following 3 levels of business:
- eBay live Auctions.
- an eBay Store.
- an on-line Store outside of eBay.
and having them all run at the same time.

1) eBay live Auctions are the beginning and you can start doing them without prerequisites or qualifications.
Running live Auctions on eBay:

will make you overcome the learning curve of the auction business.

will help you discover which niche is working for you, if any.

will allow you to collect feedback, at some point you will be confident and in a position to be recognized and wanted and the buyers will come back to you and generate more business for you.

will allow you to learn the limitations using just live Auctions.

2) Create an eBay Store. If you run eBay Auctions you already know that some items are selling, some are not. You cannot re-list unsold items forever because it will cost you too much on eBay fees.
The general wisdom is you list an item only 2 times, if you cannot sell it then you put the item in your eBay Store and you keep the item in the Store 30 days or until you cancel it.

In order to have an eBay Store you must:

have an eBay seller Account with your credit card placed on file.

have a Feedback score of at least 20, or be ID Verified.

have a PayPal account in good standing.

You also must pay a monthly fee for your eBay Store. I advise you to choose the smallest configuration for the beginning, you can upgrade later if you need to.

3) An online Store on the Internet, independent of eBay is necessary when you are doing well with live Auctions and your eBay Store, you need to expand your business with an online Store, for the following reasons:

Probably you already discovered a profitable niche that is working for you and want to establish yourself as an expert in that niche

You want high volume sales

You now can go with higher prices because you have the necessary recognition

As you can see there is no contradiction between these 3 levels of business, actually they complement each other, and they will be your first step towards a successful business.

As an Education Specialist trained by eBay, I teach 3 eBay courses:

The basics of selling on eBay

Beyond the Basics: Techniques for the serious sellers

eBay Store

When I am teaching, I am doing open lessons. This means the students can interrupt me with questions anytime. This is my way to overcome the diversity of student's level, making time for their questions; I cover their needs as much as I can. But I know that a lot of questions will come when they will begin to practice. Initially I said, just call or email me when you have a question. I end up responding 5-7 time the same question. Must be a better way, and I found my way. I have designed and Website and a Blog for my students and in this way we continue the communication when is needed long after the lesson is gone. Needless to say, I love to teach and help people to achieve success.