taking a course on eBay in April

[alainn]

I'm taking a course on eBay and the internet in April.

Planning on developing an eBay business and selling on Amazon too.

I wanted to know if this could be a fastlane business?

Is there a way to spin an eBay or amazon business to make it fastlane?

Any ideas?

I thought of automating the whole thing.

 

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[DeletedUser394]

Ebay Introduces a New Fee Structure | iMark Interactive

Honestly, the market is oversaturated. I can buy books for .01c + shipping. Having said that, of course you can make it fastlane if you sell enough or fill a need.

 

[Flatlander]

I think fastlane would mean that you don't sell on eBay but that you ARE eBay or perhaps that you are just using it as one more sales outlet for a product you own.

Also keep in mind that eBay's fees are astronomical but here again, if you were thinking fastlane, people would be paying the fees to you, not the other way around.

Truly I don't want to discourage you but really eBay sucks now, I just can't imagine doing it for anything more than extra spending money. eBay peaked for a lot of people back in 2001 or so and it has been one big steaming pile ever since.

 

[alainn]

Even though its not fastlane, I was always interested in starting an automated eBay business. Although its not fastlane, it is a way to generate some passive income that will help fund fastlane ideas

 

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[cobwab]

Don't waste your money. It violates the commandment of entry. See Fastlane 31, page 220.

 

[LightHouse]

Why not start selling yourself? That is how i started, never got into selling on amazon and ebay. I would rather control as much as I can.

 

[petethepeddler]

I have to agree with everyone else. Its not Fastlane. However, please don't discount the business experience gained from selling stuff on ebay. I know quite a few of the members here, including myself, have sold stuff on ebay to at least raise money for our other business endeavors. I prefer to think of ebay as a learning platform and a product testing field.

 

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[Nicola]

I am curious - what is this course going to teach you that you can't find out for yourself?

 

[NHS]

I have to agree with everyone else. Its not Fastlane. However, please don't discount the business experience gained from selling stuff on ebay. I know quite a few of the members here, including myself, have sold stuff on ebay to at least raise money for our other business endeavors. I prefer to think of ebay as a learning platform and a product testing field.

This is exactly how I use Ebay and Amazon. It funds my other projects.

End of the month an extra 5k to use however I want sure is handy.

 

[LightHouse]

This is exactly how I use Ebay and Amazon. It funds my other projects.

End of the month an extra 5k to use however I want sure is handy.

How much would it be if you were setting better prices, had control of up/cross sales, paid no fees, and controled the conversion rate yourself?

I know what you are getting at but you could be missing out on double that $5k. Ory ucould also be making $5k more than you would elsewhere i suposse.

 

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[andviv]

Well, it sounds like you are already set on taking the course... go ahead and take it.

I assume you are following that path cause you don't feel very tech-savvy, or not enough as to get started by yourself.

Go, learn a lot, take notes, but more important.... DO IT after the training. I've been to too many training sessions where I see people just attending and never implementing anything of what they have learned. Heck, I used to be like that. In this particular case, be ready and willing to invest some money to list the products, and you should be learning a lot.

Based on my experience, you could get started with eBay by simply following their instructions and reading their help material. Have you done that?

Another benefit of the training is that you may get to know interesting people.

lighthouse, I think the benefit that most people see with eBay is that you don't haveto drive traffic to your site, they are already bringing buyers. Others will double or triple their profit by owning the whole site and controlling the e-commerce experience, but that requires more technical knowledge, and it seems this is not the case for the original poster... maybe she/he needs to take this step first and then move on to the next level.

Again, I recommend starting by reading the eBay help material, that would help me determine if I should attend the training or if I can do it on my own.

Good luck and, if you end up going, please let us know how it goes.

 

[andviv]

ah, and I forgot to answer the question about automation... I know of some software available to automate your ebay store. You can do a lot of automation, based on what I read, but I have not done it myself, so I can't speak from first hand experience.

Do a search for terms like: "ebay store templates" and "ebay store software"

That should give you a good starting point to a lot of info in regards to automation and customization of your ebay store.

 

[max momo]

go for it

Hello, I disagree with the above posters and suggest you go for and fully embrace the ebay experience. At a minimum, you will learn valuable lessons about:
- Retail sales
- Returns, packaging, international shipping, insurance
- Customer service
- Inventory control
- Pricing, marketing, and sales
- Product purchasing
- Market conditions and trends

At the worst, you will find out your product is oversold/overpriced/market saturated and/or you find out you hate retail sales and end up quitting the idea. You will be out the cost of inventory and imputed time – but you won’t have all the sunk costs as if you actually opened a brick and mortar store that failed.

An even better ebay experience will allow you to build up a customer base and divert eyes and sales to your own online site/store where you can sell with better margins and control.

At least that is what worked for us.
Good luck…

 

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[NHS]

How much would it be if you were setting better prices, had control of up/cross sales, paid no fees, and controled the conversion rate yourself?

I know what you are getting at but you could be missing out on double that $5k. Ory ucould also be making $5k more than you would elsewhere i suposse.

I wrote this whole long answer and quite frankly gave out way to much information about my online stores. The answer is, It depends on the products, time and effort. I put almost no effort into my amazon store, they do al the work and I get $500 a month doing nothing. Could I make more money? Sure, but I would have to do days of work instead of an hour.

 

[valuegiver]

Also it violates the commandment of control. I was a PowerSeller in eBay before. I left after they started to implement crazy charges.

Don't waste your money. It violates the commandment of entry. See Fastlane 31, page 220.

 

[NHS]

We kinda went off in an odd direction.

The main thing that should be said is, you don't need to take a class on Ebay. It's very easy and takes minutes to do a listing.



Last this I will say on Ebay. Certain items are going to sell well on Ebay. For instance one thing I do very well on is Flow Blue plates that are over 100 years old. Not something I can pickup at the local store. Not something you will ever have huge competition with. There are people that go to Ebay specifically to find Flow Blue items. These are the people I target. I have 20-30 items that I look for like this. I put them up, they normally sell within a week and I have money to go get new product. Not to mention I also enjoy it.

If on the other hand you are trying to sell Ipods on ebay you will never make money. To many people selling the same item. Unless it's a niche item that is hard to get you will never make money on Ebay.

 

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