Hello Fellow Newbie Online Business People……

It is amazing that it is a week since I last wrote. Life certainly moves fast. Before I talk about what I am doing now I want to continue explaining how I got started online so getting back to where I left off in my last post……

How I started on eBay? Like I said in my last post I had found that there was a niche market I could enter of selling spray tanning equipment and  spray tanning solution. I had prepared a package ready to sell and was ready to begin my little eBay adventure. This was @ September 2005.

The first month on eBay I read as much as I could get my hands on. I read all of the help section of eBay, the policies, the how to’s etc. The website has heaps of information on how to get started, it was easy to read and easy to understand. Although I don’t know about you but sitting at the computer all those hours made my back hurt so I tried to find actual books about eBay I could read on the couch!

I searched my local book shop and found “Ebay for Dummies” and “Starting an Ebay business for Dummies”. Both of these books are written by Marsha Collier. I found these books to be excellent and I read them back to front. I still refer to them today if I can’t find the information I am looking for on the eBay website.

The books are very basic and show step by step how to do things. How to set up your account, what to do, the information you need to give etc. They also talk about buying from sellers, what to look for and how to buy. They also talk about selling and how to be a good seller. This was the stuff I wanted to know!! They showed how to set up an auction, how to list, photographing your item, how to package you item, etc etc etc.

If you want to learn about eBay before starting on eBay and have a good funny book to read then I definitely recommend reading the above two books. They helped me so much I can’t tell you. They gave me the confidence to start my business online unlike my friends and family!!

Like most people I started by selling small items from around the home, some beauty products, perfume etc. Selling the smaller items taught me about the whole buying and selling process hands on, writing the auctions, listing the items and watching them sell.

The best experience was selling a set of egg cups for $25!! Considering they cost $4 when I bought them I was shocked and I was hooked!

The difficult thing about the whole process was the postage. Postage is determined by weight and size. I bought myself a good set of scales. I then learned the hard way that you actually have to wrap the item up and package it ready to send with bubble wrap etc before you work out the weight and costs.

Silly me weighed the Vase without being wrapped up and when I went to send it I was actually out of pocket $5 because of the dimensions of the box! The vase only sold for $10. I didn’t make any money on that sale by the time I added up the auction listing, the paypal fees and the postage but it was a very good learning lesson!

Ooops little one is awake again so must away for now. So until next time…….


Be Good To You & Believe In Your Dreams

Jacinta

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