Who has experience with operating an eBay business?

Question

Who has experience with operating an eBay business?

Answer 1

Hi, I make a living from selling on ebay and have done for 2 years. From reading what you have written I would say you already seem to have the right idea and if you have already run a business then you just need to transfer you offline business online.



Selling car parts on ebay is an excellent idea especially if you have the knowledge and contacts/suppliers and have already sold parts with success then you just need to step it up a gear.



Maybe specialise in four or five popular makers (Ford/BMW), your husband will know what parts are most commonly needed/required. take a look at other ebay car part sellers feedback, see what they sell to get a feel for it and what sells. with the P&P costs you will probably sell more lights and wing mirrors than engine blocks or entire suspension systems.



Your correct in saying the basic ebay shop subscription is fine, the 'anchor' stores are a waste of money in my opinion.

Answer 2

If you are serious about making this a business then you need to seriously think about what kind of business entity you will have; is it a partnership, LLC, sole proprietorship. Once you figure that out then look to your state to register that business entity. You also need to register for a sales license in your city because you will have to collect sales tax on any sales done within your state (is different for each state, look into it). You may also need to file a DBA (Doing Business As) with your city if you are operating your business under a name other than your own. If you are going to buy items for resale then you need to register for a reseller's license so you won't have to pay double sales tax on inventory items. Set up a business bank account so you can keep your business expenses and profits seperate from your personal. I would also talk to a lawyer to get all the legalities ironed out and also would look into a CPA to make sure your accounting activities are in order. If you aren't going to enlist the help of a CPA, then make sure all of your accounting practices are sound. Make sure you keep records of everything, use quickbooks or other accounting software to make things easier on you, also make sure you have a backup of your files, both digital and physical. If you do anything wrong and are audited by the IRS, then it will come back to bite you big time. And make sure you don't spend your sales tax money! If you do then you will be puting yourself into a hurting.



Also, look into merchant account services other than paypal because Paypal is not a bank. They can, for any reason they see fit, freeze your funds and also take them away. They are a great service and offer buyers another way to make payments to you, but they are only a conduit for your money, don't start to rely on them or you might find yourself on the losing end of a frozen account dispute.



You have a lot of things to look into. Good Luck!

Answer 3

Your first stop should be eBay's Guide to Seller Services http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/services.html



eBay's Seller Central has all the resources you need to learn about the basics of selling on eBay http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/index.html



The key to a successful eBay selling is simple -- Sell products that people actually want.



If you want to earn serious money from eBay, you need to have a well-thought out business model. Selling on ebay is getting tougher -- just look at the number of auctions that closes without a bid. Go to the boards on ebay and you will hear even oldtimers complaining about how stiffer competition plus higher fees make it so much harder to sell on ebay.



One success model of ebay is the couple Jay and Marie Senese (username jayandmarie) of the 1-cent CD fame. They have the highest positive feedback number of all sellers on eBay. Their business model is to buy very low cost CDs in bulk (those that CD stores sell in their discount bins) and offer them on ebay at a starting price of 1 cent http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/04_23/b3886080.htm Their success is based on the fact that they stumbled on a sustainable business model with products that people really want.



eBay has several ways for you to determine exactly what the hot items to sell on their marketplace:



Items In Demand = the most popular items currently within that particular category. To see the In Demand page, go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/sellbycategory.html



Hot Items by Category Report = a monthly report that lists the fastest growing categories on eBay for the previous month. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html and select "Hot Items by Category" from the menu on the left.



eBay Pulse = "a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on eBay". Go to http://pulse.ebay.com/ to see eBay Pulse in action.



Merchandising Calendar = eBay promotes specific categories on its home page each month. Savvy eBayers know that this home page exposure results in more interest in such categories. Go to http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/calendar.html to view the current Merchandising Calendar.



As for items to sell, you can:



1. Buy bulk liquidation items such as those at Liquidation.com. The capitalization may be big, but the idea is to sell the items individually and profit from it.



2. Find manufacturers of items you want to sell and buy discounted items from them



3. Make deals with retailers in your area, and offer to buy their unwanted items for deep discounts. jayandmarie - the most successful ebay sellers - made deals with music stores where they will buy the entire inventory in the discounted bins, and then sold the items on ebay for 1-cent starting bid.



4. Look for possible partners on the Web, preferably outside of the US. Import items from them and sell them on ebay. There's huge profits to gain from this approach.



5. Check out deals from outlet stores. Focus on brand names, which you will find to be easier to sell.