My Incredible Transformation Into an Enthusiastic eBayer

 My Incredible Transformation Into an Enthusiastic eBayer

At the same time that I was making a comfortable livelihood in law offices—not a lot, but enough to cover my expenses—John had found the main donation center for Goodwill Industries in Los Angeles and was buying six-foot containers of books for $30 each. Booksellers would buy signed copies of John's books—or those he was particularly interested in or knew well—from him. At one point, he made $900 off of a script that had the signatures of a producer and multiple actors. The bookshelves held hundreds of volumes, and he had amassed an enormous collection in a short amount of time, outgrowing his cramped Los Angeles flat. So he gave me a call and threatened to toss them in the trash unless I would take them away, offering to give them to me in exchange. This was the first of several vanloads that I would take after seeing a lot of books that piqued my curiosity; I paid $50 for all twenty cartons. Even though I hadn't sold any books online yet, I realized that some of these must have been valued on eBay, and John wasn't very tech-savvy. I would just collect the boxes and give John $50 every vanload, which is around seven cents per book, and he quickly began receiving three vanloads per week. This was a very healthy profit margin, especially when you consider that some of the books had sold for more than $40. This is how I amassed a library of about 10,000 volumes.



I quickly made back my first $600 investment and then some when I started selling them online. However, I was drawn to this business since it allowed me to provide concise storyline summaries of the books I was selling. Writing this plot outline was far more enjoyable for me as a writer than the repetitive, mechanical process of posting the eBay auction. However, I did derive considerable thrill from tracking the amount of hits and discovering famous authors and genres. I quickly discovered that even the most overproduced and despised categories, like romance novels, could be sold in bulk. I possessed more copies of Danielle Steel's books than any other author. Collectors and resellers would buy them in bulk. Even while I loved writing them, I quickly realized that the time I spent on them was eating into my goal of being a successful eBay bookseller. I also realized that most buyers had a good idea of what they were getting into when they bought books, so writing plot summaries became a luxury rather than a necessity. Reading the summaries quickly allowed me to channel my creative talents elsewhere. Not only did I gain a wealth of knowledge, but I also discovered which books would sell well on their own and which ones required group sales. Just to sell the books I had previously collected would need several thousand hours of work, since I had 10,000 books and could only post four to five ads every hour. As a result, I refrained from researching other items, books, etc. Basically, relocating 10,000 volumes became an arduous and time-consuming ordeal.



I choose to make use of a program that let me calculate the average selling price and percentage of an author's books that had sold on eBay in the past six weeks. I was able to aggregate the remaining books without trying to sell them individually and generate a more precise percentage projection with the help of the software. A lot more books could be moved because of this. Conditions were also crucial, and I soon discovered that there can be a difference between my idea of "good" and another person's. The issue never came back once I implemented a categorical condition description taken straight from a book about book collecting. Most people who weren't serious collectors were actually learning something from my eBay ads; specifically, they were learning the value of condition in book collecting. Charities received any items that were not in what was considered "good reading condition" or better. In general, I was able to sell most other books.



I have only ever dealt with one eBay customer complaint, and it was from a father who let his son buy a book from the site. This was my fifteenth transaction; the kid hadn't checked the ad's genre, so he bought what he assumed was a DVD. He emailed me after submitting his complaint. Even though it was only a few dollars, I was fully prepared to give him his money back. I begged the father to retract his critical assessment, but he disregarded my emails and continued to be unresponsive. This was quite discouraging for someone just starting out, since it reduced my percentage to less than 95% favorable. I signed up with Square Trade, an organization that helps buyers and sellers resolve their differences so that the seller can only get good reviews. I have 544 sales and only 1 complaint so far, giving me a rating of 99.8 percent, which should inspire a lot of trust in prospective customers. I expect to use the stellar reputation I've built up selling books on eBay to launch myself into higher-ticket sales.



In addition, they gave me a wonderful library with more than two thousand volumes on topics like music, diet, sports, the environment, psychology, and legal thrillers, all of which I love. Someone on a writer's website had said that it's important to know your genre, so I figured it was time to study up on legal thrillers. I have a lot of spectacular anecdotes, some involving prominent figures, from my years of experience in law offices.



Coincidentally, my kid has made over 560 sales, which has contributed to his musical growth and covered some of his living costs. His passion and stellar reputation lead him to sell concert tickets on eBay.



Even though selling these books was fascinating at first, I eventually wanted to utilize it as a means to escape the legal profession. I calculated a weekly take-home of around $600. For a few months, I searched for ways to streamline my procedure and boost my hourly capabilities. This was a fun hobby, but I knew it couldn't turn into a profitable business unless I changed my approach. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't go past $10 per hour. Since books are unique (unless you have thousands of the identical books), selling books is different from selling manufactured commodities that can be "relisted" on eBay in roughly one minute. Instead, it takes ten to fifteen minutes to write an ad for a book. I set out to find eBay millionaires and mimic their strategies as I knew there must be some way to make a killing on the site.



I had done some market research on how to maximize the profit from my book sales on eBay. It dawned on me that I needed fresh wares—not just books, but whatever I could sell with a guarantee of $40–$50 in profit. I would consider that a good day's work if I could sell ten. I found Tim Knox's website after doing a lot of research. In addition to being a Power Seller on eBay, Tim Knox contributes to Entrepreneur Magazine with his e-commerce columns. Also, he had launched a number of other companies and, according to his website, had made about $1 million in the previous two years. For individuals like myself, his website has thousands of products and the most comprehensive internet marketing approach I've ever seen for dropshipping (having the manufacturer or wholesaler send the product directly to the consumer). We both believe that providing excellent customer service is crucial to the success of an eBay business. I need his expertise in internet marketing to take my business to the next level, but he has approached it with far more seriousness than I have. His website offers a wealth of knowledge to help anyone make money on eBay. It offers tips and tricks for boosting existing profit centers or creating new ones, and it's useful for eBayers of all skill levels.



With one of his products, he posed the following question: "How would you get back on top in less than 30 days if you lost it all tomorrow and had to start over with nothing but your brain and the experience of your years?" The results were 58 of the Internet's top money makers who were surveyed. This question, which has been asked of numerous successful internet marketers, provides incredible insight for anyone looking to replicate their success.

Also, he brought up the fact that 60 Minutes and similar programs have highlighted regular individuals who aren't particularly well-off or educated but are making a killing on eBay. Here are a few examples and statistics that he uses:

With only a computer, a camera, and some products to sell, Laurie Liss and her mother Darlene started an eBay business that currently sells $30–$40,000 worth of goods per month;

• A mother of three, 43 years old, makes $2,000 weekly on eBay;

• Nearly 69 million people use eBay every day, spending $59 million;

• Thousands of people around the country are ditching 9 to 5s to focus only on eBay sales;

• The vast majority of eBay vendors are one-person operations selling just about anything you can think of;

• In a single minute, seven new eBay shoppers sign up, over 500 products are listed, and over 500 bids are placed;

• There are almost 18,000 distinct categories on eBay, and at any one time there are 12 million auctions;

Every day, the site adds almost two million new products for sale, and 62 million registered users search for them;

To start their own enterprises selling on their own website or on online auction sites like eBay, up to 150,000 people have quit their jobs.

In contrast to the "dot-com crash," eBay's growth has been consistent and unabated. You may get a head start on making money online with the help of Tim Knox's advice at www.freeearningtips.com. Visit www.addtoincome.com for a more comprehensive presentation of his past and products. This dude is obviously not just dabbling; he's a serious expert. You should really consider adding this man's knowledge to your own eBay expertise, no matter how much or little you already know.

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