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How To Profit Using eBays Saved Search Feature
Sep 25th
Did you know that eBay will help you locate products you can buy cheap’ then flip for a quick profit? No? Then listen up’ because I am about to let you in on a little known feature of eBay that can literally stuff wads of cash in your wallet in less than 24 hours.
This is an eBay tool that I use every day to locate products that I can buy and resell or buy cheap and keep for myself and my family. And the great news is you can use it’ too.
What is it? It’s eBay’s Saved Search feature and you can use it to start making money tomorrow.The Saved Search feature that will let you set up a saved search criteria and eBay will let you know when an auction that matches your search criteria has been posted.
Let’s say you’re on the lookout for a Pete Rose card to complete your collection. You could troll eBay every day on your own and to see if anyone has listed such a card or you can set up a saved search and make your life a lot easier.
Here’s how it works….
Got to eBay.com and sign into your account. If you do not have an eBay account all you need to do is set up a free buyer’s account.
After you’re logged in’ type in your search criteria into a search window. For this example we will type in Pete Rose. Click submit and you will get a page of search results that match your search criteria.
At the top right of the search results listing you will see a link labeled “Add To Favorites.” Click the link.
On the next page you will see “Create a new search” or “Replace an existing search.”
If this is a new search select the “Create a new search” button’ give this search a name (the search term you used will be in the Search Name box by default’ in this case “Pete Rose”).
You can select to receive a daily email if there are new items listed that match your search criteria.
Click “Save Search.”
Now you will receive an email every morning with new items that have been listed that match your saved search criteria.
If the search term Pete Rose is too broad you will receive notifications for every auction that has the term “Pete Rose” in the title or description. You can always narrow the saved search by adding “Pete Rose Card” or something more specific. Just don’t get too specific or you may miss items that you’d be interested in.
How can you use the saved feature to make money on eBay?
Easy’ you set a saved search to let you know when something has been listed for sale that you might buy and sell for a higher profit. For example that Pete Rose card might have been listed by someone who is willing to sell it cheap or doesn’t know its real value. You could buy the card’ make them happy’ then sell it for a higher price yourself. This is how commerce works’ folks. You buy cheap’ you sell high.
Let’s look at another example. Let’s say you have an eBay shop that sells designer shoes. Naturally you would want to know when someone else lists designer shoes for sale because they may be a competitor you need to monitor or just an individual who has a closet full of designer shoes to sell cheap.
You set up a saved search with the keyword “designer shoes.”
Each time an auction is posted with the term “designer shoes” in the title or description’ eBay will let you know.
You can immediately check out the auction and if the shoes can be scarfed up and sold for a higher profit’ you made money.
I think you would be amazed at how many Powersellers are using this secret TODAY to find merchandise they can buy and flip on eBay.
You should do the same.
Here’s to your success!
Tim Knox
If you’d like to learn about other ways you can profit with eBay please visit this link: http://www.dropshipwholesale.net/powerseller-toolkit.php
Small Business Q&A is written by veteran entrepreneur and syndicated columnist’ Tim Knox. Tim serves as the president and CEO of three successful technology companies and is the founder of DropshipWholesale.net’ an online organization dedicated to the success of online and eBay entrepreneurs.
Related Links:
http://www.prosperityandprofits.com
http://www.smallbusinessqa.com
Professional eBay Auctions Reap the Profits for Sellers
Jul 22nd
eBay offer an unbelievable amount of traffic for ANYONE wanting to sell on their auction site’ so much so that millions of items are listed on it everyday. So with all this competition how do you make sure that your listing doesn’t get lost amongst the rest and that customers keep coming back to you.
The answer is simple…. Professional Listings!
This covers all aspects of the transaction from the listing itself’ how the customer is interacted with to how the item is packed and shipped. If you ignore any stage of the process then you are going to force your customers to go elsewhere. Your are offering a service to the customer’ if they get bad service then they will go elsewhere and remember there are millions of items for sale on eBay so the customer doesn’t even have to try hard to go elsewhere.
Remember’ Professional Listings will give you the edge over the rest and also the highest selling price and profit.
Split your auction process into the following stages and follow the below guidelines:
The listing itself has to be:
Correctly written’ You have to grab the attention of the reader and hold it and a poorly written listing will do nothing but FORCE the customer onto the next listing available. Use your knowledge of the item and use the key words and phrases that will ‘push the buttons’ of the customer’ if you were buying the item what would sell it to you? Look at other sellers listings and determine selling strengths and listing opportunities and develop on them’ these are the people you want to stand out from after all. Above all use proper English (or your native language)’ do not use text speak and shortened ‘phrases’ and also capitalise properly as a listing completely in capitals is an instant invite to close the listing down.
Correctly formatted’ eBay provide the following auction sections as standard’ use them correctly and effectively to maximise your listing potential and ‘kerb appeal’.
Remember first impressions count!
Auction Title
This is the FIRST thing that your customers will see. Make it short’ sharp’ to the point and most of all DO NOT include silly characters and smiley faces in it as all that does is make you think that the auction seller is ‘just a kid’…NOT A VERY PROFESSIONAL IMAGE FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS TO HAVE.
The default search on eBay only scans the title so you need all your keywords in there’ so don’t waste the space on rubbish.
Auction Description
This is your opportunity to fully describe the item and as such needs to be as complete as is possible’ the more information the customer has the more they know what they are buying and the more likely they are to form a professional image of you as a seller. i.e.. this seller gives a true indication of the item and doesn’t try to hide anything. Always include the strengths and weaknesses (faults) of the item as these are both SELLING POINTS. Strengths are obvious but weaknesses as a selling point’ surely not! The more accurate the description the more the customer can trust you and will develop a professional image of you and more importantly keep coming back to your eBay auctions.
Think about what you are writing’ does it fully describe what you are trying to? Words like ‘great condition’ and ‘like new’ are not good enough because different people interpret these in different ways so be specific and add extra detail to ensure that there are no crossed wires.
This information has to be correctly presented to the customer’ the majority of eBay listings as simply just typed out in the editor ebay provides’ which is perfectly acceptable but your listing will just appear in boring black and white. Remember the idea is to make your listing stand out and look professional and the simplest way to do this is to use HTML to format’ add tables and images in order to liven up the listing’ this is very simple to achieve and I offer some FREE to use templates here. Using templates will also help to develop a business identity for your auctions so that the customer can instantly recognise you
Within your listing also take the opportunity to cross promote your other auctions’ it is free publicity which will encourage the customer to take a look and will generate greater sales opportunities from singular listings. Its as simple as adding a link to your other auctions on the listing page itself.
Include Pictures
Simply remember :
A PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS
All professional web sites use images and so should you’ for a review of the importance of pictures go to the eBay picture guide.
Always give payment and shipping details
Would you buy something without knowing the full cost ?
No’ neither will your customers. A truly professional listing will always detail shipping charges up front. Again use the principle of the more information you give the better.
Mike – webmaster at Online Auction Traders Resource
Visit ebay templates to use for FREE to develop your online business.
eBay – The Basics
Mar 4th
I began selling on eBay in 1999 and have found it to be an enjoyable and profitable experience. I had owned a retail computer store for a few years and decided to close it. I still had a lot of computer inventory and soon discovered eBay was a good resource for selling the parts.
This turned into an ideal situation as selling this way became a home-based business and the overhead was very low. This was a plus to my income opportunity. A spare bedroom in the basement soon became my eBay selling room.
As time passed’ more people began selling computer parts and the margins were getting thin. I needed to come up with a new idea that would keep my profit margins at an acceptable level. Instead of selling the computer parts’ I would compile a list of my resources and then sell the list as a wholesale resource. The computer wholesale list became an overnight success on eBay. The list has cost me nothing except time’ and I was able to sell the list several hundred times. I compiled the list in Excel and also in a text file. Another option was to have it burned to a CD and then mailed to the customer. I charged an extra fee for the CD’ and sold quite a few that way too.
After selling the wholesale list for a few months’ eBay changed the rules and would no longer allow cross-posting the same item’ and also limited the number of times the same item could be listed at the same time. This change caused sales to drop’ and I eventually stopped selling the list.
I still had the eBay bug’ and was looking for other (http://www.auctionmanger.biz) eBay resources to sell. I started going to garage sales and looking for unique and inexpensive items. This was also another successful resource and lasted for about a year until more people started realizing this technique’ and it was getting more difficult to find the bargains.
The next resource I started using was going to auctions and putting the items I purchased on eBay. So far’ this has been another good resource and one that I still use. My best buys are when I can buy a quantity of an item for a very low price.
One example was several boxes of HO scale train cars’ engines and accessories. There were over 300 items and I ended up paying $150. That came out to 50 cents for each item. There was a lot of work photographing and writing a description for each item. The worked paid off as each item sold anywhere from $3.00 to $12.00 each’ making a very nice profit margin.
Selling on eBay is still a resource for additional income’ and I am always on the lookout for the next big sale.
James Hendrix has been putting people in business on the Internet since 1996. He has experience with web hosting’ development’ marketing and search engine optimization.
How to Generate Extra Cash in an Instant
Dec 1st
With so many out of work’ laid off or staying in dead end jobs to make the ends meet’ we need creative ways of generating extra income. Here are a few simple’ innovative ideas to get the cash you need quickly.
1) Your personal gold mine’ can be staring you right in the face. Many of us save momentos for years for nostalgia or for that one time that we might need them. That time never seems to come though. Why not allow someone else to enjoy them as much as you have. These nick nacks may seem inconsequential or even like junk to you and may seem like buried treasure to some one else.
Go through your closets. Clear off your bookshelves. Unload those dresser drawers and create streams of income. Turn that old typewriter into a writer’s dream and earn extra pocket money. Take that nineteen fifties dress out of the closet and make a retro chick happy’ while filling your bank account.
With the invention of online auctions’ like ebay and ubid’ you can turn trash to cash. Or you can go to flea markets and offer your treasure up to vendors for half the profits. Books can be redeemed for a partial profit through sites like half.com or even amazon.com.
Once you have emptied your own closets’ you can scour the malls for sales and resell those items online. Or better yet find a deal on one online auction and resell it on another. The only lmitation lies within your own imagination.
2) Have a brilliant idea or hobby? Turn it into an ebook. Write it using word or wordperfect and convert it into a pdf file using adobe 5.0. Then sell it on digibuy.com for 80% of the profits over and over again!
3) Recently sell your home through owner financing? If you are holding a note’ there are companies that will purchase it from you for upfront cash. You may have to take a bit of a discount and you will have a large portion of your cash today instead of thirty years from now.
4) Won a lawsuit and recieving payments? You can do the same thing. Companies will actually pay you a large portion of what you won for the right to your payments. It’s like taking the lump sum in a lottery winning!
5) Don’t have a business of your own and need extra cash? There are plenty of affiliate programs out there that would be delighted to give you a percentage of their profits’ for the privalege of having you market their products. Choose programs that you have personally used’ so you can attest to the quality. Also choose programs that are at least two tiered. This means that you get paid wether you make a sale or someone you referred to the program makes a sale. Just one good referal can bring you a steady stream of montly income.
About The Author
Caterina Christakos is a published author and independent investor. For more information on how to turn notes’ annuities and settlements into fast cash go to: http://www.webpagedesignerforrealestate.com/cash_for_notes.html;
Successful Living: 9 Universal Laws
Nov 4th
1. The Law of Balance
I got an email from a wise friend the other day who had this to say’
"Whenever I am out of balance in one area of my life’ I usually end up binging’ (going to excess) in some other area of my life."
Even sunshine burns if you get too much.
2. The Law of Competition
There are many times when competition is an extremely healthy thing. There are other times’ however’ when it can get in our way. Because there will always be people who we do better than and there will always be people who do better than us’ the danger is to feel either arrogant or inferior’ neither of which is a very useful emotion.
One answer is to be in competition with your self. This simply means to commit to doing better and better in each day. As Colonel Potter said to Hawkeye on an episode of M*A*S*H’ "The only person you need to do better than is your self’ and that’s a big enough challenge."
3. The Law of QTIP
Here’s an instant stress buster & perspective changer from professional speaker Tim O’Brien:
"Quit Taking It Personally."
4. The Law of Perspective
Author Richard Back said’ "Perspective: use it or lose it."
Losing perspective is one of the quickest ways to lose your way in life. On the other hand’ using your perspective’ even seeing a different perspective is a most effective tool.
5. The Law of Stress
Believe it or not’ we all need a little stress in our lives. Too little’ and there is no motivation for change. Too much’ and we begin to shut down and get overwhelmed. It’s important to know your optimal level of stress and then do all the necessary things to keep your stress in balance.
6. The Law of Passion
The happiest people I know are those that are passionate about something in their lives. Even happier people get to earn their living pursuing their passion. What’s your passion? How could it support you?
7. The Law of Freud
I’ve never been a big fan of Freud. At the same time’ he did have this usefeul thing to say:
"To be happy’ we all need some one to love’ something to do’ and something to hope for."
8. The Law of Hope
Never’ ever’ never give up hope. Hope for the future’ in and of itself’ keeps us moving in the right direction.
9. The Law of 10’000
One of my favorite change stories is called "The Room of 10’000 Monsters." In this room’ all your worst fears’ anxieties and nightmares are played out in front of you as if they were real. You walk in and close the door behind you. There is no handle on the inside of the door. The only door with a handle is across the room. If you can walk across the room and reach the door’ you will reach Nirvana. (Not the rock group’ but happiness and contentment.) You have to go by yourself’ with only two pieces of advice. The first is no matter what you see’ hear or feel’ remember that it’s not real’ it’s just taken from your own imagination. That’s good advice’ but if your biggest fear is of heights and you see your self on the edge of a 20 story building’ you’re not likely to get anywhere. The second piece of advice is that no matter what you see’ hear’ or feel’ keep your feet moving’ and you will get to the other side.
The moral of the story: keep your feet moving
Visit SecretsofGreatRelationships.com for tips and tools for creating and growing a great relationship. You can also subscribe to our f*r*e*e 10 day e-program on how to enrich your relationship today’ from relationship coach and expert Jeff Herring.
How To Know You Are Living Your Dream
Oct 30th
How To Prove To Yourself That You Are Going After Your Big Dream.
I have a personal story to share with you that happened not that long ago.
But first.
Realize this once and for all. You have a Big Dream. In fact’ Bruce Wilkinson’ author of the hugely successful book’ "The Dream Giver’" demonstrates that God has given each one of us a dream to go after. The problem is that few of us take the time to understand what our Big Dream is. And even fewer of us take the necessary action on our Big Dream.
Life is Unfulfilling If You Don’t Really Go For It!
How sad! How tragic! Think about it. In my experience’ I have seen few people really go after their Big Dream.
Instead’ I see people’ including friends’ hiding themselves from their dream. They live a life of comfort. They get up each morning and follow the same routines’ same behavior patterns’ same thought processes without really realizing that this life of auto-pilot is really a chain preventing them from truly experiencing life. And many of them create a faade to hide themselves from the pain such as "living for the weekend" mentality.
Life is Too Short To Play It Safe!
When I left my job as a Vice Principal I went through some psychological discomfort. All of a sudden I realized that I no longer had a steady pay check coming in. And neither did Fiona’ my wife’ as she had left her job as an Occupational Therapist.
I had been so busy replacing my income and Fiona’s income in record time-127 days-I did not have time to reflect on this until I took my kids to school for their first day of school last year.
It Was a Beautiful September Day?
In Canada’ kids go back to school the day after Labor Day and as soon as we walked onto the playground my kids were gone as quickly as my friends and I used to run when we went pool hopping in the middle of hot summer nights and we saw lights come on in the backyard (That’s another story!). As my kids were re-aquainting themselves with their friends’ I talked with some of the parents who had walked their kids to school.
You Should Have See The Looks On Their Faces When I Told Them This!
Then a few teachers came up to me. They were puzzled and asked me why I was not at school. They couldn’t believe when I told them that not only had I left my job’ but also Fiona had too.
Wow’ I thought as the bell rang and I watched the children line and enter the school. This was the first time in 14 years that I was not going back to my job.
And Then I experienced "It" For The First Time?
If you have recently left your job to go for your Big Dream’ you will understand exactly what I am saying. What I experienced for the first time in my life was the fact that I now really had to show up each day with my game face on. I had to participate actively in the adventure. Sitting on the sidelines was not an option.
Was I excited. You bet! Was I scared? No question!
And Herein Lies The Key To Growth.
You must acknowledge your emotions. I never really acknowledged the emotions that were associated with living my dream until I turned my back on my children’s school that day and began walking home.
This Is How You Know You Are Really Living Your Big Dream?
There are two emotions that you must experience’ which will prove that you are really going for your Big Dream. What are they?
Let’s put it this way. When my clients decide to go for it’ I always help them acknowledge these two emotions. I ask them the following: "Are you excited?" and "Are you scared?"
If you are really going for it in life’ you will be able to answer a definitive "yes" to both of these questions.
Why should you be excited? Because you are about to tap into the new paradigm of possibilities as opposed to limitations. The "I can" mentality and not the infamous "I can’t" self talk. And that is really exciting. Really’ really exciting!
Why should you be scared? Because you are now preparing yourself for competition. And who is your foe? Just look in the mirror and see your worthwhile opponent. You are now about to go into battle with yourself. You are now going to have to develop a new belief system’ new attitudes and new behaviors that will ensure your success. And you will have to create this’ despite years of prior conditioning.
Change makes us uncomfortable. That’s why most people never really get into the game’ because it forces us to get dirty. It takes training’ discipline’ consistency to make our Big Dream happen.
And Realize This Once And For All?
Your business will only grow to the extent that you do.
So looking outward begins with looking inward. In and out. Life is like that. You look outward and see the possibilities. You look inward and feel the fear. In school you learned that a force is a push or a pull. Both are mutually exclusive. And life is just like that. It is about equilibrium. Excitement and fear. Both must be present at anytime to know you are really living your dream. If one is absent you are out of balance.
Life is about balance. And never is this more accurate then when you decide to really go for it in life!
Glenn Dietzel is founder and President of Awakened’ LLC. Glenn provides keynotes’ seminars’ bookcamps(TM)’ and is known as an international speaker. In addition’ he consults entrepreneurs and business owners on how to create a digital product’ building an online business that consistently produces multiple streams of income. For information about Awakened’ LLC or Glenn Dietzel please email glenn@AwakenTheAuthorWithin.com or call # 519-542-3043.
What You Habitually Think Becomes Attracted to You
Oct 25th
Are you frustrated with a certain area of your life? Want to make a change? You can change it as soon as you decide to change it.
You might say’ “It can’t be that simple.” It really is that simple.
We must understand that what we ponder and think about sets the course for our lives’ because what we ponder and think about gets magnified and becomes attracted to us. It’s “cause and effect.”
Many people will curse the effect’ but continue to nourish the cause. The problem isn’t that they’re a victim’ but the culprit.
Most of our current circumstances were birthed from our thoughts’ and at any time we choose’ we can change it all. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today.
If the idea of having to change yourself makes you uncomfortable’ you can remain as you are’ but then you would have no right to complain.
Make a decision right now. Change that area of your life you want to change. How? Start by making a list of the things you habitually say about your undesirable circumstance. Get help from someone who knows you well. Ask him or her what negative things you say regularly. And be open minded! Don’t get mad at them for telling you the truth. I will promise you that you are saying things you don’t realize you’re saying!
Once you have your list of verbal garbage’ make another list that contains positive’ faith filled sentences that are directly opposite. Don’t worry about whether these new sentences are true or not. It makes no difference. Your subconscious mind does not distinguish true from false. It only accepts the information you give it.
Now what you want to do is burn this new programming into your mind. Read and confess it everyday. Remember’ what we ponder and think about sets the course for our lives’ because what we ponder and think about gets magnified and becomes attracted to us.
Cause and effect says’ “Think repetitive thoughts’ reap their physical manifestations.”
Again’ if you’re frustrated with a certain area of your life and you want to make a change’ you can change it as soon as you decide to change it. You must start by changing your thoughts and what you say about it.
Copyright 2005 Daniel N Brown
Daniel N. Brown is an entrepreneur and teacher of biblical success principles. Get your FREE report’ “How to Receive from God” when you sign up for your FREE weekly newsletter. http://www.SecretPlaceOnline.com
Dont Take It Personally
Oct 20th
Many of you already know that I’ve been divorced for 5 years now (Martinis for Everyone!)’ but I learned more than a few valuable lessons in those 5 years that I’m going to share with you.
When my ex-husband first left’ I was almost literally drowning in thoughts of "What’s wrong with me?" I lay awake nights thinking of how I could have been different’ and what I could have changed about myself to make the outcome different.
Until one day’ a bolt of lightning struck me. I was at home’ day after day’ hour after hour’ minute after minute’ caring for 3 children while my husband was at work socializing with other adults’ male and female. Treating himself to dinner out with "clients" after work’ most often to meals of sushi and dishes like teriyaki chicken’ while the children and I feasted on Kraft Dinner. I thought at that time’ that being completely wrapped up in who I was as a mother’ probably made me a little neglectful of who I was as a woman. I mean’ who has time for make-up when you’re running to and from ballet classes and piano lessons’ along with being literally showered with whatever the baby decided that he didn’t want to eat for dinner? Make up? What the hell’s that?
My bolt of lightning was this; I was (and am) the mother of 3 children. I did my job with regard to caring for those children’ making sure that they had food on the table’ and clean clothes to wear. If that job required that I look like a dish-rag part of the time’ he would just have to deal with it. His way of "dealing with it" included ‘play time’ with people outside of the relationship that he had with myself and our children’ and that was his decision. There’s nothing that I could do about his decision. I could though’ start making some decisions of my own.
I first decided that divorce was mandatory here. I went through the various stages. After which time’ I realized that this divorce thing could be whatever I chose to make it. It could be my chance to grovel endlessly in self-pity’ and beg him to come back. But I didn’t want him back. Once he left’ it felt as though a huge brick had been lifted from my chest. I could breathe again. My household was much more relaxed. Why on earth would I want him back?
I realized then’ that this was actually my chance to make my life what I wanted it to be. I accepted that I couldn’t control his actions. I could though’ control exactly how I reacted to what he did. I realized that what he did wasn’t about me. Yes’ it very definitely affected me’ and our children’ but I had to learn how not to take it personally. What he did’ he did for his own selfish reasons’ and there’s nothing that I could have done to change the outcome. There was absolutely nothing wrong with me.
And that’s the lesson for today. Learn not to take the behavior of others’ personally. You cannot control the actions of others. You can control how you react to the actions of others.
Martinis for Everyone!
Debbie Burgin
Debbie Burgin is a divorced mother of 3′ and owner of two businesses’ http://www.warnerdigitalmedia.com‘ and http://www.debbieburgin.com‘ who believes that life actually gets better after divorce. “You have to make the decision that a better life is what you want. This is your chance to start over.” Read more about getting through the divorce process at http://www.debbieburgin.blogspot.com