Time for a New Challenge

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you  may know that I started eBay back in 2003 when I was downsized out of a job and was going through a divorce. I was looking for a way to pay bills and started selling household items on eBay to generate cash. Not only did eBay serve as a convenient platform to make money when I needed it most, but I have been able to help others build businesses when they fell on hard times.

Many of my 500+ clients over the years have been people who found themselves experiencing financial hardship due to job loss, having to stay home to be a caregiver for a child or parent, suffering from an illness that prevents them from working  a traditional job, or death of the breadwinner in the family. I am proud and honored to say I have been able to help many people change their lives for the better using eBay.

One reason I enjoyed ecommerce so much over the last 12 years was because it allowed me to be a stay at home parent and be available for my children. The luxury of earning a living from home has been such a blessing. My kids are grown and for the most part gone now so the mission has been accomplished. We also know that being a solo-at-home entrepreneur can be isolating. After much soul searching, I have decided I am ready for a new challenge outside of the home where I can use my skills and be part of a team.

I've done a lot with social media over the years for my own business:

Built a 20,000 member Facebook community for eBay sellers

Created a YouTube Channel with 11,000 subscribers

Built a Pinterest following of 4,000

Built a Twitter following of 11,000

And now I am ready to help other businesses build a strong social media presence. It is critical for businesses today to have a strong internet presence and connect with their audience using social media. Unfortunately, too many businesses aren't "in the know" about how to effectively use social media or they don't have the staff to nurture social media on a regular basis. I frequently see that businesses are missing opportunities to leverage the power of social media and it looks like an easy fix from my perspective.

Social Media has become the most efficient way to connect with customers, provide immediate information, and give customers a more personal experience. I feel called to this area of marketing- to share what I have learned and help other businesses build their social media brands, connect with their audience, and grow their online presence.

So, with all this being said, I am looking for a Social Media or Marketing Manager position with a company in the North Atlanta (Alpharetta, Roswell, Cumming) area - I am ready to join a team and make a difference in a new way. If anyone knows of any opportunities or businesses who can use my skills and expertise, please send me an email at suzanne@suzanneawells.com. I appreciate any contacts or suggestions you may have.

And don't worry, none of my eBay or Amazon resources are going away. Ecommerce is part of my DNA so it will always be happening on the side. It's just time to add something new to the mix!

Happy Selling,

Suzanne

eBay Sellers are Evil!

Well, according to some people.

I had an interesting conversation on Twitter this week with someone who saw one of my eBay items tweeted:

Hey, I was just doing some innocent marketing and then...

Someone tagged me and tweeted, "I personally wouldn't do that. It's taking good clothes from someone who may need it for an interview, in my opinion."

My reply, "No, it's putting money into the economy, supporting a charity and being self sufficient."

Her reply,"  I cannot agree, given the purpose of the charity, in my opinion." Then she went on with several more tweets on her on feed about the situation....

"Well I think they are more than that. But anyway, you don't need to explain your position. I'm not donating to them anymore."

"There are people who are proud of buying something nice at places like Goodwill then reselling it for multiples of what they paid for it"

"I personally have a problem with that. I think it's one of the reasons why you can't find anything but junk at Goodwill."

"And if you know people are just using Goodwill to find resellables, why would you donate your stuff that you could re-sell yourself?"

"Instead of someone who needs a nice suit for an interview being able to find one at a good price, some reseller's going to get it?"

"My days of donating my nice things to Goodwill and places like them are over! It's a shame greedy folk ruin the whole idea of these places."

I would like to make my position (and that of most online resellers) on this issue very clear, here in this blog post. This topic comes up frequently so all you sellers out there who hear it, please point people here to read this post.

1. Our business as resellers fuels the economy - it keeps money circulating, empowers people, and we provide a service of matching up cast-off things with the people who want them.

2. Goodwill is NOT in the business of offering low-priced goods to the needy. Their focus is job training and education to empower people to be as self-sufficient as possible. Their mission statement is, "Goodwill works to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by strengthening communities, eliminating barriers to opportunity, and helping people in need reach their full potential through learning and the power of work." Read it here on the Goodwill website if you want to see for yourself. This is a common misconception - that Goodwill stores exist to sell items to low-income people.

3.  Almost everything in a Goodwill store is DONATED by the general public. Goodwill purchases a few items from retailers like Target for resale. Their cost of inventory is practically nothing.

4. When resellers purchase from Goodwill (and many other charity thrift stores) we are HELPING that charity. We are putting money into their charity, that then helps provide job training and education for people who need it. I would love to know how many dollars eBay and Amazon sellers put into Goodwill Industries annually. I'm sure we would all be shocked. Goodwill wins!

5. Resellers who make money doing this business are being self-sufficient and using the resources around them wisely. I personally have helped several people get off government assistance by helping them start an eBay business including young mothers, temporarily disabled folks, and some people who just have had an unexpected life crisis and had to use government assistance. In my opinion, the eBay/Amazon resale business not only generates money for the reseller, but it takes some burden off of public assistance programs. Other resellers have improved their lives with the money generated by an at home eBay business - they have been able to leave dead-end jobs, spend time with young children, or care for an elderly parent or ill child.  eBay is the perfect business for people suffering from illnesses like Fibromyalgia, MS, Crohn's Disease, or Cancer who can't hold a "regular" job because they don't know what kind of day they might have. With eBay, these people can work when they feel up to it and still generate an income to pay their bills. By shopping at Goodwill, people have learned how to use the resources convenient and available to them to make money in all kinds of different situations. The seller wins!

6. When we buy from Goodwill for resale, eBay makes money. They get their cut and our selling platform stays in business, so we can continue to enjoy the freedom and the lifestyle eBay selling provides. eBay wins!

7. We give a lot of business to the USPS when we use the mail system to ship our orders. Again, I would love to know how many dollars annually are pumped into the USPS because of online sellers. Again, I bet it is astounding. The USPS (government) wins!

8. Customers get what they want. I can't even tell you the number of feedbacks I have received over the last 10 years from buyers expressing their appreciation, thanking me for helping them replace a broken item, providing a hard to find item, providing a unique gift for someone, or finding an item similar to one they had in their childhood that was lost or destroyed. In fact, read the comments yourself. There are over 12,000 of them. We provide a valuable service and buyers love it. The customers win!

So, this is a win-win-win-win-win situation!

We live in a world of abundance. The Goodwill stores I shop in are gigantic - maybe 5,000 items on the sales floor at a time. There is no way on earth I am taking things away from anybody - I am a cog in the wheel of enterprise that helps a charity make money and a buyer get what they want. It is unfortunate that not everyone sees it this way, and more unfortunate that people aren't educated about the mission of Goodwill Industries. And I am sorry that people think that because of us, there is nothing but "junk" in the Goodwill stores. Ironically, "junk" is exactly what I am looking for and what sells the best online. Somebody else's trash is definitely my treasure.

And frankly, I think this person on Twitter is a tad bit late to the party. She is just now realizing that people do this? This statement puzzles me, "And if you know people are just using Goodwill to find resellables, why would you donate your stuff that you could re-sell yourself?" Exactly - so, why not sell it yourself?

I would love your input on this commentary. And I think we need to stand together on this issue and educate the public that what we do is a good thing for a lot of people, not just ourselves. Please share this article on Facebook, Twitter, and in your groups and forums.

Related Articles:

Podcast - Selling Vintage Perfumes on eBay

What to Buy at Thrift Stores to Resell on eBay

Top 5 Thrifting Tips for Resellers


 

Marketing During the Summer

Summertime can be a slow time of the year. Even if sales are fewer than usual, there are things you can do to help build your business. To take advantage of the slow time, review some of the postings below. The list is a compilation of a few postings that can help you focus on marketing your business for future growth:


How To Get More Traffic to your eBay Store and Listings

Are You Using Your eBay Packaging as Advertising?

How to Use Twitter for eBay Marketing – Part 1

Drive Traffic to Your eBay Store Using Amazon Reviews

eBay Marketing Strategy – Multiple Listings for the Same Item

Tips for Selling on eBay – Huge List of Resources

Free Publicity for Your eBay Business

Free Promotion for Your eBay Products

Free Marketing: 101 Low and No Cost Ways to Grow Your Business Online

How to Use Pinterest to Market Your Business

Marketing is something that does not have instant results, usually. Taking time now may make a big different in your business as time passes.

Free Promotion for Your eBay Products

eBay and online sellers are always looking for new ways to promote their products. The internet is vast and infinite and there are unlimited opportunities for exposing your product to your target audience. Many of these strategies are free.

If you want to get the word out on the internet about your product but don’t have time to sit on Facebook and Twitter networking, try this technique - blogger outreach. Leverage the power of the blogosphere to reach your target audience.

Have you ever visited blogs with product reviews? This is an easy way to reach your target audience who is already assembled in one place, interested in what you sell, and accessible. Here is what to do.

1) Go to sites including Techorati, Blog Catalog, Google Blogsearch and Twitter and search for blogs about your niche product. Maybe your product is hunting, camping, and survival gear. You won’t want to target your competitors that sell the same types of items you do. You want to target blogs that discuss topics like camping and hunting retreats, family travel tips, adventure vacations, outdoor survival skills and tips, etc.

2) Seek highly trafficked blogs. The more visitors, the better. To see how much traffic a blog gets, look for the SiteMeter widget and click on it to view the stats. Or, look for the Feedburner widget that says how many readers the blog has. You also want to look for blogs with lots of comments on the posts, which is an indicator of the blog’s popularity with its readers.

3) Next, using email, Facebook, or Twitter, contact the owner of the blog and ask if he will do a product review. Then, send that blogger the actual product so he can use it and form her opinion and write the review. Most bloggers won't turn down a freebie.

4) The blogger doesn't have to like your product - and they may not. The blogger is going to give it an honest review. Whether they like it or not isn't the point - you will still get exposure online and have a highly trafficked site linking to your products. (A little controversy is good sometimes - it gets people talking about you and looking at your site.)

Think about how this can work for you. Large companies use this marketing technique all the time. Pharmaceutical companies use doctor's offices to promote and introduce their new products to the end user - patients. Food companies use grocery stores to set up demos of their new products to reach the consumer. You can use the blogosphere to do the same thing!

More ways to promote your eBay items for free:

How to Promote Your Business on YouTube

How to Use Yahoo Answers to Drive Traffic to eBay Listings

How to Use Facebook to Increase eBay Sales

Make 2011 Easier - Outsource It!

My goal for 2011 is to find balance. Enjoy the benefits of being an entrepreneur but also to focus on my personal life. Being an entrepreneur requires long hours, dedication, persistence, and delayed gratification. I have been working at this for 8 years now. When you feel like your business is running you, rather than you running your business, it is time to make some changes.

Now, when I say "outsource it," I don't mean give your business to someone else to run. Look at parts of your business that you can outsource or find a "helper" to do. And don't automatically assume that you can't afford it! You will be amazed at how inexpensively it is to get help. If you can free yourself up by paying someone $5 an hour to gain more time where you can use that hour to make $20 or more, the investment is worth it. By outsourcing a few things a week, you can find more time to spend doing more profitable tasks, or to accomplish personal goals or have downtime. Remember this rule:

TIME IS YOUR MOST VALUABLE RESOURCE.
YOU CANNOT GET MORE TIME,
BUT YOU CAN GET MORE PEOPLE.
Let me give you a few examples of tasks I have outsourced this year.

1. Book keeping. I am big on keeping detailed records but it is time consuming and I don't particularly like it. This year I hired an accountant to take care of my monthly Quickbooks, quarterly taxes, etc. The fee is $50 per month. This frees up at least an hour and a half a week for me. That's 6 hours a month that I can be doing what I do best - working with clients, writing, affiliate marketing, working with consignment clients, and sourcing products like books to sell on Amazon. The benefits far outweigh the cost, and this task is being done by a professional who can do it better and faster than I can.

2. Prepping and photographing items. I found someone local who has a much better camera than I do, and she is very creative. She comes over and preps my items (cleans them, irons clothes, takes stickers off, etc) and takes the pictures. There are lots of people out of work who will do this type of thing for $8 an hour or less. They think it is fun. And I can be working with clients, listing more items, or writing articles while my eBay items are magically prepared for me. 3 hours a week is a huge help to me. This allows me to get more items listed faster.

3. Inventory sourcing. I picked up a consignment client this year - a small charity thrift store. I guess you could say I outsourced "looking for inventory." This shop provides a steady stream of high dollar items that I sell for a commission. I choose what I want to work with. Most of the items sell for between $50 and $200. If you charge a 30% commission, you can make $20-$30 an hour doing this. The trick is to approach businesses, not just your friends and family. You want an ongoing relationship with businesses who depend on you for income. Click here for more information on consignment selling.

4. Article writing. I do quite a bit of writing online as a source of income. If you have a blog, write for The Examiner, do article marketing, or write for revenue share sites like Bukisa or HubPages, you can outsource some of this. You can find article writers for about a penny per word. (300 word article for $3.) You can go to the WAHM Writer's forum and place ads to find writers. For a very small investment, you can have income generating content created for you while you do other things. I may pay someone $3-$5 to write an article for me that will contain affiliate links and that article is on the internet forever and will become a passive income stream. (If you love eBay, you can get paid to write about it. Click here to find out how to write for The Examiner.)

5. Marketing. Do you use Facebook, Twitter, or other social media sites to market your eBay items or your blog? Outsource it to internet marketers. They will work for $5 an hour. Have them do things like Facebook marketing - adding friends, participating in groups, commenting on photos and posts. It is all about having an internet presence. On Twitter, they can follow your target market, post tweets, and participate in discussions. Have someone do this for you 15 minutes a day. I pay someone $6.25 a week to do social media marketing for me.

6. Shipping. I switched over to the Amazon FBA program and they handle shipping everything I sell on Amazon. This saves me about 30 minutes per day. Click here to read about how the FBA program works and how I quadrupled my profit in just 2 weeks using it. Click here for more information on how to automate and grow your business using Amazon’s FBA program.

7. Personal tasks. Think about what tasks keep you from your work. Cleaning your house? Cooking meals? Running errands? Doing laundry? Grocery shopping? Same as item #2, people are looking for work. Maybe you have a friend who is out of work that can help you out a few hours a week. You don't have to hire a stranger. My photography girl also cooks dinner for us sometimes, either at her house or mine. (And she cleans up, which I love.) If she cooks at her house, I pay her for her time and the groceries, and she brings it over. This saves me time at the most hectic time of my day as a single mom.

Think about what tasks you can outsource to make your life run more smoothly and help your business grow. You are already outsourcing things in your life now if you pay a hairdresser, an exterminator, a baby sitter, a tutor, etc. The only way you can grow your business is to add more people. Try and outsource it!

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011!

How to Promote Your eBay Trading Assistant Business

The eBay Trading Assistant program provides templates for marketing materials including flyers, business cards, and even scripts for radio commercials. Sign into your TA account and look for the Tool Kit on the left side of the page.

Print off the business cards and keep plenty of them with you at all times. You never know when an opportunity will present itself for you to hand out a business card.

Always enter restaurant giveaways - those bowls they have at the register where you can drop in your business card. Try to get it in there facing out if it is a glass container. Passersby and restaurant employees will see your card.

Post flyers on bulletin boards in high traffic areas. (Always ask before posting a flyer on a bulletin board.) See if you can post them at your gym, church, dry cleaner, Laundromat, library, grocery store, break room at work, or clubhouse. Ask your friends to place them in their break rooms at work and their church.

Promote your business using social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook.

Partner with local businesses. Talk to owners of consignment stores, thrift stores, boutiques, or retail stores and ask them if they have someone selling their merchandise on eBay. You may be able to strike up a deal where you sell their merchandise for a commission.

Also check with your dry cleaner to see what they do with unclaimed items. You may be able to work out a deal where you sell the better unclaimed items for a commission.

Give plenty of cards to connectors and explain your TA business. Connectors are people who know lots of other people and are good networkers. Examples include realtors, teachers, public officials, volunteer workers, receptionists, bank tellers, little league coaches, etc. Think of people you know who come in contact with lots of other people every day, and may see an opportunity to connect you with someone who could use your service.

eBay Newsletter Feature - It's Free!

Don't worry, you don't have to write a newsletter right away. But it is a good idea to start building the list so you can send out newsletters to a captive audience when you are ready. Your newsletter can be about anything you want including special sales (using Markdown Manager), new products, or any cross marketing such as announcing a Facebook fan page or your Twitter profile. Here is how to add the newsletter promotion box:


This is just another free marketing tool that eBay provides. You might as well use it!

Internet Income and Affiliate Marketing Report - November 2009

I earn money online doing many things besides selling on eBay, and I encourage you to do the same. Here is an update on my other internet ventures for the month of November.

eHow = $506.87
Examiner = $331.79
Clickbank = $330.16
Commission Junction = $260.63
My own eBooks = $155
Google Adsense = $130.22
Swagbucks = $62

Total: $1,776.67

1) Ehow. I finally broke the $500 mark on eHow. The key here is to do the keyword research before writing your articles. It is all about quality, not quantity. Click here to see my articles and you will notice that I only submit about 10 a month, and each takes about 15 minutes to write and submit. My earnings were $506 for about 2 and 1/2 hours worth of work in November. Click here to get started on eHow, or if you are already writing for them, how to increase your earnings.


2) The Examiner. $331 for November. Most of this is sum is from referrals. You can make $50 per referral to this site. Click here for instructions on how.


3) Clickbank, $324.84. I promote these products in a variety of ways including here on my blog, on Facebook, Twitter, on my eHow articles (in the resources section), and in my groups and forums. Click here to get a free eBook and learn how to get started on Clickbank.


4) Commission Junction, $260.63. Commission Junction pays you commissions based on leads, clicks, and sales according to what the advertisers pay. It is free to join. Click here to find out more about making money with Commission Junction.



5) My own eBooks, $155. I write them, you can too. Click here for information on how to write your own eBook to sell online. You can even add it to Amazon's Kindle and reach millions of people. Click here for the steps to get your eBook on Kindle.

6) Google Adsense, $130. This is on my blog. Get paid by Google for allowing them to place relevant ads on your blog or website. Totally passive income. Click here to learn more about Google AdSense.



6) Swagbucks. $75 in Starbucks gift cards I sold on eBay for $62 - practically zero effort. Click here to find out how to use Swagbucks.

So there you go. Just shy of $1,800 earned online, at home, from my chair and couch. Nothing to ship. No customers to worry about. Diversify and try some of these income opportunities. I am living proof that it can be done!

Do you enjoy this blog and find it helpful? Spread the word and help other sellers by sharing this post on Facebook, Twitter, Digg, StumbleUpon, or other sites. Just use the SHARE bookmarklet below.

How to Sell on Etsy – Part One

Thanks to Lisa for submitting this guest post. If you have considered selling anything homemade, give Etsy a try in addition to selling on eBay.

Etsy is a terrific venue if you sell handcrafted items or craft supplies because Etsy is limited to just those categories. You have the advantage of a very targeted audience!

The down-side – the competition is quite fierce. Exceptional photos, unique, high quality items and creative marketing are your keys to success.

Below you will find the “basics” for getting started on Etsy.

An Esty shop is free. Shop set-up is fairly straightforward and Etsy makes it even easier by walking you through the process.

Once you have set up your shop, you can begin listing items. There are no auctions on Etsy.

The cost to list an item is 20 cents. If you have multiple of the same item, the cost is 20 cents per item, not per listing. Your listing is active for 4 months.

When an item sells, Etsy’s take is 3.5% of the selling price.

Sellers can accept Paypal, checks, money orders and any other forms of payment the seller has access to.

Feedback on Etsy is similar to eBay with the only exception being that sellers can leave negative feedback for buyers.

You can market your listings several ways on Etsy. Some are free and others come at a cost. There is no seller email marketing available on Etsy which makes social networking (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) extremely important marketing tools for Etsy sellers.

Billing on Etsy is monthly. Paying your bill is an easy manual process through Paypal. Etsy does not provide automatic withdrawal for bill payment.

Part One of How to Sell on Etsy should answer most of your basic questions and help you get started (etsy.com). Stay tuned for more details on marketing your Etsy shop and exciting tips and tricks for selling success in Part Two of How to Sell on Etsy.


Click here to visit Lisa's Etsy shop.

If you would like to submit a guest post, follow these guidelines and send it to me at ebaycoach@yahoo.com.

Limit your post to 300 words.
Topic must address selling online, eBay, or other helpful eCommerce tip.
Include a link to your website, blog, eBay store, Etsy store, etc.

Happy Selling!

Are You Using Your eBay Packaging as Advertising?

I received this question from a reader:

“I have a question I am trying to get my stuff known on bonzanzle.com due to all the changes that eBay is making. I realize we can't advertise on their site but just wondering if it is ok to send cards to out customers and maybe on our packages we ship out write www. bonanzle.com, do you think this is ok to do?”

Absolutely! Once you sell to a customer on eBay, they become YOUR customer. Many, many sellers use eBay for harvesting new customers and diverting customers to their own website outside of eBay. For some, that is the only reason they are on eBay, they don't even make a profit - they simply harvest customers that will make them money in the future. (Click here for a recent article about diverting your eBay customers to your own website.)

You can use your packaging as an advertising vehicle for your eBay store, your own website, or for your store on another site such as Amazon, Etsy, or Bonanzle. Write your website or store address on boxes, poly mailers, etc. Tape a business card with clear tape to the back of the box or package. Include a business card or flyer insie the box as well. Look at the packaging you receive from businesses (such as the Amazon box in the photo). Don’t they put their website address on their packages? Think about how many pairs of eyes will see a package mailed thru USPS: The mail carrier, sorting clerks, delivery personnel, and others. Each of these people is a potential customer.

You can be marketing to all kinds of people involved in processing, delivering, and even just seeing your package as it makes its way to the final customer.

Here are some examples:

Customers who have eBay orders delivered to their work address. It also has to be handled through their internal mail system. If you have ever worked in a mail room, you know that mail processors look at the packages. “Hmmm, wonder what this is.” Trust me, people are nosey.

Customers who live in apartment buildings, condos, dorms, or other multi-family housing. Other people will see the package or have to pass it on to the final customer.

International customers. Mail personnel processing and delivering mail in other countries will see your web address and might check out your site.

And while we are on the subject of marketing, click here to download a FREE excerpt of how to use Twitter for marketing. More and more eBay sellers are using Twitter to promote their items and their stores.

Related Articles:

Should eBay Sellers Also Have Their Own Website

How to Get Free Business Cards for Your Small Business

How to Capture the eBay Segment of the Online Consumer Market

Happy Selling!