If you have read any of my previous posts, you know that I love selling on eBay and online, and I sell a lot. But if I'm honest, I don't consider this a serious job.
Well, my 3 year old daughter has been in preschool part time and next week she starts every day. So that's 4 hours, Monday through Friday, that I need to get serious. Especially since this is practically the holiday season, the best time of year for big sales!
If you're like me, I have a hard time setting daily goals for myself. But I know that without this, eBay and other online selling is a mere hobby for me. And my family can't really afford for me to spend 20 hours a week on a hobby if you know what I mean...
So this is my promise, my commitment to my family and myself. I'm putting it in writing for anyone to see. This makes it real. At the beginning of each week I will set goals on how much and what I will sell. This will be a serious supplemental income to my family's budget and I will make a legitimate and steady part time salary.
If you are reading this and you are a mom who finds herself in a similar situation, I hope you will become a follower of my blog and join me on my serious journey selling online!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
"How do you know what to sell???" - Part 1
My husband read my blog today for the first time and really liked it. I was so glad to hear his approval and when I thanked him, he told me he had posted it to his Facebook page. A little apprehensive that now his potential 500+ friends will be scanning my entries, I decided to write about a topic that could be beneficial to the masses. I put the title of this post in quotes, because this is the question that I am CONSTANTLY asked, by friends, family and other curious folks, "How do you know what to sell?"
Well, I could write days and days on the details of "how" and exactly "what" to sell. Although I hope to not be too long winded, I have decided to break up this topic into different parts. How many parts there will be, I can't say for sure, but at least a few. There are a variety of avenues you could take to break into the business of eBay and or selling online in general. First you need to ask yourself some questions:
1. Why do I want to sell things online? (clear clutter out of my house; make some extra spending $$; work from home with a sustainable income; start a legitimate business and make big bucks!)
-So depending on your answer to the above question, your path could follow any direction. But for the sake of this being hypothetical, I'm going to sort of combine the first two examples (if you are really serious and have the ability to start a business, email me at kimmy8251@aol.com and we can talk, though I recommend starting small to see if it works for you).
2. Now that I know what I expect from my online selling adventure, where do I start?
-Well first there are all the semantics - IMO the boring stuff - but you need to deal with the details up front in order to ultimately get paid. I can't go over each step in this post, but if you are familiar with the Internet, go to eBay.com and sign up for a user ID. You will need to provide your credit card and all personal info, but don't be afraid. As long as you are aware of each step, you'll be safe - I've been doing this for 8 years and never had a problem. Don't worry too much about what you will call yourself. Your name can be changed in the future. Once you have an eBay account, you will need a PayPal account - this is how you will get your payments. Again, go to Paypal.com and click on the link to sign up for a personal account. There will be prompts to walk you through the process. Paypal transaction fees have gone up over the years, but I still think Paypal is one of the greatest tools out there - I could be sleeping and get paid; I can be out to dinner in a restaurant, playing with my daughter, on vacation or even in another country and $$$ will just appear in my account!! And now paypal sends alerts right to my Iphone so when I get money, a sound happens and a box pops up on the front of my screen! I also have a paypal debit card so I can immediately use those funds - totally amazing - again IMO - I know there are Paypal haters out there...
I'm going to end here for part 1 of "How do you know what to sell???" Part 2 will follow and include how to determine specifically what products you want to sell. In future parts, I'll share about photography including uploading and editing photos; how to write product titles and descriptions, packing and shipping; and customer service. Please DO NOT be intimidated! If you want to learn right and take a lot of the guessing out of this process, there are quite a few steps to follow, but believe me it will be worth it! I hope those of you interested in online selling will become an official "follower" of my blog so you can get email notifications when I've posted a new message.
Regardless of whether you aspire to be either a large or small seller, I am so excited for you! The Internet is a wonderful platform to make $$ and who knows, maybe you'll even change your career!
PS - check out my eBay store to see the variety of products I sell and feel free to make a purchase!
Well, I could write days and days on the details of "how" and exactly "what" to sell. Although I hope to not be too long winded, I have decided to break up this topic into different parts. How many parts there will be, I can't say for sure, but at least a few. There are a variety of avenues you could take to break into the business of eBay and or selling online in general. First you need to ask yourself some questions:
1. Why do I want to sell things online? (clear clutter out of my house; make some extra spending $$; work from home with a sustainable income; start a legitimate business and make big bucks!)
-So depending on your answer to the above question, your path could follow any direction. But for the sake of this being hypothetical, I'm going to sort of combine the first two examples (if you are really serious and have the ability to start a business, email me at kimmy8251@aol.com and we can talk, though I recommend starting small to see if it works for you).
2. Now that I know what I expect from my online selling adventure, where do I start?
-Well first there are all the semantics - IMO the boring stuff - but you need to deal with the details up front in order to ultimately get paid. I can't go over each step in this post, but if you are familiar with the Internet, go to eBay.com and sign up for a user ID. You will need to provide your credit card and all personal info, but don't be afraid. As long as you are aware of each step, you'll be safe - I've been doing this for 8 years and never had a problem. Don't worry too much about what you will call yourself. Your name can be changed in the future. Once you have an eBay account, you will need a PayPal account - this is how you will get your payments. Again, go to Paypal.com and click on the link to sign up for a personal account. There will be prompts to walk you through the process. Paypal transaction fees have gone up over the years, but I still think Paypal is one of the greatest tools out there - I could be sleeping and get paid; I can be out to dinner in a restaurant, playing with my daughter, on vacation or even in another country and $$$ will just appear in my account!! And now paypal sends alerts right to my Iphone so when I get money, a sound happens and a box pops up on the front of my screen! I also have a paypal debit card so I can immediately use those funds - totally amazing - again IMO - I know there are Paypal haters out there...
I'm going to end here for part 1 of "How do you know what to sell???" Part 2 will follow and include how to determine specifically what products you want to sell. In future parts, I'll share about photography including uploading and editing photos; how to write product titles and descriptions, packing and shipping; and customer service. Please DO NOT be intimidated! If you want to learn right and take a lot of the guessing out of this process, there are quite a few steps to follow, but believe me it will be worth it! I hope those of you interested in online selling will become an official "follower" of my blog so you can get email notifications when I've posted a new message.
Regardless of whether you aspire to be either a large or small seller, I am so excited for you! The Internet is a wonderful platform to make $$ and who knows, maybe you'll even change your career!
PS - check out my eBay store to see the variety of products I sell and feel free to make a purchase!
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Monday, February 28, 2011
Dirt can be your best friend!
It's hard to believe that we are well into 2011 - most New Year's resolutions have bit the dust and tax day is looming. I did not make any resolutions - I rarely do. But one thing I can take into this new year is an excellent lesson, though you've heard it before - "things are not always what they seem."
A couple weeks ago I was driving along a busy local road. I had just come from browsing a new vintage shop and getting my car washed. As I was headed home, my eyes wandered to a piece of land at the side of the road, that is well known to frequently have "free" items out on a makeshift table. I saw quite a bit of glassware and thought, I better just take a look. I turned my car around and pulled into the slush and mud filled area, not really happy since I had just got my car washed!
There were several glasses on the plank of wood and I proceeded to look up one type on my Iphone which I found out to be not worth my time of bringing home, cleaning and eventually selling. There was another group of light blue glasses there and I figured I couldn't sit at the side of the road and look up everything so I decided to take the set of 5. They were water goblets, covered in old dirt and sported a floral like pattern. I figured, if they were from the dollar store, I could just throw them away, since they were free and I didn't really invest anything - except I needed another car wash!
So... I get home and clean them up. They really are gorgeous! They are a beautiful light blue with pretty details. I took photos and posted on an eBay message board, asking people familiar in glassware if they knew who made them and what pattern it was. I find out they are the Mayfair pattern by Anchor Hocking and made only in the 1930's AND Mayfair is one of the most popular depression glass patterns today AND the light blue color is very hard to find AND they are selling for $250 EACH on replacements.com!!! Holy cow, it's like I just won the lottery!
To shorten this long story, I sold all 5 to one buyer within 3 days on eBay. I sold four of them for $180 EACH and one (because of a small chip) for $100. A total of $820 is not bad for half a day's work!
My tip to anyone reading and the lesson I learned - I ultimately picked up these glasses BECAUSE of the dirt. Now it just wasn't any dirt, it was OLD dirt. Like the kind that has been there awhile. So, when you are out treasure hunting, consider everything and don't be too quick to turn your nose up at something. AND don't be afraid to get a little muddy! (I seem to talk a lot about dirt, but hey, it's part of the job!)
For your knowledge bank, here are some pictures of my best sale yet!
Become an OFFICIAL FOLLOWER of our blog and receive a 15% off coupon in our eBay store!
A couple weeks ago I was driving along a busy local road. I had just come from browsing a new vintage shop and getting my car washed. As I was headed home, my eyes wandered to a piece of land at the side of the road, that is well known to frequently have "free" items out on a makeshift table. I saw quite a bit of glassware and thought, I better just take a look. I turned my car around and pulled into the slush and mud filled area, not really happy since I had just got my car washed!
There were several glasses on the plank of wood and I proceeded to look up one type on my Iphone which I found out to be not worth my time of bringing home, cleaning and eventually selling. There was another group of light blue glasses there and I figured I couldn't sit at the side of the road and look up everything so I decided to take the set of 5. They were water goblets, covered in old dirt and sported a floral like pattern. I figured, if they were from the dollar store, I could just throw them away, since they were free and I didn't really invest anything - except I needed another car wash!
So... I get home and clean them up. They really are gorgeous! They are a beautiful light blue with pretty details. I took photos and posted on an eBay message board, asking people familiar in glassware if they knew who made them and what pattern it was. I find out they are the Mayfair pattern by Anchor Hocking and made only in the 1930's AND Mayfair is one of the most popular depression glass patterns today AND the light blue color is very hard to find AND they are selling for $250 EACH on replacements.com!!! Holy cow, it's like I just won the lottery!
To shorten this long story, I sold all 5 to one buyer within 3 days on eBay. I sold four of them for $180 EACH and one (because of a small chip) for $100. A total of $820 is not bad for half a day's work!
My tip to anyone reading and the lesson I learned - I ultimately picked up these glasses BECAUSE of the dirt. Now it just wasn't any dirt, it was OLD dirt. Like the kind that has been there awhile. So, when you are out treasure hunting, consider everything and don't be too quick to turn your nose up at something. AND don't be afraid to get a little muddy! (I seem to talk a lot about dirt, but hey, it's part of the job!)
For your knowledge bank, here are some pictures of my best sale yet!
Become an OFFICIAL FOLLOWER of our blog and receive a 15% off coupon in our eBay store!
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