One of the benefits of Internet is that you can use it to make money. Today, it is more easier to earn money than before using the power of Internet and related technologies. Thanks for these kind of inventions, more and more people now are making money even though they don’t have experience.
There are many ways on how to earn from the Internet. You could make a blog or website, sell stuffs, do affiliate marketing, freelancing and many more. My first venture in making money online is through selling stuffs in eBay, one of the Internet’s giant company. Way back in 2006, I’m looking for ways on to earn extra income as well as to start my own business without leaving my current employment.
At the beginning of that year, I tried to apply for an account so I could start selling stuffs that I think have potential to be bought by people. I remembered that on those time I sold many card readers, optical mouse for computers and memory cards for digital cameras.My strategy at that time is just buy and sell. I look for the cheap products in the Internet or computer stores and then I will buy it. After buying the potential products, I will sell it in eBay by bidding or the feature of “Buy it Now.” Applying for an eBay account is easy because you don’t need to have a credit card but sometimes it requires you to sign-up for PayPal.
How eBay Works?
eBay is an Internet company that allows it users to sell or buy any kind of stuffs that follows its terms and conditions. Before a user can sell or buy things, he should have first an account which he will use for transaction. Without an account, a person cannot buy and sell from eBay.
In general, it uses the style of bidding not really direct selling the item unless a customer wants to buy immediately the item he likes. The process is like an auction. The seller will set the starting bid price and the duration of bidding for the product before he list the item in public bidding. He may also set a “Buy it Now” price for the item but it will be a higher price than the starting bid price.
When a buyer wants the item, he will place his bid by logging in first to his account. If another person wants that item, he should bid a higher price than the previous one to get the item but he is not guaranteed that he will get the product since other people might bid higher. Once the bidding period ended, the highest bidder will get the item.
How to Get Payments from Your Customers?
There are many ways on how you can get the payment from your customers. Some of the method of payments that you can use are bank deposit, PayPal, GCash, Smart Money, Money transfer via Western Union, Pera Padala and others. When I was selling in eBay five years ago, I accepted payments through bank deposit, GCash and money transfer.
How About the Shipping of Products?
As a seller, you should receive first the payment before you send the product to the buyer that’s why trust is very important here. Your customer doesn’t know you since you are new seller with zero feedback so be trustworthy always. Be reminded that don’t agree to your buyer to send first the product before payment because there are many liars out there. It is better for both of you to send the payment first and afterwards the item.
The most common delivery company I used before are Air21, LBC and JRS Express. Now, there are other options you can choose such as Xend. You can include or exclude the delivery fee in the price of your product and you should indicate it in the terms and conditions so the buyer will know the total amount that he/she needs to pay. After sending the item, you could send the tracking number to the buyer by text message so he will know that it is on-going delivery. You could also do meet ups if your time and availability permits and the location of your customer is within your area.
How to Make Money from eBay?
Like what I said earlier, you can use eBay to earn money from the Internet by selling stuffs that has potential to be bought by customers. The common products sold in eBay are digital cameras, computer and its accessories, cellphones, laptops, tablets, books, appliances, services and other electronic products. However , you could also sell other items that you think customers would buy.
1. Create an Account
First of all, as a seller, you must create your eBay account. This is the first step since you cannot do nothing unless you setup your account first. Then, you can change your account settings, your contacts and other information about yourself and your business. Applying for an account is not complicated and it is like creating a Facebook account or a GMail account. You only need to have a valid email so you can receive any emails, notifications or announcements from eBay. After completing the process, you must remember your user ID and password so you can log in to any PC at anytime you want.
2. Research for Products that you will sell
Creating an account is easy but one of the hardest part in selling in eBay is choosing the product that you will sell. A product can be one that you made or manufactured or you bought from some one with a lower price than in most of the stores. Choose a product that most people are looking for and want to buy. This may include mobile phones, computers and accessories, laptops, digital cameras and its accessories, books, appliances, services like tutoring and many more. You should study and research the item you want to sell by visiting eBay and looking what most people are searching about and purchasing often..
3. Enlist your Products
Once you have the product you gonna sell, you should now advertise it for selling. You should write a detailed description of the product or service you want to offer for potential customers. Normally, seller should include a good title, detailed description of the item, terms and conditions, shipping details, payment method and other important information about the product and you as a seller. You could copy and edit the terms and conditions of other sellers provided it is applicable to you and your products.
4. Promote your Products
Similar to any other businesses, you should also do marketing and promotion of your products through Facebook, blogs, emails or any other means to tell other people about your selling. One way of promoting your items is attaching good photos of your product. If you have your own camera, you can take photos of it so you can choose which one looks better.
5. Make your Customers satisfied
As a new seller, it is very difficult to get your first customer because you still don’t have any feedback or ratings since you don’t have any transaction yet with customers. In, eBay, trust is very important especially for the seller because it is a sign that you are not bogus and the product you sell are really true.
How can you be trusted by customers? The simple answer is through the feedback that your previous customers said to you. If you sell quality products and your selling ethics are good, customers will be always happy and satisfied with your service and they will leave a positive feedback on you. Take note that you can also leave feedback to your customer so you can explain and defend yourself from bad customers. Anyhow, your goal is to sell your products to your satisfied customers and I’m sure they will give you a positive rating.
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