Do you know
how many people in US are earning their livelihood with
the help of eBay? According to a new survey conducted
on July 2005 by ACNielsen, a leading research firm,
an astounding 724 thousand Americans respond that they
rely on eBay for their main or supplemental income.
Apart from these professional sellers, another 1.5 million
people confirmed that they generate additional income
by selling goods on eBay. Last year alone, around 150
million registered users have sold over US$ 34 billion
worth of goods on eBay. Isn't it amazing?
Why entrepreneurs
are flocking into eBay? Some of the reasons are quite
apparent.
Starting a business
on eBay is easy and quick
You don't require large investment
Anybody can start an eBay business, no special skill
is required
You can sell virtually anything on eBay
With your eBay business you can have flexible work time
You have a ready-made market of over 150 million people
and counting
eBay get 1.5 billion page views each month. You get
access to this massive traffic almost paying nothing.
So, there is no
wonder that anybody with slightest penchant to have
their own business will jump into this great opportunity.
But, there are two major problems that many of the would-be
eBay sellers encounter. The first is what to sell and
the next is where to find it.
What to sell?
According to Forrester
Research, a major research company, this year, categories
with products purchased by women will have the most
growth in online retailing. Some categories are already
getting more than ten percent of their overall sales
through the Internet, which include: computer hardware
and software, tickets, travel, books, consumer electronics,
cosmetics and fragrances, toys and video games, and
flowers, cards and gifts. While choosing items to sell
on eBay, you should also explore the features available
on eBay and other places on the Internet that show items
people search and items people actually buy.
eBay has a complete
section called Seller Central dedicated
to delivering utmost information to help you succeed
in selling products through eBay. Two links from this
section should interest you. One is What's Hot (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html)
and the other one is Category Tips (http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/sellbycategory.html).
When you go to
the subsection What's Hot , check out the following
three areas:
Hot Items by
Category
This is a comprehensive
report of categories, and products within a category
by the ratio of bid to listings growth rate in PDF format.
The report gets updated monthly and shows which products
have increased demand in comparison to last month. Super
hot products, for example, have over 35 percentage point
difference between bid growth rate and listing growth
rate. According to the latest report, by the way, Sunglasses
for men, in particular Prada sunglasses are super hot.
eBay Pulse
This is another
area where you can see the top ten searched categories,
ten most widely watched auctions, list of stores with
most active listings, and other cool stuffs on daily
basis.
eBay Summer
Catalog
This is a new
subsection. It s a real catalog with pictures and average
price of products. In each category of products there
is a list of top ten summer trends. You, definitely,
should check this out if you are planning to start selling
now.
In Demand
On the page
Category Tips under each category you will see
a link under the name In Demand . This area will
show you a list of ten most sold items of this category
as well as most searched items for each subcategory.
You might also
like to see what people buy on non-eBay part of the
Internet. The Shopping.com Consumer Demand Index (CDI)
(http://www.shopping.com/CDI/cdi.cmp)
makes a weekly list of most sought after items. This
list could give you the needed glimpse to the future
market trend!
Where to find
items to sell on eBay
Your own home
If you are just
planning to start selling on eBay, your first option
is to go through your attic, closets and garage. Find
those long stashed items that you will probably never
need. These may include: books that you will perhaps
never read, CDs that you out grew, gifts that you received
but did not like much, the list can go on! Take them
out, brush them off and post them on eBay for sell.
Flea markets
and garage sales
Every body knows
that garage sales and flea markets can be real treasure
troves! Well, now you can look at them from a business
point of view. Your sales experience with own home items,
hopefully, will help you understand what will sell well
and what won't. Don't go for any costly items as yet.
Local liquidators
and auctions
Classified sections
of local Newspapers week-end editions are good
place to look for estate auctions. While buying items
from local auctions determine what are you going to
buy and for what price beforehand and stick to them
no matter what! At an auction there is always a risk
of getting carried away!
Go visit some
local business liquidators. These are excellent places
to find items for bargain price. Drop shippers (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/39)
When a manufacturer,
wholesaler, distributor or importer, after receiving
an order from their retailers, individually pack and
deliver the product to the customer of the retailer
with retailers address as shipper, this selling technique
is called drop-shipping. This is an excellent way to
find products to sell on eBay. Drop ship source directory
(http://www.worldwidebrands.com/wwb/?8188)
is the place to go if you are looking for drop-shippers.
eBay
eBay itself can
be a great sourcing place for you. Check out wholesale
items and eBay business marketplace from your chosen
fields. In order to find wholesale listing, while searching
a product select Items listed as lots . You can
buy goods in wholesale and then sell them piece by piece
and make decent money. Of course, you have to develop
good knowledge of the products before doing this.
If your business
has grown and you are considering importing products
to sell on eBay, read my article Importing Products
to sell on eBay (http://ezine.rusbiz.com/article/52).
The bottom line
is there was never a better time to start a business.
If you feel this is really your cup of tea, just go
for it!
By:
Hamoon Arbabi
Source: http://homebusiness.nexuswebs.net/ |
