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Do it Today - Stop putting it off

Yes, I'm talking to you.

We all have something we are putting off, avoiding or just afraid to get started with. Well, today is the day. Just jump in and do it.

This week I went to the keys to do some eBay consulting (nice gig huh? Couldn't ask for a better location!) and the main issue this client had was that she was just so afraid to get started. She had tons of stuff to sell, knowledge of her products, experience in customer service, experience in selling and time to devote to eBay. Sounds like a recipe for success right?

I definitely think so.

Her problem was that she was afraid. Of what, I have no idea. The unknown maybe, fear of failure, wanting everything to be perfect? Who knows. The point is, we all have something holding us back. Many times it is something that we have created for the purpose of keeping us from reaching our goals.

I find myself never having the time to do everything that I want to do, or plan to do. But then, when I look back on my day I realize that I am creating other things that I do instead of whatever it is "I just never have enough time" to get done. Maybe it is a difficult to photograph item, calling a client that I just don't feel up to working with, explaining that a customs duty is not a shipping charge for the thousandth time.. the list goes on. The fact of the matter is that if I really put my mind to it, I COULD get it all done.

Me, that is my issue... what is yours?

On the trip back home I was listening to archived eBay radio episodes on podcast and there was a woman who kept calling in asking questions and every time Griff would ask her to tell what she had listed she said she "wasn't ready yet" but then talked about how she had been preparing to sell on eBay for months.

You can't sell it if you don't get it listed.... do it today!

Establishing yourself as an eBay expert

One thing I've discovered lately since I've become an Education Specialist I have gotten a ton more consignment business. At first I thought that it was because of that "new title" but now that I think more about it, I don't think that is it. I think it is that I have been networking and really trying to let people know about what I do. And why wouldn't I?

I AM an eBay expert, I AM a professional. The only problem is that prior to me getting out there and handing out business cards, no one in my area knew it. These days it seams that everyone 'does eBay', but not everyone has spent the time and energy to really become an expert. Well, I have. I just hadn't told people about it before now.

It is so exciting. Sometimes I have to laugh at myself because I feel like I have become such an eBay cheerleader. But I can't help it. I really am excited about eBay and excited about making money. The more I make, the more excited I get!

I've finally gotten around to printing up some business cards that actually reflect what I do. I've always had them for my website and eBay store, just never one for ME. The new cards present me and my services rather than the products I sell. I figure that the people I see locally have a better chance at becoming a client than a customer, so I needed to re-align my local focus.

and it is working!

eBay feature - Best Offer - pros and cons

I absolutely love the best offer feature for so many reasons, however, right now I am downright irritated by it. It seems like recently I've been getting so many crazy low-ball offers that I'm frustrated by the whole thing.

Ok, emotions aside, here are reasons that I LOVE the best offer option:

• gives you (as a seller) an opportunity to see what people may think is a reasonable price to pay for your items
• Allows you a chance to take the money even if it is less than you had originally planned
• discourages buyers from trying to get you to make a deal outside of eBay that may put you at risk
• Allows you to still make the sale if it just so happens your competition is only slightly cheaper. (example: Buyer sends the offer to you because you have higher feedback when in the old days they would have just gone with the competition)

Now, here are my thoughts on why I dislike it:

• low ball offers. Waste my time and hurt my feelings
• doesn't allow for "immediate payment required"

So, as you can see, the pros out-weigh the cons, so I use it in just about every listing. I don't require immediate payment anyway so really, for me, the only con is an emotional one and this is business so I can't let it get to me.

Just sometimes it is insulting to have an item up at auction and someone puts in a offer for 10% of what you have it listed at. That is 10% of the price, folks, not 10% off.... just 10%!!! I think I'm going to try that in the "real" world one day. Go into a shop in the mall, pick up a dress with a $100 price tag, take it to the counter and in as serious and sincere manner as possible say "I'll give you $10 for it, what do you think?"

or maybe a car lot... that is a place where there is lots of wheeling and dealing going on. Sticker price $30,000.00 and I sit down with the lot manager and try to offer him three grand.

Think it would work?

NO!

Why would people think it would work on eBay?

Irritating. I guess it is a result of so many people selling their stuff for a loss or the other bad eBayers who trump up their descriptions to make their garbage sound like a diamond. I hate that people have that perception of eBay.

Sorry for the rant. Just needed an outlet!

But, eBay does have a simple solution to my problem. Use the auto-decline option. Unfortunately, I just haven't set it up yet. So, let me go now and do that!

I make Pretend Money, sometimes it feels like Virtual money doesn't exist

My husband, who is not an eBay person whatsoever, jokes about my money being pretend money. He sees the big boxes come in from the manufacturers, he sees the small packages going out and my spending hours on the computer. He never sees a paycheck, or any cash. No wonder he thinks my money is pretend! Ya gotta love the virtual world. I pay the manufacturers with my PayPal debit card, my customers pay me with PayPal then I transfer the money into my bank account. I use the bank's website to pay the bills. My mom used to lecture me about how dirty money is, these days I rarely see it! The real challenge is how to teach my kid about money when we don't ever put our hands on it anymore.

Have you seen the cover of the Current issue of Entrepreneur magazine?

The other day I was out scoping out locations for my eBay classes to be held and I had a couple minutes to kill so I decided to peruse the aisles at Walgreens. I know, exciting life I lead!
So, I'm on the magazine aisle and in bright lime green and huge font I see "EBAY: the FAST & EASY WAY to SUCCESS"
and yes, it was in all caps just like that. So, of course, instant reaction is to snatch it off the shelf and check it out. It is the regular Entrepreneur magazine, not the "eBay edition" the REGULAR one!
Ok, so right off the bat I had mixed emotions about this. I flip flopped back and forth about whether this was a good thing, or a bad thing. Ok, here are some of my thoughts:

• oh crap, now everyone is going to think what I do is 'EASY' and that I don't really have to work hard for my money
• Great, now there will be a rush for people wanting to learn eBay and therefore they will want to take my classes
• oh crap, I'll have classes full of people expecting to make loads of cash without actually working
• Great, eBay on the mind of anyone walking past the newsstands, this helps later when they sit down to the computer, the more people on eBay, the more people buying on eBay

So, once I got home I started reading and now I think that title is still too over the top. The article is only 3 pages long and is on page 94! I know, I'm not a magazine person and I'm sure that they have their reasoning for putting the cover story buried all the way in, but it is annoying for those who like to get right to the meat of something. So, of course there was some really good info in the article and some great tips but no where in the article did it have instructions on eBay being "easy".

I guess the easy thing is the lack of needing a storefront and the speed at which you can start a business, but starting a business and being a financial success are two very very different things! I enjoyed the article but am still a little worked up over that glaring statement of "easy". I have worked very very hard to become a success and it didn't come overnight either. Don't get me wrong, what I do is fun, challenging and exciting but it is not easy.

Finally finished my ecommerce site

I started a website to go along with my eBay store back in '06 when I opened the store. At the time I used Yahoo! Web Hosting and used their free WYSIWYG website building software "Site Builder" and built my own site. I spent AGES designing and had to configure my own shopping cart with html from PayPal and for a good long while I was very happy with it. I guess I was more proud than anything. It was so nice to say "I did it myself" and telling folks that I designed it all. Who knows what anyone else ever thought about it, but I was proud.
The downfall... it didn't do everything I wanted it to and it was very very time consuming. Any time one little change needed to be made I had to manually go to re-design every single page! I have over 400 items!!! Even at 2 minutes each, it would be over 13 hours of work to change one little thing. The other downfall, I could only access it from my one main desktop, so it tethered me to the back room.
I read somewhere that the downfall of most entrepreneur is not hiring someone to do things because they didn't want to let go of control. So, I took the leap. I researched around and since I was already happy with the customer service I got from Yahoo! I decided to upgrade to their Merchant Solutions program. This one uses a template and I just plug in the products much the same way that I do for eBay. I've lost a little creative control but from what I have learned about it so far, it is capable of doing more, I just need to learn how.
For now, it is pretty basic.
It took me a few weeks to set it all up. Mainly because I kept getting slowed down by keeping up with my two eBay stores and regular life getting in the way. Husband broke his jaw... spent a week in the hospital, baby decided that napping was no longer in the daily schedule, etc. etc.
It took a couple of calls to tech support, but the crazy thing is that every single time I called, the solution was overly simple and I was over-thinking the whole thing.
If you wanna check it out and see what you think, it is www.addictedtorockabilly.com

I'm gonna be a millionaire! All I need to do is send $19.95....

I was in college and broke. I was working at a restaurant and making decent money waiting tables but spent more than I made. I look back and wonder where the money went because I was living in a very inexpensive house spliting the rent and bills 5 ways and didn't have a car payment or any other expenses!
But, anyway, I saw an ad for a job making $2,000.00 a week "stuffing envelopes". Wow... all the things I could do with that kind of money! I just kept thinking about how nice it would be. I could sleep in and spend my days shopping for the latest clothes then eat out every night. I was going to be rich!
So, I sent the $19.95 money order to the P.O. box indicated in the ad.
What did I get in return?
an envelope with a single piece of paper with some information xeroxed (and not even a clear copy!) giving instructions on how to place an ad like the one I just responded to and how to open a P.O. box to receive the payments.
So, basically, I just got ripped off and got the instructions on how to rip someone else off.
One of my 4 roommates tried to convince me to actually do it! Said if I didn't than he would. The other 3 laughed in my face and called me a moron. That is exactly the way I felt.

Thirteen years later, the internet has embedded itself into our lives and there is much more transparency for consumers.
But.... I still see these scams! Except now there is a whole new breed of them. There are too many to list here.
But for eBayers the big one is the Dropship wholesale list. Every day there is someone buying a list of "dropshippers" online. Even on eBay! They are purchasing a list that they could find themselves on Google for free. The ads selling these things advertise making millions on eBay selling products that you don't own. And they aren't offering the products, they are offering a list of sites that offer products!
I searched "dropship lists" on eBay and got over 200 results! See for yourself, click here
then I just searched "get rich" and got over 300 results! Click here for the results to that one.
This is just the updated version of the "stuffing envelopes" scam.
It took me years to admit that I bought into that. Thank goodness I didn't buy into the dropship fortune dream too!

Not everything needs bubblewrap

I purchased some fabric once that arrived wrapped in bubblewrap!

A reasonable handling charge is ok and helps defray the cost of the packing materials, but it is just plain crazy and not good business to over package unnecessarily.

Of course, I would expect a crystal bowl to be packed full of peanuts, wrapped in bubblewrap and maybe even double boxed. I'd completely understand paying a few bucks over actual shipping cost too. But not everything needs that.

It just isn't fair to your buyer to charge $3.00 extra and use packing materials that aren't necessary.