Money through blogging

The very first bit of money I made online roughly 10 years ago was with eBay. The last bit of money I've made online, roughly 5 minutes ago, was with eBay. The money earned 10 years ago was by listing products up for auction and all that goes with that. I've since changed my strategy significantly, do a lot less work and and make a lot more money with eBay. I am now an affiliate for eBay and make money by referring customers to eBay's auctions and collect commissions on transaction fees. In addition to the commissions on transaction fees I also get paid up to for new customer referrals.

Wordpress Is The Ideal Choice For Running Your eBay Affiliate Store

The simplest blogging platform and content management system that I've come across is Wordpress. I'm certain you have heard of it. It is very flexible and is always being improved. It is also a free product. I can literally have a site up and running with Wordpress showing eBay auctions in a matter of minutes.

phpBay Pro Wordpress Plugin

Plugins have been being developed to extend the capabilities of Wordpress since it was first introduced. The best plugin available for showing eBay auctions in a Wordpress blog is the phpBay WP plugin. You upload it and activate it like you would any plugin in Wordpress. And to display the auction listings you just add one line of specially formatted text to a post or page.

With phpBay you can show auctions that are related to a specific keyword or keywords. Lots of other options are available including the price range of the products, the category from eBay, etc. You can get very specific or broad on what you would like to display.

Each auction that shows up on your blog will have a link to the actual action on eBay's site. Each of the links will have your affiliate ID encoded so that you are awarded commissions for the referrals.

Is There Really Money In It?

People often ask the following questions when I tell them how I make the majority of my money online: Why would people go through your site instead of going directly to eBay first? It's great that you get for new referrals but are there really still people that don't have an eBay account?

You will be pleasantly surprised at both of the answers to those questions, as I was. Someone might not consider searching eBay first for a product or might not even think that eBay would even have the product they are looking for. Also, some people, believe it or not, do not even know about eBay. Instead, they may search Google for a product, your site may show up, they see the eBay listings and follow your link to eBay and place a bid. It happens all the time.

Additionally there are thousands of new eBay accounts created each and ever day. Get your Wordpress blog up and running with the phpBay plugin to see for yourself.

You can see phpBay in action and get a discount coupon here: phpBay Pro Example Site And phpBay Pro Coupon

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The very first bit of money I made online roughly 10 years ago was with eBay. And the last bit of cash I earned online, approximately 5 minutes ago, was again with eBay. 10 years ago I was running auctions, shipping products and all that goes with that. These days it is a whole different ballgame, I work a lot less and make a lot more with eBay. I am now an affiliate for eBay and make money by referring customers to eBay's auctions and collect commissions on transaction fees. I also get paid for all new customers that I refer to eBay, often up to .

Using Wordpress As A Platform To Display eBay Auctions

As far as blogging platforms and content management systems, Wordpress takes the gold for both. I'm certain you have heard of it. It's a very flexible system that is constantly being updated and improved, and is available free of charge. It literally takes just a few minutes to get a Wordpress driven site showing eBay auctions up and running.

phpBay For Wordpress

Wordpress is a very extensible system and developers have been creating plugins to extend its capabilities since its inception. A very flexible plugin that is used to show listings of eBay's auctions is the phpBay plugin. You upload it and activate it like you would any plugin in Wordpress. And to display the auction listings you just add one line of specially formatted text to a post or page.

You can show a list auctions related to a specific keyword or keywords with phpBay. You can specify the eBay category, the price range of the products and many more options. You can get very specific or broad on what you would like to display.

All of the auctions displayed on your blog will be linked over to the actual auction on eBay. Each of the links will have your affiliate ID encoded so that you are awarded commissions for the referrals.

Is There Really Money In It?

A couple of questions that I often get asked after explaining how I earn most of my money online: Wouldn't people go directly to eBay rather that go through your site first? It's great that you get for new referrals but are there really still people that don't have an eBay account?

As I was, I'm sure that you will be pleasantly surprised by the answers to those 2 questions. Someone might not consider searching eBay first for a product or might not even think that eBay would even have the product they are looking for. Also, some people, believe it or not, do not even know about eBay. Instead, they may search Google for a product, your site may show up, they see the eBay listings and follow your link to eBay and place a bid. It happens all the time.

Also, there are 1,000's of new eBay accounts being created every single day. Get your blogs up and running with phpBay and see for yourself.

Check out this post to see phpBay in action and to get a discount coupon: phpBay Pro Example Site And phpBay Pro Coupon

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Are you interested in becoming an eBay seller? If you are, you are definitely not alone, as eBay has become a relatively quick and easy way to make money online. Each day, a large number of individuals use eBay to make extra money from home and a few lucky ones are even able to make enough money to support themselves or their families. Before you jump on the eBay selling bandwagon, you are advised to take a few minutes and examine the pros and cons of selling on eBay.

One of the many pros, or plus sides, to selling on eBay is the fact that is it is relatively easy to do. Once you create an eBay account, you can start listing items that you have in your possession for sale right away. When doing so, it is also easy to do. eBay has a step-by-step process for listing items for sale, in traditional auction formats or buy it now formats. In fact, eBay also has a program that lets you compile your auctions, with pictures and descriptions, when you aren’t even connected to the internet. As soon as you connect to the internet, you can begin to upload your listings and have them start right away.

Another one of the many pros to selling on eBay is that just about anyone can do it. You don’t have to have big fancy, expensive items to sell on eBay. In fact, a large number of those selling on eBay are just selling items that are taking up space in their homes; items they don’t want anymore. If you are interesting in becoming an eBay seller, but you aren’t sure as to how much you can depend on eBay for income, you may want to think about testing the waters. You can do this by listing the items have you have around your home for sale. Items that tend to sell relatively well are lots, or groups, of toys and infant clothing.

While there are a number of pros, or plus sides, to selling on eBay, there are also a number of cons, or downsides, to doing so as well. One of the biggest cons or downsides to selling on eBay is the competition. As it was previously mentioned, a large number of internet users have started using eBay to make extra money or even make a living. This is what leads to multiple auction listings for the exact same items. While this is nice for the eBay buyers, it can hurt you as a seller. When the supplier is higher than the demand, you may not make as much money off of your items as you had originally hoped to, if they even sell at all.

Another downside to selling on eBay is the fees associated with doing so. In recent years, eBay has redone their fee structure, often to raise their fees. Although these fees are still considered relatively low, they could put a damper on your profits, which alone are sometimes hard to come by. Of course, there are ways that you can the most out of eBay fees. For instance, if you have a “hot seller,” you could start your auction out at a low price, as the fees are less for doing so; however, you are taking a gamble, as you never have any guarantees as for how much your items will sell for. Perhaps, the unknown is one of the biggest downsides to selling on eBay; you never really know if you are going to make money or even if you will end up losing money.

As you likely already know, the decision as to whether or not you want to become an eBay seller is yours to make, but, when making your decision, you are advised to keep the above mentioned points in mind. With a relatively equal amount of pros and cons, you may be wondering what your best option is. For more accurate information, you may want to think about testing the eBay seller waters, as you are able to sell whenever you want, with no minimum auction requirements.
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Drop Shipping
Drop shipping means selling for someone else. You will not have to buy anything or stock any products. The supplier stocks all products at the warehouse and shipping is done directly to the customers you point out. All you need to do is decide what you want to sell and list it on eBay. Once the item is sold, the customer will send the payment to you, you will then send the payment to the supplier and the supplier will dispatch the item to the customer.

The supplier has his product catalog with wholesale price to each product and you decide what items in the catalog to sell at a retailed price fixed by you. How are you going to fix the price? The price you fix should be based on the supplier’s price, eBay fees and delivery costs.

The advantages of drop shipping is that you don’t need any upfront money nor do you need any stock. There are a few disadvantages too. You will not know whether the supplier has enough stock of the item you are selling. You will need to constantly keep in touch with the supplier and checking out supplies. This is where a good genuine drop shipping company helps. I have compiled a list of US drop ship company to help you find a drop ship company that is suitable to your ebay business. Click here for the list.

Flea Markets
If you are one to frequent flea markets, you would know that it is a place where vendors sell their goods or even trade goods. You will find inexpensive goods from various parts of the country. It is a known fact that the second hand goods found at flea markets are sometimes worth far more than what the buyer pays. If you can lay your hands on something like that, you can make a fortune at eBay.

Discount Stores or Department
A discount store is a retail store where things are sold much cheaper than at a traditional department store. You can find a wide assortment of goods like electronic equipment, jewelry, electrical appliances and many others. Wall-Mart, Target and K-mart are examples of such discount stores that attract price conscious customers. If you are living in the US, this is going to be great for you, as you can make a ton of money just buying here and selling on eBay.

Trade Shows
Trade shows are the place to be for someone who sells on eBay. This is where all the manufacturers meet and you will have a chance to get the information straight out of the horse’s mouth, before actually deciding on buying their goods. Before deciding on going to a trade show, try and find out which manufacturers are going to be there and what the goods are. If it is anything that you are interested in selling, you can meet the supplier.

Just use your imagination to find goods at inexpensive prices. There are some more for the road, which include Government auctions, Liquidators, Newspaper and magazine classifieds and wholesale gift catalogs.

Remember, wherever you choose to get them from, use your judgment in determining the quality and worth of an item and go for it only when you are sure in your mind that this is going to bring in profit after deducting all the other expenses involved.

Click here to read part 1 of this article
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You would have heard of people making a lot of money with eBay, selling various products. These success stories compel us to read about eBay and understand how it works.

It is an auction website that is said to be one of the largest online websites and receives millions of visitors every day. Selling on eBay gives us the opportunity to sell to people from all over the world, unlike a physical store, where only locals are targeted. Earning a full time income from home is no longer a dream!

Your first question would be what to sell and where do you find products to sell? Start by selling the few odds and ends that are lying around the house. The saying that one man’s junk is another’s gold holds so true. Of course, that doesn’t mean that you sell under quality stuff. Below are some of the ways to find products to sell on ebay:

Your Home
A good place to find products to sell in the initial stages is your home. I am sure you have plenty of baby clothes, car seats, toys, monitors, books, china, cards, comics, electronics and a number of other things. As long as they are in good condition, these can be sold easily. Once you make some cash with these, you can venture into buying stuff for selling on eBay.

Second Hand Shops and Garage Sales
With the money that was made from selling things around the house, you can now start buying from second hand shops and garage sales. Look out for things that are in good condition. If you are lucky, you may find things that sell well. Do not venture into selling things that are too heavy and go for lightweight items that are easy to send. You will be amazed at the number of things you will find and the profit that can be made.

Wholesalers
Once you have made enough from the above methods, you can start searching for a good wholesaler, where you can find goods at great wholesale rates.

Finding a good wholesaler is not an easy task. There are so many so-called wholesalers whose prices are not competitive. You will not find much help here if you ask others because nobody wants to share the names of good wholesalers as they don’t want competition. This is the art of survival at it’s best!

First, you will need to look around at what is being sold on ebay and what sells well, and check the pulse of eBay. From my experience, I would say that electronics sell very well and since new ones keep entering the market every day, you will find a lot of buyers. Search for wholesalers in this niche, and settle for one that is the best.

I would suggest you join Salehoo.com. This is a place where you can find some of the best wholesalers for anything and everything you can think of. They even have a forum where you can meet others and get some ideas on legitimate wholesalers.

Click here to read part 2 of this article.
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Its actually quite easy how to start posting your first auction on Ebay. Just follow this steps and you are through.

Step 1: Open an eBay seller's account
If previously you bought something from Ebay, means you already have an account. Just log in and click 'SELL' on the toolbar located at the top of the page. Click 'Create a seller's account'. If you've never used eBay before, all you need to do is to create a new account by click on the word 'register' located under the toolbar. Then follow steps above. For security, this may involve giving card details and bank information.

Step 2: Decide what to sell
This is your first auction, so it doesnt really matter what you decide to sell. Take a look around and see what is people looking for. Small books and CDs are always a great thing to sell for your first item.

Step 3: Submit your item
Click 'Sell', and you're on your way to listing your item.

After that you need to choose the item's category. It is best to let Ebay to choose a category. Before writing the title, think first whats is the best suitable keyword that you think people will search when they search for the item. Then write a description clearly together with the information in the description box.

Now set a starting price. The lower the price the more people will interested. $0.01 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise wouldn't, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to do is to set the auction duration: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. Up to you, the longer the sales go, more bid will you get. But it depends on the item itself.

If you've taken a picture, add it now - items with pictures always sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (just PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you're done!

Step 4: Wait for it to sell
This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing - buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can.

Remember that if your item doesn't sell then you can list it again for free.

Step 5: Collect payment and post it
eBay will sent your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything.

Once you've got the payment, all you need to do is pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyer's address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, post it, and you're done!

I hope you enjoyed selling your first item. Now that you're starting to get into it, the next email will give you a checklist of things you need to do to be a successful seller.
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Only a successful sale generates profits. Its easy to bring people to your auction page and read about the auction. But how can you convert them to a bidder? Most people fail to do this most important step! Here are some tips that you can use to get more response and turns them into a bidder.

1) Design your auction properly and make sure it look organize. Its because design always play a main factor to attract bidder. Make sure the product informations are properly listed so the potential bidder can see it clearly. For example some people do not give enough importance to the accompanying picture they have posted on eBay. A professionally shot picture with proper lighting and un-intrusive background is as vital as the description of your item.

2) Most bidders are fear about disputes and the hassles that they might get into after they pay up. To allay such thing the best policy is to sign up at SquareTrade and get permission to display their logo on your auctions which will assure the bidders that they will be not be shortchanged in any eventuality. It will give a professional look to your auction and you will always see it on PowerSellers auctions. To further your professional image and build confidence, put up all business practices in a visible place giving details, including shipping, time schedules, and refunds.

3) Gain more good feedback. It is vital to boost the confidence of the bidder. Include all positive feed back comments prominently and in the event that you have 100% positive feedback, make sure that it is mentioned on all auctions. If you have a reserve price it is likely to discourage bidders. Displaying a NR (no reserve) along with your item’s name should take care of that.

4) Benefits not features: Make sure your description emphasizes on the benefits that your item can give to the customer, not just its features. This is a classic sales technique. If you have trouble with this, remember: 'cheap' is a feature, 'save money' is a benefit.

5) You can never be sure of which payment method a particular bidder might be comfortable with. Try to include unusual payment methods such as checks, which most of the sellers try to avoid. Also keep just two or three auctions going on for an item you have more than one of in stock rather than choosing the Dutch-auction route.

6) Remember that much depends upon the search results when it comes to categories that are crowded. To ensure that your product comes up in the first ten results and you get the maximum hits you need to upgrade regularly. The best upgrades may be expensive but they may be worth the money you spend for them.
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A lot of people have no idea of what drop shipping is and how drop ship wholesalers can help people make money online. So I think I should explain a little about drop shipping before I go on to the list.
A drop ship wholesaler is a wholesale company allowing you to sell a range of products of the company without even touching the products. You don’t need to pay money to purchase goods in bulk from the drop ship wholesalers. You just place an ad on ebay or display products pictures on your online store. When a customer pays you to order a product, you’ll then pay the drop ship wholesale company at wholesale price for the product and the drop ship company will package and ship the product on your name to your customer.

Drop ship wholesalers have been widely used by ebay sellers. If you plan to start using a drop ship company for your ebay business. You got to make sure that the drop ship company is reliable.

I have compiled a list of drop ship companies that you can use to start making money on ebay. Some of these companies are recommended by ebay sellers, experienced Internet marketer and bloggers. They are real company. But before you start dealing with any of them, you should do some research on the company to find out the company background, their reputation, history record and comments from people who have used the company.
• http://www.doba.com (have good reputation, Supplying a list of retailed products)
• http://bodysoulelements.com (natural bath and body products)
• http://www.cwrelectronics.com (electronics wholesale dropshipper)
• http://www.dragondistributing.com (Car Audio Products, Home Theater Products)
• http://www.moteng.com(knives, flashlights, security equipment, and outdoor products.)
• http://www.raxusa.com (skateboard products)
• http://www.smcorp.com (gifts, collectible toys, novelty items)
• http://www.dbldistributing.com (electronics and electronics accessories)

Site to learn More
http://www.worldwidebrands.com - Free ebooks teaching people how to start an Internet business and using drop ship wholesalers as product source.
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1) Sell Used Mobile Phones
Used mobile phones with brand names like Nokia, Motorola, Kyocera, Alltel, Ericsson, Sprint, etc in ebay always in high demand. Most of it will definitely attract bid from the bidder.

But how to find sell mobile phones to profit on ebay?
Most people change their mobile phones almost every year. You might be one of them and kept 2 or 3 used mobile phone in your hand. Maybe some of your friends also kept their old mobile phones. You can try buy from them and resell them on Ebay.

To get a consistent supply of cell phones, you may think about placing classified ads in newspaper states that you pay money for used cell phone. You shouldn't pay much when buying used cell phones. Do a little research on ebay to find out how much used cell phones are generally selling. If a used cell phone sell at a price of $50 in ebay, you should pay not more than 30% of the price to buy it. If the phone is a recent model you can pay little more and cut a little if it is old and nothing special.

2) Sell Used How-to Books
Used how-to books are quite easy to find and inexpensive to buy. They can be bought at $1.00 or less. You can actually find the in your local auction centre or maybe some bookstore who wants to clear their stocks. But mostly you can search around your neighbourhood and you might be lucky there are some books that you may get it free. Here are the type of books you should look for:

Hobbies
Photography, blacksmithing, clock building & repair, woodworking, magic, treasure hunting, iron work, pipe smoking, dog training, antiques, coins, buttons, medals, drawing, painting, craft making, dolls, pottery, etc.

Home and Garden
Home decorating, home remodelling, garden trellis, etc.

Misc
How to repair (watch repair, door repair, pipe repair), how to play, lost treasure, eary aviation, etc.

When you list your books in ebay, you can either list them in the "Book" category of ebay or in the subject specific category of ebay. For instance, If you are selling a book related to home decorating, you may be making more profit if you list the book under the "Home Deco" within the "Home & Garden" category of ebay campare to listing the book under "Book"

3) Sell Gift Cards
Gift card is another profitable market in ebay. There are many people possess gift cards but not everyone of them will use their gift cards. If you can offer to buy these unused gift cards for a price at 20% or less of the value of the gift certificates, they will sell to you. You can advertise your offer in local newspaper, penny shop and trading post. You are looking for gift cards that are still valid (not yet expire). Most gift cards have a toll-free number on the back you can dial to check whether the cards are still valid.

When determining the buy and sell price of a gift card, you should do some research on ebay. Try to look for auction that sell the similar card. See how much the card sells in the auction and set you buying price at 40% to 50% of the selling price of the auction. The starting bid and winning bid of the auction can also give you an idea on how much your card can sell on ebay.
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There are more than one million people visit ebay every day. These people come to eBay not just visiting, they are looking for something and ready to buy when they found the items they are looking for. If you have something to sell online, eBay obviously is the best place for selling your stuff. You can sell almost anything you can imagine on eBay. Here are some tips and ideas that can help you start making money from eBay.

Sell High Demand Products
To find out what products hot in eBay, you can study eBay Hot Categories report at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/hotitems.pdf which can help you decide what kinds of hot items you want to sell. After deciding what items to sell your next question is where to buy these items for reselling on eBay. You can buy your stocks from wholesalers, but you usually need to order in bulks. Thus it will cost you several hundreds to thousands dollar to buy the stocks at the beginning. One way to start your eBay business with minimum cost is deal with drop ship wholesalers. Drop ship wholesalers allow you to list their products for sale on eBay and other auction sites without paying upfront to stock products. You only pay to the drop ship wholesaler when an item is sold and the drop ship wholesaler will ship the item on your name to your customer. You don't store any inventory; package and ship merchandise.

Garage Sales and Flea Markets
You can find inexpensive items for reselling on eBay from garage sale and flea markets. Take some time to shop around for the items you wish to resell on eBay.

Sell Returned Items
Another way to get things to sell on eBay is buy returned items from stores and retailers. Usually the retailers will not resell returned items again so they have to do something with those returned goods. You can try to approach store managers and ask them whether they can sell the items to you at below cost.

Trade Shows
Trade shows are another way to find products for reselling on ebay. Lots of merchants gather in one place to look for resellers. You can find trade shows in a particular industry by contacting trade associations and industry publications.
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