WebsiteAlways.com


Fed Up With eBay?


For many people, their first experience of working online involves selling products on eBay. This was how I got started back in 1998 and I know countless other people that have done the same.

However, it is important to remember that eBay is not the 'be all and end all' - there is a much bigger online world out there. My reason for mentioning this is that I have spoken to three people this week who each make a decent full or part-time income on eBay but who are fed up with it and looking to move in other directions.

Having sold on eBay myself, I can understand why sellers do get tired/bored/frustrated with the auction site - it is highly competitive and it takes an incredible amount of hard work to succeed. In addition, it is normally the case that the more successful you become, the harder you have to work. Listing auctions, handling customer enquiries, packing, shipping, sourcing/buying stock, keeping up with feedback, monitoring the competition - selling on eBay is a tough job and it is no wonder that after working in this way for a few years, many people wish they were back in the land of the employed!!

Don't get me wrong, there is good money to be made on eBay for anyone willing to put the effort in and many people enjoy trading on this huge auction site. But it isn't for everyone.

Having spoken to numerous eBay sellers in the past, it seems to me that of the ones that don't enjoy working on eBay, the particular task that they enjoy the least is the packing and shipping of products. Funnily enough, this is exactly the bit of trading that I grew to dislike too.

I (and the sellers I have spoken to) didn't have a problem with creating sales descriptions, dealing with emails, collecting payment (naturally!) and the other administrative tasks involved in running an online business. But wrapping things up and taking them to the post office is something completely different and for me and many others that's where it all started to fall apart :-)

As I said at the beginning of this article, if you are getting fed up of doing the eBay 'thing' or if you just don't fancy the idea to start with, there is a wealth of alternative opportunities available online. My own solution was to get rid of the one aspect of eBay trading that I didn't enjoy - the packing and shipping - and start to produce and sell digital products which could be delivered to the customer automatically. I still have to write sales pages and build websites, I still have to deal with emails etc but I don't have to handle any physical products (neither do I have to deal with payment collection because that too can be handled automatically by software).

Of course my products are very relevant to eBay sellers and indeed, there are numerous individuals and companies out there that have made a fortune off the back of eBay without ever having sold a single product on the auction site. I am sure that there are numerous other problems that eBay users have that could be solved with a new piece of software or a particular service and if the idea takes off, there are 135 million registered users on eBay to market to!

eBay provides a wonderful opportunity for hundreds of thousands of people but it isn't for everyone and if you find yourself frustrated/bored with the same old routine everyday, start to look for something outside of the eBay world.

Copyright 2005 Richard Grady

Richard Grady has been helping ordinary people earn online since 1998. He writes a free newsletter which is published every two weeks. To subscribe (and claim your free gifts), visit: http://www.thetraderonline.com/newsletter.html


MORE RESOURCES:

AP tobacco auctions fetch record Rs 1401 cr
Hindu Business Line, India - 17 minutes ago
Virginia Tobacco auctions that concluded this week fetched a record Rs 1401 crore for farmers in Andhra Pradesh and for the first time in the history of the ...


AFP

Bumper auctions fetch half-billion dollars at Sotheby's
AFP - Jul 3, 2008
LONDON (AFP) — A bumper set of auctions of impressionist, modern and contemporary art by Sotheby's fetched upwards of 250 million pounds (315 million euros, ...
Dead Artists Breathe Life Into Auctions Wall Street Journal
Oil profits help art market defy gravity CNNMoney.com
Inside Art London Swings as a Dynamo for Selling Art New York Times
Bloomberg - International Herald Tribune
all 271 news articles


DEL MAR: North County ag groups dominate livestock auctions
North County Times, CA - 17 hours ago
(Photo by John Raifsnider- For The North County Times) DEL MAR ---- All eight Grand Champion awards from the Junior Livestock Auction held Friday at the San ...


Calgary Herald

Electric Garage grows beyond web to live auctions
Calgary Herald,  Canada - Jul 4, 2008
The car is among the offerings at the Stampede Collector Car Auction July 11 and 12 at Ranchman's. "Initially we were an online auction company, ...


ABC News

Inspired by Celeb Do-Gooders, Bloch Auctions His Clothes on eBay ...
ABC News - Jul 4, 2008
July Fourth is a reminder of our forefathers, whose great minds and independent thinking helped build the nation we have today. ...


Outlook (subscription)

Bazaar Korte Hobe!
Outlook (subscription), India - 11 hours ago
Calcutta is the only city in India that holds such weekly auctions. Ironically, this business witnessed its boom when Calcutta was on the decline, ...


Antiques and the Arts Online

RUDD- VERMONT COUNTRY AUCTIONS Saturday, July 5, 2008 10 AM Ben ...
Antiques and the Arts Online, CT - 15 hours ago
Annual July 4th Weekend Outstanding Estate Antique Auction We have collected the best from the Dorothy White Estate~Hudson Falls, ...


TradeMe in court for "black market"
Stuff.co.nz, New Zealand - 29 minutes ago
Meier claims TradeMe auctions sold thousands of counterfeit Ab King Pros made from lower-grade steel and imported from China by TradeMe members. ...


Bond buyers claim fraud
Anchorage Daily News (subscription), AK - 9 hours ago
For now, the investments are frozen -- they can only be sold at auction, and most of the auctions have failed. The value of many of them is eroding due to ...
Firms warned of auction-rate market failure Worcester Telegram
all 2 news articles


Antiques and the Arts Online

Canton Barn Auctions
Antiques and the Arts Online, CT - 15 hours ago
View color photos at www.cantonbarn.com NEXT AUCTION: July 12, 7:30 PM Details in Antiques & The Arts Weekly. Home Baked Pies * Refreshments * Parking Front ...

Auctions - Google News

Interesting articles | Home | site map | Link
© 2006
Job posting sites Breast enlargement Jobs Mahoubi.net Free Online Dating | Free personals | Married personals | Totally free personals | Dating online lakeland fl | Free dating sites