eBay Selling with a Positive Attitude

This has been a very interesting day for me.  During the work week I follow pretty much the same routine.  I get up a little before 5:00 a.m. so I can have time to check things out on the computer and maybe get some eBay packing done before the kids get up and we have to start the hustle off to school, work and the babysitter by 7:30.  My wife works too and she has to be out the door by 7.  This morning, on a lark, I checked the stats on this blog.  To my surprise, I found that there was quite a spike in visits since yesterday.  After a bit of digging, I found that the traffic was coming from one of the eBay discussion boards.  I was able to track the link down and read what I found to be some very interesting posts.

It seems that one kind poster had found my blog and was surprised to find a happy seller on eBay.  The replies made me smile for the most part.  Some folks liked my generally positive attitude toward selling, while some seemed to think that I was a bit delusional and suggested that I was living in Mayberry with Andy and Otis!  One poster, unfortunately was convinced that I was going to the trouble of setting up this blog and posting since summer just to make money off of the "Free eBay Tips" ad on the sidebar...um, yeah.

Anyway, reading the post and responses got me to considering that many visitors to my site might arrive with a slightly jaded, if not downright cynical view of selling on eBay.  There hasn't been much positive to say about it lately.  This might come as a surprise to some who have known me for a while, but as I'm getting older, I generally try to be a "glass half full" type of person.  With that in mind, here is my new introduction to this page for ALL new visitors...

To those who found my outlook on selling refreshing... I'm happy that you enjoyed your visit.  I honestly hope you'll stop back often and contribute any helpful ideas you might have to share.  Most of the posters on that particular eBay board seem to be seasoned veterans with a lot to offer, whether they realize it or not.  Although I've been selling for a while and have four digit feedback, I realize that I'm a babe in the woods compared to some of those people who have been around since right after the dark days of DOS ended.  Please share with us.

To the people who see me as a Pollyanna skipping through the streets of Mayberry... I'd like to share my perspective of selling on eBay and maybe on life.  If you've read some of my earlier posts, you'll know that I came to sell on eBay out of a need to make more money for my family.  My wife and I both work, but we were living on a budget that was too tight for comfort.  Although I'm not getting rich on eBay, after much trial and error, I've reached the point that if I go out on the weekend and spend fifty dollars on a box of estate items, I feel fairly confident that I can turn it into at least $200 - $300 by the next week.  Does this work with just any junk that you pick up cheap?  Of course not.   I'm trying to help people to get to this point (or maybe better on good weeks) without acquiring a garage full of other people's junk like I did during my first two years of purchasing based on an inexperienced "gut feeling".  Odds are, these people won't be working my little chunk of the garage sale world, so I feel safe in sharing.

Another thing I am trying to help people with is not getting bilked by unscrupulous "gurus" who will hit you with a back-end sale three times before you ever see the $97 "ULTIMATE" package you just purchased from them.  Although I try to keep a positive attitude, there are a couple of big name "gurus" who I just cannot stomach.  I won't go there though.  These are the same types who will try to get people who are brand new to internet marketing to spend outrageous amounts on sites designed to take on MEGAniches like "making money on the internet" which are not only over populated, they often are just scams selling information on how to sign up more newby suckers for the same program!  Sorry, that's a sore point with me because I sent a LOT of money to those guys at one point and found that what they sent me was little more than sales material for more of their "stuff".

Anyway, back to my view on selling.  I know, as many of you do, many people who like to do nothing more than gather in a circle and complain about life.  The economy stinks, eBay is killing us, the climate is changing...and on top of THAT, the Mayan calendar ends in the year 2012!  Whatever shall we do?

I firmly believe that being happy is a choice.  I can choose to wallow in the muck and despair of these attitudes and worries or I can do what I'm able to do to make things how I want them in my own life and for my family.  When I wake up I every day I have several choices.  I can choose to enjoy the happiness my little boy gives me with a hug as we watch Sesame Street together for a few minutes or I can watch the news and hear about 50 things worth grumbling about in 30 minutes.  I choose the former.  Does that mean that I live with my head in the sand?  Certainly not.  I assess what is worth my time and effort and I just refuse to let the negative things ruin my day.

As for selling on eBay.  I know that it used to be better for sellers.  I have experienced the same changes in the last few years as everyone else.  When I get the latest email announcing how eBay is making things harder for sellers I figure that I have another choice to make.  I can quit and then just be done with it, or I can try to adjust what I'm doing to survive and even thrive.  Personally, I choose to go after very small microniches that megasellers don't want to bother with when I buy and sell.  The one of a kind items are not readily available for Megalomarts to purchase in bulk, so they will have a more difficult time squeezing me out with their bulk sales.  Hopefully, there will always be collectors in the world.

I prefer to stay under the radar where I'm not worth the time and effort of the "big boys" online.   I spend more time doing research trying to find areas that are not being fully serviced by other sellers.  In the last year I also taught myself how to make webpages and really boring videos.  I've spent hours and days researching Google for longtail keywords with low competition and relatively heavy search numbers that I can use with store inventory on Googlebase.  I just recently starting looking at using YouTube as a venue for getting the word out about things I'm writing or selling as well.  With something like 142,000,000 viewers per day, they are a ripe market that I want to teach myself to tap.  I'm not an expert, but I am spending my time learning and exploring possibilities (mostly for free)....not clucking about my misfortune because eBay increased fees.  I don't like spending $3.00 per gallon for gas either but I want to use my car.  Talking about the days when gas was 70 cents per gallon isn't going to get me to the store any time soon.

Finally, (wow, what a long post!) to the person who was convinced that I set up this blog just to squeeze money out of visitors...You have GOT to be kidding!  I'll do a more thorough post on affiliate marketing in the near future, but here is the short version:

All over the internet, there are people and companies selling things, in case you didn't notice.  It is much more cost efficient for a company like Amazon.com to share a small percentage of sales with people willing to put a banner on their page than it is for them to set up millions of websites.  MANY companies use this selling strategy.  Almost anyone with a website can sign up to be an affiliate for businesses like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, you name it!  If someone follows a link from a webpage and then makes a purchase, the website owner gets a small percentage of the total sale (sort of like a referral fee).  eBay also has an affiliate program that I will describe in detail later.  The eBay links on this page's sidebar are affiliate links.  If you hover over one, you will see that the address at the bottom of the screen has a long name that includes the word "rover".  If someone follows these links and then makes a purchase, I get a portion of the fee that eBay takes from the seller (note that it is only a portion of the money that goes to eBay so it is only a couple of dollars, if that, on most purchases).   Other businesses set up their own particular affiliate commissions.

I stated in an early post that I would only recommend products that I either use myself or believe are worth checking out, so let's take a look at the banners I've got posted... (NOTE:  I've since changed these and I personally believe Site Build It charges too much for what you can now get for free.)

1.  Since the eBay tips were specifically mentioned by the board poster, I'd like to start with that one.  Skip McGrath offers the 99 tips just for signing up with his list.  The tips are genuine and worth using.  If he sends an email offer with an opportunity to buy something from him, the person reading it can simply discard it.  If they purchase it, I will make a few bucks.  I mainly posted this for the free tips.  I have made exactly zero dollars from this since summer but I feel that the tips are worth the time to fill in the email address, so I keep the ad running.

2.  Site Build It - As I said, I've spent a LOT of money and time learning about selling on eBay and on the internet in general.  I looked at MANY different opportunities.  I found this site a few months ago and was impressed by their commitment to growing a business slowly and going after smaller microniches.  I had already learned much of what they offered and part of their service was setting up a website, which I already knew how to do.  I figured that if I was brand new to marketing however, THIS would be a program I'd consider using outside of eBay.  If someone clicks on it and buys, I'll get a commission for putting them together with the company and hopefully everyone will win.  So far, no sales.  I still keep it up because I think it looks like a quality program with a very solid base and history that might benefit readers of my blog.

3.  There is an Amazon link to an eBay business book.  Buy it and I might make a quarter... thank you.

4.  Skype...What can I say?  $3 per month for what they offer is pretty good.  If you don't want it, don't buy it.

5.  First Again Credit...looked like a decent deal for people needing a credit card.

I hope that puts the issue of my online integrity to rest.  I try for full disclosure in my eBay auctions and I will do the same here.

Oh yes...one more thing.  It was mentioned that I have social marker buttons at the bottom of my post.  For those who don't know, these are web 2.0 services that help spread the word about sites that people think are worth visiting.  If you click on them and tell people you love this website, I'll appreciate it and I might get some extra visitors, but there is no "per click" compensation for those.  They are just a way to try to gain traffic.  One of my first hard lessons in setting up a website was that keywords really matter.  I chose the name "Garage Sale Treasure" without really checking out the search history for it.  It turns out that only a few people type that in to Google each day.  That means that even though I've got the number one Google listing for that phrase, it is virtually worthless.  I must count on my tags, backlinking and various other methods to bring traffic to this site.

Finally, I hope that everyone who visits this site finds it a place that they can use and enjoy.  If you are an experienced eBay seller, why not take in a breath of fresh air and share something that might help all of us to make a few extra dollars selling on eBay.  If you just want to complain, there are a lot of other places available.  I hope you'll choose the first option.

Thanks for visiting!

EDIT:  I just went to the eBay boards to post something about this and I was shocked at how negative it was in there.  I hadn't been there in a while and I can only say that it was pretty depressing.  It seems to have become a giant list of complaints.  No thanks.  I used to go there to learn.  If I get to the point of hating it that much, I hope I will just walk away.  I wonder if the people close to it realize how much it has changed.  I even made up a new name based on the Andy Griffith show just for the occasion!  I didn't even post.

Mike