THE TRUTH ON HOW TO SELL ON EBAY | WHY AREN'T MY ITEMS SELLING | BLACK OUTS

Before I ramble on here I would to like to say that eBay is a great place to start making money online, it has worked for me and I believe with hard work, dedication and savings you can truly make a great living on eBay. Now the juicy stuff, I stopped selling on eBay years ago under my own name after I started to realize that I just outgrow eBay and it was time for me to start developing other streams of income, such as my own websites. Today I sell on eBay under my wholesale program which I go in great depth about to the members of this website. That being said I'm in the eBay game every day in the trenches with you so I see everything that is going on from days of incredible sales to times when it is very slow. Now it is all about understanding how eBay works, you have to provide value to buyers by offering items that are affordable on all levels. I mention this all the time about having a "Dollar Menu" when it comes to eBay that means offering items at price points that you can reach all the buyers on eBay from $10 items, $50 items and items over $100. If you follow my advice with this method and you work hard with it, I can guarantee you that it works.

eBay has changed since its inception and has grown into a major corporation, if you are like me and you started selling on the bay back in the day you remember the excitement of getting checks, money orders and cash in the mail. Those days are gone and eBay is now a power house best known for being the largest "Online Garage Sale". They have also enforced restrictions on all different levels so if you are new to eBay you have a tough mountain to climb but if you follow the rules, work hard and keep listing items that mountain isn't as high as you think.

As I stated in the video, I believe eBay is throttling and having black outs on all sellers unless you are part of the top 5% of big corporations selling on their site. It is hard to prove but if you follow the advice I gave you about using a notebook to track the days and times when sales happen I think you will start to see a pattern. What I have noticed is that auctions if priced right do get views during peak selling times on eBay. This is why  I'm an advocate of the scheduled listings feature or listing your items at peak times to end on certain days / nights. If anything don't take what I'm saying as the Bible, research and find out for yourself, I would love to hear your thoughts on this whole throttling and black outs?

Will eBay help you build your business?

My answer to this is NO, why? because they honestly could care less about you. Sorry you are just a number, this happens when companies grow to a size where they don't care about the little guys and if you aren't doing $3 million a year on eBay, trust me - you are nobody to them.

Will eBay increase my monthly limits?

Yes they will now it might not happen automatically but if you call them and you are showing signs of growth they will increase your limit. When I was selling on eBay back in the day there where no limits so I never ran into this problem until I started my wholesale program with new sellers so I understand what it takes get limits increased for new accounts.

Can eBay kick me off and Ban me? 

Yes they can, it happens everyday to hundreds of people. Now you have to remember its eBay's customers, not yours and you are playing in their sandbox, live by the rules or die by them, its your choice. The people that I have talked to that have gotten kicked off eBay happened for a reason, they didn't follow the rules and broke them. Its that simple, you just don't get tossed off for no reason, some will disagree with me but eBay is pretty fair, follow the rules and you are in the game. Don't follow the rules and they will take it away from you. With that being said, if you are selling on eBay you want to be an honest seller and don't try to rip people off.

What are some good steps to becoming successful on eBay?

Photographing is probably the most important aspect of eBay. Take great looking photos of the items with a simple background, I choose to photograph my items on white and black backgrounds with no clutter behind my items, yes it is an extra step but well worth it. Having multiple angles and different perspectives is also key along with attention to detail

Descriptions need to be to the point and have as much detail as possible, make it simple for your buyer. Remember simple wins on the mobile app and most shoppers are buying from mobile devices.

Ship your items carefully and professionally. Invest in shipping supplies such as boxes, poly mailers and bubble wrap to show your buyer that you care for the product you are shipping to them. You also want to ship your items promptly, there is no excuse why you can't ship in one day? It comes down to just flat out being lazy. We live in a world now where buyers expect immediate gratification, give it to them and ship out within 24 hours. This is also one of the requirements to be Top Rated.

How can I sell more items?

Simple, list more and have price points. eBay gives you one heck of a tool and that is the completed listings. It is a treasure trove of information that is at your fingerprints, use the information to see what items are selling at and than look at the active listings to ensure you are priced competitive. If not and you price your items out of the ballpark they will sit. Who wants to have an eBay store with items that don't sell? Listing more is the best answer to how to sell more, it is a simple but proven method of making more money. People don't like to hear that from me when I tell them but its the honest truth. I had a consultation with someone once who asked can you take a look at my eBay store and tell me why things aren't selling and what I need to do to make more money on eBay. I browsed the persons store and saw they had 200 items for sale. Which isn't a bad thing but all the items where buy it now. I looked at the completed listings and noticed they had only sold 20 items in the past 90 days. I asked the person if they had inventory sitting around and they told me yes, which is a good/bad thing. Its bad because those items aren't making you money and it is good because you can list them. Pretty simple stuff, I then asked when was the last time you listed something and the answer I got back was 14 days ago. This is when my whole tone in my voice changed and I explained to them that if you are starving for more sales why are you not listing more, they responded with they are waiting for the items in the store to sell. Now this was just crazy, that is like waiting for paint to dry. To make a long story short, I explained that the items in the store where overpriced and needed to be adjusted. They also needed to add best offer on those items and try sending some to auction. I went on to tell this seller that this is a business, it is your business, NOW start treating it like one and get in the damn driver seat and list your crap. To sum it up, they didn't like my brutal honest opinion and told me to go fly a kit. Funny thing happened 4 months later I got an email from this seller that stated how they used my advice and are now treating their eBay like a business.

How hard is it to make 6 figures on eBay?

At first you might think it is impossible but if you set your mind to something you would be surprised what can be accomplished. It all comes down to finding items that people want and having the right price points to sell them at a profit. Once you start finding out what works for you than you build on that by getting more of these items to offer. Yes listing is a time crunch but that is the hard work, the easy part is finding the items, its the dedication to put the hours in to list them. If you don't manage your eBay you will never make any real money. The market is filled with some very hungry cut throat sellers so you need to be active and on point. Listing is key, get that inventory out in front of buyers but also understand what is the best way to sell your items, Buy it Now or Auction. I will give you this example: If I'm selling a door handle from a 2000 minivan what is the best way to sell this? Would you list it on an auction? My answer would be no, its long tail and you are waiting for that one buyer, list this buy it now / best offer. Here is an example of an item that should be listed as an auction: Oakley sunglasses, because it is a brand name that will for sure get viewers and multiple bidders if priced right. Don't list your item at $0.99 with free shipping, set a reasonable price and let it go on 3 day or 7 day auction. You will see great results with name brand items compared to long tail items such as that car part or even books.