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eBay Business Opportunity
eBay was created in September 1995, by a man called Pierre Omidyar, who was living in San Jose. He wanted his site – then called ‘AuctionWeb’ – to be an online marketplace, and wrote the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first websites of its kind in the world. The name ‘eBay’ comes from the domain Omidyar used for his site. His company’s name was Echo Bay, and the ‘eBay AuctionWeb’ was originally just one part of Echo Bay’s website at ebay.com. The first thing ever sold on the site was Omidyar’s broken laser pointer, which he got $14 for.
The site quickly became massively popular, as sellers came to list all sorts of odd things and buyers actually bought them. Relying on trust seemed to work remarkably well, and meant that the site could almost be left alone to run itself. The site had been designed from the start to collect a small fee on each sale, and it was this money that Omidyar used to pay for AuctionWeb’s expansion. The fees quickly added up to more than his current salary, and so he decided to quit his job and work on the site full-time. It was at this point, in 1996, that he added the feedback facilities, to let buyers and sellers rate each other and make buying and selling safer.
In 1997, Omidyar changed AuctionWeb’s – and his company’s – name to ‘eBay’, which is what people had been calling the site for a long time. He began to spend a lot of money on advertising, and had the eBay logo designed. It was in this year that the one-millionth item was sold (it was a toy version of Big Bird from Sesame Street).
Then, in 1998 – the peak of the dotcom boom – eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market. It started to encourage people to sell more than just collectibles, and quickly became a massive site where you could sell anything, large or small. Unlike other sites, though, eBay survived the end of the boom, and is still going strong today.
1999 saw eBay go worldwide, launching sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay bought half.com, an Amazon-like online retailer, in the year 2000 – the same year it introduced Buy it Now – and bought PayPal, an online payment service, in 2002.
Pierre Omidyar has now earned an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board. Oddly enough, he keeps a personal weblog at http://pierre.typepad.com. There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay – that’s a lot of laser pointers.
Now that you know the history of eBay, perhaps you’d like to know how it could work for you? Our next email will give you an idea of the possibilities.
EBay Income Possibilities.
If you’ve ever read an article about eBay, you will have seen the kinds of incomes people make – it isn’t unusual to hear of people making thousands of dollars per month on eBay.
Next time you’re on eBay, take a look at how many PowerSellers there are: you’ll find quite a few. Now consider that every single one of one of them must be making at least $1,000 per month, as that’s eBay’s requirement for becoming a PowerSeller. Silver PowerSellers make at least $3,000 each month, while Gold PowerSellers make more than $10,000, and the Platinum level is $25,000. The top ranking is Titanium PowerSeller, and to qualify you must make at least $150,000 in sales every month!
The fact that these people exist gives you come idea of the income possibilities here. Most of them never set out to even set up a business on eBay – they simply started selling a few things, and then kept going. There are plenty of people whose full-time job is selling things on eBay, and some of them have been doing it for years now. Can you imagine that? Once they’ve bought the stock, everything else is pretty much pure profit for these people – they don’t need to pay for any business premises, staff, or anything else. There are multi-million pound businesses making less in actual profit than eBay PowerSellers do.
Even if you don’t want to quit your job and really go for it, you can still use eBay to make a significant second income. You can pack up orders during the week and take them down to the post office for delivery each Saturday. There are few other things you could be doing with your spare time that have anywhere near that kind of earning potential.
What’s more, eBay doesn’t care who you are, where you live, or what you look like: some PowerSellers are very old, or very young. Some live out in the middle of nowhere where selling on eBay is one of the few alternatives to farming or being very poor. eBay tears down the barriers to earning that the real world constantly puts up. There’s no job interview and no commuting involved – if you can post things, you can do it.
Put it this way: if you know where to get something reasonably cheaply that you could sell, then you can sell it on eBay – and since you can always get discounts for bulk at wholesale, that’s not exactly difficult. Buy a job lot of something in-demand cheaply, sell it on eBay, and you’re making money already, with no set-up costs.
If you want to dip your toe in the water before you commit to actually buying anything, then you can just sell things that you’ve got lying around in the house. Search through that cupboard of stuff you never use, and you’ll probably find you’ve got a few hundred dollars’ worth of stuff lying around in there! This is the power of eBay: there is always someone who wants what you’re selling, whatever it might be, and since they’ve come looking for you, you don’t even need to do anything to get them to buy it.
eBay Buyers Guide
An Introduction to Bidding and Buying on eBay
Your Rights as an eBay Buyer
10 Ways to Avoid Being Ripped Off on eBay
How Important is Your Buyer’s Reputation?
How to Check an eBay Seller’s Reputation
Understanding the Different eBay Auction Types
When to “Buy Now” and When to Bid
eBay Auction Buyer’s Tips and Tricks
When and How to Withdraw Your eBay Bid
You Won that eBay Auction! Now What Do You Do
The eBay Buyer’s FAQ
SafeHarbor; eBay’s Own Scotland Yard
Using PayPal on eBay
How to Get eBay Coupons
Introducing the New eBay “Buyer’s Credit” Program
Tips and Tricks for Using eBay Search
When Things Go Wrong: How to Resolve eBay Disputes
Watch Out for eBay Automobile and Computer Scams
Tips for Buying Collectibles on eBay
Taking Advantage of “Slow” eBay Auctions
Top 10 Strangest eBay Items Ever Sold
How to Become an eBay “Sniper”
Understanding eBay Buying Tools
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Buying on eBay
Doing Your Holiday Shopping on eBay
eBay Sellers Guide
eBay - The First 10 Years
eBay Income Possibilities
What You Need to Know BEFORE You Get Started on eBay
A Beginner’s Guide to the Different eBay Auction Types
Staying Out of Trouble with eBay’s Listing Policies
Learning the eBay “Lingo”
5 Simple Steps to Posting Your First eBay Auction
An eBay Seller’s Checklist
What’s Your eBay Reputation Really Worth
Is the eBay Customer Always Right
10 Sure-fire Ways to Kill Your eBay Business
10 Steps to Successful Selling on eBay
eBay – Part Time or Full? How to Decide
How to Think Like an eBay PowerSeller
How to Use eBay to Grow Your Other Businesses
Taming the eBay Search Engine
How to Choose the Right eBay Product Category
eBay Title Writing Tips
eBay Description Writing Tips
10 Tips for Increasing Your eBay Response
How to Turn eBay Bidders into Long-term Customers
What? You Don’t Have an eBay Store?
How to Avoid Being a Victim of eBay Buyer’s Fraud
Should PayPal be Your Only eBay Payment Option
What Else Belongs on Your eBay Shipping Box
How to Increase Your eBay Backend Sales
How to Reduce eBay Buyer Complaints
How to Respond to an eBay Buyer’s Complaint
Turn Your eBay Shipping Costs into a Profit Center
When NOT to Use - Buy Now
How do Dutch Auctions Work on eBay?
How to Stop eBay Auction Sniping
How to Turn eBay Returns into Profits
The Myths and Magic of eBay Drop-shipping Vendors
How eBay Consignment Centers Work
Seasonal Selling on eBay
Are There Any eBay - Secrets - That Are Worth Buying
How to Use eBay’s “Second Chance Offer” Feature
What You Can Learn from Competing eBay Auctions
How to Determine What’s Really Selling on eBay
10 Great Ways to Source Low Cost Products for eBay
How to Dispute Unfair Ratings on eBay
How to Get Help from eBay’s SafeHarbor Team
Top 10 Reasons Why eBay Auctions Fail
Should You Run Auctions on Other Sites Besides eBay
Is Your eBay Income Taxable
Why Adding Pictures Increases eBay Bid Response
eBay Auction Pricing Strategies
How Long Should your eBay Auction Run?
How to Increase Your Auction’s Visibility on eBay
Creating eBay Selling Opportunities by Communicating with Your Buyer
How to Leave Great Buyer Feedback
How to Use the eBay “Checkout Service”
How to Use eBay “Listing Tools”
How to Market Your eBay Business
How to Use eBay’s “Promotional Flyer” Tool
How to Report and Handle eBay Transaction Problems
Tips for Managing Multiple eBay Auctions
When and How to Cancel an eBay Auction Early
Special Rules for Selling Software on eBay
The Power of eBay “Store Newsletters”
10 Tips for Being a Better Seller
A Look at Third Party eBay Tools
Tips for “Knowing Your eBay Buyer” Before You Ship
How to Use eBay’s “Pre-Approved Buyer” Function
Design Tips for eBay Templates
Increase Your eBay Sales with A “SquareTrade” Seal
How to Place Your eBay Store on “Vacation”
Understanding eBay's VeRO Program
Using the eBay Anything Points Program
eBay Auction Starting and Ending Day Strategies
Tips for Selling Collectibles on eBay
Understanding eBay’s “Description Theft” Policy
How to Make More Money with eBay’s Affiliate Program
How to Use eBay’s “Featured Gallery” Section
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