A useful free resource is eBay Pulse. It shows the most popular searches, largest stores and most watched items within any category on any given day. Below is an image of the main eBay Pulse page which shows an overview of the whole eBay marketplace on July 9 2010 and, as you can see, the most popular searches are for products within highly competitive areas.

It would be extremely difficult for a newcomer to successfully compete with the established sellers of these hot products but with thousands of categories and sub-categories to choose from, there is no need to go head-to-head with the big guns. By digging down, you can find many far less competitive niches with lots of enthusiastic buyers.

Click on the ‘Categories’ drop down menu just above the Popular Searches list and select a category that interests you. For this example we’ll use our own favourite, Collectibles. This will bring up lists of the most Popular Searches, Largest Shops and Most Watched items within the whole Collectibles category. But we can dig even further by scrolling to the bottom of that page and clicking on the “See More eBay Pulse Categories” link, just below the list of Most Watched Items.

This takes us to a list of sub-categories within Collectibles, under each of which is a list of even more sub-categories. This list ran to eleven pages on the day we took these screenshots, so there is certainly no shortage of categories to choose from. From that list, you can click on any sub-category heading to be taken to its eBay Pulse page, or you can dig down further still and click on one of the even more specific categories beneath it. We looked for a category that we hadn’t previously explored and chose Native American: US from within Cultures & Ethnicities.

We now have a mine of information at our fingertips.

For instance, a glance at the Most Watched items shows that there is some interest in Navajo jewelry, so if that was a niche that we were considering persuing we would click through to each of the Navajo jewelry auctions in the list. From that, we could see the current price of the item, the starting price, how many bids there had been so far and how long the auction had left to run. We could check the sellers’ completed listings and if they specialise in this niche we could get useful information from their past auctions.

We could also click through to the stores in the Largest Stores list and look at their completed listings in the same way. Or we could select a sub-category from the Popular Searches list which would take us to the current listings for that particular niche. For example, by clicking on Moccasins we found that there were currently 337 current listings. We then selected the Show Only Completed Listings option in the menu on the left which brought up 205 results. From this, we could see what percentage of items ended in a sale, how many bids they got, and we could work out the average selling price. We could then use our findings to decide whether or not selling within the niche would be a viable proposition.

eBay Pulse is an incredibly useful research tool which many people overlook and we strongly recommend taking it for a test drive.

Keith Purkiss and Michael Ottman’s St Swithin’s Giveaway has launched!

Keith and Michael know a LOT of marketers from networking events, forums, coaching courses etc and have persuaded them to give away some of their best original products and services in this huge event!

I’ve had a sneak preview and some of these are paid products that have NEVER been given away before, and some are being specially created just for this event.

We have contributed a gift of our own – our brand new report “12 Easy-to-Source Low-Cost Things to Sell on eBay” which we only completed a couple of days ago is exclusively available for immediate download from this amazing giveaway event, and it won’t cost you a penny!

Just sign up using this VIP link and enjoy a ton of valuable gifts that you can download at zero cost!

Oh, and by the way, this giveaway is only open until St Swithin’s day (July 15) so be sure to sign up now and download all of the free gifts while you can!

Keith Purkiss and Michael Ottoman have convinced hundreds of their contacts to submit thousands of dollars worth of original ebooks, software, scripts and more to the Giveaway so you can download them all for FREE!

The event launches at 10am EDT this coming Friday (I believe that is 3pm UK time) and I will be posting an exclusive VIP access link here on the blog so that you can grab all of those valuable free gifts!

Remember, these are all original products, not tired old out-of-date resell rights products that have been doing the rounds for years, so be sure to drop by on Friday and get your link.

Although vinyl is no longer the format of choice for most buyers of contemporary music, deleted or ‘out of print’ (OOP) vinyl is still very collectible, and it is relatively easy to obtain. Many people replace their old records with CD or MP3 then dispose of their vinyl collection without realising how much it may be worth.

It’s not unusual for a search of completed listings on eBay to bring up several LPs that have sold for upwards of £1000 (US$1500).

However, although it may be worthwhile making a note of these high value items (because you never know your luck!), your time would be better spent concentrating on more realistically priced records which are less rare and therefore are more likely to turn up at flea markets, car boot sales, charity shops and garage sales, etc.

And it’s not just LPs that are in demand, 7″ and 12″ singles also change hands for good prices.

Again, although it’s always possible that you could hit the jackpot, the collectible records you are likely to come across are the ones that sell for a more realistic price.

As with used books, there are many genres to choose from within the category of music and it is a good idea to specialise in a niche that interests you. Whether it’s country music or prog rock, heavy metal or folk, or maybe a specific record label, by concentrating on one niche you can quickly become an expert and know what to look for when out scouting for merchandise.

As well as checking completed auctions on eBay to discover which records are currently fetching high prices, an archive of past vinyl auctions that reached US$30 or more can be found at www.popsike.com. You might also want to keep an eye on the ‘Want It Now’ posts on eBay, although these are usually for obscurities that would be difficult to find.

Check out the full terms and conditions at http://pages.ebay.co.uk/promos/0IF_100606/index.html.

Launched in 1995 as an online bookstore, they soon began to diversify and now offer a huge product range which includes CDs, DVDs, computer software, consumer electronics, clothing, tools, toys and games, baby products, household and kitchen items and much, much more.

In 2001 the Amazon Marketplace was launched and has since grown into a hugely popular channel for sellers to list their new and used items alongside Amazon products.

There is no auction format, all listings are fixed price. Listings stay up for 60 days, after which time the seller is given the option to re-list any items which remain unsold.

Although there are no listing fees, Amazon charge low volume sellers a fixed ‘per item’ fee in addition to the final value fee. However, sellers who anticipate selling more than 30 items per month can opt to become a Pro Merchant seller and pay a monthly fee, in which case the ‘per item’ fee is waived.

Inevitably, since there is no listing fee, final value fees tend to be higher than those charged by eBay. However, there are no Paypal fees to pay and no waiting for buyers to send cheques or postal orders. Payment is collected by Amazon and paid into the seller’s bank account every two weeks. So there are no hassles with non-paying bidders on Amazon.

Sellers are not able to set their own post and packing charges, these are pre-set by Amazon. This can be something of a double-edged sword. If, for instance, you are selling a lightweight paperback book you are likely to make a small profit on the postage as well as on the book itself. However, if you are selling a heavy hardback book you would lose out on postage so this would need to be taken into consideration when you set your selling price.

If you have not yet tried selling on Amazon, why not give it a go? I was put off for a long time simply because I was reluctant to move out of my comfort zone and learn something new. However, I had a huge pile of books to sell and just couldn’t find the time to photograph and weigh them all, so listing them on Amazon seemed to be the perfect solution.

I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the process is. With photographs and descriptions already provided by Amazon, all I had to do was describe the condition of the book and set the price. It took me just a fraction of the time that it would have taken me to list them on eBay.

I was delighted when several of the books sold within the first few days. There are no invoices to send and no non-payers to chase up. I just had to wait for an email from Amazon to say that a book had sold, print off the address label and packing slip from the Amazon website and send the package. And remember, although listing a few books or CD’s is an easy way to familiarise yourself with the process, you can now sell all kinds of things on Amazon.

I am certainly not suggesting that you ditch eBay and move your business to Amazon but I certainly recommend that you consider using it as another selling channel. After all, eBay and Amazon are the two most popular online shopping sites and between them your products could be seen by millions of potential buyers!

However, it is inevitable that a marketplace the size of eBay will be a target of the occasional online fraudster. Being aware of the scams, staying alert and taking a few simple precautions should go a long way to ensuring that you don’t become a victim of any internet scams.

Both eBay and Paypal have lots of useful security advice on their sites and I recommend that you spend some time checking it out. In the meantime, here are a few tips to help you avoid falling prey to the scammers.

Take good care of your passwords

If your eBay, Paypal or other online passwords fall into the wrong hands, your identity may be stolen and thieves and scammers may access your accounts.

Always use different passwords for eBay and Paypal and don’t use a password that would be easy to guess. A combination of letters and numbers is the best.

Change your passwords periodically and never reveal them to anyone else.

What is a Phishing Scam?

A phishing scam is a fraudulent, official looking email (or website) designed to trick you into revealing sensitive personal information. A spoof eBay or Paypal email will usually request that you click on a link which takes you to a cloned website where you will be asked to confirm your password and/or your credit card details. This email scam may include a fake story to grab your attention.

If you do receive an email which appears to be from eBay or Paypal, the safest way to respond is by opening a new browser window and logging into your account via their secure ‘Sign In ’ or ‘Log In ’ links, rather than clicking on a link in the email.

Paypal and eBay will NEVER ask you for your personal details such as full name, password or bank/credit card details in an email, so if you receive such an email it is certainly a phishing scam and should be reported to the site.

Buyer Beware

With millions of users on eBay there are inevitably going to be some who are less than honest. The feedback system on eBay is far from perfect but it can alert you to fraudulent or unreliable users. If a buyer or seller has a disproportionate number of negatives in their feedback, they are best avoided.

However, this is not foolproof as some dishonest sellers will just open a new account and start afresh. The safest way to go is to ensure that you only buy from sellers who have a good feedback rating and have been an eBay member for at least a few months.

You will enjoy the experience far more and probably have greater success if you have some interest in what you are selling online. Small, lightweight, unbreakable items are far easier to pack and carry to the post office than larger, more fragile items.

You will need to take the size of your budget into consideration. If you are intending to sell used goods you could get started for little or no cost and expand by reinvesting your profits.

If, on the other hand, you want to sell new goods you will need to have money available to buy stock. If you choose inexpensive products you will obviously need a smaller financial outlay to get you started than you would if you were selling higher ticket items.

The flip side of this, however is that generally speaking, the higher the cost of your products, the higher your profit per item is likely to be. Therefore, you would need to sell lots more low cost items to make a decent monthly income than you would if you were selling higher priced items. This, of course, would mean more work to do in the form of listing, packing, trips to the post office etc.

Another thing to consider if you decide to sell new goods is that you will need to find a supplier who will sell to you in bulk at a price low enough to give you a worthwhile profit margin. Due to the amount of competition on eBay, this is unlikely to be an easy task but it is not impossible.

A third option is selling digital products such as ebooks, mp3s and videos. Some people take a look on eBay and see numerous sellers listing ebooks for pennies and assume that the market is over-saturated and too competitive. However, a glance at the listings does not show the true picture, far from it. Selling digital products gives high percentage profits, there is no huge capital outlay needed for stock, and an ebook can be sold again and again, unlike tangible goods which need to be constantly restocked. Also many of these cheap ebooks are just being used as lead generators, a subject which we will be looking at in more detail in future articles.

Whilst it is important to ensure that what you ultimately decide to sell will attract enough buyers to make it viable, it is not advisable to enter a market where the competition is likely to be extremely fierce. A search on eBay Pulse will show the most searched for products to include popular gadgets such as the iPhone, the Nintendo Wii and other such items which are best left to the professionals with huge budgets and access to major suppliers.

Over the coming weeks we will be taking a more in-depth look at various products that sell well on eBay so please be sure to come back often.

Let me give you an example. Today I came across a seller who has been registered with eBay for almost two years and has a feedback of 446. Two of this seller’s current listings have a starting price of £5, and 17 have a starting price of £15.

At the time of writing, Insertion Fees for private sellers on eBay UK are:

Therefore, the 19 items listed by our example seller incurred total Insertion Fees of £9.00 (2 items at £0.25 plus 17 items at £0.50).

If he/she had reduced the Starting Price by just £0.01 for each of these items, the Insertion Fees would have been £0.15 each for the two £4.99 items (total £0.30) and £0.25 each for the seventeen £14.99 items
(total £4.25) making the total Insertion Fee £4.55, a saving of £4.45 (less £0.19 off the total selling price if each of the items sold for the starting price).

£4.25 may not be a huge amount, but if this seller made similar listings each week, it would mean a saving of more than £200 over the course of a year.

Although the example used is from eBay UK, the principal is the same no matter which country site you list on. So keep a note of the Insertion Fees handy and consult it before deciding upon your Starting Price to ensure that you’re not pouring money down the drain.

One Product : It is possible to achieve a good online income by relying on just one high-demand product but that income could disappear overnight if supplies dry up or if the product declines in popularity. A portfolio of products is a safer route to take.

One Supplier : No matter how well-established a supplier may appear to be, there is never any guarantee that they won’t suddenly cease trading. They may decide, for whatever reason, to discontinue the product(s) that you sell or they may increase their minimum order to such an extent that it would no longer be viable for you to deal with them.

One eBay Account : You could log into eBay one day and find that your account has been suspended. eBay are notorious for closing accounts first and asking questions later. If another user makes a complaint against you, however unfounded, or if eBay find that you have (possibly unwittingly) not complied with their guidelines in your listings, you could find your account suspended for several weeks until the problem is resolved. So it is wise to have more than one account (you can have as many eBay accounts as you wish so long as each one is linked to a different email address).

One Sales Platform : The greatest risk taken by a large number of eBay sellers must surely be their reliance upon eBay as their sole sales outlet. While it is unlikely that eBay will suddenly disappear and wipe out everyone’s business at a stroke, they can (and do) make decisions that can have a detrimental effect on sellers’ businesses. An example of this was their sudden decision to ban the sale of digital goods; a decision which led to the demise of many profitable eBay businesses. eBay can change the rules, increase their fees and move the goalposts any time they want to and there is nothing their sellers can do other than adapt, grin and bear it, or call it a day.

Rather than relying on eBay as their only sales platform, savvy eBayers are using the site as a lead generation tool to build a list of customers and/or prospects who they can then sell to outside of eBay.