Friday, May 13, 2005
Fed up with eBay?
Copyright 2005 Richard Grady
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.
About the Author:
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
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.
About the Author:
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
