eBay Trading Assistant Consignment Business

Possession is 9/10ths of being an eBay Trading Assistant

2007-09-10T13:28:00.000-04:00

I am still amazed by how many newbies get in to this business of consignment and get burned by their client. Many start off selling for friends and family and assume it is okay to not take possession of the items they are selling. It is too easy for clients to not release the items sold if they are not happy with the price.

So let me say this once again:

"Do not sell items unless you have possession of them!"

By nature, most of us are trusting individuals...but when it comes to business and money it should be used with restraint. There are certain situations where you cannot take possession (i.e. large furniture, industrial equipment, etc.) of the items but the TA should understand the risks involved and do their due diligence to prevent such problems.

Trading assistants should also have clauses in their TA contract about clients backing out of the deal with monitary penalites if such a situation occurs. If the item was already sold, then the trading assistant should be able to collect their commissions too even if the client refuses the sale.

Trading Assistants rejoice...We have a New eBay Pink Leader!

2007-09-06T14:30:00.000-04:00

Well, it has been about a year since Walt Duflock (eBay's TA Program Director) left the eBay nest for greener pastures. For those of you who don't know Walt, he was the eBay Pink who helped create and shape the TA program to what it is today. I met Walt at the eBay Live show a few years back down in the Big Easy. He is one heck of a nice guy and it was sad to see him go. Since his departure, the Trading Assistant program as been stagnant with no one taking his place...until now.

Drumroll please...welcome Sharon aka eBay ID:newton@ebay.com. She recently announced on the TA Discussion board that she will be taking over for Walt. This was defineatly a pleasant surprise because I was starting to wonder if eBay forgot about us TAs. Another nice benefit is that Sharon also runs the eBay Education Specialist program and is heavily involved with eBay University. Hopefully, Sharon will be able to inject a much needed boost to our struggling program.

Already there has been a flurry of activity on the board with Sharon. Many new TAs and old timers (like myself) are posting up suggestions to help improve the program. Only time will tell how dedicated eBay will be with supporting Sharon and the TA program. I remain optimistic that good things will come out of this. Welcome aboard to our TA family Sharon!

Identity Crisis Avoided by using Multiple eBay IDs

2007-09-02T10:17:00.000-04:00

I know...the title seems a bit alarming but it does drive home the point I want to make. It makes a lot of sense to use multiple eBay IDs if you are a buyer and seller. Not only do I recommend creating separate buyer and seller IDs, it may also make sense to create multiple seller IDs too. Here are some of the reasons why you should avoid an "Identity Crisis".

Create a "Buyer Only" ID: There are multiple reasons for doing this. The most important reason is if you run into a dispute with a seller. If problems arise with your purchase you can feel confident that any negative retaliatory feedbacks will not affect your seller account. Another benefit of separate accounts is you can be more personal and fun with naming your Buyer ID. Seller IDs are typically named after the business or type of products you sell.
Create a "Seller Only" ID: Establishing a selling ID is definitely a smart business move. This is especially true if you are also buying products on eBay to resell. It's best not to advertise to your buyers where you are sourcing your products from. A seller only ID also looks professional when potential buyers are reviewing your feedback. Just remember to keep the satisfaction rate of your customer's feedback as high as possible. This is your reputation that they are creating.
Multiple Seller IDs: In some instances it makes sense to create multiple seller IDs. You may be selling two major products but in entirely different categories. For example, say you sell a lot of camera equipment and computer laptops. Separating these products under two different eBay Selling IDs makes sense and helps organize things, thus preventing an identity crisis. One minor setback of multiple selling IDs is in the eligibility of PowerSeller (PS) status. You may run into the situation that you would be eligible for PS status if selling under one ID but not using multiple accounts. PowerSeller status has never proven to be beneficial to buyers and doesn't affect your final values, so I still recommend multiple IDs for the buyers benefit vs. PowerSeller status.

Proper Use of eBay Logos for Trading Assistants

2007-08-27T23:31:00.000-04:00

One of the first things a new Trading Assistant should do is create marketing materials to promote their eBay business. It is very tempting to just start downloading logos everywhere and use them on all your literature. The problem is you could be breaking the law by using registered trademarks without permission. So here is the lowdown on the proper use of eBay logos.

First off, the main ebaY logo is completely off limits to everyone without eBay's written permission (and don't hold your breath for that one). Of course you can use the word eBay in your materials as long as it doesn't follow the logo color scheme (as shown before) and is should be all lowercase with the exception of the letter B as follows: eBay

There is one main TA logo (shown above) that can be used for some printed materials like flyers & ads (but not on business cards) and websites. The eBay staff told us in the discussion boards that this logo cannot be used on business cards because it would be too easily construed as TA were employees of eBay. But I guess their legal staff thought it was okay for flyers...go figure!

This logo has been nicely integrated with some TA marketing materials already created by the staff at eBay. These can be accessed via the eBay Trading Assistant Toolkit (of course you must be a registered TA and sign in to see the marketing materials).

The blue logo above is also another eBay Trading Assistant logo that can be integrated with your listings and on websites. It should be linked to your TA profile. Click Here for my tutorial on how to utilize this logo for your listings.

Another useful logo that you may be able to use is the eBay PowerSeller logo. Although, you must be a Powerseller to use this logo. Powersellers have been given permission by eBay to use this logo on all printed materials including business cards and online websites.

One final note about the use of business cards: eBay requires TAs to include a disclaimer stating something to the effect of:

"Trading Assistants operate independently as eBay sellers, and are not employees, agents or partners of eBay"

eBay Store Referral Credits is like Free Money!

2007-08-15T10:32:00.000-04:00

Any eBay seller who has an eBay store should be incorporating a little used incentive that eBay offers known as Store Referral Credits. Basically, you use a special link to send people to your eBay Store pages or items and you can receive a credit of 75% of the final value fee if they bid and win an item. This could easily pay for the cost of having an eBay store to begin with.

Don't have an eBay Store? Open one up by clicking the banner below:

Getting setup to be eligible for this credit is very easy to do and you don't have to join their affiliate program to get paid. Although, there are some prerequisites to receive a referral credit.

You need to be an eBay seller with a Basic, Featured or Anchor Store. This should be obvious since the program is called "eBay Store Referral Credits".
You referrals must visit your store from a link "outside" of eBay. This means they need to click a link to your store from any other website (not eBay) or from an email.
You need a special code (see further down in this post) at the end of your hyperlink that notifies eBay that you want a store referral credit.
The person who clicks on the link needs to purchase an item from your store and their computer must accept cookies (not the ones you eat! :-).

Now...the big question is:

How do I create a Store Referral Credit link?

It is very simple. First you need to know you main URL to your eBay store. The URL is formatted as follows http://stores.ebay.com/[your store name] You can also find it quickly by clicking on the little store icon (Red Door) next to your seller id. My main store URL is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Selling-4-U-Consignment-Store

Next you need to append the Referral credit code to this URL. The code is: ?refid=store

So the correct URL that gives me eligibility for a Store Referral Credit is:

http://stores.ebay.com/Selling-4-U-Consignment-Store?refid=store

So go ahead and click this link and buy something from my store...I would greatly appreciate it! ;-) You should be adding these links to every email you send to buyers, friends, etc. Also make sure to add it to your blogs, myspace pages, websites, forum signatures and more.

There are also a few other variations to creating referral links that would take too long to cover in this post. I recommend that you visit eBay's Help Pages on this topic. Happy selling!

Research is the Key to Profitable eBay Auctions

2007-07-25T15:05:00.000-04:00

Every eBay seller should do some research on the items they plan on selling to help maximize their profit potential. This is even more prevalent for Trading Assistants since they never know what kind of items their client may have to sell. There are a several methods and tools to help you on your knowledge quest.

The easiest and cheapest (free) research is done by searching eBay's current & completed auctions. The completed listing results only reports the last two weeks worth of data. This method may be sufficient with items that are readily available and are selling well on eBay. Items that are unique or few available may require a longer duration of completed sales data to get a more accurate estimate of value. Several third party vendors supply this kind of helpful information.

Two well known programs are HammerTap & Terapeak.

Both programs feature extended historical data and advanced reporting. Sellers now have an abundent amount of information at their fingertips. Utilizing these tools will help you decide auction formats, pricing strategies and supply and demand info. Knowledge is power so start selling smarter!

Offline Marketing of your Trading Assistant business

2007-07-17T09:58:00.000-04:00

Trading Assistants must market their eBay business for it to grow. So much focus has been to use online marketing methods, we tend to forget that there are many effective ways to market offline too.

Some effective methods of offline marketing are relatively cheap or free. As with any marketing effort you need to track your results. Always ask new leads how they heard of you. Write down your results to help analyze how effective each marketing campaign was.

Offline Marketing ideas:

Business Cards: Every eBay Trading Assistant should have them. It is by far the best way to leave your business impression with anyone you come in contact with. I recommend not going too cheap with this. A professional looking card will go a long way. Use services like elance.com for design services and
for print services if needed.
Referrals: Your existing client base is a great resource for referrals. Keeping in touch with them will help generate new clients and remind them of your selling services.
Flyers: Spread the word by using flyers. Tear-off flyers work best at local supermarkets. Some examples of printable flyers are available in the eBay Toolkit.
Networking: Join business networking groups like your local chamber of commerce. These groups offer a great potential for leads and exposes you to new opportunities.
Print Advertising: There are many options to advertise locally including the Yellow Pages, coupon mailers, placemat, newspapers, etc. You will need to budget & track your campaigns to ensure that you are getting a good ROI (Return on Investment).

A few more "Guerrilla Marketing" ideas:

Classified Ad Screening: Monitor local classified & Craigslist ads for items you would to consign. Wait a week to pass and contact the seller if the item was sold. If it wasn't you can offer to help him sell the item. This tactic is effective but cold calling is not for everyone.
Garage Sale Trolling: Visiting garage sales makes it easy to talk to potential clients. Simply offer to help them sell any higher end items they might have (not garage sale items) and hand them a business card.
Home Sellers Direct Mail: Many people selling their homes are in need of TAs to de-clutter their homes before a big move. You can find them by driving around, newspaper ads, etc. A targeted flyer mailed to these prospects could prove well worth the cost of postage.

eBay To Go Widgets Marketing Tool

2007-07-08T22:11:00.000-04:00

eBay recently released a new tool to help market your eBay listings and eBay Store. These creative tools make it easy for Trading Assistants and anyone else to showcase listings on a website or blog. Check out my To Go widget below:

These easy to create widgets are created by going to http://togo.ebay.com/ and following their step by step wizard. You can create widgets for individual items, multiple items, search, seller and eBay Stores. Take advantage of the free utilty now!

eBay Feedback 2.0 - Trading Assistant Status Hidden

2007-07-08T21:57:00.000-04:00

Recently, eBay upgraded their feedback system. This upgrade features many improvements for rating sellers and overall useability. The only drawback I found with eBay's new Feedback 2.0 is that the identification of registered Trading Assistants is now hidden under the "More Options" drop-down menu (see below).

This makes it very difficult for users to know that you a TA. Two things that every eBay Trading Assistant should do is create a "me' page and let everyone know that your a TA on it. You should also use the TA Logo for listings that eBay has provided. I created a tutorial showing you how to implement the TA logo in your listings.

The more people who know what you do the better chance of getting more clients. Over the years I have landed a few clients just because they saw my listings or bought from me and were interested in using my services.

Is your eBay selling schedule independent of holidays?

2007-07-03T21:59:00.000-04:00

Back in the early days of eBay selling most sellers thought that all your auctions should end on a weekend night. It does seem logical since many people are not at work during the weekend, but the reality is it doesn't really matter what day of the week your auctions ends on.

This makes even more sense for volume sellers and eBay Trading Assistants. Ending all your auctions on a Sunday night would create quite the bottleneck in the work flow process. Effective sellers try and balance out their workload so they are not spending two whole days packing and shipping after each weekend.

But what should you do about the holidays?

That depends on several things. If you sell worldwide, then a holiday in the USA doesn't necessarily mean a holiday everywhere (i.e. 4th of July). If you do sell only in the states then maybe it would be a consideration to not end your auctions on that holiday. Then again, with more people at home and the stores closed...shopping on eBay is only a click away.

This topic has been discussed many times on many different forums. Some say it doesn't matter if they end on a holiday, others say it does make a difference. I think it is really a matter of preference, but if you really want to know then run some auctions and record the results.

Is the eBay Trading Assistant business model dead?

2007-07-02T17:50:00.001-04:00

That is the question many Trading Assistants are asking themselves after attending the eBay Live 2007. Even though I wasn't able to attend this year, other TA's who did attend stated that eBay had no TA booth as they did in the past. Also, there was a noticeable lack of eBay Drop shop franchise presence that dominated many of the vendors booths of past years.

This may be a sign that the TA business model has matured to the point that many of the snake oil salesmen have disappeared. Most have seen the retail only franchise "Drop Shops" come and go. Most of these shops have never seen a month in the black and corporate franchisees are re-evaluating their operations or just closing down.

So where does that leave us fellow TAs? No different then when we first started. For as long as people have items to sell and no time or knowledge of eBay, our services will always be needed. It has and always will be up to the individual to determine the direction of his/her TA business. TA's relying on eBay & retail stores to make their TA business successful will be painfully disappointed. While the definition of success is different for each person, the bottom line is to make a profit, help others and enjoy what we do.

Don't forget to update your eBay fee schedules!

2007-02-21T23:22:00.000-05:00

I know many of us eBay Trading Assistants are very busy creating listings, taking photographs, packing items, sending emails, etc. But In case you didn't realize, eBay increased the final value fees for the $25.01-$1000 tier from 3% to 3.25% as of Feb 1, 2007 (see announcement).

Many TA's including myself charge our clients for these fees. You need to adjust your calculations in your accounting system, contracts and website information. Not doing so is costing you money and Trading Assistants already work too hard for their money! :-) Consider yourself warned.

New eBay Trading Assistant Book Available.

2006-11-29T11:10:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that a new book called the "eBay Entrepreneur: the Definitive Guide to Starting Your Own eBay Trading Assistant Business" is now available. This book is written by Powerseller Christopher Matthew Spencer who contributes regularly to the eBay Trading Assistant discussion board. I highly recommend you pick up this book if you are interested in running an eBay TA Business! Click on the link below to order from Amazon.

Weird Al - Funny eBay Video

2006-11-20T11:09:00.000-05:00

Now for something completely different... Weird Al is making a strong comeback recently and I found this funny song/video up on YouTube. Thought you guys might enjoy it.

Sellers Tip: eBay Reviews can find you buyers if…

2006-11-01T20:29:00.000-05:00

A while back eBay introduced a new feature to it’s website that let’s users write reviews on certain products. These reviews provide useful information to buyers as well as sellers of these products.

These reviews are organized into categories of specific products that are searchable by keyword. For example, searching for user Reviews with the keywords “FujiFilm” under the digital camera category will provide you a list of targeted guides. The user can then click on a specific review to get more detailed information. Each product is rated 1-5 by the reviewer and averaged across all reviewers.

My Tip to Sellers:

If you are selling a product that doesn’t have a review, then create one. If one exists then it is not as important to create an additional review for the same product.

You may ask, why should I write a review?

Free Marketing! eBay integrated a search function and highlights auctions in every review to find that specific product on eBay. See the screenshot below.

The most important thing to remember is to use all of the keywords in the review title in your main auction listing title. This will guarantee that your listing will show up for any users who click the “Buy One Like This” button in that review. That’s all there is to it.

Seven Steps to Getting Paid for your eBay Auction

2006-10-20T22:25:00.000-04:00

For eBay Sellers, nothing is more frustrating than not getting paid for a completed auction. There are many reasons why this may happen. New eBay buyers, sometimes known as “newbies” may simply not understand the payment process. Sometimes buyers have questions and are waiting to hear from the sellers before sending payment or completely forgot they won. Occasionally, you will get a bidder who got a bad case of buyer’s remorse and backs out of the deal.

Many non-paying bidder disputes can be avoided if sellers took a more proactive approach about getting paid. The absolute first thing you need to do is explain in each and every auction listing your payment terms. Define when you expect to be contacted, # of days in which payment must be received and payment methods accepted. Below you will see my 7 Step approach to getting paid for you eBay auctions. Follow each step consecutively until payment has been paid.

1. Send an eBay Invoice
You should send an eBay invoice to the winning bidder ASAP (preferably the same day the auction closes). The buyer will now have all the information needed to make the payment.

2. Send a Winning Bidder Notice Email
Send a friendly email to the winning bidder a day or two after the eBay invoice was sent congratulating them on their successful auction win. Give them details on how to make payment and request that they contact you if they have any questions.

3. Send a Payment Reminder Email
On the fourth or fifth day after the auction has closed send them a friendly payment reminder. Ask that they contact you within 24 hours to verify that they will complete the auction

4. Send a Warning Email
On the 6th Day send an email warning the winning bidder that you have not received payment or contact from them and they must contact you within 24 hours or you will be forced to file an unpaid item notification with eBay.

5. Try Contacting the Buyer via Phone
If the buyer still hasn’t contacted you or made payment, request their contact information via eBay’s Find Contact Info page. Once you request their contact information you will receive an email with their phone number. Give the buyer a phone call to see what the problem is. It is always best to start the conversation in a pleasant tone and helpful tone. Keep the conversation professional even if the buyer gets defensive.

6. File an Unpaid Item Dispute
If all else fails; file an Unpaid Item Dispute on the 8th day after the auction ended. Sometimes an official warning from eBay can be enough incentive to get the buyer to make payment. If not, this is still necessary step to recoup the eBay final value fees for the auction.

7. Close the Dispute and Recover your Fees
If the winning bidder fails to make payment after performing these first six steps then close the dispute after 7 more days and recoup your final value fees. This can be done in the Dispute Console. At this point you may want to try either re-listing the item or send a 2nd Chance Offer to the next highest bidder.

Biz Product Review: eFax Internet Faxing & Voicemail

2006-10-11T23:19:00.000-04:00

We posted up our first review of products and services for helping eBay Trading Assistants run their business more effieciently. The eFax Service has been available for many years and has matured into an essential small business tool. It has a robust set of features including voicemail, toll-free & local exchange numbers, sending and receiving faxes from your computer and much more. For the price it is hard to beat. Click Here for the full TA.BIZ review.

eBay Sellers can no longer hide behind Private Feedback

2006-10-04T09:53:00.000-04:00

It was just announced that eBay will implement a new policy preventing active sellers from having their feedback set to private. This policy will go into effect later this month. Buyers can still have their feedback private but if they want to sell an item, they must switch it back to public.

This is a very good thing for reputable sellers and all eBay buyers alike. The eBay community was built on trust and this policy will help build that even more. I just surprised it took them this long to implement it!

Why would a user make their feedback private? Some sellers would switch their feedback to private if they had a very negative comment from a buyer. They might even switch it back to public after the feedback was buried several pages deep. This will no longer be an option.

Feedback is the critical factor in determining the reputation of a seller and buyer. Even if a seller gets a negative rating they do have the opportunity to respond to their rating within the feedback system. As a Trading Assistant / eBay Seller, the key is to always act professional and leave appropriate, factual comments. Personal attacks or retaliatory feedback always results in lowering your image and creates distrust.

Is owning an eBay Drop Shop in your future?

2006-09-25T07:29:00.000-04:00

Many Trading Assistants dream to one day grow their hobby or part-time gig into a full time retail business or "eBay Drop Shop". Running this kind of business requires a lot of research and planning to be successful. The TA must prepared to work hard and long hours and this is defineatly not a "Get Rich Quick" type of business.

There are several paths to owning a Drop Shop. Some use their own experience and expand upon it to start the retail business. Others buy into a franchise and utilize their business expertise and resources. Each method has its pros and cons.

Many factors must be analyised before making the jump. Here are just a few things to think about if you are considering owning an eBay Drop Off store.

Cash Reserves - Most businesses fail within their first year due to a lack of funding. You should have enough cash to float the business for at least 6 months to a year.

Location, Location, Location - Finding the right location for your business is critical. You want to get the most exposure as possible. Your signage should be large enough for everyone to see. Other factors you should consider is parking, safety & rent amounts. Keep in mind that the better the location usually equals higher rent.

Employees - No matter how well you know this business you cannot run it efficiently alone. You will need to consider highering employees if you want some kind of a personal life. Consider hiring part-time help (moms w/children in school are perfect for this business). Hiring family is also usually cheaper and more trust worthy alternative.

Advertising - Don't under estimate the amount of money needed to market your business. There are many options available that cost very little to alot. Tracking the results of your marketing efforts will help you streamline your efforts and in return getting more bang for the buck. eBay also has a program for retail "drop-offs" known as the Trading Post program. Click Here to read more about it.

There are many other things that need to be worked out before you start any business. Always consult with your local professionals (i.e. attorney & accountant) to ensure your business is setup correctly. Spending a little money upfront can save you a lot of money down the road!

Get FREE website hosting and domain from Microsoft

2006-09-20T11:43:00.000-04:00

I just found out about this Nifty Little Offer from Microsoft. Now you can get a FREE domain name and website hosting from Microsoft. This offer is from their Microsoft Office Live site and the basic version will remain free even after the beta ends.

Now you have no excuse to not have a website! Enjoy.

Advertise your Trading Assistant Business in every eBay Listing

2006-09-18T17:46:00.000-04:00

Are you registered eBay Trading Assistant? If so, then tell everyone who looks at your auctions that you are! I have received many questions about the TA business over the years from fellow eBayers who were just looking at my listings. A couple even became my clients.

eBay was nice enough to create a special TA logo with a hyperlink to your TA profile page that you can use in your listings. The problem is that their instructions are a little cryptic and are not interactive. To solve this problem, I created a tutorial on our TA.BIZ Website that guides you step by step on how to do this. Click Here to view the tutorial.

eBay Sellers: Spoof Protection for your buyers and reputation!

2006-09-12T23:17:00.000-04:00

Over the last year or so, phishing and spoof emails have reached an epidemic level. These emails are made to look like they are coming from legitimate companies (i.e. eBay & PayPal) and they almost look legit with standard formatting and logos. The problem is they are being sent by criminals looking to hijack your account, purchase merchandise, steal your identity and/or drain your bank accounts.

Many financial institutions & eBay have done a commendable job alerting the general public of this threat. In regards to eBay, most of these emails are targeting bidders and buyers. As a seller you may not think this affects you, but it does and there are some things you can to help.

The biggest spoof scam on eBay nowadays is fake “Second Chance Offers”. Sellers of high-ticket items are generally the targets of this scam. I have seen as many as 3-4 bidders on one of my auctions receiving these fake offers. This creates confusion, frustration and general distrust that is targeted at the seller even though they didn’t send the emails. Here are some tips to prevent this.

If you know your auction item is going to sell for several hundred dollars or more then protect your bidder’s identities by making your auction private. This can be done when creating the listing. You can find it in eBay’s “Sell Your Item” page on Step 3 under Private Listing. Once the item is listed on eBay and you receive bids, only the seller can see the ID’s of the bidders. The listing will show the number of bids and it will state that it is private (see picture below). Making an auction private will also prevent other members from sending fraudulent emails to your bidders.

You should state somewhere in your listing a disclaimer as to why the auction was made private. This disclaimer also helps alleviate any confusion or thoughts of shill bidding. This the disclaimer I use in my auctions…

"This auction was made private to protect our bidders from spamming and fake offers from other members."

Be proactive and protect your bidders and your reputation! Sell Smarter.

Our Trading Assistant Biz Website is now Online!

2006-09-06T00:53:00.000-04:00

Our TradingAssistants.Biz website in now up and running. We still have alot more features to add but I wanted to highlight a few that are available now.

Getting Started: This section is an article that is perfect for newbies who are gathering information on how to start their eBay Trading Assistant Business.
Tutorials: We currently have one tutorial online that shows you a quick and easy way to add the TA logo to your listings.
Links: We created 3 seperate links pages: 1) eBay.com reference pages 2) Featured Trading Assistant Links 3) Free eBay Utility Sites. Be sure to check out how to get your TA website listed on our Featured TA Links Page for free!
Book Store: Find great books for sale to help make you a better eBay seller and build your eBay consignment business.

Stay tuned for more great things to come...

Let eBay advertise for you!

2006-08-28T10:34:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed on eBay's home page that they are always pushing some kind of promotion (See Picture)? These promotions usually have links to specific categories of products for buyers to click on. Sometimes they even send out emails to users highlighting promotions too. Wouldn't it be nice to know what's next on the eBay promotion agenda? Well, let me show you the way!

eBay has been kind enough to post up the schedule of marketing promotions on their site (although it can be easily overlooked) known as the Merchandising Calendar. This calendar will show you what product categories they will be promoting in the upcoming months. Next you will want to browse the eBay Pulse page to find specific products in these scheduled categories that are currently in high demand. The Pulse Page is a gold mine of information (I am surprised that eBay releases it freely).

With this information in hand, you should be able to develop targeted marketing campaigns for your Trading Assistant business. You may also want to hold off listing certain items if they are going to be promoted shortly. If you can get your clients to supply you with items that are in the product categories of these scheduled promotions, it is like having eBay advertise your items for Free!

Marketing 101 for your TA Biz - Part 1

2006-08-23T22:32:00.000-04:00

Many new eBay Trading Assistants are full of energy and excitement when they successfully sold items for their first client. Many TAs actually get started because their first client came to them (usually as a family member, friend or acquaintance). The problem TAs quickly run into is how to get new clients. Don't worry...There are many ways and most won't cost you a fortune either.

The first thing to do is make sure you are registered as an eBay Trading Assistant and get your profile completed so you are listed in the eBay TA Directory. Many TAs think that this is all they have to do and the clients will come a'knockin. The truth is most trading assistants get very few leads and even fewer clients through this method.

The second thing every serious trading assistant should have is business cards. They don't have to be fancy but the more professional looking the better. These cards should be handed out to everyone you know and come in contact with. They are cheap enough to buy online, so go with full color and a glossy finish for a quality look. I get my cards printed using an online printing service which is convenient and saves me money. 50% OFF Premium "Custom" Business Cards

Next you should have some flyers or brochures created describing your services. Leave several of them with you clients. You will be surprised how quickly they will tell their friends and hand off your info.

Another way to generate new business is to offer incentives. Let your existing clients know that you appreciate referrals and will kick them back a referral fee (fixed amount or percentage) for each new client they send your way. Also you might want to include a coupon in a flyer or brochure for new clients to get a discounted commission rate on their first item you sell for them.

Direct mail can be very effective if done right. You really need to do your research and target your mailings to clients who have the right things to sell. Most likely you will want to target a demographic area that is made up of 30-40 year olds and older with a middle to upper class status. Seniors are also a great group to sell for who have wonderful items like antiques, rare collectibles and more.

A little marketing creativity can go a long way and it doesn't have to cost you a fortune either. In a future post I will cover some online marketing methods.