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Archive for October, 2007
Your feedback on ebay is gold. Don’t mess it up. Deal with every situation professionally. We all know some customers can be a pain in the neck. Just deal with every one of them as nice as pie. If they are unhappy, throw them a bone. A free gift, e-book, or semi discount is usually enough to make an unhappy customer give you a good feedback just for the effort.
Some sellers wait for a customer to leave feedback before they give feedback to the customer. This is very bad ebay practice. Don’t wait until after a buyer gives you feedback to leave them feedback. The sellers that wait, are waiting just incase a negative feedback is left about them. So they can get revenge feedback. They do this because, once you leave a good feedback about someone, you can’t go back and change it. Those same jerk sellers know they have crappy service, so they have to be prepared.
Ebay frowns upon revenge feedback and it’s mean. If someone is being honest about a bad product or service; you shouldn’t give them a negative feedback in return, just because they are being honest. If ebay finds you giving revenge feedback, they can suspend your account. Don’t do it, it’s mean to give someone a negative feedback for being honest.
Unless you are a jerk to the customer, they won’t leave you a negative feedback. In all honesty, if the customer paid you, they did their part. Leave them their positive feedback right away. If they pay in a timely manner, give them a good feedback that says so. If a customer had to be reminded and paid 3 or 4 weeks later, just be honest in the feedback. That’s what the feedback system is in place for, to be honest. Not to screw someone over with revenge feedback.
Always keep good contact from the time the buyer wins the auction, until they receive their item. Be nice, be honest, and you’ll be fine. The correct way for an ebay seller to leave feedback is, when you ship the item or immediately after payment is received. Not after a feedback is left for you. Remember; be nice to the customers at all costs. And throw unhappy customers a bone and be even nicer to them. You will rise with 100% feedback rating, if you follow these rules.
Feedback is like gold on ebay. Cherish it. Respect your customers no matter how mean they get. Treat the mean customers even nicer.
Thanks for stopping by my daily blog.
Lisa
Have you ever wondered how other ebay sellers, make their auction page look like a web page? Some ebay auction pages are really nice. The items in the auction sell all by them self, just because the auction page looks professional. It is so important not to just put text into your ebay descriptions. Always use HTML in your description, when you post an auction. HTML is a bunch of simple codes, that together, can make a professional looking auction page. Don’t be scared of HTML, it is very simple. It just sounds a lot harder than it is.
Html can let you put as many free pictures into your auction as you want. You won’t have to deal with getting the first picture free and paying for multiple ones anymore. Plus, you can put the pictures anywhere you want and any size you want. You won’t have to settle for those little pictures, on the bottom of the auction that customers have to click on to see. Adding pictures any where and any size you want, will make your auction more attractive. The pictures will be right there in the customers face. Pictures are eye candy, and they are proven to drive sales up 50% or more.
You don’t just get better picture options using HTML. You have the options to do whatever you want. You can add colors to text. You can make the text size you want and anywhere you want. You can add custom designs. You can make beautiful headers with your business name. You can add your business logo into your auction page. Ton and tons, the list goes on.
There are free HTML guides all over the internet. They are very simple to learn.
Lets say, you want to add bold text.
<b>You would type what you want to say here.</b>
The last part in the HTML code always ends with </code here>. The <b> tells the code that you want bold type, b stands for bold. The </b> tells the code you want the bold type to end there. Notice above, how the first b doesn’t have a forward slash and the last one does. Just remember the last part in the HTML code ends with the forward slash before the code. Like shown above.
I hope that explains it for you. There are thousands of HTML codes. Nobody is expected to know them all. I know about 50 basic HTML codes by heart. I use a free online HTML codes for the rest. I use www.w3schools.com/html/ W3schools have tutorials on HTML and everything. It is totally free. It’s for beginners and advanced HTML users. So it would be perfect if you want to learn. I use w3schools.com as my HTML bible.
When you get good at HTML, try making yourself a custom auction page template. One that is original to your ebay store. Maybe a template that is original to your business. Auction templates can make your auctions really stand out among the rest! Your sales will immediately increase!
If you ever have any questions about my blog email me at LP@thehomedropshipguide.com
Thanks,
Lisa
Okay today’s topic will be short and sweet. Did you know you could get free shipping supplies? Free peanuts, bubble wrap, tape, and shipping boxes. You can even get free shipping labels, customized for your business. Are you always shipping items? Are you paying for all your shipping supplies? I have seen so many people lose money by paying for shipping supplies. A majority of home businesses don’t even know about this little trick.
Lets say you usually ship through the post office, using first class mail. Did you know; shipping priority at the post office is only about $1.00 more to ship? If you ship by priority, insurance and signatures(registered mail) are cheaper. If you ship by priority mail, the post office will give you; free shipping supplies( bubble wrap, peanuts, shipping tape, shipping boxes and your own customized business labels) FOR FREE. Too many people make the mistake, of shipping first class and end up paying for all shipping supplies. The extra dollar you pay for priority shipping is well worth it.
When I first started my home business, I used to spend over $100 a month for shipping supplies. Then I did some research to find cheaper shipping supplies and found out this useful information. I saved my self over $1000 in my first year by not buying shipping supplies anymore. Priority mail at the post office is great. If you ever need more supplies, just call them and they will send more, FREE! If you need your shipping supplies ASAP, just go to any post office and get the shipping supplies you need until yours are delivered. It’s totally free.
How can you go wrong when your shipping supplies are free? Stop buying your shipping supplies. Give the united states postal office a call. Tell them what you need and they will ship it. Don’t forget to ask them for your free customized business labels also.
Thanks for stopping by everyone!
Lisa
Ebay seller research increases sales and lets you know how the competition does it. Have you ever heard of ebay’s “seller central”? It’s a great place to find out current hot items on ebay. Its right on ebay’s website, just look for seller central. I use it all the time. There is so much useful information here. I am surprised how many people just ignore this part of ebays website.
You can’t just put items on ebay, if you haven’t done your homework. You have to know what is selling. The “Hot Selling Items” on ebay, are the ones you want to be selling. The best powersellers around are selling what is hot. The hot list always changes about every 1-3 months. Fads come and go. Newer models get made in the older models place. Your job is to always know what the hot items are at the time.
You can find correct ebay hot lists all over the internet for free. Ebay even has a current hot list in their seller central. They update the list about once every 1-3 months. The list tells you what is hot, very hot, and super hot. This list is very useful. I use it like a bible. It is always changing. If you don’t like the ebay hot list, check out some other list around the internet. There are lots of hotlists you can find online for free. Ebay might be the only accurate one though.
Check the merchandising calendar on ebay. It is also located in ebays “seller central”. It tells you all the upcomming events or holidays. You can basically sell by holiday or season with the calendar. It recently reminded us about back to school & fall fashion. It sounds simple and it is simple. It’s a seller reminder calendar, so sellers can sell what is in season. I suggest you get your self familiar with it. It’s a great guide.
Ebay Pulse, is also located in ebay’s seller central. This is a great place to search for category to see what is hot. Most searched or most watched items. You can also find out the most popular products selling. Its an easy to use source and takes a few minutes to learn. I suggest this for any beginner.
Ebay also just added a marketplace research tool. It lets you search for sold items in the last 90 days. The only downfall is, they charge you for this. There are so many other ways to search this information for free. I don’t think it’s worth paying. But, if you are not very good at doing online research, this tool is for you. Check it out, it’s also located in seller central.
You can also do an advanced search to find what is selling.
*Just goto the ebay homepage.
*Look at the search bar on top. Next to it is advanced search, click onto advanced search.
*Now click onto the completed items box.
*Now type in what you are looking for and the list will show you all the correct auctions that have ended. You can see what sold and what didn’t for up to 3 days I believe. You can find out what times of the day this item sells best. You can find out what day the item sells best. It’s a great little trick to find out what is selling. Check it out.
I hope I helped some of understand how to do research to sell on ebay. It’s very important if you want to be a consistent powerseller on ebay.
See you tomorrow.
Thank you,
Today I am going to tell you about small packages. Sell small items that will make you the most profit. If you are buying wholesale products in bulk to resell, the small items are the best. Digital cameras or camcorders pack a wallop in profit. Most digital cameras and camcorders will bring you in $50-$500 dollars profit for each sale. I am not saying you have to sell these particular items, I am just saying they are small and the profit margins are huge. This should be what you are looking for to sell.
If you are selling televisions and want to buy bulk, you’ll probably buy about 100 of them. But what about space to keep them? What about those huge $75-$300 shipping charges? The inconvenience of having huge items to ship can be very troublesome. Just to make $50-$500 profit on each television. Save yourself the hassle and sell small items that have huge profits.
If you sell a smaller items like digital cameras or camcorders, you will make about the same profit, as the big televisions and other big expensive items. But if you sell smaller items, you won’t have to deal with shipping huge items. You won’t have to worry about storing huge items somewhere. You won’t have to worry about huge shipping costs. You won’t have to worry about lugging big expensive items to ups or the post office. There is no hassle with selling small items, compared to selling large items that will make you the same profit.
You may even find those smaller items sell better. You may even find that in the long run, you will make more profit. You don’t have to sell big, fancy, and expensive items, to make money from home. Do some research find out what would work best for you. Take my word for it, if you are a home business, let the guys who have storage space sell the big stuff. I actually have a friend who stores his goods in his garage. He can’t park his car in the garage, because the pallets are in the way.
If you have the room for storage space, go for it, sell the big stuff. But don’t overwhelm yourself, by taking the space in your living quarters away. Keep it small and simple so you can function properly. There will be less stress from lugging a 2 pound digital camera box; compared to lugging around a pallet or two of 85 pound televisions. Avoid shipping nightmares. I have sold televisions in the past. The most common thing is having the big items, destroyed in the shipping process. Yes you get reimbursed, but the hassle of having to replace items, doesn’t have to happen. Big heavy items are literally thrown and slammed around, before they make it to the destination. Just remember, you don’t have to sell big expensive items to make profit.
If you want to learn more, stop by tomorrow.
Thanks,
There are tons of tricks you can use on ebay, to save money and make more. Everyone knows different tricks, some people know all the tricks. I happen to be one of those people that can say they know it all about ebay. I am going to show you some very important basic tips to sell more on ebay.
Be Professional-It’s very important to keep that professional image going. Don’t make in-mature or childish decisions. Make sure you treat customers with respect. Everything from your ebay name to the way your auctions look, should professional. If your ebay name is “jsmith”; that won’t catch someones eye like “TheIpodStore” would. Your ebay name should be related to what you are selling.
Feedback- Build your feedback to about 10-20, before you go crazy selling things. People don’t start to trust you on ebay, until your have about 20 feedbacks. Just list single items until you build your feedback to a trust-able level. Then sell multiple lots and big money items. There are tons of ebooks you can buy on ebay for 99 cents. Buy a bunch of them and build your feedback up. Remember don’t screw your feedback up. You are bound to never have perfect feedback. A good seller will average 100 positive feedbacks to every negative. You can’t make everyone happy, but you can try. Your feedback is gold, it tells everyone what kind of reputation you have on ebay.
Know What You Are Selling-This is a common mistake, that many ebayers make. They try and sell something they have no clue about. Someone who is familiar with that item will know, and might not buy from you. They might figure; if they don’t know what they are selling, How do I even know I am getting the item I want? Many things could run through their head. But the one thing they won’t do, is buy from you. Do some research on the item your are selling. Or if you know about what you are selling, put your expertise to work. Know what you are selling.
Pictures- As simple as this sounds, some people still don’t put pictures in their auction. Pictures will sell your auction. It will show the condition of the item. It will reassure the customer that they are getting what they want. Pictures in your auctions will boost sales by 50+ percent! It’s a huge mistake, not putting pictures in your auction. You may figure, if they know what they are buying, they don’t need pictures. You are wrong, the human brain is automatically attracted to pictures. It is so important for the buyer to see a picture. Even if they do know what it looks like already. Make sure the pictures are quality and not over-sized or blurry. Get yourself a good digital camera or scanner, you will need it. Put pictures in your auctions, it really makes a difference.
Ebay Description and Title- Make sure you dedicate a lot of time to thinking of a catchy title and description. The title needs to be the one thing, that lures the customer there. Maybe use a gallery picture as well. It needs to be original and eye catching.
Your description should grab them as soon as they click onto the Auction. Don’t make it too long. Make it short and to the point. Remember to keep originality, don’t steal someone elses work. Use html and pictures to make your description more professional.
Offer Lots of Payment Methods- Remember, I talked about this earlier in the month. Always offer as many ways to pay as possible. This will drive all customers to buy from you. The guy with the same auction for 5 dollars cheaper doesn’t accept paypal, but you do. You would get the sale. The first thing most people that shop on ebay look for, are the payment types accepted. So, do yourself a favor; Accept all payments types possible and you will steal the competitions business away.
Customer Service and Shipping- Remember to keep your customer service professional. Make it fair and always gear it towards the customers benefit, not yours. Follow up all your sales with emails to update and thank the customer.
Make your shipping clearly posted into your auction in several areas. Dedicate a small portion of your description to tell about shipping options. Also list the shipping price on the auction lister. You can also choose to calculate shipping for certain areas.
That’s it. Several basics to remember about ebay sales. Use these guidelines and your sales will be consistent and plentiful.
Thanks for stopping by, see you tomorrow.
We all know, that online marketing and advertising for your business can be tricky. Have you ever thought of making some business cards for your business? Or handing out flyer’s around town? Local advertising is very easy to do. You don’t have to know any marketing ploys online. Local advertising can bring in 40% of your business, if you do it right. I have been really successful doing local advertising. You could even post your business card onto that board at your local supermarket. How bout the local restaurants, everyone leaves there business card at? You could put yours there also. People really do look at the business cards posted.
Business cards can be done for very little money. You could have 500 quality business cards made for about $20.00. The $20.00 you spend on business cards will pay for it self. Hand them out to all your friends. Give them to your family, let everyone know that you are in business. Put the website address to your online store on the business card.
Make it a professional business card. Make your business card original, so it stands out among the rest. Put some quality into your business card. It doesn’t cost much for the better paper. The better the quality of the card, the more people will gaze at your card first. If you can afford video business cards, go for it, they are very effective. Put your company logo on the business card. Pictures speak louder than words. Don’t make the logo too big, remember professional. Gear the colors on the business card to your logo colors. But don’t go too bright with the colors, it doesn’t look good. Try and match the business card up, so the logo matches it. The logo is very important, it is how people will remember you.
Handing out flyer’s is very effective. The one thing you don’t want to do is, litter.Most towns or cities frown upon flyer’s that are all over the ground. Make sure wherever you put your flyer’s, they won’t end up all over the ground. Never put your flyer’s under the windshield wiper of cars. The owner will probably throw it on the ground after reading it. Then you can get in trouble for littering. Use places that the public is around a lot. You can always post your flyer’s at the subway station. The subway station always has a place, you can post your flyer’s to the public. Supermarkets, restaurants, malls, bus stops, tons of places. Just make sure you get permission, if you are posting your flyer’s in a business. If you are posting them in public you can put them all over. But always remember to secure your flyer’s, so they wont go anywhere.
Make the information in your flyer, eye catching and straight to the point. Gear it the same way as your business card. Include your info, so they can visit your website. You can print some really good flyer’s right off your computer. Distributing flyer’s is probably the most effective way you could advertise your business. Its free if you have a printer. All you need to do, is take the time to distribute them everywhere.
Even if you don’t have a website. Advertise your ebay store. GOODLUCK!
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate all the feedback on my blog.
Thanks,
Lisa
Ebay and Paypal are a great way to buy and sell goods. You can buy what you want easily. You can pay for what you want with ease. But there are people who sign up for ebay or paypal; for the sole reason of taking people for everything they have. Ebay and paypal do what they can to stop fraud. But you can’t catch everyone, when millions of people use ebay and paypal.
There are people out there, who will put a deal that is too good to be true for a few thousand dollars. People always look for a good deal, that’s what ebay is all about, finding bargains. Some unsuspecting person, buys the item for a big price and never gets the item. Scammers try and pull this con off everyday. The sad thing is, people fall for it all the time.
Look at feedback. If the person has 0-3 for a feedback number, be weary. That member has not been there long enough to be trusted with a big money deal. Always look through the sellers feedback with a fine tooth comb. Some people will give good feedback, but write something negative about the seller. Some people just don’t leave neutral or negative comments. So make sure you read through buyers comments in the feedback. Don’t just look at how many positive feedback they have.
Fake ebay or paypal emails, watch out for these. This is a popular one, the scammers actually try to scare you in to believing the email is real. Ebay and paypal do not send fake emails. Scammers actually make ebay or paypal emails, they usually look identical to the real thing. These fake emails look so much like the real thing, there are only a few ways to tell the difference. Here are some clues to look out for, so you don’t get scammed in to believing these emails.
1. Ebay and paypal, would never ask for your personal information through email communication.
2.Some emails will look like they are from ebay or paypal, the scammers try and force you to sign in. They are not real emails. They say things like, “you have been suspended” and you need to log in right away to fix the problem. Or that someone has logged in with a weird IP address and your account might have been stolen. They give lots of reasons to try and scam you into believing that the email is serious and needs your immediate attention. When you click onto the email link; it brings you to a webpage that looks just like ebay or paypal. It will ask you to log in, then it will bring you to a screen that asks for all kinds of personal information. It will ask for your social security number, bank account info, even your pin number for your bank card.
Always look at the web address the link in the email brought you to. If its not www.ebay.com/abunchofotherstuffhere or www.paypal.com/abunchofotherstuffhere , then its not a real email. Ebay and paypal will never ask you for your personal information through an email.
3.You may get an email that claims you have won or sold something on ebay. It may be a paypal or ebay email look alike. This is a fake email. If you click on the links in the email, they will not bring you to paypal or ebay’s website. That is key; if the email doesn’t bring you to paypal or ebay websites, it’s a fake email and should be reported.
If you get any emails that you think may be fraud, forward it along with the header to spoof@ebay.com or spoof@paypal.com
4.If you are a seller in large dollar items, you may be familiar with this next one. Someone buys an item from you with 0-3 feedback. The buyer pays for the item. The seller ships the item and it’s business as usual. Until you find that the credit card was stolen and your paypal balance is negative $500.00. Now you end up losing the money and the big money item.
The way to prevent credit card fraud on paypal is; open a business or premier business paypal account. It will protect you against credit card fraud on paypal. It’s free to sign up for this paypal account. Most people have a personal paypal account and you are not covered for credit card theft with a regular paypal account.
If you don’t have a business or premier account on paypal; you would have to pay for the negative balance and eat the price of the large dollar item. You would lose twice everytime. No business could survive on that. Do your self a favor and open a free business or premier account on paypal.
Just remember, don’t let these creeps keep floating around. Don’t let scammers keep ripping innocent people off. Report them right away. The sooner you report them, the sooner they will be caught. Report them to the email addresses I have provided. If you like, contact ebay or paypal directly. But if we don’t report these guys, they will always be there. It takes 2 minutes to report them. Take that time out for it. Next time those creeps try and scam someone, it may be you or someone you love.
We all need to do our part to stop these creeps. Report them!
If you want to learn more stop by tomorrow.
Thanks,
Lisa
We all have one thing in common as everyday business people. We all accept money for our service and/or product. Having the convenience of accepting many different payments types, can raise your web sales by 25 percent. Try and accept every payment type possible, from paypal, to American express, to e-checks. You can easily accept credit cards on your web business nowadays. There are hundreds of reputable credit card, processing merchants, that want your business.
Paypal is probably the most used payment method over the web. Even if you don’t like paypal, you will lose out, if you don’t offer it as a payment method. Google checkout is said to be better than paypal. Google checkout is making a big hit in the marketplace. They are trying to reach the goal to be an equal to paypal. Google offers better security and great customer service. Google is trying to be geared more towards preventing fraud. Where paypal seems to go along with fraud and the people who are committing the fraud. Google may change the face of web payment processors. After all, customers do want to feel secure, as they give their credit card numbers or other personal information away.
Security of different payments types is also important. Today’s identity theft, cautious customers, want to have a safe and easy transaction. Make sure you have hackersafe or other logos on your website. There is all kinds of coding that you can put into your website to prevent hackers. Most host providers include some safety features like hacksafe. If you have hacksafe features on your website, advertise it. Even though you know you have a secure website, let the customer know also. It really does help your sales.
If you are an ebay merchant, make sure you accept every payment method also. You will notice, the more payment options you give; the more your sales will increase. Think about it; if you wanted to buy something, but you only pay with paypal online, the website you are on only accepts credit cards, now that web site doesn’t make a sale. They lose out because you were going to buy something. But since they don’t accept paypal, you go to someone else’s website. The customer is going to buy it anyway. Why not give them the option to buy it from you?
If you want to learn more come back tomorrow.
Thanks,
Lisa
Having a great title and description is probably the most important thing, to drive customers to your ebay auction. You have to have a title that reaches out to grab someone. Your title is what will draw your customers, so make it great. You can also add sub titles to ebay auctions. This is so your can use as much as you can, to draw the customers in.
Ebay has made it so easy to drive customers to your auctions. They have many tools to help you drive traffic. They give you the option to have an ebay store. With meta tags to be search engine friendly. But nothing works as good as a great title to draw a customers curiosity. Try capitalizing every word in your title. Try phrases like Brand new, Guaranteed, or Hot in your sub title. Even though someone else might be selling the same thing you are for the same price. If your auction seems to offer more,even though it doesn’t, that customer might be drawn to your auction instead.
So once you have drawn them to click on your auction with a great title; now you need them to stay and read about what you are offering. Your description is what will keep the customers there. A description can make or break your auctions final selling price. Don’t forget to add html to your auction description. Make your auction look professional. Make it friendly and straight to the point. Offer pictures to brighten up the auction.
Most ebay members click onto an auction for 5 seconds before clicking away. The ebay members that usually buy, are the ones that visit your auction page for more than 10 seconds. So keep your auction description unique and interesting all at once. Don’t copy anyone Else’s ideas, because chances are someone has already seen this same mumbo jumbo before. People get bored really easy, by seeing the same old things.
Just keep your ebay auctions unique and interesting. Your ebay sales depend on it.
Thank you for supporting my daily blog. If you want to learn more come back tomorrow.
Thanks
Lisa
If you have any questions, feel free to email me LP@thehomedropshipguide.com
It’s Sunday, time to kick back and relax. Do you like to play video games? I am not talking about video poker. I am talking about racing games, sports games, first person shooters, and fighting games. If you like that kind of entertainment, I have a treat for you. Today I am going to tell you about a place, that has cash tournaments for playing these types of video games.
Its called skillground.com. They have 5 different games to play and compete against other people for real cash prizes. They have a 6th game on the way, Toca Race Driver 3. Right now skillground has Warpath( 1st person shooter), Close Quarters Conflict(1st person shooter), LA Street Racing (driving game), Kung Fu deadly Arts(fighter). All though these games are great. These games haven’t been getting as much attention, as skillgrounds newest addition. Its the reason you came back today “Golf”.
It’s UTour Golf. They have 3 ways to play;
Head to Head ( 1 on 1 play against someone else)
Quickplay ( You can pick from a bunch of different courses. Decide to play 2 or 4 people.)
Tournaments (Players club members can compete in big cash prizes)
It’s free to sign up and play at skillground. You can play for free as long as you like. You never have to pay anything, unless you decide to join as a players club member. To compete in the tournaments, you have to be a players club member. You can be a players club member for is little as $5-$30 dollars. And whatever you deposit, they will match it!! I put down $20 when I joined in June of this year. I have never had to give them any more money.
I have been playing video games since I was 4 years old, so I can hold my own. All though I am far from the best, I keep winning. But remember, I probably place in the top 20 best players, out of the hundreds that play there. You win lots of money, just for playing video games you were going to play anyway. If you like these types of games and like to be competitive, skillground maybe for you.
Skillground’s, UTour golf is especially popular. This is the game everyone plays. It’s skillgrounds newest addition and probably the best game they have to offer. It’s an outstanding game and the physics are the best of any golf game available. I have played tiger woods and shot online, among tons of other golf games, and UTour golf beats them all for realism. Utour is very realistic and very precise. And this game is only in beta stage. Utour has the biggest cash tournaments on skillground. You can check out skillgrounds golf game Utour golf at utourgolf.com. Its a really good time, they just added a driving range. There is lots of money to be won in UTour golf. Their motto fits perfect “Golf like a pro, win like a pro”. The full release will be out soon. Late 2007 or early 2008. Check it out, it’s a great time!
Skillground is NOT considered gambling, so it is legal in the united states. It was proven that you win money by skill, not luck, on skillground. Therefor skillground does not fall under and rules or laws about gambling. I would have to agree, they call it skillground for a reason. You need skill to win.
If you are interested in playing golf online against others, I would suggest UTour golf. It’s fun to blow off some steam and get away from work for a few minutes. Even if you don’t want to play for money, you can join and play totally free also. It’s a great time and the community there is very nice. They also have something else I praise them on, great customer support!
Thanks for stopping by. See you all tomorrow.
Lisa
Just email me if you have any questions
Any good business person knows, that you should never count on just one option, to keep your business going. One of the most successful ways to keep your business afloat, is to have as many options open as possible. Never lock yourself into one place. It will only cause you to play by someone else’s rules. It’s like working with a pair of handcuffs. An affiliate marketer knows that the more advertisements they make, the more sales they will have. They would never be able to make a living, off of one advertisement.
If you are in sales, you should always have 3-5 different connections for the same items or product. This way, if someone is closed for the day or runs out of stock, you will have a backup plan. Its a very good idea, to have 3-5 different options open for your business.
You can always call for your backup plan, if something ever goes wrong. What happens if you are a welding shop, you run out of steel, and your supplier is out of stock? You call your back up steel guy and your covered.
There are so many things that could go wrong, by relying on one source, for anything to do with your business. If you have an ebay business, you know what I am talking about. Ebay locked my account a while back, until I mailed them proof of my ID. It took almost 3 weeks before my account was reopened. Just for a simple security check. I lost over 10 grand in sales. I didn’t have a back up plan, so I lost big time.
So, it’s a good idea to have lots of money makers going at the same time. As many options as possible will only help you, in the long run. I literally have over 12 projects going at the same time right now. Just in case, something happens to any of them: I will still have income, coming in, to survive on. Even if they are a few little projects, that together, make a good amount of money. Leave yourself, options open everywhere, it really works.
I wanted to say something about this, because you never know when something could go wrong. You will never know when you need a back up plan. But, if you have options open and available, you won’t lose as much in the pocket. Its so discouraging, when you know you can’t provide a service to your customers, because you didn’t prepare for disaster. Don’t take your big money maker for granted, ever. Help out your big money maker, by combining little money maker projects with it.
Sorry to bore you with this weeks subjects. I thought it was very important, to pick out the things we take for granted, as business people. I hope it helped some of you.
If you like to make money with Golf, I have a treat for you tomorrow. Come back and check it out.
Thanks,
Lisa
Drop shipping isn’t for everyone. Drop shipping wouldn’t be ideal for someone to start their business, if they had 10 thousand dollars to spend. It wouldn’t make any sense, because you could just buy in bulk and save thousands of dollars. Buying a product, upfront in bulk quantities, will save you lots of money. The more you buy, the lower the total price will be.
But if you had little, or no money, drop shipping would be perfect for you to start your home business. You don’t need any money to buy the product. The customer pays you for the product. You call the drop shipper with the customers information. The drop shipper sends the item to the customer with your business name on the return label. The customer never knows that it was drop shipped.
Drop shipping is the smartest way to start up any sales business with little or no money. Your goal should be to save enough money to start buying in bulk. You will maximize your profit. You don’t want to be paying drop ship prices for individual items forever. Lets’ face it, drop ship prices are cheaper than retail. You can make a great living from it. But compared to buying in bulk, its nothing. Don’t you want to expand? Drop ship until your business has made enough money to start buying bulk. Then expand and save your business thousands of dollars a year. All the money you save will be more profit!
Yes drop shipping is perfect to start any home business in sales. But that shouldn’t be your goal. After a while, you will want more. And buying in bulk quantities is the way to go. The average price for PS3’s are $299.00 each, if you bought a quantity of 100 at wholesale. But if you sold one PS3 for the average selling price $399.00, your drop shipper would probably have to charge you $370.00 for it. Now instead of making $100 per PS3 for buying bulk, you are making about $30.00 for drop shipping it.
As you can see, drop shipping isn’t for everyone. But it’s a great way to get any home business started. Especially if you are selling on ebay. I would recommend drop shipping to anyone just starting out. If you have experience and money already, I would suggest buying in bulk.
If you want to learn more stop by tomorrow.
Thanks,
Lisa Page, Author of The Home Drop Ship Guide
If you ever have any questions, just email me LP@thehomedropshipguide.com
Here is an interesting subject. Tax Write offs are a sure way, to help your business make money. A tax write off, is an item or service that you used for your business and can claim on your taxes, to get a deduction. An example would be; You drive to staples to pick up a laser printer, some paper for the printer, and some pens. Did you know, that you can write off, everything you bought at staples, as a tax deduction? You can even write off the mileage on your car, you used to get there. If you bought a new computer, you could even write that off as a tax deduction.
Tax write off deductions, are probably the best way you can reassure that your business will succeed. It is crucial, for you to keep all receipts, for everything, involving your business through the year. I can’t stress this enough. When tax day comes bring the receipts. Depending on your state and how much you made; You may get to write everything off on your taxes as a deduction. That means, everything you bought for your business this year, was free. Uncle SAM paid for everything, even your brand new business car.
If you don’t have tax numbers & license for your business, you are only hurting yourself. All those boxes and packing supplies,even the tape you used, through the year. All tax write offs. You could even buy a brand new car, slap your business name on the car, and “BAM”, your car is now a tax write off. There are so many tricks and loopholes in the tax laws, that home businesses can thrive on. Its amazing how many people run a home business and don’t do it legally. Did you know, a worldwide survey showed that 70% of all online business, is done without proper business or tax id information. That means 70% of all online businesses are running illegally. No wonder the government wants to put so many restrictions on online sales.
There are so many advantages to having a legal business. The disadvantages of not having a legal business are overwhelming! Why are all these people still doing it the wrong way? If I didn’t claim taxes on my business, my business would have failed a long time ago. The IRS, actually helps a home business owner when it comes to tax time.
If you don’t claim taxes on your business and the IRS sees you making all that money. You can get in lots of trouble. The IRS can take away anything you own, to collect what is owed to them. If you made 50 grand last year and the IRS audits you. Guess what, if you don’t have the money owed to them when they audit you. You’ll probably lose your house or any and all of your cars, to the IRS. Possibly, jail time along with it. If you don’t have any collateral or money to pay them, jail time is certain. Your bank account can closely monitored by several federal branches, at any given time. All they need is reason to suspect. The IRS doesn’t take kindly to people stealing from them. You might as well commit treason. Why would you risk all that?
I hope I can change some of your minds out there, about starting your business legally. It’s really not worth it, to hide from uncle SAM.
If you want to learn more way to run a successful business, come back tomorrow.
Thanks,
Lisa
Today the subject matter is going to be about, something you don’t see much of anymore. I am sorry to bore you with this subject. But too many small companies overlook this side of business. Maybe with this post, I can help you win your customers over.
Giving your customer extras benefits or items free of charge. Kind of like when you go to your bank. Sometimes you might see items like coffee cups or calendars free of charge. The bank is at least trying to make an effort to thank their customers. Where else do you see this now a days? It might not seem like much, but it really makes a difference to your customers. Customers can appreciate when anyone takes their money for a product or service and gives them something back for free.
How often do you hear about anyone getting, two mp3 players, for the price of one, because the first mp3 player they ordered was the wrong one? How come when your garage diagnoses your car with a bad battery and its the alternator, you end up paying for both? How come they don’t give you the battery and make you pay for the alternator? It was their mistake. Crazy? Not if you want your customer to come back.
In reality, what have you got to lose? If you are the website who gave the customer a free mp3 player because it wasn’t the one they ordered. You can bet that customer will be back, and you just found yourself a regular customer. If you were the garage and said, ” we misdiagnosed your car: the problem was the alternator, so we threw the battery in free or charge. The garage owner or manager just reassured, the customer will return now. Even if they were already a repeat customer. Nine times out of ten, that repeat customer will pay for their free gift over and over again anyway. If you reassure the customer they won’t get ripped off, they will always come back. Both sides win in the long run. You don’t have to give your customer free things all the time. You probably couldn’t afford it. But let them know you are there for them, not just their money. Every situation needs a different action, to deal with that situation. I have said this before: Why make a customer pay and be inconvenienced for your mistake?
I try and give free items & promotional events to my customers. For instance, I back up my ebooks with 3 months of help, so you succeed. I don’t just sell you the e-book. I have given my storefront customers free cameras, radios, sunglasses, and many other items for free. And every one of the customers, whom I have given something to, has been back for return sales.
We have to bring consumers back to trusting small businesses. We have to! In today’s age the consumer is more likely to trust the giant monopoly company, before they will trust small business. Let’s face it, their advertisements show bigger and better things than our measly home business. We have to change the consumer’s way of thinking. We have to gear the customer to look to small business. The big guys don’t offer what we do. We have the power to gear customers toward small business. We don’t have to play by the big guy rules. We can actually care about the consumer needs. We can be real people to them. Not just some person behind the counter, that doesn’t give a crap about you, or their job.
The money is nice, but we have to care more about the customers needs. Even if its just a follow up email or phone call, thanking the customer. Don’t just sell them your product or service and act like your not appreciative. They are putting money in your pockets, thank them. Be courteous, prompt, and straight forward. When your parents gave you money as a kid, did you just take it, or did you thank them?
It’s common courtesy to say, “thank you” to anyone that gives you something. I have helped tons of people, who have driven their customer base up, just by common courtesy. By not taking the customer for granted, you are showing them they they mean something to you. Respect almost always wins them back as a return customer.
Just remember, we are the little guys in small business. You have to do everything you can for your customer. You have to drive them away from big retail giants, and attract them to your business. It’s very difficult to win the customer over as a small business, without common courtesy and respect.
I just see too many small businesses, running just for the money and screwing over, every customer in their path. Are you this type of small business? Maybe this post can help you win over some customers.
Come back tomorrow if you want to learn more about running a successful home business.
Thanks,
Lisa