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Why is it that some artists seem to make easy money on eBay while others struggle to break even? Seller A and seller B could be selling paintings of the same calibre’ yet seller A turns a good profit year in year out and has Powerseller status’ while seller B struggles to even make a profit at all. Often it has a lot to do with the look of their auction listings.

I have been selling my original artwork on eBay for 5 years now and boy was I green when I started off. I didn’t own a digital camera – I used an ordinary camera with film … you know that old stuff … I would take photos of my artwork’ then tramp into town’ wait three days for the film to be developed’ then scan the prints into my computer. The quality of my photos were obviously pretty poor in those days.

I didn’t know anything about HTML’ templates’ how and when to list to get optimum benefit from my auctions. It’s a wonder I even got off the ground! But get off the ground I did – though dogged persistence and a willingness to learn’ I went from selling paintings for a couple of pounds/dollars’ to earning a good full time living. These days I am a Powerseller and often get hundreds for my paintings.

So’ here are my top tips to make your art auctions stand out and promote you from part – time pin money earner to top seller;

1; Think about KISS …. Keep It Simple Stupid! A listing that has lots of different colours’ fonts’ animated pictures’ text in capitals can be very confusing for the reader. Don’t bombard people with too much information.

2; Be factual in your description. If your item has a fault – list it. This way a buyer knows exactly what he/she is getting and there will be no negative feedback later. I have sold paintings that had repairs where they had had small rips in them. I was honest in the fact that the paintings weren’t perfect’ but my buyers were perfectly happy because they knew beforehand what they were buying.

3; Never be negative. Recently one artist who was struggling to sell anything at all (despite being a very good artist) complained how eBay just wasn’t working for him. After looking at his auctions I could see why! His listings were basic to say the least’ but he could have gotten away with that. What was stopping any chance of him selling were the words at the end of his auction;

“The artist is unwilling to offer this item at a lower starting price as to do so would be insulting.”

Potential buyers might look at this statement and think “well I wouldn’t want to insult anyone” or “well if you feel insulted’ why list it?” and click away … to someone else’s paintings. Comments like this are far too negative.

4; When selling art’ a picture paints a thousand words’ as the saying goes. Try to make your pictures as high quality as possible. Include side views of your canvasses and possibly a room view. Don’t clutter your listing with pictures of other artwork you have for sale – it’s just confusing. If you have an eBay store’ you will get automatic ‘cross promotion’ for several other items at the end of your auction anyway.

5; Don’t undersell yourself / under price your work. Who takes 5 to 10 pounds / dollars as an opening bid price seriously? Only very well known’ well established artists with large fan bases can get away with starting a listing so low. Until you are established’ don’t risk selling your art for pennies. You’ll not even cover your listing fees’ never mind make a profit.

6; Utilise keywords effectively. I saw a pencil drawing of a mum and baby Koala in a tree listed as “A mother’s Love Original Pencil Drawing” Unfortunately’ it is very unlikely that anyone will search “a”‘ “mothers”‘ or “love”. Well maybe love …. but not in the context of an original drawing of an animal. The seller was wasting a lot of keyword space there. Better would have been something like “Original Contemporary Drawing Sketch Koala Bear Bears” Doesn’t mean much as a sentence in itself’ but it is packed with keywords’ people might use to find that type of item.

7; Offer excellent customer service. I have always prided myself on the number of positive feedbacks I have attained over the years. On various eBay IDs I have well over 1000 unique positive feedbacks. This is money in the bank! A happy customer will come back again and again’ and it is much easier to sell to an existing customer than to gain a new one. Keep your buyers happy and they will reward you with loyalty and repeat purchases.

8; Have a ‘ME’ page. With art buying’ people like to know who they are buying from. They like to ‘get to know’ the artist. If you can offer a small biography and artists statement on your me page’ your potential buyer can feel like they already know you. I have a bio’ a photo of myself with my artwork and a recent article that appeared in a regional arts and culture magazine. This allows buyers to see a friendly face – yours – and to feel like they know a little about you and ‘where you’re at’ before they buy.

I hope these tips help you a with your eBay art career. There’s loads more I could add’ but eBay is a real learning curve. Often success comes simply though experience and trying different thing until you find something that works for you. The above tips’ however’ will get you off to a good start to becoming a successful eBay art seller.

Gail Miller is a professional artist whose wild funky artwork is a visual feast of line’ colour and fun. Visit her brand new updated website at http://www.gailmiller.com or her eBay store at http://stores.ebay.co.uk/painttillyoufaint

EBay’s online auctions have created business opportunities for thousands of people. Now the Trading Assistant program is making it easier than ever to start a business from home.

Trading Assistants act as brokers’ selling merchandise for others and keeping a percentage of the profits. The profit potential can be great’ especially when selling high-value items.

Though there are millions of registered users on eBay’ many people still don’t know how to sell goods themselves. A Trading Assistant fills a need in the marketplace’ allowing you to make a profit while helping others unload their stuff. Almost everyone has a box of items in their garage or closet that they would like to sell.

Getting Started

You will need to decide what types of products you are willing to sell and may want to set a minimum value on merchandise you accept. It can be difficult to make a profit on $5 items so many assistants require the products have a minimum estimated sales value of $10 or $20.

Most assistants set their fees between 20%-40% of the ending auction price. You may also want to charge a per-item listing fee of $1-$5′ and possibly deduct this from the commission if the auction ends successfully.

As a Trading Assistant’ you will list the item for sale’ handle all buyer questions’ collect payment and shipping fees from the buyer and ship the item. You may also need to do some research on your customers’ items to determine their value. Search the closed listings to find out what similar items have sold for and list your auctions accordingly.

You should create a simple contract that your customers sign to indicate that they agree to your services and fees. You can check out the competition in your area to determine what services other Assistants are offering and how they are structuring their fees. Check eBay’s directory by zip code at http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAssistant&page=main.

You will also need to decide how to obtain the items from your seller. You could offer a pickup service’ visit customers’ homes and complete a contract there. Or you can offer a drop-off service’ where customers bring their items to you. Many assistants operate from their garage so buyers don’t have to enter their homes.

Promote Your Business on Ebay

Ebay offers a directory of Trading Assistants that consumers can use to locate services in their geographic area. To get listed in the official Trading Assistant program’ eBay requires that you have a feedback rating of at least 50′ have sold at least one item in the past 30 days’ and maintain satisfaction rating of 97% or higher.

A listing in the official directory is free and you can also download best practices information and other tools from eBay at http://contact.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAssistant&page=toolkit.

Other Ways to Promote Your Business

Here are some ideas for getting the word out about your service:

?Create a simple brochure and ask nearby businesses to display them for you.

?Leave brochures or fliers on doorsteps in your neighborhood.

?Place classified ads in the local newspapers.

?Place free classified ads on www.craigslist.org.

?Contact small business owners and offer your services to them. They may want to unload their overstock and your service could provide the perfect solution.

?Post fliers and brochures at colleges’ retirement centers’ and community centers.

?Ask your kid’s school to mention your service in the newsletter.

?Visit garage sales and flea markets and offer your services to sellers.

Launch Your Business

Make sure you follow the rules of running a home-based business and check with your county offices to apply for a business license and resale permit. Though online sales are not heavily governed’ someday they will be and it is better to comply with business laws.

Also make sure to set expectations with your customers. Since many aren’t familiar with how eBay works’ explain the process and set realistic expectations for the final values of sales. Some may expect their items to be worth far more than they can get on eBay’ and you don’t want to disappoint or worse’ upset a client by selling an item for less than expected.

If you don’t yet have any experience on eBay yourself’ it’s easy to get started. Begin with some spring cleaning and list some merchandise from your home. Make sure you have a good understanding of how eBay works before you represent your services to others.

A Trading Assistant business is a great opportunity for anyone interested in a relatively easy home business. Once you launch your business’ repeat customers and word of mouth should help your business grow. Your only regret could be that you didn’t start sooner.

Stephanie Chandler is the author of “The Business Startup Checklist and Planning Guide: Seize Your Entrepreneurial Dreams!” and the founder of http://www.BusinessInfoGuide.com‘ a directory of free resources for entrepreneurs. Sign up for the BusinessInfoGuide newsletter to receive hot resources and tips every month.

Three billion dollars (that’s billion with a "B") in revenues’ 135 million users’ millionaires all over the place at eBay! Yeah’ eBaby!!!’ to steal a line form another great author. (See "EBay: No Way?Yes Way (Ten Seller Themes) by Barbara Snyder M.A.&quot; at http://www.sbmag.org/howtosellonebay.html)</p><p>Yeah! Wow! ? Make a million! Open a store on eBay and get rich! Man this is easy!!! ?NOT!!!</p><p>It’s way to easy to get caught up in all the hype out there about eBay and to start thinking all you have to do is set up an eBay store and you are on your way to the life style to which you would like to become accustomed. Don’t believe it.</p><p>Before you start primping for your own segment of "Life-styles of the Rich and Famous’" there are a few things you should learn about eBay and small business start-ups in general.</p><p>The rate of survival of a traditional small business reads something like half of all new business start-ups fail in the first year and half of the survivors do not survive the second year’ and eBay is probably no different. In fact’ it’s not easy at all anymore (if it ever was) to carve out a fortune on what has been dubbed "the world’s largest garage sale".</p><p>"But Floyd’ take a look at all that money"’ you say. Sure eBay is doing just fine’ but of that three billion dollars’ how much of it is actually spent on items in "your" category or product line "you" have for sale?</p><p>Everyone has to decide exactly what business he or she wants to be in. Then they have to decide if they are going to be a niche player or try to carve out significant market share. Either way you decide to go’ you may find out that the pool you are swimming in is not as deep as it may first appear. Unless you are selling automobiles or real estate’ not all or even a large percentage of that three billion dollars is spent in your merchandise category. Make sure you check the water before you dive in head first.</p><p>When you do decide to jump in’ make sure you are ready both financially and mentally to go through a learning curve of some months. Back in the earlier days this may not have been the case’ but today eBay has become extremely competitive and significantly more expensive for sellers. And don’t expect a lot of help from eBay directly. They are not the greatest company in the world at customer support. They have a lot of information available’ but they also have a tendency to answer help questions with loads of boiler plate "fixes" that usually serve more to confuse then to actually help.</p><p>Speaking of fees’ this is how eBay lives. They literally nickel and dime you to death (actually its more like quarter and dollar)? thirty cents for the cheapest insertion free’ thirty-five cents for a gallery picture’ a buck for "bolding" and on and on. And then there’s the fair value selling commission and the PayPal fees (PayPal is a must have!). All these small fees add up fast. Don’t forget’ you pay the listing and insertion fees whether your item sells or not. You will quickly learn that your selling percentage becomes crucial and why it is so important you learn how to make very efficient listings at the lowest cost possible as fast as possible. If you fail to learn this’ before for you know it’ eBay is taking half or more of your total sales just in fees’ not counting your cost of product and shipping.</p><p>eBay has been called the "world’s largest garage sale" for good reason. You know what people are looking for at garage sales’ cheap prices. In the beginning’ if you were the only one on eBay selling a specific product’ you could demand and get higher prices. Today it’s a bit different. The competition is brutal. You are competing against people and business of all sizes’ and there is always someone selling your product at very’ very low prices’ or worse yet’ using it as a loss leader. Some of these people are huge jobbers and or the manufactures themselves’ hard to compete against. Some sellers are part time or hobbyist and don’t need or care if they make much money (and they probably don’t). Unless you have a very unique product or are in a position where you can bring a new’ hot product to eBay first’ you must be prepared for extremely aggressive pricing competition in a market where the average buyer is looking for cheap beer prices on high quality champagne.</p><p>So’ all said’ you may be wondering if it’s even worth the effort. That depends on you and how well you prepare.</p><p>Before you open your eBay Store or run out and buy a bunch of product’ visit Strictly Business Magazine’s "How to Sell on eBay Resource Center" at http://sbmag.org and read all the "free" articles. Then buy and read a series of books about eBay’ there are a number of them listed there. Start out with a book on the basics and then the more advanced volumes.</p><p>After you have read up on the basics’ set up a seller’s account. Not a Store yet’ that starts the meter running after the thirty day free trial. Not a lot of money’ but why pay it until you have the necessary education you are going to need to be successful.</p><p>Once you have a basic education’ experiment with a few items you have lying around the house you’d like to get rid of. This will give you the chance to experience the eBay process and give you an idea of what you are in for. Pick items that sell for under $10′ this will give you the cheapest listing fees to experiment with. (A $9.99 item lists for half the price of a $10 item’ same thing as $24.99 vs $25). Also make sure you pick items that are easy to ship. Check with the post office for shipping fees and packaging. If you use Express Mail’ most of the shipping materials are free and in some cases will more then offset the higher postage fees and will get your product to your customer faster’ resulting in better a Feedback Rating’ something you will soon learn is very important in eBay.</p><p>As you’re reading the books you have just bought’ watch for important subjects such as Feedback Rating’ shipping and handling’ product selection’ effective listings’ taking and using photos and using hmtl in your listings. Also make note of other tips and ideas on keeping your listing professional but at the same time keeping the cost down. Other topics of importance include "keywords" and how they affect eBay search engines and auctions vs fixed price listings.</p><p>Don’t be misled into believing that the buyers are clamoring all over themselves to bid up every item you offer up for sale. Go browse the listings in the category that you will be listing in. You may be surprised to see that most items don’t have a single bid and will not sell at all and others have only a single bid. You may also want to find out what are the best days and time frames most successful auctions close.</p><p>The price you pay for a few books and the time it takes to read them and do a little research may be returned ten fold or more in just the first few months after opening your eBay store.</p><p>Floyd Snyder is the founder and former owner of Executive Advertising’ Camera Ready Art and Strictly Business Magazine. Currently he is the owner of Strictly Business Magazine at <a target="_new" href="http://www.sbmag.org">http://www.sbmag.org</a>’ <a target="_new" href="http://www.FrameHouseGallery.com">http://www.FrameHouseGallery.com</a>’ <a target="_new" href="http://www.EducationResourcesNetwork.com/and">http://www.EducationResourcesNetwork.com/and</a> <a target="_new" href="http://www.TraderAide.com">http://www.TraderAide.com.</a>

I’ve got this strange friend; her name is Maria. Maria’s always been a little weird but now things have gotten unworldly altogether. You see’ Maria’s an artist; she’s into sculpture in particular’ of which she specializes in the manipulation of Perspex with a blowtorch. Lately I haven’t seen too much of her as she’s hooked up the Internet. Actually not many people at all have seen her recently; she says she’s working on a big project.</p><p>Now that she’s got the Internet she reckons she can focus a lot more on her work without distractions. She doesn’t ‘waste’ time doing grocery shopping anymore. Now she orders all her food and household items. She says if she’s extremely busy’ her weekly list is saved into the computer’ and she just clicks on ‘order’ and the usual stuff is delivered to her door every week. No more driving’ parking’ searching for stuff’ standing in line’ dealing with bored and under slept cashiers. I’m starting to think it’s not such a bad idea. Maria is pretty proud. She’s now organizing for a local greengrocer to deliver her fruit and vegetables too.</p><p>Maria has always had a ‘thing’ for Donald Duck. On the Net she’s found all these rare collectable dealers like Ebay. When she’s not warping Perspex into postmodern configurations representing the need for a more spiritual existence’ she’s thriving in the consumerist world of finding and bidding for Donald Duck comic books from the 1950′s. Last I heard a friend said she’s actually starting to look like a duck herself!</p><p>All this Internet shopping is pretty new to me’ it sounds like it really could help a lot of people out. However for recluse artists it could be the final straw for friends and family who may never see their buddies again! Nah’ its cool-I just hope Maria’s new project isn’t a giant Perspex Donald Duck. I don’t think the world needs any more Donald Ducks!</p><p>I just got back from Maria’s place. You’re not going to believe what I saw. She was actually having a party’ and I wasn’t invited. Maybe she thinks I’m boring compared to her new friends. She says she met them on the Internet’ a whole bunch of people into Donald Duck! One guy was actually dressed up like Yosemite Sam-gun belt and all! It seems I’m the odd one out.</p><p>Before I left her place she showed me her new sculpture. I underestimated her newfound love. It’s a giant computer; inside it is filled with the heads of all her friends (me included). Of course none of us had human mouths’ smiling duck beaks adorned all the heads’ a definite sign of the Internet’s powerful influence’ and of the collective warping of today’s society!</p><p>About The Author</p><p>Jesse S. Somer is a human hoping to show his fellow Earth citizens the beautiful opportunities the Internet is making available for all our lives.</p><p>M6.Net <a href="http://www.m6.net" target="_new">http://www.m6.net</a></p><p><a href="mailto:priyankaa@m6.net">priyankaa@m6.net</a>

Am I the only person who doesn’t know what a 3 minute auction is? Looking for fresh content for my site’ I discover that “minute auction’” or even a 5, 10 and 30 minute auction is a popular item. Some auction sites may refer to a minute auction as a “Live Bid.” The “minute auction” or “3 minute auction” actually comes the closest to duplicating the excitement (and anxiety) of a real auction. No’ it is not the same as an Ebay minute auction.

I will give the example of Bidz.com. Bidz.com uses Flash technology to constantly update in real-time auction bids right before your very eyes! The price goes up’ up’ up and the time clicks away … down’ down’ down!. Add flashing green highlights for added new bids and red flashing for the ominous approaching 0 minute and to say the least’ it is quite thrilling.

On the Bidz home page’ there is a link that says 3-minute auctions. This is a separate category all by itself. If you click that link you are taken to the 3 minute auctions’ usually consisting of jewelry. (Note: See end of article for “The 3 minute auction – too good to be true?”)

A word of caution: It takes a little finesse to bid at these fast-paced auctions – and I mean FAST! You must be EXTREMELY CAREFUL when bidding. The highest bid I came across on my visit was for $1500. My advice would be to practice on the dollar starting bids. Bids quickly escalate to $15 and $30. In the words of BidZ:

“If you are bidding on items in the 3 Minute Auctions category’ you will not be notified if you are outbid. These auctions move very quickly’ so you have to monitor your winning bids very carefully.”

Back on the 3 minute auction page of BidZ’ what do you see?

“If the bid is placed during the last minute of an auction’ the auction will be automatically extended for an additional 1 minute from the time of the latest bid. The auction will close once all bidding has stopped for a period of 1 minute.”

OK – I decide I am going to get in on this action. Registering is free (username must be a combo of numbers and letters). I have to click on the picture to go to the listing to actually bid according to Bidz.com directions below:

1) Simply use the “plus” and “minus” graphic keys to select the amount you would like to bid. The amount of the next bid is automatically one dollar more than the current bid. If you only want to place a one dollar bid’ you can just click the Bid button without any adjustments.

2) Click the bid graphic button to register your bid. PROBLEM: I click the Bid! button and then find out I have to register my credit card in order to bid – but they didn’t tell me that when I was registering (even though I quite expected it).

Another problem I encounter is a sluggish modem. By the time I reach the listing page and the picture and bid button loads’ the auction can be over (sigh…).

Its not hard to become giddy over the amazing deals of a 3 minute auction…too good to be true? 3 minute auctions “typically offer expensive items’ such as Cartier watches’ Beanie Babies’ computers’ and cars at prices that are low enough to dull the scam alarm in most people.”

This was taken from an auction fraud article. The same article reports that the Federal Trade Commission has identified a scam email that includes “Live 3 minute auctions” in the subject line. See the details of the 3 minute auction scam at www.chiff.com/a/fSCAMauc.htm

For a list of minute-auction websites’ refer to: The 3 minute auction list http://shmyl.com/dpzison

My final words: The 3 minute auction and minute auction are the epitome of auction entertainment. So pop some popcorn’ invite some friends over’ and have yourself some Friday night auction fun!

Renee Matt maintains AuctionTongue.com’ a review site of auction tool’ free auction templates’ auction software’ auction sniper and image hosting services. AT focuses on auction websites outside of Ebay. Sign up for their FREE Auction Freebies newsletter: http://www.auctiontongue.com/

Unless you have been hiding under a rock’ I am sure that by now you have heard that eBay is raising its fees. So what’s a small merchant to do? Here are some suggestions.

Get your own hosting. You can have your own online store and only have to pay for your hosting fees. Delspin Hosting offers a reasonable hosting plan for small merchants. You can also have somewhere to host your pictures if you decide to stay with Ebay.

You can still use your Paypal account with your hosted store. It also a good idea to find another alternative to process your credit card transactions because some people just don’t like paypal.

Also’ there are lots of other online auctions sites on the Internet. Just type in online auctions in your search engine and start experimenting with some of the online auction sites that rank in the top ten sites.

Bottom line: Ebay’s fees are increasing. There’s nothing you can do about that.

So instead of whining and complaining about something you can not control’ you need to decide whether or not you are going to jump ship or adjust to the changes.

My personal opinion is to stick with it’ because Ebay still comes up number one in the search engines when you type in online auctions. Are you really going to let all of that traffic pass you by?

This article may be redistributed on the Internet as long as the byline remains intact.

Copyright 2005

DeAnna Spencer is the editor of the ezine Prospecting and Presents. You can find out some sources of things to sell on online auctions by visiting http://www.pnewsletter.com/dropship

Solar energy as a renewable and alternative source is growing in popularity day by day, and there is no doubt about it, technology is continually delivering products that improve the efficiency and flexibility of this solution to our energy needs. Whether it be for the home or as a backup system when camping it is worth your while to consider this energy alternative. However, in order to make an educated decision there are several things you need to understand and consider before dipping into your pocket.

1. When you see a solar panel rated at 100 watts output, it will only produce that output under “Standard Operating Conditions”, and the best place to find out what that means is from the manufacturer.

2. More importantly the wattage rating is just that, based on the output voltage and current of the panel NOT the usable power after regulation. For example, you see a 100 watt panel you want to purchase for camping. You might tend to think that the panel will provide you with 8.33 Amps of current at 12 volts. Not so. Most panels produce in excess of 18 volts with their maximum current being delivered at around 16 volts. So for a quoted 100 watts you now have 16 volts multiplied by 6.25 amps. Now if we assume no heat losses at the regulator our output watts will be 12 multiplied by 6.25, or 75 watts. If we take regulator losses into account this will likely reduce to 70 watts, or less if you are not directly under the full sun.

3. It is easy to assume that if you place a panel out in the sun then it will do best to deliver peak energy. As we all know the sun drops behind cloud cover and so the peak sun hours drop appreciably over a normal day. You need to account for the region you will be camping in (or reside in) and get a good handle on averaged peak sun hours.

4. Solar panels do not work in full shade, and in partial shade the output differs for different manufacturers. Some lose just about all output if only a small portion of the panel is shaded. For maximum output you need to ensure your panel is positioned to capture all sunlight falling on the area. You could employ a sun tracking device but they are complex and therefor expensive. Best to add a safety margin to your calculations of around 20%. In other words, go for the 120 watt panel.

5. Most solar panels work best at lower temperatures. So, if you camp on the top of a mountain on the equator you are going to get the best output at noon. Sources state that panels lose 5% output for each 10 degrees Celsius over about 25 degrees. On a hot day then your rated 100 watt output could fall to 50-60 watts.

But don’t despair. Solar energy is here to stay and it is a viable energy renewable energy alternative. Just be aware; do your research; and purchase wisely.

If you want to know more about solar you can do so at Alternative Energy Reviews. There are a lot of news reports and reviews on alternative energy products.

If you are into camping and wish to minimize your energy consumption then visit Campers Circle. Lots of tips and tricks there including details for installing your own dual battery system for your camping rig.