eBay: Expert Guides and Resources

Before you jump into buying and selling on eBay, learn a few terms, check out some helpful tips to be a successful seller and buyer, and understand the importance of feedback. The following offers helpful eBay information, tips, and selling strategies.Top 3 eBay cheat tipsThe crew at eBay is hard at work simplifying its forms and pages — making them more user-friendly.

It's tempting to ignore your eBay costs as you list items for sale. As a seller, you can fall into the habit of listing and relisting without reevaluating the profitability of your final sales. But as a person in business for yourself, you must always take into account money going out costs as well as profits coming in.

Social media is no longer in its infancy; it’s long since made off with the car keys, so to speak. These days it has become the go-to destination for 69 percent of American adults. The burgeoning number of social media sites draws many eBay sellers and buyers because they are a tech-savvy group. All cultural changes began with words — as do many marketing campaigns — and the experts have decided that the dominant marketing tool today is social media.

Most of us have donated to charity in one form or another. But here on eBay, charities really rock. Do you need a Jurassic Park helmet signed by Steven Spielberg to round out your collection (and deflect the odd dino tooth)? Post a bid on one of the charity auctions. How about a signed original photograph of Jerry Seinfeld from People magazine?

Now you can take eBay along! You can use the eBay mobile app when you're out looking for items to resell on eBay. It’s especially helpful at a garage sale to see how much you can sell an item for — and to find out how many people are selling an item. If you prefer a different view, you can also type http://m.ebay.

On the bottom of almost every eBay page is a group of links: Click Community to connect to other eBay members, or click the Announcements link to check proposed changes to the site on the Announcements page. Keep in mind, when you see the tips and suggestions on these pages, they may come right from corporate spokespersons in disguise.

Consider this very important reason to be recognized on eBay: eBay’s Best Match search algorithm weighs every item and every seller. Attaining recognition as a seller who is in business seriously makes a difference in how prominently your listings are displayed on eBay. Joining PowerSeller ranks The ranks of PowerSellers have five levels of membership, depending on your monthly sales.

QuickBooks can give you up-to-the-minute reports about the status of your eBay business and keep track of everything — including payroll and sales-tax liability — in the background. Here are a few things that are great about using QuickBooks to streamline an online business: Inventory reports: As you purchase inventory, aside from deducting the money from your checking account and expensing your merchandise account, QuickBooks adds the purchased merchandise to your inventory.