Jackie McCutcheon

eBay Trading Assistant Software Programs

admin — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:21:39 +0000

As an eBay Trading Assistant, there are certain tools I count on to do my job. I have Turbo Lister from eBay, a good digital camera, a postal scale, shipping supplies, and TA Software. It was until recently that I found a Trading Assisant Software Solution. I’m not talking about software to do my listings or software to send emails or software to leave feedback. I was searching for a solution to handle the “consignment” portion of my eBay TA Business.

I did find a few programs:

Liberty4 Trading Assistants. This software program is Turbo Lister plus consignment. The cost was way more than my budget would allow. I am the business - a one woman operation. For a Single License, the month to month cost is Free, but eBay integration is $85 per month. I could buy it for $495, but I would still have to pay $60 per month for eBay integration.
Meridian. This is a web-based service, but the consignment module costs $40 per month.

I was already keeping track of all my consignment stuff in a spreadsheet, but it wasn’t automated. I stumbled across this website, Eppocenter, who had the perfect solution for me. It is a spreadsheet called the eBay Trading Assistant Straight Commission Spreadsheet. It does everything I need it to do. It calculates:

Initial eBay fees, final value fees, and listing upgrade fees
PayPal fees
My commission and my client’s profits

I can set my commission rate for seven different price ranges. This spreadsheet tracks and calculates fees and expenses, sums up monthly totals and a summary, and it produces and invoice for my client. Plus the spreadsheet works in OpenOffice 3.0. Oh, I forgot to mention that the software costs only $5.99. I am a very happy eBay Trading Assistant.

Did I mention that you will receive top notch support for the software? I did have some questions, but they were promptly answered by Jason Eppolito, the gentleman who created this spreadsheet. Jason also offers other spreadsheets to make your life easier. Be sure to check all of them out.

I highly recommend this software to all “single person operation” Trading Assistants out there. Combine this with Turbo Lister and you’ve got a winning combination for your TA business.

Wishing you much success!

Jackie

Lemon Chiffon Yankee Candle

admin — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:28:19 +0000

I regularly check out eBay for great deals on Yankee Candles. They are my absolute favorite candles. Today, to my surprise, I saw a completed auction for a Lemon Chiffon Yankee Candle (14.5 oz.). This Yankee Candle scent is rare, but little did I know how rare.

The auction ended with 135 bids and a winning bid of $10,000. Take a look:

I always knew you could make a living selling the retired and rare Yankee Candles, but I didn’t know it was this lucrative. Watch for these at garage sales and consignment stores. Also watch your Hallmark Store for sales. Some of the retired scents for sale on eBay now are Sunflower Days, Autumn Lodge, Country Heather, Mocha Nut Latte.

What’s in your closet? A Lemon Chiffon Yankee Candle?

Happy eBaying!

Jackie

eBay Book Arbitrage

admin — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 05:08:45 +0000

Today, I’m going to share with you a technique I use to purchase books online. My goal is always to get the best deal when purchasing books for my collections. The technique I’m going to show you can also be used for what I call eBay Book Arbitrage. When there is a difference in the price of something on two different markets the arbitrageur simultaneously buys at the lower price and sells at the higher price. That is arbitrage. I’ll show you how to find books at lower prices and then sell them on eBay at a higher price.

Sidenote: I always stress that it is important to research (use eBay Research Labs and/or Terapeak). Write great titles and descriptions for your eBay auctions. Include nice photos.

Let’s get started with a sewing book. There was an auction for the The Art Of Dressmaking. It ended with a high bid of $38.00:

Now I go to my favorite place to find book deals: AddALL Rare Used and Out of Print Book Search. You’ll see a search box like this:

I normally type in the title of the book and in the keyword box I would enter the year the book was published. If you need to refine your search, you could add the author. In this case I just typed in the title and clicked the radio button to search all stores. If it’s out there, AddALL will find it because this website searches 40 bookstores, 20,000 dealers, and millions of books. I clicked on the Find the Book button. Click here to view the results.

I found several for less than half of the auction end price. If I wanted to buy the book for myself, I would have saved money than if I had bid on the book. I could also buy the book and resell it on eBay.

Let’s try one more. Betty Crocker cookbooks are popular on eBay. Recently two auctions ended for about $100 for the Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book (1961):

Now do a search at AddALL as we did above. Click here to view the results. I entered Betty Crocker’s New Picture Cook Book in the Title box and 1961 in the Keyword box. There is one book available that is 1st Edition/4th Printing for $44.44.

That’s the basic technique I use to find great book deals online. Practice the technique and refine it with your own preferences. In time you’ll be an expert at finding the best book deals and building your own collections. Feel free to share your favorite book finds.

To Your Book Collecting Success!

Jackie

Windows Through Time - Old Catalogs

admin — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 04:06:29 +0000

Looking through an old department store catalog or trade catalog is like looking through a time window. An old Sears Catalog provides a look back at the fashion styles of the time. You also get to chuckle at how low the prices were way back then.

Now, people collect these old catalogs for a number of reasons. Farm families collect the Sears Catalog because their farms would be featured on the inside of cover of the catalog from the 1930s to the 1950s. Then there are the toy collectors, the jewelry collectors, the gun collectors and many more who collect old catalogs for the abundance of valuable information contained within these old department store catalogs or trade catalogs. Fashion designers and Interior designers use them as inspiration for today’s styles.

Take a look at these recent eBay auctions of old catalogs:

1910 DuPont Smokeless Shotgun Powder Ammunition Catalog (Sold for $360)
Russian 1910 I. Nicklas Rifle Gun & Ammo Catalog (Sold for $199.99)
1893 Geiser Peerless Steam Engine Catalog (Sold for $180)

When you find those old catalogs in the attic or in a box tucked away in an old closet, take some time to go through them. Share them with someone. Take a look through a time window. A time before before personal computers, mp3 players, cell phones and compact discs.

What are your favorite old catalogs?

Jackie

Build Better eBay Listing Titles - Terapeak Video Demo

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:02:06 +0000

As of August 18, 2008 eBay discontinued its own Marketplace Research tool, and, in its place, is offering eBay Research by Terapeak.

I’ll be publishing a series of videos to show you what Terapeak can do for you and how it can dramatically help you with your eBay business. Video demo 16 of 16: Build Better eBay Listing Titles.

If you are selling on eBay you know how valuable your 55 characters in your listing title are. Terapeak’s title builder makes it easy to craft the perfect title.