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[BEST SYNDICATION] If you have ever thought of making some extra income selling on eBay, it can be done. Many people have made it a full time job. The good news about selling on eBay is that you have the freedom to work your own hours, the bad news is it can become a more than full time job. You have to decide what your goals are for your eBay home business.

If you have never run a business before, you have get a state issued reseller permit. If you don’t you will likely get contacted and could face penalties for not collecting appropriate sales taxes. If you are only planning on selling a few items and not continue to sell all the time, you do not need a resellers permit. The cost to have a resale permit is minimal. There is a form you have to fill out either once a year, quarterly, or monthly depending on your sales volume.

Next up, you will need to have a way to account for your transactions. You can use online services such as Marketworks or Andale to help you keep track of your inventory, launch your auctions, and tally up the total sales made. If you are not doing a large amount of sales each month, a spreadsheet program such as Microsoft Excel will be adequate. If you ever plan on expanding to more quantity look towards these online services to help manage you auctions, it will make your life much easier.

Get yourself a good digital camera that can take a good picture. It should be able to represent the colors well. It doesn’t have to be high resolution as much as it should have good color representation. Many digital cameras on the market offer good quality at an inexpensive price. You will also want to set up an area that you can take pictures. Either hang a white sheet for a backdrop or buy white boards with extra lights overhead and to the sides. A well lit picture will help show off your item you are selling. If the eBay auction ad has an amateur photo that you can’t see what it is that you are selling, your going to miss a lot of potential buyers.

Be prepared to be professional. That means that when you list your ads, be thorough, describe your item as best that you can. If there is a dent or a stain tell the people. Make sure to list your terms of sale in the auction and you shipping costs. By letting people know what you return policy is and the shipping cost is, they will have less questions, will not email as often, and you will increase your chance of your item being bid on.

Email, you will need a good email program. I found that Pocomail was helpful. I have found that Microsoft’s outlook email programs were ok, but after a while I had frustration in the auto type fill in as it is limited. Pocomail allows you to configure short cuts to type out frequent response. If you type ‘a1’ the program would type out your payment information that you set up earlier. Eudora is another email program that is ok, and can work. If you get to were you answer hundreds of emails everyday, then you will want to try to automate as much as you can. You will find that many of the emails are similar questions.

Because of the high prevalence of spam, viruses, and spyware coming in by email programs, you will want to make sure that you have a good virus checker that checks all incoming and outgoing email. You will also need to make sure you have a spyware programs that continually checks for new updates every day. You will be scanning your computer system on a daily basis.

If you don’t have a Paypal account you will need to set one up. This method of receiving payments is preferred by most eBay buyers as they get buyer protection services. The good news is that you will increase your potential buyers. The bad news is that if you do this for a while Paypal begins to collect fees on all transactions. They also have a tendency to favor the buyers, and you need to be on your toes ready to supply the necessary proof of delivery within a short time period. Even after Paypal has proof of delivery they still can reverse the charges, so if you have done your part, make sure to follow through and put your foot down. Buyers commit fraud on eBay as well as sellers. You here the stories on the news about the eBay sellers committing fraud, but you need to be aware that there are a good percentage of buyers willing and ready to commit fraud against you. Make sure you ship only to a confirmed address with Paypal. If the item is over $100 value, have the customer sign for the item. UPS and FEDEX allow for $100 in insurance, after which you need to add insurance to cover the cost of the item.

Selling on eBay can be a rewarding experience, but make sure that you are prepared and ready to start your new home business. If you treat it like a business, you will find that it will go much better. You can always make it part time and you can work it into your schedule.

By Lisa Schalinski
Best Syndication Business Writer