Thank you for taking a look at Starting a Business on eBay.co.uk. We’ve written this topic to serve as a manual to get you organised and get your eBay.co.uk business off the ground. From handling your selling time on eBay.co.uk more efficiently to stocking your shop to the real way to set up your topics and daily operations, we give you all the details about running a successful eBay business. From our own years of experience and numerous interactions with hundreds of eBay sellers, we offer countless time-saving and money-saving tips and secret eBay.co.uk hints along the way.
One thing that we can’t guarantee is how much money you can earn selling on eBay. We’ve discovered – perhaps the hard way – that running a business from home takes a good deal of discipline. Time and devotion dedicated to your business will boost your success.
How This Topic Is Organised
This topic has five parts. The parts stand on their own, which means that you can read Chapter 12 after reading Chapter 8 and maybe skip Chapter 13 altogether (but we know you won’t because that’s where we discuss the money!).
Part I: Getting Serious About eBay.co.uk
Reviewing what you know is always a great place to start. Considering the way eBay constantly changes, you’ll probably find a little review worthwhile. So in this part, we delve into the finer points of eBay.co.uk. Perhaps you’ll discover a thing or two you didn’t know – or had forgotten.
Setting up your eBay shop is important, and in this part we show you step by step the best way to do it – and give you tips to work out when the timing is right for you to open your shop.
Part II: Setting Up Shop
You need to decide what type of business you plan to run and what type of inventory you’ll sell. In this part, we discuss how to find merchandise and the best way to sell it. We also give you the low-down on eBay Motors UK, property, and some of the unusual areas where you can sell.
In this part, you’ll also find out how to research items – before you buy them to sell – so you’ll know for how much (or whether) they’ll sell on eBay.co.uk.
We also discuss the importance of your own Web site for online shopping and how to set one up quickly and economically.
Part III: Serious Business!
In Part III, we discuss exactly how to use available online and offline tools, implement auction management software, jazz up your auctions, and handle shipping efficiently and effectively. Because working with customers and collecting payments is important too, you can find that information here as well.
Most importantly, you also find out how to obtain free shipping material for your business delivered to your door, get your postal carrier to pick up your boxes at no charge, and insure your packages without standing in line at the post office.
Part IV: Your eBay.co.uk Admin
Setting up your business as a real business entity involves some nasty paperwork and red tape. We try to fill in the blanks here, as well as show you how to set up your keeping. In this part you’ll find a checklist of the items you need to run your online business.
You also need to know how to set up your home business space and how to store your stuff and we cover that here.
Part V: The Part of Tens
You can’t write a For topic without including the traditional Part of Tens. So here are ten real-life stories of successful (and happy) people selling on eBay.co.uk. We also include ten strategies that might help you sell your stuff.
We include a random collection of terms in Appendix A. You’re probably already familiar with many of these words, but others will be new to you. Refer to this appendix often as you peruse other parts of the topic. In Appendix B, we briefly discuss home networking, a perk you’ll want to have when your eBay business grows.
