Amazingly, there are still a lot of people out there who don’t have a computer or don’t know how to use eBay. Even though all these people don’t know how to use eBay or a computer, sometimes they would still like to sell items on eBay. That’s where you come in with your eBay consignment business. All you do is list the items for the people wanting to sell on eBay. When the item sells, you pay the consigner the final selling price after you take your commission and fees for listing the item on eBay. If the item doesn’t't sell, you simply return the item to the consigner.

Sounds pretty simple right? Well there are a couple of problems that you will face when trying to set up this type of business. The first problem is trying to find merchandise at a price low enough to sell on eBay. When you start your own consignment business you can set it up in a way to make sure you have a constant stream of sellable items coming in. This article outlines some of the best tips to get you started with your eBay consignment business.

The Trading Assistant Program (TA) on eBay - The TA program is a great place to start. In order to use the service you must have had 4 sales on eBay in the last 30 days and have a feedback of a least 50 with no more than 2% negative feedback. The service is currently free, so be sure to take advantage of it!

You can get started here:
http://shiptrack.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?TradingAssistant&page=toolkit

Local Publications & Newspapers - You can cost effectively advertise your eBay consignment business in your local newspapers and publications. Think about the type of people you are targeting and the type of items you want to sell and then find publications that go out to that group of people to advertise in. If you’re interested in selling clothing, then you’ll want to advertise in school or church newsletters. Just be creative and try to think outside the box. There are also many free classified ad websites on the Internet that you can post your ad for free, just do a search on Google for “free classifieds”.

Flyers Around Town - Use your favorite word processor and create flyers to post around town. Great places to post flyers include: supermarkets, colleges, apartment complexes, government and city building and around downtown. Basically anywhere that gets a lot of foot traffic will work great. Create flyers that have tabs the people can pull off that include your name and phone number. By posting flyers around town, your potential consignors will be nearby making it easier to meet with them.

Read The Classifieds - Not only can you use the classifieds to advertise your service, but you can also read them to find other people looking to sell items. Simply call these people up and offer your services and an eBay seller.

People Moving - Keep an eye on any real estate transactions that your paper might publish. People who are moving tend to want to sell or get rid of extra items. Simply send your card or a flyer to the new owner and let them know about your services. Also a great place to advertise your services is through storage and moving companies.

Community Organizations & Clubs - By volunteering to speak at local organizations and clubs you can give your business some exposure. Clubs like the Rotary Club, and industry or trade organizations are great places to hit up. Also senior centers and retirement homes are a great place to speak at because these people are usually in the process of downsizing their lifestyle. To get your name and business out there you can offer to speak about many topics like, how to sell on eBay.

Message Board & Discussion Groups - There are thousands of message boards and discussion groups throughout the internet that you can get involved in. Some of the biggest ones include Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups. Also the eBay Trading Assistant has their own discussion group as well. These groups are a great place for you to learn about and discuss your consignment business. Just include a link to your consignment business website in your signature. Never post blatant ads for your services on these boards as this could be considered spam.

Yard Sales & Garage Sales - Most people think that you would go to yard sales looking for a bargain to sell on eBay. Instead of looking for items that you can buy and resell, just offer your services to the folks running the yard sale. That way if the item doesn’t sell, you don’t risk your own money by purchasing the item and taking it home.

Educate Others - Offer to teach others how to sell on eBay. There will be many people who attend your class, but decide that they don’t want to deal with selling on eBay even after they learn how. This gives you a great opportunity to offer your services and gives you expert status.

Word Of Mouth - As always, word of mouth is the most effective marketing tool you have. Always be sure to provide your clients with the best service possible and try to over deliver. When your clients are happy they will tell their friends about your services. Once you get a good track record and some happy clients, this type of marketing can multiply exponentially. You can even reward clients who do referrals by giving them a discount on their next listing with you.

Getting started with your eBay consignment business can be a tedious task and take some time. But once you get things rolling and on track, you can do very well and the business will sustain itself. By using the ideas in this article you can be on your way to running your own successful consignment business on eBay. Right now your biggest hurdle is just taking that first step, so get out there and get started!

This article was written on behalf of eBayBusiness.net by Webmaster and Internet Marketing Specialist Jason Cooper. Visit http://www.ebaybusiness.net and download 3 Free eBay Business eBooks today! (c) 2006, eBayBusiness.net. This article may be reproduced in all venues so long as the content and by-line are reprinted intact and all links are set live.

The concept of online selling and bidding really went revolution because of E-Bay. Through E-Bay, both sellers and buyers could make the most out of their deals. Despite of the revolutionary way of E-Bay, there are still some pitfalls when using it as a way for profitable business.

These pitfalls are divided into different categories. One of the most common downfalls of E-Bay is the market differences. Though the world seems smaller now because of revolutionary technologies, it is however divided.

This division could be shown in the different market interest of countries. These differences could be attributed to culture, language, religion, beliefs, customs, and even distance. Some products which are popular in the European area might not be a hit to other parts of Asia. Instead of reaching a worldwide market, the products only reach the interested market.

The next pitfall would be the work needed in order to process the materials coming from other countries. This involves the taxes as well as the shipping costs. Some countries have absurd international rules meaning that if you bought something online from Switzerland and you live in Singapore, the shipping rate as well as the taxes charged could worth more than the item itself. This is one of the worries of potential customers because they do not like the high rates included when ordering directly from E-Bay. Despite the original intent of convenience of E-Bay, many people are not willing to risks their credit cards in charging that kind of amount.

Aside from money issues, there are also government regulations that should be considered when ordering in E-Bay. Sometimes, there are government regulations which states that certain products are prohibited in the country. Be sure to be familiar with the legal things of purchasing something from other countries because you might never know, you could be a candidate for jail without you even knowing that it is illegal.

Other than that, there is still an age old problem which could be considered as a pitfall in E-Bay. It is called communication. There is still the existence of the communication barrier. In the world of internet, miscommunication is a common thing and this could happen when holding transactions in the internet. The common language in the internet is English and if ever you do not have the capacity to express and comprehend English, it would eliminate the chance of expanding your market.

Despite all of those pitfalls, there are still ways to overcome these obstacles. Internet is here to stay and so is E-Bay.

David Riewe is a Publisher and Online Marketer. Visit his eBay Blog to Discover 101 Ebay Auction Tips in this FREE ebook www.push-button-online-income.com/ebayblog

On eBay it is utterly simple to list an item in the featured auction section! If you are able to spend on substantial extra fee, you can get your auction featured. There are two price tags for two different kinds of auctions featured viz. for $99.95 you can have a regular auction featured on eBay. And for $19.95 you can have your auction featured in its special category. You will find the featured auction appearing at the top of its category. In the regular auction listing it shall appear in bold.

While you are opting for featured auction section of eBay you have to judge for yourself whether your item for auction is worth it or not ? For most items auction featured section does not work since when potential bidder is looking for something specific, they are least likely to browse through the featured sections. So you have to be very careful while selecting items to be in the featured auction section. Items that are supposed to be bought on impulse might get sold well in the featured sections. It is mostly seen that many people who visit the featured sections are actually browsing only to look for something to buy.

If an item of yours is not being identified with keywords or is really difficult to search for then the section for featured auction is best to sell your product as the visitor shall find the same on a listing with a huge number of auctions. Featured sections also prove to be good when the eBay users are new and are unable to search effectively with proper keywords. Even if you are selling a popular consumer item, featured sections help you to sell well.

Donny Lowy runs http://www.closeoutexplosion.com an online wholesale and closeout business that supplies eBay sellers, retailers, and flea market vendors.