Mitch Hedberg was one of the funniest people ever. He passed away in 2005, but today he lives again with his new CD called "Do you believe in Gosh?" So why can he make you rich? Do you think like this?
When people ask me for ideas on what to sell, how to sell, or where to sell - I can usually come up with some kind of an idea. Why? A few reasons really.
For one, it's easier to think of ideas when you have nothing on the line. It seems like the mind is freed up to imagine, without the limits of worries, and obligations.
Second, it's a good thing to practice being silly. You don't have to say things out loud. But treat ideas like they were a Rubik's cube. Turn them, mix them up, see them from every side. Mitch Hedberg did this. He took regular things and just looked at them differently.
If you're trying to figure out how to make money online, find a niche market, get a girlfriend, or lose weight - do something different than you've been doing. Do something different than everyone else is doing. Loosen up. Be silly, if only in your own mind.
And if you see a duck, in a convenience store, with a loaf of bread - just let him pass.
"We're just a platform that connects buyers and sellers. That's all we do." said eBay spokeswoman Kimberly Rubey.
That comes from a recent Denver Post article on eBay and taxes.*
Excuse me is this 2001? I haven't heard that line in a long time. It's certainly not the tough talk dished out to sellers of late.
"You're supposed to report any profit from those sales," said IRS spokeswoman Jean Carl. "It's a voluntary system for taxpayers to report it, and people are trusted to do that."
What would you do if the IRS was watching? eBay shrugs and says in a kid-like innocent tone, "We're just a marketplace." To sellers though, eBay decides where you show in search results, what kind of comments you can leave, what you put in your description, and how you pay and get paid. Sounds like more than just "connecting" buyers and sellers.
Sorry eBay, the days of "we're just a platform" are long gone. It's offensive to thinking people.
What could the IRS do?
I'm no tax guy. But consider possibilities. If the IRS thinks eBay is more involved in transactions than just "connecting buyers and sellers," might they want just a little more from them? After all, eBay is the central point for all these transactions? Can you imagine the expense eBay would incur if they had to add the "tax" element to their platform?
Imagine a seller that wanted to sell their old clothes or books. What would they do if upon registration, they were faced with adding more personal information? If casual sellers, who normally fill out the short tax form, are faced with something that may complicate or add to their taxes, they will break out the Yard Sale signs instead.
I believe the IRS is going to find a way to do this. It may not be tidy, in fact I think it will kill a lot of business, but it's coming. If people think it's hard to deal with eBay or PayPal - how 'bout arguing with the IRS over the sale of grandma's spoon collection.
Sellers are already upset at eBay for changes this year. If the IRS becomes baked into the process, sellers will just leave instead of sharing more private information.
If you would like to find the best tax related books for eBay sellers visit my store here.
Do you think the IRS will continue to "trust" eBay sellers?
I've been reading eBay and Amazon discussion boards and articles today. It's the same negative talk, complaining, struggling to make ends meet - all as usual.
Then I thought of last night's American Idol. Jason Castro sang "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". He sang the version made popular by the late Hawaiian singer, Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (known as "IZ" by his fans. I found Israel's version on YouTube and it just made me feel so relaxed to listen to it and watch it. I thought I'd share it with you - take a few minutes and just enjoy it.
Here is an easy way to search across all of eBay's Forums. There are dozens of discussion groups, and eBay gives you no central way to search them all at once. While I was researching my newest book, "Selling on 'the River' - The eBay Seller's Guide to Amazon.com", and I found an easy way to locate eBay sellers, who also sell on Amazon.
Use Google's site-specific search command to search eBay's groups.
Start at www.Google.com
type "site:forums.ebay.com" in the search box (no spaces) followed by a space and your search term
Selling next to millions of other [tag]eBay[/tag] and [tag]Amazon[/tag] sellers can get you lost in the crowd. Buyers ignore the mundane, same old thing, which requires constant reinvention to keep their attention.
In this [tag]video[/tag], over 200 people freeze in place on cue in [tag]Grand Central Station[/tag] in New York. The "soon to be [tag]frozen[/tag]" people were not even noticed when they moved along like everyone else. But when they did something different, the "moving" people closely examined them - even poking them. The amazing thing is that they got all this attention without intruding on anyone else. No yelling, or crazy outfits, they just stopped doing what everyone else was doing. Amazing. Could you do something different that would get the attention of shoppers?
It's funny that people are snapping photos. What will a still picture show?
This is one of over 70 different missions [tag]Improv Everywhere[/tag] has executed over the past six years in New York City. Others include the [tag]No Pants Subway Ride[/tag], the [tag]Best Buy uniform prank[/tag], and the famous [tag]U2 Rooftop[/tag] Hoax.
I just received an email that made me feel like a proud papa. After attending both my eBay Basics and Advanced classes, a married couple have just seen their first batch of eBay listings close with sweet success. I suggested they start small and work their way up, and that is what they did. Neither of us had any idea how quickly things would go up though.
Applying what they learned
I suggested they start somewhat small, price their items low to encourage bidding, use sharp photographs and concise descriptions. I also suggest honest shipping prices and a good return policy. They did all those things, and had great success. They are not the only ones. Others have sold hundreds in their first month, just selling things from around the house. eBay classes work. This couple spent a little on fees for the classes at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, California and they've become profitable already. Keep an eye on this seller, they have lots more where these items came from! Congratulations davisvintage!
One of the most overlooked areas of [tag]eBay[/tag] is the link to [tag]Advanced Search[/tag] tips near the search box on any eBay page. You'll find valuable [tag]search tips[/tag] here that can help you narrow your search to just what you're looking for. Once you use the tips (see below) and land on the search results page, you can save the search to your [tag]Favorite Searches[/tag] in your My eBay page. That way you won't have to create a complicated search from scratch each time. You can set your favorite searches to email you whenever a new item appears on eBay that matches your search.
Why are these tips necessary?
Lets say you're trying to [tag]source products[/tag] on eBay to buy in large lots and break them up for individual sale. Just search for "case of" or "pallet of" - with the quotation marks as shown - and you'll force eBay to search for those words in that particular order. Try it here.
To search for:
Do this:
Example:
Items using two or more keywords
Enter the keywords with a space between them
new Bose headphones returns items with all three words in the title in any order
Items containing certain words in a particular order
Place quotation marks around the group of words
"case of" returns items with titles containing case of in that order only, but not those containing just case or just of or the words of case
Item titles that do not contain a certain word
Place a minus sign right before the word to be excluded (no space after the minus sign)
shirt green –polyester returns items with titles containing the words shirt and green but notcontaining the word polyester
Items that don't contain several words
Place a minus sign before the list of words separated by commas (with no spaces after the minus sign and the commas) and put in parentheses
bowl -(wooden,fish,super) or bowl -wooden -fish -super returns items with titles containing the word bowl but not containing the words wooden, fish, and super
Items where one word or another is present in the title
Enter keywords in parentheses separated by commas (no space after the commas)
(poster,print) returns items whose titles contain either the word purse or handbag
Items that contain words starting with a particular sequence of letters
Enter the first several letters followed by an asterisk
book* returns items whose titles contain words starting with , such as books, bookkeeping, and bookmark
Items that contain only a specific spelling of a word Note: In some cases, eBay expands your search to include a plural and/or an alternate spelling of your search word(s). For example, if you were searching for book, you would receive search results with items containing the keyword book or the keyword books. Searching for grey would bring back items containing the keyword grey or the keyword gray. Use this command when you want an exact match.
Enter the keywords or phrases in quotes
"book" returns only items with the exact word book and not items with the word books
Items that match the exact words Note: In some cases, eBay automatically expands your search to include items based on the intent of your search rather than matching the exact keywords provided.If you do not want eBay to do this, then all you need to do is to put quotation marks around one of your keywords. For example, if you were searching action DVDs, you might type the keywords sinatra DVD. This may bring back items that have both keywords sinatra and DVD, as well as items that have the keyword sinatra and are in the DVD category. If you entered "sinatra" DVD, your results would include only items with the exact keywords sinatra DVD and not the additional items in the DVD category with only the keyword sinatra. Use this command when you want to match exact words. Note: To see which keywords are associated with specific categories, see Keyword Search [tag]Category Expansions[/tag].
Place quotes around any single keyword
"sinatra” DVD returns only items with the exact word sinatra and DVD sinatra “DVD” returns only items with the exact word DVD and the word sinatra.
If you consider yourself pretty good with [tag]HTML[/tag], you probably know just enough to be dangerous. Most of us can change the size and color of text, create paragraphs, maybe even create a decent table, and get our self-hosted photos to show up on our [tag]eBay[/tag] listings or websites. Have you ever run into a situation though, where the character you wanted to display is not on the keyboard? For example, if you're writing a recipe for your site how would you display the temperature? Like this: 350 degrees F ? or rather like this: 350° F ? Or if you'd like to add a trademark sign? A big floppy TM doesn't look nearly as cool as this ™ right?
Approximately 56% of eBay users are outside the United States. Many [tag]international[/tag] buyers use characters in a little different way than we do here in the U.S. Getting the characters right for them shows attention to detail, and shows you'll go to a little extra work to make sure things are right. Take a little time here, and you may reap lots of benefits as a seller.
Want a code? Just [tag]ascii[/tag].
They're called ASCII Characters. That's an acronym for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. "Asky" is not so much of a mouthful. There is a bunch of pages that give waaaayyy more information than you probably want on the topic. There are only a handful of these special characters you may want to use on eBay. I will try to give you the common codes instead of every imaginable character ever created. Then I'll show you how it should look in HTML. So here is first the description, then the character, then what you need to insert in your HTML to create it.
One half ½ = ½
One quarter ½ = ¼
Three quarters ¾ = ¾
International Alpha Characters
Inverted exclamation ¡ = ¡ This is used before an exclamation in Spanish.
Inverted question mark ¿ = ¿ Used before a question in Spanish.
Any letter with a tilde ñ = ñ Just change the letter in the code from n to a or A or whatever you need and the formula stays the same.
Using [tag]Special Characters[/tag] in Your HTML
Now that you know what code creates the characters, how will it look in your html itself? It's easy. If I was writing a recipe, a portion of it may look like this in your browser:
Preheat oven to 350° F
Add 2½ Tablespoons oil
Your actual HTML to make it look like that is:
Preheat oven to 350° F
Add 2½ Tablespoons oil
That's it. Just type the code for the special character right where you want it to appear. These characters are not tags that need to be opened and closed with < and >. Just make sure you use the colon at the end of the code or it won't appear correctly.
It does matter.
Using the proper characters makes a difference in the way people perceive you as a seller. On eBay, lots of sellers throw things together and they lose credibility when they look sloppy. If you take just a little time to learn to make your listing stand out as different, it may be just the thing that swings the buyer toward your listing when all other things are equal.
For many folks, selling on [tag]eBay[/tag] begins as a fun hobby, but then one morning you wake up and realize you’ve made $30,000 from all those tchotchkes in your attic.You’re cruising flea markets every weekend with a pickup truck, two illegal immigrants in back and a wad of hundred dollar bills, buying everything those little old ladies have on their tables.You’re clipping death notices from your local newspapers and sending flyers to the next-of-kin offering to clean out Uncle Irving’s house for a commission.You have 10 college kids (excuse me, “student interns”) in your basement grinding out [tag]auction listings[/tag], living on Diet Coke and Doritos, and sleeping on futons.The neighbors won’t talk to you because you get to their garbage before the sanitation department does.They’ve also turned you in to the local zoning board complaining about that “in-law apartment” with attached loading dock you’re building in your backyard.You bring packing crates and a forklift to your library’s annual used book sale.You know exactly where to score “cars formerly owned by drug dealers” and containers of Bobble-head dolls from Korea.You’re taking out ads in local newspapers with the tag line “I buy.I sell.I take consignments.”You’re in business now, chucko.Time to take things a bit more seriously.
Whenever you sell on eBay, you’re a “retailer”, and are subject to all of the laws, taxes and regulations that “brick and mortar” retailers in your town have to cope with.Here are some basic [tag]legal and tax tips for eBay sellers[/tag]:
item descriptions – don’t “cut and paste” a description from another seller’s listing unless that item is 100% identical to your own;
if you don’t know what it is you’re selling, say so in the description, and solicit input from other community members;
don’t ask your friends to place phony bids on your items to drive the price up – that’s called “[tag]shill[/tag] bidding”, it’s a felony in most states, and if you’re caught eBay will not only boot you off the site but turn you over to your state Attorney General’s office for prosecution;
make 100% sure it’s an “original Gucci handbag” before you put it up on eBay;
if you’re selling stuff exclusively on one of eBay’s overseas sites (such as eBay U.K. or eBay Italia), you may be “doing business” in that country and may have to sign up for that country’s taxes and comply with their laws;
if you’re making even One Dollar of profit selling stuff on eBay, you have to pay income taxes on it (sorry) – the [tag]IRS[/tag] doesn’t care whether you’re a “hobby” or a “business” if you’re making money at it;
if you’re making more than $400 a year in profit selling on eBay, you’ve got to pay “[tag]self-employment tax[/tag]” (basically, Social Security and Medicare taxes) on top of your income taxes;
if your state has a [tag]sales tax[/tag], and you sell something on eBay to someone who lives in the same state you do, you have to pay sales tax on the winning bid amount;
in all your auction listings, be sure to say “Note to residents of [your state]:state and local sales taxes will be added to your winning bid” – if you don’t do this, you have to “eat” the tax out of the sale proceeds;
if you buy something on eBay for your own consumption (i.e. not for resale) and don’t pay sales tax on it, you may have to pay a “use” tax to your state government – talk to a local accountant or CPA for details;
lose the illegal immigrants and “basement interns”– there are laws about who you can and can’t hire and how you treat them;
you must send [tag]IRS Form 1099[/tag] to each individual from whom you take consignments of inventory if you pay him or her more than $600 during the calendar year.
Paying taxes and dealing with laws ain’t fun, but it’s an essential part of doing business online.The federal and state governments have lost BILLIONS of dollars in tax revenue from online commerce, and it’s only a matter of time before the IRS starts going after eBay sellers who haven’t been paying up.Now’s the time to find out what your obligations are, and get into compliance before “they” find you.
” (Adams, $12.95) and “
