The Ebay Business Answer Book

by Ennico, Cliff

• ISBN13: 9780814400456
• ISBN10: 0814400450
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-05-23
• Publisher: Amacom Books

Summary

The most frequently asked questions by eBay sellers...answered by a true authority on all things eBay!Each day, more and more eBay sellers become increasingly serious about their enterpreneurial efforts. Whether they see their eBay business as a modest addition to their revenue or a potentially full-time venture, they need expert advice on how to do it right. In The eBay Business Answer Book, popular eBay University instructor Cliff Ennico provides readers with much-needed guidance in response to their mostcommonly asked questions, including: - What are the things I have to do-both online and offline-to start selling professionally on eBay?- Where do I find inventory?- Should I set up an eBay store?- My winning bidder won't pay me-what do I do now?- When do I charge taxes-and when do I pay them?- How should I keep track of all my eBay business records?- What do I need to know about dealing with international buyers?Filled with in-depth, easily understood answers to real questions readers can flip to as needed, this is a one-of-a-kind resource for any eBay seller.

Author Biography

Cliff Ennico (Fairfield, CT) is a lawyer specializing in legal and tax issues for small businesses, and is a popular instructor at eBay University. The host of the PBS show MoneyHunt, he is a frequent contributor to Entrepreneur magazine and the author of The eBay Seller’s Tax and Legal Answer Book (978-0-8144-7425-9) and Small Business Survival Guide. His weekly syndicated column Succeeding in Your Business appears in dozens of newspapers and websites.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Do I Really Have a Business Here?	p. 9
How Do I Start Selling Professionally on eBay?	p. 17
Where Do I Find Stuff to Sell on eBay?	p. 30
Is It Okay to Sell This Stuff on eBay?	p. 51
I'm Trying to Sell Something on eBay, but I'm Not Sure How to Describe It	p. 65
I'm Listing Stuff on eBay, but I need to Sell a Lot More to Make a Living	p. 79
My Winning Bidder Is a Jerk. What Do I Do Now?	p. 90
I'm Having Trouble Packing and Shipping This Stuff	p. 104
Will eBay Kick Me Off the Site If I...?	p. 116
I Made a Mistake and Need to Cancel This Auction	p. 127
I'm Using PayPal (or Want to), and I Can't Figure Out...	p. 134
When Do I Pay Income Taxes?	p. 147
When Do I Charge Sales Taxes?	p. 162
What Can I Deduct on My Tax Return?	p. 172
Should I Set Up an eBay Store?	p. 183
How Can I Use My Website and My eBay Store to Market My Product?	p. 191
How Do I Keep Track of Everything in My Business?	p. 212
I Just Got a Buyer from Timbuktu. What Do I Do Now?	p. 222
Can I Work Out of My Home?	p. 234
How Do I Deal with Employees/Business Partners/Colleagues?	p. 241
I've Got This Other Business...	p. 257
Still Don't Have Your Answer? Business Resources for eBay Entrepreneurs	p. 265
Finding the Answers You Need on the eBay Website: A Step-by-Step Tutorial	p. 269
Ten Things to Do Before Asking a Question on eBay	p. 274
The Best Nonbusiness Books for eBay Sellers	p. 279
Checklist: Some Expenses an eBay Seller (Usually) Can Deduct	p. 282
Checklist: Some Expenses an eBay Seller (Usually) Cannot Deduct	p. 291
Demystifying the Business Organization, or How to Select the Right Legal Entity for Your eBay Selling Business	p. 294
Index	p. 304
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

INTRODUCTION Not too long ago, it would have been considered a contradiction in terms-or oxymoron-to refer to an "eBay business." When eBay first got off the ground in the mid-1990s, it was considered a fun thing: "Oh, look, Irma, we can sell stuff from the attic and actually make a few bucks without all of the hassle of doing a garage sale!" But then people got hooked: "Gee, Irma, there's somebody in Timbuktu who's actually willing to pay us five bucks plus shipping for that old, broken chair we thought was worthless....Is there any more stuff around here we need to get rid of?" Then people realized they could make serious money selling stuff on eBay:"Irma, we've made $30,000 in six months selling on eBay, so I'm quitting my day job. By the way, have you seen Junior around lately? Oh... well, okay, but you did get the buyer's PayPal payment before you shipped him, didn't you? I would hate to have to eat the return postage..." And so you have it. Today there are about 1 million people in the United States alone making a full-time or part-time living selling things on eBay, the world's largest online retailer, to eBay's more than 233 million unique registered users worldwide. But making the transition from an eBay selling hobby to a real online e-commerce business isn't easy. You will have questions, and The eBay Business Answer Book is here to help you answer them. Questions? You Have Questions? Any professional speaker knows that the scariest part of any talk, panel, or presentation is the question-and-answer period at the end, because this is the only part of the program you cannot control-anything can happen here, from the sublime to the ridiculous. One of the key performance skills of any speaker lies in how he or she handles questions from the audience, because it's being done in real time without a safety net. As a faculty member of eBay University for the past several years, I have had the privilege of teaching an "eBay for Business" class to thousands of eBayers around the United States. I have been asked literally hundreds of questions, and after a while, like any speaker, I noticed that the same questions keep coming up over and over again, especially from newbie, or inexperienced, sellers. I have spoken to other eBay University instructors as well as many of eBay's Certified Education Specialists around the country (see Appendix A for more information about these folks), and they have shared similar experiences and confirmed my suspicion that eBay entrepreneurs keep asking the same questions over and over again. This book is a collection of FAQs-frequently asked questions-that many newbie and experienced eBay sellers are getting stuck on and that aren't always answered in other eBay books or on the eBay website. The Questions You Should Be Asking When Running an eBay Business The questions you should, and sooner or later will, ask when you start taking your eBay selling seriously as a real business fall into a number of common categories: - Choosing the right stuff to sell on eBay and finding the right sources for your eBay inventory - Registering your business for federal, state, and local taxes - Knowing what you can't legally sell on eBay - Making sure your eBay listings don't create problems for buyers or eBay - Making sure all your eBay listings (or as many as possible) sell through to buyers so you don't have to relist the items - Dealing with difficult,