Need advice on eBay selling, and PayPal (newbie!)

Hello all,

My name is Ali and I am new to Salehoo, and new to selling on line. I need to make some money, just going through a divorce and I'm a jobless paralyzed vet, and thats my sob story!
I was a little dubious about paying for this and joining, but so far its been invaluable, as well as inspirational, thank you to those who have posted advice, ideas and questions.

I have opened an ebay account as well as Baonanzle and ecrater, any others anyone could recommend for a newbie?

I'm not sure how to start my own site/shop, how to order merchandise, or even what to order. I have decided to start selling the things I don't use or need. I'm also going to some garage sales, thrift stores and flea markets this weekend to see if I can find anything I can make some cash on. I have a few ideas I want to try... Does this seem like I'm stepping (wheeling!) in the right direction? Before I order some stock and realize I cant shift it!

So I have started out with paypal, about whom I have relatively no experience. But I hear bad bad things about them. From what I have read people have had bad experiences using their service. So I am a little concerned about using PP. What are the alternatives? Or shall I use them until my little venture is running good and then switch to something more reliable? Is there an alternative?

Are there any books that I could source from my local library to help me better understand buying, selling, trading, opening your own on line store? Any ones that people have used and were worthwhile?
Oh I wish I had someone to show me how this all works!

I am determined to make this work, even if I have to put a lot of time, effort and energy into it. I want to be able to work from home, be my own boss, and enjoy my life again!

If I posted this in the wrong place, apologies to the moderators! ;)

Hi Ali, and welcome to the site.

Reading through your post, I think you are making all of the correct decisions to start out, absolutely perfect plan for my money. Just don't be afraid to talk a good deal when you are sourcing products from a garage sale and such places.

It may well be cheap, but cheaper is always better for you!

I know a guy that goes around to a garage sale, checks out the merchandise and if he like what he sees, make a low ball offer to take the lot. The seller is usually stunned by such an offer, but after a few minutes, and a quick talk to their partner, often come to the conclusion that they can have the cash in their pocket and go do something a little more exciting for the rest of the day, and say yes.

Btw, he's not a licensed dealer, he does this privately and sells on both ebay and at local weekend markets, and does very nicely.

Don't worry too much about PayPal, just don't rely on them for your cashflow as your account may well spend some time suspended while they get comfortable with you.

Ever need any assistance here, just yell out and good luck with it all.

Hi Ali,

It's great to have you here. If you haven't already, check out our education area (you can access it by clicking on the 'education' tab), you'll find articles on topics such as eBay selling, importing, what types of products to sell, the ins and outs of different product sourcing methods, how suppliers work and how to get the most out of each supplier and lots more.

You can also browse through our bonus PDF guides by clicking on the 'Bonus Guides *New*' link from the navigation panel on the left-hand side of the page for more training resources.

Please let us know how you get on and if you have any further questions or concerns and we will be happy to help you out.

All the best!

Thanks guys!
Its good to be here. Was unsure about signing up to this but I'm glad I did.
The support staff are fantastic, the forum and the PDF's are a huge help.
I'll be asking more questions no doubt!

:)

By the way, thanks for your service Apollosviper.

Paypal has a slight learning curve. I'll take the time to give you a quick lesson.

Sign-up or upgrade to their Premier or Business account and fully verify your account. Verifying means to connect a bank account and credit/debit card to the Paypal account. This will require following their steps to do this. They will walk you through.

Also, please dont connect your main bank account that you pay your bills with to Paypal. Use a dormant or new bank account. Trust me on this.

Once your account is verified, apply for the Paypal debit card. This can take up to a month to get, but is highly, highly recommended.

Once you start selling, Paypal will likely hold most of your first 5 to 10 transactions. You won't be able to access the money until 21 days has elapsed or a positive feedback has been left or tracking confirms a delivery or both.
Be prepared, because its not something that might happen but is something that will definitely happen.

As you sell more and more the frequency of holds becomes much less.

Once you get the debit card, PM me and I will explain why it is so important you got one.

Hello,

Planes, I also want to know what Paypal debit card used for. I'm also a newbie. There is any charges for the card.

thanks plane,

It's great to have you on board, Ali! You will find invaluable info from the forums. If you have questions or clarifications, we are always here to help.

Camunsif, you may use the PayPal Debit Card to withdraw funds from your PayPal account at any ATMs. You may also use the card to purchase goods and services from merchants that accept MasterCard, up to the available balance in your PayPal Account. You will be charged a $1.00 USD ATM fee when you make a cash withdrawal and a surcharge assessed by the terminal owner. For more information, you may go to:

Link hidden: Login to view

Hope that helps! All the best!

The two other key points to having the debit card and they are key points are one, all purchases made using the Visa portion of the card, where you sign on purchases gives you 1% cash right back into your Paypal account.

When I was selling high end computers/parts that lets say cost 3000 gives you 30$ right back into your Paypal account. So you just made 30$ more from the sale. I sold a 2200$ laptop to someone and made and extra 22$. If you are doing many thousands of dollars in sales per month and have the option to use the visa portion of the debit card you are adding 20$ 30$ 50$ per month back into your Paypal account.

Lets say you make a 2000$ purchase from Liquidation.com you can opt to use a credit card and if you use the Paypal DC you just put 20$ into your Paypla account.

The other and most important point to having a Paypal account is you can purchase money orders from both the PO and Walmart with the debit portion of the card. Paypal doesn't like large sums of money withdrawn into sellers bank accounts. This can raise red flags and get an account limited. So if someone has 2500$ in their Paypal account instead of getting a limited Paypal account a person can go to the PO or Walmart and purchase MOs.

Ladies and gents,
I just made my first ebay sale, ho ho ho.... I'm feeling smug with myself!
So last weekend I trawled a few garage sales and picked up an old typewriter (1915), some 1970's digital watches, other electronics, books, a box of cell phones ( 7 of them, all complete for 5 bucks!) and other various items. In total I spent 70 bucks. I sold 2 items today, made my 70 bucks back and still have people bidding on the other items.
I'm getting a feel for what things are selling on ebay, and some ideas for potential niches.
I took your advice Planes, I upgraded my account but I cant apply for the debit card until I have had a paypal account for 60 days, I have another 35 to wait. But when that baby arrives you'll be hearing from me!
As for wholesale and dropshipping I have been studying it intently for a while, I want to be sure that I know what I'm doing before I drop my hard earned cash into something.
But the ebay thing for has been great so far, and I am really enjoying sourcing things to sell, watching people bid, and collecting a profit!

Super big thank you to all who have given me advice, fudjj, planes, satya and haydee! When I make a million, beers on me! ;)

If you make mine a cold cola I'll hold you to it Apollo, but I'm really glad our advice got you going and you're not only turning a profit, but having a great time doing it.

That's what it's all about as far as I'm concerned, so great news.

Nice work. Keep it up and let us know how it went.

Getting a paypal debit card sounds like a good idea, but are customers outside the US able to do this? From looking around the net it appears that we can't, unless someone can advise me otherwise (I live in NZ and am moving to Aus soon)...