Virtual Online Learning - Self Promotion Friday

If you are not a member of Virtual Online Learning founded by eBay Hall Of Famer Danna Crawford then you better sign up right now so you can particapate in Virtual Speak UP.

Virtual Online Learning or VOL is a great group of people helping each other become more successful on eBay. I have been selling on eBay for over 10 years and it has become my full time job. I know eBay inside and out and I know how to make money on eBay so I wouldn't waste my time if I didn't believe in this group. If you read my posts you can see that I practice what I preach, I am not one of these bloggers who lost touch with eBay and are only looking for people to click on links and promote items. All of my post are backed up with my own items that I sell.

This is taken from http://virtualonlinelearning.blogspot.com/ about tonight's Speak Up.

We are live, the first Friday of every month! Call in Tonight and join us for our Virtual Speak Up and promote your Business! Open Mic for 5 to 10 min depending on how many callers we have BUT the main thing is for you to be a part of the show and receive your spot of FREE ADVERTISING!

Our sessions are free for downloading at iTunes and many of us bloggers at VOL use the segments as blog posts. We embed the player (which you can do too) into our blog posts and BLOG about a few of the callers so, don't miss this awesome chance to CALL in and SPEAK UP!

VirtualSpeakUp.com Mark your calendar now, the first Friday of every month:
8:00 PM EST
7:00 pm CST
6:00 PM Mnt
5:00 PM pst

NOTE: follow our members tweeting using the hashtag: #volm We may be tweeting about YOU when you call in :-)

Get Those Ugly Christmas Sweaters Ready

I write about this every year, so start planning now if you want to make some extra money for the Holidays. The best way to make money on eBay during Christmas time is to know what the hot products will be for shoppers. It is usually a few new items every year. In 2008 it was the Nintendo Wii or the Snuggie Blanket. In 2009 it was the Zhu Zhu Pets. But there is one item that is searched for year after year on eBay and that is Ugly Christmas Sweaters.

The term ugly Christmas sweater is always one of the most popular on search engines during the Holiday season. Likewise those searches will lead people to eBay, to find the tackiest sweaters out there. Colorful green and red sweaters with Christmas themes like snowmen, reindeer and elf's will bring in top dollar on eBay. Why are these items so hot?

The main reason people buy these sweaters is to wear them to Holiday office parties. A lot of companies give prizes to the employee who shows up in the ugliest Christmas sweater.

So now is the time to look for them at thrift stores and gargae sales. Or even make them yourself. The uglier the better. Just find some gently used sweaters (cardigans are popular at thrift stores and red or green would be perfect) and add christmas items to the sweater. The sweaters that typically do the best have ornaments hanging off them, or light up. If you are creative and have the time you can make some good money. It's best to start listing these in November because Holiday parties can start in early December and if you wait longer then list them as Buy It Now.

Good Luck
John Paul

Past Christmas Related Blog Posts
What to sell on eBay at Christmas Time

Virtual Online Learning Monthly Blog Challenge

I am very excited to participate in the http://www.virtualonlinelearning.com/ Blog Challenge. The goal of the challenge is to add 5 new blog posts today (September 30th 2011.) I took the summer off from blogging, but I am back now with a lot to share.

A little info about Virtual-Online-Learning (VOL).

VOL is run by Danna Crawford aka Power Selling Mom. If you are not familiar with Danna, then you should visit her main website http://www.powersellingmom.com/. Danna is everywhere you look when it comes to eBay. Danna is a member of the eBay Hall of Fame and has almost as many followers on Twitter as some Hollywood celebrities, so she must be doing something right. Click here to follow me on Twitter and help me catch up to Danna.

For a $99.99 LIFETIME membership fee you get so much information. So check it out and enjoy my posts today. As always your comments to my posts make this blog more interesting for everyone and keeps me going. Thank you for your support.

Setting eBay Goals

My eBay business is much more productive when I set goals. I know selling on eBay is very unpredictable and 1 week I can have a bunch of new consignment clients and 50 new thrift store finds. So for me it is hard to set goals far in advance, but I find that I get a lot more done when I set goals for the day or even for the upcoming week. One example is yesterday I participated in eBay Power Listing Day "PLD" Challenge on Virtual Online Learning. My goal was 15-20 new listings of old items that I had lying around. I beat my goal for the day and listed 21 items from scratch in about 3.5 hours.

If I didn't start my day with a goal in mind I might have listed a few items then jumped to something else then started researching new ways to make money on eBay. Too much wasted time and by the end of the day I would of felt like I didn't accomplished much. So for 2011 try and set at least 1 goallllllll for each day and challenge yourself to meet that goal.

Here are a few listings from my fellow Virtual Online Members who participated in the PLD Challenge. As you can see by their feedback rating they take eBay seriously. So check out the listings below if not to bid at least to see how sucessful eBay sellers list.

Fine Line Jigsaw Puzzle I LOVE A PARADE Johnson 750 New

R.E.M. Live At Olympia Dublin 2007) promo stickered CD

Lot of 72 Hot Wheels 1st Editions, Series,1991-1998 MIP

Good Luck,

John Paul

www.ASAPsellsIT.com

To List or Not to List During the Holidays

Holiday time is friends and family time!
Holiday time is giving time and Holiday time is also eBay listing and selling time!

My Holiday time suggestions are:

• If you have a house full of friends and family, put the eBay store on vacation settings or add a note to the listings and/or header something like: Happy Holidays from our Home to Yours! We will not be shipping from December 21st through December 26th.  However, feel free to continue to shop and keep in mind all items will ship out on Monday December 27th. Merry Christmas to all!

• If you don't have a houseful and have time to list items on eBay then GO FOR IT! I am a firm believer that the shoppers are there on Christmas Day, New Years Day and all major holidays! Not everyone celebrates and I've actually had great sales on Christmas Day with less competition because most people THINK they should not have items end during this time and I feel it is one of the best times!  Once year I did $1,200.00 in eBook sales on Christmas Eve (that was back in the day when we could sell digital delivery. How I miss those days!) 

• In all my years of experience with selling on eBay (13 years) as a "treasure hunt seller" I've made more money in January then in any other month. Now is the time to get those collectibles listed and run them as a buy it now with make an offer for 30 days.

The Holidays are yours! It is YOUR TIME TO SHINE!

Bottom line, however you decide to spend your time during the holidays, make the best of it. With family, friends or buying/selling on eBay. Either way enjoy what you do and APPRECIATE your holiday time!

Stand Out on eBay

Open publication - Free publishing - More pagemage

Thrift Store Find of the Month - September 2010

My first attempt at selling records was a good one. I had wrapped up my visit at the Thrift Store and as I was walking out the door, out of the corner of my eye I saw a Beatles Album. There were a bunch of them, so I took a shot at $1.00 each.


17 sold for $104.72

A nice little profit of $87.72 before fees.

I also purchased (2) Guns N' Roses Records for $1.00 each


They sold for $28.99 & $20.50 individually.

Some Tips:

• Ship records in the USA via USPS Media Mail.
• Invest in some boxes specifically made to ship records. They are a pain to ship if you don't have the right box size. This looks like a pretty good deal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/LP-VINYL-RECORD-MAILER-BOX-50-PK-SCRAPBOOK-PICTURES-/300476156695?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item45f5c64b17

If you want to learn more about Selling Records on eBay you should join us over at Virtual Online Learning We will be having an online meet-up this Thursday Evening Oct. 7th at 8 pm Eastern time about selling records on eBay. So far there are about 30 people attending, so you know you will learn a thing or two.

Good Luck,

John Paul

The Time is NOW to sell those PINK items on eBay

The time is NOW to list something "Pink" on eBay and donate to a Susan G. Komen Affiliate from YOUR area!

eBay sellers can list items supporting the cause directly on the "Sell your Item" form just below where you enter in your Starting price. 

Notice: eBay Giving Works!

If you do NOT see this on your "Sell Your Item" form then your settings need to be adjusted.
To adjust your settings simply visit the yellow bar above the starting price box that reads:   
Choose how you'd like to sell your item! Then click on the words beside it reading:  
Add or Remove options
A new window will open and check the box below : Donate percentage of sale -->
Give a percentage of the final sale price to a non-profit organization

Once you are ready to donate a percent of your listing to a nonprofit I suggest you find a local Susan G. Komen affiliate from your area! To locate one from the Sell Your Item form, above the Donation percentage click on "select another nonprofit you love!"
 
The easiest way to save TIME finding an affiliate is to type in the word: Susan, Check the box blow and find your state. Leave all the other boxes alone and then click on SEARCH :

Now you can easily list your PINK items to help support this cause YEAR round in addition to right now during this worldwide event as we all try to find a cure for this horrible disease.






NOTE: if you are a nonprofit feel free to contact me and I will help you get your nonprofit registered with eBay Giving Works so you too can be listed in the master directory.
My email: danna@powersellingmom.com

Welcome Danna Crawford to Vitamin eBay

I am proud to announce that PowerSellingMom Danna Crawford has signed on to be a monthly contributor to Vitamin eBay. Danna will be focusing her posts on TIME SAVING tips. I believe this might be the single most important aspect to becoming successful on eBay. If you don't manage your time well eBay can become very overwhelming. And who better to share her TIME SAVING tips than Danna. Here is a short video about Danna.



I am a member of http://www.virtualonlinelearning.com/ which was started by Danna in 2009. It is a great site where everyone shares ideas and learns from each other. Every time I visit the site I get more and more motivated to become a better eBayer so I strongly recommend that you join.

John Paul