Posts Tagged ‘Auctions’

Making Your eBiz Legal: Why and How

If you plan on buying from Wholesale Distributors for your own stock or you intend to dropship. This is a very Informative article and if you plan on going beyond ebay with your garage sale stuff this needs to be in your plans. If you are running a retail website or would like to and you want to buy wholesale ”get legit” There is a video at the bottom that is related. the article is from Worldwide Brands, by Chris Malta & Robin Cowie

It’s not uncommon for new Internet retailers to be intimidated by the thought of acquiring reseller certificates, EINs, and DBAs. But if you sell physical goods on the ‘net, you can’t afford to let a little paperwork stop you from experiencing the benefits of being a legally recognized business. Because, if you want to buy your inventory from real wholesale suppliers, you must be an official, legal business. The Taxman Cometh According to eBiz attorney Cliff Ennico, of CliffEnnico.com, wholesalers require proof that you’re a legal business for a very good reason. They keep this proof on file, to protect themselves, should they ever be audited. In the U.S., wholesale transactions aren’t taxed. “Wholesalers don’t charge taxes to their retailer customers, because those retailers are going to charge taxes to their customers,” explains Ennico. “As long as someone is paying taxes on those goods at some point during their journey to market, the IRS is happy.” However, if the IRS were to catch a wholesaler selling tax-free goods to an end consumer, that wholesaler would wind up in a world of legal and financial trouble. So every business they sell to must demonstrate that they’re a legally authorized reseller, buying their goods for resale and not for personal enjoyment. I’ll Need to See Some ID, Please… As an online seller, you’re responsible to collect and pay sales tax on all sales to customers in your own state. Therefore, you’re required by law to register for a state sales tax ID (a.k.a. reseller certificate) when you set up your business. Registering is as easy as going to your state tax authority website, clicking on ‘Forms and Publications’, and filling out the registration form. (One helpful resource is TaxLinks.com, a website that provides links to the state tax authority websites for all fifty states.) Typically, you’ll use a copy of this document to verify your business’ legitimacy. Not every state imposes sales tax on retail items, however, and that complicates the issue. If you live in a tax-exempt state, you’re unable to acquire a reseller certificate. In that case, a wholesaler will need another form of identification proving your business’ validity. Some of the most common alternate forms of proof are as follows:

New auction sites challenge eBay

Move over eBay. A number of new Web sites have sprung up to provide another venue for auctioning items and scoring bargains:

Overstock.com: Great for designer labels. You’ll find Prada pumps and Gucci satchels as well as auction-only merchandise.

Sam’s Club Auctions: Best for big-ticket items such as vacuums, comforters, TVs, tents and more.

Shopgoodwill.com: A great place to find collectibles such as tea cups and decorative plates. You will also find inexpensive clothing on this site. However, everything is sold “as is” and cannot be returned.

Ubid.com: This is the place to go for electronics. The site sells excess inventory from manufacturers such as Apple and Hewlett-Packard. A lot of it is refurbished, which means that warranties vary.

Dropshipping or stocking and why is it important to you?

Along with good customer service, finding the right products to offer to the public is probably one of the most significant challenges for those wanting to sell on eBay, amazon or any other online business. The main goal is to buy at low prices and to sell high. Of course, the majority of people just starting out on eBay begin by selling their own personal goods, all of that generally surplus merchandise they have in the attic, garage or basement. This is a good route to take with eBay, as it will help you to become familiar with the basics of listing, shipping, pictures, description writing and general customer service but at some point you will have an empty home if you keep moving in this direction.

When the house is empty you will need to find more items to sell. Many sellers will spend Saturday and Sunday searching around garage sales and flea markets, looking for merchandise and it soon becomes apparent that this it taking up a lot of time and money although I have found a lot of great things that I decided to keep for myself. What you really need is to find a wholesaler where you can buy in bulk at inexpensive prices and make your mark up on eBay then box and ship yourself. Search the items you want to sell for sales numbers before purchasing for stock. You do not want to get stuck with this stuff. Buy wisely.

 When you have decided to start trading seriously on eBay, amazon or with any other online retailing business, there are some things to remember about the businesses where you are likely to be buying your stock.

·         Have a Business corporation, llc, partnership or sole proprietor set up.

·         Make sure your paperwork to purchase wholesale is in order, since this will be required by the supplier.

·         The wholesaler will provide you with all of the necessary information for you to buy from him with confidence.

·         Have your merchant account in place whether it is paypal or credit card processing center.

·         Search, Search and do more Searching, do as much research as possible. Be Confident in the items you choose.

After you have some of the basics covered you should have a great start on your online adventure. Good Luck!

eBay Wants Its Sellers Back. A bit late?

If you are new to EBAY then the past has not affected you. I was an EBAY seller for years and I was slowly getting discouraged by management with every day that past. Last year EBAY changed direction and new visions came aboard which had effected sellers they made there empire from. Do some searches and you can find the history. Now I use ebay as an advertising platform rather than sole income. I set out to lose “x” amount of $ – dollars – $ every month but the traffic to my site gains it three times back, not always but most months it does. Dont get me wrong I am not telling you EBAY is completely no good but it works for everyone different.

Thanks R.W. Casandra

See this article from webpronews.com

eBay Wants Its Sellers Back

By Chris Crum – Mon, 01/26/2009 – 3:49pm.

Makes Feedback and Payment Policy Changes

Early last year, eBay inflicted some damaging policy changes that sent many sellers running for the hills. Now, they apparently are changing the rules to remove negative comments left by customers towards the sellers.

A couple months ago I talked to a number of eBay sellers, and all but one of them told me that eBay’s feedback policy was their biggest frustration. It now seems that eBay has decided to hear the howls of disgust from its users that have been going on for the majority of the past year. Ecommerce Journal reports:

The move to change the Feedback policy was prompted by numerous requests made by the cross-border sellers who received negative comments from customers while there wasn’t actual fault with the merchants. Now eBay will be removing feedback if: the listing meets the Customs Requirements and/or the seller receives a negative or neutral Feedback comment, which references customs delays or customs fees. Merchants in turn are obliged to advise the buyers that import duties, taxes and charges are not included in the item price or shipping charges. These charges are the buyer’s responsibility.

There was also a lot of frustration about eBay’s payment policy. Many were enraged by the favoritism showed to eBay-owned PayPal. eBay will reportedly now be adding Moneybookers and PayMate as acceptable methods of payment starting next month.

eBay users have been quite vocal in their displeasure with the famous auction site. It seems unlikely that many of them that have been so passionate will be willing to go back to eBay just because they finally acknowledged these issues. But the brand power that eBay carries does pull a lot of weight. Are you (or were you) an eBay seller? What do you think?