Tales and Tips from an eBay Power Seller

You can't imagine the excitement we felt when we were invited to join the Power Seller Ranks by eBay. After a little over a year of dedicated, seven day a week working our eBay account we finally achieved the coveted Power Seller designation. In our case we felt it was quite an achievement because we don't sell high ticket items. Our niche is affordable products that don't have a high profit margin. We also don't sell volumes of individual products. 95 per cent of our sales are for single items that are either bought as collectibles or as gifts.

A little about us. We have been married for over seventeen years and until 2001 we both held full time jobs making over six figures. As you know, in September of 2001 the world as we know it changed. Unfortunately, it changed for us as well, both losing our secular blanket of security. It was at that time we decided to go into business for ourselves and using our knowledge of the Internet ventured to make our fortune. After three years of frustration with Affiliate Programs and dabbling with eBay and online auctions, we decided to focus on one source of income. We opened an eBay Store in July of 2004. In preparation we read Marketing and Selling with eBay.

At first, we stocked the store with my wife's Disney Collection and other items that we had long collected that we found out were worth a lot more to us than anyone else. So after three months of few sales a more hassles than it was worth we were ready to give up and starting looking for jobs. Then one day I happened upon a concept that was always there but for some reason or another I never pursued. It was Drop Shipping. Since our savings had been depleted and having no secure source of income it seemed a plausible alternative to stocking our store with product that we would have to warehouse and pay for up front. We purchased the Drop Ship Source Directory for $69.95 which listed thousands of reputable Drop Shipper's with products in virtually any category imaginable.

We then went about the task of selecting Drop Shippers that would have product that would fit our theme of Gifts since our original concept in 2001 was a website entitled "Gifts Online for Less". After I joined each Drop Shipper and established an account I began filling our store with product by theme to our current level of over 1600 items.

We had three objectives:

1. To provide excellent Customer Service and if at all possible to maintain a feedback rating of 100%.

2. To concentrate on only product that would fit with our theme. Although we have deviated in a couple of instances, for the most part everything we sell is designed for gift giving.

3. To increase traffic to our site. We realized early on that an eBay Store is not high on eBay's agenda of promotion. They make their money on Auctions, so if someone searches for a product eBay Stores get a small footnote at the bottom and definitely are not featured unless you pay some big advertising dollars which we did not have.