If you need a reason to continue your education in eBay, consider teaching non-credit eBay courses in your hometown for your local school district or community college or town Recreation Department. This is an easy way to earn extra money, build your reputation and even pick up a few tips yourself.

You may wonder why take a class when there are so many resources available, but at the class I taught last week one student said, "I've read all the books and been all over the site, but I really wanted someone to just answer my questions in person!"

HOW TO START YOUR TEACHING CAREER 

1) Call the Continuing Education or Community Education office in your school district and ask if they are interested in your class.  I told them I would happy to send them a course description for their consideration. When I first taught the class, I had only a feedback of 35 (!) but I told them that I had helped many of my friends learn how to do eBay. Continuing education departments are ALWAYS looking for new classes for their communities--every single class I've ever suggested has been accepted.

2) Negotiate a per-student payment rate.  In my school district, they paid $20 per class hour (or $40 for a two-hour class).  I suggested that I receive a price per student instead and they actually agreed.  I received $15 per student for a 2-hour class and $19 per student for a 4-hour class held  in two sessions over two consecutive weeks. My first class had 18 students--woo hoo!  At the same time, when one winter class got only a handful of students, I told them I would hold it anyhow.  I figured that was only fair and the district was happy to not have to deal with the hassles of canceling and rescheduling.  If the class provider insists on an hourly fee, ask about getting paid for "class preparation time."  This was the situation at community colleges, which had rigid rules for adjunct faculty pay.  

2) Start with an Introduction to eBay Class.  This will give you a good snapshot of the particular needs in your community.  In one town, the students were mostly senior citizens who didn't even own computers!  I asked one of them why they whe was were taking the class and he said that continuing ed classes were FREE for seniors and he and his wife came to the school on Wednesdays to do their aerobic walks and she was taking flower arranging at the same time!  In another town, many of the students not only had computers but were familiar with the site and were registered eBay users.

3) Limit your class to ages 18 and over.  If you teach minors, you will be required by law to be fingerprinted and go through a background check.  My district didn't pay the fees for that, so by limiting the class to adults I didn't have to worry about it.  Plus, many high school students may know more about eBay than you do.  :)

BEFORE YOU TEACH YOUR CLASS

1) Ask for a "smart" classroom with an overhead screen that can project your computer  activity to the class AND computers that the students can use. This way, you can do screen introduction to eBay that the entire class can follow for the first half of the class. THEN for the second half, students can explore eBay on their own while you walk around and answer questions. DO NOT allow students to play with their computers while you are teaching initially--otherwise, they will be doing email and who knows what else.  Plus, some students may not even be familiar with the school's computers and you will waste time teaching them how to access the internet etc.

2) Create handouts.  I have one called "dimzy's Top 10 eBay Tips," a flowchart I made on how eBay works, plus printouts of humorous listings I've seen on ebay, poor listings (I asked the class for suggestions on how to improve the listing),  How to Sell on eBay, How to Buy on eBay etc.  I liked to hand one out every 15 minutes or so.

3) Bring in props.   You may not need them, but bring in items that the class could potentially list on eBay; eBay books you may have to show students, any official eBay memorabilia--I DO have the eBay board game!

HOW LONG SHOULD YOUR CLASS LAST?

3 Hours:  Good for single session classes on Saturday

2 Hours: Best for weeknights

1 Session or 2?  My favorite class is two, two-hour sessions held on two consecutive Mondays. This way, I get paid more :) but most importantly, students can bring their own items that they want to sell or come with a list of items they want to buy.  Plus, if they haven't registered on eBay, they can.  IMPORTANT:  BE SURE TO TELL STUDENTS TO NOT REGISTER ON eBAY WHILE ON A PUBLIC COMPUTER since they will be providing financial information.

CLASS STRUCTURE: Single Class

1)  Introduction.  Introduce yourself, tell about your eBay experiences.  ALSO, ask the class to introduce themselves and tell about their experience with eBay and why they want to take the class.  This will tell you how to create a class that will meet their needs--and it will help you create references that the class is most interested in.

2) Show them around eBay.  Invite questions--it's very easy for newcomers to get completely lost!

3) Go through a buying and selling exercise.  I went through an actual buying and selling exercise, going all the way until "SUBMIT." Most schools have firewalls that wouldn't allow you to actually complete a transaction if you wanted.

4) Take a break.

5) Have students work at their own pace and explore the eBay site.

6) See #4 below.

CLASS STRUCTURE: TWO SESSIONS

1) Give homework at the end of the first session.  Tell students to make sure they are registered. Have them bring an item to the second class that they are curious about and give them a handout sheet so they can write an item description. 

2) Review homework. 

3) Give more in-depth information.  Some suggestions are: tips about such topics as eBay Stores, international selling, problem resolution, photo composition etc.

4) Hand out class evaluations--and then read them.  This is also helpful to making sure you can offer continuous improvement.

5) Provide an email address where students can reach you.  I have found that only a few ever corresponded, but they appreciated it. Mostly, the ones who did write wanted to ask a simple question or have me review their listing.

 I hope this was helpful.  Good luck! I have found teaching to be a very rewarding experience.