Ebayers make assumptions about sellers and powersellers that are absolutely untrue. For example: MOST POWERSELLERS make six figures in gross income, right?  ::snort::  Gimme a break. We're online retailers, not Bill Gates. The few who make this kind of money are the exception, not the rule. The requirements for becoming a powerseller are pretty low.  Sellers needs to average $1,000 a month in gross sales over a three-month period, which means $12,000 a year gross.  If they run a very streamlined business, find merchandise at low cost, sell it for double what they paid, sell most stuff from an ebay store with minimal effort or through eagerly sought-out auctions in which customers clobber each other to buy goods... and that's asking a lot... best case scenario would be to take that $12,000 and subtract at least 60% to cover ebay and paypal fees and cost of goods. Net income is now $4,800 per year. Now deduct taxes based on household earnings tax bracket. At 25%, that leaves $3,600 a year.  Ouch.

A $3,000/month average minus 60% fees is $14,400 net, which leaves $10,800 after taxes. Ouch again.

IS THAT TYPICAL?   I can't say for certain, as most powersellers do not want to talk about this. It's personal and embarrassing. But I've conducted informal surveys and gathered estimated sales figures on closed auctions for specific sellers (go to top of page, click on BUY, then advanced search, then Find Items by Seller, and so on). To the best of my knowledge, powersellers tend to be in the $12K to 36K gross income range.  Assuming they sell goods acquired honestly, live in the US, have operating costs (as opposed to services they gain "free" at the office) and pay income taxes, they could be making as little as $4,800 to $10,800 net per year or worse. Why am I telling you this? Because buyers accost me as if I were stingy and wealthy--which gets tiresome--and keep asking me for discounts and deals.  And because would-be sellers are dying to know if they can quit their day jobs and make a living at this.   I found a statistic somewhere saying 420,000 Americans support themselves on ebay without additional income.  That number is lower than I thought it would be.  Can you become # 420,001?  Well, I've tried as hard as anyone I know to achieve that.  So my advice to you is to give it a try for a few years before you commit full-time. I'm giving you realistic facts and educated impressions, but your own experiences will give you reality.

WHAT ABOUT ARTICLES ABOUT MAKING HUGE INCOME on ebay?  I'm sure there are exceptions to what I am telling you.  But when were these articles written? Competition on ebay is fierce.  According to medved.net, at the start of the year 2000, there were 2.5 million auctions running. January 2007 showed roughly 12 to 19 million running per day.  Newbie sellers on the ebay blogs wail, "Why didn't my item sell? I started bidding at 99 cents and it's worth way more than that! What am I doing wrong?"  The answer is: probably nothing.  But you have far more competition that you realize.

SO HOW CAN YOU MAKE POWERSELLER STATUS?  Study the email tutorials, the methods of other sellers, ended listings, articles about ebay on the internet and books about ecommerce. Tinker with headline wording, categories, prices, different products.  Make sure your product is searchable in any search engine. Develop a little business savvy and a lot of patience.  Be friendly and go the extra mile for customers.  And be willing to devote months or years just to reach $36K gross ($10K net) depending on how popular your chosen merchandise is.   If you want to earn Big Bucks, i.e.: more than the figures I have given, you will need more smarts and perseverance than I have.

THEN WHY ARE EBAY SELLERS selling books and tapes revealing secrets of making huge money?  Because those products sell better than their original merchandise did. Those sellers will be mad I said that. They will vote No at the bottom of this guide, where it says, "Was this guide helpful?" and this info will move to the bottom of the slushpile. I don't care. I've lost the will to live.

WHY AM I TRASHING EBAY?  Whoaaaaa, hold it right there.  I am absolutely NOT trashing ebay.  I enjoy selling stuff. I am only debunking the notion that all powersellers are wealthy and a few other stereotypes.  Take for example this belief that powersellers are arrogant. Okay, I am.  But the other powersellers are super nice because if they weren't, their feedback would be lousy and no one would buy from them. Trust me on this.  The powersellers are good people. Your bias against them, if you have one, is ill-founded..  Fraudulent and/or mean sellers go out of business FAST; however, I admit, a seller can reach powerseller status quickly, rake in too many negative feedbacks, get shut down and turn around and open a new one quickly.  To avoid that sort of person, just read the feedback and be wary of the newest sellers. 

WHY DO SOME POWERSELLERS ACT LIKE THEY NEVER EVEN READ YOUR LAST EMAIL?  It's nothing personal!  Larger businesses have more customers and more red tape.

WHY DO SELLERS TAKE FOREVER TO SHIP?  First, look at the date your payment cleared. No, not the date you sent payment. The date it CLEARED Paypal or whatever. Compare that date to the date the seller shipped, which appears on the shipping label.  By federal law and according to ebay protocol, these two dates should be less than 30 days apart.  I can practicallly hear you choking. Yes, 30 days. That's a huge window, isn't it?  And that's why you will usually find the two dates are closer together than that.  If you think the gap is too large, check the bottom of the seller's listing for the words "Usually ships within ___ business days of cleared payment."  If seller met that time frame, meaning the buyer was told in advance what to expect, then the buyer is wrong to leave negative feedback or a low star ranking for shipping time.  Normally, this is the part where I pause while standing on my soapbox and say, "Feel free to disagree." But in this case, I won't, because you have no right to disagree.  Wipe that look off your face.  Look me in the eye. Your bid signified your willingness to follow terms. If the seller fulfilled the terms and you ding their feedback anyway because you WISH the terms had been different, you are morally wrong.  And so's your dog. 

PARADOX:  buyers who ask for Media Mail or Parcel Post tend to believe the seller shipped slowly, whereas those who ask for Priority Mail think the seller shipped quickly. My feedback confirms this misperception, even though I tend to ship everything within the same time frame. It's just that one arrives faster than the other BECAUSE OF THE POST OFFICE SYSTEM and has nothing to do with the seller.

HOW COME THE POWERSELLER SAID they no longer have this thing in stock? Why did they even list it if they don't have it?  It's not a scam. It's just truth. It's hard to keep track of tons of merchandise. Go fill up two spare rooms in your house with $20,000 worth of merchandise and keep exact track of what you sell and what you ship for a year. Then we'll talk. --dj runnels (c) 2007