Easy riches?

Strike it rich on eBay. Make money the eBay way. The secrets to proven eBay success!

Books and seminars abound touting easy riches from eBay, the online auction house that draws millions of buyers. But before you quit your day job, consider this old adage, says certified eBay instructor Terry Gehrke: “If it sounds too good to be true, it is.”

That doesn’t mean you can’t make money — and even a living — selling on eBay.

“I have several clients who are stayat-home moms with children and are building some nice little businesses,” Gehrke said. And Gehrke himself makes what he calls a full-time income working part-time selling books on eBay.

But starting and operating an eBay or online business — developing the site, finding a source of product, dealing with customers — takes time and effort, he said. And even then, there’s no guarantee of success.

“If you treat eBay as a hobby, it’s going to generate hobby income,” he said.

Henry Ehle is looking at eBay as a way to make some money selling computer parts from a previous business. “I may not get much out of it,” he said, “but at least I can get rid of it.” If sales merit it and he finds a source for more equipment at a low-enough price, it could lead to an online business, he said. In March, he attended a seminar presented by Clickincome, which calls itself the pioneer in Internet educational products and services. He was among about four dozen people who attended the first of three free seminars that day in Colorado Springs, attracted by promises of “Learn how to make an eBay living” and “Make your eBay business fly in 30 days!”

Speaker Michael Sheridan shared how he started an eBay business by selling some old tennis rackets.

“I knew nothing about the Internet,” he said. “I was a blank canvas, but one with gumption.”

Sheridan offered tips on selling on eBay, but much of the presentation was spent promoting a second, longer seminar a few days later, costing $99.

“I went there because I wanted to learn more about eBay,” said Ehle, who signed up for the second seminar. “I did learn a few things,” he acknowledged, but much of the second presentation was a sales pitch to sign up people for a program that involves selling Web sites to others.

For their $99, people also were offered software to set up a Web site — though they faced a monthly hosting fee of $29.95, plus more if they wanted to arrange a merchant account through Clickincome allowing them to conduct credit-card transactions online.

They also were given a year’s free membership in Clickincome’s Click Club, which promises a variety of products at wholesale prices and offers drop shipping, sending products directly to a customer on behalf of the online entrepreneur.

“The allure of that is you can list anything that you think might be interesting and you don’t have to stockpile it in your home,” said Donna Austin, a Colorado Springs woman who as a certified eBay education specialist teaches classes on eBay basics. But since you don’t control the supply of product, it’s your reputation that suffers if the drop shipper runs out of something promised a buyer, Austin said. And some drop shippers are scams, offering poor-quality merchandise or prices that don’t allow for profit by the seller. Austin got her start on eBay as a buyer and then began selling, finding bargains at Goodwill and elsewhere and selling them for a profit. She went on to train with eBay.

While Austin teaches the basics of selling on eBay, Gehrke has many clients interested in going a step further and starting an online business: His advice: If your objective is to sell a few things online after cleaning out the garage or closet, learn the basics of eBay and sell there. If the idea is to have a business with continuous product, consider setting up an eBay shop — essentially a Web site within eBay. Monthly fees start at $15.95; you also pay eBay a small listing fee and a percentage of the sale.

The advantage of an eBay shop over an independent Web site, he said, “is you’ve got eyeballs. You’ve got millions of people every minute on eBay.”

To attract those eyeballs, find a distinctive niche, he said. Don’t try to sell what’s hot; there’s typically big competition and thus little profit in selling items such as iPods and plasma-screen TVs.

Gehrke operates one eBay store that sells only construction-related books and another that’s devoted to books about eBay.

“What really sells and does the best are the niche markets, the speciality markets. If you have an interest in something, I guarantee you there are thousands of other people out in the world who have an interest also.”

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0272 or bill.radford@gazette.com

GETTING AN EBAY EDUCATION

New to eBay?

Find tutorials on how to sell and buy at ebay.com. Click on “Learning Center” at the bottom of the page.

Certified eBay education specialists are trained by eBay but are not employed or affiliated with eBay Inc. Donna Austin, a Colorado Springs eBay education specialist, teaches group classes on “The Basics of Selling on eBay.” Go to www.geekytutor .com for details.

Terry Gehrke, an eBay education specialist in Denver, offers group and private training ranging from eBay basics to starting an eBay business.

www.terrygehrke.com.

Want to sell, but don’t want to learn?

Trading assistants are experienced eBay sellers who will sell your items for you on eBay for a fee; go to http://pages.ebay.com/tahub/index .html to find trading assistants in the area.

Consider It Sold, 3926 N. Academy Blvd., serves the same role for a percentage of the purchase price. Phone: 550-1191.

AFTER THE SALE

So, you’ve set up your eBay shop, you’ve got a reliable source of product and sales are taking off. You’ve got it made, right?

Wrong, says Jim Reeder, co-owner of Consider It Sold, a Colorado Springs business that handles eBay sales for sellers.

“The front end — somebody brings something in, you decide whether or not you want to sell it, you take the pictures, you post it — that’s the easy part,” he said.

It’s the back end, after the sale, that often is the biggest hassle and consumes the most time, Reeder said. Problems with payments, missing shipments and damaged merchandise can add up to a big headache, he said.

On top of that, the seller must always be on the watch for fraud, such as a buyer who lies in claiming a product arrived broken.

“There are just hundreds and hundreds of different ways to get scammed.”