eCommerce Bootcamp ( focused on eBay and PayPal )
Have a client that's asked me if I'd be able to clear tens of thousands of dollars of existing inventory via eBay. While it seems like a stretch, figured I'd look into it for them just to give them some idea of the effort required, and the likely returns/risks involved; it'd also likely be a joint-venture, so the question is as much for them as me.
What is the best way to get up to speed on the skills required to run an eBay business, and to define if the inventory was auctioned, if it would likely return the expected revenue targets? Attempting to keep the question as useful to others as possible, but if it matters, the inventory is a very large collection of American postal stamps/sheets/etc -- and the client is planning to reinvest profits from the sell of the collection to buy and sell more stamps; meaning they are wanting to make an on going business out of this venture.
While the client is targeting eBay, since they currently use eBay -- I have no experience using eBay (though I do have 20,000+ hours building/running websites), and open to other suggestions too; for example, stand-alone-eStore, Amazon, Google, etc. -- though likely not Craigslist, unless compelling reasons are provided.
UPDATE: (1) So far I've been unable to find any "good" ultra-dense classes, but this book on by "The PayPal Official Insider Guide to Growing Your Business " is by PayPal and recent, so at the very least I'd hope it'd match PayPal's point of view on best practices -- and seems okay after looking through it at the local bookstore. (2) See my comments on the answer that suggest "eBay University Classroom "
too.
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What is the relationship with startups? How to sell stuff on eBay seems off-topic. – Alain Raynaud 13 years ago
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@Alain Raynaud: Maybe it is off-topic, but as I state in the question the business is a joint-venture and a start-up; most likely run under the [lean start-up model](http://www.amazon.com/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898), since neither the owner of the assets, or I want to take on undue risk, or assume we understand the market. Also, while the question is focused on eBay/PayPal, as I stated, I'm open to other suggestions; meaning the question is about rapidly learning the basics of online commerce, and then moving on to more advanced approaches. – Blunders . 13 years ago
1 Answer
Are you familiar with eBay University?
eBay University Classroom Instruction offers 3 courses delivered byYou can also search for an eBay trained consultant.
eBay trained Education Specialists:Classes are offered in person in your own neighborhood.Selling Basics for the new seller
Building your Business on eBay for the more experienced seller
eBay Stores
Being new to this coupled with the fact that this will be an ongoing activity for you, spending some time with an experienced expert could save you lots of time and money.
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+1 @JonnyBoats: So, searched in my area, and only found "THE BASICS OF SELLING on eBay" -- but search NYC(10001) and eBay zipcode(95125) and found examples of the other two classes. That said, the classes appear to around $50 an hour, last 3-hours, and a lot of the links listed to reach the teachers are broken; meaning it appears a large percent of the data is dated. Also, the class appear to be more of an opportunity to up-sell class members, than a real class; that is, they'll say, "we'll it for you, now that you know how hard it really is." Thanks though, since it is a real offering. – Blunders . 13 years ago
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As they say, your mileage may vary. as with anything some are better than others. What you could do is contact some of consultants via email or phone and pick the best one to help you. – Jonny Boats 13 years ago
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+1 @JonnyBoats: True, good point, since I really don't care about meeting people in person. – Blunders . 13 years ago
