Q: Tanner,

I am new to selling on eBay and I wanted to know if I should accept personal checks as payment for my auctions? What do you think?

Thanks,
Terry G.

A: The danger in accepting personal checks comes from having the check bounce after you have mailed out the item.

The best way to get around this problem is to clearly state in your item description that you will not ship the item until the check clears, usually 7-10 days. This works well for most sellers.

However last year I accepted a personal check for payment on an item, and after the check cleared I mailed the item out. Then a month later Read the rest of this entry »

Ingredients: Cardboard Box (21″x25″x3), a razor knife, 4 clothespins, Sheets of matte construction paper (28″x22″ in as many different colors as you’d like), a wall or chair. Power tools needed: none.

The “Seamless” holds a special place in the world of product photography. When you see magazine shots of mouth-watering Godiva chocolates, Gucci purses or even babies playing with Goodyear Tires, the pictures are almost invariably shot on a seamless background.

The Seamless eliminates the hard shadows that are created where the vertical part of the background meets the horizontal part, essentially, where the wall meets the floor. These shadows can be distracting, and divert attention from the most important thing in the photograph: The Product.

Madison Avenue is in the business of getting you to buy things, and so are online auction sellers.

If you’ve had professional photography experience, then you know how expensive the equipment can be. I have a friend who is a professional photographer and I asked him how I could create a “Hollywood” effect on a “beer belly” budget. What really matters is the end result: how your pictures look. Read the rest of this entry »

“Make $5,000 a week on eBay in your spare time!”

Oh, give me a break.

There has been so much ridiculous hype and hoopla about selling on eBay in recent years. Ridiculous headlines, pop-up ads, spam e-mails and infomercials about how easy it is to make a fortune on eBay. Don’t fall for those scams. But do take a few minutes to read this article and learn the truth about eBay and whether or not it is the right home business opportunity for you.

eBay isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. In fact, there is no such thing as a too-good-to-be-true-get-rich-quick scheme that consistently generates significant income.

You have to bring your own motivation and willingness to work.

If you are motivated, eBay does present a great opportunity for individuals to make money online, all the ridiculous hype aside. According to a recent publication released by eBay, more than 430,000 rely on eBay for most or all of their income. Selling on eBay isn’t easy to master. Anyone can make some extra money doing it but the percentage of eBay sellers who make their living through eBay auctions is well under 1%.

The following 10 tips explain how to be one of the less than 1% who do it right. Read the rest of this entry »

Q: I made extra money selling things on eBay last year. These were items I picked up at yardsales mostly. My husband says I am responsible for paying income tax on the money I made, but I disagree. This is just my hobby, not a business. What do you think?

Gladys A.

A: With so many people selling on eBay these days this is a question I get all the time. To many eBay sellers the thought of running an actual business is about as appealing as getting negative feedback, so they go out of their way to convince themselves that selling on eBay is really “just a hobby” and therefore, should not be susceptible to income tax laws.

While you might think selling on eBay is just a hobby and the extra money you’re making is not reportable as income, depending on the circumstances, the IRS just might disagree with you.

The IRS rules are clear: you must pay taxes on all personal and business income and that includes money you make selling on eBay.

In its most basic sense, the IRS rules mean that if you buy a vase at a garage sale for $10 and sell it on eBay (or elsewhere) for $20 you made a $10 profit and therefore must report it as income and pay Uncle Sam his fair share. Read the rest of this entry »