Canadian Marketing Blog

Some tips about selling on eBay

eBay is one of those business models that I've always wondered "why didn't I come up with this?". These ideas seem so simple after someone else comes up with them.

As the story goes, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar had a girlfriend back in 1995 who was a Pez candy dispenser collector. She apparently owned doubles of a few rare/valuable dispensers and wanted to buy some that she couldn't find. Pierre figured that the internet could help her find Pez collectors that were in the same position she was in.

Fast forward 10 years later, and eBay's 2005 revenues were $4.5 Billion U.S.

I searched "Pez" under "collectibles" in eBay and found 3100 Pez dispensers for sale. I had no idea a Pez dispenser was worth as much as $750. Another fact I found interesting, eBay just announced the sale of the 2 millionth vehicle through eBay motors.

I found a great article by Paul Newman from Sharpman.com on tips for selling on eBay that prompted me to write this blog.

eBay allows us all to become a store for a moment in time, a garage sale that the world can see.

If only I had dated a Pez collector.......

I believe the e-bay model is a bit dated. There are too many layers one must go through in order to purchase an item. It's also intimidating for non-savvy users to buy and sell their items. Personally, I think craigslist has it right. It's easy to use and understand and there is no "middle man"

Hi, thanks for an excellent post. I would say that eBay is the easiest to set up and earn money from, to get you started. Once you have the ebay business up and running you may want to expand into the other areas, website, blogging etc.Starting any business, especially an online business can be daunting. But if you have a mentor to show you how to get started, it helps. That’s what I’ve done and it has started to move forward.