We’re coming up to the ‘Super Six’ on eBay this year, and by ‘Super Six’ I mean those six weeks just before Christmas which retail analysts tell us account for the biggest part of the profits for almost any firm specialising in gift and novelty products. Those weeks between early November and middle December are make or break time for most firms selling gifts and seasonal novelties, also party clothing, festive food and drink, and much more besides.
Thankfully for eBay sellers, it isn’t just offline retailers that stand to make a lot of money or miss a lot in those six weeks we’ll talk about today.
Notice I said ‘miss’ in the last paragraph because, properly done, no trader should ever stand to lose money at Christmas. Christmas is big spend time and virtually ever single adult spends several hundred pounds more in November and December than at any other time of year.
It’s time now to at least plan what you’re going to sell on eBay this Christmas and, if you’re anything like me, you’ll be looking to make tons of dosh from stuff that costs you little or nothing other than a spattering of that dirty four letter word: WORK!
Anyone prepared to invest time in planning and obtaining their Christmas stock will make money on eBay, not ‘might’, definitely ‘will’. That’s because the work involved goes into creating your own products or tarting up already available products, the work goes into making your version of an existing product unique. So unique means no competition, high demand products mean lots of sales, lots of sales means lots of money going into your bank account in the next few weeks and months.
Let us look now at few easy peasy ways to find our unique products:
* Altered Art. Altered art simply means creating something very different from already available artistic creations. So you find people turning vintage postcards into wall hangings, elaborate Victorian buttons into bracelets and charms, antique hand painted dominos into keyrings, 100-year old plus postage stamps into decorative collage work on wooden boxes and table mats, and many more easy projects.
* Public Domain Art. Here you are recreating copies of artwork now in the public domain. So you might take a vintage masterpiece, scan it into your computer, print it and recolour it, call it a poster, and turn it into an eBay Christmas best seller. Among those that seemed to do well in recent years were golf and cricket personalities (a bit like those early ‘Vanity Fair’ prints you can often see selling on eBay), glamour girls especially nude or scantily dressed, dressed dogs and cats, topographical and historical views. As always, be sure whatever you use is definitely in the public domain or face possible legal penalties.
* Gift Baskets. I LOVE the gift basket business model, whether you sell other people’s gift basket productions as a reseller or affiliate, or you create your own and keep all the profits from these eBay Christmas best sellers. Let me give you a few ideas and tips for making this idea work for you:
- You are not allowed to promote affiliate products on eBay where buyers pay the affiliate company who sends your commission later. The problem here is that eBay buyers are trusting outside firms with their cash and there’s little or no way for eBay to contact suppliers direct with whatever problems ensue. eBay, usually through PayPal, can however refund payments from its own problem sellers. But I’ve found nothing to suggest you can’t contact affiliate companies, ask to sell their products on eBay, and then process orders direct to your customers with or without your share of the profits already deducted. I’m certain too there’s no reason you can’t buy gift baskets from affiliate companies and process them direct to your buyers.
- Special rules apply to selling fresh foods and alcohol, flowers and plants, including in domestic markets as well as internationally. You can obtain information about licenses to sell alcohol, for example, and rules about countries where imported flowers and plants are barred, by contacting local Customs and Excise Offices (find them in local telephone directories and Yellow Pages), and the Trading Standards department at your local town hall. Problems are plentiful and personally I’d never even consider selling fresh foods, flowers, plants, and alcohol; instead I’d focus on non-sensitive items like books and novelties, soaps and beauty products instead.
- Make your own gift baskets but stick to niche markets to avoid competing with bigger companies already established in the mass market gift basket business. Bigger companies have already cornered the market for baskets of gourmet foods, coffee, chocolate, cheese and wine, for instance, but very few offer baskets targeted at golfers (golf books, personalised golf balls, weekend training courses); dog lovers (dog treats, specific breed books, framed prints and notelets); artists (brushes and paints, books, weekend training events), and numerous other niche markets you’ll find existing aplenty on eBay.
Have a go with those few suggestions and there’ll be more good ideas in a forthcoming article for you to turn a little WORK into a big and bulging bank account.
Avril Harper is a successful ClickBank vendor and affiliate and the author of CLICKBANK FAST ACTION PROFIT REPORTS which you can download free of charge, any time, at: http://www.avrilharper.com/clickbankreport.html
Tags: auction, avril harper, Christmas, ebay, home business, make money online, selling on ebay