Where Can I Sell Online....Let's Start with the "A"s

As a longtime online seller, I have stuck with the "Top 3" Selling Sites:
Amazon, eBay and Craig's List.

This post is going to cover sites that begin with the letter A.

Amazon is the biggest site for sellers. Amazon sells it's own stuff and also allows us
regular people sell stuff too. On top of that they allow "professional sellers" to send stuff
into Amazon's warehouses, also known as Fulfilled by Amazon or FBA for short.

What regular people don't realize, anyone can sell on Amazon (if you are already an Amazon buyer).
Go to almost any item that you are searching for and look below the "Other Sellers" below the BUY BOX and you will see a little button "Have One to Sell? Sell on Amazon". By clicking that button you can list the exact item on Amazon. The "catch" is that if it sells, you will be doing the shipping.
Many people are not prepared for that part, so I advise caution, if that's new to you.

If you are already a shipper, like eBay sellers are, then why not try it and see how it goes. It must be NEW and undamaged or you will likely put your selling account in danger. You can set the price to compete with other sellers and it's possible to make some extra money. Another warning is that the fees on Amazon can be high, but it costs nothing to list!

I suggest trying it with books in great condition, or CD's in great condition. Match what you have to the selling description EXACTLY and you will be golden!

Once you start selling more than forty items in one month's time, then it would be good to try FBA. More on that in a future blog. Check back!

Art Fire Tag line: Thousands of makers, indie suppliers, vintage treasures and antique finds.
Free to register. There are three seller plans to choose from. The Standard Shop is just $4.95 per month and 23¢ per listing. 9% Final Value fee and up to 250 items. Listings will be active for two months or until they sell.

You can upgrade to the Popular Shop at $20 per month and 1,000 listings with a 3% Final Value fee.
The Featured Shop is $40 per month with up to 2,500 listings with a 3% Final Value Fee.

All the shops are mobile friendly and require NO contract for the seller. Every plan includes access to the ArtFire Marketplace, a mobile-friendly shop, live customer service chat, extensive selling resource library, shop customization options, and a suite of powerful selling tools! The categories include: Jewelry, Wedding, Clothing and Accessories, Childrens, Home & Living, Craft Supplies & Tools and Entertainment.

Full disclosure. I have not signed up yet or tried this online selling site. It looks very interesting however, especially if you make things! I may just give it a try.

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Come learn how to sell on eBay from a PRO, Anne Z
http://anne-zs-academy.thinkific.com/courses/the-abcs-of-selling-online-using-ebay

Great Things That Comes in Fours: Freedom, Fun, Fans and Frenzy

My focus is online selling. If you read my other blogs in the challenge, I’ve been working on creating an online course about selling on Amazon, eBay and Craig’s List, what I call the Big 3. Well number four is donate, because if it doesn’t sell, take the item and move it on! When you have a plan of attack in selling, then that gives you freedom. You are your own boss. You set the price, you list it, you ship it. It’s all in when you want to do it and for how long you keep it online in front of buyers before letting it go.

The second F word in my list is: FUN, F U N! If it’s not fun, don’t do it. If you have a least favorite part of selling online, get someone else to do it for you. Maybe a friend or a spouse or a kid in the neighborhood. It has to be fun or forget about it! It’s fun receiving money for unwanted items! There is no getting around it! Keep it FUN!

If you do your selling right and use best practices, you will earn some FANS! Repeat buyers is the name of the game. Do you have the most of an item or niche? Will folks come back for more because of your excellent customer service or awesome prices or even your outstanding packing ability in shipping? Get those fans and try to keep ‘em!

Create a frenzy! What’s more fun that that? Post a tweet or post a pic on Instagram. Ask a question or show a pic that get’s them excited or even MAD. Whatever it takes, the name of the game is excitement in your products or change what you are selling. Boring is well, plain boring. Liven it up with sales, promotions and a frenzy will build if you stick to a solid game plan! Plan for the season ahead and be ready for back to school or a certain holiday before your competition!

Freedom, Fun, Fans and Frenzy! There is a lot of power in those four F words! Now get out there and make it happen!

Day 3 - 3 Takeaways from My Online Course Prep

As I have been studying up on creating my own online course, I have taken a few courses myself. I am always interested in seeing how fellow eBayers sell, and many of them also teach, so I have signed up for a few that were free.

What did I discover? It’s all in the presentation. One of the things that I like is an instructor that knows their stuff and is engaging. Is it easy to follow? Do I think that I can do what they are showing in the lesson?

So takeaway #1, keep it simple and interesting. Some of the courses are slide shows ONLY, with voice-over audio. I find that style a little dull as a student, so my course will have a mixture of “talking heads” (meaning I will be on screen) and a slide show with pics and demonstration examples. A picture is worth a thousand words, so a good video may be more like a million!

As I reviewed the courses I watched, it was clear that each instructor has a main focus. Mine will be helping people who have never sold before or have limited experience selling online. That is the exact student who has come to my in person lessons/classes in the past and they are eager to start! I know how to gear my material to must that student!

One difficulty with a beginner is that there is a LOT of material to cover, so I am going to break it down into easy steps. As I write, I try to keep the newbie in mind and cover all the angles and questions they may have as I go. Luckily, with my experience teaching this topic over the years, I have seen it all, or at least most of it! People come with varying degrees of knowledge on computer use, or photography or shipping. Shipping seems to be the biggest stumbling block, so I’ve included a section called “Shipping 101”. It will cover choosing the right box, using a scale, labels, packing instructions and of course the confusing cost of postage rates.

So takeaway #2 is think of what type of student is viewing the course and not try to rush through material. With an online course, it can be replayed as needed and so people can relax on the first viewing and pick and choose what parts of the course they need extra help with!

Another helpful thing I did was to go to Udemy.com and Thinkific.com and take some of their prep courses for creating an online course. Both sites had very helpful and informative videos. They cover sound, how to film, how to light, use of background or back drops and what topics make good courses. I feel that I’ve watched enough to jump in and see where it leads.

Takeway #3, Jump in the water’s fine. After all the planning and studying, there is no substitute for just doing it. If things aren’t working, then I can fix it. Learning from little failures or mistakes only leads to what does work and more. I love the challenge of creating something new. And so keep tuned to this blog for an update on the status of my upcoming course. What would you teach if you were to make an online course? Please comment below and let me know!

Background and Progression of Creating My NEW Online Course

Day 2 of the 30 Day Ultimate Blog Challenge

Today's post is a bit about the background of my upcoming Online Course. It also is filled with the things that I've worked out and have in the planning stages. It helps to keep me on track if I write stuff down to see what's what. Here goes in random form:

Background:

I have been a long time seller on Amazon, eBay and Craig’s List.

I have been an eBay Education Specialist when eBay had that program (now defunct) and taught many, many classes in person to people who wanted to learn to sell on eBay. 

I love teaching in person classes, but felt like I could reach a larger audience with an online course. 

In the past few months, I have pursued learning about creating an online course about selling online!

Things I've done:

! have signed up with Udemy and Thinkific. I have taken courses at Udemy.com and thought, I can do this too! Thinkific.com is a way for me to have more control of the whole process. I will be using both but I think Udemy is first up to get experience.

The title of my NEW course is: The ABC’s of Selling Online (Using Amazon, eBay and Craig’s List). I try to work on the course a little bit each day!

I bought the domain name URL: abcsofsellingonline.com. 

I began the 30 Day Ultimate Blog Challenge to show my process of creating this new course. http://abcsofsellingonline.blogspot.com. Follow my progress.

So far I have made an outline of what I plan to teach. I have made a slide show of my outline in bare bones form with voice over. I use a USB microphone called Blue Snowball which I purchased used for a great price on eBay! I also have a POP guard so I don’t “pop my P’s”!

I have done a little testing with a lavalier mic (I purchased on Amazon) to clip onto my shirt when I create “talking head” videos where you will see me in the videos. I have a solid blue background that I plan to use. I have 3 lights and have set them up to see what the best lighting conditions are.

I plan on filming with my old iPhone, send the video to my Mac and edit using iMovie, though I may drag out my favorite editor Final Cut Express. I want speed not perfection. 

I have a cute little tripod for the iPhone that will keep things steady as I film myself. This is a one person production, so we will have to see how things go. I still need to create a test video and submit to Udemy for them to check quality of video and sound.

I have written a lot of my script to keep it as professional as possible, since there is so much to cover. I have broken things down into short pieces to keep it simple for the viewer.

This week’s to do list:

Put a quick website up using the URL I purchased.

Film a test video. Get it ready to submit to Udemy.

Keep writing the course.

Let me know what you’d like to see in the course?

Have you ever sold? Would you like to learn?

Welcome to my BLOG!

I am Anne Zarraonandia, but people call me: ANNE Z.

I am a retired USPTA Teaching Tennis Pro who still plays in a weekly "hit and giggle" game with fellow lady pros. We are as competitive as can be and it's so much fun that I look forward to Wednesdays every week.

In my other life, I am the mom of a 15 1/2 year old, so we have lots of typical teen-age stuff happening in our house (see above, why I play tennis!). He loves to paintball and is attached to his iPhone and computer.

I also sell online using Amazon, eBay and Craig's List. I LOVE it and have started this blog to show you how to do it too! I am participating in the 30 Day Blog Challenge and so you will see a post every day this month (April 2017), hopefully! Please bookmark and visit often! Some of you may remember me from the last 30 Day Blog Challenge when I was blogging on my Barbra Streisand site: I LOVE BARBRA BLOG.

My goals (for this blog page) include sharing how I am developing my upcoming online course: The ABC's of Selling Online: Using Amazon, eBay and Craig's List. I have been busy writing the course outline and script for my lectures as well as preparing my videos and lessons. It will be jammed packed!

I will be announcing a Pre-Launch of the course, but I am getting ahead of myself. I am so excited to share all my tips and tricks from all my years of experience. I have been an eBay Education Specialist and taught various eBay University classes to students in my area (Mill Valley, Marin County, SF Bay Area, CA). My eBay ID is: annez and my eBay store is called: A to Z Pirate Booty. I am working my way towards 9,000 positive feedbacks! Please check it out!


I look forward to sharing how I am doing with planning, writing and ultimately selling my online course. I love teaching and this will allow me to reach people outside of my own community and get them inspired to sell online, just like I do!

Please feel free to post comments, ask questions and share your experiences with me as I navigate this exciting new venture. Thanks for joining me!