by Leslie Truex
(C) Copyright 2004 by Leslie Truex
http://www.momsathomesuccess.com
Christmas is only a few weeks away.
If you are the organized sort of person, your shopping is
already done. You picked up gifts throughout the year,
thereby spreading out the expense of holiday gift giving.
But if you are like me, you are faced with spending hundreds
of dollars in the next few weeks because you waited until
now to start preparing for the holidays and you are
wondering where you are going to come up with extra cash to
spend those hundreds of dollars.
Fortunately, I have come up with a few ways to generate
extra cash without going out and picking up a part-time
second job.
My favorite place for generating quick cash is Amazon's
MartketPlace. If you have books, CD's, software, household
items, just about anything that is in decent condition, the
MarketPlace at Amazon is a fast, easy way to make money.
Once you open an account, you simply input the product
information, list the condition of the item, add a few
comments, indicate your price, and submit. Amazon does
everything else from adding the picture, taking the order
including payment, and even direct depositing the money into
your account.
Amazon charges you nothing until/unless your item sells.
Then it's only .99 cents plus a percentage of the sold
price. Amazon also gives you a shipping credit to cover the
cost of mailing your item to the buyer. In the case of
books, it's $2.26 which will cover media mail up to three
pounds. For example, lets say you sell a used book for
$10.00:
Book = $10 - Amazon's commission $2.49 (.99 + %15) + $2.26
shipping credit = $9.77 earnings from Amazon. When you ship
the item, you will pay postage. In this case of a book
weighing less than one pound, shipping would be $1.42 by
media mail. So the net gain would be $8.35, which is still
more a used bookstore would pay.
Amazon offers other ways to sell your items, but the
MarketPlace is my favorite because you can earn 50% or more
of the original product price. Plus, it's easy, fast and
convenient.
You can learn more at Amazon.com.
Scroll down the page until you see the "Make Money"
box on the left. Click on "MarketPlace".
Of course, eBay is another way to generate income fairly
quickly. I use eBay only if the item I have cannot be sold
through Amazon's Market Place because eBay is a little more
time consuming in terms of taking pictures of my items,
listing them and dealing with payment (although PayPal has
made this part easier). But I like eBay for my novelty items
such as infomercial products or things I'm not sure how to
price.
eBay does charge you for listing your products whether they
sell or not, but its very reasonable and only once have I
not had an item sell. The insertion fee is .30 cents to
$3.30 depending on price of the item. eBay offers optional
listing feature such as Buy It Now or Gallery for additional
fees. The only other required fee is the final value charge
which is a 5.25%+ of the sold cost. Shipping costs can be
covered by you or passed on to the buyer. For example, let's
say you sold an item for $10:
Item = $10 - eBay fee .83 (5.25% +.30)+ $3.85 (shipping paid
by buyer) = $13.02. eBay buyers generally expect to receive
their item sooner rather than later so I ship priority which
is $3.85 for items up to two pounds. Therefore, in this
case, the net gain is $9.17. If PayPal is used for payment,
its fee will be about .59 cents (2.9%+.30 cents). So in the
end, the net equals $8.58.
You can learn more at eBay.com.
Eight dollars may not seem like much but offer several items
or more expensive items, and it can add up quickly. If you
have 15 books that originally retailed for $14-$20 you could
earn $120 in a week or less at Amazon. The same is true at
eBay. Listing a few quality items can lead to several
hundred dollars at the end of the auction period.
Here are some tips to quickly and easily earn some fast cash
through Amazon and eBay:
1) Go through your home and gather all the items that are in
decent condition that you are willing to sell. The best items
I have found are books, electronics and electronic
accessories, software and name-brand gizmos for Amazon's
MarketPlace. For eBay I gather my infomercial products, old
eBay items I bought but don't use, name-brand clothes
(especially kids clothes), toys (Legos are a big hit!),
collectables and memorabilia, and novelty items. Find a
place that you can store these items together for easy
listing and shipping when sold.
2) When listing, be honest about the condition. You don't
want to hurt your selling reputation by not mentioning marks
or other faults with the item.
3) I don't want to take the time to list items and then not
have them sell so I do price my items lower than the
competition. I'm not out to make a bundle, I'm out to make a
fast buck. Of course, at eBay, the market will drive the
ultimate sale price but I always start low and normally
don't put a reserve price (price that must be met for the
item to sell).
4) Finally, once paid, ship the item ASAP. Package it so its
safe and secure. I print out the name and address of the
buyer and tape it to the package to make sure I don't
misspell the address. You can save some time by using
Stamps.com to create postage.
Now is a terrific time to make quick money using Amazon and
eBay because many people are holiday shopping for quality
items at reasonable prices at Amazon and eBay. It's win-win
for people who want to save and people who want to earn some
extra holiday cash.
