Unlimited Products

by V. Raposo

Published on this site: February 13th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

Did you ever think about becoming a Trading Assistant? Where you basically sell other people's products and receive a comission? Alot of companies know about eBay but don't have the time to learn. Or are just "old school" and don't care to learn.

So why not offer your services to them? You already know eBay. And now this lines you up for unlimited products to sell. There are ways that you should and should not approach a retailer to become their trading assistant.

First off before you approach anyone, you want to know that these particular products will do well on eBay. Take a good look around the store at the products they offer, then go to eBay and do your research on them. Once you know they will be a good seller then you can go onto the next step.

The next step is to get to know the store owner. Even become a customer and get friendly with them. You want to be sure you are developing a great rapport with the store owner.

You don't know how many times I was approached by people to sell their products in my store, or to donate items to their school, and they were complete strangers to me.

Talk about being annoyed. That's the one thing I did not like, was people who I've never met before asking for something from me. Even if it was going to benefit my business, I was still annoyed.

I'm not saying become their best friend, but really get in there and have your presence known. Then and only then, can you approach them on the business that you do.

Make sure you're also choosing a business that is not out of reach. Start with small businesses, ma and pa operations. Most likely they will be more willing to work with you on an eBay dynamic to their business.

You can also approach them by offering to sell their overstock, or returned items. I remember christmas time, just throwing the returns in the back room, there was no time for going through all of them. Most of the time they just sat there.

Another way you can approach it is by purchasing their overstock items outright yourself, and putting that on eBay. Once you show them that their items are actually selling, you may soon have the ability to have access to all of their inventory. This is just another way to get your foot in the door.

Once you have approached the owner on moving their stock using eBay, you need to decide what you will be charging them for your service. I highly suggest you take a look on eBay what other trading assistants are charging, you need to decide what's right for you.

Talk to the owner about setting up a table space in their back room, this will give you a space to set up and take all the pictures you need. Or just take all the inventory with you home and do everything from there.

If you haven't thought about becoming a Trading Assistant, I recommend that you try it out. It's an easy way to get your business going without having the money to put out for products.

Vera Raposo has been making a living with online auctions since 1997. With thousands of completed auctions under her belt, Vera is now sharing some of her best auction strategies in a free 90-minute interview at http://www.auctionstrategists.com/special