How to avoid eBay scams

Quick Warning: AVOID SCAMS

As many of us know, eBay is full of people who don't like making money the good honest way. Scams are a big part of eBay but they don't have to be if you take the necessary precautions. Here are a couple of things you can do to avoid scams:

• Always pay through paypal NO MATTER WHAT (Paypal guarantees your money back if you get scammed)
• Check seller feedback! Read through the negative comments left by other eBayers

This should stop you from getting scammed 99.9999999999% of the time. I can't stress this enough! NEVER EVER agree to send funds through any alternative methods, alternative sites, wire transfer, check, money order. If they ask for something else, say NO. It may not be a scam but DON'T TAKE THE RISK.

How to make money off of Ebay

Sell things.

1. Something you already own: i.e. junk in your house
2. Buying stuff off of eBay then reselling
3. Contacting a wholesaler

Making money off eBay is one of the simplest and easiest things to do. The concept is a little like trading stocks: buy low, sell high. Here's some advise for the first time eBay money maker.

1. Find an area to specialize in, find the source
   
2. Get the right tools
3. Patience
   

As I said, making money off of eBay can be pretty simple. It all comes down to finding the right item, buying it at the lowest price possibly then reselling it at a higher price. There are several good ways I can think of for acquiring products to sell:

• Something you already own: i.e. junk in your house

For any eBayer, the first and probably the easiest way to make some cash is to sell stuff that you already own. This is a good start up idea because you can start to build your own reputation as an eBay seller and get some feedback before you start selling in bulk. Plus, this takes down the need of a middle man, a supplier which can get a little bit sticky in some situations.

• Buying stuff off of eBay then reselling

If you go onto eBay and take a look at what's for sale, you'd probably note that there are a lot of items that are incredibly more than you can buy locally. Use that to your advantage. Especially, make sure to look at the "wholesale lots" section for buying even cheaper things in bulk. This way, you can resell it individually for more profit.

To guarantee you get the absolute lowest price on any item, here's a tip: NEVER EVER BID BY HAND, ALWAYS USE A SNIPER. Have you ever wondered why you always get outbidded at the last second? Chances are, the person bidding that won used what's called a sniper.

A sniper is a nifty little tool you can program to automatically place the winning bid for you at the last second. This way, you can the lowest price AND you don't have to waste time sitting around at your computer. Here's the sniper I use MyIbay. Sign up for an account and just follow the instructions, it's easy.

After inquiring your item at a low price, you can then do two things: replace the item again on eBay only if you're sure you'll make money off of it. You won't gain as much as this second option I'm about to tell you but it's a sure way to make a quick buck. The second option, which is a bit slower but will definitely give you more money, is to place the item on sale locally. Either sell this item to people you know or sell it to craigslist.org, locally, you won't have to worry about shipping price (cha-ching!) and you can also mark up the item from anywhere between 50%-100%!

• Contacting a wholesaler

After you've built a good strong foundation on eBay, another way you can make massive dough is by utilizing wholesalers in different countries (I'm thinking China). The idea is that you buy bulk straight from the manufacturer and then resell either to eBay or to the local market. This method opens up a new can of worms itself, but if you're interested there are plenty of good wholesaler listing sites such as DHGate and GlobalSources. I personally prefer Global Sources, but it's really up to you to check them out and figure out which one is best for you.

eBay wholesaling is a bit topic on itself, so if anyone would like me to go further in depth in any of these topics, please let me know!

How to make money off a website

Here's a brief overview. If you'd just like to know how to monetize, scroll all the way down! I'll go more in depth later.

There are only three things you need to succeed at creating a website:

1. A good idea
2. Good content
3. Consistency

Have A Good Idea

It's as simple as this. If you want to create a website, you first, of course, must have a solid idea of what you want it to be about. When you do, there are several questions you must ask yourself:

1. Does my idea provide something?
2. Do I have expert knowledge in this area?
3. Is it something new or something I can contribute in?
4. Is it something I can provide content in?

Think about what interests you. Think about the types of abilities and skills you have. Think about what you excel in. Almost any skill or idea can be made into a good money making website with the right know how.

Think about something you love and refine that into something you can provide to the world. Do you like music? Are you really good at playing an instrument? Then make a website/blog than can provide tips or advise to people who want to play that instrument. Are you an artist? Perhaps then you should create a webcomic or a website to post your art portfolio.

Maybe, you don't have any special skills, there's always the knowledge you hold that's specific to you that you can share. Maybe you know how a car works really well, or you have specific experiences in a foreign country you can share. The options are unlimited.

Create your website

Okay, first things first, you have a great idea but you don't know where the heck to start.

1. Register a domain name + get a host
   
2. Create your website/upload a template

If you want to create your own website with your own domain name, you should follow the above steps. However, if you're completely new to websites, I would suggets you first create a free blog from either wordpress or blogger. These websites are great. Not only can you still generate a lot of traffic and make a lot of money from blogger and wordpress, it's a good experience and if you decide blogging or website creating isn't for you, you can always quit without losing any money.

However, if your goal is to create your OWN website then let's go through the steps on how to do that.

Registering a domain name and getting a host

First thing you have to do is register your domain name. What's a domain name? Well, you know website address? For example, www.nytimes.com, "nytimes" is the domain name.

Certain websites I would recommend for this is either namecheap or godaddy I personally prefer godaddy. Alternatively, you can also register your domain name at sites that also simultaneously provide you with a host. This is a good idea and most recommended. I can't name many websites off the top of my head, but you can do a quick google search and figure out which option is best for you. For me, when I first started I used bluehost this was a pretty good host. It was everything you can ask for, cheap and reliable.

Create your website/upload a template

Okay, you have your domain registered and your host, how do you get your website to actually something? Well, if you're fluent in .css and html, you can go ahead and create your website from scratch. For the rest of us, we need a little bit of help.

The best advise I can give beginning web creators is to use a premade html template and just upload it to your site. The best I can recommend is wordpress. Wordpress is a great GREAT tool for ANYONE beginners and professionals alike. It is a great tool for making your life so much easier with editing your post and uploading your content. If you'd like to start a blog or pretty much anything, wordpress is where to look.

Provide Content

Now that you have your website up, you have to provide the content. I can't really help you out much here. All I have are a couple of tips:

• Make sure your website has gravitas, good content on a sketchy looking site is a no-no
• The best way to attract visitors is consistency. If you build it, they will come
• Utilize different sites to bring in traffic such as uploading your post to Digg or Readdit
• Have fun with it! Web building is a marathon, not a short sprint! Do something you love, then money will come!
  

Monetizing

This is the part you've probably all been waiting for: monetizing. How exactly does a website earn money? For the most part, large websites earn money through advertisement. The way it works is that when a website becomes popular, the website starts to generate "traffic" or people who come to the site. The higher the site traffic, the more advertisers know how popular your site is. Advertisers will then bid on your webspace to put their ads in. Bingo! That's cash in your pocket!

Now that you get the idea, there are a couple of ways of making money off of ads.

The first way, and the best way is ProjectWonderful. This site is like eBay for webspace. Basically, you post up your web URL and bidders take a look at your traffic and website then proceed to bid on your space. Whoever is the highest bidder gets to put their ad on your website and you get the money.

Another way, the easiest way, is through Google Adsense. Adsense is a Google tool which allows web creators to place google ads on their website. Depending on how many visitors click these ads, you'll get paid. Adsense is super easy to use and that's why it's so popular. There are rumors that some people get paid upwards of 20k a month just from google adsense alone! Wow!

Final Words

Well, sorry if I disappointed you and didn't give you exactly a step by step guide on how to make money off a website. The fact is, there isn't really a rubric on how succeed. I can only give you certain starting tips. The rest is for you to do. Go out there! Try it! Just remember all you need is:

1. A good idea
2. Good content
3. Consistency

Get Rich Quick

Hi guys, I'm the webmaster to "Get Rich Quick Plans". I'm not here to scam you or anything, I'd just thought there'd be people out there that could benefit from my experience. I'll be here blogging about various "Get rich quick" ideas and that I've tried out in the past. I'll fill you in how to jump in on the band wagon help give you ideas on how to succeed!

Well, here goes nothing!