When i was in college, one thing that my family and i do for a living was to own a thrift shop somewhere in manila. It was a time when we were having great financial difficulties. It was something that started because of necessity. We begin by selling items at home thaty do we do not need anymore and we are surprised that we were making money. When we ran out of stocks we entered agreements with third parties. We sell their stuff, then we give them 70% of the total items sold. In this business, i met all kinds of people most especially the collectors. There are people in Manila who just go around and look for collectible items in garage sales. This is when a friend from the US advised me to sell on ebay: The world's largest online market place. The idea was good, sell items on ebay and make money by selling to anyone interested anywhere in the world. She told me about a brother of my friend that was making money on ebay already. So i approached my friend first but it seems like he does not want to tell me how to sell on ebay. I did not mind selling on ebay for the mean time because it seems that there are only a handful of people who knows how to sell on ebay but they are not willing to share the knowledge. Until one day, i came across a couple who were offering a seminar on ebay. The couple was of big help to me for they taught me the ebay selling process within the Philippine setting. One obstacle to sellers is the unavilability of Paypal facility here in the Philippines making it difficult to sell abroad. THe couple helped me to know everything i needed from credit cards, paypal etc. I was able to get around the problem with paypal as i started to sell. While im selling on ebay, i saw that there is potential on selling items on ebay Philippines also. RIght now, the number of people getting into ebay is increasing since it began last 2004. As for me, the leverage of selling on ebay and ebay Philippines has given me an extra source of income. RIght now, i am concentrating on collectible items because it is very sellable.
For those selling on ebay PH, the main advantage of selling here is that there are no insertion fees unlike in ebay. However, the services in ebay ph is quite limited for the moment. You cannot sell in store format or have tools like the turbolister. I just want you to be aware of joy bidders in ebay ph. You know some Filipinos they bid on items but when it come payment time, they dont even contact you with regards to the payment. Some of them would even have the nerve of giving you a negative feedback even if they are the ones at fault.
On the other hand, Ebay.com would give you alot of services. Even tools to help you have data about the needs of the market. However, there are fees tied up to each service from insertion fees, paypal fees and fees. Thus, the key success factor in selling here is that you should know what is in demand in ebay before you even post an item. Sometimes, you are the only one who sells this kind of product and you do not have a basis for pricing. This is when you have to take the risk.
As i end this blog, i now leave you with a choice. With perseverance and hardworks, One can surely make money on both. Both sites have potential of creating income. Would you sell in a site that is barely 3 years old? Or a site mature enough that it has a worldwide market base? Is it ebay.com or ebay.ph.
