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"The Easiest Ways to Make Money

on eBay in 2012 and Beyond!" 

Last day in October, fifth of November, 14^th February, December 25^th, ten minutes to midnight before the bells ring in a new year.  What do they all have in common?

They’re actually my own biggest profit making periods of the entire year, and they’re responsible for generating the bulk of many other people’s profits also, especially on eBay. 

I personally think the reason they’re so profitable is because they’re all periods during which the majority of people are eager buyers, usually for numerous different products, and often at prices way above the cost of manufacturing those items.

It seems people are programmed to spend big-time on gifts and novelties, fancy dress outfits and seasonal food and drink.  And the more they spend, the more generous and considerate they appear to family and friends, bystanders and onlookers, too.

So people want theirs to be the costliest fancy dress outfit at the office Christmas party, they want their children to be the envy of school chums in the Easter bunny parade, their fireworks should burn biggest and brightest in the locality, their Halloween treats should be the tastiest and most expensive around. 

All-in-all seasons and anniversaries can keep you and me in profits even working just a few months each year. 

As an example, I’ve just sold two hand tinted dog prints from my eBay shop, despite the fact they’ve been sitting there all year, and they’re only selling now because Christmas is looming and I’ve added the words ‘CHRISTMAS GIFT’ to all of my listings.   As Christmas draws nigh I’ll list similar products with higher price tags and I expect all to sell and in much higher quantities than during the rest of the year.

Important: This article was originally written for readers and eBay sellers in the United Kingdom, but the information is just as valuable for people selling on other eBay sites, so please just ignore the odd £ signs and mentions specific to eBay UK and use all of these ideas to grow your eBay business no matter where you live and work.

For an idea of seasons - also regular special events - you’ll soon be catering for go to ‘Home & Garden’ on eBay’s listing categories left side of the home page, then click on ‘Celebrations & Occasions’ which brings you to listings for:

Christmas (Usually includes New Year also) - the buying season lasts from October to mid-January.

Easter - check any calendar or diary for precise dates each year.

Father’s Day - watch for major companies promoting gifts for Father’s Day and you know you still have lots of time for your own promotions.

Graduation - typically in the autumn and not officially a season or anniversary but definitely a time when people spend heavily on graduation outfits, congratulations cards and gifts, hiring stretched limousines, arranging parties.  And besides, it’s listed as an occasion by eBay, which is good enough for me!

Halloween - last day of October and a good time to sell fancy dress costumes, plastic pumpkins, bags of ‘trick or treat’ sweets.

Bonfire Night - not catered for separately on eBay and sometimes featured in Halloween listings, but takes place November 5^th and it’s a great time for selling fancy dress costumers and scarecrows and guys.  But note that crackers, sparklers and other potentially flammable items are banned from eBay. 

Visit the banned substances report on your chosen eBay country site and you’ll read about flammable ‘firework’ products you can not sell on eBay, including ‘party poppers’ which are typically associated with parties in general, or ‘caps for toy guns’ being popular Christmas stocking fillers.  Those banned products include:

-  Booby traps

-  Bottle Rockets

-  Firecrackers

-  Smokeballs

-  Snap Caps

-  Sparklers

Mother’s Day - read what was said about stocking up for Father’s Day.

St. Patrick’s Day -17^th March.

Valentine’s Day - February 14^th

BIG TIP - Promote Seasons and Anniversaries All Year Round

With so many seasons and anniversaries, also special events taking place across the year, you really could promote seasonal/anniversary/special event goods and services 24/7/365 (366 on a Leap Year). 

Some events will be repeated each year, such as Christmas and Easter, others will be one-off events, such as 2012 featuring the London Olympics and marking the 100^th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic.

And that means for regular events you’ll grow in product buying and selling experience year on year, and quickly become an expert in your chosen field, compared to catering for one-off events that may prove more risky and of limited duration. 

So I’m suggesting you take longer researching profitable openings for unusual and one-off events than you’d spend studying regular seasonal openings each year.  The best way to research selling activities for specific events, regular and one-off, is by studying what national and international companies are doing in the months before a major event takes place.  The big benefit is that most big companies purchase stock years ahead of an important event and their websites will be filled with product ideas long before spending reaches a peak, which still leaves time for you to source and sell similar products on eBay.

Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, they’re all well known events, on eBay and in any diary or calendar, so all you need now is dates for unusual and one-off events, such as I found in a file you can download at:

http://www.tourism2012games.org/Images/Calendar%20of%20Events%202012_tcm23-21313.pdf

That is where, among special events and celebrations planned for 2012, you’ll find:

12^th April - 100^th anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic.  A year long series of events is planned across the world, making this a great anniversary for promoting souvenirs and products to commemorate the tragic event.  Learn more about the celebrations at:

http://www.discovernorthernireland.com/titanic2012/

23^rd April - World Shakespeare Festival.  Three months celebration planned for various locations with links to the Bard.  Scope for you to publish public domain copies of Shakespeare’s greatest works, for example, in print format or Kindle?  Find out more at: http://www.london2012.com/get-involved/cultural-olympiad/major-projects/world-shakespeare-festival.php

18^th May - lasts 70 days - The Olympic Torch Relay - should you promote plastic torches, for example, or teddy bears dressed as famous Olympians, and so on?  But bear in mind you are not allowed to use the official 2012 Olympics icon to promote your products, unless you are an authorised sponsor of course.  Learn more about the 70 day event at:

http://www.london2012.com/games/ceremonies/index.php

2^nd - 5^th June - Queen’s Diamond Jubilee - go look for collectable royal memorabilia at boot sales and flea markets, do it right now while they’re selling for pennies, and watch them grow in value as the big day draws near and a right royal buying frenzy develops on eBay.

25^th June - 8^th July - All England Lawn Tennis Championships and time to list your raquets (sometimes ‘racket’ or ‘racquet’ - no need to use all in your titles because eBay shows all variations), balls, tennis shorts, and vintage tennis memorabilia.  Like all that royalty stuff, begin looking for tennis memorabilia now - you’ll find lots of cigarette cards, postcards and prints commemorating the event - you’ll pay pocket money prices right now and achieve much higher prices when ‘Wimbledon’ is the word on everyone’s lips.

19^th-22^nd July - British Open Golf Championships and time to sell golf clothing and accessories, memorabilia and novelty goods.  And for what it’s worth, in collecting terms, golf is one of the most popular, highest priced of all collectible types.

11^th-18^th August - Cowes (Yachting) Week on the Isle of Wight.  Go research and locate yachting accessories and clothing and don’t worry too much about pricing your goods too high.  That’s because ‘yachting’ is another word for ‘money aplenty’ and a chance to double or further grow your product sourcing costs on eBay.

Selling Tips

*  If you can’t afford expensive stock, like exclusive designer dresses for Christmas or hand-made dolls’ house miniatures for Halloween, opt for low price items instead, the kind of things that sell between 99p and a couple of pounds each.  For low price goods, profits might also be small, maybe just 50p per unit, but about one in ten sales are for multiple products.  Such as 85 units sold of a cigarette holder fancy dress accessory by eBay seller joanne9090, whose pirate eye patches also regularly sell in double figure units, presumably as party gifts. 

*  Focus on several seasons, anniversaries and special events, and you’ll make money throughout the year, unlike sellers focusing exclusively on Christmas sales and having to make enough profit to pay the bills for the twelve months ahead.

*  A great many manufacturers, wholesalers and other suppliers, specialise in seasonal and anniversary goods, as you’ll discover by keying words like ‘Christmas’, ‘Halloween’, ‘Titanic’ and ‘Olympics’ into the search box at www.alibaba.com, or by adding ‘wholesaler’ alongside any of those words to a Google search.  But because we all know products from those sources are likely to be available from numerous other sellers on eBay, it’s wise to make your offerings unusual.  You do that by adding bonus gifts, for instance, or repackaging several unbranded goods into your own unique package.

*  Big Tip:  Start a ‘swipe folder’ on your desktop and use it to store images and listings, also website pages, for products that sell well during one season and might sell equally well or possibly better in future years.  Then search Google ‘Images’ for illustrations similar to your own and available from wholesalers and other suppliers.  Most images on Google provide details of the website hosting the image making it easy to source suppliers, but only if you click on the image to reveal the website url.  Text and descriptions from websites and listings can be used as inspiration for your own sales materials, but reword everything into your own style to avoid copying another person’s marketing materials too closely.