Archive for 'eBay' Category

By Jim Sloan

Our family loves the holidays, but every year after the tinsel and pine needles have been vacuumed up, we find ourselves with a couple of small problems: Too much credit card debt and a couple of heart-felt gifts we really don't want and can't return.

The answer for us has been pretty simple: eBay. By selling some of our unwanted stuff--sometimes it's Christmas gifts and sometimes it's just items we find in the garage when we put the decorations away--we're able to put a dent in that debt, even when we've used zero percent credit cards.

If this sounds like something you'd like to try, here's a 12-step program to help you use eBay to whittle down that credit card debt:

1. Start small. If you're new to eBay, begin by selling something that's easy to price, easy to photograph and easy to ship. This way you can practice setting up an auction, monitoring your sale and making sure you get good feedback from your first buyer right off the bat. This small transaction will also give you an idea about how costs and commissions work on eBay.

2. Sell something new. New goods are easier to price and sell than used goods. If your Aunt Florence gives you linen napkins every year and you're starting to

By MoneyBlueBook

Selling used books online is one of the easiest ways to significantly declutter your home and earn some extra money in the process. Although it might seem like the intellectual thing to do - to have volumes of books and textbooks lining your book shelves to offer up that desirable professional-looking scholarly facade, but chances are, after you've read those books once you're very unlikely to ever read the vast majority of them ever again. Thus in the name of decluttering and staying organized, why not try to downsize your personal library periodically, and make some extra money while you're at it by selling off some of your used books and textbooks?

As a part time personal finance blogger, book publishers and book authors frequently send me free personal finance books to read and review. After blogging about making money and a whole slew of financial topics for several years now, in this span of time I've probably received well over 30-50 books about money (the vast majority of them parroting and repeating the same material frankly). If I did not periodically sell them online or donate them away to friends and readers of this blog, the incredibly large pile of books would probably have winded up clogging a large corner of my house, gathering dust and taking up space.

College and graduate students in particular have the greatest to gain from not delaying in their efforts to sell off their old and used textbooks online. School textbooks are by their very nature profitable exchanges

By MoneyBlueBook

Updated List Of The Best Credit Card Cash Back Rewards For Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, and MSN AdCenter

Editor's Note: Thank you for your interest, these offers have expired and are no longer available.

As a personal finance blogger and a dot com mogul-super affiliate tycoon wannabe (I'm joking), I regularly spend sums of money on domain name registrations, web hosting services, and home office computer supplies. However, the bulk of my tax deductible business expenses consist of expenditures for online advertising through top search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN. While compared to the big boys (and girls) my advertising budget is comparatively puny, I still seek to maximize my money however I can, whether that means utilizing free promotional coupons for extra savings and free online advertising, or taking advantage of credit card offers to earn cashback rebates on Google Adword purchases.

Online Advertising Through Pay Per Click Works, But It Can Get Expensive Depending On Subject Niche

Those who are familiar with online advertising know that there are a variety of ways and methods to get your website brand or blog name into the search engines and thus into the public eye for maximum traffic. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that all of the methods are created equal. Currently the most popular search engine with the most capability to leverage the most search traffic by far is run by Google. But while the Google Adword program's certainly the most dominant player in the online marketing world, there are also other lesser options worth mentioning - most notably Yahoo Search Marketing and Microsoft's MSN AdCenter. Neither Yahoo Search nor MSN

By MoneyBlueBook

I love using eBay. I've been a busy eBayer since the online auction service opened for business in the late 1990's, and over the years I've gotten my bargain grubby hands on quite a few deal finds. However, back in the beginning there was less competition among buyers and sellers vying for a piece of the lucrative eBay pie. With less auction and savvy awareness on the part of the general public during eBay's infancy, deals were easier to be had.

Back in the good old eBay days, one of my best past success stories was bidding and winning online auction sales for D.C. Metro SmarTrip cards. People in the Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia metro area use prepaid magnetic debit cards to ride the subway train to work in our nation's capital. When the SmarTrip cards were first implemented on the subway system in 2004, I think I was one of the early few to immediately turn to eBay to buy subway cards in bulk denomination for maximum arbitrage savings. At the time, the whole concept of buying subway cards was still in its infancy so there was less competition for them online. Most of the SmarTrip sellers were federal government workers looking to unload their government issued cards to eBay buyers and make some money in the process (they probably weren't authorized or permitted to do that of course). But regardless of the legality or morality on their part, I was happy to buy them. Since I worked in D.C. at the time

By MoneyBlueBook

My online messaging routine was doing fine for a while. Every morning I would check my Yahoo e-mail account for messages, and then go about my regular work day, periodically checking back for personal and business related messages. Since I forward and consolidate all of my personal, work, and blog business related emails to one account with Yahoo, I have one easy point of access to my messages - essentially one well oiled emailing machine. Of course, there was always the occasional spam, but that was usually manageable - until now - until the Nigerians struck, and struck hard.

Spammers and Scammers Are Relentless And They Can Afford To Be - Sending E-Mail Lures With Scam Bait Doesn't Cost A Thing

Starting very recently, I've been receiving nearly 20-30 spam related messages everyday. I have no idea how they are effectively evading my spam filters, but they are. These spam messages are driving me absolutely crazy and are irritating to say the least. But one can't help but find some amusement from the content of these desperate messages. These spam letters that flood the web are mostly from the poor African country of Nigeria - sent by notorious computer users who run well documented Nigerian 419 scam operations. You know when you receive one of these classic Nigerian 419 spam letters as they are pretty recognizable. Usually the Nigerians use very flowery, British style English comprised of exaggerated legalese-type terminology to make the content appear more legitimate. However, oftentimes their lame use of the English language borders

By MoneyBlueBook

Anyone can make money online with eBay by selling products, but you have to be prepared to put in a lot of time and effort doing manual labor, packaging, and shipping goods. If you are willing to put your back into it, you can easily make quite a bit by buying the most popular consumer products from wholesellers and selling them on eBay. So many people claim to offer wholesale lists on eBay, but don't even bother with them. Their sources are useless and the majority will try to swindle you. It's a dangerous world out there so first, a few general rules of caution to abide by that will save you plenty of time, money, and headache. Unfortunately, many people disregard these rules every day, and lose thousands of dollars to scammers.

1) Never Buy Products From Anyone Who Wants To Be Paid By Western Union.

If someone asks for payment by Western Union, do not respond to them and avoid them immediately. Their low priced merchandise might be tempting, but it will almost always be a scam. Remember, it is your own responsibility to verify the reputation and legitimacy of the seller. Western Union is not responsible for the non-receipt or quality of any goods or services.

Common Western Union scams include, but are not limited to the following: