If you are an eBay seller, store owner, flea market vendor or even an exporter, yous should be on the look out for new sources for inventory. I am certain that you spend countless hours searching the net looking for new suppliers to buy from.

Have you tried wholesale trade magazines or better know as trade publications? I subscribe to several full color magazines which are mailed to my office once a month, free of charge.

Most of the magazines not only offer tons of new wholesale sources, but also current marketing and retail advice. One magazine in particular, WebWholesaler, is by far the best trade publication out there. Each issue is packed with a variety of wholesale sources for clothing, accessories, jewelry, general merchandise, tools, electronics and more!

I would personally recommend you sign up for a FREE subscription to WebWholesaler. There is no obligation what so ever. Fill out a simple form and you should receive the next issue hot off the press!

As a new seller on Ebay the easiest and most preferred method of payment is through PayPal. If you are planning to do a lot of Ebaying you will want to set up an account on there. Setting up a PayPal account is both quick and easy. All you need to do is go to www.paypal.com and select the “Getting started” option. This section will give you answers to the most basic questions for signing up regarding verification and what it means, countries that PayPal is accepted in, the required information for opening a PayPal account, time zone, their security features and more.

On the left hand side of the page under “Getting started” you will see additional categories that will give you all of the details on fees, account types, sending and receiving money through PayPal, and PayPal’s usage policy on what is acceptable and what is not. Continuing on down the left hand side of the page are other categories as well that will completely outline and answer many other questions pertaining to bank cards, credit cards, account viewing, resolving account issues, filing disputes and claims, PayPal with Ebay linking, products, features, and merchant services.

There are three types of accounts to get you going on PayPal. For beginners, a personal account is fine and best of all, FREE! Once you plan to make this a business you will want to upgrade to a premier or even a business account. The fee is reasonable for either of these accounts and will not empty your wallet. Seller’s fees for all accounts are also a bargain and well worth it for fast and ready payment and convenience purposes. PayPal even has its own special section for its Ebay users.

PayPal a secure and safe method of payment and their customer service is top notch. They are readily available by e-mail or telephone whenever you need them. Sign up for a PayPal account today and begin selling your items on your Ebay auction account. The fastest, easiest, payment choice on the internet is hands down, Paypal!

Think back to your childhood. Do you remember your first business adventure of setting up your own lemonade stand? You would sell cups of lemonade for only cents, and life was good. Life was good up until that kid set up another lemonade stand right across the street from yours and stole your thunder, right? Unfortunately, that kid is back on the block. However, in this situation, the block is located on eBay. In order to prevent these types of kids from earning all the sales, you need to learn how to compete effectively.

Remember selling your lemonade for twenty five cents, only to realize that the other stand sold their lemonade for ten cents? Competitive prices can make all the difference in selling merchandise. Depending on what you are selling, you should search eBay for the same or similar products. Determine the average price for your product, among fellow eBay sellers. You will want to price your product in this bracket, or slightly below if you do not have much money invested in the item you are planning to sell.

Furthermore, the attractive signs advertising for the other lemonade stands really caught the attention of people. The same method works on eBay. Advertising for your eBay store or items is important. Make your existence known on eBay. This will result in an increase of traffic to your eBay store, which increases your chances of gaining sales. Advertise on the internet, such as social networking websites. You can also promote your eBay items or store in your community or through word of mouth. Advertise and promote your eBay store as much as possible through numerous methods.

Another way to direct prospective buyers to your eBay items is to list keywords for each item throughout the listing and the description. These keywords allow your item to be shown when a buyer searches that term on eBay. Make sure your keywords are relevant to your item and utilize the full amount allotted by eBay.

So when selling items on eBay, it is important to remember that an online business is still a business and requires good customer service. Good customer service is the reason all of those power sellers became power sellers. They’ve acquired their positive feedback for several reasons. Among these reasons may be things like prices, fast shipping, reliability, quick to answer questions and concerns, or the diversity of products they sell. Accumulating positive feedback is always a positive gain for your eBay business.

Running a home based business can be such a great thing, but there are too many people who have this misconception that it is all candy and roses without any real pitfalls. The truth is that there are pitfalls and those pitfalls can make or break you if you’re not aware of what they are and how to stop them when they occur.

So here are some pitfalls that you may run into and the ways in which you can avoid them:

• Many individuals working at home find that the world believes they have it made. This means friends and family may not respect work time. It seems as if all of a sudden the world demands your attention even more because you work at home. So lay down the law to begin with. Tell them who the boss is (because you are) and explain that you cannot make a living if they don’t respect the times you have set aside.

• Battling distractions is like literally fighting a war. Actually, it is a war within yourself. This means not putting a stereo system or a TV in your office. You might think you have enough time to watch that movie and get your work done, but you might be quite surprised that these little things can really eat into your day. The next thing you know, you’ve been sitting in your office for 12 hours, feeling like you’ve accomplished very little.

• When you are working, it can be hard to know when to stop. Many individuals keep going and going so that they can get their work done. But what this does is take away that family time, causes you to become overworked, and may even make you lose your mind a little.

Don’t get too confident about what you are doing. Being self-employed means a lot of uncertainty. Don’t think you have the perfect business formula that is going to keep the revenue coming in consistently. You must strive to keep growing your business so that you can keep that income coming in. Some months are more profitable than others, so be careful with your money.

So take these things into consideration so that you don’t tank your business as soon as you get it started. Make sure you evaluate all the distractions a home business faces and proceed with caution, after all, you livelihood depends on it!

When you start a business, it is very important that you set up the proper legal structure for what you are doing. If you don’t, then you might find yourself sailing in the wrong boat. When you are sailing in the wrong boat, it is somewhat of a challenge to make your way to the right one.

So let us look at the different types of business legal structures that exist and what they are:

• Sole proprietorship – This is the simplest and most common of all of the legal structures. This is because this is a business that is owned by a single person and that person has unlimited liability. A person who provides services to another is a sole proprietor unless they decide to set it up as something else. So if you’re a contract sign dancer for restaurants and retail stores, you’re a sole proprietor.

• Partnerships – This is when two people decide to go into business together to make a profit. Each person owns a portion of the business and they also own whatever profit or loss that is made. So make sure you are going into business with someone who is in agreement or else you could see some trouble looming ahead. Some husbands and wives go into business in this way.

• Corporations – A corporation is set up through your state and your liabilities are limited. This means you are not personally liable for everything if trouble occurs. You do not become individually responsible for damages like you would through a sole proprietorship or a partnership. LLCs and S Corps are a part of this category. A corporation is considered a separate entity.

But wait. We need to look at this LLC and S Corp thing a little bit better. First of all, LLC stands for Limited Liability Corporation. The above definition more or less covers that. Your liabilities are limited. But what is an S Corp? Well, an S Corp is a corporation that is taxed under Subchapter S of the IRS’s Chapter 1. In other words, they do not pay income tax. Instead, they take income or losses and divide it amongst their shareholders. The shareholders then report the income or loss when it is time for them to file their taxes. So yes, the shareholders are fitting the bill.

So whichever one of these categories you fit in, it is important that you set yourself up accordingly. That way you can be taxed correctly, you will be held liable in the correct situations, and you are legally set up to do business the way you need to.

What exactly is a Seller’s Permit? Sometimes referred to as a Sales Tax License or Resale License this is simply a legal permit to sell taxable merchandise. As a seller’s permit holder, you agree to collect and remit sales tax to the Franchise Tax Board in your specific state. You will need to obtain a sellers permit if you plan on purchasing merchandise on a wholesale level, as most suppliers will require that your license be on file. The license tells the wholesale supplier that you are engaged in reselling merchandise and collecting the appropriate amount of sales tax as required by the Franchise Tax board for your state.

Anyone engaged in retailing merchandise must apply for a state resale license with the State board of Equalization. The process consist of filling out an application offering information about your business. The issuance of your license can take up to two weeks after you application has been submitted.

An application for a resale license will contain all the information you will need to comply with collecting and distributing sales tax for the items you retail in your state. You must collect sales tax for those items which are purchased in the same state your business resides in. For example, an apparel retailer who operates in California must charge sales tax for any purchases or shipment of merchandise (on a retail level) in the state of California. Please consult the Franchise Tax Board or your accountant for retail sales across state lines.

Another fascinating video from World Wide Brands Showing how, as a retailer, you can survive our slumping economy

Valuable tips for retailers and ecommerce sellers who ship merchandise. Video offers an inside look at the “Dos” and “Don’ts” of shipping. Brought to by The UPS Store and World Wide Brands

World Wide Brands – The Product Sourcing Experts!

World Wide Brands – The Product Sourcing Experts!