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Quick Cash for Christmas
by Leslie Truex
Christmas is only a few weeks away.
If you are the organized sort of person, your shopping is already done.
You picked up gifts throughout the year, thereby spreading out the
expense of holiday gift giving.
But if you are like me, you are faced with spending hundreds of dollars
in the next few weeks because you waited until now to start preparing
for the holidays and you are wondering where you are going to come up
with extra cash to spend those hundreds of dollars.
Fortunately, I have come up with a few ways to generate extra cash
without going out and picking up a part-time second job.
My favorite place for generating quick cash is Amazon's MartketPlace. If
you have books, CD's, software, household items, just about anything
that is in decent condition, the MarketPlace at Amazon is a fast, easy
way to make money.
Once you open an account, you simply input the product information, list
the condition of the item, add a few comments, indicate your price, and
submit. Amazon does everything else from adding the picture, taking the
order including payment, and even direct depositing the money into your
account.
Amazon charges you nothing until/unless your item sells. Then it's only
.99 cents plus a percentage of the sold price. Amazon also gives you a
shipping credit to cover the cost of mailing your item to the buyer. In
the case of books, it's $2.26 which will cover media mail up to three
pounds. For example, lets say you sell a used book for $10.00:
Book = $10 - Amazon's commission $2.49 (.99 + %15) + $2.26 shipping
credit = $9.77 earnings from Amazon. When you ship the item, you will
pay postage. In this case of a book weighing less than one pound,
shipping would be $1.42 by media mail. So the net gain would be $8.35,
which is still more a used bookstore would pay.
Amazon offers other ways to sell your items, but the MarketPlace is my
favorite because you can earn 50% or more of the original product price.
Plus, it's easy, fast and convenient.
You can learn more at Amazon.com. Scroll down the page until you see the
"Make Money" box on the left. Click on "MarketPlace".
Of course, eBay is another way to generate income fairly quickly. I use
eBay only if the item I have cannot be sold through Amazon's Market
Place because eBay is a little more time consuming in terms of taking
pictures of my items, listing them and dealing with payment (although
PayPal has made this part easier). But I like eBay for my novelty items
such as infomercial products or things I'm not sure how to price.
eBay does charge you for listing your products whether they sell or not,
but its very reasonable and only once have I not had an item sell. The
insertion fee is .30 cents to $3.30 depending on price of the item. eBay
offers optional listing feature such as Buy It Now or Gallery for
additional fees. The only other required fee is the final value charge
which is a 5.25%+ of the sold cost. Shipping costs can be covered by you
or passed on to the buyer. For example, let's say you sold an item for
$10:
Item = $10 - eBay fee .83 (5.25% +.30)+ $3.85 (shipping paid by buyer) =
$13.02. eBay buyers generally expect to receive their item sooner rather
than later so I ship priority which is $3.85 for items up to two pounds.
Therefore, in this case, the net gain is $9.17. If PayPal is used for
payment, its fee will be about .59 cents (2.9%+.30 cents). So in the
end, the net equals $8.58.
You can learn more at eBay.com.
Eight dollars may not seem like much but offer several items or more
expensive items, and it can add up quickly. If you have 15 books that
originally retailed for $14-$20 you could earn $120 in a week or less at
Amazon. The same is true at eBay. Listing a few quality items can lead
to several hundred dollars at the end of the auction period.
Here are some tips to quickly and easily earn some fast cash through
Amazon and eBay:
1) Go through your home and gather all the items that are in decent
condition that you are willing to sell. The best items I have found are
books, electronics and electronic accessories, software and name-brand
gizmos for Amazon's MarketPlace. For eBay I gather my infomercial
products, old eBay items I bought but don't use, name-brand clothes
(especially kids clothes), toys (Legos are a big hit!), collectables and
memorabilia, and novelty items. Find a place that you can store these
items together for easy listing and shipping when sold.
2) When listing, be honest about the condition. You don't want to hurt
your selling reputation by not mentioning marks or other faults with the
item.
3) I don't want to take the time to list items and then not have them
sell so I do price my items lower than the competition. I'm not out to
make a bundle, I'm out to make a fast buck. Of course, at eBay, the
market will drive the ultimate sale price but I always start low and
normally don't put a reserve price (price that must be met for the item
to sell).
4) Finally, once paid, ship the item ASAP. Package it so its safe and
secure. I print out the name and address of the buyer and tape it to the
package to make sure I don't misspell the address. You can save some
time by using Stamps.com to create postage.
Now is a terrific time to make quick money using Amazon and eBay because
many people are holiday shopping for quality items at reasonable prices
at Amazon and eBay. It's win-win for people who want to save and people
who want to earn some extra holiday cash.
(C) Copyright 2003 by Leslie Truex
About the Author:
Leslie Truex is a stay and work-at-home mom who helps others find ways
to save and earn money so they to can stay and work at home too. Get
free information and resources at her websites:
http://www.workathomesuccess.com and
http://www.momsathomesuccess.com.
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