eBay Power Couple III Snow Angels Rural Vistas and Good advice

eBay allows Sharon and John Ware the luxury of living in the country while they operate their successful eBay business. What do you suppose they find time to do once business for the day is tucked away?

They enjoy the view with the changing seasons.


Sharon said, "the beauty of eBay is its portability. We thought perhaps our business would suffer with the move (from Florida to Kentucky). But, interestingly, since moving here, our (eBay) consulting business has grown many times over and now includes several worldwide clients. How exciting! And of course, we continue to sell our fire trucks, rubber stamps and crafts in our own eBay stores."

They smell the flowers on the front porch when they aren't Treasure Picking.

"We enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the even bigger thrill when we discover ‘the find’! After all these years, my heart still races as we watch our auction items end. Especially when there are a lot of ‘watchers’. We are always hopeful that this one item will be ‘the’ big winner. But if not this one, there’s always the next, or the next or perhaps the one after that!"


And they make snow angels when winter snow sets in.

Sharon and John love the rural lifestyle that eBay allows them to enjoy but they have earned it with diligent attention to the detail and planning of a solid business



"I first became an Education Specialist Trained by eBay in 2005 and the following year, John joined the program as well and became an Education Specialist. We think team teaching is a blast and we enjoy bringing real life stories and experience to our classes."

"I very methodically worked my business, moving up through eBay's Education Specialist program. On March 15, 2007, I became eBay’s 19th Certified Business Consultant (there are only 30 of us worldwide today!)."

"After becoming Certified, John and I launched our current company, Dandelion Consulting, formed to better serve our worldwide corporate and business clients."

For our eBay Power Couple country living in Kentucky is the best of all worlds. Sharon and John offer up their advice for building and maintaining a successful eBay business in eBay Power Couple II. We hope they are still eBaying for their 50th anniversary.

Contact information DandelionConsulting
Telephone: 606-379-0000
email: myauctionteacher@aol.com today!

eBay Power Couple II Sharing Tips for Success

eBay Tips for Success...by Sharon and John Ware of Dandelion Consulting

Do something every day to advance or improve your business:
a. Learn something new
b. Research products and competitors
c. Learn to take great pictures
d. Create Professional Listings
e. Maintain sold and unsold items
f. Pack and ship
g. Hire help if you need it
h. Take time to rest.. away from your computer

Choose your battles:
a. It’s business, not personal… don’t sweat the small stuff
b. Know that you can’t please everyone all the time
c. Do your best, be kind and honest and that will shine through
everything you do

We can no longer ignore the importance of Branding when it comes to our eBay business. To be competitive with the larger companies who are penetrating the market today, it is imperative to take steps to ramp up our business and be professional.

How do we create a brand for our business?
• Take advantage of an eBay Store and all it has to offer:
o Create a strong Store Home page logo
o Use pleasing and consistent colors throughout the site
o Write a great About Me page
o Have a matching Small logo and My World logo
o Of course, it goes without saying, you must have a well written
description and customer-friendly store policies
o Utilize all 15 custom pages

Custom pages are important because they offer a great
opportunity for SEO. Write interesting stories, highlight
products you sell or services you offer, tell the buyer why
they should buy from you. Any relevant information you put
on your custom pages will help your buyers find you when
they start with a search ‘off’ eBay.

Places to promote your store name and brand on eBay:
o Invoice wording
o Automatic eMail responses to buyers
o Feedback
o Thank you included with shipment
o eBay Reviews
o eBay Guides
o eBay Neighborhoods
o eBay Discussion Forums

Places to promote your brand outside of eBay:
o eMail signatures
o local advertising
o t-shirts, ball caps, pens, any kind of promotional give-away
o community meetings and clubs
o any gathering of friends, family or business colleagues

Social Networking (just to name a few)
o Facebook Business or Fan page
o Twitter
o MySpace
o LinkedIn
o MyLife
o Squidoo
o Blogs
o Communities
o Groups
o Radio Programs
o Learning Sites

Postage:

To save time AND money, print your own postage from your own printer with Stamps.com. With Stamps.com, you can also print First Class International Packages. It prints the custom form for you, which is a HUGE time saver over filling out the green customs form yourself and standing in line at the Post Office.

This was great for us because we have a lot of light weight crafts and stamps to ship to International customers. Easily import your eBay and Amazon orders and print your own postage on regular paper. Plus, save approximately 5% over buying postage at the Post Office! Check out the link here:



The impression we give our buyers when they view our listings or store
helps them decide whether they want to buy from us or leave. A well
designed eBay Store will allow you the opportunity to brand yourself with
colors and design. When you carry your design through to all your custom
store pages, your About Me page, your listing template and your logos,
the buyer sees a cohesive site that is pleasing; one that makes a positive
impression and puts your buyer at ease about doing business with you
again and again.

If you need help with a store set up or re-design, we would love to speak
with you. Just give us a call at 606-379-0000. You can also find other
store designers by doing a search in eBay. The important thing is to step
up your business and add a professional brand that let’s your buyers know
you are a serious business.

Happy Selling!
Sharon and John Ware
Dandelion Consulting
your partner in growing your business

eBay Treasure Picking Power Couple John and Sharon Ware Part I

When it comes to power couples John and Sharon Ware are the best example of what eBay can offer as a business. They have made several moves in the past few years and their eBay business went with them. They both worked 30 years for a St Louis Fortune 500 company, where Sharon was in customer service and a computer analyst and John was in Corporate Marketing. When John’s father became ill and needed their assistance, they retired from their jobs and moved to Florida to take care of him.

The move left them looking for alternative income and eBay was it. Sharon tells the story of how it came about, “It was that set of 1970's Coca Cola glasses that did it. After I listed the glasses and the days ticked down I got a few bids. It was pretty exciting! In the last half hour of the auction, I was glued to my computer as I sat and cheered on the bidders. BID! Come on, BID again! My heart raced as I anxiously watched the item bid up and up in the last few seconds and then finally it was over. Boy! What a rush! Oh my gosh, it SOLD...IT SOLD! And I actually made money! Okay...so now what ELSE can I sell?”

“John and I started selling a few things on eBay after moving to Florida, John is a retired volunteer Fire Chief and collects replica collectible model fire trucks. He now sells them and the rest is history.”
John’s user name is ssfdretiredchief and store is Station 4 Collectibles. His sell through rate is about 40% with 100% Feedback (Statistics by Terapeak)

Sharon is an eBay Top Rated seller who sells rubber stamps and crafts on eBay and explains, “I have been an avid crafter all my life and fell in love with a rubber stamping store in Orlando. When I found out they were closing up shop, we bought out the entire store. And now, I am the ‘Rubber Stamp Lady’, LOL!” Sharon's user name is wareskscrapbooks and her store is: Dandy Rubber Stamps and Crafts. Sharon's sell through rate is approximately 35% (Terapeak may vary from day to day) with 100% Feedback and DSRs 4.9/5.0.

Being organized is essential to a smooth eBay business

Sharon and John just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in June and are looking forward to the fun and excitement the next 25 will bring. Life is definitely an adventure and they embrace it together every day!

"We enjoy the thrill of the hunt and the even bigger thrill when we discover ‘the find’! After all these years, my heart still races as we watch our auction items end. Especially when there are a lot of ‘watchers’. We are always hopeful that this one item will be ‘the’ big winner. But if not this one, there’s always the next, or the next or perhaps the one after that!"

Sharon and John have taken their eBay career to the top level. Sharon is a world acclaimed professional eBay Store designer and an eBay Certified Business Consultant. In Part II she will talk about their lifestyle and her move into design work and education

But for now she is hard at work slaving over a hot computer in a rural setting that makes life beautiful.

Contact information DandelionConsulting
Telephone: 606-379-0000
email: myauctionteacher@aol.com today!