Tip #2 - Preparing to Sell on eBay?

Image via Wikipedia Using online auctions is a relatively inexpensive way to promote your products or services. On the downside, they can be very time-consuming to post to - especially if you're only making a few dollars profit per sale. Several steps are involved before you can post your auction on major sites such as; eBay or Yahoo! Shopping Auctions. If you're new to selling via online auctions, the following steps will make listing your item a smooth and easy process.

1). Plan your item title and description. Give some thought to naming and describing your item. What will buyers most want to know about it? What are its most appealing characteristics? What words might buyers use to search for your item?

2). Write your HTML code. If you plan to include HTML, complete and test your code before you get started with the listing process. Learn more about HTML.

3). Have a good picture of your item in an appropriate digital format. JPEG (.jpg) is recommended. If you host your own photos, have your photos uploaded to your service. In some cases, you'll need your photos stored on your computer's hard drive.

4). Have the item on hand. Keep the item close by in case you think of other things you want to add to your description. In addition, you'll want to ship the item to the buyer ASAP.

5). Plan your pricing. You may want to do a little research into the selling prices of other items similar to yours. This will help you set your starting price.

6). Registration. This usually will require your credit/ debit card and bank account information. It is recommended you write down your registration information (username and password) or save it in a place you will remember in the future.

You're now prepared to sell your item!

A few things to keep in mind after you've made the sell:

1 Communicate With The Buyer. Some auction sites offer a checkout service in which you must verify before receiving payment. Contact the buyer directly if you have not heard from the buyer within three days of your listing's end.

2 Receive Payment eBay and Yahoo offer their own payment solutions. Another popular method used by auctioneers is PayPal. If the buyer hasn't already made payment, send them a letter explaining how they should proceed.

3 Ship Your Order Immediately You don't want your buyer to get angry. Many auctions

provide buyer and seller feedback systems. It's hard to sell products with a bad rating and several negative buyer comments.

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Sarah Palin Attack Dog or Barracuda?

Image by bobster1985 via Flickr Another week, another political convention. This week kicks off the Republican National Convention that will see the nomination of John McCain for President and Sarah Palin for Vice-President, though the schedule is in flux with Hurricane Gustav that has landed in Louisiana.
McCain named Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate on August 29th. She was more or less a surprise pick. She is not well known on the national scene, at least from a media perspective.

The first day of the convention was greatly abbreviated. The only real speakers were Laura Bush and Cindy McCain putting out a call for help for the areas affected by Gustav. They also made announcements of some projects that the Republicans will be undertaking to help victims of Gustav. This fit with the theme for the day: Service.

The theme for Tuesday was Reform. The main speakers of the evening were Laura Bush, George Bush, Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman. President Bush gave a very short speech about McCain and didn’t really say too much. Fred Thompson followed and defended the choice of Sarah Palin for vice-president and helped define McCain a bit more. He was followed by Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee 8 years ago. Lieberman went between praising McCain, defending Palin, and hitting out at Barack Obama. The keynote speech to be given by Rudy Guiliani was moved to Wednesday.

Wednesday the theme is Prosperity. Palin gave her acceptance speech tonight and America got their first real chance to know her. Palin filled the vice-presidential role of attack dog. And she did a good job of attacking Barack Obama and Joe Biden. McCain is going to have a tough time topping her speech. Also speaking were Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, Mike Huckabee, and Kay Bailey Hutchinson. The speeches once again seem to focus on John McCain, but not on any policy stances for the candidates.

Thursday will be John McCain’s day. The theme for the final day of the convention is Peace. The day is supposed to showcase McCain’s idea of American goodwill and our pursuit of peace in the world. McCain tops off the evening with his acceptance speech. Then the campaign can begin with 60 days until Election Day.

The convention schedule will be very flexible and may change on any day in response to the events of Gustav. One of the places you can keep up with the ever changing world is 104inc.com.

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How in the world does oil spike up so quickly?

The beauty of the market, whether it’s commodities, mutual funds, or just plain ‘ol stocks, is that they never fail to surprise me. Only a month ago, I wrote an article about oil and why (based on analyst’s opinions) the price has increased so much, going up to $147 per barrel back in July. Well, just four short weeks later, oil has come down to under $108 per barrel. How in the world does oil spike up so quickly? More importantly, how does it plummet so drastically? Oil prices have decreased over 25% in the last four weeks, which makes me laugh when I think about all of those big shots from Goldman Sachs and such who predicted that oil will hit $200 by the end of summer.

Of course, there are a number of reasons (based on analyst’s opinions) as to why the price of oil has decreased so much. The economy of “powerful” countries, such as China, is weak and in jeopardy of a recession. Demand for products has decreased due to these countries having weak economies. Furthermore, specifically with China, the currency there has increased in value, which obviously makes exports less desirable, hence, causing a decrease in the output of goods. Yet, the average person would conclude that if a county’s currency appreciates in value, why would it be having economical problems? For that, stay tuned for another article…we’re talking about oil here.

The demand for gasoline is weak, which makes oil less appealing to investors. This further drives prices down, considering consumers of gasoline are finding other means of transportation, a phenomenon that is not all that phenomenal. It was only a matter of time for people to start getting sick of paying over $4.50 at the pump for a gallon of gas. Another reason why the price of oil has decreased is because of a stronger dollar in the last few weeks. Our currency is on the rise (yippie!), and this is causing investors to pull out of commodities (such as oil). Investors usually purchase commodities in order to hedge against inflation, and if the dollar is increasing in value, well, there isn’t as much hedging necessary.

There are many other factors involved, including hurricane Gustav not having the impact investors had anticipated for it to have. Also, refineries are starting to slowly come back online after being shut down for various reasons. So then, is it safe to say that the oil bubble has finally burst? Or is it just leaking for now but getting ready to grow larger again? Some analysts believe that prices can spike again due to unforeseen geopolitical events (could they be any more vague?) or OPEC deciding to cut back production (basically them saying,” We need to drive demand up, so we should decrease supply and drive prices up because this year I want to make $2 Billion instead of only $1 Billion”).

Whatever the reason is for oil prices decreasing, I really don’t care. As long as gas prices are decreasing, which they have gone down in the past month from a national average of $4.11 to $3.67 according to AAA, and then I’m a happy camper. Might I add that just because prices have gone down about $0.45 doesn’t mean I’m satisfied? It wasn’t too long ago that I could fill up the gas tank of a gas guzzling Camaro for no more than $35.00. I’d like to see those times again, very soon, so I can drive more like Jeff Gordon rather than Ms. Daisy.

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Am I The Only One Who Is Ready To See Some FootBall?

Image via WikipediaFootball. There aren't too many words in the English dictionary (or any dictionary for that matter) that make a man's heart pound harder than standing at the altar, wondering if the woman about to walk down the aisle is...ohh, never mind. See what happens when the word 'football' is mentioned? Well, it's back ladies and gentleman. The 2008-2009 National Football League season is upon us, set to kick-off Thursday evening with the reigning Super Bowl Champions New York Giants (still in pain over that) versus the Washington Redskins.

So, what does this mean? Well, that's a simple and easy question. It means attendance at church will be cut in half, vacations postponed, and every man's credit card purchases growing exponentially as the wives escape the steady diet of testosterone, beer, pizza, and man-grunts while watching some smash-mouth football. Watching all this football usually leads to one thing at halftime and after the game: flinging the old pigskin around the backyard, mimicking every juke, bump, and touchdown celebration. At least, that's what I do. And, inevitably, as you go into your garage, searching for that football, you'll find you've either lost it, left it at a buddy's pad, or it's flatter than your team's offensive line. So, what to do? Log on to 104football.com for all your football needs - it's simple and easy. With it's state-of-the-art technology, 104football.com will already know where you're located, and will not only give you a list of everything football around your home, but they will tell you the distance in miles, and even give a link to map directions, plus much, much more. It's awesome.

So, who's your team? Actually, it doesn't even matter. The standings as of today are all 0-0. We're all even. Time to separate the men from the boys. Will your team hoist the trophy next February, or will they be sipping mai-tais in Maui, watching the Super Bowl like the rest of us? Only the players will decide. All we can do is watch and enjoy the ride, and log on to 104football.com to get all we need!

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Republicans Say Country First & Change Second!

Image by sloomis08 via FlickrAnother week, another political "country first" convention. This week kicks off the Republican National Convention that will see the nomination of John McCain for President and Sarah Palin for Vice-President, though the schedule is in flux with Hurricane Gustav that has landed in Louisiana.

McCain named Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, as his running mate on August 29th. She was more or less a surprise pick. She is not well known on the national scene, at least from a media perspective.

The first day of the convention was greatly abbreviated. The only real speakers were Laura Bush and Cindy McCain putting out a call for help for the areas affected by Gustav. They also made announcements of some projects that the Republicans will be undertaking to help victims of Gustav. This fit with the theme for the day: Service.

The theme for Tuesday is Reform. The main speakers of the evening were Laura Bush, George Bush, Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman. President Bush gave a very short speech about McCain and didn’t really say too much. Fred Thompson followed and defended the choice of Sarah Palin for vice-president and helped define McCain a bit more. He was followed by Joe Lieberman, who was the Democratic vice-presidential nominee 8 years ago. Lieberman went between praising McCain, defending Palin, and hitting out at Barack Obama. The keynote speech to be given by Rudy Guiliani was moved to Wednesday.

Wednesday the theme will be Prosperity. Palin will be speaking that night and it will give her a chance to let America know her. Also speaking will be Mitt Romney, Meg Whitman, Kay Bailey Hutchinson, and possibly Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. It is kind of odd though that the Republican website for the convention hasn’t been updated with Palin’s name.

Thursday will be John McCain’s day. The theme for the final day of the convention is Peace. The day is supposed to showcase McCain’s idea of American goodwill and our pursuit of peace in the world. McCain tops off the evening with his acceptance speech. Then the campaign can begin with 60 days until Election Day.

The convention schedule will be very flexible and may change on any day in response to the events of Gustav. One of the places you can keep up with the ever changing world is 104inc.com.

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The Job Market Sucks So What Does A College Student Do?

I have been in the professional field for 15 years now. I am in an industry that is dying day by day. The sad thing is that it does not matter that I have a BA or an MBA because I have been in the same field for so long I am typecast as an individual that has not other skills.

A general degree in Management or Business is no longer the path to success or wealth. You need to be more specialized. Right now what employers need are scientists, engineers, programmers, medical personnel, law and CPAs.

These fields will yield the best results for future income and job security. With the globalization of our economic markets these fields will continue to grow because leaders are needed to continue to solve problems that we are facing as a country and as a world.

Financial opportunities are limited right now and you must be able to adapt to the changing world. I would suggest that you get on community chat rooms and start gaining for the experience of those who have been in this market for sometime. Learn from the mistakes of others so that you do not fall into the same trap.

104Jobz.com is a great recourse that may help you find professionals who can help guide you down a prosperous path. Keep in mind that you need to do a lot of research, do something that you love and are passionate about and you cannot go wrong. 104jobs.com can help you find the right opportunities for your future.

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