5 Discontinued Items to Sell on eBay and Amazon

It is time for a discontinued product update! I've been selling some goodies this summer and wanted to share them with you. Maybe you can find these in your area.



1 of the items I found in grocery stores was marked down to $2! I sold this item on Amazon for $19.99. It was a consumable item. Buyers often purchased more than one at a time. I sold 44 bottles at a profit of $12 each between July 2 and July 26. Profit on this item was $528 in about 3 weeks just selling 1 product. This was one of those "embarrassing" products that sell well online because people may be embarrassed buying it in person, but have anonymity when buying online. On the other hand, I got some strange looks from cashiers when buying 10 of these at once.....



Here is a screen shot of my Amazon sales report for this item:







To get the list of items, visit Online Selling Coach and look for the update dated August 25.



Also, I am creating a video series for Online Selling Coach on how to create and market your own eBook. Everyone has an eBook inside them. With channels like eBay, Amazon, the Kindle, Clickbank, e-Junkie, and other sites, you can create and market your own information product and create a stream of income for years. I sell information products that were created 4 years ago so I know this strategy works. You may not think you have information that another person would pay for, but trust me, everyone does. Some possible topics for eBooks include:



Living with a chronic illness

Caring for a family member with a chronic illness

How to make money doing something

How to make a specific item at home

Researching a complicated system (such as VA benefits, disability, government benefits for yourself or a loved one)

Surviving a natural disaster - how to cope afterwards

Traveling to a foreign country

Living in a foreign country

Repairing a item

Getting something free

Surviving a personal tragedy (car accident, death of a loved one, a crime, etc.)

How to get money for college

How to fund raise for a charity



The list is endless. I will show you how to determine demand for a topic, how to write the book or hire someone to do it for you, and how to promote the book using free channels on the internet.



Have a great weekend, and if you are in Irene's path, stay safe!

How to Overcome Isolation when Working at Home

There are immeasurable benefits when working from home including having a flexible schedule, making your own decisions, reduced stress, and increased productivity. If you ask home-based entrepreneurs, they will usually tell you that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages. But, one downside to working at home is isolation. You may start to miss the hustle and bustle of a busy office, having lunch with co-workers, social interactions during the day, and a structured workday. Here are a few suggestions to help you avoid the “home alone” syndrome as a home-based business owner.





Make Local Connections

We often get so caught up in what we are doing that we simply forget to reach out to our community for support. Even if your business doesn’t rely on local customers, you can still benefit from networking locally. Join small business networking groups, civic groups, the Chamber of Commerce, or if you are female, a women’s business group. Your objective is not necessarily to find clients but to make contacts. You may meet a banker who can help you with a small business loan, an accountant who can answer simple questions for you, or an insurance agent who can help you find more affordable health insurance. Once people in your community learn what you do for a living, they may ask you to sell things on consignment for them or to teach them how to sell on line. Many times, you can trade services with another local business and everybody wins.



Create a Daily Schedule

Having a daily schedule will help you be more productive as well as keep you focused. Granted, one advantage to working for yourself is the ability to have a flexible schedule. But if your day is too unstructured, you may find yourself drifting from one task to another and nothing is accomplished. Set aside certain times of the day for specific projects, or certain days for specific tasks. For example, some sellers do their shipping in the morning, listings in the afternoon, and set aside 2 days a week strictly for acquiring inventory. Do what works for you, but try to create a pattern and some continuity in your workdays.



Do Something Recreational

Just because you work at home doesn’t mean you have to work 18 hours a day and are not allowed to have a life! Join a gym or yoga studio, take Zumba classes, join a book club, or volunteer at the animal shelter. Get out and get away from your computer a few times a week. Not only will you relieve stress but you can do something personally fulfilling and meet new people at the same time. Who knows, you may even make some valuable business connections, too.



Be an Organizer

If you can’t find local functions or groups that you like, why not create them? Visit the website MeetUp.com and check out the types of groups others have created. You’ll find common interest groups including eCommerce, entrepreneurs, tennis lovers, networking mixers, single moms, home schoolers, green living, book discussion groups, and much more. You can create your own group and invite your friends (both local and online), post it on your Facebook page, or advertise your group in community publications.

Amazon Toy Selling Guidelines for Holiday 2011 Season

Amazon recently announced its requirements for holiday toy sellers. If you plan to take advantage of the Amazon platform selling toys this holiday season, it is time to get it in gear! Orders fulfilled by Amazon will not be subject to the holiday season restrictions, provided your account is in good standing. So, these guidelines only apply if you are shipping the items yourself. (Keep in mind that as time runs short before Christmas, you may want to merchant fill some orders. There simply won’t be enough time to ship your items to FBA, and then have Amazon ship to the final customer. For last minute sales, you will want to ship items yourself.)



Effective November 15, 2011, only those sellers who meet the following performance criteria will be eligible to sell in Toys & Games from November 15, 2011, through the first week in January 2012:

Seller's first sale on Amazon.com must be prior to 09/19/11 (sale does not need to be Toy-specific)

Seller must have processed and shipped at least 25 orders (do not need to be Toy-specific) during the 60 consecutive days preceding 11/1/2011.

No greater than 1% short-term order defect rate as of 11/1/2011.

No greater than 2.5% pre-fulfillment cancel rate for the trailing 30 days preceding 11/1/2011.

No greater than 5% late shipment rate for the trailing 30 days preceding 11/1/2011.

Click here to check your metrics and verify these rates on your seller account.



Amazon will provide final notification about your eligibility to sell in the Toys & Games store by the middle of November. Effective September 19, 2011, no new sellers will be approved to sell in the Toys & Games store until the holiday restrictions have been lifted.



Amazon sets these guidelines because customers have higher expectations for delivery during the busy holiday season. Amazon wants to make sure that new sellers are performing up to their standards before allowing them to sell during the busy season.



These restrictions do not apply to FBA sellers since Amazon assumes the burden for proper shipping, delivery time, and post transactional customer service.



Click here to read the complete announcement.



If you have not yet ventured into Amazon or FBA, here are some resources:



Free Report – Amazon FBA 90 Day Experiment



Amazon FBA Tutorials



Amazon FBA Revenue Calculator



Amazon FBA Recipe for Success

Seeking eBay Sellers for eBay Reality Series

I was recently contacted by Alex Tresniowski, a senior writer for People Magazine. Alex is working with eBay on a web reality series to profile certain eBay users who have sold common items they had in their homes and used the extra money to make a small but meaningful change or upgrade in their lives.



Specifically, he is looking for mothers and fathers between the ages of 20 and 40, and also single mothers and fathers roughly in that age range. Alex is seeking stories from people who have unearthed some hidden treasure in their home—a gift they never used, their kids' old clothes, other common stuff they initially thought had no value—and sold it on eBay, then used the extra money to pay for something they couldn't otherwise afford: ballet lessons for their daughter, a new Sony Gameboy for their son, painting the living room, etc.



To share your eBay story and find out more about the web series, please email Alex at alexandertres@aol.com and he will get right back to you. This is a great opportunity to show the world how great eBay can be!



Alex will keep us posted on the series as it develops and when it launches online.

Amazon Pending Orders – Red Flags to Watch for

Many Amazon sellers are addicted to watching their pending sales. I have the pending screen bookmarked on my desktop computer, iPad, and iPhone. Checking pending orders is more than just being excited about what’s selling, it is a way to gauge the demand and popularity of an item and make more money because you are “in the know.”



When an item is in “pending,” it means that a buyer has committed to the purchase. If he purchased multiple items from different sellers, he may have checked the option to have his order sent in as few shipments as possible. If this is the case, your item is marked “pending” until the complete order ships. The buyer may also be waiting for other items to be included in his order and chooses to wait for it to ship. Items can be held in pending status for several weeks sometimes.



If you are not checking your pending sales, you are missing valuable information about Amazon buyer demand. Let’s say your FBA order hits the warehouse and you have some products in the box that you have never sold before. You want to pay close attention to how quickly those products are snapped up by buyers and how many each buyer wants. For example, a few weeks ago I sent in a seasonal food product. As soon as the order hit the warehouse, all 6 of them went into pending, 3 units going to 2 different buyers. By keeping an eye on my pending orders, I was able to determine that this product was hot, buyers wanted it, and I should go get more as quickly as possible. If I had waited until I received the “Amazon has shipped the item you sold” email, I could have missed the opportunity to purchase and resell some of this product, because the items didn’t actually ship out of FBA until a week later.



To check pending orders:





Click here for more information on using Amazon’s FBA program.

Summer Clearance Items to Sell on eBay

Even though temperatures are still in the 90’s here in Atlanta, we are already seeing signs for Summer Clearance. You may be thinking summer clearance is only bathing suits and pool floats, but it can be much more. Don’t let the climate where you live limit your ability to think outside the box and consider selling summer clearance items all year. Remember that we live in a global economy and your target customer could live anywhere. Here are some ideas for items to look for, even though it may not make sense at first:



Swim diapers. Don’t assume that babies and toddlers won’t need swim diapers at other times of the year. You may live up north and might be thinking that no one will be using swim diapers during cold weather, but plenty of children take indoor swimming lessons year round. Or maybe Grandma lives in Florida and has a heated pool and she keeps swim diapers on hand for the grandchildren when they visit. Or perhaps a family is planning a Disney cruise in January and needs to pack swim diapers and can’t find them locally. They will be looking online for them.



Gardening supplies. Just yesterday in Big Lots I saw all sorts of gardening and lawn supplies marked down to 80% off the regular price. Examples include pesticides, weed killer, and yellow jacket traps. These items could be purchased by consumers living in warm climates year round.



Canning supplies. I am starting to see these items in grocery stores. Here in Georgia, we still have another month or so of “canning season” as the vegetables are still coming in strong. The stores are making room for back to school and Halloween displays. Canning enthusiasts can use these items for another 6 weeks, maybe longer. Don’t assume that because an item is on clearance locally that it won’t sell nationally or even internationally.



Look for opportunities, not obstacles!



Related articles:



Source for eBay Inventory – Hallmark Stores



Source for eBay Inventory – Famous Footwear



Local Sourcing for eBay Inventory – Salvage Stores

New eBook - Amazon FBA Recipe for Success

It is finally finished! Kim and I have been working on our Amazon FBA program all summer, and here it is!

Amazon FBA Recipe for Success

Comprehensive 105 page eBook explaining how to sell products on Amazon using their fulfillment (FBA) program. Written by Suzanne Wells and Kim Tarrant, two experienced Amazon FBA sellers who earn their living selling online.

eBook Highlights:

Understanding the Amazon Customer – When you know why they pay more, you can charge more for your products.

Sourcing – Not just where to go, but how to maximize your time and use technology to source products.

Scouting Tools – You can do this without a smart phone!

Pricing Strategies – How to deal with competitors (Amazon isn’t eBay and you don’t have to be the lowest priced seller to get sales).

Amazon Minefields – Tips for staying out of trouble.

FBA Scout – Tips and tricks for using the FBA Scout App.

Damage Control – Who to contact or what to do when there is a problem with your FBA shipment, damaged products, or returns.

FAQs – Answers to questions we have seen repeated on seller boards and groups.

Complete Table of Contents can be viewed here

Assignments are included after each chapter so you can practice what you’ve learned before you spend money on inventory. These are some of the same assignments Suzanne Wells uses with her private coaching clients. (She has coached over 300 clients worldwide helping them grow their eCommerce businesses.) So roll up your sleeves and let’s get started making money on Amazon!

100% satisfaction guarantee, money back if not completely satisfied.

Online Selling Coach members, check the website for a coupon code for 25% off the purchase price.

This product is sold through eJunkie with immediate electronic delivery.

Click here to purchase and receive the instant download now.

Update on eBay Outright Accounting Software

Many eBay sellers and Outright users are about to be positively affected by a big change. Beginning later this week, Outright sellers will be able to automatically integrate transactions from PayPal AND eBay, meaning that Outright will import your eBay transaction details AND shipping costs automatically for the first time ever.

A survey we conducted in April showed that Outright users were saving an average of 5 hours per month on bookkeeping. This change will help users save even more time as now they don't have to manually enter shipping costs!

Historically, customers had to choose between importing from eBay or PayPal, because using both would have created duplicate transactions. Some users chose to only use PayPal, and for them, everything should remain fine. For those importing only from eBay, you will be presented with a choice to add PayPal as a source of data.

Here's what it means when you add PayPal:

1. You will now get shipping costs to go along with your sales and shipping collected information, giving you a more complete picture of your business without the extra data entry. This will only apply to sales that occur going forward - we won't be importing historical shipping costs, for fear of creating duplicates. Click here to learn more.

2. You will also see the outstanding fee balance in your eBay account (it will be listed under "Money I Owe" on the Overview screen,) and be able to drill in to view the fees there. More information can be found here.

3. Going forward, in addition to the individual eBay fees, you will also see the total monthly amount paid to eBay. Those transactions will show up with the category "Transfer", which means it's just movement of money between accounts, and does not impact your profit and loss. Your individual eBay fees will continue to show up as business expenses.

4. From the day you choose to add PayPal going forward, your shipping costs will show up under a new category called, surprise, "shipping costs." If you have been tracking shipping costs manually, and have another category name, you can choose to merge the two using a simple process outlined here.

5. If you use your PayPal account for non-business related expenses, those transactions will also be imported. To quickly and easily remove them, use our "multi-edit" feature described here: and change the category to "personal expense."

Party City Clearance – Stock up on Halloween Costumes to Sell on eBay

Party City wants to clean out their clearance shelves completely! All clearance items (excluding seasonal) are now just 50¢. With more than 1,000 items available, you’re sure to find something for a birthday or office party…or any party, for that matter. Of course, the selection varies widely by store. They’re also cleaning out their costume closet with some of their clearance costumes are as low as $5. With Halloween just three months away, now is a good time to stock up on costumes to sell on eBay. The shelves should clear out quickly, so you want to get there as soon as possible.

If you order online, you can get free shipping on August 2nd and 3rd only. Use promo code PC92NB for free shipping when you order online.


Baby Frog Costume - $5

Lederhosen Costume - $5


Tin Man Wizard of Oz Costume - $5

Visit my Facebook group for more tips on where to get eBay and Amazon inventory.