Start with what you already Know and Love
The year was 2007, I started collecting action figures during college. A store was closing and everything was on clearance. I grabbed as many action figures as I could, and since I had so many figures, I just continued collecting for years. Initially I never intended on selling them. May of 2014 was the first time I ever lived alone, my roommate had moved out, and I needed a way to supplement my income. After expressing my grief on Facebook, someone suggested eBay. All of a sudden I realized I had boxes full of action figures in my attic, having hid them away, displaying them on my wall had off-put a girl or two. My first sale was in July of 2014. I had only $600.00 USD worth of inventory at the time. Nearly two years later I have $12,000 USD worth of inventory. I began to consider my original investment to be pure capital, continuing to reinvest my profits. Since my my first sale my business has grown 2000%, this guide is intended to help you understand the steps I took to begin making money on eBay.
Your First SaleI suggest for your first sale to be an item you know the value of, whether or not you make a decent profit. You will learn a lot with your first sale. Most paramount is understanding shipping. Whatever service you choose will become second nature to you eventually. As a beginner to eBay, your funds will be held for nearly a week until they clear through PayPal. Eventually eBay will clear your funds immediately, however PayPal will hold your funds for three days. Don't worry, eventually your funds will clear immediately, until then this gives you the opportunity to continue to invest in your business, paying shipping out of pocket, using shipping funds to purchase more inventory.
Top Rated Plus Seller Status

To become a top rated plus seller, you have at have least 100 transactions with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period, and have at least $1,000 USD in sales with US buyers over the most recent 12-month period. You've also uploaded valid shipment tracking to eBay within your promised handling time for at least 90% of transactions with US buyers in the last 3 months. Having a printer and a scale is perhaps the most cost and time effective way to attain top rated seller status. You must have a 1 business day handling time, or better, and a 30 day money back return policy, or better. It took me over a year to reach top rated seller status, there are many benefits, and the hard work does pay off. Some of the benefits of being a Top Rated Plus Seller is 20% off seller fees, and more exposure. After 3 months they dropped my required valid shipment tracking to 85%, I however continue to maintain 99%, visiting my local USPS daily!
Label Printing through eBay

On the right is the printer I have for printing my shipping labels. The Canon Pixma MG5522. Why print through eBay?

1. Shipping Discounts of up to 32%
2. Neat and Professional
3. Tracking included, no need to manually enter tracking numbers

Through printing on eBay you can save enough money to pay for a printer after only a few sales! It's also very useful to have a shipping scale. A good one cost about $50.00 USD, being accurate on your shipping labels will save you tons of money right away.

Purchase eBay Shipping Labels
Self Adhesive Labels are very neat, professional, and saves tape! EBay also automatically deducts your postage directly from your PayPal account. Ink for the Canon Pixma lasts a while, I probably spend $10.00 USD per year.
Shipping Supplies

Remember, your not just selling an item, your selling a professional image. Try to spend less then $0.02 USD per yard for tape, $0.34 USD per yard for bubble wrap, $0.20 USD per label, and less then $0.40 USD per small box. Shopping on eBay, you can find all these supplies in bulk for half the price you can buy them from a retail store.

eBay Partner Network
Signing up for the eBay partner network is quick and easy, taking only a few days to check your credentials and approve your payment method. You can create links and RSS feeds that you can share in a variety of places. These links can be tracked back to your work and when someone uses your link to purchase an item you can make a commission . I've only just started utilizing the partner network, but the most important thing is to drive high quality traffic. Don't just paste your links on your personal Facebook page, or randomly email people hoping they will click and buy. High quality traffic will help you generate more revenue from the partner network. I suggest making a professional Facebook page, or a blog where you can suggestively post your links. You can link to your store items, others sellers pages, and anything on eBay.
Start a Professional Facebook page, and/or a Blog
You can directly paste your partner network links right into your professional Facebook page or your Blog. You can start your own website, obtain your own domain, and make your own make shift eBay page advertising the products you want. Having relevant content that engages readers is the best way to drive high quality traffic. If you don't want to sign up for the partner network you can still share your items on social media, like Facebook and more.
The Key is Time a Patience
Starting your own business, or just supplementing your income, takes commitment. Watching your auctions end and seeing your sales increase is very exciting, motivating you to keep pushing, and experimenting. Find inventory you enjoy collecting, adjust what you purchase based on what you find sells the best. Buy multiples of items, that way you wont have to constantly create listings and always have active items. Purchase a store front, even the basic store will help you understand your sales and your traffic/impressions. Write Buyers Guides, review products you've purchased, and create collections. These are just a few of the tools I've begun to use with my business, and I very much look forward to the impact all these tools will have on my business throughout the future.

2016-04-09T16:12:00-07:00

How to Start Making Money On eBay

How to determine Rarity and Desirability of Pokemon Cards

2016-04-09T16:12:00-07:00

How to determine Rarity and Desirability of Pokemon Cards

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20 Years of Pokemon

& 720+ different Characters!!!

This guide is intended to help you understand how pokemon cards are valued, what makes them desirable, and how to determine their rarity.  Please keep in mind this is just an overview.  There are over 720 different Pokemon, not including their variations.  In this guide I share with you only a handful of Pokemon cards I myself have collected and studied.  

The First thing any Collector of Pokemon Cards needs to know.

Originating in Japan, "Pocket Monster" cards were released in 1996.  The back of the card has the familiar Pokeball, however the Japanese cards displayed "Pocket Monster" as opposed to later versions of the cards which just showed "Pokemon."  Celebrating their 20th anniversary, Nintendo and Pokemon have only been growing in popularity, with handheld games, home console games, action figures, and more!!!

No need to be familiar with Japanese.

Obviously the front of the cards can help you identify 1996 Japanese variations.  Like their American counterparts, these cards have some of the same factors that can help you determine their value.  I will go into detail later on these other factors.  Just remember that the Japanese cards came out in 1996.

1st Edition Cards

On the left hand side of the card, below the depiction of the character, you will see a "1" symbol within a black circle,  the word "edition" scrolled above it.  The most ultra-rare 1st Edition cards have an "st" next to the "1".  First edition variations of Pikachu and Charizard are in my opinion the most valuable, including Shining Charizard,  Dark Raichu, however there are many sought after variations.

Holographic 1st Edition Cards

Looking closely behind our example of Machamp, we see a shimmering surface.  This is know as a "holo" or a "foil" card.  These are more rare than "non-holo" 1st editions, however not significantly more valuable, depending on the character of course. 

Dark Variations and Booster Pack Symbols

Here we have a Dark Alakazam Holographic 1st edition Team Rocket.  You can see the familiar shimmer, indicating that this card is a "holo," or "foil."  The first edition symbol appears on the left.  The Booster Pack symbol appears on the opposite side of the character depiction than where you would find the 1st edition symbol.  The "R" represents the team rocket booster pack.  There are other packs with other symbols, such as XY or the Jungle Pack.  Clearly this character variation is known as "Dark," many characters have dark variations. 

Evolution Of Characters

Jigglypuff's first evolution, "Wigglytuff."  This card is from the Jungle booster pack, as can been seen by the symbol to the right of the character depiction.  Other examples of a character evolution is Picachu's "Raichu," or Charmander's "Charmeloen," & "Charizard."  There are other evolutions where in you will see "EX" next to the name, as well as "C  lv.10

EX Characters & C lv.X Characters

The EX variation is typically the ultimate form of the character, ex:  CharizardEx/M Charizard EX.   Above we have an example  of MRayquaza's ultimate form, it is aslo what is known as a "full art," or a "full holo" card.  In these variations you can see that the character depiction goes outside of the traditional box form.  Obviously this card happens to be Japanese.  There are American variations of this card.  Rayquaza C lv.X is a lesser power level than EX, however its a great example of a Black Star Promo.

Reverse Holographic Cards

Beedrill Reverse Holo

Clearly the Character Depiction itself is not holographic.  The outside of the traditional character box itself is holographic.  These types of cards are much more rare than your standard holo cards.  

Promo Cards can be as rare and collectible as 1st Edition Cards

Below you can see the Mewtwo blackstar promo card, and a collection of WB blackstar promo cards.  Promotional cards are manufactured to publicize 3rd party companies, like Mcdonalds and WB.    

World Championship Cards

Much like Booster Packs, annually released, the world championship
cards can be as rare and valuable as any other promo card.  The individual rarity of each card can significantly increase the value of any of these cards.   One of the biggest factors in determining value is found at the bottom right corner of the card.  These symbols denote common, uncommon, and rare cards.  

Common, Uncommon/Rare, & Ultra Rare Pokemon Cards

Below are four cards.  each one represents the rarity of the individual card. Shining Tyranitar on the top right has 3 little stars in the bottom right corner.  The more stars, the more rare the card, these would be known as Ultra Rare cards.  Immediately to the left of Shining Tyranitar is a Trainer card known as a " Full Holo Rare Candy,"  this card was released in 2013, but its rarity is not denoted by its year necessarily.  In the bottom right corner of the card you will see one star.  This card would be considered uncommon, or rare.  The most common cards have either a circle or a diamond, however a card like 1st edition Jigglypuff would have more value than other common cards simply because it is a first edition.  On the immediate left of the rarity symbol you will see a set of numbers, the rare candy is special because it denotes a 105/101, as well as the Shining Tyranitar denoted 113/105, which means it wasn't commonly released with other booster packs of its kind.  Regularly you will see numbers like the ones on Jigglypuff, 54/64.  Promo cards will have a single number, these numbers don't denote rarity.  The most desirable cards that were produced in America were produced by a company called "Wizards of the West Coast."  On the bottom of the card you will see "wizards," other manufacturers later would begin to produce the cards.  Next to the manufacture name you will find the year the cards were produced.  The earliest "wizards" cards denote 1999.  Wizards cards are far more collectible than other american cards.

Trainer Cards and Stadium Cards

1st Edition Trainer Maintenance Card

Stadium cards are technically trainer cards.  Some later variations of stadium cards don't include the trainer title.  There are all sorts of Trainer cards, from items to training techniques.  I have seen very few 1st edition Trainer cards, they do exist.   

Energy Cards

Holographic Energy Card

These are examples of energy cards, however the vast majority of energy cards are not holographic or promo cards unlike the examples on the left.  Energy cards are by far the most common cards, and usually don't have much value.  However there are one star Energy cards depicting much less common energies.

Gold Plated Pokemon Cards

23k Gold plated pokemon cards are pretty common, but still have a value comparable to an uncommon/rare card.  

Holographic Charizard 103/100

Charizard, the most coveted Pokemon

This is an example of a holographic Charizard.  I've easily  purchased more than 5000 pokemon cards, and this is the only one I've personally owned.  Since it is not a 1st Edition this is by far not the most valuable Charizard card, however,  as you can see he is marked 103/100, he is available for purchase.  The 1st edition of this card is worth $600.00  USD for example.  

Pokemon Cards Available for Purchase Now!

I have  a variety of Pokemon card lots available, as well as individual cards.  Most lots include many rare holo cards, trainer cards, energy cards, and stadium cards.   The items you've seen presented in this guide are either cards I have sold, or cards that I currently have for sale.  I always have more cards being listed, so don't forget to subscribe and check back in for my latest discoveries.