If your homemade goods are food products, then you have rather more laws to deal with. These laws will mainly relate to health and safety. Both federal and state government regulates food laws, so sellers should make themselves aware of what applies to them.

Before you list your item, click on the “Additional Information” link to find out whether your particular item is allowed at all.

Violations of the eBay® policies pertaining to food will get the seller’s account suspended, the listing cancelled, the fees forfeited, and the loss of Power Seller status. Some of the forbidden items are:

* Dairy foods that are not pasteurized.
* Wild mushrooms.
* Juices that are not heat pasteurized.
* Foods where the listings contain drugs claims, eg, if something claims to contain a cure for disease of some kind.
* Contact lenses.
* Pharmaceutical products.

Perishable items may be sold, but the listing should contain information about how the seller will ensure its safe and healthy arrival. The seller should offer overnight delivery.

Foodstuffs should be packaged in properly sealed containers to ensure buyer confidence about product tampering. They should be delivered well before the marked expiration date.

Government regulations require all food to be labeled with the ingredients contained in it, the nutritional value and the place it was manufactured. Make sure all your labels are clear and easy to read. The seller will have to register with or get a license from health authorities before being able to sell foods.

And you must be aware that importing or exporting certain foods is against the law. Any goods that need refrigeration must be delivered by refrigerated vans.

Laws about selling homemade craft and clothing are not so strict, but you still have to be careful to present a professionally made garment or item, or risk losing your sellers reputation.

People prefer to buy clothes with the new tags or labels still on them. What can you do about this? If you can make garments professionally, you could get your own label.

Take great photos of your item and if that is clothing, show a section of the seam so that the buyer can have confidence that is well made and finished.

For a small fee, it is possible to have someone else sell for you. These people are called Trading Assistants. A trading Assistant must have certain qualifications to carry out this work.

* They must have sold at least ten items in the last three months.
* They must have a feedback score of 100 or more.
* This score must be 97% positive.
* Their eBay® account must be in good standing.

A trading assistant does not work for eBay®, neither are they endorsed or approved by them. Trading Assistants are simply using eBay® to advertise and run their operation, just like you have been. The only thing that eBay® retains is the ability to remove their profile if customers have justified complaints about them. These assistants may set their own terms and conditions and it is up to you whether to agree with them or not. If you don’t like the fees or terms, there may be room for negotiation.

It’s up to you to ask. It is important to   communicate clearly and tactfully in your inquiries and make sure you know who is to pay for certain things such as freight and packaging, what the selling price is to be and what happens to unsold goods. You will of course, have a say in these decisions. 

A Trading Assistant is responsible for seeing that their services to clients are legal. This might vary depending on the laws of their particular state or country.

To find a suitable Trading Assistant, you need to go to the Trading Assistant Directory, which is where Assistants advertise. The directory will list all the main features of each Trading Assistant You will be able to sort out suitable persons by the state they live in, by what type of product they prefer to sell and various other criteria.

Once you have signed an agreement with your chosen Trading Assistant, they are then responsible for everything to do with the sale of the products. They communicate with buyers, they handle the selling process, take charge of receiving buyer feedback and of course they pay the eBay® selling fees. They may or may not pass this cost on to you, depending on the agreement.

How you do this will depend partly on the problem, but one thing that will greatly help you out is to write out a resolution plan before the problem even occurs.

It is advisable to do it beforehand, because you will not be emotionally involved and you’ll be able to draft out a resolution that moves the buyer towards your goal of a successful sale.

When you have just received an email that may be accusatory and angry, your first reaction is to say something nasty back. This won’t help to resolve the problem, but if you have the resolution email already drafted, you’ll be able to send it off with a click of your mouse and tempers will be smoothed instead of ruffled.

It will also help to preserve your reputation as a seller if you can reply without becoming emotionally involved.

This Resolution Plan can be indicated in your listings. It will help your customers and give them confidence in you if they can see that fair and reasonable dealings have been decided upon upfront.

It also makes it harder for a complaint to be legitimate later on, if all your policies are in plain view of them as they buy.

To find out what you should say in your resolution Plan, you can go to various discussion boards, other sellers or eBay® itself and just change the wording slightly to make it a good fit with what you are selling.

Use similar terms and conditions that used by sellers you respect. These will include terms, return policies and guarantees that have been proven to work for them over a number of years.

Drafting a Resolution Plan in the beginning of your selling venture will not only help you resolve that complaint more quickly, but it will reduce the number of complaints by showing the customer what he should expect. 

Your customer will have more faith in you and be more likely to give you good feedback, something that will enhance your reputation. It is important to seek quick settlement of a dispute, because eBay’s® policy is that it must be settled within 60 days.

When you have sold an item, the buyer is asked to leave a feedback score for you. This feedback can be positive, neutral or negative. If the buyer has had a good buying experience - that is, he received the product in a reasonable time frame, it was in good order, and it was exactly what he expected - then he will be likely to leave a good feedback score for you. This will be seen by other buyers and will establish your reputation as a seller of integrity.

If the buyer has had problems, eg, the product was broken due to poor packaging, or it was not as described, then he is likely to leave a negative score. Other buyers can see this feedback score on every item listing next to your user ID. Once the feedback score is left, it cannot be deleted and becomes a permanent part of your profile, so it is important to get as good a score as possible.

Of course, it works both ways. Perhaps the buyer will be the one to cause most of the problems by not paying what or when he should. This will result in the seller giving the buyer a negative score. The seller can actually prohibit a buyer with a bad reputation from bidding on his products. So it is within the interest of both parties to settle any problems as quickly and as fairly as possible.

It is important to be cautious when leaving feedback reports, especially if you are upset at the result of your transaction. Since feedback reports are public and permanent, you don’t want to leave anything that could give cause for a legal defamation of character case. EBay® has rules about the standard of feedback and is able to remove such comments if they constitute libel. Members can also be given the opportunity to withdraw their remarks using a special Withdrawal Process.

If you feel unsatisfied with your trading partner’s performance, always try and settle the issue before leaving feedback, then make sure it is fair and factual.

A buyer who is looking for a certain product will type in the appropriate keyword to find it. If your ad copy consists of words like “Wow! Or “Look at this!” it will cause you to miss out on customers.

First of all, you must really describe your article truthfully, then as clearly as possible. Use descriptive keywords and include brand name, artist or designer if that applies to your article. There are some other things you should consider to make your copy attract those customers. You could include the date it was made and the material it is made from, if it is new or used and if it is still under warranty. Describe the dimensions/size and if it has any flaws or repairs. Does it have any features that are extraordinary? What country is it from and what is its history? All of these things can be considered the basic and important stuff you need to write about your article.

But don’t just sound like a sales catalogue. People are attracted by the human voice approach. They want to feel as if they are dealing with a person, not just a list of features. Therefore, you could also add any interesting story this article has, how it came into your possession and why you decided to sell it. Tell what is especially appealing to you about it, or whom you think would benefit from owning it. If appropriate, say how the item could be used. You could also ask for feedback after the customer receives their item.

You also need to be clear and specific about shipping costs and how you wish to receive payment, eg, Paypal. It goes without saying that your ad should be free of spelling and grammatical errors. When you’ve finished writing, check for absolute accuracy - have another person check it for you as well. Two heads are often better than one. Make sure you haven’t put in anything that could be construed as untruthful. You want to build - and keep - the trust of your customers.

Don’t use keywords that are inappropriate for your article. For instance, you should not say something like, “If you like Elvis you’ll like this T-shirt.” This is called keyword spamming and is frowned upon by eBay® and the search engines. It is also against eBay’s® listing policies. With these few tips in mind, you’ll soon be able to write the kind of copy that will bring you many customers.

Researching the historical price of similar items in the completed listings section will aid you in the decision of what price to start your bidding at. Once you have a fair idea of what price others have asked, you can set your own price a little lower. One of the basic principles of auction is to get your prospective buyers excited about the item and eager to jump in and purchase it before their competitors. One of the best ways to do this is to lower the starting price. This will get buyers interested and once the bidding starts you may end up getting an even higher price than you expected.

A listing with ‘No reserve’ notice usually attracts buyer interest because the buyer knows they will win if their bid is the highest. If there is a reserve on the item and the buyer does not know, he will assume the seller is simply asking too high a price and move on to greener fields. If you are concerned about a minimum price, you should set your price a little higher.

Some experts declare that you should start your bidding price at only one dollar to get your buyers excited and start a bidding frenzy. This might work in some cases, but if you do it too much, people will get to know and most feel it is a bit on the ‘cheating’ side. They know you really do want more than a dollar for the product. And what if you only get one bid? It will be a bit silly to sell an item for one or two dollars if it cost you ten.

The best thing is to start the bidding at a fair and reasonable price, the price you would be happy to walk away with, having counted your costs first. This will keep the bidder happy and anything over and above that will be a bonus.

You must first be sure that you specify what the article is. This might seem obvious, but you’d be surprised at the number of people who think “Wow!” is a good title. “Wow” does not inform the buyer what the product is; therefore you will be in danger of losing him before you have caught his interest. Another consideration is that buyers type in specific keywords depending on what they are interested in. No one wants to buy a “Wow!” so that is not a good keyword to have in your title.

You might think that there is no need to repeat the name of your item because after all, it is in the category or sub-category of the selling list, but that does not matter. You still do need the name of the article and don’t worry about a little repetition. You can then add descriptive keywords to give a clearer indication of what you are selling. A headline that does not state what the item actually is is an inappropriate one.

Your title should not include any URL or email address and certainly no phone numbers. The only time a URL may be included is if you are selling a domain name. Profane or obscene language must not be included in your headline, or anywhere else in your ad copy. It is against eBay’s® rules and will get you banned.

Headlines must not contain words that cast doubt on the legality of the item. Words like ‘banned’ or ‘illegal’ are more than likely to get you banned from selling anything. One other no-no is including a brand name that is not applicable to your item. This is referred to as keyword spamming and eBay® does not allow it. If you try to spam with your keywords, not only will your listing be banned, but you will still be charged the insertion fee. If you remember these few tips, your headline will soon bring you customers and enhance your selling activities.

But where do you find these Drop Shippers? It would be a very hard task to go all over the countryside searching for wholesale companies who are willing to do this for you. Even if you decide to search via the phone book, it will run into a lot of time and money on phone calls.

Then, if you find some, how can you be sure that they are truly wholesalers and not about to rip you off by charging you retail prices? Luckily, eBay® has compiled a directory of reputable wholesale Drop Shippers that you can access from their website.

They have spent a considerable amount of time and effort searching the country for reputable wholesalers. They are constantly adding to this list and you can be sure that they are careful about whom they allow to be included. They screen each company and make sure they meet certain criteria before including them. This goes for both Drop Shippers and Light Bulk Drop Shippers.

The most important thing for you to remember when selling as a business on eBay® is that you don’t make money when you sell; you make it when you buy. This means that if you buy for a high price, you are less likely to make a profit on your item.

It is important not to be scammed into thinking you are paying wholesale prices for your goods, when you are paying a retail price. When your customer comes along, he will have been noticing what the general price is on that product in the shops or even on eBay® if others are selling the same thing. He will not buy from you if your price is higher than others, unless you have a better return policy or some other unique feature.

You should also be aware of other scams such as “Phishing scams”, where you may receive an email purporting to be from the ‘System Administrator’ of some place like a bank, IRS, AOL, Paypal or some such and asking you to perform an urgent maintenance on your account. NEVER DO IT!

And never give out any personal information over the phone or by email even if you are familiar with the business that is asking for it. Rather, hang up and ring the business yourself to find out if they have made the request.

No matter whether it is to go near of far, it will need to be packed in a manner that ensured its safety. If your item is breakable, allow about 3 in. all the way around your item for padding and use crinkle cardboard for extra strength.

Bubble wrap and other types of padding will need to be considered to see which is best for your particular product.

Much valuable advice about packaging and where to access it can be found on the eBay® forums and Discussion Boards. Foam peanuts are often used, but they settle in transit, so be sure to overfill the box if using them.

Look on the bottom flap of the box to find the maximum weight and be sure not to exceed it. If you use an old box, make sure old labels have been removed and look to see if there is any wear and tear that could reduce its strength.

Clothing and other soft items will not need the same amount of padding as breakables, but still needs to be encased in strong packaging to ensure safe arrival. Clear labels are another necessity.

You can purchase great label templates from eBay® or Paypal® that will save you time and money. Not having to wait in line at the Post Office for a label with save you hours of time and hassle overall. Look for the Print Shipping Label link in the item page or the drop-down menu in My eBay®. Paypal’s® link is the ’ship’ button on the account overview page.

Use industrial strength packaging tape, not home masking tape or sticky tape used for kids’ schoolbooks. That is not strong enough. You need your product to look as if a professional has packed it. Good packaging tape needs to be at least 3 inches wide.

Weighing your product is another priority. EBay® makes this easy for you with an automatic calculator. All you need to do is add the package size and weight in with your listing and the cost of freight will be listed with the product. If the customer is to pay this, he will be happy to see the cost up front.

Make sure you get the name and address right and print it out clearly on the label. This might seem like a lot of trouble, but it will be worthwhile to gain a happy and satisfied customer who will give you good feedback, thus enhancing your good selling reputation.

There are unreputable dealers out there who are eager to take your money - as much of it as they can, with no guarantee that their product will sell. You need to be able to source a product and determine the selling potential for yourself.

The place to get wholesale products from is called a Drop Shipper. This means that they will provide single items (called inventory) for you to resell and you don’t pay for them first. Neither do you have to actually ship anything yourself.

So a reputable Drop Shipper will not charge you for inventory, will not expect you to hold goods to package and freight and does not have minimum quantity order rules. The Drop Ship Source Directory is the place to find reputable Drop Shippers. This is available through a live link on the eBay® site.

Your second option is to find a wholesaler who will ship several cases of goods to you at a wholesale price. You are then responsible to handle the orders, package and ship the goods to your customers and handle any charge-backs and customer complaints. You must charge them the retail price, of course as that’s where you will get your profit from.

You’ll have to be careful to calculate the freight correctly too, or all your profit might be gobbled up by postage or freight charges. The downside of doing business this way is that many wholesalers require an order from you of some thousands of dollars. This may not be possible if you are just starting out.

The solution to this problem is to find a wholesaler called a Light Bulk Wholesaler. The term “Light Bulk” means that this wholesaler is willing to sell you small quantities of new goods with a factory guarantee, at a wholesale price minimum of about $500.00. Once again, eBay® has done the hard work for you and provided a live link to a reputable Light Bulk Wholesale Directory.

Of course, you might be able to find a local supplier of certain goods, eg, craft goods, who would be delighted to have you sell for him. It would then be up to you to go about it all in a professional and business-like way and draw up the legal agreement necessary about pricing and who would be responsible for freight charges. It might be a good idea in this case to only agree on selling just a few items to see how it all goes, not only the selling part, but whether you are compatible business partners.