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Christmas is only a few weeks away.
If you are the organized sort of person, your shopping is already done. You picked up gifts throughout the year, thereby spreading out the expense of holiday gift giving. But if you are like me, you are faced with spending hundreds of dollars in the next few weeks because you waited until now to start preparing for the holidays and you are wondering where you are going to come up with extra cash to spend those hundreds of dollars.
Fortunately, I have come up with a few ways to generate extra cash without going out and picking up a part-time second job.
My favorite place for generating quick cash is Amazon's MartketPlace. If you have books, CD's, software, household items, just about anything that is in decent condition, the MarketPlace at Amazon is a fast, easy way to make money.
Once you open an account, you simply input the product information, list the condition of the item, add a few comments, indicate your price, and submit. Amazon does everything else from adding the picture, taking the order including payment, and even direct depositing the money into your account.
Amazon charges you nothing until/unless your item sells. Then it's only .99 cents plus a percentage of the sold price. Amazon also gives you a shipping credit to cover the cost of mailing your item to the buyer. In the case of books, it's $2.26 which will cover media mail up to three pounds. For example, lets say you sell a used book for $10.00:
Book = $10 - Amazon's commission $2.49 (.99 + %15) + $2.26 shipping credit = $9.77 earnings from Amazon. When you ship the item, you will pay postage. In this case of a book weighing less than one pound, shipping would be $1.42 by media mail. So the net gain would be $8.35, which is still more a used bookstore would pay.
Amazon offers other ways to sell your items, but the MarketPlace is my favorite because you can earn 50% or more of the original product price. Plus, it's easy, fast and convenient.
You can learn more at Amazon.com. Scroll down the page until you see the "Make Money" box on the left. Click on "MarketPlace".
Of course, eBay is another way to generate income fairly quickly. I use eBay only if the item I have cannot be sold through Amazon's Market Place because eBay is a little more time consuming in terms of taking pictures of my items, listing them and dealing with payment (although PayPal has made this part easier). But I like eBay for my novelty items such as infomercial products or things I'm not sure how to price.
eBay does charge you for listing your products whether they sell or not, but its very reasonable and only once have I not had an item sell. The insertion fee is .30 cents to $3.30 depending on price of the item. eBay offers optional listing feature such as Buy It Now or Gallery for additional fees. The only other required fee is the final value charge which is a 5.25%+ of the sold cost. Shipping costs can be covered by you or passed on to the buyer. For example, let's say you sold an item for $10:
Item = $10 - eBay fee .83 (5.25% +.30)+ $3.85 (shipping paid by buyer) = $13.02. eBay buyers generally expect to receive their item sooner rather than later so I ship priority which is $3.85 for items up to two pounds. Therefore, in this case, the net gain is $9.17. If PayPal is used for payment, its fee will be about .59 cents (2.9%+.30 cents). So in the end, the net equals $8.58.
You can learn more at eBay.com.
Eight dollars may not seem like much but offer several items or more expensive items, and it can add up quickly. If you have 15 books that originally retailed for $14-$20 you could earn $120 in a week or less at Amazon. The same is true at eBay. Listing a few quality items can lead to several hundred dollars at the end of the auction period.
Here are some tips to quickly and easily earn some fast cash through Amazon and eBay:
1) Go through your home and gather all the items that are in decent condition that you are willing to sell. The best items I have found are books, electronics and electronic accessories, software and name-brand gizmos for Amazon's MarketPlace. For eBay I gather my infomercial products, old eBay items I bought but don't use, name-brand clothes (especially kids clothes), toys (Legos are a big hit!), collectables and memorabilia, and novelty items. Find a place that you can store these items together for easy listing and shipping when sold.
2) When listing, be honest about the condition. You don't want to hurt your selling reputation by not mentioning marks or other faults with the item.
3) I don't want to take the time to list items and then not have them sell so I do price my items lower than the competition. I'm not out to make a bundle, I'm out to make a fast buck. Of course, at eBay, the market will drive the ultimate sale price but I always start low and normally don't put a reserve price (price that must be met for the item to sell).
4) Finally, once paid, ship the item ASAP. Package it so its safe and secure. I print out the name and address of the buyer and tape it to the package to make sure I don't misspell the address. You can save some time by using Stamps.com to create postage.
Now is a terrific time to make quick money using Amazon and eBay because many people are holiday shopping for quality items at reasonable prices at Amazon and eBay. It's win-win for people who want to save and people who want to earn some extra holiday cash.
About The Author: (C) Copyright 2004 by Leslie Truex
Leslie Truex is a stay and work-at-home mom who helps others find ways to save and earn money so they to can stay and work at home too. Get free information and resources at her websites: http://www.workathomesuccess.com and http://www.momsathomesuccess.com
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