The holy grail for many eBay sellers is finding someone who will list their eBay items for them. The dream of just having fun finding treasures without the drudgery of data entry is alive and strong. Listing items on eBay certainly is our bottle neck. This is why we always say “shut up and list” since it’s the reason why most sellers have small stores. Any seller who makes a living on eBay is a pro-lister. They put in the hours.
This week we interview Susie who hired a Virtual Assistant (or VA) to help her list. Susie works full time as a nurse, so her VA does all her listings (about 70 items per week). Sounds great, right? Where can you sign up?
Susie walks us through her first bad experiences hiring a VA. She also explains the long training period to teach the VA the specifics. There’s also the fact that her VA is in the Philippines, so Susie must take photos and measure the items. She explains the technical aspects of organizing, supervising and working with someone online.
We love talking to sellers like Susie who are always figuring out how to improve their business by taking advantage of the internet.
Direct .mp3 link. Direct ogg vorbis link.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Mabuhay! It's great to hear about your experiences Susie because I can totally relate! I, too, used to scavenge those "relief goods" in my province. And coming here in the United States was like finding a gold mine of just about anything. I commend you for utilizing Filipinos to work for you. Not only is it affordable but you are helping them as well (considering the need for jobs over there). I am impressed with how patient you are with trying to find and train a VA. I never even thought it is possible! So hats off to you! Maybe I will do the same thing in the future for my eBay store.
I do have one question. Are there any US labor laws that you have to look into before hiring a VA overseas? Any info will be greatly appreciated. 🙂
Thank you Jay and Ryanne for another interesting and very informative interview.
Thank you for the commendation Marie. I am no Labor Laws expert in the USA, Maybe somebody here who has knowledge can help. What I did is hire a VA as an Independent contractor and since they are outside the USA then it becomes a contractual obligation in my end. As to meeting Philippine Labor Laws now that is a different story.
I did some goggle searches and didn't find any issues with Us labor laws since it's an outside, overseas contractor. Sounds like Susie treats her VA with respect and pays well. That's all any worker wants.
I have a person local to me that I use to list my items. I give them a title, price, and a 30 gallon container of items. They do the rest!
Okay, Mark. You can't drop a comment like this without details.
–How many hours do the work a week?
–How many items do they list each week?
–How much do you pay them per hour, week, or item?
–Any issues with quality of the listings? (incorrect listings means a lot of returns)
–Any chance they will learn the basics from you and just start their own eBay business?
–Do they list from your eBay account?
Here are my details. I decided to do this after listing to episode60 with Mariam. My wife and Iave a good friend who needed some extra income. She is a stay at home mom and home schooler. From the start we offered to help her and her husband get their own business going. They live about 30 mi items away near my work. I drop off about 20-25 items per week after work 1 day a week. I try to pick them up in 1 week and have another batch ready. We pay her via Paypal which is convinient for 7.50 per item, so I try to look for items $25 and above to make the math work. She has listed 200 items so far and no returns. We get many comments that item was exactly as described. I would like to keep her listing for us, but also realize that they could make more money on their own if that is what they want to do. We really didn't have to do much training because she just seemed to get it – she had no previous experience with ebay. We probably were lucky in that regard. If they decide to start their own business, I will look for another lister. This has really worked out for both of us. The listing cost is high right now compared to our gross sales, but as our inventory grows it will become less. So far sales have out paced the cost of listing.
Yes, she uses our account and we pay her on 1099.
Appreciate the details and numbers. You are extremely generous. If she can photograph and list three an hour then that's $22.50. Could she handle more items? Are the items contemporary clothing/shoes? Or are there vintage one-of-a-ind items that need research?
As Miriam said in her interview, there are people who just don't want to run their own business. Sounds like you found a good person.
I've got a similar situation. I also have a good friend who has been helping me list for the last 7 months, and she uses my account and I pay her as an independent contractor (1099). After some trial and error, we have settled on a pay structure: For items over $30 it is $4.50 per listing plus 10 percent commission on the final net profit (after fees, shipping, cost of good, any extras, etc). For items under $30, we split the net profit. I use a color-coded system for each item depending on the pay structure so it is very easy to keep track.
She is an excellent photographer and lister, was a quick learner, and has a flair for using descriptive words that are "in fashion" (which is not my strong point). As soon as I bring my loot home from yard saling, I organize it into bins (mine to list, hers to list, donate, etc) so I always have a bin ready to swap with her whenever she finishes a batch. We live close by each other, so swapping is not a big deal at all. We make a swap about once per week, and each batch contains about 15-30 items. We hope to grow in the future. Then, I give each of her listings a quick review before I make them live (she just schedules them out for 10 cents so I have time to review them before making them live). She is one who is not interested in starting her own eBay business due to storage limitations and I think she's not interested all the other business aspects right now.
So yes, this expense certainly adds to the cost of business, but I list as much as I can on my own, so anything she lists is money in my pocket if it sells, for somewhat minimal work on my part (and, I get to do the fun part of buying more!). The key is it has to be worth it money-wise for her, and for me, so it took some trial and error.
–Dianne
I would say that 80 percent is contemporary clothes/shoes. Yes, I think you are right Jay, I am being too generous. I will have to get more unique 1 of a kind / challenging items to list. I am in the $18-$20 range. I would be more comfortable in the $12-$15/ hour on1099 range for a good lister. Thanks so much for your input Jay. Love the show and look forward to it each week. Your show has helped us get started and given us the confidence we needed to do this. I can't thank you enough.
I'd be interested to hear if Mark or Dianne can up the numbers listed per week. Also would want to hear how reliable your assistants are over a period of time. I assume their experience will grow over time.
OK, Jay, will keep you posted. Currently, we are both planning and excited to spend more time on eBay when our kids get older and we have more time for it.
Also, I really don't specialize in anything, but, as you do, love the vintage one-of-a-kind items that just aren't made anymore (but I will certainly buy and sell other stuff–small appliances, current clothing/coats, cute stuffed animals…). I do the initial research, but we both love to delve into the internet and find out more on some of the vintage items (which can be a big time-sink!).
Definitely a cool interview with Susie! I've always wondered how hiring a virtual assistant could work with eBay. I first became aware of VA's when I was reading Timothy Ferriss' book The Four Hour Work Week. I think it was Chapter 8 that addressed this and the company he uses based in India- it's amazing how he uses a VA even for daily tasks. He "outsources" his life as much as he can to free up time to pursue his passions. Very thought provoking!
What a great interview! Very informative. You guys are so right – someone needs to come up with a business model (franchise?) for training eBay VAs. Standardize the process.
eBay came up with the Education Specialist Program to standardize the teaching of eBay basics to new sellers, I wonder if they have even thought of creating a standardized process for hiring and training VAs because many sellers are interested in growing their eBay business by adding a VA. Most sellers don't know where to start the process, what kinds of questions to ask, the pitfalls to look out for, legal and tax issues, etc.
The biggest challenge for me in the past working with virtual help was the language barrier (they could type and read English but didn't really KNOW English so there was miscommunication), and people disappearing. This was before ODesk and ELance where a third party was involved. I've found great help on ELance for project work but it is more of a challenge to find an eBay helper who is already trained and understands the eBay language and the process.
Thanks for another great podcast.
Totally agree, I told Susie that she should start a VA business where she's already taught the VA's how to list for eBay.
Yes Jay. That is actually a very good idea. Will have to make plans on that one, it might be a viable business. Thank you.
I have ben selling for clients for 10 years and I charge 40% I do all the research, pricing,photography and shipping They are mainly items $25.00 and over. I do a lot of Antiques and collectables. I am also an Educational Specialist so I keep up with all the latest changes on Ebay. I also sell for a charity shop on their site and the interesting items that come in the shop are exciting and unique. I love doing this. I am in the Dallas area.
Ebay at one point had us listed as Trading Assistants but they no longer give us this title.
Cheers Grenda.
This is really interesting. What a valuable service you provide. But why don't you just open up your own eBay store and make all the profit yourself?
Loved this episode as I have been seriously wanting to hire a VA to up my volume lately. Thanks so much for this one!
What an intriguing episode on hiring a VA for listing! What a great way to leverage your time. I plan on trying this with my teenage daughter this summer. Will definitely use some sort of base pay per piece listed and a commission on the net profit. I feel paying a portion of the net profit would motivate the VA lister to do an excellent job. Hope to use this to teach her how to eventually start her own Ebay business someday. Thanks Jay and Ryann for your wonderful, giving approach to sharing your Ebay wisdom through your amazing podcasts!
Boy I wish I had you Grenda for my VA. I have tried 4 different people who didnt work out. Three were teenaged boys who really had no desire to actually work for their money. The other was a friend who listed just clothes for me for a while, then quit. I was sorry to see her go, she was pretty good, and an adult. I am giving up hope in that department.
Great podcast! I too use a VA, but I only deal with US-based VA's now. For those that are looking to hire a VA, don't overlook paying hourly. I hired my VA from Odesk and originally he helped me list a ton of media on eBay, but I use him mainly for Amazon FBA duties now. Hourly works best for me because there are times when I don't have enough work and if I were paying a flat rate fee per month, I would certainly be losing money.
Also, in terms of training a VA, if you want to avoid having to re-teach something over and over again, video is the way to go! I record videos using Jing and upload them to screencast.com. That way, if I ever need additional help, I have a library of videos showing how to do the tasks I need completed.
That's extremely smart to record lessons of what you want a Virtual Assistant to do.
I also use sellersourcebook and was wanting to have a VA make listings but not know my selling prices I have and other personal info. Secondly I do not want them to be able to in anyway tap into my ebay account or change anything with using sellersourcebook that could effect me ebay account. would be great to talk with sue via email at zipzap45@yahoo.com
Thank you
For questions about the technical capabilities of Sellers source Book, I would just contact them directly.
If you already use Sellers Source book then it'll be easy to see if it does what you want.
Will email you about your concern or better yet Skype with you if you are more inclined that way, makes the exchange of information faster.