With the current condition of the eBay drop store franchise industry, it has become apparent that not everyone who bought into the “owning a business without investing in inventory” sales pitch has actually succeeded as a business.

The question then becomes…Is it possible to operate a profitable business as a full time trading assistant?

The answer is complicated, and on the surface the quick answer would be NO - not without modification of the business plan suggested/promoted by most eBay drop store franchises and used by most Trading Assistants.

I can share this opinion from experience because at one time, I was a master franchise representative for one of the largest eBay drop store chains in America (and 5 other countries). The experience as a franchise rep taught me that the franchisees needed more support to become successful.

The franchisees in our chain were hungry for information about how to improve, how to market and how to make the whole operation profitable. The franchisees and I eventually became disillusioned with the franchise and its marketing/business plan (which will stay nameless) because the franchise was not willing to invest in the continued marketing support of the franchisees. I felt it was in the best interest of the franchise to make an effort to help the existing franchisees with marketing sales and business planning. In my opinion, if the existing franchisees were having trouble being successful, eventually the market would dry up and new franchisees would become difficult to find.

The franchise must be a healthy successful enterprise and all of the people who invested in that franchise must also be... Or the franchise will not survive. This prediction seems to be fulfilling itself and instead of saying I told you so, I decided it would be better to break free and help anyone who is in business as a Trading Assistant or Drop Store operator no matter their prior affiliation.

An eBay trading assistant business or drop store operation is not something which can be canned into a package and set up in a way which will guarantee success. An eBay drop store is not like a McDonald’s or Radio Shack. You can not simply put up a franchise sign and expect people to walk into your store and be comfortable with your brand. eBay is the brand, not XYZ franchise trying to look like eBay.

The American public has turned the corner, they now trust the name eBay. When a third party brand in the form of a franchise is interjected into mix is when the public looses confidence. If you were sold a franchise store and were advised that people would stream in bringing their Rolex watches and Tiffany lamps just because you put up a sign from XYZ franchise… I can imagine that you, like many of the franchisees from my former company, have noticed it just did not happen as you may have been led to believe.

So… What is the Answer? Can a Trading Assistant make a profit? – Yes or No?

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As entrepreneurs, most of us (not all) dread the meticulous and repetitive tasks which are the basis of real accounting. There are many ways to handle the task and more reasons to do so in an efficient manner. My solution involved hiring my own accountant and keeping her safe and well cared for within the confines of my offices. Having a QuickBooks Pro Advisor as a part of my company is a very good thing for a sales and marketing type like myself.

I believe in the advantages of having these invaluable resources available so much that I have added an accounting services division to my iBusinessLogic group of businesses. This accounting services division is set up to help other small business owners and eBay sellers. AccountingLogic is a result of a realization and understanding of the challenges which face any small business start up or any business entering the e-commerce realm or eBay. The accounting tasks are challenging to say the least. AccountingLogic, headed up by my accountant Kathy Naranjo is designed as a service for just these types of businesses.

AccountingLogic helps any business set up the books and import data from eBay, Amazon, or your own shopping cart. Part of the service includes designing specific macros for most listing software packages, so the day to day accounting requirements of online sales joined with the normal brick and mortar accounts is done smoothly and with little effort. Kathy's team relies mostly on the power of Quickbooks to help her set up different businesses for online sales accounting but she has many tools at her disposal.

If you do not have this kind of resource in your office or home based business you should really start thinking about what you will do to make sure your business accounting is handled properly. Either you will "Do it Yourself" or will you hire an accountant? Finding an accountant to set up and do the day to day bookkeeping tasks of a small business is sometimes difficult and never inexpensive. This realization tends to lead most small business owners to either ignore the task or to try to do it themselves.

Should any true business person ignore accounting tasks? I believe we all know the answer to this question... Continue Reading

Does your business use eBay as a tool?

This may seem like an odd term for the largest online sales producer on the planet... but in reality, no matter how large or small your business is, eBay is an effective and often under utilized tool.

eBay is not the only tool in your marketing toolbox and even though it is a very effective device, eBay should not be the only tool your company uses to generate online sales. Other tools are more familiar, website marketing, Google Adwords, Amazon.com to name a few.

But why should any business consider using eBay as a part of their online marketing plan? - Numbers - Search - Rankings - Sales - All of the Above Continue Reading