We’ve always had a soft spot for rental businesses, and it’s always good to hear of individuals and companies taking  a concept just that little bit further.

Toys are a great rental product. Children quickly get bored with the same old stuff, and so it makes sense to rent rather than buy. A Canadian company has taken things just that little bit further though. Although they still serve the traditional market of parents and grandparents, they’ve now moved into the business market – providing a selection of  fresh and clean toys on a regular, repeat cycle rental basis to dentists, doctors and retail establishments where happy kids mean cash carrying customers are free to browse and spend.

If you’ve visited a dentists waiting room or car showroom and seen the scruffy , broken and tatty toys on offer for your kids to play with, you’ll know that there’s a need for this sort of service here in the UK. It seems like this has massive scaleable potential (perhaps through franchising) for the right person.

We have some advice today for better eBay trading. As we’ve always said, it’s all about buying low and selling high.
 
Buying Low?

Try searching for misspelled words or even American spellings like ‘color’ instead of ‘colour’. If people can’t find an item then they can’t bid on them and drive the price up.

Most people start their auctions at 99p to avoid the insertion fee. Simply use an online tool like Lastminute Auctions which specifically searches for items at this price that are ending soon.

Just because an item is on eBay, don’t always assume that it is a bargain - always check the price elsewhere online.
 
All the action in an online auction tends to happen in the closing minutes. Bid early and you alert other buyers to your interest, forcing the price up. Wait until the very last seconds before making a bid.

Selling High?

List at times so that your auction ends when people are at home - Sunday afternoons or evenings and Mondays tend to be the busiest.

Take advantage of free listings days which sites like eBay often run at weekends.

Think like the buyer and use the words that people will search for in your item’s title.

The lower your item’s starting price is, the more likely you are to sell it.

Do your research - What have similar items sold for? What kind of descriptions sell? What key words have successful sellers used in their titles?
 
Spell check your listing – you don’t want someone else profiteering from your mistake.

Keep reading as we have some excellent online trading articles coming up next week and the week after on, respectively,  public domain goodies and ebook selling. All for now, see you tomorrow.