Auction Power Guide

-I need a cheap guitar that would be good for a beginner. I’m a poor college student. What would be good?

I used to think I could never play an instrument because I failed to play the trumpet, but that was 6th grade, and I’ve always wanted to play guitar.

First: you need an instrument–I don’t know your price range or other resources.

Do you have any friends who are knowledgeable about guitars? If so, get them to help.

Cheapest: http://www.shopgoodwill.com Have your knowledgeable friend advise you on whether it’s wise to bid on any of their instruments; you ought to be able to find a real deal on a good instrument.

Next: pawn shops. Take your friend along so she/he can check out the instrument and ensure it’s not hiding defects that will emerge later to harsh your mellow. More expensive than shopgoodwill.com, but less risky. Also include ebay in this category, if you get an instrument from there that has a warranty.

Next: music stores that sell used instruments.

When you buy your guitar, if you are in a store and you can check out the instruments, go for one that feels right in your hands. If there are more than one that feel good, then have your friend or a sales clerk play each one while you avert your eyes–the one that sounds best with your eyes closed is the one you want.

As a rank beginner, I urge strongly that you get lessons. Sure, you can start by following chord diagrams in books or cds or dvds or websites–but if you don’t learn to hold your wrists and fingers correctly, you may develop bad habits, which later will slow your progress and maybe even lead to nerve and muscle damage. A teacher can notice bad wrist and finger position and correct it when a beginner wouldn’t.

After about a dozen lessons, you should have basic technique down right and then you can learn from print and electronic media.

If your college has a music department that offers a guitar major, advertise for a teacher there. Student guitar majors often work cheaper than the tutors in music stores.

My grandma wants to start selling things on Ebay, and we were wondering how you go about shipping the items? Also, if anyone can explain the whole Ebay selling process to me, I don’t know how this stuff works so any info you have will be great! : )

To start selling on eBay, start with the EBAY SELLING BASICS page http://pages.ebay.com/sellerinformation/howtosell/sellingbasics.html

Remember though, if you want to earn serious money from eBay, you need to have a well-thought out business model. Selling on ebay is getting tougher — just look at the number of auctions that closes without a bid. Go to the boards on ebay and you will hear even oldtimers complaining about how stiffer competition plus higher fees make it so much harder to sell on ebay.

The key success factor is: Sell products that people actually want.

It is important to determine exactly what the hot items to sell on their marketplace. Use eBay Pulse = "a daily snapshot of current trends, hot picks, and cool stuff on eBay".

As for items to sell, you can:

1. Buy bulk liquidation items such as those at Liquidation.com. The capitalization may be big, but the idea is to sell the items individually and profit from it.

2. Find manufacturers of items you want to sell and buy discounted items from them

3. Make deals with retailers in your area, and offer to buy their unwanted items for deep discounts. jayandmarie – the most successful ebay sellers – made deals with music stores where they will buy the entire inventory in the discounted bins, and then sold the items on ebay for 1-cent starting bid.

4. Look for possible partners on the Web, preferably outside of the US. Import items from them and sell them on ebay. There’s huge profits to gain from this approach.

5. Check out deals from outlet stores. Focus on brand names, which you will find to be easier to sell.

As for shipping, many sellers have bought weighing scales that can give the weight of the item. You can then use that information to put in on eBay so eBay can calculate the shipping for you.