You have sold some items on eBay and by now have some good experience of what works and what doesn’t.  Plus you will have made some money and obtained some valuable positive feedback to help you build your online reputation. Now you are looking to make the next step up the ladder and establish yourself as a true professional seller on eBay and become a Trading Assistant or more usually known as a TA.

Though there are millions of people selling stuff on eBay, bluntly many more simply do not feel they have the time or the experience to do it themselves. They really need someone else to do it for them and even if they are selling on eBay themselves, they know they can get a better price if they were to sell their items through a third party who really knows what they are doing; by now this is you and you will be their TA.

This is what a TA is; a seller who sells items on behalf of third parties and takes a commission off the sale proceeds for handling the listing and sale. A TA will handle much more than simple email communications with prospective buyers – they will deal with third party sellers by email, telephone and frequently, face-to-face as well as managing the sale of a much wider range of items you are unlikely to come across on your own account. Many TAs actually specialize in a niche field and reach a much more targeted audience which also strongly appeals to third parties selling items as they are getting the specialized knowledge not just of eBay but of the market itself and are much more likely going to get a higher price even after paying the commission to the TA.

The pros of operating as a Trading Assistant:

· You benefit by selling items for people who cannot sell them elsewhere or on eBay itself;

· You make money off someone else’s investment – you outlay no capital of your own and assume no financial risk;

· You gain access to free inventory which does need to be handled or stored by you;

· You increase the variety of items for sale on your eBay site which makes you more interesting to prospective buyers and increases cross-selling opportunities.

There are some things you are going to have to deal with which may initially present some challenges. You will need to at least handle the following:

· Establish a scale of charges or determine how much you can charge for your services;

· Draft a contract for handling the sale, what happens when the sale is made such as who is receiving the money (should be you), who pays and arranges for shipping to the customer and when you have to pay the seller you are acting for.

Working as a TA is also not always plain sailing, there are downsides to acting for others and these include:

· It is a TA’s reputation which is affected if something goes wrong, such as the item sold not being up to scratch – if anything goes wrong in the process, the buyer will be leaving negative feedback on YOUR profile;

· You ought to have some experience and knowledge of the item being sold or risk underperforming on the sale which will upset the seller – you are in a typical middle management position and caught between seller and buyer – a true middleman;

· You will have all the paperwork burden as well to deal with;

· This has been said once but it is worth repeating – it is your reputation on the line here and also your eBay account – you must make sure what is being sold is properly described and held out to the buyer, that the seller will sell it once you have found the buyer and the logistics of shipping take place promptly as you state and that you get the money in and disbursed as required – for a small commission is your reputation and peace of mind going to be worth it?

Overall, working as a TA can be a great deal of hard work but it is also a fantastic way to broaden your experience, improve your feedback and make some money at the same time. Although we are still working in the realm of second-hand goods, working as a TA will allow you to learn how to step your business up a notch at lightening speed.

Next we are going to look at how the serious professionals make millions of dollars in sales using wholesalers, dropshippers and other bulk merchants to deliver new products to the mass market.

Please note that more can be said about being a TA which I will cover at great lengths in my upcoming book ‘The Powerseller Freeway’! There I will share more tricks and insights on how you can use this stepping stone successfully while avoiding all the possible missteps.

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