I never really had a mentor when I started all of this; I sort of picked it up and figured it out on my own as I tend to do. If I had someone giving me advice from the start, there are a few things in particular I’d want to know.
1. Make a separate email account for all of this. I wouldn’t suggest using a fake email because most sites will require you to confirm it, but I wouldn’t want to use your primary email either. I made the mistake of using my primary and I get about 35 emails a day now with my modest operation, as opposed to 3 or 4. I would put Paypal under your primary email, since most of the messages you get from them will be important. I personally also would send eBay messages to my primary, so I don’t miss any messages from customers or notifications that items have sold (plus invoice notifications for monthly eBay fees!). If you check eBay several times a day though this might not be necessary.
2. Always make sure your Paypal password is unique. This seems like a no brainer, but always make sure the password you use for Paypal is only used for Paypal, just like you would do for your online banking. Some scam sites will lure you into signing up and entering your Paypal email address with the promise of having big bucks sent to you, only to hack into your Paypal account if you’re foolish enough to sign up with the same password.
3. Always find out what the catch is. If it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is. Always find out what’s in it for them, “them” being the site you’re signing up with. Paypal takes 4% of your payment when you sell an item; eBay takes 10%, ZipNadaZilch gets money from the companies they direct you to when you complete offers for your credit. If you can’t find out how the site makes money, you probably won’t make money either.
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