Banner Advertising
A banner ad is a form of advertising on the Web. This form of online advertising entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. It is intended to attract traffic to your website.

The Web banners you create should function the same way as any traditional advertisements are intended to function: notifying potential consumers of your jewelry products and presenting reasons why the consumer should buy your jewelry.

• Once you have set up successful SEM campaigns, try buying some display advertising.
• A good place to start is Adbrite.com. Once you have gone through the initial simple setup, managing your account is very easy. With Adbrite you only pay for clicks.
• Another great place to start banner advertising is Turn.com. It also has an easy account setup and management system. With Turn.com, you can either pay for impressions, clicks or for buyers.

Where Can I Get a Designer for My Banners?

• Hire a freelancer at Elance.com. Be specific with what you want in your banners and communicate that with your freelancer.
• Or use this software (Free Trial) to quickly design professional looking banners yourself.

Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing (or SEM for short) is key for having a successful online business reselling jewelry. Starting off with Google Adwords will not only help you learn SEM, but will make it easier when you open accounts with Yahoo! and MSN.

Google Adwords

• Easy set-up. No cost for an account.
• Start advertising to your customers for as little as $0.10 per click.
• Text or banner ads. There is no need for a designer! Use Google’s Display Ad Builder to create your banner graphics.
• Google offers great tutorials to get you started and also offers a complete look at how their tools can help your business grow.
• Google also offers free webinars. From writing more effective copy to marketing on YouTube, you will be sure to pick up some really useful tips here.
• Google Adwords Editor – Save tons of time managing your Adwords campaigns with this desktop application. You can download your entire account to your computer and then upload any changes.
• Once you have fine tuned your Adwords account, you can export your keywords to your Yahoo! and MSN account.

Yahoo! Search Marketing

• Text ads – no designer needed for banners.
• Import your Google Adwords campaigns.
• Get a $50 credit when you sign up (Yahoo! may expire it at any time)

MSN Search Advertising

• $5 to get started.
• Import your Google Adwords campaigns.
• Over 40 million unique users on their search.
• Define your target market and set your ad budget.

Monthly and Other Fees

Some shopping cart solutions have monthly fees, such as transaction fees and exceeded bandwidth fees. By being aware of those fees and keeping them at a minimum, your bottom line won’t be affected too much.

Shopping Feed Submission

Does your shopping cart support automatic listings to third party shopping marketplaces such as Google Product Search, Price Grabber, NexTag and Shopzilla? Not only is having a tool like this great, it will help increase your store’s visibility across these marketplaces with a click of a button.

Inventory

How many products can be uploaded to your store? Some shopping carts limit the number of items that you can have in your store at a given time. Make sure you select a cart that will give you enough room to grow.

Marketing Tools

Just having a shopping cart alone will not help you make more sales! You will need very specific Internet marketing tools to help you attract and communicate with new prospects, clients and affiliates on a regular basis to ensure your
jewelry reselling business is a success and grows beyond your financial dreams.

Look for a shopping cart that includes a mailing list program, an e-mail broadcasting service, ad tracking tools and statistics, an affiliate program and the ability to use custom forms & opt-in boxes to collect visitors e-mail addresses.

What support do you get?

Some solutions provide free 24/7 technical support, while others require you to pay for a yearly support or a pay-as-you-go program.

Payment Processing Options or Payment Gateways

With a payment gateway you can enable real-time order processing in your online store by acquiring a “merchant account” in a payment processing company. Most major payment gateways are compatible with many shopping carts. Take a look at Authorize.net, Cybersource and PayPal.

Recommended Shopping Cart Solutions:

Yahoo! Store:

• $100 credit with Yahoo! Search Marketing
• $50 Google Adwords credit
• $50 free traffic from Shopzilla
• Automatic submission to Yahoo! and Google
• Monthly starting Price $39.95

eBay ProStores:

• Monthly starting price $15.95

Amazon:

• Monthly fee $59.99

Volusion:

• Export Feeds to Third Party Shopping Marketplaces
• Free trial 14 days
• Google adwords credit
• Hosting Included
• Month to Month, no term contracts

Miva Merchant :

• FedEx, UPS, USPS shipping calculation
• Automatic updates

I bought some items awhile back. When I went to my account it had been over 6 months. Is there anyway to retrieve images of my purchases somewhere?

Here are the steps:

1. Log into your account and go to the MyBidz Control Center.

2. Click on “View My Orders” and scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see “Payment History”.

3. Click on an invoice number.

4. Find the SKU# on the invoice. Copy it (ctrl+c).

5. Click here and paste (ctrl+p) the SKU # into the form field. As an example, paste bidz001231207 into the form and click request.

6. You will get the following results and be able to copy the item description and all images associated with your item to help you sell.

For information on how to re-use images from our site for free, please click here.

One of the greatest benefits of having you own business is the ability to greatly lower your taxes. You don’t even need to be officially incorporated to do that! 

Small business owners (you are one if you regularly earn money by reselling Bidz jewelry) are able to subtract various business related expenses such as home office, computers, cars, and much more, from their yearly income.

All of these deductions result in lower amount of taxes paid.

We suggest for you to read the Lower Your Taxes book by Sandy Botkin to learn how to:

• Lower your taxes by deducting home office expenses.
• Turn your car into a tax-deductible goldmine.
• Earn tax deductions on your fun such as golf, sports tickets, and more!

You can also read the introduction of this book for free at Google Book Search here: GOOGLEBOOKS

Lower Your Taxes – Big Time! 2009-2010
Sandy Botkin
Best Price $12.14
or Buy New $13.57 

Privacy Information
*Please consult your accountant before filing tax forms with the IRS. Bidz.com is in no way responsible for the accuracy of the content of the Lower Your Taxes book by Sandy Botkin. Bidz.com is not affiliated with Sandy Botkin or McGraw-Hill.

Most of you have bought items for yourselves, but have you ever thought of reselling jewelry? By using our pictures
and descriptions, we make reselling jewelry on the Web a breeze.

This is an easy way to make cash on eBay, Overstock Auctions, Ubid, iOffer and many more! You can even set up your own fixed price site with a Yahoo! Store or an Amazon WebStore.

Why is This a Good Deal?

We have professional pictures and descriptions at your disposal! There is no need for you to take your own pictures or spend the time writing descriptions for each product. You will be saving time and money. Plus, you may use our
image links (at no charge) so you do not have to buy image hosting.

How to Use Pictures from Our Site

There are two ways to use our images; you can link directly from our site or save them from our site and upload them to your personal hosting account.

It’s simple:

• First log into your account.
• Then find the items you want to bid on.
• After winning, gather the item description text and the pictures of the item.

We Can Host the Images (Copy Image URL)

Internet Explorer users

• Right click on an image
• A pop-up menu will appear
• Select “Properties”
• Copy the URL
• Paste into HTML image tag

Firefox users

• Right click on an image
• A pop-up menu will appear
• Select “View Image”
• Copy the URL in your browser
• Paste into HTML image tag

Mac users

• Press control and click on an image
• A pop-up menu will appear
• Select “Copy Image Address”
• Copy the URL
• Paste into HTML image tag

You Host the Images (Save to Your Computer)

Internet Explorer users

• Make a folder for storing your graphics
• Right click with your mouse on an image
• A pop-up menu will appear
• Select “Save Image As”
• Create a file name
• Save it in the folder you made for graphics

Firefox users

• Make a folder for storing your graphics
• Right click with your mouse on an image
• A pop-up menu will appear
• Select “Save Image As”
• Create a file name
• Save it in the folder you made for graphics

Mac users

• Make a folder for storing your graphics
• Click on a graphic and hold down the mouse button
• Select “Save Image As”
• Create a file name
• Save it in the folder you made for graphics

Don’t forget you can bid while you sleep with our AutoBid and WatchList features.

Copying Item Descriptions

• Put your mouse over the description.
• Left click and highlight the full description.
• Press the “ctrl” and the letter “c” key to copy.
• Paste into your html document.

Don’t Pay State Taxes!

If you are a California and/or New York reseller with a reseller license, apply for our Resellers Program!

• Under our Resellers Program, you’ll be exempt from paying taxes on items purchased from Bidz
  and Buyz.
• Download the Resellers Program application.
• Apply for the California resellers license.
• Apply for the New York resellers license.

This week we would like to to answer a few questions sent in by some of our users. We encourage all of our users to try and contribute as much as possible.

1. I have never seen sets of 30 or more rings for sale on your site… what would it be listed under ?

Try searching “lot” in the search box. Occasionally, we will have a few lots of rings on auction. Lots will range from 12 to 36 pieces or more. You will get really good deals here.

2. The only trouble with flea markets is the pilfering, especially on an open tray. How much would you say was too much to lose?

As a seller, you should be trying for as little loss as possible. Try securing loose rings and other pieces with an inexpensive chain or wire so that they appear to be on an open tray but are secure.

3. How can I be a reseller on a limited income?

Slowly build up your inventory by buying a piece here and a few pieces there. Look for gift sets that can be easily broken up and sold as individual pieces. Buy gold pieces that will not lose their value. Reselling gold jewelry will make you the most profit.

4. What if I just wanted to sell watches? Which brand will sell the best?

Try not to limit yourself to one category of jewelry. The most successful sellers carry a little bit of everything and also communicate to their customers that they can get any type of jewelry they request.

5.
Which type of flea market do you recommend me trying first? The most popular large flea market or one on the smaller side?

It depends on the size of your jewelry inventory. If you have a lot of items to sell try the larger flea market to take advantage of the sizeable flow of customers.
Remember that most sellers have booths at multiple locations at least three days a week.

• Flea-Market.org
• Find a Flea Market

Expect to pay around $35 per day for a 10′ x 10′ booth. As your business grows you can get always get a larger space but it will cost you a little more. You will need to call the organizer at the location and complete all the necessary paperwork to rent the space. Some locations will require you to rent the booth for a week at a time. Most locations have chair and table rentals available.

Keep in mind that the most successful sellers have booths at least three days a week and are constantly trying different flea market locations. Ask your local flea markets what day is the best for selling jewelry.

Displaying Your Jewelry

Finding the right jewelry display can help you sell your jewelry by presenting it in a more professional way, especially if you plan to sell higher end, brand name jewelry and quality gold pieces.

If you are just starting out we recommend investing in a showcase collection set. Expect to pay around $40 to $200 for a jewelry display set. A jewelry display set will contain anywhere from 10 to 40 display pieces. Once you have your core display set, you can begin to add individual display pieces like more watch stands, necklace & pendant displays and earring displays.

We recommend having extra displays and stands as your jewelry inventory may differ on a weekly basis. Individual display pieces cost around $2 – $30 per individual display piece.

You should have at least one to two tables with either your items nicely displayed in trays and cases or you can use another approach–don’t use any displays at all.

Try spreading your items across the table and have people sift through them. This method is very effective, especially if you are selling sterling silver jewelry & brand names such as Betty Boop, Fender and Playboy. By being able to touch the product, customers feel that they are getting a great deal.

Top Selling Items at Flea Markets

Build up your inventory with different jewelry categories. People selling more than one type of item are bound to make more money and will eventually create that sought-after repeat business.

To have a great looking booth, we recommend buying from the following categories:

• Gold Jewelry
• Gift Sets
• Brand Name Watches
• Sunglasses
• Amethyst Rings
• Diamond Earrings

What to Buy:

• If you are new to the Jewelry business, get started with Brand Name items. It’s easy to find comparable prices online for such brands as Bvlgari, Lalique, Versace and Invicta.
• Look for value in each Jewelry piece that you purchase. Consider gold weight, Diamonds and Gemstones. Many customers buy Jewelry items below our cost! Look out for these bargains.
• You can check the value of precious metals daily on Bidz. Look for the precious metals table on the left navigation on our site.

Where to Sell:
Once you have started the right purchasing strategy, you will need to find great places to sell. Here are some suggestions to get you started:

• Open a Yahoo! Store or eBay Pro Store to start selling online quickly and cost effectively.
• Sell your jewelry pieces on auction through eBay, Overstock and other online marketplaces.
• Local Swap Meets and Flea Markets are great places to grow your Jewelry Reselling business without a lot of upfront capital investment.
• Pawn Shops are a great place to take your Jewelry purchases for a quick profit.

If you have any questions, suggestions and would like to contribute to a future installment, please email reseller@bidz.com.

Happy Selling!

Bidz Reseller Team