A trading assistant is an experienced eBay seller who helps sell your items for you on eBay in exchange for a commission. The Record-Journal has a very interesting article about Martin and Cheryl Adamo, a couple who work as trading assistants and sell items for others on eBay. Their online store can be found at onceuponabid.com.
The job of eBay trading assistant is easy to define, he said — "It means selling things for other people, on commission."
That could mean selling most anything, from collections of first-generation Cabbage Patch dolls to sports memorabilia. The Adamos and, eBay says, about 16,000 trading assistants across the country get rid of things their clients want to sell, under a variety of agreements on how the money is split.
"The trading-assistant stuff has really taken off," Cheryl Adamo said. She works about 30 hours a week on eBay, and has also taught courses for others on how to use the service. Martin Adamo is a certified public accountant by day. Together, they also have a link from their online store, www.onceuponabid.com, to www.ebay.com. Since they started selling on eBay a couple of years ago, they said, they've sold about 5,000 items.
The Adamo's say they only work with items expected to be worth $50 or more -- otherwise it isn't worth their time.
Not everything is a gold mine. The Adamos generally work on consignment with items expected to sell for $50 or more.
"A lot of stuff's just not worth taking," Cheryl Adamo said. "Sometimes it's stuff that will sell for, like, five bucks, and it's not worth it for them to pay the fees on that or for us to make that little money, between the photos and the research and all that."
You can find a information about eBay's Trading Assistant Program as well as a trading assistant directory on eBay's trading assitant website.
