1. Start reading Sell Their Stuff by Hillary DePiano for free right now
  2. What is a Selling Or Trading Assistant? The Ultimate Overview of Consignment Selling
  3. What does consignment mean? What is consignment selling?
  4. What exactly does a Selling Assistant do? What’s a typical day like?
  5. How does a Selling Assistant make money? Who can become one?
  6. Can eBay Trading Assistants still sell on consignment for others now that the program is gone?
  7. Where can a Selling Assistant sell their client’s consignment items?
  8. What kind of items can a Selling Assistant sell on consignment for their clients?
  9. Sellers, here’s why you should add Selling Assistant services to your existing e-commerce business
  10. From SAHMs to retirees, students to teachers: here’s who should start a Selling Assistance service
  11. Designing your Selling Assistance service from terms and conditions to services and features
  12. Money Matters: How does a Selling Assistant profit from selling items for others?
  13. Resale and the Selling Assistant: Sometimes it’s simpler to just buy the items outright
  14. Selling Assistant fees: What are they and how do they work?
  15. The Pros and Cons of charging a fee for your Selling Assistant services
  16. Does charging a commission on your Selling Assistant services maximize your profits?
  17. Charge a combination of fees and commission to maximize your Selling Assistant profits
  18. Here’s how I profit from my Selling Assistant business
  19. Should a Selling Assistant give their client a deposit or advance on future earnings?
  20. Should the Selling Assistant require a deposit of new clients?
  21. Who pays for what when selling for others on consignment?
  22. Should the consignment seller cover all selling fees or pass them onto the client?
  23. How discounted & free shipping offers affect consignment selling
  24. Shipping costs & selling fees are the least of your worries…
  25. Paying your clients their share of your Selling Assistant sales
  26. Calculating client payments on a Selling Assistant contract
  27. Method of Payment: How should I pay my Selling Assistant client?
  28. Reporting and reconciliation of a Selling Assistant client contract
  29. Build yourself a timeline for paying Selling Assistant clients without getting burned
  30. Money Matters Managed
  31. Your Selling Situation: Where and how should I sell my Selling Assistant items?
  32. Multi-Channel Consignment Selling: List your items on multiple marketplaces for greater exposure
  33. Practice your Selling Assistance service before you start taking on clients
  34. Do you need a storefront or standalone webstore to be a Selling Assistant?
  35. Is eBay still the best place for a Trading Assistant turned consignment seller?
  36. Does the Selling Assistant consignment sell from their own account or the clients?
  37. Should I have a designated selling account for my Selling Assistance consignment service?
  38. The 8 questions you must ask yourself before you start selling on consignment
  39. Good customer service is a selling point that can distinguish your services
  40. The benefits of having a PO Box or other Locked Mailbox for your business
  41. Designate a business phone line for more professional client contact
  42. Consider VOIP & internet-based phones like Google Voice or Skype over traditional options
  43. Offering pick-up services is an easy way to attract local Selling Assistant clients
  44. Should you allow Selling Assistant clients to drop their items off?
  45. Expand the reach of your Selling Assistant service by letting clients ship their items to you

It is not uncommon for a SA to ask a client for a deposit to cover the initial listing fees for their items. They’ll get this money back when you send them their first payment. While some clients will balk at this, it is a helpful security measure for the SA, particularly when dealing with a new client. The purpose of this deposit is to cover eBay and PayPal fees for the initial batch of listings before the items sell and you’ve received payment. It’s particularly useful when dealing with items that you either suspect will not sell well (or at all) or for clients that have done a bait and switch (promised you treasures and then sent over entirely different, and worthless, items).

A client once contracted me to sell a collection of vintage dolls. Once we’d solidified the deal, she mailed me a box, but instead of being filled with the dolls, it was full of old sweaters I knew would never sell with a note that she’d changed her mind and I was to sell these instead. I couldn’t get a reply despite repeated phone calls, emails and finally a printed letter. Foolishly (this was back when I was a teenager and just starting out), I tried to sell the sweaters in the hopes that then she’d give me the promised dolls. After trying twice to sell the sweaters, I not only hadn’t sold any of them, but I was now out two week’s worth of eBay fees with no way of being compensated for them. I ended up donating the sweaters to charity after months of no contact and eating the eBay fees.

It was after this incident that I started to require a $25 deposit from new clients. The first week of listings with a new client, I list just enough so that their deposit will cover all fees and then proceed with listing everything else once I know that their items are sellable. Honestly, I’ve had to waive the deposit many times for clients that balked at it. Oddly enough, every client that balked at the Client to SA Deposit requested a SA to Client Deposit instead. It can seem like backwards logic to you since you’re the one who’s going to have to front the cash for their potentially worthless items but, to the client, they’re giving you amazing treasures and they want some financial protection.