SoftwareEssentials.org

Step right up. Don't be shy. Weird eBay listings for all to see.

In this link you will find just a couple of the weird eBay items. The weird stuff sold on eBay will amaze and delight you.

You will find descriptions of some of eBay's most original, creative and just plain weird auctions.

If any weird auction featured below amuses you, a link is provided so you can click on through to see it live on eBay. On eBay weird stuff usually has several pictures, amazing stories, even videos. So if a post below makes you smile, clicking through to the funny eBay auction may make you laugh out loud.

Visit the LINK

SEcloud and SEbay will be my new additions to the site.

Both softwares will be for use with eBay and will provide users will a database for storing and calculating items sold and purchased from eBay.  SEcloud will be a cloud based version of SEbay.

Hope to update you more in the near future.

1. Before even attempting to sell or use eBay, read everything you can on the eBay site, take the tutorials, and avail yourself of resources such as help pages and the community area. Tutorials and help pages can be found on the eBay site map, or in the Help sections reached by clicking on the Help button at the top of any eBay page.

2. Research how similar items do on eBay. You can search completed auctions under the advanced search tab on the search page. If you can buy them at a price where you can make money, then it might be a good deal.

3.Take a look in your local area for products to sell. A unique local craft item, something manufactured in your area, Antiques, collectibles or the like. Find something you are knowledgeable about, like and can buy with enough profit left for it to be worth selling.

4. Get a few of the items and list them for sale on eBay. Write a good title and description, be sure to have good photographs of what you are selling. Provide good customer service including communicating with your buyers, offering convenient payment terms, and reasonable priced shipping. Ship quickly.

5. Handle problems as the occur cordially. Good communications is the key to success on eBay. If you do not know how to handle something, go to one of the community boards such as the eBay User to User Q&A Board and ask. users there will be glad to help.

A 401(k) can be one of your best tools for creating a secure retirement. It provides you with two important advantages. First, all contributions and earnings to your 401(k) are tax deferred. You only pay taxes on contributions and earnings when the money is withdrawn. Second, many employers provide matching contributions to your 401(k) account which can range from 0% to 100% of your contributions. The combined result is a retirement savings plan you can not afford to pass up.

My free 401k Calculator for Excel can help you estimate how much you could have after investing for a certain number of years. It takes into account your existing balance, annual raises in your salary, your employer's contributions, and the estimated rate of return.

Contact Me if you have any questions about the spreadsheet

Before deciding to become a landlord, ask yourself whether you have the time, temperament and skills to manage from a distance. You'll be dealing with clogged toilets, jammed garbage disposals, spills on carpets, cleaners and handymen. You'll also have extra costs for utilities, marketing, screening tenants and perhaps a local property manager.

Here are a few questions that you should ask yourself if you are thinking about becoming a landlord. They will help you to determine if this industry is right for you.

1. Do you have what it takes to deal with tenant's day in and day out? If you are not a people person you may not want to become a landlord. No, you will not have to deal with every tenant everyday, but the more properties you have the better chance there is that problems will arise.
2. Will you be able to collect money from tenants that are late? Many people want to become landlords, but do not like the idea of having to deal with tenants who do not pay on time. This can be a very intimidating situation, and one that you will probably have to deal with sooner or later if you become a landlord.
3. Do you have enough money to be a landlord? Use the spreadsheet to determine this.  Remember, you cannot be a landlord unless you have a property to rent out. This means that you will need to buy real estate before you can get started. Also, you should never have to rely on rent payments to pay your mortgage. If you do this you may be setting yourself up for failure from the start.
4. Do you have the knowledge to be a landlord? If not, do you have the time necessary to learn about the industry? Either way, you will need to know a bit about being a landlord before you can get started.

Overall, these are four questions that you should ask yourself if you are thinking about becoming a landlord. If you answer these questions honestly you will be well on your way to finding out if you are ready for this business.

Use this calculator to determine if you are ready to become a landlord financially. 

The new P90X spreadsheet has been uploaded in the Free section.  

In case you don't know, P90X, or Power 90 Extreme, is a home exercise system developed by Tony Horton in conjunction with Beachbody. It claims to improve physical fitness in 90 days through a rigorous segmented training program combined with a nutrition and dietary supplement plan.

This new spreadsheet will follow all of the three workouts P90, P90X, and P90X Plus.  It will allow you to track your progress on different spreadsheets and visually see your progress with the addition of graphical features.  It is an awesome free tool!

I'm releasing the newest version of my eBay.com and eBay Store spreadsheet today which uses the new eBay fee rates as of March 30, 2010. As many of you know I released an older version with old eBay fees that I had not had time to upgrade. Many of you created your own spreadsheets by just editing the fees.  I have spent a lot of time programming in fixes, changes, and adjustments in response to your feedback and the known issues. This new version should be working much better for everyone now.  I would love your input on the spreadsheet if you find it to be useful.  Click on Free to access it.

Here is an overview of the changes. Just looking at the spreadsheet, you might not be able to see a difference, as the eBay fee structure has stayed relatively the same.  The new spreadsheets have some great upgrades.

If for some reason you need the older spreadsheet again (as it is no longer available on my website) then just Contact Me and I can download it for you.

New Fee Rates for Auction Style eBay Listings

Starting March 30th 2010, the fees for Auction Style listings changed to the following:

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New Fee Rates for Fixed Price eBay Listings

Starting March 30th 2010, the fees for Fixed Style listings changed to the following:

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eBay Motors is not covered on these spreadsheet. Neither is Real Estate or Classified. There will be separate spreadsheets in the near future to address these eBay categories.  If you regularly use these type of eBay transactions and would benifit from this type of spreadsheet, please Contact Me.  It will give me motivation!

Free Insertion Fees for Auction Style listings starting at $0.01 to $0.99

Under eBay's new fee policy, if you are creating an No Reserve Auction Style listing and your starting price is $0.01 to $0.99 your Insertion Fees will be free, but you can only create 100 of these free listings a month. After that you will be charged a $0.10 Insertion Fee. This spreadsheet will not account for this because of the timing issue and complexity. To account for this, simply type a 0 into the spreadsheet for the items that you are getting free (replacing the existing Excel formula) or change the formula if you don't ever go over that 100. If you add a reserve to your auction you will not be eligible for the free Insertion Fee. eBay Store owners are also not eligible for the free Insertion Fee so the eBay Store Spreadsheet does not have this problem.

New color-coded inputs

In many of my previous versions, there was not a color difference between cells containing formulas and cells that are for user input. You will notice the spreadsheet comes locked so that it is impossible to type into a cell with a formula. As many of you know, there comes times when you need to overwrite the formula. The spreadsheet now has a grey background in cells that are user entry and a white background for cells that are automatic calculation.

The use of “---“

In my previous version I would use a zero to signify a blank for automatic calculation cells. Now if the cell is NOT APPLICABLE to code line then the cell will display a “---“ instead of “$0.00.” This makes the spreadsheet much easier to read.

1000 lines now

In my previous version you could enter up to 500 items. With the upgrade to excel 2010 I have upgraded to 1000 items and the spreadsheets seems to run fine. If you have 2000 items, feel free to just copy the excel file and start again.

Paypal Payments

Here you can choose how many people pay with PayPal.  Change the formula if you are not a typical PayPal user. 

Commission

A simple formula to allow you to total up commission on your eBay items. If you don’t use this feature, you can easily hide these Excel columns.

If you use this spreadsheet, I always encourage a donation.  Donations keep this site running and me working.

IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS USING THE SPREADSHEET POST A COMMENT TO THIS BLOG OR CONTACT ME.  I WILL RESPOND RIGHT AWAY.

I will be out of town for the holidays.  If you need help with any updates, send me an email and I will get back with you after I get back.  

Over the past years I have created many spreadsheets that I will begin uploading to my site.  Keep a look out for them.

Some will include:

• eBay Auction Spreadsheet
• eBay Store Spreadsheet
• eBay Calculator Spreadsheet
• P90 Spreadsheet
• P90X Spreadsheet
• P90X Plus Spreadsheet
• Landlord Calculator
• Grocery List Spreadsheet
• To Do List Spreadsheet
• Wedding Budget Spreadsheet
• Menu Spreadsheet

Keep a look out for them.  I will offer them for FREE!  Use them or change them to what you want.  The spreadsheets will be in .xls format and will include examples of how to use them.

SoftwareEssentials has kicked off!  I will be combining a multitude of informaiton into the website in the next few days.