As name suggests, double incorporation strategy involves creation of two business entities. The first is your "at risk" business that interacts with your customers or clients. The second entity, a "holding corporation", is then created to own valuable assets of your business. This holding corporation then leases relevant business assets to your "at risk" entity. If "at risk" entity is sued, holding company merely recovers its assets and plaintiff is forced to settle for pennies on dollar because "at risk" entity has few assets. In essence, plaintiff wins battle, but loses war.

Most people know that a business entity can be used to create a protective shield for their personal assets. If your business has high value assets, now you can use this double incorporation strategy to protect those assets as well.

When they find it, will it scare them away? There are, unfortunately, a number of auctions on mighty Bay that scare ebaySteve! Choose your colors and font sizes carefully - one thing you do NOT want is for everyone else to think you are a fruitcake. Even though ebaySteve likes fruit, and cake, he doesn't like 'em together. OK? Oh yeah! You will also need at least 1 good quality photo of your item. Try and make it a little 'different' from similar auctions - if everyone chooses 'stock' photo, how do potential buyers differentiate between you? BUT, make sure it ain't bigger than 40 or 50k - plenty of people are still on dialup, and they won't bother with you if page takes more than 10 seconds to load. And fer crying out loud, make SURE you allow payment via Paypal - it is Ebay's very own payment method, and by far best. They charge only a TINY commission on your sales, and you will find buyers take you MUCH more seriously if you do. No harm in other payment options too, just start off with Paypal! (Super extra important tip - only allow Paypal payments from members with a CONFIRMED address. Helps to cut down on fraud and refund requests).

Payment tip - ebaySteve has in past had problems with spam filters - there's nothing more annoying than to get an offer but miss it because your darn email system 'binned' mail! Have a special email account for auctions (if you start getting too much spam, open up a new one). It's also worth mentioning in text of your auction that potential buyers should 'whitelist' your email address. In worst case, you can always contact other ebayers with Contact Member form.

Auction timings - choose to start and end an auction during daylight hours (for your target audience!). These auctions statistically generate higher prices because bidding continues right up to final bell. Use http://pages.ebay.com/turbo_lister to list your items quicker - it costs, but only a tad, and will help you get whole process moving fast. That's about it fer now, Bayers! Keep it real!