Small ebay businesses often need every break and discount they can get, and traveling can be one of the most costly areas for small ebay businesses. Unfortunately, many of the best travel advantages only go to big ebay businesses.
To help your ebay business compete, here are a few tips to make your traveling expenses a little more palatable.
* Search for cheap airfares. Internet search engines provide a great resource for cheap fares. Be sure to get on these sites' e-mail lists so you stay abreast of specials.
* Avoid alcohol. Drinking alcohol at meals can boost your bill. Stay away from adult beverages and you will be much happier when the check arrives.
* Stay in and watch a movie. By simply staying in your room at night and not going to bars or nightclubs, you can save yourself a lot of cash.
* Use free time for free attractions. Instead of heading to the golf course, go to a museum. Free attractions can be enlightening and easy on the wallet.
* Look for a deal on your rental car. You may want to join a discount program for car rental.
Car rental discount programs for ebay businesses have traditionally only been offered to large ebay businesses. But now, Thrifty's SmartBiz program is breaking new ground as the first car rental discount program designed specifically for small ebay businesses.
With a SmartBiz account, you'll get low ebay business rates with no minimum financial commitment. A free SmartBiz account also gets you unlimited miles, free additional drivers, free enrollment, no fees, no dues and no contracts. The account offers one free day of car rental after every 16 rental days with no blackout dates.
How To Pick The Right Selling Price While Attracting Traffic To Your eBay Auctions
One of the most common mistakes new drop-shippers make is pricing there items without taking into account the fees that are involved in completing the transaction. There is a simple way to avoid falling victim to this mistake and make a profit on every sale.
Formula for setting a profitable price:
Wholesale cost + Shipping Fee + Drop-ship Fee + Profit you desire to make = Preliminary price
Preliminary price + 15% = Sale price
It is necessary to add at least 15% to your preliminary price to cover your Paypal fee for payment received and you Ebay listing fees and final value fees. You can spend the time to calculate exactly the fees that will be associated with the sale of your item if you have the motivation and then you can adjust the 15% that you add to your preliminary price accordingly.
Once you have decided on a total sale price you need to decide how to break it up. For example, if your total sale price is going to be $50 you can list the item for $35 with $15 shipping. Use your common sense when deciding how to proceed. Lower item prices are attractive to buyers but outrageous shipping costs will kill your sales. Again, search for similar items on eBay to see how other sellers are pricing their items and shipping.
As you are setting your pricing you should also take the time to optimize your listing title. A good title states clearly and concisely what the item is, what condition it is in and if you can squeeze it in it is a huge bonus to add the MSRP to the title--especially on items that you can offer a substantial discount.
For example:
Nikon d70 Digital Camera w/ extras! NEW! MSRP-$1800
200 Rolls Kodak 400 Film. FREE shipping! 50% off retail!
Lot of 5 belt buckles-Many choices-Retail $85
Once you have set your pricing and titles you are ready to start driving traffic to your Ebay listings. Now lets look at how to optimize your ability to tap into the 60 million plus users on Ebay. The wonderful thing about Ebay is that you don't have to worry about advertising since there are already millions of customers at your disposal every day. All you need to do is optimize your listings and take advantage of a few key insider secrets to drive Ebayers to your listings again and again.
Optimizing Your Listings in Ebay:
Go through your listings one at a time and do the following:
1. As we already discussed you title is crucial. When you feel there is not enough space it the title field to include the necessary information, add a subtitle. Items with subtitles are more likely to sell.
2. Add a gallery preview photo to your listing. I can not stress this enough! Items with gallery previews are 35% more likely to sell.
3. Use the listing designer to spruce up your listing. The more professional your listing looks the more likely you are to win the sale over a competitor who has a dull presentation.
4. Clearly state your return policy! You can check Doba's return policy in the item product details under the supplier notice tab. Potential buyers are more likely to purchase if there is a return policy available.
5. Offer combined shipping discounts and clearly state the details in your auction details.
Use Ebay's cross promotion tools to gain a ton of exposure for all your items.
Driving Traffic To Your Listings:
Use Ebays cross promotion tools to gain exposure for all your listings every time someone views one of your products. This is accomplished by adding a window to the bottom of your listings that constantly scrolls through your other items for sale. The settings are highly customizable to suit your style and needs and it is very easy to set up through Ebay.
End your listings on Wednesday or Sunday evenings. Statistically items ending on these nights have a higher sale rate since this is when consumers are typically home and using eBay, and buyers love to snatch up items that are ending soon.
Open an eBay Store and watch your traffic explode. All you need is a basic subscription which is only $9.95 a month. It easily pays for itself when you consider that it is only 11 cents insertion fee to add an item to your store where as running auctions and fixed price listings can cost $2, $3, $4 or more for the insertion fee. Once you have an ebay store you can explode your traffic by following these simple steps: 1) Build your store inventory using the niche model 2) Select one or two hot items to send to auction or fixed price. Add a subtitle to those auctions that advertises your eBay store. For example if you are selling handbags send two to fixed price with a subtitle that reads "Many more great deals on handbags at my eBay store". This simple process will drive buyers to your store even if they are not interested in the specific item you have sent to fixed price. You can further increase the effectiveness of this approach by highlighting your fixed price items with bold or highlighted options available when setting up your listing. Finally with an eBay store you can utilize the Markdown Manager tool to create sales on items according to your parameters. Buyers are suckers for a discount and this will greatly increase your store inventory sales.
There are dozens of other ways to drive traffic to your listings but I am not going to get into detail with that here. This article is meant to give you a solid start in your new business and for now this is all you really need to do to guarantee your success. If you would like to learn more and visit my free online guide via the link below. Advanced sellers will find many useful resources on the Advanced Tools page and beginners can take advantage of my step by step guide to starting a successful Ebay business.
Formula for setting a profitable price:
Wholesale cost + Shipping Fee + Drop-ship Fee + Profit you desire to make = Preliminary price
Preliminary price + 15% = Sale price
It is necessary to add at least 15% to your preliminary price to cover your Paypal fee for payment received and you Ebay listing fees and final value fees. You can spend the time to calculate exactly the fees that will be associated with the sale of your item if you have the motivation and then you can adjust the 15% that you add to your preliminary price accordingly.
Once you have decided on a total sale price you need to decide how to break it up. For example, if your total sale price is going to be $50 you can list the item for $35 with $15 shipping. Use your common sense when deciding how to proceed. Lower item prices are attractive to buyers but outrageous shipping costs will kill your sales. Again, search for similar items on eBay to see how other sellers are pricing their items and shipping.
As you are setting your pricing you should also take the time to optimize your listing title. A good title states clearly and concisely what the item is, what condition it is in and if you can squeeze it in it is a huge bonus to add the MSRP to the title--especially on items that you can offer a substantial discount.
For example:
Nikon d70 Digital Camera w/ extras! NEW! MSRP-$1800
200 Rolls Kodak 400 Film. FREE shipping! 50% off retail!
Lot of 5 belt buckles-Many choices-Retail $85
Once you have set your pricing and titles you are ready to start driving traffic to your Ebay listings. Now lets look at how to optimize your ability to tap into the 60 million plus users on Ebay. The wonderful thing about Ebay is that you don't have to worry about advertising since there are already millions of customers at your disposal every day. All you need to do is optimize your listings and take advantage of a few key insider secrets to drive Ebayers to your listings again and again.
Optimizing Your Listings in Ebay:
Go through your listings one at a time and do the following:
1. As we already discussed you title is crucial. When you feel there is not enough space it the title field to include the necessary information, add a subtitle. Items with subtitles are more likely to sell.
2. Add a gallery preview photo to your listing. I can not stress this enough! Items with gallery previews are 35% more likely to sell.
3. Use the listing designer to spruce up your listing. The more professional your listing looks the more likely you are to win the sale over a competitor who has a dull presentation.
4. Clearly state your return policy! You can check Doba's return policy in the item product details under the supplier notice tab. Potential buyers are more likely to purchase if there is a return policy available.
5. Offer combined shipping discounts and clearly state the details in your auction details.
Use Ebay's cross promotion tools to gain a ton of exposure for all your items.
Driving Traffic To Your Listings:
Use Ebays cross promotion tools to gain exposure for all your listings every time someone views one of your products. This is accomplished by adding a window to the bottom of your listings that constantly scrolls through your other items for sale. The settings are highly customizable to suit your style and needs and it is very easy to set up through Ebay.
End your listings on Wednesday or Sunday evenings. Statistically items ending on these nights have a higher sale rate since this is when consumers are typically home and using eBay, and buyers love to snatch up items that are ending soon.
Open an eBay Store and watch your traffic explode. All you need is a basic subscription which is only $9.95 a month. It easily pays for itself when you consider that it is only 11 cents insertion fee to add an item to your store where as running auctions and fixed price listings can cost $2, $3, $4 or more for the insertion fee. Once you have an ebay store you can explode your traffic by following these simple steps: 1) Build your store inventory using the niche model 2) Select one or two hot items to send to auction or fixed price. Add a subtitle to those auctions that advertises your eBay store. For example if you are selling handbags send two to fixed price with a subtitle that reads "Many more great deals on handbags at my eBay store". This simple process will drive buyers to your store even if they are not interested in the specific item you have sent to fixed price. You can further increase the effectiveness of this approach by highlighting your fixed price items with bold or highlighted options available when setting up your listing. Finally with an eBay store you can utilize the Markdown Manager tool to create sales on items according to your parameters. Buyers are suckers for a discount and this will greatly increase your store inventory sales.
There are dozens of other ways to drive traffic to your listings but I am not going to get into detail with that here. This article is meant to give you a solid start in your new business and for now this is all you really need to do to guarantee your success. If you would like to learn more and visit my free online guide via the link below. Advanced sellers will find many useful resources on the Advanced Tools page and beginners can take advantage of my step by step guide to starting a successful Ebay business.
How To Sell Products On eBay Without Having To Buy Inventory
Is it possible to start a successful Ebay drop-shipping business for zero out of pocket? Yes, it is! The problem is that there are hundreds of supposed drop-shippers online and many so called "instant auction success kits" and all but two are useless. There are only two Ebay approved drop-shippers and joining either one is the first step to creating an Ebay work at home business drop-shipping business.
For those who are unfamiliar with drop-shipping it works like this:
You locate products to sell from a database of over 250,000 products.
You can use tools through your drop-shipper that allow you to select products, set pricing and automatically send them to eBay.
Your item sells on eBay and you receive payment through Paypal.
You purchase the product from the drop-shipper using your Paypal funds. You pay the wholesale price and keep the profit.
The drop-shipper will process and ship it to your customer. They will handle any returns, exchanges or problems or instruct you how to resolve the issue through the manufacturer when warranties apply.
You will have tracking information on every order.
You can expect to spend at least a good week getting your business set up. The good news is that you will probably already have made a profit by day 5, and once you have set up all your products the business will pretty much run itself without a whole lot more effort on your part, but I am getting ahead of things. Let's start from square one, shall we?
To start your business you are going to need:
A Paypal account
An eBay account
A drop-shipper account
As we already said, there are many supposed drop-shippers out there that are nothing but a scam.
There are only two Ebay approved drop-shippers and only one drop-shipper is fully integrated with Ebay. Follow the links at the end of this article to explore them both and decide which is right for you. Both charge membership fees but the fee structures differ greatly.
If you choose to go with a free trial drop-shipping account then by the time you need to pay membership dues you will have easily earned more than enough money to cover your monthly dues.
Remember I told you it would cost $0 out of pocket? Here's how:
Sign up for the free 7 day trial
Make a real effort to get things started
Call customer service or contact live chat on the fourth or fifth day of your trial. Let them know how hard you have been working and that you very much would like to extend your trial period so your auctions have time to run their coarse, you can get a better feel for the system, etc.... I was able to get my trial period extended to a full month by taking this approach. Take the time to ask them any and every question you have since you are on the phone anyway! The customer service reps are amazing and it is well worth taking advantage of their expertise.
Work your butt off during the trial period and you will easily earn the few bucks your membership will cost you and more. Then you can pay your membership with your earning and thus have a $0 start up. In fact in my first two weeks I earned enough to pay for a one year membership at a huge discount which leads me to step 5....
When you have convinced yourself how wonderful your new business is and you are ready to pay your membership dues DON'T!!! Don't do a thing until you call the customer service department back and ask to speak with someone in the promotions department. They will be offer you HUGE discounts on your membership and they will usually throw in free tools as well.
Before you go any further you need to take some time getting familiar with Ebay, Paypal and your drop-shipper. Explore each site carefully. Read about Ebay's fees (you will not have to pay any fees up front to use Ebay but you will need to understand the fee structure to price your items properly). Get extremely comfortable with the tools and products offered by your drop-shipper. If you run into any questions or problems along the way contact the customer support for the site you have issues with and they will be glad to assist you. It will be much easier for you to follow the rest of this guide if you have a basic understanding of your new accounts first.
Now that you have a feel for the tools you will be using there are five more areas we need to cover in detail to make sure you are off to a solid start. My free detailed start up guide looks at:
Product Selection-You have instant access to over 250,000 products to pick from. Find out how to determine which products to sell.
Product Pricing-How to set prices that will earn you the best conversions.
Traffic-There are over 60 million Ebayers out there. Learn how to drive them to your listings.
Things to Avoid-Find out the most common mistakes newbies make.
Advanced Tools-Reviews of some of the best tools available to expand your business when you are ready
For those who are unfamiliar with drop-shipping it works like this:
You locate products to sell from a database of over 250,000 products.
You can use tools through your drop-shipper that allow you to select products, set pricing and automatically send them to eBay.
Your item sells on eBay and you receive payment through Paypal.
You purchase the product from the drop-shipper using your Paypal funds. You pay the wholesale price and keep the profit.
The drop-shipper will process and ship it to your customer. They will handle any returns, exchanges or problems or instruct you how to resolve the issue through the manufacturer when warranties apply.
You will have tracking information on every order.
You can expect to spend at least a good week getting your business set up. The good news is that you will probably already have made a profit by day 5, and once you have set up all your products the business will pretty much run itself without a whole lot more effort on your part, but I am getting ahead of things. Let's start from square one, shall we?
To start your business you are going to need:
A Paypal account
An eBay account
A drop-shipper account
As we already said, there are many supposed drop-shippers out there that are nothing but a scam.
There are only two Ebay approved drop-shippers and only one drop-shipper is fully integrated with Ebay. Follow the links at the end of this article to explore them both and decide which is right for you. Both charge membership fees but the fee structures differ greatly.
If you choose to go with a free trial drop-shipping account then by the time you need to pay membership dues you will have easily earned more than enough money to cover your monthly dues.
Remember I told you it would cost $0 out of pocket? Here's how:
Sign up for the free 7 day trial
Make a real effort to get things started
Call customer service or contact live chat on the fourth or fifth day of your trial. Let them know how hard you have been working and that you very much would like to extend your trial period so your auctions have time to run their coarse, you can get a better feel for the system, etc.... I was able to get my trial period extended to a full month by taking this approach. Take the time to ask them any and every question you have since you are on the phone anyway! The customer service reps are amazing and it is well worth taking advantage of their expertise.
Work your butt off during the trial period and you will easily earn the few bucks your membership will cost you and more. Then you can pay your membership with your earning and thus have a $0 start up. In fact in my first two weeks I earned enough to pay for a one year membership at a huge discount which leads me to step 5....
When you have convinced yourself how wonderful your new business is and you are ready to pay your membership dues DON'T!!! Don't do a thing until you call the customer service department back and ask to speak with someone in the promotions department. They will be offer you HUGE discounts on your membership and they will usually throw in free tools as well.
Before you go any further you need to take some time getting familiar with Ebay, Paypal and your drop-shipper. Explore each site carefully. Read about Ebay's fees (you will not have to pay any fees up front to use Ebay but you will need to understand the fee structure to price your items properly). Get extremely comfortable with the tools and products offered by your drop-shipper. If you run into any questions or problems along the way contact the customer support for the site you have issues with and they will be glad to assist you. It will be much easier for you to follow the rest of this guide if you have a basic understanding of your new accounts first.
Now that you have a feel for the tools you will be using there are five more areas we need to cover in detail to make sure you are off to a solid start. My free detailed start up guide looks at:
Product Selection-You have instant access to over 250,000 products to pick from. Find out how to determine which products to sell.
Product Pricing-How to set prices that will earn you the best conversions.
Traffic-There are over 60 million Ebayers out there. Learn how to drive them to your listings.
Things to Avoid-Find out the most common mistakes newbies make.
Advanced Tools-Reviews of some of the best tools available to expand your business when you are ready
Proven eBay Selling Techniques For Winners
Founded in September 1995, eBay is The World's Online Marketplace for the sale of goods and services by a diverse community of individuals and small businesses. Today, the eBay community includes more than a hundred million registered members from around the world. People spend more time on eBay than any other online site, making it the most popular shopping destination on the Internet.
Did you know that most eBay sellers are full time workers in a huge variety of work domains? You may see eBay as a great opportunity to supplement your income, or you may see it as a modern form of a garage sale. Regardless of your views, you can make the most out of eBay's offer and reach an extensive audience for whatever it is that you wish to sell.
Selling your product on eBay is a user friendly, simple process. The first thing that you need to do is to create your own free eBay account. In order to do this you need to provide the site with your credit or debit card number and your checking account information. You needn't worry about security issues, as eBay has some of the most secure servers in the world.
The second step is to choose to have your fees deducted from your checking account with eBay Direct Pay or to pay for them with your credit card. EBay charges you an insertion fee, for each item you post for sale, and a final value fee when the item is sold. The fees are low and if the item isn't sold you don't have to pay the final value fee. In case you do not have a credit card you can still participate to the buying and selling activities on eBay by verifying your identity for $5.
When you eBay account is ready you will have to follow these steps:
• Decide on your selling format. There are several ways to sell items on eBay and you will have to choose the one that suits your need best.
• Select a category - place your ad in a relevant context for better exposure. Its like selling them in the right place inside a huge mall. People will likely to search at that category, just don’t forget to emphasize on categories.
• Write a concise title. Titles sell the best, one-liners or what you think is best. You can make things appealing considering you have the merchandise; they can instantly pull of another sound made by cash registers on a sale.
• Describe your item as clearly as possible. EBay users search of the best image for the merchandise, you can have to improve your camera skills to attract probable customers. And of course add photos of the item in all angles. This is a very convincing argument for most buyers as they will trust your product more when they get to actually see it.
• Set your price and the duration of your auction. Having to decide on this might be a good idea when the bidding closes off, as some schemes let the possible buyers choose the buy it now option if the conditions apply, try to experiment on things that may entice them to actually buy the product at a high price.
• Make your item stand out from the crowd by using the numerous listing upgrades. Upgrading your listing makes them fresh and on top of the competition. this is fairly optional, but if you have the time to update your list, might as well do them.
• Enter Payment and Shipping Information and specify who will pay for the shipping and how your buyer will release funds for it. These conditions are critical to state. Often, confusing your prospects and make them walk away from the deal if you give them a horrible shipping
condition. Try to build their trust; after all, what you really want is to sell your items.
The steps mentioned above will take only minutes to complete, making your eBay selling experience a pleasant one. You will be asked to review all of the information you provided and then submit it. Your eBay listing begins from that moment and you can start watching the buying process unfold.
Did you know that most eBay sellers are full time workers in a huge variety of work domains? You may see eBay as a great opportunity to supplement your income, or you may see it as a modern form of a garage sale. Regardless of your views, you can make the most out of eBay's offer and reach an extensive audience for whatever it is that you wish to sell.
Selling your product on eBay is a user friendly, simple process. The first thing that you need to do is to create your own free eBay account. In order to do this you need to provide the site with your credit or debit card number and your checking account information. You needn't worry about security issues, as eBay has some of the most secure servers in the world.
The second step is to choose to have your fees deducted from your checking account with eBay Direct Pay or to pay for them with your credit card. EBay charges you an insertion fee, for each item you post for sale, and a final value fee when the item is sold. The fees are low and if the item isn't sold you don't have to pay the final value fee. In case you do not have a credit card you can still participate to the buying and selling activities on eBay by verifying your identity for $5.
When you eBay account is ready you will have to follow these steps:
• Decide on your selling format. There are several ways to sell items on eBay and you will have to choose the one that suits your need best.
• Select a category - place your ad in a relevant context for better exposure. Its like selling them in the right place inside a huge mall. People will likely to search at that category, just don’t forget to emphasize on categories.
• Write a concise title. Titles sell the best, one-liners or what you think is best. You can make things appealing considering you have the merchandise; they can instantly pull of another sound made by cash registers on a sale.
• Describe your item as clearly as possible. EBay users search of the best image for the merchandise, you can have to improve your camera skills to attract probable customers. And of course add photos of the item in all angles. This is a very convincing argument for most buyers as they will trust your product more when they get to actually see it.
• Set your price and the duration of your auction. Having to decide on this might be a good idea when the bidding closes off, as some schemes let the possible buyers choose the buy it now option if the conditions apply, try to experiment on things that may entice them to actually buy the product at a high price.
• Make your item stand out from the crowd by using the numerous listing upgrades. Upgrading your listing makes them fresh and on top of the competition. this is fairly optional, but if you have the time to update your list, might as well do them.
• Enter Payment and Shipping Information and specify who will pay for the shipping and how your buyer will release funds for it. These conditions are critical to state. Often, confusing your prospects and make them walk away from the deal if you give them a horrible shipping
condition. Try to build their trust; after all, what you really want is to sell your items.
The steps mentioned above will take only minutes to complete, making your eBay selling experience a pleasant one. You will be asked to review all of the information you provided and then submit it. Your eBay listing begins from that moment and you can start watching the buying process unfold.
Do You Know The Right Way To Sell On eBay?
What’s that rule again? If you haven’t worn it in six months, get rid of it? If we followed that rule, just about all of us would have a pretty decent pile of clothes that we should be getting rid of right now. What if I told you that you could earn some spare money by selling that clothing on eBay?
Selling that no longer used clothing on eBay takes a little bit of time, but is really quite simple, and you are almost guaranteed to get more money for your clothes than you would if you held a garage sale! So, where do you start? Read on to find an introduction to the basics of selling clothing on eBay.
Your first step is to sort the outfits you want to sell into spring/summer clothing and fall/ winter clothing. You will want to sell your clothing “with the season,” meaning that if it is spring now, you should be selling your spring and summer clothing. Pack the opposite season clothing away in a labeled box so you can easily find it when the seasons change.
Next, sort the current season’s clothing by size. It is best to sell all of the clothing in the same size at the same time so if one person finds something they like, they might find others they like and bid on them all, eBayers LOVE repeat customers.
It is significant to launder the clothing that you are going to sell, and steam or iron them, if necessary. It’s important that they are looking their best for the next step!
Photographing your clothing is one of the most important steps in this process because eBay shoppers need to really be able to see the clothing well since they can’t actually touch them or try them on. It is by far the easiest to use a digital camera so you can upload your photos right to your computer and then to eBay. If you don’t have your own, see if you can borrow one from somebody you know.
Most big clothing sellers on eBay use some type of mannequin, mannequins that hang on your wall can be purchased for less than $25 on eBay. to show their clothing, but if you don’t have one, you have a few other options. You could put a simple hook in a solid colored wall, and hang the clothing on hangers from it. This works very well for just about all types of clothing, other than outfits, unless you have the special display hangers that show off a top and bottom together.
An extra option is to lay the clothing on top of a solid colored piece of fabric on any flat surface. The trick here is to take the photos aiming straight down at the clothing and not on an angle. You might have to get up on a chair to accomplish this, but it really helps because clothing shot on an angle can really disfigure things and not give the potential bidder a true idea of what it looks like.
One important thing to keep in mind, no matter how you photograph your clothing, is to have good lighting! Natural light works great, so if you can be near a large window where the sun shines in, that would work very well. If not, you might want to consider setting up a few of those inexpensive work lights with clamps to shine on the clothing from different directions.
When you are done taking your photos, upload them onto your computer and do some simple editing with the photo software that came with your camera, or any other photo editing software that you are comfortable with.
The vital things that you should do are: remove needless background by cropping the photo so the item is the focus and not a lot of background, resize the photos so they are no too large, 350 pixels on the longest side works pretty well, and improve them by playing with the brightness or color levels, if necessary. Some programs have some type of “Quick Fix” button that will do that for you.
Next, you will need to sign-up for an eBay seller’s account if you don’t have one already.
Now you are ready to actually create and launch your auction listings. If you need some help with the basics of how to do this; check out eBay’s help pages and Learning Center.
Finally, you can sit back and enjoy the roller coaster ride of watching your auctions throughout the week. Keep in mind that sometimes items get the most bids during the final minutes.
Selling that no longer used clothing on eBay takes a little bit of time, but is really quite simple, and you are almost guaranteed to get more money for your clothes than you would if you held a garage sale! So, where do you start? Read on to find an introduction to the basics of selling clothing on eBay.
Your first step is to sort the outfits you want to sell into spring/summer clothing and fall/ winter clothing. You will want to sell your clothing “with the season,” meaning that if it is spring now, you should be selling your spring and summer clothing. Pack the opposite season clothing away in a labeled box so you can easily find it when the seasons change.
Next, sort the current season’s clothing by size. It is best to sell all of the clothing in the same size at the same time so if one person finds something they like, they might find others they like and bid on them all, eBayers LOVE repeat customers.
It is significant to launder the clothing that you are going to sell, and steam or iron them, if necessary. It’s important that they are looking their best for the next step!
Photographing your clothing is one of the most important steps in this process because eBay shoppers need to really be able to see the clothing well since they can’t actually touch them or try them on. It is by far the easiest to use a digital camera so you can upload your photos right to your computer and then to eBay. If you don’t have your own, see if you can borrow one from somebody you know.
Most big clothing sellers on eBay use some type of mannequin, mannequins that hang on your wall can be purchased for less than $25 on eBay. to show their clothing, but if you don’t have one, you have a few other options. You could put a simple hook in a solid colored wall, and hang the clothing on hangers from it. This works very well for just about all types of clothing, other than outfits, unless you have the special display hangers that show off a top and bottom together.
An extra option is to lay the clothing on top of a solid colored piece of fabric on any flat surface. The trick here is to take the photos aiming straight down at the clothing and not on an angle. You might have to get up on a chair to accomplish this, but it really helps because clothing shot on an angle can really disfigure things and not give the potential bidder a true idea of what it looks like.
One important thing to keep in mind, no matter how you photograph your clothing, is to have good lighting! Natural light works great, so if you can be near a large window where the sun shines in, that would work very well. If not, you might want to consider setting up a few of those inexpensive work lights with clamps to shine on the clothing from different directions.
When you are done taking your photos, upload them onto your computer and do some simple editing with the photo software that came with your camera, or any other photo editing software that you are comfortable with.
The vital things that you should do are: remove needless background by cropping the photo so the item is the focus and not a lot of background, resize the photos so they are no too large, 350 pixels on the longest side works pretty well, and improve them by playing with the brightness or color levels, if necessary. Some programs have some type of “Quick Fix” button that will do that for you.
Next, you will need to sign-up for an eBay seller’s account if you don’t have one already.
Now you are ready to actually create and launch your auction listings. If you need some help with the basics of how to do this; check out eBay’s help pages and Learning Center.
Finally, you can sit back and enjoy the roller coaster ride of watching your auctions throughout the week. Keep in mind that sometimes items get the most bids during the final minutes.
9 Reasons To Do Joint Venture Deals On eBay
eBay is THE most popular home business in the USA, but it's not without its problems. Many have tried to succeed but have failed due to confusion over what products to sell, giant numbers of competitors, copy and picture theft from other sellers and eBay and Paypal that eat into profits.
One way to avoid this swamp, though, is to do a Joint Venture with established eBay sellers. This allows a JV partner to build her own mailing list and sell products off eBay.
There are multiple advantages to this way of doing business on eBay:
1. The biggest uncertainty for would-be eBay sellers is what products to sell. Sometimes vendors risk large sums of money on untried products, only to lose their investment, become sour and give up. With a Joint Venture there is no risk except for a few hours of time.
2. Since there are no auctions listed on eBay, no one can steal copy or pictures from JV sellers - because there is nothing to copy. In effect, we become invisible - no one even knows we exist and this hidden aspect has many advantages.
3. eBay JVs are usually done with a digital product that can be instantly downloaded. This is great for any entrepreneur because inexpensive autoresponders mean that her entire business is handled via autopilot. Contrast this with the usual way of doing business on eBay which involves mailing dozens, hundreds or even thousands of boxes.
4. eBay and Paypal have lots of rules. It's easy to break some unwittingly, and even the most honest seller does so from time to time. A JV merchant isn't answerable to eBay, however, but only to her customers.
5. A JV seller never directly lists on eBay, thus avoiding eBay and Paypal fees.
6. Successful Powersellers have large numbers of customers and there are lots of administrative details involved. Implementing a sales system can cost time and money because without attention to detail packages won't be mailed in a timely fashion, payments won't be accurate, items will be sent to the wrong buyers, and so on. A JV partner eliminates all of that because all transactions can be funneled through a hands-off system.
7. eBay selling lives or dies through the 'feedback' system. Negative feedback can kill sales instantly and lack of feedback causes buyers to hesitite and choose other sellers. Feedback is totally irrelevant to a Joint Venture seller because she is using the reputation of carefully chosen other sellers. She knows in advance that their feedback is high quality or she doesn't do deals with them.
8. Inexperienced sellers sometimes drag wiser merchants into price wars. In a panic over sales, they foolishly slash prices, beginning a chain reaction that results in bare bones bids that allow no one to make any money. A Joint Venture seller floats serenely above such hiccups in the marketplace.
9. Best of all, a JV seller doesn't settle for a one time sale. She concentrates her efforts on a mailing list of happy customers that she can sell to again and again and again. In this way, not only is she ensuring repeate profits, but she gets paid for creating this list, rather than having to pay someone else for names.
With its 147,000,000 registered users, eBay is the best source of targeted, Net-savvy buyers on the web. By putting together Joint Venture deals with established sellers, anyone can add large numbers of qualified buyers to their database efficiently and inexpensively.
One way to avoid this swamp, though, is to do a Joint Venture with established eBay sellers. This allows a JV partner to build her own mailing list and sell products off eBay.
There are multiple advantages to this way of doing business on eBay:
1. The biggest uncertainty for would-be eBay sellers is what products to sell. Sometimes vendors risk large sums of money on untried products, only to lose their investment, become sour and give up. With a Joint Venture there is no risk except for a few hours of time.
2. Since there are no auctions listed on eBay, no one can steal copy or pictures from JV sellers - because there is nothing to copy. In effect, we become invisible - no one even knows we exist and this hidden aspect has many advantages.
3. eBay JVs are usually done with a digital product that can be instantly downloaded. This is great for any entrepreneur because inexpensive autoresponders mean that her entire business is handled via autopilot. Contrast this with the usual way of doing business on eBay which involves mailing dozens, hundreds or even thousands of boxes.
4. eBay and Paypal have lots of rules. It's easy to break some unwittingly, and even the most honest seller does so from time to time. A JV merchant isn't answerable to eBay, however, but only to her customers.
5. A JV seller never directly lists on eBay, thus avoiding eBay and Paypal fees.
6. Successful Powersellers have large numbers of customers and there are lots of administrative details involved. Implementing a sales system can cost time and money because without attention to detail packages won't be mailed in a timely fashion, payments won't be accurate, items will be sent to the wrong buyers, and so on. A JV partner eliminates all of that because all transactions can be funneled through a hands-off system.
7. eBay selling lives or dies through the 'feedback' system. Negative feedback can kill sales instantly and lack of feedback causes buyers to hesitite and choose other sellers. Feedback is totally irrelevant to a Joint Venture seller because she is using the reputation of carefully chosen other sellers. She knows in advance that their feedback is high quality or she doesn't do deals with them.
8. Inexperienced sellers sometimes drag wiser merchants into price wars. In a panic over sales, they foolishly slash prices, beginning a chain reaction that results in bare bones bids that allow no one to make any money. A Joint Venture seller floats serenely above such hiccups in the marketplace.
9. Best of all, a JV seller doesn't settle for a one time sale. She concentrates her efforts on a mailing list of happy customers that she can sell to again and again and again. In this way, not only is she ensuring repeate profits, but she gets paid for creating this list, rather than having to pay someone else for names.
With its 147,000,000 registered users, eBay is the best source of targeted, Net-savvy buyers on the web. By putting together Joint Venture deals with established sellers, anyone can add large numbers of qualified buyers to their database efficiently and inexpensively.
What An eBay Business Opportunity Really Is
What is it about running a business that fears many people - is it the initial start up cost, is it not knowing the business basics or is it the thought of the financial freedom that comes with it because that is exactly what you get after involving yourself with the Ebay Business Opportunity. Financial freedom is there for the taking if you want it.
Two of the fear factors mentioned above are partially behind why people choose to ignore the Ebay Business Opportunity. Not knowing how to run a business and worry about start up costs can be put to the back of your mind right now if you crave financial freedom. This is definitely a win win situation if you want it to be.
There are no large amounts of money to hand over to start up and as for knowledge - well you learn as you go along. This is exactly how other Ebay entrepreneurs began and are still reaping in the rewards
The Ebay Business Opportunity is not just for the hungry who have decided enough is enough and wants out of the rat race - it is also a second income for many people on a budget.
Remember the Ebay Business Opportunity is a risk free venture so what are you waiting for - all that is required from you is sheer determination and a little time. Any knowledge on how to run your Ebay business can be found through the Ebay support system or from fellow Ebayers. Beginners gather information by visiting the forums. You will find many Ebay entrepreneurs willing to share what they know with you but remember if you are competition for them then you may not get the help you need. The internet is larger than life so what you need to know can be found elsewhere online.
If you are new to the Ebay Business Opportunity and money is your biggest worry then fret not - have a trial run selling second hand goods that you may have stored in the loft, attic or garage. What you see as trash will bring in cash. So before you go discarding any old items for the refuse man think on how it may be of use to someone else.
The cost to list items on Ebay can vary thus depending on the size of the item you are selling - for example if it be a car then expect to pay more than that of a salt and pepper set. Your dummy run at selling for the first time can include book sales even an e-book on a hobby of yours - the list is endless as to what you can sell. The Ebay Business Opportunity will have restrictions and guidelines on certain articles or items they allow to be sold on the auctions - as in i.e. offensive materials etc.
What other business besides the Ebay Business Opportunity gives you the chance to change the way you live without taking away your second income if you are already holding down a couple of jobs to make ends meet.
Two of the fear factors mentioned above are partially behind why people choose to ignore the Ebay Business Opportunity. Not knowing how to run a business and worry about start up costs can be put to the back of your mind right now if you crave financial freedom. This is definitely a win win situation if you want it to be.
There are no large amounts of money to hand over to start up and as for knowledge - well you learn as you go along. This is exactly how other Ebay entrepreneurs began and are still reaping in the rewards
The Ebay Business Opportunity is not just for the hungry who have decided enough is enough and wants out of the rat race - it is also a second income for many people on a budget.
Remember the Ebay Business Opportunity is a risk free venture so what are you waiting for - all that is required from you is sheer determination and a little time. Any knowledge on how to run your Ebay business can be found through the Ebay support system or from fellow Ebayers. Beginners gather information by visiting the forums. You will find many Ebay entrepreneurs willing to share what they know with you but remember if you are competition for them then you may not get the help you need. The internet is larger than life so what you need to know can be found elsewhere online.
If you are new to the Ebay Business Opportunity and money is your biggest worry then fret not - have a trial run selling second hand goods that you may have stored in the loft, attic or garage. What you see as trash will bring in cash. So before you go discarding any old items for the refuse man think on how it may be of use to someone else.
The cost to list items on Ebay can vary thus depending on the size of the item you are selling - for example if it be a car then expect to pay more than that of a salt and pepper set. Your dummy run at selling for the first time can include book sales even an e-book on a hobby of yours - the list is endless as to what you can sell. The Ebay Business Opportunity will have restrictions and guidelines on certain articles or items they allow to be sold on the auctions - as in i.e. offensive materials etc.
What other business besides the Ebay Business Opportunity gives you the chance to change the way you live without taking away your second income if you are already holding down a couple of jobs to make ends meet.
Watch Your eBay Sales Soar By Eliminating Objections
Objections are those points, sometimes small issues, which make a bidder or a buyer think again about going for your offering.
In your auction description you need to remove as many of these objections as you can.
These are the kind of objections which your prospective buyers will have.
Objection 1
Is the seller trustworthy?
The buyer usually doesn't know you. If they're serious bidders they will check you out. How will they do this?
a) A good Feedback Rating will be one way they assess you. Be determined in getting your feedback up, and making it all positive.
b) They might also click through to your About Me page. This page gives you the opportunity to convey your personality and your honesty.
One of eBay's standard About Me page formats lets you display your recent feedbacks - always useful - and also your other auctions, again useful. This is in addition to anything about yourself which helps to show what a sincere and genuine person you are.
And finally, if you have a web site from which you sell products or services, you are allowed to place a direct link to it from the About Me page. This is in marked contrast to your auction description page, where eBay does not allow direct links to web pages. So, create an About Me page and incorporate the points mentioned.
c) A prospective bidder may wish to ask you a question. As you will know, there is a standard eBay facility whereby a bidder can ask a seller a question. You should really welcome questions. Why do I say this?
Well, if a bidder asks you a question, first of all you know they are interested in your offering. They wouldn't have wasted their time on typing out their question to you if they weren't. So, by asking you a question they are qualifying themselves in as a real prospect. And you now have the chance to directly influence them in your reply to their question. Depending on the nature of their enquiry, you have the opportunity to convey your integrity, honesty, credibility, fair mindedness, helpfulness, expertise, knowledge, other appropriate products etc.
So, if questions are such good things, why not make it easy for the bidder to ask one? Always have some text in your auction description offering to answer any questions, with a link to your email address. If you have a little knowledge of HTML coding you will know how easy this is to do. It is far better than simply relying on buyers finding the standard "Ask the seller a question" link provided by eBay.
d) You might consider a moneyback guarantee, if it's appropriate and you can "afford" it.
Why would you or should you do this?
Well, when you think about it, in online auctions, the buyer is normally asked to take all the risk. They usually pay the seller up front - before the item is delivered to them. The risk is all theirs that the seller doesn't perform.
To some buyers, particularly on higher value items, this risk is so high that it can cause them to have second thoughts about bidding. You know you are trustworthy, but they don't. By offering a moneyback guarantee you are offering what is known as "risk reversal". You are taking the risk off your buyer. In effect you shoulder the risk.
I know this works, because I use it myself. In thousands of auctions I've run, I can count on one hand the number of people who have invoked my money back guarantee.
If you can practice "risk reversal", it will help your auction success rate, and it is vital on Dutch auctions.
Objection 2
How do I pay?
Always maximize the number of payment options you will accept.
You should provide different types of payment options for your buyers:
PayPal
Nochex
FastPay
Cheque
Postal Order
Banker's Draft
Bank Transfer
Cash
You can accept credit/debit cards on your auctions if you open accounts with relevant payment processors. These enable buyers to pay you with a credit/debit card even though you aren't a business, and you don't have what is known as a Merchant Account.
As you probably know, PayPal is owned by eBay. Therefore eBay make it really easy for you to take PayPal payments from your buyers. But don't forget other payment processors, like Nochex and FastPay. It might just be that you’re interested buyer only has a Nochex account, or a Fast Pay account.
Opening accounts is free. Paying anyone via PayPal, Nochex or FastPay is also free - which is why so many auction bidders and buyers use them. There are charges for you as a seller, however, and these are incurred when you receive money and/or when you transfer money from/to your PayPal, Nochex or FastPay accounts from/to your own bank account. Check out the respective fees via their web sites.
In my experience, the rates of charges are reasonable for giving you the significant advantage of being able to accept credit/debit card payments on your auctions.
Objection 3
Is delivery expensive?
Always fully describe your delivery details within your auction description. Be up front about delivery costs.
If bidders or buyers aren't given this detail within the auction description, they may become suspicious that the seller is hiding something, and therefore decide not to bid. There have been occasions where sellers have sold items at what appear to be cheap prices, but have inflated delivery costs to compensate, or even over compensate. Never do this!
There is no reason why you cannot say up front how much P&P will be. You can find out the real delivery costs of the company you plan to use. You can get these details from their website.
Once you have the postal costs you can add the appropriate handling and packaging costs, and there you have the figure to let your buyers know in advance that you're not hiding anything.
You have just removed another doubt in your prospective buyer's mind.
Objection 4
What happens if the item arrives damaged?
In your auction description you should cover your policy in relation to damages and insurance.
If you're selling higher value items you may wish to consider using a delivery service which includes insurance. Remember, even though the buyer has paid for it, the item is your property until it is accepted by the buyer. So if it is damaged in transit, this is your responsibility. You will have to arrange a replacement or a refund, and claim your costs back via your insurance.
Don't forget, if you do need to have enhanced insurance cover, it is perfectly reasonable to include this is in your delivery costs as shown in your auction description.
Objection 5
How professional is someone who has multiple spelling errors?
It is very unreasonable for any bidder to overlook your auction just because you have spelling errors. Isn't it?
However, they may believe someone who won't take the trouble to get their spelling correct might be equally unprofessional elsewhere.
You and I might consider that stance to be unreasonable. With spell checkers available, however, there's no reason to have any spelling errors creeping through on your auction page.
So, spell checks your auction description page - please.
Objection 6
What do I do now?
You should always "ask for the order". In other words, suggest to your prospective buyer that they make a bid today for this valuable, rare, stunning, limited edition item!
And remind them that when they win the item they will be enriched by the strongest benefit you have already identified to them in your auction description.
Objections - Summary
If you spend time removing these objections, you will be repaid handsomely. I can guarantee you will receive more genuine bids for each of your auctions than if you had left these points hanging for the bidder to ponder and make assumptions
In your auction description you need to remove as many of these objections as you can.
These are the kind of objections which your prospective buyers will have.
Objection 1
Is the seller trustworthy?
The buyer usually doesn't know you. If they're serious bidders they will check you out. How will they do this?
a) A good Feedback Rating will be one way they assess you. Be determined in getting your feedback up, and making it all positive.
b) They might also click through to your About Me page. This page gives you the opportunity to convey your personality and your honesty.
One of eBay's standard About Me page formats lets you display your recent feedbacks - always useful - and also your other auctions, again useful. This is in addition to anything about yourself which helps to show what a sincere and genuine person you are.
And finally, if you have a web site from which you sell products or services, you are allowed to place a direct link to it from the About Me page. This is in marked contrast to your auction description page, where eBay does not allow direct links to web pages. So, create an About Me page and incorporate the points mentioned.
c) A prospective bidder may wish to ask you a question. As you will know, there is a standard eBay facility whereby a bidder can ask a seller a question. You should really welcome questions. Why do I say this?
Well, if a bidder asks you a question, first of all you know they are interested in your offering. They wouldn't have wasted their time on typing out their question to you if they weren't. So, by asking you a question they are qualifying themselves in as a real prospect. And you now have the chance to directly influence them in your reply to their question. Depending on the nature of their enquiry, you have the opportunity to convey your integrity, honesty, credibility, fair mindedness, helpfulness, expertise, knowledge, other appropriate products etc.
So, if questions are such good things, why not make it easy for the bidder to ask one? Always have some text in your auction description offering to answer any questions, with a link to your email address. If you have a little knowledge of HTML coding you will know how easy this is to do. It is far better than simply relying on buyers finding the standard "Ask the seller a question" link provided by eBay.
d) You might consider a moneyback guarantee, if it's appropriate and you can "afford" it.
Why would you or should you do this?
Well, when you think about it, in online auctions, the buyer is normally asked to take all the risk. They usually pay the seller up front - before the item is delivered to them. The risk is all theirs that the seller doesn't perform.
To some buyers, particularly on higher value items, this risk is so high that it can cause them to have second thoughts about bidding. You know you are trustworthy, but they don't. By offering a moneyback guarantee you are offering what is known as "risk reversal". You are taking the risk off your buyer. In effect you shoulder the risk.
I know this works, because I use it myself. In thousands of auctions I've run, I can count on one hand the number of people who have invoked my money back guarantee.
If you can practice "risk reversal", it will help your auction success rate, and it is vital on Dutch auctions.
Objection 2
How do I pay?
Always maximize the number of payment options you will accept.
You should provide different types of payment options for your buyers:
PayPal
Nochex
FastPay
Cheque
Postal Order
Banker's Draft
Bank Transfer
Cash
You can accept credit/debit cards on your auctions if you open accounts with relevant payment processors. These enable buyers to pay you with a credit/debit card even though you aren't a business, and you don't have what is known as a Merchant Account.
As you probably know, PayPal is owned by eBay. Therefore eBay make it really easy for you to take PayPal payments from your buyers. But don't forget other payment processors, like Nochex and FastPay. It might just be that you’re interested buyer only has a Nochex account, or a Fast Pay account.
Opening accounts is free. Paying anyone via PayPal, Nochex or FastPay is also free - which is why so many auction bidders and buyers use them. There are charges for you as a seller, however, and these are incurred when you receive money and/or when you transfer money from/to your PayPal, Nochex or FastPay accounts from/to your own bank account. Check out the respective fees via their web sites.
In my experience, the rates of charges are reasonable for giving you the significant advantage of being able to accept credit/debit card payments on your auctions.
Objection 3
Is delivery expensive?
Always fully describe your delivery details within your auction description. Be up front about delivery costs.
If bidders or buyers aren't given this detail within the auction description, they may become suspicious that the seller is hiding something, and therefore decide not to bid. There have been occasions where sellers have sold items at what appear to be cheap prices, but have inflated delivery costs to compensate, or even over compensate. Never do this!
There is no reason why you cannot say up front how much P&P will be. You can find out the real delivery costs of the company you plan to use. You can get these details from their website.
Once you have the postal costs you can add the appropriate handling and packaging costs, and there you have the figure to let your buyers know in advance that you're not hiding anything.
You have just removed another doubt in your prospective buyer's mind.
Objection 4
What happens if the item arrives damaged?
In your auction description you should cover your policy in relation to damages and insurance.
If you're selling higher value items you may wish to consider using a delivery service which includes insurance. Remember, even though the buyer has paid for it, the item is your property until it is accepted by the buyer. So if it is damaged in transit, this is your responsibility. You will have to arrange a replacement or a refund, and claim your costs back via your insurance.
Don't forget, if you do need to have enhanced insurance cover, it is perfectly reasonable to include this is in your delivery costs as shown in your auction description.
Objection 5
How professional is someone who has multiple spelling errors?
It is very unreasonable for any bidder to overlook your auction just because you have spelling errors. Isn't it?
However, they may believe someone who won't take the trouble to get their spelling correct might be equally unprofessional elsewhere.
You and I might consider that stance to be unreasonable. With spell checkers available, however, there's no reason to have any spelling errors creeping through on your auction page.
So, spell checks your auction description page - please.
Objection 6
What do I do now?
You should always "ask for the order". In other words, suggest to your prospective buyer that they make a bid today for this valuable, rare, stunning, limited edition item!
And remind them that when they win the item they will be enriched by the strongest benefit you have already identified to them in your auction description.
Objections - Summary
If you spend time removing these objections, you will be repaid handsomely. I can guarantee you will receive more genuine bids for each of your auctions than if you had left these points hanging for the bidder to ponder and make assumptions
How To Select Only Hot Items For eBay
Many people who are trying to start an eBay business spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which items sell the best on eBay. Many of these people have elaborate systems for determining this information, and many others purchase expensive courses that teach them how to find this information as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you need to know is right in front of you - on the eBay website!
Take a look at any category, and you will see the word "hot" beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly - there is a method to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there have been more than thirty bids placed on the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well.
However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items sell best than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that will result in a successful auction in the future is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .
A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is "eBay Marketplace Research." Marketplace Research will allow you to view important statistical information on the buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well - or how poorly - an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools, however.
Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/ . This list is divided into categories, which will make it easier to determine how popular your potential item may be.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your homework on the item first. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.
Take a look at any category, and you will see the word "hot" beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly - there is a method to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there have been more than thirty bids placed on the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well.
However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items sell best than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that will result in a successful auction in the future is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .
A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is "eBay Marketplace Research." Marketplace Research will allow you to view important statistical information on the buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well - or how poorly - an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools, however.
Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/ . This list is divided into categories, which will make it easier to determine how popular your potential item may be.
Don't make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your homework on the item first. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.
eBay Customer Service That Builds Long Term Loyalty
If you are running an eBay business, you may not realize that the need for great customer service still exists - even for online auctions. When a buyer receives quality customer service from you, they will potentially do one of two things - or both. They will give you great feedback, and they may look for more of your auctions in the future. If you hope to make a living from eBay, you have to stop thinking of it as an "auction" and start running it like a "business."
If you owned a brick and mortar business, how would you treat your customer while they were standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish ringing up their order? You would be helpful and respectful of course! You would do everything that you could to guarantee that customers return to your establishment in the future. You would bend over backwards to make sure that their buying experience with you was both satisfactory and enjoyable. Why would you do any less at the close of one of your eBay auctions?
First, act quickly at the close of your auctions. Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe the item they have won and how the item will be shipped - even if this information is already part of the description for the auction. Remind them of their winning bid amount, and give them payment options and instructions. Let them know when the item will be shipped.
Close your email by thanking them for participating in your auction. You might even take this opportunity to tell them about other open auctions that you have as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a conversation that you are having with a customer who is standing at your counter in that imaginary brick and mortar store.
Once the payment and shipping details have been taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them know when the item was shipped - the exact date and time - and when it is expected to arrive on their end. During this contact, let them know that if they have any problems or questions, that they should contact you through the eBay site. If they do contact you in the future, make sure that you answer promptly, and that you do all that you can to make them happy with their purchase - even if it means issuing a refund.
Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds, depending on what the item is. Furthermore, you should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to you, at your expense, before the refund is issued - but once you receive the item, issue the refund promptly. This is just good business!
If you owned a brick and mortar business, how would you treat your customer while they were standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish ringing up their order? You would be helpful and respectful of course! You would do everything that you could to guarantee that customers return to your establishment in the future. You would bend over backwards to make sure that their buying experience with you was both satisfactory and enjoyable. Why would you do any less at the close of one of your eBay auctions?
First, act quickly at the close of your auctions. Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe the item they have won and how the item will be shipped - even if this information is already part of the description for the auction. Remind them of their winning bid amount, and give them payment options and instructions. Let them know when the item will be shipped.
Close your email by thanking them for participating in your auction. You might even take this opportunity to tell them about other open auctions that you have as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a conversation that you are having with a customer who is standing at your counter in that imaginary brick and mortar store.
Once the payment and shipping details have been taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them know when the item was shipped - the exact date and time - and when it is expected to arrive on their end. During this contact, let them know that if they have any problems or questions, that they should contact you through the eBay site. If they do contact you in the future, make sure that you answer promptly, and that you do all that you can to make them happy with their purchase - even if it means issuing a refund.
Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds, depending on what the item is. Furthermore, you should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to you, at your expense, before the refund is issued - but once you receive the item, issue the refund promptly. This is just good business!
Let's talk about feedback. We all know that feedback is an essential component of eBay, in fact it's probably a large part of why the company has been so successful. In marketing terms we might refer to feedback as social proof. I'll explain what I mean. We all make decisions based on what others do, yes we are influenced by others to an extraordinary degree.
If someone tells us that they enjoyed a great meal or watched a really good movie, chances are that we'll do the same, based on their recommendation. That's social proof.
The principle works on eBay too. When we read the feedback comments left by buyers and sellers we take note. If those comments are predominantly positive then we naturally trust the person behind that account.
So not only is feedback an essential aspect of eBay that virtually all buyers and sellers devote significant amount of time to reading, it is one that deserves more attention than you give it now.
For most sellers, leaving feedback is a few rushed words, fairly generic, and posted without much thought. The renegade seller on the other hand realizes that there is an opportunity to make more of this important aspect of eBay.
Firstly, don't leave feedback to chance. Rather than letting buyers write the first thing that comes into their heads, prompt them a little. How can you do that without seeming impolite or demanding?
Send out an e-mail around the time you expect them to have received their item, and politely ask them not to leave feedback until they are 100% satisfied. If there's something that needs to be fixed, tell them you want to do that. Let them know that you live for happy customers!
Next, guide them as to what to write. Suggest to them that your customers are delighted because of the fast shipping, friendly service, fair mailing costs, quality of items, and any other benefits you can think of. This is an NLP technique that plants the thought in their mind, so that when they come to leave you feedback, you've already told them what to mention! Is this deceiving customers? No, not if you genuinely do deliver these benefits. You are simply helping to remind them.
Another important renegade feedback strategy is to include a marketing message in the feedback YOU leave. For example, instead of the usual, "Great transaction, recommended eBayer etc etc" that most buyers and sellers default to, use the space to further promote your items.You might say, "Thanks from CloseoutExplosion.com -- eBay's #1 Wholesale Closeout Store."
In the above example, notice that the feedback message points people back to a domain name, which would be either the eBay store or your own website. Also, notice that the first letter of each word is capitalized -- an effective marketing technique to make the wording stand out.
Remember, feedback comments stay on an account for a very long time, so use that precious 'real estate' wisely.
If someone tells us that they enjoyed a great meal or watched a really good movie, chances are that we'll do the same, based on their recommendation. That's social proof.
The principle works on eBay too. When we read the feedback comments left by buyers and sellers we take note. If those comments are predominantly positive then we naturally trust the person behind that account.
So not only is feedback an essential aspect of eBay that virtually all buyers and sellers devote significant amount of time to reading, it is one that deserves more attention than you give it now.
For most sellers, leaving feedback is a few rushed words, fairly generic, and posted without much thought. The renegade seller on the other hand realizes that there is an opportunity to make more of this important aspect of eBay.
Firstly, don't leave feedback to chance. Rather than letting buyers write the first thing that comes into their heads, prompt them a little. How can you do that without seeming impolite or demanding?
Send out an e-mail around the time you expect them to have received their item, and politely ask them not to leave feedback until they are 100% satisfied. If there's something that needs to be fixed, tell them you want to do that. Let them know that you live for happy customers!
Next, guide them as to what to write. Suggest to them that your customers are delighted because of the fast shipping, friendly service, fair mailing costs, quality of items, and any other benefits you can think of. This is an NLP technique that plants the thought in their mind, so that when they come to leave you feedback, you've already told them what to mention! Is this deceiving customers? No, not if you genuinely do deliver these benefits. You are simply helping to remind them.
Another important renegade feedback strategy is to include a marketing message in the feedback YOU leave. For example, instead of the usual, "Great transaction, recommended eBayer etc etc" that most buyers and sellers default to, use the space to further promote your items.You might say, "Thanks from CloseoutExplosion.com -- eBay's #1 Wholesale Closeout Store."
In the above example, notice that the feedback message points people back to a domain name, which would be either the eBay store or your own website. Also, notice that the first letter of each word is capitalized -- an effective marketing technique to make the wording stand out.
Remember, feedback comments stay on an account for a very long time, so use that precious 'real estate' wisely.
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