OK. Earlier on we looked at great selling tactics. Now it’s time to observe some role models -- really professional sellers who are making lots of money on auction sites. As I said before, I have found that the quickest way to improve my own auctions is to study what successful people are doing.
How do you find these folks? When you follow a certain category (or two) for a while, you will notice that certain names appear repeatedly. Lots of sellers jump in, try to sell a few items and are unsuccessful. Or they realize they aren’t going to become millionaires in a month and move on. The ones who endure, however, are the ones who know what they are doing. These sellers are fantastic role models.
An important point... there is always more to learn! Even though I have been selling on the sites for a long, l-o-n-g time (Internet time, that is), I still observe other sellers constantly, note what they are doing and try to figure out how I can use their methods in my own auctions.
It is especially important to periodically look at other categories. You may have no personal interest in civil war weapons or DVDs but it could happen that a seller of those things has a brilliant idea that will make you a pile of money.
Winner #1...
Our first seller is Alan Probst. Alan, a professional ball player, was looking for something to do in the off season. Alan had some leftover bats from baseball stars, Jeff Bagwell and Craig Baggio, as well as some catcher’s gloves. He decided to put them on eBay… and was hooked!
Now Alan has auction fever and sells about 10 wholesale products, many of which are stored in his garage. He plans to expand as soon as this year’s baseball season is over.
Alan likes auctions so much that instead of an off season occupation, he now spends three hours before the game, and another three hours after, on the Net. Alan states that success depends upon two factors...
He insists that your customers must feel safe buying from you. They must feel that you are fair.
He prides himself on getting his merchandise out quickly. He tries to schedule his auctions so that they end when he is at home rather than on a road trip. That way he can be there for his customers.
Alan keeps meticulous records. He is very careful about the merchandise his customers receive and he always delivers it promptly.He refunds people’s money if they ask for it. As an example, he sold some diamond earrings for $9.99 that retail for about $35 - $40. He has sold over 1,000 pairs, and has refunded only seven or eight customers.
Alan sells a lot of merchandise as fundraisers for churches and little league teams.
Winner #2...Richard Duncan has a real “family affair” with eBay because his son and daughter also sell on the site.
Richard is a friendly retired auto worker who has sold items outside his full-time job for 40 years. Even while working in the auto plants, he sold items like jewelry, citizen’s band radios and metal detectors. Given his love of selling, it isn’t surprising that Richard, his wife, son and his brother opened a 3,300 square foot flea market in his town. They are open every day from 9-5 and from 12-5 on Sundays.
eBay is Richard’s hobby. He sells mostly new merchandise. One of his biggest sellers teaches us a lot about the psychology of buying and selling. Richard offered some knives for $1.25, with 50 cents for shipping and handling...
To his dismay, he sold only a handful at this price. However, to get a bargain price, he had to buy 600 of these so he had a financial investment that he was determined to recoup. So he offered them for one cent with $1.75 shipping and handling ($1.25, if 20 or more) and has sold 40,000 of them!
Richard adds that your ads must be written for a particular audience. Flag your target customer. Although some women have bought his knives, you can easily see that it is directed primarily toward a male audience...
His only unpleasant situation was when he was contacted by eBay. They complained that they were getting gypped out of their commission since he was only charging only one cent for his knives. He successfully argued that since he was paying to have his knives “featured,” they were making their money anyway.
There are zillions of items on eBay that sell for a penny. Richard told me that the auction site only takes notice if somebody complains to them. Most likely it was Richard’s competition who did so.
He also says that as soon as he creates a successful ad, somebody copies it -a frequent comment from super sellers. Richard had a great ad for a clock that was copied by many others. My favorite response to imitation is to quote what Ray Kroc once said -- “We can invent faster than people can copy.”
Good selling runs in the family. Richard’s son is also a power seller. You can tell by his ad where he clearly outlines the benefits of his product...
Winner #3
Sheri Lehn focuses mainly on software and jewelry. Sheri finds great deals on jewelry that she passes along to her customers. And she also sells handmade jewelry.
Sheri suggests that you make policy changes as required. In her case, she no longer accepts returns. Through experience, she learned that her initial return policy was not effective.
For example, Sheri advertised two silver tiffany bracelets as containing approximately 32 grams of silver. She received an e-mail from a customer who claimed that the total weight was only 30.7 grams and therefore she wanted her money back.
Another woman bought a crystal bracelet made with an elastic cord. She claimed that she couldn’t get the bracelet around her wrist but this bracelet stretched to over 9”! We laughed as we tried to picture in our mind the wrist involved.
She claims that selling on the auction sites is easy. She started, like almost everyone else, by selling goodies out of her house. In all of her many transactions, she has only received two or three bad checks and they were for small amounts. Her secret to success is that sellers must know their merchandise and it really helps a lot if you like the auction business!
Business is slower in the summer but she still does very well. Amazingly, in spite of all her auction business, she still holds down a full-time job. Her husband works with her and gets her sold items in the mail. She spends long hours wrapping boxes and replying to numerous e-mails.
Winners #4
J. B. and Karen Young, ShippingSupply.com, make their money selling to other auction sellers. They sell shipping supplies and auction such items as bubble mailers, tissue paper, labels, foam peanuts, CD mailers, boxes, tape, etc.
In 1997, Karen began as an eBay seller of fine collectibles, glass, pottery, and old toys. J. B. was still working full-time and helping in the evenings with such chores as packing and taking photos of the items. They had grown to about 100 items a week when they realized they were spending a lot of their time and money looking for the packing supplies required to ship their items.
They were going through what every auction seller does… dumpster diving for boxes and begging at the back door of stores, card shops, or whoever might have packing materials . Or as an alternative, they suffered sticker shock when they went to the office supply store and paid retail.
They began their present auction business by buying huge master rolls of bubble wrap. By turning two card tables on their side and using the legs as spindles, they were able to re-roll the wrap to manageable, shippable sizes.
Karen took on a couple of retired folks to help part-time. J. B. continued to help part-time until they got so busy he had to take a leave of absence from his job. By the summer of 1998, both Karen and J. B. were both full-time and had increased their personnel.
All the expert marketers tell us to find a niche and market to that targeted group by filling a need. Karen and J.B. have filled a need very well. Their feedback comments from happy clients confirm this.
Winner #5Another smart seller is Wendy Sechel. But it wasn’t so long ago that she was really broke and desperate. She was between jobs and realized just how tough it was when she had to cross a bridge near her home. There was a toll of one dollar and Wendy didn’t have it. She was reduced to scrounging on the floor of her car for those last two cents!
However, her financial difficulties were the source of what Wendy considers her greatest triumph. In desperation, Wendy took a favorite piece of jewelry to a pawn shop. The owner offered her $20. Refusing to accept that price, she decided to put it on eBay where it sold for $371! Wendy became an instant convert to the power of Internet auctions. She began a new career and has never looked back.
Wendy says that her first ads were very amateurish-looking -- all black text in one long paragraph. She didn’t even know how to add pictures. Now, however, her ads are extremely professional-looking…
Wendy mainly sells jewelry, air fare certificates and diet products. She constantly has her eyes open for a bargain and is willing to sell any items that are profitable. When she is asked where she finds the products she sells, her reply is always the same -- networking. Use and develop contacts.
She is so successful that she receives tons of spam (big surprise). You know the type -- become-a-millionaire-in-two-weeks. Not to worry. She has a wonderful response. Wendy bundles her ads and sales receipts for two weeks and sends it back to the spammer, asking if he would like her help in the money-making department! Needless to say, the spammer is…
… left "spam"-less. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
When asked her secret to success she states flatly that customer service is her answer. Wendy gets approximately 150 e-mails a day, and she answers them as promptly as possible. She also leaves feedback for every single person she does business with and considering the number of deals she does, this is a major job.
As for problems, Wendy claims that she needs to be more organized. Apparently, this isn’t her strong suit.Wendy enjoys dealing with almost all her customers but there are the occasional difficult ones. Luckily, she has a sense of humor about those. One wacky guy bought a software product that needed to be downloaded. He and Wendy exchanged numerous e-mails. The customer claimed to be both a millionaire and a computer expert but was unable to complete a simple download, in spite of step-by-step directions.
He then claimed that Wendy had scammed him with a product that was defective --even though he knew that many other customers had successfully downloaded the product already. Wendy simply recognizes that there is a small minority of goofy folks in every business.
Wendy joyfully proclaims that she loves the auction business, and it is easy to hear this in her voice. But Wendy swears that in spite of all the money she is making now, she will never forget the lean times when life was tough. She told her mother years ago that if she ever “made it big,” she wouldn’t become a snob. She is determined that her son will also learn this lesson, even though she can now easily afford the $100 sneakers that used to be an undreamed-of luxury.
Take each idea that smart sellers have done right and apply it to whatever you want to sell. You will be amazed at and proud of what you create. And that brings us to the final resource list -- where to sell your merchandise... 