It is my strong belief that any person who is building a business online should find a component of their business strategy to be conducted via Ebay. Ebay is a market that simply cannot be overlooked. The exposure for one's products is the greatest on Ebay with a massive array of possible visitors with easy access to your products. I will also show you how you can even use Ebay to increase visitors to your own website or blog. By looking at the following stats, one must be crazy to work online and not promote his products on Ebay with millions of prospects out there looking to buy on Ebay.
Every minute of every day more than 150 items are listed for sale and more than 500 bids are placed.
There are currently more than 80 million Ebay users who spend more than $60 million every day.
More than 2 million items are posted every day with millions of users searching the site to find those items.
Ebay conducts more than 12 million auctions at any given time.
One you see these numbers you realize the potential of making money on Ebay. No other marketplace can compare with Ebay in terms of size and scope of products offered.
Additionally, eBay has developed so as to allow sellers to list products in a variety of niche categories, allowing for great prospect targeting. Those who want to find the kind of thing one is selling will find it. Meanwhile, the seller is not required to pay for views by people who have no potential interest in their offerings. Targeted marketing is a key to success and few buying venues allow for the level of targeting provided by eBay.
Everyone is familiar with eBay on some level. Its huge member base and remarkable influence have made it instantly recognizable to millions of people. With that level of awareness also comes a level of trust. Many people who would be reluctant to spend anything at an unknown website are more than willing to make purchases through eBay as a byproduct of their familiarity with the site.
Many of those who use eBay tend to rely on it almost exclusively for online purchases. The ease of the site’s use and its popularity has created an entire marketplace of people who are eBay-only buyers. Those who fail to sell on eBay never have an opportunity to access this potential market.
When one considers the ease of use involved in selling on eBay all of these advantages are multiplied. Setting up a seller’s account is incredibly simple and does not require a great deal of time or effort. The price of listing auctions on eBay is also quite limited. This makes use of the system even more attractive.
Those who are involved in online business must consider eBay when conducting their sales and marketing strategies. To overlook this giant is an error of the largest magnitude. There are few other ways to have such potential reach available for such a low cost so quickly. Many who never felt their efforts would translate effectively into the eBay marketplace have been pleasantly surprised at its strength as a revenue producing component of their business. If you have something to sell online, you simply cannot afford to leave eBay out of your overall marketing and business strategy.
Why use Paypal? Here's why:
Offering PayPal gives sellers multiple benefits:
Attract More Buyers – When buyers see the PayPal logo in your eBay listings, they’re more likely to bid and buy because they know their privacy is protected and their payments are safe. In fact, 3 out of 4 eBay buyers prefer PayPal over any other payment method.
Spend Your Time Effectively – Payments made with PayPal clear instantly so you can skip the trip to the bank to deposit checks and money orders. Plus, you don't have to worry about bounced or lost checks.
Reduce Unpaid Items – Letting your buyers pay right away reduces the risk that they'll forget or change their mind about their purchases. In fact, items that do not accept PayPal are 50% more likely to become an Unpaid Item.
Rotate Inventory Quickly – The faster you receive payment, the faster you can ship an item. This means that you don't have to store an item while you wait for cash to arrive or a check to clear.
Build Confidence – When you offer PayPal, you increase the safety of every transaction and let buyers know that you take their financial security seriously.
Accept Credit Cards Affordably – With no start up or monthly fees, PayPal allow sellers of all sizes to accept credit cards more easily and more affordably than merchant accounts.
ADDITIONAL PAYPAL BENEFITS
PayPal Buyer Protection – PayPal offers $500 coverage for buyers on
your listings when you qualify for PayPal Buyer Protection (98% positive
feedback rating and good feedback).
Immediate Payments – Create a retail-like purchase experience and
eliminate Unpaid Items on your Buy It Now listings when you require
Immediate Payment.
PayPal Seller Protection – Get protection from fraudulent chargebacks
on qualifying transactions. A dedicated chargeback team will help you
fight chargebacks on non-qualifying transactions.
Invoicing – Automatically invoice your buyers with customized emails. Reporting – Download your transaction history, uncover trends, and
manage your business better.
Multi-User Access – Provide unique levels of access to your PayPal
account to all your employees.
Getting Started
First of all you will need to become somewhat familiar with the Ebay format and know the functions of listing items on the auction site. We will focus on how to make money on Ebay and not on things such as registration or how to list a product. We are all grown adults and can spend 10 minutes on playing around with the different features on Ebay in order to get a bit accustomed to the site.
Before you even start contemplating about making a real income on Ebay, you must first decide on several factors. What do you want to sell? Who are your customers? Will you sell only to a niche market? What age group are your customers? Where will you get products from? Are your items hot and popular items?
These are the things you must begin thinking about now as your Marketing Strategy.
What to Sell
With over 1000 categories, you can sell virtually anything on eBay. But choosing what to sell can often be overwhelming. My advice is to look first to your own hobbies and interests, because the most successful sales pitch ALWAYS COMES FROM THE HEART. It sounds corny, but it is TRUE. If you don't believe in what you're selling, and you aren't willing to stand behind your product, your online business will certainly fail. You should never sell a product that you aren't enthusiastic about, or else you should be able to fake your enthusiasm better than a Hollywood actor. Either way, you must pass on the positive energy about your product to the consumer. This applies not only on eBay but throughout "marketing land" in general, both online and offline.
It is true that some things sell better than others. Information and software are particularly hot sellers because almost all computer users are pre-qualified for those products. In other words, the fact that they are using a computer means they need software, and the fact that they are using the Information Superhighway means they are already looking for information! Selling to a pre-qualified market can be very profitable, but you must be enthusiastic about what you're selling or it will surely fail. Once again, YOU SHOULD ONLY SELL A PRODUCT THAT YOU ARE EXCITED ABOUT. That is the absolute best advice I can give you with regards to online marketing in general!
If this step is a difficult one for you, then at the end of this Ebay section we will have a list of places where you can get the best products and at the best prices.Finding your Niche Market
Once you have a product in mind, you need to pinpoint your niche market. This is very easy to do. Brainstorm a list of interests, hobbies, topics, subjects, and ideas that are similar or related to your product. For example, if you sell knives (as I do) then you would consider the following interests/hobbies relevant to your product: camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, boating, knife collecting, diving, martial arts, sporting goods, kitchenware, cutlery, tools, collectible hand tools, knife making, etc. The eBay users who visit such categories on the auction site make up your niche market!
Once you know where your customers go, you need to KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS. Brainstorm a list of their interests, hobbies, likes and dislikes, age range, income potential, likely vocation, marital status, etc. Devise a complete dossier on your potential customers in that niche market. The reason for this will become clear later as you learn to write an effective sales pitch. The sales pitch aims at attracting a certain profile of eBay user and is the most profitable tool you can use to increase the percentage sales of your products.
Choosing a Category or Categories
Ok, you have put a lot of thought into your product and completed the introspective phase of getting started. You're excited about your merchandise and you're ready to start selling it on eBay auctions. The next step is to find your niche market; as applies to online auctions, this refers to the category you will list your item(s) in. Considering eBay has over 1000 categories to choose from, this should be a relatively easy process. But there is one important trick you strategy to know.
Before listing your item in any category, follow these simple steps: First, browse through ALL eBay categories and write down which ones you feel are relevant to your product. You should be able to find at least 5-10 possible choices. Next, write down the number of auctions currently online in each of those categories (the number of auctions online will appear next to the category name). An average in any category is about 1000, so if there are more than 1000 you may conclude that the category is active and if there are less than 1000 you may consider it inactive. I consider categories with over 3000 auctions to be popular and those with over 10000 are most popular. Using this ranking system, rate the categories that you have chosen for your product. I recommend listing in active or above categories only because they get the most traffic - if you put your product in an inactive section of eBay, you may get little or no bids, even if you feature it. Avoid categories with less than 1000 auctions online!
Keeping Track of Your Auctions
Once you have more than 5-10 auction listings online, you will need to develop an effective system for keeping track of them all. Simply listing the items and sending a confirmation email to the winners is not enough. For example, if a customer purchases one of your products and asks whether you received payment yet or not, you need to track down the item number and see if you have received his check. Other customers may want to know when the item was shipped or have other questions pertaining to auctions they won in the past.
The easiest way to keep track of your auctions is to use software to track them. If you list less than 5-10 auctions at a time, you can probably keep track of them with the old pen-and-paper method, or with a simple spreadsheet. If you choose this method, follow these steps for keeping track of the auctions: use a separate sheet of paper for each auction you list. Write down the item number, URL, listing date, listing price, and category, along with any other comments or pertinent information. When the auction ends, write down the ending date, the sell price (if any) and the buyer's contact information. Index the auctions by auction number for quick reference in a file. Again, this method works ok for fewer than 10 auctions online each week. If you have more than that, you must use a database system of some kind. Selling the merchandise is only half the battle - you MUST keep track of your sales or you will quickly find yourself lost and confused. Particularly on April 15th!
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
An essential aspect of every eBay auction in which a physical product is sold (excluding services, information, or software) is an image file! Hardly anyone is willing to buy what they can't see. If your competitor shows off an impressive picture of his product and you don't, then you lose business. It's just that simple. To attach a picture to your eBay auctions is not that difficult and is the subject of a completely different manual, but the basics you will need are a digital camera and a way to host your picture such as an Internet website or a special image hosting company. eBay has extensive help files on how to attach a picture to your auction. The picture should be used to highlight the best aspects of your product - make sure that the lighting and the setup is correct and that you take the time to take a top-quality, gripping picture. When browsing through auctions, often the image is the first thing to attract potential customers, so the more effort you put into taking an outstanding digital picture the more profitable your business will be. In fact, if you are selling a physical product, I cannot in good conscience recommend listing it on eBay until you have a quality picture to attach to your auction. The picture sells
- remember that!
Your Strategy
The key to making enormous profits on eBay is to develop a detailed and efficient strategy long before you list your first item. First you need to know what type of product you want to sell, where to find your niche market on eBay, and develop a profile of your average customer. In addition, you should already have determined which categories are appropriate for your product. Now you are ready to set your strategy for the business. Read this part of the manual very, very carefully.
I'm going to present you with a strategy that you can apply to virtually any product you wish to sell on eBay. I will generalize the outline so you can fill in the specifics related to your own particular niche market and merchandise.
There are two types of sellers on eBay which I will call High Volume Listers and Low Volume Listers. High Volume Listers are those who list more keep more than 10 auctions online at a time. Low Volume Listers keep fewer than 10 auctions online at a time.
The profit margin of the product you sell determines which category you will fit into. For example, if you sell real estate and make $10,000 per sale, you may only need to list a few properties each week on eBay to make a real killing with your Internet business. The same applies for the sale of expensive jewelry, automobiles, and other items with a large profit margin. However, if you sell magazines or other inexpensive items you may only make $5-10 per sale. In this case, you would need to list hundreds of items at a time to make large profits, and thus you would become a High Volume Listing. I know what you're thinking - why would anyone go through the effort of listing so many items when it seems so easy to list a few large items and make a fortune? The answer cuts to the heart of Internet sales itself: ONLINE BUYERS ARE MOST WILLING TO SPEND UNDER $50.00 FOR A PRODUCT. This makes sense - would you pay thousands for something you have never seen? Another reason that High Volume Listers are more common and often make more money on eBay is that it is very easy to buy inexpensive items at wholesale prices, but very difficult to buy real estate or automobiles at wholesale prices.
Armed with this information, you must consider the product you're selling and make an intelligent, informed decision on whether to become a High Volume or a Low Volume Seller. If you have plenty of free time to devote to your new business, I recommend you opt for the High Volume option. But if you are an eBay seller at nights and on weekends, you may wish to start off with the Low Volume option until your business really takes off. Again, only you know best which option to choose based on the amount of time you have available and the profit margin of your merchandise.
Once you determine what type of seller you will be, you are half-way to developing a sales strategy on eBay. The next step is to integrate everything you have learned so far in this manual and project your selling strategy into the future. For example, let's assume you have decided to sell jewelry on eBay. Here is a test case for consideration: You have identified your niche market and found the associated categories. You know that your buyers will probably spend $50.00-100.00 per purchase and you realize that the average profit of your auctions will be about $60.00. You have plenty of time and your profit margin is low, so you decide to become a High Volume Seller on eBay and choose to list 100-200 auctions per week. You estimate that 70% of your auction will end with winning bids, which is the eBay average. Based on this prediction, you calculate your weekly income at $6300. Using database software, you plan to keep track of your auctions and use the built-in market analysis feature to discontinue unpopular items and relist the popular ones. You have a wholesale account set up with your jewelry supplier and have already purchased enough inventory to cover your first week of eBay sales. You plan to relist every auction as soon as it ends and place one weekly order to fill your inventory along with one weekly outgoing mailing to your buyers. Your basic sales strategy is set and you are ready to begin listing your auctions!
In the example above, you will notice that the seller thought of EVERYTHING before listing a single item, making sure that he/she was prepared for the task ahead and establishing a solid game plan. Before beginning, you should project your sales strategy into the future and run through all possible problems, resolving them in your mind. If it helps, write out a paragraph like the one above and analyze it for errors of logic. KNOW YOUR SALES STRATEGY BEFORE YOU BEGIN.
I strongly recommend listing all of your auctions as regular auctions before you begin. Do not feature them or use the Dutch Auction option at this time. Test out your sales strategy and evaluate the popularity of your product in its niche market for several weeks before continuing. The rest of this manual contains advanced tips designed for sellers who have mastered the concepts already set forth and who have performed a basic market analysis of their products based on the results of several weeks of auctions.
Knowing Your Competition
Obviously, one must know how and what his competition is doing in order to succedd in one's own business. For Ebay sellers there is only one solution: Terapeak. Terapeak is the leading research tool for Ebay. It will tell you what the hottest items on Ebay are, how much you should price your items, what the competition prices it at, what the best times are to list your specific item, and more. This tool is $24.95 per month and is a no-brainer for success on Ebay.
Let me give you an example of how Terapeak helped me. In my Ebay Store which is run by my wife and her friend, we were selling a Motorola W375 for about $93 and were making about $15 on each phone. We sold about 400 of these phones in one month on and off Ebay (we found great cell phone suppliers). After doing some research on the competition using Terapeak, we found that a competitor was selling triple the amount of the Motorola W375 than we were and was selling the phone for $104 while we were selling it for $93.
I was baffled and confused. Why would anyone pay more to him?! The research showed that most people searched for Motorola phones under the following criteria: “phones in the price range of $100 to $200. Therfore, my W375 phone did not show up in those searches because we were selling it for less than $100. Now we raised the price to $104 and we are selling a lot more. We would have lost out on a lot of money if not for that piece of research. Now we are making about $23 profit on each phone after Ebay and Paypal fees.
To Feature or not to Feature
Featured auctions get more bids. They also cost more - a lot more. Before deciding whether or not to feature your item, you need to evaluate its popularity. You should perform a basic market analysis either on your own or using database software.
There are two types of featured auctions - those which are featured in category cost $14.95 and show up at the top of the item's category main page. This ensures that anyone who visits that category will probably see your auction, as the normal browser scrolls down a few screens and then leaves. I recommend featuring your item in its category if it has an average sales percentage of 50% or greater. In other words, after running regular auctions for a few weeks, you should choose the "featured in category" option if more than half of the auctions for that item have ended in a sale. I also HIGHLY SUGGEST choosing the boldface title option whenever you feature one of your items, as it draws more attention to your product.
A regular featured auction costs $99.99 and generates even more bids than a featured in category. Of course, it also costs a lot more, and as such you should only choose this option if you your item(s) has a sales percentage of 60% or greater. By featuring many popular auctions, you will make enormous profits on eBay. But the key to success is running those tiresome regular auctions for weeks to figure out which items to feature and which items to discontinue. Trial and error works!
NOTE: eBay will not let you feature auctions selling information, services, or adult material due to complaints from users. If you sell that type of product, you should run a featured in category auction only.
Trial & Error - It Works
As I have indicated, trial and error is one major tool for success. It works, pure and simple. Don't be afraid to try out new ideas or to feature dozens of your most popular products. Find out what sells and what doesn't - continually order new products from your supplier that you feel will become big hits on eBay. Do not get into a rut selling the same thing over and over again; you will saturate the market after a few months. The most important use for trial and error on eBay is to use the regular auctions as a testing ground for your new merchandise to determine its sales percentage and corresponding marketability, as well as its profit margin. You can then make an educated decision as to whether or not to feature the auction or choose the dutch option, or both. Impulse selling is much like impulse buying - you regret it soon afterwards. Don't use the fancy options on eBay until you first use trial and error on all of your products.
Writing Your Sales Pitch
Successful sellers on eBay know how to write an item description (sales pitch) that instantly perks the browser's interest and then draws them in after a few sentences. The first part of your eBay sales pitch is the title, which should be catchy and immediately focus a potential customer on your auction. If you get them to click on your auction, then you have won half the battle. I recommend bold-face titles at all times using catch words such as "HOT ITEM", "WOW!", "RARE", "UNIQUE", "SUPER DEAL", "UNBELIEVABLE!", "BEST VALUE", etc. I also suggest using all caps so that your title stands out above the rest. DO NOT use fancy symbols or other "cheesy" ways to attract attention to your auction. Such tactics immediately turn off most potential customers and make your business look unprofessional and even ridiculous.
A big part of your sales pitch is the picture that you attach to your auction, but you must also provide an enthusiastic and energizing description that makes your potential buyer feel like he NEEDS your product. Before you start writing the sales pitch, refer to the profile of potential customers in your niche market that you should already have compiled. What are their likes and dislikes? What are they looking for? How old are they and what jobs do they generally hold? What are their hobbies and interests? What makes them tick? A successful sales pitch appeals to the base interests and self-interest of the customer. When writing a sales pitch, attention to psychology counts more than attention to writing style. You need to make your item description APPEAL TO THE TYPE OF CUSTOMER WHO WILL BE VIEWING YOUR AUCTION. I recommend using some basic HTML coding to enhance the description, but I do NOT suggest giant letters and distracting objects such as blinking, animations, or more "cheesy" items in that regard.
Your potential buyer wants to know what your product will do for him, and does not need a lot of useless distraction. Again, your item description must appeal to the profile of the buyer and promote a feeling of professionalism and trust in your company.
Feedback - It Matters
I've heard some eBay users remark that feedback isn't all that important, that no one reads that stuff in the first place. Quite the contrary. While newbies and eBay novices will often overlook the feedback for lack of understanding and inexperience, almost ALL veteran buyers will view your feedback before buying your product. If they see comments such as "product not delivered", "this guy is a fraud", "terrible seller, would not trade with again" then they will never purchase your merchandise. You need to have an outstanding feedback rating brimming with positive comments to really make huge profits on eBay.
Also, you need a feedback rating of 10 or more to list dutch auctions or to feature an auction. The way to ensure quality feedback is simply to deliver a quality product quickly, efficiently, and honestly. If you are looking for a "quick fix" or a "hit and run" scheme then eBay is not the place for you. You can build a hugely profitable and legitimate online business using Internet auctions without defrauding anyone!
There will always be a few rogue customers who claim they never received their product or you were too slow to deliver it, or else were unhappy with what they received. We all know that the customer is NOT always right. My recommendation for dealing with such problem buyers is simply to offer a 30-day no-questionsasked refund on any physical product that you are selling (services, information, and software excluded for obvious reasons). If they persist in causing problems, just ignore them. One or two negative feedbacks won't destroy you - 10 or 20 will.
Customer Service Recommendations
Always answer a customer's email. Whether the customer is praising your product or complaining, whether he is offering his input or asking a question, he or she deserves an answer. Particularly on eBay, where feedback really counts! If you fail to answer emails, you may receive such comments as "unresponsive seller" or "ignored my repeated inquiries" in your feedback file. You will also earn yourself a poor reputation and lose respect in the online trading community. My recommendation: Keep your answers short, courteous, and to the point. Provide all relevant information and be friendly, but don't get bogged down in long email conversations back and forth, and don't let the customer lead you on an irrelevant tangent. Your time is money. Also, you should create a classy signature file that inspires confidence in you as a seller and looks professional. Finally, I strongly recommend creating a folder in your email program entitled "pre-written messages" in which you have template messages already created to answer common questions such as: 1) When has my item been shipped? 2) When did you receive payment? 3) How long does shipping take? Etc, etc. Customize your pre-written messages to fit your particular product, as you will notice very similar questions and comments from customers as time passes. It is MUCH EASIER to send out a pre-written form email than write a specific answer to each inq