What is copy? Copy is the text you find in advertising, particularly text for catalogs and direct mail solicitations. In other words, it’s the kind of text you want for your eBay auction ads and eBay Store catalog webpages. Copy writing is not necessarily hype like the short phrases in magazine advertisements. It’s persuasive writing in sentences and paragraphs. Copy writing is an art. Those who do it well get paid handsomely. Good copy writing sells merchandise. Can you expect to write your auction ads like a professional copy writer? Probably not. (I know I can’t.) Yet you want to do the best job you can. It ultimately means more money in your pocket. Thus,it pays to learn a few writing guide-lines that can substantially improve your copy writing.
Organize your thoughts before you start writing. If you have time, out-line what you’re going to write. As they say, a good story has a beginning, a middle, and an end. So does a good eBay auction ad. In effect, you tell the story of your product. The story affects the purchasing decision of the buyer. If the story rambles on without any point or is just a list of specifications, it won’t have a lo t of impact. As a result, the prospective buyer may remain undecided. If you write a coherent story and give it a point, it will lead a potential buyer to make a purchasing decision, and you will have achieved your purpose. What’s the point to make in your copy? Here’s the product (describe it). Here’s what it can do. And he re’s what it can do for you. If you can get a potential buyer to make a decision—doesn’t matter whether it’s to buy or not to buy—generally your bids will increase (and the winning bids will be higher).
Here are some priorities for an organized ad:
1. Full information on the product (e.g., specifications)
2. Full information on the condition of the product (if not new)
3. What the product can do
4. Benefits of the product to a buyer
5. Request to bid (or to buy)
With over 22 million items for sale every week, I can only give general guidelines in a chapter on copy writing. Each product is different, and some products may require special treatment for copy writing. But good organization in your writing will take you a long way down the road to writing solid and effective copy.
Remember, the Web is an informational medium. There is no shortage of space to tell the story of your product. This is not a classified ad where you pay by the word. You can us e as many words as you need to, and the price for the space is the same. In a mail order catalog, the descriptions of products are short because space is limited, but you will notice that the descriptions are much longer and more informational than in the hype of a magazine or newspaper display ad. In direct mail solicitations (junk mail), the descriptions of products are particularly long and informational because even more space is avail-able for one price. Good copy writers take advantage of the space avail-able to make a thorough sales pitch to the reader. They focus on the benefits of the product’ s features to the buyer. The reading space usu-ally consists of whatever paper the seller can cram into one ounce (the smallest unit of weight and the lowest postage). That’s the equivalent of four 8.5 x 11 sheets.
Direct mail is very effective. We tend to discount this fact, because we don’t read direct mail in which we are not interest ed. But when a solicitation arrives in the mail for a product we happen to want or need that day, we read it. And often the solicitation is quite enticing. Generally eBay product descriptions should be somewhere in length between a catalog description and a direct mail solicitation. You can justify writing longer ads for more expensive or more complex products. Your time is the real limitation here. The space is available.
Having told you to make it long, I’m going to tell you to keep it short. What’s going on here? In this case, focus on your actual writing, not the amount of content. Use short words, short sentences, and short paragraphs. More people understand—and are comfortable reading short words rather than long words. Short sentences read faster and are more understandable than long sentences. And reading short paragraphs goes faster and is less tedious than reading long paragraphs. So, write as much as you need to, but write it in short chunks with simple words.
Then too, you don’t have to use the all space available, which is practically unlimited. The objective is to say what you need to about a product to give a prospective buyer enough solid information to make a buying decision, no more and no less. For some products that may be two sentences and for other products it may be twenty or even two hundred sentences. Say what you need to and end it there.
Don’t try to make your writing conform to some pretentious stereotype. For instance, you don’t want your ad to sound like a lawyer wrote it. No one will read it. Write in your own voice. Give your writing some personality. In other words, you don’t want to make your writing abstract and impersonal.
We all talk with numerous people every day, and we differentiate them by their personalities. We are very skilled at doing so. We feel comfortable with information that has a human voice. We get bored with or even become suspicious of impersonal communications.
That doesn’t mean that you have to overwhelm prospective buyers with your down home dialog and charm, but it does mean that you can be yourself when you write your eBay auction ads. Write naturally as you would talk. That’s the best way to make your writing personal,
and that’s the best way you can write.
People are much more interested in who did what to whom than they are in what is. Use action verbs wherever possible and avoid the passive.
Action (active): John taped the package.
Inactive: The package is taped.
Passive: The package was taped by John.
Action moves reading along and gives power to the message. The passive puts readers to sleep. It’s not always possible to write with action verbs when copy writing, but use action verbs as much as possible.
Use plain language. This is similar to keeping it short. Use short words instead of long words wherever you can, and your language will be plainer. More people understand short words, and short words are easier to read for everyone. But it’s more than keeping your words short. Don’t use jargon or technical language. Your object here is to present information on the product to the greatest number of prospective buyers. Your objective is not to inform readers that you are a member of the in-group (associated with the product) by tossing around technical terms and jargon. When you use plain language, you focus your message on the product and on informing readers. When you use lots of jargon, you are, in effect, focusing the message on yourself and leaving many readers baffled. Sure, for many products you need to include technical information, product specifications (containing technical information), and industry jargon. But keep it to a minimum, and when you use anything but plain language, explain it to your readers.
You can argue that for certain technical items, the only bidders will be prospective buyers who will understand the industry jargon. I don’t buy that argument. For instance, I’m not an electrician or an electronics technician, but I bought a voltmeter a few years back. It was a one-project purchase, and I wanted to pay the lowest price possible. Yet I needed to be assured that I bought the right voltmeter to get the job done. Jargon didn’t help me—it hindered me—in making my purchasing decision. In fact, I couldn’t find an informative eBay ad for a voltmeter among the many auction ad s on eBay for voltmeters. Consequently, I bought the voltmeter offline at Radio Shack.
Good copy writing takes time. Time’s not money, but it’s still a finite commodity. You have to write your copy (or hire it done). You might as well learn to do a good job since you need to write copy one way or another. But you need to conserve your time too. Perhaps the best approach is to develop a strategy that limits the amount of time you spend writing. Here are some things you can do:
1. Give priority for writing good copy to products you will sell
again and again.
2. Give priority to your most expensive products.
3. Use links to manufacturers’ websites to supplement your product information wherever possible. In other words, if a manufacturer provides it, use it . Don’t reinvent the wheel.
4. Copy product literature from packages or product flyers wherever possible. (You may be violating a copyright, but this is a widespread practice on eBay. I don’t recommend that you do
this, but if you do, limit it to one time sales. For repeat sales of products, write your own copy, particularly for eBay Stores and Froogle.)
The trouble with doing a cost-effectiveness review regarding copy
writing is that the cost-effectiveness analysis applies only to that portion of the time it takes you to do a good job over and above the time it takes you to do a mediocre job. It’s this extra time that you need to consider in your cost-effectiveness evaluation. Since you will improve with learning and practice, you will become more efficient in writing good copy over time. Considering the importance of good copy, I have to conclude that competent copy writing is time well spent on marketing your products.
by: Amanda Peet
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Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label eBay. Show all posts
Friday, December 23, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Avoid eBay Scams and Fraud
Many people have been scammed on eBay. Although eBay is a fun place to bid on items and to sell items, you must know how to recognize a scam, and how to avoid them, them or you quickly join the ranks of those who have lost their money to eBay scams. Of course, if you are scammed, there are some actions you can take the correct the situation – but in many cases, the scammer does indeed get away! The best option is to avoid being scammed.
You can easily avoid many scams with the payment method that you use – whether you are a buyer or a seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases, Paypal is the payment method you should use. First, as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The seller must reply and show proof that the item was shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your account.
You can protect yourself, as a seller by only accepting Paypal. This will eliminate the chances of receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the charge through paypal, and you of course will be able to prove that you shipped the product. However, you can't prove that the product arrived in the condition that was expected. In this case, you should demand that the product be returned to you before the refund is issued.
Another common scam that buyers use is the bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with two separate eBay accounts – with one person in control of both of them, or with two friends with separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed on your item, using one account. This is followed by a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Right before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid. This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price – the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the reserve price that you set.
If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions page, declaring that you have the right to back out of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails. These emails appear to be from eBay. The email may claim that you need to verify your information, and ask you to login to your eBay account, using
the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks exactly like eBay, but it is actually a scam to get your eBay login details, as well as your credit card
details! eBay will never ask you to do this. If you suspect a spoofed email, report it to eBay immediately!
Don’t let scammers ruin your eBay fun! Just use good common sense, and a reasonable amount of caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report suspicious activity to eBay, and if a deal doesn’t feel right, simply back away from it and move on to the next auction.
You can easily avoid many scams with the payment method that you use – whether you are a buyer or a seller. eBay owns Paypal, and in most cases, Paypal is the payment method you should use. First, as a buyer, if you are scammed or less than satisfied with the item when it arrives, you can dispute the charge easily, and demand a refund. The seller must reply and show proof that the item was shipped, and that it arrived in the condition that you expected, or Paypal will return your funds to your account.
You can protect yourself, as a seller by only accepting Paypal. This will eliminate the chances of receiving a bad check or having the buyer dispute a credit card charge. Instead, they must dispute the charge through paypal, and you of course will be able to prove that you shipped the product. However, you can't prove that the product arrived in the condition that was expected. In this case, you should demand that the product be returned to you before the refund is issued.
Another common scam that buyers use is the bidding scam. This type of scam is run either with two separate eBay accounts – with one person in control of both of them, or with two friends with separate eBay accounts. A very small bid is placed on your item, using one account. This is followed by a very high bid, from the other eBay account. Right before the bidding ends, the high bid is cancelled or withdrawn, leaving the low bid as the winning bid. This bid can only be avoided by setting a reserve price – the lowest bid that can be placed is the same as the reserve price that you set.
If you are an eBay seller, you can further protect your auctions by placing a notice on your auctions page, declaring that you have the right to back out of the sale if you suspect potential fraud. As both a buyer and a seller, also beware of spoofed emails. These emails appear to be from eBay. The email may claim that you need to verify your information, and ask you to login to your eBay account, using
the link provided. If you follow that link, the site looks exactly like eBay, but it is actually a scam to get your eBay login details, as well as your credit card
details! eBay will never ask you to do this. If you suspect a spoofed email, report it to eBay immediately!
Don’t let scammers ruin your eBay fun! Just use good common sense, and a reasonable amount of caution, and everything should run smoothly. Report suspicious activity to eBay, and if a deal doesn’t feel right, simply back away from it and move on to the next auction.
Monday, November 14, 2011
Shopping on eBay Pros and Cons
Are you a relatively new fan of online shopping? If you are, you may have not yet had the chance to examine eBay. Even if you have never shopped on eBay, there is a good chance that you already know exactly what it is. eBay is an online auction website that allows internet users to sell items that they own, but not longer need or want to have. This is what makes eBay the largest online market place, as just about anyone can buy or sell there. However, with just about anything else you find online, shopping on eBay has its pros and it cons.
One of the biggest pros to shopping on eBay is the large selection of products that you will have to choose from. You can find just about anything on eBay, within reason of course. It is not uncommon to find cars for sale, baby toys, clothing, home décor items, computers, gaming consoles, and much more. Items found on eBay can be purchased in either new or used conditions. It is also important to note that many eBay sellers end up selling the same or similar items. For you, this also enables you to compare prices; to get the best deals.
Another pro to shopping on eBay is that it is relatively easy to do. Once you have registered for a free account with eBay, you are able to start shopping on eBay. When shopping on eBay, you can easily find what you are looking for. In fact, that is another pro of shopping on eBay; the ease of finding what you want. With a simple eBay search or even an advanced search, you could find a number of products that fit the description as to what you are looking for. By viewing those items, you can then decide if you want to purchase them or not.
Speaking of making purchases on eBay, you will also find that it is easy to do. As stated above, eBay allows internet users to post items for sale that they no longer need or want. While still following eBay’s rules, these sellers have a little bit of flexibility, such as how much money they want to charge for their products, as well as what methods of payment they accept. Although some eBay sellers are limited on the methods of payment that they accept, you will find that most are fairly flexible. For instance, common forms of accepted payments of eBay include PayPal, money orders, and personal checks; making it easy and safe to buy on eBay.
Although there are a number of pros to shopping on eBay, it is also important to mention the cons, as there are some of those as well. One of the biggest cons or downsides to shopping on eBay is that eBay is home to a number of scammers. While eBay works hard to eliminate these scams and shield buyers, like you, from them, there are some that get past security. With that in mind, if you proceed with caution, you should be able to safely shop eBay, without any problems. The few eBay scams that you will want to be on the lookout for involves sellers that advertise they have products that they don’t really have, sellers who claim products are in excellent condition when they are not, and others along those lines.
In connection with eBay scams, another downside to eBay is that just about anyone can become an eBay seller. This means that someone who has every intention of taking your money, but not delivering a product can register for an account with eBay and start selling. Of course, eBay catches onto these sellers pretty quickly and, most of the time, their accounts are disabled. With keeping that in mind, you just need to watch who you do business with. Be on the lookout for any sellers with a large number of negative feedback ratings or sellers who are new to eBay.
As you can see, there are a number of pros and cons to doing your shopping with eBay. For the most part, most eBay buyers have a positive experience with eBay. If you watch what you are doing, namely what you choose to buy and from whom, you should also be able to have a positive experience on eBay; one that will likely bring you back for more shopping.
One of the biggest pros to shopping on eBay is the large selection of products that you will have to choose from. You can find just about anything on eBay, within reason of course. It is not uncommon to find cars for sale, baby toys, clothing, home décor items, computers, gaming consoles, and much more. Items found on eBay can be purchased in either new or used conditions. It is also important to note that many eBay sellers end up selling the same or similar items. For you, this also enables you to compare prices; to get the best deals.
Another pro to shopping on eBay is that it is relatively easy to do. Once you have registered for a free account with eBay, you are able to start shopping on eBay. When shopping on eBay, you can easily find what you are looking for. In fact, that is another pro of shopping on eBay; the ease of finding what you want. With a simple eBay search or even an advanced search, you could find a number of products that fit the description as to what you are looking for. By viewing those items, you can then decide if you want to purchase them or not.
Speaking of making purchases on eBay, you will also find that it is easy to do. As stated above, eBay allows internet users to post items for sale that they no longer need or want. While still following eBay’s rules, these sellers have a little bit of flexibility, such as how much money they want to charge for their products, as well as what methods of payment they accept. Although some eBay sellers are limited on the methods of payment that they accept, you will find that most are fairly flexible. For instance, common forms of accepted payments of eBay include PayPal, money orders, and personal checks; making it easy and safe to buy on eBay.
Although there are a number of pros to shopping on eBay, it is also important to mention the cons, as there are some of those as well. One of the biggest cons or downsides to shopping on eBay is that eBay is home to a number of scammers. While eBay works hard to eliminate these scams and shield buyers, like you, from them, there are some that get past security. With that in mind, if you proceed with caution, you should be able to safely shop eBay, without any problems. The few eBay scams that you will want to be on the lookout for involves sellers that advertise they have products that they don’t really have, sellers who claim products are in excellent condition when they are not, and others along those lines.
In connection with eBay scams, another downside to eBay is that just about anyone can become an eBay seller. This means that someone who has every intention of taking your money, but not delivering a product can register for an account with eBay and start selling. Of course, eBay catches onto these sellers pretty quickly and, most of the time, their accounts are disabled. With keeping that in mind, you just need to watch who you do business with. Be on the lookout for any sellers with a large number of negative feedback ratings or sellers who are new to eBay.
As you can see, there are a number of pros and cons to doing your shopping with eBay. For the most part, most eBay buyers have a positive experience with eBay. If you watch what you are doing, namely what you choose to buy and from whom, you should also be able to have a positive experience on eBay; one that will likely bring you back for more shopping.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
eBay Escrow Services
by: Shanon Dickinson
If you buy or sell big ticket items on eBay, you need to know about the available escrow services. An escrow service is designed to protect buyers and sellers from being ripped off. The funds for the sale go to the escrow service, and then the seller ships the item to the buyer. Once the item has been received, the funds are released from the escrow service to the seller.
In some instances, both the item and the funds go through the escrow service, and the service makes sure that the buyer gets the item, and the seller gets the money. There is a small fee for the service, and it is usually a fixed percentage of the sale price. It is up to the buyer and seller to decide who will pay the fees. Often, the fees are split between the buyer and seller.
If you want to use an escrow service, there is only one service that eBay recommends, and they back that service up. This service is Escrow.com. Over the years, there have been many ‘look-alike’ escrow services, using variations of the escrow.com domain name, but they have shown to be less than reputable companies. Make sure you use the services of escrow.com for the greatest protection.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Should You Open an eBay Store?
by: Shanon Dickinson
Are you an eBay seller? If you are, there is a good chance that you have heard of an eBay store before. In fact, you may even have your own eBay store. eBay stores are increasing in popularity. For that reason, if you currently don’t have an eBay store, you may be wondering whether or not you should open one. To determine whether or not you should open an eBay store, you may want to examine the advantages and disadvantages of having one.
Before examining the advantages and disadvantages of having an eBay store, you may be wondering exactly what one is. In a way, having your own eBay store can be compared to having your own retail store. By paying a small monthly fee, you are able to create your own customized “storefront.” This storefront is what customers will see when they visit your eBay store. For instance, you can make your own logo, create your own eBay store, and do much more. As previously mentioned, you must pay a small monthly fee to have an eBay store; however, you must also pay traditional final value and insertion fees. Despite having to pay traditional eBay fees, they are much lower than normal, if you have an eBay store.
Perhaps, a decrease in eBay fees is one of the biggest benefits to opening up your own eBay store. If you only sell a few items a month on eBay, it might not necessarily be worth it for you to open up an eBay store, but if you are a medium or high volume seller, you could save a considerable amount of money by opening up your own eBay store. It is also important to mention easy of use. Creating your own eBay storefront page is easy to do, as well as creating your own eBay listing. Despite being listed in your eBay store, you create all of your eBay listings the same way as you did before, with eBay’s step-by-step guide.
Although there are a number of advantages to having an eBay store, there are also a number of disadvantages or downsides to doing so as well. One of those downsides is marketing. Unlike many traditional auction listings and “Buy It Now,” listings, which show up in eBay searches, items inside eBay stores do not. Essentially, this means that it is your responsibility to get traffic to your eBay store. Without traffic, your eBay store items will not be able to sell. While there are easy ways to get traffic to your eBay store, like using traditional auction style listings, which will appear in eBay searches, and then place a link to your eBay store, and such, it can be time consuming to do. How you will make money is definitely something to consider before opening up an eBay store.
As you can see, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to opening up an eBay store. The decision as to whether or not you want to open up an eBay store is yours to make, but you are advised to at least look into to doing so. Thoroughly researching and examining eBay stores is a great way to learn more about them, as well as gain insight into whether or not you can profit from having one. While having an eBay store isn’t for everyone, there are a number of eBay sellers who have noticed an increase in profit since opening their own eBay stores.
Are you an eBay seller? If you are, there is a good chance that you have heard of an eBay store before. In fact, you may even have your own eBay store. eBay stores are increasing in popularity. For that reason, if you currently don’t have an eBay store, you may be wondering whether or not you should open one. To determine whether or not you should open an eBay store, you may want to examine the advantages and disadvantages of having one.
Before examining the advantages and disadvantages of having an eBay store, you may be wondering exactly what one is. In a way, having your own eBay store can be compared to having your own retail store. By paying a small monthly fee, you are able to create your own customized “storefront.” This storefront is what customers will see when they visit your eBay store. For instance, you can make your own logo, create your own eBay store, and do much more. As previously mentioned, you must pay a small monthly fee to have an eBay store; however, you must also pay traditional final value and insertion fees. Despite having to pay traditional eBay fees, they are much lower than normal, if you have an eBay store.
Perhaps, a decrease in eBay fees is one of the biggest benefits to opening up your own eBay store. If you only sell a few items a month on eBay, it might not necessarily be worth it for you to open up an eBay store, but if you are a medium or high volume seller, you could save a considerable amount of money by opening up your own eBay store. It is also important to mention easy of use. Creating your own eBay storefront page is easy to do, as well as creating your own eBay listing. Despite being listed in your eBay store, you create all of your eBay listings the same way as you did before, with eBay’s step-by-step guide.
Although there are a number of advantages to having an eBay store, there are also a number of disadvantages or downsides to doing so as well. One of those downsides is marketing. Unlike many traditional auction listings and “Buy It Now,” listings, which show up in eBay searches, items inside eBay stores do not. Essentially, this means that it is your responsibility to get traffic to your eBay store. Without traffic, your eBay store items will not be able to sell. While there are easy ways to get traffic to your eBay store, like using traditional auction style listings, which will appear in eBay searches, and then place a link to your eBay store, and such, it can be time consuming to do. How you will make money is definitely something to consider before opening up an eBay store.
As you can see, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to opening up an eBay store. The decision as to whether or not you want to open up an eBay store is yours to make, but you are advised to at least look into to doing so. Thoroughly researching and examining eBay stores is a great way to learn more about them, as well as gain insight into whether or not you can profit from having one. While having an eBay store isn’t for everyone, there are a number of eBay sellers who have noticed an increase in profit since opening their own eBay stores.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
How to Market Your Auctions on eBay
by: Shanon Dickinson
Are you an eBay seller? If you are, your goal is likely to make as much money as you can by selling products that you no longer need or want on eBay. Unfortunately, there are now thousands, if not millions, of individuals who are interested in doing the same thing. For you, this often means a steady increase in competition. However, even with competition, you should still be able to make a profit when using eBay, but you may need a little bit of help. That help could from marketing.
When many of us think of internet marketing, we often automatically think of online retail stores or online websites. Although you are not running your own online retail store, you are trying to make a profit online; therefore, you are, in a way, like a retailer. Just having your for sale items listed on eBay is enough to get your eBay items exposure, but you may want to think about taking it a step farther. There are a number of different ways that you can go about marketing your for sale eBay items, without having to spend a dime.
Perhaps, one of the best ways to go about marketing your eBay items is by joining the eBay community, otherwise known as the online message boards. When you talk with other eBay community members your screen name used is also your eBay name. In the eBay community forum, every time that you start a new message or respond to an existing one your name is left, with a link to your main eBay webpage. That is the age that outlines all of the items that you currently have available for sale. Many eBay community members click other member’s pages just out of curiosity, but it not uncommon for someone to find something that catches their eye. Simply starting a few conversations with other eBay community members, even just occasionally, may help to up your eBay exposure.
Another relatively easy way that you can market your eBay auction listings to the general public is by posting on a number of message boards, besides eBay. There are a number of message boards that allow internet users, just like you, to post information on items that they have available for sale, both on and off of eBay. Providing a link, as well as short description of some of the items that you are looking to sell is a great way to increase your eBay exposure and up your chances of making a sale. When taking this internet marketing approach, it is important that you only advertise your eBay listings in areas designated for doing so. Spamming is not permitted on many online message boards and it may actually get you a bad reputation.
Speaking of using online message boards, there are a number of online message boards or forums that allow members to have signatures. Signatures are where many people leave their name or a favorite quote of theirs, but some message boards allow members to use it as space to promote their products or businesses. Before posting a link to your eBay auctions, you are advised to examine the online message board’s policy concerning signature advertising. Should it be allowed, you are advised to take advantage of this free internet marketing. You will want to post a link to your eBay sales page, but be sure to mention that eBay is where all clickers will be going.
Another easy that you can promote your eBay items, particularly if you have multiple items for sale, is by putting a “please checkout my other eBay auctions,” message at the end of each of your eBay listings. As with all of the other above mentioned internet marketing tactics, this is easy and free to do.
Are you an eBay seller? If you are, your goal is likely to make as much money as you can by selling products that you no longer need or want on eBay. Unfortunately, there are now thousands, if not millions, of individuals who are interested in doing the same thing. For you, this often means a steady increase in competition. However, even with competition, you should still be able to make a profit when using eBay, but you may need a little bit of help. That help could from marketing.
When many of us think of internet marketing, we often automatically think of online retail stores or online websites. Although you are not running your own online retail store, you are trying to make a profit online; therefore, you are, in a way, like a retailer. Just having your for sale items listed on eBay is enough to get your eBay items exposure, but you may want to think about taking it a step farther. There are a number of different ways that you can go about marketing your for sale eBay items, without having to spend a dime.
Perhaps, one of the best ways to go about marketing your eBay items is by joining the eBay community, otherwise known as the online message boards. When you talk with other eBay community members your screen name used is also your eBay name. In the eBay community forum, every time that you start a new message or respond to an existing one your name is left, with a link to your main eBay webpage. That is the age that outlines all of the items that you currently have available for sale. Many eBay community members click other member’s pages just out of curiosity, but it not uncommon for someone to find something that catches their eye. Simply starting a few conversations with other eBay community members, even just occasionally, may help to up your eBay exposure.
Another relatively easy way that you can market your eBay auction listings to the general public is by posting on a number of message boards, besides eBay. There are a number of message boards that allow internet users, just like you, to post information on items that they have available for sale, both on and off of eBay. Providing a link, as well as short description of some of the items that you are looking to sell is a great way to increase your eBay exposure and up your chances of making a sale. When taking this internet marketing approach, it is important that you only advertise your eBay listings in areas designated for doing so. Spamming is not permitted on many online message boards and it may actually get you a bad reputation.
Speaking of using online message boards, there are a number of online message boards or forums that allow members to have signatures. Signatures are where many people leave their name or a favorite quote of theirs, but some message boards allow members to use it as space to promote their products or businesses. Before posting a link to your eBay auctions, you are advised to examine the online message board’s policy concerning signature advertising. Should it be allowed, you are advised to take advantage of this free internet marketing. You will want to post a link to your eBay sales page, but be sure to mention that eBay is where all clickers will be going.
Another easy that you can promote your eBay items, particularly if you have multiple items for sale, is by putting a “please checkout my other eBay auctions,” message at the end of each of your eBay listings. As with all of the other above mentioned internet marketing tactics, this is easy and free to do.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
eBay Test eBay Bucks
Yesterday eBay launched a "beta" test version of eBay Bucks, a program that lets participants earn a 2 percent reward on certain items they buy through the site and pay for using eBay's online payment service, PayPal. If the test goes well, the company expects to expand it out to all eBay users over the next several months. According to eBay: "eBay Bucks is a rewards program for eBay members. If you join, you'll automatically earn rewards in the form of eBay Bucks based on your qualifying purchases. Every calendar quarter, the eBay Bucks you earned over that 3 month period will be issued to you in the form of an eBay Bucks certificate. You can use this certificate to buy more things on eBay! Participation in eBay Bucks is FREE! There is no cost to enroll in the program.
Friday, January 2, 2009
He's Cracked The Ebay Code..
Michael Jones is an average 38 year Ohio guy, yet in the last year he's been quietly averaging almost seventeen thousand bucks a month on Ebay and now he's coming clean with his secrets: "The eBay Code". The video is completely free and it shows Michael giving away some of the secrets he's used to generate over 200 thousand dollars inside a single year (starting from scratch). Check it out as soon as you can, this is huge, and it's going to change the face of Ebay for anyone smart enough to watch it early. Watch the video right now - it's not downloadable so they can remove it at any time - trust me you DO NOT want to miss this.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Shocking Techniques To Make Money From eBay
If you haven't started thinking about eBay affiliate business yet then you are loosing a big opportunity which is knocking your door. I found amazing new techniques which is helping me to make money on eBay without selling anything. You will be shock when you read those techniques.
It has never been easier to make money from eBay then this. At the moment you are reading this, do you realize that thousands of people are visiting eBay and thousands of people are doing transactions faster then you can blink your eye? Just check out the Alexa rank for eBay.com and you will know how much traffic eBay is getting.
It's a proven FACT that thousands of eBay sellers are working from home. You can start working from home as well by becoming an eBay seller. The best part is you will make extra profits even if your auction does not sell with Auction Freedom course. Just follow the three simple steps and you will be on your way to make steady income from eBay.
Step # 1 - Register for an eBay seller account
Step #2 - Start selling on eBay
Step # 3 - Use hidden techniques by signing up at http://www.auctionfreedom.com/?free=1102
Start using the techniques which is listed in the members area of Auction Freedom. Believe it or not eBay affiliate program is growing beyond your wildest imagination. It's a FACT that people who were making millions of dollars from Google AdSense are switching to eBay affiliate program. The choice is yours. Hope this helps you to make more money. :-)
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Auction Acrobat Can Help You Build Your eBay Business
If you are familar with eBay, you would know that eBay is the hardest place to automate things as they do not allow custom checkout processes and are very inflexible. If you are looking for a system that can replicated over and over again to generate passive income, I highly recommend you to try out the Auction Acrobat Software.
The Auction Acrobat software is very easy to setup. All it took was about 10 minutes to download and install the program. Once done, you can start selling unlimited CD/DVDs on eBay and quickly integrate the software with eBay, Paypal, Aweber or Getresponse. Auction Acrobat is the only software that automates CD/DVD delivery on eBay. It has several advanced features that will make selling CD/DVD’s on eBay easy and profitable.
So you must be asking yourself. "How can I generate automated passive income streams with this software?" There are many ways to achieve this goal but TWO methods seem to be very popular and are proven to work again and again!
1- Get products with resale rights and sell them on eBay with your name branding. Since Auction Acrobat Software automates the creation, packaging, and shipping of the CD/DVD's, you can have unlimited product selling for profit or you may choose to sell them cheap and build a highly profitable buyer list which will make you consistent money on a long-term basis.
2- Sell high-priced CD/DVD's and make a passive residual income by using the 280+ MILLION
buyers who are looking to buy products from eBay every single day.
FACT: Over 70,000 new buyers join eBay every day!
Find out more about Auction Acrobat and start creating a 100% automatic income on eBay. The discount expires permanently in the next few hours as they don’t want it in too many people’s hands. Get it before it is too late: Auction Acrobat
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Increase Your eBay Response
So you’ve got the buyer in front of your auction, and they’ve read the description. They’re must be interested, or they wouldn’t be looking, but just how can you push them over that line and make them leave a bid? Read on for some tips.
Improve your picture
In all that description writing, you might have missed the vital importance of your item’s picture. A picture with bad lighting or an intrusive background looks amateurish and won’t make anyone want to buy from you.
Add an About Me page
You’ll be surprised how much you can reassure bidders just by creating an About Me page and putting a little bit about yourself on your business on there. You can also have a few special offers there for people who bother to look at the page, and let people subscribe to your mailing list so that you can email them updates.'
Use SquareTrade
Signing up at SquareTrade and displaying their logo on your auctions shows that you are committed to have them resolve any disputes that arise. You always see this on PowerSellers auctions – it makes you look more professional.
Write terms and conditions
Have the ‘small print’ clearly visible on all your auctions, giving details of things like shipping times and prices, your refund policy, and any other business practices you might have. This helps build confidence with buyers.
Show off your feedback
Copy and paste a selection of the feedback comments you’re most proud of to each item’s description page, instead of making bidders go and look for it. If you have 100% positive feedback, be sure to write that on every auction too.
Add 'NR' to your titles
If you have extra space in a title, put ‘NR’ (no reserve) on the end. Bidders prefer auctions that don’t have a reserve price, and doing this lets them see that yours don’t.
Benefits not features
Make sure your description focuses on the benefits that your item can give to the customer, not just its features. This is a classic sales technique. If you have trouble with this, remember: ‘cheap’ is a feature, ‘save money’ is a benefit.
List more items
If you want more people to respond to your items, then list more items! You might find you have better like listing items at the same time, instead of one-by-one. There’s no need to use a Dutch auction – you can just keep two or three auctions going at once for an item you have more than one of in stock.
Accept unusual payment methods
To reach those last few buyers, accept payment methods that many sellers don’t, like cheques.
Buy some upgrades
The best upgrade is the most expensive one, which makes your item appear first in search results. In crowded categories, you might find that this is worth the money.
Improve your picture
In all that description writing, you might have missed the vital importance of your item’s picture. A picture with bad lighting or an intrusive background looks amateurish and won’t make anyone want to buy from you.
Add an About Me page
You’ll be surprised how much you can reassure bidders just by creating an About Me page and putting a little bit about yourself on your business on there. You can also have a few special offers there for people who bother to look at the page, and let people subscribe to your mailing list so that you can email them updates.'
Use SquareTrade
Signing up at SquareTrade and displaying their logo on your auctions shows that you are committed to have them resolve any disputes that arise. You always see this on PowerSellers auctions – it makes you look more professional.
Write terms and conditions
Have the ‘small print’ clearly visible on all your auctions, giving details of things like shipping times and prices, your refund policy, and any other business practices you might have. This helps build confidence with buyers.
Show off your feedback
Copy and paste a selection of the feedback comments you’re most proud of to each item’s description page, instead of making bidders go and look for it. If you have 100% positive feedback, be sure to write that on every auction too.
Add 'NR' to your titles
If you have extra space in a title, put ‘NR’ (no reserve) on the end. Bidders prefer auctions that don’t have a reserve price, and doing this lets them see that yours don’t.
Benefits not features
Make sure your description focuses on the benefits that your item can give to the customer, not just its features. This is a classic sales technique. If you have trouble with this, remember: ‘cheap’ is a feature, ‘save money’ is a benefit.
List more items
If you want more people to respond to your items, then list more items! You might find you have better like listing items at the same time, instead of one-by-one. There’s no need to use a Dutch auction – you can just keep two or three auctions going at once for an item you have more than one of in stock.
Accept unusual payment methods
To reach those last few buyers, accept payment methods that many sellers don’t, like cheques.
Buy some upgrades
The best upgrade is the most expensive one, which makes your item appear first in search results. In crowded categories, you might find that this is worth the money.
Monday, May 26, 2008
A New Way To Make Money With eBay
When you hear "eBay" and "money" in the same sentence your probably think of becoming an eBay seller. You place product listings in the eBay marketplace, buyers bid, you pay your eBay seller fees and what you have left is your profit margin.
There is, however, another way to build a business which still revolves around eBay but which doesn’t involve you selling a single thing in the eBay marketplace.This "other way" opportunity is based on the eBay affiliate program and a great tool which makes entry into this opportunity not only possible but also super easy. This tool is called "Build A Niche Store".
Now if you don’t know – an affiliate program enables you as an individual internet entrepreneur to promote the products of a company in exchange for a commission on all sales that you refer.
You are basically operating as an internet middleman and connecting internet browsers to particular products and companies through you own network of websites and marketing methods.If we return to the eBay affiliate program, eBay actually invites you to promote all of the product listings in the eBay marketplace and in exchange for your efforts will pay you up to 75% of the revenue they make from each sale you refer plus up to $35 for each new active eBay member you refer.
You can have a read about the eBay.com affiliate program here
What this means is that you can earn up to three quarters of eBay’s revenue simply for connecting people to the products listed in the eBay marketplace.
Not only do you get to partner with the best branded marketplace in the world, you also get access to and control over ALL of the products listed in this marketplace. The eBay product inventory becomes YOUR product inventory and yet you do NOT have to stock items, deal with customers, organize shipping or process refunds.
You are no longer limited to selling only those products which you can buy and sell for a profit margin. You can choose ANY niche market and promote those eBay products relevant to your chosen niche outside of the eBay marketplace,funnelling targeted traffic through to eBay and into your own affiliate commissions.If you know eBay you know how BIG it is – there are NO limits.
At this point you might be thinking - well this sounds interesting but in reality is there any money in it? Well, here’s the shocker – eBay's top affiliates make over 1 million dollars a month. That’s right – 8 figures a year without stocking, selling or shipping a single thing!
Now eBay does provide some basic free tools to help you succeed as an eBay affiliate and build an affiliate business BUT it has been the development of a tool outside of eBay that has really opened this up as a legitimate business opportunity.
The tool, as I mentioned earlier, is called "Build A Niche Store" and what it enables you to do is build eBay affiliate websites targeted to any eBay niche you want. These act as the medium through which you funnel targeted visitors to eBay.
Here are a couple of examples, one targeting Race Cars and the other Golf Equipment:Race Car eBay Affiliate Website
Golf eBay Affiliate Website
These stores then automatically update as new products are listed for sale and old listing expire from the eBay marketplace and the software has built in development features which enable you to create new store pages, add content to these pages, create content pages, modify your template etc etc.
Basically, in the space of about 10 minutes (once you are familiar with how the software works) you can create a fully functional eBay affiliate website targeted to the niche market of your choice.
Your store content is all search engine friendly which will provide the foundation for attracting targeted traffic from the search engines and you can then use the development features to attract more targeted visitors which will in turn mean more eBay affiliate commissions.It really is a brilliant concept and I’ve been hearing great things about the guys behind the project and the member forum which you get lifetime access to when you purchase the product.
Build A Niche Store comes with a step by step user manual which will walk even the most technically inexperienced through setting up their eBay affiliate website, 9 professional template layouts which can be customized (from inside your admin panel) to match your target niche, lifetime member forum access,comprehensive product support and possibly most importantly – an UNLIMITED domain license which means you can build as many of these niche websites as you want for the small one time fee. Think about how many niches eBay caters to!How big could your eBay affiliate business be?!This product gets my full recommendation. So if you want to make money on the internet and don’t want the hassle of dealing with products, shipping, and customers, then Ebay and BANS is the way to go. You can definitely make great income through ebay.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Buying Things on eBay - 10 Tips
Here are some tips for the buyers:
1. It is important to know the item first.
The eBay management strongly suggests that a buyer should first read and understand carefully the item listing before proceeding to bidding. He or she must grasp the seller's shipping requirements and the fees that are attached to it.
2. Buyer should be aware of the return and refund policy of eBay.
Buyers should know this first before bidding so that there wouldn't be any problems when wishing to do a refund.
3. The buyer should check first the seller's feedbacks before bidding.
Checking on the seller's feedbacks will give the buyer an impression if the transaction is trustworthy or not.
4. The buyer should choose a secured payment method.
The only secured way to get through a transaction on eBay is to make sure that the mode of payment required by the seller is protected. This should be clear on the buyer so as to avoid imminent danger of fraud or scam.
5. The buyer should use the "ask a seller questions" section.
It doesn't hurt to ask. It is best for a buyer to use this section first before bidding on an item. After all, it really pays a buyer to ask and clarify things first before proceeding to the bidding activity.
6. The buyer should know, by all means, the seller's contact details before sending the payment. This is one way of protecting one's money.
7. The buyer should take extra precautions on most of the international item listings because this is where most fraudulent activities happen.
8. The buyer should avoid any transaction that involves wire transfers as mode of payment. The eBay management does not approve it and will offer no protection in the event it is a fraud.
9. The buyer should make a documentation of all the transactions and the items purchased on eBay. This will be very handy in case there is a discrepancy in the future.
10. The buyer should be aware and get rid of spontaneous offers and counterfeit escrow services. The eBay management only allows protection for transactions made with eBay-approved escrow services.
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Selling On eBay?
Starting a home based business selling on eBay is a lot easier then you think, and it can be extremely profitable if you do it the right way. eBay generally charges different fees; however, for small businesses the cost of selling on eBay is very reasonable, and a great piece of advice for selling on eBay is to do your research first, before listing your items. Take the time to describe your item. The lack of descriptions on thousands of items selling on eBay is surprising also. Selling on Ebay has gone from an Internet novelty to becoming one of the fastest growing companies in the world with tens of millions of people visiting and using the site each year. It has indeed become a worldwide phenomenon.
Your selling fees are the largest cost of doing business and are proportionate to the amount of items you list and sell. You may have heard in the news about eBay’s latest fee changes which have led to quite a bit of unrest with eBay sellers, some are even looking for alternative selling platforms. Sure eBay is going through a rough time with it’s sellers but eBay still help people transact millions of dollars of business and it’s still a great place to make money selling products.
Everything you need to get started selling on eBay is in here. Never forget that selling on Ebay is a privilege and not a right. Whether you are saving up for that new Apple laptop or a new flat-panel LCD monitor, selling on eBay is the perfect way to earn extra money. And if you want to supplement your income,or make this your Home Business,selling on eBay is the perfect work at home job hands down. Making money selling on eBay is definitely a viable option for anybody that wants to make a nice living. If you know what you are doing, selling on eBay is definitely worthwhile, and the thrilling and lucrative world of selling on eBay is within your reach.
The trick to successful selling on eBay is making sure that you understand the market and what people want to buy, and with the right research and a little trial and error, successful selling on eBay is a cinch. If you want to become an eBay expert, and start selling in just a few hours, all you need to do is sign up today.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
eBay and Dropshipping
If you are new to Internet Marketing, promotion of your new eBay Business is a key. Also, staying up to date with all the new and better ways to advertise and promote your business is crucial. Things on the Internet can change almost overnight and to keep your eBay Business making money you must keep up with those changes. But don't be discouraged, the ease of using Dropshippers will allow you more time to concentrate on improving your sales skills and learning how to bring more customers to your eBay auctions.
The great thing about Dropshipping, is that it will allow you to operate a Home Based Business as an Internet Marketer without ever worrying about storage of inventory, packaging of inventory, or even shipping of that inventory. How? The Dropship supplier will look after all of that for you. And even greater still is the fact that your auction business will cost you very little to get started. The fact is, most Dropshippers charge you nothing to become a member to sell their products. While others may charge just a nominal administration fee. So, with such a low financial risk the only thing you have to lose is a bit of your time.
How does one put together eBay and Dropshipping? It's really very simple. First, browse eBay to see what kind of products you would like to sell. Then sign up as a member with eBay. Once you have decided on a products, locate a Dropshipper for that products. Sign up with that Dropshipper and then place an auction on eBay for the item. Once your auction is over and you have a buyer for the product, emails your Dropshipper the required information. The Dropshipper will ship the product directly to your customer, and charge your account the wholesale price for that product. The difference between the wholesale price and your retail price is pure profit! To run a successful eBay Business you will need to sell what the public wants to buy. Always research any product before you decide to sell it. Make sure it is popular and you can get it at a great price.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
7 Ways to boost your eBay sales
1. Present yourself as a reputable seller.
In the online as in the offline world people are attracted to brands that they can trust. If you can build a brand around your eBay business you increase the chance of return traffic, repeat business and referrals. Choose a sensible username. Take care over choosing your username. Customers are more likely to remember “Floorheatingltd” than “xxxtigger”.
Develop a brand and logo. If you are going to be considered as a professional seller on eBay it is important to have a b corporate identity. This brand should be implemented throughout the eBay platform. Build a website. Most businesses have a website and your business should be no exception. A website will reassure buyers that they are dealing with an established business and it is worth spending the money necessary to get a professional website built.
2. Open an eBay shop.
An eBay shop is a seller’s footprint on eBay. Each shop has its own URL and displays all the items which that user has for sale. The shop can also be customised to your branding and can be used to increase sales in the following ways:
* List your entire inventory. Items can be listed for a fraction of the price of auction listings giving your business a way of vastly expanding the number of items available for sale.
* Up selling to customers. Place selected items in the auction listings and use these to drive traffic to your store where they can make additional purchases.
Typically eBay shop owners sell up to 25% more items.
3. Improving your product presentation.
On eBay buyers cannot see or touch the items which are for sale. It is therefore vital to create a comprehensive listing showing all aspects of a product and providing all the information, such as P&P, required to make a purchase. The more reassured a browser is, the more likely they are to make a purchase. We have all seen listings of products where the description is short and the picture out of focus. The product could be great but there is no way of knowing it.
A good listing should include the following information
* Multiple, high quality pictures of each item. Needless to say these should be in focus and should show each items from several angles. Any damage should be recorded.
* Comprehensive description. Full description of the item including all features, dimensions and any damage.
* Postage costs. These should cover international postage if possible.
* Return policy.
* Payments accepted.
Presentation is everything in sales and so a well designed HTML template for your product will make you look like a professional, trustworthy seller.
4. Marketing your eBay business for free.
As an eBay seller it is important to make use of all the opportunities available to drive traffic to your products and eBay shop.
Link to your eBay shop. All you listings, about me page, email and eBay shop custom pages should link back to your eBay shop and encourage buyers to take a look at your other listings. Cross promote with other eBay users. Within eBay there is the facility to make arrangements with other eBay sellers to cross promote each other’s products. Make arrangements with seller who sell complimentary products to yours.
Auctiva shopping window. Auctiva (www.auctiva.com) produce a free eBay scrolling product bar. This goes at the bottom of each listing and displays scrolling pictures of the other products which the user has for sale. Use this to promote your other products to browsers. According to Vendio such galleries increase sales by 18%.
Optimise your eBay Shop for search engines. Within the eBay shop set up it is possible to input keywords for which you would like your shop optimized, and also to make a feed file available for shopping comparison sites.
Froogle. Froogle is Google’s shopping comparison site. It accepts fixed price products and unlike all the other comparison sites it is free. Create a feed file (basically a spreadsheet with product descriptions, product URLS and image URLs) of your eBay shop items and submit this is Froogle.
Online shop malls. There are several eBay shop listing sites which can be used to list your shop, the most popular being www.listmystore.com.
Use the right category. When selling items make an effort to use the most appropriate category and fill in item specifics. Buyers will use these features to browser items.
About Me page. Each eBay user is entitled to an About Me page. This is an opportunity to tell buyers a bit more about your company and reassure them that they are dealing with a reputable seller.The About Me page is a free advert for your business on eBay. Amazingly less than 6% of users make use of it and so it will make your business stand out.
Choose your keywords carefully. To find items, buyers search on the keywords in the title. Avoid using words like “LOOK” or “fantastic” as these are rarely searched upon.
Email marketing. Acquiring customers is expensive. Marketing to your past customer is an extremely effective way of increasing sales. Consider starting a newsletter to promote new stock to your customers.
5. Use enhanced listing features.
If you believe eBay the listing enhancement options have a noticeable effect on selling price:
* First photo (Free!) - increases chances of selling by 15%
* Gallery - Typically sell for 12% more
* Subtitle – Typically sell for 10% more
6. Removing barriers to sales.
In general the more information on items and the more delivery and payment options you give buyers, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Sell internationally. Selling internationally can be a bit of a headache but items listed internationally, on average, sell for 16% more.
Accept multiple payment methods. Offering a number of payment options reassures buyers. It is also becoming increasingly important to offer PayPal as a payment option. Although expensive (2-3.4% of transaction value) it is extremely convenient and over 90% of eBay listings offer it as a method of payment.
7. Use listing software.
Using listing and auction management software can speed up the process of listing items and managing auctions. Ebay provides free tools such as turbo lister and seller manager. However, as your business grows it will be necessary to use more sophisticated tools such as Marketworks or Channeladvisor.
In the online as in the offline world people are attracted to brands that they can trust. If you can build a brand around your eBay business you increase the chance of return traffic, repeat business and referrals. Choose a sensible username. Take care over choosing your username. Customers are more likely to remember “Floorheatingltd” than “xxxtigger”.
Develop a brand and logo. If you are going to be considered as a professional seller on eBay it is important to have a b corporate identity. This brand should be implemented throughout the eBay platform. Build a website. Most businesses have a website and your business should be no exception. A website will reassure buyers that they are dealing with an established business and it is worth spending the money necessary to get a professional website built.
2. Open an eBay shop.
An eBay shop is a seller’s footprint on eBay. Each shop has its own URL and displays all the items which that user has for sale. The shop can also be customised to your branding and can be used to increase sales in the following ways:
* List your entire inventory. Items can be listed for a fraction of the price of auction listings giving your business a way of vastly expanding the number of items available for sale.
* Up selling to customers. Place selected items in the auction listings and use these to drive traffic to your store where they can make additional purchases.
Typically eBay shop owners sell up to 25% more items.
3. Improving your product presentation.
On eBay buyers cannot see or touch the items which are for sale. It is therefore vital to create a comprehensive listing showing all aspects of a product and providing all the information, such as P&P, required to make a purchase. The more reassured a browser is, the more likely they are to make a purchase. We have all seen listings of products where the description is short and the picture out of focus. The product could be great but there is no way of knowing it.
A good listing should include the following information
* Multiple, high quality pictures of each item. Needless to say these should be in focus and should show each items from several angles. Any damage should be recorded.
* Comprehensive description. Full description of the item including all features, dimensions and any damage.
* Postage costs. These should cover international postage if possible.
* Return policy.
* Payments accepted.
Presentation is everything in sales and so a well designed HTML template for your product will make you look like a professional, trustworthy seller.
4. Marketing your eBay business for free.
As an eBay seller it is important to make use of all the opportunities available to drive traffic to your products and eBay shop.
Link to your eBay shop. All you listings, about me page, email and eBay shop custom pages should link back to your eBay shop and encourage buyers to take a look at your other listings. Cross promote with other eBay users. Within eBay there is the facility to make arrangements with other eBay sellers to cross promote each other’s products. Make arrangements with seller who sell complimentary products to yours.
Auctiva shopping window. Auctiva (www.auctiva.com) produce a free eBay scrolling product bar. This goes at the bottom of each listing and displays scrolling pictures of the other products which the user has for sale. Use this to promote your other products to browsers. According to Vendio such galleries increase sales by 18%.
Optimise your eBay Shop for search engines. Within the eBay shop set up it is possible to input keywords for which you would like your shop optimized, and also to make a feed file available for shopping comparison sites.
Froogle. Froogle is Google’s shopping comparison site. It accepts fixed price products and unlike all the other comparison sites it is free. Create a feed file (basically a spreadsheet with product descriptions, product URLS and image URLs) of your eBay shop items and submit this is Froogle.
Online shop malls. There are several eBay shop listing sites which can be used to list your shop, the most popular being www.listmystore.com.
Use the right category. When selling items make an effort to use the most appropriate category and fill in item specifics. Buyers will use these features to browser items.
About Me page. Each eBay user is entitled to an About Me page. This is an opportunity to tell buyers a bit more about your company and reassure them that they are dealing with a reputable seller.The About Me page is a free advert for your business on eBay. Amazingly less than 6% of users make use of it and so it will make your business stand out.
Choose your keywords carefully. To find items, buyers search on the keywords in the title. Avoid using words like “LOOK” or “fantastic” as these are rarely searched upon.
Email marketing. Acquiring customers is expensive. Marketing to your past customer is an extremely effective way of increasing sales. Consider starting a newsletter to promote new stock to your customers.
5. Use enhanced listing features.
If you believe eBay the listing enhancement options have a noticeable effect on selling price:
* First photo (Free!) - increases chances of selling by 15%
* Gallery - Typically sell for 12% more
* Subtitle – Typically sell for 10% more
6. Removing barriers to sales.
In general the more information on items and the more delivery and payment options you give buyers, the more likely they are to make a purchase.
Sell internationally. Selling internationally can be a bit of a headache but items listed internationally, on average, sell for 16% more.
Accept multiple payment methods. Offering a number of payment options reassures buyers. It is also becoming increasingly important to offer PayPal as a payment option. Although expensive (2-3.4% of transaction value) it is extremely convenient and over 90% of eBay listings offer it as a method of payment.
7. Use listing software.
Using listing and auction management software can speed up the process of listing items and managing auctions. Ebay provides free tools such as turbo lister and seller manager. However, as your business grows it will be necessary to use more sophisticated tools such as Marketworks or Channeladvisor.
Saturday, February 9, 2008
A Beginner's Guide to Selling on eBay
You've been buying on eBay for a while and naturally, your thoughts turn to selling your own items. Yet, you're not quite sure where to start. First, you will need to sign up as a seller and provide all the information asked for and a credit card number. Once that is complete, you're ready to begin listing your items. Below, I've outline ten tips that will help make your auctions a success and reap you better profits from your sales.
1. Your title should be authoritative and tell exactly what the item is. Instead of saying Turkey Platter, list specific info such as Turkey Platter, stoneware, late 70's and maker. You are limited to around 80 characters for your title, so be sure to choose it wisely. Avoid words like 'look', 'must see' etc., as most experienced eBay shoppers don't pay attention to them.
2. Choose the category for your listing carefully. With hundred of different categories to choose from, this can be a bit difficult to determine. If you feel your item fits in more than one, feel free to select a second category. More than one category does incur extra fees, so be aware of that as you list.
3. A picture is worth a thousand words in an auction listing. All items need at least one picture. Higher priced items need more than one. Use a good quality digital camera or a scanner if the item is flat. Proof your pictures to make sure they are clear and crisp, crop where needed.
4. List all the details of your item in the description box. Be sure to point out any flaws in the item. Think of any keywords that you would look for if you were searching for the item and include those in the description. Also list what payments methods you will accept, how long the buyer has to get payment to you and what shipping methods you will use.
5. Determine the lowest amount of money you will take for your item and begin the bidding at that amount. Think about using a 'Buy It Now' price if you're willing to let the item go for another few dollars above your opening price. Avoid using 'reserve' auctions as many eBay buyers will skip over them as not worth the time and effort.
6. Choose your listing time wisely. Many sellers feel that eBay has a higher traffic ratio on the weekends. Some feel that Sunday afternoons (between church times) are best, while others close their auctions late on Friday or Saturday night.
7. Answer any questions that you receive from potential buyers promptly. Some buyers may ask for a clarification on your listing or additional pictures. Be ready to provide them the information they request.
8. After the auction has ended, make sure you correspond with your buyer. eBay will send you notice to your email account of how much the item sold for and the email address of the high bidder. Keep the lines of communication open until everything about the transaction is complete.
9. After receiving payment for your item, ship it promptly by the stated method. Send an email to the buyer to let them know their item is on its way. You can leave feedback at this point or wait until the item is received and the buyer posts feedback for you.
10. If you plan to do a lot of selling on eBay, you may want to consider signing up for a PayPal account. Many eBay buyers only purchase items from those sellers that do accept PayPal as a payment method. It is free to sign up and all you will need is a checking account.
Selling on eBay can become addictive and for some a very lucrative venture. If you find that you enjoy the online garage sale, you may want to download eBay's Turbo Lister to help make listing your items much faster. Good luck with your eBay selling experience.
1. Your title should be authoritative and tell exactly what the item is. Instead of saying Turkey Platter, list specific info such as Turkey Platter, stoneware, late 70's and maker. You are limited to around 80 characters for your title, so be sure to choose it wisely. Avoid words like 'look', 'must see' etc., as most experienced eBay shoppers don't pay attention to them.
2. Choose the category for your listing carefully. With hundred of different categories to choose from, this can be a bit difficult to determine. If you feel your item fits in more than one, feel free to select a second category. More than one category does incur extra fees, so be aware of that as you list.
3. A picture is worth a thousand words in an auction listing. All items need at least one picture. Higher priced items need more than one. Use a good quality digital camera or a scanner if the item is flat. Proof your pictures to make sure they are clear and crisp, crop where needed.
4. List all the details of your item in the description box. Be sure to point out any flaws in the item. Think of any keywords that you would look for if you were searching for the item and include those in the description. Also list what payments methods you will accept, how long the buyer has to get payment to you and what shipping methods you will use.
5. Determine the lowest amount of money you will take for your item and begin the bidding at that amount. Think about using a 'Buy It Now' price if you're willing to let the item go for another few dollars above your opening price. Avoid using 'reserve' auctions as many eBay buyers will skip over them as not worth the time and effort.
6. Choose your listing time wisely. Many sellers feel that eBay has a higher traffic ratio on the weekends. Some feel that Sunday afternoons (between church times) are best, while others close their auctions late on Friday or Saturday night.
7. Answer any questions that you receive from potential buyers promptly. Some buyers may ask for a clarification on your listing or additional pictures. Be ready to provide them the information they request.
8. After the auction has ended, make sure you correspond with your buyer. eBay will send you notice to your email account of how much the item sold for and the email address of the high bidder. Keep the lines of communication open until everything about the transaction is complete.
9. After receiving payment for your item, ship it promptly by the stated method. Send an email to the buyer to let them know their item is on its way. You can leave feedback at this point or wait until the item is received and the buyer posts feedback for you.
10. If you plan to do a lot of selling on eBay, you may want to consider signing up for a PayPal account. Many eBay buyers only purchase items from those sellers that do accept PayPal as a payment method. It is free to sign up and all you will need is a checking account.
Selling on eBay can become addictive and for some a very lucrative venture. If you find that you enjoy the online garage sale, you may want to download eBay's Turbo Lister to help make listing your items much faster. Good luck with your eBay selling experience.
The Beauty of Ebay
It's hard to believe that Ebay has been around for ten years. eBay started in September 1995, by a man named Pierre Omidyar, who was residing in San Jose, California. He envisioned his site - formerly known as 'AuctionWeb' - to be an internet mart, and composed the first code for it in one weekend. It was one of the first sites of its type on the planet. The name 'eBay' follows from the domain Omidyar applied to his internet site His company's name was Echo Bay, and the 'eBay AuctionWeb' was formerly just one part of Echo Bay's website at ebay.com. The first product ever traded on the site was Omidyar's defective laser pointer, which sold for $14 .
The web site rapidly became hugely popular, as vendors arrived to auction off all sorts of strange things and buyers actually purchased them. Relying on faith appeared to work out outstandingly well, and implied that the web site could just about be left alone to run itself. The internet site had been configured from the beginning to take in a small fee on every sale, and it was this revenue that Omidyar applied to finance AuctionWeb's expansion. The fees speedily totaled up to more than his salary at the time, so he resolved to quit his job and devote attention to the site full-time. It was at this point in time, in 1996, that he added the feedback capability, to let buyers and sellers rate one another and make purchasing and trading safer.
In 1997, Omidyar modified AuctionWeb's - and his company's - name to 'eBay', which is what people had been using to refer to the site for awhile. He started to spend a great deal of money on promotion, and had the eBay logo created. A milestone was reached in this year - the one-millionth item was sold (it was a miniature version of Big Bird from Sesame Street).
Then, in 1998 - the peak of the dot com company boom - eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market.
It began to encourage people to trade more than only collectibles, and rapidly morphed into a huge site on which you could trade anything, big or little. Different from the other websites, though, eBay endured the final stage of the bonanza, and is still going strong nowadays.
1999 saw eBay go worldwide, unveiling sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay purchased half.com, an Amazon-like internet retailer, in the year 2000 - the same year it inaugurated Buy it Now - and bought PayPal, an internet payment service, in 2002.
Pierre Omidyar has now cleared an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board.There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay - that's a lot of laser pointers.
The fact that these PowerSellers are around gives you some idea of the money possibilities on Ebay. Most of the power sellers never intended to even launch a commercial enterprise on eBay - they merely began trading a couple of items, and then continued. There are quite a lot of people whose full-time job is merchandising items on eBay, and some of them have been working at it for years now. Can you believe that? Once they've purchased the merchandise, everything else is basically pure profit for these people - they don't need to spend money on any business premises, employees, or anything else. There are multi-million dollar commercial enterprises earning less in genuine net income than eBay PowerSellers do.
Even if you do not want to resign from your line of work and really try for it, you can use all the same eBay to make a substantial supplemental income. You can package customer purchases during the week and bring them to the local post office for shipping each Saturday. There are few other things you could be doing with your free time that have anywhere close to that kind of money-making potential.
What's more, eBay could care less about who you are, where you reside, or if you are good-looking. Some PowerSellers are very old, or very young. Some live out in very rural areas where selling on eBay is one of the few options to agriculture or being very impoverished. eBay levels the playing field and removes the roadblocks to earning that the real world constantly erects. There's no job interview and no traveling back and forth involved - if you can post items on the site, you can make it happen!
Put it this way: if you know where to acquire something fairly inexpensively that you could sell, then you can sell it on eBay - and because you can always get discount rates for mass purchases at wholesale, that's not hard. Purchase a job lot of something in-demand inexpensively, sell it on eBay, and you are earning cash already, with no set-up expenses.
If you wish to try it out before you commit to really purchasing anything, then you can just sell unwanted objects that you've got sitting around in the home. Explore that closet full of items that you never use, and you'll in all likelihood find you've got a couple of hundred bucks' worth of stuff lying around in there!
This is the beauty of eBay: there is always someone who wants what you're selling, whatever it might be, and because they have come searching you out, you don't even need to do anything to get them to buy it.
The web site rapidly became hugely popular, as vendors arrived to auction off all sorts of strange things and buyers actually purchased them. Relying on faith appeared to work out outstandingly well, and implied that the web site could just about be left alone to run itself. The internet site had been configured from the beginning to take in a small fee on every sale, and it was this revenue that Omidyar applied to finance AuctionWeb's expansion. The fees speedily totaled up to more than his salary at the time, so he resolved to quit his job and devote attention to the site full-time. It was at this point in time, in 1996, that he added the feedback capability, to let buyers and sellers rate one another and make purchasing and trading safer.
In 1997, Omidyar modified AuctionWeb's - and his company's - name to 'eBay', which is what people had been using to refer to the site for awhile. He started to spend a great deal of money on promotion, and had the eBay logo created. A milestone was reached in this year - the one-millionth item was sold (it was a miniature version of Big Bird from Sesame Street).
Then, in 1998 - the peak of the dot com company boom - eBay became big business, and the investment in Internet businesses at the time allowed it to bring in senior managers and business strategists, who took in public on the stock market.
It began to encourage people to trade more than only collectibles, and rapidly morphed into a huge site on which you could trade anything, big or little. Different from the other websites, though, eBay endured the final stage of the bonanza, and is still going strong nowadays.
1999 saw eBay go worldwide, unveiling sites in the UK, Australia and Germany. eBay purchased half.com, an Amazon-like internet retailer, in the year 2000 - the same year it inaugurated Buy it Now - and bought PayPal, an internet payment service, in 2002.
Pierre Omidyar has now cleared an estimated $3 billion from eBay, and still serves as Chairman of the Board.There are now literally millions of items bought and sold every day on eBay, all over the world. For every $100 spent online worldwide, it is estimated that $14 is spent on eBay - that's a lot of laser pointers.
The fact that these PowerSellers are around gives you some idea of the money possibilities on Ebay. Most of the power sellers never intended to even launch a commercial enterprise on eBay - they merely began trading a couple of items, and then continued. There are quite a lot of people whose full-time job is merchandising items on eBay, and some of them have been working at it for years now. Can you believe that? Once they've purchased the merchandise, everything else is basically pure profit for these people - they don't need to spend money on any business premises, employees, or anything else. There are multi-million dollar commercial enterprises earning less in genuine net income than eBay PowerSellers do.
Even if you do not want to resign from your line of work and really try for it, you can use all the same eBay to make a substantial supplemental income. You can package customer purchases during the week and bring them to the local post office for shipping each Saturday. There are few other things you could be doing with your free time that have anywhere close to that kind of money-making potential.
What's more, eBay could care less about who you are, where you reside, or if you are good-looking. Some PowerSellers are very old, or very young. Some live out in very rural areas where selling on eBay is one of the few options to agriculture or being very impoverished. eBay levels the playing field and removes the roadblocks to earning that the real world constantly erects. There's no job interview and no traveling back and forth involved - if you can post items on the site, you can make it happen!
Put it this way: if you know where to acquire something fairly inexpensively that you could sell, then you can sell it on eBay - and because you can always get discount rates for mass purchases at wholesale, that's not hard. Purchase a job lot of something in-demand inexpensively, sell it on eBay, and you are earning cash already, with no set-up expenses.
If you wish to try it out before you commit to really purchasing anything, then you can just sell unwanted objects that you've got sitting around in the home. Explore that closet full of items that you never use, and you'll in all likelihood find you've got a couple of hundred bucks' worth of stuff lying around in there!
This is the beauty of eBay: there is always someone who wants what you're selling, whatever it might be, and because they have come searching you out, you don't even need to do anything to get them to buy it.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay
I've just heard about an exciting opportunity that I had to share with you right away. It involves the website eBay.com, and requires a bit of work on your part.
However, the payoff for you could be absolutely HUGE!
Let me explain...
I just received a message from Derek Gehl of the Internet Marketing Center, who had some pretty amazing news...
He told me that for the first time ever, he's convinced his elite team of eBay PowerSellers to let him put their proven success system down on paper, so ANYONE can use it to achieve life-changing income on eBay.
(This is the same system his eBay experts are using to teach their students how to build their own successful eBay businesses. Many of these students are making $1,000 to $10,000 a month on eBay -- within a matter of weeks!)
Anyway, here's where the 'opportunity' part comes in...
See, because this is the first time he's released this system to the general public, he needs more people who can "testify" that his system actually works.
If making a LOT of money (at least $100,000+ in your first year) is something that interests you, I'd like to invite you to check out a "review copy" of his new eBay profit system and give it a try!
And because he's so certain you're going to achieve incredible success with this system, he's willing to let you test-drive it absolutely risk free for a full 30 days -- for only 99 cents!
Derek is banking on the fact that you'll be up and running and making BIG profits on eBay in the next month or so, and will write him a nice "testimonial" that he can put up on his web page when he rolls out his full launch of this system to the public.
If not, no big deal... Just send it back and it won't have cost you anything.
Sound interesting? You can take part by going to:
The Insider Secrets to Selling on eBay
P.S. I should mention, by the way, that this "system" has nothing to do with selling junk from around your house or scrounging stuff from flea markets and reselling it on eBay. See for yourself HERE!
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