Sometimes just a few small tasks can make the difference between making a few dollars on eBay and making a small fortune each month. These ideas will help you get more out of your listings.
* Don’t think that if an item doesn’t sell first time, no one wants it. Many times I have had articles that failed to attract a single visitor but achieved multiple offers and huge profits on the second or third appearance. eBay is a rapidly changing marketplace with new members appearing daily and many more categories to list previously unsold products. See the next tip.
* A more appropriate listing category could increase sales. For example, I had some WW1 stereoscopic views that eBay’s suggestion tool deemed more appropriate for inclusion in ‘Antiques & Art > Art > Photographs > Pre-1940’, where I sold some but not many of my 200 photographs . I’ve relisted the unsold items under “Collectibles > Militaria > WWI” and lowered the price from £4 to £3. Almost all sold out, many at £3, others up to £40 each. Magic!
* Market your best-selling products outside of eBay. For example, I recently had a bronze statue of a greyhound, but not just any greyhound. This one had won the revered Waterloo Cup in 1906. I listed it in Collectibles > Animals > Dogs > Greyhound, but visitors were few and the statue did not sell. I put it back in the same category, but this time I wrote to the editors of specialized dog and greyhound racing magazines who I’m sure helped turn a simple ‘Dog’ statue into a highly prized racing collectible that sold for fifty pounds . (It cost me 10 pence at the flea market).
* Look for anniversaries or other events that can significantly inflate the price of your products and note them close to the appropriate date. For example, one of the first autographs I had of Fay Wray, heroine of the movie King Kong, hadn’t sold in two listings, until she recently died, after which my third listing suddenly attracted dozens of offers and a profit. cool £20.
* Keep in mind that it’s just as easy (some say easier) to sell to people who have money as it is to sell to people with shoestring budgets. Therefore, instead of offering cheap items with small profit margins, opt for expensive items. You’ll probably get fewer sales, but you won’t work as hard and there will be less communication to handle. Consider: computers, fine jewelry, designer clothing, original art, automobiles, motorcycles. But be careful and check the listing rates before you hit the Submit button. Some items, like cars and motorcycles, cost more to list and could eat up a lot of your earnings. Check it out or do what I did and promote a pair of motorcycle cufflinks in Motorcycle > Accessories, and then you’ll find you paid £6 in that category compared to 35p you would have paid in ‘Jewellery’ .
* Consider setting a reserve price on a low starting bid item. The low asking price may generate early interest, but beware, some bidders feel cheated by finding a high reserve price on that ’99p’ starting price item. However, the low starting price/reserve price combination can result in furious bidding and high realizations, and you’re guaranteed to get a good price or the item won’t sell. The reserve price is never revealed, but it is always more than fifty pounds.
* Specialize! Become an expert in an area and make fewer costly buying and selling mistakes. The experience also saves you time researching and listing items for sale. You will also generate repeat business from regular customers who will come to trust you and your business.
* READY, READY, READY!!! And when you think you’ve listed enough, LIST A FEW MORE! Warning: This applies to items you’ve already tried and tested, and not to expensive new products that you know little or nothing about.
* Try to have a website outside of eBay from which to sell additional items to eBay referral customers. This can be done by including a brochure or other mention with the original fulfillment package, thanking the buyer and inviting them to visit your website for other items of interest. Consider including a coupon for a small discount on any order outside of eBay. See the next tip.
* When you have that website, get it listed faster in the Google search engine by including the site’s URL on your “About Me” page on eBay. Someone told me that Google and other search engines index eBay related pages faster than most other sites. I wasn’t convinced so I gave it a try and found that it worked. Start by creating an ‘About Me’, you’ll see how in your eBay account, and say something like. ‘Thanks for your visit. We are suppliers to XYZ and you can learn more about us at http://www.oursite.com’. Keep in mind that no matter if no one visits your ‘About Me’ page, Google and other search engine spiders will visit and index your site. I follow this technique for all new websites and find them indexed in days or weeks, never months. Warning: eBay doesn’t look favorably on anyone who provides website addresses in their listings, or as part of an eBay ID, and active links are likely to get you banned. The rule does not apply to “About Me” pages.
* Use counters on your eBay listings. These are provided by eBay, free of charge, during the listing process. Counters allow you to see how many hits each listing gets, from which you can plan and make changes (many hits but no offers is a sign that something is wrong with your listing; few hits and multiple offers usually indicate an attractive product) . Few visits and many offers could indicate a niche market, one with fewer members but 100 percent responsive buyers. But your competition can also check the popularity of your listings, allowing them to capitalize on your expertise and possibly take advantage of your ideas and products. The choice to use counters or not is up to you and you can always remove them once the test is complete and you know your product is a winner.