Seven Secrets to Making a Killing on Ebay
The world's biggest marketplace is the Internet, and its biggest
bargain and auction store is Ebay. Here, sellers put their items
up for bid with a starting price of their choosing. Buyers bid
for a limited amount of time, while sellers wait until their
desired price appears before terminating the bidding. Buyer and
seller then agree on how the product will be shipped and paid
for.
Ebay gives people a chance to buy anything they want to buy,
sell anything they want to sell, and perhaps get rich trying.
Everything can be done at home, with very little investment.
Are you ready to earn money through Ebay? All you need are seven
simple strategies.
First: Study the market. Ebay is not only an online bidding and
shopping center. Some companies actually post their wares on
Ebay to see how much people are willing to pay for it.
To market test your product, post it three times with three
different starting bids: one comfortably low, another at the
price you expect it to fetch, and a third comfortably high.
Monitor each product post and see how fast the prices rise with
the bidding.
This way, you know how much people will be willing to pay to
purchase your product. There is a caveat to this, however: you
can incur the wrath of people on Ebay if you choose to terminate
bidding of your two other products should you choose to retain
and sell the one for which you got the best price.
Second, sell something old but new. Now this may sound strange,
but all it means is that you have to sell something that has a
use or a following, something that is unique without being
obscure. Ebay is filled with hundreds of thousands of people
loud and proud of their wares. You can't sell something anyone
can find in the nearest grocery store, but you can't sell
something no one will know about either.
For instance, you can sell Used Ball Pen Art - it's something
you certainly can't pick up at the local Wal-Mart, but it isn't
something everyone might be interested in either. If you are
unsure, see Strategy Number One. If you believe in your product,
however, move on to Strategy Number Three.
Research. Some sellers make the mistake of calling their product
certain things: plaid when the pattern is checkered, large when
it is actually medium, brand new when it has a tear across its
front. Make sure you know everything about your product, so that
if someone is finding something specific, they stumble upon your
wares. Don't make the mistake of advertising something your
product doesn't have. Do so, and your buyers - and everyone else
on Ebay - will walk away very unhappy.
Fourth, take a great picture of your product. Showcase its best
side, but show any flaws it might have without highlighting the
flaws or hiding them. When you have taken the picture, crop it
to include only your item, then shrink it down to 72 dpi to make
it load faster. This will allow buyers to not only see your
item, but see it quickly. If it loads too slow, buyers will turn
away in impatience. If you have no picture, you will appear
unwilling to sell and wary of showing your product.
So what have you got to hide? Take out that camera and snap
those pictures!
At this point, you are ready to get your item onto Ebay, so list
your product correctly. What some sellers do is to put their
items in the most general category, thinking that more people
will see it. This is not true for Ebay, since buyers will be
searching for specific things. Put your item in the general
categories, and you could miss out on those precious page views.
Sixth, work on your writing. Ebay requires you to have a written
description of your product, along with an auction title. Make
your written description short and true, and your auction title
specific. Remember that some buyers may not have the right
Internet speed - and patience - to wait for your picture to
load, so you have to grab them immediately with a delicious
description.
As a rule, the best descriptions are those which will answer any
questions your buyers might have.
Your product is now online and ready to be sold - but how do you
sell it right, and when do you stop the bidding? It's all about
timing.
Know when Internet traffic is loose so that you can post your
item without much difficulty on your part, and know when traffic
is high so that you don't terminate bidding when people are
actually trying to get through to your site but are stuck in an
online traffic jam.
So, seventh, watch your market. Watch TV, so you know when
popular shows are on. Chances are, people won't be at their
computes during that time. Watch the Weather Channel. In harshly
cold or harshly hot weather, people will be indoors surfing the
net.
Marketing is all about timing, and in selling, timing is
everything. Ebay is no exception, and it can be a great place to
earn cash if you strategize and plan.