eBay
Another Way To Sell Your Products

by
Jeff Colburn

Some of you may scoff at the idea of selling your products on eBay because you have your own brick and mortar store or sell everything from your website. But don't ignore this wonderful tool that may solve some of your problems and increase your profits and visibility.

I had a friend who ran a comic book store. She would often buy 10-15 copies of the latest release of a comic, but by the time the next issue arrived she had several of the older copies left. As time went on, and shelf space ran out, these older issues were boxed up and put into a storage facility. Before long, that too was getting full, so she turned to eBay. The more collectable comics were sold separately, while the less popular ones were bundled together in groups of five or ten. On the first day her comics were on eBay she sold several of them. Over time, she wound up selling about 90% of everything she put up for sale. The money saving advantages were many.

• She could now rent a smaller storage unit.
  
• She lowered her taxes due to having less stock.
  
• She made money selling products that would otherwise just gather dust in storage.
  

Do these sound like solutions to any of your problems? Think of how eBay could solve problems unique to your business and then give it a try.

There are two main options for selling items on eBay. You can sell products as needed with individual auctions. I know of several people who use this method as their sole source of income. They purchase items at yard sales and then sell them for a higher price on eBay. You can also open a store on eBay and sell unlimited quantities of multiple items.

To increase the effectiveness of selling items, follow these tips.

• See what prices other people have paid for items similar to yours. This will give you a more accurate starting price and realistic goals. Remember, it doesn't matter what something is worth, but what someone is willing to pay for it.
  
• Start the bidding at a low price as this attracts more buyer interest.
  
• Write great titles and product descriptions that will make people want to see your item. Be sure to check your spelling and grammar too.
  
• If you list an e-mail address (and you should) so that potential buyers can contact you with questions, be sure your spam filter isn't blocking these e-mails. Also check that the spam filter on your ISP isn't blocking these e-mails.
  
• Keep your expenses down by using only the minimum options from eBay. Avoid things like 10-day auctions, bold titles, using more than one image and other items that add 5 cents here and 10 cents there.
  
• Illustrate the item with photographs. Seeing the actual item puts buyers at ease. Be sure the image file size is small enough so that it loads quickly for people with dial-up connections. They comprise about 50% of Internet users. A 40k to 60k file shouldn't be a problem.
  
• Offer a money-back guarantee. Almost no one will take advantage of this, but people love to see this offered.
  
• Don't overcharge for shipping, and pack items well. To save money, use USPS Priority mail since the post office provides free shipping materials. Be sure not to list a fee for shipping materials or handling, people don't like paying for these.
  
• Make it as easy to buy your product as possible. You can do this by letting people pay with PayPal, checks and money orders. Don't take cash. It's too risky to have this mailed to you.
  
• For business related items auctions should end on Monday or Tuesday. End these auctions between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm, before people leave for home.
  
• Auctions for personal items should end on Sunday evening. People are home, TV usually stinks and people want to do one more fun thing before work starts.
  
• Auctions for college students should end before noon. Nighttime is for studying, I know… I know, they're really at a kegger.
  
• Don't end an auction on a holiday or 3 day weekend, everyone will be gone. Also, don't end an auction during a major television event, like the Super Bowl.
  
• Do whatever it takes to make the buyer happy. If you have a bad feedback rating most people will not buy from you. A bad rating is having about 1% to 2% negative feedback.
  

When you write the copy for your ad, think like the buyer and answer questions that they will probably ask. Motivate the buyer so they're excited about your auction and be sure to ask for the sale. Be honest and mention any problems or flaws with the item you're selling. Make your item's description thorough and include words that potential buyers would use when searching for items like yours. This makes it easier for them to find when they do a search. And if you're selling other items, be sure to include a statement that says to check out your other listings or include a link to these auctions.

If you plan on making a living on eBay, expect to invest the time you would for any self-employment venture. Most full time eBay sellers have 30 to 50 auctions a month, and spend 40 to 80 hours a week listing, selling and shipping. For full time sellers it's also a good idea to specialize so you can make a focused website, get repeat customers and become well known in that field. Some popular areas are electronics, antique glass bottles and flasks, Playboy magazines and camera equipment.

While you can buy almost anything on eBay, for any price, most items sell for between $5.00 and $50.00, so keep this in mind when you're deciding what you want to sell.

To promote yourself on eBay you should do all of these:

• Create a website that has a links page full of useful sites for your shoppers.
  
• Join newsgroups and email lists and share your knowledge on your specialty. Be sure to put a link at the bottom of your comments to your website or eBay store.
  
• Check out sites that deal with your specialty to find possible buyers and markets.
  
• If you specialize in several areas, have a separate site for each specialty so you don't confuse visitors.
  
• Have contests on your site. People love contests and they will come back often to see if they won and to enter new contests.
  
• List your auctions on search engines and have the link go to a specific page on your site for that auction or to a page listing all of your auctions. This will also increase your site's ranking with search engines because it gives you more inbound links. Also, more people will find your auctions.
  

So check out eBay, see what it has to offer your business and take advantage of this wonderful tool.

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