Now that you have experience selling on eBay,
its time to move up to the next level and start learning some more advanced techniques for growing your eBay business.
One
Cent Sales
A
tactic I have used often in my eBay
selling career is having a One Cent Sale.
I
will
list a group of items that all start at one cent.
When
I do this,
several things happen:
--The
insertion fees are very
low
--It allows buyers to determine the value of the
item
--Items
almost always sell
--By starting at a bargain price,
it
creates a bidder's frenzy and often items will sell for more than
retail value
--Other, similar items listed at the
same time
will get bid on as well
Often, bidders
will get
sucked into the auction by the low price, with no reserve, and
will end up getting caught up in the bidding, paying more
for a used item than it would have cost brand new.
This
doesn't always happen though. Usually the item sells for what
it is worth, though occasionally I do lose an item at one
cent.
I always send the items even if it is at a
loss to me, and as an advanced eBay user, I never inflate my shipping
and handling charges.
It is important
to
note that those who attempt One Cent Sales with low feedback
scores are
setting themselves up for disaster.
Buyers do not as easily trust someone with a handful of feedback as
they do someone with hundreds of feedback. When a
seller with only a few
feedback
starts an auction at one cent, the bidders might believe
something is wrong with it.
One Cent Sales are for
advanced eBay sellers only.
eBay
Stores
If you have a lot of inventory, as an
advanced eBay
user, you may decide to open an eBay store.
Stores
can be a great way to do business.
There is a monthly
fee for using a store. In addition, you will be charged
minuscule insertion fees (5-10 cents) and gallery
fees, but higher final value fees.
Don't
open a store if you do not have a large quantity of inventory, and a
way to continue that inventory.
I had a store for a
while when I was getting inventory for free by using coupons
and refunds.
I would "Price it High, Let it
Ride", meaning, I
would do some research on the sales of similar products in the last 30
days, and would price my products at the higher end of the scale. I
offered next day shipping, and reasonable shipping rates.
I
sold a lot of stuff.
It
was fun because I could just list it once, and it would stay listed
until it sold. If I was going to leave town for a few days, I simply
put my store on vacation.
MomPacks
If you haven't looked into MomPack
Fillers yet, as an advanced eBay user, I highly suggest that
you do.
It is free.
Many eBay moms add a MomPack
Filler to their eBay packages.
A lot of the moms I
know who sell on eBay also have a
Direct
Sales
or Network
Marketing
business on the side. They include flyers, samples, or coupons for
those other businesses in their eBay packages.
They
also trade these fillers with other moms, both those who sell on eBay
or those who do not, to get their business advertised.
Some
moms who only sell on eBay put together a flyer with their eBay store
information and trade this as a filler with other moms.
Generate Your
Own Traffic
Selling on eBay can be a profitable business. But if you depend
on eBay for all of
your income, you are setting yourself up for failure.
What
happens if they raise their rates too high for you?
What
happens if you accidentally break a rule and they kick you out?
What
happens if competitors drive you out of business?
What
happens if eBay goes belly up?
eBay is a great
source of supplemental income, but do not put all
your eggs into this basket.
Make sure that you have
other streams of income, and also that you can generate your own
traffic.
Stop depending on eBay to bring customers
to you, you will want to lead your customers to your eBay store.
You will want to create a content website that drives presold targeted
customers to your offerings. You can do this. It is not nearly as hard
or time consuming as you think.
Run through the eBay Partner Network, eBay will pay affiliates around 50% of their fees
for leading customers to the site.
I know of some
people who will cruise
Craigslist
looking for people asking for specific things, like specifically priced
cars, or other high ticket items.
The
affiliate will find the item on eBay for the person looking, and will
send them the link. If the person from Craigslist buys the item, the
affiliate will earn half of the fees eBay collects from the seller.
The
eBay affiliate program is very versatile.
You can search for a specific item, or even a specific seller. Plus,
you earn extra money for having a brand new user sign up with an eBay
ID.
Some people have created entire eBay niche
market
websites. They go for a particular subject, put together an affiliate
site, and when customers click through their site to buy on eBay, they
get paid.
The
following links will show you more about listing and selling items on
eBay. Each link has more detailed information about each specific
subject than what was listed here. Enjoy!
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