Online Auctions & Ebay 8 Point Game Plan for Selling Your Products - By Stephen S Alison

Many thousands of home-based entrepreneurs and work at home moms have already discovered the immense joy, profits and financial independence that trading on online auctions and Ebay can bring. Thousands more are discovering these facts each and every day.

In some popular categories the competition can be fierce and your product listing can easily get lost amongst hundreds of other listings. So whatever you are selling or plan to sell, there are certain essential keys to successful selling at online auctions and Ebay. You need a Game Plan! Here are some suggestions:

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 1 - Select Your Auction Site

First of all you have to think about and decide which online auctions site you are going to use. eBay is the obvious choice because of its reputation, size and amount of traffic it receives. But different auction sites tend to cater to different demands and markets and you may have more luck selling your auction item on a site that has less direct competition.

• Determine and identify which auction site is best for your product;

• Check out the top three or four in your product(s) area;

• Also look at the specialised sites and the big ones;

• Check out item quantities, bid lists and going-going-gone listings to establish how much demand there is for your product and the prices;

• Try bidding on an item or two to get a feel for the process but you should avoid bidding on an item you did not plan to buy;

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 2 - Select Your Products

In the world of online auctions, niche markets are responsible for over 40 % of total sales and the remaining 60% covers non-niche markets. Collectibles are the best selling items at online auction sites. Whilst popular, sought after, items may be easy to sell, you could also make a killing on any unique item with a high profit margin.

You will need to decide what product or products you are going to sell. Are you going to specialise and sell collectibles or unique items, one at a time? Or do you have a product you can sell in large quantities – the so-called consumables?

Also you can cash in quickly on "fad items". However it would probably not be worth the effort to devote too much time and effort around a fad item, if by the time you are ready, the fad might already be old news. But online auction sites do give an almost instant audience at a very low cost. So if you spot a trend or a change in trends, you can hop on and off the wagon as quickly as possible. The bottom line is you can make money with all of the above but you need to choose.

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 3 - Select Your Listing Options

Online auction sites typically offer a variety of listing options for you to choose from. The basic or regular plain vanilla listing option is the least expensive and, for example, costs about $0.30 per listing on eBay. You will need to choose one or some of the following:

• Regular Listing – a regular listing is just what it says. You choose your listing category and your product gets listed in it. While this is the most common and probably the least effective way to list your product, you should start with this option. You should wait and see how your product performs before spending money on featured listings;

• Reserve Price Auctions – you can specify the minimum amount at which your product should sell by selecting the "Reserve Price" option. This is sometimes done to prevent “auction sniping” which happens when bidders wait until the very last moment to place a bid and then grab your item without starting a bidding competition. Reserve price auctions can be to your benefit but they may also discourage bidders who are looking for the best deal;

• Dutch Auctions – Also known as “English Auctions” these are one of the best ways for people selling in quantity to place their products because you can list multiple identical items at once in each auction;

• Featured Items – On eBay and most of the larger auction sites, you can get your items rotated through the auction site’s homepage as well as listed in the "featured items" section on payment of an additional fee;

• Listing Period – The standard listing option is a 7-day listing. You also have the choice of listing your items for 3, 5, 7 or 10 days and of course you always have the option to re-list at the end of this time;

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 4 - Select Your Listing Category

You definitely want to place your listing in a specific category but you do not want to limit yourself. You should explore the product categories on the various auction sites to broaden your knowledge of what goes where. While you are doing this you should also check out the competition in different categories and establish how much bidding is going on.

The best way to decide in which category your product should be listed is to do a search on similar and related products, establish which ones sell best and see which categories they are in:

1. Use the search method to pick your main category and, if required, your sub-category;

2. Before you finally settle on a category, you should use the auction site’s search tools to check out how easily your product can be found;

Whatever you do, do not try to gain more attraction and exposure by placing your product in an unrelated category as the auction site will probably cancel your listing or even close your account.

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 5 - Create Your AD

Once you have decided where and how to list your product, you will need to turn your attention towards selling it. And this means you will need an excellent advertisement – including a title and a description.

Think about your target market – who is going to buy your product and why? You need to grab the attention of your target market and influence them to buy from you.

You must focus on the product benefits, rather than what are its features – in other words how does this product solve the buyer’s problem? Firstly you need a very good Title:
• Be specific and state exactly what your item is;

• Make the most of your title by carefully choosing keywords a buyer might use when doing a search on eBay. What will buyers most want to know about your item? What are its most appealing characteristics?

• Use descriptive keywords in capital letters without punctuation. Avoid using words like rare, beautiful, unusual, or L@@K as no one usually uses these words when they are searching on online auctions;

• The same techniques apply to your product description. Use as much information as possible to write a complete description of your item;

• Use a friendly and inviting tone to attract buyers. Include all item attributes. For example, model number, year the item was made, colour, dimensions, and most importantly the current condition of the item;

• Emphasize the positive things about your item a little or even include a story about the item;

• Be truthful in your description and think of ways you can influence your bidders by providing extra bonuses such as money-back guarantees, free shipping, bonus items;

• Finally, if possible, add a photo as most people prefer to buy what they can see and on average are prepared to pay at least 10% more for an item that is accompanied by a photo;

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 6 - Establish Your Credibility & Trust

The best way to establish yourself as a trustworthy and reliable seller in online auctions is by having a good Feedback rating. A Feedback rating is a listing of independent customer comments, rated as positive (+1), neutral (0), or negative (-1).

If you have a positive rating, you can probably increase your sales by as much as 7-9%. And this number will steadily increase as the Feedback rating system catches on. If you are not trustworthy, your Feedback rating will warn other buyers to stay away from you.

Both giving and receiving Feedback is important. Whenever possible ask for Feedback from your buyers as a large positive Feedback rating establishes both your credibility and establishes you as an experienced seller. To ensure that you get a positive Feedback rating you should always:
• List shipping costs or any additional costs up front;

• Deliver your product right away;

• Deliver exactly what you have advertised;

• Answer any buyers’ questions immediately;

• Always follow-up with excellent customer service;

• Consider giving a free gift or bonus;

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 7 – Get Exposure For Your Auction Listing

You have put in a lot of time and effort into creating a great title and description for your auction listing, so use it to your advantage by attracting as much traffic to your auctions.

eBay and most other online auctions sites have restrictions on the kind of links you can post from your auction listings to your website homepage. But you can still link your auction listings to your eBay “About Me” page. So be sure to take advantage of this option. Also keep a list of all your buyers and send them “thank you for your purchase” messages, details of new offers, complementary product information and newsletters on a regular basis. Your best customers are repeat customers who will be responsible for 85% of your sales.

Online Auctions & Ebay Game Plan 8 – Test, Split Test & Test Some More

You should always be testing and tweaking your auction listings. Even if they are really good, you may find that one or two simple changes dramatically increase your sales. Start by doing regular listings on two or three different auction sites, and, by changing only one element at a time.

Stephen S Alison is a retired "bean counter" who spent 26 years in middle management positions for major US financial institutions in Europe and a further 10 years as an adviser/consultant to a number of European financial institutions. He has traded successfully on eBay for over 2 years using the same strategies and tactics published in his websites:
http://www.howtomakeyourfortuneonebay.com http://www.learntomakeyourlivingonebay.com