Friday, October 12, 2007

Tips to Take Your eBay Business a Step Further - By John Thornhill

Thanks to the 21st century and the growing number of customer demands, business at eBay is really beginning to look up. However, this means that there's going to be a fierce competition between the sellers online. Due to the growing demand of the consumers, more and more sellers are pouring into the eBay business. In order for you to derive maximum benefit even in these conditions, you need to plan your strategy accordingly.

As they say "Fail to Plan and Plan to fail"; this exactly describes how you should do your business at eBay. This may sound like something right from the books of the Dalai Lama, but it is true. If you want to gain profit with your eBay business, it is time you start planning right now. One thing that you have to remember is that you've got to stick to the plan until it materializes. Planning is important because the products get outdated pretty fast. Look at the Xbox for instance; although it was introduced in 2001, a new model was unveiled within just four years, i.e., Xbox 360. Therefore, it is important that you invest both your time and money in new products so as to attract more customers. That being said, the coming years are predicted to be very good for the prospective buyers, since sellers are doing virtually everything that they can to attract the buyer's attention. Once you've done your homework with regard to the planning process, you should shift your focus on how to achieve your objectives.

Defining your goals in order to take your business a step further requires you to monitor your progress on a daily basis. Do everything that you can to avoid negative feedback from the buyers. In this day and age, one negative feedback is equal to losing five prospective customers, which is equal to a big loss. Once you see that your business is one a progressive trend, don't stop there. Introduce offers like discounts on buying two iPods, etc. Your goals must be in touch with reality of course, wherein an objective of sales revenue reaching up to $8000 is understandable, but something more than $15000 in a month is kind of far fetched, don't you think? Put an estimate, like every month your sales figure should improve by at least 10%.

Speaking of quantitative goals, never forget to keep your products at par with quality. There's got to be a reason why the customers choose your product over thousand other products sold by the sellers all over eBay. When it comes to delivering your products, your shipping charges should be nominal compared to what other sellers are offering. Don't always sell your products at discounts; you have got to look after your own interests too. What is business without any profit!

John Thornhill is an eBay PowerSeller and trades on eBay under the username planetsms. He earns $1000s every week selling info products on eBay. If you want John to mentor you and show you how he is so successful visit http://www.mentorshipmonthly.com/