Auction Power Guide

do you have any tips for how i could promote my store or tips for selling products? thanks a lot.

If you have your store setup, you’ll still want to be sure and do regular auctions on some of the items since auctions get more exposure and this will help bring traffic to your store.

Be sure and create your about me page. Make sure and use keywords customers would search for in your titles. Take great photos and always work to improve the look and feel of your listings. Make sure your shipping fees are reasonable. Offer a shipping discount for purchasing multiple items. Put your store items on sale now and then. Create a Squidoo lens about vintage clothing and add a link to your eBay store. I think eBay still lets you a create a free blog thru them, I haven’t done that yet, but should.

Just keep at it and you’ll discover there are many things you can do and not enough time to do them all. I’m currently selling women’s clothes on eBay and although competitive, it can be done.

Wishing you all the best!

I make crochet blankets and i don’t knon how much money to sale them for.

On pricing, figure 3 times the cost of materials. If it’s an original design, go 3 times materials and then double it. If you sell out, then double it again!

Do lots of research and find out what others are charging, and whether anyone is selling any.

Know your customers. For instance, every new mom needs a few for baby, and they should be unusual and trendy – but the buyer is actually the family and friends who will be presenting them to her at a baby shower.

Different people have different decorating needs, so try to be up on what people are using to accessorize beds, sofas et cetera – and how to reach them..

Above all, don’t try to sell other peoples’ designs or patterns. Don’t pass off a kit as your own design. You’ll be shut down in two minutes.

Some places to sell might be a website of your own, Ebay, craft fairs, and consignment shops. If you have a day job, ask if you can put photos up on a bulletin board.

I’m trying to sell my preowned clothing on ebay, but I’m not having a lot of success. I mostly list dress shirts for $10 + $5 for shipping. I don’t have many sales. Is my list price too high or do people just not like dress shirts in general? All my clothes are in good condition and I only use brand names.

I always sell my old clothing on eBay with lots of success! 🙂 Are your listings ‘But it Now’ or Auctions? Definetly go with Auctions. People love to bid and if you start with a low enough price (dont be afraid to!) most changes are people will bite so quickly, BUT a bidding war will ensue and you’ll a lot more for your item than you think. I always sell my clothes in these huge groups (brand name clothes!!) and start the bidding at an irresistible $15. Jumps to $100+ every time 🙂

These are MUST DO’s:

1. Have at LEAST 3 detailed pictures of each article of clothing. People can’t be there in person to see the clothing items so they will appreciate nice, clear detailed pictures. I usually do 1 regular shot of the entire garment, another shot very up close to show the detail of the pattering or stitching or other nice aspects of the garment, and another shot to showcase another nice detail about the item such as cute pockets, a bow, the buttons, ect. Lots of photos!

2. Talk about each item and how cute it is. Tell people about why this dress or shirt is nice.

3. Try selling your old clothes in lots (groups). Ive never sold anything individually. Selling clothes in lumps helps to take away from the fact that they are all used. Not only that but they will be excited about getting lots of gently used clothing at a deal.

4. You already mentioned that the clothes you sell are brand-name. That’s a bonus. I only own brand-name clothing. Not because Im a snob, but because Im plus-sized, and the only places where I can GET cute clothes for my size is at nice stores in the Mall and such.

5. Presentation! Make sure your photos are nice and clear and have good lighting.

6. My biggest tip is to sell your old clothes all together in a group. I dont know, maybe people like group sales more? Thats the only way Ive ever sold all my clothes and Ive always sold them for a good amount. But if you want to only sell one thing, definitely lower the price some. The dress shirt you mentioned is $10+ 5. That’s $15 for a used item. Depending on where you got it from that may be too much. The clothes I list in my auctions usually are usually $30- $35 for the top alone. So if the item is used, $15 would be a good deal. However, if that top came from say Old Navy for $18, then $15 isnt worth it. Maybe somewhere around $8 and they’ll go for it.

7. Also taking this into mind: Like I mentioned Im plus-sized and we dont have as many stores to shop at as smaller people, so maybe my clothes sell so well because shopping for us can be a pain. So I can imagine is smaller people have so many places to shop, fewer would be on eBay.

8. Is all about being a smart seller. Often I will get rid of a group of my old clothes because I realize they wernt that great to begin with. But if I dont want them, who would? So, to make the listing more appealing I make a sacrifice and pick one more top or two from my wardrobe that I can bear to let go that’s really nice. That adds spice to my listing by adding in more items that people are likely ro want really badly and ensures that I not only sell my listing, but I get a good price for it too. 🙂

I have tried selling items before but they haven’t sold, does anyone have any good tips on selling an item!

Be truthful!! If an item you are selling has a mark on it, or is damaged,or faded etc you must put it in the description.Take a couple of good photos and include the the price when bought new.get the postage cost right too-a lot of sellers bump up their sales by adding too much on postage. I always get items properly weighed then add a bit for packing.Make sure you get your spellings right-so many sales are lost because of this cos the ‘search’ doesn’t pick them up.And make people think they are getting a bargain.I personally think that reserve prices put people off-I never bid on anything with one as you can usually find the same item without a reserve price.Be realistic, think about the minimum amount you would let the item sell for then use that as your starting bid.Auctions that start at 1p are great, but there’s always the chance that this could be your only bid and you end up paying out more in fees than what you sold it for.Always put at least one photo on-people won’t buy what they can’t see.Good Luck

i do have an extremely well paid job ,i was actually thinking of setting up my two neices and my nephew with ebay accounts stock and a little capital.

I have shop on ebay – I have to say that it is extremely hard work – your sales are based on good photos, obviously positive feedback and clever listing. I also work full time so often, it feels like I have two jobs. I have noticed a decline in business over the past few months – probably due to the credit crunch. That said, last year I earn’t more from Ebay than I did from my job however, the fees can be quite high when you start selling in any volume. The key is to research whatever you want to sell to check out the competition – also look at the completed items to see what they are actually selling for. Ebay has tightened up the rules lately which means that there is less room for rip off merchants – which is only a good think. Unfortunately, ebay has a slight stigma to it which can limit what you can sell an item for. I offer a 7 day return policy which I have found gives people confidence to buy. I have only ever given one refund and so, it does seem to work. Start off small to test the water and work up from there. I have had a shop on Ebay for around three years. I am now setting up my own website.

I sold something on Ebay like 5 or 6 years ago once & I think it was like a $10 fee. But Sometimes people sell things for a penny. Does the fee go by percentage? Or is it always the same? What about people with Ebay stores? Can someone just give me a sum up if you know? Thanks!

The fee varies by starting price. Generally, anything under $9.99 costs a minimum of 35 cents to list in a normal auction.
If you have a basic ebay store, there is a $14.99 monthly fee, but you can list store items under $9.99 for only 3 cents for basic listings.
Regular auction items have a 8.5% final value fee if the item sells under $9.99. Store listings though have a 12.5% final value fee for items that sell at $9.99 and under.
You can quickly make your auction a LOT more expensive if you add any special features like a subtitle or more photos hosted by Ebay. If you know how to use html or a listing site, you can save money on listings by hosting your photos elsewhere and using html to include them in your listing. Generally, the higher your starting price, the higher your insertion fee. BUT, in some cases the final value fee percentage goes down when the price goes up.
Read through all the new rules if you want to sell on Ebay now. Ebay is a lot meaner then they used to be. There are "secret" brand restrictions out the wazoo. As in, you’ll finish writing up your whole listing, go to submit it, and find out that to prevent counterfeits that Ebay has restricted sale of that brand and that you have hit the limit of how many of them you are allowed to sell. To give you an example of how ridiculous it is, I have 100% feedback and several years on ebay and last month I was only allowed to list ONE Gap brand item. It was a used skirt for $7.99. Every time you revise a listing, like if you made a mistake, it counts as if you listed another item and takes you closer to your brand limit.
If your buying merchandise to resell, DIVERSIFY! You never know when your going to hit a brand limit and nothing sucks worse then spending your entire merchandise budget and then not being able to list it for 30 days because of brand restrictions.
Also, make sure your friends and family know that they aren’t allowed to buy anything from you. My mom bid on some pans of mine that she wanted and I got all my listings deleted, none of my listing fees refunded and a 14 day ban from listing in auction format. All because my mom thought it would be a good idea to buy one of my items.. Aaargh!

Yard sales too slow, ebay and craigs list failing, lost job, huge debts.

Try G2Bay. This is a social networking site where people help each other make and save money. People post their photos, blogs, news, product and service reviews and talk about the stocks they own. Every user gets a Million Dollar Page where advertisers pay to find the right customers. The more hits you get on your page, the more money advertisers will give you.

• Shop the competition
  When you have items to sell, start by searching eBay for similar items, noting the categories other sellers list their items under, how much they are asking for them, what descriptions they use, and the photos they provide. Take note of what you like and dislike about the product descriptions, and if the photos make the item seem more appealing.
• Do your research before listing.
  Knowledgeable bidders love it when sellers are too lazy to research their items before putting them up for sale on eBay. Those sellers consistently offer them bargain after bargain, which can be sold again on eBay with a better title and description for lots more money. Use your books on antiques and collectibles, Web sites like this one and conversations with other sellers to learn about what you’re selling on eBay long before you attempt to auction it off.
• Choose a Category.
  Choosing where to list your item is a critical part of the auction process. If users can’t find your items, they can’t bid. More market research can help you here. Look at other auctions for similar products to find logical locations for your items.
  If still you are unsure about which category to use for your listing, eBay can suggest categories during the listing process. You will be prompted to further narrow down the category through subcategories and add optional additional categories for more exposure.
• Identify your market.
  Take a while to sit and watch for what sells and what doesn’t out of the items you’re interested in. Any market research data you can collect will be very useful to you later on. You’ll probably see the ‘sweet spots’ quite quickly – those one or two items that always seem to sell for a good price.
• Write a compelling description.
  While choosing a category is relatively easy, writing good product descriptions is not as simple as it seems. Your title needs to catch a potential buyer’s attention, get them to click on your item, and bid on it. EBay’s search engine uses the auction title to index items for sale, so don’t waste precious title real estate with words like “wow” or “L@@K!” Searchers aren’t looking for these terms, so you are much better off using every character of your title to describe the item. Think of every related term someone might look for when looking for an item like yours, and include as much information as you can.
  For an additional fee, you can increase the visibility of your listings by adding bold text, highlighting, gallery status, and other techniques. EBay is constantly looking for ways to help you make your listings more prominent – and charge you for the privilege. Depending on the items you sell and the categories you list in, you may want to consider these option.
• Focus on getting positive feedback.
  Feedback really matters when you’re selling on eBay. If you have a consistent record of positive feedback, prospective buyers will both bid more often and be willing to pay higher prices. So you may want to hold back on placing higher priced products until you have a successful track record as an eBay seller established.
• Watch your competition
  Before you invest any money, see what the other sellers in your category are up to, Take a look at similar items to what you would like to sell and price your goods competitively. Look out for people bidding on the same item as you are selling and email those bidders to let them know you are selling the same item also. Figure out what are the strategies of your competitors, Pay special attention to any flaws their auctions might have, because this is where you can move in and beat them at their own game.
• Find a product
  Get hold of a supplier for whatever it is you want to sell, and see what the best rates you can get are – don’t be afraid to ring round quite a few to get the best deal. If the eBay prices you’ve seen are higher than the supplier’s, then you’re set.
• Start small
  Don’t throw thousands at your idea straight away – get started slowly, see what works and what doesn’t, and learn as you go. Remember that it’s very cheap to try out even the craziest ideas on eBay, and who knows, they might just work! Any business takes 12-18 months to become established, somehow you still hope that you can get there in 2! But, one mistake entrepreneurs consistently make is to throw their life’s savings into buying case loads of stock – before they even know how eBay works. It’s easy to be lulled into a false sense of security on eBay after buying just one or two items. For buyers, eBay is meant to be user friendly. For sellers, things are a little more complicated. All powersellers agree that there are new things to be learned all the time and you’ll be surprised at how much more you know after several months selling small, inexpensive items. Be prepared to spend the first couple of months buying and selling a variety of inexpensive items you can purchase with your loose change. Keep track of what sells best and work on narrowing down the possibilities to a few strong products. By this stage you will also have experienced the best and worst situations eBay has to offer, so you will be much better prepared to crank things up a notch.
• Work out a business plan
  A business plan doesn’t need to be anything formal, just a few pages that outline the market opportunity you’ve spotted, your strategy, strengths and weaknesses of the plan and a brief budget. This is more for you than it is for anyone else.
• Keep your shipping and handling charges reasonable.
  Shipping and handling charges can really jack up the cost you pass along to bidders. Some folks avoid auctions that quote very high shipping and handling fees altogether. Consider charging only what it costs you to mail the item, and build in the cost of packaging and labor into your starting price instead. And if you’re not stating the shipping charge in your listings already, be sure to do so. Bidders want to know how much they’re going to have to pay to get their buys home before they bid. Again, some people will avoid auctions that don’t explicitly state shipping charges up front. It’s not fair to spring a high shipping fee on a bidder after the fact, and you sure won’t earn buyer loyalty that way.
• Invest & Expand
  This is the time to throw money at the problem. Buy inventory, and start spending more time on your business. Set a goal number of sales each week, increasing it each time.
• Make it official
  Once you’ve made a few thousand dollars worth of sales, you should really register yourself as a business. Don’t worry, it’s not expensive or hard to do – a lawyer is the best person to help you through the process.
• Automate
  You’ll probably find that you’re writing the same things again and again in emails or item descriptions. This is the time to give up on the manual method and turn to automated software that can create listings for you, and respond to completed auctions and payments with whatever message you provide.
• Keep in contact with your wholesale supplier regularly to ensure you are aware of any stock issues.
  A backorder can create a lot of extra work for you soothing customer’s ruffled feathers. And if they want their order refunded, it costs you money too. So make life easier for yourself by regularly touching base with your suppliers and ensuring communication lines stay open.
• Think twice about ending an auction early.
  If your item is not bringing in the bids you expected during the course of the auction, don’t panic. Since many bidders wait until the last minute to bid, a practice known as “sniping,” the price on a desirable item can double or even triple during the last few seconds of an auction. If a potential buyer makes you an offer via e-mail to end the auction early and sell the item to them outright, that’s not a good idea either. It’s not only against eBay’s rules to skirt around paying ending item fees, you could be cheating yourself out of a high ending price by selling to someone making a low-ball offer.
• Consider search keywords in titles.
  Keyword research is the way to ensure your potential customers find you successfully. The small amount of space you’re alloted for an eBay item title is valuable real estate from a selling perspective. Why? Most searches on eBay are done on item titles rather than descriptions. When you leave out specific keywords pertaining to the size, maker, color or age of a piece in your item title, fewer potential bidders will find your wares. Consider replacing extraneous words (such as wow, must see, huge and look) with pertinent detail words most bidders would use in a search. To do this, put yourself in the searcher’s shoes. Do you think a bidder will key in “signed lovely old sparkling choker” as a keyword phrase? Perhaps “vintage clear rhinestone necklace by Lisner” would be the foundation for a better title.
• Keep in touch with your best bidders.
  If you specialize in certain items such as glassware, pottery, toys or jewelry, consider setting up email lists to keep in touch with past bidders. You’ll want to ask them before placing them on the list so your email won’t be considered spam, of course. Once you’ve compiled lists of people interested in your specialties, you can keep in touch with them weekly, bi-weekly or monthly to let them know when you’ve listed items they might be interested in viewing. Include links directly to the items, or to your seller’s list in your communication.
• Dont over price.
  people look on ebay for a bargain, I always find that with most items if you start the bidding at 99p more people will be interested and will start the bidding straight away.
• Respond to questions as quickly as possible
  Most people use the Internet because it provides what they need instantaneously: information, contacts, gifts, advice, and so on. Therefore I can’t emphasize enough the importance of checking your emails as often as you can and replying to queries as quickly as possible.
• A picture IS worth 1000 words.
  The old saying remains as true as ever: A picture speaks a thousand words. It’s old-fashioned, but people still like to see things before they buy them. For successful eBay selling, make sure any products you list on eBay are accompanied by professional quality photographs. A bad picture can look unappealing and unprofessional. Plus, if the buyer can’t really see the item properly, they may be put off bidding because they can’t tell if it is what they really want. So right from the beginning, work on creating the most professional pictures you can, even if it means spending money on a photo tent and better lighting.
• Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – use other ways of selling apart from eBay
  eBay is not the be all and end all of selling online – although it is one of the best ways to start. As soon as you can though, try thinking of other ways you can increase your web presence. Perhaps you could place a classified ad in Yahoo or write about your auctions in a MySpace blog. There are plenty of cheap and easy ways to build up your profile.
• Keep a constant look out for other products to sell, while also monitoring carefully what you are already selling.
  Don’t become complacent! Even if your items appear to be stock standard – such as chairs for instance – make sure you keep looking at what other sellers are doing, emerging trends, magazine articles, home decor programs, and more. There may be another related product opportunity just waiting to happen that you completely overlook if you keep your blinkers on.
• Don’t offer free shipping as a gimmick unless you can afford it
  Free shipping is a very effective way of attracting more people to your listings. However, before you consider offering free shipping, think carefully about your profit margins, how much your item weighs, and the fact that shipping will vary depending on how far away you are sending it. Offering free shipping is a good move if you can absorb the cost in your profit margin, but it could easily become crippling if you apply it to a variety of items of different shapes and sizes.
• Learn all about shipping.
  Shipping is under the control of the eBay seller, but some methods of shipping are better than others when you’re selling on eBay. You want to find the best method of shipping for your product in terms of expense and reliability and then specify that shipping method in your eBay listing. (And don’t forget to include the shipping cost in your shipping information for potential buyers.)
• Pay as much attention to the writing of your eBay listing as to your picture.
  For selling on eBay, you need a powerful eBay listing. And the trick to writing a strong eBay listing is to combine search engine friendly phrasing with concrete details about the product in a way that will entice people to bid on your product. Take the time to craft your eBay listing just as you would any ad.
• Offer a full slate of payment options, including credit cards.
  The more payment options you, as an Ebay seller, offer prospective bidders, the more bidders your product will attract and the more successful your selling on eBay will be.
• Be business-like.
  Act professionally, provide the kind of superior customer service that will build your reputation, and make sure that you’re following all the business rules that apply, such as registering your business and properly charging and remitting taxes. Selling on eBay is just like any other business; to become an eBay success, you need to follow the rules and provide the kind of customer satisfaction that will translate into increased eBay sales.
• Create your “About Me” page on eBay
  Use this page to tell other eBay users about yourself and your interests, your experience and your products.
• Get ID Verified through eBay
  as an extra sign of security for buyers. When a member gets ID Verified, a third-party company working with eBay confirms the member’s identity by cross checking their contact information across consumer and business databases. You’ll see the ID Verify icon in verified members’ profiles.
• Promoting through eBay blogs
  Use eBay blogs to promote your eBay store. eBay blogs are a nice new addition, where you can create blogs with links pointing to your store or bulk listings (not to individual listing). When creating blogs, use the most specific keywords in the title and description. Also choose the keywords to describe your blog to tell your visitors what you sell and searchers find your blog quickly. Blogs are so simple to operate, yet a powerful marketing tool. You can create immediate rapport with your buyers through your eBay blog. The restriction on promoting individual listing is indeed a drawback. If there is sufficient pressure from sellers, eBay may change the policy on promoting individual listings – no such communications are there from eBay till now. Alternately you can actively seek feedback from customers in the form of comments. It is easy to get lost with tweaking CSS templates. Better option is to write quality content for your blog and give your readers something to read about the products you sell.
• Improving sales through an eBay Store
  One simple, but effective tip to ensure more sales through an eBay Store – use keywords. Use keywords that accurately describe your product. Instead of ‘cool great jewelry’, use ‘butterfly gold pendants’. The first example sounds great, but tells nothing. The second one accurately tells what the buyer can expect at your store.
  You can use eBay Stores alongside your present e-commerce shop. You can customize your eBay Storefront and make its look and feel comparable to your website. Make navigation as uncluttered as possible for easy navigation. It can translate into better sales.
• Start 99% of your eBay auctions for $0.01.
  EBay makes money by charging sellers both a front-end and back-end transaction fee. The fees are based on the item’s beginning price and final selling price. No sense paying more in fees just to start your item off at a higher price. I’ve found that $0.01 auctions tend to generate a lot of interest at first and create a lot of “watchers.” These watchers will monitor the item throughout the selling process and come back near the end of the auction to bid. It’s tempting to set the starting price closer to what you would like to actually get paid, but I’ve found this method to be both costly and largely ineffective. One disclaimer: If you are selling a high-priced item you may want to consider a higher starting price, and/or setting a reserve price.
• List your items at the end of the day.
  Most people peruse eBay auctions later in the day, so consider listing your items in the evening to get maximum exposure near the end of the auction. Consider the various time zones – ending your auction too early may not allow those on the west coast enough time to get home, have dinner and fire up eBay to see your listing. Listing items around 10:00p.m. EST has always worked well for me.

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