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What are some good alternatives to selling on eBay?

January 22nd, 2013 4 comments

Ebay’s new policy changes have resulted in a huge drop in sales – the biggest I’ve seen in my 10 years of selling on there. Many sellers speak of selling on other sites, but the few that I can find seem to not be worth the time.
What are these sites? Does anyone else sell online?
I sell antique jewelry…

Sales may be down but it could very well be due, in great part, to the economy. This may be especially true if you are selling high-end jewelry. Regardless, people who have been affected by the economy will forgo jewelry to buy necessities.

However, before you jump ship, consider your potential market. How many members does the new auction site have compared to tens of millions of members at ebay? You may be saving money on fees or paying no fees at all but any new auction site will have a small fraction of the members that ebay has. You may sell an item for $10 at another auction site with far, fewer members that would likely sell for substantially more at ebay with its much, much greater membership. This is a classic example of “stepping over a dollar to pick up a penny.”

These smaller auction sites are good for buyers for the same reason that they are bad for sellers:

fewer bidders = less competition = lower closing prices.

These bidders/buyers are smart and have been taking advantage of those sellers who have left ebay.

Ebay is the largest auction site on the web with the most members. There isn’t another auction site that is remotely close, and I do mean remotely close, to having the number of members that ebay has.

Regardless of the fees, I suggest you stick with ebay:

The most members = maximum competition -= higher closing prices

There isn’t another auction site on the web that can hold a candle to ebay and the millions and millions of members it has. Many have tried and many have failed and yet, many are still trying. Ebay has a virtual lock on this business. This is where you want to sell as ebay has the largest potential market. A basic business tenet is ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential for maximum profits.’ My advice: Don’t be penny wise and pound-foolish. But the final choice is yours.

Tips to maximize profits:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is simple. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential market. To maximize profits, sell worldwide. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders

Do not limit your payment options – Offer all of them. Sellers who offer only PayPal or only money orders or money orders and checks are further limiting their potential market and reducing their potential to maximize profits. Some people will not bid on items that do not have PayPal as an option. Then you have a smaller percentage who refuse to use PayPal and prefer to pay by check only or money order only. For checks, the buyer should have at least 25 positive feedbacks and a 100% feedback rating.

However, if you wish to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept for these overseas bidders.

Several members above mentioned Craigslist. Keep in mind that Craigslist is basically a classified that limits you to a particular geographic region. This drastically limits your potential market. Ebay reaches tens of millions of people. My point is simple. Ask 100 people to name an auction site. What do you think the answer will be 99 to 100 times, Sell-It-Here or eBay? If you want to reach the most people to maximize your profits, ebay is still the way to go despite the economy. Craigslist, for the most part, is for larger and heavier items that are cumbersome to ship easily like furniture, dumbbell sets, cars, swing sets, etc.

We are trying to sell on Craig’s Lists; Please give tips on selling successfully on CL, and Ebay too.?

October 31st, 2012 2 comments

We realize pictures help, but what are the best secrets to make sales on these big sites? Thanks alot

As a seller, the most important thing you want to consider is the size of your potential market. A basic business tenet is ‘The greater the potential market, the greater the potential for maximum profits.’ There isn’t another auction site on the web that can hold a candle to ebay and the tens of millions of members it has. Many have tried and many have failed and yet, many are still trying. Ebay has a virtual lock on this business. This is where you want to sell as ebay has the largest potential market.

Craigslist is basically a classified that limits you to your general geographic area. This, in turn, drastically limits your potential market. If you want to reach the most people to maximize your profits, ebay is still the way to go. Craigslist, for the most part, is for larger and/or heavier items that are cumbersome to easily ship like furniture, weights/dumbbell sets, cars, swing sets, etc. Also, CASH is king with Craigslist. Do tell the buyers beforehand that you will only accept CASH.

Also, it’s a crazy world! As most Craigslist buyers will arrive at your home to pick up their merchandise, I would advise people, especially women, who use Craigslist to have at least two other people with them when the buyer arrives. You just never know what kind of riff raff may show up at your doorstep. The person who arrives may be a heavy drooler and look like Quasimodo. You don’t want to be terrified alone, do you? You want to be terrified with at least two other people. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

TIPS

Be honest and accurate in your descriptions – One-sentence descriptions are for lazy sellers. One paragraph should be sufficient for most items. My general guideline is the more expensive (read higher priced) an item, the more you should ‘talk it up.’ It won’t be time wasted. Use lots of adjectives in your descriptions. Adjectives make prose and your items come alive. Without them, prose is dull and your items less appealing. Just add a little ‘sizzle’ and even have a little fun with it. In short, make your descriptions stand out above the crowd.

Be professional – use good English with no spelling errors

PICTURES:

Including one picture is a MUST, more pictures for higher priced items. Make sure your pictures are clear. There are far too many pictures on ebay that are dark. If prospective buyers can’t see your items clearly, your items, more than likely, will not fetch the closing prices they deserve. To remove darkness, use any photo editor to add some brightness and a wee bit of contrast.

Eliminate clutter. Prospective bidders don’t want to know what kind of cereal you eat or what kind of kitchen table or bedspread you have. Use a SOLID backdrop when taking your pictures as you want to focus all of the attention on your item. In short, the one and only thing you want in your picture is the item being sold. A SOLID white or light blue backdrop is best. However, there are certainly items that won’t show well on a light backdrop. In these cases, use a darker backdrop. And for gosh sake, don’t even think of using a plaid blanket as a backdrop for your pictures as I once saw on ebay. You should also crop the photos in your photo editor. Good pictures can add 5% to 10% to final closing prices.

GOOD DESCRIPTIONS + GOOD PICTURES = GOOD PRESENTATION. This is what you should strive for.

TIPS TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS – eBay ONLY:

Do not limit your auctions to one country. SELL WORLDWIDE. The reason is elementary. You now have access to the largest market ebay has to offer. Limiting your auctions to only one country also limits your potential profits. A basic business tenet is, ‘the greater the potential market, the greater the potential to maximize profits.’ But do note in your listing that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from overseas bidders/buyers. Through experience, you will learn that there are certain problem countries. Italy seems to be one of them. Mail sent to buyers in Italy very often ‘mysteriously disappears.’ If this is the case, just note in your listing you sell to all countries EXCEPT (name(s) here).

However, if you decide to limit sales to only one country, such as the USA, never say NO when you receive an email asking if you would ship to Taiwan, Germany, Australia or wherever. The reason is that you have a ‘FISH ON THE HOOK!’ This person will bid! When he or she does, this may force a previous bidder to enter another, higher bid or force later, first time bidders to come in with higher bids. So always say YES to these emails if you want to maximize your profits. But do say that PayPal is the only form of payment you will accept from these overseas bidders

Avoid selling ‘nickel and dime’ items. People who list and sell a steady stream of items that close for $5 or less are wasting their time. Less expensive, similar items ($5 or less) are best sold as a group to save time. If you have a large number of these cheaper, similar items, divide them up into sub lots of three, four or five.

More expensive (higher priced), similar items are best sold individually to maximize profits. There are ebay ‘vultures’ who just love to swoop down on similarly grouped items in one listing. When they win these auctions, they turn around and sell the items individually and, in most cases, get one and a half to 2 times and sometimes three times what they paid for them on an average item basis. I know this works. When I had more time (read unemployed), I was one of these ‘vultures.’ This is one of those situations where the parts are worth more than the whole.

If you want to do your listings OFFLINE, download the TURBO LISTER program free from ebay. Once you have finished with your listings, you can upload them anytime or schedule a date and time when you want your auctions to start.

Lastly, keep in mind that experience is the best teacher. Start off slowly listing only two or three items and see how that goes for you. Once you get your feet wet and gain confidence, start listing more items on a weekly basis. You will soon learn the ins and outs and the dos and don’ts in short order and ultimately settle on a system that works best for you. The more items you list, the more items you will sell, the more $$ you will make and the harder you will work. Nothing in life comes easy and that includes becoming a successful seller at ebay. If you are conscientious and put in a little extra effort, you will do well. If you are lazy or indifferent in selling your items, you won’t. Good luck & happy selling!