Auction Power Guide

• 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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