Auction Information

5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay


Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship company

Do you know what one of the biggest problem is to be successful on eBay? 'What should I sell"? I can tell you, I get many emails per day from eBay sellers, asking me what they can sell. Let me explain this more in detail.

Let's take John and David for example. Both are sellers and try to make money on eBay. Let's start with John. He mainly gets his items from garage sales. So, every Saturday morning he gets up very early, hops into his car and drives around the neighbourhood to check out the garage sales. So he went last Saturday. John did not buy anything on the first two garage sales, but on his third garage sale, he found a little treasure. An old book from 1897 - for a bargain price of $10. Bingo! John was proud! 'I can sell this for huge profit', he thought and he went home. He took his digital camera and he made a high quality digital photo. It took quite some time but finally he was happy with the result. Then he had to upload this picture to his computer and he spent some time writing the sales copy. Late Saturday afternoon finally he was finished and launched this book onto eBay. 7-10 days later his item got sold for $75!! John is excited. He packs the item, labels it with the buyers address and then he drives to the nearest post office. Oh no, what a long line. After 15 min of waiting he could finally post this item to his customer! Wow, a lot of work for $65 profit? Don't you think?

Let's look at David. He usually gets up very late - usually at Saturday around lunchtime. He is still in his pyjamas and he makes himself a nice cup of coffee and gets onto the Internet. He logs into his drop ship account and browses through some hot selling product. 'Yes, I can sell that" - A nice laptop for a bargain price of $550 (wholesale price). But David does not have to pay upfront for this item, so he just downloads the professional digital photos offered by his drop ship company to his computer. "Oh wait"; David has just discovered that this drop ship company has also a 'ready-to-use' auction sales letter available. That's really cool ?and David copies and pastes the source code of this letter into his eBay listing and he launches his auction. A Dutch auction, since the drop ship company announced that they have more than one of this laptop currently available. Great, David could sell 6 laptops. He hits the submit button for this Dutch auction of 6 laptops and enjoys his coffee (which is still hot by the way). After 7-10 days David has sold all 6 laptops for $830 each. All what David does is the following: He waits until he gets the payment from his 6 customers in his paypal account, sends the address of the customers together with 6 x $550 (wholesale price) to his drop sip company via paypal. He has made pure profit of 6 x $280 = $1,680 in about 25 min of work - total. That's why David is a smarter eBay seller than John. I think the idea is clear ?drop shipping can be the answer to your problem what to sell on eBay and it can saves you a lot of time too. No packing, posting etc.

Secret #2: Have a professional auction listing

A professional eBay auction site is like your business card. If you are serious selling on eBay you should show your potential customers that you are a professional seller and that you are selling high quality products. Please, don't just upload a photo and type the text in the description box. Do your homework and learn some HTML. Look around there are many professional tutorials and ebooks around helping you in that matter. It's definitely worth it. And you'll be surprised, because if your auction listing looks nice and professional potential buyers stay longer on your site and usually it's more likely that they place a bid.

Secret #3: The money is in the follow up

"Yes, I've heard this before", you may say. But, this is a very important aspect of your successful eBay career: Follow up with your customers. Send them an email ~10 days after they have purchased the product and ask them how they are going with the product and if everything is all right. Invite them to have a look at your other auctions. (You have to be careful though not offending anyone, but if the products are related and you ask how they went with the product, that's fine). I never got complaints by doing that and your customers are happy to get some "insider tips". You'll be amazed how many customers will buy from you again, since they value you as a seller. Keep in mind that it is easier to keep an existing customer, instead of getting a new customer. You could also send them a thank you gift in form of a downloadable digital information product. That's easy for you and they get some valuable information. You'll see that your existing customers will be very thankful and they feel good that they have bought from you and will do again in the future.

Secret #4: Sell internationally

This aspect is often neglected by many eBay sellers: Sell internationally! First, check with your drop ship company in which countries they are shipping and how much postage they charge to send the item overseas. If you have sort out these details, you can go ahead and list your item internationally. You'll be surprised how many more items you are selling when the potential buyers see: Ship worldwide. Don't miss this opportunity or you are leaving big bucks on the table.

Secret #5: Be creative - Be different

How do you think your listing will be stand out from the crowd? Good question isn't it. In my 4 years of being an active Power Seller, I have tried and tested a lot. First have the photo in the gallery; it just costs a bit more to list but these additional cents are well spend. A recent study has shown that people almost ignore listing without a picture in the gallery. So that's mandatory! The next step is your title. Do you know that only the title is spidered by eBay when potential customers are searching for specific products? So, you have to make sure that your title includes as much keywords as possible. But be careful here, eBay does not like "keyword stuffing". So, be creative and come up with 2-3 different titles for the same item. Try them all and you'll see what works best.

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 a month on eBay.

Get your FREE 14 Day "eBay Secrets" eCourse here: http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com


MORE RESOURCES:

In need of cash, states auction goods online
BusinessWeek - 3 hours ago
Like most other states, New York also holds traditional auctions off-line for vehicles and equipment and had brought in $3.5 million by the end of October. ...


Tepid jewelry auctions show wealthy holding back
Reuters - 9 hours ago
While one sapphire ring sold for a record $3.5 million, most of the eye candy languished on the auction block and items that did sell fetched prices 20 ...


Extraordinary Art Auctions in Italy for Design, Modern and ...
MarketWatch - 13 hours ago
Pandolfini Auction House has organized at the new office in Milan (Italy) the auction sessions devoted to Design, Modern and Contemporary Art. MILAN, Italy, ...


Industrial Online Auction Company AssetNation, Inc. Formed
MarketWatch - 12 hours ago
AssetNation has created a global marketplace that assembles some of the strongest brands in the online auction community, which include SalvageSale, ...


London Auctions of All Things Russian
Wall Street Journal - 13 hours ago
By LLECTING MARGARET STUDER RUSSIAN SALES dominate the coming week at London auction houses as paintings, royal Fabergé, imperial silver, porcelain and ...
Faberge, Wealthy Russians Face Tests at London Auctions Bloomberg
all 3 news articles


Galleries wonder whether fair will draw collectors
CNNMoney.com - 6 hours ago
Sluggish sales at recent auctions in New York may be a sign that the years where collectors paid exorbitant prices for high art are over. ...
Roundup of events during Art Basel Miami Beach San Jose Mercury News
all 25 news articles


UK Auctions First Carbon Permits; Government Hoarding Revenue
It's Getting Hot In Here, DC - 9 hours ago
The UK Government auctioned the first four million allowances to emit greenhouse gases under their portion of the European Union’s Emissions Trading System ...
British government holds carbon auction United Press International
UK nets £54m in emissions auction Financial Times
Heavy demand as auction of carbon permits brings in £54m Financial Times
all 4 news articles


African Tea Prices Fall 14 Percent at Weekly Auction in Kenya
Bloomberg - 22 hours ago
21 (Bloomberg) -- African tea prices fell in Kenya, shedding 14 percent at a weekly sale in Mombasa, according to the founding broker of the auctions. ...
African Tea Prices Post Biggest Fall in 4 Years (Update1) Bloomberg
all 3 news articles


US company auctions 300000 UN carbon credits
Reuters - Nov 20, 2008
NEW YORK, Nov 20 (Reuters) - US-based online exchange World Energy Solutions Inc said on Thursday it has completed an auction for carbon credits that can be ...


BBC News

The painful consequences of abandoning asset auctions
Economist, UK - Nov 20, 2008
Holders of toxic mortgage-backed securities had pinned their hopes on the American government’s plan to buy large piles of the stuff through auctions as ...
Fox Biz Anchor 'Frustrated' by Misuse of TARP Business Media Institute
More Evidence Of TARP Error istockAnalyst.com (press release)
Credit Markets Unlock but Remain Vulnerable to LIBOR, TARP and ... Sovereign Society
Structured Credit Investor (registration)
all 269 news articles

Auctions - Google News

home | site map
© 2006