Trying to be help your buyers find your auctions can be a truly daunting task.
Most people only search eBay by title, not by description, and that means that you only have those 55 characters of the title to cover all the possible search terms. That is not easy.
In this posting, I will give you a few guidelines.
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Do not bother with eBay clichés
There are plenty of eBay auction titles that say things like “Super rare camera wow look low price”. These are stupid things to put in your title, as no one is going to search for them.
Think like a buyer
If you were looking for your item, then what exactly would you type into that box? If you think it would help, try searching yourself to find someone else selling your item. What were the first things you thought of typing?
Think like other sellers
Keep an eye on which sellers are doing best with items like yours, and try to copy their title styles – if it works for them, it can work for you.
Be specific
You should be sure to write the item’s brand and specific model number in the title, as people will often search only for this information. Make sure that you also say exactly what the item is.
A Few Examples.
Below are a few examples of good titles. They are real, and they are on eBay right now, making their sellers money. So what makes them good?
“Dell Latitude Laptop P3 500mhz Notebook PC Computer”
If you know about computers, you will instantly know what this auction is selling. It has manufacturer (Dell) and product line (Latitude), followed by a few technical specifications (P3 500mhz is the processor speed). Also notice also that the title includes the four words ‘laptop’, ‘notebook’, ‘PC’ and ‘computer’, as the seller wants people looking for any of those words to see his auction.
“OASIS Don’t Believe the Truth CD Album (New)”
This auction for a CD is well formatted. It gives the artist name in capital letters, followed by the album name. It then manages to include the two key words ‘CD’ and ‘album’, as well as the word ‘new’ – that means that anyone searching for ‘new oasis cd’, ‘oasis new album’ and so on will find this auction.
“1840 Penny Black stamp, certificate, four margins”
Here is a slightly more obscure one, from the exciting world of stamp collecting. A penny black is one of the oldest and most famous stamps. It uses a few key words that collectors will consider important. ‘four margins’ indicates that the stamp has been cut out with some margins around it and so is not damaged, and ‘certificate’ tells you that the item has a certificate of authenticity, i.e. that it is a real penny black. Remember to use every bit of space to squeeze in as much important information as you can in the title.
Now that you know how to write a winning title, you need to start on a putting together a great description. The next posting will show you how.
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If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as a successful eBay Seller, you will need it!
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Another viable and most recommendable option, when starting up an eBay business, is to make use of the drop shipping concept, which you can read about in the post – eBay and Drop shipping – What Is It All About?
Click here to find out more about drop shipping.
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Stay tuned,
Christer
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It is surprisingly simple to get started posting your very first auction on eBay.
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Below, the steps what you need to do.
Step 1: Open an eBay seller’s account.
If you have bought items on eBay, then you already have an account. Just log in with it and click ‘Sell’ in the toolbar at the top of the page, then click ‘Create a seller’s account’. If you have never used eBay before, then you will have to open an account first using the ‘register’ link underneath the toolbar, and then click ‘Sell’ and ‘Create a seller’s account’. The eBay site will then guide you through the process. For security reasons, this may involve giving your eBay card details and bank information.
Step 2: Decide what to sell.
For your first little experiment with eBay, it does not really matter what you sell. Take a look around the room where you are. I am confident there is something in there that you are not all that attached to and could put in the post. Small books and CDs are ideal first items.
Step 3: Submit your item.
Click ‘Sell’, and you are on your way to listing your item.
The first thing you need to do is choose a category. The best way is just to type in what the item is and let eBay choose for you. Next, write a title and description. Include key words you think people will search for in the title box, and all the information you have about the item in the description box.
Now set a starting price. $0.01 is the best starting price, as it draws people in to bid who otherwise would not have done it, and items will almost never finish at such a low price. The next thing to set is the duration of the auction: 3, 5, 7 or 10 days. This is up to you, longer sales will usually get more bids, but will also seem to drag on forever. If you have taken a picture, add it now as items with pictures always tend to sell for more. Finally, tick the payment methods you will accept (just PayPal is best for now), and where you will post to (limit yourself to your own country to begin with). Submit and you are done!
Step 4: Wait for your item to sell.
This is just a matter of sitting back and letting eBay do its thing – buyers will find your item and leave bids on it. Some bidders might email you with questions about the item, and you should do your best to answer these questions as quickly as you can.
Remember that if your item does not sell then you can list it again for free.
Step 5: Collect payment and post it.
eBay will sent your buyer emails guiding them through the process of sending you payment for the item. Make sure you have the money before you send anything.
Once you have received the payment, all you need to do is pack the item for posting (make sure to use some bubble wrap), take the buyer’s address from the confirmation email eBay sent you, and write it on the parcel. Put some stamps on, post it, and you are finally done!
I hope you enjoyed selling your first item. Now that you are starting to get into it, the next posting will give you a checklist of things you need to do to become a successful seller.
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If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
- eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as a successful eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
My new content from all my web pages is also going there
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
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Over the years, eBay has introduced all sorts of different auction types, in an effort to give people more options when they buy and sell their items on eBay.
For every seller who does not like the idea that their item might sell for a much lower price than they intend, there are others who want to shift hundreds of the same item as quickly as possible “over the counter”. eBay tries to cater for all tastes.
This posting will try to give you an overview of the different kinds of auctions and their advantages for you.
Normal Auctions.
These are the bread-and-butter of eBay, the auctions everyone knows. Buyers bid, others outbid them, they bid again, and the winner gets the item. Quite simple.
Reserve Auctions.
Reserve auctions are for sellers who do not want their items to sell for less than a certain price – a concept you must be acquainted with if you are familiar with real auctions. They work just like normal auctions on eBay, except that the buyer will be told if their bid does not meet the reserve price you set, and the buyer has to bid again if he or she really wants the item. If no one is willing to meet your price, then the auction is cancelled, and you keep (are stuck with) the item.
Fixed Price (’Buy it Now’) Auctions.
‘Buy it Now’ auctions can work in one of two ways. You can add a ‘Buy it Now’ button to a normal auction, meaning that buyers can choose either to bid normally or to simply pay the asking price and thereby avoiding the whole bidding process. Some sellers though, might now cut out the auction process altogether and simply list all their items at a fixed price. This lets you avoid all the complications (hassle) of the auction format and simply list your items for how much you want to have them sold for.
Recently, eBay added a twist to fixed price auctions: the ‘best offer’. This means that buyers can contact you to negotiate a price, which could be a good way to get to sell some extra stock at a small discount. The only downside to reserve and fixed price auctions is that you pay a small extra fee to use these formats. In general, it is more worthwhile using reserve auctions for higher-priced items and fixed price auctions for lower-priced ones – but remember that you can combine the two formats.
Multiple Item (’Dutch’) Auctions.
These are auctions where you can sell more than one piece of a certain item. Dutch auctions can be done through bidding. Buyers bid a price and say how many items they want, and then everyone pays the lowest price that was bid by one of the winning bidders. If you have trouble getting your head around that, then do not worry, everyone else has the same problem as you too! These auctions are therefore very rare.
What is more common is when a seller has a lot of one item, and lists it using a combination of two auction types, i.e. a multiple-item fixed price auction. This just means that you can just say how many of the item you then have, and offer them at a fixed price per unit. Buyers can enter how many they want and then just click ‘Buy it Now’ to get them.
Now that you know about the different types of auctions, you should make sure that the items you plan to sell do not violate eBay’s listing policies. The next posting will let you know what is allowed and what is a BIG no-no.
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If you seriously thinking of earning, not losing BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
- eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as an eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
My new content from all my web pages is also going there
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
http://twitter.com/christerfolke
Many people who are trying to start an eBay business spend a great deal of time trying to figure out which items are the best to sell on eBay. Many of these people have elaborate systems for determining this information, and many others purchase expensive courses that teach them how to find this information as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you need to know is right in front of you – on the eBay website!
Take a look at any category, and you will see the word ‘hot’ beside some items. These items are not marked as hot sellers randomly – there is a method to all the madness! Items only get marked as hot when there has been more than thirty bids placed on
the item. All you have to do is surf around the eBay website for a while to find an item that will do well.
However, most power sellers will agree that there is more to figuring out which items are best to sell than this. In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way to start your search for items that might result in a successful future auction is to do research on the auctions that were successful in the past. You can view old listings that have completed at: http://listings.ebay.com .
A new way to determine what items sell best on eBay is ‘eBay Marketplace Research’. Marketplace Research will allow you to view important statistical
information regarding buying trends at eBay. This product contains all of the data one could possibly ever need to determine how well – or how poorly – an item will do in an eBay auction. However, there is a small fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools.
Another tool that might be very useful in your quest for finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on the site. This list can be found at: http://popular.ebay.com/. This list is divided into
categories, which will make it easier to determine how popular your potential item may be.
Please do not make the mistake of thinking that an item will do poorly, or that it will do well without first doing your homework on the item. Some of the strangest things sell for the highest prices, while items that would sell quickly in any other environment just sit there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you that the key to a successful auction rests in the amount of research you put into the items you hope to sell.
* * * * *
If you seriously thinking of earning BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions
- eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches -
as an eBay Seller, you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
My new content from all my web pages is also going there
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
http://twitter.com/christerfolke
Many new sellers don’t fully realise how important pricing is when it comes to eBay auctions. Many don’t even realise that ‘pricing’ needs to be done. After all, eBay is an auction site! But eBay auctions are not quite the same as the auctions you attend in the offline world. In fact, quite a bit of work goes into determining and setting prices on eBay.
Essentially, there are only three prices that can beset for an eBay auction:
- the ‘buy it now’ price
- the reserve price
- the starting bid price.
Of these three, the starting bid price is the only one that is required for an eBay auction. The reserve price and the ‘buy it now’ price are optional. The starting bid
price is fairly simple – never set it higher than $50 or so – no matter what your item is really worth. This low opening price will get bidders to your auction.
Setting low starting bid prices creates the need for a reserve price. A reserve price is the absolute lowest price that you want to get for your item. You may sell the item below the reserve price, but you will not be required to. In other words, if you set your reserve price at $100, and your highest bid is only $50, you do not have to sell the item to the highest bidder. You can close the auction without any negative feedback or repercussions. Set your reserve price at the absolute lowest price you are willing to sell your item for. Keep what the item is worth, as well as what it cost you in mind.
The ‘buy it now’ option will allow you to set a price and buyers can buy the item immediately, without bidding, for that set price. This option can be used for any type of item, and it should be set to match your reserve, give or take a few dollars. This option is great if you have multiple identical items to sell.
Shipping has a price, and potential buyers take this into consideration when they are looking at an auction. If you can see your way clear to offer free shipping, you will find that people are placing more bids. Make sure that your potential buyers realise that you are offering free shipping!
Before setting any prices, you need to determine what the item is really worth. The value of the item in different markets might be quite high. However, you are selling on eBay and eBay is a different world altogether! Find out the price that similar items are sold for on eBay before setting any prices. If it is a collectable, or a high ticket item, have the item evaluated to ensure that you are not going to lose money!
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If you seriously thinking of earning BIG money on eBay, I definitely recommend a very successful product how to market eBay(R) auctions – eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches – you will need it!
Take Action – Click Here to Download “eBay Fortune , The Definitive Roadmap To Auction Riches”
♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦
Stay tuned,
Christer
BTW
Do you also remember to FOLLOW ME on Twitter?
My new content from all my web pages is also going there
If you find the information useful, don’t hesitate to Tweet or email the post to your friends and colleagues and set up a link on your own blog!
http://twitter.com/christerfolke