eBay Selling – A Powerful Internet Marketing Platform

eBay Selling for Serious Internet Marketing Enthusiasts For more than a decade now, eBay has become the leading and most successful online business on the Internet, bringing together over 147 million eBay members from all over the world and pulling in close to $90,000,000 worth of product purchases and services everyday. Almost every imaginable item is being sold on hundreds of eBay stores and auctions daily from old household items and vintage vinyl records to brand new electronic items such as MP3 players, to old toys and even cars and real estate. These days, many people around the globe are waking up to the potential of marketing their wares on the internet by setting up an eBay store. In fact, a lot of brick-and-mortar stores have closed to have all their items sold on their eBay stores instead. Do you want a piece of the eBay action? This lens is all about helping you with the basics of auctioning your wares on eBay. I will also point you to the best online resources for the closely guarded secrets of exploding your eBay and internet marketing businesses. Why eBay Selling and Internet Marketing If eBay were to be described in few words it’s “piece of cake”. Indeed, selling and marketing on eBay is easy and is a sure way to make money online. Some people, whether they are looking for some lucrative business on the side or are looking for a full-time business to own long term, are daunted, some completely turned off, by the thought of having to deal with the technical aspects of managing an internet business. But for people who’ve already taken their piece of the eBay action, here’s what they’ll tell you about running an online or eBay business: • You don’t need to have a website • You don’t really need to be tech savvy. Setting up an eBay store is as easy as setting up a free email account. • No huge start-up capital • No huge overhead expenses • You really don’t need any prior business experience • No hard-selling. People find you and your products Best of all, since eBay is an enormous international marketplace, sellers gain a huge opportunity to reach out to a lot of people. Online Auction Basics – How to Start Selling on eBay As I mentioned, setting up an eBay account is as easy as signing up for a free email account (you do have one, don’t you?). Joining is fast and easy. And, oh, it’s free! Log on to www.ebay.com and fill out the form to start buying and selling in a jiffy. The next step (or perhaps the first thing you should have thought about before finally deciding to start an eBay business) is to ask yourself “What should I sell?” Well, what do you have around that you don’t need anymore? Do you paint? Do you collect old stamps? Do you collect old movies or records? Do your grandparents have things that are probably just lying around that are of no use anymore? (Nope, not their dog.) There’s a goldmine in your house. Believe me, with eBay, someone’s trash is another man’s precious stuff. Selling old household items is a great way to get started with eBay. It lets you get the feel of how it is like selling on eBay. It also opens you up to a realization of what things you would love to sell. Finding the Right Stuff to Auction on eBay – Buy Low, Sell High So, now you’ve realized what you want and love to sell on eBay (after probably emptying your room or your entire house). Try to do some research first on what things other people are selling and, equally important, not yet selling and focus on the latter. Start by going through the categories, looking at items already largely available. For example, if you have a product in mind, say Chinese digital cameras, key in “Chinese digital cameras” on the search box and see how many are offering this product. Also, as with any merchandising, always remember the maxim “buy low and sell high”. Find reliable wholesale suppliers from whom you can buy at huge wholesale discounts to take advantage of huge profit margins. Products that would give you any lower than a 30 percent profit should be left out, but not altogether if you could sell such items in huge quantities. Actively Sell or Auction Your Products So, you’ve found the ideal product that you’d have a passion selling and one that has a substantial demand (but has only a handful of sellers). Great! Now, just sit there and wait for the big bucks to come your way. Screeeech! Sorry, it doesn’t end there. You’re now an entrepreneur. And as such, you need to actively sell your products by which we mean creating a listing of your products. In eBay parlance, listing is the information you make available about your products which includes Product photo – This makes your ware visible, showing the product’s features and other details so that it would show up as informative. Make sure the photos you include are clear and not fuzzy. (You wouldn’t be interested to buy a house when your realtor shows it to you from three kilometers away, would you?) Product description – This should tell your customers everything about the product. Make it clear and highly informative. This helps you gain trust from your customers and increases their likelihood of bidding on your auctions. Listing title – Make it relevant. It should tell what your product is. Titles show on eBay’s search result page when someone keys in a specific keyword or set of keywords. For example, you’re auctioning an MP3 player. Your auction’s title should contain the words “mp3 players” to increase the chance of it being included in the search results for the keywords “mp3 players”. Pricing - Make the price clear. Detail the payment method that you prefer and how you intend to ship the products the winning bidder. Remember that there are other sellers out there that could be selling the exact same products as yours. Search them out. Compare your prices. Make your products stand out and make them catch buyers’ attention by enhancing your listing. Tweak the fonts by bolding them and creating borders. Make sure that your have the best deals around. Above all, this encourages great feedback that makes buyers keep coming back to you. For more information on how to successfully sell on eBay visit How to Successfully Sell on eBay – A Powerful Internet Marketing Platform.