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Saturday, January 23, 2010

Brainstorm Session: What To Sell on Ebay

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What Can I sell on Ebay?

After selling on ebay for over a year this is still the biggest question in my mind and still the number one discussion point on the forums I follow. The answer to this question is unique to each seller and changes constantly. Even the largest Ebay sellers are constantly adjusting their inventory mix and product line to stay up with trends and ahead of competition.

The most successful ebay sellers constantly think about product sourcing. They don't sit in front of their computers 24/7 to come up with great ideas, they generate these ideas in their everyday lives.

Lisa Suttora did a wonderful job getting me into the product sourcing mindset. She has a powerful course called the Power of Ten Product Sourcing. Lisa has been a huge mentor of mine and has helped hundreds of ebay sellers find their way. You can look at her powerful course right here.

Power of 10 Product Sourcing


You have to start looking at everything as a potential ebay product.

Look closely at product displays in your local Target or at the local mall. What are the stores highlighting? Is there a market on Ebay for these products?

Look at Sunday advertisements in the newspaper. How are they bundling the products? Stores have to stay on top of trends and they are going to show off their best sellers. You can even source ebay inventory right at your local store. Keep in mind that everyday USA products are hard to come by in other parts of the world. UK and Canadian shoppers will pay a premiumm for US products that they cannot buy at home.

Start seeing every situation as a chance to gather product ideas for ebay. Your trendy friends probably know the latest purse or perfume fad. Take note of what they are wearing and where they are buying it. You might be able to pick up the same item at Marshall's or TJ Max or even second hand and resell it on ebay for a profit.

Watch the teenagers. Look at what are they wearing, carrying and watching on TV. They have enormous buying power and noticing what is popular among teenagers can lead to great ebay ideas.

Pay attention to new release movies. Hot movies can generate a lot of affiliate products that do well on ebay. When the Twilight series was popular, I bought Twilight Board Games at Walmart and sold them for a nice profit on Ebay. I also bought Twilight perfume at retail and turned a nice profit on ebay. Keep in mind that some movies are released in the US prior to release worldwide. These can sell quite well on ebay. International fans love to get their hands on these movies before they arrive in their towns.

Look for items unique to your local area to sell on ebay. Do you live in a college town? Your local stores probably carry products with the team logo that will sell on ebay. If your team is having a good year in sports, these can be especially hot items. Is there a food or product made locally in your area? Items that are hard to get nationally or internationally are going to have a lot less competition on ebay.

Consider selling information products. These are great money makers that you can sell over and over on ebay at almost 100% profit. You have skills that not everyone has. Can you sew, build, repair small appliances? Do you know how to clean efficiently, organize a shed or schedule a household of eight? People are willing buy information on ebay to learn how to do things they cannot do themselves.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Flea Marketing 101


Get there early and be ready to bargain. Scour through the entire sale, picking up your "maybes" as you go along. Use your phone's ebay application for items you aren't sure about. Keep the following list in your mind (or in your pocket) when looking for inventory to sell on ebay:

Anything with tags: If you can list an item on ebay as "new with tags," the value increases. Name brands and trendy items will do best here.

Books: Focus on non fiction and "coffee table" books. Avoid fiction books unless you can get them super cheap (10-25 cents each.) Books are easy to sell on ebay, half.com or on amazon. Learn more about selling books with a great and reasonably priced ebook loaded with tried and true ideas for book sellers. I bought this ebook a few months ago and it has paid for iteself several times over.

Winter Coats: Children and Adult. Name brand and pristine condition coats sell well on ebay. Brands to watch for: Gap, Hollister, Abercrombie, Anne Klein, Roth's Child, Gymboree.

Shoes: Name brand and in top notch condition. Depending on the brand, plan on getting $10-20 pair on ebay.

Dishes: Bought in a set (aim to spend $25-$35) and split into lots of 2 or 4, these can have an excellent profit margin.

Toys--current or vintage: Condition matters here, but there is a huge market for toys on ebay. Vintage toys can do quite well. I bought two "See and Say" plastic toys at a garage sale recently for $1 each and they each brought around $15. I also sold a lot of old Lincoln Logs for around $70.

Coffee Cups: Look for Starbucks or Trader Joe cups. Think trendy and nationally known. Coffee Cups do very well on ebay.

Lynne Dralle (the queen of auctions) has buying and selling second hand items down to a science. I've listened to several seminars with her and she is helpful, fun and willing to share her ebay secrets. She has been selling on ebay for over 10 years and makes a good full time living selling unique and antique items on ebay. She explains the particulars and gives great advice on exactly what to watch for when shopping to resell items on ebay. Check out her book:



Another resource that is highly recommended comes from an accomplished ebay seller. If you are looking to become an expert at flea bay markeing check out Garage Sale Goldmines to learn all of the tricks.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Creating an Ebay Listing That Sells

Putting together an ebay listing that sells--sounds simple enough, right? Well, yes and no. Click mentality studies show that you have 3-5 seconds to grab someones attention before they click off your listing. Use these simple tips to grab their attention and make the sale.

Anyone can take a picture and put together an ebay listing, but in order to get the most conversions and the best money in your ebay listing, you need to learn a few tricks that have been tested and proven to work.

EBAY LISTING PICTURES


Your ebay listing should have a clear picture and at least one picture in the copy (the description page.) Even if you use the same picture for both places on your ebay listing, a buyer likes to see the picture as he/she reads the listing description.

Make sure your picture is clear and on a plain background. Use good lighting for your ebay listing picture. There are phototents available right on ebay to help you with this process.

You can use a number of different photo hosting places and get that second picture for free by copying and pasting the "a ref" tag into your ebay listing while it is HTML mode. I like Photobucket, it is free and very easy to use. Check it out for yourself:

Photobucket


EBAY LISTING TEXT


The listing text should be very quick and easy to read. Use bullet points and a lot of white space in you ebay listing text, especially in the top part of the ebay listing. If you have extra information that doesn't call for bullet points, put it in the middle and keep in in brief paragraphs. Remember our attention span is short and our hand is on the mouse button.

Do not center the text in your ebay listing. It makes it harder to read and is awkward.

Do not use all capitals or too many explanation points in you ebay listing. All capitals on the Internet = shouting. Don't shout at us.

Tell the customer what you can do for him, not what you cannot do for him. Policies should be spelled out in your ebay listing, but in a positive manner.

EBAY LISTING TEMPLATES


The fancy scrolls and pretty borders are not required to sell on ebay. Don't spend a lot of time or money worrying about your ebay listing template, especially when you are a begining ebay seller. Buyers are not looking for pretty templates, they are shopping for what you are selling.


EBAY LISTING TESTIMONIALS


If you can find testimonials about your product, use them. People love to hear what others are saying about products. If you do not have access to reviews, use reviews or feedback on you as a seller. People love testimonials.

Remember, you have just 3-5 seconds to catch your buyer's attention. Catch their attention and then keep them on your ebay listing page with clear pictures and great copy.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Running A Successful Ebay Auction

Ebay's outrageous and unique idea of auction format selling has been fascinating marketing professors across the globe for 20 years. Millions of auctions have been tested and retested. Determining a "perfect" ebay auction strategy is probably impossible.

Out of all this research, though, we have learned a few basics that usually lead to successful ebay auctions.

A few tricks of getting the most money from your ebay auctions:

1.)Pay attention to when the item will end. It will end at exactly the same time as you list it in one, three, seven or ten days. Most bidding happens in the last 24 hours of a listing. If your item ends when most of your bidders are sleeping, you lose out on the ending excitement and bidding.

Consider your audience when you decide your ebay auction ending time. Video games will do better ending in the mid to late evening and office supplies might do better ending in the afternoon.

Sunday afternoon and evenings are known to bring in the highest money and Tuesdays and Saturdays are known as slower ebay days.

If you do your best work at odd hours, pay the extra dime to have your auction end at a good time.

2.)Have a Good Title. This seems obvious, but to get traffic to your ebay auction, use only keywords in your title. The title is what people search on. You have just 55 characters in your title, every one matters. Don't waste characters with words like "cute" or "must see." No one searches ebay auctions on cute. If you have a word that might be spelled two ways, spell it both ways. If you have a number use the digit and spell out the number. Think like a buyer searching through ebay auctions. If your item is new, please state that. I have seen many ebay sellers skip this money making word. For every buyer willing to click through to see if you item is new there are ten who will pass it by.

If there is something you must say and it isn't a keyword and doesn't fit into the 55
characters, buy the subtitle for $1.50. Subtitles are good investments and make your ebay auction stand out.

3.)Take good pictures and write good copy. You want to answer all possible questions up front in your ebay auction. Use a photo editor (I like photobucket and the price is right--free) and insert extra pictures into your ebay listing for free. Your pictures should describe the item as if there is no text and your text should describe the item as if there is no picture. Take the time to write a great description. Measure the item and give the measurements.

Don't worry too much about templates or graphics. Your ebay buyers are interested in what you are selling, not in how pretty you can make an ebay listing page.

4.)Proofread Please! Dozens of expensive items are given away every week on ebay because of typos. Double and triple check your spelling. There are ebay sellers who make a living buying and reselling things from ebay auctions that are listed with mistakes. Don't let your item be one of their finds.

5.)Price your item right. If it is "hot" and a great seller on ebay, you probably want to start it low. Thousands of sellers who have launched millions of ebay auctions will tell you that a low starting price leads to a higher ending price. You are building excitement. Once you get a bid on your ebay auction, your auction gets a lot more attention than an auction with no bids. People who place bids are invested and want to win. Your goal is to have as many bidders as possible fighting over your ebay auction.

Many sellers, especially new sellers, get nervous with this ebay auction strategy. You can get burned. If you cannot take that chance, list it at the lowest possible amount you will take.

The exception to the low start price strategy comes if you have a slow moving or highly unusual item. In those cases, you might want to try it out on auction at a price close to what you expect and then move it into your ebay store or put it up in a fixed price format if it doesn't sell.

6.)If you are putting several similar items up for auction, list them on different days. You do not want to compete with yourself. Since most bidding happens in the first and last day of ebay auctions, maybe stagger them with each starting on a consecutive day. That way if a bidder "loses" the first item, he can go on to win another. It also gives bidders a chance to bid on all of your auctions. If they end only minutes apart, they may not have the time or inclination to bid on both.

Ebay auctions are exciting. They add anticipation and uncertainty to the selling and buying process. Using simple ebay auction strategies can make your ebay auctions successful.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Niche Market Ideas are Everywhere!

Looking for great ideas for niche markets? Still trying to figure out what to sell online?

Step away from your computer and leave your phone at home.

I know, it sounds crazy and counterproductive. I know, you have tons of research to do and blogs to follow. But try it for a day. You might be surprised at the results.

Us Internet people tend to forget the entire world is still spinning. People are living in offline worlds. Occasionally, we need to join them. See what they are talking about. Notice what gets them excited. And notice where they are spending their money.

I took my four daughters skiing today. It was super expensive and there were about 101 things I wanted to work on instead for my business. But they love skiing and this weekend my dad was generous enough to offer to come alone to help with the logistics of the skis, poles, boots and four beginning skiers. So I reluctantly left my computer and my ecommerce life behind and took the kids skiing.

But I kept my eyes open. I noticed potential niches everywhere. Skiers spend a lot of money and they are also in a group that updates their equipment and gear often. Whether you sold in a wide niche like "ski equipment" or a smaller niche like "goggles," there are a lot of ideas right there. That isn't even considering the bulkier and more complicated ideas like "chair lift parts" or "rental equipment software."

Judging by the long lift lines, this is a niche that has a lot of potential.

I also noticed the small shops in the town we stayed in. There was an entire shop dedicated to clocks and clock repair (I still marvel at how these brink and mortar shops survive!) But what an idea, clocks! One I had never thought of.

In order to get the inspiration you need to stay current and focused, it is important to get out and engage in the offline world. I know, it isn't as impersonal and anonymous as the tweets we leave and posts we comment on. But, we cannot forget that the offline world is where a lot of the action (and ideas) are.