Secret on eBay Auction


by Bonaran - Date: 2007-04-01 - Word Count: 1986 Share This!

Make Money on Ebay
It doesn't take a genius to make money on Ebay, nor does it require you to have any specialized computer knowledge.You don't even need to be a skilled entrepreneur, because Ebay does most of the work for you.With over 1.5 billion page views per month and more than 1000 categories, they bring customers TO YOU and save you enormous advertising costs. Your job, therefore, is to make a successful sales pitch to the customers who see your auctions on ebay, and doing that isn't as easy as you might think. You will be competing with more than two million other Ebay sellers, many of whom are veterans at online marketing and highly knowledgeable in the niche markets found on Ebay.So how do you compete with them ? The answer is simple : INFORMATION !
Tips-n-Tricks to Bid in eBay Auction !
There are over 2,900 categories to list your items in. So, after choosing a product you've purchased or created in your workshop or crafts room, spend some time searching the categories you see the most activity in and have the best possibilities to have a successful auction in. Certain auction items are geared to the housewife, others to the work force and many times, like a high ticket item, may require the decision of more than one person to make a bid.
Tip1 -If your market is for the housewife, start your auctions in the morning. What time in the morning ? Since eBay is located in the Pacific Time Zone and you reside in the Eastern Time Zone you will want to start your auction early in the morning. To hit the Pacific Time Zone at 10 A.M., start your auction at 7 A.M .in the Eastern Time Zone. This will reach the other time zones at 8 A.M. and 9 AM. Keep in mind, all auctions end at the same time they start.
Tip2 - Use the evening hours to list items for the working families and the major ticket items for those folks who need to make a joint purchase decision of the larger amounts. This is all subjective and if you have done your homework you should have the times charted for that category for the highest traffic times the bidders are active. Advantage: seller.
Tip3 - Which days are the best ? The best I can say about my auction success in the categories I use is that I have narrowed it down to Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings for when I want my auctions to start and end. So, if I list on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday evenings, then I will run a seven day auction. If I want to list on a Sunday evening, I will list the item for a 3 day auction to end on Wednesday evening. Again, chart the categories and you will soon see a pattern develop that works the best for you. Before you know it, you will be on your way to becoming a marketing pro in the Auction Houses.
Tip4 - The best months are January to the middle of June, then from the middle of September to the middle of December. The in-between months are the traditional vacation months. Don't get me wrong, it just slows down in that time frame. I also find the week after Christmas to be a very good exposure period with all the new computers being hooked up on Christmas day. Everyone wants to rush out and see what all the excitement is about on eBay.
Tip5 - Use the reserve price to set the minimum amount that you will take for your item if you are starting with a minimum bid far lower than what you will accept if your item sales. So, set the starting bid at or near the amount you want. Ex.: if you want $50 dollars for your item and start the bid for a penny and it only gets one bid for that penny, you are committed to sell that item to the bidder. If you start making excuses like the dog ate it and refuse to let the item go at that bid, you could lose your eBay privileges. As you research the auction items you will see where sellers will start a bid at one Penny just to get you to look at the item and then you will see the (reserve not yet met). Well, that person may have set a $1,500.00 reserve and the bidders will start getting impatient when they are bidding on what they feel is reasonable for that item and just quit and go look for another like item to bid on. eBay recommends you keep the starting bid around 25% to 70% of the reserve price you have set. I tend to agree with them.
Tip6 - If you type this after the title of your auction item, NR or N/R, you will get more bids per visitor. The NR and N/R indicates to the buyer there is no reserve price to be met. This will create bidding frenzies to get started in some instances.
Tip7 - The hottest bidding times are when a listing is new and the last hour. So don't get discouraged if there is not much bidding activity during the days in between. The bidders are not asleep, they are like you, just monitoring their favorites. I have had items jump by $400.00 in the last 10 minutes of the auction.
The best way to view this activity is to go to the "going, going, gone" in the categories you are most interested in and take note of the price of the last bid. Then visit that page to see what the actual prices of those items went for. This is the area that items have five or less hours to go before the auction closes.
Tip8 - Try bidding on an item to see and get the feel for it. As soon as you make a qualified bid, eBay will send you an immediate email that your bid was accepted and that you are the high bidder. When you are outbid at a future time, eBay will also send you an email to let you know that you have been outbid by another.
Tip9 - At the top of each page on the left hand side is a link called my eBay. This is a very important link to an eBay seller. It will give you a full accounting and stats of your eBay account.
Once you have logged in, be sure to bookmark this page for your records. This page will list all your activity, what you are selling, buying, feedback from others, your buyers email address and account balances which will include your listing fees and commissions paid.
Tip10 - Offer free shipping if the bid reaches a certain amount.
Tip11 - For credibility, offer a money back guarantee.
Tip12 - Review your listing before it is submitted. Once a bid is made you cannot revise it. Also make sure your starting bid is what you want. If you push that "submit my listing button " you can not change the price. I once placed an item up for auction for $300.00 instead of the $3,000.00 I meant it to be. Thank goodness no one bid on that item! I sweat that one out the entire week. So please, review your listings before pushing that submit button. You do have the opportunity to revise your listing so long as there haven't been any bids placed except for the price of the offering.
Tip13 - Always leave a positive feedback for your buyers and ask them to leave positive feedback for you when the transaction is complete. This establishes your credibility as your business grows. This is also the number you see behind the : Seller (Rating) Their user id (23)
The (23) means they have that many unique transactions but the seller may have a true rating of (48). eBay has a practice of only crediting the seller with unique transactions and will not increment the number for repeat buyers that have left feedback in the past. That is their policy. So you may want to check the feedback of the sellers to see how that works.
Tip14 - You can re-list auctions that have sold ! Go to the URL for the ended auction and click on "re-list". Ebay allows you to re-list the item even though it sold, saving you time and effort so that you don't have to copy and paste the title and item description into the form again. This is particularly useful for High Volume Sellers.
Tip15 - Use Ebay as a vehicle for advertising your products and websites ! You can list your url on your auction page, however, do read the rules. There are rules like you cannot lead to a page that sells what you are selling at eBay, however you can lead to other things you are doing.
Tip16 - Use Ebay's bulk uploading tool if you run more than 10 auctions at a time. With "Mister Lister", you can upload hundreds of auctions at once, saving you much time and effort. Click on the Ebay help files to see how it works and to download the software.
Tip17 - Dutch Featured Auctions are your key to success ! The way to maximize your profits on Ebay is to determine your hottest selling items through market analysis and then list then as Dutch Featured auctions. Using this secret technique, you can make as much as $100,000 per month on Ebay, or more! Note, You cannot set a reserve price on a Dutch Auction. You also need 50 feedback, or a ID verification and at least 60 days as an eBay user.
Tip18 - Information is your greatest asset. Read up on online marketing and read EVERY Ebay FAQ and help file. Know everything about your venue of sale. Your success on Ebay, or with online marketing in general, is directly proportional to your level of knowledge and experience.
Tip19 - Don't be afraid to try new things on Ebay ! List new products, try out new categories, and use the proven methods of Trial & Error to find out what works and what doesn't. DO NOT fall into a rut and remain content with a solid income of $1000 - $5000 per week. The profit potential on Ebay is tremendous - make it work for you.
Tip20 - Offer quick shipping ! Your customers want their merchandise quickly and efficiently. Charge reasonable shipping rates and send their items priority mail when possible. Make each customer feel that his order is important to you - because IT IS. This will be your key to positive feedback and satisfied customers. Happy buyers come back for seconds.
Tip21 - Set up an E-Commerce account. You need to be able to take credit cards and online checks to be a successful Ebay seller. Many customers will only pay by credit card and will choose another vendor if you don't offer them that opportunity.
Tip22 - Don't put a ridiculous shipping price on your merchandise. Many purchasers look to the price of shipping before bidding. Do put a price in for shipping so your bidder can have a guideline. Do check with your Post Office for book rates and other special rates that you can use for packaging.
Tip23 - Package your merchandise well. Your purchaser will remember what great care you have taken to get them their product safely to them.
This tips and tricks is a small excerpts of ebay secrets e-book at (http://myebooks.urllogs.com/) provides you the information needed to get ahead on Ebay and gives you an instant edge over your competitors. I will provide you with insider secrets on Ebay trading that I have learned from years of online auction sales. If you read this handbook carefully - not once, but several times - and if you follow the advice set forth in these pages, you will be armed with the knowledge necessary for an extremely lucrative home-based business selling virtually anything on Ebay.

Related Tags: make money on ebay, ebay seller, selling on ebay, secret on ebay auction, auctions on ebay, niche market on ebay, tips and tricks to bid in ebay auction

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