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Buying And Selling On Ebay Continued...

Dutch Auctions - Your Key to Making Millions!

If you're a Low Volume Seller, you need to run multiple Dutch auctions to really make a killing on Ebay. Consider this example; you sell designer watches on Ebay for $150.00 each and you have 200 different types of watches. Therefore, you decide to run 200 separate featured in category auctions in the Jewelry and Jewelry > Watches categories.

If you don't make use of the Dutch option and list only one watch at a time, then your maximum potential for sales each week is 200 watches. If your profit margin is $75.00 and your average percentage sales equals 60%, then you're weekly income is $9,000. Not bad, but not $100,000 per month either!

Now let's modify that example. Instead of listing 200 auctions of one watch at a time, you should instead list 200 dutch auctions selling 100 watches at a time for each style of watch you carry. You would still have 200 auctions online each week, but your sales potential jumps from 200 to TWENTY THOUSAND (200 auctions x 100 dutch watches in each auction = 20,000).

Obviously, you won't sell 20,000 watches each week. If your product is popular, you might sell 5-10 watches on average from each dutch auction you feature. Now let's recalculate your weekly income after running the Dutch auctions: 10 watches x 200 auctions x profit margin $75.00 = $150,000. A little better than $9,000, isn't it? To be on the safe side, let's allow for a FIFTY PERCENT MARGIN OF ERROR in our calculations. Perhaps you only sell 5 watches per auction, or you only make $37.50 per watch, or you only list 100 instead of 200 different types of products.

You would still make $75,000 per week! Even if we allowed for ANOTHER fifty percent margin of error on the second calculation, you'd make $37,500 per week!

As you can see, Dutch auctions are the key to success on Ebay. When you combine the dutch option with the featured or category-featured option, then you're playing a winning game. High Volume Sellers need not worry about Dutch Auctions in general, but Low Volume Sellers (the most common and often the wealthiest) must use this option to rake in the profits!

Market Analysis

Market analysis is very important to determine what sells and what doesn't. When you're paying Ebay $100 listing fees for featured auctions or $15.00 listing fees for category featured dutch auctions, you need to continually evaluate the profit potential, profit margin, and sales percentage of your products as relates to the length of auction, type of auction (featured, featured in category, bold face title, etc), description & sales pitch, price, and a number of other factors. I'm not going to provide you with a complete plan for performing a market analysis because this isn't an economic manual, but I will give you a few tips.

The best way to perform market analysis on your products is to purchase our Auction Master 2000 which automatically calculates your best-selling items and recommends which items you should discontinue and which items you should feature.

If you don't use the Auction Master, then you'll have to do some pretty tiresome calculations by hand. In particular, you should evaluate the following points FOR EACH OF YOUR PRODUCTS:

· Sales percentage (number of listings for a certain item / number of sales)

· Profit margin (average profit of the item)

· Profit potential (largest profit from the sale of the item)

· Category sales percentage (sales percentage for a certain item listed in different categories. Which category does it sell best in?)

· Featured auction profit margin vs. category featured profit margin (does your profit margin from featured auctions for a certain item exceed your profit margin for category featured auctions? If so, you should feature the item. If not, you should only category feature it)

Performing a market analysis is one of the most important ways to maximize your net revenue once you have listed enough auctions to collate plenty of raw data. If you use our Auction Master 2000, it is a very easy step. If not, it may cause some headaches.

Trial & Error - It Works

As I have indicated, trial and error is one major tool for success. It works, pure and simple. Don't be afraid to try out new ideas or to feature dozens of your most popular products. Find out what sells and what doesn't - continually order new products from your supplier that you feel will become big hits on Ebay. Do not get into a rut selling the same thing over and over again; you will saturate the market after a few months.

The most important use for trial and error on Ebay is to use the regular auctions as a testing ground for your new merchandise to determine its sales percentage and corresponding marketability, as well as its profit margin. You can then make an educated decision as to whether or not to feature the auction or choose the dutch option, or both. Impulse selling is much like impulse buying - you regret it soon afterwards. Don't use the fancy options on Ebay until you first use trial and error on all of your products.

Writing Your Sales Pitch

Successful sellers on Ebay know how to write an item description (sales pitch) that instantly perks the browser's interest and then draws them in after a few sentences. The first part of your Ebay sales pitch is the title, which should be catchy and immediately focus a potential customer on your auction. If you get them to click on your auction, then you have won half the battle.

I recommend bold-face titles at all times using catch words such as "HOT ITEM", "WOW!", "RARE", "UNIQUE", "SUPER DEAL", "UNBELIEVABLE!", "BEST VALUE", etc. I also suggest using all caps so that your title stands out above the rest. DO NOT use fancy symbols or other "cheesy" ways to attract attention to your auction. Such tactics immediately turn off most potential customers and make your business look unprofessional and even ridiculous.

A big part of your sales pitch is the picture that you attach to your auction, but you must also provide an enthusiastic and energizing description that makes your potential buyer feel like he NEEDS your product. Before you start writing the sales pitch, refer to the profile of potential customers in your niche market that you should already have compiled. What are their likes and dislikes? What are they looking for? How old are they and what jobs do they generally hold? What are their hobbies and interests? What makes them tick? A successful sales pitch appeals to the base interests and self-interest of the customer.

When writing a sales pitch, attention to psychology counts more than attention to writing style. You need to make your item description APPEAL TO THE TYPE OF CUSTOMER WHO WILL BE VIEWING YOUR AUCTION. I recommend using some basic HTML coding to enhance the description, but I do NOT suggest giant letters and distracting objects such as blinking, animations, or more "cheesy" items in that regard. Your potential buyer wants to know what your product will do for him, and does not need a lot of useless distraction. Again, your item description must appeal to the profile of the buyer and promote a feeling of professionalism and trust in your company. We do offer a complete how-to manual on writing a successful sales pitch - you may visit our website at http://quikprophet.com/desc/software/auction_master.htm to order the manual.

Complementing Your Auctions With a Website

An internet website equipped with E-Commerce (the ability to accept credit cards) greatly enhances your Ebay auctions. It is relatively easy to learn how to set up a basic website and E-Commerce can be purchased for as little as $50.00 per month. This is absolutely essential for Ebay sellers because it gives you the ability to accept credit cards not only on your website but as payment for your Ebay auctions! I have known vendors who tripled and even quadrupled their profits on Ebay simply by accepting Visa / Mastercard. You can set up a merchant E-Commerce account by accessing the following URL: http://www.quickcommerce.net and then following the instructions and filling out an application.

After setting up a website with your products, you can use Ebay as a free advertising tool for the new webpage! I receive hundreds of hits each day just by featuring a few of my auctions. I make a profit on the auctions but I also make a residual profit when Ebay customers visit my website. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND paying a professional banner creation company to create a catchy banner for your site and then linking it to all your Ebay auctions.

This creates a two-fold benefit; Ebay users who see your banner may click on it to visit your site, and they will also consider you to be a more professional and established seller than much of your competition because you spent the time and money to create a high-class banner. Combined with your feedback rating, this gives you an edge over the competition - and the slightest edge can literally translate to MILLIONS OF DOLLARS EACH YEAR! I suggest Buy-A-Banner for banner creation: http://www.buyabanner.com. You can create one for under $100 and the return will be well worth it.

Feedback - It Matters

I've heard some Ebay users remark that feedback isn't all that important, that no one reads that stuff in the first place. Quite the contrary. While newbies and Ebay novices will often overlook the feedback for lack of understanding and inexperience, almost ALL veteran buyers will view your feedback before buying your product. If they see comments such as "product not delivered", "this guy is a fraud", "terrible seller, would not trade with again" then they will never purchase your merchandise. You need to have an outstanding feedback rating brimming with positive comments to really make huge profits on Ebay.

Also, you need a feedback rating of 10 or more to list dutch auctions or to feature an auction. The way to ensure quality feedback is simply to deliver a quality product quickly, efficiently, and honestly. If you are looking for a "quick fix" or a "hit and run" scheme then Ebay is not the place for you. You can build a hugely profitable and legitimate online business using internet auctions without defrauding anyone!

There will always be a few rogue customers who claim they never received their product or you were too slow to deliver it, or else were unhappy with what they received. We all know that the customer is NOT always right. My recommendation for dealing with such problem buyers is simply to offer a 30-day no-questions-asked refund on any physical product that you are selling (services, information, and software excluded for obvious reasons). If they persist in causing problems, just ignore them. One or two negative feedbacks won't destroy you - 10 or 20 will.

Customer Service Recommendations

Always answer a customer's email. Whether the customer is praising your product or complaining, whether he is offering his input or asking a question, he or she deserves an answer. Particularly on Ebay, where feedback really counts! If you fail to answer emails, you may receive such comments as "unresponsive seller" or "ignored my repeated inquiries" in your feedback file. You will also earn yourself a poor reputation and lose respect in the online trading community.

My recommendation: Keep your answers short, courteous, and to the point. Provide all relevant information and be friendly, but don't get bogged down in long email conversations back and forth, and don't let the customer lead you on an irrelevant tangent. Your time is money. Also, you should create a classy signature file that inspires confidence in you as a seller and looks professional.

Finally, I strongly recommend creating a folder in your email program entitled "pre-written messages" in which you have template messages already created to answer common questions such as: 1) When has my item been shipped? 2) When did you receive payment? 3) How long does shipping take? Etc, etc. Customize your pre-written messages to fit your particular product, as you will notice very similar questions and comments from customers as time passes. It is MUCH EASIER to send out a pre-written form email than write a specific answer to each inquiry. However, make sure that it doesn't sound like you are using a form email and make sure to add a personal touch when possible. When considering email customer service, you must balance time, efficiency, and courtiousness to maximize your working potential.

Ebay Secret Tips-n-Tricks!

· You can relist auctions that have sold! Go to the URL for the ended auction and click on "relist". Ebay allows you to relist 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.

· Use Ebay as a vehicle for advertising your products and websites! You can create a banner and link that banner to all of your auctions, gaining thousands of impressions of exposure for your website or products each day.

· 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.

· Dutch Featured Auctions are your key to success! The way to maximize your profits on Ebay is to determine your hottest selling items through a market analysis tool such as Auction Master 2000 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!

· 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. We offer several other important manuals designed to enhance your Ebay skills including the Auction Master 2000, The Mega Wholesale Database, the Complete Drop Shipper's Directory, and the manual How to Write a Winning Sales Pitch. Your success on Ebay, or with online marketing in general, is directly proportional to your level of knowledge and experience.

· 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.

· 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.

· 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.

Back to page 1. Buying And Selling On Ebay.