суббота, 16 февраля 2008 г.
Sell Postcards on eBay and the Major Problem of Place Names
1. Find the market, then source or create the product. Don't do it the other way around (Find the product, then find the market). Once you have found a market that you know is hot, your product has a great chance of selling well. As long as your product solves a problem or fulfils a desire, you can command a good price for it.
2. Your auction presentation is very important. How you present your auctions determines how many products you will sell. Make sure you state the benefits and the facts about your product. Don't state features or benefits that don't exist. It may get you more sales, but it might also cause you more problems in the shape of refunds later on.
3. Always state what your return policy is. Having a return policy or a money-back guarantee is crucial to gaining your customer's trust. It shows you trust your product. Customers are more and more afraid of getting ripped off nowadays, and they need something to reassure them. A money-back guarantee goes a long way to achieving that.
Selling on eBay can be so much more than a hobby with which you spend your time. It can be so much more than a small business you run to augment your total income a little bit. Selling on eBay can be your primary source of living, and if you do it just right, it can be the moneymaking machine you've only been dreaming of.
You can amplify your eBay earnings from measly to millions, or at least, to an amount that you can consider a significant addition to your income. Here are six ways to increase your eBay earnings:
1.) Take a look at your inventory and make an honest assessment. Are the products you're selling something you would buy and use? If you answered no, ask yourself why. Is it because you know the products are not of the highest quality, or is it just because you have no need for them? If you answered yes to either question, you might want to change paths fast. If you yourself won't use your products, there's no reason why other people should.
2.) Keep your inventory fully replenished and updated at all times. Stock up on bestselling items as they go off the shelf. Avoid the "out of stock" status for any of your products because it just means lost opportunities to make a sale.
3.) Sell similar items that target the same market in order to maximize the potential to make sales. For example, if you're selling children's clothes, you may want to sell children's shoes, too. Parents looking for children's clothes may also be looking for shoes, and so you need to grab that opportunity and make it yours.
4.) Introduce new and interesting products regularly to keep your customers' interest alive. This practice gives them a reason to look forward to your new additions.
5.) Value your customers by giving them the best service. Pay attention to what they need, not only in terms of product specifics, but also in terms of experience. People want to feel special; if you can give that, then they'll surely look forward to dealing with you again.
6.) Just have fun. For some people, selling on eBay is a serious business. After all, a lot of money is involved on eBay. However, that doesn't necessarily mean it can't be fun.
Be aware that place names change and what you key into the title for your listing might be quite unlike what people call the place today or the name they will key into eBay's search engines. One high profile example is what today is spelled 'Middlesbrough', which is sometimes also called 'Middlesborough'.
Now I happen to know that a great many people call the town ?Middlesborough?, in speech and in writing. So it follows that if you type 'Middlesbrough' into your title, and potential buyers key 'Middlesborough' into eBay's search engine, your listing is not going to be appear to a huge chunk of your target audience.
So all my listings for the town begin:
MIDDLESBROUGH / MIDDLESBOROUGH. Note I also leave a gap between the names and the slash symbol as otherwise eBay's search engine will consider 'MIDDLESBROUGH/MIDDLESBOROUGH' to be one word and might ignore it in searches for all versions of the town name.
MORE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PLACE NAMES
* For really small topographical areas, like tiny villages, also places that no longer exist, it's best to locate the nearest main town and add that to your title alongside the less well known area depicted in the postcard. This is because collectors know that few postcards of their chosen area are likely to exist and most search using nearby place names.
Additionally most very small villages were actually identified as part and parcel of a nearby main town or may even share its name with another slightly larger village. For example, the village where I live, High Hesleden, was classed as part of Castle Eden or Monk Hesleden in Victorian and Edwardian times, so a search for 'High Hesleden' is likely to miss cards I'd desperately like to have.
As an example, a postcard of High Hesleden which is close to Castle Eden and not too far from Hartlepool, subject to space available in my title I might list as:
HIGH HESLEDEN Nr. Castle Eden Hartlepool Postcard 1900
This way I cover all variations for people selling card depicting that particular location, which makes it easy for buyers too!
Sell Postcards on eBay and the Major Problem of Place Names
What is Turbo Lister?
Turbo Lister is eBay's listing tool program. If you are listing a lot of auctions this little program is going to save you a lot of time! If you haven't already got it, you can get it from eBay (it's FREE) under their selling tools section.
Why should you use it?
Once you've got a listing set up in turbo lister you can easily relist it as many times as you like! You don't even have to be online to use turbo lister as the program is installed onto your own computer so you can work on your listings and then when you are ready, upload them all to eBay when it suits you.
STEP 1
It'll ask for your eBay username and password when you first log in (don't worry its safe - it's just so that it can upload your auctions for you).
STEP 2
Once you are in, click the 'NEW' button then choose 'Create New Item' to create your first listing.
STEP 3
From here it's pretty easy; you enter title, description, category, whether you are selling in Auction format or Buy It Now etc. I recommend using a Fixed Price for digital items so that you can get immediate payments via PayPal and your customer will get the link to download the file automatically. You don't even have to be at your computer, eBay will give the link to your customer automatically.
STEP 4
For listing digital items, then once you choose your category (which should be Everything Else > Information Products > ...) an option will show up underneath the category section called Digital Item. Click the 'Edit' button and tick the boxes for 'List as a digital file or information' and 'I am legally authorized to sell this digital item'.
STEP 5
This will change the delivery option box to Digital Item Delivery (rather than regular delivery). So then click the drop down box to 'Provide Web Address for Download'. Then you can put in the web address of where your customer can download their item and any extra delivery instructions.
STEP 6
The last thing that you need to do is make sure that the 'Immediate payments required' box is ticked in Payment Methods so that your customer will get the link to download the file as soon as they pay.
STEP 7
Enter your PayPal information and you are done!
eBay will give the download link to your customer and all you need to do is sit back and wait!
1. End your auctions when everyone is home: The time you list your auctions can have a big effect on the number of bids your auction receives and the closing price of your auctions. The time when your auction usually gets the most bids is near the end. If you have listed
an auction for 7 days, the whole seven days have been building up to the end of the auction. The end is when the last minute bidding begins, bidders desperately try to out bid one another to win the auction. The end of your auction is also when it gets the most traffic because the less time your auction has left the higher it places in the search results of someone that is looking for items similar to yours.
So what is the best time to list? A better question would be: when is the best time for an auction to close? The best time for an auction to close is in the evenings and on weekends. Why? Because that is when most people are home! You want to make sure that when your auction is closing, everyone that is bidding on it or is interested in biddingon it is free to do so.What would happen if your auction closes at 9 am on a Monday morning? Everyone would be either sleeping or going to work and no one would have the time or energy to place any bids. You need to make your auction end at the bidder's convenience, in other words when the bidder is home and surfing the internet, in the evening or weekend. How important is it to end your auctions when everyone is home and on their computer?
Studies have shown that a listing that ends at peak hours can attract up to 25% more bids
that one that has a poorly timed ending.
This is something you should definitely look into because simply listing your auctions at
certain times is probably the easiest and most effortless ways to attract more bids and
make hire profits.
So if you want to increase your profits; you should have your auctions end at anywhere
from 8 pm - 11 pm in the evening, or end on weekends (in the afternoons). In other
words, your auctions should end when everyone is home and has a chance to place a bid.
2. 100% money back guarantee: You need to make your potential costumers feel
comfortable, completely safe and take away any fears or doubts they may have about
buying from you. A very effective way to accomplish that is to give a 100% money back
guarantee. This is no "secret". Nearly every retail store, internet store, manufacturer and
power seller does this. And yet a lot of eBay sellers try to avoid it.
Some sellers are scared of buyers taking advantage of their money back guarantees, so
they either create a huge list of rules and regulations that simply scare people away or
have a "no refunds" policy. A guarantee's purpose is to take away any fear or doubt
people may have about buying from you, some seller's guarantees do the exact opposite;
there are just too many scary rules and stipulations. That's why you need a %100 money
back guarantee with no strings attached!
The only "string" you need in your 100% money back guarantee is a time limit. The best
time limit to give is a 90 days. Don't worry, most items are returned within the first
couple of weeks, so if they haven't returned it in the first 30 day their most likely keeping
it. So why give 90 days instead of 30? Because it sounds better, Would you rather have
30 day guarantee or a 90 day one? 90 days it is.
A 90 day 100% money back guarantee can do wonders for your business, it will take
away doubts, fears and uncomfortable feelings of skeptical visitors and make them
choose you over other sellers that have less promising guarantees.
If you are scared to offer a guarantee, don't be. You will gain more money that you loose.
Sure there might be some people who take advantage of your kindness, use the product
for 90 days and return it. But that is inevitable, the only way to completely avoid those
nasty people is to never do anything. Stop being so scared, you will gain much more
than you loose.
3. Professionally designed listing graphics: Professionally designed listing graphics
have been proven to increase the number of bids an auctions receives by up to 25%. And
that is why getting hiring a graphics designer to design your auction graphics is worth
every penny.
How can graphics increase the number of bids your auctions get by up to 25%? Well,
let's see:
First of all a unique design will give you an identity and make you stand out from a
crowed.
Graphics can give your auction listings a professional appearance, and most people want
to deal with professionals not amateurs.
A unique design will keep people thinking of you. Every time a costumer comes across
one of your listings they will recognize you. Big companies pay hundreds of millions of
dollars to gain recognition, why? Because most people tent to trust companies they
recognize over companies they have never heard of before.
Those are some of the main reason why professionally designed listing graphics can
dramatically increase the number of bids your auctions receive. There are many more
reasons why you should get your own auction listing design, but the most important thing
you should know is 25% more bids translates into a lot of extra money.
Be aware that place names change and what you key into the title for your listing might be quite unlike what people call the place today or the name they will key into eBay's search engines. One high profile example is what today is spelled 'Middlesbrough', which is sometimes also called 'Middlesborough'.
Now I happen to know that a great many people call the town ?Middlesborough?, in speech and in writing. So it follows that if you type 'Middlesbrough' into your title, and potential buyers key 'Middlesborough' into eBay's search engine, your listing is not going to be appear to a huge chunk of your target audience.
So all my listings for the town begin:
MIDDLESBROUGH / MIDDLESBOROUGH. Note I also leave a gap between the names and the slash symbol as otherwise eBay's search engine will consider 'MIDDLESBROUGH/MIDDLESBOROUGH' to be one word and might ignore it in searches for all versions of the town name.
MORE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT PLACE NAMES
* For really small topographical areas, like tiny villages, also places that no longer exist, it's best to locate the nearest main town and add that to your title alongside the less well known area depicted in the postcard. This is because collectors know that few postcards of their chosen area are likely to exist and most search using nearby place names.
Additionally most very small villages were actually identified as part and parcel of a nearby main town or may even share its name with another slightly larger village. For example, the village where I live, High Hesleden, was classed as part of Castle Eden or Monk Hesleden in Victorian and Edwardian times, so a search for 'High Hesleden' is likely to miss cards I'd desperately like to have.
As an example, a postcard of High Hesleden which is close to Castle Eden and not too far from Hartlepool, subject to space available in my title I might list as:
HIGH HESLEDEN Nr. Castle Eden Hartlepool Postcard 1900
This way I cover all variations for people selling card depicting that particular location, which makes it easy for buyers too!
Quick EBay Income - How to Sell on EBay
1. Post great photos and item description. Wonder why catalogue-based shopping has never lost its popularity throughout these years? It's because it doesn't fail in giving potential clients detailed information about the product being sold. To make this work for you on your eBay career, make sure that you post the most recent photos of your products on your listing. If you have high-end digital camera, use this to get the best image of your product. In addition, include a very detailed description of your item. It is brand new? Does it need repair? Small details like these can make a big difference in getting rather higher bids.
2. Payment first. Send the item only after you have received the full payment to protect you from any kind of fraudulent activities. This is applicable to all buyers regardless if you have done business with them before or if you are related to them. Remember, business is business and you have to make sure that you get your profit from it.
3. Keep your buyers posted. Keep them updated with the status of their orders. Send them email once you have sent the item and ask for update once they have received the product. Also, let them know that you are planning to post great feedback for them to encourage them to do the same. You can continuously communicate with them even after the transaction is done. You'll never know, they will be interested to do repeat business with you.
EBay is a website in which people do business of buying and selling goods and services worldwide. It features on-line auction and shopping. Selling your product at EBay is as easy as following a few steps.
1. Regsiter on EBay's Mainpage and create an EBay account.
2. Once you have accomplished the first step, log-in and go to Sell either in MyEBay or on the Main Page at the top.
3. Describe your product in detail and include a picture if possible. Use good photos of your item, keeping in mind that you must not hide or disguise flaws in your product. Also, customers will not purchase your items or services if your descriptions are vague.
4. Look everything through the options very carefully to make sure everything is correct.
5. Be sure that you will reach the overview page to double check before pressing SUBMIT. You will then receive a confirmation through email whether or not your product was placed at eBay. This will make your product visible to all.
6. SHIPPING is very important in selling for EBay. Once your product has been shipped, be ready for feedbacks from your buyers.
Buyers would not want to pay more dollars in shipping and handling than the original price of your merchandize. It is therefore strongly advise not to overcharge for shipping and handling. A reasonable amount for your hard work and materials will be just fine.
7. Offering good feedbacks for your buyers will generate more customers that will keep on coming back. So at first, sell inexpensive items to build up a feedback system.
8. Keep in mind to have a good communication with your customers as this will keep them interested in your product. In the long run, you will be ranked as a good seller.
9. Lastly, do not sell illegal items as this will come back with heavy consequences.
And once you have started an EBay business, you would surely like to advance your eBay income!
Targeted E-Bay and Auctions - Increase Your E-Bay and Auction Sales in Just a Click
There are other profitable products that don't show up in any eBay Pulse list but are, nevertheless, profitable products that make tons of money for some eBay Sellers. One of these top-selling product niches is gift cards. The average rate of sales on eBay is 33%. In other words, one in three items listed on eBay results in a sale. Gift cards sell at a rate of 75%, making it a very profitable niche. Although gift cards don't show up on any Pulse list or the Hot Items List, they are very profitable products to sell on eBay.
Many other hot, profitable products selling on eBay do not appear on a Pulse list or Hot Items list. Therefore, smart eBay Sellers depend on other ways to determine what to sell on eBay other than the well-known Top-Ten Pulse Lists.
The best way to stay on top of the most hot, profitable products on eBay is to do research yourself, hire someone else to do the research, or purchase products from those who have performed the time-consuming task of searching and finding the most lucrative products and niches.
Getting started with the eBay affiliate program is as simple as 4 easy
steps. eBay knows you have a business to run, so they have created a step-by-step guide to see you down the road of success. With the eBay Affiliate Program, you could bring in an extra $25,000 a month, as well as gain access to many tools and strategies that will optimize the working of your website, its effectiveness with search engines and on the Web in general. Getting started in a successful venture has never been so easy.
Step# 1
To register for the eBay Affiliate Program simply go to the dedicated area on the eaby site and do a little research. When you have seen the unlimited opportunities for success that the eBay Affiliate program affords its members, you will next want to click on the 'API Program Join Now' button. At this point you will be prompted to select the platform you would like to join with. The platform you choose will influence the tier and type of business your eBay Affiliate Status becomes. Each platform offers unique advantages, and should be considered carefully. Once you have selected your program platform, simply click the Join Now button for that particular platform.
Step# 2
After you have completed your application, the eBay Affiliate network you
choose will send you an email with your login details and instructions on getting started. The application process itself is easy, and simply requires some information about your business. This information helps eBay optimize the tools and guidelines they provide you for your success. The application takes only a few minutes, and is not sold to competitors. The Affiliate network you chose will be in touch with your personal information and you can get started with your successful new venture.
Step# 3
Once you have received your password and login information, you can proceed to the affiliate network site to find eBay banners, text links, and search boxes. This website offers detailed tracking statistics. The tracking statistics will help you see which products and companies are performing best. This information will help guide you as you develop your affiliation with eBay, and will enable you to make the best decisions for your website's performance.
Step# 4
The last step to success with the eBay Affiliate Program is to further grow
your eBay strategy using the affiliate website and all of its many features.
The affiliate website will not only get you started down your road to success with eBay, but they will provide you with invaluable tools to maximize your strategy. These tools and kits will help you transition into the affiliate member you want to be, and will continue to keep you updated so you stay current with trends and technology.
These 4 easy steps take you from learning about the eBay Affiliate Program, to being a super successful eBay affiliate.
People who go and visit the e-bay site have something in common ? they all want to earn good money. The e-bay site is a growing site for people who are engaged into buying and selling business ranging from personal to electrical to electronic gadgets. The e-bay site is indeed a good portal to doing a good business. If you are getting involved into auctioning items on e-bay, then it is indeed the best place for you to do it. On how you can increase your auction sales and earn more money with it, then you need to get by some little help with these tips:
? When you auction an item or merchandise, make sure that there is practically a specific cluster of people that you know will be interested with it. This means that you have to make sure that you have targeted clients with every item that you post and display as an item to be auctioned.
? Always make a very well written description about the item that is being auctioned. The consuming public on e-bay is taking words from you and thus relies on things that you say. Your reputation as a seller or as an auctioneer is driven by the feedback and reviews that you get from your old clients. Therefore, for people to believe your description, you then need to earn the nod of all your clients.
? Give your clients a clearer view on how they can transact with you. The payment methods should be clearly indicated on your e-bay site. Likewise, it is important that you make mention about the shipping guidelines for them to understand. These are essential elements of doing good business therefore, you need to adhere with all these. Otherwise, the consuming people may not give in to your business dealings.
online auction software, auction software, ebay software, ebay auction software,Ebay Software Review
I enjoy sharing my knowledge and stories of the auction business. My goal for article is to help folks get the absolute most out of their auction experience.
Whether your fresh out of the package or a seasoned dealer I think I can offer something in this article to help you with your auciton adventures.
There may be as many reasons to attend auctions as there are types of auctions to attend. Maybe you want to attend an auction to buy items for re-sale on eBay, or some other market. Maybe you want to furnish your home with wonderful antiques, or you want to furnish your home as inexpensively without sacrificing quality.Some folks are just looking for a fun night out. With a little perseverance all these things are possible.
There are antiques and estate auctions, auto auctions, overstock auctions, absolute and no reserve auctions, real estate auctions, specialty auctions where only one genre of items are sold, tailgate auctions, live auctions, online auctions, sealed bid auctions, silent auctions, charity and fund raising auctions and many more.
Can you really buy for pennies on the dollar at an auction? You bet! Many times I've seen folks buy and re-sell at the same auction on the same night for a good profit, although be advised, this should only be done after the auction is over.
There are a lot of ways to find an auction, but here are some tips on how to find and attend the best ones.
Visit the genre of shops in the area that apply to the type of auction you want to attend. IE: If your looking for a good antique auction to attend, stop in the local antiques shops and ask for what there are for good auctions in the area. Sounds obvious right? But listen to what they don't say as well as what they do say. Oftentimes when a dealer speaks poorly about an auction he or she attends, it may be likely that they are trying to keep a good thing secret. Think for a moment, why would a dealer keep attending a lousy auction?
Newspaper ads: I personally like to find ads in the classified ad section rather than flashy display ads. Flashy ads are usually indicative of an auction that will be high priced, may have reserves, (a set price on an item), and usually an enormous crowd. While any auction can be profitable to attend, it is usually best to steer clear of the glitzy ones, at least for the beginner.
Here's the minimum you want to find out before you go. If there is a phone number in the ad, call and ask for the terms of the sale. What forms of payment do they accept? Is it an absolute auction? An absolute auction is one that has no minimum or reserve bids on items. These are the best auctions to attend! Is there a buyers premium? A buyers premium is like a tax that everyone who makes purchases at that auction must pay above the winning bid price. Most auctions these days do charge a buyers premium, 10% is not unreasonable but I feel much more than that is greedy, and the auctioneer that charges over 10% is counting on most bidders not doing the extra math as the bids quicken in pace.
A fair auction will have ample time to inspect the merchandise, usually at least 2 or 3 hours. Find out when inspection starts and make sure to attend! Never attend an auction if you can't make the inspection, not unless your prepared to gamble. Most auctioneers sell at a rate of about 100 items per hour, which is why they sell "as is". They simply don't have the time to give a detailed description of all the items. Since almost all items at auction are sold AS IS, there are sure to be some damaged, refinished, fake and incomplete items at any given auction. Beware of any auctions that offer very little or no inspection time.
Good auctions will usually have 150 to 400 lots. A lot may be one item or a group of items. The exception to this are specialty auctions, auto auctions, real estate auctions etc.
When you attend your first sale, take note of the 1/2 dozen or so dealers that buy the most often. See if you can find out about other area auctions they attend.
When you do find an excellent auction, attend it as often as possible. By frequenting good sales, you help increase the bottom line of that business. It's difficult for many auctioneers to keep the quality of merchandise consistent, so good attendance certainly helps. And when an auctioneer gets to know you as a buyer, he/she will go out of the way to accommodate you, to keep you coming back.
Attend an auction this week, it's one of the only market places where you can set the price.
Thanks for reading and have fun.
Selling lingerie on eBay can be profitable if you know the process. If you are interested in selling lingerie on eBay or online you need to follow these few steps.
First find out which lingerie is in demand on eBay. I do this by using eBay Pulse. eBay Pulse lets you see what the top 10 searches are within a product category. So for lingerie the top ten searches as of the writing of this article are:
Used
Worn
Victoria secret
Victories secret
La perla
Lot
Pictures
Corset
Vintage
Xl
So if I wanted to specialize in lingerie on eBay I would pick one of these products to sell because they are in great demand. Once I select a product that is in high demand I need to find a lingerie drop shipping company.
Finding a lingerie drop shipping company is not easy. You can look on the internet but you will not know which companies are best until you try a few. Of course if you sell an item on eBay and then expect your drop shipper to ship the item and something goes wrong then your feedback will go into the toilet. Make sure you know that you are dealing with a reliable drop shipping company by doing your research and getting other sellers opinion. There are many online communities that will give you their opinion of different drop shippers and I rely on these communities when deciding who to select.
Selling lingerie on eBay is not so difficult once you find what is in demand and find a lingerie drop shipper that you can depend on. Good luck!
пятница, 15 февраля 2008 г.
Online Auctions - Great Opportunity to Earn Profits
But there are opportunities online that have been very successful in helping others succeed at the same time. One of those websites of course is eBay. Undoubtedly, eBay is the number one auction site in the world. Everyday, transactions worth millions of dollars are being processed. It may be something that was auctioned off or something that was purchased online. The company (eBay) itself does not sell or put products on auction. They rather host thousands or even millions of products that are being put up for auctions by their sellers or owners.
You too can be part of that business, and you could become successful in it. If you already have a local store, you do not need to create a website anymore. All you need is to set up an online store and you can update the information regarding the prices and the products that you sell.
Before you sell things online, you might want to develop some HTML skills. It is ok to give a simple description of the things that you sell online but it is also important to make your description and presentation look good. If you have simple HTML skills, you will be able to center the text, color them, and add animations and free tools which other websites offer for the products that you sell. In fact, it is a common practice that you should design your site to make it look beautiful.
If you are someone who has yet to start selling things online or in your neighborhood, you need a lot more patience than other online sellers. It could be quite frustrating at the start and believe me, as you are reading this, there a lot of products that are not sold online before the auction expires.
So what do you want to sell? That will be the question that you might want to ask before beginning any online sale. With many of products that are being sold online, you might want to consider something unique. For example, if you are planning to sell cell phones, you are trying to sell something that is being sold constantly so there is a very little chance that your phone will be sold.
Lastly is the reputation. All online auctions are built on reputations, especially eBay. People do not want to go ahead with a transaction with a newbie since they may not know what to do. The only way to increase your reputation is to buy products online and promptly pay for them. If you step out of an agreed upon transaction you will find yourself with negative feedback and people will not trust you anymore.
So if you think you have products to sell, go online and try the online auction. You will find it profitable as well as entertaining.