Ebay and Beyond: What's Hot and What's Not In Antiques and Collectibles : The Picture Edition

Find More Ebay Products

by Yodel Anecdotal

I am going to relate to you a strategy which you may implement to accomplish three objectives important to “milking” the most profit you can get from your eBay auctions.

First – Figure out the highest amount your product is most likely to fetch. Second – Double the quantity of views your auction will receive. Third – Instantly attract zealous customers to look at your auctions.

Allow me to give you an example of how I use “Instant Page Views” strategy to accomplish these objectives. Once I show you how it is accomplished, you can be able to easily incorporate this ingenuous strategy throughout your own eBay auctions.

I ran an auction for a “Deni Scoop-Factory Soft Serve Automatic Ice Cream Maker + FREE Extra Speedee-Freeze Canister.” It was a nice little homemade ice cream maker.

I relisted this little gem because I listed it for auction previously without success.

When I first ran the auction, I opened it with a beginning bid of $ 0.99. I prefer to open my auctions with a modest opening bid to get the most people viewing them, as soon as the listings go live. This auction got loads of interest. By the time it was finally over, my counter said I received one hundred and forty-three hits… really good visibility!

Before I listed the product the first time, I did some probing to find out the amount that a soft serve ice cream maker might go for. This assisted me to come to the conclusion that I should place a reserve price of $ 49.99 in the auction. Whether you use a reserve, or not, you should always utilize an analysis tool to assist you to figure out the way to price the items.

The auction finished with a high bid of $ 42.00, so my reserve price wasn’t reached and I did not sell the product.

That didn’t cause me to be particularly unhappy, since one of my aims is always to garner the most hits possible, even taking into account that I don’t sell an item the first try. The more hits I get, the more prospects are likely to see my “About Me” page, which will direct them to my website.

Since the auction did not end in a purchase, I relisted the item. Now, here’s the cool part. Remember, I said the last time I put this product up for auction, it got one hundred and forty-three views? Well, of the total number of people that looked at the auction, 4 people bid on it 23 times… must have been a mini bidding battle going on! Doesn’t it make you wonder if some of those bidders would desire another opportunity at this product? You bet they would. So, being the nice eBayer that I am, I made the decision to tell each of the previous four bidders that the product had been relisted again. Here’s the specific message I sent them:

“Hello,

A few days ago, you placed a bid on an product I auctioned on Ebay. The title was “DENI SCOOP FACTORY SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM MAKER.” The product didn’t sell because the reserve amount wasn’t reached. I made the decision to put the product up for auction again, without a reserve this time. I thought you may be interested in bidding again, since the opening bid is more than fifty dollars below the retail price. You can check it out, along with my other auctions by clicking on the following link, or copying the link and pasting it in your browser.

[LINK]

Please inform me if you have any comments. Good luck bidding!”

Can you understand the method to my craziness? First, by listing the auction with a reserve, I ensured the product wouldn’t be sold for less than I first believed was a respectable price. Second, since my “fair price” was above what the market would bear, I relisted the product, with a beginning bid ($ 39.00) close to the high bid of the first auction ($ 42.00). Third, I got in touch with the previous bidders to let them know the product was up for auction again, ensuring “warm” buyers would help start the auction with a bang. The more interest you can generate for your auctions at the beginning, the more your auctions will be profitable.

To sum up the “Instant Page Views” method:

Step 1 – Do your pricing research.
Step 2 – Start off with a low opening bid, with a reserve amount you deem appropriate, based on your pricing research.
Step 3 – If your product does not sell, list it again.
Step 4 – Contact everyone that made a bid on the first auction for the product.

Step 4 is mostly the heart of the strategy. If you do this one extra step, you will put yourself ahead of ninety-nine percent of the rest of the eBay sellers. It only takes a few minutes to send a quick “courtesy email” to your first set of bidders, but it can pay tremendous dividends. You will immediately have “warm” buyers viewing your auctions and they will already be primed to purchase at a high price. Give it a try for yourself.

by TechShowNetwork

It wont be an exaggeration if we say that eBay and dropshipping are indeed two sides of the same coin! Neither side can do without the other and complements the other in the most valuable way.

Ebay Bidding Process And How Sellers Can Gain From It

The bidding process of eBay can be explained in a step-by-step manner for better clarity. And to understand the relationship between dropshipping and selling items on eBay, you need to observe the process through a sellers viewpoint. Lets take an example. Person A wants to buy an apple iPod on eBay. In this case, he or she will have to work toward it in the following manner:

1.Person A decides to place a certain maximum amount that he or she is ready to pay for the apple iPod.
2.He or she has to type the item name in the search box to get the listings and the current bidding price of the item.
3.If the current bid is $ 4.99, the person A can think of placing his or her bid at $ 5.99.
4.However, this bid is not shown on the screen and is visible only to the concerned bidder. If another bidder places a bid of $ 5.25, then eBay places bids in an incremental way on the behalf of person A. They continue placing bids until the bidding reaches the maximum amount that person A had entered. Hence, the bid slot for person A is $ 5.99.
5.If person A happens to be the first bidder, then the first bid is always the starting price. Also, if someone bids $ 5.25 as the maximum amount, eBay will bid for person A and display him or her as the winning bidder. But, when there is yet one more bidder who places, for example, the maximum bid of $ 6.05, then A is outbid.
6.In this case, eBay mails him or her regarding the bidding. If person A is still willing to place another maximum bid, he or she can do so.

This is when the process changes into a race or in auctioning terminology, a bidding war where each bidder tries to win the last bid. And as a seller, you have to do enough research to understand this bidder psychology. It helps you immensely to get to the niche market, to know what is in demand and sells a lot. Once you have got all the products listed that are in demand, you should check out their dropshipping charges and find out which products can be bought and sold by way of dropshipping, in such a way that you as the middleman can earn maximum benefit. It is possible because you are doing business without getting into the paperwork and the inventories involved, plus the transportation, saving time, money, and efforts, which you can put better toward sales.

Pros

If you are an eBay store owner, dropshippers help you get a store as well as the inventory, and even assist you in shipping an item. Your buyer does not know that you are the middleman and a third party is involved. This is possible because the dropshipper uses your label. As you have entered into a contract with the dropshipping company and bought products in wholesale, you earn the profit that comes from the difference between the original price and the bidding amount that the last winner has placed. And on your part, you do not have to pay any expenses involved in storing or recording of inventories for the products.

This means that you have to invest nothing but your time researching on eBay and decide which products are in demand. Then you should look for a good dropshipper who can offer those products at good deals.

Cons

No process is perfect, and naturally there are some drawbacks in this procedure as well. You have to take care of several things before entering into a contract with the dropshipper, because the Internet is swarmed with many fraudulent and irresponsible people in this business. You should be aware of the problems involved and take due care and see to it that none of the following events occur:

Shortage of the ordered product, leading to delay in delivery. It is better to order the maximum number of products in advance and make your dropshipper get the necessary storage.
You should get in contract with a local dropshipper, because if problems in delivery arise or a wrong product delivery takes place, you can meet and check with the dropshipper do the necessary replacement.
Check the charges, subscription fees, and shipping fees of the dropshipper in accordance with the products. This is where your research is going to be tested; you have to find a product that has less dropshipping charges and yet sells well.
It is important to survive the market competition and emerge as a winner by listing the products that are interesting and also get sold well. One way to do so is by attracting customers with an unusual brand name rather than going to top brands where the competition is stiff.

If you are going to rely on your dropshipper for the delivery of your product, you are putting all your eggs in one basket! Or rather, somebody elses basket!! Unless you make sure that your dropshipper will meet the needs of your customer, you are risking your eBay feedback and your reputation as a seller.

So, get set to check the ups and downs of the trade and work out well toward this popular home business.

by Yodel Anecdotal

eBay is an internet company from America which is an online auction and selling site. The site eBay.com deals with selling and purchasing of goods online in which people across the world can buy or sell goods. The services of eBay.com are open for people across the world through the internet. The U.S website of eBay being the original one, but apart from that, eBay.com has its localized websites in as many as 30 countries.

Some other products of eBay Inc. include the famous Skype and PayPal. The auction website was founded in the year 1995. eBay became available for public, somewhere around the year 1998. Selling of products is the main motive of eBay.com. Many products are sold daily on the site across the world through bids.

Millions and millions of items such as electronic goods, watches, decor items, furniture, automobiles, cycles, mobile phones etc.

and various miscellaneous items are listed and bought daily through the site. Some of the items listed on the website are rare and valuable. But most of the items are just gizmos that would have been discarded if not for eager bidders worldwide.

The website offers anything that is within the legal terms and not illegal and does not violate the eBay restricted items policy. The site allows permission to sell intangible goods through it. Many multinational companies sell their newest products and range on eBay using the auctions. eBAy sites for the countries USA and UK even allow the users to buy or sell using the local currency.

There have been instances which led to controversies through the site. In late 1999, a man auctioned his kidney on eBay hoping to gain some profit from the lucrative market of transplantable human organs.

Some publicity stunts have also been witnessed by the site. But all in all, eBay provides a complete healthy selling procedure that one could trust upon and rely. Try it, it won’t let you down.

A site by the name of salehoo.com works for eBay.com and manages a list of all the wholesale dealers and business opportunities. It is like a web directory managing the names of various dealers present on eBay.

Three Weeks to eBay Profits, Revised Edition: Go from Beginner to Successful Seller in Less than a Month (Three Weeks to Ebay Profits: Go from Beginner to Successful)

Related Ebay Products

Unleashing the Power of eBay: New Ways to Take Your Business or Online Auction to the Top

• ISBN13: 9780071445184
• Condition: New
• Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!

The Home-Based Bookstore: Start Your Own Business Selling Used Books on Amazon, eBay or Your Own Web Site

More Ebay Products

Obama's Old Car on eBay for Mere Million
AP Graphics By Marti Lotman, NewsMax Online auction junkies could tear a page out of Ferris Bueller's playbook with a unique eBay opportunity this week: Pony up a million bucks and you'll hold the reins of all the horsepower of the Chrysler Saloon …
Read more on Fox News

Skip Schumaker's new baseball card features the rally squirrel … but not Skip …
Should I wait till he is in the HOF before I attempt to sell it? nshomo • Liberty, New York • 4 hours ago there's one of these cards on Ebay right now – it's up to $ 305!!!!!!!! REALLY??? for a picture of a squirrel??? Frosty • 4 hours ago People …
Read more on Yahoo! Sports (blog)

by Plinkk

Your potential eBay bidder/buyer cannot touch, smell, taste, or hear what you have for sale. But they can see your photos, and many will make their decision based on what they see. While an accurate description and clear auction terms remain very important, it is often the visual representation (i.e. your photos) which will make or break a sale.

It is not necessary to be a professional photographer or even a good amateur photographer to get good results with your Ebay photos. Nor is it necessary to have top of the line equipment. An average quality digital camera is quite adequate for most three dimensional items. (For those selling sport cards and other flat items, a flatbed scanner may be a better choice).

Here are a few tips to get the most from your eBay photos:

1. Keep it sharp ….There is probably no greater turnoff than auction photos which are fuzzy.

The easiest way to get sharp photos is to use a tripod. After you have set up for your photo, set the self timer on your camera to make the actual exposure. This eliminates any possibilities of accidental vibration and also allows for longer exposures in low light conditions.

2. Unclutter the background….You want all of your buyers concentration focused on your widget. Remove anything from the cameras view that is not for sale. It is also a good idea to use a background which contrasts with your item. Lighter backgrounds for darker items, and vice versa. A hardwood floor or a solid colored fabric remnant can work quite well as background material for many items. Clothing can be photographed hung up in front of a neutral colored wall.

3. Lighting is very important…. Lighting can be one of the more difficult areas to master.

Turn off your cameras automatic flash and use natural lighting whenever possible. Your object is to avoid flash glare and harsh shadows while keeping the color rendition as accurate as possible. Soft natural light filtered through a white curtain can often produce good results. Where shadows appear, position white poster board to reflect light back onto your subject. If you must use flash, the best results will be with an external bounce flash that will provide indirect lighting. It may take a bit of experimenting to get the setup just right, however it will be time well spent.

4. Watch the file size….. Keep in mind that you are publishing on the web – not making a door poster. Using the mid range settings on your camera will keep the file size down and allow the photos to load faster.

5. Use editing software with caution…. It is fine to use editing software to crop a bit and touch up the background. Use caution however when editing any aspect of the actual subject. Regardless of the magic you can do with Photoshop, it remains quite important that your photo be as accurate a representation as possible of the real thing.

6. Show the bad stuff…. When selling used items be sure and photograph any defects in the item. (they should also be noted in your written description)

Number seven is an easy one – quite simply practice until you have a system that works well for you. Objectively look at your photos and ask yourself if you would buy that widget based on the pictures alone. If the answer is yes, you can then be reasonably comfortable that buyers will feel the same way.

eBay Business All-in-One For Dummies

More Ebay Products