eBay PowerSeller Selling Strategies - Secrets Revealed

Many Sellers here on eBay start out with one purpose in mind - to become a PowerSeller and give up the daily 9 to 5 bump and grind and work from home earning a huge income here on eBay. Sadly many Sellers fail over and over again and end up losing alot of money in the process. This is not due to a lack of determination but purely a lack of sales and marketing tactics and strategies. With eBay being such a huge marketplace and competition between Sellers for the same products or items, you need to know how to sell effectively in order to start taking your slice of the profits generated daily.

Imagine your Town or City High Street, now picture every single shop on that street selling the same products - no difference. That's how I look at eBay before sourcing any products to sell.

Now imagine all the shoppers on your High Street pouring into ONE of the shops and buying everything - Don't forget, all the shops are selling identical items, so why is everyone choosing that one particular shop and walking past the rest?

The reasons are quite simple. If I were to say the following to you:

1. Shop presentation - i.e. window display.
2. Price.
3. Service.

Hopefully, you are starting to get the idea of where I am going with this guide.

So what I'll do now is hopefully give you some sound advice which will keep you on the right track rather than taking every side route that comes up.

1. Shop presentation and window display.

Your auction listing comprising of your Item Title, Description and PICTURE is your one shot sales promotion or shop window which the rest of the world (on Ebay) will judge you on. Get it right and they will come on in, browse around and quite possibly put in a bid, but get it wrong and buyers won't even notice you and you'll end up with a Ghost Listing (Pretty much invisible) and buyers will visit the shop next door.

The 2 most important presentation factors are:

1. Item Title.
2. Picture/Photo.

Research your item title before writing your listing at all. You need to find out what buyers are looking for and this is done by finding out what buyers are typing in to the eBay search box - the buyers KEYWORDS. 15 minutes of research can mean a whole lot of difference to an end price, beleive me. To find out what buyers want, simply goto eBay Pulse. Once you are on eBay Pulse, find the category your item is going into i.e. if you are selling a pair of jeans, select clothes, shoes and accessories and drill down until you find mens clothing and finally jeans. What you'll find on the eBay Pulse page now are the Buyers Top Searches in the mens jeans category. You now need to incorporate those Keywords into your auction title and description - BUT, make sure the Keywords are relevent to your item - DO NOT use other irrelevent Keywords in your listing title or description. This is know as Keyword Spamming and can/will get your listing removed by eBay and they can/will take further action against you.

Another Top Tip - As you drill down through eBay Pulse to your listing category, keep an eye on the Top Searches as you will find Keywords there that will be relevent to your listing and can also be used. An example is the word Jeans - on the Top Searches, Jeans is the 7th highest buyer search keyword in the overall Clothes Category - Jeans Top Search Position

Picture/Photo - Use the Gallery feature when listing your item. Why? It attracts more Buyers IF IT IS USED CORRECTLY - Remember, a picture/photo paints a thousand words and if you are not too hot at describing something - use pictures to do the talking.

When taking a picture try and use the following guidelines:

• Use colour pictures/photos.
• Use close up shots - Don't take the photo from a distance but try and capture all detail.
• Use a flash if indoors - This helps show up the detail and sharpens colours.
• If possible, use a photo editing tool to cut out background images/objects an example would be Photo with no background just look for the Flecktarn Jacket or Trousers.
• Keep image sizes to a standard Photo size i.e. 6x5 inches or thereabouts.
• Keep the picture clear - i.e. no fuzzy shots or blurred images.

Remember, the better the picture and the more clearly your item is displayed, the better the chances a buyer will want to take a closer look. For more help on adding photos to your listings, visit Photo Answer Centre or Photo Listing Help

2. Price.

This is where you can win or lose and quite lterally push buyers away. Keep the starting price low. This has 2 benefits:

1. It attracts more buyers as it is low.
2. It keeps your eBay listing fees to a minimum.

The best method I have found is to start my auctions at £0.99 and that is for anything and everything. Yes, it is a risk but I have done my research and I know the items will sell within a certain end price range which will give a profit. If you are worried about taking such a risk - list your item with a start price of £0.99 BUT put a reserve price on it. The reserve price is a price you can enter which is the MINIMUM price your item must reach before it can be sold. Basically, if you have an item worth £50.00 but you are worried about starting your auction at £0.99 - Just put a reserve price on the item for £50.00. This means that unless the bidding reaches £50.00, your item will NOT SELL. For more info on setting a reserve price, visit Reserve Price Explanation

3. Service.

This speaks for itself really and I use a simple solution to the service I provide for all my buyers.

Give the same service to your buyers as you would expect from any seller

If you follow these guidelines, you can't go wrong:

• Be courteous to all buyers - Buyers questions can be short and abrupt but give a friendly reply.
• Always use a greeting - Such as Hi there or Hello
• Always sign off on a freindly note - Such as Best Regards ........ (insert your name)
• Always try and answer a query as quick as you can - don't let them linger or the buyer will think you are ignorant or unapproachable and don't care.
• If you don't know an answer, then be honest - Don't make something up to please a buyer!
• Leave feedback when you feel the sale is complete - I'll cover this in a seperate guide as it can catch you out.
• Post items as soon as possible after the auction finishes and YOU HAVE BEEN PAID.
• If possible, send an email to the winning buyer and congratulate them - You can automate this via your "My Ebay" and it shows the buyer that you are on top of the game and actually give a damn!

The above list is not the be all and end all but you get the idea - Just be friendly, courteous and approachable - this will generate good will between you and your buyers which can and usually does (From personal experience) lead to bids and can generate repeat sales.

OK, I hope you have found the above useful and if so, please vote for it. I'll be posting up some more guides which go into the real selling secrets PowerSellers use like sourcing products, adding gifts, selling strategies and so on - All techniques used are legal and well within ebay rules and regulations, so please keep your eyes open and keep checking back regularly.

Also please visit my about me page and by all means visit my eBay Shop where I actually demonstrate my PowerSeller Techniques, Sales and Marketing strategies and above all if you have any questions, drop me an email and I will be glad to help you out with any eBay Selling or Buying problems you may have.

Good luck, happy hunting and be careful.