102 MarketPlace Secrets
from
David Early
eBusiness Pioneer
102 MarketPlace Secrets
During the last several years, I’ve spent more than my fair share of time on eBay, and I’ve definitely learned my share of lessons in the world of eBusiness. I’ve successfully launched and sold thousands of items on eBay, and suffered the consequences of many unsuccessful auctions as well. In doing so, I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t. To save you the same frustration and money that I spent learning these time-consuming lessons, I sat down and compiled a list of my favorite tips and techniques for successful selling.
By reading my common-sense secrets, you’ll discover how to maximize your profits and minimize your time, and make eBay, fun and profitable for you and your entire family.
Enjoy, and see ya online!
David Early
eBusiness Pioneer
Secret #1: Sell What You Know
Find a product you are comfortable with — a product that you know something about, even a hobby. This will allow you to buy more for less and make more money with higher margins.
Secret #2: Choose Your eBay Username Wisely
One of the most important steps in the eBay registration process is choosing your username. This one name will become your business identification — the name that people in the eBay universe will learn to search for when they want to buy your products. So choose wisely!
Pick a name that is descriptive, easy to remember, and instantly identifiable with your niche. For example, if you are going to specialize in selling Hummel figurines, then you might select one of the following: “Hummelgirl1,” “Ilovehummels,” “myhummelsarerare,” or “102hummels.” Remember: You want a name that makes you look like an expert in your field.
Secret #3: If You Have More Than One Niche, Choose Another Name
According to eBay, as long as all of your Usernames refer back to the same e-mail address, you can have more than one. So if you want to sell cars in addition to Hummel figurines, you might choose another username that would be more pertinent to that area, such as “Mustangsrock” or “Supeduphotrods.”
Secret #4: Shock Value Doesn’t Equal “Memorable”
Do NOT use a name like “Fraud1,” “Not so good,” “Notgettingpaid,” or anything that would consciously or unconsciously make a buyer think that what you are selling is fake, damaged, or not likely to show up.
Don’t believe someone would actually try this? “Fraud1” was used as an eBay ID. I checked the feedback rating of this unwise user, and here is what I found: “Complaint: NO RESPONSE TO REPEATED ATTEMPTS AT COMPLETION.” I’m not surprised, are you? Pick a good name, and be a great eBayer.
Secret #5: Accept Credit Card Payments
After registering with eBay, your next step is to establish a way of accepting credit card payments. While there are other payment options your customers may choose, it’s important to accept credit card transactions for several reasons. First, many credit cards offer protection against online fraud. Second, it’s always easier for your buyer to type in a credit card number than to take all the steps necessary to mail the payment. And third, accepting credit cards puts you on the same level as a real brick and mortar business; your buyers won’t imagine you as a one-person shop working from your home.
And finally, one of my favorite reasons, you no longer need to have a merchant account to accept credit cards! (See Secret #7 for the rest of the story.)
Secret #6: Cash Is King
You should absolutely accept cash as payment. I mean, why not?
When a buyer pays with a credit card, you’ll need to pay fees to your bank or the credit card processing company, which means less money in your pocket. And if your buyer sends you a check or a money order, you can’t spend it until you cash it.
Although I would never SEND cash in the mail, there is no real risk to you receiving it. I always accept cash because roadblocks are the death of a business (see Secret #8).
Secret #7: Embrace PayPal® — I Do
It is extremely simple to get an online account with credit card payment service companies such as PayPal®, AuctionPayments.com, and ProPay. And since MarketPlacePro is a strategic partner with eBay — and eBay owns PayPal® — I would recommend PayPal® without question. Not to mention the fact that PayPal® is the easiest, cheapest, and most popular payment service — which is why I use PayPal®.
Normally, I’m not one to follow the pack, but this only makes sense. If most people are already using PayPal®, then most people will find it easy to pay you with PayPal®.
Secret #8: Use Them All!
PayPal® is the best. But why limit your business to just one payment service company? It can’t hurt to have as many payment options as you can, which leads nicely to my next Secret...
Secret #9: Eliminate the Roadblocks to Selling Your Stuff
If a buyer wants to use PayPal® to buy your product, and you can’t accept a PayPal® payment, that’s a problem. It’s a roadblock to selling your item, making a profit, and moving on to the next sale. Take down the roadblocks! Make it easy for buyers to purchase your items. This is my golden rule of retail, “Make sure customers who come in the door have a way to pay and that customers who leave have a smile and full shopping cart.” The point is simple: Sell your item, collect the money, and ship the product.
Secret #10: Merchant Accounts Aren’t All Bad
If you still feel more comfortable setting up a merchant account, it isn’t as hard as it may sound. Just log on to USmerchantservices.com; they will be happy to help you set up a merchant account.
Or search google.com for “merchant accounts.” There are many online resources that can help you get started.
Secret #11: Cross-promote with E-mail Signatures
Use an e-mail signature to promote your auctions. Signatures are promotional text at the bottom of any message you send. For example, if you’re sending out your winning bidder notification, it might start with:
“Congrats on your winning bid... ”
But it should end with something like:
“If you need additional products or services, please visit my Storefront at storefront.com."
The message should be simple and to the point and included on every e-mail you send out. But don’t worry. After you set up your signature in your MarketPlacePro profile, it will be attached automatically to outgoing messages to your buyers.
Secret #12: What’s Hot, What’s Not?
If you’re at a loss as to what to sell on eBay, consider this: To achieve the most success, you want to sell what people are buying. It’s the simple law of supply and demand. When the demand is high, the price goes up, and you want to be a seller; when the supply is high, the price typically goes down and you want to be the buyer.
There is one point of caution when following the law of supply and demand. If the supply is high and demand is low, the product is either falling off in popularity or hasn’t yet peaked, which should influence your buying decisions.
My best advice for you is to keep an eye on the trends, and use your best instincts. For example, the biggest market segment today is the Babyboomers who are retiring. So take a look at AARP Magazine and see what is advertised there.
Also, I like to check out eBay’s Hot Items by Category, a report the company publishes on a monthly basis. It indicates which items are selling the best, and it can be found at http://pages.ebay.com/sellercentral/whatshot.html.
Unfortunately, knowing what’s hot now doesn’t always help you, because supply will be limited. The best profits are made when you can figure out what will be hot tomorrow and beat the demand curve for that product.
Secret #13: Research Your Product’s Demand
In addition to knowing what’s hot, it’s also important to know how much an item is selling for. For example, if you’re walking through a discount superstore, and you see pool cues for $8 apiece, you can determine whether or not they would be a profitable product for eBay. Log onto eBay and search the “Completed Items.” While a regular search shows items whose price may increase before an auction is over, a Completed Items search will reveal the final price for items. Search the Completed Items list for pool cues, and see what they’re selling for on eBay.
Secret #14: Buy Low, Sell High
You make money when you buy, not when you sell. Always know your approximate margins when you go into a sale. If you can sell a vase on eBay for $20 and you see it at a garage sale priced at $18, that isn’t enough of a margin to make a substantial profit. However, if you see the vase for $5, you know you’re going to make a significant profit. In essence, you’re making your money in this deal when you buy — before you’ve even placed the item for sale on eBay.
Secret #15: Honesty Is Always the Best Policy
You will not be able to succeed on eBay unless you conduct yourself and your business in an honest manner. Begin receiving negative feedback from your buyers, and you’ll soon find yourself without buyers.
People are human; we make mistakes. We forget to follow through sometimes. The best way to keep mistakes from hurting you, your business, or even those around you is to be honest about them.
Secret #16: Write Honest Descriptions
There’s only one acceptable way to write a description for your item — honestly and to the best of your ability. If your product is a copy or a knock off, include that information in the description. If your object is damaged, include that information in the description. If your product doesn’t work, include that information in the description. If any of these issues can be fixed, include that information in the description — it will help.
Often, an honest description can be enhanced and even overshadowed by an image of the product. Take a clean picture, and use lighting to show the extra detail that words can’t. If you have been completely honest in your description, and the picture looks fantastic, sellers will usually determine the amount they’re willing to bid based on the visual representation (the picture). Because you were honest in your description, the seller will be satisfied with the product. If you ever have a problem, refund the money.
Secret #17: Handle Payments with Honesty
Generally, you will want to ship your item immediately after you get paid, but sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.
When someone pays with a credit card or through PayPal® they expect the item to be shipped within a few days, sometimes even the same day. If you forgot to note when the payment came in, and therefore didn’t ship their product, be honest. Do not try to blame the delay on a late payment. Just tell your buyer that you forgot to log the payment, and ship the item immediately.
Any time a payment (such as a money order or personal check) is sent through the mail, the process will be slowed down a bit. Keep communications open with your buyer, and you should have a smooth transaction. When the buyer uses a personal check, you should always wait for the check to clear your bank. But after the check clears, be certain to send the item right away.
Secret #18: Don’t Wait to Ship to Repeat Buyers
Of course you’ll want to wait until your buyer’s personal check clears before you ship your product. But this is NOT the case with repeat buyers. If they’ve proven themselves trustworthy, send the product when you receive the check. This will help you build your client base.
Secret #19: Be Honest About When You Ship Products
This one is similar to #17 but important enough to mention separately. If you forget to send a product, do not blame its tardiness on the shipping company. When you send your item, the postmark doesn’t lie, so you shouldn't either. Buyers like honesty and will buy again from honest sellers.
Secret #20: Ship with the Best
To avoid shipping fiascos, use companies you can count on. I’ve worked in this industry for quite a while, and my experience and research have shown me that there are three options for successful shipping: United States Postal Service (USPS), FedEx Ground, or UPS. They all are good; the key is to know when to use each one.
Secret #21: Do NOT Try to Make Money on Shipping
People will pay good prices for products they want, but they hate to pay for shipping. Always make sure you list a shipping price that will cover your postage and supplies — but no more than that. If your shipping price is excessive, people may not bid on your item, or they’ll bid a lower amount than it’s worth to make up for the price of shipping. The few extra dollars you make on shipping can ultimately result in lower bid amounts — and less money in your pocket.
Here’s the good news: MarketPlacePro will help you calculate approximate shipping charges and enable you to keep track of those fees for each product.
Secret #22: Ship with USPS When…
The United States Postal Service is often the easiest choice for shipping, and sometimes it’s also the cheapest. Here is my Golden Rule with the USPS:
When your package weighs less than 2 lbs, it’s most economical to ship with USPS because you’ll pay a flat rate to anywhere in the country (using Priority Mail).
Secret #23: Take Advantage of USPS Supplies
This is another reason I love the USPS: You can log onto USPS.com to order your supplies, and they’re FREE. Not only that, but the USPS will send the supplies directly to your home. That way, when you’re ready to ship, you’ll have the boxes, tape, and labels right there at your fingertips.