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19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 2

Author: Ed Brancheau
As if you haven't already heard, millions upon millions of people of people buy and sell on eBay every single day. Some only make a few sales here and there. Others have figured out what it takes to become "Powersellers." Powersellers are the very small minority of eBay sellers that do at least $2,000 per month in sales on eBay and maintain a 99% positive feedback rating. Powersellers are the ones that really know what they're doing and if you really want to be successful on eBay then follow the secrets they revealed to me.

So, what are the secrets, tips and tricks that will cause you to become a Powerseller as well?

Well, I'll be completely honest with you... I may be well on my way but I'm not a Powerseller yet. However, one thing that I know from creating several successful businesses is that if you want to become the best at something, you need to copy those that are already successful, ask them to mentor you and ask questions and take notes. And now I am going to take what they taught me and pass it on to you.

This is part two of a four part article series. You will find links to the other parts of this article series at the end of this article.

SECRET STRATEGY #6 - TAKE THE HENRY FORD APPROACH

Every single Powerseller that I spoke with had a systematic approach to dealing with everything from posting listings to packaging and shipping items. For example, with regards to packaging and shipping, more than a few Powersellers told me that have their computer set up on the far left of a workbench, then down the line to the right was a printer, then their products and then packing materials. They simply work their way down the line from left to right. The same thing goes with orders. Personally, most of the products that I sell are informational so I have my customers place an order and my autoresponder automatically sends them their product. Takes me nothing to do this. Basically, you want to set up a system that does not change and which you could practically do in your sleep.

SECRET STRATEGY #7 - USE THE RIGHT PHOTOS

One of the things that I love to do on eBay is search for things that I know that I want to buy for myself. However, what I do is that I look for the auction listings where the seller doesn't really know what they are doing. A lot of sellers use the bad photos and post them in their listings. A bad photo can cost you bidders. Few bidders = less money. So, make sure that your photos look good and effectively represent your product and ask yourself if the photo would make you want to buy the product. If you don't know anything about taking photos, ask a family member of friend to help you out.

Also, check out your competition and see how the sellers with the highest bids take their photos. Many Powersellers that I spoke to said that the best backdrop that they use for their photos is a light blue backdrop because it catches the buyer's attention as they are browsing eBay without being distracting or repulsive. And be sure that the photo is well cropped. This is one of the biggest mistakes that sellers make for two reasons: 1) the buyer cannot easily see the product when they're browsing because the photo is all "dead space" and 2) larger photos (large file size) take much longer to download. This is why it's critical to use an image optimizer, use as few photos as possible and make them as small as possible while still forwarding your listing. Remember that most Internet users still use slow connections (although you should not worry about this if you are selling items to buyers that you are relatively sure have fast Internet connections like high-tech computer items or plasma screen TVs.)

SECRET STRATEGY #8 - DON'T SELL AN ITEM JUST ONCE, SELL IT A THOUSAND TIMES

It takes just as much time to post a listing for one item as it does to post a listing for 10,000 items. In fact, it takes much less time. For example, you could go to an auction and find one item to sell or you could take the same amount of time to find a product that you could sell a thousand times. A few years ago, I made really good money on eBay selling sporting tickets but they were a pain is the ass to post. Date. Location. Section number. Row number. Hell, some people even asked for seat numbers. It was ridiculous! Dutch auctions are the perfect solution to this problem because eBay will allow you to sell up to 10,000 items per auction listing (this also works for Fixed Price listings).

Dutch auctions also help with your "assembly line." Think about it. Is it easier to package 100 items that are exactly the same size and weight or 100 items that are all different sizes and weights? Now, you might be thinking "We'll then, all of my auctions are going to be Dutch auctions!" Not so fast! There are drawbacks to Dutch auctions. First, eBay listings fees are calculated as the sum total of all the items be sold in the listing. For example, let say that you are selling 1,000 $1 items. Then eBay will say that your listing has a $1,000 value and the original listing fee will reflect this value even if you only sell one item (although they only charge up to $4.20 per listing so there is not a ton of risk.)

Even more importantly though, in Dutch auctions, the final sales price is determined by the bid of the lowest winning bidder. For example, let's say that you have ten items with winning bidders. The highest bidder bids $50 and the lowest bidder only bids $25. In this case, every winning bidder will receive the item for $25. So, as you can see, you need to be very careful when using Dutch auctions as you need to know the balance of supply and demand. For more information, be sure to check out eBay by going to the site below!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ebay-dutch.html

SECRET STRATEGY #9 - "BULK LIST" YOUR AUCTIONS

Once you decide on which products you want to sell large quantities of, it's best to bulk list them with auction management software. Auction management software makes it extremely easily to list your auctions at the right time so that you make the most money. They also make it simple to copy listings, make changes and manage everything including payments and feedback. They are an incredible timesaver and extraordinary powerful because they allow you to list your auctions at your leisure and schedule them to be posted on the day and at the time of your choice. Of course, the professional versions of these programs cost money but almost all of them have free versions that you should start with.

Andale: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/andale.html

Blackthorne: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/blackthorne.html

Mpire: http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/mpire.html

SECRET STRATEGY #10 - KNOW HOW YOUR BUYERS WILL FIND YOU!

Every Powerseller I interviewed said that this is the most critical aspect of any auction listing. Why? Because the buyer must first be able to even come across your listing. Powersellers use titles with keywords and no fat. Many sellers don't understand that while it is important for the title to be catchy, it is more important to be seen in the first place.

How do you get seen? Well, 93% of all eBay purchases begin with the buyer searching for a particular keyword in the title and the more specific you can be the better. For example, the most searched keyword on eBay as of this writing is "Xbox" and the second is "Xbox 360". So if you are selling an Xbox 360 then include "Xbox 360" in the title. This way, everyone that searches for "Xbox" or "Xbox 360" will find your listing. If you only had "Xbox" in your title, then people searching for "Xbox 360" would not even find your listing.

Furthermore, include as many valid keywords in the title as you can like "Brand New Xbox 360 Premium Sports Package Video Game System". Use words that sell like "rare," "antique," "popular," and "free" but use them sparingly. It is more important to have keywords in your listing. And resist the temptation to use words like "L@@K", "WOW" and "MUST SEE" because they waste valuable title space. Instead, be "search engine savvy" and realize that keywords in the headline are found by the eBay search engine. As of this writing, over 59,000 listings included "L@@K" in their titles and, while I didn't check them all, those that I did check were selling for about 10% less than their competition.

SECRET STRATEGY #11 - WRITE DETAILED AND ACCURATE "SALES PAGES" FOR YOUR DESCRIPTION

Let me ask you a question. Without reading a description and the items being identical, would you buy the item with the longer description or the shorter description? Of course you're going to buy the one with the longer description because sellers that go into more detail are believed to be more honest. Therefore, you want to make sure that you give a detailed and accurate description that answers just about every conceivable question that a buyer could ask. Also, be sure to ask yourself (or better yet, ask someone else) whether you would bid on the item after reading the description.

It's also critically important to have a description that acts more as a sales page when you have a product that people might not specifically be looking for. When a person is looking for a particular product like a video game then they will generally enter the particular video game into the search engine such as "Madden football". For these items, you don't really have to "sell" the product because people already want it. In this case, you simply have to describe the product... "for Sony Playstation" and "brand new".

For other products, you have to be more descriptive such as "beautiful Icelandic helmet" and for informational products such as books and programs, you need to create more of a sales page as the buyer might only be looking for "how to make money on eBay". In this case, you need to sell the person on the benefits of your product over your competition. If writing sales letters intimidates you, I suggest that you buy a book or creating sales letters or hire a copywriter. Personally, I use a wonderful program the Marlon Sanders created called Push Button Sales Letters. This program takes you step by step through creating powerful sales letters in no time. Check it out!

Marlon Sanders Push Button Sales Letters:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/push-button-sales-letter.html

Finally, always have a "call to action". A "call to action" is a simple statement in the auction telling the buyer what you actually want them to do like "place a bid now!" You might be thinking that the buyer already knows what to do and that's true. But just because someone knows what to do doesn't mean that they will do it. People in the United States now know more than ever that they should eat healthy but obesity is at an all-time high. Having a simple "call to action" can increase bids by 40% or more.

Well, that's it! Armed with these secret eBay strategies, you too should be well on your way to making a very substantial income on eBay. However, should you wish to obtain even more information about how to make money on eBay and the rest of the Internet, please visit our eBay store for some fabulous informational products.

Unleash Life Success Coaching eBay Store

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/links/ulsc-ebay-store.html

And be sure to check out the extremely powerful A2Z Web Building & Internet Marketing Platinum Package. It's over $1,500 worth of the best web building and Internet marketing books and programs in the world for less than $50. Check out our eBay rating and you will see that people love this package!

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/A2Z-platinum.html

Finally, if you missed any of the four parts of this article, you can read the other three at the following addresses:

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-1.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-2.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-3.html

http://www.a-to-z-web.com/ebays-secrets-4.html
About the Author:
Discover several extremely powerful web building and internet marketing packages that uncover all of the secrets to making money with eBay, Google AdSense, affiliate programs and much more! We offer a 180-day, no hassle, satisfaction guarantee!
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - 19 Secret Strategies of eBay Powersellers, Part 2

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