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Four Huge Mistakes eBay Sellers Make
by John Reese
No matter how many times I see it happening, I'm
constantly amazed at the number of people who are literally throwing money
away by making incredibly simple mistakes when they sell items in an online
auction.
Over the last seven years, I've been making a great
living buying and selling products on eBay and other online auction sites,
and I've perfected a technique that pretty much guarantees anyone can start
making a profit right away.
That technique starts with avoiding mistakes like these
-- mistakes I've seen people make every day for those same seven years.
If you're doing any of these four things, you're
leaving money on the table with every single item you sell.
1) Listing an item at the wrong time.
It's a proven fact more buyers browse Internet auction
sites on Sunday evenings than any other time during the week. If your
auction is scheduled to end at any other time than Sunday evenings
(specifically between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. Eastern time), you're not getting
the maximum exposure for your auction at a time when people are most eager
to buy.
2) Not giving your photos the attention they
deserve.
There are two common mistakes people make with the
photos they use to entice buyers on eBay. One is not having enough pictures
to accompany your item's description. Over the years, I've learned pictures
of your item are one of the most important components of your sales page.
(There are many reasons for this, but I don't have the space to go into much
detail here.) Multiple pictures from various angles will ALWAYS help you get
higher bids for your products. The second mistake is not making sure the
pictures are up and running on whatever server you're using BEFORE you list
your item. How many times have you been browsing an auction site and seen a
blank box where a picture of the item should have been? That's a seller
who's losing money because of a very simple, and very common, oversight.
3) Using "Las Vegas style" listings.
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about here. A Las
Vegas listing is one that uses all kinds of flashing animation, multicolored
text and other bells and whistles in an attempt to entice bidders. In fact,
it does just the opposite. Listings like these are distracting, hard to
read, and will always discourage people from bidding, resulting in a lower
final sales price. The descriptions that you give of your item on your sales
page ARE NOT designed to get a buyer's attention (you already have that if
they've clicked on your listing in the first place). They should be designed
to get someone to actually place a bid.
4) Using a reserve.
Using a reserve to guarantee that you'll get a minimum
price for an item will absolutely kill your auction. Trust me, I've seen it
happen too many times to not accept this as a given. In fact, I often use
other seller's auctions that have a reserve as a way to pick up items at
ridiculously low prices that I can sell "the right way" for a huge profit a
few days later -- but that's a different article altogether. For now, just
realize that nothing scares away potential bidders better than seeing the
"Reserve Not Yet Met" tag. If you're truly concerned about a minimum price,
simply set your starting price a little higher.
Copyright John Reese
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