06 - How to Make Money Selling on eBay

[Vita_Vee]

If you landed directly on this page, please make sure you start by reading the 1st articles of this "how to make money online" series:

01 - What You Need to Know About Business Success
02 - How To Make Money Online With Affiliate Marketing
03 - How To Make Money Online By Selling Your Own Services
04 - How To Make Money Online By Creating Info Products
05 - How To Make Money Online With Adsense

PART 6 - Making Money Online Selling on eBay

eBay has been around since 1995 which is positively ancient in internet age. But you can still make money either selling directly on their site or through other means such as joining their eBay Partner Network, EPN.

Today we will discuss selling directly on eBay's website. Yes, of course it can still be done, even though very many people have come and gone over the years. That is nothing new, though, in any kind of business. So if selling physical goods via an auction model appeals to you, then you should pursue that attraction. However, if you're going to do it, then give yourself a fighting chance and get educated before jumping into the arena.

I cannot cover every aspect of what is important or advisable to learn regarding selling on eBay. But I will discuss some of the more timely topics that can baffle and doom the new seller. Here's what I have to offer you, today...

1. Addressing the timeless question of what to sell.

2. The importance of market research and a few solid tips for doing it.

3. Solid steps to follow to create a listing that has an above average chance of making sales for you.

4. A few hot tips for optimizing your listings for maximum exposure plus how to get the most out of your traffic.

5. Tidbits of marketing wisdom gleaned from the battle weary eBay sellers.

6. Some resources you can use to make you a more formidable eBay seller.

7. Sprinkles of hot tips and profitable nuances you will have a hard time finding on your own.

Sound good? OK, let's get started...

There are many things that will make a difference in your level of success. Unfortunately, you will have to learn some of them through experience, but that is OK and no reason to be bothered about it. But just understand that when you're running an auction there are two critical points to remember.

1. You are there to close sales.

2. Customer relations are of paramount importance.

Perhaps those seem totally obvious and not earth-shattering. Be careful when you perhaps are quick with initial judgments. There are massive... incredibly significant implications in those two points, alone. I'll explain...

Closing sales is what it's all about. So what that means is you must optimize your listings. They are not full-blown, full length sales letters like you see on Clickbank. They are specialized forms of sales copy with distinct aspects that you have to get right. There are no options available and it is non-negotiable. If you blow it off, or wing it thinking it's good enough - you are done.

Fortunately, you'll get a pretty respectable introduction to this process right here in this thread. So grab some popcorn and come back.

A large part of your success will be determined by your level of customer relations. There are two extremely important reasons for this. First, as you may know, eBay actively encourages buyers to provide feedback on the sellers. OK, that's nothing new. But secondly... you want to always try to get repeat customers.

It's a whole lot easier to sell to people you've already sold to in the past. They are "warm prospects," and that is one of the foundations of old-school direct marketing. Warm prospects have always been better than cold prospects, and they always will be.

How can you build solid customer relations?

1. There is a preselling stage in which prospective customers will ask questions about the product. That is your chance to build your reputation as a professional eBay seller. So always answer any questions immediately and fully. No embellishments allowed, and just be polite and professional. Always let them know you're there if they have any more questions or concerns.

2. Post sales customer relations include following-up with all buyers, every time. Just send them a short note telling them you appreciate their trust and business. Once again, let them know you're there if they have any questions.

Let's move into the main topics for making money on eBay...

What to sell on eBay?

A great deal can be found about this topic, and you can come away with some solid guidelines to follow. The initial and very short answer to that question is... no one can really tell you exactly what is best for you to sell. But there are good reasons for that once you have a better idea about the entire landscape. Don't feel discouraged, though, because I will share a couple of excellent tips that could help you out.

There are several important factors that come to bear on this question.

1. Your particular personality matters as far as what is best for you to sell. This concerns what will make you feel essentially good about what you are providing. I know that I would not be really all that excited about selling Barbie dolls or purses, for example. Even though someone may be making a killing selling those items. Fine, I don't care. I just know that I would not be happy selling them. You see?

Plus, you do need to have knowledge about the products you are selling. That is a must because people will ask you about them. You must be able to respond accurately to product questions. I could learn about Barbie dolls and purses - but I do not want to. So I'll find something else to sell.

2. How much money do you want to make? A full time income? A killer income or just something to perhaps pay the mortgage every month?

The answers to those questions will determine a lot about what you do; what products you sell.

3. How much experience do you have selling on eBay? You can easily find items that may sell but are one time sales as opposed to making an exclusive deal with a wholesale outfit. Obviously the latter is much more involved, and if you're completely new at it you may feel a bit intimidated at the process. If you're new chances are very good you have no idea how to set-up a deal like that.

However I can offer some things that are excellent food for thought.

First, consider selling products in markets that you have some passion about. I know maybe you have heard that advice as it pertains to internet marketing. That point can be debated. However, I believe, as do others involved with eBay, that this approach can make a big difference.

You really do need to have solid knowledge about anything you sell on eBay. Why? You have to be able to answer questions thoroughly and precisely. If you do not, then people will very likely not buy from you. Secondly, the more you know and understand your products, the better your listings will be. You listing copy will outperform copy for the same product written by someone who has little product knowledge. Better listings win at eBay. Third... your overall energy level that is required for keeping your efforts going will be higher if you are interested in what you're selling. If you're very passionate about what you're selling, then it will be fun, engaging, and you will just like it. It will make a huge difference in everything you do.

The next important general point...

You can choose among various approaches, or strategies, when it comes to the question of what to sell and where to get ideas for markets "from which" to choose products. Here's what I mean by this...

A lot of people research products from eBay, and that can work if you generally know what you're doing. But also realize that you are looking at history; the history of sales at eBay. While it's true you can find some good products that will sell, just know that you are neglecting a huge pool of potential products.

Potential sources or ideas for products...

Yes. Instead of looking at history, look at what's happening now! You can look at what is trending, or what is just in the early stages and about to potentially explode on the marketing scene. You won't easily find that at eBay, if at all.

Hot Tips just for you:

1. There is a cycle on eBay that consists of someone finding a great selling product from some supplier (who is easily available to everybody). Then the rest of the bandwagon eventually is on it and selling the same thing. Market capture dies a slow death, and profit margins fall into a massive sink hole.

Saturation and end of product life with sellers fighting for scraps. Time to move on...

Well OK, then make an effort to find a supplier who is more local to you and "not" easily available to everybody on the planet. This will require more foot and homework, but the potential can be very nice. This is done all the time, so it's not impossible. If you are established on eBay, then you could conceivably negotiate exclusive rights to sell it. But you will need to have solid credentials to do that.

If you find something that looks like it has potential, then the first thing you should do is run back to eBay and do some research. You absolutely want to be sure that the product is not already saturated in the marketplace. If it is not, then you can go forward as planned.

If you have a potential winner, then be very sure you start as small as possible. Remember to test as much as you can, and in this case you want to make the smallest possible financial commitment on this product. Buy the fewest possible because you need to find out if it will sell in the first place. Makes sense, doesn't it?

2. If you ever have a hard time figuring out what to charge for a product, then here's what you can do.

You'll need to locate a reputable wholesale supplier who's willing to do business with you. But you really need to make sure this source is above board and honest. Avoid dealing with dropshippers and any type of middleman outfit. Do some due diligence and research them using Ripoff Report or The Better Business Bureau (US) online (eventhough I believe the BBB is a ripoff in itself lol).

Once you have found someone, then simply create a fictional order by putting the product in the shopping cart. Once you've done that you can determine what the shipping costs will be. So then you have a pretty solid idea of what your price needs to be in order to make a profit.

Now it's time to discuss market research...

A lot of the more inexperienced eBay sellers will spend a great deal of time searching for products that have sold on eBay. You can discover how well related, or similar, products have performed using this function, and that is fine to do. But you want to streamline as much as possible because you can spend countless hours searching for products.

If you are really serious about selling and making money on eBay, then you simply must check out the following very cool and powerful software tool.

Terapeak is a robust eBay research software tool that quickly provides you with a host of relevant eBay market data. You can compare auctions over time, when the best time is to sell a particular product, the latest hot trends and a lot more. There is even a function for performing competitor research (spying) that pretty much tells you everything about what is going on.

But what if you could find out what people want to buy?

That would be pretty good information. Well, eBay provides that information for you here. You can perform research and see if anything strikes your fancy or fits in with any ideas you may have.

Another approach to market research is different but can often yield interesting data and ideas. Perhaps you have been to sites that are dedicated to shopper comparisons. The reason these sites can be very useful is you can discover what is in demand now rather than a month ago, or later.

I do not really know of all the shopper comparison sites available, but there are two fairly well known sites I'll mention. The first is PriceGrabber, and they have a long list of general categories you can check out. There are links for most popular products and hot deals. The second site is BizRate. You can quickly find the latest popular categories, plus they have at least a dozen different shopping departments. At the very top of the list is a link for what is hot right now.

Hot Tips just for you...

1. Try to think out of the box as much as possible. In this case, you want to find products that appear to be hot across as many comparison sites as possible. What you want to find is basically proof in multiple places that a product is selling well. Once you have found some possibilities, then head over to eBay and take a look. You always want to determine whether or not a product is at or near saturation.

You really don't want to enter a market where sellers are engaged in price wars; meaning, they keep lowering their prices in order to get business. That's a losing proposition, just ask any airline that has gone bankrupt.

2. Think niches, sub-niches...micro-niches, but do be careful for reasons I'll explain.

It's always a great idea to drill down into a market because you can often find something that is being under-served. But you have to be careful and find a wise balance in this situation. The reason for that is that you may very well find something that looks great - on paper.

There is a demand, the eBay marketplace is not saturated and you can make a decent profit. You may even capture a huge percentage of the market. But watch out for the monthly search volume! It is very possible that you can have all those great things going for you, but the volume is simply not there to make decent monthly revenue. This is usually a judgment call, and it is often one that is best served by experience. So just keep that in mind when you are dealing in niches and sub-niches of any market.

3. There is a caveat attached to #2, just above. If you can put together enough "related" product listings within a market, then you can do cross-promotions in your auctions! How cool is that? What this means is even though the volume may be a bit low, you can potentially gain more sales through cross-promoting related products. Remember what I said about good customer relations and selling to repeat customers? Right... it all ties in together.

How to make a killer eBay auction description/listing.

Your auction listing, or description, will make or break you; among a couple other things that I've mentioned. But seriously, you must get this right and no fooling around. I do not care what you are selling. You must project a professional image in all you do at eBay. Keep in mind that people need to have some level of trust in you. We all know there are scams and scammers all over the net and in eBay, unfortunately. If you're just starting out with low feedback and positive ratings, then this is critical for you. You have to be patient until you build some "eBay cred." OK...

If you're really just starting out, then a good general rule of thumb is to research the eBay power sellers. Find sellers who are in your niche, the successful sellers who have been around, and study their descriptions and listings. I'd recommend you avoid copying them because you are unique and need to stand out from everybody else. But you can reinforce what you're about to read plus get other good ideas to test by studying successful power sellers.

1. The main description heading can simply be the title of your auction. Make it large and centered in the page. The heading font color should be black and bolded, and do not use unusual font styles.

2. Craft an eye-catching, very short introductory subhead that creates urgency. Avoid hype because generally speaking people can smell it a mile away. Just take some aspect of your offer that can be "truthfully" stated and will create some kind of urgency or generate extreme curiosity. For example, if you have a limited number of units at a low price without a reserve, then something like that will do fine. You only need two sentences, maximum, to do this and one well-crafted sentence can get the job done.

3. Photos in your description/listing are a must. Don't leave home without one. Place an accurate product photo that is centered on the page and preferably one with a watermark on it. Get their attention by using a large picture. But use common sense and avoid overwhelming people with the size of it.

Note: If you do not have an exact photo of the product being sold, say something about it. Seriously, you can get hit with refunds if the seller is a serial refunder and complains that the product is not like the photo. So protect yourself with a disclaimer that the actual product is similar to the photo and the color may be different, or whatever.

4. Next comes the complete description of the product. You do not want to be shy about this. Explain as much that is relevant about the product. Use good copywriting principles and talk about feature "and" benefits. A benefit is what the product feature "will do" for the buyer.

Example: You're selling #2 wooden pencils.

Features:

1. Made of wood
2. Six sides
3. #2 grade lead.

Benefits:

1. The wood is "some tree" wood which is a little softer, and that allows you to sharpen the pencil fast, so you'll save time.
2. Pencils with six sides are easier to grasp than round pencils. That means your hand and wrist won't get tired when you write.
3. #2 grade lead is a little softer. They are easier to sharpen so you save time. Plus, they leave a slightly darker mark which means you won't have to press so hard.

-- Avoid the "black wall of text" effect because it will make their head hurt and they'll leave. So use short paragraphs of about 4-5 sentences, max. Make your sentences direct and fairly short but use good grammar. Misspellings are not an option.

-- Feel free to use one sentence "paragraphs" to break-up the copy. They provide some needed white space and encourage the reader to keep reading.

-- Where appropriate, use short bullet lists of 3, 5, or 7 (max) benefits. Keep them relatively short. They are not paragraphs. They are impressive product benefits that will make them drool and want to buy from you.

5. You must include a section about the terms and conditions of the auction. Tell people about accepted payment methods. Also, let them know when you are expecting them to actually pay for the product.

6. Then do talk about the situation with shipping. You'll want to talk about any costs involved and the method of shipping such as the carrier. It's very important to give them an idea about when they'll receive the product. If you want, you can even provide shipping tracking.

7. It's a good idea to request the buyer to let you know when they have received the product. One cool approach is requesting they let you know by offering feedback (on eBay of course) after they have examined the product. Let them know you'll be happy to provide feedback for them, too.

General eBay marketing and selling tips:

1. Spend some quality time on your auction titles, and be sure to optimize them with your most relevant product keywords. This is super critical if you want to be found. People mainly search eBay a lot like they search at Google by using keywords. So, I know you all know about that.

Very Hot Tip:

Make the very most of the space available in the title. That means using your primary product keywords, first. Then use the rest of the space for your secondary keywords - any relevant alternate keywords people may use to search for your product. Completely avoid talking about you - they don't care. Be concise and make it about the product, primary and secondary keywords.

2. Totally skip using moving things in your listings. You know, animations and other associated craziness that detracts from a professional listing. If you use colored fonts, then be careful where you use them and avoid over-doing it. Remember your main headline should always be in black font color.

3. Be an informed seller by staying on top of what eBay is doing. They make changes to policies, and you have to know what is going on so you can make adjustments, if necessary.

4. eBay provides a lot of resources for sellers. Go to the Seller Information Center, and see all they have that can help you be more successful. You can make a huge difference in your eBay experience by being informed. A lot of little tricks and tools are not necessarily in plain sight.

5. Create an "About Me" page and include your other auction listings.

6. eBay has made quite a few changes over time. One such change involves putting store listings into a main listing. For example, all DVD's will go into the DVD category. The effect of this is to make it much more difficult for your listings to be seen. You can easily get lost in the massive ocean of other sellers there. So, there are some things you can do that will increase your search visibility such as seller reputation and offering free shipping.

As an example, let's say you have 10 different listings for DVD products, and they are in different niche markets. So if you have 3 in weight loss, 4 in fitness workouts and 3 in martial arts, then you can and definitely should put them in more than one category. You will simply have to test and spread your listings in as many appropriate categories as possible. But this is an effective approach that can lead to higher sales.

7. If it is possible for you, always try to include free standard shipping. The primary reason is it will help you get a higher listing in the buyer search results. However, you can still offer other paid shipping methods in your listing.

Final thoughts

That was quite a bit of information, but there is still a ton of additional information about making money on eBay. If you are either new to selling on eBay, have never done it but want to, or you have recently started, all of those situations are all right. Yes, eBay is a competitive selling environment to be sure. But that is really OK if you have a desire to use that business model. Obviously, the key to generating profits is with information and experience.

But keep in mind that a lot about eBay has to do with traffic. They get insanely huge amounts of traffic. So there are two clear areas in which you should focus. You must learn how to work within eBay's business model which obviously is auctions. That is simply a matter of taking the time to read what is available at their site. See what they have to offer in terms of selling tools, etc. Also, you may want to search for reputable information products pertaining to selling and making money on eBay.

Then you need to refine your knowledge and skill with creating auction listings that convert. That is a more specialized type of "IM" because it is what will work in the eBay environment. But still, the actual listing and description has much to do with copywriting and optimization. So there are some general marketing and advertising principles involved. OK, really no problem there, either.

Lastly, you are dealing with general business approaches involving market and product research. I have covered these topics to some good degree for you. Of course, these are large areas of knowledge, and of course you can learn more.

There are power sellers at eBay. It is never too late to become one of them. While there is competition... so what? You have many outstanding and powerful tools and resources available to you. Really, there almost has never been a better time to get involved because there is so much support and resources you can find.

There is no trying... there is only doing.

Vita Vee

PS: If you enjoyed reading this post, please link to it from your blogs, from twitter, from facebook, from other forums etc... I would appreciate it a lot.

PPS: To be continued...

[Infinity]

Thank you, Vita Vee for sharing a great post.

Though I don't do eBay marketing, but surely useful for those who do...

[Vita_Vee]

Thanks Infinity, I at least got a reply after 2,500 views lol

I now know that selling physical items on ebay doesn't appeal to many people on this forum.

[Jack]

I tried selling on ebay when I first started trying to make money online.

I will never do it again! LOL

Way too much work. Affiliate marketing is much easier. Or a least doing stuff that you can all be done at the computer.

[Infinity]

LOL. You are right.

I can't imagine going to the post office everyday to mail something. Though if you are using a supplier or dropshipper, it can be sometimes tough too.

[Nik]

(03-15-2011 03:26 PM)Vita_Vee Wrote:  Thanks Infinity, I at least got a reply after 2,500 views lol

I now know that selling physical items on ebay doesn't appeal to many people on this forum.

I think ebay in general wouldn't be something that visitors of this forum would be active in. I've tried it before on a very small scale and it didn't work. I wouldn't mind doing it though. I think a lot of it comes down to is if the market needs what you're selling, getting a fairly cheap supplier, and positioning yourself as an expert on what ever you sell.

(03-17-2011 04:40 AM)Infinity Wrote:  I can't imagine going to the post office everyday to mail something. Though if you are using a supplier or drop-shipper, it can be sometimes tough too.

Don't they have that service where the delivery guy picks you packages directly from home, though I wouldn't mind leaving the house every now and then.

[nguyenloctx]

Anyone got a ebay course they could recommend? I always love using ebay but i cant find a reputable and consistent supplier.

[Nik]

There was a course Steve Clayton released a while back that was ebay related I believe. It was called dropship blueprint, you may want to look into it.

Nik

[Silla]

I tried selling stuff on eBay several years ago, because I had done well selling my old mangas that I didn't want anymore. However, I moved on to affiliate marketing instead because I was still in school, and I didn't have the time to manage everything on my own. I should actually look into it again now.

The great thing about selling on eBay is that you don't have to worry about traffic generation and SEO, the buyers will find your products on their own!

(05-02-2011 08:12 AM)nguyenloctx Wrote:  Anyone got a ebay course they could recommend? I always love using ebay but i cant find a reputable and consistent supplier.

I don't know about a digital course, but I can recommend a book called Titanium eBay: A Tactical Guide to Becoming a Millionaire Powerseller by Skip McGrath. I have the original, but I see it's been updated now (the link is to the new version). It's very in-depth and includes information about naming your business, financing, product selection, how to find wholesalers, how to make good titles and listings, how to take professional-looking photos of your products, automation, etc. It's about 500 pages long but I think it covers everything you'll need to know

Also if you're looking for suppliers be careful of the lists of wholesalers you can find for sale - most of the time they are actually lists of middle-men. Worldwide Brands has a database of certified wholesalers and dropshippers.

Another tip: don't limit yourself to eBay - most of the same tactics can be applied to other similar sites. For example, if you make your own things to sell, you can also put your products up for sale on Etsy and Dawanda. You are more likely to sell handmade stuff on these sites where people are specifically looking for them, and you will be able to charge higher prices too. Plus I think listing your items on Dawanda is actually still free for now, though they will start charging in the future. They do already charge commission on successful sales though.

[mrxxg]

excellent stuff. thanks.

[serenin]

The great thing about eBay is they have enough traffics and it is still a popular spot for online shoppers so I think it’ll make a good start for those who wanted to sell a physical product. However, it is advisable to sell something worth it as the fee involved in quite high.

[Shirty]

I haven't tried it yet, so thanks for the tip..