How to attract buyers to purchase from me vs competitors

I am trying to sell hats on ebay, I actually been watching this seller on ebay who manages to sell about 800 to 900 hats a month! I contacted this ebayer and bought some of their best selling hats that they are selling on their ebay, I let them know that I would be selling them in my boutique and not ebay but i lied I dont really have a boutique! I want to sell them on ebay just like them but I need some tips on how to attract people to buy from me as well. Should I do something like, buy 2 get 1 free? Also this person is from south korea, so how can I at least get U.S. customers to buy from me instead of buying from someone on the other side of the world, I want to mention this in the description but I dont know how to word it, should I put something like, "Support USA" lol I dont know, please help!!

In regards to promoting the fact that you are a local US supplier, that's something that you should definitely do. That is what is called a P.O.D. (Point Of Difference). it defines an advantage that a competitor doesn't.

How do you highlight that, well you can make a point of highlighting the quicker shipping times, the cheaper shipping rates and just the fact that you are a US seller.

The thing to remember is that eBay is a bargain shopping market, so price will always play an important role, especially in a slow economy. Are you able to purchase from this supplier, have your items shipped to you and then afford to compete against them, taking into consideration that you have to build more shipping into the price, eBay and PayPal fees and so on?

Thanks for your response.

So do you think the buy 2 get one free is a good idea? I understand that I will lose some money that way but I want something to attract buyers to me first then I wont have to do that anymore, and I am getting each hat for $7 from this ebayer, I was hoping to make $8-9 off each hat so that means I would have to mark mine up a little higher then what they have it listed as so that's why I want to do things to stand out more like the BOGO and the fact that US customers would probably get it delivered to them a lot faster from me than someone all the way in South Korea, Also I found other hats on dhgate.com that I will be getting for $5 each hat on average which will be a little better cause I can mark those a couple dollars less than the other ones I am getting for $7, The reason why I really want these hats from the ebayer is because he/she sells them like crazy non stop, I've been watching them for awhile and they are pretty good at what they are doing, so yea not sure what I should do...

I think bundling products is always a good tactic to try, of course you have to be smart when choosing what you bundle, because the products need to accompany each other well to be effective.

Combining two or more hats, definitely worth trying. I don't know the hat market at all well, so the question of success would be do woman buy more than one hat. If hats are like shoes, than I assume the answer would most definitely be yes lol!

What about hat accessories, if they exist lol. Even hat storage and those types of items. Things that value add to the hat itself, these might make good products to bundle, while giving you a further point of difference from the competitors.

Big race days are always popular, what about doing something seriously different like offering a race day pack. Hat, matching clutch and even mini binoculars or a small hand held radio to hear the call with lol. OK, maybe not those exact things, but you get the picture. That's called themed selling, and can get some good attention if it's kind of quirky enough :)

One product I would definitely be taking a serious at if I was dealing in hats would be belts. While I confess to being seriously fashion challenged, I think belts would definitely coordinate well with hats.

In regards to your ebay supplier, if you're in a position to buy in volume then why not talk a better price with them. You will even save on the shipping as well, so that would build in some extra margin.

I tried negotiating with the price, they originally wanted to give them to me for $8 but I was able to bring it down to $7 but they wont go any less than that. So my question now is, I really want to tell the buyers that they should purchase from me since I am in the U.S. and shipping would most likely be faster from me, I was putting up some hats on ebay right now but got stuck in the description part, how would you personally word it professionally to really convince them? As for belts I was thinking to sell belly dancing belts! lol i dont know for sure yet its just a thought for now.

Thanks!

OK, belly dancing belts is a little left of centre of where my head was lol, but nothing wrong with thinking outside the box :)

As for your wording, You want to highlight the facts that you are a US based seller and you ship same or next day to ensure a speedy delivery and complete satisfaction, things along those lines.