Top 5 things that make your listings sell on Ebay

For the successful Ebay sellers on the forum - what do you feel are the top 5 things that make your listings sell (attributes, content, format, etc)?

I would love to see a good discussion on different techniques that have worked for the successful sellers.

For me, you have to get a customer through the door before you can make a sale, and that all starts at the search phase if we are talking about online. Good keysearch words in the description title and an image that is as unique to you as possible!

Take for example a case of video games, you can have dozens of listings for a single title, all with close to the same title and all with the game cover as the image, so how do you make your listing stand out to get the customer to hit your game?

Price of course plays an extremely important part in selling on eBay, but it's not always the deal clincher, only makes up part of the overall picture. To make sure my listing stands out I use a visual cue, that is I will have the image of the game that I have listed (as required by ebay), however I will use a background with my store's branding on it.

This visual cue serves two purposes, firstly it helps your listing stand out from all the clone images and it secondly identifies your listing to customers who have previously purchased through you, and if the experience was a good one, then the chances are they will come straight back to you without even comparing other offers.

Think of it this way, if you had a bricks and mortar store in a street beside 4 other stores, all selling the same thing, how would you get the customer into your store first?

So for me, getting them there is NUMBER 1 with a bullet!

Now getting them there is a big part of the equation in regards to making a sale, however once they're there you have to give them a reason to buy!

Visual cues can play an important role here as well, using a template to dress up your image instead of just a blank white background. We get back to the bricks and mortar store again, would you just throw your stock on the floor or display it as appealing to the customer's eye as possible?

Many people look at selling online completely different to offline, but you can draw plenty of direct correlations between both avenues. Having a great looking display can give the customer the sense that you are professional and trustworthy, where as have a few lines on a blank background can give the impression that you don't really give a toss, you just want to get rid of it quickly!

Now to use visual cues in listings, a graphics program is a great tool to have. You don't need the latest version of adobe, plenty of free basic programs around that can do the job with a little know how.

In pure marketing terms, there are senses that you the seller are trying to trigger to your advantage. Sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. Now in a bricks and mortar environment you can use many different methods to stimulate a customer's senses, which in turn can then get you close to converting a sale.

In the online world you are limited to the senses you can stimulate, but sight (visual cue) is a MASSIVE one, and one that is so often overlooked. So my first two are both visual cue related.

Price is of course an important one to consider. To get a new customer you have to show them a reason why to buy from you, and a new customer, especially on ebay, is seriously considering price in most situations.

Do you have to be the cheapest, well it helps, but I don't believe you have to be the absolute cheapest, just be competitive on price. If you can be competitive there, then you can use other avenues to convert the sale. Good descriptive copy for your listing. Customer's don't want to have to ask questions, so don't give them a reason to.

Make sure your copy is as informative to the customer as possible. What you write about a product is your salesperson, and they have to rely on what you have told them to say, they can't adapt as they would in a real life situation.

So if all the above was a recipe for a chocolate cake, then good solid customer service before the sale, during the sale process and long after the sale is the thick, rich chocolate icing on top!

What is customer service?

It's not just about answering replies in a timely manner. It's about making sure the customer is wrapped in the service so much that they are coming straight back to you the next time they want to buy.

1. Quick, professional responses to inquiries

2. Informative responses to inquiries, don't just cover the question if you think there is other information they could need. You don't want the customer having to send you three separate questions.

3. Offering flexible shipping options

4. Quick order shipping

5. Follow-up after sale service to ensure the customer's satisfaction!

Now you can build on and around the points I've covered here, but they are the foundation of an effective eBay listing in my opinion : )

Fudjj - that is great info. I appreciate the insight. Hopefully we will get some more advice from others to compile an even bigger list of strong habits for good Ebay listings.

Thanks again.

No problems stbjmb.

The sales genre isn't as simple as it always appears, plenty of factors go into making a sale for the most part, each as important as the other. Get all those ducks in row and the chances of closing sales increases dramatically : )

TURNING EBay INTO Dollars!

What no one else will ever tell you about making money on eBay.

Anyone, and I mean, anyone with a little bit of ambition and interests in business can succeed on eBay.

I'm going to share with you secrets that have taken me 10 years on the Internet and thousands of dollars out of my personal pocket, to learn the hard way.

Everything you need to succeed in a business on the Internet is included with this article, except one thing. What is it?

The thing missing is Y-O-U. Yes, while this information can work miracles for you. It does not work by itself without you. Here’s a story that comes to mind.

The Minister was out for his afternoon walk when he passed by a beautiful lush vegetable garden. The vegetables were large and healthy looking. Big enough to win prizes at the county fair. The leaves on the plants were shiny and bright - even glowing. The rows of the garden were neat and clean and orderly. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

The minister called to the gardener nearby, “Sir, what a lovely garden you have been blessed with! God has been very kind to you. He has done for you what I have never seen Him do for anyone else. You must be very thankful that He has delivered this luscious garden into your hands!”

The gardener looked up from the ground where he was working and said, ”Yes. God has blessed me. No doubt about that sir. But….you should have seen this place when he had it all to Himself!”

The point here is: You have all material you need to make something out of your life. The only thing stopping you is Y-O-U.
Nothing happens on its own. We all have resources abilities that we are not using. If you want to improve your economic condition in the next few months from now, you need to do something about it TODAY.

By the time you finish reading this article you’ll be more prepared than 99% of the people making their living on eBay.

The problem for most small businesses is not finding a product or service to sell, or customer service or how to count the money you make…it’s…”How to generate enough traffic to your website, and make enough sales every day to make a living.

Most marketing gurus will tell you that you need to start an ezine….or participate in discussion group forums….or use bulk opt-in email….or do banner advertising etc …etc…etc…They all have their place in Internet marketing. But, for the small business, the mom or the dad who wants to someday quit their job so they can have a life with their kids, all this things mentioned take…..Time, Money, and Non-Cash resources (that you probably don’t have).

For example let’s take starting an ezine, have you ever started a newsletter or magazine or newspaper? Starting an ezine is not hard to put together as these, but you have to deal with a lot of the same issues:
1) Who’s going to put it together?
2) What’s the editorial focus going to be?
3) How will you build a subscriber list?
4) Will you sell classified ads in the ezine?
5) If you do have classified ads how much to charge?
All of these questions (and much more…this is only a partial list) must be answered before starting your ezine. AND it’s before you have made $1 profit form your internet eBay business.

Let's talk about participating in discussion groups to market your website. Most, if not all real good discussion groups will not allow advertising messages. So you really have to participate and be willing and ready to offer helpful advice and tips or ask serious questions in your post. To do that you need to study the discussion thread for a while, or lurk. Find a discussion thread that interest you, ask a reasonable and intelligent question or post brilliant and helpful response to a question. You will get some traffic to your site doing this. It takes time tough. I've spent days lurking groups and responded to less than six questions. I felt competent to answer. For all that work. I only got five visitors to my website.
You might say, well, gee John, why not post more often to the discussion? Believe me you don't want to post something really stupid. Remember you're trying to promote yourself. You have to at least look like you know what you're doing! If you post more often than once a day to any of these groups. Your going to look like a discussion board spammer-that's a very bad thing. The best board for business is Link hidden: Login to view

Basic Strategies:::

Basic Listing strategy.
1) Find a best time to end an option.
2) Determine optimal auction duration.
3) Choose the most profitable starting price.
4) Locate the best category.
5) Uncover the most effective keywords.
6) Research what to sell.
7) Choose auction style listings versus fixed price format.
8) Analyze effectiveness of reserve price.
9) Evaluate optional features and a price.
10) Refine your offer and policies.
Marketing strategy:
1) Cross promote your lists.
2) Increase your sales.
3) Improve your advertising and publicity.
4) Enhance your reputation and credibility.
5) Expand your presence.
The Ebay marketplace it is in constant flux, and understanding supply and demand is crucial in helping sellers make decisions about what to sell and how to sell it most effectively. The best way to get a snapshot of current supply of a particular item is to do a search of current items. But searching eBay for current listings will not help you determine the demand for items.

To understand this, consider an example. Let's say you find that 5000 purple ponchos are listed on eBay this week. That is the supply. What if no one wants to buy a purple poncho on eBay today or this week?

Supply, or the number of familiar items listed on eBay, is only one part of the equation. To assess the likely demand for purple ponchos, you can use eBay's completed listings search to see how many people purchase ponchos in the last few weeks.

It's important to keep in mind that past demand is an indicator; it does not guarantee the level of current and future demand.

Eventually, the same people will visit you frequently. If your website or your blog gives them the things they want, then you need not go out of your way to get traffic. Traffic will come to you naturally.

Enjoy!

JJ Baca
Recommend this Book!
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Great tips there, bacpro! Very useful too!

Thanks for your input, I'm it will come in handy for most of us :)

Cheers