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The Ultimate Dropshipping Report by Avril Harper
The Ultimate Guide to Becoming an eBay Trading Assistant by Avril Harper
by Avril Harper
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"Why Big Hits are Sometimes Very Big Losses on eBay" © Avril Harper, Chartered CMIPD, Dip PM
Two things in life are certain - and it’s not just death and taxes - those two things are:
- Just because it says one hundred people are watching your eBay listing - it means they’ve saved your listing and they’re tracking it inside their own eBay accounts - that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy!
- Just because a hit counter says thousands of people have opened your eBay listing, that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy either!
As an example, today I have an antique engraving listed on eBay, with two bidders and ten people watching my listing but not yet committed to placing a bid! Will they eventually join my bidder list?
I don’t know!
Another example, the hit counter inside my listing tells me nearly 400 people have viewed my product, including those two bidders and ten watchers mentioned earlier. Will those other 300 plus people who are not watching and bidding right now ultimately bid on my engraving?
I don’t know that either!
What I do know is that every person who opens my listing, or adds me to their watch list, is interested in whatever I’m selling. And it also indicates a lost opportunity if any one of those people decides not to bid on my product.
So my engraving has two bidders, it will sell, but what of the other 400 or so people who’ve expressed an interest in my product? How can I make money from them?
Long story cut short, the answer depends on knowing why all those people opened my listing, and why some added me to their watch list, and others decided to bid. It also depends on the product I’m selling and whether I’ll ever offer anything similar or related to that product in future.
I know some of my watchers and viewers will be competitors snooping to see how much my product eventually makes, because they have similar items for example, and they’re picking my brains before listing their own.
But unless I’m very much mistaken, some of the four hundred will be potential buyers who, for whatever reason, decide not to bid on my product today. Maybe they can’t afford it right now, perhaps they don’t like the colour, or they’re waiting to read feedback from other buyers.
What can I do about that? How does all of this relate to the kind of products I’m selling? And how can I turn today’s visitors into regular repeat buyers later?
These few scenarios will explain:
* In my case, selling rare antiques and collectibles, it’s probably not worth gathering names and addresses of potential customers for similar items later, mainly because there won’t be many similar or identical items later. But let’s say I have one hundred different designs by the same artist, in my case Francesco Bartolozzi, and I’m not sure if my four hundred watchers and viewers are interested in just one specific engraving or anything by the same artist.
Now all I have to do to turn today’s visitor into tomorrow’s buyer is add something like this to my listing:
- 'This is one of another two identical Bartolozzi engravings I will soon be selling on eBay. Click on my ‘About Me’ link and leave your email address and I’ll inform you as soon as they’re listed.' (Great email for people who can’t afford to buy now or who prefer to check out your finishing price or see how your feedback develops).
- 'Bartolozzi fans please note I have many other designs by the artist listed in my eBay shop.' (Wonderful way to attract interest and money from people who want to buy and are ready to spend but they already have the product you’re selling).
- 'We also have reproduction copies of this stunning Bartolozzi engraving available in our eBay shop.' (Because some people want the image for decorative or research purposes and don’t want to pay hundreds of pounds for the original!).
* Now let’s say I’m selling mass market products, like famous name computers and mobile phones, or ladies’ blouses and creams for treating warts. I can use messages similar to those featured in my engravings promotion to tell people I’m listing more products later, or I have similar items in my eBay shop.
But unlike rare antiques and collectibles, which by definition are in limited supply, my mass market products come in hundreds of different designs, colours and sizes, and I’m sure to have something to suit every potential buyer visiting every one of my listings.
So imagine someone clicks on my listing and discovers my wart treatment cream can exacerbate other skin conditions, or the blouse in my listing is coloured red and size ten. How can I turn a profit from acne sufferers and big girls who only wear black?
I do it by offering links to alternative products available in my eBay shop, or by getting people to email me about their special needs and offering to locate products to suit them. Or perhaps I say there’s a book in my eBay shop, it’s about curing warts without using creams that irritate existing conditions. Or maybe I ask visitors to join my eBay newsletter for notification of my imminent ‘all sizes, all colours, all blouses’ sale!
* Best idea by far - you focus on products designed to solve urgent problems - where people are likely to bid for or buy the first suitable product they find listed on eBay. And that means a much higher percentage of visitors to your listings will buy from you right away compared to moving to alternative sellers. Just two or three things to make sure they do just that:
- Use Buy It Now, not auction listings, because people want their solution early, not when today’s newly uploaded ten day auction ends.
- Keep your price competitive for mass market products. Because some problem are very common and require urgent solutions, such as acne, sleeping disorders, bereavement, you could find yourself achieving multiple sales every day from individual listings, more so by accepting lower profit margins than rival sellers. But there’ll be pricing wars to fight also, and price testing must be an ongoing task.
- Keep your overheads low and profit margins substantial, even during pricing wars, by buying stock in bulk for bigger discounts and cutting delivery costs by recycling packaging, and so on.
- Make your mass market product ‘different’ and more appealing to buyers by offering bonus products with every sale, such as an audio tape of soothing music with every sleep inducing pillow, and one free tube of wart treatment cream free with every two purchases, and so on.
- Focus on problems requiring constant treatment and regular product replenishment and ensuring at least some of your first time buyers become regular customers. Good examples are make up for disguising birth marks and scars (sadly, they’ll always be there), diet programmes (weight loss is sometimes a lifetime pursuit), and so on.
Now, whatever you’re selling on eBay, you have more than a few ways to ensure everyone who visits your listings has good reason to buy now or call again, if not today, then definitely tomorrow, and maybe for years to come!
All articles are provided in good faith and are researched and written to the best of our abilities. However, readers should always do their own due diligence before investing in any business opportunity, and they should be aware that many article writers and web masters, including ourselves, frequently receive a commission for selling other people's products. We pride ourselves on always choosing the very best products to recommend to our readers and we only recommend products offering a solid money back guarantee.
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