1. Write A Good Title.

1.Write A Good Title:


This is the first thing anyone looking on ebay sees about your product,your title and thumbnail of your product(if you have a gallery picture,see No2).
Your title will be searched for by item and by category,lots of people browse the categories just seeing what takes their fancy going down example:
Home ,Buy,Clothes, Shoes & Accessories,Men's Shoes,Athletic Shoes,
seeing every trainer available on ebay,another person will search for:
"mens trainers",
and get a list of all trainers(training shoes),AND ALSO,training equipment for men such as weightlifting gear,(unintentional,but for those selling weightlifting training gear very welcome extra publicity).
Yet other people will use ebays serach engine to find exactly what they want first time by putting in:
"NIKE JET STREAM III , SIZE 8"
and get straight to the product they want if it is there.

We can use this search engine to our advantge if you write your title correctly, to help some one looking for your product to find it.
Include EXACTLY what your product is and the make or model number plus put "NEW" if people are also selling second hand items in the same catergory.(A pet hate of mine is looking up something I think is very reasonably priced to find it is 15 years old and only available for collection in channel islands,(U.S. equivalent Hawaii)). If you have any space left over(unlikely as ebay are a bit stingy on title size 55 characters),don't just waste it ,think about what people may be searching for that these are and include it as a keyword,such as "trainers ,boxed,low shipping" etc..

A few don'ts...

• don't repeat yourself ,it doesn't help
• don't copy someone else's title,even if they are selling the same item. Ebay have strict rules against it and you will find yourself reprimanded and on a 3 strikes and your out rule,by the time you find out,if your listing a lot you could be thrown off ebay for 3-6 months.
• don't put L@@K or "SUPER VALUE" or"WOW!" in the title,it marks you as an amateur and people will not take you seriously.
• don't use lots of ****and>>>>and(((()))),these are gimmicky and as above.
• don't use abbreviation except in specialist auctions.ie:Collectors know "BINB"(brand New in Box",but DVD buyers won't (put un-opened).
• don't use loads of underlines "_____"to space out your title this wastes space you could be using to bring in sales!

a few do's

• do include the make and model No. of your product
• do put in "new" if people are selling second hand in the same category
• do include special selling points, such as "free shipping" or "plus extras" or "no reserve"
• do include general terms such as "trainers, mens ,footwear" which will bring a wider audience for your listing (only do this if you have space left(ebay are a bit miserly over this you only get 55 characters)).

One other thing. Some people tend to think you should list everything in capitals too make it easy to read or make your advert (That it is what the title is...a one line advert for the advert.)stand out.This is unnecessary as ebay's search engine does not distinguish between cases, and it is often easier to read the normal lettering among all the standing out capitals from other Sellers.
The same goes for Highlighting and Bold characters ,yes they will make your ad seen, but they are no substitute for a well written title, which is probably worth a lot more than the extra money ebay will charge you!
More in this series later. Cheers Peter

Listing Items On Ebay - Tips you may not know!

Firstly, my apologies to anyone waiting to hear about my listing techniques.
tomorrow became today, came and went, then became yesterday!
Sorry , I've been flat out with wrapping and delivering goods for posting and buying new stuff from my suppliers.
Got to keep the stock churning, and the cash rolling in.
However I am now going to tell you about a few thing that are really important when it comes to Listing Items On Ebay.
Heres a list a pointers and then I'll go into each one separately.

1. Write A Good Title
2. Take a Good Photograph (or a few)
3. Be Complete and Honest in Your Copy
4. Include your Terms and Conditions
5. Make all Costs such as Postage+Packing (Shipping and Handling) Clear In Advance.
6. Include Contact Details For Enquiries.

Take a couple of minutes to think about each of those while I go and make a coffee,(why don't you do the same?Go on treat yourself!)

Preparing to Sell High Volume

Low Volume High Price or High Volume Low Price ?
You're the only person who can decide on this one.

With high price items you must spend more time preparing each sale,making a new advert up for each new listing,this can be time consuming,taking new photos,writing copy,finding the right price to sell at (pricing a product tutorial in about a week -bookmark this page and check back then) but you will not need so much admin after the sale and can give each buyer your personal attention,making them feel special.
This has got to be for high ticket price items like cars, boats, furniture,antiques etc, where the buyer cannot get the same item elsewhere.If they can you will be undercut and your margin (profit , livelihood ) will go down the tubes.

With low price items the margin is still important but what you're really bothered about is volume,sales are generally easy to get and they come thick and fast if you're selling in-demand items.You will need to sell lots of the same item over and over again,luckily your only need to make up your ads once then review them every so often, or if a problem comes up,such as someone else undercutting you on price, or providing a better product at the same price.
Make a time every so often ,weekly is about right to review what's selling in the categories your selling in and search up other people selling the same lines,eBay has generously given you a tool for this.(again another article next week,"Spying on the opposition"this ones a long winded one so It gets its own ).

Either way here are some steps to take in advance.

1. Buy all the wrapping materials you will need in advance.Tape,boxes,bubble wrap,bags,envelopes,document enclosed slips,etc...so you're not running out when you need it.
2. Get a payment scheme in place, you of course will accept cheques and postal orders (money orders if you're American),but I mean paypal,nochex,pppay.payhound,(there are lots) if you don't have a card accepting plan you might as well forget selling on ebay.Only about 5% of my customers pay with anything other then Paypal.
3. Phone up the local courier firms and post office for prices of deliveries.U.K. sellers, go and see the local postmaster and ask when is best time of day to post large volumes of parcels, I don't know what I would do without the cooperation of my local posties.Once you have built a volume of sales you can get them picked up but at first its a trip down the post office once your sales items are wrapped.
4. It may be in order to prewrap some of your goods so that a fast service can be given.My customers rave about the fact that they can buy at lunchtime from me and recieve the product next day - No one beats that! Rave feedbacks saying things like "Bought at 1pm arrived at 7Am -Great Product and Lightning Fast 10/10 " or "Excellent ebayer. Fast delivery of well packaged well priced goods. A++++" or"as described- superfast delivery - well packaged- highly recommended"(all real and from last week) are like printing your own money and taking it to the bank in wheelbarrows.
5. START LISTING! GOOD LUCK.

Tips on listing tomorrow.

Toodlepip, Pete

Connected sales

Cross promoting your sales and reselling
(selling more to the same person) are the key to successful eBay™ selling.

Your customer buys one item from you and then sees another in your list that he fancies,and then another,with a discount on shipping for bulk etc...

• 1 st item £4.99
• 2nd item (a bit bolder,he liked the first item,and it came quickly) £14.99
• 3rd (now hes hooked,and buys all his eBay™ stuff from you.) £199.99

This is how selling to the same customer works over time.

The best way to arrange this is to have a themed, related range of products so that existing customers come back again and again.

If you sell modelling paints,also sell,paint brushes,glue.model kits,airbrushes,batteries.etc...

Find a range where there are lots of links to other hobbies and pastimes,or similar pursuits.

How not to go about it if you want repeat business is selling:

1. a computer part
2. an old book
3. some mechanical parts
4. a new dress
5. an ebook
6. your old television
7. anything lying around the house thats unrelated to your other stuff.

This way lies one off sales with no repeats, the lady who bought your old book does not want your wifes Donna Karen dress, or your computer memory.

The guy who bought the motorbike parts likes motorbikes(obvious huh!) and when he bookmarks your list page or eBay™ shop ,he wants to see more of them next time he takes a look.

How to Find Wholesalers of your Ebay Products

Finding Wholesalers is Easy.
Don't bother with the link lists you will see advertised if you do a search for wholsale suppliers.Very few suppliers will put their website high up any search engine because they don't need to.You have no choice but to buy from somewhere and they will get the customers as they always have done through reps,advertisements in trade journals etc.
The Trader magazine is an excellent source of addresses and phone numbers of many trade suppliers,and its free to search they're database.
Yell.com is a source beyond compare, you will literally get every name in the yellow pages and details, maps aerial photos,and phone numbers.
Touch Local Business Finder is great and just like yell it has a very user friendly search system,but it really has loads of listings in every catergory.

Any type of item you could want can be found on these business finding websites,and don't forget they want to sell to you,their livelyhood depends on it.

Be ready to spend quite some time on the phone to find the right suppliers,I would get one of those unlimited landline deals from someome like talk-talk, or ntl.
Phone every single one you can find and ask about the products they sell, what times they are open, postcode for your satnav, minimum spend (only mention this in passing - you don't want to seem like a cheap shot!), whether they are open to cash sales or is it stricly accounts?
After speaking to a few you may decide to take a look in person, if so, put the phone down.Take a break and then arrange your travel plans.
Phone up in advance explain who you are; "Hello,I'm Mrs XXXXX, I am the buyer for a newly launched internet sales company, looking to spend 50K a year in this area of goods for the company and would be interested in what you have in stock,would I be able to come down and take a look at your operation?".These are the words they have been having wet dreams about for years, they will say yes ,and then you are in.