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100 Auction Secrets Revealed! By Aubrey Johnson & Barkingbird Productions AuctionTip #80: How to Choose the Best Category Ok, you have put a lot of thought into your product and completed the introspective phase of getting started. You're excited about your merchandise and you're ready to start selling it on eBay auctions. The next step is to find your niche market; as it applies to online auctions, this refers to the category you will list your item in. Considering eBay has over 1000 categories to choose from, this should be a relatively easy process. But there is one important trick you need to know. Before
listing your item in any category, follow these simple steps: First, browse
through ALL eBay categories and write down which ones you feel are relevant to
your product. You
should be able to find at least 5-10 possible choices. Next,
write down the number of auctions currently online in each of those categories
(the number of auctions online will appear next to the category name). An
average in any category is about 1000, so if there are more than 1000 you may
conclude that the category is active and if there are less than 1000 you may
consider it inactive. I
consider categories with over 3000 auctions to be popular and those with over
10000 are most popular. Using
this ranking system, rate the categories that you have chosen for your product.
I
recommend listing in active or above categories only because they get the most
traffic - if you put your product in an inactive section of eBay™, you may get
little or no bids, even if you feature it. Avoid
categories with less than 1000 auctions online! AuctionTip #81: Crunching Your Graphics Buyers
won't wait forever for huge graphic files to load. If you have an
eBay auction listing with 300K of image files of your product, or of whatever
images you use, then your ad will take forever to load. Important
sales pulling product pics must be crunched. With the right program, that 300K
pic can be squeezed down to about 20K or less. A pic that took 2 minutes to
load now takes about 2 seconds. Bandwidth
is still a very big issue on the net. Most of us still live in the middle of
nowhere with 56k modems that are painfully slow. There are
several really great programs for shrinking graphics. Smartsaver Pro is my program of choice. You can
get it here: Just go and
type the word “Smartsaver Pro” in the search engine, or go to their website: Here's just
a quick html lesson right fast that is relevant to quick loading pics. You can place
images into your ads using the <img> or image tag in your html. You need to
remember, to set the “height” and “width” attributes inside your <img>
tag. If you do this the pic will be drawn out while it downloading. The visitor
will see the pic opening and usually has their eyes glued to it until it loads. If you don’t include the “height” and “width” attributes the pic will be downloaded and then displayed. An example of the html for the picture of you teapot should look like this: <img
src=”http://www.mypics.com/teapot.gif” height=”300”
width=”300”> If
all this looks foreign to you don't worry, it easy to learn really fast. AuctionTip #82: Backup, Backup, Backup! Losing
your data is like losing your brain- it's crucial that you begin backing up
your data today! Murphy's Law is always waiting for you to slip. I have a
zip drive and a CD drive to take care of my backups. I make full back ups to CD
about every two weeks. I use the zip drive to make small frequent backups of
important files. Get a
good surge protector and CD burner to make cheap backups and you'll be able
avoid most disasters. If you
have the money, you can buy a good UPS, or uninterrupted power supply for about
$25. This will prevent your computer from getting damaged from any sort of
electrical abnormality. It will
also keep your system up and running for at least 20 minutes while you wait for
the power to come back on, or while you save your files and shut-down. These
days when lightening storms dance around outside I just keep on doing my work. It's a
very secure feeling when you know that a lightning bolt can't blitz your
computer. AuctionTip #83: Some Other Product Sources I’ve Used In the Past I'm about to list some short-term product sources. That simply
means you find it, buy it, sell it, and make about $10. This is what I did my
first year on eBay. It works. But you will hit an income ceiling real fast due to time
constraints. Shopping-Bot Strategy Using some of the free search tools at websites like MySimon &
PriceWatch you can quickly dig up items to sell for profit. One example of how I have used these sites. I have made money
selling CDR media and supplies and by selling hot video games by doing this. You got to remember that most people don't know how to search the
Internet for the best prices. Heck, most impulsive eBayer's aren't even that
cost conscious- use this to your advantage when doing this. When a popular video game called Age of Kings came out a couple of
years ago, I bought 10 units at $34 and sold them all in two weeks for an
average of $75. One even sold for $100. You must research and keep your head on the swivel looking for
opportunity to do this. You also need a nice cash reserve to swoop in and snag
a deal when you see it. This works. But as you know by now, I see it as doomed to failure
if you plan to use it long-term. Group Buying Strategy This is something I tried about a year and half ago using group
buying websites. Group buying websites allow you to join hundreds of others from
around the world and pool your buying power -- just make an offer for an item
listed on the site, and wait for other shoppers to make similar offers. As more and more people enter their orders, the price comes down.
Sometimes way below market value if a cycle is really hot. You simply snap up a few units and sell them. This is a great opportunity for new sellers to experiment and
practice a little. I made quite a bit of money a while back with these sites. Review the sites I'm about to show you. Then cross check prices with the completed items search on eBay: http://pages.ebay.com/search/items/search_completed.html
You'll find that some items are a steal. Here is a top site to check into: Volumebuy (exists) Some items will resell nicely again and again- others you'll want
to steer clear of- either way, this will get your RESEARCH skills primed and
ready. Finding a product source and a good price is 90% of your success
with auctions. Better sources exist, and when you find it, be sure to keep your
source a secret. These are just simple verifiable examples I have used. Opportunity
is everywhere, you just need to develop an eye for it. AuctionTip #84: How To Keep Track of Your Auctions Once you
have more than 5-10 auction listings online, you will need to develop an
effective system for keeping track of them all. Simply
listing the items and sending a confirmation email to the winners is not
enough. For
example, if a customer purchases one of your products and asks whether you
received payment yet or not, you need to track down the item number and see if
you have received his payment. Other
customers may want to know when the item was shipped or have other questions
pertaining to auctions they won in the past. The
easiest way to keep track of your auctions is with Auction Information
Database, by Epigroove. It can be downloaded free for a 30-day trial. If you
list less than 5-10 auctions at a time, you can probably keep track of them
with the old pen-and-paper method, or with a simple spreadsheet. If you
choose this method, follow these steps for keeping track of the auctions: use a
separate sheet of paper for each auction you list. Write
down the item number, URL, listing date, listing price, and category, along
with any other comments or pertinent information. When the
auction ends, write down the ending date, the sell price (if any) and the
buyer's contact information. Index the auctions by auction number for quick
reference in a file. Again,
this method works ok for fewer than 10 auctions online each week. If you have
more than that, you must use a database system of some kind, either A.I.D.
or some other appropriate software. Selling
the merchandise is only half the battle - you MUST keep track of your sales or
you will quickly find yourself lost and confused. AuctionTip #85: The Taxman Cometh Did you
know that auction income is taxable? It certainly is. Keep good records and
collect your reward at tax time. You certainly don't want to be penalized. The tax
advantages to having a small business are many. Consult a
CPA or the SBA for advice on tax liabilities and credits. Rules differ from
location to location. Your tax
filing records should allow you to identify your sources of income and keep
track of business expenses. It's that simple. As a
small business owner or sole proprietor you most likely would use a cash basis
bookkeeping system. This
simply means income is recorded when it is received, and expenses are reported
when they are actually paid. Many sole
proprietors and businesses with no inventory use the cash method. From a
tax standpoint, it is advantageous for a new business to use the cash method of
accounting. That way, recording income can be put off until the next tax year,
while expenses are counted right away. Also
remember licensing issues. The laws and regulations vary from location to
location. All provinces require licenses to sell. Check with the
provincial and federal authorities, as well as your municipality, for more details. AuctionTip #86: Using A Website With Your Auctions One great way to boost
your profits is to use a website with your auctions. Use a little subtlety
promoting your website using your auctions. The rule is: You can't
provide a link to your website where you are selling the product for the same
price or less. Be sure you don't break any rules to
avoid having your auction pulled. AuctionTip #87: Promoting Your Auctions Outside eBay Few people try to drive
traffic to their auctions. Find a good way to do this and you'll get tons
of free hits. Find appropriate message
boards to promote on. Use free classifieds, newsgroups and whatever method will
work for your particular type of auctions. You can use email; just make certain
its highly targeted- don't spam. AuctionTip #88: Study
Up! You are what you read... I spend a good bit of time reading myself,
trying to keep my mind sharp and all. Never quit taking in as much as you can
from the best minds available in your field. And since our fields require much selling, chances are we will
probably be reading a lot of the same things. There's a lot of good information available to you for free, but
to get the really good stuff it's sometimes worth investing a little bit of
money. Two classic Internet marketing books that have had the most impact
on me, as well as a lot of other people are: "The Insider Secrets to Marketing Your Business on the
Internet" Home Study Course- by Cory Rudl http://www.marketingtips.com/tipsltr.html
The cost for Cory’s course is around $197, and worth it. And then there is the Bible of selling online... MYSS! (Make Your Site Sell)- By Ken Envoy Ken sells this gem for about $19. MYSS is an absolute steal, being given away at an insane price- If
Cory's course is too steep, I high recommend you buy MYSS! Ken also offer’s some other great eBooks as well that you should
look into. These books will do more for you than you could ever imagine. These two courses are the best of their breed by far... get them
and succeed online! Another info-manual you have is “eBook Secrets” by How-To
Guru Ken Silver. Be sure to read it, you’ll start to see the real beauty
of selling your own "How-To" manual. I have harped all book
long on the virtues of info-products, just remember this is my preference. AuctionTip #89: The Truth About Using Other Auction Sites I have
tried my hand at almost all the sites. Test their profitability for yourself.
Since I'm big on focusing efforts, it may be best for you to stick with eBay
until you have good reason to otherwise. For
instance... You may
find that your area of the eBay market is a bit too stuffy. If so, there are
many things you can do, using other sites is just one of them. If the
competition is really tough for what you're selling check out a few of the
other auction sites such as Amazon and Yahoo. Try to
limit yourself to these two extras- once you start selling on some of the other
auction sites you begin to get smaller and smaller returns. Plus the
buyers are going to be less reliable. Deadbeats are a problem on eBay. Even more
so on CNET auctions. A negative
feedback on Lycos auctions means nothing- on eBay it does... people just don't
take smaller venues very seriously. I'll be honest, I've bid on ZDNET auctions
and not paid for the simple reason that I feared the seller wasn't reliable. Also for
the record- I have never had a bounced check off of eBay- I have had three
outside of eBay. On Yahoo
you can list for free- but don't let that fool you; your ad will never be seen.
On the other hand- Yahoo will allow you to bid on your ad exposure. You may
have a product that fits into a category with no competition- you can buy a
day's worth of the sites best advertising for a quarter. This is an
exception, I once netted over $300 on a Yahoo Dutch auction with a small $2 in
advertising... so it may be worth your time. You can
view a list of the various auction houses at: http://www.internetauctionlist.com
It’s so
important to find your place on eBay first. When you’re successful on eBay you
will start to find that all the business you need to generate to make a lot of
money is there. You’re main
problem in becoming successful with online auctions is having your energies
divided. I have mixed emotions about using the others. If you have
tightly defined your niche market and you find yourself with a shortage of
customers on eBay, use the other sites to help you make up for this, but… You will find
out a little later, there are a million things you can do to generate extra
results while keeping focus on THE one essential site, eBay. |