eBay Secrets to Getting Started Selling Online - By Chris Ryerson

What would you give to be able to stop waking up every morning to an alarm clock and rush to a boring 9 to 5 job where you slave away for a boss you probably don’t even like? Just think what it would be like to start earning either extra part time income or make a full time income in the comfort of your own home?

This is not only possible but well within the means of the average person. Currently there are 25,000 people that earn a full time income on eBay and another estimated 250,000 people earning a part time income by selling at online auction sites like eBay, Yahoo Auctions and Amazon.

By following the proven and well test secrets below you will be able to achieve similar results and sky rocket your online auction profits!

eBay Secret 1 How to Getting Started

One of the things that people struggle with is just getting started! People are fearful and worried about taking that first step. They often don’t know where to start and worry about how to get all of the pieces together to start selling on eBay. The absolute best place to start on eBay is as a buyer. Take some time to purchase a few products on eBay. This will help you to learn the rhythm and timing of an auction. It will also improve your feedback rating which is crucial to any seller and give you the important skill of navigating through eBay’s vast website.

After purchasing a few items it is time to take the next step. Don’t worry this is just as easy as the last step. Go through your home and find things that you can sell. Go through the hallway closet and garage and find items that are just sitting around and collecting dust. If you were thinking of having a garage sale in the future and you already have a pile of things this would be the perfect opportunity to start your online eBay auction business. Try listing a few of these items and get a successful sale under your belt.

eBay Secret 2 The Perfect Auction Title

Now that you have a few auctions under your belt it is time to start fine tuning your auction business and take the next step! As an eBay seller you will always want to be looking for ways to maximize your profits and the traffic to your auctions. One of the ways to do this is by working on your auction title.

Be Descriptive:

Research has shown that most people looking to purchase an item on eBay start by searching for the item. For example if they are looking for a digital camera 80% of the time people will type digital camera into the search box and find the product they are looking for this way. It is rare that people just browse through eBay looking for something to buy. They often come to the auction site with what they want to buy already in their mind and so they search for the item instead of stumbling upon it.

What this means to you is you want to use the full space provided for your title and try to be as descriptive as possible. Using the scenario above if you have a digital camera that you want to sell instead of writing a title like “Camera for Sale” you might want to add more description to the title for something like “Lightly Used 3 mega pixel Digital Camera”

Add Model Numbers

Again since people most often search for the exact item they want if you can add in model numbers you are likely to get buyers that are more motivated! For example instead of using a title like “Digital Camera for Sale” you might want to use a title that states the model number like “Canon Digital Camera A150 3 Mega Pixel” Then is someone searches for the term “Canon A150” your auction will show up.

Add Keywords

Try to add as many keywords into the title as possible. You do not want to stuff unrelated keywords into the title just because you think it will get more traffic. However, if you can find good keywords that fit with your product you can easily increase the number of visitors to your auction page. Some of the more common keywords are New In Box, Never User, Great Condition and so on. Using the digital camera auction from above you will want to be sure to use words like, mega pixel, and digital camera, in your auction title.

eBay Secret 3 Pictures!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and when people are purchasing objects online that they can not touch and feel a picture is worth more then a thousand words. So add as many pictures to your listing as possible! Typically the auction should have somewhere between 2 to 5 pictures depending on the object, price and auction format.

eBay Secret 4 Flat Rate Shipping

one trick that sellers use is to try and make extra money on the shipping of a product. Buyers are very weary of this and don’t trust auctions that don’t list their shipping prices before hand. You can either add a shipping calculator to your auction page using eBay’s tool or ship at a flat rate. The easiest way to do this is to find the cost to ship the item before hand and provide a flat rate that is the same no matter where the person lives. One trick to doing this is to calculate the cost before hand using your home as the starting destination and then the state and city that is the farthest away from you. This way you will easily cover your shipping costs. Don’t forget to add in any handling fees like the price of boxes, packing tape, and any other items used in packaging the item for shipment. Often sellers forget to do this and lose money on easy shipment they make.

eBay Secret 5 List for 7 Days

The longer your auction is up on the site the more traffic you will receive to the auction page. It is typically best to list the item for the longest amount of time possible. This is 7 days unless you pay a little extra and list the item for 10 days. Also traffic is typically higher on the weekend in the evenings when people are at home. With a 7 day auction you can easily list it on Saturday or Sunday and then have it end of the same day a week later. This way you can capture the largest amount of people to the auction which will in turn increase your profits.

Getting started is one of the biggest steps that many people never get over. Often people like the idea of selling online but for whatever reason they never take action and get started. If you start by selling items around your house that you are no longer using anyway you can learn the ropes and get started quickly and easily! Once you have gotten started it is easy to expand the business. Good luck and most importantly don’t give up those who make it at online auctions are the ones who stay with it though thick and thin!

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