Monday, October 20, 2008

Increase Your eBay Profits

Increase Your eBay Profits Without Relying on
eBay!

While it is possible to earn a full time living on eBay,
it is a mistake to depend solely on eBay for your
income. You could be using your eBay auctions to
generate a huge amount of business for other
products and services! Many people, however,
fail to fully utilize eBay’s resources to this end.

eBay has over 100 million members, and they
gained those members by continually running major
marketing campaigns. Essentially, they do your
marketing for you. But you have to help yourself as
well. The key is to drive people to your auction page,
which in turn can be used to drive traffic to your
website.

You can sell many different items on your website,
including items that are up for auction at eBay! This
is a fabulous way to earn income that does not rely
on eBay auctions. You can easily accept website
payments with a Paypal account, so there is no
need for an expensive merchant account!

You are not allowed to include the website address
of an outside website on your auctions – you are,
however, perfectly welcome to place a link to your
website on your eBay ‘About Me’ page. Invite your
bidders and potential bidders to view your about me
page, and watch the website traffic roll in!

If starting an eBay business is your goal, as
opposed to just auctioning a few items off for some
extra cash, you need to use the eBay business
solutions that are available to you. Because eBay’s
success depends on the success of its sellers,
they strive to help you at every turn. eBay Business
Solutions is the key to starting an eBay business.

eBay Stores is one of the better solutions for eBay
business owners. An eBay store will allow you to
list multiple quantities of the same item, and allow
you to keep them listed for longer time periods.
eBay Store owners also enjoy lower auction fees,
and have access to advanced merchandising tools.
Eventually, you should consider upgrading to an
eBay Pro Store, which will allow you to customize
your storefront with your own brand and web
address.

Hot Selling Items for eBay Auctions

Many people who are trying to start an eBay
business spend a great deal of time trying to figure
out which items sell the best on eBay. Many of these
people have elaborate systems for determining this
information, and many others purchase expensive
courses that teach them how to find this information
as well. None of that is necessary. Everything you
need to know is right in front of you – on the eBay
website!

Take a look at any category, and you will see the
word ‘hot’ beside some items. These items are not
marked as hot sellers randomly – there is a method
to the madness! Items only get marked as hot when
there have been more than thirty bids placed on
the item. All you have to do is wonder around the eBay
website for a while to find an item that will do well.

However, most power sellers will agree that there is
more to figuring out which items sell best than this.
In fact, they claim that it is a science. A great way
to start your search for items that will result in a
successful auction in the future is to do research on
the auctions that were successful in the past. You
can view old listings that have completed at:
http://listings.ebay.com .

A new way to determine what items sell best on
eBay is ‘eBay Marketplace Research.’ Marketplace
Research will allow you to view important statistical
information on the buying trends at eBay. This
product contains all of the data one could possibly
ever need to determine how well – or how poorly –
an item will do in an eBay auction. There is a small
fee for using the eBay Marketplace Research tools,
however.

Another tool that will be very useful in your quest for
finding hot selling items for your eBay auctions is the
listing of popular eBay search terms that is found on
the site. This list can be found at:
http://popular.ebay.com/ . This list is divided into
categories, which will make it easier to determine
how popular your potential item may be.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that an item will
do poorly, or that it will do well without doing your
homework on the item first. Some of the strangest
things sell for the highest prices, while items that
would sell quickly in any other environment just sit
there. Almost any eBay Power Seller will tell you
that the key to a successful auction rests in the
amount of research you put into the items you
hope to sell.