Work At Home

3 MUST Haves For Your Auction Listings

1. About Me page

Did you know that Ebay gives each of its sellers their own website? This is an incredible tool that many sellers overlook. Bidders want to know who they are ordering merchandise from and your Ebay About Me page is a way to communicate this information to them. Everyone uses their About Me page differently. Some have pictures of their families and discuss their personal interests, while others use the page to define quality of goods and how they do their measurements. As you create your About Me page, consider this:

Identify with your audience or customer base. If you are selling children’s items, make your About Me page identify with other parents or grandparents. Moms love to buy from other moms… and as a seller, I love to sell to other moms. Identify yourself as a mom. Explain how you love quality items for your own children and only provide those items you would buy yourself.
Getting Too Personal? You have seen them… or maybe you have one! An About Me page that is all about the seller. I guess it makes sense to list that kind of information on an About “ME” page – but, remember, this is a powerful tool to increase sales. Buyers come to your About Me page to get an idea of who you are – but, they really want to know what kind of a seller you are. You want to identify with your customers, but, you also want to communicate what you can do for them.

Let your customers contact you. Be sure to include some sort of contact information on your about me page. If you have a website – great! Include a link. In a high tech world, customers appreciate knowing they can contact someone they are doing business with. If nothing else, be sure to include your email address.

Determine what will benefit your customer. If you are selling clothing, include a list of how you take measurements. Include details about how your ship your products. You may even want to include a few bullets about how you determine clothing quality. If your customer base is other moms, maybe a favorite recipe or spot remover tips.

Use your About Me site to make more money. A great place to include affiliate programs you are a part of is on your About Me page. Last I heard, ebay had over 20,000 new members a day – that is an incredible potential for traffic to your auctions and About Me page. Do you ever get frustrated by the number of hits or watchers you have on an item… but, low number of bids? Many of those people will take a peek at your About Me page even though they may not bid. You can generate even more sales from these folks – affiliate sales. Ebay allows you to have a list of “favorite links” on your About Me page – so, if you are a part of an affiliate program, be sure to list it here… and you will be on your way to rolling in even more dough!
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2. Power of Your Title

Your auction title is one of the MOST important elements of listing your auction. If you are missing any pertinent information in your title, your auction will not show up when potential bidders run their searches… and your auction becomes what I call a “hidden auction”.

When you are creating your title, think about your bidders and how they will search to find your item. How do you search? Do you search by size – 3? 3T? Do you enter in brand? Do you search for “cute” or “look”? Most buyers only enter in the criteria that is factual about the item (ie., size, style, type – pants, top, etc., and maybe brand). Although you want your title to flow nicely and stand out from the other listings, it is imperative that you include the information necessary to get the most search hits!

Here are a few tips from Here Comes The Stork:

> Always include the name brand (most important if it is a desirable name brand).
> Always include “NWT” in the title if it is new with tags
> Try to squeeze in the word “NEW” if it is new, because not everyone, especially new Ebayers, are familiar with “NWT.”
> Include the size of your item in your title
> If there are different ways to list a size, squeeze in as many as possible.
Leave spaces between words. If there aren’t spaces, then none of the keywords will work.
> Do you have something that is size 6-12 months? Try writing “6-9-12” in your title, so that people searching 6-9 and those searching 9-12 will both pull up your auction.
> If you are listing something from a certain line, like Gymboree or Baby Lulu line, make sure to include it in your title. People do search for specific items from specific lines.
> Use all your space. If, and only if, you have included every searchable word that applies (NWT, BRAND NAME, SIZE, HOLIDAY, NR…) You can add interest words like “SO CUTE!”

Another technique for creating an excellent title is to search for the same item you are going to list on Ebay. For example, let’s say you have an adorable Baby Gap sundress with flowers embroidered on it. Run a search for “Baby Gap dress” and make sure you select “completed items”. You want to search only the auctions that have closed so you can get an accurate view of how the auctions ended. See what comes up. You can narrow your search by adding “embroidered” or “floral” and see what you get. Select, “view by highest price” – this will order the search results from highest price to lowest price. Look for an item that is similar to yours with a high ending bid. Click on it and study the auction. If there were multiple bids on the item and it got to a good price, see what you can glean and apply to your listing. Pay special attention to the title, category listed in, and starting price. Use their success as a template for your own!

3. Pricing

"How do I determine the auction starting price?"

This is the big question isn’t it?

A few things to consider when thinking about pricing… First of all, research! I ALWAYS look on Ebay for similar auctions to see how they are listed. The easiest way to do this is to type in (using the previous example) “Baby Gap Dress” in the search field. After it gives the search results, select “highest priced items” and see what is getting the most bids. You may be surprised by what you see!

Here is the strategy I use when considering price. If I KNOW the item is a hot, high demand item, I will start the auction at $.01 – yep! One cent! Try it a few times… the penny auctions get bidders because they attract the attention. If the item is hot and in demand, let the bidders make the price sky-rocket! I have seen auctions for the SAME item have completely different results because of pricing – in fact, I see this all the time! One auction will have started at $.01 and end at $32. The other will have started at $29.99 and not have gotten one bid! Test it out a bit – you may get addicted to those penny auctions like a lot of sellers do!

If I am not sure the item is going to do well, I will list it for the minimum I want for the item. This way, I am happy if I get just one bid

Although there are many things to consider when listing your auctions, implementing the tips mentioned above will get you started on the right track and potentially increase your bidding... and that means more profits!

Are your auction listings all they can be? These tips are taken from Jenni's popular ebook, Secrets To Profitable Auctions – List like a Pro! Jenni has a passion for helping other moms succeed in their work at home endeavors.