eBay Selling Secrets by Andrew Lock, the ‘Renegade eBay Auction Seller’

I make no apology for bringing this subject up again because so few sellers ‘get it.’

The topic is pricing your items.

The reason I’ve included this topic in the ‘stats and trends’ section is because my suspicions about eBay buyers was confirmed by independent research conducted by Nielsen / Net Ratings.

I confess that when I first started selling on eBay I believed that the number one reason people used it was to find the cheapest price. However, my viewpoint changed when I started to ask my customers why they bought from me. Hardly ever did they mention ‘getting the lowest price’ as the main reason for buying from me.

Since then, my long held belief has been that price is not the most important factor in causing most people to use eBay. I knew from personal experience that other factors such as availability, service, quick delivery and discovering unique items were higher priorities for many people.

When I saw the Nielsen survey I felt somewhat vindicated because it confirmed my own research, but on a much larger scale.

If only more sellers realized this crucial piece of information, they could save, and even grow their currently dying eBay businesses. You see, positioning yourself as the lowest price provider only leads to disaster. Why? It leads into a downward spiral of competing against others who have the same short-sighted mentality.

You might be thinking, what about WalMart? Their model is to be the lowest price provider and they’re doing reasonably well, aren’t they? True, but it’s still too early to tell whether they’ll be around for a long time. Before them, K-Mart was the king of low price and look at what happened to them. Before that it was Sears. WalMart have enormous buying power, more so than any other retailer, so they might just make it, only time will tell. But you’re not in the same position as them with enormous buying power, so please trust me when I tell you that you DO NOT want to have lowest price as your main benefit.

I’ve observed that the reason why lowest price is featured by many eBay sellers is because that’s how they buy. They themselves look for the lowest price. Unfortunately, they are wrong to believe that’s how everyone is.

Personally, I hardly ever look for lowest price unless it’s a commodity item, an identical item that’s readily available from numerous stores, where the only difference between sellers is price. But even then, that’s rarely the case. Usually there are other factors that make the argument to buy from one seller over another despite them not being cheaper.

I’ll give you a specific example. Because I travel a lot, whenever I fly I ALWAYS choose a direct flight rather than a connecting flight, even though the latter might save me hundreds of dollars. To me, the pain of having to waste at least several hours at another airport AND add to the risk of my bags not being transferred onto the second flight is not worth that much money. I’m more than willing to pay a premium so that I don’t have to go through that. And in my market, Salt Lake City, that usually means having to fly Delta, so I end up using Delta even though I far prefer other airlines like American Airlines or JetBlue. If AA or JetBlue fly direct, I’ll choose them even if they’re more expensive.

Then there’s also the matter of airmiles. Many travelers will choose the airline they have the most points with rather than the cheapest provider, because they want more airmiles.

Can you see how price is way down the list of priorities? I’ll give you another example.

What about when you go on vacation? I’m absolutely sure that you usually spend more money than you intended to. Rarely do you think about how much something costs in that relaxed environment. That’s one reason why tourism income in popular resorts is so huge. Many retailers charge more than the going rate because they know most people will pay it.
When you take the kids to Disneyland and you arrive at the front gate to see that the daily ticket price is $67, you might well take a big gulp but you still pay it, don’t you? You’re not going to deprive the kids of the experience, even though it’s probably far more than you had expected to pay.

Just as price is a non-issue in these examples, it’s a non issue for many people when shopping on eBay.

As I mentioned earlier, there are plenty of customers who are happy to pay a premium for great customer service, faster delivery, instant availability, opportunity to buy a collectible, rare or otherwise unique item.

I sincerely hope you grasp this point, even if you are one of those people who buy mainly based on price. Just know that you are not everyone! And if you currently sell items that tend to attract price shoppers, then change what you are selling. You’ll be more profitable, and you’ll spend less time dealing with customer service issues. It’s been my experience and that of all my mastermind group members that buyers who seek the lowest price also demand more than the customer who is happy to pay a premium. You might think it would be the other way around, but it’s not. Years of testing this have proven that customers who have money to spend at the drop of a hat are easier to deal with, and less demanding.

Get ‘low price’ out of your head and start making a lot more money!

Although I generally discourage you from selling physical products that are manufactured by someone else, occasionally I’m made aware of a source that I like to pass on to you because it’s proved itself to be reliable and profitable..

This is one of those occasions because I have just discovered a fantastic NEW source of products you can re-sell on eBay: Department of the Treasury auctions (USA).

Have you ever wondered what happens to all the goods seized by the authorities in various police raids? Items like luxury cars – Ferrari, Porsche, Jaguar, Bentley, etc, fabulous jewelry, prime real estate – all previously owned by drug barons, fraudsters, and money launderers who have been sentenced and had their property seized by the authorities.

You’d be forgiven for thinking it sounds like something straight out of CSI: Miami, but the fact is, the government has no use for these items after they have been seized and they have decided to auction them off to the public.

Their reasoning is that the ‘innocent’ public should gain some benefit from the goods of criminals. So they started auctioning off these items – most of them going under the hammer for a fraction of their real value. Of course, that’s great for you as an eBay seller – you can turn around and sell these items for a substantial profit on eBay.

The auctions happen mainly in Los Angeles and as yet remain relatively unknown, so you have a fantastic opportunity to get incredible, unrepeatable bargains before more people find out what they’re missing out on! For more information on upcoming auctions, as well as registration information and buyer tips, visit

www.ustreas.gov/auctions/customs/

A good friend of mine recently showed me his ‘mock up’ for a new marketing brochure for his stone restoration business. Frankly, it was terrible. He wanted to appeal to affluent consumers but the style of writing was way off base, it just didn’t fit his target audience.

We reworked the brochure and all agreed that it was much more effective as a result of writing with the target audience in mind.

There’s a powerful lesson here for your eBay listings.

When deciding what to write in your listings, there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach that works with all types of products. Since most people are not natural writers, they tend to get this wrong, a mismatch that loses them lots of customers.

Let’s consider some examples. Suppose that you were selling a credit repair service specifically for low income individuals. If you were to use complex language, snobbish sounding terminology or otherwise address the potential customer in an inappropriate way, they’ll probably go elsewhere.

On the other hand, if you were selling expensive cosmetic surgery to wealthy individuals you need to appeal to them in language they understand and appreciate.

A big breakthrough occurred in the effectiveness of my eBay listings when I invested in the following three books. They are inexpensive and they should be part of your library:

Words That Sell

More Words That Sell

Phrases That Sell

They’re by Richard Bayan, and they contain thousands of persuasive words and phrases, categorized by subject or theme. They will be an invaluable tool to help you write listings that appeal directly to your target customer. Do that, and you’ll see an immediate improvement in the effectiveness of your auctions.

I love music (well apart from rap and heavy metal), actually I should say I love playing music. I learnt from an early age to play the drums and piano, so I’m alert to the fact that playing music is a VERY popular hobby among a wide range of ages of the population.

Since the market is so large, it’s wise to narrow your focus to a specific group. It could be young kids who are learning an instrument for the first time, teens who play in a band, music teachers, professional musicians, mature men and women who play in an orchestra, and so on. I’m sure you get the idea.

The point is, and this applies to any aspect of eBay, the more you narrow your focus to a specific target audience, the better your results will be.

In other words, if you try and be all things to all people, you won’t be as effective as if you had specialized. This is a very common mistake on eBay. Most sellers try to appeal to everyone, and they end up being so ‘vanilla’ in their listings that they sabotage their own efforts.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting to own multiple sectors of a market, but you should do it with a DIFFERENT eBay account to be effective.

If you know people who are amateur or professional musicians, why not ask them if they have any old instruments they want to sell? Many instruments are deemed collectible even after a few years, especially if they are a limited edition.

I recently helped a friend sell a Gibson guitar, a signed collectible, and I was amazed at how much these instruments can sell for. You’ll see many guitar auctions that fetch over $10,000 each.

The H3 lead generation system also works well in this niche as it does in most niches. You could produce a course about how to learn an instrument, and then hook buyers by offering them an inexpensive ‘top 10 tips’ style report as the first point of contact. You then develop a relationship with them and find out how passionate about the niche they are (and whether they’re willing to spend money!)

For more information, take a look at: instruments.eBay.com

I’ve just finished reviewing a brand new “how to make money from eBay‘ ebook by a fairly well known eBay seller.

Here’s the thing. The writer adamantly states that selling ebooks on eBay is the best way to profit from eBay, bar none. Hmmm, interesting…

It’s revealing to note that the author also says that he doesn’t make a living from eBay any more, rather he’s solely involved in advising others how to profit from eBay.

Well, I can honestly tell you I am convinced that the writer hasn’t pursued his recommended approach for very long because he would have eventually realized that ebooks are not the ‘magic pill’ that many people consider them to be.

Those of us who have tested selling both physical products (items that are shipped) AND digital downloads (ebooks etc) over a period of time are completely convinced that physical products are the most profitable, and no one can ever convince us otherwise.

Before you run off in a panic and cancel all your ebook listings I should also tell you that there are a LOT more details you need to know about this subject to be fully informed and make your own decision.

Regular subscribers will know that above all else I encourage you to create and sell information products using my H3 system. It’s the best way I’ve found to profit from eBay, hands down, absolutely, no question, undisputed…you get the idea.

I also realize that everyone is different, and what I enjoy doing and profit from may not appeal to you. Some people would rather make less money and do something they really want to do. That’s fine. That’s why I cover plenty of other unconventional, renegade ways of making money from eBay in each issue of this newsletter.

I recommend a balanced view of this topic once you’re aware of ALL the pros and cons.

Ebooks have their place, especially as a ‘hook’ in the H3 lead generation system. Looking at the positives, they have some attractive benefits:

Quick to produce

Inexpensive to create

Instantly downloadable

Avoid shipping costs and hassles

Unlimited inventory

No storage issues

You own the product

Can be updated easily

Yes, these are all compelling reasons not to avoid using ebooks. BUT, there are two HUGE negative factors about ebooks that cannot and should not be overlooked.

These downsides are rarely mentioned by others, in fact they are usually not even discovered until after they’ve tried selling

solely ebooks instead of physical products for a reasonable amount of time. So I’m about to save you a LOT of money doing the experiment yourself.

The first negative about ebooks is that there is a psychologically imposed price limit attached to them. Most ebooks are priced in the region of $17-$47. It’s extremely rare to see any ebook being offered for more than $97. Yes, a few are, but they are definitely the exception, and they are usually bundled with some other benefit or bonus.

What’s the reason for this built-in price limit? Most people know that an ebook costs nothing to fulfill so there’s a reluctance to pay ‘too much’ for it.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be limited on the price I can charge for valuable information. By comparison, I’ve charged thousands of dollars for information sold as a physical course that’s shipped. Is it worth shipping an item in order to make 20 to 60 times more profit compared to an ebook? You bet it is! And let me tell you, it’s a lot easier to sell one item at $1995 than 42 of them at $47.

The second negative factor about ebooks is that they ‘disappear’ onto the recipien’ts hard drive as soon as they are downloaded. My personal experience with ebooks is that for every one I’ve downloaded and read, there are at least three more that I downloaded, intending to read but never in fact getting around to it. They might as well have disappeared, because as the weeks pass by, I forget that I even downloaded them, and my life has moved on. I’m sure you’ve had a similar experience with at least one ebook you purchased.

By contrast, it’s MUCH more difficult to ignore a physical product that drops on your doorstep. Even if you put it on a corner of your desk in the ‘to read’ pile, it’s gonna stare you in the face every day until you read it And in the future, it will still be on your bookshelf, ready to be rediscovered by you or someone else.

Remember, you should WANT your product to be read, because you want to develop a relationship with each customer so they want to buy from you again. If the ebook becomes invisible on their hard drive you may never get that opportunity.

Hopefully I’ve helped you to see that ebooks are not the magic pill that many people believe them to be. They are a tool, but they are not THE ultimate tool.

Physical information-based products are still the most profitable item to sell online. By all means use ebooks as a way for people to find you, but don’t get sucked into believing that physical products are dead. They are alive and kicking.

Should you use TLA’s?

Don’t know what TLA’s are?

Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.

I’ll give you a clue. Up until very recently, whenever my wife (who is no stranger to eBay) saw ‘NWT’ in the title of a listing, she thought it was a brand name. So just imagine her confusion when she began seeing ‘NWOT’ in titles! Similarly, many eBayers believe the intials ‘NR’ in a title means ‘not real’.

If you still haven’t figured out what I’m talking about, I’ll put you out of your misery: I’m talking about abbreviations. TLA, in eBay and other corporate ‘speak’, stands for ‘Three Letter Abbreviations’ (or acronyms) – funny how abbreviations have their own abbreviation! Actually TLA’s can be two, three or four letters.

The experience of Luci I just mentioned serves to illustrate an important point: if you are using TLA’s in your listing titles, don’t assume that everyone understands them. If potential bidders don’t know what your abbreviations mean, they are completely wasted. Also, anything that buyers don’t understand is intimidating – do you really want to intimidate your potential buyers into going elsewhere?

So should you use TLA’s in your listings? And if so, when should you use them? Well, simply put, TLA’s are not necessarily wasted space as long as you bear a few things in mind. Firstly, remember that your listing title is the ultimate, prime real estate and it should be filled with as many keywords as possible to help buyers find your listing.

Abbreviations are rarely, if ever, keywords – who searches for a ‘NIB iPod’? (NIB means ‘New in Box’). If anything, potential customers are far more likely to search for simply ‘new iPod’.

So abbreviations should be used as space fillers, only when you have filled your title with as many keywords as you can possibly cram in. They are rarely searched, so they simply serve to insert an abbreviated extra piece of information about the item.

Bearing in mind that many in your audience will not know what certain abbreviations mean, full words such as ‘New’, ‘With Tags’, or even ‘New in Box’ are preferable to their three letter abbreviations.

Sometimes a TLA is completely unnecessary. Going back to the example of my wife, if sellers had used ‘new’ in their titles instead of ‘NWT’ – which takes up the same amount of characters and basically means the same thing – she, and many others, would have instantly understood that the item being offered was new. And, with that information, they would be far more likely to click through to the listing, where they would quickly discover that in addition to being new, the item is actually ‘new with tags’.

So, in summary, TLA’s have their place in a listing title, but only after every possible keyword has been added to the title. And don’t forget to explain in the listing description any TLA’s you’ve used.

Here’s the most commonly used TLA’s on eBay:

BIN – Buy It Now

DOA – Dead on Arrival

EUC – Excellent Used Condition

FAQ – Frequently Answered Questions

GBP – Great Britain Pounds

HTF – Hard to Find

LTD – Limited Edition

MIP – Mint in Package

NARU – Not a Registered User

NIB – New In Box

NR – No Reserve

NWT – New with Tags

NWOT – New Without Tags

OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer

OOP – Out of Print

URL – Uniform Resource Locator (website address)
USPS – United States Postal Service

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