5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay

Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship company

Do you know what one of the biggest problem is to be successful on eBay? 'What should I sell"? I can tell you, I get many emails per day from eBay sellers, asking me what they can sell. Let me explain this more in detail.

Let's take John and David for example. Both are sellers and try to make money on eBay. Let's start with John. He mainly gets his items from garage sales. So, every Saturday morning he gets up very early, hops into his car and drives around the neighbourhood to check out the garage sales. So he went last Saturday. John did not buy anything on the first two garage sales, but on his third garage sale, he found a little treasure. An old book from 1897 - for a bargain price of $10. Bingo! John was proud! 'I can sell this for huge profit', he thought and he went home. He took his digital camera and he made a high quality digital photo. It took quite some time but finally he was happy with the result. Then he had to upload this picture to his computer and he spent some time writing the sales copy. Late Saturday afternoon finally he was finished and launched this book onto eBay. 7-10 days later his item got sold for $75!! John is excited. He packs the item, labels it with the buyers address and then he drives to the nearest post office. Oh no, what a long line. After 15 min of waiting he could finally post this item to his customer! Wow, a lot of work for $65 profit? Don't you think?

Let's look at David. He usually gets up very late ? usually at Saturday around lunchtime. He is still in his pyjamas and he makes himself a nice cup of coffee and gets onto the Internet. He logs into his drop ship account and browses through some hot selling product. 'Yes, I can sell that" - A nice laptop for a bargain price of $550 (wholesale price). But David does not have to pay upfront for this item, so he just downloads the professional digital photos offered by his drop ship company to his computer. "Oh wait"; David has just discovered that this drop ship company has also a 'ready-to-use' auction sales letter available. That's really cool ?and David copies and pastes the source code of this letter into his eBay listing and he launches his auction. A Dutch auction, since the drop ship company announced that they have more than one of this laptop currently available. Great, David could sell 6 laptops. He hits the submit button for this Dutch auction of 6 laptops and enjoys his coffee (which is still hot by the way). After 7-10 days David has sold all 6 laptops for $830 each. All what David does is the following: He waits until he gets the payment from his 6 customers in his paypal account, sends the address of the customers together with 6 x $550 (wholesale price) to his drop sip company via paypal. He has made pure profit of 6 x $280 = $1,680 in about 25 min of work ? total. That's why David is a smarter eBay seller than John. I think the idea is clear ?drop shipping can be the answer to your problem what to sell on eBay and it can saves you a lot of time too. No packing, posting etc.

Secret #2: Have a professional auction listing

A professional eBay auction site is like your business card. If you are serious selling on eBay you should show your potential customers that you are a professional seller and that you are selling high quality products. Please, don't just upload a photo and type the text in the description box. Do your homework and learn some HTML. Look around there are many professional tutorials and ebooks around helping you in that matter. It's definitely worth it. And you'll be surprised, because if your auction listing looks nice and professional potential buyers stay longer on your site and usually it's more likely that they place a bid.

Secret #3: The money is in the follow up

"Yes, I've heard this before", you may say. But, this is a very important aspect of your successful eBay career: Follow up with your customers. Send them an email ~10 days after they have purchased the product and ask them how they are going with the product and if everything is all right. Invite them to have a look at your other auctions. (You have to be careful though not offending anyone, but if the products are related and you ask how they went with the product, that's fine). I never got complaints by doing that and your customers are happy to get some "insider tips". You'll be amazed how many customers will buy from you again, since they value you as a seller. Keep in mind that it is easier to keep an existing customer, instead of getting a new customer. You could also send them a thank you gift in form of a downloadable digital information product. That's easy for you and they get some valuable information. You'll see that your existing customers will be very thankful and they feel good that they have bought from you and will do again in the future.

Secret #4: Sell internationally

This aspect is often neglected by many eBay sellers: Sell internationally! First, check with your drop ship company in which countries they are shipping and how much postage they charge to send the item overseas. If you have sort out these details, you can go ahead and list your item internationally. You'll be surprised how many more items you are selling when the potential buyers see: Ship worldwide. Don't miss this opportunity or you are leaving big bucks on the table.

Secret #5: Be creative ? Be different

How do you think your listing will be stand out from the crowd? Good question isn't it. In my 4 years of being an active Power Seller, I have tried and tested a lot. First have the photo in the gallery; it just costs a bit more to list but these additional cents are well spend. A recent study has shown that people almost ignore listing without a picture in the gallery. So that's mandatory! The next step is your title. Do you know that only the title is spidered by eBay when potential customers are searching for specific products? So, you have to make sure that your title includes as much keywords as possible. But be careful here, eBay does not like "keyword stuffing". So, be creative and come up with 2-3 different titles for the same item. Try them all and you'll see what works best.

Copyright 2005 Auction Resource Network

Jason James is a 10 year Internet marketing veteran and an eBay Power Seller of 4 years. His website "The Auction Resource Network" reveals his inside secrets and sources that help him pocket over $10,000 a month on eBay.

Get your FREE 14 Day "eBay Secrets" eCourse here: http://www.auctionresourcenetwork.com


10 Tips to Starting a Financially Successful Ebay Business Startting Right Now

Ebay is Perhaps the easiest and fastest way to start... Read More

12 Items You CANT Sell On EBay

Millions of would-be entrepreneurs want to sell things on ebay.... Read More

12 Tips To Make Your eBay Business More Profitable

Sometimes it's the simple things that can make your eBay... Read More

2 Step Secret Reveals How You Can Find Wholesale Suppliers

Have you spent hours on the internet searching for a... Read More

3 Unusual Formats For Auctions on EBay

eBay users are accustomed to only two "standard" formats for... Read More

5 Reasons Why Playing Music On Your Auctions Is A Bummer Of An Idea

There are 147 million registered users on eBay, and tens... Read More

5 Secrets for Increasing Auction Profits

1. Include your ebay seller name, store, and website information... Read More

5 Secrets To Make A Killing on EBay

Secret #1: Find a 'real' wholesale and drop ship companyDo... Read More

5 Sure-Fire Ways to Make More Money on EBay

Have you ever dealt with a salesperson or a waiter... Read More

5 Ways to Drive Traffic Away from Your EBay Auction

eBay is a one-stop solution to any one who wants... Read More

6 Reasons Why an eBay Business is the Easiest and Safest Home Business to Start

Calling internet auctions an "Entrepreneur's Dream" isn't poetic license or... Read More

7 Great Reasons Why You Should Start an EBay Business Today

EBay is a great part or full time business. An... Read More

7 Simple Steps To Profit Without Your Own Product

Most people do not succeed on the internet because they... Read More

7 Steps to Easier EBay Shipping

If you're like me, you probably hate packing and shipping... Read More

8 Collectible Dolls That Sell Well on eBay

From the beginning, eBay's primary growth came from the collectibles... Read More

8 Top Tips For Successful Art Auction Listings

Why is it that some artists seem to make easy... Read More

A New Definition of Buyer Beware

"Who's Suzie?"My wife Katrina had been acting strangely ever since... Read More

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words and Creates Auction Euphoria on eBay

Ever since I sold my first item on ebay I... Read More

A WIN-WIN Scenario On eBay For Buyer/Sellers: Tips For Hunting Want It Now Postings

"Ask And You Shall Receive" Policy Works!You're one-of-a-kind baby clothes... Read More

Affordable Online Car Auctions

Still hunting for the car of your dreams? Public car... Read More

All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) Sell Well On eBay

ATV auctions are healthy markets on eBay. All terrain vehicles... Read More

An eBay Computer Purchase

An eBay purchase that turned sour.A story of fraud, deceit,... Read More

An Emerging Market in eBay Consignments: The eBay Trading Post (Part II In A Series)

In 2002, the eBay consignments business was born, referred to... Read More

An Introduction To eBay Consignment

After I started selling on eBay, I was approached by... Read More

Are You an Ebay Shopper?

As I write this article, I am keeping an eye... Read More

Attract eBay Buyers Like Crazy!

As an ebay(TM) seller it happens very often (too often)... Read More

Auction and Its Benefits

An auction is basically a public sale wherein any object... Read More

Auction Image Hosting for Ebay Auctions: Free Single Most Recommended Tip

It is a well known fact that the more pictures... Read More

Auction Sales - Keeping Customers You Worked So Hard To Get!

If you've studied business concepts you know that finding a... Read More

Auction Seller Guide To Success

When its time to clean-up around the house, some people... Read More

Auctions Make Money!

An untapped online business resource--outside of your basic Yahoo and... Read More

Authentic or Fake?

1. Admit It: Old business models are no longer working.... Read More

Bananas - Your Source of eBay Packing Materials!

This is the most boring stage of the process and... Read More