Powerseller Methods?

A friend just mentioned that she'd like to "shadow" a powerseller and see what they do, that she doesn't as she feels she's not doing something that would let her move thru the process of listing and selling faster than she does.

So I thought, I can show her in my blog!

And that's what we'll do over the next few weeks.

To start - go look at my ebay store Depression Glass Warehouse and see my items. Then quick, link back and we'll talk

1. I use Turbolister 99% of the time. I do use Auctiva frequently for items with a lot of pictures but primarily I use TL.

2. I talk ALL my pictures first and edit them. I try for no background "interference" so the buyer can see the picture of exactly what they are bidding on.

Are you tearing your hair out trying to get your child to read?

I did too. Mine is in his 20's now. And he reads. I don't know exactly what turned the trick. It might ahve been the comic books he started reading when he was about 12. It might have been the desire to read the "whole" story behind some of his favorite horror movies or the Japanese Anime he came to enjoy as a teenager. I really don't care what it was. Something got him reading and I rejoice as my husband and I are life-long readers and book collectors. Now he not only reads, he is writing about what he read this year. (ssssssssssh do not tell him I showed you this. He'd probably never forgive me. But because I read this and enjoyed his analysis of the books he read, I thought you might like to check them out too!

So, Forthwith, here is his Squidoo lens on his 2008 reading list. (Don't miss WRATH of the Thunder Lizards which is his other squidoo lens)

http://www.squidoo.com/xml/syndicate_lens/Cherkowskys08readinglist

(or it's linked in the right side top box!) Check it out.

Blogging is like work - DUH!

My sister runs a company (her own small startup) that provides services to senior citizens and their caretakers. She's paying $175 a month for 4 posts a month to be written. She provides the blogger with material and that person writes her blog. AND??? And she's happy paying out money. Me? As hard as it is to blog, I'd rather do it myself, thank you.

So I sat down the other day and wrote this whole draft about how Santa Claus, who used to shop on eBay according to Marsha Collier, is now shopping on Bonanzle (according to me). And I say that because? Because I've sold 4 things since opening there, without really doing a darn thing.

I pushed my eBay listings over. Was taking my sweet time editing them and people started buying. WOW! So I signed up for Googlecheckout. Guess what? I love it!

But back to that original post about Santa shopping at Bonanzle. I was just about done and...(no the computer didn't crash. ! ) I hit the wrong stinking key and deleted the whole darn thing!

TADA! the wonders of modern technology! At least in a typewriter, I'd have had typos but I'd still have a paper copy.

And the creative spark that was burning during that "episode" of my blogging life is dead now. Santa may still be over at Bonanzle shopping his fool boots off, but my brain has moved on and not to more interesting topics. Today, my brain is consumed with "WHY can't I list as many items per day as I used to??"

I'll have an answer for that on Friday. See me then. (After all, it's my consuming project for the day...to figure it out! and reverse the trend!)

So some hints about making more money on ebay

Ok, this is supposed to be about making money on ebay (I've given up on the hope of FUN on ebay for the moment...)

So, first what are my credentials?

a) Silver level power seller (for the last 3 years straight and at times during the 8 years and 3 mos before that)

b) Been on ebay 11 years - primarily as a seller

c) Been making a living for the last 3 years on eBay - not a great one but paying the bills


SO on to some tips

#1 TIP of all time - List More Sell MORE

On ebay - volume counts - the more auction listings the more traffic I get. The more store listings, the more traffic I get. As part of that, let me remark that I have an ebay store...and every time I "cross" a hundred mark, my sell-through goes up a bit more. My sales increase.

When I got over 100 items in the store it went up.
When I got up to 200 items it went up.
The day I got the 500th item in there it jumped amazingly.

So list more - sell more


#2 Tip of all time:

YOU CAN'T SELL WHAT AIN'T LISTED!

Your mother is going "DUH, I told you that".

Seriously - put the Christmas stuff in the store now. Put the Halloween stuff in the store now.

Put the woolen sweaters in the store now. (You know it is winter in Australia right? So THEY are buying woolen sweaters when WE are just sweating. )

At Halloween you can put the stuff in auction or run a special. The week after Halloween have a "clearance sale" like the real stores do. BUT LIST IT. AND....Leave it listed. It costs a crummy 3 cents to keep it going for a month.

#3 - USE a spell checker and speak English (assuming of course you are listing on the US /UK/CA or AU sites and are reaching an English speaking market. )

Nothing ruins that initial impression as fast as bad spelling, bad grammar and not proofreading your material (and I'm guilty of all three on this blog sometimes so it proves my point. )

#4 - find, make, steal or buy an inventory system. Keep track of where things are so you can ship fast. I swear sometimes that people look at my listings and deliberately buy anything that doesn't have an inventory number. (those are the older listings pre-system and are very hard to find. LOL)

5. Put all your terms in your listing but say it gracefully. This crap with people saying IF YOU DON"T PLAN TO PAY DON"T BID..?? do you think people bid with the intention of not paying or maybe they bid, find out they are over extended and then are embarrassed by your nasty terms?

6. Have a return policy (this will soon be required) even if it says SORRY! No returns on this item

7. Take Paypal (I'd say take googlecheckout too if ebay would let us) because? BECAUSE, Silly, people pay faster, they don't have to give you their credit card info and they don't really trust us so they feel safer with ebay. (I know not everyone does but 80% of the buyers on ebay do)

And as a footnote - in 11 years 4 mos on ebay? I have NEVER had a bounched check. So if someone wants to send you a money order or a check? Say ok, THANKS!

8. Don't ship without insurance - I use a third party insurer for lower value items. it's so easy to report shipments to them. And for breakables, I buy insurance from the PO or the carrier. I do require it on my auctions (all of them...what if the stinkin' thng gets lost in the mail -not broke cause it's not fragile..just LOST - gone disappeared, never existed??)

Use my referral code please! http://www.dsiinsurance.com/transfer.asp?refId=130
and ask for a quote. Try them, you'll like them. VERY easy and pleasant to deal with.

9. List regularly - better to do 10 a day than 90 on one day and nothing for a month.

10. You really make your profit when you buy your item. So buy low, sell a little higher. Do not list an item for 99 cents when you paid $10 for it. And then what? You cross fingers and toes and pray that it goes higher? THAT'S just plain stupid. List for Cost plus Expense (the ebay and paypal fees/FVF fees) plus Profit. I learned this from ROY on AOL's small business forum and it's serving me well. (Roy used to have a blog but there was some family problems and I can't find his blog right now. When I do I'll post HIS 13 tips. They were excellent.

So what next?

This blog is titled Ebay - For Fun and Profit but...

Have you set up another venue yet?

I tried I-Offer. Then in May when they were nagging me about signing in more often did, I though " BALONEY " so I deleted all the store listings. Done . In 4 mos there I had one sale for a box of trading cards. Not enough to waste any energy on.

Amazon
I sell books there. Currently only have about 60 listed. THAT changed this week and will change again soon as I add in some. I haven't tried the Pro-Merchant yet but will this month (July 2008). I'm not sure if I'll keep my books on ABE or not after I put them on Amazon. I might. But that's up in the air, right now.

The main attraction from Amazon is the abilty to list my glass and china there. I'll let you know how that goes next month

ABEBOOKS
I had a bookstore on ABE back in 2005 and it didn't set fire to the world but it paid its own way. Then they changed software or platforms or some IT thing. And my sales crashed. After three months I gave up. Based on my friends' sales there, I reopened in April 2008. So far, it's paying it's way again.

There are two things I have to do. One is to synchronize the prices on EBAY in my store with the prices on ABE cause I missed a $74 sale today on ABE by having sold the book on eBay 6 wks ago for $19.95. THAT hurt. It's my own fault too cause I knew the files needed to be doublechecked and prices corrected. And I didn't do it. BUT I will be later today. (7-10-08 I have checked and correct them so everything is sort of inline with the other venues. NOW I have to get more books on Amazon)

ECRATER
I could never figure out how to upload a "file" to them. Gonna look at that again this week too.

And I've found a bunch of places that have shops/shopping carts etc. So I"ll be exploring those and reporting back (in case anyone every reads this)

So where do YOU sell and how do you like it? Comments are public so you'll get some free publicity and maybe even some sales. Post your url. !! Please!