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The whole e-book in this 5-part guide! (Part IV of V) Tips 66 - 85
So here is THE ENTIRE 101 Auction Secrets Revealed! e-book for all to read, AND YOU DON"T EVEN NEED TO PAY FOR IT!
I would just like to point out that I did not write 101 Auction Secrets Revealed! I am just publishing this as a guide since the Distribution Rules clearly stated that I can "give it away". And please vote yes, for even if one thing helped you just remember at least you didn't have to pay for it. Most of these ideas I have tried myself, while some I cannot say that I have.REMINDER: This e-book is so large that it needed to be posted in 5 parts, so read them as you wish AND please remember to Vote yes, since I’m giving you tons of helpful info for FREE, Also there are some repeated tips in this guide only because they are so important that that they needed to be stressed by repetition.
AuctionTip #66: You Might Want To Do This On The Weekend...
Make a mental note to yourself to post feedback for buyers once a week- leaving posts as payments arrive will quickly drain the life out of your day.
Buyers get antsy and hassle you about this stuff. Tell them you leave it in batches.
AuctionTip #67: Save Money and Time on Relisting
If your item doesn’t sell the first time you list it, you'll be able to relist
it at no additional charge if it's a straight auction- this doesn't apply to
Dutch auctions.
Once the unsuccessful auction is over, eBay will send you an email
with a link. Click the link and follow the instructions.
Even that takes time. If you don't want to change anything to improve
your chance of success, use Andale's automatic relist feature.
AuctionTip #68: Use Asterisks in Your Item Titles
There are a lot of items up for auction on eBay, and it’s easy for your item to get lost in the thousands of others.
Use asterisks in the title. Here’s an example:
***** ANCIENT_ROMAN_COINS! *****
Catchy isn't it? It flags your prospects down doesn't it? This is so simple to do and yet so powerful.
AuctionTip#69: EBay Is Bugging Out!
Apart from the occasional downtime, eBay is notorious for it's computer glitches. Some sellers get headaches trying to list their auctions using Internet Explorer.
If you have ever tried to post and get the "Page Can't Be Displayed Error"- then you'll know what I'm talking about. This can be very, very annoying…
Here are a few workarounds that will work for you if this happens:
·Post auctions using Netscape.
·Post auctions using Mister Lister.
·Make sure the html isn't buggy.
One way sellers mess up is by including <html>, <head>, and <body> tags in their ads. This has been known to cause the problem, so don't include them.
By the way, you can include the body tag in the ad just as long as there is no close to it. The only reason you would want to do this is if you had some background image to use…
Enemy number one with html ads on eBay is bad table design.
Bad table design has cost me hundreds of dollars last year. How? Well, bad table design might result in your ad being seen in one browser and not the other.
Or no browser at all- or loading too slowly, and so on- weird and irritating stuff none of us have patience for;
If you're new to html steer away from using tables in your ads, especially if the ads are featured... just dress things up with plain and simple html.
AuctionTip #70: Use Bold Text Option in Your Title
Another very powerful way to get your items noticed is to select the bold title option when setting up your item’s auction. Use of this
option must be specifically selected and eBay will charge you an extra $2.00 for using bold, but your item will stand out.
Use this for items over $10.00 or it’s not really worth it. Now, to really make your items stand out, use asterisks use uppercase letters, AND a bold title.
AuctionTip #71: Use Underscore to Get Longer Titles
By using underscore "_" between words in your title, you'll get to enter a longer title than if you just used spaces between your words.
It's just one more free thing you should do in order to make your listings stand out..
AuctionTip #72: Use Excellent Key Words in Titles
If you want people to find your item, then place key words, and other carefully selected words in your titles.
For example, if you’re selling a collectible model car, don’t just put the word CAR in your title, put the make and model, too.
Put as many keywords possible in the title, so the greatest number of searches will locate it someone could think of who are looking for items like yours.
AuctionTip #73: Path of Least Resistance - Go With Your Strength
When it comes to finding the right thing to sell, make the best out of what you have.
If you have an advantage, then by all means, use it. But first you must recognize it; this is the hardest part. Sometimes these things are so obvious that we never see it.
A few months ago I decided to start writing my own info-manuals to sell online. It was like pulling teeth trying to decide which way to go... but it was so obvious- go with what you know.
Do you have house full of stuff you don’t use? For years it never occurred to me that anyone would pay good money for stuff I never use.
Do you work for someone who you could help liquidate some assets for? Selling on someone else's behalf, called consignment, for a percentage is a very lucrative opportunity.
Do you have any special knowledge that others would gladly pay money for? Of course you do. Someone out there wants to know. You wanted to know how to sell on eBay, so I was there to help you by writing what I knew.
You’re looking for is the shortest path to your goal. Upon closer inspection you’re always going to find better ways to get there…
But at some point you have to "do"- stomp doubt in the ground with action.
Read, think about it a little, sell a little, and commit to a direction and run with it- it will become perfectly clear to you what to do.
AuctionTip #74: A Purely Digital Filing System?
I hate filing. With a passion- but you have to have a way of doing it; If you can, create a purely digital filing system- save some trees and save you a headache- Use email receipts to keep records income. Keep good backups though.
Get a scanner and scan important documents into the computer like business expense receipts and account statements that come in the mail.
It's hard traveling back in forth from a digital and paper filing system, and it's redundant to keep both...
AuctionTip #75: Interesting Consumable Product Sources That I’ve Used
There are numerous places to buy wholesale goods. I'm sure you've seen lists of wholesalers everywhere.
Here a few that I have tested and found profitable. This is to give you some ideas... I list them for ONE reason only. They are consumable.
That means when they run out they buy them from you again. Profit potential from these types of products is endless.
Keep in mind that I am not recommending you go out and dump a whole lot of money into fat burners. This is merely something that I have tried an found it to work very well.
You and I both know that if something works very well then in time it doesn't work so hot because... everyone else it doing it too.
Main thing I want to show you is to keep looking for better and better ways of doing things. Develop a consumer market "sixth sense" by knowing what people want and need, and then give it to them.
In an ideal world, you would develop your own consumable product and then have people sell it for you. That is difficult to say the least.
That is why I will keep the focus on helping you develop your own information products in this book.
I have little to say about doing business directly with manufacturers other than it can be done. I will also say that it costs a lot of money and there is a formal process to doing business with them.
I once tried to buy CD media from Memorex but I failed to meet several prerequisites. I had to have some type of wholesaler license and I hadn't been in established very long at the time so that didn't help either.
I will be putting together some information about this in the next edition of "Auction Secrets Revealed"- I look forward to sharing the results with you.
In essence you are becoming a wholesaler when you do this.
AuctionTip #76: Don’t Get Thrown Off
If you want your item to show up during primetime, remember there is 2-3 hour posting delay, so post 2-3 hours early.
For instance, if you want your auction to end at 10PM EST, then start your auction at 7PM.
AuctionTip #77: Harness the Power of Search Engines
Using search engines with auctions is a potent combo.
The whole point of eBay is that they bring you the traffic, you simply pay them for it. If you have a good bid pulling salesletter you make money.
Using search engines adds to the amount of traffic you normally would get… without you doing a thing!
The problem is that it’s somewhat intimidating, especially if you’re new to intermediate when it comes to auctions.
Few people use them with auctions because those that know how to use search engines don’t sell their goods with auctions, but their own website. Skirting normal fees, competition and advertising.
At this point I’m going to recommend some good starting points for your research and experimentation with search engines.
This is where auctions become another book.
To start off, concentrate on promoting with Pay-Per Click search engines. Focus on Goto.com to begin with.
With Pay-Per Click search engines you bid on a keywords for the clickthoughs you get. These are words a potential customer might use to find your auctions.
Let say you exclusively sell Rock-&-Roll T-shirts. You would bid on words like “Van Halen Shirt”, “Van Halen” and so on. You might pay a penny per click-through, depending on the competition.
You would simply point the visitor to your “My eBay” page or website. This is an excellent way to get highly targeted cheap traffic.
AuctionTip #78: Proofread Your Ads and Email
Always make sure to proofread your listing before you post an ad for the first time, or have some else do so for you. You'll be amazed at what fresh pair of eyes will uncover...
It's very frustrating to catch a mistake after the auction has began and people have started bidding. Make sure you check over your ad and email for errors.
AuctionTip #79: Find Your Niche
Selling on eBay is just like the Internet or any other real world business.
In order to be successful you need to pick a niche and stick with it.
When you're starting out selling it's ok to sell a little bit of everything- but when you get serious, sit down and decide where you're corner of the market is.
AuctionTip #80: Offer A Free Newsletter or Mailing List
A great way of staying in touch with customers and potential buyers is to offer a newsletter dealing with their interests- such as something dealing with the niche you chose. You can use this to build trust, give out free information, and to plug your auctions.
In "Auction Secrets Revealed" - you'll find out more about some great ways of building a list and how it can explode your auction sales...
AuctionTip #81: How to Choose the Best Category
Ok, you have put a lot of thought into your product and completed the introspective phase of getting started.
You're excited about your merchandise and you're ready to start selling it on eBay auctions. The next step is to find your niche market; as applies to online auctions, this refers to the category you will list your item in.
Considering eBay has over 1000 categories to choose from, this should be a relatively easy process. But there is one important trick you need to know.
Before listing your item in any category, follow these simple steps: First, browse through ALL eBay categories and write down which ones you feel are relevant to your product.
You should be able to find at least 5-10 possible choices.
Next, write down the number of auctions currently online in each of those categories (the number of auctions online will appear next to the category name).
An average in any category is about 1000, so if there are more than 1000 you may conclude that the category is active and if there are less than 1000 you may consider it inactive.
I consider categories with over 3000 auctions to be popular and those with over 10000 are most popular.
Using this ranking system, rate the categories that you have chosen for your product.
I recommend listing in active or above categories only because they get the most traffic - if you put your product in an inactive section of eBay™, you may get little or no bids, even if you feature it.
Avoid categories with less than 1000 auctions online!
AuctionTip #82: Crunching Your Graphics
Buyers won't wait forever for huge graphic files to load.
If you have eBay auction listing with 300K of image files of your product, or of whatever images you use, then your ad will take forever to load.
Important sales pulling product pics must be crunched. With the right program, that 300K pic can be squeezed down to about 20K or less. A pic that took 2 minutes to load now takes about 2 seconds.
Bandwidth is still a very big issue on the net. Most of us still live in the middle of nowhere with 56k modems that are painfully slow…
There are several really great programs for shrinking graphics. Smartsaver Pro is my program of choice. You can get it here:
Hotfiles DOT com
Just go and type the word “Smartsaver Pro” in the search engine, or go to their website:
Jasc DOT com
Here's just a quick html lesson right fast that is relevant to quick loading pics.
You can place images into your ads using the <img> or image tag in your html.
You need to remember, to set the “height” and “width” attributes inside your <img> tag. If you do this the pic will be drawn out while it downloading. The visitor will see the pic opening and usually has their eyes glued to it until it loads.
If you don’t include the “height” and “width” attributes the pic will be downloaded and then displayed. An example of the html for the picture of you teapot should look like this:
<img src=”http://www.example .com/example.gif” height=”300” width=”300”>
If all this looks foreign to you don't worry, it easy to learn really fast. I will touch on this more in depth in the descriptions section of "The Auction eBook"
AuctionTip #83: Backup, Backup, Backup!
Losing your data is like losing your brain- it's crucial that you begin backing up your data today! Murphy's Law is always waiting for you to slip.
I have a zip drive and a CD drive to take care of my backups. I make full back ups to CD about every two weeks. I use the zip drive to make small frequent backups of important files.
Get a good surge protector and CD burner to make cheap backups and you'll be able avoid most disasters.
If you have the money, you can buy a good UPS, or uninterrupted power supply for about $250. This will prevent your computer from getting damaged from any sort of electrical abnormality.
It will also keep your system up and running for at least 20 minutes while you wait for the power to come back on, or while you save your files and shut-down.
These days when lightening storms dance around outside I just keep on doing my work.
It's a very secure feeling when you know that a lightning bolt can't blitz your computer.
AuctionTip #84: Some Other Product Sources I’ve Used In the Past
I'm about to list some short-term product sources. That simply means you find it, buy it, sell it, and make about $10. This is what I did my first year on eBay.
It works. But you will hit an income ceiling real fast due to time constraints.
Shopping-Bot Strategy
Using some of the free search tools at websites like MySimon & PriceWatch you can quickly dig up items to sell for profit.
Pricewatch DOT com
mysimon DOT com
One example of how I have used these sites. I have made bundles selling CDR media and supplies and by selling hot video games by doing this.
You got to remember that most people don't know how to search the Internet for the best prices. Heck, most impulsive eBayer's aren't even that cost conscious- use this to your advantage when doing this.
When a popular video game called Age of Kings came out a couple of years ago, I bought 10 units at $34 and sold them all in two weeks for an average of $75. One even sold for $100.
You must research and keep your head on the swivel looking for opportunity to do this. You also need a nice cash reserve to swoop in and snag a deal when you see it.
This works. But as you know by now, I see it as doomed to failure if you plan to use it long-term.
Group Buying Strategy
This is something I tried about a year and half ago using group buying websites...
Group buying websites allow you to join hundreds of others from around the world and pool your buying power -- just make an offer for an item listed on the site, and wait for other shoppers to make similar offers.
As more and more people enter their orders, the price comes down. Sometimes way below market value if a cycle is really hot...
You simply snap up a few units and sell them-
This is a great opportunity for new sellers to experiment and practice a little- I made quite a bit of money a while back with these sites. Find site like that then cross check prices with the completed items search on eBay:
http://pages.ebay.com/search/items/search_completed.html
Some items will resell nicely again and again- others you'll want to steer clear of- either way, this will get your RESEARCH skills primed and ready.
Finding a product source and a good price is 90% of your success with auctions...
Better sources exist, and when you find it, be sure to keep your source a secret :)
These are just simple verifiable examples I have used. Opportunity is everywhere, you just need to develop an eye for it.
AuctionTip #85: How To Keep Track of Your Auctions
Once you have more than 5-10 auction listings online, you will need to develop an effective system for keeping track of them all.
Simply listing the items and sending a confirmation email to the winners is not enough. For example, if a customer purchases one of your products and asks whether you received payment yet or not, you need to track down the item number and see if you have received his check. other customers may want to know when the item was shipped or have other questions pertaining to auctions they won in the past.
If you list less than 5-10 auctions at a time, you can probably keep track of them with the old pen-and-paper method, or with a simple spreadsheet. If you choose this method, follow these steps for keeping track of the auctions: use a separate sheet of paper for each auction you list, write down the item number, URL, listing date, listing price, and category, along with any other comments or pertinent information. When the auction ends, write down the ending date, the sell price (if any) and the buyer's contact information. Index the auctions by auction number for quick reference in a file. If you have more than 10, you must use a database system of some kind, either A.I.D. or some other appropriate software.~THOSE ARE TIPS 66 – 85, READ THE OTHER GUIDES FOR THE REST, PLEASE VOTE YES!~
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