One of eBay's nicer innovations for both eBay buyers and sellers is the Want it Now forum. For those unfamiliar with this part of eBay, it is a forum where buyers specify exactly what they are looking for and essentially advertise that they are looking for a seller who has the product or service that they are looking for. eBay sellers who have an active listing (this is important) may use eBay's Want it Now resources to direct the buyer to their auction for a possible sale.

This is a fantastic way to afford eBay buyers the opportunity to have eBay sellers hone in on exactly what they are looking for and try to meet that demand. It is also a great way for eBay sellers to actively market to buyers as opposed to the "post an item or service . . . then sit and wait". Many eBay sellers were craving a service that allowed them to take a proactive selling stance. In this way, eBay created a proactive buyer forum which ingeniously creates a proactive avenue for eBay sellers to search for customers.

It is perhaps most ingenious that there must be an "active" listing for the product or service that the eBayer is looking to buy before the eBay seller may use the system to contact the would-be buyer. This encourages and even pushes eBay sellers to list an item just to try to get a prospective customer. Of course there is no way to insure that the person listing the item they are looking to purchase in the Want it Now forum will become an actual buyer and bring the transaction to a successful conclusion. It's really how well the buyer and seller have opted to describe what they are looking for and what they are selling.

This forum provides the best opportunity for niche marketing or niche selling on eBay because it affords you the opportunity as a seller to search the keywords and key phrases relating to the niche products you are selling and see how many people are looking for your product or service and whether you should vary your niche in order to expand your customer base, your marketing or your product line in order to increase your profits.

Lastly, this forum is best for identifying niche markets. There is no mystery in the fact that it works best to market to a niche group on eBay. If you can find a product or service that works well on eBay and is in demand and then maintain a clear focus on that niche, you can maximize your business revenues. Finding the niche can be difficult though and that is where Want it Now can help. If you find dozens of people posting that they want to buy "silk scarves" on Want it Now, then chances are good that you found a niche that could be successful on eBay. If you find that you type in "plastic bottles" and noone is looking to buy them, then it's probable that it isn't a niche you want to try to market to on eBay unless you have a novel approach that makes them usable as say . . ."coin holders" and people are looking for "coin holders" in Want it Now!

Want it Now can look somewhat unimpressive but it's true power lies not just in cultivating a new customer here and there but rather in identifying the niches, the words people use to find those items and perhaps redirecting your marketing in a new way to grab a market that you never considered.