Targeting Your Ebay Audience

Targeting an audience is quite necessary for an ebay seller or a Powerseller. You may say ebay shoppers are my target audience. Yes, it’s true but it’s not enough. You need to narrow it down to specific audience. You need to consider a few things first. Are you selling local or international. If you target local customers, you may need a bit of research on how you are going to reach these customers. As sellers, you will probably want to drive buyers to your auctions from outside ebay. Today, this requires a website with someone commercial educational content along with links to your auctions or ebay store. Your success with both buyers and sellers will be determined by how well you get to know them. Who are they? Which group is likely to become repeat customers? Knowing this will change your approach to reach them. Once you have defined your audience you will be smart enough to change the appearance of your ebay listings, business cards, signage, location and everything in your ebay store.

Why Would You Choose To Sell Digital Products On Ebay?

People who shop online will always consider selling at ebay. Although some people think ebay as an online store that sells junk. Yet ebay is undeniably the best place to shop cheap items compared to the local stores. People now have become more practical that they would consider buying cheaper and slightly used products in good condition than buying expensive items.

Digital products are very salable at ebay. If you try to look ebay’s most sold items, digital products are always first in the list. Although competition is quite tough but if you try to look at it, ebay has so much traffic and there is a big chance that your product will be noticed. As long as you display quality items with a good photo shot and detailed description, people will always buy it.

Selling on ebay is always an advantage than having your own store especially for new sellers. Many of those who build their own online store outside ebay has always started selling at ebay. If you are new to selling digital products, the best way for you to start is on ebay. You may start by trial and error. Be an ebay member; understand the fees and the auction styles. If you are successful with the few products, there is a great chance of making it a stable home business and later on be a powerseller.

Business In A Garage Or Basement

Home-based businesses like ebay are done in either a room or if things get crowded, in a garage or basement. A 200 square foot space is a good way for you to start rolling. It is important that you organize the place and make it like a real ebay store. Be clever when designing a garage space so you’ll keep enough of the garage door area clear so that you can open it and easily move parcels in and out when the delivery folks arrive. It would be practical to make your own shelves. Consider using tall shelves to scrounge as much vertical storage space as you can. Build a shipping table which needs to be a little lower than a regular workbench or desk as most shippers prefer this. You can visit the UPS facility shipping table if you want to make sure of the height for your shipping table. Provide a desk for photo editing and somewhere you can do your photo editing. A Photo table is very important. It can be at least four feet wide. Reserve some sturdy shelves empty store space and for oversized items. Lastly, install smoke detector, extinguisher, heater and air conditioner if necessary.

Ebay’s New Feedback Changes Launched Today

Today is the launch of new ebay feedback policy. The changes includes: (1)no negative feedback for buyers only for sellers (2) feedback lasts only 60 days from date of transaction (3) no more feedbacks for suspended members or if buyer fails to respond to unpaid items (4) members will get credit for weekly repeat feedback. (5) Positive feedback percentage will be computed after every 12 months and requires Powersellers 98% feedback.

Ebay stated the reason for the change is they think buyers were prevented from leaving honest feedback since they feared retaliation from sellers if they left a negative feedback. Though sellers has bombarded ebay for making ebay pro seller instead of being neutral. Powersellers even so react negatively with the changes, especially those who are Trading Asssistants and Ebay Educators. A positive feedback of 98% is too much as a requirement and credits not enough for repeat feedback.

How Powersellers Starts A Bid Price

To decide on a starting bid price is one of the most difficult tasks an eBay Trading Assistant has to decide. Imagine how you expect to get $1500 from a starting price of $0.00. Powersellers of course have some tricks on how to they are able to meet the expected price. It is more difficult for an Ebay Trading Assistant to sell items of other people than selling his own. It is always good to start at low price. Most auctions that start a low bid price ended high as you would expect. The trick is, never start an item at more than one-third of the expected ending price, and lower if possible. But when you are selling obscure items of high value, with very small following, start the item at a price you will be comfortable taking if only one person bids.

In ebay selling, it is important that you avoid selling junks. Powersellers never do this. Obviously, junk won’t sell for much, so you will get a little if no profit from selling it. But something else happens. When potential buyers get interested in you, they will often click on your “View Seller’s other items” link. If they find a lot of junk there they will think less of you as a seller. And all that junk will make it harder for interested bidders to see the good stuff you are also offering. Still, selling junks consumes eBay and PayPal fees that could be better spent. As an ebay seller, you have to set a minimum dollar value for each item you list. If you think an item can sell profitably for that minimum value, don’t list it. Do not compromise your business reputation. Selling good quality products will keep you in ebay business.

Take Photos Of Your Ebay Items Using A Digital Camera

Digital cameras have become very useful to ebay sellers. Different models are coming out in the market and varies from pixel to pixel. Here’s a list of things I think you should look for in a camera:

• A mnimum of three megapixels
• A good close-up capability for small objects and details
• The biggest LCD display you can afford
• An efficient way to move images from the camera to your computer such as the USB port.
• A way to run the camera on AC, or removable batteries, so you can recharge one set while using another.

In using a digital camera for taking pictures for items to sell on ebay is a very easy task. Just remember these few tips before you buy one.

What Is An Ebay Trading Post?

If your garage is getting too full and crowded, powersellers or trading assistants may think of moving to a commercial space. Some ebay sellers rent a warehouse or a retail shop called eBay Trading Post. Trading Assistants usually have their own trading posts. These assistants are ebay sellers who help folks who don’t want to become ebay sellers to sell their items on eBay. They take the customer’s items and do all the selling for them - list, collect the payment, ship the item to the buyer, and soon. Trading posts are the best place to make transactions with these customers. A properly located retail store with a visible sign will attract a lot of attention, and therefore a lot of potential customers. Ebay sellers with trading posts need to sell a lot of other people’s items in order to keep the business going because of the small portion they get from the items they sell. They need to consider the space rentals, advertising & PR, utilities, telephone insurance, office supplies, taxes and licenses and labor if they prefer to have a selling assistant.

Tips On Choosing Your Ebay Store Logo

Logos signify your company name. It carries the company’s reputation. It’s a visual representation of the nature of business you have. Logos are one of marketing strategies of every company. For example, if you see a check sign, you will easily remember the Nike brand or when kids see an M, they will think of Mc Donald’s restaurant. Make it simple and easily recognized. You want your store to be recognized quickly. When people surf through tons of auctions you want yours to stand out. You want people to remember your store. Be creative without spending much. Logos need not be expensive. You can make a simple and creative logo through MS word, fireworks or photoshop. Be creative. Choose a good color or image or letter. Play with it. Come up with a logo that best signifies your ebay business. Make a consistent look and style. It’s not enough to splash your logo all over town,; you also want it to look the same everywhere. Since it is your trademark, it must be authentic. It must have the same look and style when placed in brochures, business cards, letterheads or any other ads.

Effective Title For Your Ebay Listings

Powersellers should know how to make their title look attractive to buyers. An effective title could drive traffic to your site. You need a few easy tricks to do this.

Capitalize Title
An all-CAPS title makes your item more readable and will catch buyer’s attention. It is a very effective trick to drive traffic to your ebay store and your ebay listing.

Bold Title

Bold title makes your title darker in eBay search results lists. This is another important trick to make your item stand out from the rest of the listings.

How To Advance To Powerseller Level

To advance to powerseller levels you will need to continue to comply with all of the PowerSeller program criteria. Your sales and DSR will be evaluated for 3 consecutive months. The first powerseller level is the Bronze Powerseller with a minimum monthly requirement of at least $1000 in sales or 100 items per month, for 3 consecutive months. A powerseller is required to achieve an overall Feedback rating of 100 and at least 98% positive rating. You must be an active member for 2 months and your account must be in good financial standing. You must have maintained an average of 4 monthly listings for the past 3 months. Ebay will automatically notify and congratulate you when you reach the next level. If your selling success falls below the level for your current tier, you will automatically receive an alert email. You will be given 30 days allowance to bring your account back to compliance. If after 30-day grace period, you account still falls below the criteria, your Powerseller status may be demoted or may eventually lose the ebay Poweseller status.

What Are Ebay Powersellers Program Benefits?

Powersellers are folks who sell at least $1000 per month on eBay, maintain 98% feedback rating and provide high level of service to buyers. Ebay rewards powersellers with the following:

Prioritized Customer Service

eBay provides priority customer support and technical assistance to powersellers. This includes priority customer support through email, phone or directly calling your dedicated account manager during business hours. Priority email and Telephone support is also provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can email or call you queries pertaining to Trust and Safety such as feedback removal, non-paying bidder, ended listings or suspension. Use of Skype an online phone system where you can call your customer directly from your computer. All you need is to download the Skype software and a headset.

Powerseller Discounts

eBay offers discounts on final value fee to powersellers. You need to go to the Seller Dashboard to know how much can be discounted from your final value fee. The percentage will depend on your DSR rating.

Expanded Seller Protection Program From Paypal

In expanded seller protection program, powersellers are provided with unlimited coverage of Seller Protection Policy with paypal transactions. The coverage limit of ebay seller is worth $5000 per year. As a powerseller this comes unlimited with no more confirmed address where customers can choose any shipping addresses. Also, coverage is extended to more countries in the world. Powersellers need to register to Expanded Seller Protection to paypal before they can avail of such service.

Increase Visibility In Best Match Searches

Powersellers who maintains no less than 4.6 DSR ratings in the last 30 days will have a 5% to 25% advantage of visibility in Best Match Searches than the average ebay seller. This is a new feature ebay has added to Best Match. Not only does the search depend on keywords but also considers the seller performance factors.

Exclusive Networking

Powersellers can participate in discussion boards and forums and share ideas and selling with other members.

One of the most attractive benefits from ebay is the access to additional product sources in eBay Reseller Marketplace. Powersellers get the chance find great values for excess inventory directly from manufacturers, liquidators and wholesalers. Powersellers can buy in bulk for resale by small and medium-sized ebay business.

Celebs Auction Baby Items For Charity On Ebay

Johnson & Johnson sponsors a worldwide charity program, babycause.com that supports all the babies in the world. One of its projects is the ebay’s “Johnson’s Celebrity Hand Me Down Auction” an auction of baby items donated by celebrities starting April 29 to May 9. Stars like Matt Damon, Jeri Ryan, Julian Moore, Elisabeth Hasselback showed their baby products in auction selling for a cause.