|
| Contents Auction Training: What to Sell Let's Get Selling Creating Your Ad Misc. Thoughts Basic HTML Pictures Photos in Ads Graphics Online Cool Ads Online Get Organized Email Control Other Buy/Sell's How to Snipe Shipping Final Thoughts |
OKAY - LET'S GET TO SELLING Now you have a pretty good idea what to sell and where to find it , so let's give it a try. You will be doing yourself a big favor if you will set aside a couple of hours to sit back, relax, log on to the internet, and just scope out eBay's site. They have some very easy to read tutorials and descriptions of their services that are well worth the time it takes to browse through them. Just look for basic instructional "stuff" that you think you will use. You won't find many of the insider tips we will be giving you, but you do need a good understanding of the site from eBay's viewpoint before some of our tips will make sense. You will no doubt bring up the home page when you log on. It looks like there are just short of a jillion links that you can "click on," and each click seems to bring up a jillion more links. Don't get frustrated. There are tons of duplication and repetition there. Ebay puts most of the important links on every page, and with most pages, once you've read the page, you may never read it again. In fact, there are a lot of the links that you don't ever need to read unless you are really bored or lonely. My wife just counted for me and found 14 links on the home page that she has never looked at... and she is an eBay junkie. She's been buying and selling on eBay nearly every day since we went online. Let's completely ignore all the "categories" links for now and look at them later. For now, go to the farthest top right link (box) on the page and "click on" it (Site Map). That looks like the most boring link on the page, but actually, it is probably the best place to scope out the site. Now you are on the site map, so I'll go grab a cup of coffee while you catch your breath. I know. I know. There are too many links here. You can never look at them all. Good, because you don't need to look at most of them right away. Just look at the ones that you need to. Almost all the eBay links you will ever need are on this page. They are all neatly organized by subject, and the link names are explanatory enough to tell you what you will find at each link. So, for now, just study the entire page of links. Just the links - don't "click on" any of them right now. Try to get familiar with what subjects are there. Later, when you run into a question come back to the "Site Map", find a subject that covers it, and read up on it then. You will be surprised at how quickly you will get comfortable with what's going on at eBay this way. Plus, it will cut way down on the confusion factor, compared to trying to read everything at once, or just indiscriminately jumping from link to link as you are scoping through the eBay pages. Here are three links (from the "old" eBay home page - you can't find them anymore!) that you might want to read right away, then just "read as you need" on the rest of the current "Site Map."
(For your convenience, we've linked these to mirror sites on our server. You can glance through them now or just browse them the next time you hook up to eBay.) Okay, back to the categories. There are thousands of categories on auctions like eBay, and you need to find the category that is best to list or find your item in. If you are selling, try to find a good category with lots of interest. (Go to the categories you think would be suitable for your item and click on "going, going, gone" listings.) Make sure there are plenty of bids on those items. This will give you the best chance to get in a category that will get you the most bids. Remember - Don't put your item in an unsuitable category just because it has a lot of bids. Your response will be negative. Choose your category first, then look for the action. [There are some other options on the auction pages to get your ad noticed. On eBay for example: 1)Bold Listing - only costs $2.00 - not a bad investment; 2)Category Featured - costs $19.95 - gets you listed at the front of your category - worth it if your item can handle the extra cost; 3) Featured - costs $99.95 - gets you listed at the front of the "Listings" section or the entire auction - good for high dollar items and "Dutch Auctions" - better wait until you are more experienced.] Let's be honest, a good
title, in the right category, leading to a good looking, enticing ad will sell your product. Let's try that for
a while before we start throwing our hard earned money around on the extra options on the auction pages.
|
|
Copyright 2000 • NetSourcePlus • All Rights Reserved |