The Top Ten Tips For Auction Success!

If you were to look through eBay, or any other online auction
site for that matter, you would find that many people make some
very basic mistakes. And, they repeat these mistakes over and
over again. As indicated in my book "eBay Marketing Wholesale
SourcePak" with a little common sense these mistakes are
completely preventable. So to prevent you from making these very
same mistakes I have put together the Top Ten Tips For Auction
Success.

10. Shipping Always state what your shipping price will be. And,
Do Not tries to rip off your buyers by inflating the shipping
price to increase your profit. Believe it or not, people do have
a fair idea of what shipping costs should be. If they feel you
are inflating your shipping price they will not bid on your item
and may not look at any of your other auctions either from fear
of being ripped off.

9. Customer Support You must respond to all emails regarding
your auctions. Yes, responding to emails is time consuming. But,
if you don't, that potential bidder will look else ware for the
product and you will have lost yourself a customer.

8. Reserve Price Do your research on the price for your item. If
you must use a reserve price keep it real. If you over price
your item you will not get as many bids. And, while all good
marketers know there is a time and place for the Reserve
Auction, you may actually get more bids using no reserve pricing
at all. Do your research to help you make this decision.

7. Item Condition You must let bidders know what condition your
item is in. Is it new and in its packaging, or used but like new
condition. Does it have any imperfections they should be made
aware of.. Potential bidders will want to know what condition
your item is in before making any bids.

6. Terms This could come under the heading Customer Service. If
you have terms on your auction page that read something like
this "Not Responsible For Item Once Shipped" or "Item Sold As
Is" you will lessen the number of bidders for that auction. Be a
responsible eBayer, have insurance on the item that your buyer
can purchase. And be sure to have some sort of guarantee on your
products.

5. Feedback One of the most important parts of your eBay
Business. Feedback is a method eBay uses to allow buyers and
sellers to record their experiences with each other. Then,
others can check out the feedback of any eBayer they wish to
deal with, to see if there has been any negative comments left.
Therefore, it is extremely important to keep your feedback
rating positive.

4. Auction Start/Close Time You must plan your auction
start/close time around the bidders you wish to attract to your
auction. If the product you are selling appeals to the working
woman, the best time to start/end your auction would be in the
evening or on the weekend. Always create a profile on your
product and what group of the population you are selling to.

3. Item Description Not enough information or too much rambling
of information will discourage people from bidding. So too will
too many typos. Your item description must be clean and concise.
Succinctly provide all the information required to describe the
item sufficiently and create buyer interest.

2. Image You need to use an image on your auction page. Remember
a picture is worth a 1000 words! Potential bidders will want to
see what the item looks like before they make a bid. With
digital cameras, being so affordable these days adding an image
to your auction page is easier than ever. But, make sure the
image is clear and well lit to show its detail or any
imperfections it may have. Also, keep the image at a reasonable
pixel size so your auction page doesn't take too long to load.

1. Headlines This is the most important issue for getting more
bidders to your auction page. You must include words that people
will search on eBay. And, you must make your headline enticing,
so potential bidders will click it. If you are selling an
antique make-up table a headline saying old vanity table would
not pull in a lot of bidders. But, if you said something like
"Vintage Vanity Table - Mint Condition - Collector's Item" not
only would you get more potential bidders to view your auction,
you would also be using words people would search eBay for. Your
auction title would appear in searches for Vintage, Vanity
Tables, and Collectors Items. Therefore, allowing even more
potential bidders to see your headline.