1.
Titles: What information
do the top sellers of your item put
in their titles, and what do they
leave out? If your titles are very
different to theirs, it might be time
for a rethink.
2.
Descriptions: You'll probably
notice that the highest sellers haven't
just copied text from the company's
website or an Amazon.com review. They've
gone to the trouble of writing a little
about the item, and about themselves.
Learn from their example.
3.
Pictures: I can almost
guarantee you that the listing will
have very nice pictures, not catalogue
quality, but good enough to see what
you're getting. With items of any
significant cost, you'll probably
find more than one photo from different
angles.
4.
Style: Is it written
conversationally, or in terse businesslike
language? The way you should write
entirely depends on what the market
seems to like, and the market seems
to like what the top sellers wrote.
5.
Time: It's pretty easy
to ignore this as a factor without
meaning to, but pay attention to when
the top selling items' auctions began
and ended. This might give you a few
clues about the best time to catch
buyers who will bid highly on your
item, and then you can schedule your
items accordingly.
6.
Price: If your competitors
are selling using Buy it Now, you
can see what the maximum is that they've
managed to sell for recently, and
set your own Buy it Now price slightly
below that.
7.
Shipping: Look around to see
the sweet spot for shipping. If you
can figure out a way to get your shipping
costs lower than the highest sellers,
then this is a great opportunity to
differentiate yourself in the market.
TIP
- You can cut shipping costs immediately
by taking advantage of eBay's partnership
with the U.S. Postal Service. Now, you
can get free co-branded shipping boxes
for Priority Mail® and Priority
Mail Flat Rate Service. These boxes
will be delivered directly to your home
at no cost to you.
By
doing a little "spying" on
your competition, you'll begin to see
what's already working. Then you can
start to emulate your competitors.
Of
course you don't want to copy them completely,
but you can structure your auction similarly
based on the info your competitors are
using in the 7 categories listed in
this tutorial.
Ready
to start "spying"? Visit http://search.ebay.com,
then scroll down to select "advanced
search". You'll be on your way
to discovering profitable short cuts
for your next listing.
Dave Lovelace is
the author of eBay Platinum Profits,
a step by step beginner's guide to making
money on eBay "the right way the
first time". Subscribe to Dave's
FREE 9-day mini-course, "e-Bay
Success Tips: Quick-Start Guide To Winning
The Auction Game (for Newbies)"
and discover everything you need to
know to get started right away! Get
lesson 1 in the next 2 minutes when
you click
here now
