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.
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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.
