seller's
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seller's
profile at eBay (with all customer feedback)11:46 - Richard Seltzer
All, please introduce yourself
as you connect.
11:48 - TracyMarks
My name is Tracy Marks, and I've
been selling at Ebay for about 15 hours a week since spring 1999. I also
teach a workshop on how to sell at Ebay. In this time period, I've made
about 10,000 sales, mostly to repeat customers. Before I say anymore, I'd
like to find out who else is here!
11:50 - Bob Zwick
Hi everyone.
11:51 - Richard Seltzer
Welcome, Bob. Are you doing much
selling at eBay these days?
11:52 - Bob Zwick
actually eBay has always intimidated
me. I'm hoping you and Tracy can change that.
12:00 - TracyMarks
Bob, what intimidates you about
Ebay, and what if any questions do you have about searching/researching
items?
12:01 - Bob Zwick
Selling mostly intimidates me.
I just don't understand the different ways to sell and their implications.
12:03 - Richard Seltzer
Bob -- I believe (Tracy please
correct me) there are three ways to sell: regular auction (where you start
with a low price and hope the bidding gets it up), Buy It Now (where you
set a fixed price), and eBay store auctions (which can be either regular
or fixed price, but where the items are organized by your categories and
the auctions don't have to end -- you can have many copies of the same
thing for sale continuously).
12:13 - Richard Seltzer
Bob -- You might want to consider
selling your audio books on CD at eBay, setting up an eBay store (about
$49/month). I'll be talking about eBay stores next week.
12:14 - Bob Zwick
Sounds interesting. I would like
to learn more about using eBay. Tracy, did you say you teach a course about
selling on eBay?
12:16 - TracyMarks
Bob, twice a term at the Cambridge
Center for Adult education in Cambridge MA I teach a 6 hour workshop (2
3 hour sessions) on Selling at Ebay. I also teach the same course at Lexington
Community Education, and will be doing so at several different adult ed
centers as well beginning in the winter.
12:29 - Bob Zwick
Tracy - if you would be interested
in teaching a live online class about eBay I could provide a web classroom.
bobz@cottagemicro.com
12:30 - TracyMarks
Bob, let's talk about that in
the future -- an online class on Ebay selling. It's definitely an option,
esp. in December or early January when my schedule is lighter.
12:31 - Bob Zwick
That would be great. I'm booked
til the end of this month with Global Learn Day.
12:16 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- what kinds of things
are your "alums" selling at eBay? and can you give any examples of how
well they are doing?
12:18 - TracyMarks
Richard - I don't often hear from
my students after class, except for those that use me as a consultant.
The ones that are doing best have antiques, rare items. One is a manager
of a rare bookstore and really knows the out of print market, so it starting
to do well in his specialty.
11:49 - Richard Seltzer
Welcome, Tracy. I've been selling at eBay since 1998, but at first
did it haphazardly, just selling stuff from the basement/attic. Now, for
about a year I've been selling books on CD ROM at eBay, using eBay as a
sales channel for my publishing business.
Tracy, is eBay now your main source of income? Are sales steady enough
for you to depend on them?
11:51 - TracyMarks
No, my main source of income is
teaching and consulting - ebay is just a sideline, but one that enables
me to pursue several expensive hobbies and pay off all the costs and profit
as well. My average sales are around $1200 a month, with more than half
of that profit.
11:59 - TracyMarks
First, you can learn if an item you have to sell is selling, and for
what amount, and when it is selling. Second, you can discover items that
are selling for a decent amount...... and use that knowledge to locate
and buy those items at a considerably lower cost for resale.
12:00 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- do you use your research
mainly to write your descriptions or to plan your business? And do you
mainly do wide-open auctions or "Buy It Now" (fixed price)?
12:01 - TracyMarks
Fixed price and buy-it-now are
two different options. I use buy-it-now rather than fixed price..... I
use research to determine: a) whether an item is worth trying to sell and
what price to set for it if it is b) what items to look for to buy for
resale.
12:01 - Richard Seltzer
And once you've done a particular
search (to find the price, the competition, the descriptions the competition
is using), how often do you go back and do it again? Are such things generally
stable at eBay? Or are they constantly changing?
12:02 - TracyMarks
Let me give an example. Let's
begin with searching completed auctions. There are at least four ways to
get to completed auctions: a) from the ebay site map (left column); b)
by doing a regular search on the search page, and choosing COMPLETED ITEMS
under display in the left column; c) by doing an advanced search, checking
COMPLETED ITEMS; d) by going to a category browse page, and choosing COMPLETED
ITEMS.
12:03 - TracyMarks
Of course, the keywords and search
operators you use will make a difference, and whether you search only in
one category, include pricing information, or include description as well
as title. I can talk about later. However once you've done a search, if
you want to determine what's selling best (and what you may want to buy
and resell), order your results by PRICE by clicking on price, and if necessary
also choosing the selection for higher-priced items first.
12:03 - Bob Zwick
I use eBay to find current prices
for items I sell through normal channels or things I am purchasing again
through normal channels.
12:03 - Richard Seltzer
Bob -- I believe (Tracy please
correct me) there are three ways to sell: regular auction (where you start
with a low price and hope the bidding gets it up), Buy It Now (where you
set a fixed price), and eBay store auctions (which can be either regular
or fixed price, but where the items are organized by your categories and
the auctions don't have to end -- you can have many copies of the same
thing for sale continuously).
12:04 - TracyMarks
You then make a list of the kinds
of items that are doing well that you might want to sell.....then you look
for them on Ebay (will talk about favorite searches) and elsewhere and
buy them low whenever you can find them to resale.
12:05 - TracyMarks
Richard, if you choose fixed price
from the selling form, you choose a fixed price. If you choose auction,
you have the option of doing buy it now AND auction both together. The
latter is what I find most successful. Not doing fixed price, but doing
an auction WITH a buy it now option.
12:05 - Richard Seltzer
Do you always search for "completed"
auctions? Do you ever have a need to know what's selling for what right
now?
12:05 - Bob Zwick
Since we are talking about research.
I'll stay on topic. I think you mean finding out what sells well on eBay.
12:06 - TracyMarks
Right Bob, Ebay is a great place
to find items which you wish to resell at Ebay or elsewhere. Plus, as for
example with books, you can find books that are selling well at Ebay and
then go to http://www.bestbookbuys.com or abebooks.com and look for the
book for half the price it's selling at Ebay....and buy it for resale.
12:07 - TracyMarks
When you research active auctions,
you don't have any idea of the final sale price of the item. Many items
will have no bids but will sell well at the end or by buy-it-now. 90% of
my sales are buy it now via the auction and therefore won't come up in
an active search.
12:07 - Richard Seltzer
Bob -- for fixed-price, Buy It
Now auctions, you also want to establish an effective price. What are these
kind of things generally selling for? What are would-be customers likely
to find attractive? If the typical selling price isn't high enough, you
need to come up with other merchandise to sell or go elsewhere.
12:08 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- please explain why your
auctions "won't come up in an active search"? Will they come up in a search
for "completed" auctions?
12:08 - Bob Zwick
I see. Tell me more...
12:08 - TracyMarks
Here's a method I use successfully.
Based on finding out books which are selling well at Ebay, and books which
I've sold for a decent profit at Ebay, I have a list of about 15 or so
items that always sell well and sell immediately. I buy them up EVERYWHERE
at a low cost whenever I find them....and sell them for a profit immediately.
12:09 - TracyMarks
Richard, if someone does a buy
it now, what they paid for an item won't come up in an active current search
because it didn't show a bid or purchase till it was done. And yes, it
will come up in a completed search.
12:09 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- Does it pay to do one-off
sales like that -- finding a particular book, then offering it for resale
at eBay? I find that the process of listing items can be very time-consuming
and tedious. I find it best selling items that I have many of or that I
can make more of. Then one description works over and over again.
12:11 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- that sounds like a good
strategy (your book selling). Are books the main item you sell? I thought
you were mainly selling photos.
12:11 - Richard Seltzer
How does research at eBay help
you in your photography business?
12:11 - TracyMarks
Exactly, Richard. For example,
there's an out of print video I use in teaching one of my classes. It is
listed as FIVE BUYERS WAITING most of the time at Amazon Marketplace, and
is usually listed for $65 or more there. As soon as it appears on Ebay,
I purchase it - by BUY IT NOW if I can, usually for about $20, then I resell
it immediately either on Ebay or Amazon for about $40 profit. I do it with
the same video about twice a week. One description, used over and over.
Using favorite searches is a key....will talk about that.
12:12 - TracyMarks
I sell figure skating photos 7
months of the year, but from May -October they don't sell. I sell books
12 months of the year (and some videos).
12:12 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- Please explain how "favorite
searches" works.
12:14 - TracyMarks
Now here's the key with buying
multiple copies of an item to keep reselling. Once you find out an item
is hot, you do a search for it on Ebay and put it in your favorite searches.
You can do that by clicking on the favorite searches tab OR by clicking
on ADD TO MY FAVORITE SEARCHES after you've done a search. Ebay then will
email you AS SOON AS an item matching your description is listed and you
can put it on your watch list immediately or if it has a BUY IT NOW option,
do a BUY IT NOW. I have about 15 FAVORITE SEARCHES for the 15 books (and
2 videos) I sell repeatedly and at any given time have about 20 of them
on my watch list. When it looks like I can get a good deal, I buy the item...and
later resell it. And I can use the same description over and over, except
to alter it slightly if the condition of the item differs.
12:15 - TracyMarks
One can get to the favorite searches
tab from the My Ebay page.
12:19 - TracyMarks
When it comes to buying items
for resale, I highly recommend having a niche. Several kinds of items that
you know well and can buy repeatedly so you can keep listing the same items
again and again......plus attract repeat customers who are interested in
similar items.
12:23 - TracyMarks
Bob - Getting started at eBay,
what you'd want to do is click on the SELL YOUR ITEM form and fill it out,
step by step, using Ebay's help. Researching other items can help though
-- you'd do a search for items similar to what you want to sell and see
how other people are describing it. Sometimes you pick up particulars that
you didn't know about the item that way (you don't copy what they say but
learn from it). When you search under completed items, you will often discover
that the items that are selling and for a likely profit have much better
descriptions than those which don't, and you can learn from that what works.
Also in what category to list the item.
12:17 - TracyMarks
So far, Richard, I haven't been
convinced that having an Ebay store would be worthwhile for me. Since I
have about 3000 of my photos on my skating photo website, I can also sell
from there....and my photo buyers check out my offerings on my website
as well. ... I haven't heard many success stories about Ebay stores - you
may be doing better than most people with your store!
12:21 - TracyMarks
Richard, I may want to hear more
about how you make an Ebay store successful in the next chat! So far I
haven't been convinced that paying the monthly fee will garner more profit
than listing all my items for sale at Ebay directly. Much I'm sure depends
upon the kinds of items you sell.
12:23 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- The main advantage of
the eBay store comes from the "merchandising". When you have a store, they
for-free include prompts about 3 of your other items with every email and
every Web page screen related to a sale of yours. That leads to repeat
business and multiple-item sales.
12:20 - TracyMarks
I sell at Ebay, Amazon, Yahoo
and Half.com. Ebay does best. I get perhaps $300 worth of sales per month
at Amazon, and far less at Half.com and Yahoo. Am not sure Yahoo is worthwhile.
Half.com will be collapsed into Ebay next spring...
12:20 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- with my books on CD business,
I get about a third of my sales at my Yahoo store and two thirds of my
sales at eBay. At eBay about two-thirds of my sales are regular Buy-It-Now,
and one third are through my eBay store. Opening a store made a big difference
in my revenue.
12:21 - Richard Seltzer
I've tried Yahoo auctions, but
have never sold anything there. I sell very few at Amazon, through their
marketplace. Are you selling through Amazon auctions or Amazon marketplace?
I have about a hundred second-hand books for sale through half.com (now
owned by eBay), but only sell about one every two months.
12:23 - Bob Zwick
Richard - do you get full retail
price for your CD books on either Amazon or eBay stores?
12:25 - TracyMarks
Richard, I'm selling through Amazon
Marketplace. A key again here is to note what items are selling well there
and list those. A really useful hint is to find out what items at Amazon
Marketplace say BUYERS WAITING, go find that item at Ebay, and list it
at Amazon after you buy it. Instant sale!! You can find out by searching
around Amazon or for example with books or videos or dvds, subscribing
to http://datasift.net:81/products.php
12:25 - Richard Seltzer
Bob -- At Amazon, through their
Advantage (consignment program), I sell my book CDs at an elevated price
so I can get a decent return after Amazon takes its 55% cut. At eBay, I
sell at the same prices as at my online store at Yahoo, except items that
I normally sell for $29, I sell for $24 at eBay, because of the price-related
cut-off points they have for what fees you have to pay. From my Yahoo store,
there is no charge for shipping in the US. From eBay, I charge $1 for shipping.
I tried lower prices at eBay, as a test, and the lower price did not at
all increase volume.
12:26 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- How do you do searches
of that kind at Amazon? How can you limit a search to items with "Buyers
Waiting?
12:26 - Bob Zwick (Re: 12:23 - TracyMarks 'Bob
- what you'd want to do is click on...')
Thatt's good to know. A little
research can save me from wasting time selling the wrong items and let
me know what to expect to get for an item before I list it.
12:27 - TracyMarks
I have a list of about a dozen
or so items I sell that often have BUYERS WAITING listed at Amazon so as
soon as I buy it I list it on Amazon and sell it immediately. With the
video I mentioned, I buy it out EVERYWHERE so it's very difficult for anyone
to find it anywhere except through my Ebay listings and Amazon.
12:28 - TracyMarks
Richard - it's not exactly possible
to limit a search at Amazon to BUYERS WAITING. But when one does a search
there, the items that show up at the bottom are usually out of print, not
available, and some of those will have BUYERS WAITING. The key is to find
a number of BUYERS WAITING items and just focus on the sames ones again
and again.
12:29 - TracyMarks
The http://datasift.net:81/products.php
site is very interesting. It is database of all items at Amazon.com that
have BUYERS WAITING. It's time-consuming to sort through, but that's all
you get......the items out of stock that people want that no one is offering.
You can subscribe for 30 days free; beyond that, you pay.
12:30 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- that database sounds
interesting. How often is it updated? And what do they charge for a subscription?
12:32 - TracyMarks
It's updated daily I think (datasift).
Don't recall the current charge - it's somewhere between $15 - $30 a month.
A friend and I split a subscription for awhile, both using the same id....My
primary criticism of it is that it doesn't have good search options, and
there are literally THOUSANDS of items at Amazon with buyers waiting. It
takes a lot of time to search through the database.
12:29 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- Do those 15 hot items
that you are always looking for include any books that are both out of
print and in the public domain?
12:30 - TracyMarks
I haven't paid attention to public
domain books, Richard. That appears to be your specialty! You might want
to get your 30 days free at Datasift to see the complete list of all the
BUYERS WAITING items.......very helpful for knowing what people are looking
for and what you can provide them for immediate sale.
12:33 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:30 - TracyMarks
'I haven't paid attention to public domain books, Richard. That...')
Tracy, I was just thinking that
if those books are such sure sellers, you might want to be in a position
to publish them yourself. Have you ever checked to see what the copyright
owners might want to charge for the rights?
12:34 - TracyMarks
Richard - I'll leave that to you
-- looking for books to publish yourself! I'm out of that market now -
after spending many years in self-publishing.
12:31 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- have you written articles
with your eBay sales advice? If so, are they available on your Web site?
URLs?
12:31 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- Have you benefitted from
advice in any eBay-related books? If so, what books would you recommend
and why?
12:33 - TracyMarks
Richard - I don't have articles
up on Ebay selling, just the kit of handouts I give students in my classes,
which includes among other things actual Ebay help pages and the Ebay selling
form.......
12:37 - Richard Seltzer
Tracy -- any eBay books to recommend?
2:39 - TracyMarks
Richard, I haven't read a book
on Ebay selling in several years so I'm not up to date with the current
books. Much of the material I've seen is dated. I find the online support
groups the best resource for current information and advice.
12:40 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:39 - TracyMarks
'Richard, I haven't read a book on Ebay selling in...')
Likewise, I haven't read eBay
books. But I did recently see one called (I think) eBay Hacks at a local
bookstore. It looked tempting. Ever hear anything about that one?
12:41 - TracyMarks
Not familiar with that, Richard.
On some of the Ebay resource sites, there are lists of books for sale about
selling at Ebay, but I haven't found the ones I've seen too valuable at
this point. Often they provide long lists of wholesalers, but if everyone's
using the same wholesalers, or the wholesalers themselves are selling wholesale
on Ebay, it's hard to make a profit here.
12:32 - Bob Zwick
Tracy - do you use any software
tools to prepare your eBay sales or to manage sales ?
12:34 - TracyMarks
Bob - I don't use any particular
software tools with Ebay, but many if not most regular sellers do so. I
have links to some of them on my Ebay resource page - feel free to use
it - at http://www.windweaver.com/ebay/ebay.htm
That's my primary online resource for Ebay selling.
12:36 - TracyMarks
ALSO - there are many very useful
support groups for Ebay sellers that you might want to join. I have some
of the listed on my links page. I'm on ebaygroup@yahoogroups.com and ebay_spamfree_dealers@yahoogroups.com
and I also sometimes check the ebay sellers newsgroup at google and some
of the Ebay forums. If you go to the site map, you'll find advice forums
in every category at Ebay.
12:36 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:36 - Bob Zwick
'Does your eBay business pick up very much during the...')
Last year my eBay business dropped
as Christmas approached. It was pretty steady for most of the rest of the
year (a bit slow in June and July).
12:38 - TracyMarks
Bob - Yes, my Ebay business does
pick up during the Christmas season, but I find that the Christmas season
on Ebay is generally November 15- December 12....It doesn't go as late
as offline because of time involved in auction endings and shipping. Much
depends on the kinds of items you sell. I sell my photography well before
Christmas, and also remainder books, especially art books. There are a
number of excellent sites online for buying books on remainder, but you
really have to know what you're doing here, because a lot of books are
on remainder because no one wants them. Plus it's not worth the time to
sell books which normally retails for small amounts. The art history books
I sell are usually $50 or more retail.
12:41 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:40 - TracyMarks
'I can't emphasize enough the importance of having one or...')
Amen. With repetition you have
a chance to make a reasonable profit for a reasonable time investment.
You don't want to end up writing a new description every time you sell
an item (unless you are selling very rare items for hundreds of dollars
a piece).
12:41 - Bob Zwick
Have you found a niche that is
something that you personally like or just one that sells good ?
12:43 - TracyMarks
Bob, I ONLY sell what personally
interests me. That way I enjoy myself more, sell to customers with similar
interests, enjoy all the items I get and sell, and come across as knowledgeable
and enthusiastic about what I sell. Apart from figure skating photography,
for example, I sell a lot of art history books and Jungian psychology books.
The great thing about art history books is that I get to look at a lot
of expensive beautiful art books and scan my favorite photos in them before
selling them for a profit <-:
12:43 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:42 - Bob Zwick
'Do you include a picture with everything that you sell...')
Absolutely. Photos are very important.
It's also worth the extra 50 cents for "gallery" -- having a small photo
of your item appear in the search/category listings.
12:44 - TracyMarks
Bob, I recommend not just one
picture, but many pictures. If you're going to sell an item repeatedly,
it's worth the time to have a number of quality pictures.
12:44 - Richard Seltzer (Re: 12:43 - TracyMarks
'Bob, I ONLY sell what personally interests me. That way...')
Amen again. Selling at eBay can
be very tedious. You need to love what you are selling. If you aren't interested
in it, the whole experience could be very painfully dull.
12:45 - TracyMarks
Example of one of my art book
listings. I've sold this one repeatedly for six months...It's not the hottest
seller but generally sells about once a week.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3563471786
12:46 - TracyMarks
I'll see if I can drop by next
week. Are you doing Ebay stores, Richard? I'm sure I can learn from you
on this topic.
12:46 - Bob Zwick
I'll do my best. Next Thursday
is getting close to GLD. I enjoyed today's break from the rat race. Thank
you Richard and Tracy
12:38 - Richard Seltzer
FYI -- upcoming schedule: next
week eBay stores, the week after eBay admarketplace (banners at eBay for
about 10 cents a clickthrough); then Thanksgiving, then google Adsense,
then Google Adwords.
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