My Business Experiences - eBay

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Written by Cai Thomas

I will start off with eBay, which gave me a nice income when I was about 16. There are a few rules on eBay that you must stick to and I will bullet point them below for you.

 

  1. Decide who you are targeting, there are 3 sorts of buyers on eBay, those looking for a buy it now deal at the cheapest price, those who want something tomorrow and those who bid on items as they are willing not to win the auction. I think by far the best two to target are the first two, depending on what you are selling I would suggest normally the second is the most profitable.
  2. Information is key, if you don't give enough information on the item you are selling you are likely to either have it returned or not achieve a sale in the first place.
  3. Advertising, I have found for items with enough margin where there are lots of competitors, a premium listing at the top can be considered gold-dust.
  4. Multiple listings or a single listing with multiple items? I would always go for the multiple items option. I say this because if you have an item ending every 6 hours instead of one ending in 53 days, more people are likely to find you.
  5. How to set the price? As i mentioned in my first point, are you going to be the cheapest or is it an item people need ASAP like printing ink or toner? If it is a in demand item then i would not be the cheapest, don't be massively more expensive, but offer next day delivery. You will find your items flying out the door. The obvious example is the number one toy every Christmas. Every year you find people buying them up in stores, adding 20% and flogging them on eBay. This happened last year with the WII fit and the XBOX connect. You cannot base a business on 2 toys on eBay unless you buy 1000's, but you can make a nice chunk every year, which is always helpful around Christmas.
  6. The final point is the aesthetics of the listing. If you are selling an in demand item then you are much more likely to sell it if you have a professional template which clearly outlines your positive feedback, delivery rates and times (preferably tracked) and any extra services like pre-9am which make you flexible to the customer (even at a cost).