Selling on eBay? Here's a Success Tip for Your Online Auctions
by
Rena Klingenberg
Are you planning to sell on eBay? Or have you tried in the past but not
had much success with your online auctions? If so, here's a strategy that
has worked very well for me.
In my experience, the auction lots where I created a useful collection
of related items got more bids and closed at higher prices than auction
lots that were all one thing.
For example, instead of listing an auction lot of a simple strand of
rose quartz oval shape beads, why not create an auction lot of a neat
little "designer collection" of beads?
In this case, you could group some of those rose quartz oval beads with
garnet rondells and freshwater pearl beads. These three stones work really
well together, and this auction allows the winning bidder to have a lot
more creative fun than he or she would with a group of all the same kind
of bead.
Combo auction lots like this tend to be more valuable and useful to
bidders. In a single auction and for one shipping price, they can get a
variety of items instead of just one.
Another advantage of making combined auction lots is that your auction
listings will contain more keywords that are being searched for by a much
bigger group of bidders. For example, our designer bead collection auction
could be found by bidders searching for rose quartz beads, bidders
searching for garnet beads, and bidders searching for freshwater pearl
beads.
That's a significantly larger group than just bidders searching for
rose quartz beads. And a good portion of bidders from all three keyword
searches will be watching and considering your designer bead collection
auction.
Now here's where it gets really good:
Not only do you have a higher demand for your combo auction lots - you
also don't really have any competition for the exact auction lot you're
offering. Other sellers might offer rose quartz ovals, or garnet rondells,
or freshwater pearl beads - but not all three together in one temptingly
color-coordinated auction lot. If a bidder wants this bead combination,
your auction is the only one available to bid on.
So according to Economics 101,
high demand + low supply = higher closing price.
You can make tempting kits or package deals of other auction lots no
matter what your niche is. Here are a few ideas:
- assorted colors of polymer clay plus some basic clay tools
- inkjet cartridges plus two packs of fancy printer paper
- padded shipping envelopes plus tape
- scrapbooking pens, stickers, and a paper cutting tool
To bidders, these combination auction lots are much more appealing and
valuable. If you're a regular seller of combo auction lots, you'll quickly
gain a following of eBay buyers who always check your current auctions to
see what irresistible new combinations you have available.
Writer and jewelry artist Rena Klingenberg publishes
jewelry marketing secrets several times a week in her
Jewelry
Business Blog. You'll also find wisdom from eBay experts in the
collection of eBay success tips on her
main website.
|