Sweet Businesses

Author’s Note: This page contains all articles on making money with eBay. Everything you wanted to know about eBay is on this page…

First, and as important to your success as anything you learn here, is clearly understanding how eBay users find things to spend their money on. There are reports that shoppers are going to spen $40 billion on eBay this year using the iPhone app.

No matter what type of buyer they are, no matter where they come from, they all use the same tool to find auction ads;

“They use the search bar to type in general terms..!”

Very rarely do buyers check the “Search Title and Description” checkbox and start browsing the more specific results. Heck; the check box isn’t even an option on the front page of eBay, you actually have to do an “Advanced Search” to even have that option. This just confirms the importance of your title keywords.

Some do browse categories rather than search, but we’re mainly concerned with general majorities here, not exceptions to the rule.

In case you’re unaware, this means that most searches are ONLY CHECKING YOUR TITLE, not the words in the description area of your ad!!!

Experience tells me that, since you now know this, you are actually way ahead of 70% of the other eBay sellers out there; and that’s a very conservative estimate..!

Now that you have a clear understanding of the importance of your title keywords, here’s a priority list for precisely picking the right ones for each of your ads:

Take these rules literally, but understand that each of these will not apply to every ad that you run. You have a maximum of 55 characters allowed for your title and just try your best to achieve as many of these as possible in this limited space.

1. Obvious keywords that are specific to the product you’re selling and make sure that they are spelled correctly.

2. One or Two misspellings of the obvious keywords from the last rule. (Google says that 33% of all searches are misspelled) …CATCH THAT? One Third! Don’t Forget This Part.

3. One or Two general eBay keywords such as “nr”, “n/r”, “no reserve”, “free shipping”, or “lot”. These are keywords that a lot of pro buyers search for.

4. Other general keywords like “new”, “free”, “excellent”, “pc”, “usb”, “dvd”, “wholesale”, or “supplies”. You can only use ones that are relevant to the product you’re selling, but these are very powerful.

Now, take these rules and create a list on a piece of paper each time you’re about to list an ad. Usually the list is way too big to fit into the title. Once your list is done, start narrowing down the list using the priority structure that I just gave you until they do fit into the 55 character limit.

If you have more than one of the item to sell and intend to list multiple copies of your ad, be certain to take the time to create different titles for each one!!! If you don’t, and you just use the same title for each copy; you’re just wasting money. Multiple versions of the same ad with different titles for each can really increase your traffic.

Respectfully,

LaTease Rikard

eBay and Customer Service

If you are running an eBay business, you may not
realize that the need for great customer service still
exists – even for online auctions. When a buyer
receives quality customer service from you, they
will potentially do one of two things – or both. They
will give you great feedback, and they may look for
more of your auctions in the future. If you hope to
make a living from eBay, you have to stop thinking
of it as an ‘auction’ and start running it like a
‘business.’

If you owned a brick and mortar business, how
would you treat your customer while they were
standing at your counter, waiting for you to finish
ringing up their order? You would be helpful and
respectful of course! You would do everything that
you could to guarantee that customers return to
your establishment in the future. You would bend
over backwards to make sure that their buying
experience with you was both satisfactory and
enjoyable. Why would you do any less at the
close of one of your eBay auctions?

First, act quickly at the close of your auctions.
Contact the winner, and congratulate them. Describe
the item they have won and how the item will be
shipped – even if this information is already part of
the description for the auction. Remind them of their
winning bid amount, and give them payment options
and instructions. Let them know when the item will
be shipped.

Close your email by thanking them for participating
in your auction. You might even take this opportunity
to tell them about other open auctions that you have
as well. Think of this contact with the winner as a
conversation that you are having with a customer
who is standing at your counter in that imaginary
brick and mortar store.

Once the payment and shipping details have been
taken care of, contact your buyer again. Let them
know when the item was shipped – the exact date
and time – and when it is expected to arrive on their
end. During this contact, let them know that if they
have any problems or questions, that they should
contact you through the eBay site. If they do
contact you in the future, make sure that you
answer promptly, and that you do all that you can
to make them happy with their purchase – even if
it means issuing a refund.

Yes. You should be open to issuing refunds,
depending on what the item is. Furthermore, you
should issue refunds promptly. Of course, it is
reasonable to expect the buyer to return the item to
you, at your expense, before the refund is issued –
but once you receive the item, issue the refund
promptly. This is just good business!