Bypass Your eBay Competition

Bypass Your eBay Competition

Many people will tell you that there’s too much competition in selling popular products on eBay. Not only do I disagree with that premise, I know better. A simple way to go to the head of the pack is to offer an inexpensive ‘BONUS’ with your auction. Think about that.

A Compelling Reason To Buy From You
Say there are 20 eBayers selling the same item at approximately the same price but you’re offering yours with a bonus. This is a no-brainer for the buyer. For example, I sold a lot of books on eBay. When I offered a competitive business book, I usually included a related title of lesser value as a bonus.

I also had a CD bonus I offered for other items. The CD included computer games, free eBooks and lots of high-perceived value digital items. Many people commented that they would sometimes buy my stuff only to get the CD and not the primary auction item!

The CD was played up big in the auction copy. And it goes without saying that I was also extremely competitive in shipping charges. When you’ve got a hot bonus item and very low shipping, your auction or “Buy It Now” offer goes to the head of the line and you will make lots of profitable sales. The ‘bonus’ strategy and the reasonable shipping charges propelled me to the front of the line as a seller in most auctions.

The challenge most people face in online retailing is finding wholesale products to sell. I was able to make an excellent living buying items from the following sources.

Yard Sales With the economy suffering many people are selling items they no longer need or use. I was able to consistently find excellent merchandise at yard sales. Books, electronics, household items, software, jewelry, music CDs and much more can be purchased at deep discounts and resold on eBay.
Thrift Stores For starters, Goodwill and Salvation Army thrift stores are excellent outlets for finding salable stuff. You’ll also want to check smaller independent shops in your area.
Swap Meets and Flea Markets Both might be considered huge thrift stores with many new and discounted items.
Estate Sales Get in the habit of checking your local classifieds for notices of estate sales. People are often more than willing to sell items here to simply settle an estate and clear out unneeded stuff.
Clean-up Work You might want to advertise yourself as an individual who will help folks clean out their garages, attics, storage facilities, etc. You can strike a deal to ‘dispose’ of certain items in exchange for your work. I’ve met many people who have had a constant flow of great stuff to sell simply doing this.
Craigslist.org This is a great place to find hot-selling items. My personal favorite CraigsList strategy was to search electronics, computers and the book section. I located many sellers of electronic gadgets that had to have the newest, hottest new gear and were willing to sell the last fad item at a deep discount to get the latest thing. iPods, game boxes, computer hardware and software, and many more items can be had at deep discounts. But there’s more. I recently came upon an ad where a seller was offering 7-foot Live Oak trees for $9 each. These trees retail for around $50 at nurseries. Of course, you won’t be selling trees on eBay but there are other outlets for stuff that doesn’t fit the eBay model. One is Craigslist itself. As a retailer of popular stuff, check all categories every day. And don’t forget the ‘Free’ category.

Discover How You Can Gain The Competitive Advantage On eBay

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