eBay Tip: Earn Gift Cards For Shopping on eBay

Get paid to shop on eBay!

Not only is eBay a great way to make money online, but you can also get paid by earning points toward gift cards to some of your favorite retailers every time you shop on eBay!

Some sellers on eBay actually get their products in bulk from another eBay auction.  If you are one of those type of sellers, or if you just buy on eBay from time to time for your own personal use, then you've got to check out MyPoints.

MyPoints will credit you 2 points for every dollar you spend on eBay!  If you're going to buy something on eBay anyway, why not get rewarded for it?!

MyPoints is completely free, and yes, I use it myself often.  I never recommend anything on this blog that I have not tried myself.

And you can earn points toward gift cards not only when you shop at eBay, but also at many other online retailers.

Sign up for MyPoints today:

eBay Tip: Study Your Competition

When it comes to selling on eBay, its most likely that you are not the only person selling that particular item unless it's a rare item of some sort.

This is a positive thing since you can look at other sellers' auctions to see how they listed theirs, and possibly learn something from their auction, or take advantage of an important detail they may have left out.

Or maybe your picture just looks better than theirs.  This can be another plus for you and your auction.

The bottom line in any business is to study your competition, see what they are doing and do it better, or cheaper.

Good luck with your auctions!

eBay Tip: When Should An Auction End?

In my last post, I talked about thinking like your customer. 

When it comes to answering the question of "When should I end my auction?", you'll once again need to think like your customer.

Since there may be thousands of potential customers, how can you easily think like all of them?  You can't.  But, you can think like MOST of them by ending your auction during a time when those customers are likely to:

1. be awake-keep the different time zones in mind
2. be online-people tend to get online in the evening and even more so on the weekends, though this trend is slowly changing as we now have instant internet access from almost anywhere, anytime.
3. have extra money (remember:  lots of people get paid on Fridays)

There have been a lot of studies done on figuring out the magic time to end an auction, and really, there is no perfect time.  So that's why I say to go for the most common customers during the most common times and watch your sales grow :)

eBay Tip: Think Like Your Customer

 We are all a little different, so that means we will probably all look for the same thing in a little different manner.

For instance, if I am one of your potential customers, and you have an eBay auction listed for an Antique Clock, that is going to return hundreds of results.

So how can you think like your customer? Think of all of the possible word combinations people might use to search for your item:

• antique wooden clock
• Kassel Antique clock
• old clock
• rare clock
• hard to find clocks
• antique mantle clock
• old wall clock
• vintage clock

The more of these types of phrases and word choices you have in your auction, the more you increase the potential for more bidders.

eBay Tip: Promote Your Auctions With Twitter

If you don't already have a Twitter account, sign up for one today to promote your eBay auctions.

It's completely free, and provide even more traffic to your auctions.  More traffic means more possible sales.

Think about promoting your auctions as door to door sales.  Not everyone is going to buy from you, but the more doors you knock on, the more you increase your probability of making a sale.

You can use Twitter to post a link to your auction and watch your sales increase!

eBay Tip: Know Your Wholesaler

Whenever you think of selling on eBay, you most likely think of finding items for a low price, and selling them for a higher price. This is where some eBay sellers turn to wholesale businesses.

But how do you know if the company you are about to begin a business relationship with is legit?  I mean, let's face it, there are plenty of what I call "fake wholesale companies" out there, that either promise wholesale prices which really aren't, or deliver an inferior product.

One website you can check out is the Better Business Bureau.  Their website is http://www.bbb.org/.

On the Better Business Bureau website, you can check out companies and see what their track record has been for issues such as customer complaints, returns, etc.

Since you want to be in business for quite some time, it's wise to do a little homework on any business relationships you seek to encounter before finding out the hard way that a business just wasn't what you thought it would be.

ebay Tip: Become an Expert About Your Product

This tip isn't a "have to", but can definitely be helpful when selling on eBay.  The more you know about the product you are selling, the easier it will be to use good keywords in your auction, and it will be easier to answer questions about your item.

Learn everything you can about your product.  If you don't know where to start, just do a simple google search for your item, and see what information is out there that might be able to assist you in making a better auction description or make you more knowledgeable about your item.

If you don't know a lot about your product before you get started, don't worry, many sellers don't, but you can learn, and the more you know can mean the difference between a sale and a relist.

eBay Tip: Promote Your Auctions In Your Every Day Emails

Once you have one or more eBay auctions up and ready to go, and live on the auction marketplace, there are other ways to draw buyers besides using good keywords in your description.

You can also promote your eBay sales by putting a link on your email that only points to your eBay items for sale. For example, if your eBay seller name as "mysales1234" then you could put a link in your email "http://myworld.ebay.com/mysales1234/" that would point any email recipients to your eBay info. Think about how many emails do you send in day?  Each one of those emails could also be an advertisement for your eBay auctions :)

I'm NOT suggesting spamming your friends or contacts of course. If you do that, you'll soon find that your emails aren't even being read anymore because your friends or contacts will think you're just trying to sell them something.

Free eBay Tips

If you've never sold anything on eBay, you truly don't know what you're missing in the way of the profits that can be made.

Yes, it is true there are some who actually make a living from eBay alone, but it takes time, and a proven formula to reach that kind of success.

In a time when the economy is still in a lull, it is possible to make money online, and eBay is just one of many avenues.

So you can start your own eBay business alone, or you can get some FREE EBAY TIPS to get started down a successful path of selling on eBay: Free eBay Tips.

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ebay Tip: How to Word Your Auction

eBay can be a great way to make extra money, and for some, has become a full time income.

Regardless of what type of income you are looking for from eBay, why not make each listing worth as much as possible.

One simple tip for doing so, is using "keywords" in your listing. "Keywords" are highly searched words on search engines. The use of these "keywords" will bring more traffic to your listing, which can potentially mean more bids, more customers, more money!

Where to get "keywords"

Since Google is one of the most popular search engines, I recommend using google's keyword tool.

How to use "keywords"

If your listing is for a antique clock, then type in "antique clock" on the google keyword tool, enter in the "captcha" information, and then click the "Get keyword ideas" button:

This will display a list of common searches done for the previous month related to the phrase that you entered.

If you click on the Local Search Volume link once, it will sort out the list with the highest amount of searches being on top. You want to use as many of these as you can in your listing to bring in more traffic.

However, you don't want to just enter the phrases themselves, you want to incorporate these phrases into your listing, and make them sound natural. I recommend using not only some of the highest search phrases, but some of the lowest as well, to get that specific customer's attention.

Get more free eBay tips: Free eBay Tips

eBay Selling Tip: Find a niche

If you’re looking at selling on eBay, first become familiar with what other people are selling.  Unless you can charge far less, or offer a particular spin on a popular item, such as cell phones, you’re going to find that a fierce competition exists.
This is where finding a “niche” can make your eBay business successful.  It’s such a simple eBay business tip, but it can make a world of difference between making sales, and just listing items.

What is a niche?
A niche is pretty much a specified market within a market.  For example, if you decide to sell baseball equipment on eBay, you’ll find quite a bit of competition.  So a niche market could be left handed baseball gloves.
There are countless articles, courses, and even entire websites dedicated to the concept of “niche marketing”.  And it makes so much sense….the tough part is coming up with a niche.  This is where your own creativity comes into play to discover a niche market.