|
|
|
Channels:
|
Search for:
|
Author: Laura_Brito, Contributing Editor
| If you are planning to quit your real job and become an online entrepreneur or simply pad your income as an artist who wants to sell in a venue other than galleries, guild shows or art fairs, then the option of online auctions, like Ebay, will be important to you.
I have been with Ebay since its inception. Thru the years I have learned to grow and change when necessary. I have also learned many tricks-of-the-trade to increase my sales. Most of these are easy and some are more complicated. In this article I will share the tricks and tips that you can employ to help yourself increase sales and profits. First, be on the alert to roll and grow with changes that constantly take place. The online marketplace is complicated and can confuse even the most savvy of online sellers. I am constantly scanning everything on Ebay for new features, options, and watching other auctions to see how they are doing. I learn new things about Ebay on an almost daily basis and survival in a marketplace with constant change means that I have had to change considerably during the past five years! It is important to network, talk to other sellers, read the forums on ebay and other sites, watch the news online and on TV, and be watchful of trends. There is a wealth of information out there - some good and some not so good - you have to be able to figure out what pertains to your type of product and how to use it. Good information can be gleaned from surprising sources to help with your sales. For example, I met a lawyer at a vacation resort who shared a wealth of information with me, and I in return shared some of my tips with him. I had commented to him that I had a lot of books I wanted to sell, and he shared how the half.com portion of Ebay list books for free. I hadn't thought of that, but now I list books on half.com and they do sell well. We also discussed how to promote our listings via signature files in emails, putting bulletins in our packages and sending thank you notes and shipping notices to our customers. Keep business cards with you at all times. I hand them out often and leave them everywhere. You never know where your next opportunity for a sale will come from. You also never know how close a fellow seller is to you! I just found out after many months of living next door to this lady that she too makes her sole living on Ebay! Now we can chat about sales and learn tips from each other! |
| Ebay in 1995 started out as a tool for Pierre Omidyar's girlfriend to sell her Pez Collection Items. It was, most likely, the first place to offer things in an auction format on the very young internet. Soon many people wanted to sell their items on Pierre's site as well. Today, the Ebay community includes 49.7 million registered users.
Other sites that would be of interest to the artist who wants to sell online are: Yahoo.com Auctions, Yahoo has both Auctions & Stores, Amazon which has auctions, z-shops & Amazon Marketplace, and for the glass art bead artist Just Beads Auctions. |
 |
| Ebay is the worlds largest virtual marketplace. The sky is the limit when it comes to sales and ability to generate income. My family makes its sole living on Ebay and other online ventures with income primarily from Ebay.
Ebay is quite a bit bigger than most realize. They own many web sites, Half.com, Paypal, ebay motors, ebay stores, Sothebys, Taiwan's NeoCom, Ibazar S.A. which today takes you to ebay.com, Internet Auction Co. Ltd., Korea’s largest auction-style web site, eBay Premier which takes you to Sothebys, and Butterfield's. Plus they have a huge amount of global marketplaces in the following countries. Global sites include: Argentina Australia Austria Belgium Brazil Canada France Germany Ireland Italy Korea Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Singapore Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan United Kingdom As time passes Ebay continues to gobble up more of the online marketplace and they are very protective of it. Slowly all other options have been shrinking in size. The online seller that doesn't use Ebay is basically like going without water in the desert. |
| Ebay offers various ways to sell and market your items, but primarily, sales are thru the auction format. Here is Ebay's Seller's Help Page. This is a classic format where an item is listed on the site and will sell to the highest bidder. There are many options you can choose within the auction format. You can set the starting price for the item; then, you can also choose to place a price that is called buy it now. With the buy it now, the bidder can decide to pay that amount and win it on the spot. You can also list an item in the fixed price format. Fixed Price is not a typical auction format; your customer can buy the item at the fixed price which will end the listing. Fixed price items usually sell for more than regular auctions. Some sellers are using the fixed price option instead of listing items in an Ebay store. If you would like more info, this is Ebay's listing format page. Ebay's Listing Format
You can choose the amount of time your item is up for auction; 3, 5, 7 or 10 days (10 days incurs an extra fee). There is a fee associated with listing items on Ebay, it is based on the starting price you decide on, plus any other options that you include in the listing. A listing of the fees associated with Ebay are here: Ebay Fees |
 |
| Quick Jump: | ||||
