Strategy: To sell to the sellers the supplies, tools and equipment they need to sell more
Timing: The best time to use this strategy is when the ‘gold
rush’ is on- CR’s are at 80% or better and there has been a lot of media coverage of people making money on the Internet, especially eBay.
This strategy is commonly called, “Selling pans to prospectors”- and for
good reason. Most gold prospectors never made any real money, but the merchants selling them the pans, wheel barrels and other tools they
needed sure did!
There are people selling things like bubble wrap, packing tape, peanuts
for packing and boxes to sellers and mail order houses on eBay. They do very well.
Can you think of other things that could be auctioned on eBay to small businesses or others who need special “tools” for their jobs and
businesses?
How about software to help automate their selling or a service that follows -up with their buyers after the sale?
Let’s look a little closer at the way this works and how to really make money doing it:
“Who's Selling What On eBay? Would you believe...?”
Reverse engineering is a process that very few manufacturers will admit to doing--but they all do it. This is how it works:
You buy a competitors product and take it apart to see how it works, and what secrets it contains and how you can apply what you've learned to your own business. It's done in almost every industry, so why not Internet auctions?
Here we go:
In January 2007 eBay announced the award of their first "Shooting Star". A
Shooting Star is awarded to anyone with a feedback of 10,000 or more. The
award was given to “Parrothead88” (not referring to the shape of his head but to his eBay user ID).
Imagine! A positive feedback of 10,000!
Anyway, what lessons can we learn from this man? What brought him such stardom and notoriety? Let us look closely, friend, at his success...
As of the date of this Report Parrothead88 has over 14,390 feedbacks! Even more amazing is that 19,000 are positive (14,400 from unique users) and only 10 are negative!
In the month of January he received 1,497 positive feedbacks! That's 48.3 per day...including Saturday's and Sunday's.
What is he selling? Let's take a look at his auction listings ending today at:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-
cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=parrothead88
Ok...go ahead and look, then come back here. Ummmmmmm....1,2,3 buckle
my shoo…
Back? Good! And what do we see? Hummm... stone coasters, bubble mailers and…and…packing tape?
In January when I ‘spied’ on his auctions this is what I found: Most of his
auctions still had 4 days to go...but...if he were to close his auctions out that day he would have gross sales of $822.61. But, for the sake of argument ...he is only half way through his auctions for this period...he will probably get 50%
more orders on his dutch auctions. That puts his gross sales at about $1233.91. These auctions started on Feb-06-00 and will ended on Feb-16-00. He has
posted some new auctions that will end on Feb-21-0 0 .
Now, if you look carefully at what he's doing he is selling the same items over, and over again. In other words HE DOES NOT HAVE TO RE -CREATE WHAT HE IS DOING ON EACH AUCTION (what I call an “eBay Platinum Success Principle”).
I'm sure he is using a template or boilerplate html listing. All he has to do to start
and auction is submit the template, maybe make one or two changes...and he's
done!
Also, if you look closely there is a 5 day period between the ending of his
auctions. My guess is that he needs that 5 days to fill all his orders. I'm
assuming that he has a spouse or friend who helps him...but maybe he's on his own or has several employees…I don’t know.
At this point we have some understanding of what he's doing, what he's selling and what his BASIC strategy is.
There's a lot more to this guy's operation than meets the eye. (I have never
ordered anything from him...but I WILL...because I want to see what ELSE he is
doing! You should too. Learn from others- don’t steal their ideas, but learn from
them.)
First, my guess is, most (maybe not all) but most of the orders he is getting from his eBay auctions are BRAND NEW customers of his. Most of his customers
are probably eBay sellers themselves, or have a mail-order business that uses
his mailers, bubble wrap, etc. Here's where his little enterprise gets really
interesting...
If he was smart...really smart... he is capturing the name and address of every eBay customer he gets and follows -up with them on a regular basis to SELL THEM MORE OF WHAT THEY JUST BOUGHT. Did you get that? He also advertises his web site at:
http://www.bargainsgalorestore.com/ where he is taking orders for the SAME stuff he's selling on eBay.
And my guess is that, once he makes a sale, that customer gets frequent
mailings from him for a variety of other products. His customer acquisition costs are almost zero. Ebay generates NEW customers for him, at the same time he is selling stuff like crazy, and he gets additional sales (AND more profitable sales) from his repeat customers who bought from him originally on eBay!
So, why is he successful? He's not selling anything very expensive...or
valuable...or collectible...or something that you couldn't find walking down the
street to the corner store...BUT...he is selling something *sellers need* on eBay.
The lessons to be learned here?
1. You can do the same reverse-engineering analysis on anyone selling
anything on eBay or other auction sites;
2. Capture every customer name you get from eBay (even if you don't or
can't sell them anything else right away- the NAMES are valuable);
3. Think about future sales and maximizing value for your customers...don’t
concentrate just on the immediate sale;
4. You are more creative and brilliant than you think (OK, not relevant to
this strategy but...it is a lesson to be learned, isn't it?)
Money-Maker #2: “Selling Pans To Prospectors”
Ways to Make Money Selling On eBay
Money-Maker #1:
“The Collectibles, Antiques and Memorabilia Super-Strategy For Selling on eBay”
STRATEGY: Selling collectibles, antiques and memorabilia in specific categories on eBay for the highest market prices
TIMING: This strategy is best used when the percentage of successful closings or closing ratio (CR) in the category you specialize in reaches 70% or better.
This is the most obvious way, and the most often employed way, of making money on eBay by individuals.
As I started on eBay by selling used books. I had been a collector for over 20 years and a dealer for 15 years. I
specialized in selling just collectible books: first editions, special bindings and
ephemera.
I have since added a few other areas to my eBay selling, but never seem to make as much money as I do selling books. My guess is it’s because of my experience in this area.
The same should be true for you. What background do you have? Do you have a hobby or special interest or are you a collector?
That’s where you should start and that’s where you will make the most money using this strategy. Add depth to your knowledge by reading in your field and get as many good reference books and price guides as you can.
So you have an area you have some experience in. What do you do to
maximize your income selling antiques, collectibles or memorabilia on eBay?
- BE SUPER-ORGANIZED! -
TIP: If you list items for sale using eBay’s provided selling form you’re
loosing money! Get eBay listing software and save each listing you make .
That way, when you’re ready to sell the same item or similar item again all you have to do is press a couple of keys to list . Time is money! The real estate
salesman’s adage, “The more you list, the more you sell” is definitely true and
applicable here.
I use ShootingStar software now to list auctions and track post -auction
management available at http://www.foodogsoftware.com/ . BTW, that’s not an affiliate link. I don’t make a cent promoting it. I just think it’s the best available
for the price.
I like ShootingStar because it allows me to save every listing on my hard drive and it includes free auction counters. You use the software (which
includes free updates) to make unlimited listings on eBay, Amazon’s zShops and Amazon Auctions.
Another service that just started at the time of this writing is eBay’s (in
conjunction with Blackthorn Software) Auction Seller’s Assistant. I tried it for 30 days free and found it’s very nice to work with. But, it’s a little pricey - $15.99 a month. It does all the same stuff ShootingStar does and a little more. Ebay
gives you a trial period to try it out.
But there is a lot of good software out there today because auction
selling has become so popular. Most companies will allow you to use their
software for 30 days before buying or registering. Some programs are free. Try them all out and see which one works best for you.
Here’s a brief list of some other eBay listing software that you should look at before making a final decision:
http://www.andale.com/corp/index.html
Rather than listing software, this company allows you to list on eBay
using templates directly off their site. It was free for quite awhile, now there is a small fee for each listing. Their service includes some neat auction tracking,accounting and follow-up systems. My opinion is that they charge too much for the service. You’re already paying eBay to list your item and, if it sells a
‘success’ fee- why add to your overhead? But they do have some neat features, I just wish they would find another revenue model.