Auction Management

If you're serious about making money on eBay auctions then you have to spend a little time getting to know the ins and outs of advertising a marketing. Lucky for you, we're going to walk you through all of it right here on this site, as well as each month in our eZine which you can sign up for on the left side of this site under our navigational links (seller's E-zine).

There are a number of things to consider when selling on eBay or other online auctions. Here are a few tips to get you going, these are related to time of listing.

Scheduling your listing
• 7 day auctions usually are your best bet unless their is some specific reason for another length.
• If auctions are youth-oriented try to stay away from having them end Friday, or Saturday night as that's a time when most kids are busy with other activities.
• Baby Boomers tend to do a lot of browsing mid-morning. Try ending an auction targeted at them on a Sunday.

Sellers! I can't stress enough how important it is for you to be creative in your thinking. Even things as simple as ending your auction simultaneously with "Who wants to be a millionaire?" Can have a drastic effect. I know this seems silly but this is the way it goes. The good thing is that we are going to continuously remind you of quirky little things like these so that as you begin or continue selling each month this type of PROFITABLE thinking will become engrained in the way you run your auctions.

Another eBay marketing tip to consider is really keeping track of your auctions and looking for trends. No tip can help you more than your own analysis because every body sells different items. Try to narrow it down and list at times with proven success. Always remember that just because an item fails to produce the results you wanted one time, it doesn't mean it can't be a complete success at another time.

We highly suggest a website or an eBay store to centralize all your auctions or just provide some info about your products and yourself. This plays into easing your buyers concerns. It lets them know that after the auction ends in 7 hours there is still a place where they can find you. You don't dissapear once the countdown is over. Our website designer is MatrixMT.com. They will be able to design a site to meet all your needs if you decide that is the right step for you and your business. Remember, a site or an eBay store is a place where people can buy/learn about your products 24/7. Also, remember to read up on eBays rules about linking to your site from your listing. There are a few rules to follow (always, right?) but you can work with them. Definitely add a link from your profile to your website. That's a key place to offer a link.

As for advertising, it's great practice to ask the winners of your auctins if they'd like to be kept up to date on your newest auctions. Many times people prefer to buy from sellers they've already had a positive experience with. It's very easy to draft an email that you use to send people their tracking numbers or maybe just a little follow up to make sure their item arrived safely. And what are you going to put in that email? A short sentence asking them if they would like to be added to your newsletter or auction update list. Whatever you choose to call it, just don't make it sound like spam.

Also, remember that if you do get a website, how much easier it will be to direct trafic to your auctions. You can actually place a link on your site that when clicked will take your visitors to eBay and automatically do a search for all your items by username. How great is it to be able to tell everyone you see in-person, all the people you email, and all your other contacts about one centralized place they can go to and learn about all the things you sell.

Lastly, consider maintaining an Internet auction blog. If you do you can attract some great free traffic. Let us know if you start a blog so we can be sure to visit!