An eBay Savvy Pricing Strategy
An eBay Savvy Pricing Strategy
In order to price your product to sell you need to get nosy. Snooping around is okay and in fact required if you want to have the right pricing strategy.
Pricing is always an important element when trying to sell anything, whether on eBay or somewhere else. If you have a popular product, try setting a low starting price in order to encourage bidding. Compare competitors’ listing to see how they priced the same product. View closed auctions for the same item and see how well they did and what the starting price point was.
Shipping Charges
Be very careful about your shipping charges. People are very wary if they feel you’ve charged too much for shipping and handling, so try to keep these costs as low as possible and only charge what you have to. Don’t use the shipping fees as a tool to get your mark up. eBay has set shipping charge guidelines and if you violate them you could have your account deactivated until corrections are made or worse have your account closed. If the actual cost for normal shipping is low, you might want to offer free shipping. It’s amazing in some situations where this will entice a customer to buy from you instead of another seller.
Reserve Auctions
If possible, don’t use reserve auctions. Reserve auctions allow you to set a minimum price that you’re willing to accept for your item. In some cases, this may be necessary – for example if you aren’t willing to accept below a certain price, then this allows you the chance to get out of the sale if the bids are too low. Unfortunately, reserve auctions are not as well received as standard auctions, so you’re likely to receive fewer bids by setting a
reserve. Consider carefully before deciding to use a reserve auction.
Timing Really Is Everything
Another aspect affecting the success of your eBay business is when you start and end your listings. When you start and end will depend on what you’re selling and what target audience you’re trying to reach. But if you’re unsure, then there are some basic guidelines you can follow with regards to time.
The best times to list are generally between 6 A.M. and 9 A.M. PST on a weekend morning (Saturday or Sunday). This is because most people get at least some time off from work over the weekends, so they’ll be more likely to use this time to bid.
Holidays are another good time to start your bidding, since more people will be online and likely to bid on public or bank holidays. If your product targets housewives or teenagers, this may change. Housewives will probably be online sometime on a weekday morning, while teenagers may be online late at night or after school lets out.
The start and end times are important because this is when you want to get the most traffic to your listings. People will generally look at items that are closing that day or within a couple of hours. The best idea is to get a counter which can count the number of views your page receives at what time of day and use this data to determine your next listing. If you find that your item gets more hits at 6 o’clock on a Sunday night, then schedule your listing to close a little after that time slot to give people a chance to feed the bidding frenzy.
How You Get Paid
How do you receive payment for your items? To be truly successful at your eBay business, it’s important to provide as many options for your customers as possible. The most important payment method to offer is PayPal. Up to 75% of all eBay customers have a PayPal account and it’s
one of the most trusted names in credit card processing on the Internet. It’s important not to limit your listings to PayPal, though. Wherever possible give people an option. eBay allows you to offer a number of other payment options including checks, money and postal orders, other merchant accounts, and so on. There is a rumor floating around the internet that eBay is considering requiring sellers to offer Paypal to their customers. Since PayPal is owned by eBay it’s understandable that they could require the use of Paypal. You can set up a PayPal account at no cost, so it’s definitely worth having.
Although most customers will probably choose to pay by PayPal, it’s best to give an option for those who may not have a credit card or for those who don’t have or want a PayPal account or where PayPal does not accept certain countries.
eBay Powerseller
If you are looking for an excellent book about selling on eBay I recommend eBayPowerseller from John Thornhill. John has been and continues to be a Powerseller on eBay and he knows all the strategies and tricks.
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Comments
9 Comments on An eBay Savvy Pricing Strategy
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Degree on
Wed, 20th Jan 2010 11:04 pm
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Hal Major on
Thu, 28th Jan 2010 3:15 am
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SteveH from Lift Chairs on
Fri, 29th Jan 2010 11:05 am
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Amy on
Thu, 22nd Apr 2010 11:30 pm
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Joseph on
Sun, 25th Apr 2010 7:06 pm
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Dennis on
Mon, 26th Apr 2010 12:25 am
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Charles on
Mon, 26th Apr 2010 9:26 pm
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Daniel on
Tue, 27th Apr 2010 6:51 am
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Eric on
Tue, 27th Apr 2010 8:17 pm
How can i use money on my paypal balance instead of using money out of my bank account?
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
I think the tips about shipping and not doing a reserve, whenever possible anyway, is extremely important. It is a big turnoff for me to see an auction starting at $.01, only to see the shipping is pretty much the cost of the item. I think, using the free shipping is a great way to go or even planning on taking a little bit of a loss on the shipping, because this sends a strong message to the buyers.
It is much the same with a reserve, because when I see that, I am not likely to bid on it unless it is something I really need and no one else is selling it.
SteveH@Lift Chairs´s last blog ..Making it Easier for Seniors to Live on Their Own 
How can i use money on my paypal balance instead of using money out of my bank account?
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
When you checkout through PayPal you should be offered a choice of funding the purchase. This assumes you have listed an alternate funding method (Bank account or credit card) with PayPal.
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