The E-commerce Merchants Best Season - eBay Tips and Tricks

I swear it was only a short while ago we were all scraping through the slow times of the summer months. People were out sunbathing, vacationing and not thinking about shopping online. If you were like me, you couldn't wait for the fall and the holiday shopping season... and now it's here!

Not only is the holiday shopping season here, it will be over in the blink of an eye! I am finding it hard to believe that Christmas is only 44 days away. EBay is reminding us every day with a countdown right at the top of the page, not sure if I like it, gives me a panicky feeling inside.

Ok so it's not too late to take advantage of this great time of year for selling! Here are things that I have been doing to increase sales:

1. First you can't sell it if it ain't listed. So get those items up and visible.

2. Price competitively but definitely don't be the cheapest out there. I tend to look at completed listings for an idea where things are selling, then look at currently available to see what the supply and demand looks like - I tend to price on the high side of the middle margin.

3. Use Fixed Price or offer a BIN - why? People don't want to wait anymore. Sadly the exciting days of online auctions are waning, unless you have something that is a rare item and a bidding war is bound to ensue.

4. Free Shipping - ok I know I know this is a pain point for many sellers, but I can attest to it's effectiveness in drawing in the sales. EBay promotes sellers who offer it, and customers love it because they don't have to worry about being overcharged on shipping (which is still a practice going on hot and heavy on eBay)
How I set the price is when I'm doing the searches above for pricing, I use the highest with shipping option - so I can see what the total price is people are willing to spend.

5. Don't be afraid to price your items at a point you yourself wouldn't pay. This was a big mental hurdle for me. I'm cheap! But not everyone out there is like me I have found out over this past year. I can price my items at their true value and still sell them... and so can you! So don't short change yourself.

6. Now get out there and draw attention to yourself. Facebook is an excellent tool for this, as is Twitter. Other ways to get your items seen is write a blog, comment on other people's blogs, in every email you send out should be a link to your store or items for sale, call into radio shows... there are so many ways to feed those search spiders! It doesn't matter how low you price your items or how many sales you run, if no one knows you are there stuff won't sell.

Ok if you've read this far you are motivated to get selling... so give yourself some goals and get listing, because remember only 44 days - and less if you are not reading this on the day I wrote it